Kick the Bucket Aside……..

This week’s newspaper column:

We are now entering into a sacred time—attention must be paid. It is now April and it is my birthday month. Just kidding—but seriously folks, we should pay more attention to ourselves—but not in a “selfie” gratuitous way, but in a way wherein we appreciate that we are still here with all the good, bad, and ugly life has to offer.

Sometimes I regret the fact that I am, in some circles, considered a “senior”. I do not feel quite up to the designation yet—nor do I feel wiser or older. I am not yet up to the task of being looked upon as someone who should be valued and honoured and respected because of my age. I do not deserve it yet, as I do not feel as if I have “arrived”.

What does that mean? I have not fulfilled what I believe is my mission: to rule the world. No, no—that was Brain’s mission (as in the cartoon Pinky and the Brain. If you have never viewed this iconic Warner Brothers offering—Brain and Pinky are mice, and Brain wants to take over the world. He has a huge head and is really quite intelligent. Pinky is a bit of a simpleton, but in the end he is the wise one—but I think I may be getting off topic here…)

I do not have a bucket list—or a list of all those things I want to accomplish before I die, as I do not relish the thought of kicking the bucket, so instead I have a life list—which if I want to put any dent in, I should get busy. Everyone should have a life list—a list of things which contains the obtainable but also the impossible; the practical as well as the whimsical; the necessary and those things of which dreams are made of.

So here is my life list—it does not take into account the things I have already obtained or experienced, but it is my wish list of things to continue to reach for. (I was feeling a bit low today and my husband reminded me of some of the things that I have already that no one can take away from me—this list is a complement to those things). Though I have numbered my list—the first is no more important than the last:

1. Have my words spread over all continents so that my wisdom will live on forever. Get published in a wider forum. Have my fractured attempts at writing haiku shared; my scattered thoughts put in book form; and Margaret Atwood finally invite me to tea (with ten of my friends) on Pelee Island.
2. Travel to the ends of the earth. The length and breadth of the world. Okay, I would be satisfied with seeing more of Canada and the States, visiting wine country in France and Italy (I have done my best in visiting the wine offerings locally), dropping in on the Queen (who shares my birthday), and…well, really why limit it—travelling to the ends of the earth (except the really cold parts).
3. Experience what I call “woo-woo” stuff—but not scary “woo woo” stuff. I like the idea of the ethereal but I seem to be stuck in the muck and mire of reality—then again, who says reality does not include these things?
4. Win the lottery. A big lottery. And then share it.
5. Clean up my bedroom. (In the scheme of things this seems inconsequential, but really if you saw my room—you would understand.)
6. Channel a little more of Martha Stewart and a little less of Erma Bombeck. (That is not true—I take that back—though I would love to be made up of the sterner stuff that is Martha, my beliefs are Erma all the way.)
7. Do whatever I can to help my kids have successful lives, but not do so much that it is not of their own volition and creativity.
8. Stay married for 50 years at least—that means I will have to live to at least 79. See you all at my golden anniversary—I will be having a big party—Led Zepplin (if they are still alive) will be making an appearance. It will be catered by Bobby Flay and Lynn Crawford. Dressy jeans will be the attire; and champagne with (local) ice wine the only elixir.
9. I will cook gourmet meals, have friends and family over to enjoy, and not have to clean up the kitchen. That will be putting to good use all those hours I have spent reading cookbooks and watching the Food Network.
10. Read to my heart’s content.

I implore you to make up your own “life list” while kicking the proverbial bucket aside—you may be surprised at what you come up with.

Resting in reason and moving in passion

I am reblogging this on a Monday morning–and hoping that all of us will take and heed the message–we need to be less busy, get quiet, and value our purpose…………..

Live & Learn

So many people glorify and romanticize “busy”.
I do not.
I value purpose.
I believe in resting in reason and moving in passion.
If you’re always busy/moving, you will miss important details.
I like the mountain.
Still, but when it moves lands shift and earth quakes.

~ Joseph Cook

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Image Credit Harald Naper of 047 Vråvatn, Telemark, Norway via Hungarian Soul. Poem Credit: Joseph Cook

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Waiting

 

Whither thou goeth
Go I, without thinking, yet ~
I am left standing.

 

It Only Takes a Second

I am ready to take the advice of a friend who is dealing with a bit of a tragedy right now. One that occurred in the blink of an eye. One minute everything was rolling along, if not smoothly, at least the ruts in the road were visible.

Then it happens. And changes everything. “It” can be so many things: death, loss, change—but today is not the same as yesterday. This minute is not the same as the minute before.

Her advice? And this is verbatim:

“Live every day to the fullest, have fun, party or whatever makes you happy—life is short and it can change in a split second.”

How many times do we have to hear that before we take it in, use it, and make it our own personal mantra? It has been expressed in so many ways by so many people, yet we forget that life is not a dress rehearsal—this is the only chance we get.

I need to be reminded of this over and over again. But each time I am, I take it in, and it becomes a part of me. So, today—Live your day to the fullest, have fun, party, or do whatever makes you happy. I am going to give it a try.

How about you—do you forget to have fun?

Make the Ordinary Come Alive

I so believe this……..

Misifusa's Blog

35

Make the Ordinary Come Alive

Do not ask your children,

To strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is a way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself.

*

Quote from ‘The Parent’s Tao Te Ching” by William Martin

**Inspired by AngelPat who had this on her FB wall.

Today I leave you with this simple post.  No need for external writings from me.

Tell me, what do you think?

Shine On!

xo

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I Don’t Care…………..

This week’s column:
Kim and Kanye

I don’t care. I don’t care that Kim and Kanye are on the cover of Vogue. Do you? Yet the fact that their picture appears on the magazine is causing a firestorm of interest in the media. Seriously, I think it looks good on Vogue, the fashion magazine that appeals to those who are in danger of drowning in a rain storm. (If you do not get that joke then I will explain it—it appeals to those who seem to perpetually have their noses in the air—not us down to earth folk who peruse the pages out of curiosity, and not as a catalogue).
Sarah Michelle Gellar of soap opera and vampire slayer fame tweeted that she was cancelling her subscription to Vogue and asked “Is anyone else with me?” as if she is the monitor of all things good taste and highbrow. Get over it Sarah. It is not worth your 144 characters to tweet about.
I have to admit though that I do love the take-off of the cover showing Miss Piggy and Kermit on the cover of barely disguised “Vague” magazine—they make a handsome couple, and surely they deserve their 15 minutes of fame. I know I am making light of the situation, but with all the things to be concerned about in the world, Kim and Kanye are not even on my list. Neither is Vogue magazine, though their encyclopaedic September 2013 issue did catch my attention—but upon sifting through the pages, most of the mag was made up of advertisements. Not of course that there is anything wrong with that—we all gotta eat, even fashion gurus, designers, and the copious number of shoe and purse makers who appeared in that issue.
Do not get me wrong. I love magazines—and have been an avid reader of them since I was a little girl—picking up my mom’s magazines and reading them from cover to cover (tips on making chicken dishes though I may have skipped at eight, I find weirdly fascinating now), and when I ran out of her Journals and McCall’s and Woman’s Day, I would read my dad’s Mechanics Illustrated.
In a book written to help you simplify life, I read that one should eliminate magazines from their life as they were just full of ads and the same old, same old. I could not believe that someone could write such blasphemy! Magazines are rife with hints, and life stories, and interesting tidbits that I for one could not live without. Even the ads do not deter me—I can whiz right by them, or pause for a moment and dream of perfect skin and the perfect vacation.
But magazines want your attention. There are a million of them out there, and in order to stand out they have to do something radical or irregular. And Vogue chose to feature a couple they knew would cause a tizzy. Well, good for them. It does not bother me in the least that Kim and Kanye got some more mileage—and anyone it does bother needs to put the important things in life in perspective.
I am not crazy about Kanye—he embarrassed Taylor Swift (in a way that made him look bad) but I think that called more attention to her accomplishments than less. Admittedly, Kim sometimes has the fashion sense of a squirrel and the morals of a rabbit, and the couple will most certainly never win for mentors of the year, but if they want to be on the cover of a fashion magazine—so be it. It is not like they are on the cover of Genius Weekly or Literature for the Literary–then I could see mounting an objection.
Let us turn our attention away from the attention seekers and focus our moral compass on those that deserve it. Here is proof positive that Kanye’s words of wisdom will not stand the test of time:
1. “I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” (pains me too Kanye, pains me too)
2. “I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.” (I am a total loss for comment here)
3. “I am not a fan of books. (blasphemy, utter blasphemy!)
4. “I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.” (I have never known a book to give an autograph, but maybe I am being a little nit-picky here.)
5. “I am the greatest.” (shades of Mohammad Ali)

Confession

Brown. There I have said it. Brown is my favourite colour. But so is red. And green. And this season apricot—I bought a pair of Keds in apricot and a cute tuck it under your arm purse in the same colour—but brown is still one of my favourites.

A couple of years back, brown was the colour du jour—but brown in all its incarnations: chocolate, coffee, bronzed caramel, russet—because I guess just plain brown was not enough. Let’s face it—if you admit that brown is your favourite colour, people think you are boring. Just take a gander at Wikipedia’s definition:

“Brown is the color of dark wood or rich soil. It is a composite color made by combining red, black and yellow.  The color is seen widely in nature, in wood, soil, and human hair color, eye color and skin pigmentation. Culturally, it is most often associated with plainness, humility, the rustic, and poverty.”

I am here to stand in defence of brown. Brown is not boring or plain. It is comforting and warm and deep and rich. And it has stood the test of time. It is not flakey like chartreuse, or unpleasant like puce. It is not come hither like some shades of red, or shy like pink, nor is it as demanding as “look at me” black. Brown, in most of its shades (except mud and one my mother called shi_ brindle) is a beautiful  colour that complements many other shades cheering them on to shine in all their glory, while brown just sits back and lets them sparkle.

I have never been a fan of diamonds—sure I like them, but their sparkle can be copied – but my new fascination is with chocolate diamonds—they speak to me. As does chocolate in its own perfect way. So that is my ode to all things brown. Dare not call it boring again.

Do you like a colour that seems boring or unusual?

Leave The Door Open

love love love this!

Waiting for the Karma Truck

This video stayed with me.  The changing aspect of love’s reality.  What we’re sure we define as love when our notebooks are covered with hearts and initials inside them, notes are passed and love songs are written expressly for you.  Believing that it lasts forever, when one really has a concept of what that means.  Love in later years, with fewer illusions and more complications, yet felt with a deeper understanding of the rapidity with which time passes.  Learning to stay in love and learning to let go should one need to.  Remembering to keep the door open to the possibility that it will return in a different form, with a different song and open arms.  Let love in – however you define it.

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Bookwork

Bookwork is my nemesis—so I thought I would put my arch-rival in perspective with this haiku called strangely enough: Bookwork

Mind-numbing numbers

Reconfigured and balanced

Going for the gold!

18 Simple Things

I am reblogging this so it will be at my fingertips–now I think I will go make a cup of tea…………..

Live & Learn

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