Category: Joy

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One Thing

2020 has been a hell of a year.

But one thing will not change.

The Christmas spirit.

Even though we cannot be together this year to celebrate and spend too much and eat too much, the spirit of Christmas remains. It is not dependent on religion, commercialism, the date or even the cat. It comes from our hearts and it never fails. Well, maybe the cat too.

I started to get the Christmas spirit a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t because the stores are playing Christmas music and have special holiday themed gifts to buy. It isn’t because of lawn ornaments and decorations and lights. I am quite sure I could be in the middle of nowhere and still experience this wonderful feeling.

Thank God I have it, because the rest of the year wreaked havoc on us all.

A little bit of table top Christmas cheer.

The tree top star was appropriately absconded by cat. Perfect ending for 2020.

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In Praise of Farts

You can count on one thing when you get old; your farts will not be contained.

They will be heard, and heard loudly. They will smell, and smell badly. They love to have an audience, are sneaky, and can guarantee you will have plenty of space in Aisle 13 at Walmart.

I praise farts because they feel so good. Why some of our less desirable bodily functions feel so good I do not know, but they do. And why humans have to be so noisy and smelly is a mystery, but some animals can out do us on both counts. All animals react the same way to encountering a fart as humans; pleasure for the farter, disgust from the rest of us.

My cat Sam doesn’t fart. He fluffs. Cats are dignified about such matters.

Farts are like having a trumpet at your rear end. They are smelly music. They make us laugh and cry.

So I will end this shitty year with a signature fart, it is befitting for all the crap we’ve endured in 2020.

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Bug on My Shoe

While out for a walk, this fellow hitched a ride on my shoe for a spell, so I gently escorted him to finer places; to a bit of grass and shade on a beautiful fall day.

These bugs have been plentiful this autumn, out on my balcony sunning themselves. They lumber around at a leisurely pace, and seem to have some difficulty flying, but once they are air borne manage quite well.

I believe they are Assassin Bugs. My biology education fails me, but it doesn’t matter. I’d rather not know to tell the truth. I prefer things to be a mystery. Once you name them and find out about them they lose some appeal. Especially when you discover their not so nice qualities.

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Just Because 2020

Every year I get myself a ‘Just Because’ gift for my Birthday and Christmas combined. This year was a bit more difficult to indulge a pleasure; I’ve been out of work since June, so money is tight. It’ll stay tight until Covid is gone or my books start to sell.

But, I do have a whimsical and cheap little desire that was easily fulfilled this week, just in time.

I’ve always had a little girl weakness for glitter, sparkle and rhinestones and such things are plentiful as we near Christmas. So I happily bought a gaudy $6 pin from the local drug store.

Last year I bought a snowflake. I had better taste last year. This year a nutcracker caught my eye.

As you can see, he is a strange little fellow, rather odd expression don’t you think? However, I thought very befitting for 2020. 2020 has been a topsy turvy crazy insane weird year, so he is a perfect tribute to it. He is not cute or pretty, just like 2020. But he has some glam, so I hope 2021 does.

Usually such purchases languish in the box and I never wear them, but I’ll make an exception for my ugly little friend here so I can have some cheer every time I put him on.

Cheers to my ‘Just Because’ gift that brings me an unusual bit of amusement in a year I so desperately need a laugh.

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On the Beach

I was reminded of an incident that happened so long ago I am not sure if it happened where I think it happened, but does that matter? Nope.

This is one of my favourite pictures of Mom and I, from who knows when, certainly when I was a lot younger. A lot younger.

However, I do remember it was taken at the New Jersey Boardwalk. We were visiting my very generous brother, who was always giving us vacations to places in the United States. I am very grateful. Thank you!

Apart from the fabulous salt water taffy, the million and one things to see and do at the Jersey shore, there is, of course, the ocean.

I am a certified water baby, so my main delight is in H2O, thus I liked to be near the ocean or in it. I can’t remember if this was my first encounter with the ocean, not my last for sure.

I think it was here that I was wandering along the edge of the water, ankle deep, and then gradually, got more interested in going deeper, and deeper and . . .

I got sucked up by a wave that was quite a bit bigger than myself, and pulled under. I got caught in the undertow and violently spun over like a jelly roll and spit out, like some bad tasting fish, hurled up on the beach, and deposited, while absolutely no one took notice. In fact, people walked around me, quite possibly, even over me.

I was quite battered and it took days to expel all the salt out of my ears, and elsewhere.

I was admonished to turn into the next wave that over powered me, but to tell the truth, I never went back in the ocean again. I’ll walk on the beach, maybe get my toes wet. That is enough.

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Sigh of Relief

For the past 4 years we have been brutally reminded, on a daily basis, of all that is wrong with us and our world. It has been exhaustive, as someone said, like living with an abusive partner. Today we feel tremendous relief having that burden lifted, being freed from oppression and tyranny.

I am talking of course about the authoritarian rule of trump.

On a personal level, this era has exposed the darkness of my own heart. My prejudices, bigotry, narrow mindedness, false beliefs all laid bare. The search for truth in a world awash in lies has changed my perceptions and opinions.

I am grateful.

I hope others have had a similar experience. They have searched themselves and made changes.

I’ve escaped abusive relationships and situations. Narrowly sometimes. Life threatening other times. I’ve been trapped in a cult like relationship to a cruel trump like boss. Each time my heart has opened a bit wider, my understanding expands. My compassion grows. Wisdom replaces folly.

But I was never fully attuned to global afflictions before trump. My small world of introspection is replaced with a global perspective, realizing that my own personal experiences are also a global one. Often the difference is only a matter of scale.

At the end of this reign of terror, what I find most surprising is what was hidden. The entire world has been holding its breath these 4 years. Where we expected widespread violence from trump supporters, we instead find celebration by the oppressed. It proves to me that good outweighs the bad and this gives me hope.

Just as trump unleashed all the crazies in the entire world, giving them riotous license to pillage, destroy, kill and maim, we now see a global about face and dictators and their minions are being called out.

At the forefront of this is the undeniable fact that the USA influences, often determines, what happens to the rest of the world. This is heady stuff. America forgot this. They had amnesia.

I think during the trump reign, America was comatose.

This is something that the USA should really take note of. The effect their decisions have on the rest of the world and the resulting responsibility this entails. They should pay attention to that fact and not abuse it. More than ever they should prove they deserve to be a global leader by being mature and doing the right things for all of us. They are, whether they like it or not, the example to the rest of us on how we should conduct our affairs and lives.

America has narrowly dodged a bullet of dictatorship and totalitarianism and thus spared the entire world a similar fate.

I hope they fully understand this.

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Last Walks Before Winter

I have a condition called Polymyalgia Rheumatica, just a fancy name for “Holy Shit, my body is attacking itself!”

Mostly, it likes to eat my feet, effectively preventing me from going any further than to the store across the street. It amazes me how a such a small spot on my foot can totally disable me.

But for some reason, I got a reprieve the past week.

Just in time to catch a bit of nature in autumn.

Thank you!

Last walks before winter. Last walks until who knows when.

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Restless

Whenever there is a change in season I usually start to get restless, mostly just for a change of scene. A change is as good as a rest – well, maybe later after you’ve made the change, then you can rest. Making your apartment different takes a lot of work. Moving stuff around in a tiny crowded space is a challenge.

So, I moved some furniture around while cat supervised.

I got sweaty and tired, and did a good cleaning too. Actually got rid of a piece of furniture, a bench I made, that although I made it to last a thousand years (I could not get the thing apart!) it was mostly useless and hogging space. Not easy to discard stuff you make yourself, but sometimes you gotta.

And as usual, I experienced the same phenomena that happens every time I think I am making things better.

That is, I end up with many displaced items, wondering where the heck it all came from, and where the heck am I going to now put them?

Yeah, I know, a purge is a good move.

That is where the other strange phenomena happens.

I can discard bags of stuff, and I mean, BAGS of stuff, and nothing looks any different.

This time, there is a bit more space to walk around, in the living room, but now the bedroom has taken on the brunt of that.

Sigh.

Spring will come and I will do it all again. Move stuff from the bedroom back to the living room.

With the same results.

Is all good.

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Masks

I have posted many rants about mask wearing, because to me, it is very simple. Covid is spread by your breath. Wear a mask and covid cannot go anywhere, and to some degree, prevents you from breathing in someone else’s covid. It has been proven in other countries to be very effective, and this whole mess could be over if everyone would just comply.

Simple.

But humans, with their big, mostly useless brains, have made it an issue, and so complicated.

However, I have adopted a mask as part of my daily attire. Much like, I usually don’t go out without underware, kind of routine. I don’t think about it much, including the foggy glasses. It just is.

When you need to make a quick trip to the store, the fuss of how you look is eliminated. I don’t have to wear makeup or worry about bad breath. It hides a lot of ills. My friend says he doesn’t have to shave.

It also can make a fashion statement. I have seen some pretty ones, some clever ones, some very comfortable looking ones. And then there are the ugly ones, the ill fitting ones, the ‘I don’t give a F’ ones. My personal pet peeve is the below the nose mask. It aggravates me in the same way those pants worn at the hips do, I want to pull them up!

I watched a doctor on You Tube don one mask after another, up to 6, to prove you do not compromise oxygen transmissibility by wearing a mask. So when I had a biopsy done recently I wore 8 masks! I tell you truthfully, I had no trouble breathing. And since I had 2 surgeons hovering inches from my face, I felt a bit more secure. So a lot of the BS you read about ‘I can’t breathe’, is, well, BS.

So just wear a mask and enjoy the benefits, like, still being alive.

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That Voice

A great deal of my working days consisted of me yapping. Mom was right, I never lack for something to say. There were clients and staff to talk to in person, lots of phone calls, lots of conversations. My gums got a good work out.

Now that I am retired, having left my job because of covid concerns, my mouth has gotten a rest, and alas, many people, their ears.

I still talk, but the audience has changed.

I have great conversations with the cat, myself, the odd inanimate object, plants. They listen very well. They lack a bit for debate, but I think they tend to agree with my points of view anyhow. Cat just walks away or falls asleep in protest, disagreement or boredom. No arguments or shouting matches, just a nice disregard. I kind of like that. It is humbling. So far, the plants haven’t wilted, their leaves turn brown or fall off. My ornaments quietly collect dust as usual. So it is all good.

I read books and my own writing aloud. My apartment has some neat acoustics I hadn’t noticed before. My voice sort of like drums in a ventilator shaft, voluminous and rising to the sky, but not nearly as exciting as a drum solo from Led Zeppelin.

I can almost hear my neighbours groan on occasion. But when they get my flute practice sessions, they concur that perhaps my reading aloud in not so bad, well, not as bad. It just goes on a lot longer than the flute.

Being ones own audience is quite interesting; to laugh at ones own jokes, especially if they are not that funny, or not funny at all. Interesting to debate with oneself and have some pretty convincing arguments, make some nifty observations and get some startling insights. It is all very cool.

And I get to have whole 3 act plays with myself. I get to be the entire play! I write it, direct it, act in it, edit it. I can be very loud if the script calls for it. I end up laughing when I try to be dramatic. Laughter is the best sound my voice makes. Oh yeah, it is very loud too. Think maybe, barking seals. With clapping flippers.

I have to keep that booming voice fine tuned after all. I might need it some day, for a sermon or just to let everyone within 5 blocks know that I am still around. Perhaps I should have been a Sergeant Major like my Dad. Hmmm, maybe that’s where this voice came from. Ya think?

I am not much for making phone calls, the telephone was not my main way of communicating in the past. I tried to keep calls short and sweet.

Now I have marathons.

Before you call me, have your meal, pee break and a nap, because you’re in for a long session. Get comfy.

I’ll never be lonely as I can talk to most anything. Yes even rocks. Now there is a whole other story I will bore you with in a later blog.