Gratitude Monday – Roads Go Somewhere

Buck Lake might better be called Duck Lake.

We went for a drive yesterday to check out some local lakes. It was my husband’s birthday and it was something new to do. We wound up taking a few gravel roads in the rain. It made for adventure and a muddy car, but it’s a great way to see birds and the land.

The best thing is in this province if you take a back road you will get somewhere. Unless it’s marked “Dead End” or "No Exit” it’ll take you to another road.

You will get back to a highway and you will find your way home and for that I am grateful.

Living Better Through Chemistry

Your thyme will come...

Warning: The following contains sarcasm. If you are sarcasm –challenged, then please know this means the literal interpretation of the words as rendered below is not the true intent of the piece.
Thank you,
The Management

How lucky we are in Canada. We had a federal government who cares so deeply for us that it is going to make it harder for us to get all those nasty, nasty natural health products.
Bill C-51 has passed second reading already and it was only introduced last month. Why, it usually takes months and months for a bill to be passed. This one is being fast-tracked so any product deemed illegal under its provisions can be removed from the shelves right away for our own good.

As a thoughtful, caring government, the Conservatives have included a provision allowing for agents to swoop in to health food stores and seize inventory. And best of all, the government doesn’t have to worry itself sick about compensating any of the businesses. We get consumer protection and taxpayer protection! All in one bill!

Our Conservative federal government has thoughtfully secured the market for pharmaceuticals. These drugs have been tested and re-tested and all the facts found during the tests are released to the public so informed decisions are made.
Why, all those thousands of years of herbal use really cannot and must not measure up to the few years of clinical trials. We really do live better through chemistry and our government knows it.

Why, yes. Yes, I do love Big Brother.

Friday’s Child – Confronting A Coward

We’re getting down to the wire on these repeat posts. It looks like I’ve got about a month’s worth left. I know they’re not the easiest works to read. Thanks for sticking with me.
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Here’s a picture to help get you through it. If you’d prefer, you can always comment on it instead.
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From Monday, September 24, 2007

Confronting A Coward

It’s interesting that a few new and full moons have waxed and waned since my sister called.
The last time she phoned my husband answered. After a few moments of putting up with her nonsense he told her to “Fuck off and leave us alone.”

It appears to have worked.

Mental illness aside, my sister is a bully. She likes her own way and screeches and screams and stomps and rails about unfairness until she gets it. The quickest way to calm her down or shut her up is to give in.

I’ve have observed (I’m not a professional counselor or psychologist or the like) that bullies tend to back down when confronted. The bulk of them are cowards.

It’s worse when someone, my sister for instance, always gets her way by raising a ruckus. They don’t learn anything and their bad behavior gets reinforced. It worked once so I’ll do it again and again. Why try anything new?

Standing up to my sister wasn’t the kind of thing my parents were apt to do. It brought on the kind of drama and excitement that no one wanted.

Reason and logic, as occasionally tried by our dad, was lost on her. My sister is quite intelligent and was the smartest in her class all through school. But reason? She doesn’t seem to grasp it. She’s a creature of emotion. I suspect her idea of reason is if stomping and yelling and crying worked in the past, then logically it will continue to do so.

In fairness I don’t think she knows any better. She can’t cope with reality and even when she was purportedly sane she really didn’t deal with it all that well.
Bullying though violence or simple loudness worked. Giving in is wrong, but it is easy.
I think I wrote already how I stood up to her once by saying no. She didn’t speak to me for two years.
And now, my husband pointedly and forcefully told her to leave us alone. To date, that’s happened.
I may be speaking too soon, though. The full moon is two days away.

Affairs of the Heart

Looking down into the blossoms

I can get my heart zapped any time.
My echocardiogram is set for June 3, and I thought I’d have to have it done before the dc cardioversion, but apparently I can get the cardioversion first if the timing works out.
I got a call yesterday from Dr. Pimm’s office in Red Deer telling that once a bed opens for me in ICU I can get it done. Pimm is a doctor of Internal Medicine and friend and colleague of my cardiologist in Edmonton.

I know this cardioversion will take. I’ll be off the rat poison three weeks after it’s done and most likely back on daily regular dose ASA. I’m not sure about the fate of the beta blocker I take, but I’ll concern myself with it later on. For now I’m concentrating on the good news about getting a good old fashioned electric shock to straighten me out once and for all.
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Learning that Mr. Sulu can marry his long time love tickled me silly.
Congratulations George Takei and Brad Altman.
Live long and prosper.

The Ephemeral Beauty of Spring

Our nanking cherries are in bloom.

Pretty red tulip.



Now available in yellow.

They are with us only a few days of the year, but their beauty lasts in our hearts.

My Best Day

I intend to write today. I’ve been wanting to devote a great deal of time to the manuscript lately and have yet to do it. A few minutes at the top of the day and a few more at the bottom is about as good as it’s gotten lately.
Why?
Stuff gets in the way. I’ve gone for bike rides, taken the time to meditate, shop for and later prepare food, work in the garden.
All good, all necessary, and all excuses for not devoting the proper time to the manuscript.
I also check in on my blog more than I need to, and have to go check the blogs I visit because the bulk of my social life is online. I’ve found a few more blogs to check now, too, and that eats into the day.
I’m not complaining. I’m happy about it, but the day slides by and I’ve accomplished little.
Today I’m hoping to reverse course and get some work done.
It’s Tuesday and it’s supposed to be my best day. Years ago a psychic said so. I’ve think of it every Tuesday. Many of them are really good.
Now that I’ve said so in cyber print it’ll be interesting to see if it holds up.
I’m going to write today.
I’m going to write right now.

Gratitude Monday – Long Weekend Edition

From the viewpoint at Crescent Falls.

The woods were full of excited campers this long weekend. For some, the Victoria Day holiday is their only chance to get out and enjoy the mountains.
I am grateful to live so close and to look out my front door and see the Rockies. Well, okay, it’s called a peek-a-boo view. You hold your head at just the right angle to see them.
I can see them whenever I want and I’m grateful that don’t have to fight the crowds on long weekends to do it.
Instead I went for a few bike rides, worked in my garden, and let the world wash over me.

I am also grateful that a miserable excuse of a human scuzzball scammer has been caught. The gentleman’s name is Bernd Wulffen and he is alleged to have hosed an Edmonton teen soccer team out of thousands of dollars. He has an allegedly related alleged history.

And I’m grateful there’s a calf named Jocelyn bouncing around a ranch in northern Alberta.

It’s all good.