According to Wikipedia a bird's eye viewis an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans, and maps.
One of the great pleasures I enjoy during the summer is biking the Bishop Gradin Greenway.
The Greenway is a modernized biking and walking path in the middle of an urban setting. Along the route there are several wild life habitats where one can stop and benefit from being close to nature.
For whatever reason last summer I got serious about biking. It was hard work. The first 6 kms were easy. Often by the time I made it home my hair would be standing nearly straight up. I would look in the mirror and say eat your heart out Don King. I was having fun and was proud of my accomplishments. Within no time I was up to 12 kms a ride.
By the end of the season I set a goal for the summer of 2010. Over the winter I was going to get in to better shape and double up the kilometres.
I should have known better.
What I didn’t expect is that over the next few months I was going to be plagued with foot problems and then my car was rear ended - again. I have no idea why people insist on driving into me why can’t they just wave or shout hello. Regardless, this time I got hurt.
I wasn’t overly worried about it. Take some anti-inflammatories – get off them as fast as possible and do some physiotherapy. All should be well and I will be out and about working towards that 24 km bike ride.
I should have known better.
Once spring hit every time I got on my bike it would throw my healing progress right back to the beginning. The furthest I could ride was 8 km. Grrr.
My physiotherapist informed me it was time to start taking the injury seriously as it was chronic which meant going back on the medication. My doctor tightened up the order even further and forbade me to be on my bike longer than 10 minutes at a time.
I was of course going to do otherwise.
I should have known better.
So, there I was on a warm Saturday morning sometime in June biking along way past the 10 minute directive, resolved that I was just going to fight my way through it. And, while cruising along I made a second decision: I am going smile and say a loud hello to every cute guy I meet on this path.
Pedal, pedal, pedal. Smile, smile, smile. Hello, hello, hello. Yeah, this is okay and I am ignoring the spasm in my neck.
Just as I was entering my favourite part of the path which is a kind of hilly and a bit curvy near a small pond that is home to flock off red wing black birds who flutter about when one bikes through their territory I heard a strange sound. Plop accompanied with a warm, wet feeling on the left side of my head.
Oh Gawd.Do not touch it. Just keep biking and smiling no matter what.
Man I hope it doesn’t drip.
Entering the house I didn’t look in the mirror, skip Don King, I just hit the shower.
The next day I went back on the anti-inflammatories and got serious about the physiotherapy.
The eye of a bird shared its view, there is always next summer.
I know better.
Be sure to fly on over to Bust A Blogand see what Busty turned out with the picture I sent her. It has to do with some forbidden fruit or something. In the meantime here is a blast from the past as posted on YouTubeThe Byrds performing Wasn’t Born To Follow.
What do you thInQ? Post your comment.
Pushing the boundaries of possibilities... think... create... imagine... express
Even before she left the womb we all knew something different was about to land in our household. I remember three things about my mother’s pregnancy. She threw up – a lot; she seemed to be pregnant forever; my brother prayed for a boy and I sent prays out for a girl. My sister ended up being a tomboy. Both my brother and I were early babies and my sister well she was late in arriving.
She has marched to her own drum ever since.
If there is a straight road to Damascus; she will not take it. She will endeavour to take every hill, valley, and mountain instead; insisting that the rest of us tag along with her. Trust me. It has not been easy. My sister has tested and stretched ever emotional component of my entire being.
As a kid I shared a room with her. It was not uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night listening to her laughing in her sleep. I was joyfully jealous of that; I often wondered where on earth she was hanging out in her dreams as it had to be a pretty happening place. The other thing I often woke up to was her puking. Until she got her tonsils yanked she was a sick little girl.
One night she was violently ill for other reasons. And, I mean violently. My brother and I decided it would be fun to tell her if you chewed on wheat it would turn to gum and you wouldn’t have to go to the store to buy any. She did. What we didn’t know is that she was swallowing it. Fields of gold came rushing out later that night - for hours. Gawd. Thank goodness the whole thing didn’t explode in her belly. That could have been dangerously disastrous.
My sister is far more spontaneous and radical than me. She doesn’t always think things through and just does it. I can spend too much time making decisions, analyzing every possible outcome, and someone else ususally has to give me a kick to get going.
We are both, however, guilty of stewing. If there was an award for the more successful stewer she and I would be in serious competition for the top prize.
What my sister has accomplished and quite successfully is her ability for all of us to examine who we are; pushing almost to the extent of near insanity. Why? Because she can. She is unconventional that way and yet out of all us she is the one more dedicated to traditions.
One of her greatest accomplishments that none of us will ever hold a candle to is her two children. They are dynamos and the world is a far better place with them in it.
The role of siblings in our lives is a complex story. Each of us comes from the same place, inheriting the same genetic makeup and a similar social setting in which we are raised and yet our reaction to those very same circumstances can be as different as night and day and as similar as two peas in a pod. It is a continual curiosity me as to how that happens.
What I do know is that I am stronger, wiser, and better person with whiter hair because of my sister. For that I am eternally grateful.
Siblings. What gifts have they brought you? ThInQ About It.
For the last three weeks I have been trying to buy a new cell phone.
I love my cell phone, but it is over three years old and the battery is going.
Ideally I would like to get the same model. Unfortunately, that is not going to be possible. So, an upgrade it is and I decided to do some additional research.
By Thursday of last week I had it down to two models and with due diligence I called up the phone company to get their opinion. The company was focused on one particular model and during the course of the conversation I asked the salesman to tell me why he thought this phone would work best.
He did with great enthusiasm. He told me all about Facebook. Highlighting that I was going to be able to access my Facebook account for free; concluding his speech with this is going to be the best thing for you. Hmm.
I had to tell him the truth, “I am not on Facebook.”
There was a VERY long pause.
I think he had a stroke.
“Hello, hello are you there? Hello.”
Then, with an element of disbelief in his now very soft somewhat stunned voice he said to me, “Don’t you want to be in touch with people you went to High School with?”
Time travel. I had an instant flashback back of being slammed into a locker on the way to science class. Of course I realize with time and age that I had a lot of fans back then and the only way a young awkward boy could show affection was to tackle you from behind when least expected. Back to reality.
“Are you kidding me, the last time I did any social networking with my class from High School was our 5th year reunion a couple of us organized. I almost was thrown in jail because some of my High School friends chopped down trees to build a fire that could have taken out the whole entire provincial park! I can’t imagine what would happen if I signed up for Facebook. Sigh. How about if I call you back tomorrow I have to think about this some more.”
I thank the gentlemen for his help and I hung up asking, “Huh, whatever happened to talking on the phone?”
I have a secret. I happen to love paper. I know that is anti-environmentally friendly but I do. I love the feel, texture, and smell of paper. I love how colours and different mediums work with paper. I love holding a pen in my hand and doodling. I can use paper whether it is made from trees or flax and throw it into the recycling bin. I know that paper may be taken out to a worm farm and I know the worms eat the paper. Then they poop it out and viola there is soil. That soil is bought and a tree may be planted. Renewable resource.
What I am not so confident about is what happens when we are done with our cell phones? What about the batteries?
Thanks to my cell phone research I find myself worrying about these issues. According to environment.about.com I should be as Cell Phones are Among the Fastest Growing Types of Trash. The average North American gets a new cell phone every 18 to 24 months, making old phones—many that contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, brominates flame retardants and arsenic—the fastest growing type of manufactured garbage in the nation. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans discard 125 million phones each year, creating 65,000 tons of waste.
Oh boy.
I am one of those 125 million phones. Fortunately there is a non-profit organization called call2recycle which offers consumers and retailers in the United States and Canada a simple ways to recycle old phones. But, does that really solve the problem?
No. Right now technology is moving too fast.
It was not so long ago consumers demanded that the forestry industry replace the trees they were chopping down and rightfully so. But how as consumers are we going to turn our thirst for techie toys into a renewable resource?
In my mind if we have the smarts enough to create the product surely we have intelligence and the creative insight to come up with safer products that can be turned into renewable resources easily. And, shouldn’t we as consumers be challenging and demanding it?
I dunno for the love of a cell phone I just happen to love trees and water more. Come to think of it, they are pretty important features in our ability to live never mind being able to social network with one another.
Let me know what you thInQ and hey have you heard Telephone by two of the most powerful women in the world? If not ringin below to the Lady Gaga Ft. Beyounce Telephone Lyrics! On Screen as posted on YouTube and be sure to scoot on over to Bust A Blog and see what Busty dreamed up with the photo I sent her.
Okay, so I admit it. At the time, I did not have any comment to the Aesop’s Fable about the Toad and the Frog in Blog Off #15 seriously, nothing would come out. For three hours I sat there looking at the frog in all his glory and zippo not a thought.
However, while making breakfast Thursday morning a tornado of inspiration flooded my mind. Great and I have to go to work! So, here I am writing at 11 pm on a Saturday night pumping out what was floating around.
This fable has many lessons on many levels. The obvious being what we see in others is a mirror reflection of what we exists within ourselves and eventually someone will point that out - generally in an unceremonious way.
Each of us is filled with both light and dark sides. I know that as I struggle with it on a daily basis. If I were perfect – I would be perfectly boring. I enjoy being flawed.
Over the years I have had many challenging relationships and have been left batter and bruised but here is the miraculous thing. Those relationships, while difficult, have ended up becoming the closest and most rewarding. Why? Because circumstances have demanded it, and I had to work hard; looking at me and my behaviour then examining what was going on outwardly. And, wow, there was a lot of communication involved. Listening and talking. Talking and listening. Learning and understanding.
There are of course some relationships that just did not work. That is perfectly okay they probably were not meant to be as there was something a foot that was not for me to worry about. In those cases I just let things go and funny, everything always worked out for the best.
Perhaps that is that thing called wisdom, knowing what you can change – what you can’t and the difference between the two.
The ugliness we see around us may be something we need to work on, especially if we get angry about it– and really so what. So, what. Anger is just the fire that points us in the right direction. All we have to do it breath and look at what the problems are and deal with them. Seriously, it is that simple. It is the fear in our own minds that prevents us from facing whatever ugliest are lurking around.
Part of dealing with the prickles, I am convinced, is that we need to re-learn how to be kinder to ourselves beginning with forgiveness and remembering who we are.
How do I know this to be true?
A series of dreams. I have a friend. Our relationship ended and not on a high note. I was frustrated and disappointed. The behaviour of my friend drove me nearly certifiable. And, there was justification for how I was feeling. Things got to the point of no change no gain, I am done here. Maybe I needed more patience, maybe not. But, here is the thing I had a series of dreams where this person appeared to me in total white light and we were speaking soul to soul. Soul to soul. It happened more than once. When I woke up I wanted a shot of vodka – holy cow – man that was weriod. However, drinking vodka at 7 am was not a good idea!
I don’t mean to get all new agey or spiritual or whatever tag you may wish to attach to the sharing of this experience. However, it got me to thinking that at the end of the day each of us is on this earth for a reason. We each have experiences, lessons to learn, challenges to overcome, pain, joy, the whole human gamut. Everyone we meet comes to the banquet with their own interpretations of joy and pain; everyone’s brains, bodies, and emotions being uniquely wired. No one is the same. However, at the very essence – the core – we are all great big balls of white light. And, maybe in spite of all the outward behaviour and appearances we really do speak to one another soul to soul and our darkest hours - those crazy ugly times - are really our brightest moment’s - maybe we just have to let the light shine; thanking and blessing the perpetrator of the ugly moment for giving us the gift. All I know is that I experienced love beyond what any word I could describe, and gosh how liberating it has been. I never expected that.
I learned something else this week. A member from the First Nations community spoke at a lecture I attended. He said in his language there is no word for forgiveness. At first I thought, huh? Then he continued speaking. In his culture, a perpetrator of ill will is adopted by the family who has been harmed by the individual. There is no word for forgiveness because it is an actual act. I was blown away by the beauty of it all.
It does not mean you get away with continual ugly thoughts and behaviour, but it sure beats being stomped on.
Let me know what you thInQ! And, while you are doing that hear what Eminem and Rihanna Love The Way You Lie are talking about as posted on Youtube. It seems to me to be one of the most honest pieces of music I have ever heard.
Millionaire, The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invested Modern Finance by Janet-Gleeson 1999 is an intelligently written biography of John Law, an economist, banker, financier, author, and gambler. Born in 1671 in Edinburgh, Scotland his family were bankers and goldsmiths. Law was known for his sharp financial mind and craved more than just banking. He was suave and attractive and he allowed his love life to rival any Danielle Steele novel. It is worth noting he died broke in 1792.
Janet Gleenson does a wonderful job at capturing the essence of the times and of the demeanour of the man John Law. I found the read amazing, puzzling, and at times it is quite the roller coaster ride as Gleenson takes you to through highs and lows of Law’s life and the thirst for wealth and power. It certainly is fascinating. A must for anyone who loves drama and the economy.
Gleeson is the author of the bestseller The Arcanum, The Serpent in the Garden, and The Thief Taker.
