Missing In Action...

You see that beach? Well, you see that person sitting beside that log down there? Yes ... that one ... right over there. Well, that's me. Summer has hit Vancouver like a freight train. Tomorrow we have the day off work for Canada Day, and I will be outdoors taking advantage of the wonderful, beautiful, spectacular weather. My friend Leslie and I are going to go on one of our excellent adventures and then we are going to come back to my terrace and eat copious amounts of Häagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream with blueberries.

I will be back to visit you all in a couple of days.

To all my Canadian friends, Happy Canada Day!

Billy Mays

Okay, this is weird, but I feel sadder about Billy Mays' unfortunate death than about any of the other recent celebrity passings. Billy Mays was an institution, and someone who was in our homes just about -- oh -- every ten minutes. Wherever I was in my house, as soon as I heard Billy Mays' voice on the TV, I ran for the remote and muted it. A friend of mine once said, "Can you imagine living with that voice?"

"Honey, where's my shirt...!!??"

Billy Mays was in a plane that had a rough landing and something fell on his head. So, it looks as if he might have suffered the same type of hematoma that Natasha Richardson had. I never thought I would say this, but I am going to miss him. I may even go out today and buy some OxiClean.

My Treehouse

I received an e-mail from someone, asking me about my tree house. Well, I live three stories up, amongst the trees. I am surrounded by trees including mountain ash, Japanese plum, poplar, douglas fir, hemlock, pine and cherry trees. In the springtime, the Japanese plum and cherry trees are a mass of pink blossoms. When Phinnaeus was about three years old, he looked out the window at the blossoms and said, "Those are the boofelest things I have ever seen..." The douglas fir trees are filled with birds nests, and the raccoons sit in the nests in the late spring, hoping to steal the eggs. The crows dive-bomb them and put up an awful uproar, all of which usually starts at about 4:30 in the morning.

As I am writing this, there is a huge windstorm blowing in off the Pacific Ocean, and the seagulls and crows are gliding and swooping on the breeze. Seagulls are very social animals, and they love to tell jokes to each other. And then they laugh, and laugh, and laugh at the jokes. Sometimes they will set up such a cacophony, it really makes us wonder what on earth is going on. I love the scene in "Finding Nemo" where the seagulls are sitting on the pier yelling "Mine, mine, mine, mine!" until the albatross tells them to "Shaddup!" Seagulls really are like that, and they start very early in the morning. You don't need an alarm clock if you live anywhere near seagulls.

I'm fortunate that my tree house faces south, and I get the sunshine summer and winter. For some reason, which I do not understand, prime real estate in Vancouver is anything that faces the mountains, which are north. But for several months of the year, anything facing north gets no sunshine at all. I would rather have sunshine than a view of some big, dreary mountains, even though they are spectacular. In the summer months, I spend all my time on my terrace, and when the Munchkins come to visit, we eat our meals out there. We have spent many an hour on a bright summer morning, sitting at the patio table eating blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and discussing life.

So, there you have a very brief tour of my tree house.

School Daze

Here in Canada, school is over for the summer now. One of my munchkins is officially going into high school soon, and I will be holding my breath as he starts to tread those shark-infested waters. He is the type of person who is so cool, he doesn't know he's cool. For most people, our high school experiences are not always our fondest memories. There are the usual suspects -- the "in-crowd", the "geeks and nerds", and the "in-betweens". Most of us fall into the category of "in-betweens", with occasional forays into either the "in-crowd" or the "geeks and nerds". The people who are able to navigate the waters best are the ones who don't really care which category they fall into. Whichever category my munchkin falls into, I hope he will be one of those folks who doesn't really care.

None of us escapes unscathed, however. When I was in high school, I fit squarely into the "in-betweens", but occasionally I was invited to a party by someone in the "in-crowd", only to be reminded that I didn't really belong there. The most devastating thing, however, is to be invited out by a "geek or nerd", and to a rather shallow high school person, that can flatten one's self-confidence in no time, let me tell you.

However, years later when we attend our 20 year high school reunion, the "in-crowd" folks are almost invariably the ones who have become fat and bald, and are working as a mechanic in the local service station. Or they're married to the guy who became fat and bald. Meanwhile, the "geeks and nerds" have blossomed into amazing people. Have you ever noticed that? It's almost a cliché. In the movie "Pretty in Pink", we just knew Duckie was going to become "über cool". Meanwhile, Steff, the bad boy -- and definitely the leader of the "in-crowd" -- has turned into William Shatner.

But, high school is a world of its own, and most of us are able to pass through it safely, somehow acquiring an education and not embarrassing ourselves too much in the process. And if we can survive the joys and heartbreaks as well, perhaps we can look back at those years as being -- at the very least -- not entirely unpleasant.

Is It Just Me....?

Is it just me, or are other people having difficulty posting comments on some blogs. I notice the blogs where I have the most difficulty are the blogs that have the option of posting a comment "embedded below post", rather than the "full page" option. If you have the "embedded below post" option and the "word verification" option chosen on your blog, you may be missing comments -- lots of them -- because the combination of the two options does not seem to like comments. It will invariably say "your comment cannot be posted", and the commentor has to try a second and sometimes a third time.

The "full page" option is much easier, more convenient and it has the added benefit of displaying the commentor's avatar. The "embedded below post" option does not post the commentor's avatar. Don't you think it's more fun to actually see everyone? I sure do...


If you go into "Settings", "Comment", "Comment Form Placement", you will see where you can choose the option of "full page". Now, please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. If you prefer the "embedded below post" option, well, that's your choice. But keep in mind that by choosing that option, together with "word verification", you may be losing comments, because often people give up after the second try, or even the first try.


And then, of course, there is "blog approval" which to me is just another hurdle, but some folks seem to prefer having that option on their blog. I always wonder, "Will I be approved?" and I wait with baited breath...

I have had so many wonderful visitors to my blog, and there are new people every day. I enjoy going back to visit all of you, but sometimes I am not sure if my comment has even been posted. I wonder how many other people visit you, but are unable to post a comment. Has anyone else had this problem, or is it just me...?

Our Little Lives

Two larger than life icons of the 1970s and 1980s are gone in one day. Is there any more proof of how fragile and fleeting life can be? How many of us wasted time today, fretting and fussing over inconsequential things? "Miss So-and-So" took too long for lunch; "Mr. Such-a-Body" was rude to someone on the bus; oh, drat, I have to pay the phone bill and the hydro bill -- again... In the alternative, how many of us take pleasure in the fact that we can simply walk down the street, enjoy the fresh summer air and look at the gardens as we stroll by. And at the end of the day we can wash our faces, brush our teeth, and climb into our warm, cozy beds. Most of us don't really appreciate these ordinary, day-to-day things but they are -- in fact -- miracles. These folks will never experience those things, ever again.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

... Prospero, "The Tempest", by William Shakespeare

Enjoy your lives, cherish your family and friends, appreciate all the things you have -- no matter what their value. And remember to value yourself too, because you really are unique -- one of a kind.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

... Oscar Wilde

The Centipede

This guy was lonely and so he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion he finally bought a centipede, which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box home, found a good location for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar for a drink. So he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Frank's place with me and have a beer?" But there was no answer from his new pet.

This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to the bar and having a drink with me?" But again there was no answer from his new pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation.

He decided to ask him one more time. This time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a drink with me?"

A little voice came out of the box: "I heard you the first time ! I'm putting my #%^&*@# shoes on!"

Oops

I notice from my list of followers that two people have removed themselves as of today, and I do apologize if my last post or the painting on it offended anyone. It was meant to be fun, and not -- provoking -- in any way. I value everyone who reads my boring little blog.

Anyway, I do apologize if anyone was offended...

*sigh*

Oh, well, it's all in good fun. Have a fabulous evening, everyone!

Skinny-Dipping In The Silly Season

Yesterday was the first day of summer, and the silly season is officially here. The Guinness World Records Organization has just created a new category for the largest number of people simultaneously skinny-dipping. "In conformance with the stated rules of The Guinness World RecordsTM Organization, all participants to be counted must be completely nude during the skinny-dip. In addition, and as with all Guinness World Records events, all record attempts will be witnessed by a designated 'member in standing' of the local community."

On July 11th at 12:00, "the largest skinny-dip Across North America" will be held at Crescent Rock Beach in South Surrey. You can read more about it here. And no, I won't be participating. Anyway, it's all in good fun.

I think everyone should have the experience of skinny-dipping at least once in their lives. When we were kids, we used to skinny-dip at this swimming hole in the Englishman River on Vancouver Island. Due to a weird anomaly of the weather, the town where I grew up is often the hottest place in Canada during the summer months, and is definitely the hottest place on Vancouver Island, getting up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and more. So there was nothing salacious about skinny-dipping, we just thought it felt so much better to go sans bathing suits.

Well, I wish them luck with their attempt to set a world record for skinny-dipping on July 11th. I have a feeling they will have a lot of fun ... and I wonder if it will make the 6:00 news.

Bearing False Witness

Gossip
Edmund Blair Leighton
1881

I have recently been witness to a group of people who have been involved in a situation of gossip and heresay. Have you ever played the parlor game where one person will say something, and then pass it on to the next, and so on, and so on, and by the time it has reached the last person, the original message has taken on a whole different story? It's a lot of fun, and worth a giggle. In real life? Not so much. In real life, gossip based on heresay ruins friendships and reputations, and destroys lives.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour" ... Exodus. 20:16

The people involved in this gossip are good people -- in fact they are regular church-going people (which I am not) -- so they understand the ninth commandment and the concept of bearing false witness. And yet, they are so sure of the facts, they repeat the gossip and hearsay, regardless of whether or not they could swear an oath that the facts are true. And believe me, sometimes even people's own eyes can deceive them. Ask any lawyer or prosecutor about eye witness statements in court.

An article in Canadian Psychology Vol. 42(2), May 2001, p. 92-100 states that "Case studies, and more recently DNA testing in the US, have shown that mistaken eyewitness identification is responsible for more wrongful convictions than all other causes combined."

And yet people will continue to pass on gossip and heresay, based on something they insisted they saw "with their own eyes" -- and they were wrong.

"Have you heard...?" "Everyone is talking about..." "But I saw it..."

If you ever find yourself in this shark feeding frenzy situation, stop and take a deep breath. Think with your intelligence, rather than with your emotions. Don't allow yourself to be caught up in the mêlée. Usually there are repercussions, and in the long term they are very seldom in the favor of the those who are perpetrating the gossip.