Dreaming...

I recently came across an interesting quote, attributed to Gloria Steinem...

"Dreaming is, after all, a form of planning."

I had never thought of it that way...

I'm thankful that, as a child, I had time to day-dream and to do my own thing. There were very few planned activities in the villages where I spent my earliest childhood years. Our family attended church and I probably attended Sunday school, but my only memory of either was a candlelight Christmas service when I sat with  older kids in the dimly lit church. (So exciting being with the "big kids.")

Later, living in the larger town of Red Deer, Alberta, my best friend Jean and I regularly attended Friday night movies.

My most vivid movie memories were of war-time Europe and exotic tropical places ("Island in the Sun"). Novels I read also made me curious about the world.

So it's probably no surprise that I headed overseas when I was 19 - to discover what was over there - and later moved across the continent to live and work in Montreal, where I hoped to become fluent in French.

Childhood dreams prepared me for the path I eventually took. Those dreams unknowingly became my plans.

Indomitable Love of Learning

In her retirement, my mother looked for ways to stay mentally sharp. 

While still living in Kelowna, she took computer classes at the public library. She did not want to fall technologically behind! 

She also joined the Seniors' Centre, where she took other courses. Somewhere in the house, I have two paintings she made in an art class. I also found a story she wrote in a course on writing about your life. I wish she had written more, but I'm thankful to have her account of the excitement that erupted in the Village of Hay Lakes when news arrived that the Second World War was over. 

Even in her 80's and 90's - after moving here to Ottawa - she stayed socially and mentally alert, forming a Scrabble group that met in her apartment several afternoons a week to play Scrabble.

Did she also form a trivia game group? I don't know - but I recently came across a thick folder containing pages of trivia questions... 

It would be something she would have done!

Learning About Kangaroos

On my virtual walk along a coastal road in eastern Australia, I've reached the natural habitat of kangaroos ...

I was surprised to learn several facts about these animals. First, that there are different kinds of kangaroos - different sizes. 

(Much like we here in eastern Canada have different kinds if squirrels... Sitting on a Montreal park bench one day, I noticed that the brown and white squirrels in the park were about 30% larger than the squirrels in our neighbourhood. That's a significant difference!)

The second surprising fact was that kangaroos can swim - in fact, they are surprisingly good swimmers.

The third surprising fact was that, if threatened in the water by an animal like a dog, they use their upper limbs to push the animal's head under water to drown it! 

Wow! I had never heard that before!

(Makes me realize how little I know!)

Mall Walking

Ottawa hosts a lot of races over the summer. I've never participated in any - but, a few weeks ago, my grandkids and their parents did a 1K walk in support of the local children's hospital. 

I'm interested in another walking competition as well - not because I plan to participate or because I know any of the participants - but because a local man who just turned 100 will be competing for the first time. In fact, they had to create a new age category for him!

Like me (and my mother before me), he is an avid mall walker.

To me, that's exciting! Not saying that mall walking is a sport - or that it's as healthy as walking in the great outdoors...

(Though it might be!) 

But it definitely keeps you active and in shape... in case you decide to walk in a 5K race, even if you're 100!

Year of the Horse

Terry often asks me what I learned walking in the mall that day.

Well, yesterday I discovered that the new Chinese year is ... the year of the horse. 

Online some call it the year of the "fire horse"...

Not sure what all that means... but the sign nearby calls it a symbol of strength, freedom and success... All good things!

Winter Puzzle Time

Cold winter days bring on the urge to do jigsaw puzzles. 

This one has bright colours and flowers - just what I need to brighten my indoor days.

There is a certain thrill at watching the pieces come together.

I remember, as a child, starting puzzles on the dining room table - where our family ate only on rare occasions. 

There was no need to rush a puzzle.

One of my uncles, now in his 90's, and his wife still enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles in the evening. They buy puzzles of places they have visited. Over the years, they have collected quite a few.

When the puzzle is done, it's framed and hung in their basement or garage - a reminder of their travels - and of the winter evenings they put the pieces together.

An Interesting Play

A few weeks ago, I attended a play put on by kids at a theatre school here in the city. It ran for four nights at the Shenkman Arts Centre, in Ottawa's east end.

A colleague of my son's had co-written and also acted in the drama.

I was very impressed!

How fortunate we are - here in Ottawa - to have opportunities like this for "kids" - young and old - to follow their dreams on stage!

If I Were a Farmer...

When my parents met, my father was renting a farm near New Serepta, Alberta and my mother was a teacher in a one-room country school nearby.

My father enjoyed farming, and may well have remained a farmer - but my mother vetoed the idea, knowing how hard farmers have to work - no days off! 

So, at her insistence, they moved into town. 

But I sometimes wonder how different my life would have been - what knowledge and skills would I have gained - had I grown up on a farm?

That was the thought that crossed my mind recently when I saw smoke blowing across a farmer's field.

(Or was it steam?!)

Both my parents could look out on any field they were passing - and know exactly what the crop was that was growing there...

What was the farmer doing? I have no idea... They would probably have known - but I see nothing recognizable ... (though I do notice a yellow sky!)

Sometimes I grieve that earthy farming knowledge lost to me.

Learning...

Small town fairs are special... The whole community gets involved.

The town where my grandchildren attend school has a fair with a number of events that the school children are encouraged to participate in.

I'm not sure of the details, but my grandson, in first grade, told me that he and his classmates had colored pictures that would be on display.

My granddaughter, in grade 4, decided to make a castle. She worked very hard on it. 

I happened to see it on the dining room table - a few days before she was to take it to school.

That evening, while I was still there, she discovered that it was a little bigger than what was allowed. The castle itself fell under the 12 inch limit for width, length and height - but the base, with its little duck pond and garden of pumpkins, made the scene too big. It would be disqualified...

What now?!

Wails of shock and disappointment followed. She was ready to toss it into the garbage... But her parents stopped her.

You have two choices, her father said: You can be proud of your beautiful castle - and enjoy it here at home - and not submit it to be judged. Nothing wrong with that. It's a beautiful work of art.

Or you could think about how you could change it to make it smaller.

At this point, I had to leave... It was time to head home.

All the way home, I wondered what she would do. 

Later, her mother told me that she had made it fit the required dimensions by putting the pumpkin patch inside the castle courtyard, and by moving the duck pond.

I didn't see the final project that she took to school.

But I did see the instagram post her mother shared.

I'm happy she won... But I'm even happier that, when faced with disappointment, she didn't give up. What an important lesson to learn!

More Labyrinths

Last winter I became interested in labyrinths...

I had seen them before - but they never caught my imagination. Now I like to visit as many as I can.

I searched for "Ottawa labyrinths" online and discovered that there are quite a few in our community... enough to keep me busy for a while. I'd like to visit them all!

So a few days ago, Terry and I drove half an hour away to a "quiet garden" in the nearby town of Richmond - to St. John the Baptist Anglican Church...

The church here was built in the 1800's...

Wandering through the garden , I found not one, but two labyrinths. 

One looks much older than the other. It's quite a bit smaller, and needs some tidying up to make it easy to follow. 

Crushed rock has covered the brick in a few places. 

I walked them both.

This is the newer, larger one - a path of bricks in grass. It's well maintained.

I'm curious to know when they were built in this quiet garden between the church and its cemetery - and why. 

What motivated people to take the time - and the effort - to create them? That's something I'm interested to know...

Good Exercise? Or a Waste of Time?!

My father's life changed when he was given  a Rubik's Cube for Christmas one year.

He played with it several times daily, messing up the symmetry, then solving the puzzle. It was his daily (mental) exercise... his dessert after every meal.

He was surprised to discover that his memory started improving, as people and events from the past came back to him. He was thrilled! He got us all Rubik's Cubes and encouraged us to try - but none of us caught his fervour.

Fast forward 30 years... on our recent flight out  west, I noticed my granddaughter playing a free online game she had downloaded: Sorting bolts by colour. It looked interesting. I tried it and found it challenging ... and fun! In these hot summer days, when I  have so little energy, I've continued to play it daily...

Is my memory improving? I don't think so. The only thing I've noticed is a sore wrist!

Wasps!

Our family has had numerous run-ins with wasps ... usually in outdoor eating spaces.

But the most traumatic was when our daughter was our granddaughter's age. Running barefoot in the grass, she accidentally stepped on a wasps' nest... And they all came after her!

Wanting to avoid more such wasp encounters, Terry offered to help our son get rid of a large hive hanging next to his front door.

It was a stealth operation - in the dark.

We drove over as the sun was setting - a red ball in the smoky sky.

I brought along my "bug jacket" - with face mask - for Terry to wear. Extra protection, should he need it.

(I actually wear this while gardening if mosquitoes hover around!) 

Throughout the operation, I sat indoors, by the window, while Terry and our son did what they set out to do, spray bottles and flashlights in hand. 

I must confess that I didn't rest easy until the now-quiet wasps nest was knocked into a garbage container (with a shovel) - a few days later.

My Walking Progress

I'm doing a virtual walk across the USA on Route 66.

Since starting this virtual challenge last summer, I've walked over 1900 km! (Five to seven kilometres a day does add up!)

 

The first half of the route was pretty flat - from Chicago to west Texas. Now I'm approaching the west coast mountains, according to the topological map.

I've reached the 52% mark on Route 66 - still in Texas, but getting close to New Mexico.

I'm looking forward to scenic roads ahead!

Indoor Labyrinth Experience

Last Saturday, I attended a Lenten "Quiet Day"  at a neighborhood church. I like to take time to PAUSE and REFLECT from time to time - so this seemed like a perfect opportunity...

One of the things I enjoy about guided "Quiet Days" is that I have no control over the agenda. I just participate - and see what the day brings me, in my thoughts and reflections.

One of the events I was looking forward to on this "Quiet Day" was a talk about labyrinths - together with an opportunity to meditatively walk on an indoor one.

Labyrinths have long been a mystery to me. I encountered my first one at the Chartres Cathedral in France many years ago. (I later regretted not taking the guided tour of the cathedral, to help me understand what labyrinths were all about.) 

I've walked through two labrinths since then - both on my own. One was in the grounds of a convent in Toronto. The other next to Almonte's St. Paul's Anglican Church. Neither experience was exceptional to me in any way.

 

This time, there was a brief introductory talk about labyrinths - then an opportunity to enter, walk to the center, stay as long as you want,  then take the same circuitous path out. The presenter suggested first pausing at the entrance to silently pray.

We were about 20 people, so the presenter suggested we leave a meter between us as we walked at our own speed. She also explained how to overtake or pass people on the path. It was all to be done in a quiet respectful way.

I was the second to enter. I paused, then looked down and followed the path. The blue-green-purple of the painted canvas labryinth made it "heavenly" to walk through. I remember thinking, as people passed nearby on different paths - that we were all on a different journey, and at a different place in life. There was no obvious "beginning" or "end" - as in a racetrack. We were all moving along, doing our own thing - but doing it together. We were not alone in this "dance" of life - but companions - each on our own path.

The experience left me with a lot of comfort and joy.

Throw It Down - and Hope For the Best!

I wish you could get off work early, I told my older son. Dad and I are going to watch Ivy's last curling session. You're the only one in the family who was ever on a school curling team.

Yeah, I wish I could come. But at her age [8], there isn't much strategy... Don't they just throw it down and hope for the best? he replied.

Isn't that what all curlers do? I asked... Even adults? Even the professionals?!

I guess so, he replied. But if you look at it that way, isn't that what ALL LIFE is about: YOU THROW IT DOWN - AND HOPE FOR THE BEST?!

Hmmm. Curling: a perfect metaphor for life...