“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have.”
― Howard Thurman
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Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways’
Finding the Path
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on July 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s News
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, home, technology, Thoughts on July 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »
(written 07/08/22)
Today I’m dealing with a new kind of challenge.
We have power, which I no longer take for granted. The microwave works, the computers work, the TV and stove and washing machine and lights all work, and for that I’m grateful.
Our components are all functioning. What isn’t working? The network that connects those components, and us, to the wider world.
We woke up, started the laundry and coffee and breakfast and booted up the work computers. Then? Nothing. No signal. I can work in my design program, for example, but I can’t deliver my project. I can’t check my email, log in at work or make calls (sorry Mom!).
Somebody at internet central did something and somehow it all went wrong. (The part of this equation that interests me the most is that apparently no one thought to ask, “What happens if this thing we’re about to do doesn’t work?”).
So today has been business as unusual. On the plus side? Another opportunity to appreciate all the technology, infrastructure, and other amenities that we typically take for granted.
And while I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to post this today (spoiler alert: nope), my target was to write every day. Goal achieved.
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Note from the future: it wasn’t just us, here, it was every Rogers customer, everywhere.
Rogers outage shows need for Plan B when wireless, internet services fail, analysts say | CBC News
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I Need A Minute
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, happiness, inspiration, Thoughts, yay on July 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The post I was working on for today is taking too long. I’ll get back to it later but for now, I give you (drum roll please) Chris Evans with puppies!
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Also Magic
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, getting wild, inspiration, magic, nature, yay on July 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
It’s firefly season* again, and I am there for it.
- Billions of Fireflies Light Up an Indian Wildlife Reserve in Rare Footage Captured by Sriram Murali (The images are pretty astonishing.)
- When Will The Fireflies Light Up Your Back Yard? – Farmers’ Almanac
Fireflies as a species are under pressure but there’s a lot we can do to help them. Short version: Turn off the lights and get (your yard) a little wild.
Tonight, dim the lights. Find the darkest patch of green you see. If it has tall grass and lush, moist undergrowth, even better. Wait.
Do you see it? That yellow-green flash of light? Bioluminescence, they say.
Yes.
Also magic.
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* To be fair, June is actually prime time for firefly mating in most areas but given good weather and habitat they can be seen throughout the summer.
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Book Women
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, books, inspiration, learning@lunch, librarians, women, women in history on July 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I love a lot of things, including the Works Progress Administration, kick-ass ladies, secret histories, and libraries. This story combines all of the above and more. How cool is it that?
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Kentucky’s Horse-Riding Librarians | The Kid Should See This
Between 1935 and 1943, the initiative employed around 1,000 book women as mobile librarians. Paid less than a dollar a day, they traveled up to 120 miles a week on mule or horseback over rugged mountains and through fast-flowing creeks in all types of weather… In just one year they reached 50,000 families and 155 rural schools. But book women did more than just leave books on people’s porches…
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A Marvelous Victory
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Howard Zinn, Thoughts on July 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Happy birthday, America! Here’s to remembering our hopes and building our dreams.
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
― Howard Zinn
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A Walk in the Woods
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, around the world, summer, Thailand, Writers, writing on July 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
We had waffles, watched a race, went for a walk and generally enjoyed a beautiful, lazy summer’s day. Now somehow it’s time for dinner so I’ll leave you with a brief excerpt from a stroll in the woods, once upon a time in Thailand.
Chang Mai—Jungle Trek
A rutted dirt road led from the parking lot through a stand of tall trees. The road quickly narrowed to a track that led past a small facilities building, scattered picnic areas, and into denser woods. A huge centipede scurried past my sandals and exposed toes, making it clear that Thais eat such creatures for their size, not their beauty. After this apparition I had no trouble keeping my eyes open. An unexpected benefit of being alert was that I found an amulet someone had lost on the trail. The guidebook had mentioned that Thais always carry at least one amulet with them wherever they go, and I’d made a note to look for one in the market as a token of the visit. Presto, there it was. I hope it wasn’t the owner’s only protection.
Good luck charm in hand, we wound our way along the stream bed as the sound of crashing water grew louder. The little valley opened up, the sun broke through the tree tops, and a waterfall appeared. The impressive thing about it wasn’t so much its height, which was hard to gauge through the trees, but its power.
A pool carved out at the fall’s base and the mist all over my clothes and the trees attested to the water’s strength and the abundant runoff in this waterlogged part of the country. The trail around the pool had gone muddy from the mist and visitors’ feet, giving me what was to be the first of many intimate moments with Thai muck. I had no idea how familiar I was to become with that red earth over the next day and a half.
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Not Too Small
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, change, inspiration, Thoughts on July 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
— the Dalai Lama
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Happy Canada Day, Canada!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Canada Day, inspiration, poetry, Writers, writing, yay on July 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
It is Canada Day today and I am wearing a red and white beaver shirt and my Tilley hat and we’ve just come back from a long walk through the wild and glorious suburbs of Ottawa. Now I’m going to use the strawberry syrup I made from local berries for a strawberry lime freeze because it is hot and muggy.
I’ll leave you with the start of a poem about this great country; click through the link to read more.
Canada by Billy Collins | Poetry Foundation
I am writing this on a strip of white birch bark
that I cut from a tree with a penknife.
There is no other way to express adequately
the immensity of the clouds that are passing over the farms
and wooded lakes of Ontario and the endless visibility
that hands you the horizon on a platter…
While we’re on the subject of poetry, I discovered the Poetry Atlas, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Navigate to your favorite locale to find an associated poem, like these about Canada:
Poems about: canada – Poetry Atlas
O Canada!
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World Awake
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, home, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
We rose early. At 5:30 the world was quiet, not just because of the hour but because a heavy blanket of grey fog covered the neighborhood. Houses across the street loomed in the haze, their trees mere outlines.
The fog is almost gone now but the grey sky remains, a low ceiling that dampens sound. The birds don’t mind. A family of grackles is flitting from back yard to front, jays and finches and robins visit for a bath, and a pair of mourning doves make themselves at home on the stonework. The plants don’t mind either. Yellow tickseed flowers stand open and bright yellow even without the sun. And now, a slight breeze whispers through the maple leaves.
The wider world awakes.
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