Energy, Enthusiasm, Generosity

All great virtues.

I have been browsing in a book that sits by my bedside, 'Being Generous - The Art of Right Living', and I thought I would like to post my thoughts on this very vibrant quality of life.

However I am weary tonight, and lacking in the spirit it would take to do this subject justice.

But all is not lost.

I keep Longfellow handy, and his poem 'A Psalm of Life' has been lanquishing on the dining room table, sending me signals as my enthusiasm has waned with the dastardly deed Jack Frost performed, three nights running.... stealing that beautiful few weeks we call Indian Summer, when the trees are brilliant with colour, and leaving in its place a landscape of saddened shades, as if they had all been dipped in an iron mordent. The scarlet maples. their leaves touched with frost, dry and ready to drop, are pale shades of their usual splendour.

And yet, how can I complain and not appreciate the melancholy earthy colours that transform the trees and bushes? And the sparkle of the ice in the orchards where the farmers had left their sprinklers on for protection.



But it was dispiriting, and I pick up the Psalm of Life and read it over, and will it to transfer its enthusiasm to my soul.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

and then the last verse, stirs the spirit and sparks the soul!

Let us then be up and doing,
with a heart for any fate'
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

ABC Wednesday

M is for Mandolin



A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family (plucked, or strummed). It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille like the Baroque era mandolins.[from Wikipedia)

A great instrument for Blue Grass music...

Give a listen to 'Whiskey before Breakfast' and set your toes a-tapping....



For more great M's visit ABC Wednesday here. with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt.

Jack Frost
By C.E. Pike

Look out! Look out!
Jack Frost is about!|
He’s after our fingers and toes;
And all through the night,
The gay little sprite
Is working where nobody knows.

He’ll climb each tree,
So nimble is he,
His silvery powder he’ll shake.
To windows he’ll creep
And while we’re asleep
Such wonderful pictures he’ll make.

Across the grass
He’ll merrily pass,
And change all its greenness to white.
Then home he will go
And laugh ho, ho ho!
What fun I have had in the night.

The young sprite dropped in for a sleep-over last night, but he must have got restless and wandered outside with his icy wand, frolicking around the garden and the neighbour's sprinkler line.

The Weatherman has been forecasting his visit for the last few days, so he didn't arrive unexpectedly. A couple of days ago I gathered up the geraniums and potted them, and now they sit on the window sill in the big bathroom, preparing to brighten up November, which is the gloomiest of months.



I picked the roses and the green tomatoes and brought them in to safety.

Nevertheless the Frosty Fellow did a job on the tenderest of my annuals, the nasturtiums. They were a lovely big pot of round green leaves with bright oranges and reds and yellows peeping out between the greenery.



Now they have been completely devastated....



Around the corner and up the hill where the neighbour had her sprinklers running Jack left a frosty fairyland glistening in the morning sun. It stayed this way all day as I believe the rascal has just wandered off a little way to sleep in the sunshine and will be back tonight to see what other mischief he can stir up.



It is too soon. The Chrysanthemums have still not bloomed, there are apples to be picked and a lot of fall work to attend to. Hopefully this will be just a 'touch of Frost' and he will be on his way, back up the mountain where he is supposed to be painting leaves and doing other creative things that bring pleasure from afar..

Skywatch Friday
October 9th, 2009

Here's the moon in the morning..



and the moon at night.....



and in between 'nothing but blue skies all day long.......'




From the Similkameen, October 5th, 2009.

For wonderful and interesting sky pictures visit Skywatch Friday here.

ABC Wednesday

L is for Lily


"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they toil not, neither do they spin.
And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 26:28







Lilies from the garden that we LOVED and LOST and still remember with LASTING LOYALTY.

The Regal Lily, beside a sweet granddaughter, grew beneath our bedroom window, and its fragrance was rich and heavy and slumberous.

Stop over at ABC Wednesday here and see what other wonderful things L stands for.

She who has gone, so we but cherish her memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (with some liberties).

Dorothy Emily Grace
Born Feb. 16th 1902, died October 4th, 1957

One of the first memories I have of my Mother is of her singing 'Ramona' as she swept the kitchen floor.

To be honest I did truly remember this when I was younger. Now, I remember that I remembered it, but it still fills me with loving memories when I hear the song.

I cannot say enough about the courage with which she faced life, or the spirit which kept her sweet and loving and unselfish to the end. A lady of immense courage and bravery, she bore a painful and sometimes agonizing illness with an accepting heart.

To the world and to her friends she showed a warm and loving spirit, - always encouraging, always providing an inspiration to those who found life's burdens troublesome and came to her for cheering.

She has been a light to lighten our lives, - mine and my sister's, and hopefully through us she has touched our families with her ever loving courage.

A date to go driving

A couple of weeks ago while we were out for a picture taking drive Charles and I looked speculatively at the Cawston Basin, and the groves of deciduous trees that had not yet turned colour, but were on the verge.

We figured a couple of 85 year old could maneuver a trip up the old logging road in the 4x4! At the beginning of the week we eyed the calendar and the state of the aspens on the hillside, and made a date for Thursday morning, come what may....

Some of the children looked askance at this adventurous plan, but we poohpooed any objections.

We packed the necessities, including an axe and an axe sharpener in case a tree came down behind us (always thinking). And the other necessities, - coffee and cookies, - and off we went.

Charles is familiar with this road, - nay, Charles is intimate with this road....
Fifty year's ago he piloted a logging truck down its steep slopes, around its narrow corners, and over its rocky outcroppings.

As we traveled he offered comments, - 'this is where we started watering the brakes, to keep them from getting too hot' and 'this is where M.. turned over a load of logs down a steep slope'. 'We are coming to a narrow part of the road, through the trees, that was always icy in the winter' - he knew that road like the back of his hand, so to speak.

Charles was surprised at what good shape the 'road' was in, - to his way of thinking. We climbed through the trees, rumbled over the rocks and eventually came to a clearing where we could look down and see the valley below us.





Onward and upward, through shady groves with moss encrusted trees and old stumps full of doorways to the homes of squirrels and birds.





We left the trees behind and came out into the open hillside. Across the valley
the tops of the far off mountains of the Coast Range were visible, and down through the cut of the valley and up the Ashnola there were more brilliant colours.






Behind us the glowing grove of deciduous trees we watch for, miles away at home, loomed splendidly, right at our elbow!



We stopped for coffee and to get the glasses out to pick out familiar spots in the valley below.



Renewed and refreshed we carried on across the open hillside, the road gradually petering out into range land for the local ranchers.

We turned for home and passed a few cows, a dozen bluebirds, two chipmunks and some amazingly quick squirrels. We came to a rocky part of the road where the combination of water and the roots of a rambunctious fir tree had forced great blocks of stone to rise from the ground around the tree.



We went through a sheltered spot where once upon a time, a great many years ago. our flock of 30 sheep spent the winter after they were enticed up the mountain on a clear moonlit night by the rising warmth of the air (as explained to us by an old shepherd). It snowed in the night, and although Charles and the boys looked for days they seemed to have disappeared over the mountain.

The following spring I was washing breakfast dishes when the ram came trotting down the hillside with the remnants of the ewes and a few spring lambs, heading straight for the barn, - an epiphianic moment. (don't look up the word, - it is made up, mine alone...) Charles found wool in the grove where they sheltered, while out hunting.

Down the road we went, the 4x4 finding it a much more relaxing trip. Through colourful bushes, delicate aspens, gazing at the beautiful hillsides all around us.







It is such a dear and splendid valley, and I was spilling over with gratitude for the opportunity to enjoy its beauty, - and in such good company, too.

Sky Watch Friday



Satin Ribbons in Similkameen Skies

For wonderful skies from all over the world visit Sky Watch Friday here.

ABC Wednesday

K is for Kaleidoscope



"A kaleidoscope is a tube of mirrors containing loose colored beads, pebbles or other small colored objects. The viewer looks in one end and light enters the other end, reflecting off the mirrors. Typically there are two rectangular lengthwise mirrors. Setting of the mirrors at 45° creates eight duplicate images of the objects, six at 60°, and four at 90°. As the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the colored objects presents the viewer with varying colors and patterns. Any arbitrary pattern of objects shows up as a beautiful symmetric pattern because of the reflections in the mirrors. A two-mirror model yields a pattern or patterns isolated against a solid black background, while a three-mirror (closed triangle) model yields a pattern that fills the entire field".

extracted from a great article on Kaleidoscopes by Evad that can be accessed here.

If you would like to make your own 'hold-in-the-hand-and-up-to-the-eye' Kaleidoscope you can find instructions here.



Kids of all ages love them, - go ahead and make one or two, or a dozen!



And if you would like to have fun creating a virtual kaleidoscope, here is the place to go.

Visit ABC Wednesday to see what other intriguing things K stands for by clicking here.

Early Morning Visitors



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A Note to Myself on Keeping Centered

I have a passion for notebooks, and while browsing through some of last year's pages I came across this note to myself..... (I do that often too, - another quirk)

Nov. 7, 2008

"Alas, the passage of the years eventually diminishes our powers in so many way;

Physically, we are dismayed by the things we can't do easily anymore. Squeeze the toothpaste, open jars, skip down steps - the list is never ending and worse, far worse, for those who have lost their mobility.

Mentally, how frustrating that we have forgotten things that once were filed away so neatly. What is it that makes the file drawer stick??? How sad that some memories are lost to us, - even those of us who are fortunate enough to retain pretty well all our faculties -

And control - tell me about control! When did the loop of influence become so tiny that it contains only the two of us, Charles and I - and sometimes I wonder about how much influence I have with C? (He probably wonders too, about his sphere of influence) Well, how do you deal with the stress this causes?

When you see a situation arising and you fear the outcome, but you can do nothing about it - how do you handle the anxiety and the feeling of powerlessness??

(note: how about one of the revived World War Two
poster quotes 'Keep Calm and Carry On')

Oh, when did my prayers change from "please Lord, make everything right" to "Thy way not mine, and bestow on me the grace of acceptance and the power to cope."

Spiritually, - ah, spiritually. I was late questioning the childhood beliefs. Faith was a fierce force in my childhood home.

For a while it was a bumpy road - belief lost and found, and now I am intrigued with the 'spiritual brain' and its relation to 'the mind'. Learning all I can about how the predominance of either side of the brain affects our personality, our character, the way we view life and how we cope with it.

Now the question is how to stay focused on the diminished possibilities of a life limited by these losses of power; how to embrace a feeling of contentment.

How to live quietly within the smaller circle, appreciating each moment, relinquishing the struggle, cultivating humour. If not accepting, at least tolerating with some effort at understanding the changing mores of new generations.

How to stay centered on the important and the possible, - the cherished loves, the gratitude for all the blessings we have received, the happy companionship that has been the result of long years together....."

And here my musings ended. Something must have distracted me... but down at the bottom of the page are the encircled words 'Nano scaffolding'

Nano scaffolding, - the newly discovered science of "using polymer-based biodegrable fibres, 100 times smaller than a human hair, and re-engineering them to create a unique 3-D scaffolding that could potentially allow stem cells to repair damaged nerves in the human body more quickly and effectively."

Perhaps that was what distracted me as I think of the possibilities this might hold for the post-polio deadened nerves in Charles' feet, as well as the immense hope it holds out to spine and brain damaged individuals.

So I say to myself - stay positive, don't get fragmented, centre your life on love and kindness and optimism and gratitude, and remember the importance of living in the present.

WOW - a little philosophy for old age!!

I am out in the garden early this morning, determined to clear the spot where these pretty double pink tulip bulbs lie buried under a great mound of violet leaves. The plant bears no flowers, and I am confounded as to where it has come from and how completely it has taken over every bit of space between the legitimate flowers. There are tiny purple violets blooming next to it, behaving as all sweet fragranced violets should. I will have to google it....

After digging up the roots I carefully remove the dirt from around them and rescue dozens of bulbs of all sizes. Tomorrow's job will be to plant them in the freshly prepared soil.

The morning is still cool and I would like to continue my partnership with the shovel, but I am getting tired and it is getting close to coffee time. And so I go and find my coffee partner and warn him of impending refreshments.

We sit on the back steps and chat about where in heaven's name the curtain rod accessories could have gone, and how goes it with the sharpening of the rototiller.

Charles is facing east, and suddenly he draws my attention to the blue sky and an eagle circling above the hills. I run for the camera, - he is still there when I return, searching for an updraft to take him far into the sky.



Before he finds it I am able to take a quick picture, and then he is off and out of sight in the twinkling of an eye. What a great gift to see this lovely bird soaring, and I thank Charles for his quick eye.

Coffee and muffins finished, I gather up the tray and go into the house to make apple crisp from the windfall Macintosh I gathered first thing this morning, - mmmm delicious!

SkyWatch Friday

Sometimes sunrise comes so suddenly here in the Similkameen, and changes so quickly, that if you happen to be slicing up a banana or have your head in the pantry you have missed the whole spectacular act.....

A few days ago I was lucky enough to catch it.

The Dawning



6.27 a.m.



6.28 in the southeastern sky



6.29 a.m.



6.30 a.m.



6.31 a.m.



The day ended with a moody kind of sky.....



To see more sky scenes go here, and enjoy sites/sights from all over the world.

ABC Wednesday

J is for JUPITER



JUPITER - King of the Roman Gods; the God of Sky and Thunder and the God who ruled over Law and Order.

Oh where is he now when we so badly need him.

And then there is JUPITER, the largest planet in our skies. Two and one half times as large as all the rest of the planets put together, and three times the diameter of Earth.

Jupiter is a Gaseous body, as are Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together they are referred to as the Jovian Planets.

The gas on Jupiter is mainly hydrogen, with about one quarter helium and a rocky core.

There is a Great Red Spot on Jupiter, - a giant storm which has been raging since at least the 17th century when it was first discovered.

Just recently, in July of this year, Jupiter was hit by another body, causing a large dark spot on the surface of the planet estimated to be the length of Europe and Asia.

Sixty three moons circle Jupiter. The four largest are called the Galilean Moons, after Galileo, who discovered them.



Here is Jupiter, with these Galilean Moons, as photographed by Cameron Ladmore.

Darkness comes early in the evening, as we pass the Equinox. To the south, midway in the sky above K Mountain, Jupiter shines like a giant headlight, easily the brightest object in the sky and it will remain so until the end of the year.

Wikipedia has tons of information about both these mighty Jupiters...

See what else J stands for by going here to ABC Wednesday.