Posts Tagged ‘outdoors’

It’s 2020: What’s Next?

January 5, 2020
IMG_1845

It’s a Brand New Year

Digifish Music: Second Dawn

Prelude: You Must Expect It of Yourself!

In the pool area of my gym, the quote below is in huge letters superimposed over the picture of a swimmer looking directly at you with a knowing look in her eyes and saying:

“Before you can accomplish something, you must expect it of yourself.”

Maybe that’s the ticket for making New Year’s resolutions and actually keeping them. As I noticed a couple of days ago, the gym where I work out was very busy. As they say, the traffic will subside when people lose the motivation that prompted their “resolution list” and they stop coming to the gym on a regular basis.

If you read this blog, you know that I’m a big believer in fitness – all kinds, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It’s challenging, but really worth it in the long run. My goal this time is to throw some ideas your way, just to plant some good thoughts about what to expect of yourself this year.

Seriously, Woodie Guthrie?

I ran across this item, Woody Guthrie’s No Frills Doodle List-Filled List of 33 New Year’s Resolutions from 1943 and wanted to include it – you’ll find it both amusing and titillating. Guthrie’s 33 list of resolutions is impressive, some tongue in cheek, but others are right on:

  • Wash teeth if any
  • Listen to radio a lot
  • Learn people better
  • Love (4 occurrences)
  • Change socks (love that one)
  • Help win war
  • Wake up and fight
  • Dream good

After you see Woody’s list, you might want to check out the Open Culture web site offerings.

A Humorous Sidebar: Humorous Words

Not to distract you from our main goal, pondering our 2020 resolutions, this humorous Reader’s Digest item was too good not to share. Ignore the ads and enjoy!

A More Serious Item

I watched a program on public TV about N. Scott Momaday, the other night and found his ideas very thought-provoking. Here’s a quote from the program “The Man Made of Words”:

“Most of us have developed an attitude of indifference towards the land. We Americans must come to the moral comprehension of the earth and air. We must live according to the principle of a land ethic. The alternative  is that we shall not live at all.”

By the way, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, House Made of Dawn. I haven’t read it, but I plan to.

I can’t say that I’m an environmentalist, but I try to be aware of the small role I can play. The part of the country where I live just outlawed the use of plastic grocery bags. If you forget to bring your tote bags, you can buy paper bags for a nickel when you check out. At my house we recycle. Maybe it’s too little too late to undo the damage and save the earth, but you have to try. OK, so you can add that resolution to your list, “don’t forget your tote bag”.

One More “Preachy” Item

A parting shot before I wrap this up. I was watching a program about Tuscany the other night – why is it that public TV seems to be the only thing worth my time these days? Anyway, it was interesting, partly because it looks so beautiful, and I would like to go there.

By the way, the TV program is “Rick Steves Europe”, really well-produced show that provides travel information and history. In this segment they talked about the local history and culture and how it affects the citizens (or vice versa). They were in Siena, Italy, where they practice something called “passiegata”. This is a daily evening ritual where the locals walk around in the streets, visiting with friends, eating, and just relaxing. Notice I said walking, that’s right, no cars. One more comment in the Tuscany piece:

“A community ruled by a just government enjoys peace, prosperity, and is great place to raise your kids.”

FYI: Imprimis

I haven’t read all of these Imprimis publications, but I’ve read enough of them to raise my awareness level of important issues in our society and to make me want to learn more. This is the main link to the web site, you can pick and choose the specific publications of interest to you.

More Music and Pictures

The bridge pictures are NOT metaphorical, nah, of course not, too obvious. The clouds, well, you can draw your own conclusions. Bottom line is, I just like taking pictures, and sometimes they are symbolic. The music, yeah, kind of obvious, but I really like the movie.

Back to the Future: Main Theme (from the movie)

 

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Is it 2019 Yet?

December 31, 2018

Is Portland, Oregon weirder than Austin, Texas?

I watched a program on public TV the other day about Vortex I, a documentary about a 1970 event, really interesting and historic as it relates to the state of Oregon. I may have to do a follow-up blog about the Portland vs Austin question.

Thanks to Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society for the Vortex I web write-up.

It Is Still 2018?

Yes, as I put pen to paper (actually fingers to keyboard) drafting this post, probably my last post for the year, there is only a full day left in 2018 before the big ball drops in Times Square. No, I won’t be there, but I have a runner friend who lives in Oregon but really likes New York.

The first and only time I was in New York occurred when I was a teenager. I was with my oldest sister and her husband, and it was Christmas time. We did a lot of “tourist stuff”, went to Rockefeller Center with the big tree and the ice skaters. We also went to a supper club in mid-town Manhattan where Joan Rivers was performing. She was pregnant, and I thought her jokes were pregnant. Anyway, for a boy who had grown up in small-town Texas, New York was an amazing experience – from a town of less than 8,000 to New York City, walking down 5th Avenue where people were packed in practically elbow to elbow. The subway and Greenwich Village were fun too.

Was 2018 a Good Year for You?

For me, now winding down 2018. I can say that it has been a good year, possibly a great year, but I’m ready to move on to new challenges. When you get “older and wiser”, you tend to get philosophical (and more forgetful) about life. Hopefully, no matter what your age, if you look back and reflect on 2018, you will smile and say that it has been a hoot or an adventure or whatever, and you will look forward to 2019. There are two quotes, a Nelson Demille quote at the top of that page and a Hunter S. Thompson quote at the bottom in my Favorite Quotes post. In my opinion, those two quotes say it all.

What is the Meaning of Life?

If you are at all interested in the meaning of life or the purpose of life I’m suggesting that you read another Reader’s Digest article, to start you off on the right foot for 2019.

The excellent article, Maintain Your Purpose in Life, was written by David G. Allan.

If you’re old enough, you may remember that screensaver from many years ago, a weird red and green cartoon character, mouth open and tongue hanging out (captioned the “meaning of life”) that flitted around the computer screen daring you to click it with your mouse, and of course it always evaded you. Regardless of the implication suggested by the screensaver creator that it isn’t possible to figure it out, read Allan’s article and give it some thought, about your own purpose in life. For him it’s a yearly exercise, and he says that his answer changes over time. Don’t overthink it – the year he got engaged, Allan’s answer to the question was “Love”.

He also points out that this isn’t a theoretical exercise, you should turn your answer into action. If your answer is “love”, then you should love more.

Bottom line, there is no right answer, only what’s right for you at any given time. He talks about how studies have shown that people who have a specific purpose in life and can articulate it, live longer. He suggests that if you take the time to think about it and answer the question, it will in effect add meaning to your life.

Allan quotes some of the answers from famous people.

  • “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” (Albert Einstein)
  • “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” (Leo Tolstoy)
  • “There is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” (Anais Nin)

What’s Ahead – Foreshadowing my Blog for 2019

Stuff about good people and what they do. If you read my November blog, I included a link to Reader’s Digest stories. Every November Reader’s Digest publishes their America’s Nicest Places issue. A  couple of other interesting links for you:

Imprimis articles (of course)

Vietnam, my experiences and my observations about the war.

More about “Is Portland, Oregon weirder than Austin, Texas?”

Mindfulness, a continuation of my blog topic. A subject that keeps popping up in the media.

The Big Leap, a book by Gay Hendricks – I included the link in a November post, just boring “self-improvement” stuff. Kind of like meditation, it may require some effort on your part to realize the positive results.

Music and Pictures

Vivaldi, The Four Seasons (Winter)
Vivaldi, The Four Seasons (Spring)
Vivaldi, The Four Seasons (Summer)
Vivaldi, The Four Seasons (Autumn)

Some Parting Shots

I’ve mentioned my Daily Word readings – just a couple of recent ones to pass along that I thought were noteworthy.

December 29, 2018, “Love: It is my nature to extend love.”

“I recognize that forgiveness is easier than condemnation because forgiveness reflects the truth of who I am. God is perfect love and therefore so am I.”

A companion Bible verse, Ephesians 4:26: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

December 30, 2018: “Power: I am a spiritual being, bestowed with great power.”

“I align my thoughts with my highest good, envisioning health, abundance, love, and success.”

If you have been reading The Big Leap, the last sentence should remind you of Hendrick’s “universal success mantra” that he discusses in the book.

That’s it for 2018, see you next year.

 

 

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Lucky Gets Lucky

March 26, 2013

Sometimes, it’s just plain luck or timing that saves the moment. That’s the way it was that sultry, summer day in the river bottoms of southeast Texas. It started out peaceful enough, just a bunch of Boy Scouts on a field trip. Many of us, as you might expect from kids growing up in a small, one-horse town where the only source of amusement was a single indoor theater, a drive-in theater, and a couple of drive-ins (more like “drive-arounds”) with carhops no less, were lovers of nature.

At one point, there was also a bowling alley, but that burned to the ground a few years after it was built.

But it was a lucky day, especially for “Lucky”, the squirrel. But I’m getting a little ahead of my story. If you’ve spent any time in the Texas woods, you know about the snakes. Yessir, enough to make any Freudian fool giggle with delight, or a person with snake phobias might just lie in bed on sleepless nights with cold beads of sweat on their brow.

Go figure how a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin weighing several pounds could climb high up in an Oak tree, nary a branch to be found close to the ground, climb into a squirrel’s nest, grab him for lunch, and bail.

WHOOOMPPPHH!!!

That was the sound we heard or something like that. Up until that moment, we were just walking through the woods appreciating nature and horsing around. Many of us knew about the snakes in the river bottoms, although our relationships with the creatures were often punctuated by looking down the barrel of a .22 caliber rifle and pulling the trigger. As I was saying, there wasn’t much to do in Liberty, so you invented your own entertainment, often at the expense of the wildlife.

But let’s get back to Lucky who at the moment is being eaten for lunch. With part of his body already in the snake’s mouth, he was starting to get a bit anxious, given the fact that this was not his idea. Scoutmaster Bill took out his machete and ended the snake’s lunch and life by removing his head. You could almost hear a sigh of relief as we removed the living, breathing squirrel from the snake’s mouth, or more accurately removed the severed head from the squirrel.

Duly named “Lucky” the squirrel lived out his remaining years at the home of the scoutmaster.

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