Posted on March 15, 2021 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

Wakem Bay

What is the first thing you’ll do when the pandemic ends?

A better question might be, when will the pandemic end?

It has been a long, hard grind for all of us. Just a little over a year ago, our world was turned upside down. Almost every single person in the world was impacted in some way, shape or form. Sadly, many people succumbed to Covid-19, many became “long haul survivors, and the rest of us have mostly been inconvenienced. But we can see daylight on the horizon and surely there will be a day when we can return to our normal routines.

I’m still a CBC junkie. I get little snippets of CBC radio through our local FM station but not nearly enough. I start pretty well every day watching Heather Hiscox anchor the CBC morning show. CBC has a tremendous stable of talented anchors and reporters and Hiscox is one of my favourites. Ian “handsome man thing” is a close second!

CBC is starting to compile comments from ordinary joes like you and I about what we’ll do when this madness ends. I suppose the WHO will issue a formal declaration some day in the future announcing the slaying of the beast.

I must admit that I haven’t had it nearly as bad as many of you. I have been able to carry on life quite normally in the north. Yes, wearing a mask 8 hours a day is tedious but pales in comparison to the discomfort felt by people in the medical fraternity who are treating Covid-19 patients. Seeing the images of doctors and nurses gearing up for work each day makes one feel claustrophobic… and grateful for everything they do.

So,tell me, dear readers, what is the first thing that you plan to do when it is apparent that the coast is clear? Here is your chance, anonymously of course, to tell us your plans. I will happily publish a list of the activities in a future post if you would care to send along your thoughts on this matter.

I would be surprised if  a reunion with family members won’t be be at the top of most people’s list. I would love to catch up with my children and grandchildren and go out for a really nice dinner. Ditto for my siblings. A feed of lobsters at the cottage in Bayfield, washed down with a cold Keiths and a rousing rendition of “Oceanside Again” would be divine. Our families are our rocks and while we have been able to stay connected with Zoom and other social media tools, it is clearly not the same thing as being able to share hugs and kisses with the ones we love.

I would love to resume travelling. There is still a lot of the world I would like to see, and one more go at the Camino would be a dream come true.

How about you?

In preparation for income tax, I always have to do an inventory of my books. I was very pleased to find out that my books are still selling very well in my hometown. My latest book about my walk around the Cabot Trail has sold out at the 5 to $1.00 but there will be more copies on the shelf come Monday. Many thanks to my good friend YV who is looking after this for me.

I am a little bit leery about this next part because it may come across as arrogance or shameless self- promotion. My favourite writer at the Chronicle Herald, John Demont did a story recently about retirees who reinvent themselves. He interviewed me as part of the piece. https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/john-demont-finding-meaning-in-the-third-period-561541/

Have a great week.

 

Posted on March 11, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

 

Cherish the good times

 

“Don’t take the good times for granted,

For things keep changing each day.”

Don’t Take The Good Times For Granted. David and Daniel O’Donnell

 

I am blessed to have a lot of friends. Many of them are close friends going back to my school days, but I’ve managed to accumulate many more over the years through my writing and travel. At a time of life when most of us are losing friends, I am collecting new friends as fast as a pair of velvet pants might pick up cat hair. Cat hairs are a nuisance. New friends are a treasure.

The other day, I received a lovely song from an old friend. She’s younger than me so technically she’s not that old! We chat quite regularly. We took our education year together back in 1975-76 and then we went off in different directions as is often the case. The death of a mutual friend a couple of years ago reconnected us again. Also, her mom is in the nursing home in my hometown where I used to do music five days a week. When she would travel home to visit her mom, we would get caught up on each other’s lives.

I’m always interested in new music or at least music that I haven’t heard before. I receive all kinds of videos as I’m sure most of you do. Many times, I ignore them. This is mainly because my internet signal is so weak that it could take me ten minutes or more to listen to a 3- minute song. Lately, my internet at home is passable which almost rates as a miracle which should be reported to the Pontiff.

Early Monday morning before heading to work (after watching the Highlight of the Night on TSN), I played the song. It’s a bit syrupy. I happen to like syrup. While the tune was pleasant enough, it was the words that caught my attention.

“Don’t take the good times for granted, for things keep changing each day,

Make time to be with the ones that you love, let nothing stand in your way.

We don’t know what waits round the corner, we never know what lies ahead,

So just for a moment, forget all your troubles, and count all your blessings instead.”

Sadly, for most of us, we are caught up in our day to days lives and when there are no speedbumps along the road, we rarely take time to heed the words written in this song. It’s only when hard times befall us or our friends that we become conscious of life’s fickle nature. I know that there are some of you out there who are dealing with cancer. There are others who are dealing with mental health issues, anxiety and stress. You might be ready to throttle me for putting on such a shiny face. I’m not naïve. As the song says, we don’t know what waits around the corner and a time will come that I might not be singing from the same songbook that I’m singing from now. Until that day arrives, I choose to count my blessings everyday and try to be consciously grateful. And we can show empathy to those whose lives are in turmoil.

Thanks, DB.

If you have a few minutes, give this song a listen. https://youtu.be/AssqoXawaoY

Have a great weekend.

P.S. The winner of my book giveaway last week for correctly identifying The Cremation of Sam McGee was Len MacEachern. There was a time when I could recite the entire poem and I’m guessing that there are many of you who still can. Now you must admit, that I tossed a lob ball with the opening lines of that poem. Ok, you smarty pants. Try this one on for size. For a free book of your choice form my vast (6) collection you need to identify the name of the poem and the author. NO CHEATING. NO GOOGLING.

“I caught this morning morning’s minion, kingdom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding.”

Honestly, I still don’t have a damn clue what this poem is about but it has been stuck somewhere in the recesses of my brain for almost 50 years.

 

Posted on March 8, 2021 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Food for thought or thoughts of food?

 

What are you thinking about at this exact moment?

What was your first thought when you woke this morning?

How about your last thought last night before you nodded off?

Lately, I have had a preoccupation with the human brain. I’m sure many of you wonder what’s going on beneath my skull… if anything! You see, as a grade 6 teacher, I am required to teach all subjects including art. For those of you familiar with my stick figures when I play Pictionary, you must shudder at the thought of me giving art lessons. You needn’t worry. I steal ideas from other teachers and then just stand back and turn my students loose. They are very creative and don’t need me to tell them what to do.

One of the required courses is called PSD which stands for Personal and Social Development. It covers a wide swath of topics including the human body. The past few weeks, we have been discussing the human brain. One of my colleagues, Torie, a great gal from Saskatchewan, team teaches this course with me. Rather than get too technical right out of the gates, Torie did an exercise with my students. She handed each of them a sheet of paper with a diagram of the human brain without any of the parts labelled. She then asked a simple question. “What do you think about?” She went to the smart board and started to make a list. Food was a popular item as were friends, family, sports, and hunting. A few of them were brave enough to mention school. She then asked them to look at the brain and try and identify how much of each activity occupies their brains at any particular time. Then they colored in each of the activities.

I found the exercise really interesting, so interesting that I did one myself and I am throwing down the gauntlet and asking you to do the same. Find an image of a brain on the internet and print it out. I think you will be surprised when you see your results.

What DO you think about most of your waking hours? Yes. I realize that it depends on any given day but over time, what are the big things that fill your brains with thoughts? For many of us, our family would represent a decent chunk of space. For the past year, Covid has been on everyone’s mind. I mentioned the challenges of teaching, my writing, relationships, finances, and gratitude. I am probably not alone when I put down uncertainty about the future as a significant piece of the puzzle. Sadly, for some people loneliness and boredom occupy some of this precious space.

I am happy to report that I never think about the former President of the United States anymore.

I plan to hold onto my chart and redo it again in 6 months and a year.

Last week, we did a more formal exercise where we looked at the brain and what parts control certain activities. If you need a refresher, take a look at the image at the top of the page.

Speaking of refreshers, I feel like I’m back in school. Duh, Len, you are back in school or has the part of your brain that controls memory suddenly atrophied. I’m not talking about teaching. I’m referring to learning. In order to teach all subjects, I am constantly looking at material that I learned back in the 50s and 60s. Once again, it amazes me that the brain recalls with shocking clarity the sights, sounds and smells… and knowledge from over a half a century ago.

I was reminiscing the other day about the storm of the century in Montreal on March 4^th, 1971. A few of us traveled to Montreal to watch the Habs play and got caught in this incredible storm. Here’s my account of that event fifty years ago: https://www.week45.com/the-habs-and-the-hab-nots/

Finally (mercifully), I watched a lot of golf on the weekend. The Bay Hill Invitational is played in Orlando on a property owned by the late legendary golfer, Arnold Palmer. A number of years ago Peter and I spent a few days at this tournament as spectators. Lots of great memories. Here is one of Palmer’s famous quotes which I believe says it all: “The road to success is always under construction.”

Have a great week. Things will look much brighter (especially in the evening) later this week when the clocks go ahead one hour.

P.S. Drum roll. Not really but this post is a bit of a milestone. This is my 1200^th post on my website. Thanks to many of you who have been with me from the start.