Leapin' Lizards...or years...or days...

Could not pass up an opportunity that won't present itself for another four years: writing a post on February 29th.  It will be 2016 before I can do it again and who knows where we all will be.  I know and subscribe to the belief we live in the moment, it's all we truly have.  George Carlin (or Albert Einstein or both) said: Time is Nature's way of preventing everything from happening at once.  And the time we have is now.  We can visit the past to help sort out stuff in our lives & selves; and we can imagine the future but it's an, as yet, intangible thing 'out there'.  The final focus, whether we act on it or not, is now, this moment, the one that deserves and gets all our energy.  February 29th, leap day, is a perfect time to contemplate the nature of time because next year it won't be.  To expand on that thought, each second that passes is there and gone...oops, there goes a few more. Ha, ha, ha...keep laughing, keep believing and cherishing the seconds as they woosh by.  It's life.  It's good...even when it seems so bad.  It's up to us, each one of us, to live in the moment with an ear to the past and an eye on the future and our focus in the now.  Motto for the day:  Have fun and be excelent to each other.

The OwnKnow Syndrome. You or a Loved One May Have It. Take Care.

If there isn't something called the OwnKnow Syndrome (OKS), there should be.  I must believe I'm not the only soul in the world so afflicted.  The symtoms are thus: overabundance of good intentions; deep and wide curiosity; a tendency to hang out wherever large or small quantities of (real) books are gathered; issues of a personal nature having to do with a wish to achieve certain levels of various kinds of development; a desire to bring order out of chaos; a repeated sense of drowning or, in milder cases, floundering, in a sea of really good advice; having repeated but unrealized 'ah-ha' moments; and finally, the debilitating aspect of this syndrome, the purchase of numerous books & magazines, CDs & DVDs that the OKS sufferer believes contain solutions, ways out of the chaos, DIY for the soul, and these items might actually have just what the OKS sufferer needs, but these potential solutions are never read or listened to or watched.  The syndrome somehow changes the thought process so that the OKS person believes that merely owning these items will impart to them the wisdom or answers or suggested paths or processes that might be within said items.  The books pile up, CDs gather dust, and DVDs go missing while the OKS soul can't figure out why the latest purchase with the fantastic plan didn't work.  I'm thinking of forming an OKS support group. I wonder if there are any books on it.  I'll get back to you.

Winter, your days are numbered!

Two days ago I witnessed thousands of northward bound Canadian snow geese cloud the southern sky as they swooped past a large pond. (They are returning, bless their little honking hearts!)  As they few low over the pond, hundreds more, who'd been lounging in their goosey way, took flight and joined the wave flying over.  It was a cool, crisp day with a bright blue sky and the sounds coming from these feathered travelers made me want to fly away with them, it was so compellingly beautiful.  It's the time of year when the birds of prey are nesting and when we start hearing a few song birds add their lovely voices to the city sounds. We're more than half way through February and the *sun* is with us more & more each day. Mardi Gras is Tuesday! To my mind, it's almost spring!  

I should add here, if I haven't elsewhere, that I do find beauty in the winter months. There's a cold starkness about it that takes you back to basics, yin & yang, black & white.  And there is real beauty to be found there.   It's the cold I could do without; cold that creeps into your bones and just doesn't quit until you're buried under down comforters...or, I guess, just plain buried, but in that case, I wouldn't give a hoot about cold.  I try to keep in mind that since we have exactly one day at a time in which to live, love, laugh, to be less than happy along the way with any of those days is a profound waste.  Would I want to live in a sunnier clime?  I've thought about every time I've visited those kinds of places (California, Florida, Mexico, Arizona) while the midwest was chilling.  But, as tempting as it is to imagine a December in the 70s (oh, that does sound good...sigh), I know it's important for me to be where the seasons' change is so clear; where a time of cold & dark makes the time of warm & light all the more welcome.  However, if tomorrow I was offered an ocean view home on Maui and free flights for my loved ones to visit regularly, I'd say 'Thank You Very Much', take the keys and never look back at cold, dark winter.  So much for the beauty of a midwestern winter.  Did I mention the song birds are returning?

Predictions call for a dusting...

It was crisp & dry this morning when I left for my yoga-for-wimps class.  We went through our poses, had a good laugh (she does laughing yoga sometimes, it's great!) and towards the end I noticed a plow pass by the building.  Excuse me?  I could barely see across the street through the swirling tornadoes of windblown white stuff.  Predictions called for a 'dusting', nothing to worry about.  Yes, I know, don't blame the weather guy or gal, weather is unpredictable.  Then how come they call them predictions?  Oh well, no boots, gym shoes soggy/cold by the time I got to the car; no hat or scarf so the rest of me was getting soggy/cold too.  It was practically whiteout and I swear I could hear little hysterical giggles coming from each flake...perhaps that's why they're called flakes.  There was an errand I had to run before going home so I got to play in the traffic with so many gentle souls (aka idiots) who always manage to forget how to drive in the snow if it's been more than a week since the last fall.  Took care of business, managed NOT to meet any of those souls, and returned home....cold, wet, and in one piece.  That one piece then had to shovel stairs & sidewalk.  Did I mention that I don't particularly care for winter?  Oh, did I?  Nevermind then.

One great thing about winter

Okay,  I'm not a great fan of winter, however there is at least one splendid thing about the season: the night sky!  It's dark earlier and longer so, if it's not cloudy, you can be treated to a glimpse of that awesome expanse of black velvet aglow with silver sparklers. The farther away from city lights you are the more spectacular the sight.  My favorite group of stars: Orion, the Hunter.  It's the first constellation I learned to recognize and is one of the most exuberent, as he stalks across the sky.  He's headed west these nights, so I know our winter visit is almost over.

Wish I know which planets were alligned currently.  I can see several but would love to know their names.  Oh well, they were beautiful sights before they had names.  Yes, winter's night sky is a gift and I am all goosebumpy and grateful.

A Mild Winter is a Good Winter

 February is 25% over. Hallelujah! The end is near. Even with that pesky leap day, March is in view, dimmly...on the horizon, but there it is.  I can take almost anything from here on until we reach the promised land: crocus, jonquil, and my fav, lilac time. Cabin fever?  Maybe, but a mild case and on a decrease in proportion to the increase of daily SUNSHINE.  I don't hate winter, but I don't love it any more.  Not since I was a wee bairn and regularly refused the (third or fourth) parental call to GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW! ignoring the fact that everything I wore was cracking stiff with ice & snow. 

And before you admonish me, I do subscribe to taking one day at a time (no other choice, really); living and appreciating the present moment (some moments more than others); and giving thanks for each new day ('25% over' is a definitely giving thanks).  Yes, yes, I do believe in all that but would find it so much more easy to believe if I were currently on Maui.

namaste

Oh no, I'm getting faster at FreeCell

I realized today that getting faster at FreeCell is not a valid or promising career choice.  Probably not as a  hobby either.  Besting my top time was nice, but I found myself being just too thrilled.  I need to stop, cold turkey.  But will I be able to just walk away from those lovely little flicking cards, all red & black, with the cute little numbers... Oh, snap out of it!  I need to climb a mountain! Or jump out of an airplane!  Run for office!  Write something!  Wait, that last one...I can do that! I rubbed the lamp and,  with a little help from a tech genie, this sight was born, poof!  Today.

In the courtroom of my head, my defense of letting chaos creep up around me, includes being out of work for almost a year.  Not much of a defense, true, so it's good I'm also the judge & jury and have a lot of influence w/re the lawyers....we're all quite sympathetic & understanding so I'm expecting good things to come.