Making It Up As I Go Along #633

The water rodents are taking over out there.  Walks this week have me noticing three reed muskrat homes in the marshy area.  Another little muskrat colony hanging around the far pond and it looks like another beaver has moved in with a sort of lodge near the far pond.  

A few days ago I watched four or five muskrat busy around one of the reed homes.  And today I saw the muskrat at the far pond swimming under a thin layer of ice.  And saw it break through the ice along the far shore in order to get out after some food.  And in taking a picture of the beaver lodge, I accidentally got a shot of the beaver himself… not noticing it until I looked at the picture from home.  

And not to feel outdone, today I came close to a coyote.  I wonder if it’s the same one from last year and it’s stuck around year round?  Either way, got some pretty good pictures of him.  

I Don’t Want to Live That Way

I don’t want to live that way

To be so scared of orphans

As to believe the lies 

Created to feed that fear

To justify irrational hatred

By comparing my people

To face wrapped killers

Asking why be good when they’re so bad

Pushing for the welfare of one

Over that of another

When there’s no reason for limits

Why can’t we aspire for more?

I want to be good

To offer help to any in need

Without catches and stipulations

Simply because it’s right

To be confident enough in my beliefs

To accept that others are different

And those differences enrich our fabric

Because one doesn’t drown the other 

If evil is truly out there

I don’t want their hatred to breed mine

I’d rather live my life better than them

And accept those who need my help

And if I’m in a little more danger

By casting open the blanket

And offering shelter for the lost

I’ll accept the risk

Because I want to maintain my humanity

And live in a country that strives

Proving itself to be better

And standing for what is right.

Making It Up As I Go Along #632

The thing that is most dominating my mind these days is Christmas... The thing is, though, I am currently unable to discuss it.  So I'll leave it at saying I hope I'll actually have a Christmas this year. 

Anyway... Yesterday was too full of sleep and sports to write. I hadn't planned on staying in bed until 11:00. And by the time I was reasonably conscious, the Ottawa Redblack game was on. Another football game right after and hockey after that and my day was set. 

So today, after work, I went for a walk in the woods. There are few things as good as a thirty minute walk that takes forty minutes to do. 

At the furthest point in my hike, I stopped in the middle of the forest... All still and duckish from the just set sun. I pulled out my phone, opened my journal app, and took ten minutes to write this. 

Leafy Twig Sweater

Mine's a leafy twig sweater

Not built of autumn's cast offs

But grabbing them 

As I manage remnant paths

Striding long through freeze dried vegetation 

Once my walk comes to end

Upon concrete and asphalt clear

Mine is that brambled sweater

With me left picking cotton

Plucked from sleeves and chest

But all removal is impossible 

And each new wearing leaves me remembering the walk before. 

Making It Up As I Go Along #631

A fairly uneventful week. Work is work... the dentist visit is a pain.  Actually, the dentist has become one of my least favourite things.  This was just a cleaning and, in the end, I'm given the clean bill of health.  But the picking and poking with pointy picks always keeps me on edge.  My gums don't like it and I'm always a touch nervous now that they're going to say I need another filling or something else that will bring me back and in need of freezing agents.  My mouth doesn't freeze well at all.  Last fillings I had needed the stuff they usually use on root canals.  The time before, they had to refreeze me every fifteen minutes or so.  Anyway... glad it's over for another six months.

I am torn in my views of Remembrance Day.  I do remember those that sacrificed.  I appreciate what they did and can't imagine being in such a situation.  But I'm disturbed with how, after almost fifteen years since September 11th, war and the military have basically become a part of our daily culture.  I know to fight is sometimes necessary... but I don't think it should ever be accepted and celebrated to the point of being regular life.  

90% of all sporting events celebrate troops.  Be it remembering back to World War I and II in a pregame ceremony, or having modern day military personnel marching out flags for the national anthems, we can not tune in to a sports event and not be reminded of our military.  Every Sunday home game, the Blue Jays bring out a member of the armed forces for a jersey presentation and even the last football game I went to here in Ottawa had a halftime moment with a recently returned soldier.

So whenever I hear the "Lest we forget" talk in and around every November 11th I think to myself that we're a long way from forgetting anything.  And there's a part of me that wishes we would allow ourselves to forget it just a little bit more than we currently do.  

Again, as I've already said... I am thankful for what our military has done both historically and in modern times.  I agree that our military needs to be properly funded and returning soldiers need to be taken care of both physically and psychologically.  I'm just worried that military combat has become too big a part of our society.  If things with ISIS and Afghanistan cleared up in the next year or two (which I don't think will happen) it seems to me that we'd feel as if there's a hole in our social fabric and that we'd need some other conflict to take part in.  

At the very least, I want to be able to go to a hockey or baseball game and not see soldiers marching out flags or be recognized during a break in the action.  These things don't happen at the theatre.  I don't know why they have to at a hockey game.  It just seems like sports can't make up their minds.  On one hand, they want to promote themselves as being kid friendly with mascots and autographs.  But on the other hand, they want to celebrate those who have returned from war.  I'm not sure it's a great idea to blend those two aspects of life.  

Anyway... a poem... that has nothing to do with any of this.  But came to me while out for a walk along the ponds and woods this week.  

Heron Stitched

On this calm sunless evening I walk

And to the first pond I come

Clear, reflectionless water

Low and shallow

Introduces me to the bottom

The light brown cake

Textured with dark lines

Underwater pathways

Zigzagging too and fro

Outlining the waters rim

And crossing through the middle bowl

It's heron stitched

Like sea bed fault lines

The heron's deliberate search for food

Traced out for all to see

If viewed on reflectionless evenings

Before the day turns to night

A hidden map

On an Indiana Jones crusade

Making It Up As I Go Along #630

Trying something a little different.  Rather than a few lines about each day of the week… opening with a few paragraphs that either sum up the week as a whole or highlight something about it all.  A little writing will end off each post… still either story, rant or poem.

The work week was fairly normal… for what passes as normal as of late.  A few annoyances… A couple of lunches with friends… And a nice end to the week as the system goes down at 2:00 and management decide to send us home an hour early.  

Weather is oddly nice for November.  Two days this week go above 20 degrees.  Funny how the day I get the snow tires put on the car is the hottest day of the week.  I’m out strolling in short sleeves as I wait for the car to be ready.  

The weekend is quiet for me.  It’s one thing I still haven’t gotten fully used to after leaving the twelve hour shift of CPSIC.  Four days off each time was a nice get away from things.  But now, back to the regular weekend, things seem more rushed.  Less time to get the things I liked to do done.  On two days off, time away seems too short.  With four days off, even though the first day was pretty much a waste due to sleeping half of it away and feeling jet lagged for the other half, it stood as a quiet day of rest.  And then the next day I’d wake up free to do what I’d like… with two other days to follow.  

I enjoy the work I’m doing now.  And an eight hour workday is nice.  My body appreciates the more normal sleep patterns and I don’t have to piece together which day of the week it actually is.  But man… those weekends fly by.

Little More Than a Month

Little more than a month

Recent Christmases 

Down to the wire

Arriving on the Eve

Once three days later

After that Christmas morn

Was as any other workday

This year’s different

Arriving mid month

With plenty of time to shop

Wandering downtown streets

Browsing Water Street stores

Hunched and tensed against sea winds

Before ducking in for pub lunches

A deep sigh upon entry

The unzipping of outer layers

A careful removal of wool caps

Making sure wet snow stays controlled

Knocked off at the entrance

Less  entrance and more airlock

Mid zone between winter winds and pub warmth

Sometimes these trips are with parents

As we cling to packages and bags

Meant for viewing on the twenty-fifth

Stopping in for soup and tea

Sustenance for the everlasting fight

Against howling wet winds

There cursed but here reminisced over

Other times a trip with friends

With lots to say and hear

Catching up on old times

And filling in on new

As Guinness froths settle

Into the blackness of the glass

A pint to go with stews or chowder

My Christmas trip home is near

In Spring or Fall, times at home are split

Partially in the city

Before venturing out to the outports

But Christmas is a city time

St. John’s getting full attention

As I set plans with family and friends

And look forward to a day or two

Where weather erases all plans

FIreplaced living room brings quiet chats

Windows are wandered upon

And the outside world is analysed

As serpentine snows sweep the street

And homes across the street fade into white

For this is Christmas

Wanderings along the downtown streets

Lunches and pints with family and friends

And days of surrender

Where the house is all there is

And family sits together by the fire

As snowy winds howl down the street where I grew up. 

Making It Up As I Go Along #629

Haven’t been writing for a while, again.  Like other times, it seems when the routine is broken, the writing suffers.  This time, I had mom and dad visiting for a few weeks.  It was quite a nice time.  And different from many visits.  

For one, it was just me and dad alone for several days.  After they both arrived on the Wednesday evening, mom hopped a plane again on Thursday afternoon, heading to Toronto for the weekend.  So for the first time, it was just me and dad in Ottawa for around three days.  A low key time with some walking, a football game to attend.  And some quiet times around the house.

Once mom got back, things picked up activity wise.  But not overly so.  Mornings were generally quiet and a few trips around town are nice.

Once they left (Last Tuesday), things felt very quiet.  After weeks of the parents being around, it’s always odd to be home alone again.  The first day or so of that is usually the loneliest I get in Ottawa.  

Winter Is Coming

Winter is coming

Patio stones lay bare out back

The wicker having migrated 

Sitting now in furnished computer room

Peering out at leafless trees

A sea of wood poles

Reaching up into the grey

With spindly bare tops as surf

Atop my wooden ocean

A few brown leaves remain

Clinging hard to remnants of summer

Soon to be swept away

In a losing battle 

With ever more frigid gusts.

I prepare for snowshoe season

Walking the winter route 

Still engulfed in yellow browns 

I slalom twigs and high grasses

Carrying off their seeds

Picking those that velcro to my arms and legs

Flicking them away

Doing my part in their germination.