Making It Up As I Go Along #654

Not much struck me this week.  Doing regular walks again.  Went for at least a half hour, and more often closer to an hour, seven of the last nine days.  The pair of Canada Geese and their pair of goslings remain around the ponds.  Quite a tight knit family.  Saw my first Cardinal of the year… Though he was too quick for a photograph.  

Been summertime hot over the past week.  I turned the AC on this past weekend.  I find the problem with the air conditioning in my place is that the upstairs… Where the bedrooms are… Doesn’t get cold enough.  The basement remains so cool that I shut the vents down there.  The main floor is comfortable.  But as soon as I go to bed and close the door, things get stuffy.  First world problems.  The end result, I am turning up the AC for nighttime.  I don’t mind a warmish house in the day, but need the cool for sleep.

Sports wise, I’ve become very much a baseball person.  All total, I’d think I’ve watched about an hour of hockey playoffs… And when I’ve been watching, I’ve been bored.  Yes, if it was Montreal playing, my interest would be higher.  But the decline has been a few years in the making and I find I’m at my least interested.  Funny though, I still enjoy the hockey pools and figuring out what players I should have on my team and all that.  I just don’t want to actually watch the games.  And the Raptors playoff run meant virtually nothing to me.  But even when the Blue Jays struggle, I want to watch.  Baseball is where it’s at.  Though the Jays must stop doing these alumni ceremonies… Always hosted by Buck Martinez.  Always bring players out on to the field with 1970s rock music accompaniment.  Usually done without much point.  And how is it that Jose Cruz gets included in every one of these things?  He was a mid range player on the team for five or six years of mediocre baseball.  The team should try it’s best to forget about Jose Cruz… Not celebrate him.  Anyway… All that said, from a sports point of view, baseball is where it’s at.

The Rescued Fly

He’s probably already dead

The housefly I helped to escape

Mine is the swatterless home

Instead I corralled him

Locked in my spare bedroom

Window opened

Screen removed

Arms stretched 

With an iPad hand

I guide him like a sheepdog

Until he accidentally tastes freedom

While I quickly shut things up

In case he decides to u-turn.

Such painstaking care

To save a life

Though with selfish intentions

As I imagine him visiting 

While I attempt to slumber

His buzzing in the darkness

Keeping me dreamless 

Through the night

But how long does he last?

A housefly in the wild

When does he perch too near a frog?

Does he round the corner from my window

Only to flop into a spider’s lair?

Is his erratic flight, 

So perfected on human reflexes,

No match for those of a patrolling wren?

Or does he wander across the summer sky?

Buzzing happily without the puzzlement of windows

No longer the captive

Exploring a new world

As he catches an updraft of air

A delight unlike anything he would have found

In my home.

No

He’s probably already dead

Being quickly digested

In the belly of a Robin child

As he gains strength

Soon to leave 

His cozy nesty home.

Making It Up As I Go Along #653

A four day weekend makes me post to the blog more like I’m on the CPSIC schedule than the regular one.  I skipped posting on Sunday and am here on my last day off before heading back to work.  Anyways…

I think I’ve turned the corner health wise.  Hip is back to normal.  Back has little moments of tightness but nothing major.  And the shin does some contracting from time to time as I sit still, but doesn’t hurt and doesn’t affect walks anymore.  Last five days, I’ve gone for 50, 30, 45, 80, and 45 minute long walks with no real issues.

Long weekend is an extra day longer as I take a day of leave.  It reminds me of my regular four day weekends with CPSIC and I’m basically ready to return to that lifestyle.  Four days off in a row all the time just makes for a more relaxed life.  Don’t need to go rushing off to grocery stores and such at the same time that everybody else is rushing off to them too.  

This past weekend, I had it in my mind that I’d go to a baseball game, and also go to a couple of IMAX movies.  In the end, I did neither.  The weather was so good, and the green of the forest across the street looked so nice, that I was just content to go out for those walks and do some work around the house.  Plus I would have cooked at that baseball game.  It was 4.5 hours long and not a cloud was in the sky.  I walked for just under an hour and a half instead and, by the end of that, I was ready for some time in the cool of the basement.  So more than twice that time in a baseball stadium, no thank you.

And today is one of those rare days that I get through writing something… Ready to save and post… And then decide to scrap the whole thing.  Look at it and “meh, I’m not posting that.” It actually probably happens once a year.  Anything else… The things I post… It’s a sit down to the keyboard, type and post exercise.  

This leaves me an hour in and still nothing to share.  Oh dear oh dear.

So… With that… I’m going to do something quick…

The Poem of May

Type type click clack

Space 

Pause

Clack

Mull and think

Think and mull

Clickity click clackity tap

Wandering mind

Bird chirp

Sip a sip of drink

Text bing

Birds sing

Switch to read from home

Back to clack

Click and type

Think of gator pie

If I don’t get some

I think I’m going to die

Clue it up

With an empty cup

The birds they have all flown

Time to end

And then press send

Then check on texts from home.

Making It Up As I Go Along #652

Well I think the back and hip… And shin, oh my… Are on the mend.  This week I did a half hour walk that ended with an evening of some tired muscles… But no real pain anyway.  Garden work and some vacuuming on the weekend felt fine too.  Though some tightness comes back after the jobs are done.  Some of that aren’t even in the areas that were hurt in the first place.  I suppose it’s little used muscles over the last three to four weeks, creaking back into action.

Not sure how much more Facebook I can handle.  I guess it’s for me to control.  Nobody puts a gun to my head to check on my friends status updates.  But it’s turning into an abrupt mix of emotions.  In a two minute sweep you’re bombarded with… 

selfie, selfie, advertisement, selfie, kitten video, worthy cause, tragic news, selfie, lunatic “news” item, puppy video, racism, selfie, advertisement, worthy cause, selfie, mental instability, and “aw, that’s nice” Picture of a long missed friend.  

Basically, just as you’re about ready to pack it in, there’s something great that pops up on the screen.  So, apparently, Facebook is like golf.  You can be going through a horrible round of it, be just about ready to pack it in forever, and then nail a perfect drive down the middle of a beautiful fairway as a golden sun shines down upon you on a cloudless summer day.

With that, this week, my mind has been running over things.   

What’s Green?

I’m often left wondering

How others see our world

We agree on that which is green

But is the green I see the same as theirs?

Shades may vary

Brilliance may be faded

And values of the greenness may vary

Treasured by one

Ignored by another.

One sees the forest as haven

A place for worship and peace

Another sees food source

Scene for the blood to spill

Perhaps wasted space

Ready to be turned to pasture

There to be built

Manufactured

Sacrificed for an economy

Quiet can be paradise for some

A place of being

To recharge and meditate

But it can be hell for others

Leaving them with thoughts

As they desperately search

Looking for the distraction of sound

Anything to keep them from within their head

A leader may be fiendish

Corrupted and power hungry

Trying to steal everything you find dear

Dictator

Or that leader could be hero

Brave and fearless

Ready to bring change

To those so desperately in need

Mediator 

Terrorist versus freedom fighter?

Only perspective knows

Religion of peace and love

Or bringer of oppression and torment

Music is there to enliven

Energize and stimulate

Bringing thousands together as one

But it is also a poetry

Capturing moments in time

And bringing quiet cold shivers

In darkened rooms

Immersed in sound

Perhaps work is life

Bringing all meaning

As one does what they’re meant to do

Or it could be a means to an end

Payer of bills

While you bide your time

For what really counts

We view our world as obvious

Of course it must be this way

It’s plain for all to see

Or

We view our world as mystery

Unsure if anything is real

Or wondering if it's just all too profound to know

And we’re all in it together

Those needing weapons to protect from governments

Those keeping arms to protect from strangers

Those to feed their families

Collectors

Those not wanting but willing to trust the trustworthy with such things

And those demanding governments to protect us from those wishing to arm

Some are seen too certain

Sure what must be done

Rushing in without thought of consequence

Others are thought hesitant

Head sand buriers 

Too willing to negotiate

Society is a soup of all this

Some being content in the broth

As it simmers through time

With a pinch of this 

And a dash of that

Changing the flavour ever so slightly

And even though others grow weary of soup

Want to dump the pot out 

Start fresh

Or demand to stick to that recipe

The one that brings them comfort

On a rainy, stormy day

Success in life will be

If the experimenters win

And convince all the rest of us

That soup is a pretty good meal

And if one likes it best

With a pinch of this

Maybe we’re better off trying it

Cause it sure beats starving around a dumped pot

Or clamouring over 

That lid slammed tight.

Making It Up As I Go Along #651

Still not a lot of activity for me.  Other than physio.  Things are going well with my back/hip and shin but I still can’t really walk more than ten minutes worth at any given time… Then the hip and shin just start getting tired.  

Evening shift at work is a nice change.  Haven’t done it in several months.  The smaller number of people in the office, more casual dress, and ability to stay up a bit later at night is up my ally.  But it’s busy all week with just two of us working and lots of priority work coming in.  They should really make full teams do the evenings rather than two at a time.

And I’m going back to the old CPSIC stomping grounds.  Later this summer I’ll move back in there permanently.  So it’ll be back to four on four off then, with more time off through the year and a little more money back in my pocket.  But it’s the time off that was my chief factor.  It’s a much better shift for travelling and dealing with visitors here.  And once the change happens, I’ll be back to blogging every eight days rather than every Sunday.  Just easier that way when your four days off is constantly changing.

And it’s Mother’s Day.  One of those days when it’s just as well to stay off social media altogether.  I called my mom.  Spoke to her for a while without any of the rest of my social network needing to know about it… Well… Until right now I guess.  Drat.

But yeah, if you’re looking for interesting material on Twitter or Facebook… And that interesting material isn’t the phrase “happy Mother's Day to all the mom’s out there, but especially…” Then you’re probably out of luck.  

I think maybe we’ve made these days too universal.  I don’t think we need to go around wishing our co-workers happy Mother's Day.  I even witnessed one of my male coworkers wishing a childless lady, in our office, a Happy Mother’s Day.  It’s become so universal that he doesn’t even consider the fact of motherhood or no motherhood.  If she’s a woman… It’s “Happy Mothers Day” to that guy.  Well done.  

Personally, I just leave the wishing to my own mother… And figure other sons and daughters can wish it to their own as well.  I’d never really think to offer a Happy Mothers Day to my sister.  That’s my sister… Not mother… Though, for some of my growing up, that line may have been a bit fuzzy.  I kid my sissy.  Happy Sister’s Day… Whenever that will be.

Sometimes, having bumbling baseball commentators can be fun times.  Today, in Major League Baseball, it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Day (though I assume we’re all aware of breast cancer already).  When telling us viewers about the specialness of the day, Buck Martinez told us all… “It’s Breast Awareness Day!”  

He did quickly correct himself.  But what a day that could have been!  What a day indeed.

So it increasingly looks like it’ll be Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton for the US Presidency.  Oh my goodness.  Either, the land of the free, with democracy for all, will have four of the last five presidents coming from only two families (a fact that seems to be about as dictatorial as a democracy can possibly be).  Or the most powerful nation in the history of the world is going to be run by a reality TV star whose goal is to get Mexico to pay for a giant wall in order to keep all their rapists away from America… And to deny all members of a particular religious group entry into their country.  What times we live in.

It’s Greening

The world is greening

Fresh grass pushes through the thatch

Reaching for the sun

A “go” signal for the robins to commence  their wormy hunt   

Distant trees show speckles

Splashes of yellowy green

Budding upon bare branches

Wood skeletons soon to be fleshed out

Shoots and stems appear

Climbing above the rocks and dirt

Preparing to bloom

Only days away from a flowery explosion

The explosion has come early for me

My backyard transforming from snowy waste

Now a mountain meadow

With dabs of purple, white and gold

Upon the green painted canvas

Just outside my back door.

Making It Up As I Go Along #650

A week of haze for me.  I don’t do well with drugs generally.  Either my stomach takes a beating with them or I get very tired, or have a night of bad dreams.  Most drugs in my medicine cabinet get thrown out with best before dates long gone by.  With my back and hip taking me to the doctor, I’m prescribed a more lethal than off the shelf pain killer and a muscle relaxant.  And half of the week feels somewhat dream like to look back on.

By weeks end, I was doing better.  I assume I was getting used to the drugs.  But Tuesday and Wednesday were hard.  I had to keep double checking my own work as I went, just to make sure that I wasn’t performing some of it in a dream state.  

Even today, I almost never got on the blog because I was so dopey on the sofa with the TV on.  But I got more alert over the last hour or so… I guess drugs wearing off some… And so here I am.

That all said, the back is feeling pretty good now.  Most of my issues, feeling wise, is in my hip and shin.  And the doctor and physiotherapist both think those issues are coming from the back and inflammation there.  So I continue to take it easy.  Short, slow walks have been it.  From the office to the car in the lot, or to the cafeteria, or from the house to the mail box has been about as far as I’ve gone.  Further and my shin begins to ache while my hip burns.  

I’ve also set aside jobs around the house.  Vacuuming has been delayed, both yards are only half raked, from before my injury.  Old thatch grass just waiting to be raked away.  

But I’m hoping I can get things going soon.  The burn has been out of the hip for several days and I get little twitches in my shin… The type of twitching you feel when things are beginning to unwind and loosen up.

This all said, writing remains difficult for a second week in a row.  Half of the week was in a drugged haze.  And all the week has been very quiet with me either plugging away in the office or stretched out in the house.  Two sessions of Physio have been fairly uneventful as well, so I’m left with very little of interest to report.

Physio

Stretch

The bounds

Of tightened fibres

Pushing the rigid loose

With hopes of touching toes

Extend out and hold

Count to ten

Ease back

Relax