Goodbye 2018

It certainly has been a volatile year on the political stage all around the world. There has been a dramatic swing to the extreme right in many countries as well as in many families. Civility dropped out of politics and common sense seems to have been erased by both tribalism and too much political correctness. I can only hope that this is a tiny blip in reality.

On a personal level I have found that people in my inner circle and moving outwards to those who are in contact with me from afar and those who treat me as a patient are all amazing people. I would say that 100% of those who I come in contact with, on a person to person level, are NICE PEOPLE. I feel very relieved by this because it as noted, on the world stage I find a very different sort of attitude. This just reinforces my belief that most people are good in the real sense of the word and that circumstances can cause a person to “slip” into doing something wrong, perhaps. Most people just want to be happy and most people genuinely care about those around them.

If 2018 has taught me anything it is that staying true to one’s self, staying positive, believing in miracles and having a little faith is what makes a person strong. Having a circle of loving family, friends and care givers makes it just that much better.

May all my CIRCLE be blessed and start 2019 on the right foot! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As Time Goes By

While some say that time is a manmade concept I take the position that time is a real thing. Every moment is something and we call it “time”.  The reality of one moment in time passes onto the next and so on; what can that be but the passage of “time”?  I don’t want to burden my brain with too much esoteric philosophy but rather move into the personal and relatable idea of time.

When a doctor tells you that your time is limited on this earth a new type of thinking comes into play; it is inevitable no matter how much one wants to be positive and optimistic. Always at the edge of your mind you have this “suggestion” that time is limited. That makes every moment precious and every event memorable. Yesterday I talked with Chester, our little chatterbox in the East, and he told about his Christmas presents and the snow and what he and Stanley were going to do. Stanley is shyer about talking on the telephone but he managed to say a few words to me before flying off somewhere to play with his nerf-gun (whatever that may be). Apparently it was HUGE.  Later in the day 2 more great-nephews came by to celebrate After-Christmas and we were all reminded that this season is so much better when there are kids around.

Family gathering around at this time is such a blessing. I had to laugh a little when politics came up and all the girls but me left the room. I guess I am made of sterner stuff than most because I can raise my voice as loud as the boys! We had an enjoyable time all “agreeing” in the typical family way – by talking over each other. J

What can I say except that we are passionate in our beliefs!

Reflecting on the World Stage

On a personal level 2018 treated me quite well. On the world stage, however, I found myself getting more and more concerned as populism gained footholds in many countries. It became obvious to me that the man in the White House was not normal, not at all. What would that mean globally as his tweets became ever more unreasonable, weird and simply off the wall? Closer to home I noticed that the media was not calling out our so-called conservative candidates on outright, barefaced lies.

The world is going mad and no one seems to be noticing it. I posed a question to John and Mom the other day “Do you think anyone besides ourselves are seeing parallels between the 1920’s and today?” John started pontificating about everything we already had talked about and I tried to stop him “Get back to the actual question, John.” Ultimately he said “no”.

I ask my readers to do a little research on what was happening globally in the 20’s and 30’s of the last century and start comparing the rhetoric to the words of today. It has me very concerned indeed. We can say it many times but our world leaders do not seem to be paying attention; if they are we are not getting the lessons, warnings and solutions that we ought to be receiving from those who govern us. With one notable exception. I listened to Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas message and she did, very diplomatically, point out that we can do better.

Reflecting on the Year

As we get to the end of the year and perhaps contemplating New Year’s Resolutions it also becomes a time when we like to think about the year we have just had. On a personal level it has been a pretty good one for me. It started out quite scary as I landed in the hospital on December 31^st but managed to come home the same day (false alarm). Then a couple of weeks later the neuropathy hit me hard with me losing ability to even hold a pen in my hand. That caused a change in the chemo formula which quickly made things easier for me. I still have tingling in my hands and I seldom can feel my feet (still waddle and have to be very careful when walking) but I can use my hands to write and craft so that brought back my “quality of life”.

I had a very enjoyable summer of gardening, a great 65^th birthday bash and a lovely travel episode down to see my sister and meet my great nephews (little sweethearts, all three of them). All winter I had worked on my genealogy and “met” various cousins (Lisbeth, Thomas og Soren) which was extremely thrilling for me. From a very young age I have always been fascinated with family lore and genealogy so it was very exciting to make these connections.

The fall found me working on my card making and more family connections were happening on a closer level. Since the spring I’ve had movie nights with my brother and sister-in-law at least every 2 weeks which have been extremely fun. My other great nephew has been coming with them on several occasions and of course grandma loves to see the little guy. He is so sweet, talkative and energetic!

It’s been a good year all in all.

Boxing Day

For many people Boxing Day is the day to go bargain shopping but I gave up on that many years ago as I found the crowds too stressful to cope with. But once upon a time I was really into the post-Christmas shopping and would frequently find a lot of gifts for THE NEXT CHRISTMAS. The nice thing about that was that I got things at a bargain price and I could then shop throughout the year for additional gifts with a strain on the budget.

As I got more anti-crowds I found that there was still lots of good deals to be had in January and I pretty much could get what I wanted then since most people were now impoverished with December debt. I was cold hearted enough to think it was my good luck!  These days I don’t do much shopping because brother John curbs my enthusiasm! What can I say, I do like to shop for other people as well as myself but I have to be a little bit more sensible these days; after all, what do people really need?

But I ask you, if you see a gorgeous Christmas tablecloth for $5.99 are you going to leave it for someone else?  I didn’t think so!

Merry Christmas

Second juler dag (Christmas Day) in our extended family included stewed spinach, fat pork sausages and brown sugared potatoes made into little round balls. Faster Jonna was the queen of Christmas and when she was on her first memorable visit here we heard about this meal – one which we had never had. Dad was all for Mom starting this tradition and I think she tried it once or twice but she is not very good at the browned potatoes part of it and we kids were not so thrilled with the spinach part of it (what kid is, really?)

In this family the boys eat left over duck while we girls (into the next generation) breakfast on the leftover rice pudding with the hot cherry sauce. It’s been my tradition since my teenage years and I know my sisters are well into it also; I heard a rumour this morning that so is my niece!

Wishing everyone a hearty meal for second day of Christmas!

Glædelig Jul

Our family holds to the Danish tradition of celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve rather than on the 25^th. We also hold with the Viking traditions that have been inserted into the Christmas, such as dancing around the tree while singing carols, and eating a lot! I’ve attached the Wikipedia link on our traditions which have not changed much in this family – you can take the Dane out of Denmark but don’t mess with our Christmas!

It amazes me that so many Canadians do not know what marzipan is . . . the most delectable chocolate bar ever invented! This year we have not been able to find it anywhere; Co-op used to bring in some and I always bought up whatever was on the shelf but the past 2 years they have not had them.  I think my nephew brought some back last year so we did have a little but this year, nada. (a wee tear is developing in my eye as I write).

I want to wish all my family, friends and readers the most wonderful Christmas ever. Stay safe!

Merry Christmas – Glædelig Jul – Feliz Navidad – Joyeux Noel - Fröhliche Weihnachten

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_and_Christmas_in_Denmark

Christmases Past

Fantastic day yesterday with my first Christmas brunch of the season with family and friends. A little on the small side for the first run but that was what made it so perfect. Danish æbleskiver (ball pancakes), cantaloupe wrapped with prosciutto ham and mimosa drinks were low key and not so filling. Today we rest for the next big event Christmas Eve! Again we are doing it on the low key side with just 5 of us this year. The ducks are out thawing away and Mom and I are going to make an orange mousse for the dessert instead of our usual Danish rice pudding (we will have that Christmas Day this year).

So things are moving along nicely this season and I am hoping that my illness stays at bay. Last year was so nerve-wracking for everyone that nothing seemed to go very well.

As mentioned earlier I saw a psychologist on the Marilyn Denis show who advised that if there was a concern (death, marriage, illness, divorce, etc) happening in the family it is okay to acknowledge it but then one should continue to celebrate the holiday because “ ’tis the season” after all. Don’t ruin it for everyone is the motto, essentially.

If children are involved remember that this is the high point of their year and family should ensure that they always have the best memories at this time of year.

I remember one memorable Christmas where Dad took a fit because the darn tree kept falling over and he threw the tree out the door like a javelin. We kids started bawling our heads off because now we were “going to have a sad Christmas”. That naturally got Dad upset so out he trotted to bring the tree back in and somehow he managed to get the tree to stay up. I do recall that we had an awful lot of drama with trees over the years because the early tree stands were so poorly made and of course we always had a giant, live Christmas tree. When my Faster Jonna was here we talked about the trees and she laughing recalled that the drama was continuing from back home in Denmark. Apparently one Christmas the tree sat in the coal bucket! I can picture it well.

While there can be drama make sure it is funny in the end!

The Passing Lane

I don’t know about the rest of the country but here in Southern Alberta drivers appear not to have heard the phrase “passing lane”. If they have heard of it they simply do not understand the concept of what “passing” means. I took my driver’s education in high school in Winnipeg and then got my driver’s license in Ontario after taking professional lessons so I know “in theory” at least both provinces stressed the purpose of a passing lane. In other words, I was taught that you do not sit in the passing lane, it is for PASSING.

My brother John also took his training and license in Manitoba. He is an exceptional good driver but I must say being his passenger can sometimes be a strain because as he has gotten older he has become more and more intolerant of sloppy driving. He will do a 10 minute monologue on all the bad drivers on the highway (or on Macleod Trail or Deerfoot Trail if we are in the city). The worst he can say about a driver is that he or she is “a dangler”. Someone who is sitting on the far left lane, just driving along like they own the road. Anyone wanting to pass is stuck behind this dangler for miles on end until someone has to blow the horn or get right up to the rear end. I admit that there are an awful lot of them on the road, especially on the Deerfoot Trail which is extremely rude and selfish behaviour. 

I do point out to John that during rush hour traffic there is no passing lane on Deerfoot because it is wall to wall cars in all three lanes and none of the lanes are moving at more than a crawl. I used to drive it when I was parking downtown and even though I left just before 4 p.m. in order to avoid the worst of it I would often be stuck (especially around Southland, the funnel). My strategy was always to try to get into the passing lane as soon as possible and just move with the flow because once passed Southland I could move into the middle lane fairly quickly and the traffic would usually stream faster. I was NOT a dangler despite being in the passing lane because there were 100 cars in front of me also stuck.

On that exculpatory note I give you this quote via one of my classmates . . .

"Don’t smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, or work too much. We are all on the road to the grave – but there’s no reason to be in the passing lane."     Robert Orben

Atlas Shrugged

I do not like green eggs and ham and I do not like Ayn Rand and her libertarian philosophy. I read The Fountainhead some years ago and found it peculiar and depressing. I have not read “Atlas Shrugged” but I have read the synopsis and will run far away from any attempt at reading it! So why am I writing about it? Well, that is the funny story.

Brother John and I were following The Great American Book Read on PBS over the spring and summer months and one of the books that struck John in the eye was “Atlas Shrugged”. For some odd reason he had a real beef with seeing it on the list and so I naturally was curious and asked him “why”? His answer was that it was coming out of the blue compared with any other reading list (not even on the lists) and he thought it was there for political reasons. He had heard of the novel (which I will confess I had not, at least not to recall it) via a Teaparty politician using it a few years ago when he said “Atlas shrugged”. Hmm, okay.

As the Book Read continued into the countdown in the autumn John was really riled to see it make it into the top 40, calling it a “put up job”. I must say I don’t think I have ever seen John get that annoyed about anything, much less a book.  Which is why I took the time to read the Wikipedia article on the book and I must say that he would be violently opposed to the whole theme of the book! His instinct was not wrong but then, having read The Fountainhead we already knew Rand’s think was the polar opposite of our own political beliefs. 
The curious thing is that many right wingers are beginning to embrace the book’s philosophy again. In effect, however, the philosophy ends up shooting itself in the foot because society requires a sharing not only of ideas but of productivity in order to function as a civilized community. Rand’s view is greedy and selfish, uncivilized and anti-social. Is that the sort of world one would want to live in? Oh, isn’t that the way the world is leaning today?

I only ask to be enlightened, but if you are too libertarian to share your view, by all means, don’t answer (I say, tongue-in-cheek).  After all, one needs a sense of humour and that I believe is free! She shrugged.

Salute to an Artist

My readers will recognize by now that one of my favorite artists is Jessie Wilcox Smith. As a sentimentalist I find that her drawings apt fit many of my more whimsical blogs. And of course since most of them use children it adds an extra little poignancy to the article (I fondly hope).

She was born in 1863 and passed away in 1935 and remarkably did not discover her artistic talent until she was 20!  She is considered one of the greatest illustrators in the Golden Age of Illustration when magazines were at their height and ongoing stories were regularly featured in the magazines. She graced every printed cover of Good Housekeeping from December 1917 through April 1933, becoming the artist with the longest run of illustrated magazine covers. She created a total of 184 illustrations of family scenes for the magazine.

She was an exceptional artist / illustrator and I am grateful that her work is in the public domain!

Feeling the Love

As Christmas draws nearer and nearer I can feel love in the air; it is palpable. “Is love a fancy or a feeling?”

I know that Christmas can be fraught with anxiety (what do I get for this person, how much money do I have left, how will I pay the bills in January, will Uncle Henry ruin the day again) and time management considerations (who will I disappoint this year but not coming, can I make it to 3 events on this day). You get the idea, there are plenty of things to worry one over the holidays which are not routine stresses. Not everyone can manage their schedules or their funds to the best advantage, I understand that.

However there is the upside to the holidays because there is a genuine cheerfulness in the air when you meet people on the street (maybe not so much in the mall) or when you make a phone call and end with saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”, people seem to like that (at least that is my experience). The smells are wonderful, the real evergreens, the scent of cinnamon and peppermint, baking cookies, breads, buns and savory dishes. Receiving Christmas cards in the mail and these days there is also the surprise of an Amazon delivery here and there!

Best of all family and friends come together more often, send messages, make phone calls or just show up for coffee! We had the fun of having our Swiss wanderer arrive on our doorstep yesterday afternoon, coffee in hand and ready to regale us with his autumn and listen to our rather mundane events of the past few months.

Welcome home Junior!

Hoping and Wishing

The Marilyn Denis show is having a 10 Day Christmas Contest with each day having tons of prizes to be won. It is time consuming to enter the contests each day (you can enter once for each of the prizes at least that seems to be what I am able to do so I sure hope I am not accidentally eliminating myself by entering once daily on each of the prizes!)  The point is that one should always try to do more than just hope and wish; if you want something you actually have to enter the contest, try out for the team, or whatever it is you are yearning for. No one is going to come riding up on a white stallion, sadly. 

Yesterday Mom and I watched “Freedom Writers” which she had never seen and it has been years since I watched it. Mom was getting mad at how terrible the teenagers were behaving and was saying “I would throw them out of the class” and I kept patting her hand and saying “just keep watching, you will see something special” and in the end she was impressed. She has always told us how influential her own teacher had been in her life (she had the same teacher from grade one through eight) and as far as we know this woman walked on water for my mom. The biggest lesson my mother says she got from her was “if you know your math you can think”.

I liked how Erin learned along with the teens and her incredible stamina in never giving up on any of them. But she also insisted that they not give up on themselves. Accepting status quo was not acceptable to her and she taught them to think likewise. I just think she was remarkable with these children. There should be more teachers, mentors and parents like that.

Caring, not just wishing or hoping.



 

Decorating a Tree

The youngest brother was over last evening to put up and decorate the tree. I had said “no tree this year” and Erik said “If Amanda and I put it up, decorate it and take it down, can we have one?” Well, okay, I agreed grudgingly. However when they came over I was in there like a dirty shirt, putting hooks on the new bulbs I had bought 2 years ago, going downstairs and hauling up other decorations, putting on Christmas music and generally enjoying myself hugely. It does not pay to be a Grinch at Christmas. What is nice is the good fellowship of family as we prepare to celebrate the family time of the year.

 For most people Christmas is not the holy time of yore, it is a time to eat, drink and be merry. We can be philosophical and say “Jesus wasn’t even born in December; this time of year is the Viking winter solstice celebration; and so on and so forth”. However for myself I do like to think about the holy side of Christmas, about the nativity story and the ultimate theme which is that there is hope for Peace on Earth.

As my mama always says “we can always hope.”

Something Old

I am a sentimentalist, no big surprise to my readers. Christmas time brings out the nostalgia in a big way for me. First of all I usually start Christmas things on November 15^th by addressing all my Christmas cards. The last couple of years I have been a little tardy about it but I managed to get most of my cards mailed yesterday to those near and far. Christmas isn’t Christmas without the cards, in my book.

Then there used to be all the baking which has quietly gone by the wayside this year. There will be some special baking but it will be done in the moment. That’s a new tradition.

But the most important part to warm up the cockles of the winter dried heart is the movies. Mom is a bit of a Grinch at Christmas time; she is not fond of the decorating, the baking, the gifting and most of all, the movie watching. But I insist on seeing my favorites one by one. Miracle on 34^th Street (I will always love Maureen O’Hara, my absolute favorite actress); It’s a Wonderful Life (I love Clarence and his bell); Love Actually (who doesn’t love Hugh Grant’s little dance); Last Holiday (I adore Queen Latifah, particularly in this movie) and Holiday with Kate and Cameron. One movie that I want to see this year and have a hard time finding is The Bells of St. Mary’s with Bing Crosby.

A cup of hot chocolate or hot cider, my special cheese buns, a little sherry (yep,  a little sip of sherry is so, so part of the moment) and I am good for the next 2 hours!

“I believe, I believe. It’s silly, but I believe”.

A Declaration

One of my girlfriends sent me a book that encourages one to do a declaration each day. The declaration is actually in the book so I have been doing a little coaching to myself on positive declarations which is not so very difficult for me. It seems simple, even trivial, to tell yourself that you are going to overcome this or that and yet when you say it out loud it does have power.

Declarations, affirmations, positive waves, whatever you want to call them are not new ideas but it is amazing how often we can sink into the negative side of thoughts. It is all too easy to give up and that is what I believe the majority of people do. They give up on themselves.

If there is one person on earth that is worth something it is yourself so be kind to yourself on a daily basis. Don’t beat up on yourself. If you set goals and don’t reach them today, forgive yourself and try again the very next minute. Whether we believe in a higher power or not is not relevant when we endorse ourselves as spiritual beings. We are worthy of all that is good and bright in this world.

Believe in yourself!

A Meeting of the Minds

I enjoy getting together with friends and family and getting into deep discussions rather than daily trivia. We are not a family that likes to gossip about other people and this stems way back to my great grandparents at least. It is one thing to do “catch up” news about one’s friends, what they are doing now and how they are faring with their job, life and family but it is quite another thing to talk about random people around town. Generally the nature of these talks is not on the nice side, let’s just keep it at that.

I like to talk about ideas and we can sometimes get pretty loud, even when we are agreeing with each other. That is a definite paternal habit we have acquired from our Dad. Sometimes? Well, almost always, actually. My poor in-laws and even some of the grandkids find it a little intense sometimes but others get right in there with us.

Not for us the taboos of other folks. We thoroughly enjoy politics, religion and any other hot button topics which is one of the reasons I so enjoy The View. I like my book club when we get a controversial book and can go for it with our opinions, which often are not aligned with each other. My friends know that when it comes to adultery I am going to go wild on the discussion. My mother will literally crack up when I talk about adultery and how I would deal with it (it’s not pretty).

Some of my family members are so opposite in current topics that we can almost get hostile and certainly impatient with each other. However at the end of the discussion we agree to disagree and there is no harm, no foul. In some ways I believe we refresh each other with these very opposite opinions.

It’s not for everyone, I know. Most people are rather uncomfortable with disagreement and also with loud voices. My friend Marie’s husband Paul is slightly deaf and (I think naturally) has a loud voice. She was very anxious once when we were visiting and Paul and I were going at it in great style. She was so worried that I was getting upset and I said “What, Paul is an amateur compared to my Dad! I am used to loud voices and love to be in disagreement. Paul and I are having a great time!” Which we were.

Maybe not a meeting of the minds, but a meeting of lovely “discussion”. J

Poetry is it Sophistication?

Yesterday we went shopping for our big (and we hope) final run of groceries for the holiday season and I am very proud to say that I only did one tiny indulgence in Costco, buying one book for myself. What was it? Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” which is a book I have been wanting to read for a long time.

Last night I read the introduction and then his preface and found myself dubious about his greatness. Then I mulled it over some more and realized a few things that sort of eased my anxiety a little bit about this fellow who has been lauded as perhaps America’s greatest poet.  While he was not a man of his time in the sense of being in step with the norms of the day he still had a very egotistically American outlook. They are the greatest poets on earth, they are the most innovative, creative, accepting, etc. I can hear so much current American jargon in his extremely long and quite boring preface!

Today I will take a dive into the actual poetry and try to keep an open mind since the poems are in fact the whole point of the book. But when I lay the book aside last night I pondered my non-love affair with poetry and wondered if poetry is an acquired taste or if it comes naturally to some people. Is poetry the pinnacle of fine reading, this prose lover asks? I certainly believe that really good poetry is very difficult to write whereas prose seems to me to be more streaming.

I am beginning to appreciate poetry despite struggling with memorizing but the point really is to enjoy the content of the poem and then ponder about what the poet meant to convey. Despite my best efforts to keep an open mind I can already predict that I will be unchanged in one year with respect to who my favorite poet will remain.

Emily Dickinson, I understand your poetry and will always love your tempo.

Baking a Danish Coffee Cake

Yesterday Mom and I were doing some low key Christmas decorating, placing runners on tables and staging candles and other Christmas knick knacks. As I pulled out all the different runners and tablecloths I discovered a plastic bag of mini booklets from Mor’s favorite magazine “Familie Journalen” which is now an infamous magazine in this house! (another story). One had breads and cakes for the Christmas season and I discovered this one (hoping I am translating properly):

2 eggs

200 g sugar

100 g flour

1 dl (deci-litre) fine rasp (bread crumbs, be sure the breadcrumbs do not have any spices or flavours – you can make your own with a dried French bread for example, if you can’t find good bread crumbs, the crumbs should be made fine with a rolling pin)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 dl coffee cream

75 g melted butter

Rind of one large orange, grated 

Almond - orange Icing:

40 g butter1 gr icing sugar

1 ½ tablespoon flour

1/d dl coffee cream

Juice of one orange (about 1 dl)

½ cup of sliced almonds (or as needed to cover the top with some spaces, in other words don’t overload it but don’t be stingy either) 

First blend eggs and sugar until well blended, then add cream, flour, rasp and baking powder slowly into mixture. Then add orange rind. Pour into rectangular pan about 30 x 40 x 45 cm. Line the pan with parchment paper and you can also sprinkle some rasp on bottom for a nice bottom crunch but not mandatory. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Icing: add all ingredients except the almonds in a heavy bottom pot and boil up until a somewhat think mass. Add to cake and then return to oven, raising the heat to 375 degrees until golden brown, approximately 12 minutes. Sprinkle on almonds and let cool before removing from pan. 

NOTE 1: the name of the cake is Svigermors Kaffekage translates as Mother-in-Law’s Coffee Cake.

NOTE 2: a decilitre is just shy of a ½ cup

 

Just as I was putting my boots in preparation for another appointment I hear this crash. There was our little Kitsy jumping on a shelf with a bunch of potted plants, three of which are super heavy pots but somehow she was fat enough to suddenly make everything crash to the floor pots, shelf, the whole shebang.  Good night, several branches of the jade broke off as well as 20 or so leaves. Mercifully the pots did not break. While I was gone Mom managed to sweep everything up and when John got back he helped set the shelf back up as well as putting the pots back on.

My task was researching how to propagate jade from broken branches and fallen leaves. It is quite the process, simple enough but it takes at least of couple of weeks to see if the branches and leaves will form a dry end with roots coming out. I had rooting compound which helps the process so we are anxiously watching the plant to see if anything is coming but of course ‘the watched pot never boils’. Early days, I know and I will have to patient.

I just hope that some will take root and we can have a bunch of nice little plants to start a new generation. Interestingly enough the big jade plant I have was a gift from my girlfriend and it was just a wee think amongst a number of other small plants in a big urn. It has really thrived.

I will keep you posted.

Examining One's Thinking - again and again

My readers know that I love John Maxwell and regularly use his workbook Jumpstart Your Thinking so I can speak with some authority on Thinking.

Yesterday I wrote

I believe that one should examine one’s personal thinking on a daily basis and as one ages it is vital to do so because it is so very easy to fall into grooves and patterns of thinking.

Here are some of the reasons why I suggest this examination. The other day on The View they discussed Kevin Hart’s situation with respect to his withdrawal from being the host of the Oscars because the producers were asking him to apologize for homophobic comments he made in 2009. He refused to do so because he said that he had already apologized many times over the years and he did not think he should have to go through life apologizing over and over again. The discussion essentially came to the same conclusion as both Kevin Hart and I – that people evolve, people change their opinions as “issues” become more normalized and understood.

Homosexuality has been condemned for 2,000 years at least, in large part due to Christianity’s view. During the AIDS crisis a more compassionate view of homosexuality began to emerge and over the past thirty years the western world at least has essentially accepted homosexuality as (an appropriate word is failing to come to me, so forgive me) normal, valid and right for certain individuals. True there are still many people who cannot overcome their prejudice against gay people but overall acceptance is there and laws are in place to protect their rights.

So people’s thinking evolved and can accept something that was considered wrong once upon a time. Another reason for examining one’s thinking is to keep current with what is happening in the world today. Countries change, politics change and people’s attitudes change. In order to stay current and fresh it is important not to fall into the groove of bemoaning “the good old days”. The fact is that the good old days are largely a myth in your own mind. When my mother starts harking back to 1936 I ask her “Mom do you want to wash diapers by hand again?” When she gets on her favorite treadmill talk, bemoaning that there is no bus service to my house, I cut her short and simply tell her I am not going to go over the arguments for the 500^th time. Then I ask her “where do you want to go?” and she says nowhere. Case closed.

My mother is my cautionary tale to myself and I remind myself that one of the joys of thinking is to stay creative and curious and being open to possibilities. It’s important to listen to world renowned figures, to read good books and to talk to those around us to get their views. I am always questioning my cousins in Denmark about what is going on because Mom only talks with her sister who is also an octogenarian and believe me it is so worrying to have them go over the same subject, every week and never come up with any conclusion except that they shouldn’t be letting foreigners into the country. I shake my head and tell Mom “I don’t want to hear it again unless it’s something new”. Sadly it never is.

The other day I made her listen to Louise Arbour, Special Representative for International Migration, who spoke most reasonably about international migration. She listened with full attention, I thought, but two hours later in a discussion with my brother she said precisely what Arbour said WAS NOT TRUE – that migrants come with their hands out and not willing to work. I was so angry with her in going back into the same old groove but she stayed Jacobsen Stubborn. John says be patient you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but I am stubborn also and I refuse to let her get away with talking such piffle!

So there we are . . . do what I say and also do what I do . . . refuse to listen to piffle! J

Climate Change is Real

The other day I listened to THE pre-eminent scientist Martin Rees being interviewed by one of my favorite journalists Christiane Amanpour discussing among other things climate change. Among the majority of scientists climate change is a FACT and to doubt that it is not is simply behaving like an ostrich (my words, not his).  Below I have a link to Amanpour’s various interviews, you will have to login but it is worth watching if you are interested in any of the subjects I will now refer to.  As well I include the Wikipedia article on carbon footprint and a website that answers / refutes climate change deniers arguments.  I don’t want to waste my time re-writing so provide these links for your edification.

The concern I have is trying to understand why individuals wish to deny that climate change is real. I can understand why corporations would want to deny it because they are concerned only about their bottom line (i.e. financial gains) and like Ebenezer Scrooge are reluctant to spend one grout on anything as altruistic as the environment. But are they the ones who have induced some sort of algorithm into ordinary people’s mentality to make them hypnotized into believing that we humans can go willy-nilly along, cutting down forests, burning fuel at unreasonable rates and generally acting irresponsibly to the detriment of this Earth?

I would ask these people to examine their reasoning and perhaps delve more deeply into the true science of climate (not to be confused with weather).

I believe that one should examine one’s personal thinking on a daily basis and as one ages it is vital to do so because it is so very easy to fall into grooves and patterns of thinking. More on this tomorrow. 

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/amanpour-co/

https://grist.org/series/skeptics/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint

Who'da Thunk

The other day I wrote a blog on stupidity and I was astonished to see that it had 152 hits in one day! Normally I get between 20 to 30 hits a day. I think it was because the title I used has been used by others (it’s a common enough phrase, after all). I am only hoping that those who travelled to my blog actually read it and got some amusement out of it, as well as some enlightenment.

I know what you all are thinking “is she going to start using phrases to get hits”? Well, it did cross my mind but the truth is I like to be original. To quote from a Georgette Heyer novel “she does have an odd kick in her gallop” is more in my line!

Tomorrow I am going to write about Climate Change but for today I want to make a suggestion for my readers – ask yourself and do some research into what an individual can do to make a difference. I say this because I have been listening to some eminent scientists with respect to climate change but they speak on such a high level (and rightly so) that they do not get into the nitty gritty of every day lives and what we can do.

I recognize that there are plenty of books and others (not scientists) who make suggestions which is all very well and good but what I would like to know is this – what things can people do on an annual basis that would show how significant those changes were. In other words if I, for example, chose to not drive at least one day a week what would that do annually with respect to reduced carbon emissions? If a whole nation made that choice how soon would they reach the Paris Accord targets? Then let’s say everyone chose to have at least one plant based meal per day, how would that add up? (and plant based meal means, unfortunately, that you cannot have Havarti on toast for breakfast because cheese is not plant based, darn it all!)

If people opted out of driving trucks and chose smaller cars instead how much would that improve our score? I can remember how amazed we were when we moved from Kitchener to Calgary back in 1976 to see so many pickup trucks in a city. We could not get over it and to this day I am puzzled as to why city dwellers think they need a truck.

Well, that is the creative question of the day – find out what you can and consider what changes you are willing to make of your own accord. You will surprise yourself in realizing it is not as inconvenient as it may first appear!

FYI – I chose to park my car once a week 10 years ago; I hang dry my laundry all summer; Mom breakfasts plant based every day (jam on her own homemade bread) and since my illness driving is reduced to “as needed” only. My vehicle is also considered “green”. All my lights are LED in the home. But where I fail, I do run my furnace a lot since I am very vulnerable to cold (even before my illness). So I am not a saint, but I try. J

Daily Creativity Can Be a Challenge

I must say that unless you watch DIY shows all day long it can be a challenge to come up with your own versions of creativity! Once again I ask myself “where do you get your crazy theme ideas from” but wisely I refuse to answer myself.

Of course creativity is not all about crafts or making things. I already made an attempt at memorizing a poem (and what a bosh I made of that). During the night I thought “why don’t you go back to writing a Haiku” then spent most of the night awake refining some gibberish Christmas Haiku which I naturally forget the moment I woke up!

I am looking somewhat sceptically at a piece of crochet work that my sister in law started for me and which I have already unravelled twice wondering if it should be my next project. It is supposed to be a baby blanket and once upon a time I could make a blanket in a couple of days but today I can barely get 4 inches done and not very tidily at that. Ah for the use of one’s hands again!

So today I am going to use “fig nut” as my moment of creativity. When my youngest brother was young ( J ) he once was in a store and looked at some fig newton cookies and went “fig nut”! He suddenly realized he hadn’t had these cookies for years and had a craving for them. When he brought them home he told us the story and we were all enraptured by his word “fig nut” and to this day whenever we get a brilliant (or not so brilliant) idea we say “fig nut”. 

And that’s the way it was!

Ballerinas and other crafts

Yesterday’s One New Thing was research into stupidity but now let’s get on with something a little more creative.  I still haven’t worked out my camera problem (essentially how to get one or two photos added to my album; it wants to download all my pictures again and again!) so I cannot currently put up what I made yesterday.

I watch the Marilyn Denis show in the mornings and they often have folks on who show DIY projects; the other day was one on creating inexpensive “filler” decorations for the Christmas tree. One of them was a ballerina with a snowflake for a tutu simply made of stock or construction paper and the snowflake from regular paper.  I upgraded my tutu by using Origami paper stock and also made my ballerinas pale blue instead of white. My idea is to make them into a wind chime or window charm since I will not be putting up a tree this year. They turned out really well. All you need to do is find some clipart ballerinas, trace them on to the stock paper and you are good to go! It was a soothing little craft.

The other craft will have to wait until tomorrow because I don’t have any Modge Podge (not even sure what it is!) but John has agreed to take me to Dollarama tomorrow to get some – fortunately we have to go anyway as we need more chicken feed for our girls.

This other craft requires some 4x4 canvas which you can get at the dollar store in a package; you then modge podge the canvas (using the modge podge with sparkles is best) and then you adhere the desired picture onto the canvas. The lady on Marilyn (whose name I forget at the moment) used musical sheet paper from The Nutcracker since her tree was themed that way but she said you can use any sort of picture you like, from old time Christmas pictures to Merry Christmas messages. Once added then you modge podge again and add your own glitter for that extra something. Again, I am thinking of doing mine double-sided so they can be chimes rather than just ornaments for the tree.

Once I get my camera working properly I will take photos of the projects and post them as a special blog!

Aren’t you excited to see them. J

You Can't Fix Stupid . . . You Have to Walk Around It

I am sure there are many people who are extremely annoyed by the amount of absurd posts that occur on social media. As Proverbs says “against a fool even a wise man fights in vain”. I thought I would venture into the world of Google to try to discover if indeed this is so. I have been stopped in my tracks by the remarkable article in Wikipedia which is both funny and dismal at the same time. I attach the link at the bottom of the blog, I think you will find it interesting to say the least and let me say a certain person in a big white house crossed my mind as I read it!

Along with the legions of stupid people we also have an alarming number of sociopaths who are manipulating our world. In particular I refer to the creator of Facebook who is defying social order deliberately and helping to create a world of chaos and hatred. I do not say this lightly but following the news closely in recent months I find myself puzzled as to why Zuckerberg refused to attend various inquiries and even more puzzling why the authorities did not insist on that attendance. A simple correction in algorithms would prevent people from going down dark gopher holes into a world of misinformation and malevolence.

I am an optimist in the long run but in the short term I am a worrier and it is very concerning that the world is racing along willy-nilly without remembering 2 axioms from 2 world wars “lest we forget” and “never again”.

This blog is written to the readers who are bright, have common sense and perhaps can make their world positive and strong by their own initiatives. Little circles eddy outwards. We can always hope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupidity

Fifty Years of Friendship

Today is my best friend’s birthday and 50 years ago I attended her Sweet Sixteen. It is hard to believe that 50 years have gone by but the mirror tells a different story.

I am sure there are other Fifty Year Friendships but few have the unusual twist that ours has. Ninette and I met in high school while my father was transferred by Burns Foods to Montreal to trouble-shoot at the plant there. We were only there for 9 months (July to March). Ninette and I only knew each other for 7 of those months, sharing the same home room and art class. But she sat across the aisle from me and we smiled at each other and that was it. We would have lunch together with some other friends but Ninette and I shared a sense of humour that could make us laugh at the most peculiar stories. She is a wonderful storyteller and I would listen to her enthralled by her tales. I would repeat some of my father’s hilarious anecdotes (past and present) which had her in stitches.

Then we got the news that we were being transferred back to Winnipeg and Ninette gave me her address so I could write to her. Which I did. A letter from her quickly followed. We have shared nearly 50 years of correspondence most of which happened on a weekly or bi-monthly basis. Seldom did two weeks pass without a letter, in all these years. And that is what is amazing. We have been through thick and thin, travels abroad, children, illness, anxiety, job loss, family woes, business crises, you name it and we have been through it. But never, ever has there been a cross word, a misunderstanding or anything of a negative nature that could have jeopardized this friendship.

Truly God smiled down on us the day we smiled at each other.

My cup runneth over in gratitude and love for this lovely, charming woman who is my FRIEND.