Sharing My World 80

Share Your World – April 30, 2018

Do you use paper money? If so is your money organized sequentially according to denomination?

Well, sort of, in answer to both questions, although the organized part is a bit hit or miss.  A couple of weeks ago I had two five dollar bills, both folded in half and probably right side up and facing forward. If I still had them I would go and check to verify this information, because that is exactly how busy I am.

I like to have some cash on hand, especially if we’re travelling, for small things like coffee or snacks, but that’s just a long ingrained habit, because now everywhere takes cards for everything.  But if they don’t, or their machines are down, it’s good to have an emergency stash of a couple of twenties stuffed into some obscure zippered pocket of your bag so you can rummage around in a panic trying to find them, praying you didn’t use them for something already.  Also a suitcase full of paper money hidden under your floor boards would be nice.

You are comfortable doing nothing? For long stretches of time?

I am comfortable doing nothing for long stretches of time.  Yes I am.  I am also able to sit perfectly still without fidgeting.  Normally I am a very patient and calm person and don’t mind waiting.  I can be relaxed to the point of passing out.  I used to call this severe laziness, but now I’ve decided it’s more like energy efficiency.  I am conserving my power.  Fully charged and on standby.  Except not actually standing if there’s someplace to sit down.

What is your greatest strength?

I honestly don’t know.  I’m pretty ordinary.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

I appreciate the weather for finally figuring out what season we’re supposed to be experiencing, although today started out overcast and windy.  It’s not snowing.  Woohoo.  That’s something to smile about.

When the snow finally took a breather W was able to drive east to see his parents and take care of some things for them.  We haven’t communicated much for a couple of weeks but I’m assuming it’s all going well and I expect him home some time tomorrow afternoon.  Our lawns at last look to be dry enough to be raked and poked and prodded and whatever else he plans to do to them.  Apparently he has a system.  He told me that when I offered to help.  So I’m assuming he meant I should just stay out of his way.  Stirring up the grass just stirs up my allergies and I really hate yard work anyway.  I don’t even know why I offered.  Sometimes I carry this trying to be nice thing way too far.

The sun is just now coming out from behind the clouds!  All the green emerging from the greys and browns is a beautiful uplifting sight.  It IS May, after all.  Which means we have about three more weeks before we can put out our bedding plants here.  I wish I was kidding about that, or that I bothered with bedding plants, but I gave that up a long time ago because I got tired of spending money to watch things die.  Maybe that’s my greatest strength, knowing when to give up.  Ha.  Like that one made the list.  Although when you think about it, it is a concept some people can’t grasp.

Give it up.  Let it go.  End this blather.  See how easy that was?

 

Sharing My World 46

Daughters drawing saved by my mother for so many years that it’s probably a priceless work of art by now. BTW, everyone would look better with a neck moustache and arms growing out of their ears.

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 3

What is your favorite piece of art? (it doesn’t have to be famous)

Well that’s like trying to pick your favourite blade of grass on the lawn.  Impossible for me to choose even a category.  I do have a great love for children’s art though, especially when they explain it all to you, or even when they can’t explain any of it.  Maybe my favourite piece of art will eventually be on that big old canvas that’s been sitting here staring at me blankly for several days. There’s not much art I don’t like, unless it is a depiction of something gruesome.

What made you smile today?

Being put through a check out by a purple haired cashier.  I suspect she coloured her hair herself (or had a friend do it) because random bits of her ears and neck were also purple.  What can you do, except show up for work anyway and carry on.  Purple ears won’t last forever, right?   She reminded me of my granddaughters who also do startling things with their hair.  It makes me smile to see them experimenting with who they are or who they wish to be.  All of them are bold and beautiful.

Which place do you recommend as a Must-See? Please state which country, state or province.

Really I haven’t been to enough places myself to do that with any kind of credibility.  I do think people miss out on seeing their own country from a tourists point of view when they prefer to rush off across the ocean or the equator in search of something better.  I’ve seen all three of Canada’s oceans – Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic!  Notice how far inland I am living from every one of them.  Travel destinations are a personal thing.  I loved the rolling green hills in Scotland but suspect some people might find them boring.  Imagine that.  Weirdos.

Complete this sentence: When I was younger I used to….

…..love it when cousins came to visit us on the farm, mainly because we got out of all kinds of work so we could entertain them. I was always surprised by their avid interest in such things as tractors and cows. And barn cats and pond frogs.  These were ordinary every day things to me but new and interesting to them.  It gave me a whole new perspective, seeing things I took for granted through someone else’s eyes.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

In my ongoing seemingly never-ending pursuit of something suitably warm to put on my freezing feet I think I’ve finally made a breakthrough.  Men’s thermal socks.  If your feet are cold in those things you are probably dead.  Now I just have to be careful I don’t slide across the kitchen floor in them and break my neck.

That canvas is STILL hanging around and still blank.  I am looking forward to getting all artsy with it this week.  Anybody want a painting of my thermal socks?  Alrighty then!  I will try to come up with something better.

Sharing My World 37

My November Days Eleven and Twelve

Share Your World 2015 Week 45

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Looking it up in the dictionary!  Even if you think you know exactly what a word means, looking it up can be FUN!

fun – noun – something that provides mirth or amusement: A picnic would be fun.
enjoyment or playfulness: She’s full of fun.
—verb (used without object), verb (used with object), funned, fun·ning.

Informal. joke; kid.
—adjective, fun·ner, fun·nest.

Informal. of or pertaining to fun, especially to social fun: a fun thing to do; really a fun person; the funnest game.
Informal. whimsical; flamboyant: The fashions this year are definitely on the fun side.
—Idioms

for / in fun, as a joke; not seriously; playfully: His insults were only in fun.like fun, Informal. certainly not; of doubtful truth: He told us that he finished the exam in an hour. Like fun he did!
make fun of, to make the object of ridicule; deride: The youngsters made fun of their teacher.

Now what could be funner than reading a dictionary?  Is that not one of the funnest  things you’ve done all day??  My spell check wants to change those words to “funnier” and “funniest”, but it doesn’t know everything, does it.  I’m just funning you, so I guess you have been funned.

Fun to me means whatever it takes to make you laugh or feel happy inside.  And afterwards you say to yourself, wow, that was really fun!

What is your favorite time of day?

From early morning to late at night, every single moment I’m alive and breathing.  Even the parts where I’m not having a whole lot of fun.

Given the choice of anyone in the world, with whom would you want to spend an evening?

Our new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mother, Margaret (former wife of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau).  What a life she has had!  But I expect we might just talk about our grandchildren.  And that would be perfectly fine.

Complete this sentence: Something that anyone can do that will guarantee my smile is…

….compliment me on something.  Isn’t that what makes anyone smile?  It doesn’t have to be much, you can simply say you like my shoes.  And I will say thank you and smile.  And suddenly we will both like each other a little bit more.  Funny how that works.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for an uneventful post surgery week for W and his new super hip and the body’s incredible ability to heal.  I am looking forward to more of that.  And getting back to my art work which has been seriously neglected for too long.  But for now, this temporary lifestyle change has been educational and interesting and has made both of us grateful for a thousand things we normally take for granted.

Hope you all are having a FUN week!  Or a funny week.  Whichever is funner.  Life is too short for anything else.

Art du Jour 73

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a black and white charcoal face on brown paper, so I’m very happy with this result. Especially the hair. And the lopsided smile. And the fact that the eyes are not too big. I like doing eyes, so I tend to exaggerate them too much sometimes.

Practice, practice, practice. And then practice some more.

Originally I intended to incorporate this in to a collage, but I think she’s fine on her own.

And look at me, all organized and industrious and posting in the morning! It’s a beautiful one too, sunny and breezy and not yet hot. Perfect for whatever comes next.

Just Jazzy 122

“If you’re reading this…
Congratulations, you’re alive.
If that’s not something to smile about,
then I don’t know what is.”
(Chad Sugg    Monsters Under Your Head)

It was a great day to be alive. That was pretty much my entire plan for the day, so yeah. Mission accomplished.

Just Jazzy 117

Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.  (Leo Buscaglia)

Do some simple and random act of kindness for a complete stranger today.
Just because you can.

Just Jazzy 114

“I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”    (Paul Simon)

Some days the only thing that keeps me going
is remembering how brilliant and amazing I am.

Just Jazzy 99

Positive thoughts make positive outcomes.

Laugh loud. Smile large. Choose to make this a beautiful day.

Santa Got Mail

There’s been a few days go missing in my December book of days, but now that the excitement has died down and the kids are off to new adventures I’m feeling like I just might make it to the end of 2012 after all.

I don’t know why Santa didn’t pick up his mail – perhaps his sleigh was loaded down with cookies by the time he got here.  It’s okay, I’ll be saving this delightful card for him for another time.

It’s a good idea to get the to/from business out of the way right off the bat, and follow that up with pictures so there’s no confusion as to who’s who.  And of course compliments are always nice.

Maybe there’s no point in telling him what you want until you’re sure he’s totally on board with the fact that you’ve been Good.  And a big toothy smile can’t hurt.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday, and that you got to spend time with the people you love.

First Impressions

There are so many things we are cognizant of in other people without being conscious of it, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what comes first.

I meet new people every day at work.  Whether they are male or female is a good place to start I suppose.  Sometimes it’s surprisingly hard to tell, especially with little kids from other cultures. I tried to sell a small boy pink glasses once.  He looked quite pretty in them but it wasn’t the look he was going for I guess.  The male/female thing is important to sort out when directing a customer to the right section of the store, but when in doubt I just advise them to look wherever they want.

Then there’s the people who give you little choice in what you notice first.  Why else would someone do something weird and extreme to his hair if that’s not something he wants everyone who’s not legally blind to pick up on.  It’s the unremarkable ones that are harder to read or easier to ignore, and I assume that whichever it is, they’ve chosen to be that way and I respect them for that.

We look at people’s faces and we look into their eyes, listen to what they say and how they say it.  And then we kind of mirror each other back and forth.  Smile for smile, frown for frown.  I don’t really care about what you’re wearing or the length of your hair or the fact that you may have sixteen rings in your left eyebrow.

But I do care very deeply about how we choose to make each other feel.  And if you think that isn’t something that happens immediately upon meeting, you are deluding yourself.