Enigma/Sojourner

A few days ago I received the sad news that my friend in the states had passed on. Like myself, he too suffered with this COPD, but his case has been much worse than mine.

I first met James whose internet handle was Enigma/Sojourner, in a COPD thread. We became friends quite quickly because like me, he also was a writer. Believe me Enigma could make the English language stand on its head in his orations; he was that prolific with his words. No matter his topic, people would just hang on every word, such was his eloquence. He was also a very accomplished artist with his portrait painting; his work just took your breath away. He was such a talented man in so many ways.

In addition to his writing and painting, he built boats, was quite a fitness guy with his running, being an ex marine and had a way with the ladies that would charm the hair off a coconut. His heart though was lost to his wife a long time ago. Never have I ever read so much feeling in a poem, as when he opened the door to his soul, writing to Mary. Of course like myself, he had an insatiable thirst and knowledge of poetry. His passing has really come too soon for such a talented man, what a waste to the world. His contributions through his words already are sorely missed. Sleep easy my friend.

In closing I have written a poem for my friend, for he would expect it of me and I could not have it any other way.

Don’t bury me

Don’t bury me where the sun can’t shine.
But on a hillside treed and green
Where I could see the oaks and smell the pine
Where the birds once sang and preened.

I’d like to think, that my spirit can roam,
Hills and valleys that reach to the sea,
Where the smell of the brine, and the crisp ozone
Ships in sail ride the waves, sleek and free.

I have written my words and have sang all my songs,
I’ve worked on the beaches, and I’ve gazed upon sights
My journey’s all done, the lifes highway so long.
I rest, my eyes closed - under cool starry nights.

Eric Valentine June 7th 2010 ©

C'ya

In A Box of Black Wood

It’s funny how things happen sometimes. I think everyone at one time or another just sits there in a quiet moment and reminisces. That’s the time when it seems the flood gates open and a whole box of memories run rampant all over the living room floor like the memory alphabet gone mad!

I had a day like that not too long ago; the truth is, I get many nights like that, it must be an age thing, or maybe just reviewing inventory of my life.

Sometimes I sit here looking over my files and thinking where did all these thousands of words came from, not only that, but also under what circumstances did these words make their escape. It’s a writers thing I guess.

Recently I was having one of those such moments and “The City of Poets” came to mind. The city was a forum where many people like myself would go and post their poetic creations. The forum was put together and run by Roy York, a southern gentleman, better known online as “Knight-owl or Sgt. Pop”, we quickly became online friends. It was a great place to be and you met lots of good people. Roy is an excellent writer in his own right with some beautiful creations to his credit. I saved a piece that he wrote that I want to share with you, I think it is a brilliant poem. So without further ado and Sgt. Pops permission, I give you his poem.

In A Box of Black Wood

Opening the book, he searched for the final paragraph he read the last time he had this problem. It was only two nights ago, not time enough to catch up with the sleep necessary to make each day bearable. Somehow he managed to keep going though.

The tasks of the day were minimal, amounting to not much more than picking up around the house, which was always picked up anyhow.
No one there to make a mess; the dishes were not used,
save for his plate, a coffee cup and an occasional glass, like now.

Not remembering the last passage in his book, he slipped it into it's slot, placing it just so to match the neat soldierly line of its neighbors.
Walking to the porch, he surveyed his part of the world, spying William across the road, and Perry next door, hard at their labours.

Suddenly, with the fury of a terrier pup in hot pursuit of the neighbor cat, a small bundle of energy burst through the thick, green hedgerow bearing down on him with a look of joy and determination in it's eyes.
He was shocked when he thought; "How fast that boy seems to grow!"

In the boy's arms was a tiny ball of fur; his little friend, a small kitten. Their advance was swift, but the attack on the steps was a slow one.
His joints were stiff and painful and his heart was weak. But he came to love and to cuddle; then sleep came to an old man and his grandson.

The boy was seven; he was seventy-seven.
Though he still had his sleepless nights, so had the child his painful days.
Each, when he could, made the others' life full in so many ways.
He survived twelve more years.

On a cloudy, windy day in May, Cat and I laid the old gentleman to rest in a box of black wood.

We were alone. I wondered,
"When my turn comes, will I have someone, or will I be alone?
What do I do now?
Will there be a grandson to build my box of black wood?"

Roy York, Sr
© October 20, 2002

C'ya

Award Nite

A week ago fellow bloggers Samrina and Newnorth decided that they wanted to give me an award for my blog.

Samrina's award originated at:
Arte Y Pico from Uruguay.

Samrina’s award came because she classed my blog along with others, as artistic in its content & presentation, and that it gave her much enjoyment each day. I thank her for the award and for how she views my attempts at a topic on a given day. Thank you my friend.

Newnorth ~ Her award she gave me was, for as the award says ~ “I made her day” ~ .. Insert a quiet smile here if you please.. I accept that award also. Thank you too my friend.


It is nice to know that other bloggers think of others in such nice terms.
I like to think that all bloggers who try their best each day, are like one big family. An online family maybe, but even so it just shows that when people mingle like this, it is possible to reach out and touch.

In checking out other recipients of both these awards I find, that some pass it on and some offer them to all. I too find it difficult to just select certain ones over others in passing the awards along, for no matter which blogs I frequent on my list I always find all the blogs very well done, “Quite entertaining & Artistic” in fact, so very pleasing, that they “All make my day” So for those of you who would wish to partake, please take one.

Thank you all my friends. :)

C'ya

Book-Ended

Swen ~ Karen

Both have tagged me for this little meme, ‘Open Book'. These were the instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it at page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence/ phrase.
4. Blog the next four sentences/ phrases together with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig your shelves for that very special or intellectual book.
6. Pass it forward to six friends

My problem though, is I haven’t read very much of anything in a while. My wife on the other hand is a different story. Elizabeth is an avid reader and has probably read half the library.

It is just my luck then, that the nearest book to where I am sitting is the one she has just finished. This has turned out to be not just any book. This book is the latest book written by Ken Follett, the internationally acclaimed “World Without End.”

“World Without End,” is the sequel written 18 years later to the classic “Pillars of the Earth”. The books are English fictional history.

This one is penned in about the 14th century, that alone helps set the stage for some very exciting reading. Some of the things one can expect to find in the novel are cathedrals and monks, kings, knights, love and war, many memorable characters and who can forget the time of the great plague, which wiped out almost half the population of Europe.

This book too will become a classic, ~ it is a masterpiece.





Sentences 6-9 on page 123:

At the end of a rope,” he said. “Same way I brought the cow in.”
“Ah, but you didn’t have to get the cow past me and these people.”
Gwenda’s heart leaped with hope.

These are my tag victims:

Zirelda
Virtual Journey
Samrina
New North
The Ancient one
Augs Casa

Good Luck.

C'ya

A New Beginning

I am sorry it took so long. No we didn’t abscond with all the Christmas loot, we just got sidetracked a little along the way.

Hope everyone had a great time over the Christmas & New Year festivities, ours was a little quiet but still enjoyable.

In looking back over 2007, I have to conclude that from the blogging standpoint, I had a very successful year. Considering when I wrote my first blog Jan 15th, and even then I didn’t have a clue what to write, it turned out ok and I found it so exhilarating. I owe most of the success of my blog to all of you, the readers of what I put out there.

Without an audience a show cannot go on. Writing blogs is not that far different from any other form of entertainment. You make people happy or laugh, even shed a tear or two, but they will come back for that second look.
That second look is what all of you gave me and have kept on giving me throughout the year, even when at times, the shelves were empty, I thank you so much for that and for your patience.

For 2008 I would hope to continue with the kind of writing that has kept you coming back in the first place. There are some personal changes in our real life future shortly, but I am sure we can accommodate that without too many problems. In the meantime I wish you all well, I wish you good health & good fortune.

May God smile on you and the World and make it a less troubled place. ~ Thank you all and God Bless. ~

C’ya

Meme for friends

I have been meme’d by my friend Swen. Meme is a new term for me and I am not really familiar with it.

So doing as all good bloggers do I googled the definition of the word meme. The following excerpts are what I thought were of interest: ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme ~

“Richard Dawkins coined the term meme, which first came into popular use with the publication of his book The Selfish Gene in 1976. Dawkins based the word on a shortening of the Greek "mimeme" (something imitated), making it sound similar to "gene". ~ Memes do not always get copied perfectly, and might indeed become refined, combined or otherwise modified with other ideas, resulting in new memes. These memes may themselves prove more (or less) efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for an hypothesis of cultural evolution, analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes."

"A short story written in 1876 by Mark Twain, Literary Nightmare, describes his encounter with a jingle so "catchy" that it plays over and over in his mind until he finally sings it out loud and infects others (also known as an earworm).”

I took my first hint from the ‘Meme’ posted by Swen, in it he said, ”I will endeavour to mirror his 7 randoms, find something as close as possible to his.” Meaning the person who had meme'd Swen.

Therefore I took the implied meaning of meme to mean, ~ imitate or mimic. ~ Talk about information overload, but it can sometimes prove at best, a little interesting. So here then after much dallying around is my attempt at a meme.

1. I was born in an age when most all kids were named after a parent or some relative, distant or otherwise. You only got one first name, for in England middle names were not given at that time. My distinction is, I am the first Eric so named anywhere in the family tree that I am aware of, as a child I hated it for I wanted it to be spelled as Erik.

2. On the subject of white/gray and we are talking of hair. White/gray hair doesn’t seem to run in my family as it does with some. Therefore if I live long enough to break that distinction, I possibly could live to be a 100, hopefully before it all falls out.

3. In the course of my lifetime thus far, I believe I have driven just about every type of vehicle imaginable and in many different parts of the world. I have driven on both sides of the road depending on the country ~ I’ve also been known to drive across country up hill & down dale. ~ My most memorable drive was to drive a ‘Tank’, (23 MPH) surely not the fleetest of foot, down the ‘Autobahn’ when I was in Germany many years ago.

4. Fortunately I have not had a benign incident in my life, however I too am on corticosteroid medication for the rest of my life due to my COPD.

5. I was in the army at age 17. It was during one of my training periods at a Tank firing range camp well out into the wilderness of the moors, I celebrated my 18th birthday. To that end then a few buddies & myself went into the nearest town by local bus that afternoon, the idea was to look around have a beer or two and try not to get into any mischief. Well wouldn’t you know it, unknown to us at the time, the last bus back to camp left at 9pm, without us of course. It was only by a fluke that we discovered that and then realized we didn’t have a heck of a lot of time to get back to camp, curfew was at midnight! ~ Cutting a long story short we ended up walking almost half the 18 miles and getting a ride on the back of an old flatbed style coal lorry (truck) the rest of the way. Well you can imagine the look on the sergeants face when we rolled in, wearing the Queens uniform and totally covered in coal dust! The rest of that episode is too, too sad.

6. I have to say that most all birds are my favorite, we are fortunate where we live to have built up a bird haven that is visited year round with such a wide variety of our fine feathered flock. I have to relate though that at this point, the Raven has to be a favorite of mine. Raven happens to be the handle that my wife uses when online at the few places she visits. It was while we were online together that we met and of course, many stories later here we are. That Raven was the greatest catch of my life. Nowadays the wife & I spend many a romantic moment watching our feathered friends.

7. You would think that after serving in the army for 8 years and having family in the military over the years, that I would have a tale to tell, sadly I have no stories to relate really. ~ My great & grandfather were in the army & uncles were in the navy, all served through the first & second world wars. Luckily all but one survived and came home, but vastly changed men from when they left, but who in those days wasn’t. The one lost soul was an Uncle Harold who disappeared at sea in the merchant marine.


Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged/meme‘d.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

I am tagging: Augs Casa Shades of Twilight Elli

Last Friday I got roared.

Thank you so much Zirelda for that honor. ~



Shameless says : Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc etc. Let's send a roar through the blogosphere! The image above can be copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

Like Zirelda, I too am not really sure what constitutes good powerful writing. 1. I do like stories that grab me early into the book. 2. Good descriptive writing creates the image that puts me in the midst of the action. 3. A story from the heart will always stir the right emotions inside of me, causing me to reach for the tissues.

A lot of the blogs I read vary in substance. One I find most interesting is ~
Newnorth. She writes about a multitude of things and has that ability and approach that keeps you wondering, ‘what’s next’! It’s like being on a carousel, but she does write good from the heart stories.

Leon writes very well and is a combination of so many characters ~ you see he enjoys himself immensely, being quite active in the theatre.
Leon is a busy family man, an avid reader and writes about the many things in his life. Like many he compliments his posts with very good pictures of the workings of his character acting parts.

Swenenglishexpat is another one I consider a dear online friend. He now lives in Germany, but his site with all the different flags complete with an explanation, needs to be seen. I find Swen very interesting, for apart from being a good read he is a very outgoing type of guy, he likes a good joke and even the odd quiz here & there. He travels quite frequently with his family and always comes back & shows very interesting photo’s. I enjoy reading the travel stories he writes.

Tim Is an artist, a very good artist whose work always amazes me when I see it. Tim is a very hard working and conscientious person, an online friend who shines no matter what he does. I have read a lot of his writing and believe me, he is no slouch with the pen ~ such talent.

Pursuance of Truth, by Janice Thompson, an amazingly good poet with a very distinctive style that is unique. For me she is a favorite read.

When the Heart Speaks, by Margie a well known & loved poet on these blogs & World united Bloggers. Margie has taken a sabatical for a little while, but it would be amiss to not include her among my favorite places to read.

Augs Casa is another good blog that I like to visit, my mate is such a happy go lucky family man, a treat to be around when he gets on a roll.

Shades of Twilight, another good Photography blog, such great shots by “Shades” showing life the way it is, another favorite.

So many and such great reading. The World really is, the proverbial oyster.

C'ya

Loose Ends and Friends

I can’t believe that September is almost over, where ever did the time go? I have been thinking recently that I had mentioned certain things in previous blogs and then left them dangling. Just lately I seem to have been so busy with online friends and ongoing business. Loose ends and friends, it’s time to tie a few knots and clear the decks for more stuff.



You will remember a little while back, that we ran into some transmission trouble with the truck and this, after we had, had a front end brake job done.

With the transmission if you remember where we left off, I was holding my breath that the problem wasn’t a serious expensive job. The o/d light was flashing and that could be indicative of anything from a hamburger to a steak. The good news turned out to be that it just needed the bands adjusting and they replaced a ‘Shift Kit’ for it appeared that it was skipping 3rd gear. The cost for that was sufficient, but certainly better than a new Tranny.

Some very good advice I received along the way with this saga was: Never take your tranny to a franchise dealer, for it is assumed that you could get set up etc. etc. The advice is to always pick a small non franchise dealer, you will fare a lot better, it certainly paid off for me at least.

For an encore to the transmission I was endowed with the plague of ‘Vista’ on my new computer.
There was of course the initial problem of no email service, which was resolved after much harassment of a number of people, ranging from Hewlett Packard, Internet explorer types and even the giant, Microsoft itself. So after much gnashing of teeth and resetting of half the hard drive, it seemed. “We Got Mail” since then the only problems we get with email is, sometimes they are just so slow to go anywhere, and other times they just go into orbit never to be seen again by man nor beast!

I have read and heard a number of times about that most elusive word, (usually found in divorce courts) Incompatibility, a week ago I ran into that monster full tilt.

We use a digital camera like most folks do and for us we run the Kodak easy-share program. Easy? Ha! Not when you hang out with Vista. It downright refused to accept the disc that came with the camera. I was almost ready to need a gasket job of my own! So off I went with my newly working email to get in touch with Kodak. After much detailed conflabation, we achieved success with another download. However I celebrated too soon at the newly installed Kodak program. As always when you get an upgrade, they always seem to mess something up that used to work oh so well with XP. With XP I used to be able to email out my pictures in varying sizes, which works great for the things I like to do with them. Not any more! What a botchup!

Between the differing ‘My Document’ files set up with Vista compared to XP, the Kodak too has to bring in its own set of file mis-management and manipulation as well. Trying to get the two to work efficiently together is so far, still out to lunch.

I am determined to get the better of these two adversary’s, by hook or by crook. To that end I got the Vista Dummy book from the library, I realize now though I will be better off to buy my own book, I cannot resolve all the challenges of Vista in just a 3 week span. At the present I have the 'Windows Vista book for seniors', which gives you more visual oriented explanations, until I get to the store. The battle continues.

October 21 is supposed to be closing day at the park we go to so much. We are going to miss that place tremendously over the winter months, but we will be ready with the ‘Bit firmly between the teeth’ come opening day in April 08. My thanks to all the volunteers that make Willow Park the haven that it is.

The final loose end my friends belongs to all of you, the friends and people who daily come along and visit my blog with such regularity, wondering no doubt or I hope, what did he do today!
Without the people to come and read/look/post, there would not be a lot of incentive at times to try and write anything. I don’t have a set piece that I do when I write here, but I do try to provide a little variety in an effort to keep things interesting and at times provide a chuckle or two. So to all of you out there a big, big thank you for all your support, interest and comments keep coming back ya hear!

C’ya

The March of Time

Memories are but pages of the book of life, to be turned occasionally, through the passage of time.

This week has been somewhat of a memory week for me and strangely enough, a very noticeable trend, as I wandered throughout the internet. I think it may have first started when I read a blog written by an online friend of mine. In his story he wrote about his running in 3 marathons and how he trained for those events. That put me in mind of when I was a lot younger and I did similar things. ~

My distance in athletics was the mile 1500 metres & the 5,000m although I did run the occasional 10,000. I remember when I started competitive running, it was in the days of Roger Bannister before he broke the 4 minute mile. The world record for the mile at that time was 4 mins 04 secs.
When I was in the army and running my first mile on the track, I couldn’t understand why the officer in charge was getting so excited, I found out later that I finished in a respectable 4 mins 21 secs. ~ Shortly afterwards, May 6 1954, Roger Bannister was the first man to break the 4 min barrier for the very first time. ~ A huge achievement in those days. ~

As we were out driving to a more distant mall recently, our journey took us through some areas that I had not seen in many years.
~ What used to be a vast expanse of green has been turned into an ever expanding concrete jungle, spreading like a disease across the face of what was once a beautiful landscape. ~ The memories start to turn just like the pages in a book.

I remembered friends I used to socialize with, dear people who had became very close to my heart and even a few that broke it. I thought of the good times and of course there had to be a few not so good. Out of that came some of my poetry writing. Gone now are the dancing days and party times, the invites to dinner and good conversation.

There were moments in my thoughts when I caught my breath, as coming back to reality, I remembered that most all of those beautiful people were no longer alive now.
~ Ah such sweet dreams of days of yore.~

Of course then that brought to mind just how many years had slipped on by, and hell I must be getting older!

C’ya

Art ~ Rich Gems

All work depicted here is protected by copyrite ©

I look at all the places I visit on the internet, and am in awe at the rich gems that people share with one another. I am speaking of course about different blogs. Like most people who are swept up in the magical world of the net, daily it seems, I jump onto the flying carpet and start my search for a grail.. This morning I visited two blog sites, in order to get my day under way.

It was the content of those two sites though, that really gave me a boost to start this post. I went first to a new found friend, he is a wonderful painter, a real artist. His was the site that really opened my eyes, with a display of his work and a very nice success story, his first exhibition and sales of his creations, such wonderful work, of “Plein Air Painting.”



I am lucky to have a successful artist right here of my own, with Elizabeth who is a pretty good painter herself. Of course styles do differ and that’s what makes art what it is. The wife has painted a number of canvases, most of which she did in acrylics. Acrylics are different to work with because they dry so much faster than oils. Her Tiger is on a 14x18 canvas board.

In thinking more of the riches of the net, ‘Gems’ do come in different fashion.

I speak now of the world of literature. It has really amazed me as I go from site to site, just how many really good writers there are out there. At least two of those is where I visited this morning, during my rounds. That is what prompted me to come up with my opening sentence .
It brought to my mind that old saying of “What if.” I was thinking of course, in terms of the era before television and possibly even radio, let alone the computer age. I wondered if, years ago there was the same talent pool opportunity that is around us today and accessible just because of the internet?

If the answer is yes then oh my! What a crying shame and such a waste. In thinking of all the well known poets and writers of a bygone age. One wonders, or at least I do, how did they get their rise to prominence?
More is the pity for those that didn’t make it, but I am sure appreciative of the ones that did.
Where would we be today without the likes of William Shakespeare, Byron, Keats and Shelley to name a few. God forbid that Charles Dickens would not have come along. Such wonderful stories there and what about my “Christmas Carol?” played so brilliantly by Alistair Sim (can’t you tell he’s my favorite)

The little girl in 'Contemplation' is on a 10x12 canvas.

The whole thing is though, there is such a multitude of talented people out there and we the denizens of the net, certainly reap the benefit. I applaud you all as I devour all you produce. Thank you.

C’ya

Wild n Whacky

Pet Sitting

A few short whiles ago my wife and a neighbor had a chat. This itself is nothing abnormal,. It was the content of that chat that caught my attention, for I know that even after the deed is done, that topic may not be over!

The neighbor is a good friend of ours and she has a ‘Lovebird’ ah ha! Yes you’ve got it already I see! ~ I wonder who is going to win that one when it arrives. ~ But I digress.

Brenda, our friend has had to go into the hospital for a procedure on her knee. The missus of course volunteered to look after Zsa Zsa, (an alias) no not that one! Gee I should get so lucky! Grrrrr. Ahem!

The wife then has really been in her element this last week. So much so, I feel like I’ve been given the bird! If you can pardon the pun.

Day one, Elizabeth went upstairs to check on our charge and get acquainted. When she came back she said, “I never knew lovebirds were so vicious “ to which my response was ‘they’re not but they can seem to be’.

“But she lunged at me when I put my hand close to & in the cage” The wife tries to demonstrate to me, using her hands, the birds clawing & lunging actions with its head and beak.

‘Well think about it, wouldn’t you whack anybody with a tire iron, if they tried coming into our home?’

“But she’s just a bird!”

‘Exactly’ I smile and try not to smirk, ‘they do like to play.’

I might add at this point that the missus worries even if the sun goes behind a cloud, in case it never comes back! So now when Elizabeth and Zsa Zsa have their little fencing game, I get a blow by blow description of all the ensuing activities that take place, on a daily basis.

Three days in a row now I have inherited a new very pretty feather. If this keeps up, soon I will have more feathers here that the bird has!
Today the missus tried to clean the perches, oh what a to-do that was, I think that’s where the last feather came from!


I remember the wife telling me once that when she lived up north, she used to pet sit different friends pets, amongst the other things she did. There’s been cats n dogs, and a snapping turtle used to visit quite often. She even has a turtle skull sitting on her desk. (no! not him)

Then there was the time she used to look after Barney the pet pig! Barney was great when he was small and a baby. Then he grew, and kept on growing to eventually be about 250lbs of bacon on the hoof!.

Barney was a playful pot-belly pig. A neighbor had bought it for his wife when she was sick with cancer. She loved pigs. ~ The husband though really detested them, as a consequence him and Barney didn’t get along too well at all.

Sometimes Elizabeth would get a call for help. Apparently Barney would be acting up, and here was the neighbor threatening that soon Barney would be ‘Pork Chops!’ my wife of course would hurry over there and settle the pig down. Baiting him with his favorite banana chips and green seedless grapes. ~ Barney was soon once more a happy pig, back where he was supposed to be and the guy, ~ persuaded to put away the frying pan!

~ While the missus was relating all this to me over a cup of tea, I smiled at a thought image I was having. ~

I could just picture Barney charging the neighbor and chasing him down the street with the lovebird, wings spread wide, screeching away perched between the ears of the rampant pig! ~ Olay!! ~

C’ya

Casualties

Yesterday was quite a sad day indeed. The news when it came, still struck like a hammer blow. Strange really how things like that can effect people, even though all the indications were there and had been for some little time now. We sat there with bated breath and hoped just one more time.

Yesterday Phil died of COPD. With all his medical numbers reading as bad as they could possibly be, he still fought this monster and won himself many battles. Already he is sadly missed.

Phil was an online regular poster at a COPD forum that I frequent. A man very much involved with spreading the word and coming up with breathing techniques that would assist people who suffered with shortness of breath.

Phil was a native of Nova Scotia, Canada. I once told him that I would only eat apple pies made with apples from the Annapolis Valley, for I needed to gain a little weight.(Now I need to lose some!) He replied that each of those pies were lovingly kissed by the little old ladies that made them, before they were put in the oven to bake.

Unfortunately with an adversary such as COPD, the battles appear inconsequential, for the result of the war does seem pre-ordained. ~ Eventually ‘it’ wins.

One can help themselves as much as is possible, firstly of course by quitting smoking. Then treating the COPD with their inhalers and pills to help keep the airways open, rehab programs, regular exercising and eating a good diet.

What all that does is slow down the progression of the disease and buys some time. Sometimes it is a fair amount of time for a number of lucky people, but there are always the ones who no matter what they do, their number comes up. There is much that one can hope for and most people never give up the hope that one day, maybe a new cure will be found.

However with the passing of Phil, it just shows that everyone with this disease is one step closer to the door that he just stepped through.

Breathe easy my friend.

C’ya

A Blog About Nothing!

I think the weather was acting a little bit funny today, judging by the unsettled
people that I encountered around blog world. They all seemed to be somewhat afflicted with some kind of malaise. Come to think of it, I too had been feeling a little unsettled, without any reason that I could think of.

First I had gone to read a friends blog and found him down in the mouth, unable to write. Then I went to two more places and found a similar situation going on. Finally I thought of myself and my recent struggle to come up with a topic to write about. The weather lately had been very unsettled, hot and muggy, almost enough to make your ears droop!! So you can see, I had to blame the weather, for I don’t feel that I am in any kind of writers block at all! I made suitable comments at each place I visited. I even considered writing a mail to one of them, as sort of encouragement then decided against that idea.

Writers block can occur at any time and with anyone. It’s a fact of life and should be treated as such. As an example ~ I am writing all this right now, on a nothing subject ~ all because I had nothing else to write today. That is, until I did the morning rounds of the blogs! That gave me my topic for today!

When a friend feels that “This is the end of a writer” I am going to retort! That this is NOT the end of a writer! That is unthinkable and besides, there is no such thing.

I have been writing now on and off for just over 13 years. My writing back then consisted of poems, some philosophical ramblings and a couple of short stories based on real life experiences. Then yelp! ~ Writers block Struck!

Mine lasted for almost a year and like my friend I thought that was ‘my end to writing.’

In January this year I started blogging and it might even be said that I never really started writing until I got into the peace work of doing a blog! I got that I felt that I had to produce a different blog each day too.
Quite frankly that is very hard work after the novelty wears off a little.
For myself I try to write on a variety of topics because that way I am able to get a feel most times for a subject to put on paper. It also keeps people wondering what I will write next!

Everyone goes through the block though and they do survive it to become I feel, a better writer.

BTW I too have a book or two partially written, don’t know yet if they will ever get finished, but they may.

C'ya

I’ve been Tagged!

TAGGED!


The rules are: once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with six weird, unique or unusual facts or habits about yourself.... at the end, you need to choose six people to be tagged and list their names and why you chose them.... don't forget to send them each a comment that says, "you have been tagged....go read my latest blog...."


1) Being an Englishman, I drink too much tea and like to make French Fry sandwiches. Two pieces of buttered bread with fries in between. In England they call a sandwich ’A Butty’ …….Yummy!!

2) I have been told by no fewer than three women that I have Sexy FEET! A definite turn on!

3) I can’t stand the ‘Simpson’s’ I’d rather watch ‘The Bugs Bunny show!’

4) I have an excellent memory for detailed stuff and numbers. At times though I forget what I had for supper last night!

5) When in the army years ago, I once volunteered for action. My first words when I arrived were: “Gee what the h*ll am I doing here, I could get killed!”

6) I like to have lots of ‘toys’ computers, DVD player, Digital camera’s etc. I never take the time to learn how to use them properly. The wife does that for me.

Now my six tags are!

Andrew I know you are a busy guy, but you are the first blog I read each day. Your life stories read like an adventure series.

Augs Casa You are a very likeable guy, your comments are always a bright ray of sunshine on what could be a dismal day.

SJ You are the one of a kind friend everybody should have in their life. Thoughtful, kind, and ever caring regardless of your own life’s situation.

Marthyan A new found friend whose writing I sincerely admire and enjoy, a fellow poet. A bright star on a new stage!

Margie I think everyone is familiar with Margie and her writing, simply sensational poetry. I know you are a busy lady having a break right now. But you just got Tagged!!

Blue Gardenia Our paths have only crossed a couple of times, but I still remember that beautiful blog you wrote, “The Waitress”. Very nice romantic piece.

Oh! Calamity! What Have Ye Done Now!

Well that does it!!. I’m going to change my May Day to Calamity Day!

Yes it has been a little like that today! I guess things have been a bit of a carry over with this stinking cold. Turns out it was a Sinus infection flu combo which now after 14 days has traveled to my chest. More antibiotics! Last night I was up all night because of too many trips to the bathroom. I’m thinking now that my doctor hates me! I have pills for this and puffers for that and liquids for the languished, the list goes on.
If it wasn’t so pathetic it could be laughable, my wife laughs all the time.

Between the two of us we have had a nightmare of a couple of weeks. This weekend we actually thought we were making some ground. That was until all hell broke loose here tonight! Elizabeth likes to do her workouts in the evening using bar bells, ankle weights and therabands.
Because we have been ill she had got behind and was trying to make up for lost time. I don’t know what I was doing when I first heard her yell!
Anyway there she was wailing away and holding her leg! “It hurts! My leg hurts! I don’t know what I did but I can’t move!” Well you can imagine how swift I could move because of my COPD and not being able to breathe!
Talk about the odd couple! We have them beat hands down!

I turned in my office chair and wheeled myself over to where she was still wobbling! She looked at me with that pained injured animal look on her face, you know; that look you sometimes see with a poor pooch who had its tail mashed under a Mack truck! I get her sat down, protesting every inch of the way down into a chair. I checked the leg out and saw nothing unusual. ‘You have to try and slowly ease some movement into the leg’ I tell her. “I can’t move” says she letting out another squeal! Meanwhile I am giving her a lecture on overdoing it with the exercises so soon after being sick. I rhymed on about maybe she twisted something and the sciatic nerve is acting up! Time passes and somehow she settles down and starts to feel a bit easier. Meantime I am gasping after the unexpected exertion, and trying to get my breath back, so I take off to the bathroom and just sit there.

You have to laugh sometimes for it is so easy to forget that at all times, I have this fifty foot line hanging from my face delivering oxygen. Wherever I go it goes with me, sometimes I feel like a rejected ant eater!
So! I am sat on the throne resting and Elizabeth is sitting on her office chair. You know the kind, the ones with wheels on it, this way at least the wife could be a little mobile.

Suddenly, knock. Knock. We both look up at the same time! Oh my God! I can’t move, I cannot breathe. Elizabeth is there in her night-dress! Guess who is going to answer the door! “Just a minute” the wife yells out, I never saw that chair move so fast in my life! She reaches into the bedroom and grabs my housecoat! “Coming!” She makes it to the door and then, “Oh my goodness Eric’s in the bathroom, please come in Janet” the wife pushes the bathroom door closed as she wheels by, knocking some oxygen bottle’s over that were sat by the wall.

Janet sits on the futon Elizabeth maneuver’s her chair and I make an entrance from the hallway. I think Janet arriving brought a brief semblance of sanity to the house.

At least Janet must think we are not too crazy around here, for she still visits! After Janet left bedlam returns once more, as in turning I ran over Elizabeth’s foot with my chair wheels! I think I acquired a new name? Yelp!!

But my goodness what will tomorrow bring! ~ ! ~ We have to go out, guess who is doing the driving! ~


C’ya

A Sign Of The Times

The little town sits nestled between the hills; surrounded by a wealth of flora that nature endows. Trees, forests and fields of green, here and there a fast running stream. A small town like any other, situated anywhere in North America. Still but an unobtrusive place, bordering on two highways, dividing East and West, North and South.

This place although small, still has a few surprising revelations. I have never seen so many churches clustered around such a small populace. This town is what I like to term ‘industrially challenged’ for jobs are about zero! Until more recent developments took place, one of the most beautiful places here was the cemetery. That sounds crazy I know, but that place really was well thought out with the end result being a thing of beauty, a paradise of a resting place. The whole area is laid out with small rippling hills and trees and shade, a place to take your breath away.

We have an old guy who lives alone in the upstairs apartment. His name is Bob. I think his most striking feature is his thick tawny snow white hair and talkative nature. The guy is a real happy go lucky character and he‘s quite harmless. He’s 74 yrs old, bordering on the edge of Alzheimer’s and hasn’t an apparent care in the World. ~

It's not that he doesn't have any family for he does. They just don't seem to want to bother with him or are afraid to take any responsibility for Bob. As a result he never gets family visits or company, other than at Xmas and his birthday. Then it's just the dutiful visit with an equally dutiful gift.
I have watched him with his gifts and the way he shows them off. He’s almost like a child in his excitement, it is sad really. His gifts usually consist of some socks, maybe a pair of jeans, sometimes a cheaper winter jacket, or slippers.

It's almost as if that because of his Alzheimer’s, Bob has forgotten he even has any family and it seems they choose to forget him. Sadly this kind of treatment of older folks doesn't seem that unusual anymore these days. A sign of the times.

I know he really gets pretty lonely ocassionally, but he always greets cheerfully anyone he bumps into and then launches into a story, given half a chance.

He doesn’t remember peoples names or the fact he already told you that same story a hundred times before. It’s a shame really, but regardless I take the time to listen to him.

Because we live in a small town in the midst of nowhere, Bob is therefore, a town character pretty well known by everybody who’s ever walked down main-street. A real coffin dodger teetering on the edge with one foot in the box! If you will!

His daily routine is so fixed, you can set your clock by him each time you see him go by. He likes to watch “Price is Right” on TV at 11am and one minute after the program finishes you can see him headed down the street.

He has a variety of interests, that are usually dictated by what day of the week it is. He has days for doing shopping and another for when he does laundry.

He rarely passes a local store without popping his head in and has a jovial greeting for everyone in there.

One thing he never misses though is his visit to the local hotel for a few beers each day. On most occasions, you can tell if he’s had one too many, 4pm you will usually see him headed towards home. Most people turn and watch him doing his version of the chicken dance, as he skips boisterously, merrily singing and dancing down the street, some folks even cheer him on, that really makes him incorrigible, and not a care in the World.

A happy man really isn’t quite the term for Bob, but that’s him and who can knock him for that! ~

Way to go there Buddy!! ~

C’ya