#40 - Destination

Sunday 31 December, 2006

7th day of Christmas; 7 swans a-swimming.

'Seven swans a-swimming' are the seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
















It is also New years Eve! The day, and the year are ticking away by the second...moving forward. The destination? 2007.

Being Sunday, it calls for a Sunday Scribblings prompt:

#40 - Destination

" Where ya headed, Joe?"

"My destination is yonder bar, John..... can I get you something."

" Why sure bud. I'll have a wine. Red please. Merlot if the have it, otherwise any dry red. Thanks, and thanks for asking."

"Here ya go John, merlot it is." "Say John, since it's New Years Eve and all, are ya givin' any thought to New Year resolutions?"


"Yes, yes I am Joe. My first resolution is to stay on this side of the grass for as long as I can. You know, do things like eat right, exercise more, take the long laid-back view of life. I'm definitely gonna get off the cortisol fast track to an early grave. What about you Joe, any resolutions you're going to jot down?"

"That's some mighty profound thinking bud. I usually don't make New Year resolutions, in fact I haven't made New Year resolutions since I was 11 years old. No sense, the way I see it. Ain't gonna follow them after a few days anyway."

"I used to think that way too, Joe, but as I've gotten older, we're over sixty now ya know....."

"Don't remind me, crikey, with my arthritis and high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and coronary disease, I'm reminded daily of how old I am. For cryin' out loud, I'm a major contributor to my pharmacist's retirement account. Gotta light? My lighters out of fluid."

"Sorry, no, I quit smokin' 10 years ago. Smartest thing I've ever done. Startin' was the dumbest. Yup, quit august 3rd 1996 at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I used the patch. Knew if I could go 24 hours and not want a cigarette I'd be free. Got up the next morning, no craving...been a non-smoker ever since. I'm sure if I hadn't quit then, I'd be dead now!"

Jesus! now you're one of those goddamn reformed smokers. Shit, I'm sick and tired of you guys lordin' it over the rest of us. It's a free country you know."

"Im just sayin, Joe, for me...I want to reach old age and retirement as healthy as I can. I'm worried enough about my retirement. I don't want to pad Greg's* retirement account if I don't have to. I ain't tellin' you ta quit. I'm just sayin I did and I'm glad, that's all."

" I know John, I'm just get fed up with all this don't smoke hype. I'd like to quit, but I just can't. I dunno, I just lost my willpower I guess."

"As I was sayin' Joe, I know my final destination is the grave. But for me, I want to run up to it and jump in! When my time comes, I want them to say...Man he died before his time..I didn't realize he was that old! .... Ya know what I mean Joe? We're all standing in the same line, we're all going to the same place and I ain't all that interested in jumpin' ahead in line."

"John, ya gotta enjoy life before ya go. Can I get you another drink?"

"Thanks but no thanks, ones my limit. Drivin' ya know. 'sides, I wanna welcome in 2007 so I can get started resumin' my resolutions. Happy New Year Joe. All the best to you and yours. See ya around."

"Ya, ok John, ya, same to you..Happy New Year. Ya....se ya."

* Greg is the pharmacist.

Saturday 30 December, 2006

On the 6th day of Christmas:
my true love gave to me..

6 Geese a laying.

Six geese a-laying' refer to the six days of the Creation.




Yesterday, while reading Corey's blog "Tongue in Cheek" she mentioned a contest, The Short Short Short Short Short Short Fiction Competition.
Basically it requires a story be written using only 6 words. It seems that this effort is patterened after the E. Hemmingway story: "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."
All entries should be emailed here with 'Short Short Short Short Short Short Fiction' in the subject line of the email by midnight (GMT) 31 December 2006. Only one entry per person as well please.




It continues to be cold here; 22.3° F.. Last night it was 17°. No snow makes it hard for me to find beauty in the drab, grey days.

Some of my readers may remember the photo I posted of me holding a new babe.
As I mentioned in that post, she and her parents live katty-corner from us. We've been invited to spend New Years Eve at their home amongst a small gathering of family and friends.
New Years Eve has been one of the least celebrated holidays for us. We used to go out to the Fire hall for the fireman's annual party, but I was a member and that required meeting the social obligations. Besides, they needed someone sober to drive ambulance should the need arise. Fortunately that need never arose, but.....as the Boy Scout Motto states: Be prepared.

Usually we are in bed long before midnight. On a few occasions, D. has stayed up to watch the ball fall in Times Square, NYC, on the teley. She is predicting we'll be home from the neighbors party by 2200 this year. I'm holding out for 0015. At that hour even a sip of bubbly will require an escort to get me home safely. ;-)

Question for today: What plans have ye for the eve of a new year?

M. recieves Christmas card from brother J.. Says: from your son.

Raucous laughter ensued!

29 December, 2006

5th day of Christmas


Five gold rings' are the first five books of the Bible, or the Pentateuch.

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

On call last night and worked 'til midnight. Only 5 hours of sleep on the 5th day of Christmas.
No day off after call.

Thursday 28 December, 2006

4th day of Christmas

The 'four calling birds' are the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; or their Gospels. Which makes sense because they are "calling" out the story.

Elisabeth did a "Boxing Day" Meme on the 26th that she got from Paperback Writer, called the meme of 4.

Being the 4th day of Christmas, I thought it a good post for today. Since I watch very little TV, I've modified it somewhat.


Four jobs I’ve had:

1. newspaper delivery boy
2. farm hand
3. US Navy hospital corpsman
4.Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist


Four places I’ve lived:

1. Chu lai So. Viet Nam
2. Albany NY
3. Clarksville Tenn.
4. Pusan So. Korea

Four favorite foods:

1. Tourtiere
2. cheese, wine, bread
3. turkey dinner
4. chocolate

Four movies I could watch over and over: (Books to read, for me)

1. French or Foe; Platt
2. Arabian Nights.
3. The Drifters; Michener
4. Bartlett's Poems for Occasions

Four Magazines I enjoy: (instead of tv)

1. Men's Health
2. National Geographic
3. Runners world
4. Journal of AANA

Four places I’ve travelled:

1. France; Paris, and southwest
2. Canada; Ottawa, Montreal, & Quebec
3.Texas; Corpus Christi, Dallas, San Antonio
4. California; Anahiem, San Francisco

Four places I’d like to visit:

1. Italy; Florence
2. Russia; St. Petersburg
3. Australia
4. Netherlands

Four websites I go to daily:

1. Hotmail
2. Blog-mate favorites
3. NY Times
4. google news

Week 30 - Weathered / Aging

Week 30 - Weathered / Aging

Sun, wind, time ____ aging
Fading memories gather
Wizened with wisdom.

Wednesday 27 December, 2006

Third day of Christmas:

The 'three French hens' are the three Persons of the holy Trinity or the three virtues: faith, hope, and love, though according to Ace Collins' book "Stories of the Best Loved Christmas Songs", they represent the expensive gifts of the Wise Men: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Take your pick.


From time to time in my readings I come across quotes and other quips that I find interesting, pertinent, or appropos.

"The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with businesss"----- Clarence Darrow

*****

"Weakness does not storm the gates, but drips in along the eaves of comfort" ?

*****

FACTS OF LIFE: 5--- Daily cups of tea drunk by study subjects who showed a fivefold increase in the amount of immunity-boosting interferon they produced. NAoS

*****

Dwelling on past pain robs us of the magic of the present moment.

*****

" The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery."

Sir Winston Churchill

Question for today:
What question do you avoid the most?

Tuesday 26 December, 2006

The 2nd day of Christmas

Two turtle doves = the old and new testament. (The 'two turtle doves' are the Old and New Testaments. Though according to Zondervan's Twelve Days of Christmas the story behind a favorite Christmas song this is the 2 turtle doves sacrificed that Joseph and Mary brought when they presented Jesus at the Temple.)


Christmas day was as perfect as any holiday could be. Our daughter and younger son were /are home. My brother and his wife, as well as my sister ans her hubby...D.'s youngest sister and hubby were in attendance at some point during the day.

Humorous detail: J. our son was passing out cards to his sister and D. and me. Imagine M.'s (daughter) surprise to read...from your son da ta da ta da. Some confusion abounded for a few seconds (M. has no children) while J. determined whether he had purchased two parent cards or had mis-addressed the envelopes..which, in fact, was the case. We had quite a good chuckle over that one.

D. worked tirelessly for weeks to bring about a successful day and succeeded in every way, from a beautifully decorated home to scrumptious repasts and delicious deserts. My daughter presented me with my favorite tortiere (meat pie), while my sister made for me the brazil nut bread/cake, that was a tradition of my mother's. D. prepared a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings on the 24th so that yesterday everyone including "mom" got to enjoy the day without the hassel of cooking.

I hope you all had as pleasant and fun a holiday as we did!

Saturday 23 December, 2006

Shopping day!

Friday 22 December, 2006

On call, but for today only. W.O. will cover Sat. Sun. Mon..

It's a little colder this morning (28°F.) than it's been for the past week. But, I ran yesterday, so today will be strength training inside in the gym.







Ode I.ii

Strive not (Leuconoe) to know what end
The Gods above to thee or me will send:
Nor with astrologers consult at all,
That thou may'st better know what can befall.
Whether, thou liv'st more winters, or thy last
Be this, which Tyrrhen waves 'gainst rocks do cast;
Be wise, drink free, and in so short a space,
Do not protracted hopes of life embrace.
Whilest we are talking, envious time doth slide:
This day's thine own, the next may be deny'd

Horace

free to do as you please

Thursday 21 December, 2006







Prompt for today:

Thursday, December 21, 2006

free to do as you please

Antique cameras

Replaced by the digital

Windows to the past.

Shortest day - solstice

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa

Mid-winter gala

Believe in Santa

Maybe only pretend to.

Whose Birthday is it?

Wednesday 20 December, 2006

5 more days!

Happy birthday Kristy

Diane and Bob

Tuesday 19 December, 2006

Christmas lunch in th OR. (Full turkey dinner with all the trimmings)

painting by: Andris Leimanis "Rue Sherbrooke"

Week 29 - Storms

Monday 18 December, 2006

One week to go 'til Christmas morning!

Week 29 - Storms

The Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as Ice Storm '98) was a massive ice storm that struck a relatively narrow track of land from Eastern Ontario to southern Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from Northern New York to Southeast Maine in the United States, in January 1998. It caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area, leading to widespread power outages. Millions were left in the dark for periods varying from days to weeks, leading to more than 30 fatalities, a shut down of activities in large cities like Montreal and Ottawa and an unprecedented reconstruction effort of the power grid

We were without power for three days and without telephone for two weeks. Thankfully we have a wood stove so we stayed warm and are bellies were full. Due to road conditions, downed trees and powerlines, we were housebound for a week.

Eighty hours drizzling

Trees, power-lines, freeze, bend, snap.

Two weeks powerless

Sunday 17 December, 2006



ANTICIPATION!






ANTICIPATION!

#38 - Anticipation: Prompt for today

ANTICIPATION?













ANTICIPATION....









ANTICIPATION!!!!!










ANTICIPATION..........














ANTICIPATION ;-)












ANTICIPATION ............

Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure (and sometimes anxiety) in considering some expected or longed-for good event, or irritation at having to wait.


I run 3 days a week. Whether it's a training run, fun run, or a long run the litany of inner conversations runs the gamit from; "you must be nuts to do this" to "Yea, I'm cooking now" to... Shit, I'm dying.

For the first 100 - 150 yards...(91.4 - 137.2 meters)... I feel good, psychologically upbeat that I overcame my inertia and put on my running togs and went out and started. Now, I've done this a few times, but the mind chat is always the same. After the initial pleasure of getting going my worry-wart self starts saying things like: "you're getting short of breath, you're not going to be able to go the distance, might as well stop and walk, walking is just as good for you, and on and on with discouaging thoughts. Then somewhere between mile 1 and mile 1.5 the endorphin generator kicks into high gear and I answer back to mr. negativity. There, see, why can't you ever be patient? Now isn't this a good feeling? We can fly! Stick with me pal, we're going the distance today. When the run is under 10 miles, the finish is jubilant...tired but jubilant. I overcame myself and feel satisfied. Even the tiredness is a positive sign of accomplishment.
I run because I anticipate the rewards: high degree of physical condtioning, weight loss, mentally high, a tremendous feeling of selfworth, and because I can.
When the run is over 10 miles...the ice bath feel excruciatingly good. ;-)