Almost Rugby Time Again...

February Blues...

I don't really Know what it is with February - maybe it's that there is no Stat. Holiday, maybe it's that it is a short month and people are just trying to get through it, maybe people are a little put off that the 29th only happens every forth year, or maybe it is still winter and it seems like Spring is never going to arize - what ever it is, it is apparent at work and at home - February is a long boring month.

I work hard at being positive everyday - some days it's easy, some days it's a challenge, in July the easy days are plentiful, in February the Challenging days seem to out number those easy days - but they do make those easy sunny days in the Spring way more appreciated.

Last week we did a self assesment called Insights it told me that I was Yellow Red Green Blue - and it provided me with a entire book about me - it nailed my personality to a T - a little Eerie Indiana if you get my drift. But overall it was very cool - learned alot about my team here at work and why my style doesn't always work for everybody.

Back at Fort Awesome - we finally found some Childcare for the Munchkin - we finished with the Antibiotics and we got some full nights of sleep. Nic has finally come out from under the sickness cloud as well - so My folks took care of TTW so that we could go cross country skiing - it was the first time in two years and our bodies and minds were thankful (except for our heels -which have since blistered) The weight loss continues - I'm down 21 lbs as of Tuesday- we'll be going shopping this weekend to get me some smaller pants.

Alot of people (Nic's Folks and The DHB for example) are heading south and I'm a little envious- but I'm reading a Jimmy Buffet Novel and he paints a nice picture - and has been influencing my dreams for a couple of weeks now.

Dreaming of the February Blue water of the south seas...

Closer to fine? Already There...

CLOSER TO FINE

I'm trying to tell you something about my life

maybe give me insight between black and white

and the best thing you've ever done for me

is to help me take my life less seriously

it's only life after all

yeah

well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable

and lightness has a call that's hard to hear

I wrap my fear around me like a blanket I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it

I'm crawling on your shores

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains

there's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line

and the less I seek my source for some definitive

the closer I am to fine

I went to see the doctor of philosophy

with a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee

he never did marry or see a b-grade movie

he graded my performance, he said he could see through me

I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind

got my paper and I was free

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains

there's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line

the less I seek my source for some definitive

the closer I am to fine.

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m. to seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend

and I woke up with a headache like my head against a board

twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before

and I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains

yeah we go to the doctor, we go to the mountains

we look to the children, we drink from the fountains

yeah we go to the bible, we go through the workout

we read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout

there's more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line

the less I seek my source for some definitive

the closer I am to fine

~Indigo Girls

I heard this song the other day and I forgot how much I really enjoy it - it's worth a listen if you haven't heard it in awhile, or even if you have. On the eve of Valentine's Day - alot of people are looking for answers in their lives - maybe the answer (and what this song/poem is trying to relate) is to stop looking and just let things happen, they will anyways - Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. Probably that’s what Mick was singing about – “You can’t always get what you want, but you’ll find sometime you get what you need.”Maybe the most famous example was Columbus discovering North America while looking for India, but smaller more personal “Happy Accidents” are happening everyday.

It Doesn't Matter Where You Are in the Rat Race, You're Still a Rat...

A Different Drummer...

Why should we be in such desperate haste

to succeed and in such desperate enterprises?

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,

perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Let him step to the music which he hears,

however measured or far away.

Dad has this poem by Thoreau in his office-

it's one of those "to each their own" kind of message - I like it.

It's good to know where you belong, where you're really needed and who you really are at the end of each day.

Just a quiet thought for a cold winter's night - with dreams of Little Forks, Heat wave Alabama and the Promise of Summer as the fuel for tonight's mid-winter's nap. Sophie is on the mend, Nicki is still battling hard with this Flu - Hopefully both my Girls are back to 100% soon, heartbreaking to see how bad they are feeling.

Sick as a Dog...

Since Superbowl Sunday Morning I've felt like crap (even more after the Bears lost) - This expression jumped into my mind, so I started thinking about it - when dogs get sick they eat grass, throw up, eat the throw up and throw up again, I'm not that sick - but I do have a sore throat, a headache and a fever - and luckily so do Nic and Sophie - we are a bunch of Sickies here this week - So sick in fact that on Wednesday poor little Sophs was diagnosed with Impetigo and put on antibotics - while whatever this virus is hit Nic the hardest on Saturday - Daddy was left to care for his sick girls which he did with pleasure - this does explain the lack of Blog Postings - and I apoligise - so back to this expression

- I was also led to think about another of dad's expressions,
"Half Chicken, Half Pig" … We never had dogs growing up, we had these Hybrid Creatures – that Malcolm lovingly referred to as Half Chicken, Half Pig – because they we’re afraid of everything,but they’d eat anything.and we had lots of them – When I was born my parents got a dog as a gift – they called him Nick Danger, a black Lab, he was a great dog - slept in the doorway of my bedroom to keep out the baddies – then there was Tug, a Huge Newfoundlander – who belonged to my Grandparents, he would share his Dog house in Oromocto with my cousins and myself whenever we came to visit – then Maxine (originally Max) , then Raggs and Zoe - we got these guys and thier sister Skye - who lived with Brian and Brenda in Moncton when I was in grade 12 – My parents now have Hannah and Lady and we have our own Hybrid Creatures – Simon and Max.

There's nothing better than having a couple of these wonderful creatures around on these cold Winter days - they make a great blanket - but that's a different expression and 2/3's of a band.

The "Gap"...

The Gap I speak of is not that excellent clothing store in Moncton, but it is the excellent feature that many of us Macs share between our front teeth. Big Jim once said "you can always trust a gap toothed man" - I agree with Jim and by the looks of it we'll be able to trust Sophie, not that we wouldn't anyways - but it does give us some extra reassurance.

What an odd thing to see yourself in someone else - to know that they are an extension of you, and that you are an extension of your parents and so on, back to the beginning - this leaves me a feeling of connectedness. Which is nice, because some days I feel so disconected from all the awful things that are happening in our world, and to our world - then I get to look at the lovely little Sophie as she falls asleep in my arms, and I'm left with a feeling that things will somehow be alright...