Stories, Seattle, and Silliness


Back from Seattle; had a wonderful time. Managed 5 nights in a row where I actually got more than 10 hours of sleep per night. Heavenly. It's the funny thing about vacations in my world; I like to go out of town so I can catch up on sleep. If I stay home, somehow I always end up doing chores. I somehow convince myself that it's more important to be doing than to be resting / recovering.


So, after 5 nights of sleep, one Halloween party, and lots of household chores, it's Monday, and it's hard to take anything seriously. (Thank heavens, because it appears that the universe it taking itself seriously enough for BOTH of us today!). So, in the nature of providing levity; I include the attached picture.


Now, of course, I have to explain the attached picture. :-) The previous owners of the house I bought hadn't been up to full on maintenance for the last year or so they were there. We've been slowly trying to bring everything back in line. One of the projects we completed was to pressure wash the decks and then re-seal them with water repellent. (Oregon seems to think that 9 months of rain is a great way to keep out strangers.) So, after we'd gotten two coats of water repellent on over a weekend, we thought the entertainment was done. No such chance. :-)


Monday morning, we discovered something odd. Apparently the water repellent we used is tasty. We had squirrels LICKING their way across the deck. The whole deck, and nothing but the window and deck. The picture you see is indeed showing a squirrell tongue slurping the sliding glass door in pursuit of a snackeral of water repellent for wood.

Random Quote Drop


I'd like to pretend that I have something interesting to talk about, but somehow, today, I come up with nothing. So, since i can't pour you a companionable cup of coffee / tea and just while away the hours about the weather, I give you quotes. The ones in the last few days that make me think, ponder and sip that nice warm beverage that so suits the weather. Enjoy.


"All personal breakthroughs being with a change in beliefs. So how do we change? The most effective way is to get your brain to associate massive pain to the old belief. You must feel deep in your gut that not only has this belief cost you pain in the past, but it's costing you in the present and, ultimately, can only bring you pain in the future. Then you must associate tremendous pleasure to the idea of adopting a new, empowering belief." - Tony Robbins


"I am responsible for my own well-being, my own happiness. The choices and decisions I make regarding my life directly influence the quality of my days." - Kathleen Andrus


"The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal." - Deepak Chopra


"In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently." - Tony Robbins


does it seem to you
that when you watch others painting apples
that are apples so precisely,
and yours are apples in thought and deed,
that you are pulling more from the apple than they?
art..is expression.
dialogue, monologue,
diatribe, hymn.


please remember.


mouse

Home Again


Last week included a random trip to Vancouver Canada. Which, while I love the city, can be remarkably like Portland when it's raining - Cold and WET! Silly me, I'd forgotten to bring anything seriously waterproof with me, so that 8-9 block walk to the office from the hotel? Left me a total drowned rat.


However, I'm safely home again, and the city is bringing out her beautiful autumn colours. The rain gives the air a clarity that enhances the reminders that the year is coming to a close. It makes you want all the comforts of fall - hot soups and cocoa; fires sparking in the fireplace, thick blankets to cuddle up with. On top of all those wonderful things, it's encouraged me to start moving again. I picked up my sketchbook this weekend and did two quick sketches; and started updating my resume. To quote Nickelback "It's hard to say it, don't want to say it, 'Good-bye'..."

I wanna walk to the beat of my own drum - Poe


Some days song lyrics are the best way to communicate for me. I find that music lets those things that render me inarticulate out. It pushes, pulls, and cajoles me into release and renewal. Sometimes it allows me to sing (or scream) the things out loud that I so want to say in real life, but know that I won’t. On the one hand there is much evidence that if you want to be a happy, sane person, you should focus on the happy things. It will let you move on and release those things that cause your stomach to clench; your jaw to grind; your heart to ache.


Supporting Quote for Letting Go:
“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.” – Dorothea Brande


But then there is the part that wants to take responsibility. The section of mind that screams to “stop the madness now”; or quotes the infinite parent line about “if everyone else is a lemming and leaps off a cliff are you going to follow?” If no one says anything, that doesn’t make things better or help us grow, so how can that be the full and correct answer?


I know that the truth is in the middle. In the balance. However, instead of balanced on some infinite scale somewhere, I feel more in common with the gnarled up tree; not entirely sure which way to grow; or where to put my roots for sustenance. My sense of balance feels precarious; and I have to trust to instinct, which can feel so very scary. I leave you with the lyrics of Poe; a song I find myself singing in my mind quite often.




Mother spent ten years sitting by a window
Scared if she spoke she would die of a heart attack
She listened as her dreams silently screamed
They drowned like little dolphins caught in a fishnet


Dear world I'm pleased to meet you


Hey everybody when you walk the walk
You gotta back it all up can you talk the talk?
Hey everybody when I hear the knock
Don't wanna measure out my life to the tick of a clock


Hey everybody when my daddy died
He had a sad sad story living in his eyes
Hey everybody when you walk the walk
You can not measure out your life to the tick of a clock


I wanna walk to the beat of my own drum
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drum
Walk to the beat of my own drum
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drum


Hey everybody
When you walk the walk
You gotta back it all up
Can you talk the talk?


Hey everybody
When I hear the knock
You wanna measure out my life
To the tick of a clock
Hey every-, hey everybody
Can you walk the walk?


I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
Walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)


Walk to the beat of my own drum
I wanna live to the beat of my own drum
I wanna laugh to the beat of my own drum
I wanna hang ten, hi, say pleased to meet you


Take to the beat of my own drum
I wanna give to the beat of my own drum
Fly, cry, win, lose, live, die, take five
Pleased to meet you


My daddy spent ten years living on the outside looking in
He thought that he would never get back, hey, get back
Watched his dream walk across a silver screen
And he was standing there when the theater went pitch black


Dear world I'm pleased to meet you


Hey everybody when I walk the walk
I gotta back it all up can I talk the talk?
Hey everybody when I hear the knock
Don't wanna measure out my life to the tick of a clock


Hey every-,
Hey every-,
Hey every-,
Hey everybody
Can you walk the walk?


Walk, walk, walk
Can you walk the walk?


I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
Walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
(Say wha-wha-what you wanna?)


Hey,
Play to the beat of my own drum


I wanna sing to the beat of my own drum
I wanna play to the beat of my own drum
I wanna hang ten, hi, say pleased to meet you
Screw up to the beat of my own drum
I wanna dig it out of dirt and do it to my drum
Scream shout
Wipe out
Win, lose, wipe out
Saunter down my street
Make love to my baby
To my baby
Make love to my baby
To my baby, oh


Father :
It's a wonderful idea, but it doesn't work.


My own drum, my own beat
My own drum, my own beat


Did you ever get the feeling that it's really a joke
You think you've got it figured out and then you find that you don't
So you say goodbye to the world and now you're floating in space
You got no sense of nothing not even a time or a place
Suddenly you hear it is the beat of your heart
And for the first time in your life you know your life is about to start
Oh, yeah, when you're alone


Hey everybody
Hey everybody
Hey everybody when you walk the walk
You gotta back it up, back it up, back it up, back it what?
Say wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-what you wanna?
Say wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-what you wanna?


I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
Hey everybody, hey everybody
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums
Hey everybody, hey everybody
I wanna walk to the beat of my own drums

Monday Thoughts



Dance
Take Pictures
Laugh
Play
Read a Book
Share
Travel
Care
Explore




"A human life is like a single letter of the alphabet. It can be meaningless. Or it can be part of a great meaning."