It's been a pleasure

Thank you all, fellow bloggers, it's been a pleasure. Life is busy, blogging has been a pleasant distraction but I've my childrens' education, as well as my own commitments to Uni, my family and career; and well, the rugby's afoot. Hopefully, I'll be by for a read, to see what ya'll are up to. Wishing you all well! I'm always available by email. :)

Life has its seasons

Time to say goodnight

to all you trolls out there in RL and virtual world: with what you have given, may you be blessed with what karma duly brings; and, by the way, contrary to my correct southern American and British upbringing....awa an bile yer heid, you can pòg mo thòn!

Casadh an tSugain - Micheal 0'Domhnaill and Bothy Band 1979

"Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter -- to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water."

~Albert Schweitzer

Raggle Taggle Gypsy -Bluegrass meets Irish

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."

~Alexander Graham Bell

"Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice."

~Baruch de Spinoza

Dog story to greet the day; I love stories with happy endings

(Rommel,RIP, and Kitty lounging near the under-construction koi pond)


"Pooch saves Lost Boy in Wilderness"

(Sept. 8) - A stray pooch who got a helping hand from a Canadian family more than repaid the favor when he saved the family's 2-year-old son in the Yukon wilderness.

The British Columbia family, whose name was withheld at their request, took the yellow dog under their wing after encountering him on their trek through the bush. The scruffy-looking mongrel had porcupine quills sticking out of his snout, and the family tried to help him by pulling some out, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

Last Thursday, as the parents were setting up a trailer in the evening, their 2-year-old son, Kale, disappeared wearing only a T-shirt. News of a missing boy triggered a full-scale search involving rescue professionals and many local volunteers.

Rescue parties located Kale more than 24 hours after he vanished. With him was the stray dog, who had kept the little boy warm by cuddling with him during the damp, cool night and protected him in the bear-infested woods. "The night was cold and wet and the terrain in the area is rough ... Most adults wouldn't make it through the night before succumbing to hypothermia, let alone a 2-year-old child," Michael Pealow, a member of the Whitehorse District Search and Rescue Society team, wrote in a blog post, according to The Globe and Mail.

"A bear could have got him. Anything could have happened," Mike Bondarchuk, a volunteer who helped search for Kale, told the newspaper. "What we do know is the dog stuck with him, all night and all the next day."

The dog's owner heard the whole story and came forward. Kim Dolan instantly recognized the canine hero as her dog, Koda, who had been missing for about a week. She said she had adopted Koda several months earlier after the dog was abandoned in Ross River, British Columbia.

"He's a total mutt. A total kid dog … he just wants to be loved," Dolan told The Globe and Mail.

Although she said it was hard to do, Dolan decided to give Koda to Kale's family.

"He was meant to be there at that time," she said. "It was tough to give him away. I was in tears … but it was the right thing to do."
aol news

"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

"Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man, without his Vices. This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over human ashes, is but a just tribute to the Memory of Boatswain, a Dog."
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, "Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog"

"My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am."
~Author Unknown

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands...

The pic below was taken in Washington State, but it reminds me a bit of the Pennsylvania woods where I endlessly explored as a child. Happy memories for the most part, yet bittersweet as there was always a hint of emptiness following my dad's death when I was 6. So, where am I going with this....?
Childhood stories always had happy endings, right? Well, come to find out, sometimes life isn't always easy or turns out as we thought it would, shock! It's easy to get down on yourself and/or the situation of things, to feel alone. Though, in reading out in blogland, and talking with friends, there's stories that one can relate to, and we're reminded we're not alone. And, as my friend reminds me, it's always good to remember your circle of influence as to what you can or can't control; and to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Which sometimes doesn't sink in right away because I'm feeling stroppy.

Still, sitting here tonight, letting my thoughts wander....I remembered some basic rules on life that I read and really enjoyed; and then wished others would follow as well....which brings me back to the circle of influence.... ;D

The following is from a site that I googled for the 'all I really need to know':
(site credit)

"ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN"

"(a guide for Global Leadership)"

"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

* Share everything.
* Play fair.
* Don't hit people.
* Put things back where you found them.
* Clean up your own mess.
* Don't take things that aren't yours.
* Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
* Wash your hands before you eat.
* Flush.
* Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
* Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
* Take a nap every afternoon.
* When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
* Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
* Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
* And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK."

"Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living."
[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/ ]


"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. "
Albert Camus

"Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character. "
Stephen Covey


Thoughts?

Adventurous Hero or Selfish and Hollow?

This article caught my attention tonight. I'm all for following your dreams, and reconnecting with some of your loves you had as a child, in that what was set aside perhaps can be realized as an adult. Writing one's own obituary, now there's a shake up as to what path you are on in your life. Have any of you tried this exercise? I just might, though I don't think I'll be jumping ship over it. Rather, I'd want to bring along the crew.

In your opinion, is she justified in her wanting to seek out her dream, help the environment, even though it means leaving all behind, including her husband? Or, are her actions taken too far, and this just another example of the "me" generation, shedding responsibility and commitment for self-gratification and self-centeredness?

Thoughts?

AOL: Rower finds Inspiration in the Unknown

CNN: Rowing Oceans for a better world

Life's merry-go-round

Busy day with guests tomorrow, so I wanted to have at least one more post for my thoughts. As the kiddies have grown older, it's been so fun to see their personalities and characters developing, or should we say, evolving. They've had certain personality traits and aptitudes since day one, so I find it very interesting to see what they're drawn with regard to interests and career potential.

I often think of the road I've taken, and the road I might have taken were things a bit different with regard to choices made in my early Uni days, for good and bad. Perhaps in a cosmic way, Lucy and I connected, because she only just recently wrote a poem on her reflections. I draw attention to Lucy, her above photo, and her poem, People Watching.

Homework assignment: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Well, September brings the start of the school year for the kiddies (although this year the eldest started her first semester of college just last week-of which I'm still in total denial :/).

Now, this homework exercise doesn't quite apply, since my kids are older, and we home school.
I still have the liaison teachers that we work with, however, so you never know. Sometimes the teacher will give a writing prompt at our meetings to gauge progress....

Credit for the following goes to Scots, so I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing it, (do you? ;)

A teacher gave an assignment to her new classroom of students: "What do you want to be when you growup?" One of the students drew this picture and gave it to the teacher...




(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear Mrs. Jones,
I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.
The truth is I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.
>From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

Captions anyone?

Pic inspired by Angus' Jumbo Firemen post

Also, by Cherie, Your Age by Chocolate Math (and there's now an algebraic explanation)

Corried doon for the night

This picture caught my fancy. One it's cute. Two, it got me to thinking of the safe, cozy place I'm sleeping while the firemen and other personnel are battling away against flames, smoke and incredibly rough terrain. Makes me quite thankful, actually.

Sometimes we find ourselves in difficult situations. I was going to write a post on standing to the test, facing our fears, enduring difficult situations, being thankful for a place to rest though it may not be perfect...but, I think you Get it. Will just share a quote:

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
-Helen Keller

In looking for the evening's song, I happened upon this lullaby. It corresponded with the thought for the post title. The video is an interesting insight to a life I'm unfamiliar with, other than I knew that mining was both difficult and dangerous.

Men being men, and, er, the sheep are scared...?