I’m sure at one point or another, we’ve all woken up one morning and had this thought or something very similar creep into our consciousness, “How did I end up at this point in my life?”
The strange or perhaps not-so-strange thing is when we utter “How did I end up at this point in my life?” it usually is meant in a rather negative sense or a way less than positive slant. Like, “How could I allow myself to have made those questionable decisions and ended up here?”
Every time that I’ve heard this, it has always been from a rather negative perspective.
Back in 2019, when living along the shores of Georgian Bay, Lynn and I hiked along the North Shore Rugged Trail just outside the Town of Parry Sound.
When hiking along, we happened upon this discarded engine casing from riding lawnmower. Of the many questions that entered my mind, when I saw it was, “How in the hell did it get there or how did it end up here?”
We both threw around some half-baked and funny suggestions as to how it did get there, but realistically we have no freaking clue as to how or why?
Nevertheless, and without solving the mystery of the engine casing, why is “How did I end up at this point in my life?” such a negative phrase? Why do we only seem to bellow it out, at low points in our journey through life?
My question is, why can’t it be used in more positive situations or have a positive tone associated with it?
Why can’t “how did I end up at this point in my life” be used to celebrate where we might be at any given point in our life journey?
Let’s not dwell on the negative aspects that might lead someone to utter that phrase.
There are plenty of scholarly articles that can be found on the web that deal with how and why from a negative perspective we get to certain points in our lives.
Now, having said that, I wonder if the issue is, that we’re reluctant to “toot our own horn” because we feel guilty in some weird way in finding ourselves successful or at a good place in our life, regardless of how you might define that.
And isn’t there a wagonload full of words and phrases that we tend to use in a negative light, that could just as well be used in a more positive sense?
Phrases like:
“if I only knew back then what I know now”
hindsight is 20/20
The point being is we often look back and think “How did I end up at this point in my life” and generally it has a negative slant associated with it.
We should be able to take that phrase and others as well; and reframe them to stand as positive elements that have gotten us to whatever point in our life that might be.
Notwithstanding, we all know there will be plenty of people who will have absolutely no problem fully illustrating to you in no uncertain terms “how you got to this point in your life?” if you ask them. And I can also almost guarantee the entire “4 – Netflix styled episodes” will be as negative as fuck.
If you’re at a certain point or stage in your life with something to celebrate, don’t be shy to ask yourself, “How did I get to this point in my life?”
Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn.
My guess is you’ve probably worked exceedingly hard; given more than you’ve taken; and sacrificed unconditionally along the way. Or you’re just in a good spot in life. Regardless of how or where you are – good for you.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
This isn’t much of a concern to us now, given that I’m retired(more or less), but it was a major concern when I was working full-time. And it is a major concern to those folks I know that are still in the Monday to Friday working environment.
Life and not to make this too simple of an analogy is an ongoing series of choices and balances.
We choose this to balance off that. The biggest factor in any of this is time. That’s right …….time. All of us regardless of where we may fall only have 24 hours each day. Not 26 hours or even 24.5. Exactly 24 hours.
Source: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock
The key is what we do with those 24 hours and the seven days in each week. What we do comes down to choices and balance. What are we willing to do; what are we willing to give up; are we serious about creating balance?
When I was working, I would only be willing to work(my choice – see how this works) the value of the crew I had selected for any 14-week crew period. I might work the odd overtime day here and there, but not very often. When I was at work my focus would be “work.” But after that – don’t call me. I took the attitude of “Your emergency or poor planning, doesn’t constitute an emergency on my end.”
Home life and enjoying life in general is and was far more important than work. I’ll do my job and I did it well, but I like many others wasn’t willing to sacrifice “living” to meet the needs of the “company.”
When I was working full-time, I often didn’t have Saturday and Sunday off. I was usually done early in the day but often didn’t have them off. What we did was plan early in the week, what we wanted to do on my days off. Usually, one day would be devoted to heading out on an adventure someplace, while the other day perhaps would be working around the house.
The key was we made it a priority to do something. A choice.
And when I left at the end of each day, I left work behind. The “job” stayed at the terminal and I lived life …..“not there.”
In my mind, it comes down to choices. Yes or no. And remember, when the company comes begging you to work more; to do more for less – “No is not a bad word.”
And if work is ruling and controlling your life – perhaps it is time to reevaluate a few things. You choose.
And by the way – I’ve heard all the excuses as to why “work is so fu@king important.” Spare me that song and dance – it’s old and tired.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
I haven’t been around much on WordPress over the last week and a half.
All of it is due to the combination of working and working plus being sick. I started to feel sick last Friday afternoon and it simply kept getting worse over the weekend honestly, I’m still feeling under the weather. I do feel better, but nowhere near 100 percent.
It’s been a dose of sore throat, fever, and stuffy sinuses.
But, not working today so a chance to rest and bit and also to get a few things done around the house, like cutting the grass.
Here’s to feeling better – I hope.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
Often when I look at these WordPress prompts in the morning, I think to myself, “Why can’t it simply ask – what’s my favourite food?”
That’s where I am early this morning, in that I’m not even sure where or how to respond to the prompt. But nevertheless, here we go.
If I started to pursue many of the posts related to the prompt, I’m sure I’d find a significant number that alludes to the direction in their life that comes from a religious following. I’m okay with that if that is what gives your life direction.
Others may say, I do everything for my family or children. And I get that as well.
But what comes to my mind so early in the morning is that our lives are exceedingly complex, interwoven in a multitude of ways and multi-layered and a whole host of other factors both internal and external that affect us, how can we narrow it down to one thing that gives us direction?
And I’ll be the first to admit, this might just simply be – all me. It just seems far too easy to say – “This is what gives me direction.” But, perhaps it is that easy.
That one thing I know for sure is that I don’t know. Not surprisingly, a fair number of folks will attest to the fact that knowing me confirms the concept that “I don’t know.”
But, what I do know and follow, and perhaps that is “direction” is that we only have the moments that are in front of us. We can have and should have goals and aspirations for the future and plan accordingly, but we need to live in the moment. Be really alive and make the time right this very day the best it can be.
Life has taught me many things, and one thing that it taught me is we are herded onto a path starting our journey let’s say somewhere near the end of high school. The path a significant number start walking on is college/university – resulting career – start a family – work/earn – retire. That’s the direction they take.
How many get so laser-focused on the end goal – say retirement, that often we miss the tiny things that can literally change our life for the better. An analogy that I’ve used and it is also an effective method of hiking steep grades, is not to keep your sole focus to the top of the hill.
If you keep looking at the top of the hill, it seems like you are never getting any closer to it. It is better to cast your eyes about a metre in front of your feet, and simply take one step after another. First, you’ll see any roots or rocks that might cause to to stumble – avoid them. Seconding, you’re living in the moment of the step; then the moment of the next step and so on.
Casting your gaze continually to the end prize is living in the future. Sure the goal is the top of the hill – you know that. But, you need to live in the moment and take one step followed by another and navigate around the rocks and tree roots that might cause you to stumble and fall.
And be ready and open to taking a “fork in the road” should one appear. You miss the forks if you’re not looking and open to seeing them.
Just ask me.
We know where we want to go and end up. We do however need to live in the moment to get there.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
My rush to answer this prompt takes me to “quotes to live by” which are a self-sustaining industry all their own. Not be cynical(but here we go) about the whole “quotes to live by” field is that there tend to be a decent number of folks who make a pretty decent living or in fact a gross wealthy living, peddling their own “quotes to live by” experience.
Sorry, I often find many in the “here is my quote – and you can live by it” for the small paltry sum of $$ for my course or workshop, or my “exclusive inner circle club” for a minuscule $ per month …….. well sickening or snake oil sales folk at best.
But, that’s me. I’m sure there are those in the “quotes to live by” field who are well-intentioned and devoted to helping others. However, most leave me with the feeling that I need to go have a shower. That is after checking to see where my wallet is at. So, it is pretty obvious that I don’t really follow many “quotes to live by” path of life.
Now, having said all of this, I do live by or at least follow as much as I can the quote or concept of “living in the moment.”
In this cycle we call life, I’m much closer to the end than to the beginning. All of which is okay. But, one thing that I have learned throughout all these years(and I was never the best student) is that “now – this moment” is all we have.
Given that “now” is it – we’d better revel in this moment right now and live it to its fullest extent possible.
Putting off “until the time is right” or until I have “all my ducks in a row” – is a fallacy in my opinion. When is the right time? And getting ducks in a row is akin to nailing jello to the wall. I get that people plan for their futures and security for their families and all that great stuff and all of that is good.
But, another truism is “here today and gone tomorrow.” All of that can be gone in a minute; family can be gone in a minute.
If we’re continually living in the past or having this out-of-body fantasy dream of trying to live in the future or what the future will be, we are going to miss “living in the moment – the now.” Seeing as the moment – the right now is all we truly have – “living in the moment” is the only “quote to live by” that makes sense.
Don’t piss away the moment for something in the past you can never recover or for something in the future that doesn’t exist.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
Well, not so much work as one might think or wish for. But, nevertheless, I’m working today and getting ready to head out the door in about 45 to 50 minutes from now.
So, any meaningful(a broad assumption that my posts have much or any meaning) may be limited to non-existent at best.
All of which may be a good thing. A day away from the “old blogging world” is often a good and necessary thing. A chance to breathe a bit and recharge the “old writing and composing brain cells.”
So, perhaps with any amount of luck, I’ll see you all tomorrow.
Cheers.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
Yesterday, on a wet and rainy day along the Bay of Fundy coastline, I typed up more than a few words in a post “Loose And Abstract Painting – Letting Go”. Which was more or less a journal entry(I guess) of how I stumbled upon and fell headlong to approach acrylic painting utilizing loose and abstract techniques.
Yesterday’s post centered around letting go of control and thus gaining confidence in your/my ability.
There are two other elements I wanted to touch on that filtered out of tackling loose and abstract.
I tend to be both an instinctive and intuitive fella all in the same bundle. I am also not very spontaneous. Ask my wife – she’ll be able to provide hours of discussion and examples on that topic. But, being more spontaneous is something I recognize and am working on.
Nevertheless, I discovered utilizing a loose and abstract approach, I was more than able to work more quickly(or as quickly as the paint would allow me to) and to be more instinctive, thus moving and changing(thus being spontaneous) as the painting evolved. I view it almost as an approach like “don’t think too much – just paint”, which ultimately pushed me along to start capturing the essence of the subject and to create more robust and vigorous works. See, thinking – is bad.
In addition, the other bit I learned is looser brushwork can create a definite sense of movement and energy in the painting. That can be a hard place to get to with tight and controlled brushstrokes. Loose and abstract added a sense of living and vibrance to the paintings, which I hope intrigues and seduces those folks who take a peek at them.
There you go. The journey so far of being on the loose and abstract path.
— as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
I admire those who post daily and for a few that I follow, they have posted daily for several years in a row consistently. That’s quite a commitment and such outstanding creativity to be able to develop and compose excellent material from day to day.
Throughout January’s “bloganuary” challenge and subsequently, with the WordPress daily prompt, I’ve found myself posting daily to keep the “streak going” and as well to see the daily “view and like” climb. So, what we were ending up with was some relatively poor and not-so-thought-out posts. Pretty much consistently – like five out of seven times a week.
I had no real intent to stop the streak; it just sort of happened yesterday. Kind of organically.
Lynn’s father(back in Ontario), has been committing some decisions over the past while, purely running off of emotion and not so much from a rational perspective. This has caused much concern with both Lynn and her brother, as well as Lynn’s aunt(her mom’s sister). This could lead him and the family down a path that no one wants to head down, both emotionally and financially.
Yesterday, was not a good day. It put a real pall over us(and we’re 1900 km away). As such, the motivation to write anything, anything at all was tossed out the window.
It’s early in the morning and I have to work a bit today, but it does feel that today will be more or less a carbon coping of what yesterday was like.
— as always with love —
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
Here in Nova Scotia, we are under yet another weather warning and this time it is for rain and lots of it. Rain on the way, all with plenty of frozen snow still on the ground.
I happened to notice in the community north of us yesterday, that the public works department has been out marking the location(using spray paint) of catch basins buried in snowbacks. I assume that they were going back out last night or today and use backhoes or other heavy equipment to undercover them to allow all this water to go someplace.
And if that wasn’t enough, the temperatures are expected to drop to just below freezing on Saturday afternoon, thus Nova Scotia will end up being one large skating rink. Oh, joy.
All of this reminded me of a wet and slick adventure we took to Algonquin Park back in February 2018 when we lived back in Ontario.
This adventure has been in the planning since Christmas.
Note, that I’m using the word “planning” here in the broadest possible definition. The idea of “planning” only consisted of me mentioning to Lynn that I wanted to hit up Algonquin in and around the Christmas holidays.
But, as we all know work, life, and other important or perhaps not-so-important things pop up from time to time. But, with decent weather in the forecast(or so we thought) and someone to come in during the day to look after Katie, the plan was set in motion.
All this was sounding and looking extremely good on paper. However, given all this planning or lack of planning, the one thing we couldn’t control was Mother Nature.
We woke up to a forecast in Algonquin Park of freezing rain in the morning and changing to rain in the afternoon. The whole weather issue and specifically the freezing rain part is going to play a major role in the narrative so to speak. But, not in too bad of a way. Let’s just say, rain gear and a positive attitude over-comes much hardship and wet weather!
But, putting the rather poor forecast aside, any time spent in Algonquin is always a time that is well invested. In fact, most experts if they’re any type of expert at all, will tell you it’s one of the best, safest, and most secure investments one can make. It’s entirely an investment made in oneself.
Given poor weather; good weather; or weather that falls somewhere in between; any time be it a day, week, or longer spent in Algonquin is usually just what the “Doctor prescribed.” On that note, I should check to see if the fees associated with Algonquin are covered under my drug and benefits plan at work.
Leaving home and after an uneventful 2.5-hour drive, we arrived at the West Gate to get our Day Pass around 10:45am.
Our plan for the day was to hit up a couple of the interpretive hiking trails, then head over to the Visitors Centre, plus whatever else piqued our interest during our time in the park.
With the rain now slowing changing to freezing rain, we decided to check out the Two Rivers Trail.
Although we didn’t take a picture, the parking lot would have been easier to get across with skates versus trail boots. Nevertheless, there is an old saying Lynn and I go by, “enjoyment of an outdoor adventure is only limited by clothing choices.” Undaunted by the weather conditions we gathered our gear together, locked the car, and headed down the rather hard-packed, but even icier trail to tackle the adventure before us.
Almost immediately, I spotted a Ruffed Grouse in the bush just ahead of us, who seemed for the most part unphased by us intruding in their part of Algonquin and was quite happy strutting along through the bush oblivious to our presence.
The trail winds its way through a mixed forest slowly climbing towards a cliff edge with views of the North Madawaska River and hills to the west.
A view of the hills in the west.
A slick and icy cliff edge. Not the spot for a miss-step or “next stop – bottom of the cliff.”
A view looking west and the North Madawaska River.
An icy and somewhat precarious location. All the rocks were coated with a thin, but slick coating of ice.
The trail leads back to the parking area from the cliff edge.
Descending the trail, we made it back to the car to find the parking lot now a virtual skating rink. The “rather slick underfoot” conditions were to be the norm for the rest of our day in Algonquin. Ignoring the odd stone that might be peeking through the ice, it would have made a grand spot for a spur-of-the-moment pick-up hockey game.
I think you get the idea!
Since we were just a few meters away from Mew Lake Campground, we decided to take a drive-through to see if many people were winter camping. The short answer to that was No. A big resounding NO. Each campsite we came across was either fully or partially submerged in water; a complete ice sheet or a non-campable combination of both.
In addition, the roads throughout the campground were a virtual ice trail. Let’s just say, that turning the car around was an exercise of sliding, stop, reverse, sliding, stop, forward, sliding, and so on.
We did see one late-model camping van with a sawdust trail for traction leading from the van to the fire pit and one poor cold tenter with their tent perched rather lopsidedly on their site, trying to find that one high point that hadn’t been assaulted by water or ice.
After leaving Mew Lake, we headed over to the Visitors Centre to check things out there. Having been countless times, including back in the summer of 1993 when it first opened, it’s always fun and educational to take a walk through the exhibits and dioramas. During the week in the winter, the kitchen isn’t open, although the seating area is. However, the restaurant provides coffee, tea, soft drinks, juices, snack foods, and some limited choices of microwaveable items on the “honour system.”
Yup, the honour system. All the items have a price listed. Pick what you want and there is a container to drop your money into. You can also go to the bookstore and pay there as well I believe. A pretty neat and innovative way of providing a level of service to those visiting during the week.
The bookstore is my “go-to stop” in the Visitors Centre. Always something interesting to pique my interest and lighten the load in my wallet. Again, during the week in the winter, the Bookstore may or may not be open. There is a buzzer you can ring and staff will come out and open it up if you want to in and have a look at things in the store.
A quick walk through the exhibits and a couple of pics.
View from the Observation Deck
We also took the time to visit the Algonquin Room which has on display until the end of April the works of artist Gene Canning. This is from the Friends of Algonquin Park website:
On the Trail of Tom Thomson, 100 Years Later by Gene Canning
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of Tom Thomson’s time in Algonquin Park, artist Gene Canning paddled and painted the same rivers and lakes as Thomson, completing 150 paintings along the way. This exhibit shares with us Gene’s adventures and experiences in art and travel in Algonquin Park.
We spent some time on the observation deck taking pictures of the activity around the bird feeders on the ground below. Unfortunately, mist and drizzle kept Lynn’s time and focus to a minimum on the deck shooting pics of the birds below.
Lastly, we decided to head over to the Spruce Bog Boardwalk Trail across the road from the entrance to the Visitors Centre. By this time in the afternoon, the freezing drizzle and rain had done its damage so to speak. After sliding the car completely through the parking lot, we gingerly stepped along the edge at the bottom of the plowed banks and onto the trail.
Similar to the Two Rivers Trail, the Spruce Bog Boardwalk was a mixture of hardpacked snow and icy sections. Mostly icy sections for those wondering.
This little red squirrel decided he wanted to be part of the adventure as well. He would follow us for a bit, then dart out from the trees, sort of look at us wondering where his “snack was” and then scamper back into the trees. A minute or two later he would re-appear and perform the same routine again. He did this three or four times until I guess he figured out we didn’t have anything for him.
Having gone the whole time in the Park without having a “falling or slipping mishap”, I made it within 10 feet of our car when the inevitable happened.
Need I say more?
Once Lynn finished laughing hysterically at my tumbling routine, we collected ourselves, skidded and spun the tires to get out of the parking lot, and headed back home around 4:30pm or so.
All in all, and despite the rain and icy conditions, it was a perfect day. We’ve learned over the years that most of the time our adventures and outings tend to be “mind over matter.”
If your attitude is positive and weather conditions don’t matter, then a good day will be had. This was no different. As I mentioned, “enjoyment of an outdoor adventure is only limited by clothing choices.”Â
Don’t let rain, cold, or not-so-favourable weather conditions or forecasts keep you from getting out and enjoying all that nature and specifically Algonquin Park has to offer. Rain just presents yet another side to the beauty that is out there.
Back in the summer of 2015 on the Free Ontario Parks Admission Day, for those who remember it was pouring rain in Algonquin. Rain teeming down in sheets at times might be an appropriate way to describe it.
No one wanted to venture far from their campsite and no one wanted to come up to visit the park for the day it seemed. With rain gear in hand, Lynn and I had the Track and Tower Trail to ourselves for the entire afternoon. No cars in the parking lot when we arrived; no one on the trail and no cars in the parking lot when we finished. It was one of the best days of hiking we’ve had. A moody environment; mist and low cloud-covered vistas from the lookout areas. Would have missed all of that if we let the poor weather keep us in a tent.
Get out there. Nature and the outdoors are waiting.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
Typically around the “old homestead”, Sunday is pretty laid back in terms of “excitement.”
Sometimes it’s off to church in the morning, more often than not it’s sitting around having another coffee and contemplating life. Assuming life needs any further contemplation than it already gets.
Sunday or the weekend is often laundry time, as it was yesterday. And if the weather is decent enough, we might head out on an adventure someplace.
So, for the most part, Sunday is usually uneventful…..except for when it isn’t.
Yesterday, it was quite warm here and the sun was sunny brilliantly. Perfect time to head out for a quick walk around the area for a little fresh air and exercise. Lynn stayed home as she was tackling a aforementioned laundry situation.
With the warm temperatures, there has been a fair bit of melting, loading up way too much water in the streams, and creeks, plus runoff from roads. I noticed on my way back that the tide was very high(almost near the road level) and still rushing with great force.
After getting home for about 20 minutes, I happened to see a social media post that the tide had crested that banks alongside the road around the corner from us. And that at least for a while(until the tide started to recede) we were “cut off” from the rest of town. And sure enough, as the tide headed back out the road reappeared, plus all the debris, grasses, and such were left in its wake.
Sunday is also the day, Lynn phones back to Ontario to check in with her Dad. Yesterday was no different. Except for when her Dad mentioned, “I have a new lady friend.”
Her Dad is 85 and lost his wife(Lynn’s mom) back in late September of last year. To say “I have a new lady friend” was unexpected would be the understatement of the century.
I know there is no timeframe for the grieving process or what that entails for anyone, but the “I have a new lady friend”, but it does seem quick to us.
More to add to that, but enough for now. So, for the moment, the family is sticking and going with “good for him”
Today is a new day…….more snow(another 20 to 30cm) coming Wednesday. Oh, joy.
–as always with love–
— get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself —
justabitfurther 