As I was thinking about the current state of everything, Robert Fulghum’s book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten came to mind.  The lessons he sited are inter-generational. 

They still hold value today.  I revisited those lessons and thought I’d share some of them with you. 
 
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 into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
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.
 
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your
world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all—the whole world—had cookies and milk about three o’clock every
afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and
to clean up their own mess.
 
And it is still true, no matter how old you are—when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

Comments are welcomed.

This has not been a good week to write a blog, or anything else for that matter.  My body was invaded by some unidentifiable army of germs.  It was not Covid as confirmed by negative tests.  I thought it is some kind of cold.  I had the good fortune not to have contracted any illness for several years.  I was not handling this one well.  The worst part for me was losing my smell and taste which is in day 5 now.  Again this has not been due to Covid.  Likely a sinus thing.  Whatever the cause, it’s not something I’ve experienced quite like this before.  I do recall, many years ago, not being able to smell or taste when I had a cold.  Never did it last more than a couple of days.  Truth be told, I am being a wus about it. 
 
I’ve certainly have not been myself these past 2 weeks.  For example, I find myself thinking about all the foods and treats I enjoy eating knowing full well I won’t be able to taste them.  That’s just nuts.  There have been other things that are out of character for me.  Really, no point to go into them.
 
I share this with you just to explain why I am  not blogging.  Hopefully, I will find myself firmly entrenched back on Earth One and feeling more myself by next week.  You all have a good week and be well.

​Comments Welcomed.

Is there such a thing as a watermelon with bad juju?  Could the fairies or elves who watch over gardens have had a disagreement and accidentally let bad vibes penetrate some watermelons?    Here’s the thing. My favorite part of summer is the sighting of watermelons appearing in the markets.  My body seems to crave watermelon.  Even a few little cubes at a time make a joyful jolt to my entire body.  I always feel more alive and happier.  Facts and health benefits are an easy find on the internet, but here are a few.  Watermelon is 90% water.  It can provide hydration, which can be more effective than water as it is absorbed into the cells.  It has several antioxidants which can address a number of issues.  The sugar content is actually quite low and there are no fats or cholesterol.  Now on to what happened.
 
I had gone shopping with my grandson on a very uncomfortably hot day.  We did a lot of walking , going in and out of shops.  One of the last stops was at a market where I picked up a wedge of watermelon.  When we got home, I cut up the melon into cubes filling a 2 quart bowl.  I left It on the counter to say good-bye to my grandson.
 
At this point I was rather exhausted primarily from being short of sleep the night before and not doing well in the heat.  Surprisingly, I was still functioning rather well.  My last action before heading for a shower and dinner, was to put the watermelon in the refrigerator.  I started to put plastic wrap over the bowl when it went off the counter onto the floor.  I couldn’t believe how it could have happened.  It wasn’t like I had tipped the bowl nor was it that close to the edge.  Let me tell you those cubes of melon can sure travel far and wide.
 
I managed to get a colander without stepping on the mess.  I gathered up the watermelon into the colander, rinsing it until there was no evidence it had gone on an adventure.
 
Then came the task of cleaning the floor.  To make a long story a little shorter, I ended up, over 2 days, washing the floor 3 times on hands and knees to get rid of the stickiness.  And, that’s not the end of the story.  
 
The day after the final floor washing, I went into the refrigerator to get some watermelon.  It was déjà vu all over again.  As I was picking up the bowl, it flipped out onto the floor.  OMG!  Was this innocent looking piece of Citrullus bewitched?  Obviously, for some unknown reason, I was not meant to eat that particular melon.
 
Trying to understand how that could of happened, I came up with 2 possibilities.  First, it could have been our good friend Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity.  Gravitation is universal. ALL objects attract each other with a force of attraction.  This force of gravitational attraction is directly dependent upon the masses of both objects .  The conclusion I drew was that the floor mass was greater than the watermelon mass, consequently drawing the melon to it.
 
The second possibility was just bad juju.  Take your pick.

​Comments are welcome. 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about being hooked on a feeling.  Similarly, I realised I am hooked on a feeling about a word.  The word is whimsical, defined by Oxford Languages as “playfully, especially in a quaint or fanciful appealing and  amusing way.”  When I hear the word or say it in my mind, it sets off all kinds of sparkles, delightful images and smiles.  Whimsy wakes up my brain cells.    It wakes up those brain cells responsible for imagination, creativity, playfulness, joy and a teeny bit of mischief.  If those cells are dormant, how else could I slide down my favorite color of the rainbow?  How else could I find the wizard living in a tree house in my daughter’s back yard?  How else could I have tea and petit fours with the fairies that blow in with the wind?  How else would I know that my appliances converse with each other when they think no one is listening?
 
I am grateful when whimsy comes calling.  It is often an antidote for those awful, no good, very bad days or just feeling down in the dumps.  What helps you get through those downer times?  What helps you to not take yourself too seriously?  In these difficult, crazy times our well being can be boosted or at least kept afloat with fun playfulness or whatever brings a smile to your face.
 
“Being playful is a key component in making us happier, healthier, more present and connected in all of our relationships.” - Meridith Sinclair

Comments are welcomed.

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  That’s how I’m feeling about technology at the moment.  For all the wonderful things technology has provided for us, there are also many annoying, frustrating, inexplicable  and downright idiotic aspects.  My current beef is with a new set of hand held phones.  For a number of reasons I prefer these to using my cell phone at home. 
 
The hi-tech recharge base is adorned with a ridiculous number of buttons.  When all of the buttons are active, I doubt I would even need to have an actual conversation.  The phone would do it for me.    As soon as it rang I was getting a plethora of vocal messages. This device must be a relative of Hal.  Hal, if you recall, was the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey that took over everything. No doubt a precursor to AI.   I immediately turned off all vocal functions on the phone.  That allowed me to use it in the traditional manner with me in control, until…
 
I get way too many calls from unknown numbers including long distance codes.  If I don’t recognize the number, I let it go to voice mail figuring if it’s really for me, they will leave a message.  I have also come to expect the long distance calls to be spam or scams.  Again, unless I happen to recognize a particular number, I don’t answer.  You can’t be too careful these days.
 
Here's what happened.  Remember, I disabled every possible vocal function on the phone.  One day one of those unknown numbers came in.  I have my phone set for 6 rings before it goes to voice mail.  It rang 6 times when Hal spoke saying, “enter your access code.”  What the heck was that?  It kind of freaked me out.  Maybe it was a one off glitch and I would check the manual if it reoccurred.
 
For the next several days it was business as usual,.  Then a call came in.  After 6 rings, Hal asked for an access code.  Another freak out.  I went through the phone’s manual with a fine tooth comb. There was nothing about this weird function.  Not a word that could possibly explain why this was happening.  Nothing.  Nada.  I asked a couple of tech savvy friends about it.  They had no explanation either.
 
Strangely, bizarrely, seriously creepy, Hal was showing up more and more frequently.  Enough was enough. Newton’s 3rd Law was in motion again.   My equal and opposite reaction was to bring Hal to his demise.  I unplugged the phones and packed them away.  Fortunately, I kept the previous set and reactivated them.  Now, when the phone rings, I answer.  If not it quietly goes to voice mail.  Wonderful.
 
I do wonder what that was all about.  Why ask for an access code?  What was it then access to?  Is AI beginning to run amok?  Many questions.  No answers.  We live in interesting times.

Comments Welcomed.