Find Your Soulmate

...or maybe that should be, find your word mate. Someone posted a comment to one of my blogs and mentioned the site www.favoritewords.com. This is a site where you can store your favourite word or words and find people who have the same favourite words as you.

You do have to login. I haven't gone that far yet - but give me another day of -20ºC and I may just have to find another time waster. The person who posted on my blog said that their favourite word was "juxtapose." I like that word. I mentioned, a few blog posts ago, that currently my favourite word was "labyrinthine."

Favoriteword.com is a way of meeting people, I suppose. However, I'm not sure how you would go about introducing yourself to others, who share your favourite word. I guess I could say, "I see that your favourite word is "labyrinthine." How twisted are you?" Maybe not. Then again would you say with "juxtapose," "How close do you want to get?" Really, I don't think it's that sort of site.

Also, I don't think it's really an intellectual site, either. The landing page, for example, is not very inspiring - no comment on intellectuals at this time :)  It lists words such as, "good," "money," "fun." Maybe the site owners didn't want to intimidate people. However, I still think that they should have a few teasers, such as, "Today's top 10 favourite words are......."

Now it might be interesting to go to the site, and after finding someone who shares one of your favourite words, take a look at the other words on their list.  I wonder how many words on your respective lists would be the same? Even if you don't make personal contact with them, it might be a fun way to expand your vocabulary.

The picture? Qwerty always makes me think of Quirky. Word nerds unite!!

Have an awesome day!!

Sing it again, Pete...

I couldn't believe it when I saw the notice on my FB wall, Pete Seeger had died. I don't know why I somehow thought that he would live forever. His obituary in the NY Times is a wonderful tribute, to a man for all reasons. Anyone who has ever sung, "Good-Night Irene," "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" or "We Shall Overcome," knows the power of Pete's music.

Pete Seeger used music to change the world. He used it to power the labour movement in the 30s & 40s, the civil rights movement in the 50s & 60s, the anti-war movement in the late 60s and early 70s and finally the environmental movement from the 70s until his death at 94 yesterday.

He was a man of a few words and a million songs, who encouraged people to sing and build communities through music. Here are some of my favourites.

Good bye, Pete. You will be sorely missed.

Have a day of music!!

Food Voyeur

My husband does the grocery shopping. It started a long time ago when his mother came to visit us once, for seven weeks. I didn't realize that she ate only meat and potatoes. In fact a second vegetable on a plate, at her house, was often potatoes, cooked another way. Sigh.

So I made the mistake of cooking pasta one night and was informed that she didn't eat it, nor did she eat rice. I was at a loss. This was summer and I was loathe to put on the stove for potatoes, well maybe potato salad, but, you guessed it, she didn't eat that either.

I was at my wits end!! Finally, I told my husband that he had to do the meal planning and the shopping, because I wasn't copping well with the limitations!! He didn't mind. In fact, he actually liked it, so much so that he has never stopped. He shops in all the local grocery stores and is on a first name basis with most of their staff. I was always puzzled, however, as to why he had to frequent more than one grocery store. Then one day he let it slip.

He said, "I was in Sobey's this afternoon, just to look around." Aha!! A food voyeur. I had visions of his fondling the fresh produce, salivating over the standing ribs and eyeing the buns!! Fortunately, it wasn't what I thought. He was just comparing what one store had over another. For example, our local Metro rarely has pot roasts, but Sobey's does. Another store, often has fresh lamb shanks, whereas, the others only have frozen, if they have lamb shanks at all. I know that one store will have clams, but no mussels and another will have mussels, but no clams.

I said, it's like a woman shopping for clothes. I know that I always go to Winners and then Marshalls to look for a bargain, before I go to the other chains. I usually avoid the specialty stores because of the price. Now, my husband always goes to the specialty seafood stores, regardless of the price!! Usually he just buys clams, rather than the sashimi grade tuna, but he has been known to drop a buck or two on raw oysters. In fact, yesterday, he bought 6, on sale for a dollar each - they were even branded, "French Kiss." Food can be quite sexy!!

The picture? Food porn - pasta with clams, Chez Tomany.

Have a great day!!

How Much Is Your Life Worth....?

......... Mine is worth $9.99US or $10.19 CAD (exchange rate). Here is how I found out.

I have finally decided to separate my "life" blog from my "business" blog. This is not really as grand as separating "Church from State" but it may make my posts a little more focused and relevant for Infiknit. The posts of my crazy life as Carol Tomany will still be there, however, you will be redirected from Divineknits-Infiknit.com to Lifeiswhathappens.ca.

I decided to book a few new urls and I had hoped to book the url Lifeiswhathappens.com, for my personal blog. However, although the domain name was available, Go-Daddy had decided to create an auction for it and the opening bid was $67.50. Now, the Canadian version, Lifeiswhathappens.ca was only $9.99US.

I now know what my life is worth. I opted for the $9.99US price of the .ca domain registration rather than the inflated .com. Why, with the Canadian exchange rate my life, in Canada anyway, is actually worth $10.19. Does that mean that life is more valuable in Canada? Maybe, we'll see, as I continue to post on Life Is What Happens!!

A penny for your thoughts

The phrase is not new. I actually read it, for the first time, years ago on a package of E-Z Bobs (more on these later) from Bryson Distributing. It is an original quote from Anon A. Ms. :) which goes like this:

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

Now, about the other blog. In order to spare busy shop owners, the frenzied chaos of my personal life, I have started a blog that will be very calm and business-like - Infiknitnews.com - to create the illusion that we are in control here at Infiknit and we do have some amazing products and some amazing customers - YOU !!

The flip side of the coin will be my posts on LIWH (Life is what happens) which will be my same old observations of the ironies of life. Hmmm maybe it really is only worth $10.19 CAD.

The picture - A penny for your thoughts or 1,019 of them, if that makes any cents (sense).

Have a great day!!

Pull Yourself Together....

....Lately I've been feeling a little disconnected. That is, I feel as though there are bits of me all over the place and nothing is coming together in any sort of unified whole. Yes, I am working towards a goal, at present, however, when that is completed, what's next?

Maybe, I am feeling this disconnect, because I have too many ideas rolling around in my head. That is, I have a number of projects on the back burner and I have to decide which of these to bring forward and work on in my spare time - of which I have so much :)  For example, there's that book I wrote for nanowrimo, which is still in its very rough draft. Then there are the two blogs I own. This one, which I post to on a fairly regular basis, and a knitting blog, which, like my hobby, has languished. Then there is the dream, that I had in kindergarten, of becoming an artist. No, I still haven't forgotten about that one.

Add to this the idea I had one day, when I was totally removed from reality, of starting another blog. This would be more of a diary on how I am planning to live to 100 :) or at least maximizing the time I have left, as I approach that goal. However, I still need to write posts for my company, Infiknit, which should really be a little more targeted towards knitting supplies. As odd as it may seem, I know that I would really enjoy writing about pom-pom makers. They are a little like the razzle dazzle of life!!

Add to this, the thought of having to create some sort of income, should I ever decide to retire from Infiknit. Now that won't be for years, however, I do like the idea of knitting and designing and I know that there are markets for knitting patterns on-line, I would just have to commit to resurrecting that other blog and becoming active in those communities again.

Somehow an ad for a course on publishing your book surfaced on FB. It is being offered by the University of Toronto on 8 consecutive Tuesday evenings, starting in February, at a cost of $300.00. There is nothing like handing over cold hard cash to make you really think about what you want to do. I have decided that the book draft can wait a little while longer, however, I will need to do something about those blogs!!

The picture? The best I could do for a little knitting razzle dazzle and yes you can put pom-poms on socks - for jesters :)

Have a great day!!

PS - I forgot to mention the 76 books - down from 80 that I plan to read over the next few years. Thank heavens for audio books. I can knit and "read" at the same time!!

Writing for Periodicals Circa 1850....

...Most of the great British authors, who published in the 1800s - Dickens, Hardy, Eliot etc. - wrote for magazines, because periodicals paid for submissions and let's face it, most of us would rather be paid for our work, than not - just saying :)

Hence, the need to both write and pay the rent, helped shape the literary output, of the age. For example authors knew that -

1. Their readers were mainly woman, who were literate, of the upper and/or educated classes in a somewhat rigid society. A love story or a story of thwarted love was a good bet.

2. Their readers adhered to the social conventions of the time, for the most part. If there were dalliances in the real world, those in question were sure to be able to cover their bustles. Really, no one wanted to end up in the poverty of Victorian England.  Characters should therefore be god-fearing, but curious and only "sin" out of necessity (or love), knowing of course, that they would be damned, in print, anyway.

3. The longer the narrative, the more issues it would fill and the more money one would make. Think, long drawn out plot.

4. They needed to build suspense near the end of every submission so that people would rush out and buy the next issue, as soon as it was published. Think long drawn out plot with some suspense.

5. They had to create one event, however minor, per submission. These were the soap operas of the industrial age. I am over half way through Jude The Obscure and there has been no illegitimate sex yet. (I'm not counting the encounter with the barmaid, who tricked Jude into marrying her - that was tacky.) I mean a real "falling into arms" between lovers. Well, it has kept me reading!! Yes there have been 50 descriptions (or more) of grey skies, lots of social bondage, but no scenes of intimacy. Think long drawn out plot with no illicit social encounters.

6. Intimacy happens within the marriage contract, even if you hate your spouse. So far it seems, you can never have sex with your lover. I know from the blurb on the back of the book that Jude ends up living, out of wedlock, with his cousin. I have 150 pages left to read, so I'm waiting.

I am working my way through the classics. It's interesting to read the older novels to see how our values have changed and/or to see how authors tried to liberate the customs of their time through their writing. Although, these authors had to pay lip service to Victorian values, in order to get published, the better authors also tried to show, through their plots and characters, the hypocrisies of the time.

Next on my list is The Grapes of Wrath. I'll keep you posted.

The picture? The best I could do for old stonework. Jude was a stonemason.

Have a wonderful day!!

You collect what...?

I couldn't resist this list of people who collect "things" from the site, Mental Floss. If I didn't live in such a small house and if I didn't worry so much about becoming my mother, I would collect more. I would definitely have been a stamp collector, philatelist. In fact the other day I was moaning that I had shipped out a box, which had come to me with about 15 stamps of Johnny Cash on them. Maybe this is only important to fans of country music and stamp collectors, but I hated to let them go.

Here are a few other obsessions that I could easily succumb to:

1. Sucrologists collect those little sugar packets that you see in restaurants. I took some pictures instead.

2. Deltiologists study and collect postcards. The word comes from the Greek word deltion, the diminutive of deltos, or “writing tablet.”

Oh yes, I could have had a garage full of these. I usually buy postcards, but forget to send them. Actually, when we were in Italy last summer, I did send a postcard, from the Vatican, with a Vatican state stamp on it, to my son!!

3. Phillumenists collect matchbooks and other match-related items. In the 1980s, The Guinness Book of World Records crowned Japan’s Teiichi Yoshizawa as the world’s top phillumenist thanks to his collection of over 700,000 different labels.

He must have a million by now, unless spontaneous combustion sent them all up in flames. This could be a dangerous hobby.

4. Pannapictagraphists could probably stand to come up with an easier name for their hobby: collecting comic books.

I had tons as a kid, but I never really got into collecting a whole series, issue, by issue. Whew, these would take up much more room that packets of sugar!

5. Vexillophiles collect and display flags.

Not me, I'm just not that patriotic or something :)

Badges from a trade association

 6. Remember George Costanza’s doomed fiancée Susan on Seinfeld? She was a plangonologist, or collector of dolls.

I could collect miniature dolls!!

7. Velologists collect and study expired specimens of the tax discs that British vehicles have been required to display since the beginning of 1921.

Pass!! Although my friend Tinks, always coveted a licence plate that began with the letters TNK. The car used to park on the street, where we shared a flat in London. Just a useless bit of memory. Well it doesn't take up as much space as a collection of license plates.

8. Arenophiles collect sand samples from around the world. They particularly prize rare samples of black or green sand from certain beaches. 

Presumably, one never vacuums near the collection :) This I have no interest in, since I manage to track in enough dirt and sand in a day to keep me company for years.

9 & 10. Tegestologists have a great excuse to spend time in bars since they collect coasters or beermats. They should probably team up with labeorphilists, or collectors of beer bottles.

When I was hitching around Europe, there were hikers that I met who were collecting beer mats. They weighted down their knapsacks and took precious space from items like toothpaste. You do have to get your priorities right!!

I use to have an amazing collection of theatre programs, when I lived in London and a notable collection of letters to the editor, from the London Times.

11. Falerists study and collect medals, badges, pins, and other military and civilian awards and decorations.

I just collect jewellery!

12. Scutelliphiles are similar to falerists, but they collect souvenir patches and badges.

I have a lot of these and I was just bemoaning the fact that I have somehow lost all the badges that I earned as a Girl Guide years ago.

13. Lotologists collect lottery tickets, both used and unused. In 2006 reports claimed that retired U.S. Navy diver Dennis Morse had one of the world’s largest lotology collections. It included over 250,000 losing scratch-off tickets.

Forget it. Unless it's a winner, I'm not interested.

14. Arctophiles have the cuddliest collections; they stockpile teddy bears.

I swear my son (31) does. I found a few in his room the other day.

My mother's camp hat

15. Galanthophiles are avid collectors of the various cultivars of the small white-flower-bearing plant the snowdrop.

I would, if I had a large enough garden. However, you would also have to weed it, hmmmm.

16. Tyrosemiophiles collect cheese labels.

Smelly!

17. Fusilatelists collect phone cards issued by telecom companies. The word is apparently largely used in the U.K. On this side of the pond, calling card collectors are known as telegerists.

I can understand collecting phone numbers, but cards???

18. Helixophiles probably throw the best parties; they study and collect corkscrews.

We have a small collection of these, mainly because we never remember to pack one for a holiday and always end up buying a new one!!

19. Brandophilists likely have to make at least one pilgrimage to Havana. It’s only fitting since they collect cigar bands.

Never!!

20. Entredentolignumologists may or may not exist, but some books and several websites use this mouthful to describe collectors of toothpick boxes.

Never!!

Now I do know of people who collect wine corks, coins (I have a few), coupons (but I think you have to use these), cars - expensive, salt and pepper shakers - cute, knitting yarn - overwhelming!!

Then there are the people who collect items on a theme - Owls, Elephants, Cats, Pigs, etc.

I'm sure that there is a whole psychology behind all of this. Maybe it's about grounding, having a purpose in life, breaking the boredom. I'm not sure that I could really get excited about sand and cigar labels. But, buttons and yarn, well, now you're talking.

Have a great day!!

Lying Fallow.....

.....I haven't posted for a while because I've been thinking. Don't laugh :) I often have to have my mind go blank, quite empty, totally unproductive, like a field lying fallow. Having a blank landscape, gives me time to look for signs on the horizon or to follow the growth of a seed here or there, that may be missed in a busy crop of daily to-ings and fro-ings.

I have decided to look at long term goals. You know, planning now, for where I want to be in 10 years time. I haven't quite formulated a goal and definitely have no plan, as yet, for how to get there, but I am working on it.

In fact, today, I have some help. Fortune, being for the most part a kind mistress, directed me to an article in the newspaper about setting goals and writing "to do and not to do" lists. Oh, how I love a list!! and now I can have two.

I have read books and articles on life planning before. Because of the exercises in these books, I left teaching, married, raised a family, started a business etc. I know that these are very basic things and most people don't need to read volumes to reach them. However, at one point in my life, I wanted to join CUSO (Canadian University Services Overseas). I might have lead a very unconventional life as a result.

Ironically, life has a way of following you around and making what ought to have been, be. Because I didn't go abroad with CUSO, it, in a rather convoluted way, came to me. I have three children, all adopted. My two youngest are from a third world country.

But, I digress, I'll work on the lists in the newspaper article and share in another post. In the meantime, here is a passage that has served me well over the years. "Pretend that this is the day before the day that you are going to die. Make a list of all the things that you wanted to achieve in your life. If there are a few tasks still to do, get busy on them right now!!"

The pictures - goals achieved, dreams come true.

Have a great day!!

The Domino Effect

I think that we have all been there. That is, we have said something or done something that set off a chain reaction which ultimately involved a lot of other people. Here's what happened to me -

1. My 20-year-old son went out after work. At 1:15am, he sent a text to his father saying he would be home in 15 minutes. His dad usually waits up for him and given that it was -30ºC outside, you would want to make sure that people didn't end up passed out in snow banks.

2. It's now 2:30am and he isn't home, nor is he answering his phone. He has done this before. I thought, he'll be home soon.

3. It's now 3:30am. His dad, who has a cold, is still up and has to work the next day. I get up and commiserate. I am now worried. His dad takes a tour of the neighbourhood in the car. No sign of him. We are both worried. We go back to bed, but can't sleep.

4. At 4:30am, I announce that I am going to call the police. I have dwelt on the worst case scenario for the last hour - son mugged, wallet and IPone taken, left in snow bank to freeze.

I find our list of "important numbers" and call the one marked "police." A woman who is clearly not at a police station answers. I say, "Hello, is this the police?" She says, concerned, "no." I apologize profusely and hang up, wondering who on earth I had called. I find another list with the correct number for the police. They are very helpful. In the politest terms, they say that there have been no dead bodies in snow banks reported. Would I like to file a missing person's report? "No," I say, I'll wait until morning.

5. At 5:00am, we suddenly get a text from the youngest. "Sorry fallen asleep at Ryan's house on my way home." His dad calls him. "Where are you?" He doesn't know. We hear him, crunching over the ice and snow until he gets to a sign post and reads out the street names. He's close to home. Relieved, his dad drives over and picks him up.

6. 5:30am, our son is safely home. All worry and angst on my part has turned to RAGE!! I decide not to disturb the house at this moment. I'll save it for 7:30am, when the son in question has to get up for work, as we all do, except my daughter.

House of Cards

7. I do, though, remind the prodigal of the cardinal rule of the house -  if you are out partying or even accidentally sleeping all night, you go to work the next day - no excuses.

8. 7:30am, I wake the boy for work. He protests. I argue back.

9. 8:00am, I wake him again; inform him, louder this time, that he has to leave for work in half an hour and no one is going to drive him - a screaming match ensues. It wakes my daughter, who decides that it's all my fault!! I now am asking myself, where did I go wrong as a parent?

10. 8:20am. A taxi driver is banging on the door. My son flies down the stairs fully clothed, and says smiling, "Bye, mom. Have a great day."

11. Later, I have now lost track of the time, my daughter is printing out copies of her resume. Her intent, no doubt, is to get a job and get out of this mad house. She is still not speaking to me, mother from hell!!

12. Later still, my husband comes down dressed for work. I mention that the object of our nightmare last night has gone to work. My husband points out that this son has always had a strong sense of survival!!

13. Noon, our eldest (31) calls me at work. He missed all the excitement because he had been staying at a friends. He is concerned because his best friend called to say that his mother got a call in the middle of the night asking for the police. Of course our name came up on their caller ID. I am now mortified. This woman is a doctor and her husband is a lawyer. The son in question is married and his wife is due to deliver their first child (second grandchild) in January. I have now involved two other innocent families in our circus!!

14. Several days later - my daughter finally decides to break the ice and speak, albeit with reservations!!

I don't even own a set of dominoes and have only played the game a few times. I understand that it is a great pub game, though, along with darts - go figure!!

Have a great day!!

Bringing out the heavy artillery...

....I know that most of my posts lately have been about the severity of the winter. And it's not just me. It has been very difficult for most of us north and east of the Mississippi. Everyone, it seems, has been hunkering down, pulling out the stops, as it were, and loading up on the heavy artillery.

For example, there is something about an ice storm that lets you know which of your neighbours have chain saws (winter artillery) - something you may want to commit to memory. They may pass them off as bush clearing equipment, but then, if they don't have a cabin in the woods, why do they have several chain saws in a urban pied-à-terre? just saying :)

OK, I don't have a chain saw, however, I still gear up every morning, in fairly full battle armour.

1. The base - heavy down-filled coat, cut to the ankles, hat, hood, mitts, scarf, boots.

2. Trax - those jaw like metal contraptions which attach to boots, to stop you from slipping on the ice (or not) as the case may be.

3. One hiking pole - two are just two dorky and yes, maybe I would rather die, than be caught dead with dual poles - Is this redundant?

4. Can opener - metal device - a.k.a. tank (Honda Civic) key on very cold days. Really how can anyone go into battle without a battle key!!

5. Nerves of steel - the roads are ice, the sidewalks are ice, the air is frigid and everyone else is fighting their own battle to survive!! You will have to stand your ground, because, if you don't collapse accidentally on the ice, you may be knocked to it!!

The pictures? "selfies" on an urban sidewalk in a big city - minefields of snow - navigated in full armour!!

Have an awesome day!!

Read, Baby, Read

I am still blazing through my proposed reading list for the next few years, with a few dalliances along the way, of course. For example, I didn't expect to get two Agatha Christie mysteries for Christmas, so I had to interrupt my reading of the classics to read Murder at the Vicarage. I was also given, as a gift, Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath. Since I enjoyed all his other books so much, I immediately started this one, after finishing The Sun Also Rises.

I suppose there is a plus side to not having read many books earlier in life. You now have a lifetime's worth of reading still ahead of you. I would recommend David and Goliath. Gladwell's arguments are more like debates, with lots of examples, but they are still interesting and there's lots of amazing people to meet.

I have now started Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy. It is just so incredibly well written, that I'm having trouble putting it down. I have, however, had lots of time to read, since we have been iced in, snowed in and now about to be iced in again, as the temperature drops rapidly from 0ºC to -17ºC in a matter of a few hours, after a night of rain. I guess that I'll have to take the can opener out with me, when I try to start my car. I will, of course, have to get into the car first and if it's iced over, this could be a problem. I have written before about how handy a can opener is, in breaking the ice!!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do the amount of walking I would like lately. Friday was -25ºC for most of the day and although it warmed up to 0ºC on the weekend, I was kept in with a rare cold. I would like to see how Malcolm Gladwell could find a David to defeat this Goliath of a winter. Stubborn determination and sheer bloody mindedness is all I have as resources...oh yes and lots of books.

The picture? It helps these days to remember where you parked the car :)

Have a great day!!

Should I be worried?

Because I don't have filters on my blog, I get a number of comments from Anonymous. Many of them never actually post to the blog, but the feeds come through to my e-mail. I usually just ignore them or delete them. In fact, I'm not sure why I even bothered to open this one. The comment started out as the usual amorphous post, however, I was struck by the link at the bottom. Here is the comment:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Ubiquitous Columbine": 

Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be ok.
I'm undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to 
new posts.

Here is my web-site :: click for source (www.serialkillers.net) 

I have not clicked on the link. I am curious, though, as to what the site is all about. However, I'm not going to go there, because I don't need a virus or a cookie or something like that on my computer. Now the thought of a serial killer following me on Twitter, doesn't bother me, because I'm not very active on that platform, in the first place. In a way, it's a little dead to start with :)

Still I wonder how these people or robots get away with registering their URLs. It's interesting that the post of mine that anonymous chose to comment on was one that was mainly about the flower, Columbine, however, it did mention the terrible shooting at the high school there a few years ago.

What do you think? Should I be worried?

The picture? The best I could do for a bird related theme. These guys can follow me anytime!!

The Mind in Retrograde

Today it was -20ºC 8:00am. It's now 9:21am and it's still -20ºC. It's going to be a cold one!! My daughter reminded me that the weather somewhere, like Thunder Bay, for example, where she has been in school, on and off for the last 18 months, is -40ºC. OK, there is a reason why I chose not to live in Thunder Bay!!

The house is warm, but the mind is cold. Just the thought of the frigid temperatures seems to draw everything to a halt. It's hard to be creative; it's difficult even to think and moving creates drafts.

What to do? I searched for my favourite mug to hold my tea this morning. It's the one that says "HELLO" on it, in brightly coloured balloons. I'm feeling a little better. The tea is warm, so the hands have thawed, philosophically. So now I have thinking hands. I'm praying for a little warm osmosis to spread up the arm and into the cranial cavity. (Thank you auto-correct, because I was about to write cranal, which refers to someone with their head up their rectum - best not to go there.)

I made a sandwich for lunch - cheese on rye bread, but I forgot the relish - I know some of us are different. I wonder if I'll remember to put the relish on before I leave for work - maybe if the brain has thawed enough. I am also enmeshed in a tangle of wires. I am charging my computer, phone and fitbit, all at the same time. Funny they haven't seemed to find a wire to charge a body, at least one that's legal anyway :)

OK time to brave the elements - phone is charged, FitBit is charged, human has thawed somewhat and is about to think of charging off to work - well maybe not that enthusiastically. Anyway there are places to go and people to see. In fact it has actually warmed up to -18ºC and I see that it has started to snow. Yes, I live in a country where it warms up to snow.

Have an awesome day!!

2014 - The Year of the Idea

I wasn't going to write about the significance of 2014 in numerology, because it is a little hokey. However, I opened today's paper and the headline was "2014 - The Year of the Idea." In numerology 2014 is a 7, which means that it has strong intellectual associations, according to this site anyway.

http://www.numerology.com/numerology-numbers/7

Here is an excerpt from the article:

His intelligence is that of a dreamer, an intellectual explorer of the obscure, the person who tends to have a somewhat off-beat perspective on the world around him. Many are interested in the metaphysical, not because they are believers, but because it allows access to the ambiguous, abstract world of questions for which there are no clear answers.

Angels

So it sounds as though we may be in for a mystical ride. It should be a good year for writers of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I am going to start reading Jude the Obscure today - go figure. It should also be a good year for people born under the sign of Aquarius, because this is you isn't it? My sun sign is Leo, however, apparently I have Aquarius as my ascendent and my moon is in Aquarius, so I guess that I will be writing more posts on Angels, for example.

How Much Is That Angel in the Window?
How Many Angels Can be stored in a Cloud (or is that I-Cloud?)

Expect references to John Donne, a metaphysical poet. He wrote this poem, for example, in the 1500s

No Man Is An Island

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee. 

John Donne

Ironically the word I chose for 2014 is "people." So I guess people will be discussed in a metaphysical sense. In fact, since we can ask questions in 2014 to which there may not be answers, I could spend today pondering - Were angels once people? Or are they still people, only in a different form?

Happy New Year!!