When you run out of steam, change gears!

Like my jet-lagged Irish gal pal, Mandy, I was "knackered" today.

One of those crazy nights of perhaps 3 hours sleep.  The walls  closed in on me as I pecked weakly away at my to-do list.  I eventually decided that if I could not be productive I would go out and enjoy the bright and lively day - perhaps some of it would rub off!  It was early afternoon so I grabbed my camera hoping to catch the water lilies in full bloom on Fairy Lake.  I was not disappointed! 

It is quite understandable how a single object can captivate enough to become an obsession.  That is how we become collectors.  That is how painters produce numerous studies and finished works of art upon a single subject - a woman, a scene or a flower.  That is why Claude Monet devoted so much of his creative genius to capturing his beloved water lilies on canvas.  I was certainly captivated by the water lilies today.  It was not a day to be confined within walls! 

Another man similarly captivated by an obsession was Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1865-1931).  An amazing man; he had a passionate enthusiasm for observing and recording the patterns of snowflakes.  In the infancy of photography, he adapted and innovated available technology to create the first camera capable of competently photographing a single snowflake.  His story and his images are remarkable - visit them here! 

            Click here! for the rest of my own masterpieces :)

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The Weather Gods Beckoned - Again

Isn't today gorgeous!  Perfect days like this don't come often.  I went for a walk at noon; for a change taking no cell phone, MP3 player or camera.  I regretted leaving only my camera.  What photos I could have taken at Fairy Lake today.  Masses of white and yellow water lillies that would have enraptured Claude Monet!  Stunning as they were in their natural habitat I couldn't help thinking how charmingly they would have adorned my dining table floating in a large, clear bowl.   (that was my Martha Stewart moment of the day)

I made a turn around the track at Prospect park.  The grade school kids, teachers and parents were having a picnic day - play-in-the-sun, low-tech recreation straight out of Norman Rockwell.  I smiled - it was like walking through a movie set!

I met and old Beagle named Hank - really!  He was a good-natured old boy.  He'd just allowed himself to be loved to death by a "Newfie" dog in the leash-free park and didn't mind me patting him in the least.  He reminded me of my Beagle, "Candy Girl," from way, way back.

Making my way out of the park, I headed towards the wooden  bridge that crosses the creek leading into the lake.  It's a beautiful view from there - parks on both sides, natural vegetation all around, geese, ducks, frogs and the occassional rabbit.  There I saw one stunning water lilly on it's own.  I stopped close to another observer - a young boy.   After a few moments, I looked at the boy realizing I knew him.  It was "Carl" who used to be on my bus route.  The school board pulled him off my route to transport him privately.  He had extreme behaviour issues.  He was the only child - and that, after only 1 day - that I ever wanted to walk out on my job for.  After a few days though, he became my favourite kid.  We hit it off when he boarded one day with a book in hand and we discovered a common interest.  He told me he loved to read - read a couple of books a week and spoke fluently about them.  He told me too, that he made, edited and uploaded videos - another commone interest!  After that day we never had a problem and conversed to the exclusion of the other 2 riders.  When the school board realized that he was travelling with other kids they yanked him from my route.  I was rather upset.

I continued through the soccer pitch and "Max's Garden" at rotary park.  It's a lovely nook maintained by my gardener, artist friend, Elizabeth.  I have unofficially provided some garden maintenance there too!  That was my way of justifying the plant divisions I made to propogate my own garden! You can't "stop and smell the flowers" too often before you get the urge to pluck a few of them!

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Donnie's Birthday - Dec. 02, 1989

Toastmaster's - Speech 4

Toastmaster’s - SPEECH FOUR

Have you ever had the chance to behold a meteorite shower? It bedazzles, captivates and enthrals. But what really is a meteorite? Nothing more than a rather small mass of dirt, rock and ice. Very common elements elevated to the sublime by the forces of speed, thrust and inertia.
We’re all rather like meteorites actually. Although each one of us is unique, we’re really just permutations and combinations of the same common elements – flesh, blood and bone. So what is our SUBLIME state? What elevates us from the pedestrian and banal to the seminal, the exceptional and the unique?
It’s our childhood state and the diligent groundwork for adulthood we lay, brick by brick, by the play and imagination experiences in our childhood. To paraphrase the distinguished old bard, “PLAY is the thing”.

There is an entire discipline encompassing vision, creativity and problem-solving that we master intuitively in our childhood. Without mastering these skills all of our fancy degrees and qualifications are not nearly so valuable. As adults, the most successful among us can tap into our childhood lessons to enrich our grown-up lives.

Have you ever seen the way a child’s face transforms when he or she conceives an idea for play? They light up from within and their whole being is instantly animated as they share what they will be , what each friend’s role will be, what the aim of the tableaux is, the heroes, the villains, the obstacles to overcome, villains to vanquish etc. etc.

This may ring distant bells for any corporate types in the audience. One of the management tools for motivating staff is the very popular team-building exercise and activities. These are essentially play-centred activities. Maybe a few of you have had the opportunity of participating in one.

The value of play is well recognized, documented and recommended by modern pedagogues.

Play fosters Leadership, Creativity and Problem Solving.

Play encourages Cooperation, Team Work and Healthy Socialization.

Play is FUN, RELAXING and ENERGIZING.

Do you ever look for childhood’s influence in the grown-up world?

I vividly remember a particularly enjoyable walk I took earlier this year. I was alone on Mother’s Day. I was passing some time before picking up my sons at the home of their father. I roller bladed across the Toronto waterfront trail – a shear, exhilarating experience that evoked the simple and total childlike pleasure of exuberant motion. When inevitably I grew tired (an unfortunate and sobering reality of adulthood)
I put on my shoes and continued on foot.

It was a good idea. My walks are quite productive. Not only does walking benefit me physically but it also soothes, relaxes and clarifies things for me mentally. After this cathartic purge I find that I am receptive to “new business;” thoughts, ideas and inspirations that invariably rush in to fill the void.

So there I was, walking along the Toronto beach-side trail. Water on one side and a condominium city – a panoramic expanse of geometric architecture on the other side and I had a sudden insight that amused and beguiled me for the next few minutes. It seemed as though I was in a grown-up’s vision of a child’s seascape where sandcastles hold back the mightiest tides and indeed many of the designs featured turrets, terraces and gardens – all features I can remember using to embellish the sandcastles of my childhood.

At that point I began concentrating more closely on the designs of these condos. I framed them between my thumbs and index fingers. I imagined them being assembled like mega-blocks from a 3 year old’s toy box. Then, as I gazed at this urban skyline, I started turning an imaginary dial with my right hand and remembered the fun of using that simple but timeless and still popular toy – the Etch-a-sketch.

Yes…I firmly believe that childhood lives on in many of us. It provides inspiration and vision for the work we do as adults. Play has rewards of pleasure and achievement that are reinforced by a concerted, sustained, shared effort to bring to fruition an idea or plan. Re-creating the triumphant experiences we had as children propels us to success as adults.

This supports a very good argument for the “deprogramming school of thought.” The opinion held by some parents, educators and psychologists that our children have become too busy with lessons and organized activities - on opinion that I must support based on what I know of many families. So what I suggest is that we keep mom’s taxi parked a bit more, turn off the TV and challenge our children to amuse themselves. It’s always an interesting exercise to observe what sweeps in to fill the void in a child’s mind when artificial distractions are removed. In any event it’s a private source of amusement to behold how such a suggestion can seem like a punishment to a child. But sometimes we have to use the principle of “tough love” when guiding children. Sometimes we simply have to say “no work until you finish playing!”

Judi Hopper

CC 10 - POE + ME

As a member of TOASTMASTER’S INTERNATIONAL, I write and deliver speeches thoughout the year. This is my 10 and final speech of my first manual. This speech is written to fit a HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION in which the audience is composed of mature adults of middle years in career crisis who are seeking to add deeper meaning to and derive greater joy from their lives.


POE + PASSION

This evening we will discard our assumptions, we will challenge our premises and we will examine our souls. We as a group, fashionably nicknamed zoomers, have indeed zoomed through life. Many of us although well-intentioned have zoomed through too quickly and too earnestly. You are here tonight to address the dismay, distress, disillusionment and despair that you feel about a life you’ve come to realize just doesn’t add up.
And we so need our lives to add up don’t we? We want to feel a resonance and satisfaction with what life returns to us from the boundless personal energies we expend. If we haven’t done so already, tonight we will dig deep and tap into that unique, elemental, defining point within ourselves from which we will begin again. As we proceed, keep in your minds a little phrase from an old song called “Closing Time”, - “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Bear in mind also that complex problems cannot be solved but any complex problem can be rendered simple – think “E=MC2.”

I have emerged from my own complex mire by following two simple caveats that I ask this evening, for you to adopt as your own.

My first caveat is - Only YOU can affect a change. You must find your own answers within and in order to do this you need to create an atmosphere conducive to self-dialogue. You need to sloooooooooow down, be quiet - listen to yourself. Take yourself out for a test drive and run yourself through your paces - see exactly what your rigging can handle. By this I don’t mean sign up for the iron man, I mean build on your natural abilities as they have emerged in whatever otherwise mismatched profession or occupation you are now seeking to change. Have you excelled at planning your office parties but flop consistently at reconciling the month-end statement? Then think of yourself as a successful event planner NOT as an accounting failure and NEVER look at yourself through someone else’s eyes. Stand on your own and define your own world. You need to revel boldly in your vibrant, colourful aloneness rather than fade away to beige with the rest of the crowd.
Boldly declare yourself like Edgar Alan Poe in his poem, “Alone”

"From childhood's hour I have not been As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone — And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —

What a bold assertion!
What a completely unapologetic affirmation of this poet’s unique singularity!
With what familiar resonance these sentiments are echoed in my mind and in my heart!
Poe embraced his singularity to fulfil his destiny and secure a position of posterity in literary history. By no means a role-model for every facet of life; Poe’s one caveat that we should all take to heart is to acknowledge and nurture our own uniqueness and be true to ourselves as we explore each heading on our course through life. I believe that unless we do this our outcome is worse than death – it is never to have lived in the first place.
Many, many people never fulfil their own destinies. They end up living lives that never feel right and never fit right. An ill-fitting shoe may blister your “sole” but an ill-fitting life will blister your “soul! It is a very uncomfortable way to live - but for this transgression against self, I am the first to issue a “me culpa”.

I have stopped, stymied at the same impasse in life before which each of you here is struggling with tonight. I didn’t know what work to pursue to make my life meaningful and rewarding and I was at a total loss to explain why my life didn’t add up – why I was not satisfied by the emotional and physical returns of my investment. My own answer came to me from following my first caveat. I acknowledged my problem, I created an atmosphere conducive to self-dialogue and I slowed down. Working less freed up valuable time to follow my interests. That’s when I realized that I had overlooked one very simple but very crucial factor in the happiness formula. I had removed passion from the equation.
My second Caveat is – follow your passions! Two excellent sayings I’ve embraced recently are,

“Don’t leave your passions at home” And
“Find something you LOVE to do and you’ll never work another day in your Life!”

Now I’ll tell you this – although I am not a lazy person, I don’t want to work! I want to build a life around my passions. I’m 50 and a half years old and I know that I cannot bear to be told what to do for the rest of my life by time-watching, position-guarding, anal-obsessed mediocrities. That is MY bold assertion!


To find what you love to do you must search diligently. You must be open to and aware of opportunity when it presents itself and you must be able to say “yes” to life. Don’t turn around and say you’re too busy to go out and do something new or that you already have too much on your plate because you know that most of what’s on your plate isn’t really appetizing anyhow! Don’t settle for SPAM when there are TRUFFLES for the taking! Try something new and say yes to life. Because I said yes, I’ve taken on some exciting projects over the past year and in the process, discovered my passion for working with written and visual media. I took on a media presentation project to mark my father’s 80th birthday this year. I became captivated, beguiled and inspired by the creative possibilities of digital story-telling. Because of my diligent search, I found that I love filming and editing both still and video images and because of my love for this work I have started my own home business called Time of Your Life Productions. In the process, I have added to my list of accomplishments. I have designed my own web site, business cards and promotional material and with a most grateful nod to the teachings of Toastmasters, I have prepared and successfully presented video proposals to prospective clients. It’s been a hall mark year in which I have successfully positioned myself at the helm of my own life! I may not be sailing the Queen Mary and I’ve by no means reached my final port of call but all that matters is that I call myself captain.

And so my new friends, with what you take away with you this evening – and I don’t believe that you have been over-burdened - I will expect you to place yourselves firmly, decisively and joyfully at the helms of your own lives, fuelled by your own passions and set on a course that points to your heart’s desires. As you start your new beginnings, remember your 2, simple caveats – only YOU can affect change and follow your passions.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFpKFATPwI40&h=6a2ef0cf33f9f99d7d3ade1ecb433166

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This is a "memories movie" I put together of my immediate family, extended family and some friends we've had over the years. The photos were "lost" in an archived collection at the back of a closet. I dug them out, brought them home and scanned some of my favourites and compiled a presentation that has since been viewed and enjoyed by many family members!

Meet-up II - Hamilton Beach Trail!

All in all, I'm glad I joined meet-ups. On sign-up my one simple expectation was to connect with other skaters for a social skate and that's what I've done now on two occassions. I would skate regardless of being a member/organizer and in spite of being a member/organizer I will continue to deeply enjoy my solo cruises; however, adding structure, organization and committment to my sport has already upped my participation level. Yesterday I was beat! A nasty tooth ache robbed me of a night's rest and my morning garage sale robbed me of a sleep-in. I could very easily have thrown in the towel after my sale but with an agenda to follow I switched to auto pilot and headed out for my 45 minute or so country drive from Acton to Hamilton!


It was with something of a "tongue in cheek" attitude that I gave the "travel brochure" title of "In Line Skating in Scenic Locales" it's name but the "scenery" aspect of my skate and I'm sure of many others' is a sensory pleasure that complements the child-like thrill of exuberant motion that the sport of in-line skating provides. The brisk skate and the gorgeous trail stimulated enough adrenaline and seratonin for me to complete the 16K skate with complete enjoyment.

Joining me for the second time were Paul and Diane and an additional member, Linda. Linda has only just taken up inline skating and she logged a very impressive cruise yesterday! The Hamilton trail is wide, smooth and continuous. It has no terrain transitions or street cross-overs to make it difficult to navigate for the beginning skater. It takes you past picnickers on the beach, beautifully gardened homes, parks, outdoor volleyball courts, ice cream stands, a public pool, a go-kart track, a water park, snack stands and Baranga's on the Beach - a great, sprawling patio bar/restaurant serving good food with a Greek flare that we afterwards brought and happily sated our 4 ravenous appetites. This venue definitely demands a repeat performance!