994-Watching nature's fireworks

Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland 2011 from Flatlight Films on Vimeo.

Now this is a beautiful movie of Aurora Borealis.  If you have never had the opportunity to see this in person, I hope you get the chance a some point.  Yes, that usually means going to very remote, very cold locations (which is no longer high on my list), but still ... this is cool stuff.

And so on this New Year's Eve, it seems to be a very fitting fireworks display.  And for those of you in parts of the world that don't shoot off fireworks tonight, then you get the bonus of seeing this beauty, and avoiding the loud noises which scare our dog.

Happy New Year everyone!

995-Just Dance!

OK, here's my Xmas gift to you.  Just click on the video, expand it to full screen, and select the highest resolution.

Great music.  Fun dancing.  And always interesting expressions from those who get to be a part of the flash mob.

And so for this week, I say we must never stop dancing.  And for those of us who never really started, perhaps a few lessons are in order ;-)  But no matter what, I hope you dance.

Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance lyrics


I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'
Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

996-Take Poetry, or "What would you do if you could do anything you like?"

Or said another way ... "Follow your bliss" -- Joseph Campbell

997-Holding hands

I was driving home from work the other night.  Actually stuck in some traffic.  And then a thought just appeared in my mind.  And it brought such a warm smile to my face.  And that thought was:  "I am such a lucky man".

Really.  I have the most wonderful wife in the world.  She's also my best friend.  And there is no one that I would rather walk through this life with while holding hands together.

Happy, happy, happy ... and so very thankful.

998-The garden

We cleaned out our little garden the other day in preparation for winter.  It's funny.  It's not an impressive garden -- so much smaller that what we have back home.

And yet, there's much to be said for a small garden.  It took us only a couple of hours to get everything done.  And we get lots of enjoyment from our small collection of plants, with our (also quite small) patio and dining table nearby.

It has made us realize that bigger isn't always better, and in fact, can often times be quite the opposite.  Too much work, too much time, too much money to take care of it.  This is true for the garden, the house, the yard, the autos, etc, etc.

Simpler pleasures.  More time to enjoy them.  We love our little garden, and I expect we will take home many lessons from our experiences in this smaller space.

999-How can this not make you smile?

Happy 999 marbles to go.  I already feel more alive.

Here is a story that I think everyone should read.  It's a little long, but really worth the time.

What better motivation and insight on how one can choose to live their life?

"The most effective weapon against a system based on greed and violence is kindness." -- Pancho Ramos Stierle

Namaste.

1000-Marbles

I'm thinking you might have heard this story somewhere.  It's been going around the internet for a while, and the author is unknown (though I welcome any pointers to the originator).

It's a story about recognizing the preciousness of our time here, and taking action to not squander it.  About focusing our energies on the things that matter, and taking the time to figure out just what those are.

It's about catching yourself when you are just going through the motions, without intention, without compassion.  For it is not just your time that is limited; so too is your spouse's, your parents, your children, your neighbors.

Even if you've read this story before, I think you might like reading it again.  It can really get you thinking.  I know it did me.  And for fun, we are going to call this blog 1000 Marbles.  So that each weekend I can consciously remove "one marble", and use it to reflect on the week and see if I'm heading in the right direction; or maybe to help me realize it's time for some sort of change.

Feel free to come along.  And now, the story that kicked this off:

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it: I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say:

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital" he continued; "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years." "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part." "It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays." "I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There's nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, (...), clear and going (...), good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'm on honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

Author Unknown