What's Your Power Cord?

My iPod has a defective battery. It was born with this defect and I have learned that it is easier to adapt to its deficiency rather than try to get the manufacturer to help remedy the problem. Since I've owned the iPod for four years, I've become accustomed to the necessity of having to charge it frequently. It loses power quickly and, if I am not attentive to the battery-power indicator, I will find myself out of luck when it comes to completing a workout with music.

I remembered, today, that I should check on my iPod's battery and, sure enough, it was out of power. Fortunately, I just plug it into my laptop and the connective cable allows the transfer of power from my laptop to the little device.

As with most tasks I tackle, this one made me think.........about how I recharge myself. If only self-energizing was as simple as connecting my body or brain to a device with a power cord. Nature takes care of our basic energizing need by making us sleepy. If we humans are smart, we either take a nap if our energy disappears during the day,or go to bed for the night when we can no longer keep our eyes open. There are prescription drugs and over-the-counter products to counteract our bodies' innate need for sleep.....which is so fascinating because there are prescription drugs and over-the-counter products to help those who have trouble sleeping. Such a contradiction, is it not?

Besides the obvious re-charging method of good old-fashioned sleep, there are other ways we power-up our internal batteries when they get low, but most methods can work differently for each person. For some, the shower invigorates while others find showers relaxing. Exercise gives some energy while it exhausts others. The act of reading can bring both relaxation (and dozing!) and re-invigoration.

I get a jolt of energy from exercise if it is accompanied by loud music, loud music of any kind will give me a boost of inner power that is inexplicable, sitting on the lower deck of our aqua RV while it is underway is incredibly relaxing, and watching the cardinals cavort in my backyard brings peace which usually results in a fresh feeling of vigor and vitality.

Just as I have thought about those activities which renew my internal enthusiasm, I hope that those who read this will give thought to ways to energize themselves. January is almost behind us and the winter doldrums are far from over. We must survive February's promise of more cold and snow and then March enters with the 'dirties', as I call the days when the snow is melting and everything looks gray and dirty until we are rescued by April.

Let's all plug in our power cord.

Ancora imparo

Speaking Bones

The voices of my dearly departed mother and maternal grandmother are resonating in my head this morning. I hear them saying, as clear as day, "I can feel it in my bones." They were not referring to bones that ached and creaked, but, rather, intuition. Well, my bones are speaking to me, loudly and distinctly ......... I am about to become over-extended.

Have you ever felt (or actually been) over-extended?

We all fall prey to this fascinating phenomenon of 'can't say no' at one time or another. I have been over-extended before and this will not be my last over-extension, but it has been a long time since I have placed myself in this position, AND, I do know that it is I that got myself here and no one else. I am hoping that, this time around, I am a bit smarter and wiser about managing my time and pacing myself during the next few months.

Just this very morning, I committed myself to participating in an event that is well worth my time and energy. Although the event is weeks away, it was my affirmative response that turned on my over-extension radar. Strange that my mind could not make the connection BEFORE I said yes, but once the 'yes' was sent, I instinctively knew what I had done.

All for good causes and all to help out others that need a 'boost' right now in their lives. My heart knows these are 'right' choices but my bones are telling me a differing story.

Max, I need you.

Ancora imparo

It's Everywhere

Ambient - meaning to exist or be present on all sides.

We all know about ambient light. It is what gives a city its eerie night-glow that can be seen in the horizon for miles away. If approaching a city or town in a vehicle or boat through relatively remote territory, ambient light is visible with the intensity of a billion glow sticks. A friend of mine complains that her bedroom is awash in unwelcome ambient light, during the night, since a gas station was erected next to a freeway on/off ramp near her home. With our ever-reaching urban areas constantly expanding, ambient lighting is a fact of modern life. When I have been in a geographic area that is isolated from human inhabitants, the stark darkness is startling. The galaxy's candle power is seemingly magnified a million-fold compared to the sky when gazing at it from a city location.

It is hard to escape ambient lighting. It is also difficult to avoid ambient noise.

Ambient noise creeps into our daily living with surreptitious ease. Many of the appliances that we take for granted in our respective worlds come with standard whizzes, whirs, chirps, burps, and dings. A gas, air-flow furnace is the obvious winner for creating background noise that we become accustomed to. The air conditioner is a close second in the winner category. My oven is exceptionally noisy as is the microwave. We won't even discuss the sound that the diesels make when our aqua RV is underway.

As I was ultra-sensitive to ambient noise today, I was taken back, in my memory, to past visits to the North Channel of Lake Huron when we are 'on the hook' (or at anchor) in some secluded nook and cranny of the many inlets there. The sound of silence is almost deafening and you can actually hear your own inhalations and exhalations.

I think I need to get back to the North Channel, if only in my mind.

Do you have a 'North Channel' place that you can go to for escape from ambient noise and light?

Let's go together, shall we?

Ancora imparo

It Sounds Like Fiction

Today's news highlights have left me shaking my head. How the television on-air personalities could keep from smirking or the radio reporters keep from laughing is beyond me.

The Great Illusionist has spun yet another web designed to ensnare more unsuspecting 'believers' into his camp. A program to spend even more money that our country does not have.....in order to create more jobs? We cannot spend that which we do have nave. Pure and simple.

One of the Great Illusionist's lackeys had the gall to call upon a very small nation to change their monetary and judicial systems. As if we are the globe's best example?

A world-wide automaker, in the face of recalling millions of vehicles. has the audacity to tell consumers that the cars are safe to drive.....even though the automaker has instructed dealers that production on said models has been halted due to consumer-safety concerns.

A formerly influential national political figure has finally admitted to a dalliance that seemed obvious from the first "I did not do this." he uttered. Said figure's spouse has finally awakened and 'smelled the roses' and discovered that roses have thorns.

You would have trouble writing fact that sounds this fictional or absurd. Unfortunately, this isn't fiction, but rather, our national elected and appointed officials exerting their misguided and misinformed influence.

As I've written earlier, the comic strips reflect the most accurate reality and, for the most part, there are no politicians in the funnies. Ironic, isn't it?

Ancora imparo

Without A Doubt

Jim Cheadle, who writes the 'Scales and Tails' column for a local newspaper, details in his Sunday, January 24, 2010 article, how wildlife adapts to survive in the winter months. Why my eye was caught by this outdoor-related article mystifies me because I am not particularly enthralled by out-of-doors winter activities. My idea of winter activity, beyond the confines of my home, is scurrying from the house to the car, dashing out to fetch the morning's newspaper in my workout clothes, sliding down the driveway to pick up the mail, or shoveling the blessedly-short driveway.

Yes, I'll confess here and now, I regularly leave the warmth of my home (only to get the newspaper) dressed in my workout garb - shorts but with a hooded sweatshirt - and my boots. What a sight I must be to any neighbors who are sitting at their front-kitchen windows, scanning the neighborhood for crazy residents like me! Fortunately, for me (and them) I am often out when it is dark so they are spared the visage.

Back to the article..........

It was the word 'torpor' that grabbed my attention in the Cheadle piece. I've seen the word used before but could not recall its exact meaning, and so I read the entire article, which, I might add, turned out to be highly interesting. Cheadle explained how different wildlife - mammal, reptile, and aviary - adapt to winter conditions. He states "studies now have shown that some birds have a similar behavior referred to as torpor".

I went to my favorite word-source, Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Edition Collegiate Dictionary, a right-elbow fixture, and discovered the following for torpor:
1a: a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility
b: a state of lowered physiological activity typically characterized by reduced metabolism, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature that occurs in varying degrees esp. in hibernating and estivating animals. 2: APATHY, DULLNESS syn see LETHARGY

Well, there you go. I've found a name for my winter dysfunction: torpor. If anyone asks me what is wrong, I can say, "Torpor, without a doubt!" And, since there is a term for my 'condition', I can nap with abandon throughout the day and give a grunt here and there for responses to questions.

Without a doubt, it is time to take a nap!

Ancora imparo

I'll Take It and With a Side of Whipped Cream

My chuckles came quickly and with rapidity while reading a recent letter to the editor in my local newspaper. Written by a female, this (she identified herself this way) seventy-year-old woman was incensed because a man (or maybe one man, too many) had called her "young lady". She went on to explain (more like vent) that she didn't need to think of herself as young, thank you, and that she was comfortable in her skin, proud to be her age and readily proclaiming her acquired wisdom.

It just so happens that, for as many years as I have not been chronologically a 'young lady', I have always been pleased when someone older than I refers to me, to my face, as a 'young lady'. I follow that statement up with my own line, "Can I record that, please?" and you will see a big smile on my face. Any time I can be thought of as younger than my actual age, I'm thrilled. Am I comfortable in my own 'older' skin? Yes, mostly. I' m not unhappy with my age and stage, but who wouldn't like to be 'younger' again? While I have no problem admitting that, it does not mean that I would go back in time - I'd just like to look as if I did!

I'd further offer to assure the offended letter-writer that there are much worse monikers that she/we could be referred to as. Old hag. Old biddy. Old woman. Old crow. Old hen.

Old, old, old. Nowhere, have I ever heard, "Good morning, middle-aged lady." And, if I ever hear "Good morning, old lady.", the unfortunate person from whose lips those words escaped will receive a piece of my mind!

I'll take 'young lady' any day and add a side of whipped cream to that, please.

Ancora imparo

Don't Wait

I learned a painful lesson today about life. Don't wait to see old friends, don't wait to tell someone how much you care, don't wait to take that dreamed-of trip........just do it!

I didn't and missed the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend........forever.

For years, our Christmas cards to one another had hand-written notes that said, "Let's meet halfway for lunch or for a seminar." The city we mentioned was only ONE HOUR AWAY for me and yet I never took the initiative to set something up, always thinking, instead, that I had plenty of time.

Well, I didn't have all the time in the world and today I learned that my friend lost her battle with cancer........in April of 2009, which makes me feel even worse. This past Christmas, I sent yet another simpleton Christmas card with a hand-written letter and said all of those inane things that we say flippantly to one another.....the equivalent of the vapid "Let's get together for lunch!" Had not her brother been responding to cards she received, I'd still be thinking that I had time.

I hope I learn from myself and stop procrastinating about matters of human interaction. While I realize that I cannot make weekly checks with all of the special people from my past, I can pick up the phone and call from time to time and stop waiting for the perfect moment to drive one, two, or three hours to get together for lunch.

That lunch date may never come.

Ancora imparo