Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Random thoughts, musings, orphan ideas needing a home, and other writings that just didn’t want to fit into any other category

Celebrating the Holidays!

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Hi Folks:

Tomorrow marks the winter solstice; we’re closing in on the end of another year. It seems 2024 has been a tough one for many but we’re continuing to open to ourselves and each other in many magical ways…

Last night we continued our annual tradition of seeing the movie Love Actually with friends at Cinecenta. The movie is a wonderful reminder of the many facets of love and how best to express them.

As we move toward the vernal equinox we will be entering the period where the days begin to lengthen once again (here in the northern hemisphere, at least). More light, more trust, new beginnings. It’s a choice each of us gets to make in every moment, so if you’re ever unsure how to react in any situation, be kind. It’s good for you, good for the other person, is non-fattening, doesn’t cause cavities and helps to make the world a better place, even just for a moment. And sharing kindness is often contagious! Pay it forward. 🙂

This image shows one of the trucks in the 2024 IEOA Lighted Truck parade and food drive. A soft-panel truck, it's heavily decorated with coloured lights and has two large plastic candles on either side of the windshield. The open area in the back has a scene from the Charlie Brown Christmas, featuring Charlie Brown, the small tree, Snoopy and his doghouse.

2024 IEOA Lighted Truck parade, Victoria, BC

“The Joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing each other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays.”  ~ W. C. Jones

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Festivus, Solstice or Saturnalia, the arrival of Sinterklaas or Grandfather Frost, Hanukkah, Yalda, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, St. Lucia’s Day, Three Kings Day, Yule, Hogmany, Soyal, ?misoka, Eid al-Fitr (starting on March 31, 2025), Diwali (October 2025),  or something entirely personal, from our house to yours, we wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday season! May 2025 find you safe, healthy and surrounded by Love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M
🎅🤶

Spooktacular Hugs!!

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This image shows a chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. It consists of a (not very scary) ghost, and text that reads, "Share Sppoktacular Hugs Here"

Hi Folks:

We haven’t done much chalk art recently because of the rain (no complaints – it refills the aquifer and we’ll appreciate it next summer). Unfortunately rain isn’t very kind to chalk art! We’re expecting another major storm this weekend so we’ll have to put out something else for Hallowe’en, but in the meantime, remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

Put On a Happy Face 🙂

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Hi Folks:

This is a chalk art drawing in front of our house. The main drawing is a large (4' diameter circle, filled in to make a happy face. At the top it reads, "You Are Beautiful." At the bottom it reads, "Share Hugs Here."As Labour Day weekend is upon us we’re starting to wind down summer once again. Vacations are (for the most part) coming to an end, children and adults are going back to school… Still, we wanted to offer a reminder that even as seasons change, some fundamental things don’t. Self-value is inherent, and not linked to what we do. And kindness is always the right response.

To that end, we wanted to offer you a reminder to put on a happy face and engage your world with love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. This drawing took two whole sticks of yellow! But it was worth it… 🙂
P.S. II, the sequel: This is our ninth Hugs chalk art pattern for 2024. If you’d like to see all of them, click here: 2024 Hug Zones.

 

Happy Canada Day!!

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A chalk art drawing in red and white. There are two concentric circles and in the middle of the smaller circle is a Canadian flag. In the space between the two circles, at the top of the image it reads, "Happy Canada Day". At the bottom it reads, "Share Hugs Here"Happy Canada Day folks … to all of those born here, and to all those who have found their way to our shores. Remember to hug the ones you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. A shout-out today to our wonderful friend Glennis, who wrote this beautiful poem back in 2019: Free Hugs

P.S. II, the sequel – a reminder that next Saturday (July 6, 2024) is International Free Hugs Day! Let your hugging inhibitions go and embrace the love!!

Happy Father’s Day!!

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This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"Hi Folks:

All of Marcia and Mike’s parents are gone now, but we have two sons and a son-in-law and five beautiful grandchildren. We are Grandy and Grandalf! 🧙‍♀️&🧙‍♂️

As with those who are moms, Happy Father’s Day today to all of the strong, loving men who are fathers, to those who are chosen dads, surrogate dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and to the women who are also dads.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. For anyone who’s interested in knowing how the spherical pattern was made, click here:
Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

Father’s Day Hugs (behind the scenes)

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Hi Folks:

This is a short post that covers a bit of what went into making our latest chalk art drawing, for those who might be interested…

To start with, credit and thanks to @the.world.of._drawing on Instagram for the design! Much appreciated.

Now, if only sidewalks came with grid squares we would have been all set. Unfortunately, they typically don’t. So, in order to create the design in sidewalk chalk, we had to get a little inventive. The first step was to create the pattern in CorelDraw, like this:This drawing can be viewed as an angular two-dimensional sphere, but upon closer inspection it appears 3D, like a bagel bending around itself.The second phase was to take that pattern and cut it into 12 pieces. Each section is contained with an 8″x10″ rectangle so as to fit on a sheet of letter-sized paper. An X-Acto knife was used to cut out the red lines in the paper, leaving gaps at the junctions to hold the template together. The next step was to assemble the cut-out pages of the template into three strips of four images, using painter tape to hold them together:This image shows all 12 pages of the template with the cutouts held together with painter tape.These strips were reassembled on the sidewalk, and a piece of white chalk was used to transfer the cutout lines to the sidewalk. After that, coloured chalk was used to complete the pattern. The final result looks like this:This is the final image of the completed chalk drawing. The spiral pattern is at the top of the frame. Under that it says, "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY" and "HUG YOUR DAD"That’s it!

Hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M

A Very Special Free Hugs Day

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Hi Folks:

Today (June 8) is a very special day for us, for three reasons:

1) It’s World Ocean Day! As Sylvia Earle said, “No blue, no green.” Oceans are vital in so many ways that we can barely begin to comprehend.

2) On June 8, 2002, Marcia proposed, and we continue to celebrate Us every day.

3) AND, our first Free Hugs adventure was on June 8, 2010! You can read more about that here, but when we set out we were – in a word – terrified. Excited, but terrified. We had no idea what to expect, and we stood there with our FREE HUGS posters for what seemed like an eternity until a little girl saw us and came running over. The rest, as they say, is history. Eleven years, thousands and thousands of hugs, handshakes, fist bumps, smiles, stories and more shared with people from (at least) 88 countries. Our thanks to each of you – every hug is unique and special.

In honour of the occasion we updated our Hugging Spot in front of our house:

a chalk art drawing on the sidewalk in front of our house. Encased within a large circle are a fluffy cloud, a rainbow (although Mike managed to reverse the colours) and the words HUG HERE, in multi-coloured chalk.

(No you’re not allowed to point out that we got the rainbow colours reversed – purple is such a lovely colour and it called out … and it went downhill from there. Think of it as a sunrise instead. A new day. Yeah, that’s it. 🙂 )

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!

Hugs,
M&M

Happy Mother’s Day!!

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This is an image of the latest chalk art drawing in front of our house. The main part of the art is a series of circles ranging in size from 6 " to 12" o 18" to 36", all drawn in different colours. Across the bottom of the pattern reads, "Happy Mother's Day" and on each side it reads, "Share Group Hugs Here".Happy Mother’s Day to all of the world’s Mothers and to all those who fulfill the role … step-mothers, chosen mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers, soon-to-be mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, brothers, uncles, dads and more. And let us not forget the Earth, the great Mother of us all. 🌏

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. As Marcia’s dad used to say, “Remember Father on Mother’s Day“!