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

Being Free…

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Just a quick thought…

In his book “Illusions: The Adventures of a Relucant Messiah“, Richard Bach wrote:

“In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.”

It’s a very good book, BTW.  Anyway, it’s his quote and I’m not going to change it, but it seems to me that ‘boredom’ doesn’t always look like boredom.  Sometimes it comes dressed in different clothes, like adversity, pain, loss, poverty, illness, depression or loneliness…

So, rather than providing my answers to this question (although I probably have, somewhere in the ‘Mike’s Writings‘ section of our blog), I thought I’d ask you instead.  Do you want to live free and happily?  In order to do so, what must you sacrifice?  As Bashar would ask, “Are you willing to believe it’s that easy?” (not “Do you believe it’s that easy?” but “Are you willing to believe it’s that easy?“)

Those who guide me once said, “The only thing we’ve ever asked you to change is your perspective.“

Love,
Mike.

He Says, She Says… How to Be Santa Claus

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader:

Being Christmas eve and all, it seemed like an appropriate topic for today.  This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, and it’s likely to be our last blog post of 2010, so I’ll add in a greeting from Marcia as well:  However you celebrate it, we wish a joyous Holiday season to you and to those near and dear to your heart.

When you look like me, a lot of kids call you Santa Claus.  I’m also very fortunate to have my own Mrs. Claus.  Being called Santa may be partly because of the white hair and beard, but I still remember one day over 15 years ago when I was standing at an ATM outside (in July) wearing a headband, sunglasses, denim jacket and jeans, and a girl passing by called out, “Look mom, it’s Santa Claus!” “No, I don’t think so.” was the reply.  “Yeah, it is!”  Mom was thinking ‘Hells Angels’ was more likely, but the little girl could see through the disguise.  I also remember the first time a little one, too young to talk, walked by with his dad in hand.  As they walked away the little one began saying, “Ho Ho Ho.  Ho Ho Ho…”  His dad didn’t know what he was going on about, but we did.

However, this isn’t a post about how to look like Santa Claus, it’s about how to be Santa Claus, no matter what you look like.  And that’s something anyone can do, no matter your faith or beliefs.  The ‘father’ of the modern day Santa Claus was St. Nicholas, a Grecian man who lived in Lycia in the 4th century.  Born to wealthy parents, they died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle.  As he grew up St. Nick was a pious man, and very generous with what he had.  He also encouraged his associates to be generous as well.  There are a number of stories about his life; this is one of my favourites… Continue Reading →

One Year Later…

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader:

Well, it’s November 23rd, which means that our little corner of the ‘net, M&M’s Musings, was launched one year ago today.  In the past year we’ve published 246 blog posts in a dozen different categories, and compiled 130 pages.  Some of those pages relate to creative stories that we’d already written, but there’s also our ‘Twitter‘ page on social networking sites and most of the pages relate to our weekly ‘He Says, She Says…‘ posts.  Has it been worth it?  Well, it’s been both a challenge and a delight to us at different times, depending on the subject we’ve taken on.  Is it worth it for you?  We certainly trust that it is, and we’ll keep doing our best to keep our posts current, informative, and maybe even a little bit fun.  We’ve received some wonderful comments from people on the content here, and we appreciate everyone who takes the time to come by and visit with us.  We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S.  Many thanks to our son Nick for setting this up for us! (It didn’t take TOO much prodding to get us started…)

Autumn Leaves

Posted on by — 9 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

September now and next Tuesday the kids head back to school… The days are getting shorter and the leaves on the trees are changing colour too.

Anyway, there’s been some stir online in the past few days about Dr. Stephen Hawking‘s new book where he suggests that ‘God’ is not necessary to create the universe. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Hawking and he’s certainly entitled to his opinion, but it got me thinking about the following story. Now, I must point out that I first heard this story a long time ago, and every time I tell the story it gets changed a bit, but the storyline remains the same. I’m also not the original author of this story and don’t know who is, but whomever it is, I’d like to thank him or her for it! Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Ladybugs and FREE HUGS!

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

Hello Dear Ones!

It’s been my hands meandering today – over poster board with glue and markers, 3″ diameter paper ladybugs and brightly coloured flowers.

Tomorrow, June 8th, 2010, Mike and I celebrate the eighth anniversary of the day I proposed to him. Yes, I did! Down on one knee, rocks and all, by our favourite river. June 8th, 2002.

In honour of the day, Mike and I shall be down at what is referred to as the Inner Harbour here in Victoria, British Columbia at 4pm …. the same approximate time that I popped the question and Mike responded with a resounding YES!

Mike and I are both dolling up these placards to say, simply, FREE HUGS. Yet they are decorated by each of us individually – so each is unique – as are we! Mike’s has a butterfly, hearts and bright colours. Mine has ladybugs and huge flowers.

We’ll be giving out free hugs to any willing participants and we certainly hope there may be a few daring souls. Should you happen to be in the neighbourhood, come join us – even if it’s just to watch two mature adults make absolute fools of themselves – enjoying and savouring every single moment of it! There’ll be ample supply of laughter, hugs, smiles and yes, even free hug certificates as giveaways.

If you’ve not yet checked out our Hugs Certificates page, take a moment to do so here. Mike and I carry a stock of these business card-sized certificates which we delightedly give out to: cashiers; people we see sharing hugs with a friend; as bookmarks in magazines and books in the stores we frequent; on the seats of buses; anywhere we happen to go and someone either gives us a reason to smile or really needs one of their own – which we happily oblige by giving them one of ours. What a joyous adventure this has become – such fun!

An exceptionally BIG thank you to Mike for this marvelous idea, for providing the materials and for the inspiration to make this a play day! A lifetime supply of HUGS, just for him and him alone …

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

BTW: we’re not the first to do this and hopefully not the last! Check out the Free Hugs Campaign that inspired us to do the same.

Update:

We had a great time, and we shared over 200 hugs in 3 hours. Our friend Aaron came by as well and made some photographs. Here are a couple of the best of them:

Anticipation Group Hug

P.S. Be sure to check out our International Free Hugs Day 2012 and International Free Hugs Day 2011 posts!

He Says, She Says… Free?

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader:

What does the word ‘free’ mean to you?  Is it a word that implies value, such as ‘freedom’, or ‘free will’, or is it something that denotes no value, as in ‘Free to Good Home’?  The word freedom itself can mean freedom from something like oppression, or it can mean having freedom of expression.  Or, as in the immortal words of Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, is ‘Freedom just another word for nothing left to lose’?  The word ‘free’ seems to have many contradictions, and so for this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post we thought we’d address when something is ‘Free?‘

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

What is Dying to be Born?

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

I came across the following recently.  It’s an e-book compiled by Lianne Raymond who, like us, lives on Vancouver Island.  Sometimes the threads that connect us are tiny.  As Lianne said, it’s a project she started because it’s a book she wanted to read.  The  stories and poems, drawings and photographs in the book were created by thirty different women, one page each, and celebrate the feminine and the feminine connection to the divine.  In Lianne’s words:

“I am beyond excited to share with you today a juicy project that I have been working on all year!  Though I didn’t write this book, I did compile it because it was a book I really wanted to read.  I’m guessing most of you will feel the same way when you dig into this collection of wisdom, poetry and art from these intelligent, open hearted women. This was a labour of love for me and all the women involved. It is a celebration of the imagination and vision of women.  The ideas in this book are important and my dream is that they will be shared widely and freely, with love, so that they can make a difference.”

I picked one of the works to share with you, not entirely at random (it’s one of my favourites), but it will give you a hint of what the rest of the book is about.  It’s definitely a book worth reading.  You can find the e-book here: “What is Dying to be Born?“

Hugs,
Mike.

believe
click here or on the text above to view it on a black background

Villa Marco Polo Inn

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Last Sunday night Marcia and I had the pleasure and the privilege of staying at the Villa Marco Polo Inn here in Victoria, giving us an opportunity to be tourists in our own town.  Before I get to that, our being there is a story in itself.

One of the e-mails that arrives in my Inbox every week is from Mindi & Dave Pettitt and the rest of the crew at HarbourLiving.ca Basically it’s a weekly newsletter that let’s us know what’s happening in and around Victoria, and it also includes information on events for the rest of the island as well.  Now, last December I noticed an article asking for a photograph and a story to do with Christmas, as a way of celebrating the holiday season.  Being a storyteller at heart I grabbed one of my Christmas images out of Lightroom, added a story, and sent it off.  Several days later we received a phone call from the folks at Tourism Victoria informing me that I had won one of the daily prizes in their ‘Christmas is Here‘ contest.  Among the prizes was a carriage tour, annual passes for the Royal BC Museum, and a stay at the Villa Marco Polo Inn. Continue Reading →

Celebrate What’s Right with the World!

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

This is a very quick post, but I wanted to point you in the direction of the following website.  Photographer Dewitt Jones has created a site called ‘Celebrate What’s Right with the World!‘ that will be updated weekly… Each week he’ll post a new image, with the underlying theme of celebrating what’s right!  Each image is beautiful on its own, and in taking a moment or two to appreciate it, give yourself permission to appreciate that moment and to give thanks for all that’s right in your world!  Practice senseless acts of beauty and random acts of kindness on a daily basis.

Hugs,
Mike.

P.S.  Our friend Samantha Standish has two blogs that also focus on this idea of beauty: Zuli Love and The Power to Flower.

P.S. II (the sequel)  If you’re interested you can click here to see some of my ideas of beauty in the world.

Gatherer of Clouds

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:  I’m currently reading the book ‘Gatherer of Clouds‘ bySean Russell, and I wanted to share a few pages that jumped out at me.  In a way it connects to the ‘Becoming a Better Photographer‘ post that I wrote a week or two ago.

The book is set in a mythical Oriental land, somewhere around a thousand years ago I’d say, based on the plotline of the book.  What I’m including here is Chapter 6, pp. 64-68.  I think it’s well worth considering.

Mike. Continue Reading →