Those of my friends here who know me, even if only in passing, know I’ve a deep respect for our military. Today I think about those who have died in service to protect my family and form of government.

It’s not just because my family life line has proudly served in the military. I am a fan of family tradition, but this isn’t the reason.

It’s not because I’ve bought into the media hype that wants to turn our military soldiers into superheroes with hearts of gold. This is also the same media that sold us the stories of heartless butcher soldiers in our employ a few decades ago.

It is because those who serve in military – both the individuals and their families who support and pray for them – are part of what keeps our style of government intact.

This is so important.

Those who know me also know I’m very critical of our gov’t. I watch it closely and support and encourage those who challenge decisions made by those who are supposed to represent us.

So why, do you ask, do I support the military, who keeps the system of gov’t that I critique intact?

Why would I want to keep this system alive, if I’m always watching it and poking at it on a regular basis?

I am thankful for our soldiers because they protect a framework that recognises my RIGHT to monitor my gov’t and challenge it when I see things aren’t operating as intended. They are the shield to hold back enemies both domestic and abroad. I keep them in my prayers and support every effort to keep them armed and ready – especially after they’ve been honourably discharged.

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Today, as I play games with my grandchild, eat food I’ve purchased in a free market, and listen to the sounds of my neighbourhood peacefully getting along, I am very much aware that this is not possible without the sacrifices made by those who have fought on my behalf and those who have preceded me.

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Photo credit: Some rights reserved by henk.sijgers

 

Mode	Feature
Safe	Not dangerous. Used only after the system has fallen down and could not get up.
Dangerous	More fun than safe mode, and makes a nice explosion when it crashes
Daredevil	Has a nifty logo, plus you can run a diagnostic which tells you how close you come to frying your chips
Apathetic	May eventually finish the startup process, or , eh, maybe not. But it won’t let you know for about 20 mins or so
A La	Makes everyone scream for it
Depeche	Hugely popular a few decades ago and is still used even today. Well -known for its startup jingle, Fly on the Windows Screens
Median	Starts up where we left off, half-way through the previous restart process
Conditional	It may start up very nicely and efficiently. Or, it may not. Depends upon a variety of things to which we are not enlightened.
Mixolydian	Only for the very well-read. It pretty much dominates everything when invoked.

 

Blew the grandboy’s mind today.   He’s a lover of cars, and dances with joy whenever he gets a new Hotwheels or Matchbox car.  I also have a collection of cars at a different scale of size and cost.

Up until now, he was aware of the presence of only two of my car replicas.  Today I revealed the rest.

These twenty cars have been collected over six years along the many many round-trip visits between my home town and that of my children in my ex-wife’s city.  I stop sometimes and get them from a roadside trucker’s stop called Love’s.

I’ve done that trip for six years, twice a month, and twice on almost every visitation weekend (one round trip  on Friday after work to collect the child(ren) and another on Sunday afternoon when the weekend was over).

I could get these on-line (here), but they are more than just a collection of trinkets.  They are a representation of love in action (yes, the name of the truck stop did not escape me 🙂 ) and of steadfast respect between my children and me.  They could have balked at the hours of driving back and forth, and at lost opportunities to be with friends during those weekends, but no, never a complaint.

Those drives – and discussions – in my old vehicle are cherished.  Those drives have come to an end; the youngest has entered into adulthood and now comes to my home instead.  My final round-trip there will be to see the high school graduation ceremony.  Now that the youngest child is self-reliant (travel-wise) and of legal age, there is no further reason for me to return to that city.

I knew that day – the end of our driving visits – would come.  This is why I’ve been collecting these statuettes.  These are a visual reminder to me every morning when I wake up of how blessed I am to have such a good relationship with my children.

I’ve had some time to review, revamp, and re-think some of this blogsite.

Evolution is an interesting thing.  We all evolve.  Not just in the biological sense, but also in the emotional and rational sense.

Projects involving people evolve too.  This site is a prime example of forces at play here.

This started out as a breadcrumb trail, before smartphones and social media became almost a daily utility for some (myself included).  Look around at any public event and you’ll see people interacting with folks far away, sharing their experiences using little devices in their hands.

That wasn’t available to me when I started this blog.

All I had was an “old-fashioned” setup of laptop with an external wifi connected by USB port, surfing the wifi waves of those kind or ignorant enough to keep an open connection free for the taking.  That was when I was out in public; at home in the flat I had my paid-for DSL connection to hook into.

No smartphone.   Texting, yes, but no way of really connecting to others in real-time to share my experiences – and, more importantly – no easy way to electronically record thoughts and adventures for future participants to review and re-live.  (I know such a thing as paper and pencil exist; however it’s problematic to let people across the world know you are ok by putting a hand-written note in the post 😛 )

Which, at the start of my blogging adventures, was very very important.  It was important because I was thousands of miles from home, a stranger in a strange land living in a time zone distant from those I knew and loved.

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My original posts were brief and scattered due to the nature of my postings; many times I was out researching for the family and adventuring, and battery & wifi access was limited.

Then, as the family situation evolved into a beast of its own, my musings were evolving in a dark and primitive direction.  Devolving, you would say.  And you’d be right.

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Then as I returned to my home land, there was a time of adjustment again and a season of movement.  Evolution in my thinking and postings.

Now, as always, things are evolving.  Relationships have become repaired and in some cases, restored.  My writing reflects that movement.

Some relationships will never be restored, and that’s a very very very good thing.

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What’s in store for the future?

Hard to tell.

But blogging is in it for sure.

I’ve a number of older posts from historical times, waiting to be blended into this blogsite.

I’ve also a number of new lines of thinking, new approaches to life that I’d like to record.  If not for anyone else, then for me to review and relive.

Thank you for taking this journey with me.

 

 

 

 

One of my daughter’s friends passed away in the night.

It came upon suddenly, and her biggest regret was in not having a chance to say goodbye.

But it wasn’t a person.

And it wasn’t a pet, either.

Her friend was a frog.  Technically speaking, it was a toad.

But a toad can’t be a prince under a spell.

So let’s say he was a prince under a spell to look like a frog who was then put under a spell to look like a toad.

So he was an enchanted Frog Prince.

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He was a faithful and good friend.

He would come out when my daughter went outside to sit under the stars and clouds and falling flower pedals and swarms of mosquitoes.

He wouldn’t say much.  Sometimes he’d chirp in that toad-y sort of way, but never impolitely.

But he was a good listener.

She would say “Hi” to him when he hopped over to her when he saw her sit down.  She would say other things to him too.  But I don’t know what.  That’s between the two of them.

He knew she was safe to be with.  Likewise for her.

Sometimes the dog would come out and start to investigate with his big black sniffy nose.

My daughter would shoo him away (although the loves the dog, too).

The Frog Prince would relax once the muscle-bound mass of claw and huffiness went exploring elsewhere.

She took care of him like that.

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Once he came round with another froggy friend to introduce the two.

When I heard that, I said, “See?  He trusts you so much he introduced his little froggy wife.”

“Great.” said my daughter, grinning, “even my Frog Prince has a wife.  Story of my life!”

Ha 😀

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Last night, my daughter went outside like she usually does.

The Frog Prince did not hop up to her like he usually did.

Something wasn’t right.

Then she saw.  His spirit had left him.

But before he left the Earth, he went to the spot where the two of them spent many an evening under the stars.

My daughter cried.

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But this story may not yet be over.

Next to the Frog Prince sat a little replica of himself.

A baby Frog Prince.

Technically not a baby (as that would be a tadpole) but small enough to qualify as a ‘baby’.

He looked lonely, and lost.

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My daughter’s son and I said our goodbyes today, with a proper burial in the back yard.

Next to a turtle from years past, and I think also a little bird, as well.

The grandson is learning that things who live will get old and then die.  He says, “they get olk, then die, gwumpa?  You get olk too?”

Sometimes they don’t get a chance to get olk before they die.  But that’s a different lesson, and not for today.

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I hear the chirping of frogs (toads) outside tonight as they relish the rainy season that’s hit our area.

I hear the buzzing of the insects who will nourish these little Princes.

Will a new friend come round tonight for my daughter to protect and keep company?

We’ll see.

Looks like rain tonight. A good night for Princes.

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Photo credit: massdistraction

God puts us all in this big crayon box for a reason.

Some make art with the broken pieces.

Some find a way to fuse the bits together.

…and some have a knack for not breaking them in the first place.

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I’m glad I listened to my mom when I was ready to pack it all in back in 2008.

She said there would be a time when my relationships with my kids would be restored.

I’m observing art in action, and the result is blindingly beautiful.

Photo credit:

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/44456430@N04/