Community – Comeshareunity

“What colour will it be? Will the inside be varnished? Is the sanding finished? How long will it take? How old is it? Where did you dig it up from? Did it come with sails? Looks great. Good progress!” A barrage of questions fired like shots from a Heckler and Koch. Undisturbed by the onslaught from bystanders, hand-workers on the boat renovation project remain unvexed, composed and keen to answer questions, seemingly happy to share ideas, plans and progress. Around the workplace coffee machine conversation froths…

6 Comments

BEYOND THE FENCE

“Just stop digging!” Curse this frenzied journey to the centre of the earth. What secret navigational coordinates indicate a prized cache buried here? Oh, to have discovery as a hardwired, quintessential mandate. A high energy, all encompassing, thoroughly convincing and self - confident mission to love blindly, serve unconditionally, dig vociferously and destroy innocently. Envy of such single minded determination. Loving the sock, the ripped serviette, the table leg and its seriously angry owner simultaneously seems effortless. Mixed somewhere in the dried dog food, hides a…

4 Comments

ARE YOU KID-DING?

“Because the teachers hate me.” Is the sweaty response from the continuously complaining 14 year old as to why he was in the most difficult hiking group on the school camp. “That way they don’t have me hanging around base camp for three days.” His athletic, teen build and energetic aura hinted at the more likely reason he’d been selected to pound the three day trail from Tidal River, to Waterloo Bay and on to Sealers Cove. Radiating heat from rugged granitic rock faces smothers conversation…

4 Comments

Two Little Vowels

  Trail and trial. Five exact same letters. Try saying them quickly multiple times over with a few additional words for a good tongue twister. A mere reversal of two vowels changes the entire context of expression, nuance of the communication or implication of the active out- workings of each noun. Def. Trail: a beaten path through rough country such as a forest. A route planned or followed for a particular purpose. Def. Trial: a test of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something.…

4 Comments

“I sense great fear in you, Skywalker”

Questions of life loom large when you find yourself in a galaxy far, far away. Spun off into a parallel universe. “Traveling through hyperspace” certainly “ain’t like dusting crops, farm boy.” (Han Solo). People of many cultures have charted the heavens by the stars, looked for meaning, foreordination, inspiration and a sense of the divine. Overawed by cosmic magnitude; a recognition of place, and humility in the orbits of ego, and constellations of universal wonder. Cancer, Taurus, Aries or Vertigo, signs predicting future. Astrologists purporting to…

Comments Off on “I sense great fear in you, Skywalker”

Premium Unleaded

The excitement is electric in a sporting match when a goal is kicked or crucial point or run is scored. There’s a visceral frenzy in the moment, an identity with success and optimism invested in what’s to come. Energy is recharged as the intangible manifests into reality. We believe, identify, support and confirm value in the sweat, pain, progress and ultimate end goal. Momentum is achieved, investment solidified, sweetness celebrated. There’s no guaranteed outcome to positive progress. No automatic equation for an overarching victory. There’s identification…

2 Comments

Andante

A walking group generally consists of the leader and the “whip”. Destinations are clear, expectations set, orientation established and navigation routes devised. (Crutches obviously ditched!). There’s a confident sense of excitement, underpinned with a tentative curiosity and introspection as to the trail, its requirements, and one’s own capacity to meet the demands of the territory, distance and pace. The steady rhythm of footsteps settle like a metronome, shuffling between andantino and allegro, while kilometres are clocked and collective identity shared and shaped. Stories are traded, souls…

4 Comments

VIVE LA VIE

Vive la Vie -  ‘Life is wonderful’ is what it says on the card my friend has sent me. Is it a challenge? Perhaps an affirmation? In any case intentional and deliberate.  It’s a statement. No room for debate. Emphatic and unreserved. There are no grey undertones. An allusion and alluring to the richness of blessing, hope and colour. Colour is “the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light”. Wonder and…

2 Comments

Base Camp

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.” Henry David Thoreau There’s a hill near our place that has been provoking me, beckoning to…

4 Comments

Are We There Yet?

The Enneagram personality type Seven is summarized as ‘The Enthusiast’. Attributing characteristics such as busy, fun-loving, curious, optimistic, and adventurous to the individual. ‘Sevens’ are excited by the rush of ideas; generally quick responders with agile minds and often able to see the big picture. There is an underpinning abundant vitality and desire to fully participate in life each day. Or, for a more creative explanation: ‘An ant carrying a larger than life bread crumb; scrambling, overcoming obstacles, challenging reality and LOVING IT, looking for still…

2 Comments