!#@*&%#

Adding umbrage to my computer carnage, is my service provider not providing service.

Please stay tuned.

Management

Continued computer issues*+;.

I am laptopless at the mo', but will try an old 486.

Thanking you for your patience.

Management

Everyday Thoughts

Walking into Budapest's train station, and through the gate to my train that was already sitting patiently there to take me, without complaint, to Romania...I decided to walk along it's unrelenting length to have a look at it, and get my last walk in for the next sedentary 12 hours. When I finally decided to step aboard it's antiquity, I then found myself walking most of the length back again, along the narrow windowed corridor looking in, and for a compartment that I felt I would like to spend my journey in. Having found the least crowded compartment, containing one man, I stepped in and plunked my bag, and myself down. Once on the move, when asked for my ticket, my eyes literally bugged out when I saw THE very numbered compartment, and THE very numbered seat that I - on an oblivious whim - decided to plunk down in on, was the very compartment and seat assigned to me back in Toronto! I couldn't get my head around that could be the case for an entire mile.

I mention that because, that is, in essence, how I travel. Blindly, by feel. But the things you find are astonishing.
Somehow, I find myself precisely where I need, or am, supposed to be.

This intuiting nature baffles even me. But I love it.

The man sitting across from me is a mystery. We never spoke one word for the duration of his portion of the journey.

But from that man, sitting directly across from me, I could tell...
He looked older than he likely was.
He has known hard labour.
He has known a hard life.
He was likely going back to where he once belonged.
He was leaving either where he worked or where he tried to find work.
He himself was hard....but still so very deeply human.
He was not a broken man, just knows the brink.

From him the follow thought came crashing through to me.....though cliched it may be!

We have, in our grasp, for those with the capacity to stop and really take notice...

Our decisions of yesterday are what brought us here today.
Every brand new day brings with it - literally - a new start. A clean slate. A second chance. Another try.

A cliché, to be sure, but so true all the same.

Every day is a new opportunity for it - life - to be different, not the way it was or has been, or all we know or have been shown, but how it could, might still possibly, or ought to be.

It's always just up to us to 'make it so'.

But so few see or feel this, or brush off this tired and worn out cliche and never try their hand with that experiment, so every day goes wholly unused, unchanged and unnoticed.

Everyday brings us people and places we cannot have imagined or considered.
Everyday shows us something we were just about to forget altogether, or hadn't quite fully known before.
Everyday finds us either closer to, or further away from who we could / ought to be, or were.
Everyday is as individual, and as unique and as taken for granted, as every heartbeat we're allowed, and every breath we breathe.

That's is how much we don't realise we have throughout our journey whether it is just at the beginning of a brand new day, or long on the road in life.

With each person is a real, alive, deep, sentient, thinking, knowing, feeling. living, worrying, wishing, breathing just as yourself being that we may never fully discover. But exist is all does.

Stop and hone in and think and contemplate and consider, and let thoughts and feelings and noticings swirl around you more freely. All I suggest here is you let all that enter into you and your mind, your heart and your soul, and more of life will be yours to enjoy on your own journey, even if you're just going to work.

We came to a stop in Szolnok, Hungary. This was his stop. Many passengers left, fewer got on. But my silent travel companion stopped, after grabbing his luggage, turned and nodded his silent farewell to me, as he took his leave and stepped off.

This is what a lot of life is about.

Communication, comprehension and compassion in silence.

This is what transcends boundaries.

Orchid In The Weeds

With a little help from a friend, I blog before you using a lovely laptop on loan !!

I vaguely recall mumbling something about striving for quality over quantity.

In all that time I had no means or method to type anything....
I discovered..quality time does not beget quality blog content.


So!

I would like to retract that striving for quality statement.

In looking waaaaaay waaaaaay up at that bar I had so oafishly set, the only thought that occurred to me was....


Perhaps I should strive for quality-within-whack-loads-of-quantity instead.

So that is what I propose to do.

It will be for you, dear reader, to find what you perceive as quality amidst the quantity I will blog. All the while, despite clear and evident failure to achieve such, I will nevertheless strive.

Failure to do even that, I will hope.


It's not about attaining anything....it's the act of caring.


Here's hoping we actually find an orchid [striving] thriving in the weeds.

Weird how I've suddenly got Joe Cocker lyrics of Try With A Little Help From My Friends etc. etc. running through my head now.

Is it in yours now too?!

so much for quality!

(orchids are quiet things)

Kaput computer

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Sadly and regrettably, my computer has officially gone kaput.

I have tried to coax it back to its general irritating and aggravating self - but it refuses to budge or oblige.

Whosoever sits at home devising and unleashing brand spanking new computer viruses for fun....

your parents would not be proud.

Compounding my computer kaput-ed-ness...it comes at a time I cannot afford to ~do~ anything about it.

The reason I mention of my computer calamities is it is directly affecting my access to blog.

I can only do so from an outside computer...but once I'm outside, blogging is the last thing on my mind.

So instead of my promissory note to be regular....I will instead strive for quality over quantity.

This is neither quality or quantity.

I said I will strive.


Patience and thank you.

Management

Toronto Neighbourhood Evacuated Sunday

Toronto police ordered the evacuation of neighbourhoods within 1.6 kilometres of Sunrise Propane.

Thousands of people living between Keele Street, Dufferin Street, Sheppard Street and Wilson Avenue were ordered to leave their homes and are not expected to be allowed to return for approx. 72 hours.

The place is still not secured, at the time of this post, 15 hours after the occurrence.

Census figures for the area suggest that more than 12,000 people live in the affected zone.

Many of the evacuees are being housed at York University, where they can sleep in beds set up in the school gymnasium. The Red Cross is supplying food and water to evacuees, while the Humane Society is providing food and water to pets.

The first explosion, which could be heard seven kilometres away, shook nearby homes and buildings, waking residents at 3:50 AM. Hundreds of smaller explosions would go off at the rate of four every 10 seconds.

A veteran firefighter of 25 years of service, died trying to extinguish a massive fire at a propane depot A no-fly zone was ordered over the area, as emergency workers feared that propane tankers parked on the site might spark further explosions, although those fears were diminishing by about 11:30 a.m. ET.

Natural gas and hydro were shut off to the area as a precaution.

Ignition Temperature in Air for propane to combust - 920-1020°F
Maximum Flame Temperature 3595°F

People reported either seeing, hearing or feeling the explosions from Niagara-On-The-Lake, Aurora, and Mississauga.

Astonishing so few were hurt.

Lovely Karlovy Vary

Karlovy Vary is a spa town situated in western Bohemia of the Czech Republic.

In Germany it is known as Karlsbad. In other parts it is known as Carlsbad.

Karlovy Vary was named after the King of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370.

It is historically famous for its hot springs, of which there are 13 main springs, and about 300 smaller springs, along with the warm-water Teplá River.

On August 14th, 1370 - Charles IV, gave Karlovy Vary city privileges to the place that subsequently was named after him, according to legend after he had acclaimed the healing power of the hot springs. However, earlier settlements could be found in the outskirts of today's city.

I took this photo while there in July.

638 years later it is still a cool hot spot to see.

Vienna National Library

I took this photo in Vienna's National Library because it reminded me of Carl Spitzweg's 'The Book Worm'

Carl Spitzweg, who painted The Bookworm in 1850 (similar to the photo only from a different angle and far better lighting ; ) was a German romanticist painter and poet, and is considered to be one of the most important representatives of the Biedermeier era.

Trained as a Pharmacist. He attained his qualification from the University of Munich, but while recovering from an illness he also took up painting.

Spitzweg was self-taught as an artist.

In Central Europe, Biedermeier refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European Revolutions and contrasts with the Romantic era which preceded it.

Biedermeier can be identified with two trends in early nineteenth-century German history.

The first trend is growing urbanization and industrialization leading to a new urban middle class, and with it a new kind of audience. The early Lieder of Schubert, which could be performed at the piano without substantial musical training, illustrate the broadened reach of art in this period. Further, Biedermeier writers were themselves mainly middle-class, as opposed to the Romantics, who were mainly drawn from the nobility.

The second trend is the growing political oppression following the end of the Napoleonic Wars prompting people to concentrate on the domestic and (at least in public) the non-political. Due to the strict publication rules and censorship, writers primarily concerned themselves with non-political subjects, like historical fiction and country life. Political discussion was usually confined to the home, in the presence of close friends.


Carl Spitzweg's 1850 'The Book Worm'

Experiencing Techical Difficulties

Please Stand by

Do not adjust your set

My computer got nailed with a virus that is frying my computer, along with my brain and won't let me pretty much touch a button or key without freezing and ceasing and threatening to die right in my hands, so I am rendered unable to upload what I had all lined up (in my mind), and as I didn't expect this to occur...I don't have the time or energy to pull a bunny out of a hat for you right now...so please stay tuned, and I'll try again from another computer tomorrow.

With apologies
Management

My Turn To Return

6 countries, 2 time zones, crossed the continental divide, 4 airports, 2 boats, 5 buses, 2 trains, 4 taxi's and 5000 miles later....

I have returned from one wholly remarkable journey.

Of which I won't bore you with, but will say this...

Had I known the journey, and all the people I was to have the privilege of meeting...
Had I known all the conversations that were in store to be had...
Had I known all the goodness that lay ahead of me, and for me, to simply step into and know directly...
Had I known so much was going to be shared, and given to me...
Had I known what was supposed to be just-a-holiday was going to be filled with so many good souls...

Had I known any of this prior to setting out, it is my belief, any such 'knowing' would have prevented the purity each moment contained within it.

Every encounter, individual, chance meeting, unplanned lunch and dinner companion, every conversation that was had with someone every day, every time, in every city, town, rest stop, train station and compartment, sidewalk cafe, airport and in flight, every hike, park bench, taxi, historic site, shop and restaurant along the way was real in every sense of the word.

Somehow, for some reason, only the real was being shared and conveyed.

The joy and honour for me, was in experiencing how quick people were to open up, and be honest and caring and interested and at the ready to speak of real things on a deep level and connect.

Had I known my journey was going to be so warm, inviting and inclusive, so fascinating and awe inspiring, so compassionate and loving...

Had I known or imagined any of this before setting out, I doubt I would have felt all that I was shown, in quite the same way.

When setting out anywhere, be it your job or a journey, intuit everything around you, and have faith people are more like you - than not. Then reach into it directly.

What you will find is worth more than anything imaginably tangible...you will find the intangible wealth of a soul.

I return from a remarkable journey - renewed and filled with love and remembering.

But promise not to yak on about it. Just marking my return with a blog entry.

to Restaurace Lamberty's - perfect introduction to Prague!
to Hart with the biggest and best heart of them all - you and Carol Ann are a joy (I'm open to adoption ; )
to T.L. Tsim - a drizzeling conversation I won't soon forget either
to Candice and Bob - say hello to Wade for me ; )
to Andy....I will listen and report back...thank you for listening to me yammer on! You have the patience of a saint!
to Petrix, be kind to Lori !!
to Alex...no more motorcycle accidents!
to Josef & my fellow plum Czech hiking train journey friends...please make your website with an English option button
(I have no access to it from here as it currently is)
to Lucian...it falls to you to mark the events - to right the wrongs and write it right.
to Daniela...I kissed your land and sky for you...it was so beautiful to wake up each day, it was natural to do so.
to Antar, stay focused and fun, and keep plodding on and you too could be working your butt off in Canada...it's the same everywhere.
to Reuben who once travelled with a water bottle bearing my name, thank you for that conversation and your kind written words.


to all others...thank you for your conversation, for crossing my path, and entering my heart and soul.