Tonight I met a Dragonfly.  I think she said her name was Swartzy.  At any rate… I learned  some things about them.

They have six legs… like most other insects.  But most of them cannot walk.  Now this fact struck me right off the bat.  Can any of them walk… and if so… why those?  And not the  others.

Regardless.  Six legs.  Not walkers.

Now flying is a completely different story.  They are crazy good flyers.  They have four wings.  This in itself would take amazing coordination, I would think.

And.  They are fast.  The Dragonfly can soar at 30 m.p.h.  That is pretty snappy for an insect.  I like how they zip around.  To and Fro.  I think that is neat. They can make sharp turns… and fly backwards.

If I were a scientist, I would study this.  Then I would build a plane, and fly it the same way.  I think that would be especially fun.

And here is another whole deal.  Before they become adults… they are known a nymphs.  And they are aquatic.  Once they hit adulthood they begin to fly.  But I think the whole “nymph” thing is cool.  A nymph by definition is  a mythological spirit of nature…. which is imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers and woods.  Coolio.   Spirit of Nature.

Yet.  Who knew?  They are great hunters.  Their see in the range of spectacular.  They have two compound eyes, which are made up of 30,000 little eensy-teensy eyes.  I hope they never need glasses.

Finally, they have a lot of “symbolism” attached to them.  They are adaptive.  They are light reflectors.  And, they stand for “deeper thought” and awareness.

The dragonfly is a reminder that when our deeper thoughts rise to the surface we must pay attention – there are lessons to be learned, and we are also reminded that what we think is directly proportionate to what we “see on the surface.”

But the best part is this… their colors are a result of reflecting and refracting the power of light.   Dragonflies are reminders that we are light and can reflect the light in powerful ways if we choose to do so.

Or so they say… those people of symbolism, meditation, and spiritual awareness.

A beautiful creation, no matter how you look at it.

If I were a dragonfly… Oh how I would shine.  And oh how I would fly.

“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same” – Nelson Mandella

Dependent.

How about THAT word.  It comes in all different shapes and sizes… tenses and forms of speech.  The noun of it, the verb of it… and of course… the adjective.

adjective
1 (dependent on/upon) contingent on or determined by: the various benefits will be dependent on length of service.
2 requiring someone or something for financial, emotional, or other support: an economy heavily dependent on oil exports | households with dependent children.
• unable to do without: people dependent on drugs | [ in combination ] : welfare-dependent families.

Yardy Har Har.  We typically don’t KNOW we are dependent on something… not truly… until it is missing in action.

Yep.  Vamoose.  Hasta La Vista Baby.

Gone but not forgotten.  Over and Out.  Perished.  Depleted. Done. Vanished.  No More.

I am dependent on many, many, many things.

Electric is one of them.  And tonight, mother nature blew it out.  Like a candle.  In the wind.

Oh…. the Geese were honking LOW tonight.

Thank goodness for propane, and a little generator.  And a Sprint Air Card.  Inspector Gadget to the Rescue.

Otherwise, I would not be posting this on the internet tonight.

More like…. I would be telling you all to meet me at the tavern…. for I have something to tell you.

Here ye.  Here ye…..

“When the goose honk high, fair weather; when the goose honks low, foul weather” – Old Proverb

…. and in the garden of Eden….

Eve showed up one day wearing flowers…. in place of her fig leaf.

She was the first person ever….  to wear “Bloomers”…..

Adam asked her immediately…”Eve!  What in the heck is going on?”

She replied… “I don’t know.  They just sorta’ grew on me.”

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living.” – Gail Sheehy

There are two sides to everything.  There is always a flip side of the coin.

The buttered side of the toast…  the sunny side of the egg… the B-side of the album.

One is not necessarily better than the other.  Just different.

Some people say that “we can only see what we believe and nothing else is possible.”

It is also purported that “we shouldn’t believe every thing we think.”

Both of these things are hard to accept sometimes…  for me especially.  In our own minds… we ALL think we are right.  Well… we can’t ALL be correct.. ALL the time.

And none of us are perfect.

So there must be some truth in those two previous statements… about our thoughts, and what we believe .  Somehow.

I think when we come to accept those two assertions.. even on the slightest level…. we are on our way to becoming more compassionate, and more understanding.
We open our mind to other possibilities.  We learn.  We grow.

So.  Thank goodness for the bottom of the boat… the dark side of the moon… the inside of the Oreo cookie.

A different side… a different perspective… for everything.

“Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move toward the unknown — even when we don’t want to and when we think we don’t need to.” – Paulo Coelho

Change your thoughts and you change your world. – Norman Vincent Peale

I love to juggle.  I love to dance.  I have had a love for many things “athletic” over the years.

Yet.  I was the kid at the dinner table who always spilled her glass of milk… on the three people sitting next to me.  I couldn’t keep my napkin on my lap.  And when I took my plate to the kitchen sink… invariably… I dropped it.  And broke it.

I have morphed from that little girl.. into…. an adult.  Now.  I am the kid at the dinner table who spills her Diet Coke on the three people sitting next to me.

Oaf.  The clumsy kind.  Lummox.  Butterfingers.  Mistake Maker.  Producer of Gaffes.

The person in this life who knows me best….  says it is because….  I rush.  Whoopsie.   I hurry too much.  I need to slow down.

I say it is because I am a schlub to the very core of me.  And guess what I just read.  Scientists have discovered an accident-prone  DNA marker in some people’s genetic composition.  I AM THAT TEST DUMMY.  The Klutz Gene.  I have the Klutz Gene.

We are the People of the Hazardous mixed in with the Haphazard.  We are dangerously aimless, and slipshod.

Some people you make recognize as being in this elite, yet pathetic, group:

Chief Inspector Clouseau, Mr. Magoo, Lucy (I Love Lucy), Buster Keaton, Chevy Chase, Dick Van Dyke, Inspector Gadget, Scooby Doo, and this list goes on and on.

We trip.  We fall.  We walk in to walls.  The amount of broken vases, and glassware is insurmountable.  When a cop tells us to “Drop It”…. we say… “No Problem.”

Oh.  Don’t feel sorry for us.  NO.  Just don’t stand too close.  We don’t mean to…. but you may be scathed or impaled by something or another.

I am the Bull in the China Shop.  I used to think it was because my Zodiac Sign is Taurus the Bull.  But.  NO.  I have the DNA.  I was born this way.

As it turns out… I fell out of the womb.  The doctor tried to catch me in time.  But out I came…and…  WHAMO…. right down to the floor.  Yep.  It started right out of the gate for me.

I knew early on I would never be a Ballerina.  But I would make a terrific Bowling Ball, or Sledge Hammer.  And there you have it.  It was in my stars.  The predetermination of me.

So thanks Dr. Lederberg, for clearing all of this up.  The next time I run into a wall, I will know it is for good reason.

It is my path.  In more ways than one.  The next big blunder… just waiting to happen.

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one”  -Elbert Hubbard

I live in North American.  The part of it that is now the United States of America.  In the middle… Ohio.

I haven’t been here very long.  About a half of a century.  None of us European types have.  Not really.  The first of us blew over this way about 500 years ago, or so.  Not long.

Now the first people here sauntered over a land bridge.  It was called the Beringia Land Bridge between eastern Siberia and what is now known as the present-day Alaska.  This part is generally accepted by scientists, archeologists, and historians.  The year in which they made the big walk…. continues to be somewhat of a debate.

Some of these smart dudes think it happened way, way, long ago… like 40,000 years… long ago.

But all of them agree that it was… at the very latest…. 16,000 years back.    But either way.  Sixteen thousand is a WHOLE lot longer than 500.

So all of that… brings me to recognize this date.  Today is the anniversary of Custer’s defeat at Little Big Horn.

People from Europe, mostly…. wanted to settle on this new continent called North America.  So they, and subsequently the U.S. government forces, waged war to drive the Native Indians from the land they inhabited.  And the Indians weren’t really crazy about these new white people… especially when the new white people were shooting at them.  So the Indians fought back.

This is all a little different than how I learned it when I was taking U.S. History in grade school and such.

One of the most famous of the conflicts, was the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  It goes by a couple of other names.  For one…. it is called…. Custer’s Last Stand.  And, by the Indians involved, it was called the Battle of the Greasy Grass.

It took place in Montana.  And.  It was bad.

As the whole deal turns out… the Indians took an overwhelming victory.  They were led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse. Sitting Bull had visions of the battle… early on.  So the Indians were ready and waiting for the Calvary.

The troops numbered 700 men in all,  led by George Custer.  They suffered a completely and utterly severe defeat.   Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count, including scouts, was 268 dead and 55 injured.  I can’t find how many men from the Indian Tribes were killed.

And that is how it goes.

Sad.  And unnecessary.  All the way around.

Have we learned from it?  Collectively….. I don’t really think that we have.

Sometimes our world can be pretty dang complicated.  But in my own life, I try not to make the same mistakes I’ve made before.

I am thick in the head sometimes.  But… I keep trying.  Not to have my own Little Big Horns.  And to make things better here.  Not worse.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

There is this fella named Steve … who wrote a book called “The Seven Habits for Highly Effective People”…  I have read the most of it.  But all the success stories therein …. made my socks fall down.

Success is certainly measured differently for all of us.  It could be the smile that appears on a child’s fact the first time she ties her shoe.

Or the perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies being lifted from the oven.

Perhaps it is the graduation of a son or daughter from high school…..

It could be the “anything” of the “any day”…. for any of us.

So.  I wrote my own Seven Habits.  Well.  Technically, I did not write them.  I compiled them.  And it is not really a book at all.  It appears here, in its entirety.  Here it goes… I’ve titled it…. .

“The Seven pretty darn snappy things to think about…. or do… when you know in your heart it is right.”

7. “There is far more opportunity than there is ability.” – Thomas Edison

6.  “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Brian Littrell

5.  “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” – Buddha

4.  “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato

3.  “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

2.  “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”  – Albert Einstein

1.  “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

And there you have it.  The only appendix is the one in my side…. so that is all.

“If you want to sing out, sing out, and if you want to be free, be free, cause there’s a million ways to be, you know that there are…” – Cat Stevens

You know.  I like a good pig from time to time.  Mostly, this comes in the form of frizzed ham with my eggs over easy in the mornings.

Yet, historically, there have been a lot of good pigs.  Not in the same way that bacon is good. No.

These pigs have character.  They are, for the most part, likable pigs.

In the Chinese Zodiac…”The Pig Person” is described in quite the admirable manner.   The Way of the Pig goes as such:  “Pigs are models of sincerity, purity, tolerance, and honor. When you first meet them, Pigs seem too good to be true. The Pigs simply want to do everything right.  Pigs are the people everyone admires most.”

Oh.  To be a Pig.  Some of the best….

Porky Pig.  Good old Porky-Boy stuttered his way into the hearts of cartoon lovers around the globe, I’ll tell you. Appearing on the big screen in 1936, Porky Pig was the Warner Brothers go-to guy.  The most famous of their characters.  But once Bugs showed up… Porky became second griddle.  I mean, fiddle. “Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!”

Arnold Ziffel.  This little guy was on the 1960s TV sitcom Green Acres. Arnold lived with Fred and Doris Ziffle in their Hooterville home. He was pretty much…. the Ziffels’ son.  He did all the things most children do.  What a pig….. watching TV (and changing the channels), taking his lunchbox (in his mouth) to school, and painting pictures…. and such.  Green Acres… is the place to be.

Miss Piggy.  Muppets.  You know.  Love her or hate her.  She is hot for frogs.  I don’t understand it… but their marriage in not recognized in 42 of the 50 states.  This doesn’t make sense to me.  They are so in love.

Babe.  Little pig with a huge heart.  Big movie star now.  Great herding pig.  Has a winning smile.  That’ll do pig.  That’ll do.

Wilbur.  Amazing Pig.  E.B. White creation.  This pig is NOT afraid of spiders.  Or rats.  What a pig.

Yet… they are not all admirable.

In 1386 in Falaise, Normandy, France….an old sow was sentenced to be “mangled and maimed in the head and forelegs, and then to be hanged.”

This sentence was handed down because it was thought that the pig tore the face and arms of a child… which in turn, caused the child’s death.  Now… as if to make the travesty of justice complete… that there pig was dressed in man’s clothes and executed on the public square near the city hall.  Other evidence supports that the pig was not the murderer, but a rabid coyote was to blame.  The pig was wrongly convicted and executed.  But he looked really sharp in the suit they bought for him.  And they had a Pork Chop Buffet afterwards.

And finally, there is Gilbert.  Yes.  Gilbert…the pig on Bainbridge Rocky Cliff.  He goes to the top of the cliff, late at night, and howls at the moon.  Like  a wolf.  Or a dog.  Then he eats a bowl of Cheerios… before heading back down the cliff.. and into the caves of Penn Yarn.  Where he knits.  He knits scarves… for charity.

He used to be a stand up comedian.  But his career was short lived.  He snorted whenever he laughed.  So now.. he howls.  And knits.

And that makes him happy.  The Pig who howls at the moon.  And knits.

So, we see again… be it pigs… or humans.

We should follow our hearts.  Be who we want to be.  These pigs sure did… and we can too.   It is the way of the pig.

When I was growing up, my Dad used to walk around the house quoting poetry, and literary works.  Oh… you know the usual suspects.. Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allan Poe, and such.

But one of his “go-to” verses was this:

Yet Clare’s sharp questions must I shun
Must separate Constance from the nun
Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!
A Palmer too! No wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye.

He used to pull this one out of his “bag of tricks” when he thought we were fibbing to him.  Little Ogres that we were.  We tried to wiggle out of some tight spots.  But Dad always knew.

Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!

It was written by Sir Walter Scott.  A  dandy Scottish dude… born way, way back in 1771.  He wrote novels, plays, poetry.  Unlike a lot of other artists… he was widely popular throughout much of the world during his time.

He was pretty swift with the pen, I’ll tell you that too.  Some of his famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake, and Waverley.  (To name just a few.)

He seems like he had some really good qualities about him.  He fell lame from polio in 1773.  Sooooo….. he moved to the Borders to get treatment.. He lived with his Aunt Jenny …  who taught him… and mentored him.  Scott’s work was characterized from Aunt Jenny’s speech patterns and many of the tales and legends she told him.

But… besides the two obvious lines in this “Web” poem…. I just HAVE to wonder what the crap was going on in this passage.  Great Scottish Scott… for crying out loud.

I mean…..
Who in the holy heck was Clare?  What were these sharp questions?  What…. I ask you?  Who is Palmer, or what is Palmer?  And how does one feel rebuked beneath his eye?  Was the protagonist very little… like a miniscule man…  and on the eyelid of that Palmer fellow?  I don’t understand.

But I do understand the middle two lines….. loud and clear.

Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!

Yes.  Best to be forthright.  Honesty is the best policy.  Tell the Truth.  All the time.

Now the other poem that perplexes me… is “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”  I don’t get it.  But somehow… if I feel these two are directly related….  somehow….

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” – Spencer Johnson

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.” – Marcus Aurelius

“What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Human Emotions.  There are a wide range of them.  A whole gamut.  A big bushel.  Many smart dudes in the field of psychology have studied this.  Written reports (with big long titles), and such.

The long and short of it…. there is love, trust, surprise, anger, sadness, fear, anticipation, disgust, and many others.

Sometimes we goofballs….. push away the emotions which fall into the negative categories.  I am not sure why we do this.  I think it is more of a “cultural” response, really.

But the fact of the matter is this:  We are human.  We experience all of those emotions…. at some point in time.  It is equally “okay” to cry… as it is to laugh.  Somehow though… our society tells us we are not “strong” if we cry.  Or that we are bad… if we get upset.  Patooooey.

It is okay to be either happy or sad…

But which is better?  Who is to say…
However, some things you may want to consider….

Laughing and Crying are not only emotional; they are physical activities as well.   And it seems they are even-steven… wouldn’t you know?  They both burn 1.3 calories per minute when we do them.

Yet, it is a common belief that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.  The numeric equivalents which are generally accepted are:  43 muscles to frown…. and 17 muscles to smile.  Yet I have found other sources which differ.  But generally … it takes more muscles to frown.  So they say.

Finally, it seems like happy people live longer.  Being happy has the same effect on you as Vitamin C.  In ways that aren’t yet completely understood, a positive outlook on life helps to protect against the negative effects of stress, safeguarding people from becoming sick.

And… snappy happy people are less likely to send out surges of stress hormones like cortisol.  And that nasty cortisol contributes to heart disease.  Like deep fried Snickers.

But we must keep in mind…. the Sticks.  Yes.  The Sticks in the Mud.  It seems that they are stuck.  Chronic unhappiness  leads to increased blood pressure and decreased immunity.  Like deep fried Snickers.

All of this means that a Pollyanna personality not only makes life more enjoyable, it could also extend that life by a significant number of years.  And there you have it.  Like the old song goes… they are always telling us… “Don’t Worry.  Be Happy.”

Easier said than done.

As the Universe would have it…..  this Pollyanna is sad tonight.  Like Droopy Dog.  Not Underdog and Sweet Polly Pure Bread.  No.  Like Droopy Dog.    And that is okay.

“Tears are word the heart cannot express.” – Unknown