exploration – Sillyfrog's Blog

The Sunday Dawdler 3-5-23 The Likeness of Souls

Posted on 03/05/202303/05/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

Rory asks more interesting questions of us today. I’m in …

Before I start, I want to express my delight in Rory’s use of snail images. This comes from an impactful book I read called, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. It remains a personal favorite for its beautiful investigation of an unseen and rarely explored part of our natural world. All you fellow “nature nuts” might enjoy it as much as I.

How long will you be remembered for once you are no more?

During an introspective investigation I had many years ago, I came to the conclusion that those who involve themselves with children have a subliminal interest in being remembered. I am delighted when I reconnect with adults who I knew as kids, and they share a memory of our time together. If they end up passing on ‘lessons learned’ from me to their own children, my impact ‘lives’ on…
Recently, at a ‘wake’ for a deceased former neighbor, I stood in line waiting for my turn to offer my condolences to her grown children. Each person ahead of me in turn embraced the family and tears flowed freely. When it was my turn, the eldest daughter smiled, and we hugged. She’d only been sobbing all the while I had waited. Her comment, accompanied by twinkling eyes, was that she and her siblings had just been reminiscing about making Christmas Cookie Houses with me. I added my own memories of Halloweens we had shared from our side-by-side front porches. The grins and giggles continued as I addressed her brother and younger sister down the line. My heart has yet to recover from that scene. Their smiling faces during that terribly sad gathering would have pleased their mother who was the reason for all of us being there.
I can’t imagine a better way to impact people while being remembered. ❤

Considering that only 5% of the world’s oceans have been explored and charted, what do you think lurks in our world’s hidden and unknown waters?

I really can’t imagine what we may find. From recent reports, there’s increasing evidence of “life” (even in bacterial form) being discovered in what scientists ‘assumed’ to be totally inhospitable conditions in our oceans. To quote Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.”
That alone is a mind-blowing yet comforting truth.

Are soul mates a real thing?

I’ve never come fully to terms with what that phrase means. Does the “mates” part mean compatible ‘marriage’ partners?
I think, on the “soul” part of humans, IMHO …we are the most intrinsically compatible already. [I use the term “souls” a lot in posts for the ‘oneness’ it conveys.]
But as the term “soul mate” is commonly used to describe a higher level of ‘alikeness’ that we can find in a person, I’d say “yes”.
We can find people with strikingly similar appearances, and we can find people with similar temperaments, experiences, and viewpoints. I believe that mathematically there are simply a finite number of combinations of those physical, emotional, and external things, so near ‘matches’ happen. We who consider likeness-on any plane- a connection, have more ‘soul mates’ than others. 😉

https://earthlycomforts.uk/2023/03/05/a-wild-aloha-to-you-24/

Unanswered Question: Why did “boredom” have to become a ‘bad’ thing?

Posted on 01/21/202301/21/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

What an interesting morning in the ‘blogosphere’ I’ve had. It seems to have produced a treasure trove of thoughts and questions.

My Unanswered Question for today was inspired by one of those exchanges. A subject of great interest to me is the evolution of environments kids grow up in.

I’ve already examined the dynamic changes in the make-up and size of nuclear families. There’s still ‘meat’ on that bone to take up later.
But my unique vantage point afforded by providing childcare for 46 years, has given me a clearer view of the timeline of changes in the realm of ‘being a kid’ than most people would have had.

The most mind-blowing thing I discovered my granddaughter doing recently was observing her watching videos of other children playing. It didn’t seem to be a curious inquiry that might inspire a game that she could play. It was merely a form of entertainment.

Her response when asked (probably a little too judgmentally), “What the heck are you doing?!” was, “I’m just bored.”.

She predictably rolled her eyes at my ‘all too familiar’ response of “Read a book.” before I pulled out some paints and invited her to the table.

Then it hit me. How many of you had parents who answered the “I’m bored.” complaint with a chore or a request for us to “Go outside and play with your friends, then.”?

Kids just can’t go outside on an impulse anymore. And sadly, there aren’t a bunch of other kids nearby either.

We had something they don’t… The opportunity to explore and ‘boredom’ inspired some of our best adventures!

The changes to our children’s and grandchildren’s environment didn’t stop at ‘less safety’ and fewer friends. It came from an attitude adjustment inspired by those things. Exploration had been replaced by entertainment.

I hope those of you still reading this can imagine the tragedy in the last statement. One broadens the mind, and the other broadens the “behind”. One embraces curiosity and creativity, and the other discourages those things.

Too many ‘old folks’ tend to immortalize their childhoods as the BEST, but this ‘old person’ can’t imagine that this ‘kernel’ of change is a ‘good’ thing.

Knowing that kids are learning to require entertainment certainly explains a lot of our current troubles. It comes down to expecting ‘boredom’ to be a ‘bad’ thing AND suggests that a person’s environment has an obligation to offer ‘entertainment’ instead of it coming from within.

My head is banging the table as I consider today’s question.

WHY DID BOREDOM HAVE TO BECOME A ‘BAD’ THING?

Sideshows

Camping Notes 5/6/13

Posted on 05/06/201305/06/2013 by Susan St.Pierre

I realized that on Mondays, I am usually overflowing with camp observations. Thought I’d share some, now and then.

It was the first gorgeous weekend of the 2013 season. Temperatures that I would happily keep year round, 70s, by day, and upper 40s, by night.

To the right, is our original site which my husband, Ed, had cleared and built. The whole area was thick forest when we began over 15 years ago. This is Ellen and Kory’s place now. (They weren’t here this weekend.)

We have a small Walmart sunken pond which is my first stop every weekend. It provides a wonderful vernal pool for amphibians. The visitors are fewer,so far, and I have a good theory as to, why?

It has been recently dry and the spotted salamanders and wood frogs migrate farther during rainy weather. Only the green frog “locals” and one mature Red Spotted Newt are currently present. This is a first for my pond. This week promises some rain but I’m afraid that their egg laying, for this year, might be over. 😦

So off to check out my plum blossoms. Last year, I was alarmed by how few honeybees had tended to pollination. This year, I spotted a few but the numbers are still dismal compared to years past. I’m hoping that our chilly Spring has not yet awakened the masses.

As the day progresses, I plan my garden. We have suffered for 4 years with a terrible fungus blight. This year, I plan to grow corn and I’ll be trying an above ground method for tomatoes using wooden skids.

Ollie, my Jack Russell, is the happiest camper. He’s able to run loose and dig to his heart’s content. He is now 9 years old and requires more breaks in the sun. Of course, he has his own chair.

Ed and I camp in an area that he prepared for our 5th-wheel. It is just below the old homestead and is our little piece of heaven.

Ed keeps very busy. He gathers wood and splits it, as well as, maintaining the lawns and building wonderful stone flowerbeds. His four-wheeler has all that he needs. Yes, a rifle and a chainsaw are both necessary here. Actually, Ed had arrived the day before I came. Our gas grill had been knocked from our deck and one (empty) cooler was out in our yard. Our friends, with a game camera, have evidence of a large black bear in our area. Coyotes and a fisher have also been spotted. We leave no food or garbage out to entice them!

I was pleased to see the first of Ellen’s tulips open. The daylight hours are shorter in the woods, so our campsite is a bit behind what we have at home.

I was also happy to see some forget-me-not seeds had taken where I’d hoped they would fill in on a banking.

I never fail to search our piece stone before we leave. It was quarried in Hudson, NY and has many seashell fossils from a time when New York was an ocean floor. I have always loved rocks! I’m thrilled to look for fossils and, sad that so many were ground up, too. I guess I would have never had the chance to find them if that had not happened.