Walking a Dog

Walking Bentley

He tugs so eagerly on the leash
As he tows me forward so forcefully
He's barely bigger than a rabbit
Yet he's a Clydesdale horse to me.

My dragging gait must be frustrating
He pants and wheezes with all his might
Yet he's relentless as he tows me
Almost choking  in his collar tight.

I know he loves run afield
Or down the street with someone young
But this old grandma just can't do much
The garden gate or what's beyond.

So we struggle hard against each other
He's pulling forth while I pull back
After several blocks of constant pulling
We're both ready for some slack.

This half hour of strenuous exercise
Is most enough to set my day
But Bentley's ready for another
Oh how I'd love to feel that way.

Those carefree days are gone forever
As I amble so laboriously
But Bentley smiles in adoration
Just happy to be towing me.

Back Again

I'm Back

Okay, just in case anyone has missed me in the last 2 or 3 weeks, I am back!  Just had a little set back and am not quite my usual self yet but I'm kicking hard to get there.  Life throws us a few curves sometimes and  and I know I have to roll with the punches but I'm stubborn and I'm not too eager to change.  Still, when there is no other way out, even us oldies have to learn new tricks.

So along with my new computer, my new schedules and my somewhat altered new lifestyle, I am determined to adapt and accept the inevitable.  Outside of being late once in a while, you will still be hearing from me via this blog for as long as I can do it and  for as long as you care to visit my page.  Today I will just touch base as I catch up with all my other "behind schedules."

See you later, alligator.

Ode to a Dear Friend

I lost a dear friend recently and this is my tribute to a very dear soul  who brought a shining star into my life for the few months that I knew her. I used to visit her in the hospital.

Goodbye LouLou My Friend

You tiptoed into my life so gently,

A loving heart, a  feeble breath

A pleasant word, a genuine smile

An eager welcome forthcoming still 

You asked for nothing, demanded  little.

Just above  a whisper, you only begged

“No, don’t go yet, stay abit longer”

Your frail delicate voice entreated

And I could not leave you so forlorn

I hardly felt you pierce my heart

You entered so discreetly as just a peasant "job”,

But you curled into my soul so deeply

And made my heart your “home sweet home”.

Your resilient spirit is my beacon

Your enormous foot prints my guiding path

 So sleep my friend, sweet thy slumber

Away from weary pain, distress

Sleep, for someday I will join you

And we’ll continue from where we left off.

I will sorely miss you

Your Friend

Cassie

Positive Power

 Positivity At Last

Okay after all that complaining about computers! Even I am tired of listening to me.  So I promise!!!  No more!  I am going to count my blessings.  And I do have lots to count.  Sure I have had  a few hiccups in my life, but who hasn't? So out with the negative and in with the positive!!! It has been a very busy June so far and  maybe if the weather  holds out, I may finally get a day to pull a few sneaky weeds from among the veggies on Tuesday.  That should give me a nostalgic thrill and a  high from yesteyear.

As well I am eagerly anticipating a trip to Newfoundland late this summer. That sounds like such a great adventure.  I have never ever been to Newfoundland and I hear it is a fantastic part of Canada,- in the beauty of its spectacular scenery, the unique richness of its heritage and in  the friendliness of its people.

I have made many trips within North America and  worldwide in my forties, fifties and sixties.  Before that, I had to stay home raising kids and farm animals and attending to  other  farm field work. Now I am relegated to basically staying close to home in a one-bedroom apartment or to spend time at my daughter's garden.  I spend my time writing and now it is my books that are travelling all over the world, which is the next best thing, I suppose.  My life has evolved well and and I am pleased with it.

Little did I know, when I was swathing that grain on that Manitoba farm, fantasising about world travel that I would be looking back on those times through the pages of my own books  that are being read  around  the whole world, including Australia, Great Britain, Ukraine and   all of Europe and North America,     How great is the technology of our our world!

 So far, I have not written too much about my travels yet but it is still get on my agenda. God willing, those books will come too. I  enjoyed travelling  and I loved all those countries that I visited.  The places and the people in them, were truly a lasting education.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to experience them all!    

OOOOps

It’s not me, it’s my computer

Modern technology has been a blessing and a curse in my life. It’s like that old adage men use when talking about their wives. “You cannot live without them  but living with them is not the greatest  picnic either."  I think when guys s complain about “the little woman", it’s just that  mucho phrase  they use because all the other mucho men expect them to use it.  Only in extremely rare cases are such comments made in earnest.

 

But I am not joking when I say that I truly have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  I truly cannot live without it but there have truly been several times when I said very unladylike things to it, or about it, and too often, even called it some very unflattering names. Because I am still struggling to maintain a facade of a genteel dignified and proper lady, I will not divulge that terrible secret to you .

Granted my computer is as old as I am “in computer years”. Still I have not abused it (except verbally when necessary).  Otherwise, I have not overworked it by asking it to search the world for minute unimportant information, "just because I can!" or asked it download complicated files or to perform the myriad of tasks that it is supposedly capable of doing simply by the push of a tiny button.  I use my computer for typing text, emails, and occasionally to surf the internet when I require some kind of information.  The relatively few other tasks the I insist on it performing for me probably constitute utilising probably only about 30-40 percent of its total capability.  So what is the problem here?  Why won’t the thing cooperate???? 

I  finally gave up fighting with it.   I bit the bullet and bought a new one.  It wasn’t that I was being cheap.  I just did not want to start learning a new program.  But enough is enough!  I did not even bother to give that old thing a decent burial!  It's behaviour of late did not warrant that kind of respect.  It can draw comfort from the fact that it will not be taking any more verbal abuse from me for the rest of its days. 

 But I am saving that evocative vocabulary for my new computer.  I’m sure, it too, will be requiring a reprimand every so often. It would just be expecting too much from any computer to to have it always behave rationally.  Computers just naturally toss in a hissy fit every now and then. It would be a shame to waste all that colourful terminology.  It took me years to perfect it!!!!!

PROBLEMS!!!!!!

Success ?  Or Failure?
Finally, I am back on line! My 2006 Computer finally gave up the ghost and I have had my son and my granddaughter practically a  living at my place for a whole week trying to resurrect it.  In the end we finally went to a store and I bought a new standalone computer --- and a new web cam as that also died of old age. I'm still not too proficient with the new processes.  This computer tells me that  I need new upgrades for my brain as my old brain is not compatible with my new computer!

 It has been a stressful  month and my eyes are almost in the same shape as my old computer was.  Only problem is I cannot go to a store and buy new eyes!!!! I AM trying to get technical in my old age however. Some stores are actually  really getting rich by capitalizing on my handicap.

In addition to my new computer, I now have a 50 inch TV in my living room, complete with an HDMI cable that lets me hook up my 2-year old laptop to it so I can  read what my laptop computer is telling me by simply reading the huge print on my 50 inch TV screen. As far as the standalone computer, well there is always the ZOOM  IN Feature I  can access on my 26 inch monitor.  Oh the thrills of old age!!!

 Now if I can only upgrade my brain, I may actually get somewhere.  In the meantime. thanks for your patience,  folks!  It's nice to be back again.  If you don't hear from me again, just assume that my hard drive has crashed too.  But wish me luck anyway!