Posts by Hyacinthe

Bums & Window Fatigue

Posted on December 2, 2014

The malls are already crazy-busy. Even tonight at five o’clock the corridors by the more popular store were crowded with shoppers. It was frigid outside, not so much from the temperature but from the blustery wind. I had meetings all day so didn’t get a chance to do my noon walk.My intention was to do a couple of laps around the upper and lower floors but I got distracted. The store window displays are interesting. Aside from the racks of glitzy frocks for holiday entertaining, there are some examples of window-dressing art that give one pause. In store called Forever XXI – now I know that means 21 in Roman numerals but I’m not sure how many of today’s young-uns can figure out the…

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Categories: Modern life

Didn’t love the learning

Posted on December 1, 2014

I attended a one-hour session billed as ‘Learn your Ipad’ at the Apple Store in Newmarket. There were eight of us – all seniors on stools around on of the giant display tables. There were three other classes going on around us. The store didn’t open until 11 o’clock, but people were lined up outside, leaning on the railing watching. I though, what the hell is so important that you’d give up a couple of hours of free time on Sunday morning to rush into the Apple Store? I can’t imagine the chaos that was Black Friday. The young man who facilitated the session probably knew his stuff, but he had no idea how to present material to adult learners – older adult learners.…

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Categories: Modern life, What I'm Doing

Tagged: technology

Create your own …

Posted on November 28, 2014

Where has the week gone? I remember when I was young, my mother would say, ‘don’t wish the days away because once you are older, they will disappear even faster’. And she’s right. I’ve been toiling like a fiend all week editing my novel and in between household stuff and shopping and trying to get my half hour walks in every day, I don’t seem to have enough time to get too far down my list of to-dos. But I’m working on it. I almost forgot my blog. It’s a chilly Friday but pleasant enough. Here are my lazy thought-findings for today. Several of them fall into the realm of ‘what the &^%$# were they thinking’?

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Categories: Modern life

Tagged: inspiration, no inspiration

Practice gratitude

Posted on November 27, 2014

Every day we’re bombarded with ugly news about new evils being perpetrated in the world. There’s a cult of selfishness, ‘not you’, every man for himself, incivility, step on someone’s neck to get ahead, entitlement, etc., etc. Makes you weary to contemplate, doesn’t it? Government can’t be relied on. Politicians routinely lie to us – bold-faced and unrepentant whenthey are caught in wrong-doing – then try to bribe us into believing them with money they’ve ‘collected’ from us. And let’s not talk about rampant consumerism and cat videos. All is not lost. We can each do some little thing each day to make the community we live in – personal, social, work – better places. Jeff Walker challenges us to practice gratitude – every…

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Categories: Argument, What I'm Doing

Tagged: gratitude

Positional transitional

Posted on November 25, 2014

It’s sobering to be told that you aren’t really special. Well, that’s the diagnosis I got his afternoon from my physician, after he peered into my ears, took my blood pressure and pulse and made me sit up and lie down a couple of times. I have something called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), which is is one of the most common causes of vertigo. ‘Common’. Huh. Not a word I usually associate with myself. But there you have it. Something to do with a transitory thickening of the fluid in my inner ear – the mechanism that stabilizes us. “Symptoms of BPPV include dizziness (light-headedness), imbalance, difficulty concentrating, and nausea. Activities that bring on symptoms can vary in each person, but symptoms are…

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Categories: Modern life, What I'm Doing

Tagged: dizzy, grateful