Calgary explorer, writer and cocktail maker.
Calgary, AB
Joined May 2008
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I love turning around and seeing Maypel’s little face right there. No matter where I am, she’s always resting in the closest place to me that she can.
Oh the unconditional love of our pets. ❤️💜💙❤️💜💙
Wendy retweeted
I’m a retired brain surgeon and I wanna tell you why you feel like life is passing by. I just need one minute to explain this to you so hang in there.
Repetitive daily routines stop the brain from recording clear detailed memories. When every day looks the same, your brain does not track time the same as a clock does. It tracks change. If nothing new happens then days, months, and years start to blur together.
This is know as Time compression. When life lacks variety, your brain compresses past days together, making it feel like time is sped up.
To stop feeling like life is passing you by, add new experiences to your life. Break routine habits, like changing your daily home routine, taking a different route to work, or trying a new hobby.
Schedule small trips or plan new adventures so your days do not blend together.
Practice mindfulness by staying fully focused on what you are doing right now and not trying to race off to the next task.
Keep a journal and write down happy memories or memorable parts of the day before you go to sleep.
Take deep, calm breaths when you feel anxious or rushed to return your focus to the moment.
You can and you will retrain your brain to not feel like life is passing you by by following these few simple measures.
Five years ago, Beiken got up and left every time Maypel came to sit next to him.
Persistence pays off.
There’s something settling about overcast days. My body naturally wants to slow down. To rest. And brains, always the racer and hoop jumper, listens and follows.
I just finished reading Crowfoot: Chief of the Blackfeet by Hugh Dempsey on the internet archive. No fingers, but some underlining and highlighted spots from whoever’s copy it was from the ‘70s.
Wendy retweeted
Hey #yeg or #alberta folks. I am trying to find a printer who can create a one sheet (4 pages), broadsheet fold "newspaper style" run. The paper stock and finish is ideally consistent with a newspaper.
Hard to find? Any printer can do it? Do you know a guy. It's a small run but for an important cause.
I've stumbled upon one domain where it's Canada first. Plant nomenclature.
When a species is native to North America, it uses canadensis in the name. Dogwood, wild ginger, goldenrod, along with hundreds of other plants across our continent.
How many executive orders do you suppose it would take to rename all of them?
I sleep with my windows wide open. Last night, I didn’t extricate myself from the two little furnaces who like to curl up under them with me. I sunk in deeper. Fall is coming.
Wendy retweeted
Le nom du lac Ontario tire son origine du mot wendat « Ontari’io », qui signifie « le lac est beau, le lac est grand ».
Ce nom remonte à plus de 400 ans, bien avant la Confédération canadienne et la Déclaration d’indépendance des États-Unis d’Amérique.
Nous savons que les États-Unis sont en train de changer. Leurs relations commerciales, leur politique étrangère, leurs monuments nationaux, leurs hydronymes.
Les Canadiennes et les Canadiens savent aussi qu’il faut appeler les choses par leur nom, et ce lac se nomme Lac Ontario – aujourd’hui et pour toujours.
History isn't about our past. It's about our future.
Understanding the patterns gives you the agency to act. And the ammunition for change.
Filumena Lassandro was an Italian immigrant and child bride who played the obedient wife, even when it came time to run. Payoffs usually get the loyal henchmen out of jail, but loyalty didn't save her here.
On September 21, 1922, Filumena and her boss were on the wrong side of the barrel when a constable was shot and killed in front of the police barracks in Coleman, Alberta, after a sting operation gone wrong. Though there was no credible witness, they ran.
The next day, they both confessed, thinking the courts would never convict a woman. But the world called her a murderer. After claiming her innocence for months, she stood on a platform at the Fort Saskatchewan jail uttering her last words, “I forgive you all,” before becoming the only woman ever hanged for a crime in Alberta on May 2, 1923.
We've all tried scraping the bottom of the barrel. Archaeobotanists just scrape the sides of vases. Where one comes up empty, the other finds ancient wine.
5,000 years ago, wine was medicine and a gift from the gods. Ancient Egyptians fortified it with tree resin, herbs and other natural substances to pull the medicinal properties out of the plants.
Antiquated cough syrup.
One of the first rulers of Ancient Egypt, Scorpion I of Dynasty 0, was buried with 700 jars of the stuff. They believed in life after death. You carried your earthly treasures with you, so a king needed his cellar.
Personally, I'd rather enjoy my vices in this lifetime.
But here’s the thing: that whole arrangement depended on one thing. Fruit.
Fruit trees showed up 100 million years ago and needed animals to spread their seeds, so they turned colorful, juicy and sweet. Primates got hooked and ate them in enormous quantities. They liked them ripe. And loved them fermented.
Eating that much fruit meant tracking when and where it appeared. Brains grew. Those brains became minds: language, culture… and an appreciation for a fine vintage.
So the next time you pour a glass, put your big, primate brain to good use.
You’re drinking the end of a 100-million-year chain.
I felt the stress creeping into my jaw as soon as my eyes fluttered open. Something in my head said, “try thinking a grateful thought.” And so I looked over at my dog, Beiken, curled up next to me. I thought about how much he brings me and said, “Thank you, Little B. I’m so grateful you’re in my life,” as I gave his head a gentle scratch.
The change in my jaw was almost immediate.
Chronic stress isn’t just a tightness in your jaw – it’s a precursor to disease.
The American Brain Foundation says that “gratitude triggers the brain’s reward system, releasing hormones and neurotransmitters that have tangible physical and mental health benefits.”
I still need to figure out the stress buildup part. That’s a loop I haven’t mastered. But gratitude as a part of my stress management system? I can do that.
What do you think of when your jaw feels tight?
