Saturday, July 31, 2010

You don't know me

Music is really something. I remember a lot of the music that my Dad listened to and my older siblings as well. Dad liked the Hank Williams Sr. Everything sixties and seventies were heard from what Carol and Donald listened to.
I have to listen to the new music on the radio because I have a 14 year old girl who controls the music dial in the car.
Songs can take us places. Fond memories, sad reflections and very happy get up and move those feet tunes.

So just wanted to say it's time for "a little tune, I am sure you folks will love..."

Moondance by the great Van Morrison, one of my favorite songs. I tell my wife that this is our song. She's nope. It's someone else song as I have been with this song pre-her.

My wife likes a wide array of tunes like ABBA. And that's okay with me. :D

Friday, July 23, 2010

Saying goodbye to Granny Hazel


My mother-in-law passed away the other day. It is a sad day for our family.
Suz is doing alright, considering it has been a long farewell.
I am very lucky and blessed to have met this very good person, Granny Hazel. She was the very ideal in kindness and goodness.
We are quick to praise the deceased in most instances, but I know this to be the truth about Granny Hazel.
In your life you are lucky to meet a fine person, and I am very fortunate to have met a good number of good people. My Mom is one and so is Hazel.
I looked at some of Suz's grandparents pictures and the people are all Brown. Very brown. :)
Monday we will have a good visit with Hazel before she goes on.
We should be sad and miss her, but at the same time happy that we got to know her as we did.
Hazel was blind, but you would not know it. She was independent, resourceful and always working. The first time I met her, she was still making cream from the cows.
It was different for me, as Hazel and her family like to hug each other.
My baby Chloe was always on her knee and always being "babied" by Granny.
The home made bread, toasted on the stove element is still one of our fondest memories.
Food being served and tea being made was the norm and still is in the Spence household.
Have a wonderful trip Granny Hazel and say hi to my Mom and Don for me.

Monday, July 12, 2010

I've lied a million times...

Not really but I bet it is close. It's those little lies that we don't even know anymore if it was real or not. I've told a million lies, to myself, to myself. That is a great line from a Van Morrison song. I am not that hard evil loser that I once saw in the mirror. It is a lie. I am not that way. I want to laugh. Want to give everyone a smile. I want to tease and make everyone I come in contact with a laugh. They may not laugh at slack jokes or ouch puns. But hey, that's me.

I saw this line on face book, "what do a woman's arse and a nine volt battery have in common? You know it's wrong but sooner a later your going to stick your tongue there".

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Bad medicine beats Good medicine

Kind words conquer.
- Tamil Proverb
There are those that say there is no such thing as "Bad Medicine". I am not sure if that is true. Or the saying that you were "hit" is true or not. Hit being that someone put medicine on you, specifically Bad Medicine. You hear a lot of this at Gatherings (like a Powwow) especially where money is involved or were there is an election of some kind. Some people who are "hit" are not active in any kind of activity that you would think they should be hit. They are not political, not into money or not in the public eye. Maybe it's the good old fashion jealousy thing. I suspect in some cases, they might be hypochondriacs. You know like one of my cousins', who has every aliment you can imagine. Just start telling him about your back ache and he has a slipped disc, or he has a pinched sciatic nerve. Actually I think when you get to a certain age, around 44, you start to talk mostly about health, sickness and death; It's genetic (or maybe social, but who knows). Anyway, back to medicine, I am sure there is medicine, whether we believe or not. What of those people that don't believe in anything except that we are in charge of our direction, our lives? You think that every decision we make is one that is part of your destiny?
Well, it's like this, say you are in control of every move you make, what's to say that every move you make was not foretold? You make an effort to change the outcome of what you normally would have done, normally what you would have decided to do. What if those changes are in the cards already, you will never know for sure if that is the grand design. A bugger isn't it?
What has this ramble have to do with medicine and practicing medicine? People engage in bad medicine all the time, everyone is guilty of putting medicine on others. When you think bad of others, when you wish them bad luck, when you wish they wouldn't win. You are practicing bad medicine. It is easier to practice bad medicine than it is to do good medicine. It is easier to wish bad rather than wish good on people.
Does medicine even exist, after all we can't see it? You can't see it but you can feel it. Ever go into a room where a couple of people are upset with each other. They may not be swearing over even giving signs that something is wrong but you sense it. You can feel the uneasiness, the burr of the coldness, the fire of some bad feelings in the air. Just because you can't see it, it still exists. Same with medicine.
If you are ever hit, you will go to a Medicine man (or woman) and ask to have it fixed. The Medicine person will ask you if you want to send it back to the person who sent it. You will say no, because it doesn't seem to make you look good. But really you want to. Who is to say that you shouldn't be the one to be the "round" in "what goes around comes around"? After all the bad that someone does must be paid in some way or fashion. Who's to say that is not how it should happen? I think we are (at times) the tools of faith or destiny. It is us that is the bad thing that happens to others. Doesn't make it right does it? But maybe it will make people feel a little less heavy for the bad things they do. After all even good people can make bad choices. 
People will tell you that there is no such thing as bad medicine. Well sorry but that is wrong. Bad things exist in the world. As do good things. How can we expect good things without recognizing that there is bad. How can you expect to receive blessings or kindness if you don't expect that there is an opposite? Of course there is an opposite. So we know it's there, but we don't have to feed it.

We want to feed our kindness, our goodness. That is a task. We can easily think bad of others or wish harsh things on people. Why? It is a task to feel real, real gladness for the good fortune of others. It's like anything, if we want to be competent at something we must practice. Same with good medicine. If we want it to beat bad medicine, we must practice it. So the next time that old lady or old man yells bingo from across the hall, think "well good for them". Instead of saying "ah shit".


My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- The Dalai Lama

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