Lists

I see a meme being tossed around on FB of three things to be grateful for for 5 days and then roping in 3 more friends to do the same.

It's interesting reading these lists and I become mindful of all I have to be grateful for.

I'm making lists at the moment. A few lists.

List #1.

Packing: For my trip to the Oul Sod. Keeping it lighter, keeping it useful. I'm good at packing. I never, like some of my friends, pack anything I don't wear or use. Everything's interchangeable with another item. I gave up dresses and skirts a while back so clothes are simple. Dress pants, cargo pants, jeans. A few tops. A cardie. A rain jacket. A few pairs of socks. Undies. Scarves. I've always loved scarves, they can dress up sombre (blacks, neutrals) like nothing else. I struggled with the EReader again. For the last time. No. Back to paper. Pack 2 books, buy another or two when I'm there. Knitting? Maybe.

List #2.

The Dog List: For when I'm away: Ansa's foods, the way it's fixed in the morning, her baby aspirin for her arthritis, her carry-kit for the car (leash, water, flask, doggie bags), her commands (example: she only comes down the stairs with verbal permission, the poor baby could be stuck up there all day if not given permission to come down), etc.

List #3.

Gratitude. (1)So many well-wishers pouring forth lovely thoughts for my birthday yesterday. I was quite overwhelmed.
(2)A day with Daughter who arrived early with baked goodies and crops from her garden (she has this strange farming gene)with the gift of a day with her, wandering where the wind took us with brunch and a seafood dinner thrown into the mix. And a walk by the ocean afterwards.
(3)Lady Day (August 15th)in Newfoundland arrived two days ago. On the Newfoundland calendar this is the start of fall. Summer here is a quick blast of heat, incredible growth spurts in vegetation in a matter of weeks, and the longest autumn - often running 4 months. I just love it. My favourite season. For many reasons.
And Bonus:
(4) Each day I wake up to in reasonable and joyful good health.

I've got a little list, I've got a little list

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a mad fan - and one time performer back in the ancient Cork City days before interwebz and kidlets and emigration - of Gilbert & Sullivan. You could sing their ditties off key and standing on your head and I would fall in love with you. Then again, That was a mistake lesson I made twice in my life.

Mistakes are lessons learned. I try not to use the word mistake. For if I don't try something how will I ever know I will like or dislike it? I know. Some people are cautious. But I prefer to err on the side of trying anything once or twice and learning the lesson and then moving on or staying and enjoying the result.

I was doing a survey of lessons in my own life. And seriously, I am very glad I made them. Even when I was engaged to two young men at the same time. Seriously. How ready was I for marriage? Harumph. I confessed the dilemma to my dad. Who made like a sphinx. I think he had apoplexy. His face went purple. He lost his voice. Completely. And when he regained it, he told my mother to "take care of your daughter, she's out of control, again." But I wasn't. Or was I? I learned my lesson. I wouldn't say it was the wrong man I married. I don't like the word wrong when applied to human beings. Maybe we were wrong for each other. Fire and water. I remember one of my dear friends who would come from her travels all over the world and nestle into our family home in Toronto for a while and observe us. "WWW," she would say, "I've never known a more mismatched couple. Your horizons are so wide and T----'s are so narrow." Well played, R, well played.

But I learned a good lesson then. I don't think I'm meant for marriage. Fine for me to say you'd think after messing about so much. But we have to try and learn, don't we? And how else to learn but by messing about and experimenting? See, I'm not one to run home and make you supper. Or wash your knickers. I'd forget. I'd get involved with my music or my book or my writing or my knitting and feel resentful if I had to interrupt myself to take care of you. You can see what I mean? Marital duty 'n all, that doesn't sit well with me. Though if you were to change the oil in my car or deal with the lesson I've learned from Cara the caravan, now that would be nice.

So yes, I was dealing with a list today and managed to strike off many items. Hence, the post....which could go on and on but I'll shut up now.

My Name is WWW and I am a Compulsive List Maker

As I age, I find that more and more I rely on lists. I find a thought I had a minute ago about something really important has vanished, never to return again. So I make lists. Years ago, I found a particular Moleskine daytimer excellent. So excellent in fact that Daughter, this year for the first time, has one of her own. She agrees, Hightech Queen that she is. We've both had tragedies with high tech systems. Hey Moleskine - it would be lovely if you paid me for this blurb!

The advantage of this particular daytimer is it has a blank sheet for a list or a note or a reminder on the right hand side (the left side has your full week) that you can tick off. Ticking is extremely important. Even on a lazy day if I can tick off "brushed out dog", the day fills full to overflowing. It also has tiny little stickies for affixing birthdays or anniverseries. See picture above. I love applying these. I do it publicly to max out the important feeling of managing my life well. There is nothing like an elder woman in Starbucks peering over her daytimer with tiny little pellets of reminders being carefully manipulated on to a page. Try it before you knock it.

So groceries go on there, runarounds (bank, healthstore, Sally, reminders etc). At the back there is a full alphabetical address section and a BIG IDEAS department. The address section can be ported from one year to the next.

Frankly, I've never seen anything better.

HERE BE THE LIST!

Flag of Iceland

Every country on this poor pock-marked earth should yearn, no make that STRIVE, to be # 1 on this list.

What you might call the real Peace Train.

Well hats off to Iceland - # 1.

And hats off to Ireland, the country of my birth - # 6.

And hats off to my beloved country of choice, Canada - # 11.

AND HERE BE DRAGONS!

And where does the USA rank? Well it made the top 100 at # 97. Way behind Cuba and Rwanda. Countries were rated on various criteria such as human rights and levels of imprisonment of its citizens, etc.

The index looks at 24 indicators of external and internal measures of peace, including U.N. deployments overseas and levels of violent crime, respect for human rights, the number of soldiers killed overseas and arms sales

.

And the response of the US state department?

Commenting on the U.S. ranking, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said to realize a more peaceful and prosperous world, "Often times, you have to do difficult things and a lot of times, people don't agree with them. They don't like them."

"A lot of times you fall down in these lists but at the end of the day it is in defense of democracy and the way of life we have enjoyed over the past several decades," he added.

More here.

Yeah, we'll bomb y'all into peace. Wait 'n see.

And PS, Iraq has been bombed into last place on the list.

Aaaand PPS, Shouldn't peace be, like, the NORM????