Travel
- Sitemeter Woes
Is anyone else having problems with sitemeter? Mine was working just fine one day and then turned into a "black box" the next. I can click on the box and see the statistics page, but now it just gives totals and doesn't break down...
- Computer Fix?
I finally found the Apple Store this morning by the time of my appointment. They had moved downstairs to the first level and then over a few sections. I finally asked one of the cleaning personnel and found the right place. I waited and waited,...
- Hangin' In There!
I was happy to see my sun shade still hanging this morning. Seeing how it was when the sun hit it full on yesterday, I think it is more of a privacy shade than sun protection, but it's fine with me. I wish I could hang a shade that...
- I Need A Good Cry!
I just saw the gastrointestinal Dr. who will do the bile duct procedure, but before he can do it there are a number of issues to be addressed. Dang, I'm probably in worse shape than I thought. The one good thing to come out of the visit...
- Spring At The Botanical Garden From Dublin
We've only been to Dublin once - in spring. But I can't imagine a better timing, as the whole city was in bloom and I'm a sucker for pretty flowers. I have to admit that the parks of Dublin totally took me by surprise. I new Ireland...
Travel
My Musings: Muslims And Squirrels
I figured it out that we are just about as happy as we choose to be. No money, no job and no trend can make us happy. What one expects from life is an entirely different matter.
Grown ups awfully like to crowd people and experiences in tiny little boxes and pass them on as precious gifts to the younger generations. And there´s something else we seem to enjoy - taking things for granted.
I saw a documentary about Istanbul the other day and one certain Turkish proverb sticked with me - "Every guest is a gift from God". And then I asked myself what exactly did I know about modern Turkey. My mind played some wicked tricks on my and told me that they were Muslims and that Muslims made 9/11 and 3/11 and a whole bunch of other bad things and then I stopped it from telling me more stuff from the tiny little boxes. What the hack! We have more things in common than differences. There is a good 99.8% of DNA that we share with every single other human being on this planet. Then why can´t we see that?
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| Squirrel in St. James Park, London |
If you get mugged in Paris and you tell all your friends about your bad experience their self defence mechanisms will cry out loud to them "That´s a dangerous place! If you go to Paris you´ll be mugged too". Hopefully that won´t be the case and a bit of precaution never hurt anyone. What this kind of experience leaves behind though is a bitter taste and a general feeling about the people, the places and the security issues. Because, yeah, we love to put everything and everybody in little tiny boxes. But at the end of the day, what really matters is what you´ve experienced down to a personal level and I´ve been to Paris twice and I got away with it.
The truth is that there are good and not so good people everywhere. Just think about the bunch of people you know. We differ from each other for the sake of changing the picture a bit or we would die of boredom.
I remember when in St James's Park, the one in front of the Buckingham Palace in London, I was staring at a guy feeding the little baby squirrels. He saw my enthusiasm and he told me how he used to pass by every other day with his pockets full of nuts and other goodies for the brave baby squirrels that were just getting used with these humongous and mighty creates that we are. And then he gave me a couple of peanuts to make the honors and in my overjoy for a tiny fraction of a second I could feel the little fellow´s furry nose touching my hand. All that trust he put in me... It was a marvelous experience!
I remember when in St James's Park, the one in front of the Buckingham Palace in London, I was staring at a guy feeding the little baby squirrels. He saw my enthusiasm and he told me how he used to pass by every other day with his pockets full of nuts and other goodies for the brave baby squirrels that were just getting used with these humongous and mighty creates that we are. And then he gave me a couple of peanuts to make the honors and in my overjoy for a tiny fraction of a second I could feel the little fellow´s furry nose touching my hand. All that trust he put in me... It was a marvelous experience!
We travel, we learn. And then we travel a bit further and we learn a great deal more. And from all the people we encounter and from all the things we see and do, only a tiny fraction will truly stick with us. Most of the details will be long forgotten already by the time you get home. Some of the remaining details will be the ones that you will tell over and over again to all your relatives and friends. Most of them will fade away by the end of the year. But without realising it an even smaller part will have changed you forever and if you ever wonder why I love squirrels, well, you already know the answer.
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons, because I was too busy feeding the squirrels to take pictures of them
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons, because I was too busy feeding the squirrels to take pictures of them
- Sitemeter Woes
Is anyone else having problems with sitemeter? Mine was working just fine one day and then turned into a "black box" the next. I can click on the box and see the statistics page, but now it just gives totals and doesn't break down...
- Computer Fix?
I finally found the Apple Store this morning by the time of my appointment. They had moved downstairs to the first level and then over a few sections. I finally asked one of the cleaning personnel and found the right place. I waited and waited,...
- Hangin' In There!
I was happy to see my sun shade still hanging this morning. Seeing how it was when the sun hit it full on yesterday, I think it is more of a privacy shade than sun protection, but it's fine with me. I wish I could hang a shade that...
- I Need A Good Cry!
I just saw the gastrointestinal Dr. who will do the bile duct procedure, but before he can do it there are a number of issues to be addressed. Dang, I'm probably in worse shape than I thought. The one good thing to come out of the visit...
- Spring At The Botanical Garden From Dublin
We've only been to Dublin once - in spring. But I can't imagine a better timing, as the whole city was in bloom and I'm a sucker for pretty flowers. I have to admit that the parks of Dublin totally took me by surprise. I new Ireland...