(no subject)

[gottawonder]

53. What is the most amazing thing you have ever seen, heard, or experienced?
I don't know, there's been a few. Tough to pick one, because of different values. Driving through the Rockies is pretty amazing (and hiking a bit in them). Many incredible views from the back of a horse, including herds of pronghorns, a very memorable time in the winter coming upon a field of easily 100 white tail deer grazing (attracted to grain leftover from harvest, likely), that all saw me on my horse at the same time, looked up, and scattered everywhere, crashing through the trees. Or the time that I was riding a different horse through a late fall fog that was so thick I could barely see ten feet ahead of me, and it began to snow, and Canada geese started coming down out of the fog and landing all around us. Dozens of them. The time I saw so many tadpoles in the pond behind our house that the water looked like it was boiling, and I could move my hand through them and it was like thin tapioca pudding there were so many.

Opening my front door to let my dog out to pee, and there's a wolverine sitting on my step. We looked at each other for a good ten seconds, separated by only my screen door, and it loped away. My husband and I saw it again a week or so later in our yard, right by the front door again.

Moving compost in my big pile in the spring a few years ago, and coming across a tight ball of grass. I picked it up and opened it a bit and there was a tiny mouse in it. I held it gently for about 20 minutes as it warmed up and came awake, and released it when it was fully mobile. It was a kangaroo mouse, as house mice and field mice don't hibernate.

Seeing an incredible bank of clouds fall like a waterfall down a cliff in the sunset, after a stormy day with lots of fog.

Non-natural wonders: The West Edmonton Mall when it first opened. Seeing a Monet show, and Chihuly flowers suspended from the ceiling. Many exceptional items of art over the years, including getting to see Robert Bateman's giant bison painting in person, and being able to attend a talk by Robert Bateman at a small art gallery where I was a janitor, and I didn't know how big an artist he was. He came across as very down to earth and approachable.

Experiencing the many animals in my life, the close personal relationships, being part of all the stages of their lives.

Being married to my husband.

54. What effect does music have on you? I'm pretty influenced by it. I can get lost, or found in the right music.

55. What did you learn today? What did you learn yesterday? Today I learned a bit more about how our county is pretty messed up as far as permits and so on for building. I learned that Europe and Africa had banjos too as a traditional instrument long before American Bluegrass, and that older styles were fretless (I thought they were American). I learned that there is now an impeachment investigation against Trump, though I am skeptical about whether or not it matters.

Yesterday I learned about what a mortise and tenon joint is, and how the mortise drill bit works (more or less). I learned a bit about the ship-building industry in Glasgow. I learned that Malcolm Gladwell has a fascinating podcast called Revisionist History, and it's on Youtube. I listened to the first episode and learned about the story behind a famous painting called Roll Call, and the artist Elizabeth Thompson, as well as exploring the idea that sometimes people can participate in one open-minded act, such as voting for a woman to be Prime Minister, and then use that justification to go right back to being closed-minded shits and forever say that they aren't sexist because of that one thing they did. I learned that Hannibal started his journey over the Alps with around 40 elephants, that about half survived the alps, and only one survived the war.

56. What 5 traits do people first notice when they meet you for the first time? Probably mostly surface things, like that I wear glasses, that I tend not to wear makeup a lot, that my fingernails aren't done, they notice things like I'm a woman, and my general age. It probably doesn't take long for them to find out that I like animals, books, art.

57. Have you ever carved your name or initials into a tree or stone? Into wet concrete, and I think into a tree or two.

58. Democracy, communism, or socialism? Defend your choice. Hard core democracy no longer appeals to me, because I see how certain groups can pool together and outvote people with valid needs. Benjamin Franklin said that Democracy was like two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for supper. These days pure democracy also means pure capitalism and materialism above the needs of the people or the environment, which cannot continue. Communism does have it's appealing side, the idea of only producing what is needed, and filling the needs of all. Of course, the down side is that everyone's needs are limited by laws, and I don't think it encourages greatness or beauty. I feel like I am more of a liberal socialist, and definitely not a fanatic. Countries like Canada and Denmark have shown that things like solid pensions, universal health care, minimum wage laws, some control over some aspects of the market like anti-monopoly regulations, laws about banks and interest rates, and controlled rent increases are good ways of supporting a healthy middle class.

59. Does Never Never Land really exist? Sadly, no. We cannot live as children, believing that magic exists and that there is always a happy ending. Wonder and beauty exist all around us in the real world too, but we have to remain engaged in the world the way it is in order to deal with the challenges here.

60. Where is a great place to get breakfast? My own house. I make great fried eggs on toast.

61. List 3 things that went right (or wrong) today.
It's been cold and rainy tonight, which is only negative in the context that it is uncomfortable.
We may have a delay in the basement while we wait for more inspections.
My husband could have been more on top of this and filed the papers earlier.

What went right: Night chores went smoothly. My one mare hid last night and I couldn't find her to bring her into her corral for quite some time. Tonight I went straight to her hiding place and saved a lot of time.

I got the proper cat litter today, and some other pet supplies I needed.

I found some nice second-hand clothes that work on my current body shape. I'm having to think more about my wardrobe now, and I'm enjoying the fact that clothes look nicer. For a long time I had given up on things looking nice, and was just focusing on things being comfortable and covering me up.

62. What is the best method of travel, and in what ways have you traveled? I don't know about "best", because it depends on how far you are going, and whether or not you want to go somewhere that has a clear road or not, etc. For sheer comfort and lack of stress, I really enjoyed travelling by train with a roomy bench seat to myself and a car with a glass roof for viewing the stars. I would also enjoy having a berth with a bed in it. I love the idea of travelling a long distance and being able to sleep through it. I have travelled by very small airplane, and very large airplane, by train, by very old steam train, by Greyhound bus for days at a time (not good), by car, by bike, by motorcycle, by bicycle, by horse, hay wagon, by foot, by canoe and kayak and ferry and sailboat, by snowshoes and skis and ice skates and snowmobile and by gondola.

63. If you could tell the world just one thing, what would it be? To be compassionate. To each other, to animals, to themselves, and to all of nature. Compassion is something much, much greater than most people comprehend; I don't know how many people have the luxury of really trying to understand it. Unfortunately, it seems like something too esoteric for people to bother with.

64. What were your best and worst subjects in school or college? Math was the hardest, though I didn't do badly in it. I had to work harder at it. English has always been among my best subjects.

65. Describe the most outrageous thing anyone has dared you to do. I don't know. I'm not big into daring, and I don't accept them. I've done a few outrageous things, but not as dares.