Walkaboutstory

Today is my son’s birthday

walkaboutstory — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:55:45 +0000

His father made this video slideshow this year.

No Comment

walkaboutstory — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:59:49 +0000

I have decided that I really don’t like what the Internet has turned us into. The ability to comment on almost everything that occurs in cyberspace has created a comment-addicted society that seems incapable of even the most basic impulse control. The uncontrollable need to opine on virtually everything, including the opinions of other opiners, has turned the Internet into a jungle of slashing word teeth and barbed verbal vegetation. Mountains of unconsidered opinions litter the cyber landscape, testaments to the verbosity of mindlessness.

There are only a few place left where I feel safe entering the comment zone, and even those can become temporary quagmires of blathering if a comment addict happens across them. I have taken to reminding myself when reading on the Internet that I really don’t need to comment. If I have something specifically enlightening or humorous to add to the conversation, a little commenting can be fun. But if you find yourself NEEDING to comment, you are in trouble. Step away from the keyboard.

For my son

walkaboutstory — Sun, 08 May 2011 09:45:18 +0000

Nehemiah Owen McKinsey
Born January 7, 1978
Died May 11, 2009

It is only because of our misunderstanding that we think the person we love no longer exists after they “pass away.” This is because we are attached to one of the forms, one of the many manifestations of that person. The person we love is still there. He is around us, within us, and smiling at us.
~~~~~~Thich Nhat Hanh

This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died. Over there the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies all manifests from the basis of consciousness. Since beginningless time I have always been free. Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are only a game of hide and seek. So smile to me and take my hand and wave goodbye. Tomorrow we shall meet again or even before. We will always be meeting again at the true source, always meeting again on the myriad paths of life.
~~~~~~ Sutra “Given to the Dying” from the Anguttara Nikaya

And at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
~~~~~~T.S. Eliot

Just as a mother would protect with her life her own son, her only son, so one should cultivate an unbounded mind towards all beings and loving kindness towards all the world.
~~~~~~Thich Nhat Hanh

I am not a bit tamed….I am untranslatable
I depart as air….I shake my locks at the runaway sun.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

~~~~~~~~~Walt Whitman

Bookmark the spin-off blog: Update

walkaboutstory — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:02:42 +0000

Update: The perils blog has been running for a while and is now winding down as Sarah hopefully fades into the sunset. Since I will be posting less over there, and with fewer Palin posts, I’ve decided to revive this blog. The Perils blog is fully functional, with lots of archival posts and a trickle of new posts, so feel free to wander over there if the subject matter interests you.

http://theperilsofpalins.wordpress.com

Spin-off

walkaboutstory — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:08:54 +0000

I have made the decision to spin off the Palin barbie portion of my blog. It will take me a few weeks at least to move my PlasticLand show to the new blog, but I will let my barbie/Palin satire fans know when and where the new blog will debut. If you are one of my bug post fans, I will be doing many more of those. This blog will concentrate on road trips, bugs, scenery, rants about people who cut down shoe trees, and all of the other eccentric odds and ends you have come to expect. The only thing missing will be the barbie Palin dog and pony show, which needed its own venue. Stay tuned…