Procrastination

How not to write a blog:

(1) Make grandiose claim to write 1 blog a week.

(2) Do 2 posts in 5 days and then take 2 weeks off

(3) Start writing an overdue post and use spotify to completely derail the procrastination train.

(4) Write stuff like this:

I’ve been staring at this flashing cursor, mocking me. Then switching back and forth between facebook and spotify, Chuck Palahniuk posts and The Stone Foxes. Chatting with one my uncles about Sixto Rodriguez of Searching for Sugar Man and staring at this cursor. Flash. Flash. Flash.

John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen, aka Flash. Flash TV show 1990-91.
FYI: There is a new Flash series 2014, I guess.

Maybe if I stare at it long enough it’ll become a digital Tell Tale Heart, slowing slipping me into madness. I bet I’d have something to write about then. Curse you 1-a-week challenge. Go hash-tag yourself happy days.

Fittingly, I’m titling this post “procrastination” and moving on. Procrastination is a curse on us all, really, but writers make a fine craft of it. If you went to college, I know you can relate. It has taken me hours to sit down and write papers where-in-which I pretty much do any other work I may have. I should read that chapter first, then.. I should order a pizza so I don’t get hungry half way through.. Maybe have a beer first to loosen up the mind.. I’ll get the laundry started so that I can take breaks while I write.. Three hours, 5 pieces of pizza, 3 beers, 3 loads of laundry, 2 chapters, and a couple episodes of Friends later, without a damn thing written, I go to bed thinking I’m in a good position to get up early and knock it out.

Yesterday, I fixed the headlight connection on my truck - something I've been procrastinating about getting done for weeks. Well, the headlight started acting up about a year ago, to be honest, but a good whack to it always set it straight. But as of the last 2-3 weeks, I've finally beaten it to submission.

I was sitting down to finish this blog, and thought, I need to get that headlight fixed. Called in a favor from my whiskey-in-his-coffee-on-Saturday-afternoon to be the wing-man on this project where he could witness a first timer trying not to burn himself while soldering wires together. He proved to be an expert at holding wires and being a soundboard/adviser from the stool upon which he sipped his upper-downer coffee. Moral support is important. Went much smoother than anticipated and I either got lucky or am just tapping into the blood of my mechanic forefathers, because I think I pretty much rocked the solder work. You be the judge:

Am-Pro soldering work.

I’d like to thank my neighborly friend, Dale for lending me his soldering gun from 1972 that worked like a dream. “They just don’t make shit like they used to.”

But effectively, I did something I had put off for weeks, in order to duck out of writing for BD&LL. I should be ashamed. Should be. Feels too good to have that damn light fixed. As little of a job as it was - nigh insignificant - it feels good to have it done. The guilt of procrastination has been washed clean!

So there it is, life lesson 78.6: do something today that you can put off until tomorrow by putting off until tomorrow something you should do today. Write that down. You’re welcome. I’m getting scary good at giving advice.

Until we meet again.

Sincerely,

Mikey

Listening to: The Stone Foxes

https://play.spotify.com/track/6hb8MK0RcVOOxfpNDbZAIS

~I’m really digging spotify. Great way to find new music and follow your favorites. I think if you join, you can follow me or something. Whatever that really means. I’ve meaning to get around to figuring out the details of the service..

Reading: A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan. Wheel of Time series, book 7.

Drinking: Evan Williams whiskey because it’s cheap, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale because it’s not.

Donkey Racing

From what I’ve been told, life is all about experiencing new things.  Ever hear that quote, “You never know unless you try”?  There are things in life that you try and think to yourself, “Wow am I an idiot for even attempting this” yet you think, “but I’m going to try it again next year!”
My exact thoughts about a new experience I had the privilege of trying last week at the Clearwater County Fair in Bagley, Minnesota -- DONKEY RACING!

(Not actually the author of this blog)

That’s right kids, when you think you should always fit in by doing the cool things in life, try riding a donkey.  Not only is it not cool, but you can embarrass yourself in front of family, friends and hundreds of others you don’t even know by forming a team that will take part in not just a plain old race, but a main attraction known to the fair as a Grand Stand Event.  If you’ve been to any type of local county fair, you know what I’m talking about.  If not, I can explain it to you like this:

At the fair you probably think rides; cotton candy; games where you win huge stuffed animal; carnies that smell like cabbage; all kinds of food on a stick; 4-H exhibits; barnyard animals and so on.  Well at the grandstand events, at this fair in particular they had Gospel Night on the Wednesday evening; Monster Truck Racing on the Friday evening; Saturday afternoon & evening it was a pick up and tractor pull and Sunday finished off with one of the most popular events at the fair when it comes to entertainment, the Demolition Derby; simplified for the folks who don’t like to use big words as, the “Demo”.  Oh yeah, I forgot Thursday night!  That was the night my life changed forever.  Well, not really, but I was starting to get a little nervous about this wild ride we were about to embark on.  
Donkey Racing was the new thing this year at the fair for a grandstand event and boy did it go over well!   They had a huge crowd for it and five teams of ten, equalling fifty participants to go along with the volunteers who were there as “poop patrol” to clean up the track after each heat.  
I received a call from one of the fair board members, my friend Mark who gave me a very short version of how this was going to be executed and that they needed some teams to be formed in order to make this show go.  He asked if I would have a radio station team participate where I thought, “this will be cool and fun!”  Was it cool and fun?  It was fun watching the other participants get whipped around by donkeys, bucked into the air and fall flat on their ass (not the donkey) or get a donkey punch that almost connected in a bad spot for a man.  Was it cool and fun when we were actually the ones participating?  I’d say yes but change the wording just a bit from cool and fun, to different and painful.  

Never in my right mind did I imagine that a donkey would be so strong, so fast and so smart.  Especially the one I was on.  I guess the name Hemorrhoid fit pretty well with this particular donkey.  Some people were worried prior to the show that there would be an issue with PETA … there wasn’t.  There was an issue with my donkey though known as PITA (Pain In The Ass).  He literally was.  I never knew your butt could become so bruised.  
Not only did Hemorrhoid beat the crap out of me in the limited time I was actually “riding”, but he mocked me.  He would buck me off - the first time, he timed it out just right.  Just as CJ the ass clown who was announcing yelled “GO!!” good ole Hemorrhoid knew it was time to wait for this stupid human to leap into the air legs spread and just as he’s landing, let ‘er buck!  He bucked so hard my head went backwards, my body went up in the air and I landed flat on my back.  Keep this in mind:  This was on a gravel track, so there were some rocks laying around and it definitely wasn’t comparable to a nice, comfortable bed like you’d find at a Budget Host Inn.  

Like any champion donkey rider (or in my case, sixth place finisher) I got back up, sprinted after that smart ass as fast as I could when low and behold, one of the things CJ told me after our radio interview in regards to racing: “If you have to run after your donkey, make sure you’re aware that they can stop on a dime; and if you’re still running, they won’t hesitate to kick you….really hard.  

He may look like he’s enjoying it, but deep down, it hurts

And in your case, that could mean your sack of marbles may crumble.”  Sure enough, he was right!   Hemorrhoid never connected, but he ran and I chased...he stopped on a dime and gave a good kick with both hind legs and just missed a section of the body that would have brought back horrible memories of a high school football injury my senior year in Waubun.  I’m thinking it would have taken a little longer to regain consciousness after this mishap, though.  
After a lot of chasing and not much riding, I did at least come away with something from our heat of riders.  I was nominated & chosen for “Roughest Ride” in that race.  Didn’t make the finals, only the top two (KJ & Andy) did.  I can honestly and confidently express that Hemorrhoid and I started off our first meeting as rivals, not friends.  We shared a  kiss prior to the race, but that didn’t seem to mean anything to him at all.  CJ told me he would respond better if you’d kiss your ass before the race … maybe he was talking about something else…

(Nor is this the author of this blog)

My back, shoulders, neck, arms and legs are pretty much back to normal almost a week after the event.  No matter how much pain or agony this was, I will be back.  I want revenge on this Hemorrhoid.  I truly believe he is nicer than he was that night.  I supposed I’d be angry too if someone was attempting to jump on my back when I was trying to eat supper.  

Clearwater County Fair 2015 - Bagley, MN - It’s on like Donkey Kong!

The Real "When It Rains It Pours - Part 2"

When It Rains It Pours – Part 2

Hello Blogging Universe – it’s Barry again. I am back to share more of my journey from the last few months. If you read part one, you know that I had – spoiler alert – left my job and went into the world of unemployment. I am like every other person in the world and have bills…and the best way to pay for bills is with a job. So, I was on the hunt for a new job, possibly a new career. Frankly, I did not know what I was going to do. But, before we get to that fun, I would like to continue the story about when I left my old job. If this story is too long, you can blame Peter Jackson – and if you don’t get that joke, try watching The Hobbit series…

While I was at my old job, I was blinded by the potential for good money.

We had plans to fix up our yard, one step at a time, and I figured now was the time to do it. I entered into a contract to get some bushes removed from our yard, then put in a nice new cedar fence around our backyard. The bush guy showed up first and did a wonderful job. It made our yard look a lot larger. The next step was putting in the fence. Our fence guy came over on a Monday and we went over the final design of the fence. I proceeded to pay for half of the project up front. The plan was for him to come on Wednesday and get everything rolling. One problem – Do you guys remember our Spring? Holy man, it was just rain after rain after rain, that even continued into summer.

Well, two weeks passed and the fence posts were in. We just had to wait five days for the concrete to set and then the rest of the fence could go up. When the crew finished putting in the last post, one of the men came to the door and asked if I had power. Since I was unemployed at the time, I was home and was therefore able to check around the house and determine that we did indeed have power, so the man went back to work.

A few days went by and I noticed that our microwave was making weird noises. Now when I say “weird,” I mean I thought the microwave was going to turn into a Billy Ray song and blow up and kill this man.

So, I started looking into new microwaves. At this point, I was becoming really anxious, because our fence was behind due to inclement weather, our microwave was going nuts, and I was stressed out about leaving my job. With all of this going on, I was at my tipping point.

The morning after the microwave started acting up, my wife came out of the shower saying that the water was a bit cold, so I better let it warm up before getting in myself. So, I waited around for about a half-hour. When I finally got in, it was freezing cold. I showered faster than Bilbo Baggins running scared through the Shire.

So, I went downstairs to check the hot water heater. It is then that I come to the realization that I have quit my job, I have to pay for the second half of the fence, buy a new microwave, and now purchase a new hot water heater. What can a guy do but grab a daiquiri, sit down, and attempt to make it through the entirety of The Hobbit for the thirteenth time?

I flip on the TV and low-and-behold, it goes black. I’m a bit confused by this, so I turn it on again and nothing happens. At this point, I am about to throw my drink out the window, but that would be alcohol abuse…and I’d have to pay for a new window. So, I jump to the next best conclusion – I’m selling the house.

In case you’re not keeping track – I am out of a job, have a faulty microwave, have a broken hot water heater, and now need a new TV. Also, to add insult to injury, our air conditioner decided to stop working as well. Splendid.

I decide I better start with the hot water heater, because cold showers only happen after watching Silk Stalkings.

…Wonder what happened to that show…Sorry, off track.

So, I check the power to the hot water heater and realize that I have an element out. Off to Fleet Farm I go to purchase an element. I then drain the bastard and put the new element in. At this point, I figured I better check the power to the elements before filling it up, because I did not want to sit around and drain it again. I flip on the power and check the elements. WTF, neither one of them works. What could be wrong now? I check the lines – they look good. I check the breaker – yep, still on. I think to myself, “I bet the tank needs to be filled so the water can be used as a conductor.” So smart. I should be an electrician. I fill the tank and check the elements. Still nothing. Seriously, this is just not my day. 

I googled what could be wrong and come to find out that the number one rule with an electric water heater is to never turn on the power with an empty tank. If you do, kiss your elements goodbye. Back to Fleet Farm I go to buy two new elements. I once again drain the water heater, put in the two new elements, and discover that I only have power to half the water heater.

I finally accept defeat.

Keep checking back in to see what I finish first…The Hobbit saga or this blog series.

When It Rains It Pours - Part 2

I know you have all been waiting on the edge of your seats for the follow-up from When It Rains It Pours Part 1. Wait no longer...

Part 2 will be coming out tomorrow….. Sorry Kristen, Amber’s idea and I thought it was hilarious.

Cheers

Reunions

My sister has a big reunion coming up, she’s probably not going to be happy with me for saying so, but it’s a 20 year high school reunion, I’m sitting at about 13 so I’m no spring chicken either but the age or time frame really has nothing to do with this post, it was just the catalyst that got it moving forward.

So we were busy talking school and family reunions and got to talking about how we’ve generally always missed them because they are almost always held in the summer when we are really busy (being busy in the summer is a good thing for us), but as we were discussing this, one group of people who have been coming to our campground for years was on their way home while another one that we’ve pretty much grown up with (at least one visit per summer) was coming in.

We decided that we run a pretty cool business, a business where every weekend and heck, a lot of the normal days, can become like reunions.

Last weekend our friend Trevor Kriss was down with a couple of his buddies that have been coming for the last five years or so, Trevor himself has been coming since the very first year we opened, 1985! Over the last 30 years he has become like an uncle to us. Once his kids got a bit older, I think Kevin was like 7 and Kaitlyn 9 or so, he started coming down and spending a few days with us and them during the week as well. They even brought their cousin Devin and the three kids have become like little cousins to us. Every year we look forward to seeing them and Trevor, it’s one of the important reunions that we have every year.

One thing I’ll never forget about Trevor, along with a few other of our friends we’ve met through Voyageur’s was their presence at my mom’s funeral. It was at this point that I really began to see that these weren’t just people that would come tubing every now and then, and that Voyageur’s was so much more than just a typical business.

Another one of our great Canadian friends was also down last weekend, Kyla Taplin, with her family. Kyla is one of the sweetest people I know, a very caring individual who always puts a smile on our face every time she comes (it doesn’t hurt that she always brings us a case of Kokanee!). Kyla use to always come to Voyageur’s with her husband, it was there place together, but unfortunately a few years ago her husband died unexpectedly. It was a loss felt not only by her but by us as well, another example of how these “customers” become so much more to us. Luckily, Kyla has continued to come and visit us each year, like Trevor she has now begun to bring her kids with as well, sharing in the place that has so many good memories of her and her husband with the next generation.

There are hundreds of individuals I could go on and on about that have really become like family to us over the years, but the last one I’m going to talk about in this blog are the “Stony Mountain” crew.

For those of you that don’t know, Stony Mountain is the site of a pretty hard core prison in Canada. Many, many moons ago a group of the prison guards started to take a trip to Voyageur’s every summer, I believe this started in 1989. The looks on people’s faces when we tell them we have a group coming from Stony Mountain are always priceless!

This group happened to have a couple of girls in it who are Ryan’s and my age and when we were younger our “go to” pick-up tactic was always to get campers to play volleyball with us, so this was how we got to meet Jen and Brenda…even though our moves didn’t work, we’ve become very good friends over the past…probably 20 years, wow, that’s crazy to think that we’ve been friends for that long!

As we got older and got into college we started to go and visit the girls up at their place in Falcon Lake and got to know even more of their friends. So it would go that they would come down with the Stony crew and then during the weeks they would occasionally come down with the Falcon Lake/Westhawk Lake crew and we got to be pretty darn good friends with all of these guys.

As time has gone by and life has gone on we don’t get to see nearly as many of these guys as we use to, I personally really would love to get together with the whole crew again one of these days because we always had a great time together and they really became like family to us. We spent a few weekends with our buddy Matt at his Caddy Lake place and in Winnipeg and could always crash at the Kelly’s if needed too.

So although, every weekend becomes like a reunion to us in the summer, there are certainly some people that I would like to make a better effort to get back in contact with. The individuals I’ve met through Voyageur’s have certainly become a big part of my life but my classmates, cousins, aunts and uncles are very high on people I miss seeing list.

I’m quite a bit younger than most of my cousins (you guys are so old!) but I tend to be able to get along with all of them very well. My closest cousins are Scott, Mike, and Katie and I don’t get to see them enough. They’re always there for me if I need anything, though, and truly exemplify what family is supposed to be. I hope to make a trip to see Scott and Mike sometime this year, and I need to definitely make a better effort to get to Fargo to see Katie, Corey and the kids in the fall. It sometimes means trouble when all of us Brumwell’s get together but it sure can be a lot of fun!

We often find ourselves getting so busy in life that we forget to make time for ourselves and the people we truly care about. We get caught up in our occupations and moving forward with these things that certainly play a major role in our lives but sometimes forget about the people that have helped to shape us along the way, good or bad. It’s always good to leave the bad ones in the past, but don’t forget the lessons they taught you. Getting together with the people who have had a positive impact on your life can sometimes even help you to gain some perspective on the bad ones as well…good friends are always worth the effort to keep them in your life and sometimes it takes a reunion to help you remember just how good and important they are.

I started this blog before this past weekend’s reunions, but I just wanted to mention that I did in fact have a great time with my friends from Stony Mountain and we even got to catch up with some of my sister’s classmates as well, all great people who we’re very lucky to call friends.

As our business goes, we also got to meet several other new people and who knows what kind of new relationships can flourish from these encounters? I also found out that some of my great friends from Cromwell will be coming up to reunite with us in a week or so and had one of my best friends write a post on here for the first time, we got another great post from Mike, and Kelly added a great Bio which not only talks about himself but gives some insight into the direction this blog has been headed. I don’t always get to see the awesome friends that write with me for this blog, but every time I read one of their posts, it’s like a mini-reunion. It lets me, and you, get caught up with these awesome individuals and even shows a side that I never knew existed. Reunions always bring forth so much nostalgia, and what I think about most is just how lucky I am to have such amazing friends and family in my life. I hope you get to have some reunions before long in your life too, and I hope you take the opportunity to take full advantage of these when you can.

In case you have been keeping up with my #BDandLLHappyDays and have noticed that I haven’t posted the last couple of days…I’ll post another blog explaining that later! It may have something to do with too much whiskey and women…

Late Nights Are Fun

I was just on Facebook and happened to notice my bud Jason posted something on my wall for the first time ever, it was a link to a blog! Well, to my surprise I clicked on it and there were a bunch of Web Logs written on the BD&LL intranet site. That got me brainstorming ideas and I thought to myself, "Even though Jason has never invited me to do this, I think I'll write my own blog, too and put it on the line."

So here goes nothing....I'd like to talk about some late night action and how the evolution of "Late Night" has changed throughout my life.When I was in elementary, I can remember pushing the limits of the space time continuum by turning on the lights outside our garage and playing some best of 7 series on the court with the ever lucky Jed Geer and Shawn(nana) Lee. Those games probably would have kept the neighbors up all night if we hadn't lived next to the Royal Manor old people's home, with the ball bouncing on the concrete and us reacting like idiots to every made and missed shot, errant pass, and rolled ankles on the kamikaze cliff where the pavement met the grass. We played thousands of games of pickup hoops late into the night and then would get up and start it all over again. Oh to be a kid again!

As I got into hike school those late nights of basketball turned into many hours of sitting in the kitchen with my mom talking. As you can probably decipher, I was a pretty big party animal in high school with my late night menu consisting of alfredo noodles, butter, and parmesan cheese, a beverage of WCP (or as normal people call it: Wild Cherry Pepsi), and some good talks with my mama talking about everything and anything, although hoops or drama productions dominated the conversation. Honestly, that was the highlight of my late nights in high school; I know what you're thinking, "wow, just like Dazed and Confused and Project X". But really, I wouldn't change it for anything.

As we're going along chronologically, as a history teacher would, the next step would be college. Let's just say there were a couple more late nights in collage, yes collage (a blurry mashup of pictures) than there were in high school but a couple stand out more than others. First were my years at the University of Northland State College University or as some call it, TRFU. How many all nighters could one person pull in a calendar year, you ask? I reply with "how many times could Curt Christianson be cloaked while playing James Bond multiplayer Protect the VIP?" Yes, our late nights were often filled with a Football Frenzy order from Dominos and all night PS2 action at the Campus Courts. There may have been other nights with other things involved, too, but we'll leave that for another blog....

Moving on up to the next prestigious university, MSUM was the next stop on the life train. Meeting up with old cohorts like Dusty Neibauer and Kyle Simonson, newish/oldish friends in Ryan and Jason Brumwell, and a completely new random stranger that became a good friend because of basketball in Dan "the Stallion" Nyberg. We spent quite a few days together playing basketball at Nemzek but I doubt we ever played harder than when getting after a rousing late night game of "31". I can hardly hear the phrases "near....far", "10 (but in the voice)", and "A-Bomb, Bi@*&#$" without breaking into the hysterical laughter you only achieve at 3 am. Throw in a bakers dozen of garlic cheese bread that Slingshot delivered from Pizza Patrol and I'd say that's a pretty great late night!

Being old enough to frequent the bars meant that we could, of course, also hit the karaoke scene. I don't know what's better, our version of Total Eclipse of the Heart or the ladies that take it so serious they get mad at us when we would upstage them (in our own mind, but you must remember, it was pretty late at night)! I could probably go on and on about all the late nights we all spent together but some things are better left unsaid and just remembered, or should I say kind of remembered!

After college I assumed my late nights would pretty much be behind me and for the most part they were, until this past December when Bree and I were blessed with the biggest life changer, our son Tate. I've never done any drugs but I can only assume that those first two weeks after bringing Tate home is what it's like to be on black tar heroin. Those late nights are a blur, with a lot of screaming, crying, sucking on bottles, and peeing in the bed and if you then put that with all the stuff Tate was doing it was a chaotic time! Seriously, though, I literally had no clue what I was doing and the one person who could tell that the most was Tate. Think about his strange journey that led him to my arms and then he was thinking, "I got stuck with this clown, can someone please just feed me my food and rock me with a little rhythm?" I remember one of the first late nights when Bree's mom was at our house and I couldn't rock Tate to sleep and I finally handed him off to Bobbi with an exasperated, "he's so fussy right now". As soon as he nuzzled into her arms he was sound asleep and I zombied off to bed with the thought that all those late nights in my life before this never prepared me for this.

In fact, nothing could prepare me for being a father, but as I rocked Tate to sleep one night (yeah, I figured out how to do it eventually) I thought back to all the late nights I had and thought about a quote I had just recently heard that fit the situation perfectly. Too bad for me I hadn't slept for 34 straight hours and have since forgot that great quote and damn near everything about that night! Whatever. All I can say is that of all the great late nights I've had, with all my awesome friends, nothing compares to a late night of holding Tate in my arms. I can't wait until we can turn on the lights outside the garage, play hoops into the wee hours of the night, and start the whole cycle of late nights all over again.

The Unglamorous Necessities of Living Well

“Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.”

~Zen Proverb

I’m not sure where and when exactly I first came across this quote. But it was probably at college, which means it was longer ago than I’d really like to admit. Regardless, I’ve carried it with me in the increasingly dusty storage passages upstairs. Like all good proverbs, it has layers of interpretation. Coming to an understanding of those layers - moments of enlightenment - takes exercising the mind; another intentional characteristic of proverbs.

One interpretation I’ve come to is that in life there is no arrival point at which everything after is auto pilot. That graduation, job, job promotion, marriage, trip, etc. That moment you’ve dreamed about since you were young, whatever it is. Once obtained the work isn’t over. To make it to that moment you had to, metaphorically speaking, chop wood and carry water. To move forward, you have to continue to maintain it by chopping wood and carrying water: doing the day-to-day, often mundane and boring tasks in the same manner as before. Accomplishment is a great feeling, but bragging rights won’t keep us living; really living and feeling alive.

For many of us, chopping wood and carrying water is probably taking out the trash and doing the dishes; changing oil in the car and cleaning the bathroom; getting the groceries and giving the dog a bath; taking the kids to school and cooking dinner; working out and, well you get it. Call it the unglamorous necessities of living well.

Yesterday, my wife and I took our dog to the beach, came home and made dinner, then we split up and she got groceries while I took the recyclables in for some cash money. That afternoon I bottled one batch of wine and racked another then we made dinner, did dishes, garbage, etc. Unglamorous labor and to an outside observer (such as our lovely readers) this is boring and not newsworthy. Something we all tend to forget at some point when posting things to social media.. Jus’ say’n.

But I felt accomplished and it felt good. Things got done and I’d exerted some energy - I guess that releases feelsgood body chemicals and such. But while I can carry the accomplishment into future days - I like the fact there are 10 corked wine bottles that have taken 9 months of process to get there sitting in the hallway - today, I won’t get the same feeling unless I accomplish more, accomplish todays unglamerousness. It follows another Zen goal: live in the present moment. Yesterday’s chopped wood and carried water does little for me today, especially if I burned it all up and drank it all - or turned it into beer. Time to continue on today, getting shit done and wait for a moment of enlightenment to make itself available.

In light of our current situation, i.e. #‎BDandLLHappyDays‬, happiness is tied of course to accomplishment, feeling of well-being, and not ignoring the little things, the small and unglamerous. It is not a complete picture of happiness, but what is? As Jason told me the other day, “You make your own happiness.”

In conclusion, after searching the above proverb, I came across this blog by Thomas D. Craig who had this to say about it:

“Break life down into the simplicity of the present moment.  As human beings we do not live in the present moment.  We carry our past forward with us, we yearn for something in the future and all the time we miss what is in front of us at all times.  Life is beautiful right in front of us at every moment.  Focusing on this moment right now removes the mind from drifting to wants, needs, desires….all driven by the mind in search of attachment.  With attachment comes suffering.”

Some good words to digest over the coming week(s).

Here are a few of my unglamerous moments.

Happiness is:

Dusting off the electric guitar to practice 9 Paces West songs #9pw2014

The sound of a tube amp turning on.

Wine bottled - finally.

Listening to: “Walking into Clarksdale” album by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

Reading: wine making websites

Salud!