Ted loved the way life felt when he got on his bike… and could RIDE.

On Tuesday, when he went out for a spin…. Ted felt larger than life.  The wind in his bolts.  Yes.  He was moving on down the highway.  A robot without a care in the world.

Yet, in the back of his circuits.. . he knew the weight of the world was large.  Very large indeed.

And suddenly, Ted realized just how small he really was.  Oh.  Just a little bit of wire, and sprockets, and metal… and of course…. a whole lot of nuts.

Most certainly.  A whole lot of nuts.

Yet.  In the bigger picture, he felt very infinitesimal.

“Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it” – Mahatma Gandhi

I have a pretty good sized family.  We are all over the place now.  Literally, we live from sea to shining sea.  This was a few of us at Easter.

Yep.  Me, a brother, a sister.  One sister-in-law and a nephew.  And Mom.

At our Easter gathering…  there were no chocolate bunnies.  Or peeps…  or pastel Hershey Kisses.  There seldom are.

Isn’t it funny how families develop certain traditions and ways of doing things.  We become familiar with each other, and with these ways.  Like being true to Hellmann’s mayonnaise.  Or banning double-dipping.  Perhaps it is using Crest toothpaste, or going bowling on Sundays after church.  Or the toilet paper on the roll over the top.

But back to this Easter photo.  We DID eat a bunch of hard boiled eggs and beets.  All pickled up.  Then we did the Chicken Dance to celebrate.

It is what families do.  Well.  Maybe not ALL families.  But….. our family.

Yep.  We get together and eat puce colored eggs.   And smile for cameras.

And then.  We wrap up the day with the Hokey Pokey.  Because.  That’s what it’s all about.

 “Share our similarities.  Celebrate our differences.”  – M. Scott Peck

The King and Bob, decided to go for a canoe ride.

The creek was lovely this time of year.  Lovely.   So off they went.  The ride was fine.  Fine indeed.

Both of them grew hungry.  So.  They stopped on the east bank to enjoy their packed lunch.

They ate marshmallow-fluff sandwiches, easy-cheese on saltines, and Tang.  Oh what a day.

And after a long talk, they decided to be on their way.
The King thought Bob had the paddle.
Bob figured the King picked it up.

Alas… they were up that creek in the canoe.  Yet, the paddle was on the shore.

“Don’t stand up, for crying out loud.”  Bob said.
But the King stood anyway.

The little boat rocked back and forth rather forcefully.

They both fell in to the creek … and the canoe drifted out of sight.

It was a good thing the city bus would be by any minute now.
Yes.  They could catch the bus.

And those wheels on that bus go round and round.

Press on. Obstacles are seldom the same size tomorrow as they are today.
-R. Schuller

Ahhhh.  The Good Old Days.

I long for the days of old in a lot of ways.

TV, for instance.  Every time I flip on the television, and I see some other version of Dancing with the Bachelor in American Idol Swap….  I long for The Carol Burnett Show, or Mary Tyler Moore.  I want to watch All In The Family or M*A*S*H.  I would love to see an episode of Bewitched, or even The Muensters.  Lucille Ball… where the heck are you?

Yes, that is just one way I miss the yesteryear.

I want the good old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Wonder Bread, all smooshed up in a little baggie… because you crammed the lunch bag into your school desk, under your math book… along with your little stash of animal crackers… or Fritos.  Yep.

Ohhhhh…..  Typewriters.  Gas Station Attendants.   Mailboxes on street corners.  The pink slime on McDonald’s Hamburgers.

Telephone cords that stretched all the way across the entire kitchen.

Elmer’s Glue…. for everything.

And then there were the old computers… the kind where you had to summon two of your co-workers when the thing froze up.  The three of you had to simultaneously stand on the Control + Alt + Delete keys to get it going again.

Yesssirrrreeee.  Those were the days, my friend.  Those were the days.

But.   As they say.  The past is behind us.   Like it, or not.  There’s no turning back the hands of time.  And here we are.  Right here.  Right now.

I think it is better to like it…. than to not.

“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.” – Author Unknown

They could not agree on much of anything.

But of course.

They were comparing Apples and Oranges.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde

“If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” – John F. Kennedy

Sometimes, in life… hitting the bullseye isn’t really all that important.  Sometimes…. all that really matters… is that you aimed for the tree.

And with that.  An old story for you.

~~~~~~~—–~~~~~~~~~

A duke was hunting in the forest with his men-at-arms and servants.

He came across a tree. Upon it, archery targets were painted and smack in the middle of each was an arrow.

‘Who is this incredibly fine archer?’ cried the duke.’I must find him!’

After continuing through the forest for a few miles he came across a small boy carrying a bow and arrow. Eventually the boy admitted that it was he who shot the arrows plumb in the center of all the targets.

‘You didn’t just walk up to the targets and hammer the arrows into the middle, did you?’ asked the duke worriedly. ‘No my lord. I shot them from a hundred paces. I swear it by all that I hold holy.’

‘That is truly astonishing,’ said the duke. ‘I hereby admit you into my service.’ The boy thanked him profusely. ‘But I must ask one favor in return,’ the duke continued. ‘You must tell me how you came to be such an outstanding shot.’

‘Well,’ said the boy, ‘first I fire the arrow at the tree, and then I paint the target around it.’

Here of late, I have heard much ado about the mysterious iconography which surrounds the holiday of Easter.

So.

Let me try my best to explain it to you.

Easter…. you see ….. began thousands of years ago.  It started with the Easter Seals.  The Easter Seals lived far, far away on Easter Island, and mostly laid around all day….  flapping their flippers and balancing balls on  their noses .  The Queen of the Easter Seals had very high cholesterol levels.  And as such, she banned all the Eggs on the island.  She ordered that all the Royal Coins in the Army take care of disposing of ALL eggs.

So on Tuesday,  when the Queen’s Coin Army was to go out….  the Quarters, the Nickels, and the Pennies did not gather.  Only the Dimes showed up.  So the Queen officially named the Crusade, The March of Dimes.

The Marching Dimes’ instructions were to shoot any egg they saw.  And so… the Egg Hunt began.

This scared the Holy Heck out of the Chickens.  So much, in fact… that the chickens ran about, clucking and flapping, and gathering up all the eggs.  They even crossed the road.  And.  Once they had the eggs… they put them ALL in one basket.

Then, the wise Big-Stone-Bobble-Head-Statue of Easter Island ….. boomed out the Wisest of Words.  “Never put all your eggs in one basket.  NO!  Disguise your eggs.  Hide your eggs.  And do it FAST!”

The Chickens agreed.  This was best.  So they painted their eggs many different colors.  But now to hide them?  And fast?

The chickens would need help.

They ran an ad in the newspaper advertising the job.  A hare, and also a tortoise showed up for the interview.
Because of the rabbits speed and agility, he was hired to hide the colored eggs.  In this case, slow and steady did not win the race.

The March of Dimes went on and on and on.  But alas.  The Rabbit of Easter Island did a fine and fabulous job of hiding the eggs.

So the chickens ate lots of candy to celebrate.

They gave the rabbit a  very big farm…. where he could live in secrecy.  And hide the eggs whenever they needed his help.  In the mean time…. he got great reception on any TV he was watching in the house.

And that, is the History of Easter.

“If a coin comes down heads, that means that the possibility of its coming down tails has collapsed. Until that moment the two possibilities were equal.
But on another world, it does come down tails. And when that happens, the two worlds split apart.”
― Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

I haven’t thought about him in quite some time.  But here I am, thinking about the Sandman.

I’ve sang the song…  but other than that… I haven’t given this character much regard, one way or the other.  So.
The Sandman is based on the old bedtime story that parents used to tell their children, hoping it would lull them to sleep. Now, the actual origins of this tale are not very clear.  But they may predate written history.  It does appear that one generation to the next…. passed along this very nifty story (in some variation).  And here we have it.

The story goes like this.  There is an entity that comes to you in that space of time just before you fall asleep.

At some point,  after your eyes close for the last time on any particular night, and just before you fall into a state of unconsciousness…. that little Sandman materializes over you.

Who exactly is he, and why? No one is sure because no one has ever got a good look at him.

Some claim he has a head shaped like the crescent moon, and dark eyes with stars inside them.  Others claim he is bright in every way… like the moon and stars above.  He carries with him a bag of magic sand, and he sprinkles a very small amount over you.

Some say it twinkles in the moonlight, like a thousand tiny stars just over your face as they fall. Some say the sand actually sounds like a music box, or the flitter of faerie wings. No one has ever really heard the sound however, for by the time the sand touches your face and alights about your eyelids, you’re on your way to dreaming.

He does not wish to hurt them, for he is very fond of children.  He comes to  good children, and then they dream the most beautiful stories the whole night.

Since those days of old, people have written different stories about the Sandman, making the depiction of him, quite the inverse tale.  These authors have introduced fear and darkness…making this delightful character into a sinister creature of the night.

I for one, like the good and magical Sandman.  I prefer the pleasant dreams and thoughts of the undiscovered possibilities.
I like to believe in fairy dust, unexplained kindness, elves, and magical sprites.  I love the thought of rainbow cakes, and the voice of the moon.  Yes.  I love the magic.
I do believe in the Good Sandman.  And with that, I wish you “Sweet Dreams.”

“Sleep is the best meditation.”  – Dalai Lama

Lately, it seems I have been using the phrase…”Well, I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

But now, I wonder.  Do you really have to cross those bridges?

People do different things with bridges.  Some people burn them.
Others find an alternate route.
And still others will make an attempt to get across, even if goes against their better judgement.

Today, as I drove home, I passed the same old “Road Closed Ahead” sign that I’ve been driving by for about a year or so.  It hit me that the road is closed, because the bridge is no longer passable.  It isn’t safe.  It is broken.  No one in their right mind would try to drive over it.  Barriers have been put in place to keep people from making any attempt of crossing that bridge.

And when it is that clear, and THAT apparent…. perhaps you just shouldn’t cross that particular bridge when you come to it.

You see.  I don’t know how to fix it.  I’ll have to rely on a power greater than I…..  to do that big whopper of a job.

So.  There it is.  I’ll have to find another way.

Or perhaps… maybe I need to find a different creek.

“Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge.” – Don Henley

There are two things I can say tonight.

1.  Have faith in your connection to universal principles.  The Universe will not abandon you if you maintain your connection to it. Keep the faith, and the faith will keep you.  (Or so I speculate.)

2. I wish I had a can of corn… instead of a can of worms.

And.  That is all I know about that right now.

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”

– Auntie Mame