For Mollie & Elle

One of the first blogs I ever started to read was IPODMAMA, now IPM. I haven't been around in ages, but dropped in today to this post to discover lost love at 16.

I've always believed that music is a way to express and to cope.

Maybe this'll help...

Thinking of you both.

Bonding over a wheelbarrow

Something I've known all along came to light the other day. It's one of those things that often is taken for granted. I'm not sure how many of you can look back on your life and shake hands with those who have been a part of it for a quarter century or more, but that's a reality for me.

I interact regularly with long-time friends, but what I thought about the other day was the great number of those with whom I share a lengthy history and more specifically, those who aren't always in my 'daily' life. I have these people in my life who seem to be off doing their 'thing' and we rarely spend any time together. When we do, we each appear not to have missed a heartbeat: we pick up where we left off as if no time had passed whatsoever.

It's a great feeling and it gives me every reason to continue to make more friends.

Today I spent some quality time with my new neighbour, also Dave but no relation. We did what neighbours do - talked about neighbourhood goings-on, and he borrowed a wheelbarrow. Is this another quarter-century friend in the making? Only time will tell, but for now it's a great feeling meeting a new, great neighbour.

What's your wheelbarrow doing these days?

Along the road of life..

...there are




OK, I thought it was funny...

I was cruising around on Facebook and noticed that one of my friends had recently returned from England. She'd taken that photo, along with this one...




...priceless!

It would appear that I am living vicariously through other, more seasoned travellers! These were good for a chuckle, but seeing the other photos brought back some fond memories of our visit in 1982.

Life moves along here - not so much full of places I've travelled to, but rather, times had with good friends.

Speaking of priceless...

Got any ideas?

The question I pose here is directed toward those in my home town of Calgary since the answer lies locally.

Can you recommend a good yoga studio?

Frankly, I miss yoga. Well, not so much yoga as much as the structured classes. I do some yoga at home and when I'm out and about -- like camping at Radium a couple weeks back. Trouble with yoga is that it seems it's so "trendy" these days, and picking the right studio and the right instructor is as important as one's focus on the yoga itself. I'm a pretty easy-going guy and for the most part, pretty accepting of most everyone, but when it comes to my own health care, I require a gentle-natured soul to help me along. That goes for MDs, massage therapists and yoga instructors.

I did one of those Bio-feedback tests at the chiropractor's office about a month ago, too. It suggested (and I'm not exactly sure how it came to the conclusion) that I am "overworked".

Essentially they hooked me up to a computer and took readings of all kinds to compare against a battery of data. It highlighted a number of things that I was already aware of, as well as a bunch of stuff that I was unaware of.

It was on the recommendation of the technician and my chiropractor that I do the cleanse, and that in and of itself brought a new meaning to the word "exhausted".

Today was my last day of the 15-day herbal programme, and I'm honestly looking forward to regaining my energy levels. Literally, I've felt zapped for over two weeks. It's raising my stress levels simply because I have no energy reserves. The energy I normally use to simply operate day-to-day seems to have been robbed by these little purple pills and herbal extract that taste strongly of cloves.

I've cleaned out the body - it's time now for the mind and the soul.