Priceless

$10.00 - money for my weekly set of videos from Pic a Flic

$15.00 - money for breakfast with Jeff at Bubby Rose’s

A full afternoon of beach walking, yardening and gardening

with son Jeff and granddog, Dyogi ~ Priceless!

“There’s no perfect life, but we can still 

fill it with perfect moments.”

~ Nishan Panwar

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees

“Well, Sam. I guess pa was kinda right. Money sure doesn’t grow on this here old tree anymore.”

“Yep, Bobby. It sure was good when we found it though. Do you remember how excited we were. After all those folks in the village, especially ma and pa, kept tellin’ us that money didn’t grow on trees, and then findin’ this old tree just draped in all kinds’a dollars.”

“Sure enough, Sam. And every time we harvested some, a bunch more would sprout again. Y'think we maybe took too much and killed the poor old tree. It looks to be the ony one around here.”

“We shure enough could’ve, Bobby. If we ever got back to the village, first thing, nobody’d recanize us, we bin gone so long. Then we tell ‘em some yarn about findin’ a money tree - that we kilt!  They’d sure enough send us off to the doc.”

“Sam, did we do the right thing by settin’ off on a wild chase to find somethin’ like that ol’ tree?”

I dunno, Bob. I just dunno. Shure do miss ma and pa though. And the whole village. Dancin’, music, and that purdy little librarian.”

Sam and Bobby decided not to return to the home of their youth, but regularly went over their many happy memories. Working hard, they had gathered all the money they would ever need. Over the years, the postman had taken packets of their found money back to their village. The postman was sworn to secrecy so one ever knew where it came from but it was spent wisely. Traveling salesmen came around to sell supplies to the two old men. Except for the salesman and occasional visitors, their lives continued, quiet, uneventful and peaceful.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

The Conversation

The Conversation

“I don’t want to talk about money any more!” He was just on the underside of yelling, his voice tight, jaw muscles twitching like they did when he felt cornered.

“But we have to talk about money.  At least how to manage the money we do have.”

“We both want such different things. I know yours are as important to you as mine are to me. But I don’t want to give mine up so you can have yours.”

With a sigh, his partner sat back heavily in her chair. “Is there any way we can compromise, find any common ground? Is it really so black and white? Yours or mine?”

The conversation went long into the night. They had avoided the topic for so long that it was difficult to get started. So many childhood emotions tied to spending money, whose money is it and who knows best. All full of tears, punctuated by laughter. In telling this story many years later, they couldn’t remember what finally turned the conversation into a planning session filled with excitement. 

Conversation, turning the temperature down on emotion and a lot of patience - that was really all it took.

“Tone is often the most important part of a conversation ~ 

and listening is so much more important that what you say.”

~ Hoda Kotb

It's Only a Tool

This blog theme has made clear to me that, while money is used on a daily basis, it is as ordinary as having any other tool. Put away when we don’t need it, taken out when we do. Now not everyone has a tool box full of tools. Those that do, have different sizes of tool boxes. Fascinating are the great big red ones on wheels, with all manner of little drawers and cubby holes. Then there’s small tool kits, like my grey one that I keep close at hand in the kitchen. Tools for basic fix-it jobs are in there ~ a hammer, different sizes of screw drivers, a hand saw, some wrenches and many little bits of things. The great large ones just have more of the same, or they may be for some specialty jobs ~ especially for car fix-its. 

Money then, buys more tools for home and living. Sadly, there are some who have little access to the money tools ~ some who have not paid attention when they were cautioned about spending and saving habits (blush); and some who, through no fault of their own must spend and earn what is available to them. These folks really do learn to be creative and very resourceful, using everything they have to it’s greatest advantage.

(An aside ~ Some folks want to borrow, share or just take other's tools.  Lesson ~ Caution in lending is wise.)

“A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench

than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.”

~ Robert Hughes

Gifts by Chance

Opportunity ~ a regular visit to the eye doctor!

Definitely not a money day in earning, or spending.

Just a lovely day and a long, lovely walk home

Cool and splotched with occasional sunshine

Petals and leaves shone with drying raindrops

Cement lions, urns, and bird houses graced gardens and trees

All along my stop/start wander, many gifts were presented to all and sundry.

Myriads of flowers ~ handsome iris, giant orange poppies, pale yellow roses and many nameless colourful flowers.

A telephone pole with ‘Deer Crossing’ in chalk to alert drivers to our deer population.

Midway in my walk from Oak Bay to Fairfield, a treasure box of books ~ a yellow ‘lending library’ with wings at the edge of a tousled yard.

In Ross Bay Cemetery, full of history and ancient trees,

a pair of young deer enjoyed good grazing on leaves and grass.

I was gifted today ~ 

by nature,

by gardeners,

by a mother’s idea and 

a child’s hand.

“Pleasure is spread through the earth

In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.”

~ William Wordsworth, 1806

Building a Hummingbird

If I were to build a hummingbird

I would use a fleck of gold,

precious metal money’s standard,

from now to days of old

Now fragile body has been moulded,

tiny heart is made to beat.

Human hand will give the power 

to clutch or aviate.

Grasping our dollars tightly,

from fear of want or lack

will hold us back from sharing,

finding joy in giving back.

“The hummingbird competes with the stillness of the air.”

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Time and Money Well Spent

Hmm......

Let’s see ~ spending time or spending money.

Time is pretty finite ~ one second, minute, hour... at a time

But then I guess so is money ~ one cent, nickel, dime.... at a time.

Too philosophical for a sunny Sunday so....

wandering seemed like the thing to do.

Direction?

Downtown

Why?

Because there might be something going on.

As the crow flies, it would have been shorter but walking city streets needed some creative wandering ~ a right turn, then a left turn, up one street, then another. Watching for bees, flowers and birds ~ oh ~ and cars when I crossed streets.

Ten years in Victoria and I’ve not seen a lot of sights, so

today there was a first - the Victoria Bug Zoo.

Money changed hands to support this funny little ‘zoo’

with guides that took us through the lives and habits of them all.

Scorpions, ants, and cockroaches

Tarantulas, beetles and walking sticks

Millipedes, spiders and cicadas

We could really learn a lot about recycling from these little guys.

A very precious little girl held her little hands out to hold each one ~ except for Jane, the tarantula and Louise, the scorpion. Only those of us 19 and over could hold them! She was so very disappointed ~ but patient with the adults who were so squeamish!

Then lunch, home, and playing in my yard.

All in all my time and money was very well spent.

“I loved being outside. We’d hold lightning bugs in 

our fingers and pretend they were diamond rings.”

~ Loretta Lyn