We both step and do not step in the same rivers.
We are and are not.
– Heraclitus
Somehow, this elegant Zen- and Yoda-like (but actually Ancient Greek) quote has morphed into this: You can’t step into the same river twice. That, at least, is how I learned it, back in the early 14th century.
The river changes; so do we. Continue reading
Dashing through the grocery store, I stop and pull out my phone. Call me fickle, but I have a new favourite reflection photo.
Travel can be educational as well as fun. Certainly, most air travel doesn’t qualify as “fun,” so there’d better be something of value that comes from it.
On a recent quick trip from Phoenix to Calgary, I was puzzled by the warning sign on a desk at the gate. A sign legible only from quite close and even visible only from a seated position, mind you. Plastered onto a surface below and sloping away from the top counter, it wan’t visible at all, for example, to anyone actually going up to the desk to ask about anything. Continue reading
With great power
comes great responsibility.
– Spiderman’s Uncle Ben
I’ve written about Seth Godin before in these pages, and Saturday’s post — The Spiderman Paradox — was vintage Philosopher Seth (as opposed to Marketer Seth or Management Guru Seth). He riffs on our great power to effect change, and laments that so many walk away from that power and the accompanying great responsibility . . . Continue reading
Well, OK, it’s more of a puddle than a pond.
And it wasn’t entirely frozen — certainly not safe for skating.
But at mid-morning of a day in early January in Phoenix, it was noteworthy. As well as kinda disgusting.
Or would that be “Expect the unaccepted”?
Standing at the checkout,Visa card in hand and no cash in my pocket, I was dismayed to realize that this just wasn’t going to work out.
I’ve already shared photos of the birds at our backyard feeder (here and here).
Now here’s an article about a rebound in Accipiter hawk populations due, perhaps, to backyard feeders that provide a predictable concentration of tasty morsels. North American Accipiters include the Cooper’s hawk and the Sharp-shinned hawk.
In the course of their study, the researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that in the 1990s Accipiter hawks occupied 26 percent of sites around Chicago. After two decades, they occupied close to 67 percent of sites.
Courtesy of Ralph Gibson. He says he’s a relation . . .
It’s interesting how “off” a shape can be and still say, “face.” I mean, what the heck would that angled handle be in a face? And yet, somehow, it works.
Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
– Home on the Range
I saw no deer. I saw no antelope. But I did see home.
Posted: 2025 Jun 21
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.
This space is available for other submissions.
