Not going to worry overmuch....

 March 26, 2025

Every week, sometimes on Tuesday but more and more lately on Wednesday, I settle myself down at my keyboard to write my weekly essay. I ensure I have water, and a blanket for my legs, and that I’m positioned just right in my chair. But what I never have, as I set out to write Wednesday’s Words, is any idea of what it is I’m going to give you.

You could ask one hundred writers where they find the inspiration for their words, and you will likely get one hundred different answers. Mine isn’t perhaps the most unique, but it’s true: I don’t know where it comes from, I just know when its arrived.

This morning, as I was getting ready to get to it, I took a rare not-end-of day trip to the land of YouTube. Fortunately, there were no rabbit holes in my path, but my mind did wander, which is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) for me.

And I was thinking how odd our world is. It’s like we’re living in a two-story mega building, in a way. One floor is given to those who have agendas with varying twists and turns and machinations thrown in for good measure. They have plans, intricate plans, based mostly on their own egos—their own sense of self.  And the other floor is just regular folks living their everyday lives. They get up, go to work, come home, and do whatever. They have plans, too, but not ones that are egocentric. They plan to just be. They plan to get together with friends, go clubbing, catch a game on the television, or just sit quietly and listen to music.

On the one floor there are poseurs who don’t realize that they are; bullies who believe they’re in charge and rightfully so; and scavengers who only want to get as much as they can as fast as they can because they can.

On the other floor there are people who have dreams, and aspirations, and goals—and not all just for themselves. They look for ways to share their time, and when someone needs a hand, they give it without consideration or expectation of gain in return for themselves.

Each floor has its own way of doing things, and each floor operates completely independent of the other.

The one floor—the one with the movers and the shakers and the wanna-be king makers—isn’t overly crowded, but it’s crowded enough. And they understand, you see, that there are folks living presumably beneath them, but because they are, in their minds “beneath them”, and they don’t think much beyond that somewhat subjective fact. After all, they can’t be much of anything, they say, because if they were they’d be “up here” instead of “down there”.

The other floor, folks just want to live their lives day to day, just want to be and to see and yes, to love. They are content for the most part to let that other floor do what they want to do where they are. They don’t let that floor get to them, because why would they?

After that image had fully taken root in my mind, I begin to think, as I often do, “what if”?

What if life really is 95% perception?

Facts are facts, but if folks don’t accept the facts, what happens then?

Do you see the trouble I get myself into when I spend too much time thinking?

It all comes down to a choice. What’s more important in life—the fact that you’re not rich, or your ability to find contentment regardless of that fact?

Perception is important because it acknowledges fact and then chooses how to interpret that fact.

This is important. Because another fact is there are more people on the one floor than there are on the other; and those others—the movers and the shakers and the wanna-be king makers—hold a second serious disadvantage aside from being outnumbered.

Their inability either to trust or to be trustworthy works directly against every other single advantage that they think they have.

So, I’m not going to worry overmuch. I figure that things will change for the better when enough people get to the point where they’ve simply had enough.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

Ah, spring...

 March 19, 2025

Over the course of the last week, the snow has melted away. I don’t know if I can tell you just how happy I am about this fact. On top of that, today has dawned sunny and warm. I’ve already checked the forecast. It promises the temperature will rise above 65 by this afternoon. And while Spring will not officially arrive until 5:01am tomorrow morning, as noted on the calendar, I feel it’s safe to announce that Spring has indeed sprung.

Now, we still may get snow between today and the end of May. It’s happened more times in the past than I can recall. But that, of course will be a spring snow and not a winter one. And yes, also of course, it’s all a matter of one’s perspective—or one’s attitude. A great deal of how we interpret things in life really is.

The weather will, according to this same forecast, begin to turn chilly after today—who couldn’t have guessed that? But I will celebrate the moments while they are here and take time to appreciate the warmth of sun and air while it lasts.

I’ve mentioned in the past that ours is a corner property. We have a back door, accessed by the cross street, which is in fact on a hill that rises from east to west, and on the south side of our house. We have an enclosed back yard, and therefore a gate via which to enter and exit the yard. In the good weather (read: weather without mounds of snow or frozen gates) we use that back gate to cart our trash to the street for our weekly trash pick-up. It’s a straight, no-stairs, not very long trek.

A side note: we also use this gate to bring in our groceries in “good” weather. We have a garden cart that David fetches to the road. I pull the car over on that hill—emergency flashers blinking—and he can easily put the groceries from car to cart, then pull that cart to the back door. Yes, there’s one step down into the kitchen, but otherwise this is a much easier way to cart our shopping in.

However, during the times when the gate is frozen shut, we have to keep our garbage cans and recycle containers on our front porch (and lug groceries by hand up the steps to the porch). The good news is the porch is covered, and the bins are generally free from having to be dug out at any given time.

The bad news is that they are on my front porch for all the world to see. I truly hate that, as I hate little else in this life.

But as of last night, when I kind of insisted, the porch is now clear of such blight. I will tell you that my porch is nothing much to look at. But there are chairs there for folks to sit on and watch the street. Further into spring, there will be plenty of plants as well. I generally have two “window boxes” of plants that hang from the railing; and four potted, profusely flowering plants that hang along the top of the porch. We also have nice, serviceable cushions to pad the three metal-framed chairs as well as a small table in between two of them to allow for a place for coffee mugs to rest.

My front porch is certainly not fancy, but it is my front porch and a lovely place to sit and think when the mood strikes.

David gets the most use of the porch, as he loves being outside. He spent the last forty years of his working life in a job that was outside year-round. I will sit out on the porch from time to time, but because of my arthritis I have to be aware of the breeze. David doesn’t have that problem. He’ll be sitting out even when I think it’s far too chilly to do so.

He’s been out there quite a bit since the snow left, and I can tell you that his ability to do so has brightened his mood considerably.

Soon, the grass and the plants will awaken to this new spring and its new possibilities. We anticipate the green that will become a part of the view out our windows and from our porches. But in this moment, the sense that everything is fresh and new and waiting is the essence of the promise of spring.

And in this moment, we can sigh that the worst of the winter of 2024-2025 is behind us. The best really is yet to come.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

About that...

 March 12, 2025

I would like to make one thing perfectly clear. Canadians have always been patriotic.

We have always held a great love for and pride in our country. We have always taken a full-hearted yet quiet pride in the accomplishments of our fellow citizens. Some of them are known world-wide. Michael J. Fox; Celine Dion; Michael Bublé; Ryan Reynolds; and the co-discoverer of Insulin, Dr. Frederick Banting, to name the ones that come to mind.

We have always been the first to reach out when there has been a sudden need to be filled, wherever that need arises around the world—or in our own country. During the recent, many and varied natural disasters that have taken place south of the 49^th, Canadians have given aid in record amounts. One need only check with the Canadian Red Cross to know that is so.

Americans have always known that if they are somewhere overseas, and there is no American Embassy at hand, they can go to the Canadian Embassy or Consulate and find the help they need.

In 1979, when Americans were being held hostage in the Embassy in Tehran, the Canadian ambassador sheltered six American diplomats and got them free of that very volatile situation, and back home safely. That ambassador’s name was Ken Taylor, and President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal for his heroism.

More than twenty years later, at another moment of crisis for America, when the airways were closed down, one small town in Newfoundland said yes and accepted 38 planes on 9/11, carrying 6,579 people. That act doubled the size of the town of Gander. Quick shelters were provided to house those seeking it, yes, but also Canadians opened their own homes to those stranded during a perilous time. And that didn’t just happen in Gander, but in other provinces throughout the country, too. In total, over 250 flights carrying approximately 45,000 people found refuge here in Canada for that heartbreaking week.

And—this is important—no one, absolutely no one charged a penny for the above services. And when many tried to give money to those who had offered a safe harbor, meals and clothing, the answer was no. Not just no, but said with confidence “no, you’d have done the same.”

We are patriots and we are humanitarians, and we are quick to help where we can.

Our patriotism runs deep. We don’t need fireworks or parades, or grand shows, (though we have them on our nation’s birthday, Canada Day) to prove our mettle in this area. For Canadians, pride of country is as natural and as pure and as instinctive as is breathing.

And yes, it’s true, we are polite. And yes, we are and have always been good friends with our neighbors to the south. Many individual Canadians not only have very close American friends, but members of their own families. In fact, I have several very good friends who live in such diverse locations as Utah, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas.

But no, we are not pushovers. And we don’t, to a person, care very much for bullies. Those of us who are Christian don’t wave our Bibles; we live by them. We not only know the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, we practice it.

And we don’t much like the prattle that has been directed our way lately by the current prominent voices in the U.S.

We’re an intelligent people. We don’t hold individuals responsible for the sins of others. If you’re coming to Canada for vacation, you’ll be welcome here. We don’t play “gotcha” games.

I know a lot of you, my dear American friends, have been very angry with the behavior of your loudest spokespeople in recent weeks. We know you don’t agree with what is being done or said. And we know that you’re concerned that we might be all alone in the world now that your government seems to be turning you away from us.

But don’t you worry. We are a forgiving people, a people who believe in redemption and second chances. When the time is right, we’ll do what we can to mend the damage that has been done to our relationship. It may take time—after all, we learned when we were children that broken trust takes time to mend. But I assure you it can be mended.

And in the meantime, we do have other friends. We’re liked in Europe and Asia, and my goodness! We are a member of the Commonwealth of Nations—an organization of 56 independent countries. You may have heard of it. And guess what? Our King is the head of it.

So please, dear friends, do what you can to fix things in your back yard. We wish you the best, and we have faith that before long you will be back to your former charming and reasonable selves.

As for us, we’re going to be just fine. And in the words of the late, great Gordie Howe, elbows up.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

It's March!

 March 5, 2025

Welcome to March 2025!

In last week’s essay, I let you know I was looking forward to finally being able to leave my house after a couple of weeks of being house-bound due to copious amounts of and poorly placed piles of snow on ice.

We were successful in our first trip out to the grocery store, and David was certainly happy to get out and have lunch. We were able to get a few of the essentials we were running low on, and some of them were even on sale. We couldn’t get everything we needed, however, because we simply can’t get that much up the front stairs and into the house on our own. But that was all right, because our daughter was picking up her grandchildren to come for the weekend a few days later, on Saturday. She would have two strong young people to help her bring in the extra items we needed.

You may also recall that, according to Ashbury family tradition, winter each year runs from October to March, inclusive. Therefore, this current cold and snowy season will end in 26 days. Not that I’m counting, or anything. I’m just anal.

Our temperature is slated to hit 50 degrees Fahrenheit today. I’m very happy to hear it, but I’m not super excited about it. Because with this temperature increase comes rain. So much rain, in fact, that Environment Canada has issued a flash flood warning. Yes, rain melts snow. No question. But then all that water has no place to go because the ground is frozen—even more frozen than usual for this time of year.

And by more frozen, I mean that the freeze is deeper into the ground than it has been for the last few years.

And then, of course, after being teased by the spring-like warmth of today, and lots of rain with it, we go back right to below freezing temperatures beginning tomorrow, for at least a week. Maybe even longer.

The good news about that is that while it’s not time yet to schedule our annual spring-cleaning extravaganza, that day is on the horizon, and we’ll likely begin to plan for it.

The bad news? Lots of rain (water) melting lots of snow (more water) is about to not seep into the ground and to therefore freeze solid. For those of us who do have institutional memory of these kinds of situations, we know to do certain things. One must go out and rescue, for example, things like garbage pails our outdoor grills that may be or about to be in standing water. They need to be moved to someplace less subject to being encased in three inches of ice. Because if they’re left where they are, one likely won’t be able to move them until full-on spring.

Fun times. Another good thing is that having the air warmer today means not tempting frostbite while you go out and do what you can to prevent damage to household items.

This year, so far, we’ve given no thought to the upcoming planting season. There are discussions to be had, for certain. And we’ll get to them by and by.

But we did receive notice that this upcoming “construction” season, our street is slated to receive a new water main, and then the road itself will be replaced. There was a “drop in” meeting held this past Monday at the nearest community center. Our daughter and I went, and it was an interesting and informative evening.

We learned at that, while right now there is a sidewalk on both sides of our street, after this project is complete, there will no longer be a sidewalk on our side of it.

During the construction period, I will not be able to park my vehicle in front of my house. But since I have an accessible parking permit, arrangements can be made. Ours is a corner property. We’ve suggested that there’s enough room for us to park on our side lawn, just slightly infringing on the edge of the roadway—of the east-west oriented cross street.

Making application to do so now will begin the process by which the by-law department can allow an exception, which will be a great help to me. It would be difficult for me to stay mobile if I have to walk a block or more to get from house to car. I’ll shortly be writing a letter to get that process under way.

I have something to do that is new and different, and that, to me, is a bonus.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury