How do you like them apples,,,

The proliferation of negative speak happens in very much the same way that fruit goes bad.  Much like those forgotten apples in the fruit basket on the counter. Suddenly you reach for some crunch and BAM!! you are knuckle deep in soft mush

A great idea takes time to come together.  Much like a green banana brought home and left on the counter.  On the outside it is near perfect in form.  You keep eyeing it up and when you think it is as good as you would like it, you take a bite.  EESSHH sweaters on the teeth!!  Not ready yet!  Well and idea in transition to reality can look perfect in form until you start sinking your teeth into it.  It takes time to mature or ripen.

Here’s where the fruit / idea paradigm comes into play.  If an idea is perceived as a finished product before it’s time, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth.  If the idea is left too long, the effects of ethylene break it apart and it goes bad.  The problem is, a great idea often takes a very long time to come to fruition. (see where I’m drawing the parallels here?).  Community idea building moves at a pace which clashes with the fruit / idea parallel. Take our city’s trail, which will link Haileybury, New Liskeard and Dymond.  This idea is as noble in design as a banana or apple made by the big guy himself.  The problem is, completing the project takes time.  A LOT of time. It is now being subjected to negativity festering like mould.  Furthermore like rot, it is irreversible and the only way to snub it is to cut it off before it spreads any more.

This project to link the three communities has been on the drawing board for a very long time.  It has been supported in theory and funding by an overwhelming majority in our community.  It is such a shame, that only now, after the pavement has started to go down that the mould and rot is starting to surface.  There are ways around this but it takes communication, creativity, compromise and the ability to reach out to decision makers to review regulations which are blanketed and find out way’s to apply individual solutions.

We don’t want to have to separate our apples and bananas do we?  Let’s recognize the importance of resolving the challenges ahead as we continue this great project.  Cutting off the soft mushy pieces only means there is less of a good thing to go around.

How do you like them apples,, over and out

Coffee,Trash, Calculators? They all make for a great day

I believe how much you care is directly proportionate to how much you put in.  Think about parenting.  If you are not yet a parent there is a very high degree of probability you have or have had parents and know what I mean.  There is nothing as precious to you as your children, save a midnight call from an other parent that your little angel is suffering from the ill effects of your favorite bottle of scotch you've been harboring for that big day. But I digress. Today I found myself caring about a few things I don't often stop to think about, I suppose.

I'm a creature of habit.  I take my apple, my banana and my keys in hand every morning as I go out the door.  I walk the same street, make the same left then the same right whereby I end up at my morning coffee stop.  I buy my medium, half milk half sugar, exchange a few stories and head out on my way.  I stop and look in the jewelers window, then next at this funky ladies wear shop ( hold the comments folks,,, this place know's how to dress a manikin.) then I take a gander at the new pieces of art in the window of the local framing shop.  After I cross back to the original side of the street I get to my office and begin my morning boot up sequence and get on with the business of paying the bills.  After an hour and a half I stretch my legs and grab my second cup of java up the street and often shoot the breeze with folks as I wait in line.  Are you yawning yet????  Well you shouldn't be.  This life in this little town is pretty much as idyllic as it gets.  Today, on my walk for my second cup I stooped down and picked up a big hunk of plastic off the sidewalk and a few more paces I stopped and picked up an empty pack of cigarettes and without breaking step dropped them into the nearest trash can and kept on walking without much thought. At the end of the work day, I scurried around and made preparations for a board meeting.  I've been pretty active with this group for 6 years.  In the last two I've had a pretty dominant hand in the day to day operations.  Tonight we had a great board meeting.  This was not the normal tedium of going through the motions and reading piles of correspondence that you really don't have the appetite to tackle.  This was a great meeting.  Our financials are stellar, our directors are committed, our office manager could land the shuttle with a hand held calculator, we have projects with vision and are very excited to see them come to fruition. 

Caring about, and thus being rewarded were illustrated to me in plain view today.  I love this town for all it's Cleaver family parallels, and I love my involvement in my local organization.  Just like watching your children grow, mature and develop into their own persons is really a reflection of the effort you make.  Everything we work on is going to have some junk that falls off along the way.  The trick is to recognize it for what it's worth and pick it up and deal with it without breaking stride.  Drop it in the trash, don't bother with how it got there and go get your refill. :-)

Over and out

The first of hopefully frequent thoughts

Acting on inspiration;
A few weeks ago, I was introduced to someone under some pretty humorous circumstances.  Maybe down the road I'll divulge but needless to say, I love meeting new people.  A new perspective, personality, what ever, is always welcome in my world.  Living in small town northern Ontario is truly one of the most rewarding experiences one can have.  Why you ask?? For starters this place is full of great people.  It is also stunningly beautiful if you can see through the trees and rocks,, rocks and trees.  But in my mind the best part of it all is the impact you can have on your community if you apply yourself to it.  I can imagine in large centers the small fish-big pond theory is constantly at play.  In a small community you have the ability to virtually be a whale in a puddle if you choose.  Now before some of my local com padre's read this and say "Hey Whoa there cowboy, easy on the ego" I'm not suggesting I wear a tight blue jumpsuit and sport a red cape or anything like that.  What I mean is that if you are passionate about something you can really make a difference simply by committing some time to things.  And the real reward is that you can see your impact almost immediately.

It is this spirit of community involvement that I see every day around here that makes me love being a proud northern boy.  You don't have to look too hard in this place to see the touch of many dedicated hands.  So,, where the heck am I going with all this??  Funny you should ask, I'm assuming you are asking,,
K,,, here's the thing, let's flash back to the humorous introduction.  Over the last couple of weeks we have stayed in touch and I've gotten to know a little more about what said individual does for a living.  Writer, columnist, representative and ambassador would be consistent with the day to day activities.  Add motivator too.  It was suggested I start a blog.  An outlet.  A daily discipline.  That got me thinking,,, and that can be a dangerous thing.  It got me thinking about how daily writing can be put to good use to help people.  So having been duly motivated to start writing, I unveil for you today my blog.  It is my intention to use this sliver of cyber space to offer my thoughts, suggestions, advise and ask questions.  Hopefully I will be able to offer helpful, insightful or possibly completely useless but amusing tidbits of information to anyone remotely interested in reading this.

I will keep fumbling through the technology and work at completing this page.  I'll try to add content, photo's and links to make visiting my blog enjoyable and informative.  So, stay tuned,, over and out