THE CHRISTMAS CHOOK

Dear Readers, 

   

  My Christmas gift for you...

'THE CHRISTMAS CHOOK'

  Enjoy.

Christmas is egg nog...but I still need coffee.*

A few years ago, an old lady lost her husband…well…it is not that he went out somewhere and she lost him, the old chap passed away.

The old lady was very sad as her husband was not only the only man she had ever loved but, he was also her best friend, mate, confident and life partner.

To be loving and cheeky, she called him ‘The Old Fuddy Duddy’ and, as he felt the same way, he called her ‘The Old Chook’ and so…that was what they were named thereafter.  The Old Chook and her husband had a wonderful relationship and put up with each other yelling all the time.  It was fine because they were both very hard of hearing, but not deaf.

The Old Fuddy Duddy and the Old Chook had an only child, a son. The son knew his mother loved animals and because he wanted to help his mother feel less alone, he gave her a tiny fluffy yellow chicken.  He figured it was an animal easy to look after and although his mother was poor she could afford chicken feed and water.  Besides, the chicken could keep her company.

The Old Chook loved the little chick and being very small, she would carry it around all day with her.  To help the chicken feel a part of the household she called the chicken ‘Little Chook’. So now there were two of them, the Old Chook and the other, newer and younger Little Chook.

The Old Chook was very good at looking after Little Chook who was provided with a nice bed in a box and cage with the door always left open.  Little Chook always had fresh water and seed and, a special cushion to sit on the lounge and watch television.  Not only that, Little Chook was often taken for walks.   It was pretty easy, although the Old Chook was deaf, she had excellent eyesight and daily took Little Chook with her on a ribboned leash.  They would perambulate regardless of the weather.  Though naturally, if it was too hot or cold they would stay at home.

However there was one issue, Little Chook was skittish about walking on the same side of the pavement as the curb and would often make a small kerfuffle.  Fortunately, the Old Chook was aware of this and mainly walked Little Chook on the side away from traffic.

**

Days, weeks and months passed as the seasons and the snows of winter began to drift silently to the ground and they walked less.  During this time the Old Chook noticed that with less walks and exercise Little Chook was becoming rather plump, soft and for a chicken, rather tender looking.  The Old Chook only realized this when she began to think about her coming Christmas Dinner. 

The Old Chook had to be careful with her personal finances and would sometimes see Little Chook differently as she considered her next Christmas dinner.  The Old Chook, in her mind, saw a plump, featherless, browned and stuffed chicken surrounded by baked potatoes and peas, whilst being covered in rich but lightly seasoned dark gravy and, the panic stricken kerfuffles during street walks would be silenced forever.

Poor poor Little Chook.  What was to become of her?

What WAS to become of her!

There were a few days break in the frigid cold and constant snowfall and the Old Chook felt it was time for a short walk with her companion.  Although the Old Chook did not feel particularly well or mentally ‘with it’ she felt a degree of cabin fever.  After all, they had been housebound for two weeks now and the Old Chook knew she would feel better by being outdoors.  Little Chook did not want to go outdoors but when she realized there was no point in complaining and putting up a fuss, she obligingly complied with the Old Chook’s insistence. 

They were both rugged up in their woollies to keep the insidious iced hands of frigidity at bay; even Little Chook had a vest as they strolled the sidewalk.  Unfortunately, Little Chook, who was hopping along the side near the curb was feeling rather unsettled, if not frightened.

Suddenly in the flash of a few moments...Little Chook became extremely agitated, going crazy squawking, jumping, flying doing anything she could to escape from her lead but as she tried to fly away she kept on bumping and crashing into the Old Chook.  Little Chook was indeed in a real panic that was very far past the stage of being simply kerfuffled.

The Kerfuffled Little Chook

Just as Old Chook herself was flustered, without warning, a crazy driver in a beat-up car came from behind, mounted the curb and crashed into a pole!  Right in front of the two hapless pedestrians being Little Chook and Old Chook!  They could not believe it!  They were not only flustered but now they were flabbergasted, stunned, mortified, horrified, aghast and, very very frightened.  They could have been killed!

The Old Chook, composing herself a little, tenderly picked up her hapless shaking, trembling, shivering, very frightened friend, bundled her underneath her cloak and together carefully made their way home.

The next hour, inside the warmth and refuge of her cage, Little Chook slowly recovered as she realized the Old Chook was preparing something in the kitchen.

The Old Chook came to the cage and carefully lifted her friend from her warm bed, carried her to the lounge and settled her into her favourite cushion.

Although Christmas was a week away, and...after all Little Chook and Old Chook had been through this afternoon, it was time for something stronger than tea.

As the Old Chook sat there thinking whilst enjoying her egg nog, she picked up the phone and dialled her son.

The phone answered.

“Hello dear…just wondering…instead of having my regular chicken dinner this Christmas, what say I buy a nice fat turkey, stuff it and come over to your place instead?” 

Her son was thrilled and they both excitedly looked forward to Christmas dinner.

The Old Chook sipped her egg nog, winked at Little Chook and smiled.

Merry Christmas,

Happy holidays all,

Take care,

Verde.

* Image courtesy of Coffee Drinker Cafe http://coffeedrinker.net/
** Image courtesy of livescience.com


© 2013-2015 CoffeeDrinker.net

This blog © 2013-2015 Val Verde

CHANGES OF LATITUDE

CHANGES OF LATITUDE ----

----CHANGES OF ATTITUDE

Changes of Latitude and Attitude are Constants in our Life

The above image depicts one who steps beyond personal time trod boundaries and dares to reach into the unknowable world to experience entertainment, pastimes, practices and new ways of thinking that are beyond the same old tired path of seeing the same kind of movies, theatre, music, art and books and, thinking the same old tired way.

Are you open enough to venture forth to seek and experience the unknowable?

What is ‘latitude’?  A dictionary or thesaurus may define or provide clarity on ‘latitude’ as being related to freedom, on the same line, i.e. parallel, or a longitude location either vertical or horizontal. 

As you know, geographically, maps or diagrams of Earth are lined with latitude and longitude which when interacting, are able to provide global locations.

Latitude is horizontal and longitude is vertical.

For example, Nice in Italy shares the same latitude of 39° North with Toronto Canada.

The location of the Mason Dixon line in the USA is 39.7167°N by 75.7833°W.

This was determined following a dispute to determine the official geographic/geometric location of the Pennsylvania, Maryland border.

The tropic of Capricorn is located at approx 23.26’14.0°”N and the Tropic of Cancer is approx 23.26’14.0°”S and the Equator is 90°N.

As mentioned above, latitude is also related to freedoms and those freedoms are not limited to the freedom of people physically moving around from place to place, from various latitude and longitudes and making their own decisions in life.

We all know that our lives can be transient.  We may be born in once house, the family moving to another house, city, state or country.  Many of us are not able to count on one hand where we have lived.

However, the mind is the same.  Our minds are able to change our latitudes and longitudes in the way we think about things such as holding the same faith, religions, political or life opinions from the beginning of our life to the end. 

I believe that people tend to favour the same thoughts and practices continually through life whilst not moving very far from their standard latitude or longitudes of the mind.  In other words, they often fail to change their experiences or the way they think.

Consider the following:

Below is a pictured example of our mind's latitude.  Following the same lines, we live, eat, dress and follow sports and recreational activities according to our experiences which are used after being garnered through years of adaptation from cultural and childhood practices.

As you can see, the latitudes are wavy as we remain on the same path but holding slight variation.  

The things that affect our latitudes are the various events and elements that cause us to alter our mindset and attitudes, these are the round elements that appear to be blobs.  Notice one prominent factor; the lines and round elements are fuzzy.  Why are they fuzzy?  The fuzziness represents the confusion, disillusion or unsurity of our minds at the time.

This is the representation of our subconscious lateral thoughts driven or being influenced by external stimulus.  The external stimulus may be others opinion, things we read and see and experience in our normal sphere.  This is a display of the lateral mind in action, degrees of latitude. 

Degrees of latitude all in the same place, going on and on…rarely diverting from our mental self or cultural programmed route.  

This is demonstrated by the lyrics from the song ‘Windmills of Your Mind’. from the film 'The Thomas Crown Affair.

Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, music by Michel Legrand and sung perfectly by Noel Harrison. 

Noel Harrison

WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND

Video - Noel Harrison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEhS9Y9HYjU

Albeit the forgoing may have been a lengthy introduction to Changes of Latitude however it was necessary to make these highlights to emphasise the importance of Changes of Attitude.

As discussed, our minds tend to follow a continual and never-ending latitudinal path only altering to the external stimulus of others thoughts, opinions and of course, our experiences.  This can be limiting.  Consider what happens when we step away from the ‘…never-ending spinning wheel’ and adventure into the realms of a 3D ‘esque’ mind picture or journey through our mind as a sphere. 

Allow your mind to step away from the flat plane latitude and take a different tangent and cut through the centre of the sphere to the other side and make varying curves, circles, twisting and turning, drive or drill deeper to the core and emerge elsewhere with a vastly more experienced and knowledgeable viewpoint of the world.

By stepping away from the confines of longitude and latitudinal paths of thinking, the making changes of attitude to one’s mind will allow one to mentally and spiritually grow much fuller and faster than sticking to the norm, you will grow, become more worldly and appreciate what alternatives of enjoyment are on offer in this world.

For example, when thinking about planet Earth, try seeing not only the shape and the continents as a whole, try and focus your mind on what is below the soil, what makes the soil, what are the clouds doing, trees, grass, cats, dogs, buildings, cars, traffic, people i.e. wherever and, whatever.  

Try going to a different cinema, perhaps an Art House cinema, or attend a pop concert, attend an amateur play, go somewhere different on your holiday, eat food you have never tried.

Imagine what it would be like living on another planet in which case, how would you decorate the living room?

Go the ballet, opera or go and see a crappy B grade movie it does not matter, just step from limiting confines that deter you from growth.

Life is not only about excellence, because for excellence to exist there must be the opposite i.e. in-excellence or sub-standard.  These are examples of thinking differently and freeing up the mind to other opportunities. 

Changes of Latitude – Changes of Attitude leads to deeper thinking, understanding, knowledge and, widening of mind.

Cheers,

VERDE

RAJAH AND THE SNAKE

Young Rajah and his journey of wisdom. 

Once upon a time, long ago in a far away kingdom, a very wise old Rajah lived in his palace with his family.

As the old Rajah knew his life in this time was drawing to a close. 
He summoned his son who would become the next Rajah of the Kingdom.

When the son, the future Rajah was summoned, the young man knew it was time for his father to ensure safe passage and pass his kindness, compassion and understanding but most of all, his wisdom gained over many years, to his son, the future head of the Kingdom. 

Young Rajah looked forward to gaining the deeper wisdom of age and sharing compassion.

Time passed and young Rajah had learned much from his father.  The old man shared his life lessons and stated that in order to learn wisdom, it is of great benefit if it is experienced, it must be lived.

The old Rajah asserted that it was time for young Rajah to journey into the larger and wilder areas of his kingdom, from the coast to mountains all consisting of villages and forests populated with people, animals and nature.  Young Rajah had to learn by listening, observing and to offer assistance to those in need.  However, to ensure he heard the true and honest messages being offered, the young Rajah had to go in disguise as a poor man of little means.

Young Rajah journeyed north from the city, through villages, farms, lowlands, mountains, plains and jungle forests.  It took him a very long time, months in fact and although he was learning how people live, their struggles, achievements, worries, fears and things that made them happy, Young Rajah felt he was missing something.  He pondered to the extent that he was not only agitated by not knowing what was missing but he was worried that time was wasting as he felt in his bones that his father’s strength and health was fading. 

Young Rajah did not want to go home until he had learnt the most important lesson  but, what is it?

§

Early one evening in the forest as the sun was about to set, Young Rajah was settling down into his blanket for the night.  His thoughts on the unknown lesson through each day and night, constantly plagued him.  Certainly, he had learnt much from people from all walks of life in the Kingdom yet he still knew the most important lesson was missing.  He still did not understand or even begin to understand what the lesson was, but he knew it was missing.  He could not return home until he discovered and learnt the extremely important lesson.

As he rolled over to rest before he welcomed sleep he heard, and saw something move across leaf litter. Normally Young Rajah would remain very still and quiet waiting for the threat to pass but this time he was not fearful.

‘Are you a snake?’ he asked.

‘Yessss... I am,’ hissed the snake as it continued on towards Rajah.

‘Snake... what am I missing... what it is my father wants me to learn?’

‘I don’t know... why learn things anyways?’ the snake asked.

Rajah replied; ‘Because in learning things we can understand and improve our lives.’

The snake stopped moving, looked at Rajah and asked;
 ‘And if I know how I can improve my life, what good will it do me if I can’t change things?'

‘Well snake, how do you think your life can be improved?’

‘Legs would be good.’ Snake quickly and hiss-pissedly, crossly, replied.

Rajah was surprised, a snake wanting legs... this is a new one.

Snake continued... 

‘Yes, legs!  Do you know how it feels to slide along on your belly all the time?  Look at it from my lowly point of view. Us snakes spend all our time on our bellies, eating slow moving stuff on the ground, sneaking around for a feed, sometimes down holes in the ground.  To see any distance we have to slowly slither up trees.  The worse thing is that we look creepy.  A lot of us are safe creatures yet, humans and other animals are terrified of us.  We need legs.  If we had legs we could walk and get places faster.  Besides we could walk over the tops of rocks and twigs and things.  I reckon it would be a vast improvement and make life much easier if us snakes had very long legs.  Besides, it would make us look less sneaky’.  Snake had obviously thought it through.

Both Young Rajah and Snake said nothing else as the snake slithered away.

‘This could be it,’ thought Young Rajah.  ‘My lesson could be to learn the difficulties that animals and plants experience, and understand how I may help them.’

Dear reader, what is unknown to others, is that both the old and Young Rajah have supernatural powers.  Before Young Rajah went to sleep that night, he performed his magical powerful deed and gave the snake long legs.

§

In the morning, Young Rajah packed up his meagre belongings and continued his journey through the jungle and up into the mountains far beyond the tree line until the only thing that was present was snow, rock and moss.

Young Rajah spent much time in the mountains sitting in the open at the top, the pinnacle, enjoying the solitude and contemplation. 

The seasons changed from winter to spring and Young Rajah knew that with the passing of seasons our lives shorten and some lives pass.  He knew the time for the passing of his father was closer and it was imperative he return to the palace as quickly as possible.

Young Rajah moved very quickly on the most direct southerly route and did not waste any time.  It was only a matter of days when he reached the place where he met the snake that wanted long legs.

On the way back, Rajah placed his pack at the base of a rock and sat down.  ‘Snake, snake... you here?  Hey snake... are you here?’

The response came very quickly with anger.

‘Yes.. I’m bloody here... did you do this to me?’ Snake was continually pissedly, hissedly and sissedly as he revealed himself from behind a tree.

Rajah laughed and laughed and laughed so hard he fell off the rock.

‘Well... did you do this to me?’ as Snake angrily hissed asking in a very threatening manner.

‘Look at these... things...’ He hissed and sissed with disgust indicating his legs as he struggled and kept falling off and over logs and rocks.

Young Rajah was trying to be serious.  It was difficult because snake had four of the longest legs he had ever seen on a forest creature.  Hilarious, a snake four feet long had six feet long articulated legs.  No wonder he was angry!

Snake tried to calm himself down and explained the situation to Young Rajah.

‘I don’t know who you are but I reckon you are the one who gave me legs!' Snake began.

'I know I said having legs would help us snakes but you have no idea of the difficulty!  No longer can I slither up trees, go down animal holes, slide through logs or even sneak up on prey.  I can no longer slither!’

Snake continued.

‘To make matters worse, as people see me they attack me with sticks because I can’t slide or run away... because legs are impossible to use!  
I have no shoulders or hips and no muscles to support them.  
All I seem to do is wobble around and fall over all the time! 
I thought having legs would be good, but I can’t hunt and have been starving all winter!  
Do you have any idea how hard it is to back out of a rabbit hole with these darned long things?' He said indicating the long skinny ungainly legs.

'Can you please return me to how I was, long and skinny... with NO legs please.’

It was at that moment that young Rajah realised he was on the path of his father’s wisdom.

§

It was only a matter of days when young Rajah returned to the palace and was holding his frail father’s hand at his bedside.

‘So my son, before I go, what wisdom have you learnt about people, nature and the kingdom?’ Old Rajah asked.

Young Rajah shared his experiences with the wise old Rajah.

‘Father, thank you for encouraging me to tour our kingdom and learn.  I journeyed much, saw many people and experienced many things.

To answer your question, there is much to wisdom; the first is there is never a limit to becoming wise, it takes many lifetimes and experiences.

The second is that regardless of who people are or their status they all have opinions on what would improve things, but improvements need to be tested.

The third is that it is folly to improve on nature, snakes are happier and exist better without legs.'

The old Rajah's laughing eyes lit up.

Young Rajah continued; 
'The fourth is to recognise that just because we have power it can be used unwisely with poor results.

The sixth and biggest lesson of all father, is to accept yourself as the being you are... oh... and be careful what you wish for.’

The old Rajah smiled, chuckled and kissed his son’s hand.

Verde

© Val Verde (2015)

Note:  All works and intellectual property in this blog are under copyright.

THE 8 BALL

CAUSE AND EFFECT - BILLIARDS

The aim in the game of billiards...pool is to be the first person to pocket the 8 Ball after sinking all your other balls first.

This is like life, we know what we are trying to achieve and set about doing just that.

Like pool, there are rules that must be followed in order to achieve our life goals.

However, in achieving pocketing the 8 Ball, or being what we individually think of as being successful, it is not always straight forward.

This article draws an analogy between billiards and life.

Billiards, snooker and pool is a game of cause and effect.

Life is also dominated by cause and effect.

We cause things to happen and it has an effect.

I demonstrate:

In Billiard games, because we want to win the game we have to follow the process and rules of play. 

As mentioned above, in order to win one must be the first to pot the 8 Ball after all your other balls.  However, in doing this one has to avoid accidentally sinking the white ball (cue ball) and/or the 8 Ball as well as your opponent’s balls.  This in itself is a challenge.

However, during the game it is a matter of course that other balls are hit and ricochet off others.  The balls roll around the table and may or may not roll into difficult positions.  Such as touching other players balls or end up against the table cushions.  Therefore, you can be placed in a difficult position which may not be easy to recover.  Following, you have to adjust your game strategy and use differing techniques to accommodate the new ball layout.  That is, with each shot both you and your opponent make, the game alters.

Billiards is a game of cause and effect. Because balls move around the table, either intentionally or otherwise this has an effect on the game.  Cause and effect.

This is like all life challenges...nothing stays regular and constant and one is constantly adjusting to get the advantage and win the game. Meaning, to sink the metaphorical 8 Ball of life.

As you may have gathered, I have recently taken up the sport of Billiards...pool, so much so that I have bought my own cue etc.  I am very lucky that I have ready access to a billiard table.

Being rather new to the game I am still very much a novice at technique and strategy but I am learning.

I enjoy thinking about billiards and pool, what is involved and strategies one may use in order to be the first in the game to pot the 8 ball and win.  

During the quiet hours between midnight and dawn I think a lot about billiards.  This is when I came to realise that the game of billiards is a graphic metaphor for life and all the challenges and obstacles we encounter in order to overcome challenges.

So to explain it better, below are the corresponding elements that are needed for Billiards and Life

BILLIARDS =	LIFE
Billiard Table =	One’s Life
Long skinny stick (Cue) =	Intention
Billiard...Pool Balls =	Skills
Table Pockets =	Target
Potting the 8 Ball =	Goal (Achievement)

The game of billiards, pool is an analogy for life and the above table shows the parallels.

It does not matter if one is playing against another person or against oneself, is not the potting of balls into pockets the same as achieving things in life?

I see this wonderful sport of billiards, pool or snooker that involves no running, jumping, pulling, pushing or lifting heavy weights to be a wonderful visual and physical exercise in understanding the process of living.  

Life, as billiards...pool, does not have to be struggle, both are a game in which we all are trying to achieve a happy and positive outcome.

We make life what it is.  

Everyone can play pool.  Everyone has a different physical stature, mental attitude, health and experience.  Take the cue from me.

A player with a positive attitude regardless of their inexperience can win a game over a very good player.  As a beginner I learnt this lesson the other night when I beat a very experienced and excellent player.  

During my life I have only played pool about five or six times and that was over a period of 15-40 years ago.  Yet, there I was the other night playing about the fourth game since that time. I have never had lessons, I was mis-hitting balls, had one or two air shots but at least the way I was playing, I won the game.

How did I win?

In all honesty I think it was because I was taking my time and properly lining up my shots, covered (blocked) two pockets...not really deliberately...but almost and most importantly, I made sure that I took my time approaching the table and was careful that my stance and bridge (hand aiming the cue) was correct.  (I have lots more to learn about and practice this). But the thing is, this is what we do in life.

Life, as a game of billiards, have obstacles such as rules, penalties and challenges, that is the way things are.

As you can see, achieving goals or becoming successful is not necessarily determined by who or what one is up against.  It is more about our personal attitudes and other attributes in which we play the game of life and living.

Well...that is what I have learnt about the game of Billiards.

Cheers,

Verde