Category Archives: assumptions

November 1, 2025 · 5:19 pm

What Happened to the Bermuda Triangle?

I recently had a pop-up on Facebook regarding not hearing about the Bermuda Triangle anymore. I recall growing up in the 1970s and hearing frequently about boats and airplanes disappearing in that location. As time went on I realized it was no longer in the news. With the recent pop-up on Facebook, my curiosity was piqued.

What better place to begin my research than the Britannica Encyclopedia? According to the encyclopedia, more than 20 airplanes and 50 ships disappeared without a trace in the triangular area between the northern point of Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Florida, near Miami. Occasionally a vessel was found completely abandoned, with no apparent reason for abandonment. Aircraft flying in the area completely vanished. No distress signals were received from ships or airplanes, and only minimal debris has ever been found; no bodies have been recovered. Even search and rescue missions disappeared without explanation.

I remember people being very superstitious about the area and wondering why anyone would travel within that zone because of the numerous disappearances. Some believed the pilots failed to consider the agonic line. This is an imaginary line on the Earth’s surface where magnetic north and true north are identical, resulting in no need to compensate for magnetic compass variation. Failing to compensate for this can result in a severe navigational error that can lead to a catastrophic accident and disappearance. Others believed the ships were overcome by rogue waves, which can be as high as 100 feet and strong enough to destroy a ship or a low-flying airplane.

The name “Bermuda Triangle” dates back to a 1964 article in Argosy, an American pulp magazine. The article discusses a pattern of ships and airplanes disappearing in the area without any explanation. The Deadly Bermuda Triangle by Vincent H. Gaddis examines the history of industrial, military, and commercial flights and ships that have disappeared in the area before the writing of the article. Gaddis provides a list of ships disappearing in the area as far back as 1854. It goes back to 1840 if you include the Rosalie, which was found with everyone missing onboard except a half-starved, caged canary.

In 1881, a schooner was found that was deserted, everything was in order, and there was “evidence of a struggle.” A crew from the ship Ellen Austin went on board to claim salvage. A squall separated the two ships as they were en route to port. The schooner was found; the crew had vanished. Another crew agreed to go aboard, but again a squall separated the two ships. The schooner and its men were never heard from or seen again.

Marina Life has an article by James R. Barneff, The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, written in September 2023. According to him, it was Christopher Columbus in 1492 who first recorded weird phenomena in the Bermuda Triangle—strange lights in the distance, erratic compass readings, patches of white water, and a large ball of fire crashing into the sea. They encountered a floating sargassum carpet, a mass of seaweed and tropical berries, which was so thick that they had difficulty navigating through it. The article lists a series of disappearances. It begins with the 1918 disappearance of the U.S. Navy ship, the USS Cyclops. The 542-foot-long cargo ship was carrying over 300 men and 10,000 tons of manganese ore. They sent a message that they had fair weather, and all was well, but it never arrived in port. In 1941, two of her sister ships also vanished in the same area without a trace.

Over the years, various theories have been proposed regarding the disappearances, including those involving aliens, time warps, and reverse gravity fields. Scientists have noted that the Bermuda Triangle is one of two locations on Earth where compasses align with true north instead of magnetic north, which can interfere with navigation if not accounted for. Other theories include pilot errors, sudden storms, running out of fuel, and damaged ships and airplanes. The mystery is that the Coast Guard has never been able to find any wreckage in the area.

So where are we today? The article The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Finally Unveiled, shares that a shipwreck occurred in December 2020, when the vessel and its 20 crew members all disappeared. No trace of the ship, debris, or persons on board has been found. An average of 20 boats and four planes disappear in the Bermuda Triangle each year without explanation.

No firm explanation has ever been made, probably because there are no distress signals, no survivors, and no wreckage to determine a cause. Various factors may contribute to the disappearances, including the Gulf Stream crossing the Bermuda Triangle, which can cause sudden weather changes. The Milwaukee Depth (27,493 feet, 5.26 inches), the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, is located within the Bermuda Triangle. Methane gas production below the water’s surface is massive. Due to these natural circumstances, scientists believe that the ocean depth and methane gas production may cause underwater crevices to open, releasing giant bubbles of methane. This could lead to massive blowouts of gas that could suck boats below the surface and cause engines and aircraft probes to malfunction.

Why don’t we hear about it anymore? Most likely because, as science evolves, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has been debunked. Compasses that read true north instead of magnetic north can cause a 20-degree difference in readings, leading to navigational errors and significantly deviating from course. The unpredictable weather patterns of the area can create sudden waterspouts and thunderstorms, putting ships and airplanes into danger, and the fast, turbulent Gulf Stream can quickly erase any wreckage.

One of the main factors contributing to its loss of media coverage is that conspiracy theorists and journalists built popularity and hype around a dangerous area, when in fact, there are other, more hazardous locations. The Bermuda Triangle didn’t even make the list for dangerous shipping incidents from 1999-2011: British Isles, Bay of Biscay, North Sea; East Mediterranean Black Sea; Japan, Korea; West Mediterranean; Gulf; South China Sea, East Indies; West African Boast; Panama Canal; East African Coast; and Bay of Bengal.

The bottom line is that the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle remains a topic of debate to this day. Many minds still ponder its origins. However, scientists often attribute it to natural phenomena and weather. The Bermuda Triangle is considered safe and is heavily traveled.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, Discoveries, environmental, exploration, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, Mystery, nature, reality, travel, Weather

Tagged as aircraft, airplane, argonic line, Argosy, Atlantic Ocean, aviation, Bermuda, Bermuda Tirangle, Christopher Columbus, Coast Guard, compass readings, debris, destruction, disappearance, Ellen Austin, Florida, flying, gulf stream, James R. Barneff, magnetic north, Methane gas, Miami, Milwaukee Depth, navigational errors, phoenomena, pilot error, Puerto Rico, sargassum, schooner, scientists, ship, squall, superstitious, The Deadly Bermuda Triangle, The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Finally Unveiled, theories, travel, true north, USS Cyclops, vessel, Vincent H. Gaddis, waterspouts

October 17, 2025 · 7:00 am

Why Didn’t the U.S. Adopt the Metric System? – Part 3 of a 3 Part Series

In Part 1 of this series, I explained how I became curious about the planned conversions from the Imperial to the Metric systems of measurement in Canada and the United States. In Part II, I provided a history of Canada’s laws that enforced the conversion and where the country stands now in utilizing the Imperial versus Metric measuring systems. Now, let’s examine the United States’ history regarding the metric system, followed by my opinion on why it failed to implement the planned conversion.

The United States is a muddled mess when it comes to its measuring system. This inconsistency and lack of follow-through dates back to our founding fathers and continues through our failure to complete the transition to the metric system in the 1970s.

History:

When the American Colonies were being formed, the Founding Fathers decided to use an antiquated measurement system they inherited from the British Empire. Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States provided that Congress should have the power “to coin Money… and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.” Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State in 1790, endorsed the use of a decimal system of measurement. The only fear was that the United States would be unable to verify the metric units without sending a delegation to France, which would be costly.

The metric system originated in France. The goal was to establish a uniform standard for all measurements and weights. The unit of length was a portion of the Earth’s circumference, and volume and mass were derived from the length unit. This was achieved by multiplying or dividing by 10 and its powers. Ten is much easier to work with than dividing by 16 (to convert ounces to pounds) or 12 (to convert inches to feet). The metric system is a decimal system with a base of 10, allowing for calculations by shifting the decimal point.

The French government officially adopted the metric system on April 7, 1795. A scientific conference was held from 1798 to 1799 to validate the system and design prototype standards, with representatives from Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland in attendance. The adopted standards became official in France on December 10, 1799.

The United States was snubbed by France when it invited the other dignitaries to travel to Paris to learn the metric system in 1978. This snubbing was due to the U.S. entering into the Jay Treaty of 1796 with Great Britain, a French rival. France viewed this as a violation of its own treaty with the United States. It retaliated by seizing American merchant ships and refusing to invite them to the conference on the metric system.

The United States, having not taken part in this gathering, adopted the U.S. Customary System as our official form of measurement under Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in 1821. Part of the reason for this decision was fear that the metric system might fail following Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign during the early 19^th century. Napoleon imposed the metric system on the countries he conquered, making it a symbol of French control. When European countries revolted against French control, they returned to their original means of measurement. Even with this revolt against France, the metric system continued to grow in popularity. By the end of the American Civil War in 1865, most of Europe had adopted the decimal-based measuring system.

The metric system was gaining popularity worldwide, and although we had not been invited to the 1798 gathering in France to learn about the system, President Andrew Johnson recognized its importance. In 1866, President Johnson signed the Kasson Act, making it “lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system in all contracts, dealings, or court proceedings.”

France held another meeting of the world’s leading nations to discuss a new international version of the metric system, and the United States received an invitation and sent delegates. During the 1875 meeting, the United States and 16 other countries signed the Treaty of Metre, establishing the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The treaty also created the International Committee for Weights and Measures to oversee the Bureau and the General Conference on Weights and Measures to consider and adopt changes. A lab in Sevres, near Paris, was selected to house the international metric standards. The U.S. received its copies of these documents in 1890.

The Mendenhall Order of 1893 stipulated that the fundamental standards for length and mass in the U.S. would be based on metric units. This means the U.S. officially and legally recognized the metric system 159 years ago when Tomas Jefferson, in 1790, endorsed the decimal system of measurement. That standard was confirmed 132 years ago with the signing of the Mendenhall Order.

Current U.S. Standards

If you are like me, you probably read those last two dates and went “what!!!” If this has been our standard for over 132-159 years, why are we still not using the metric system? In my opinion, it is a combination of laziness, unwillingness to invest financially in the change, and, most importantly, lawmakers who were weak in committing to the change and developing a law that would mandate the conversion. Here is what happened that led me to that thought process:

Fast forward 78 years from the entry of the Mendenhall Order to 1971. The United States is still operating under the Customary Imperial system. The U.S. National Bureau of Standards recommended in 1971 that the U.S. transition to the metric system over the course of 10 years. This would mean that by 1981, the country would be fully converted to the metric system. The first problem was the weak law that enacted this process.

The Metric Conversion Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975. It states that the metric system is “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce.” Still, it permits the U.S. customary units in all activities. It states that all conversions to metric are “completely voluntary” rather than establishing the 10-year deadline recommended by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. Schools began teaching children the metric system, and some businesses made the change; however, the majority of conversions never took place.

Due to the U.S. failing to complete the conversion to the metric system, conducting business with foreign countries became more difficult. In 1988, the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act amended the 1975 Metric Conversion Act. Federal agencies were now required to use the metric system in business activities, including procurement grants, by the end of the 1992 fiscal year. It designated the metric system as the preferred standard for trade and commerce and assigned the Federal Government the task of helping industry make a voluntary conversion to the metric system. The problem is that the conversion remains voluntary, and the private sector has no obligation to implement the change.

The result of these non-mandatory laws is that they left the United States out of sync with the rest of the world. It also means that some industries made partial or complete changes, while made no change at all. The United States is a hub of various measuring standards that are not mutually compatible.

Today, the U.S. uses the SI (International System of Units) on a daily basis. About 30% of products manufactured in the U.S. use metric units. Pharmaceuticals are all metric, and beverages show both U.S. customary and metric units. Film, tools, and bicycles are metric. U.S. coins & currency are produced using metric specifications. Wine and distilled spirits have been using only metric measurements since the early 1980s. Packaging uses metric units to provide net quantity, nutrition, and health-related information for prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, vitamin supplements, and other products. The U.S. lighting sector uses metrics for light output (lumens), peak beam intensity (candela), beam distance (in meters), and impact resistance (in meters).

Understanding Imperial Standards

This article begins with Part 1, which explains my curiosity about how our current measures were established. I’ve taken a wide-ranging approach to the subject, due in part to my curiosity and love of history, and partly because I believe that to understand where we are, we must know where we came from.

While all this history is fascinating, it still didn’t answer my question of how the Imperial System of measurements was established. These measurements appear to date back to around 450 CE (Common Era; a secular version of AD). It was then that the Germanic tribes invaded England and established a system of measurement that remains in use today:

An inch (ynce) was the length of three (3) barleycorns.
A foot was initially based on the length of a human foot. This led to inconsistencies in measurement, so the 12-inch foot was officially codified by King Edward II, likely because 12 has more factors, making it easier to subdivide for carpentry and construction.
A yard was established as a 3-foot construction standard.
An acre means a field and was considered the size of a field that a farmer could plow in one day.
A gallon represents the volume equivalent to eight pounds of wheat.
A mile was established by the British Parliament as eight (8) furlongs, or 5,280 feet. A furlong was a length based on a single furrow in a plowed field and was standardized by England’s government around 1300.

The United States is the only industrialized nation that hasn’t made the metric system compulsory. While cost is one factor, the main reason is the failure of Congress to make the metric system mandatory in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories. The U.S. made the conversion voluntary in laws enacted in both 1866 and 1975. The country has failed to adopt a unified system of metric measurement for transactions that affect the lives of ordinary citizens.

This has led to a hubbub of mixed measuring standards:

A football field is measured in yards, but footraces are measured using meters.
Mechanics use horsepower to measure an automobile engine’s power, but the same engine’s displacement is in liters.
Air pressure is expressed in pounds per square inch, which is equivalent to millibars for air pressure aloft, and inches of mercury for surface atmospheric pressure.

In the U.S. Customary System, there are over 300 different units used to measure various physical quantities. The failure of Congress to make conversion to the metric system mandatory has resulted in the U.S. being a hodgepodge of imperial and metric systems.

Basic Measurement Conversions:

1 mile = 1.6 kilometers.
1 foot (12 inches) = 30 centimeters
1 inch is about 25 millimeters or 2.54 centimeters
1 yard (3 feet) is almost 1 meter
1 kilogram is just over 2 pounds
1 pound is about 454 grams
In the U.K., 14 pounds = 1 stone

Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius is easy:
0 degrees Celsius (°C) is equal to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (°F)
24 degrees Celsius is equal to 75 degrees Fahrenheit
To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, use the formula of (c x 1.8) + 32

If you want to know more, you can use the World Wide Metric Conversion Calculator for converting pressure, temperature, length, weight, and volume. Just enter the measurement you have, and it will fill in all other boxes within that area.

In closing, should the United States have enacted firmer laws mandating the change to metric? Do you think it would be better if we were on the same measuring system as the rest of the world, or do you like being a stand-alone country using the U.S. Customary System adaptation of the British Imperial System? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, Canada, communication, decisions, Discoveries, education, habit, Michigan, reality, travel

Tagged as 1988 omnibus trade and competitievness act, american colonies, article 1 section 8 of the constitution of the united states, Canada, conversion, customary imperial system, founding fathers, france, french government, general conference on weights and measures, imperial system, internaitonal bureau of weights and measures, john quincy adams, kasson act, mendenhall order of 1893, metric conversion act, metric system, napoleon bonaparte, national bureau of standards, president andrew johnson, president gerald ford, si, treaty of metre, United States, us customary system

March 28, 2025 · 4:17 pm

Michigan Was a Slave-Holding State

I decided to share the link to an article published in the March-May edition of Michigan’s Freshwater Reporter. Michigan is known for being a free state that helped freedom seekers via the Underground Railroad. That information is accurate, but Michigan citizens also were slaveholders. You can learn more about this by checking out Michigan’s hidden history of slave ownership on page 4 of the Freshwater Reporter.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, Coping, decisions, education, events, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, Michigan

Tagged as freedom seekers, history, Michigan, slaveholders, underground railroad

October 10, 2023 · 7:21 pm

What Makes a Reader?

A recent conversation with three children ages seven, eight, and 16 made me wonder what makes some people like reading when others don’t. I used to think it was parental influence, but that doesn’t hold true because kids from the same family can have different preferences.

I considered whether children who struggled in school with the language arts became non-readers and those who grasped those subjects easily became avid readers. That also isn’t true. I know people who were strong language arts students but are non-readers and people who struggled in school but enjoy reading.

With no scientific studies to support or deny my theory, I decided it must be related to a person’s desire to escape reality—readers of fiction and fantasy or a thirst for knowledge—non-fiction and historical readers. Some memorial readers have compassion for learning about the struggles and accomplishments of others.

In coming to this theory, I looked mainly at my reading habits and then considered those of others. I realized that what a person absorbs from reading impacts how they think, sometimes for a lifetime.

We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and thin and feel...is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become. Ursula K. LeGuin

The Pew Research Center interviewed people who had read a book in the prior 12-month period. Their interviews revealed that 26% enjoy learning, gaining knowledge, and discovering information. The pleasure of escaping reality and becoming immersed in another world was the reason 15% gave.

Other reasons, in lesser amounts, include relaxation, the variety of topics they can find, spiritual enrichment, the mental challenge of reading, and the physical properties of a book—the feel and smell. I can relate to the last one because I like the look and feel of a book in my hands rather than reading on a device.

The Pew Research findings are comparable to my theory. An article on ReadingWise, What Impact Can Reading Have on Personality? comports with my view that reading books can impact personality. People, especially children, gather life experiences through the books they select. They learn about other cultures, personalities, social classes, gender, etc. This learning can make them more empathetic toward people who are different from them.

Not only does reading impact the child, teen, or young adult’s personality and social skills, but it can also influence what they select as their career, activities they participate in as an adult, and how they view home life. Some books I read as a child, teen, and young adult influenced the genres I read now, what is important to me as an adult, some career choices, and how I view some controversial topics.

Nancy Drew Mysteries by Carolyn Keene were written for female readers between the third and sixth grades. As a child, I read this series, borrowing from the local library and devouring several a week. As an 18-year-old teen detective in the 1930s, Nancy’s ability to sleuth out the answer to different occurrences at a time when women didn’t hold careers in such “dangerous” situations was intriguing. Her independence and bravery probably inspired many females to surpass the gender-expected roles.

I enjoyed reading these books, trying to figure out the mystery along with Nancy, and it created in me a lifetime love of mysteries and crime stories. It also inspired my love of conducting research.

Making a tremendous impact on my viewpoint regarding abortion is My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel. Published in 1969, the young adult novel covers four teenage friends, romance, the decision to engage in sex, contraception, loneliness, and communication. When Liz becomes pregnant, her boyfriend speaks to his father and then gives her $300 to get what at that time was called a back-door abortion. Abortions were illegal, so the medical care was less than pristine, with procedures done on the sly. This often led to complications or death.

In the book, Liz starts bleeding profusely during the car ride home from her abortion. The entire scenario impacts not only the girl who endured this horrific illegal abortion but also destroyed the friendship group.

Reading this book as a young teen impacted my viewpoint on abortion for life. As an adult, I have always been pro-life but also pro-choice. I believe that a person, especially under circumstances such as sexual abuse of a child or an adult rape, deserves the right to decide whether to abort during the first trimester of the pregnancy.

The only thing that has changed in my mind over time is due to advancements in medical technology. I do not condone aborting a pregnancy when the child can sustain life outside the womb.

True Crime and/or True Detective magazines were in our home, belonging to my parents. As a child, I loved devouring these magazines full of true crime stories. While they were probably not the best reading material for someone so young, they influenced my preference for true crime and legal books.

Agatha Christie is a well-known mystery writer, and as I outgrew the Nancy Drew books, books by this author became a favorite selection. During this same time, I also enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock’s writings. I primarily read fiction during my early-mid teen years, and these were my primary focus.

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad is a title I remember ordering from Scholastic and reading in elementary school. This non-fiction book influenced my future love of non-fiction and interest in reading about the oppression of enslaved people and blacks.

Black Like Me is a non-fiction/memoir written in 1961 by journalist John Howard Griffin. Griffin, a white man, had his skin temporarily darkened and traveled to the Deep South to learn what it was like to live under the terms of segregation. It was amazing how he was treated very differently when living as a black man vs. how he was treated after allowing his skin to lighten and was again regarded as white. It is a real eye-opener on how badly people judge others based on the color of their skin.

Sybil was published in 1973, and I read it around age 13 following its release. This is the true story of a female being treated for dissociative identity disorder. Sybil had 16 separate personalities, likely developed as a coping mechanism due to severe physical and sexual abuse by her parents. This book influenced my opposition to child abuse, and in high school, I did a term paper on abuse.

F. Lee Bailey wrote The Defense Never Rests in 1971, and I read it as a young teen shortly after publication. F. Lee Bailey was a well-known criminal defense attorney, representing clients such as Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler) and Patty Hearst. In the book, he discusses many of the cases he defended. This book impacted my interest in the law and helping criminal defendants.

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations - that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own. Katherine Paterson.

There are many others, but these immediately came to mind when I thought about books from my youth. Those I remember after over fifty years most likely influenced my outlook on life. What is their impact on my life?

I was a community opinion columnist for The Times Herald in Port Huron for several years, expressing my opinion on controversial issues. I am currently working on a book about CPS taking my granddaughters and adopting them out to strangers rather than my husband and me. I have given testimony before legislative committees regarding the problems with the Michigan sex offender registry, and I went back to school in my 50s and became a paralegal. I am now considering becoming a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), which means advocating for children who are in foster care.

My reading is almost 100% memoir and non-fiction. I live and travel full-time in an RV and buy books from the areas I visit. Learning about the history of places I visit is enjoyable.

What do you read? Did what you read as a child and teen influence your life choices? Share your thoughts below.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, career, children, decisions, Discoveries, education, exploration, impressions, Life is a Melting Pot

Tagged as agatha christie, black like me, Carolyn Keene, child, children, CPS, fiction, genre, habits, harriet tubman and the underground railroad, influence, john howard griffin, language arts, memoir, My Darling My Hamburge, nancy drew mysteries, non-fiction, paul zindel, personality, pew research center, reading, social skills, sybil, teen, the defense never rests, times herald, true crime, true detective, young adult

July 23, 2023 · 4:55 pm

What Is Professional Photography?

I recently visited the Real Bodies special exhibit by Hurley Medical Center at the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan. The sign said no professional photography, which means personal use only. I started through the exhibit, and after taking a few pictures, a worker told me no professional photos. I responded no problem, personal use only. She then said I couldn’t use my DSLR camera, only my cell phone. Their position was that my Nikon D750 camera designated the photos as professional, and I couldn’t use it. When I told them that is discriminatory because I use that camera for personal photography, I was told that is their policy.

What is wrong with this? The photographer’s knowledge of photography combined with the way the photographs are being used designates them as professional images. The type of camera is, to a certain degree, irrelevant.

To achieve professional quality, you must understand the basics of composition, depth of field, clarity, and lighting. You can achieve professional-quality images by utilizing all your cell phone camera features. You can also produce low-quality photos with a high-end DSLR if you don’t understand how to use your camera and the rules of photography.

Before and after comparison of Real Bodies taken in a pose looking up at atoms above it

The photo on the left is a before shot taken with my cell phone using the standard default camera settings inside the Real Bodies exhibit at Sloan Museum. The photo on the right is after editing in Photoshop to lighten the heavy shadows caused by exhibit lighting.

The problem I ran into at the Sloan Museum is one I have encountered elsewhere, as have other DSLR camera users. I planned to tour the Van Hoosen Farm Museum in Rochester, Michigan. The sign said admission was $5.00, but the clerk told me it would be $50 to enter. When I pointed out the $5.00 entry fee, she told me I had to pay a $50 professional fee because I was carrying a professional camera—I had my DSLR. I have used SLR cameras since the early 1980s and did no professional shooting at that time. The girl told me to pay $50, or I wouldn’t get in. I walked out the door.

There is one place in Michigan that got it right. There was no camera discrimination when attending the Blue Water Sandfest in Port Huron. This organization understands professional photography; they posted notices that if you plan to use any photographs professionally, you must have written permission and follow their publication guidelines. This company understands the photographer, and their usage of the images makes it professional photography, not the camera style.

So how do you determine who is a professional photographer? Having a good camera is not the determining factor. Most professional photographers use a DSLR around clients because people think the camera makes a person a professional. However, in a recent survey by Suite48Analytics, 13% of professional photographers say they take at least 50% of their work-related photographs using a smartphone, 24% use it to take less than half of all professional pictures, and 31% use their cell phones more for professional photography than in prior years. The only limitation a modern cell phone has is resolution. If printing the photographs in a large format, a cell phone isn’t going to meet quality standards. Cell phone quality is sufficient if images are only for online or small format use.

The before photo on the left was taken with my cell phone using standard default camera settings inside the Real Bodies exhibit in the Sloan Museum. To achieve the photo on the right, I edited the picture in Photoshop to lighten the shaded areas created by the exhibit lighting.

So what determines whether a person is a professional photographer? It depends on what standards you use. The most common determining factor is whether the person earns between 50% to 100% of their income from photography. In other words, to be a professional, photography is your full-time career. By that definition, I am not a professional photographer.

Another manner of determining whether or not a person is a professional is whether or not they have accomplished at least one of the following:

Has given a photography presentation
Has received recognition in a national photography contest
Has sold their photographs in an art show or art studio
Has a website displaying photographs for sale
Has organized or directed a photography field trip
Has published photographs in newspapers, magazines, or books

I qualify as a professional if you use this second group of criteria. You may wonder why, if I qualify as a professional, the policy against using a DSLR camera bothers me. The reason is the policy discriminates against anyone using a good camera. The policy should be based on how the photo is used after creation.

The worker at the Real Bodies exhibit told me I can use my cell phone photographs in any manner I choose. I said, “So I can use them on Facebook, blogs, or other writings?” She said yes because they aren’t professional photographs.

Now a legal question comes to mind. Since I took “unprofessional” photos with my cell phone, can I use them to accompany a magazine or newspaper article? According to the worker, I can. I don’t think that is what Hurley Medical Center’s intent is, but that is the message being given because of inappropriate wording on their signage and poorly informed workers.

The problem is that Sloan Museum and Hurley Medical Center assume a professional photographer cannot get a quality image from a cell phone. A professional-quality photograph from a phone is easy when you adjust the camera settings. Sloan Museum/Hurley Medical Center, Van Hoosen Museum, and other places that want to prevent the professional use of photographs should display signage that photography is for personal use only and not for professional purposes. They could also state that for professional use, written permission is necessary.

The above before and after photos were taken in the Real Bodies exhibit at Sloan Museum. The image on the left shows a distracting acrylic display case and reflections that detract from the subject of the photo. The image on the right is after editing in Photoshop to remove the reflection and case, allowing the subject of the photo to stand out.

What is a professional photograph? It is an image being used for business, marketing, available for sale, or used to accompany articles written for magazines, newspapers, etc. In other words, the photographer aims to generate profit with the photo.

The bottom line is that businesses must understand the difference between camera style and professional usage. A lack of understanding may lead to people using images in an unintended manner.

Those hiring a professional photographer need to understand the difference between a person with an expensive-looking camera shooting in automatic/jpeg format and a professional. Professionals know how to produce an image that stands out and process it using Lightroom, Photoshop, or another pro-level image editing system to tweak it into the best photograph possible.

If you want to take good photographs, learn the basics of composition, lighting, depth of field, and exposure, plus how to use your camera to achieve the desired results. Purchasing an expensive camera will not help you take better pictures. If you buy a DSLR and leave it in the “auto” setting, you might as well use an inexpensive point-and-shoot or cell phone. If you invest in a DSLR, learn to shoot manually, preferably in raw, and edit in Photoshop for the best quality image.

2 Comments

Filed under assumptions, employment, hobbies, Life is a Melting Pot, Michigan, Photography, work

Tagged as art studio, auto setting, blogs, Blue Water Sandfest, camera, camera setings, cell phone, clarity, composition, D750, depth of field, DSLR Camera, facebook, flint, hurley medical center, image purpose, images, lighting, Nikon, photographs, photography, photos, Photoshop editing, pictures, Port Huron, professional photo, professional photography, professional quality, published, quality, raw setting, Real Bodies, Resolution, Rochester, signage, sloan museum, smartphone, Van Hoosen Museum, website, work related

January 1, 2023 · 4:13 pm

Create a 2023 Success Plan

As we enter 2023, many people will be once again setting New Year’s resolutions. The problem is most of those resolutions are never met, and the list repeats itself year after year. Why is this?

A resolution is a firm decision to either do something or not do something. It is something that is resolved. Resolving means you are deciding to find a solution to a problem. The thought process that goes with the meaning of these words makes many people feel stressed. The terminology is more negative than positive.

I think you need to have the right mindset to accomplish what you set out to do. If you feel stress and negativity, you are already setting yourself up for failure.

Success is the measure of succeeding. It is a desired, favorable outcome. When someone sets a goal, they establish the end in which their efforts are directed. A plan is a method for achieving the end goal, the process you will use to succeed. This terminology has a positive tone to it.

Resolving to fix a problem does not motivate in the same way a plan to succeed at achieving a goal does. That is why I propose you tear up your list of resolutions and create a 2023 success plan.

Decide what you want to succeed at this year List small steps that lead you toward achieving your goal. Even if you don’t complete your task entirely, you can still check off the steps as you finish them. This shows accomplishments as you move toward succeeding at your goal.

Here’s to a successful 2023! Share your 2023 Success Plan below.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, decisions, Life is a Melting Pot, mind

Tagged as 2023, accomplishments, achievement, goals, motivation, New Years, plans, problems, resolutions, success

August 31, 2022 · 2:23 pm

Restoring Relationships

Three years ago, I made a decision to take legal action against a family member. I did this with the support of other family members. After exhausting all other options, a joint decision was made that I would be the “face” of the group, acting as the plaintiff when filing petitions.

The matter was resolved through mediation more than 14 months ago. A conversation with a family member on the opposing side at the end of the mediation left me with the hope of restoring the family relationship. Unfortunately, hope can die quickly when the other person is unwilling to let go of the past.

I am one of four cousins, and for years we have had an annual girls’ weekend. Three of us were willing to put the past behind us and move forward. No conversations, no explanations; just move forward and have a fun weekend. The person who was in attendance at the mediation was unwilling to do this.

She issued an ultimatum as a condition of getting together. No matter how much we told her it is in the past, let it go, she refused. She continued to push a false narrative about the situation. Because of her unreasonable demands, two cousins left the instant message conversation, one of them blocking her completely.

Realizing her ultimatum backfired, the person sent a message demanding three conditions be met to reconcile. Those conditions were a demand that the three of us not partake in actions that she, her family members, and her family have been taking for the past 14 months. This includes violating the terms of the mediation agreement.

The matter ended with my two cousins and I refusing to reconcile under her conditions. They do not understand her hostility toward me. None of us understand her claims that I am too angry to reconcile when she is the one unwilling to move forward. While my relationship with my two cousins is solid, it is sad that reconciliation with the remaining person seems impossible.

Following the exchange, I sent the person a private message stating that I had let the matter go following the mediation and that if she cannot agree everyone makes mistakes and we start with a clean slate, that is her problem, not mine. She is still angry and refuses to move forward. It is her choice to throw away family, not mine.

As of today, she has not opened that message. She sent one of the other cousins a message, stating she “knows” my message is a rehash of the problems and she cannot emotionally cope with reading it. Assumptions can be a person’s downfall.

My cousins have no interest in seeing her at this time. It is sad that one person’s bad behavior has caused such conflict in the family. Those of us suffering the greatest impact of that behavior are the ones willing to move forward.

A couple months ago, I was looking forward to a fun girls’ weekend and the restoration of our family relationship. Now it is shattered even more than before. Part of me still hopes the relationship can be restored, but part of me doesn’t care. She is unwilling to acknowledge the wrong done to the family and move forward, or she is in denial because she was a participant in the bad treatment of the family. I don’t know which.

The situation got me thinking about steps for restoring a relationship. I decided to do a bit of research. One of the key elements to letting go of the past is accepting what you cannot control. You must take accountability for your part in the situation and focus on the lessons learned from the experience. You should also consider the following:

HAS THE PAIN BECOME COMFORTABLE?

If people feel hurt for a lengthy period of time, they become accustomed to emotional pain. The pain becomes a familiar part of their identity, and they are unable to let it go. By staying angry at someone, they can remain distant and not deal with their true emotions.

To move past this point, they need to consider whether there are secondary benefits to staying focused on the hurt. Does staying angry help them avoid resolving emotional pain? Resolving pain requires facing the reality of it.

Consider how your life would be if you moved forward, leaving the past in the past. What would change if you took a different outlook on the situation?

FEEL THE PAIN TO MOVE PAST IT

By bottling up emotions and thoughts about the hurt, you prevent healing. This means the hurt builds inside you, and you continuously focus on it and the harm it caused. Constantly thinking about the hurt may impact your mood, relationships, and ability to be productive.

To move forward, consider journaling your feelings, writing a letter to the person who hurt you (sending it is optional), and expressing your feelings to a friend, relative, or therapist.

BE ACCOUNTABLE

Acknowledge your participation in the situation. By accepting your part in the problem, you can let it go and move your attention to the present. By holding onto your pain, resentment, and bad memories, you experience the pain repeatedly. This keeps you stuck in the past and unable to move forward.

Even if the event was not your doing, you can still acknowledge that it happened. You can choose to move forward by moving away from the past in your mind, living a life you want, away from the emotional pain.

FOCUS ON LESSONS LEARNED

Focus on the lessons learned from the hurtful event. Consider the things you now know that you do not want to happen again. Think about the coping skills you acquired as you faced the challenges.

Realize that everything passes with time, and this hurt will too. Identify the skills, strengths, and knowledge you obtained from this hurtful event.

LET GO OF THE “WHAT IFS”

Some people are unable to let go of the past because they need to constantly review the “what ifs” of the situation. They constantly wonder if things would be different if they had taken different steps.

They review the things they should have done, could have done, and what might have happened under those circumstances. This constant review will not fix anything. It only prevents you from moving forward and away from the hurt.

FORGIVE OTHERS

You are unable to regain trust unless you assume control of your emotions. You must forgive to obtain emotional freedom. Until you are able to acknowledge that everyone makes mistakes, you cannot overcome your anger and resentment.

A lack of openness is often the culprit that leads to a breakdown in the relationship. If the other person is unwilling to work toward repairing a relationship by being open and honest about the situation that caused the hurt, that is a reflection on them, not you.

BE AWARE OF GASLIGHTING

Gaslighting is a type of manipulation in a relationship. It uses a variety of techniques for the purpose of exerting control over another person. The aggressor in the relationship uses lies, trivializing, diverting, discrediting, denial, guilt, and more to create a false narrative.

Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse that is difficult to pick up on. Those who use it are good at side-stepping accountability. A person using this technique tries to convince other people that they are remembering things wrong or misinterpreting events. They try to manipulate others by presenting their own thoughts and feelings as the truth.

Some signs of gaslighting:

Telling people you said something you didn’t say
Claiming you didn’t say something you did.
Lying when it is not necessary
Cheating or acting in unethical ways
Getting people to take your side to make you look better
Getting the people on your side to turn against someone else
Rarely taking responsibility for your mistakes
Not apologizing for your mistakes
Running hot and cold for no obvious reason
Angering easily and/or starting fights to gain power
Using a person’s weakness to hurt them or gain power over them
Bullying and teasing, then saying you didn’t mean anything by it
Insisting on a double standard—you can act one way, others must behave in another way

Gaslighting can happen in any type of relationship. It is a common form of emotional abuse in relationships using gender-based stereotypes and is a form of domestic abuse.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The brunt of my findings is that relationships can be restored, but only if all parties are willing to move forward. If one person holds onto their anger, until that person works through their own feelings and emotions, they will be unable to resolve the relationship and will remain estranged.

I travel out of state most of the year, so there is only a short period when I can reconnect in person. It is unfortunate that this person is unwilling to move forward. Her anger has made the situation worse. That is something I cannot fix. The ball is in her court. Time will tell whether her relationship with the three of us can ever be restored.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, communication, Coping, decisions, Family, friendship, impressions, Life is a Melting Pot, sisters

Tagged as accountability, acknowledgment, cousins, demands, emotions, family, foregiveness, gaslighting, lessons, messages, moving forward, pain, reconnection, relationships, restoration, ultimatium

April 12, 2021 · 5:48 pm

Not Smart Enough

Imagine back to when you were in the 8^th grade, about 14 years old. You must make a decision that impacts the balance of your time in school. You can take a vocational program, which you attend to grade 12, or a university prep program, which you attend to grade 13.

Once you make your decision, you cannot change to the other program. Now, consider being that 8^th grade boy and before you make that decision your school principal informs you that you aren’t “smart enough” for college, so you better go vocational.

That is the way school in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada was in the mid-late 1950s when Paul Cannon attended. He followed the advice of his principal. The question is, after hearing the principal’s assessment of his abilities, what did Paul do with his life?

The Teen Years

Paul was not afraid of water, and unbeknownst to his mother he and his friends would climb Inglis Falls in the summer. This was the largest of the four waterfalls in town and has a 59-foot cascade. I’ve seen in the fall with a slow flow of water. It is huge!

Inglis Falls in Owens Sound, Ontario, Canada — Inglis Falls in Owens Sound, Ontario
Photo by Grace Grogan

When Paul was about 14-15 years old he became certified as both a swim instructor and a lifeguard. He worked as a lifeguard at the community pool and taught swimming to adults and children both there and at the YMCA.

Paul was interested in science and technology, and around age 16 he and three friends learned about an Army surplus store in Toronto selling non-working ham radios for parts. The store had ten radios, and they purchased them all. The intent was to build two or three operating ham radios from the parts, and they did!

Paul and his friends had fun communicating on the radios for about a year. None of the teens had taken the required test to become licensed ham radio operators so were broadcasting illegally. An officer tracked them down and removed the tubes, rendering the radios inoperable. Years later as an adult Paul took the test and became a licensed ham operator.

Paul always had an interest in aviation and was a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in Canada growing up. The group’s intent was to introduce 12-19 year old students to flight. As a CAP cadet, Paul received education regarding citizenship, leadership, physical fitness and general aviation. In Canada today one out of every five pilots is an ex-air cadet and 67% of commercial airline pilots began as air cadets.

Bush Pilot

When Paul was 16-17 years old he got a summer job working for a bush pilot in a nearby town. That first summer Paul performed miscellaneous jobs and ran errands. When the summer ended the owner told Paul if he returned the following year the owner would teach Paul to fly.

Paul returned and became a bush pilot, flying a Beaver pontoon plane. Bush pilots fly in remote areas, and Paul’s job was to deliver supplies to cabins in the wilderness. You have probably seen this in movies where a plane lands on a body of water, docking near a cabin to leave supplies.

All pilots must learn how to read the weather, and because pontoon pilots land on water, they must also evaluate the water’s surface before touching down. Accommodations must be made for wind direction, the direction and speed of the current, and any obstacles that may affect their landing. Once on the water the pilot must follow all marine rules.

On one flight Paul was landing to leave supplies at a not-yet occupied cabin when the engine on his plane blew. Oil splattered the windshield and the plane stopped before he was near shore. Pontoon planes must carry a paddle for this type of situation. Paul shut down all systems on the plane, then climbed out to sit on one of the pontoons, straddling it like a horse. Paul then paddled his way to shore. If you think rowing a boat is difficult, try an airplane!

There was no radio communication, so Paul unloaded the supplies into the cabin and hunkered down for the night. His boss had expected him back before dark, so when Paul didn’t return the owner went out the next morning, flying Paul’s route. When he spotted Paul’s plane, he touched down so see what was going on. Paul already had the cowling off the plane, but neither Paul nor his boss had the tools or knowledge to repair the engine.

Beaver Pontoon Airplane
Photo by Grace Grogan

The owner said he would be back, and when he landed the second time he was accompanied by a mechanic and tools. The owner left Paul and the mechanic to work on the engine. The two spent another night at the cabin before repairs were complete. The plane Paul flew only had one seat, the pilot’s. Once the repairs were complete, the mechanic strapped himself onto the top of a cargo box in the plane and rode back with Paul.

Bush pilots are required to carry a bush pilot’s rifle because situations such as the one above or an unanticipated stop in the wilderness can put you in danger. If Paul was flying his route and saw severe weather ahead, he would land the plane and beach it. Using ropes he would tie the plane to trees to secure it during the storm. When performing these tasks, he always had to be on the lookout for bear.

Paul continued working as a bush pilot for a year after graduating high school, then left for Toronto to attend college.

Radio College

Radio College of Toronto, Ontario trained students in electronic engineering technology and had a focus on tubes and digital electronics. Electronics technology was the wave of the future in the early 1960s.

While Paul was attending college, he lived in a boarding house with 17 other men. They were housed two to a room, with no locks on the room doors. The home was run by a single woman who ran a tight ship. She made all beds every day and washed the sheets once a week.

Board included breakfast and dinner Monday thru Friday. Paul quickly learned that when sharing a table with a large group of men there were no second helpings. You better get a sufficient amount the first time a dish went around the table. Lunch and weekends boarders were on their own for meals, but could use the kitchen and food she had as long as they cleaned up afterwards. This was a very different type of living than Paul had growing up as an only child.

One evening Paul and his roommate heard a knock on their door, which immediately flew open and in rushed the landlady. She didn’t say anything but hurried over and threw open the window, reached into her pocket to grab a pair of scissors and reached out. The next thing Paul heard was glass breaking on the sidewalk below. Apparently one of the borders owed the landlady money, and she suspected he might try to slip out. By cutting the string to the bundle of belongings the border was lowering from his third-story window, the landlady made it clear she knew what he was up to. No one knows if she collected the money owed her or just enjoyed a bit of revenge.

Paul rode the streetcar to and from college, and sometimes hitch hiked his way back to Owen Sound on weekends to visit his parents. If living in a boarding house and using public transportation bus wasn’t enough of a challenge, Paul was doing this on crutches. Paul played B-Team Hockey and did competition ski jumping. Unfortunately, he landed a jump wrong, breaking his ankle.

Paul quickly learned that in a time of need, crutches make a great weapon. One day Paul got off the streetcar and some guy, thinking he had one-up on Paul, knocked Paul’s books out of his hands. Paul may have been a bit disabled, but not unarmed. He swung one of his crutches around and clobbered the guy. A police officer saw the exchange, came over to pick up Paul’s books and make sure he was okay. When Paul left the scene his attacker was in the back of a police vehicle.

Using city transportation when dating was something Paul learned could be difficult. On one date Paul took a girl out, then escorted her home, staying to visit until about midnight. Big mistake! When he got to the bus stop he had missed the last bus in that area, so he walked down to the next line, just in time to miss the last subway of the night. He ended up walking all night to get back to the boarding house. Thank goodness it happened on a Friday night, and he was able to sleep when he arrived there the next morning.

Work and Electronics

After graduating from Radio College, Paul took a position installing and repairing x-ray machines throughout Canada. This took him into every Canadian province, a position that nurtured his love of travel and photography. His goal was to emigrate into the United States, work his way west and eventually end up in Australia. He didn’t make it past Michigan.

Immigration into the United States took about a year. Paul needed to find a job that would hold the position for six months while he completed the immigration process. He was about 23 when he got his first job in Michigan doing the same thing as in Canada. Paul was living the bachelor’s life, driving a convertible and working in hospitals throughout the tri-state area of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, where there was plenty of female staff to date.

Many people do not realize that immigrants must register for the draft six months after they become permanent U.S. residents. Paul registered during the Vietnam era and knew how to fly the same type of plane being used in the war. Each year he was obligated to check in at the military office, and each time he met new criteria for a waiver so was never drafted.

Career Change

Paul was talking with an electrician and learned they made more money than Paul was in the electronics field. Paul purchased code books and studied to become an electrician. Though not licensed, he got a job working for Morgan Electric. When a client requested a special electrical job, Paul volunteered for the assignment. The client was impressed with Paul’s work and offered him a job working for their company.

Paul made the job change. Always looking to advance, Paul later applied and got a job in skilled trades as an electrician at the Ford River Rouge plant. Unfortunately the plant did layoffs before Paul had 90 days in.

Needing work and the economy being bad, Paul took a job working on an ambulance. It was on-the-job training, they were not paramedics. The crew would perform basic first aid and transport patients to hospitals. This was during the 1967 Detroit riots and runs were often into dangerous areas. It wasn’t all bad though.

One run was to Governor Romney’s home. The governor’s wife had fallen and injured herself, requiring an ambulance transport. Paul also delivered two babies during his time on the ambulance. One laboring woman looked at him and said, “it’s my first” and he responded, “mine too.”

When Paul’s father notified him Pittsburgh Glass Works was opening a plant in Owen Sound and needed skilled trades workers, Paul applied and was the first electrician hired. He moved back to Owen Sound and lived there for two years. The glass plant job gave him experience in trouble shooting factory machinery, which would pay off later.

When the economy improved Paul moved back to Michigan and took a position at Allied Chemical in Mount Clemens. An electrical inspector saw his work and volunteered to sponsor Paul for taking his journeyman’s test. You cannot take this test until you have verification of 10 years of experience working as an electrician and a sponsor. Paul passed the test and immediately began studying for his master’s license.

You must work as a journeyman for a minimum of two years before taking your master’s exam. When Paul reached the qualification period he took the test and became a master electrician. Paul then started his own electrical contracting business, Trojan Electric. This electrical contract work was in addition to his full-time employment. His business was lucrative enough to necessitate employing a work crew.

While working at Allied Chemical in Mt. Clemens, Paul saw an ad for skilled trades at the Ford Motor Company Paint Plant. Paul applied and went into Ford as a re-hire. He remained at Ford as an electrician in skilled trades for the balance of his working life, retiring out of the Ford Utica Trim plant.

Back to Flying

After Paul immigrated into the United States, he checked into getting his pilot’s license. The bush pilot Paul worked for never had him keep a pilot’s logbook, so there was no record of his time in the air. Paul had to start over. Lessons were easy because he knew how to fly, he just had to master landing on solid ground.

Pilots must learn navigation and weather patterns, plus cloud types and cloud levels for flight. Paul can look down the road when driving and recognize rain that is coming down but not reaching the ground. He can also see it ahead and predict the time the vehicle will drive into it. Navigational training allows him to know the direction he is driving based on the sun.

Paul purchased his own plane, a Cessna 177 RG (RG means retractable gear) and served as an adult member on the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). The Civil Air Patrol is an Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force that was founded in 1941 to mobilize civilian aviation resources for the national defense.

Cessna 177 RC — Cessna 177 RG
Photo obtained off Internet

Paul underwent training in CAP to fly both counter drug operations and search and rescue. He enjoyed his time working on missions, which often ran one to two weeks at a time. He also volunteered his time working with CAP cadets, taking them up in his plane for a ride or assisting at special cadet outings. The CAP has the same officer ranks as the Air Force, and by the time Paul retired from service he had achieved the rank of Major.

Paul’s love of aeronautics led him to volunteer his time at the air show held each year in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He worked in the sound center manning the sound control for the music and announcers during the air show. This required balancing the voice and music, plus timing the music for the air acrobatics of the plane.

Paul learned to be prepared for the unexpected. A woman was narrating her husband’s performance when his plane crashed. Her reaction was a blood-curdling scream into the microphone. Paul immediately cut the sound.

Paul enjoyed his time at the air show, meeting celebrities and working with pilots to time their music to their performance. It was a week of both work and fun, affording him full access to the air show grounds.

In His Free Time

When Paul was ready to move out of the city, he purchased five acres of property in St. Clair, Michigan and built a home. Paul was the contractor for the job. He ran all electrical wiring in the home and finished the interior. This included building the staircase leading to the second floor and installing all kitchen cabinets and countertops. He did this while working full-time at Ford Motor Company and running Trojan Electric.

In addition to volunteering his time with CAP, Paul participated in a computer club and remains a member of the Blue Water Shutterbugs Camera Club. Paul served as treasurer in both clubs. His photographs are sold on Alamy and Fine Art America, and for several years he sold them in fine art shows. Paul spent several years teaching photography, originally in a classroom setting, then one-on-one. He customized lessons to fit his student’s needs, including how to operate a camera, how to take better photographs, and how to process photos in Photoshop.

Paul Cannon now lives and travels throughout the United States and Canada in a 35-foot motorhome, towing a Jeep Rubicon. I am lucky to be living and traveling with him on his latest adventures. We enjoy visiting new places and navigating off-road trails. We produce videos of our adventures and share them on our YouTube Channel, Rolling Thru North America, Travel With US!

Not Smart Enough?

Can you imagine if Paul had only been “smart enough” for college what he might have done with his life? Maybe it is a good thing he did not attend a 4-year college. Paul may have not been ‘smart enough” in his principal’s eyes, but what he has accomplished in his 78 years of life has been diverse and interesting.

Writer’s Note: This was originally written entirely from memory based on information I garnered from Paul over the past six years. After publication Paul read the above and advised me of some minor corrections needing to be made. Those changes have been made and the writing is now accurate.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, Canada, career, children, decisions, Discoveries, education, employment, exploration, Full-Time RV, hobbies, home, impressions, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, Michigan, Photography, time, travel

Tagged as air plane, alamy, aviation, beaver, blue water shutterbugs camera club, boarding house, bush pilot, Canada, CAP, cessna 177 rc, citizens air patrol, college, computer club, counter drug operations, economy, electrition, Fine Art America, flight, ford motor company, Full Time RV, governor romney, ham radio, immigration, inglis falls, install, jouneymans license, lessons, lifeguard, masters license, morgan electric, Ontario, owens sound, photography, pittsburgh glass works, pontoon plane, radio college, rolling thru north america travel with us, search and rescue, swim instructor, toronto, trojan electric, university, x-ray machines

November 9, 2020 · 4:54 pm

Looking Ahead Seven Years

It is often said, plan for your future. Everyone is supposed to have a 5-year plan and a 10-year plan. I recently read something that asked where you anticipate your life being in seven years.

Strange number, but what the heck. What will your life be like in 2027? What do I anticipate for mine?

I know things can change on a moment’s notice. The best laid plans change and before you know it you are doing things you did not anticipate, living in a manner you did not anticipate. Where will the next seven years take me?

LOOKING BACK

I started by thinking back seven years, to 2013. At that time, I was married, working full time as a paralegal, and my husband, Ron, and I had applied to adopt our granddaughters that had been taken by CPS.

Between then and now CPS fought the adoption and won, the children were adopted by strangers. My husband developed cancer and lost the battle in December 2015. At that point I thought I would need to remain working full-time until retirement age. My plans included downsizing into a condo or smaller home.

I had begun putting that into motion when in 2019 I had the opportunity to come on board with Paul. I retired out of my full-time job as a paralegal and hit the road.

I now live full-time in a motor home traveling throughout the United States and Canada with Paul. I work part-time ghost-writing blogs and selling my photography online through Fine At America. Paul and I have a YouTube Channel, Rolling Thru North America Travel With US! about our adventures.

So, where will I be seven years from now?

LOOKING FORWARD

Seven years from now I hope we still be traveling, but it is possible we may decide to settle somewhere. I hope to travel as long as possible. There is a long list of places I have never been and would love to see. By 2027 hopefully most have been crossed off the list.

If we are still rolling on four wheels, great. If the majority of my time is not spent on travel I may be living somewhere in a park model. Why a park model? Because RV parks are active, people come and go, and there are lots of activities. They do not have the seclusion of a house or condo.

I assume I will still be ghost-writing blogs as a part-time income. It is fun, interesting, and a good source of remote income. Seven years from now I will not only be doing that, I will also be doing regular freelance work writing articles for magazines and doing copy-writing for businesses.

I began a book a few years back then stopped working on it when life got chaotic. Seven years from now I will be a published author of that book, and possibly others. I am hoping it brings knowledge to the country about the way CPS destroys families. It is a sad reality of this country.

Seven years from now I will still be shooting photographs and selling them on Fine Art America, just like I do now. I will be processing thousands of photographs taken during my travels that I never found time to work with. My online gallery will have grown from 1,000+ to 7,000+ photos. The YouTube Channel, Rolling Thru North America Travel With US! that Paul and I started in 2020 will have several thousand subscribers and we will still be uploading videos of our travels onto it.

The big clincher, seven years from now I will reach my full retirement age. Will I have already taken my social security, will I apply then, or will I decide to wait and take it at age 70? Time will tell. That is something that will be determined based on my circumstances as time goes by.

So where will I be seven years into the future? Pretty much where I am now. Traveling, writing, and taking photographs. I am enjoying life, why change it?

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, decisions, employment, exploration, Life is a Melting Pot, reality, time

Tagged as 7-year plan, adoption, cancer, copywriting, downsizing, freelance writing, Full-Time RV, future, ghost-writing, goals, looking back, motor home, opportunities, paralegal, photography, plans, retirement, rv parks, social security, travel

June 1, 2020 · 11:50 pm

A Country at War With Itself

It is sad what the United States has become in just a short period of time. As we look at the destruction created by the looting and vandalism in the past few days, it is disturbing to see how much anger and hurt is harbored by so many of our citizens.

In truth, this is not a hurt or anger created by only George Floyd’s death, when a white officer pushed a knee into his neck for 8+ minutes, resulting in his death. This came only a few months after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was attacked and gunned down by two white men while out for a jog. It took months for those men to be charged with a crime, and only after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

The protests being waged following Mr. Floyd’s death are the result of pent-up anger that has continued to grow as black people are disproportionately killed by white law enforcement officers. Blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population, but are 2-1/2 times more likely to be killed by police.

What is further infuriating is that in many cases the officers are not charged for having committed a crime. If charged many are found not guilty.

A huge problem in this country is the blue wall of silence, also referred to as the blue code of honor. This is a silent code under which police officers stay silent, refusing to report other officers who exercise misconduct, criminal behavior, discrimination, police brutality, or any other unethical action. Body cameras and bystanders recording on their cell phone cameras are finally bringing some of this to light.

I was very pleased to see the Minneapolis Police Chief remove his hat and kneel at the spot where George Floyd’s life was taken, and also remove his hat when he answered their questions on the news. This shows him to be a person of moral and ethical character.

When questioned the police chief stated that he fired of all four officers because the other three officers, by not intervening, were complicit with Derek Chauvan having his knee in the neck of George Floyd for 8+ minutes, resulting in death. Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with 3^rd degree murder and manslaughter. The other officers have not been charged.

I have seen many cities where police officers are walking with demonstrators or kneeling with them in prayer. This shows that not all law enforcement condone the behavior of the bad, but it is not enough to heal the pain that has been going on for too long.

Obama Administration

It was only a short 12 years ago that this country reached a milestone when it elected Barack Obama as President of the United States. This country, with its horrible history of slavery, racial oppression and discrimination, had elected a black man into its highest-ranking position. That said a lot for how far our country had come.

Barack Obama served for 8 years as president. During his presidency there were several high-profile deaths of black Americans engaged in encounters with the police and protests led to rioting:

Oscar Grant, a black transit passenger, was shot by a white police officer. Riots broke out in Oakland, California. The officer, Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, and riots broke out in Los Angeles.
Manuel Diaz, a 25-year old black man, was shot to death when he ran from police. Destructive demonstrations broke out in Orange County, California.
Kimini Gray, a 16-year old, was killed by police after allegedly pointing a handgun at them. Riots broke out in Brooklyn, New York.

The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013. It was created to give black people a voice in civil rights. Issues included a broken criminal justice system and a higher unemployment level among black Americans. Those problems still exist today.

Black Lives Matter believes in peaceful demonstrations. They do not participate nor do they encourage looting and violent acts like those taking place today.

George Floyd’s Two Autopsies

After the autopsy of George Floyd’s death indicated he died from underlying health conditions, not from the loss of breath created by a knee on his neck for 8+ minutes, people were angry and upset. His family ordered an independent autopsy.

That independent autopsy determined George Floyd’s death was caused by “asphyxiation from sustained pressure”. The difference in the two determinations makes one question whether the first medical examiner works frequently with the police and is part of the “code of blue.” Both medical examiners ruled the death a homicide.

Where We Stand on Race

In 2016 a survey showed 56% of white Americans said the race of a subject made no difference in the use of police force, but only 18% of black Americans believed that to be true. More than 2/5 of black people said that police in their community made them feel more anxious than safe.

U.S. citizens, looking for change, elected Donald Trump in 2016. A non-politician, non-military, public figure who promised to Make America Great Again. The question now comes to mind, Is America at War With Itself?

There continues to be racial divide in this country on how people are viewed based on the color of their skin. There is inequity that results in black people being disproportionately injured or killed by white police officers.

The fact that we have protestors trying to storm the White House and destroying Secret Service vehicles says a lot about what a lot of Americans feel toward President Trump.

Where else in American history can you recall riots where Washington DC monuments were defaced?

Where the Treasury Department was attacked?

Where the White House was at risk of being breached by protestors?

When Chopper One lands at the White House lawn and is greeted by protestors with their middle fingers raised?

Why is former Vice President Joe Biden was out speaking with protestors while President Donald Trump is hiding in a bunker under the White House?

Trump Administration and Racism

It is likely that a culmination of numerous factors has led to the anger displayed toward President Trump. We are all familiar with his tweets that repeatedly insult people, make racial slurs, and instigate violent acts.

American people have come to realize what a strong racist their President is. Mayors of cities undergoing riots have asked President Trump to be quiet. To stop posting comments on Twitter that instill violence. To stop posting racial comments from the 1968 racial riots.

It isn’t all about tweets and verbal comments. His tendency toward discrimination against those of non-white ethnicity screams out from his campaign and administration:

In 2016 there was a strong correlation between Trump campaign events and acts of violence. Data from the Anti-Defamation League showed that counties hosting Trump campaign rallies had more than double the hate crimes than similar counties that did not host a rally.
Counties that voted for Donald Trump by the widest margins experienced the largest increase of reported hate crimes.
Surrounding the election of Donald Trump, hate crimes peaked from October to December 2016 and continued through 2017. This was the second largest increase in hate crimes in 25 years. The highest increase in hate crimes followed September 11, 2011.
Quinnipiac University released a poll that states 80% of African-American voters feel Donald Trump is a racist. 55% of Hispanics feel Trump is a racist, and 51% of all Americans feel he has racist views.
In August 2019 President Donald Trump spoke at the 400^th anniversary of the year slaves first arrived on American soil. His behavior prior to his arrival resulted in the Black Caucus of the Virginia legislature boycotting his appearance. In doing so they stated “It is impossible to ignore the emblem of hate and disdain that the President represents” and referred to his “repeated attacks on black legislators and comments about black communities” and they felt he was an “ill-suited” choice to commence that monumental period in American history.
The Trump Administration is working to roll back President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat racial segregation. This roll-back would make it easier for banks to deny loans to black and Hispanic people. It would also make it easier for cities to confine families to minority neighborhoods.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has in 2020 proposed cutting back data collection that helps track discrimination in the mortgage market. In 2015 the Obama administration began tracking patterns of poverty and segregation with a checklist of 92 questions that had to be completed to access federal housing funds. The Trump administration is trying to eliminate that tracking system. Of concern is that the Trump financial regulator could encourage banks to invest in inner city projects such as sporting arenas instead of loans that benefit local residents.
Black home ownership is at its lowest rate since segregation was legal. White rate is about 73% and black rate under 43%.
Housing discrimination complaints rose 8% in 2018, as reported by the National Fair Housing Alliance. This is the highest level since tracking started in 1995.

Trump Admnistration Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks

Between 2017 to 2020 there have been at least 79 Trump Administration Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks. Many of those rollbacks have a direct impact on low-income and racial minorities, which include:

* In February 2017 President Trump signed three executive orders to fight crime, gangs, and drugs, and restore law and order, supporting the men and women of law enforcement. Civil rights organizations viewed these orders as vague and suspicious.

* In August 2017 the Obama administration ban was lifted regarding the transfer of some military surplus items to domestic law enforcement, rescinding guidelines that had been created to protect the public from law enforcement’s misuse of military-grade weapons.

* In August 2017 the Trump administration halted the EEOC rule that required large companies to reveal what they pay employees by sex, race, and ethnicity. The rule was intended to remedy unequal pay in American companies.

* In September 2017 the Department of Justice ended the Community Oriented Policing Services Collaborative Reform Initiative. This program was created to build trust between police officers and the communities where they serve.

* In February 2018 the Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal denied critical health care to those in need. The funding was being diverted to funding the border wall.

* In February 2018 the Trump Administration’s 2019 budget proposal eliminated the Community Relations Service which was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its purpose was to address discrimination, conflicts and tensions in communities around the country.

* In 2018 The Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education released a new Case Processing Manual that created a larger hurdle for people filing complaints. It allows for the dismissal of civil rights complaints based on the number of times an individual has filed.

* In January 2019 the Trump administration was considering a roll-back of regulations that provide anti-discrimination protections to people of color, women and others.

* In January 2019 it was reported that the Trump administration had stopped cooperating with and responding to UN investigators over potential human rights violations in the United States.

* In April 2019 it was reported that the Trump administration would not nominate nor re-nominate anyone to the 18-member U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

* In January 2020 the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a proposal that would gut the agency’s 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. HUD’s proposal would leave people of color, women, and protected communities already harmed by unfair and unequal housing policies at further risk.

Heal the Country

There is a very strong divide in this country. Racial discrimination and violence are at the heart of it. We are a country divided, and it needs to be healed. There is a Michael Jackson song that says in part:

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me

When Will it Stop?

We are now in our 7th day of protests, vandalism and looting. When will it stop? It is hard to say. We have had a President hiding in a bunker tweeting words that incite violence. We have more than 37 cities in 22 states plus Washington DC destroyed.

It is time federal and state legislatures took action to make sure that the rights of every person in the United States are protected. Treatment and protection need to be equal regardless of whether a person is White, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Jewish, Black, or any other nationality.

This country was built by being accepting of all, a melting pot of immigrants that created a wonderfully diverse country. It is time laws were in place that guaranteed equal treatment for all. Until that is done and people are satisfied that their lives matter, history will continue to repeat itself.

Update: As this writing was being finalized President Trump spoke in the Rose Garden. Lafayette Park across from the White House was filled with peaceful protesters. Suddenly right before the speech law enforcement moved in, using tear gas and rubber bullets to force the peaceful protestors out of the park. Why?

It soon came to light. President Trump’s announced that he is deploying the 1807 law to deploy military then commented he was going to a special place.

Those peaceful protestors had been gassed and shot at by law enforcement because President Trump was walking through the park to St. John’s Church for a photo op.

Almost immediately the DC Episcopal Bishop denounced President Trump’s use of St. John’s Church as a prop. The Bishop stated that after having military police fire munitions against peaceful protestors President Trumps actions were an abuse of a sacred space.

And So We Continue

The anger continues. People want the remaining three officers involved in George Floyd’s murder charged. They want equal treatment by law enforcement. They want a justice system that is just.

It is up to the United States citizens to regain control of their country. It is time this country becomes what it was created to be, a melting pot. Many cultures living together, all on equal ground. Equal and just treatment for all races.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will be as one….from Imagine by John Lennon.

1 Comment

Filed under assumptions, communication, Coping, death, decisions, events, Family, impressions, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, reality

Tagged as 3rd degree murder, ahmaud arbery, anger, anti-defimation league, asphyxiation from sustained pressure, autopsy, black, black americans, black caucus, black lives matter, black men, blue code of silence, chopper one, civil and human rights rollbacks, consumer financial protection bureau, crime, demonstrations, deploy military, derek chauvin, destruction, discrimination, donald trup, dreamer, Equal, george floyd, george zimmerman, heal the world, hispanics, homicide, hurt, imagine, joe biden, johannes mehserle, John Lennon, justice, kimini gray, lafayette park, law enforcement, make america great again, manslaughter, manuel diaz, medical examiner, melting pot, michael jackson, minneapolis, minnesota, misconduct, murder, oscar grant, police, police brutality, protest, racial divide, racial slurs, racist, rose garden, secret service, slaves, st johns church, tear gas, trayvon martin, unethical, United States, violent acts, war, white house, white officers

May 25, 2020 · 1:30 pm

DOCUMENT YOUR PART IN HISTORY

I look around, the place has more people than normal for this time of year, but it is still pretty well emptied out. Why wouldn’t it be? Who wants to stay where the summer temperatures go as high as 120° Fahrenheit?

Yet, here I am. Our original plan was to leave here at the beginning of April and visit several national parks and scenic areas through several states before heading to Michigan to visit family. Then head south and west again, hitting Sault Lake City and Colorado Springs for photography and RV conferences before going for a three-month stay on South Padre Island, Texas, followed by winter back here in Yuma, Arizona.

Those plans have been crushed by the Coronavirus shutdowns. We have extended our stay here in Yuma until at least August 3^rd. We are trying to secure reservations in Michigan for somewhere between mid-August to early October, but so far have not had any luck. The state is still locked down and the few campgrounds that are open do not have long-term spots available.

Time will tell if we travel, where we will be, and when we will get there. When you live full-time in an RV, campgrounds are an essential part of life.

We are living through an event that will be written about in history books. Have you recorded your stay-at-home location and changes in lifestyle? Have you noted the schools closing, people doing work-at-home because businesses closed, hospitals overrun with patients, people wearing face masks and gloves to protect those around them?

If you have young children, have you recorded their thoughts on what is going on around them? These are memories that may be forgotten over time but will be important to future generations.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Paul and I are hanging tight in Yuma, Arizona. I walked around the park and took snapshots of the camp, documenting the place that was full when we arrived in February and is now almost empty. A lot of the people here in the winter are Canadian snowbirds who were ordered to return to Canada in March or lose medical insurance due to the pandemic.

So where are you? Have you documented the event? Leave me your comments below.

Stay Safe!

Leave a comment

Filed under Activities, assumptions, backyard, Canada, communication, Coping, decisions, Discoveries, environmental, exploration, flowers, Full-Time RV, home, impressions, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, memoir, Michigan, reality, spring, summer, time, tourism, travel, winter

Tagged as Arizona, camp, canadian snowbirds, cancada, children, colorado springs, cornoavirous, document, face masks, gloves, history, history books, location, locked down, Michigan, national parks, park, people, photograph, photography, plans, record history, record thoughts, RV, sault lake city, shutdowns, South Padre Island, stay-at-home, summer, Texas, travel, Yuma

May 4, 2020 · 7:27 pm

Be Kind, Always Be Kind

If you find yourself getting frustrated with an elderly person, think of them like your grandmother or grandfather, then treat them accordingly. That is something in the midst of this pandemic people need to remember. Be kind to strangers – all strangers.

I recently read a post on Facebook, and when I saw this image quote “Even the strongest hands can lose their grip, the greatest of minds can become cloudy, and the biggest of hearts can break. So Be Kind, just always be kind.” I put the two of them together.

The story behind the Facebook post is that the person’s father went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. He did not realize that the aisles were one-way. It can happen to anyone. Arrows posted on the floor, but who looks there when shopping?

Instead of nicely mentioning it to him, someone snapped at him rudely, belittling him for his stupidity. Her father, feeling ashamed and humiliated, left his groceries in the cart and exited the store without purchasing any food. He did not go to another store. He went home without any food, fearful of making another mistake.

I was grocery shopping and went the wrong way today. I had the store memorized on the directional arrows, and today I was halfway down the first aisle when I realized they had changed them all. Probably because they realized they originally had them backward for the way people navigate through the store. It can happen to anyone.

I have noticed that men are more likely than women to go the wrong way when shopping. Why I don’t know, but 4 out of 5 times, if someone is going the wrong way it is a man. Usually as I’m passing, I’ll say “you’re going the wrong way.” When they look at me confused, I’ll point out the arrows. The normal response is “thanks.”

If you see any person not following the rules, it doesn’t mean they are stupid and uncooperative. They probably didn’t notice that something has changed. You can let them know without being rude.

I would assume the daughter of the elderly gentlemen above purchased his groceries for him. What if he didn’t have family nearby? What if there was no one to help? Was it worth the possibility of him going hungry because of someone’s superior attitude toward him?

Be kind to everyone, especially the elderly. Think of how you would want them to be treated if they were your grandmother or grandfather and act accordingly. Everyone deserves to be treated nicely.

4 Comments

Filed under assumptions, communication, Coping, decisions, Family, food, Life is a Melting Pot, Meals

Tagged as aisle, ashamed, belittle, coronovirous, covid-19, elserly, facebook, food, grandfather, grandmother, grocery store, humiliated, image, kind, mistake, nice, one-way, pandemic, passing, quote, rude, rules, shopping, store, strangers, treat, wrong way

October 9, 2019 · 3:48 pm

SEVEN WEEKS AND ROLLING

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hard to believe it has been seven weeks since I started my new lifestyle of living on the road full time in a motor home (a/k/a full-time RV). In that amount of time I have visited Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, Canada and Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park, Maine in the United States.

One thing you have to do when living this way is be conservative, be flexible, and enjoy life. Sometimes things go well, and other times the best laid plans can be foiled. Highlights of my travels and learning curve:

The best laid plans can be foiled when you make a day trip three hours away only to discover that town’s power is out and all businesses (including museum you wanted to visit) are closed.
Pulling off for a quick lunch break takes more planning in a 35-foot motor home towing a vehicle than it does in a car.
Ottawa, Ontario is the capitol of Canada and is a very interesting city, but bring your walking shoes. There is one parking lot in the entire city and a lot of area to cover. If you take a double decker bus tour it is a great way to get around, but you may end up with a tour guide who has a strong French accent and is difficult to understand.
Canadians are very pro recycling The question in grocery stores is “Do you have your own bag?” not “paper or plastic?” Some stores charge you for use of their bags.
You can not stock up when items are on sale. There is no extra room beyond the refrigerator and pantry.
There is a large percentage of people in Canada who hang their laundry outside to dry….many on pulley-style clotheslines.
When living in an RV, laundry is a necessary evil that must be done in a laundromat (most campgrounds have them) every 2-3 weeks.
You can live in a house for years and never wave at your neighbors, but in a campground everyone waves at everyone else.
The architecture and culture of Quebec City, with its fortification wall, Citadelle, and French influence is like taking a step into another country.
When you travel full time you need down time. This is not a vacation, it is a lifestyle.
When you give up on the road signs being true and think you will never see a moose, one shows up on the side of the road and you do not have the camera ready.
No matter how many times you see them, the difference between high tide and low tide at the Bay of Fundy is amazing. This is where you see the world’s largest tides.
Getting your mail an average of once every four to six weeks takes planning so it arrives in a city where you plan to be at the appropriate time.
A GPS can be your best friend and your worst enemy. Our Trucker GPS in the RV took us down a road that had been re-done two years ago and no longer goes through — it is now a dead end. When towing you cannot back up because it damages the tow unit, so we had to disconnect the jeep, turn the RV around and then re-connect before we could continue. Of course it would have helped if Ellsworth, Maine had put up a “Dead-End” sign, as a woman on the road said it happens all the time and they have been after the city to do something.
In many spots what is promoted as a “scenic drive” is overgrown with nothing to see.
Convection oven cooking is not difficult, just different. The three burners on the stove-top is much harder to adjust to as it does not easily accommodate large pans.
I have not adjusted to the feel of the motor home when driving in high winds or uneven pavement. That one is going to take some time!
This is an awesome way to live and I’m glad I took the plunge and jumped in with both feet.

As time goes on I look forward to sharing more of my travel adventures with everyone.

Leave a comment

Filed under Activities, assumptions, Canada, Coping, decisions, Discoveries, environmental, exploration, freindship, friends, friendship, Full-Time RV, habit, home, impressions, Kitchen, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, Meals, memoir, nature, Photography, reality, spring, summer, time, tourism, travel, vacation, winter, Writing

Tagged as adventure, Bay of Fundy, bus tour, campground, Canada, clothesline, convection oven, day trip, dead-end, Ellsworth, flexible, French, Full-Time RV, GPS, grocery store, high winds, Jeep, laundromat, laundry, life, lifestyle, lunch, mail, mail forwarding, Maine, motor home, neighbor, Ontario, Ottawa, outside, pantry, paper, plans, plastic, power out, quick, recycle, refrigerator, rolling, sale, scenic drive, seven, stock up, tides, trucker GPS, vacation, walking, wave, weeks, world's largest

August 14, 2019 · 9:20 pm

Finally at Peace

When you live with constant turmoil you become accustomed to living as if on a constant roller coaster ride. The twists and turns of upheaval in your life create emotional stress, and yet you constantly adjust, cope, and keep on moving forward. This becomes so normal you do not even realize how much stress you are constantly under.

That has been my life for the past few years. The loss of my grandchildren to foster care and then a battle with CPS when we tried to adopt which resulted in them being lost to adoption by strangers. My son serving six years in prison for home invasion, dealing with the constant dangers that environments holds. My mother, father, father-in-law, and then my husband battling cancer and passing away, all within a three year period. My son being released from prison and paroled to my home; something I had originally looked forward to but which became a very stressful situation. Peace of Mind

Following my husband’s death I made a determination that I needed to downsize out of my home and into something smaller. In the midst of planning for that made a decision to instead downsize into an RV and travel full-time. During this process I informed both of my adult children that I was no longer going to be able to subsidize them financially, something my husband had always done while he was alive. This resulted in more stress, but over time success was achieved. They are both now living financially on their own.

I am finally at a point where success is on the horizon. My new lifestyle begins on Monday. I closed on my house today. Friday is my last day of work. My daughter moved her family north and is now residing near her fiance’s parents, a situation that is serving well. Both Caroline and Rob are working at new jobs and my three grandchildren are enjoying life in a more country setting close to their other grandparents.

My son, now out of prison for 1-1/2 years, has obtained his CDL and is working in a position driving semi. He and his ex-wife have reconciled and are residing in a home they rent near his workplace. I am at peace that I do not have to worry about him being cold, undernourished, injured or killed in prison. I wish him success.

For the first time in years my mind is at peace. My children are both living on their own without my financial assistance, and I am going into semi-retirement. I will be residing full-time in a motor home, traveling the United States and Canada and doing part-time remote or seasonal work.

For the first time in years I can sleep without my mind churning over the problems, worries, and stress that plagued me for so long. I hope nothing happens to upset the apple cart. A mind at peace is a wonderful thing.

2 Comments

Filed under Adoption, assumptions, cancer, Coping, CPS, death, decisions, employment, events, exploration, Family, Foster Care, grandchildren, home, kids, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, memoir, parents, reality, time, travel, work

Tagged as accustomed, battle, Canada, cancer, daughter, emotional, father, father-in-law, financially, forward, foster care, fulltime, grandchildren, husband, mother, motor home, peace, prison, RV, semi, semi-retirement, son, stress, stressful, subsidize, turmoil, United States

March 30, 2019 · 9:50 pm

Writing to Relax

I have been, and continue to be, in the whirl-wind of trying to sort through 36+ years of belongings accumulated in my house and reduce the “keep” items down to what I can take with me in a 35-foot motor home, in which I will live and travel the United States and Canada. Needless to say, this is a monumental task. I am on the downside now, with only a few things left to complete, and the estate sale is scheduled May 2-6, 2019.

I have been sorting through old items, boxes never unpacked from when we moved here in February 2004, and family heirlooms, mementos and photographs. Those special items I have painstakingly gone through and divided between my two adult children. In the midst of all this my son has been moving out. Between working long hours and moving about 45 minutes away, he has taken a long time in the process with a couple trailer loads of items still left to move. This has made for a very stressful situation. We are now down to “crunch time” as the estate seller will need to come into the home and get things priced. My son made a comment about me pushing my sale back, but I refuse to do that. I need to get my house emptied, ready for sale, and sold quickly.

closet cleaning I have spent weekend after weekend at home, sorting through all my current items and those in boxes, preparing for my estate sale. Today I took some “me” time and attended the #RochesterWriters Spring Conference. I enjoyed a day of informative keynote speakers and instructors, plus socializing with other writers. It was time well spent, combining instruction in self-publishing with networking. There is something about spending a day with other writers that inspires one to write. Even though you haven’t seen me here in quite a while due to everything going on in my personal life, I find myself here tonight writing a quick blog, just to say hi and let you know I am still alive and kicking.

Once the sorting and packing is complete and I have moved into the RV, which will happen on or about April 23, 2019, you will begin to hear from me more often. As I move into fall and begin to travel the country I plan to post travel blogs of my adventures, and hopefully expand into writing some travel articles for magazines as well. What the future holds for me one can not be certain, but it will definitely be an adventure and a change in lifestyle.

1 Comment

Filed under Activities, assumptions, career, Cleaning, communication, decisions, Discoveries, events, Festivals, freindship, friends, friendship, habit, impressions, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, reality, time, tourism, travel, Writing

Tagged as #RochesterWriters, accumulate, adventure, box, Canada, downsize, family heirlooms, hours, instruction, keynote, life-changinng, mementos, packing, photographs, relax, sort, sorting, speakers, tension, travel, United States, weekends, writing

December 23, 2018 · 10:22 pm

Christmas is Magic

A few weeks ago I decorated my Christmas tree with an assortment of carefully selected ornaments, those that had special significance or appeal. This will be my last “real” Christmas tree, at least for a few years. Most of my ornaments will be given away or sold. My snowman collection, which I have been accumulating for years, and many other things that say “holiday tradition” to me will be forsaken for a new adventure.

I have made the decision to downsize out of my house and into a motor home. When one goes from a house to an RV, most of your possessions must go, and that includes the majority of my holiday decorations, including my Christmas tree. Some will be given to my adult children, others will go into an estate sale for others to enjoy. popcorn and paper garland

When you decorate your tree each year, do you have ornaments that hold special meaning? Are there traditions you have carried on from your childhood? Long before Elf-On-A-Shelf became a fad, my mother always had an elf on her Christmas tree for good luck. When I got married I had to have an elf, and when my daughter found out I was downsizing she said “are you taking your elf?” This is the way that family traditions are handed down.

American Christmas traditions began around 1830 when an image from England of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert celebrating the holiday around a table-top tree was re-printed in American publications. The photo was widely published and by 1900 one in five Americans had a Christmas tree. The first trees were decorated with things such as nuts, popcorn strings, homemade trinkets, oranges and lemons. Newspapers and magazines encouraged Americans to purchase more elaborate decorations, and by 1870 ornaments were being imported from Germany.

German immigrants brought to America the tradition of putting lights, sweets, and toys on the branches of the tree. My tree has some glass-blown ornaments, Hallmark dated ornaments, birds, elves, glass balls, and ornaments from my youth. There are ornaments that were purchased as souvenirs, such as the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, Washington DC, and the Calgary Stampede. There are memorial ornaments for my father, nephew, and husband. One year I was given an ornament that depicts two favorite things of mine…books and coffee. There is a special, sentimental feeling each year as these are brought back out and placed on the tree.

Minolta DSC Along with tree decorating traditions, most of us grew up with the magic of Santa Clause. Saint Nicholas was a Christian holy person believed to have lived in the third century, who became known as a protector of children. The bearded, jolly Santa dressed in red that first appeared in Clement Moore’s A Visit from Saint Nicholas in 1820. Thomas Nast was an artist who’s first major depiction of Santa Claus in Harper’s Weekly in 1886 created the image we envision today. Nast contributed 33 Christmas drawings to Harper’s Weekly between 1863 to 1886, and Santa is seen or referenced in all but one. It is Nast who was instrumental in standardizing a national image of a jolly, kind and portly Santa dressed in a red, fur-trimmed suit delivering toys from his North Pole workshop.

Santa lives on today because he exemplifies dreams, hope, wishes and beliefs. In a world filled with stress, violence, poverty, and hunger, Christmas brings out the good in everyone. The thought that if you just believe, good things will happen. Christmas is magic, and if you don’t believe that, watch a child’s eyes on Christmas morning.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, celebration, children, Discoveries, exploration, Family, Festivals, Holidays, kids, Life is a Melting Pot, winter

Tagged as A Visit from Saint Nicholas, birds, Calgary Stampede, childhood, Christmas, Christmas tree, Clement Moore, collection, dated, decoration, elf on a shelf, elves, family, German, glass balls, glass-blown, Hallmark, Harpers Weekly, holiday, hot air balloon fiesta, magic, memorial, motor home, ornament, ornaments, possessions, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, RV, Saint Nicholas, Santa, Santa Clause, sentimental, snowman, souvenirs, Thomas Nast, tradition, tree, wasington DC, youth

December 9, 2018 · 8:03 pm

Holiday Greetings

vicchristmastrad Today I participated in two holiday traditions, a Christmas gathering for the Blue Water Shutterbugs Camera Club and the writing of my annual Christmas letter, which I do in lieu of a card. The writing of Christmas greetings and handling out of Christmas gifts are two areas where I recently learned the history of the tradition.

In the early 1850’s the first American made Christmas card was distributed by H. Pease, a printer and variety store owner in Albany, New York. Louis Prang, a German immigrant and printer perfected color printing and introduced a new colorful Christmas card in 1874. Within five years the sales were over 5 million. Popularity grew and Americans began sending cards instead of writing Christmas letters or making personal visits. Cards held their popularity until the 21st Century. The increased use of the internet led to a 60% decrease in the sale of Christmas cards in the past decade. In 1958 the average U.S. family mailed 100 Christmas cards. In 2001 that figure was down to an average of 28 cards per family sent and received. I know I have dropped my card sending down from about 75 to 30, and the number I receive has also substantially declined.

About eight years ago I went back to what I recently learned was the original tradition. Instead of purchasing and mailing Christmas Cards, I created a Christmas Newsletter that gave all the information on my family newspaper style. I use articles and columns to lay out my newsletter for easy reading. The first year I did this I received many positive responses. Friends and family enjoyed getting this newsworthy mailing rather than a purchased card with just a signature inside. Today I wrote and have printed my 2018 Christmas newsletter.

The Christmas party I attended today included a white elephant gift exchange, which is a bit different since it involves the giving of a used item from your home that is no longer of use to you but may be of use to someone else. They are given wrapped, but do not have the giver’s name attached. This provides a festive yet inexpensive way to enjoy the act of giving and receiving gifts.

Gift giving was not always part of Christmas tradition. The act of giving gifts increased from the 1820’s through the 1850’s, when shopkeepers re-shaped the holiday tradition. Prior to that time people gave unwrapped gifts. Then Americans began wrapping the gifts they gave, as a gift hidden in paper heightened the excitement and designated it as a gift. As this grew in popularity gifts from stores, factories and homes of laborers were wrapped in paper that advertised the material status of the giver. The more grand stores used distinctive colored paper and adorned them with tinsel cords and bright ribbon.

Gift giving became a symbol of materialism, as it signified family ties and the importance of the recipient to the giver. In 1856 Harper’s Magazine attached the security of a relationship to gift giving when it stated “Love is the moral of Christmas…What are gifts but proof of Love.” Gifts were given on a declining scale based on a person’s relationship. The best gifts were given to family and close social circles, lesser gifts in descending order of value to relatives and acquaintances. The deserving poor received the least valuable and least personal gifts.

The act of giving gifts was controversial, as some perceived it to be a materialistic perversion of a holy day. Affluence was viewed as a reward from God and charitable gifting as a Christian duty. A rich man could escape condemnation by acting in a generous fashion to help those in poverty. Best and Company had an advertisement in 1894 that suggested while purchasing items for Christmas the shopper should think of Children less fortunate and for them the store suggested “a gift of serviceable clothing” be chosen from a group of marked down goods that “would be more than welcome.”

In today’s society the act of giving to those less fortunate is seen in all aspects of our life, including toy donation boxes in stores, mitten trees, and the annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Drive to gather money for providing meals, toys, and other items to those in need. Over the years I have participated in various forms of charitable giving, including shopping for a needy child and/or family, donating to mitten trees, working as a server at a soup kitchen, donating a stuffed Christmas sock for a designated sex/age child.

As you go through your holiday preparations think about where the traditions came from, jot a personal note in that Christmas card and if you are able, help out a child or family in need. After all, it is an American tradition.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, celebration, decisions, Discoveries, events, Festivals, friends, friendship, habit, Holidays, Life is a Melting Pot, winter

Tagged as American, charitable giving, charity, christmas cards, gift giving, gift wrap, gift wrapping, gifts, greetings, holiday, letters, needy, newsletters, party, poor, preparations, rich, tradition, writing

November 22, 2018 · 2:23 pm

Be Thankful For What You Have

Thanksgiving has become a day when people are encouraged to express their thanks for the good things in their lives. Quite often one will say they are thankful for their husband, children, and friends. Rarely do you hear anyone say they are thankful for where they are at financially or for their worldly possessions. That just seems inappropriate, cold, and self-centered. So then why do we allow those things to take priority in our day-to-day lives the rest of the year.

I stumbled across this quote from Oprah Winfrey, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never ever have enough.”

We live in a society where people are always striving to acquire more materialistic possessions…a bigger house, better car, nicer clothes, participate in fine dining, the best of the best. Unfortunately there are also a lot of people who are unable to achieve those things. Families that struggle financially, working just to pay their bills without luxuries others take for granted. Are those people less happy than those who have everything? Not necessarily. In some ways they may be emotionally richer.

Your happiness in life is not a product of the wealth. It is of the relationships you have, the peace you feel in your life. If you are always striving to better yourself financially, working hard to purchase all the “things” you want, doing what it takes to prove you are an accomplished person, you may find yourself with a lot of possessions but not really happy. You will always be pushing for something bigger and better, striving for a fulfillment you can’t quite reach.

If you concentrate on enjoying the little things in life — the beauty of a sunrise or sunset, the perfection of a flower in bloom, the joy in a child’s laughter, the sound of the waves crashing on a shore, and personal connections to the people around you, that is when you will find yourself content. Those are the things that hold value far greater than anything you can purchase. They are what gives life meaning.

Be thankful for what you have, not what you can purchase. If you concentrate on materialistic things you will never be fulfilled. If you focus on what you do have, the things that money can not buy and realize their value, you will find contentment, and anything beyond that is a bonus.

Leave a comment

Filed under assumptions, career, Coping, decisions, Family, freindship, friends, friendship, Holidays, home, Life is a Melting Pot, reality

Tagged as achievement., bonus, contentment, financial, fulfilled, happiness, happy, life, materialistic, Oprah Winfrey, possessions, realationships, strive, struggle, thankful, Thanksgiving, wealth

October 2, 2018 · 10:56 pm

Don’t Overlook Life’s Small Joys

Quotes have a way of making you think, of getting you to take a step back and analyze things. If you have been a reader of my blog for a while then you know that quotes frequently pop up as a topic for my blogs. When life is especially stressful applying the thoughts in this simple quote I found can bring peace to an overly processed world.

Watch a sunrise once a year…..there is something absolutely beautiful about getting out of bed and watching the sun peak over the horizon in the morning. This is especially true if you are near a body of water. It is a refreshingly positive way to start the day. Sunsets are beautiful as well, but if it has been a while since you’ve watched the sun rise, set the alarm and partake in the experience. Refreshing!

Put marshmallows in your hot chocolate……this seems so ordinary. So “take off the chill” normal happening in fall or winter. Then it occurred to me that as I got older I would make a cup of instant hot chocolate, but somewhere along the line I stopped dropping in the marshmallows. Forgo the whipped cream that has become commonplace, or worse the “naked” chocolate without any fattening additives, and go back to your youth. Enjoy a few marshmallows melting in your hot chocolate. Yummy!

Lie on your back and look at the stars…..remember being a child, laying on the ground and looking up at the stars, amazed at the pure beauty and wonder of them. What a peaceful way to enjoy the nighttime sky. So many of us live in the city hustle and bustle where there are always lights and we forget to look up at the beauty of the night sky. As you are walking into your house after dark take the time to look up and enjoy glimmer of the moon and stars above you. Heavenly!

Never buy a coffee table you can’t put your feet on…..being that I haven’t owned a coffee table in about thirty-seven years, I can’t say too much in this area. I think this message has more to do with being comfortable your own home. My parents always had a coffee table which held things like coasters, display pieces such as an antique photo viewer, or large coffee table books, but never a person’s feet! As I prepare to downsize and move I am considering re-purposing my mother’s Lane cedar chest (the old fashioned hope chest) into a coffee table. It would be convenient for storing afghans in the living room and could serve dual purpose as a coffee table. Of course having owned reclining couches for several years, the idea of a coffee table may be defunct if I continue with that type of furniture. At the same time the idea of a traditional couch with a table in front has its appeal. Comfy!

Never pass up a chance to jump on a trampoline…..to me this says experience life, be adventurous. While some of us may be able to climb onto and jump on a trampoline, others may not have the physical ability to do so. Don’t let small limitations hold you back from what you can do. Go forth and try new things, take risks. Live life to the fullest and never pass up the opportunity to try something new. Exhilarating!

Don’t overlook life’s small joys while searching for big ones…..this is something way too many of us do, especially when young and career oriented, which often overlaps with the time-filled days of raising children. We get our mind set on not just keeping up with, but also exceeding “the Jones’s,” and in doing so miss out on a lot of life’s simple pleasures. If you find yourself caught up in the rush-rush lifestyle a good way to rejuvenate is to take a walk with a child, or better yet spend an afternoon with one. They will take you on an adventure of all the things you have forgotten to enjoy. The pleasure of blowing bubbles, watching a butterfly, gathering stones from a beach, stomping in mud puddles, gathering fall leaves, the smell of flowers, the rustle of the wind in the trees, the joy of watching birds, or even playing with your shadow. Relaxing!

I hope each of you reading this will take the time to do not only these things, but others that will bring you peace of mind and relaxation from the every day stresses of life.

Watch a Sunrise Once a Year

Leave a comment

Filed under Activities, assumptions, backyard, birds, children, Coping, Discoveries, environmental, exploration, Family, flowers, habit, impressions, Life is a Melting Pot, nature, spring, summer, winter

Tagged as "take off the chill", ability, adventure, afternoon, beautiful, birds, blow bubbles, career, cedar chest, child, climb, coffee table, coffee table books, comfortable, comfy, couch, display pieces, exhilarating, feet, furniture, ground, home, horizon, hot chocolate, joy, jump, keeping up with jones, Lane, life, life's joys, living room, marshmallows, melting, mind set, moon, nighttime, photo viewer, physical, pleasure, refreshing, relax, rustle, shadow, simple, sky, small joys, smell flowers, stars, stress, sunrise, sunset, trampoline, walk, whipped cream, wind, yummy

September 6, 2018 · 8:52 pm

When was the last time…

…..you did something for the first time?

That is a line in a song I enjoy by Darius Rucker, just click here to hear it. I was listening to the song and it got me to thinking about how we all develop set patterns of life. We get up, go through the same routine during the day, go to bed, get up and repeat.

The song goes on to say “Yeah, let yourself go, follow that feeling, Maybe something new is what you’re needing, Like a real life, let your hair down, feel alive, When was the last time, you did something for the first time?”

Those are thoughts we should all put into action when our life is feeling a bit ho-hum. It can be something major or something minor. Just spice it up a bit to re-build your energy and enthusiasm for life.

In July I took a 10-day vacation when I flew to Alberta, Canada for the Calgary Stampede. While it is not the first vacation I have ever taken, nor the first international flight (I flew to Mexico with a school group in 1978), it was my first time in Alberta, Canada and my first time attending the Calgary Stampede. It was also the first true vacation I have taken since 2014. when-was-the-last-time-you-did-something-for-the-first-time-quote-1

I am currently in an active sort-of first time events project. I have started doing some preliminary scouting of homes. I am planning to downsize and packing and moving an entire home, not to mention selecting and purchasing a home entirely on my own will be a first. When you have always done things with others, doing them on your own the first time is a different experience.

So, when you hear the question, When was the last time, you did something for the first time? What is your answer? What is on your bucket list? Throw out some ideas….I may want to incorporate your ideas into my list.

Leave a comment

Filed under Activities, assumptions, decisions, Discoveries, exploration, habit, impressions, Life Changing, Life is a Melting Pot, mind, reality, time, tourism, vacation

Tagged as alberta, Canada, darius rucker, downsizing, ho-hum, life, moving, packing, shopping, song, spice, stampede, vacation, when was the last time you did something for the first time

Category Archives: assumptions

What Happened to the Bermuda Triangle?

Why Didn’t the U.S. Adopt the Metric System? – Part 3 of a 3 Part Series

Michigan Was a Slave-Holding State

Create a 2023 Success Plan

Restoring Relationships

Not Smart Enough

A Country at War With Itself

DOCUMENT YOUR PART IN HISTORY

Be Kind, Always Be Kind

SEVEN WEEKS AND ROLLING

Finally at Peace

Writing to Relax

Christmas is Magic

Holiday Greetings

Be Thankful For What You Have

Don’t Overlook Life’s Small Joys

When was the last time…

Translate

About Life is a Melting Pot

Recent Posts

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Archives

Blog Categories

Photographs by Grace Grogan

Category Archives: assumptions

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Share this post with your friends:

Translate

About Life is a Melting Pot

Recent Posts

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Archives

Blog Categories

Photographs by Grace Grogan