There is a point in the day when my mind is full of all the tasks and plans of day. Before this point is the best time for me to spend dedicated time meditating on one specific thing. After that point in the day it is extremely difficult to focus on one task; it can be done but it is difficult indeed.

I am not sure if this focused state is diminished by the additional stimuli of the day or if it’s simply my mental makeup.

When does an passion become an obsession? For that matter when does anything in a gray area become black and white?

I write these things not because I have any particular topic in mind but simply as mindless banter. I am still marvelling at how elusive the wise use of time can be.

So often the big mountain looms dauntingly in the distance. Doesn’t every endeavor begin with “one small step?”

No matter how large the task in front of me, it all begins with one small, doable stop and ends with one small doable step.

Important lesson on this 40th anniversary.

Why is it that no matter how well I try to manage my time, everything takes longer than expected by a factor of 2 or 4! It just seems that time flies by faster than i can snap my fingers.

The weather report. Today it is overcast and cool. There is smoke mixed with the clouds and it is hard to tell how much of each there it. Over 400 wildfires are burning in Alaska causing a thick cloud of smoke to descend upon the Mat-Su Valley. But it’s Alaska!

I am looking out my gorgeous view of Jade Lake and lots of overgrown brush and weeds. My chores are cut out for me – but what wonderful chores they are!

For those who are following my reading library, I finished a book this morn! There are two chapters and a conclusion left for our group to cover but it is likely they will traverse all that while we are on vacation.

In the concluding chapters I had to cheer, rah, rah! If one reads nothing but the last two chapters and get it, they GET IT. Right between the eyes. My mantra for the last few years has been personal responsibility. It doesn’t matter what someone else says or does, I have a responsibility . These may sound like harsh cold words, but in the end what I do, how I respond, what I think, there is no excuse to pass the buck. I have to take full responsibility for MY actions.

If I have a disagreement with my spouse and I am 99.9% right and .1% in the wrong – I have to own to to mine, not keeping score or saying I’ll apologize for only .1% of what happened. I must take complete responsibility for my actions with no expectation that the 99.9% done against me requires rectification. Sure, it would be nice but MY CONCERN is MY .1%, that’s it. As long as my .1% is tied to my spouses making the 99.9% right then I AM NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR ME, I am blaming her. That’s it. My .1% is tied to me, the rest is not mine to judge.

In the words of one mightier and more worthy than I: “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you- who are you to judge your neighbor? James 4:12 (NIV)

Now that’s a mouthful, actually it REALLY IS a mouthful. For a while it was considered the longest English word, displacing antidisestablishmentarianism, but was then toppled by pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Granted it was a contrived word to beat it’s predecessor, but so was it’s successor.

So what does floccinaucinihilipilification mean? and when was it first used?

It means an act or instance of judging something to be trifling, worthless or trivial. It was first used in a letter in 1741 and misspelled at that (at least according to the Oxford dictionary). Now that’s a feat. Misspelling a word that you coined. Not many could so that!

Etymology: Flocci is the plural of floccus “a tuft of wool”, pili, the plural of pilus “a hair”, nihili is from nihil “nothing,” while nauci is a word meaning “worthless”. Together they make no sense at all but the word reflects our love of things of record size which ultimately led to the Guinness Book of Records and the silliness it still produces.

Evidently Robert Heinlein used the feminine noun construction of the word in a novel: floccinaucinihilipilificatrix.

Lest I forget what I learned in high school, it is time to work on pronunciation and usage. It is said flok-suh-naw-suh-nahy-hil-uh-pil-uh-fi-key-shuhn, and here’s my sentence:

Whatever happened to small town America? The way of life, the values, the sense of giving because you were a part.

I am indeed thankful that it still exists. Albeit in scattered pockets but it’s there.

I know that a year ago I reflected on festivities in a small community of several towns that band together to celebrate Independence Day, but I’m here to do it again. It’s refreshing to see people excited about a parade of the local fire department and the “lawn chair marching band.” Thank you people of the Mohawk Valley in northern California for sharing.