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Epiphabets

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In Memory Of Don McPhee: My Portrait Of Stanley The Seagull

06 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by duckykoren in mourning, Uncategorized, water colour

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Art, Blogging, relationships, work

I am dedicating this post to my dear late friend, Don McPhee.

I got to know him early on in my career at the post office around 1991.

All too sad, he died suddenly of a heart attack in October 2002. He was literally here one minute and gone the next.

It seemed that I cried for days, and I resolved to myself that I would try and think of him once a day.

Yes, he was that special.

He suffered his first heart attack in 1992. It had not been a kind year for him, and eventually all of his stressors took their toll.

Upon hearing of Don’s first heart attack I took a page from my Grandmother’s life’s lessons. I tried to write to him at least once a week, to ensure that he knew that his friends from work were thinking of him.

I had an assortment of stationary that I had hand penned a year earlier when I was studying calligraphy. It felt good to finally put all my cards and letters to good use.

These notes contained inspirational verses and quotes that I had collected through the years.

Among my favourites of these collected quotes were:

“We are each of us Angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

and…

“Mailman, mailman don’t delay, do the rhumba all they way.”

When he finally returned to work, his large community of friends at the post office were very happy to have him and his zany jokes back again. I was always fond of the way he told his jokes. While telling them, he himself laughed so hard that he’d have to wipe the tears from his eyes. And that was before he even got to the punch line.

Don enjoyed taking his breaks and lunches sitting on the curb just outside the plant doors of where we worked. He always sat in the middle of his company of friends.

Over time, he befriended a seagull, one of many who kept sentry watch on the dozens of lamp posts/security cameras scattered around our vast post office parking lot.

Don named him Stanley and swore that he could tell him apart from all the other seagulls.

He and the seagull would always share Don’s lunch.

Now, I ask you…

Who befriends a seagull?

Well, to answer that will say again…

Yes… he really was that special.

Much to my surprise, the day after Don’s passing I received a telephone call from his sister.

She had called to tell me that Don had died.

I was a little confused as to why she had gone through the trouble of contacting me, as we had never met or had any other contact before.

She explained that as she and other family members were going through his things, they had found a large box containing all the cards and letters that I had sent him.

Had I really sent him that many?

After going through the letters, Don’s family decided that it would be the right thing to do to contact me and thus inform me of his passing just in case I didn’t know.

I was grateful of course.

His memorial service was the next day.

Upon entering the funeral home, I was directed to the family receiving line where I met his brothers, sister and mother. They welcomed me warmly and told me that Don had often spoke of me. I was moved to tears when they related that Don never referred to me by my name “Doris”, instead he always referred to me as “my friend Doris”.

The family then invited me towards several rooms that had been set up to celebrate his life. There were photo albums, personal cherished items and all sorts of memorabalia.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that among the items displayed were all the various cards and letters that I had sent him.

It seems that there were dozens and dozens.

Yes, I finally realized that I really did send him a lot of cards and letters.

And so, all these years later, I have taken it upon myself to paint a lovely rendering of Stanley the seagull. I had found many good ideas on Pinterest and found one in particular that I liked very much. It seemed to capture Stanley quite well.

First I sketched what I thought to be a decent rendering of a seagull. You would think that after having seen so many in the course of my lifetime, that this would have been an easy task.

Not so.

A seagull has a particular look, menacing is the best way I can describe it. There is a look in the eye that tells you he’s just here for the food and nothing more.

You’ll never get any warm fuzzies from a seagull, that’s for sure.

After I had painted what I thought would suffice being a seagull, I prepared to do a wet on wet paint application. That’s when I wet the paper I am about to paint with clear water before applying wet paint to it.

I chose to do the background colour in a bluish grey.

I needed the paper to dry before I could proceed any further, so I went to shower in an effort to acknowledge that there were tasks other than watercolour painting that needed to be done on this day.

When I returned to my project, I was glad to see that everything had dried according to plan.

Now it was time to start painting the seagull.

This, in the end proved to be more difficult than I had imagined.

I spent a good part of the rest of the morning adjusting this and repainting that.

In fact, it was all I could to to recognize when enough was enough and it was time to call it quits and put my toys away. After all, you never know that you’ve overdone something until it’s too late.

And so, allow me to introduce to you Stanley the seagull.

I hope you like it…

I’m pretty sure that Don would have liked it too.

Resolutions

03 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by duckykoren in Uncategorized, wander, Writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Advice, Art, blog, Blogging, Books, Learning, life, work

January 1, 2018

It must now be twenty years since I read Stephen King’s book; the craft of writing.

In that book he advocated that any serious writer must be committed to writing at least one thousand words a day.

It was a promise that I made to myself time and again, but never kept.

Today is January 1st, 2018, the first day of the new year and I have made two New Year’s resolutions.

The first is to commit myself to writing one thousand words a day. I feel I have a better than average chance at doing this because on December 28th of last year, less than one week ago, I retired after working 29 years at the post office. This retirement did not come one minute too soon. After suffering a serious shoulder injury last fall which rendered my tow motor driving days at work over and done with, the horrible night shift of 3:00 am to 11:00 am has left me exhausted.

My husband who retired last summer make it very clear to me that my retirement would be filed with everyday walks and plenty of activity.

Well, that hasn’t really happened yet because of the extreme temperatures outside. Indeed, every day seems to set new low temperature records. Even some of last night’s new year festivities were cancelled due to public health and safety.

As for my second New Year’s resolution, it is about 44 years since my school band instructor Mr. Inglis told his music student’s that if you undertake a hobby and commit yourself to it, you must strive to learn at least one new thing a day. It doesn’t have to be anything overwhelming, but something you noticed, that you have never noticed before.

About a year ago, I began to notice that I was beginning to take on an interest in watercolour art. My daughter had purchased a travel sized watercolour palette that really began to peak my interest.

What made me take notice? You ask…

Well, it was probably when she, my husband and myself were making our way through security at England’s Heathrow airport. She failed the carry on luggage test when the screening noticed something odd in her suitcase. It was pulled over for inspection much to our chagrin. Anytime you are pulled over to have your suitcase inspected the world seems to grow dark with shame and fear.

In the end it was her travel size set of watercolour paints that caught security’s attention.

They opened it up and asked her what it was.

She told them.

They allowed her to pass through their sacred portals along with her box of paints. However, they made it clear to her that had they been in liquid form, they would have been confiscated.

During my summer holidays in June of last year, I bought myself a box of paints and some paper and began to paint.

Badly, of course…

However, I found joy in my awkward paintings. Underwater scenes seemed to be the nicest ones that I produced.

I began to dabble my way around the internet and you tube looking for direction.

From “The Watercolour Misfit” I eventually learned how to properly push water and paint around the paper. Mind you, I still need a lot of practise of this and many other things.

Anyway, my second New Year’s resolution for this New Year is to learn something new each day.

This, of course does not strike me an overly time consuming commitment, yet I recognize it will require some sort of dedication.

And so, on this first day of the year, I discovered not only one, but two epiphanies in regards to the fine art form of watercolour…

The first discovery came when I was doing a pink flat wash background for a bird that I had sketched onto my cold pressed watercolour paper.

Noticing that in my paint mixture, there were small specks of debris, it didn’t take me long to figure out that they flecks had come from the rubber eraser of the pencils that I used to sketch my drawing. I had erased several pencil lines and did not think to ensure the remover of the eraser leavings. That’s a mistake I will not be making again.

The second lesson came as I was putting away the tubes of paint after I had finished painting.

I noticed that the white tube of paint that I had used to highlight my bird’s eyes with was missing it’s small little cap. It was in that moment that I realized that after removing the cap on a tube of paint, you must immediately replace the cap.

Why?

Because those little caps are so small, once misplaced, you will be hard pressed to try and find it.

Good thing that I had made a new palette of cooler hues of blues and greens and had emptied several tubes. I retrieve an empty tube from the garbage, removed the cap and rinsed off the dried paint from inside.

And voila, I had a replacement cap.

While, I was at it, I retrieved two more caps from other discarded tubes. I know myself well enough that I can be quite absent minded when I am preoccupied with my tasks at hand.

And so, there you have it. I know two things that I did not learn yesterday.

Yay me.

Tomorrow, I will write of the painting books that I made.

To be honest with you, I actually had three epiphanies today, however I’ll leave it to next time.

I was just informed by my husband that I don’t have to worry about running out of paint anytime soon.

It seems that along with the three reams of paper that I asked him to order for me, he also mistakingly ordered another three boxes of 18 count paint tubes.

Three boxes.

Fifty-four tubes of paint.

I am going to be doing a lot of watercolour painting this year.

There’s going to be a lot to be learned.

There’s even more to be done.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 186: Phoneless

10 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Communication, Education, iphone, Self-help

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blogs, CBC, communication, phone, podcast, twitter, withdrawal, work, Writing

Today, as I got to work, I realized that I had done something that I rarely ever do.

I forgot my cellphone at home.

Well, that is to say, that I think it’s at home, in fact, I’m fairly sure that it is.

I did not have the phone with me in the car. Home is the last place where I remember seeing it.

Usually, I put it in my right jacket pocket. Until tonight, I have always ritualistically patted this pocket before leaving for work to make sure that I had the phone on me.

But not tonight.

I doubt that it fell out of my jacket pocket, as my pockets are on the deep side. Further, I know it wasn’t in the car or in my purse because a glowing red light on my watch indicated that the phone is not within the maximum ten feet of distance required to enable the Bluetooth.

Now, don’t get me wrong…

I am not a big fan of the telephone. Originally, the only reason I agreed to carry one is because of my thirty-six kilometre trek into work. It was my genie in a bottle in case my car breaks down. In fact, I have never reached even half of my quota for my monthly phone minutes.

What I do use it for is dictating my blog posts. It’s much faster than typing. Also, while driving to work, I enjoy listening to CBC radio program ‘Ideas,’ which is broadcast weekday nights from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. I never get to hear the end of the programs because I have to report for my shift. Thanks to the podcasts, I can now listen to them in their entirety while I am sorting my mail at work.

Thankfully, I will not have to endure the usual “Where is my cell phone” angst as I believe it is waiting for me at home on top of the coffee table in my living room. This is where I enjoy my last few sips of tea before leaving for work.

So, tonight I am without my phone.

There will be no music or podcasts to listen to.

I won’t be able to take a picture should anything catch my eye.

No silly on-line gaming.

No checking my Twitter.

Last but not least, for the next eight hours, my family has no way to get hold of me.

Well, maybe that’s not so bad.

What I will miss Is the ability to be able to google random questions that tend to pop up from time to time…

Questions like:

Who was the original Ronald MacDonald?

In the television series ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ who were Rob and Laura Petrie’s neighbours?

What are the words to Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’?

How old is Jimmy Carter?

When I first realized that I was without my cell phone, the first thought that occurred to me was that tonight’s eight hour shift at work was going to be an interesting experiment:

How long would I last before I started getting phone withdrawal.

Would I get the shakes? Fidgety? Find it hard to breathe?

Well, we will just have to see.

(Six hours later…)

After finishing my shift and having arrived back home, I am happy to report that none of the above ever happened.

In case you were wondering, I found the phone on the sofa underneath a throw cushion.

It’s a good feeling to know that I was able to detach myself from my cell phone for a change

It was kind of nice.

In fact, I even got some overdue blog writing done.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 142: Time In A Throttle

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Aging, Retirement, Stories, time

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Tags

Aunt, Cleveland, Diamonds, Time, Wish, work

(With Apologies to the late Jim Croce…)

When I was sixteen, I made a careless comment to my Aunt from Cleveland while she was staying at our home.

I told her that I wished I was eighteen.

She was quick to set me straight.

“Don’t you wish away one second of your sixteenth year. What I would do to be sixteen again. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and you’ll never get it back!”

She was right of course.

Now, let’s fast forward to the present day…

During my twenty-five year tenure at work, I remember looking on as people retired and walked out the doors one last time to a life unencumbered by forty hour work weeks.

Would that ever be me, I wondered.

Decades later, I can now count on one hand how many years I have left before I can retire, and all I can think about is…

…Where did the time go?

There is a story I once read of a newlywed couple living on a shoestring and trying to get by.

The husband asked his young bride to hold out her hand.

He then filled her open palm with peanuts and as he did he said to her…

“I wish these were diamonds.”

Fifty years later, when all their hard work has paid off and they are old yet comfortable, the husband once again asked his wife to hold out her hand.

He then filled her open palm with diamonds and as he did he said to her…

“I wish these were peanuts.”

It seems like a lifetime ago when I took my Aunt’s advice and stopped wishing away the years.

I don’t wish away the days either.

There are times however, when I’ve caught myself wishing away the hours and minutes…

…but that only happens at work,

…so that doesn’t count!

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 123: Confessions Of A Forgetful Reader

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Books, Friends, Reading, Work

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Tags

Books, Friends, Memory, Reading, remember, Time, work

Every now and again, I have an epiphany.

The word Epiphany, as per Wikipedia…

Epiphany (feeling), the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something.

My epiphany happened at work while I was sitting across the table from a co-worker, Miss H.

She and I were discussing the subject of reading.

“I don’t get to read much anymore,” she told me. “By the time I get the kids in bed I’m too tired.”

“I used to read a lot too,” I admitted. “However, I’m really frustrated that the majority of books that I’ve read over the years have all melded together and I can’t remember them anymore.”

Then I let out a deep breath and wearily confessed my fears…

“I sometimes wonder if all that reading was worth my time and effort.”

I could instantly sense Miss H.’s back stiffen. She then looked at me and said…

“Yes, but you did enjoy reading them, didn’t you?”

With that comment, I was stunned into silence.

She was right of course.

As I was leaving work, I spotted Miss H. by the exit doors and walked over to her.

“I want to thank you for what you said to me.”

“No need to,” she replied.

“I know what it’s like. Why just the other day I was trying to remember that book … you know the one, written by… what’s his name, and it was about, uh… you know that guy and the thing he did.”

We both laughed as we walked outside and went our separate ways.

Today, I learned this lesson:

Reading isn’t always about the plot, or to gain knowledge or insight. Sometimes, reading can just be about having some time to myself.

Reading can also bring people together in ways that they never expected.

For example, When Miss H. and I left work today we were both smiling.

Imagine that!

Thanks Miss. H.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 116: Good Days

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Blogs, Work, Writing

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Tags

bad, co-workers, Friends, good, Mail, struggle, work

“Oh, were you sitting here?” she asked me when I returned to my chair to find a co-worker sitting in it.

I had been sorting mail when I had to get up to dispatch some full containers.

My seat was vacant when she arrived in the area, and so she sat down in my empty chair and began to sort.

“No, it’s okay really, …stay there,” I told her. “I’ll keep busy by helping to collect mail bundles until lunch.

…”It’s all good.”

My co-worker’s demeanour suddenly became serious.

Looking at me intently, she asked me:

“Is it Doris, is it always good for you here really?”

I was the resident union shop steward.

I could be called any minute to defend a co-worker, explain contractual language, or smooth over misunderstandings, or worse.

It was a question that I had not expected. The look on her face told me that she wanted an honest answer, and so I gave her one.

“I use to believe that all people were inherently good,” I began…

“But I don’t believe that anymore.”

She was listening intently, saying nothing.

“I’ve since learned that people are inherently selfish. It’s the good people in my life that make it all worthwhile.”

Now, it isn’t often that I put all my cards on the table like that, but I sensed that this was an appropriate time to do so.

My co-worker had often shared with me the issues that she continues to struggle with.
Indeed, we all struggle from time to time.

Some of us struggle more than others.

At the moment, I had the sense that she trusted me and that I had her full attention.

And so, I continued.

“We all have our crosses in life to bear, and it’s important to minimize what negativity we can and move on.”

“In the end, whether or not it’s all good is up to you.”

With that, her face brightened.

“Yes,” she affirmed to me…

… “I’m good today.”

By the look in her eye, I could tell that she was. Indeed, I had been there for her on some her darker days.

As for the times when life is not good, what’s important to me is being able to recognize and acknowledge to myself the times when I’m having a rough day.

Then accept it for exactly what it is.

Just one day.

If it’s good, I enjoy it now.

If it’s not, I try to dig out some happy thoughts to hold me over until tomorrow…

…because that’s how I roll.

My.Daily.Diversion ~ Post Ninety-Three: Rembrandt’s Selfie

23 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Art, happiness, paintings, self esteem, self help

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Tags

Art, Artist, Dutch, exhibition, gallery, Holland, joie de Vivre, laugh, laugh lines, Master, model, painting, portrait, postcard, Rembrandt, selfie, thanks, work

image

While sorting up the mail last night, I come across a postcard bearing a self-portrait of Rembrandt. This postcard had originated in England and seemed to have been purchased at the National gallery on the occasion of a Rembrandt Exhibition.

The self portrait was painted in 1659.

That’s 356 years ago.

I set the postcard to one side, hoping for a moment to study the portrait further.

My eyes seemed to be continuously drawn back to Rembrandt’s painting.

The first thing that struck me about the portrait was that the painted figure appeared larger than life.

At first I thought it the figure was only a model posing for Rembrandt. Upon closer inspection I learned that it was the artist Rembrandt himself.

I marvelled at his fuzzy curly hair, bulbous nose, the bags under his eyes. I thought that his eyes conveyed the appropriate weariness that accompanied seventeenth century living.

Certainly, had I been Rembrandt, I would have used my paintbrush to immediately auto-corrected those blemishes faster than you can say “vanity.”

Again, his self portrait did not convey him as pretty, but rather as human and resigned to be so.

And so, there is an object lesson here for me.

All the haute couture fashion and today’s anti-aging elixirs, expensive make-up and top of the line fancy hair conditioners will be for naught as our descendants look back on our pictures in the centuries to come.

Perhaps for me, what will count in the end will have nothing to do with the blonde hair or red lipstick. Rather, what will more accurately convey my time on Earth will be that my face had more “Joie de vivre” laugh lines than frown lines.

That would make more sense wouldn’t it?

Another lesson learned.

Thank you Rembrandt.

Loved the selfie.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post Eighty-Six: My Frugal Father

15 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by duckykoren in Money economics savings, shopping

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

bargains, Books, Economics, fathers, Honest Ed's, lunch bags, money, plastic bags, savings, Shopping, work

My father was a frugal man

He was a proud frugal man.

When I was young he would take us to Honest Ed’s Bargain Basement Emporium in downtown Toronto which during the 1960’s set the standard for modern day dollar stores.

We would come home with lots and lots of full plastic bags filled with cardigan sweaters, corduroy pants and other necessities of life.

This was still the early 1970’s and way before plastic bags hit the Canadian shopping scene. Grocery stores were still using paper bags. So, plastic bags were still quite the novelty.

We would recycle the plastic bags at home and use them again and again as lunch bags, book bags, and going to work bags. But before we left the house, Father would always strictly advise us to turn the plastic bags inside out so that no one would see the Honest Ed logo and know that we shopped at this bargain emporium.

Of course my father always kept a strict budget and every penny was accounted for.

One day he told me something that to this day makes me smile.

He told me:

“When I lose ten dollars, it’s not the fact that I lost ten dollars that bothers me….”

He continued…

“What really bothers me is the fact that somebody else…”

“…Has my ten dollars!

It’s about thirty years since he said those words to me.

And whenever I notice that some money has slipped from my pocket I always remember what he told me.

I can’t help but smile.

It’s almost worth losing a buck or two over.

Almost.

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 61: It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Grinchiest Of Times

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Blogs, Christmas, correspondence, Grinch, Stories, Writing

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Tags

boss, Christmas, correspondence, elves, employer, Gold, Grinch, letters, Mail, parade, Precious, santa, Toronto, volunteers, work, Writing

Each year, at Christmas time my employer, Canada Post engages children to write to Santa Claus and then promises that Santa will write them back.

Sure enough, each November after Toronto’s annual Santa Claus parade kicks off the Christmas season, the children’s letters begin to pour in by the thousands.

Then, hundreds of elves…

(Canada Post employees)

…volunteer their free time to answer the children’s letters as they come in from all over the world.

Everyone in the plant knows the process of making sure that each letter finds itself into the hands of an elf. There are red boxes throughout the plant from which the Santa letters are collected.

Each letter is treated like gold, as they are truly precious.

Imagine my surprise one day when I found myself holding a letter addressed to:

….the Grinch!

This is the character invented and lovingly brought to life by dear old Dr. Seuss.

I was completely caught off guard.

We had no process for how to handle letters addressed to the Grinch.

What to do?

All of a sudden an idea formed in my head.

After taking a few moment to formulate my plan I finally sprang into action.

I took a long look around.

Seeing my target in the far distance, I set my course.

The thought of handing this letter to my supervisor did not nearly reach the level of grinchiness I was looking for.

A letter such as this called for my boss’s boss’s boss.

It was with great pleasure when I finally caught up with him that I held out the letter and said:

“This is for you…”

Taking the envelope from my hand he took a quick glance at it, smirked, and then tucked it neatly into his shirt pocket.

Deed done, I turned and left him alone to his thoughts.

Game set.

Match.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 35: Charming

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Blogs, jewellry, Life, Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bracelets, Charm Bracelet, Charms, heart, Jewellry, Merino Glass, remember, work

“What a lovely charm bracelet,” my coworker said to me at work one day.

It was a pretty bracelet. I had bought it in Italy for only five euros. The reason it had caught my eye was because of the multitude of silver dangling ‘doggie-bone’ charms.

Consisting of pretty blue beads made of Marino glass and silver beads it was big and bold. What I liked best about the bracelet was that it looked fun, and the dog bone charms would make for excellent conversation starters.

“You know my sister had a charm bracelet,” he continued.

Stopping what I was doing, I gave him my full attention.

“Yes, it was way back when we were still quite young,” he said as he continued to admire my bracelet.

“My sister’s bracelet was so filled with charms that it weighed a ton.”

“And do you know what?” he added…

“…She knew where she got every single one of those charms… and let me tell you, her bracelet had more charms than any bracelet I ever saw.”

“Nice,” I replied.

“She could even tell you where each charm came from and who gave it to her.”

“That’s pretty incredible,” I told him.

“Yes, but there was one charm that she had no idea where it came from… not a clue.”

“Really!”

“Yes, for years she racked her brain, but she just couldn’t remember who gave it to her.

“What did the charm look like?” I asked intrigued.

“It was a lovely rose coloured heart shaped charm,” he said.

“What was really interesting,” he continued, “were the two words that were engraved on the heart.”

“What were the two words?” I asked him.

He looked at me and answered:

“Remember Me…”

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