Author Archives: lydias

Something is happening today that only happens once every 70 years: a Strawberry Moon. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for the vast majority of people.

A Strawberry Moon happens when a full moon occurs on the Summer Solstice. It also signifies the beginning of strawberry season. The link I shared above has many more details about where the term came from and why people like it so much.

Today reminded me of some childhood memories. There were a few times growing up when mom and dad took us outside to show us rare meteorological or astronomical events. Every time this happened they’d tell us that we’d remember those sightings for the rest of our lives.

I’ve forgotten the specific names of some of the ones that happened when I was very young, but I will always remember what it felt like to stare at the sky while we watched something special happen. It was like standing outside of time itself. Everything was quiet and still, and I felt like those moments would last forever every single time we were called outdoors to see whatever it was that was going to happen.

It’s odd to think that there are people living now who weren’t alive back when those comets flew by, those planets lined up neatly (or seemed to grow bigger and brighter for a while), or when those strange weather patterns showed us things we’d never seen before.

Someday there will be people who don’t remember today’s Strawberry Moon.

You and I will, though.

I hope you look up at the full moon tonight and soak up every detail about where you’re standing and what that moments looks like that you possibly can. Make it so vivid in your mind that you’ll be able to step back into it 50 years from now and make someone who is hearing the story for the first time feel like they’re living in a time as old-fashioned as 2016.

I’ll be doing the same thing. There are a lot of minutes in life that can be easily forgotten without losing anything important. These aren’t some of them.

Then go inside for a snack if you’re hungry. Have something with strawberries, perhaps, to celebrate the most delicious time of the year? This looks delicious, whatever it is.

Here is this week’s list of rants, comic strips, poems, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Mind Your Own Womb. This is fantastic. I’ve only asked a couple of people about their reproductive plans in the past, but I regret all of those conversations. They never should have happened. It’s no one’s business but your own when, whether, how, with whom, or how many children anyone has.

But What if the Princess Was in the Tower Because She Was the Dragon? I absolutely love it when people play around with traditional fairy tale stuff like this.

Pain Remains via parmis_rad. I really like the imagery in this poem.

My Strict Mother Forced Me to Marry a Stranger When I Was 15. What a story! The ending is what made me decide to share it with you all.

The Half-Life of Love: Eight Years Later via ElaineMansfiel7. This is one of the most beautiful essays about grief that I’ve read in a long time. My grandmother died when I was a child. My family lived a few thousand miles away from where she was buried, so sometimes I’d pick dandelions and leave them on a little hill beside a neighbourhood church when I missed her and wished I could see her headstone.

Orlando Tragedy Call for Poetry via ReverieJournal‬.  Are any of my followers interested in submitting something for this?

50 Father’s Day Jokes to Make Him Smile. Do dad jokes make me groan? Sometimes, yes. There’s something irresistibly fun about them, though, that I’ll never be able to deny. Only a parent can pull off that level of silliness and make their kids laugh no matter how old the kids are.

What have you been reading?

I blogged about this topic a year ago. While I still heartily endorse everyone I mentioned in my first post in this series, it’s time to add some names to that list! 

The cool thing about Twitter is that you can find anything there. Some people use Twitter for one specific purpose: to advertise their business; to debate; to be creative; to share cute animal pictures.

I tweet for many different reasons, and I follow a wide variety of accounts there.  This list is a glimpse of my timeline. There were many other amazing people who didn’t make the list simply because I couldn’t have my readers wading through thousands words. My posts here are generally much shorter than that!

If there’s someone on Twitter that you’d like to recommend, leave a comment below. I’d love to check out their account.

I don’t know if 1scatteredmind is okay with people sharing her beautiful pictures and paintings on other sites, but I strongly recommend clicking through all of the links she shares to them. They blow my mind.

OlliCrusoe is hands down one of the funniest writers I’ve met online so far.

BirdBrayn always has a thought-provoking link to share. This isn’t an easy thing to accomplish by any means! I either have a lot of links I want to share with everyone or nothing at all. The fact that he sends out such good stuff so consistently is amazing.

You don’t have to live in Toronto to appreciate what TPSChrisBoddy tweets. He is the most friendly and most personable public figures in Toronto that I’ve met online so far. I especially appreciate his sense of humour when he finds new and creative ways to remind people to stay safe on holiday weekends.

If you like Haiku or other forms of micro-poetry, everettpoetry is a wonderful person to follow. I  also appreciate the fact that she spends so much time sharing people’s best stuff. She’s introduced me to a lot of poetry that I never would have otherwise discovered.

What I find interesting about JeffreyGuterman is how quickly he finds out about breaking news. There have been times when he’s tweeted a link to a hot story that even my local news channel hasn’t talked about yet.

manwhohasitall makes me cringe and laugh at the same time.

There are a lot of parents out there who don’t understand social media at all. Luckily, TammySchoch and OpaRide aren’t among them! I love the fact that I can interact with my parents on this platform. It is almost as cool to see them retweet me as it is to see what kinds of interesting things they’ve found that I haven’t seen yet.

JudithAdanma‬ has had some very interesting things to say about her experiences as an artist and with Autism. She tweets about a lot of other topics, too, but these are the two things that originally drew me to her.

This made me want to avoid cleaning my house for a while.

Did it have the same affect on any of my readers?

Here is this week’s list of articles, comic strips, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Is There a Right Way to Ask Someone Where They Came From? via Krista_Quintana. I love talking about this kind of stuff because of how many surprises are often hidden in the past. If only it was a socially acceptable thing to bring up with people you don’t know that well.

The Cat Psychic. The title tells you all you need to know about this one. I can’t quite tell if the cat psychic genuinely believes she’s communicating telepathically with animals or if she’s running a scam.

How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke. My husband and I had a conversation about how we’d handle an unexpected windfall after I read this article. It’s heartbreaking to see how quickly people can lose even extremely large fortunes if they act like their money will never run out.

Explaining Why I Refuse to Be Like Them via VHughesAuthor. My extended family isn’t racist, but I’ve made a conscious decision to step away from their worldview in other ways. There’s a lot of freedom that comes with choosing what you will and won’t carry on into your adult life.

Retiring Retirement. It’s going to be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next few decades.

Biased Opinions. This is as funny as it is true. Who else will admit to doing this sometimes?

The Mystery of Mystery Hill via Kathleen01930. Anyone who has spent a vacation with me has grown accustomed to being invited to stuff like this. It’s absolutely fascinating to think about what life was like 100, 1,000, 0r 10,000 years ago. The further back in history we move, the less we know for sure about the people who used a particular area. Sometimes I wonder what future generations will think of us and whether they will completely misunderstand certain parts of our architecture or art.

What have you been reading?

Every once in a while I like to share some of the questions and phrases that lead people to this blog. The queries are in bold. My answers are below them.

Spiderman is a myth that re-emerged in the the 21st century.

This isn’t true as far as I can tell. Wouldn’t it be cool to know the original stories that our current myths, fairy tales, and legends are based on, though? I’ve often wondered if some of them are loosely based on things that really happened.

For example, I have a very distant relative who, according to family legend, “lost” her illegitimate child in the woods one day. That child was never seen or heard from again. Did Hansel and Gretel become so well known partially because it soothed the guilt of parents whose children died under mysterious circumstances?

I could talk about this topic all day. It’s utterly fascinating.

I don’t wear makeup but I want to cosplay. What do I do?

I wouldn’t have a problem cosplaying without makeup. A great costume matters a whole lot more. You could also look for a character that wears a mask of some kind. No one can tell you’re not wearing makeup if they can’t see your face!

Why don’t people respect elders?

Age has nothing to do with whether or not someone should be respected. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

How to think positive about religions.

Stop watching the news. It’s full of half-truths and sometimes actual lies.

Don’t judge people before you know them.

Make friends with people from other religions. There are kind and wonderful folks in every belief system.

Difference between telling truth and badmouthing.

People who badmouth others tend to go out of their way to talk about the negative side of that person. This is especially true if what they’re saying is made up or greatly exaggerated.

People who are telling the truth generally need to be coaxed into talking about the terrible things that  happened to them. They don’t share it indiscriminately in most cases.

How to forgive a friend for pretending to be something he is not.

That depends. If he was pretending to be straight to avoid being harmed by his parents or community, he wouldn’t need any forgiveness. Someday these ruses will hopefully no longer be necessary, but I understand the need for some people to remain in the closet to stay safe.

If he lied for selfish reasons, I’d take a giant step back from the friendship and see if he changed his tune.

Happy smiling unicorn llamas

I’ve been following the 100 years of beauty series for a while now. It’s fascinating to see how hair, makeup, and clothing trends have changed over the years.

If you click on the Youtube link to this video, you can see what the trends were like in other countries as well.

My family lived in a house on a lake for a few years during my childhood.

Our next-door neighbours were so kind. They occasionally let me borrow a canoe or paddleboat so that I could explore the lake.

I wasn’t an athletic kid in the least, but I loved taking those boats around the lake even when it made my arms (or legs) ache from all of the rowing (or paddling). It was fascinating to see other people’s backyards and catch the occasional glimpse of the fish that lived in that lake.

There was a small island that I sometimes visited on nice days as well. It had all kinds of bushes and small trees growing on it. Once I spotted a dog running around on the island and I quickly ran back to my boat before the dog could get anywhere near me. I wasn’t sure if it was friendly, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way that it wasn’t.

I haven’t paddled or rowed in a boat since those summers. It’s something I keep intending to do without actually going through and doing it.

I miss those experiences, though. They were a lot of fun.

What do you miss doing?

Here is this week’s list of poems, comic strips, essays, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Siren Song. The imagery in this is fantastic.

Why Are Highly Educated Americans Getting More Liberal? Who else has noticed this trend? I sure have.

Substitutions 3. Reading the news would be so much more fun if everyone used this chart. The scientists section was my favourite one. Too funny!

These Ancient Trees Have Stories to Tell. I have a vague memory of my parents taking me to see a very old tree when I was a child. The word massive doesn’t even begin to describe how large the trunk was. Who else here has taken a road trip specifically to see something like that?

Blackflix: How the Netflix Algorithm Weighs Race. Every once in a while I dive deeply into Netflix to see if there are any movies they have on there that the algorithm hasn’t recommended to me yet for some reason. Even so, I wonder how many great shows I’ve missed over the years.

It’s the Billionaires vs. the Millionaires. These are the kinds of elementary school shenanigans that I’d expect to see from children. The fact that adults – most of whom don’t understand how ridiculous the whole thing is –  are responsible for it is both humorous and depressing.

What have you been reading?