Standing Into Danger: 2025

Friday, June 20, 2025

Beautiful Things

Connected again, that's a beautiful thing!

It's amazing how much technology impacts our lives.

I'm am very grateful to be back online.

One of the hardest things was missing my music videos

which I play and sing along with throughout the day.

So I've been gorging on my favorite songs,

like this version of "What's Up" performed by Playing for Change.

It features two members of the very talented international group,

Clarence Bekker Milton (Netherlands) and Louis Mhlanga (Zimbabwe).

CB sings with a passion and a joy that radiate, never failing to fill my heart,

and Louie is one intense guitarist, one of my favorites in the world.

I enjoy all the members including Titi Tsira (South Africa)

and Grandpa Elliot (USA) who also appear in this video.

Titi Tsira and the Playing for Change Band

YouTube

Our renovation is moving along, and on Monday Terry and I

went to Urban Lights to choose some light fixtures and fans.

It was more like an Urban Fantasy with a maze of glittering lights.

Terry Follows Rhonda, the Salesperson, into the Maze

Denver, ⁨Colorado, ⁨United States⁩

June 16, 2025

As usual, I am trailing behind.

Denver, ⁨Colorado, ⁨United States⁩

June 16, 2025

Our newest family member is thriving and the next newest is surviving the new arrival.

Three Generations

Krista, Jackson, Donnie with Elsie, and Martin

United Kingdom

June 11, 2025

One of our painters, Juan, put a smile on my face every day,

during the week he spent with his son painting our home.

A Joyful Artist with Paint

Juan

June 6, 2025

Someone who has made me smile for decades.

Terry and I in a Happy Place

Oahu, Hawaii, USA

March 19, 2025

I'm linking to Tom's Aloha Friday, Nicole's Friday Face Off, and Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date,

For Tom: Back to the Moon! ~ Canadian Patrick Roy, accompanied by fellow Canadian Kim Richardson, sings a song that never fails to lift my spirits in a place I WILL see next year, Jurassic Park on Oahu.

Back to the Moon

YouTube

For Nicole: Three Special Faces ~ Grandpa Martin takes Jackson to the British Museum of Natural History without the new sister. 😂

One Very Happy Grandpa with Jackson

British Museum of Natural History, London, UK

June 3, 2025

For Rain: White Pines ~ White pines have a special place in Rain's heart, so I'm sharing a photo of some lovely New Brunswick white pines.

White Pines

Source

Wishing you beautiful things in your life!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, June 27, 2025 🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Friday, June 13, 2025

Cut Off!

Source

I may need a third, fourth, or fifth order of Starbucks coffee and a chocolate croissant.

You may remember that my electrical power and internet was out for hours on IWSG Day.

Now, I have no internet service, so I couldn't write a Friday post or publish it.

I am currently parked at a corner table in the Starbucks near home,

trying to cover essentials.

Life is never dull! 😂

I hope to have internet service again soon.

Have a good weekend!

Life is never dull! 😂

I'm linking to Tom's Aloha Friday, Nicole's Friday Face Off, and Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date,

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, June 20, 2025 🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, June 4 ~ Bitten with Wanderlust

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.

To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are

PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melissa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's optional question is:

What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy June, Everyone!

I hope all is well with each of you.

I don't remember a time I couldn't read, and I read voraciously while I was growing up.

My parents and other adult family members encouraged me to read,

and they never censored my book choices.

I had free access to all the bookcases in my extended family, and there were many.

One lazy summer afternoon in Charlottetown when I was eight,

I was browsing through my Grandmother MacBeath's bookcase in her living room.

I pulled out a plain black book titled "The Flying Carpet" and opened its cover.

I was expecting magic, genies, and rugs swooping through the air.

The Front Endpapers of The Flying Carpet by Richard Halliburton

Aurora, Colorado, USA

June 2, 2025

Instead, the endpapers were maps covered with routes,

the front cover's of Europe and North Africa, and the back's of India and Asia.

The flying carpet was not a magical rug. It was a plane!

More specifically it was an open cockpit biplane, a modified Stearman C-3B.

Richard Halliburton (forward) and Moye Stephens (aft) sitting in the Flying Carpet

Wikipedia

I read the opening lines: "Ten thousand feet above the California hills. The airplane sailed through the air with the ease and the grace of a sea-gull. It hurdled the clouds, soared over the mountaintops, dived toward the sea, and skimmed the waves."

I was hooked, bitten with wanderlust.

Moye Stephens and Richard Halliburton

The Attic

Stephens, an aviation pioneer, shook hands with Halliburton

and agreed to fly him around the world for no pay but with unlimited expenses.

They began their adventure on Christmas Day, 1930,

just three years after Lindbergh flew the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic.

Halliburton's flying trek around the world with Stephens made him a household name.

Richard Halliburton's Books

halliburtonbook.com

I avidly followed his 40,000 mile journey, and I vowed that I would travel the world too.

I swore, like him, I'd visit the hidden city of Petra and visit the headhunters of Borneo.

I've slept on a dirt floor in a hut among the headhunters,

but I've haven't made it to Petra ~ yet ~ although I've studied and read

about that magical city carved from rose sandstone throughout my life.

Al Khazneh or The Treasury

Wikipedia

Of course I devoured Halliburton's other books over the years,

and I've followed his footsteps as I traveled the world.

I really, really wanted to follow him into the Blue Grotto of Capri.

I came so close ~ within a few dozen feet,

but high seas prevented me from going inside.

Me, by the Entrance to the Blue Grotto

Capri, Italy

May 21, 2016

I haven't given up on the Blue Grotto either!

I've been gifted with a sense of wonder and wanderlust,

and I hope to visit more of the amazing places Richard Halliburton introduced me to.

Wishing each of you a great IWSG Day,

and a big thank you to our awesome co-hosts.

Have a healthy, happy, and creative June!

Take care!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be Friday, June 13th 🤞

Friday, May 30, 2025

Light at the End of the Tunnel!

I never expected to be away so long, but I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

We are seven weeks into our renovation with three weeks to go.

Painting the entire upstairs is scheduled to begin today.

Our microwave is reinstalled upstairs, so I'm racking up stair climbs

running up and down the stairs for hot coffee.

There IS a silver lining in everything!

your tango.com

Plumb!

Saeed Working on the Shower

Aurora, Colorado, USA

May 22, 2025

In the last month life has had chaos, heartbreak, and a lot of stress,

but some really good things have been happening too.

One month out from his heart surgery, my brother Roy is doing great!

We are all excited about that!

Roy is doing great!

And so are the mosquitoes apparently! 😂

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

May 25, 2025

Our youngest sister Bertie is retiring and about to query her next children's chapter book.

Bertie Is Retiring

Honored by the Annapolis Local of the Nova Scotia's Teachers Union

Nova Scotia, Canada Late May 2025

Spring has sprung in the park along Piney Creek,

and I walked along a high bank I'd never walked on before (in almost 20 years!).

It's fun to see something so familiar from a new perspective.

Heading up a High Creek Bank Overlooking the "Upper Pond"

Baby Leaf Season Along Piney Creek

Aurora, Colorado, USA

May 21, 2025

Muleys So Busy Looking at a Man and a Dog That They Don't see Me 😂

Along Piney Creek

Aurora, Colorado, USA

May 21, 2025

Prairie Bluebells Dotting the High Bank

This plant has low flammability and can be used for defensible space around homes.

Colorado State University Extension. Source

Along Piney Creek

Aurora, Colorado, USA, May 21, 2025

I went out on the deck on Monday, Memorial Day, and I heard a meadowlark singing.

I haven't heard a meadowlark from our deck since before the pandemic.

The rough areas surrounding the golf greens used to be alive with meadowlarks.

I have grieved the loss of "my" meadowlarks, and now they're back.

The song of the meadowlark is one of the sweetest, purest sounds in the world.

The Meadowlark Singing off My Deck

Aurora, Colorado, USA

May 26, 2025

I couldn't get closer for a better shot for obvious reasons.

Aurora, Colorado, USA

May 26, 2025

YouTube ~ American Bird Conservancy

And best of all, Terry and I have a new grandniece!

Here's sweet Elsie, sister to Jackson, born on May 20th!

(my sister Donnie's daughter Krista's daughter.)

Elsie with Her Amazing Mom, Krista

May 20, 2025

Jackson with Elsie

Donnie with Elsie

And one more thing!

You may have heard of Teddy Swims first on my blog. Post

He has soared, and this week he broke the record for the most time

on the Billboard Hot 100 since its inception on August 4, 1958

with his huge hit, the bluesy soulful "Lose Control."

This song also ran a record 63 weeks in the Hot 100's Top Ten. Billboard

And you may remember that I did get to see Teddy in concert

in the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Teddy Swims with His Band of Friends, Freak Freely

The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

March 26, 2024

This is the song that really made me such a fan of Teddy Swims,

his cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved."

He appears here with his high school friends Addy Maxwell and Jesse Hampton.

Both are guitarists in Freak Freely who often appear with Teddy all over the world.

Teddy Swims with Addy Maxwell and Jesse Hampton

Someone You Loved

YouTube

Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I hope things are going well for each of you!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

IWSG Day

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 🤞

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 ~ My Greatest Fear as a Writer

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are

Feather Stone, Janet Acorn, Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia!

Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's optional question is:

Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How did it get to be May already?

I hope things are going well for each of you.

This month's question is an easy one for me to answer.

My greatest fear as a writer is that I'll die before I finish the writing I want to do.

I never dreamed that I'd be sitting here at 75 still working on my memoir.

But here I am.

I was supposed to have a copy submitted to a publisher

or to someone who could help me pull it together by April 20th this year.

That was the challenge my sister Bertie threw down at me on April 20, 2024.

And I failed.

Admitting Failure to a Published-Author Sibling Isn't Easy

Bertie can skewer with a look!

(But she wasn't as hard on me as I anticipated.)

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

August 7, 2019

When I was younger, the need for security and independence kept me working,

first as a geologist and then as an elementary teacher.

I poured everything into my two demanding careers,

because I was passionate about them and I can't seem to do anything halfway.

There was little left over for creative writing, let alone becoming a professional writer.

Driller Jack Taylor and I in the Doghouse

DNB Rig, Western Kansas Oil Patch, USA

February 1982

Actually I wrote a lot connected with my careers, my degrees, and my volunteer work.

(as a union leader and in field and lab paleontology).

I published newspaper articles, wrote and delivered many speeches and workshops,

produced scientific reports and papers,

even published a short story in a Canadian literary journal, The Antigonish Review.

I wrote several partial drafts of my memoir.

But published memoirist escaped me.

Working on a Duck-Billed Dinosaur (Edmontosaurus)

Me Volunteering, Fossil Lab, Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Denver, Colorado, USA 1992

When I retired I worked on my memoir in small chunks shared as blog posts.

I had buried trauma which I had to dig up, confront, reveal,

things I could only think of in metaphors such as muskeg, sandwich man, gingerbread girl.

Some of the carbon-dioxide and methane that bubbled up from my muskeg

could flip a herd of caribou toes up ~ permanently.

Just in case anyone is wondering: Caribou have four toes on each hoof.

That's a lot of hooves and toes pointing skyward and inducing guilt.

I still haven't exorcised all of my demons,

but I have discovered a deep compassion and love

for the people who have moved through my life,

those I hurt and those who hurt me.

I have found forgiveness and I have forgiven.

Northern Muskeg

Flickr: Rover Thor ~ License

And then last year when I thought I could pull it together, finally,

life got in the way.

It was a tough year.

I failed.

I had to admit to my sister Bertie that I had failed.

I had to accept that it is what it is.

And now I worry that I'll die before I accomplish what I must do.

So how am I managing this fear?

The only I know how,

the same way I have managed other big ~~fears~~ challenges in my life.

I put one foot in front of the other and I walk forward;

in this case, I start typing one word after another.

There are things I have managed in my past that were far, far harder,

and I walked through them all.

I will walk through this too, as long as I don't die first. 😂

I have to put aside the voices of all the people

I worry are thinking whiner, loser, failure, you're never going to finish this.

It is what it is, and I'm already walking.

Me, Regrouping After My Brother-in-Law's Memorial

Panama City Beach, Florida, USA

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Wishing each of you a great IWSG Day,

and a big thank you to our awesome co-hosts.

Have a healthy, happy, and creative May!

Take care!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be Friday, May 16th 🤞

Books Read in 2024

"5 Languages of Love: The Secret to Love That Lasts" by Gary Chapman
"At Home in the World" by Joyce Maynard
"Cockroaches" by Jo Nesbo
"Death's End" by Cixin Liu
"Eruption" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
"In Darkness" by L. Diane Wolfe
"In My Time of Dying" by Sebastian Junger
"Nothing to Fear" by Julie McFadden, RN
"The Bat" by Jo Nesbo
"The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu
"The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon
"The Last to Vanish" by Megan Miranda
"The Montauk Monster" by Hunter Shea
"The Road to Character" by David Brooks
"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller
"The Twist of a Knife" by Anthony Horowitz
"The Uninhabital Earth: Life After Warming" by David Wallace-Wells
"The Women" by Kristin Hannah
"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
"Writing the Shadow" by Joanna Penn

Pages

Friday, June 20, 2025

Beautiful Things

Friday, June 13, 2025

Cut Off!

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, June 4 ~ Bitten with Wanderlust

Friday, May 30, 2025

Light at the End of the Tunnel!

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

IWSG: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 ~ My Greatest Fear as a Writer