Standing Into Danger: June 2026

Friday, June 19, 2026

Hardhats and Big Machines

I've always had a thing for hardhats and big machines.

It may be because I am descended from and grew up around people

who earned their livelihoods working with their hands in dangerous jobs.

Or perhaps it was my early childhood awe for my father who worked with tanks.

My Father ~ Prince Edward Island Regiment Days

Most Likely Prince Edward Island, Circa: 1952-53

Certainly I was influenced by my early career in geology where I worked

in the field mapping, on mining projects, and on oil rigs.

It was undeniably exciting to blow up dynamite or ride the "elevator" to the top of a rig.

Driller Jack Taylor and I in the Doghouse

DNB Rig, Western Kansas Oil Patch, USA

February 1982

Driller Don Foster on the DNB Rig

I learned so much from Jack and Don when I worked with them in the Kansas Oil Patch.

Hodgeman County, Kansas, USA

February 1981

So when we returned from Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I was thrilled to see

that the major irrigation and course enhancement project at my community

had reached the section of the golf course our townhome overlooks.

I had great fun watching lots of men in hardhats and big machines

digging trenches, laying huge irrigation pipes, and covering them up again.

Landscapes Unlimited Men and Machines at Work on Our Golf Course

Heritage Eagle Bend

Aurora, Colorado, ⁨USA

June 8, 2026

I couldn't resist heading out with my iPhone to capture the work and the equipment

after the construction crew left in the evening.

Big Machines Temporarily at Rest

Heritage Eagle Bend

Aurora, Colorado, ⁨USA

June 8, 2026

Big Irrigation Pipes

Heritage Eagle Bend

Aurora, Colorado, ⁨USA

June 8, 2026

I can't help myself. It's all so fascinating.

Well, Maybe Not the Portable Toilet! 😂

Heritage Eagle Bend

Aurora, Colorado, ⁨USA

June 8, 2026

So, today, I fell down a big rabbit hole looking for hardhat and big machine memes.

And I found too many that tickled my funny bone.

I'm linking to Gillena's Lunch Break, Nicole's Friday Face Off, Tom's Aloha Friday, and Debra's She Who Seeks.

May you have a great weekend filled with fascination and laughs!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

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

My next post will be IWSG Day

Friday, June 26th. 🤞

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

Friday, June 12, 2026

One Hundred and One Years Ago: On Grief and Enduring Love

I started writing this post on June 12th last year,

but I ended up sobbing and unable to continue.

I was consumed by grief.

It would have been my mother's 100th birthday if she were alive.

But she died on Thursday, May 23rd in 2002, just shy of her 77th birthday.

A Favorite Photo of My Mother and Me

On My Grandmother MacDonald's Back Steps

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

Likely Summer 1951

I watched her take her last breath when she died

surrounded by Terry, my sister Barb, the palliative care nurse, and me.

In my heart I begged her, "Please take one more breath,

just one more breath, please."

But she didn't.

I loved my mother so much,

and my pain at her loss is just as sharp as it was 24 years ago.

I had the best mom!

My Mother, My Father, and I Soon After I Was Born

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

A Few Days After March 18, 1950

My mother was the anchor that held our family together through everything.

She met my father when the music stopped

during a Paul Jones dance at Acadia University in 1946 or 1947.

My father was handsome, brilliant, exquisitely sensitive, and flawed.

He struggled with mental illness throughout his life,

suffering with a complex condition of depression, anxiety, and alcoholism

that has darkened the Pratt branch of our family for generations.

But the music stopped in that dance and they fell in love.

Mom and Dad Dancing at Acadia ~ Not THE Dance Though

Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

1946 or 1947

Through all the turmoil of their lives my mother and father never stopped loving each other.

Very late on a night or two before she died, while Terry and I were grabbing some sleep,

our mother asked my sister Barb if Barb thought she would see Daddy again.

That great mystery! That great desire: to be again with those we love!

Of course Barb supported her hope.

In my heart and soul I believe they are together surrounded by God's love and healing.

I feel their presence and love every day.

The Photo of My Mother That My father Carried in His Wallet Throughout His Life

Somewhere Near Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

1946 or 1947

I don't mean for this to be a sad post.

I was so very, very fortunate to have the amazing mother that I did.

I have countless wonderful memories of her that warm my heart every day.

(And of my dad too!).

Life and love go on.

Our newest family member, our great niece Eliza Moe Mundry, was born on June 5th.

Gavin and Colleen with Baby Eliza

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

June 5, 2026

How Mom (and Dad) would have loved this great grandchild and the three adorable others!

Jackson and Elsie Taylor

Wallington, United Kingdom

December 25, 2025

Ella MacBeath with Her Parents Neil and Jeannie

Neil Looks So Much Like My Father That It Hurts!

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

December 25, 2025

I read these verses from 1 Corinthians 13 during Terry's and my wedding service.

They're some of my favorite verses in the Bible:

"Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails ...

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

New International Version (NIV)

Just Married, Terry and I

Parker, Colorado, Canada

September 1, 1984

Wishing you all love in your lives.

I'm linking to Gillena's Lunch Break, Nicole's Friday Face Off, Tom's Aloha Friday, and Debra's She Who Seeks.

Have a great weekend!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

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

My next post will be IWSG Day

Friday June 19th. 🤞

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

IWSG Day: Wednesday, June 3, 2026 ~ Where Do My Story Ideas Come From?

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

Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and C. Lee McKenzie!

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:

Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

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

Happy June, Everyone!

I hope that you have had a happy, healthy, and fulfilling May!

I'm late posting today ~ We flew in late yesterday afternoon after six nights in Vegas.

Six nights without a computer for me. That was a challenge!

Vegas Vickie in CIRCA

Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

January 11, 2026

This month's question asks if most of my story ideas come from one place

(the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, my stories are usually drawn from my life.

Typically it is a landscape that inspires me,

and it's the struggle of the people who live in that setting that fascinates me.

Although I have spent much of my adult life in urban settings,

my mind keeps returning to places where people live close to the land

and their lives are heavily influenced by their physical environment.

Setting for My Memoir

My brother Roy and I

Paddling on Lake Attawaspiskat

Lansdowne House, Ontario, Canada

Early Spring, 1961

Setting for Several of My Newfoundland Stories

The Site of One of the Worst US Naval Disasters of World War II:

the Wrecks of the USS Truxtun,

the USS Pollux, and the USS Wilkes

on and around Chambers Cove in Newfoundland.

Source

Setting for My IWSG Anthology Short Story

"Dare, Double Dare" in Voyagers: The Third Ghost

Smith's Cove and North Mountain, Nova Scotia, Canada

EPSON MFP Image ~ Source Unknown

I'm looking forward to seeing what inspires our other members.

If you are also a member of our Facebook Group,

I invite you to visit and to provide a link to your IWSG post.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13

Facebook members are invited to answer our June question too.

Take care!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

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

My next post will be Friday, June 12th. 🤞

Just so you know, I monitor my comments before publishing them. This means your comment won't appear immediately. I will not publish mean spirited or commercial comments.

Books Read in 2026

"18 Days in Heaven" by Gale Poirot
"A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Hope, Love, and Overcoming" by Kerrie Rawson
"Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life" by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD.
"Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics Deepest Truths" by Eugenia Cheng
"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir
"Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout
"The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese
"The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" by David Graeber and David Wengrow
"The Life Impossible" by Matthew Haig
"The Lord go the Rings" by JRR Tolkien
"The Match" by Harlan Corben
"The Night the Path Disappeared" by Terri Bergen
"The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper" by Roland Allen
"Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi
"Think Twice" by Harlan Corben
"Why Christianity Must Change Or Die" by John Shelby Spong

Standing Into Danger

Pages

Friday, June 19, 2026

Hardhats and Big Machines

Friday, June 12, 2026

One Hundred and One Years Ago: On Grief and Enduring Love

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

IWSG Day: Wednesday, June 3, 2026 ~ Where Do My Story Ideas Come From?

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