Marlow's Musings 5/26/24
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
‘A Crane Walked By’ sounds like the title or beginning of a splendid novel. This sandhill crane did just that while I was out walking in my yard, carrying coffee grounds to the compost earlier this week. He paid me no mind.
I shared the event along with this picture in the Notes section of Ikiquest, which prompted a splendid conversation with a subscriber, Donna, in the UK.
Me: Well hello there, Sandhill Crane passing through my yard.
Donna: Yard?!?!?!
Me: Yes, my backyard.
Donna: I take it you don’t live in London then? You are very lucky to have such a beautiful back ‘yard’
Me: I don’t, though I do love London. Yes, I am blessed to live in a small village outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Cranes, deer, turkey, and the occasional rabbit pass by, though the rabbits are often met by the red-tailed hawks that hang around.
Donna: I could cry! That sounds heavenly
Last week, I regaled you with the challenges of changing a post light in a 50-year-old home. When we moved in, this was considered the ‘new’ part of town, with dairy farms still surrounding us.
Now our neighborhood is surrounded by stunning homes larger and far more expensive.
Despite its age and ‘vintage’ 1970s design, it is, in fact, heavenly to live here. They say comparison is the thief of joy, though it was a comparison this week that reminded me of a blessing I have in my life: a backyard in a quiet neighborhood sometimes visited by sandhill cranes.
Word of the Week
Perspective (noun)
| pərˈspektiv |
1: the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.
2: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
The more figurative second definition only came into use in the mid-1700s, though it seems to have fallen out of favor recently.
In case you missed it…
This week, Ikigai Thought for Today: Living Ikigai.
I propose you need to fall in love with three things to live your Ikigai fully.
Ikiquest+
This week's Coffee Contemplation: Being Alive is another Fabulous Friday reflection, but it has one question instead of five. Even though it is only one, it is a potent question.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.
If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, give it a try for free by clicking the box here.
Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment came from Andy on my Musing post about the ‘post.’
I’d love to live in a home like that.
Andy, Donna, and a few others provided perspective and reminded me that I am blessed beyond what I am sometimes consciously aware of.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is from Marshall Goldsmith…
95% of all participants in successful teams believe they are in the top half of performers on those teams. Although a statistical impossibility it explains why feedback is so tough to give and receive. You are telling them something that is in conflict with their belief.
Fun Thing I Saw This Week
Nick Gray’s Tokyo Blind Date. “I solicited a random woman on the Internet to fly and meet me in Tokyo last week. The resulting adventure was one of the most fun, viral things I’ve ever done.”
I’m not sure how I heard about Nick or his blind date because I’m not on Instagram and rarely on Twitter.
I did, and like apparently a lot of others, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the complete adventure of it all.
If you want to know how it turns out, click on the link above.
Final Thoughts
Gaining perspective can be challenging, especially when life has thrown unimaginable challenges your way. In my life, I've witnessed a friend's murder while narrowly escaping being murdered myself, survived a plane crash with an engine on fire, and nearly died in an industrial accident, all after four and a half years in the Marines.
I also own my own home in a wonderful, safe, and peaceful place. I have been in love with the same woman for over forty years, who has blessed me with three children and those children with four grandchildren. I can’t even list all the fortunate events, circumstances, and blessings that have graced my life.
Even experiencing this life is something like a 400 trillion to one shot. Being here and taking a breath is a miracle on its own.
Quest well.
David...please accept this note of gratitude for your service...I share it w/ every person I can...every chance I'm afforded whenever I come across those bearing their veteran's status (usually via a hat, sometimes words)...as well as the understanding that the words "thank you" just never seen sufficient reciprocity 🙏
AND...celebrating your composting efforts 🙌 This is an adventure I've just embarked on this year & it's exciting to me to:
A. watch how much less is going into landfills through my efforts
B. know that I will eventually get to "share" the remains of what I comsume with my raised garden bed through this effort.
Although Toby the cat (from down the street) is not a crane, he did invite me to keep working on ironing out the details im the back yard while dropping a deuce just yesterday in the mulch of the Sacred Healing Garden that I also just put in this month 🤣😳🤨🤣
Another "excuse" to be be encircled by 12 red rose bushes, 4 blueberry bushes, & 2 varieties of grapes Toby...how lucky am I?!
I loved your post today, as usual, but the blind date article took over! It was fascinating. Thanks for sharing it! Happy Sunday!