I live in the middle of a good sized city, 1/2 a million people on the shore of Lake Ontario. My wife and I rent an apartment just a couple blocks off the core strip of downtown businesses and attractions. There are a number of apartment dwellings in my neighborhood, an easy half dozen are visible from our balcony.
We're lucky in that our neighborhood is still very green despite its high population density... lots of trees & shrubs that support a large number of various songbird species. (and the buildings are home to pigeons of course) As smokers, we're out on the balcony quite a bit and have seen numerous different species of birds from there. It's a pretty cool place to live. Everything from blue jays, to sparrows, to peregrine falcons have flown by our window.
Last summer a red-tailed hawk began cruising the skies over our neighborhood. After a few days of fly-bys he started sitting on the top-most ledge on an apartment building a couple blocks to the south of us. He looks real impressive sitting up there surveying the area and when he flies! Wow. How can one's own spirit not soar when privy to such a beautiful sight as a red-tailed hawk on the wing.
In December of 2011 he was again on his regular perch but had another hawk perched nearby. This is pretty exciting stuff! Could this be the start of a relationship? Is it possible our original hawk neighbor has decided his building is a good place to raise a brood and he brought a potential mate to check it out?
How awesome would that be, having red-tailed hawks nesting within site of our living room?
With neighbors like that, who cares what troubles the world. To see such a magnificent creature from the warmth of my own home makes my spirit soar.
Enough to return to this blog which I've ignored for months just to tell someone, anyone about it.
2012 is gonna be a great year!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Born in a barn? - I'll take Door #1.
Remember hearing "Were you born in a barn?" any time you left a door open? Back when I was younger it was an expression used to train people to close doors behind them. Parents of course used it but even complete strangers would ask "Were you born in a barn?" if you didn't shut a door when entering or leaving a room or building.
There are lots of good reasons for closing a door, especially one you had to open first... keep the cold & bugs outside, the pets & small toddlers inside, security, privacy etc. It seemed, back then, that closing doors was an expected thing to do and often even considered within the realm of 'manners' - it was good manners to close a door, bad manners to leave it open.
That's how it used to be anyway. Today, things are different. It seems many people no longer consider leaving doors open a bad thing. It's no longer bad manners to not close a door, or maybe calling someone out for not doing so is nowadays... Is vocalizing the rhetorical question "Were you born is a barn" considered bad manners now?
Is taking umbrage with anyone's actions the only form of bad manners left in this new "Me first" world we live in, a society where leaving doors open, spitting on the sidewalk, swearing in public, butting into line-ups and countless other things once considered bad manners are now commonplace?
I live in an apartment building. It's what rental companies like to refer to as a "secure building" because you need a key to gain entry; either that or you must be 'buzzed in' by a tenant or the building manager. This security measure is to ensure our little building community, the apartments serving as people's homes, all have some collective line of first defense to keep out the undesirable elements roaming the city... criminals, canvassers, salesmen, Jehovah Witnesses etc.
Inside the building there are additional secured doors. The storage locker area and laundry room both require additional key entry so just getting into the building doesn't grant access to those areas. (Keeps the salesmen, criminals and Jehovah Witnesses from rummaging through boxes of Christmas ornaments, broken appliances and old books or trying on your underwear fresh and warm from the dryer.)
Having locks on the building's entry points and common-use areas makes sense and these doors should remain closed for good reason. So too should the stairway doors since most of them are designed, in part, to always be closed for reasons of fire suppression and building ventilation system function. Apartment doors should also remain closed to ensure one's cooking odors, noise, pot or cigarette smoke etc doesn't fill the hallway or seep into other people's units.
Keeping doors closed not only makes sense, it's good manners... a consideration to others who might not share your taste for fried fish, Metallica, Colombian Gold or neglected cat boxes. Closing the doors is also a moral obligation not to compromise the safety and security of the community that is the building's inhabitants.
Past experience having demonstrated the best way to keep doors closed is to ensure they will naturally assume that position at rest, all the doors in the building are fitted with a device that will close the them automatically. It's a good system but it only works when people don't purposely screw with it.
A common occurrence is people using some kind of object to hold a door open. This most often happens at the two main entry points to the building and the most used object to hold the door open is a rock from the building's garden area. I understand people doing this while moving in or out of the building - who wants to fight with opening a door while carrying a couch or box of kitchen utensils? I can even sorta understand those who do it while unloading a trunk load of groceries.
What I don't get is why, when they're done moving whatever with multiple trips through the door, they don't close it to return things to the way they were designed and intended to be for the greater good of everyone in the building. Some people do (although hardly anyone ever returns the rock to where they got it, they usually just kick it aside thus creating either a whole new issue or a handy device for the next person to jam the door open - depends how you look at it) but most people just leave the door wide open.
I know enough about human nature and behavior to understand why someone moving out of the building could walk away leaving the door they jammed open as an invitation for anyone to enter. After all, they don't live here anymore and have no further interest in the building's security. It's a pretty good indication that they probably never recognized they were part of a distinct community while living in this building... that they probably only ever think of themselves. I don't particularly like that way of thinking because I find it a symptom of the further decay of our ability as a species to live in close proximity with each other but I get it.
It's harder to understand why the people who are moving in or already live here don't close the entry doors once completing the task that prompted jamming them wide open . They are still here, in this building. Even if they don't recognize their reality as one piece of the whole collective community of building residents, even if they think only of themselves, even if they were in fact born in a barn... wouldn't they, on a subconscious level get an instinctual animal-in-its-den gut feeling recognizing the need for security, a security offered by the simple act of closing a door?
Thanks for reading. Please close the door behind you on your way out.
There are lots of good reasons for closing a door, especially one you had to open first... keep the cold & bugs outside, the pets & small toddlers inside, security, privacy etc. It seemed, back then, that closing doors was an expected thing to do and often even considered within the realm of 'manners' - it was good manners to close a door, bad manners to leave it open.
That's how it used to be anyway. Today, things are different. It seems many people no longer consider leaving doors open a bad thing. It's no longer bad manners to not close a door, or maybe calling someone out for not doing so is nowadays... Is vocalizing the rhetorical question "Were you born is a barn" considered bad manners now?
Is taking umbrage with anyone's actions the only form of bad manners left in this new "Me first" world we live in, a society where leaving doors open, spitting on the sidewalk, swearing in public, butting into line-ups and countless other things once considered bad manners are now commonplace?
I live in an apartment building. It's what rental companies like to refer to as a "secure building" because you need a key to gain entry; either that or you must be 'buzzed in' by a tenant or the building manager. This security measure is to ensure our little building community, the apartments serving as people's homes, all have some collective line of first defense to keep out the undesirable elements roaming the city... criminals, canvassers, salesmen, Jehovah Witnesses etc.
Inside the building there are additional secured doors. The storage locker area and laundry room both require additional key entry so just getting into the building doesn't grant access to those areas. (Keeps the salesmen, criminals and Jehovah Witnesses from rummaging through boxes of Christmas ornaments, broken appliances and old books or trying on your underwear fresh and warm from the dryer.)
Having locks on the building's entry points and common-use areas makes sense and these doors should remain closed for good reason. So too should the stairway doors since most of them are designed, in part, to always be closed for reasons of fire suppression and building ventilation system function. Apartment doors should also remain closed to ensure one's cooking odors, noise, pot or cigarette smoke etc doesn't fill the hallway or seep into other people's units.
Keeping doors closed not only makes sense, it's good manners... a consideration to others who might not share your taste for fried fish, Metallica, Colombian Gold or neglected cat boxes. Closing the doors is also a moral obligation not to compromise the safety and security of the community that is the building's inhabitants.
Past experience having demonstrated the best way to keep doors closed is to ensure they will naturally assume that position at rest, all the doors in the building are fitted with a device that will close the them automatically. It's a good system but it only works when people don't purposely screw with it.
A common occurrence is people using some kind of object to hold a door open. This most often happens at the two main entry points to the building and the most used object to hold the door open is a rock from the building's garden area. I understand people doing this while moving in or out of the building - who wants to fight with opening a door while carrying a couch or box of kitchen utensils? I can even sorta understand those who do it while unloading a trunk load of groceries.
What I don't get is why, when they're done moving whatever with multiple trips through the door, they don't close it to return things to the way they were designed and intended to be for the greater good of everyone in the building. Some people do (although hardly anyone ever returns the rock to where they got it, they usually just kick it aside thus creating either a whole new issue or a handy device for the next person to jam the door open - depends how you look at it) but most people just leave the door wide open.
I know enough about human nature and behavior to understand why someone moving out of the building could walk away leaving the door they jammed open as an invitation for anyone to enter. After all, they don't live here anymore and have no further interest in the building's security. It's a pretty good indication that they probably never recognized they were part of a distinct community while living in this building... that they probably only ever think of themselves. I don't particularly like that way of thinking because I find it a symptom of the further decay of our ability as a species to live in close proximity with each other but I get it.
It's harder to understand why the people who are moving in or already live here don't close the entry doors once completing the task that prompted jamming them wide open . They are still here, in this building. Even if they don't recognize their reality as one piece of the whole collective community of building residents, even if they think only of themselves, even if they were in fact born in a barn... wouldn't they, on a subconscious level get an instinctual animal-in-its-den gut feeling recognizing the need for security, a security offered by the simple act of closing a door?
Thanks for reading. Please close the door behind you on your way out.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Madness Echoes
Do the very scary kitchen sounds that echo through the madness
Bring you down?
Do the very scary bedroom scenes that echo through the madness
Twist your dreams?
Do the very scary snakes and birds that echo through the madness
Make it worse?
Echoes never come first.
Madness is like smoke,
It follows fire.
And the fire that envelops me
Touches me
Caresses me
Tosses me on flaming waves
In an endless ocean of sadness.
And the lifeline that I'm holding to
Praying to
Expecting to
Reach you
Leads nowhere.
It's all just dreams
That echo through the madness.
Do the visions in this new dimension
Where no story has a happy ending
Penetrate your sadness
Creep into your madness
To echo through your mind
Like a neon highway sign
To a false reality?
Or is it me?
Madness echoes.
This I know.
Madness makes the echoes grow.
Madness hides behind my face.
Echoes come to take my place.
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission
Bring you down?
Do the very scary bedroom scenes that echo through the madness
Twist your dreams?
Do the very scary snakes and birds that echo through the madness
Make it worse?
Echoes never come first.
Madness is like smoke,
It follows fire.
And the fire that envelops me
Touches me
Caresses me
Tosses me on flaming waves
In an endless ocean of sadness.
And the lifeline that I'm holding to
Praying to
Expecting to
Reach you
Leads nowhere.
It's all just dreams
That echo through the madness.
Do the visions in this new dimension
Where no story has a happy ending
Penetrate your sadness
Creep into your madness
To echo through your mind
Like a neon highway sign
To a false reality?
Or is it me?
Madness echoes.
This I know.
Madness makes the echoes grow.
Madness hides behind my face.
Echoes come to take my place.
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Crack In The Eggshell
Crack In The Eggshell
The crack in the eggshell, it casts a shadow of doubt
If a bird or a reptile will be stumbling out.
The crack in the eggshell, it's where the virus slips in
To dance the Saint Vitus on the creature within.
Better not crack your eggshell unless you're ready for the World.
You might crawl like a lizard, shed your feathers like a bird.
Better not crack your eggshell unless you want some company.
You just might meet a virus, perhaps change genetically.
If you crack your eggshell to see how God designed you
You might find a frying pan with a roaring fire behind you.
Better not crack the eggshell
Ya better not! Better not!
You might find an awful smell
So ya better not! Better not!
You might feed a virus well
Oh whatcha got! Whatcha got?
Better not crack your eggshell
The crack in the eggshell, it casts a sliver of light
Into your hidden darkness, cuts you like a knife.
The crack in the eggshell, it's where the madness appears
To slip into your head and dance between your ears.
Better not crack your eggshell unless you're ready to get hurt.
You might soar like an eagle before crashing to the dirt.
Better not crack your eggshell unless you want some company.
You just might dance with Madness, perhaps lose your sanity.
If you crack your eggshell to see how God designed you
You might find a frying pan with a roaring fire behind you.
Better not crack the eggshell.
Better not crack the eggshell.
Better not! Better not!
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
He Calls You Home - A study of fear
WARNING!
The following poem contains language and imagery that might be offensive to some readers.
He Calls You Home
He leaves a trail like a slug;
An oily sheen that sends shivers up your back.
He blurs your vision like a drug.
A swirling set of colors fade to black.
He reeks a stench of rotting meat;
A noxious cloud of poison purple gas.
He clings like fungus to your feet.
Trips you
Fucks you
Face down in the grass.
He is the one who follows you around when it's dark,
And you're all alone.
(But you're not alone)
He is the one who breathes nightmares in your ear,
When you're at home.
(And you think you're alone)
He is the one who shits in your front yard
And throws you a bone.
So you are never alone,
He calls you home.
He screams like babies being burned;
A cacophony of haunting tortured cries.
He makes you question all you've learned.
A catastrophic brain-fart full of lies.
He pukes up poison in a bowl;
A deadly diet that will surely make you blind.
He spreads like cancer to your soul.
Traps you
Fucks you
Face down in your mind.
He is the one whose footsteps you hear late at night,
When you're alone.
(But you're not alone)
He is the one who makes you leave a light on,
When you're at home.
(And you think you're alone)
He is the one who shits on your front porch
And writes you a poem.
So you are never alone,
He calls you home.
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Kill The Weatherman (Come on, you know you want to.)
Kill The Weatherman
I'm frozen stiff
I'm boiling mad
I've got an evil plan
Have no doubt
When I thaw out
I'll kill the Weatherman!
His forecast said
A warming trend
Was due to start today
So I thought
Why wear a coat
When I can catch some rays.
Now it's blowing snow
And bitter cold
Enough to freeze my breath
I guarantee
The Weatherman
A slow and painful death!
He's always wrong
He's never right
He always ruins my plans
If I don't die
A Popsicle
I'll kill the Weatherman!
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Ground Zero
Once upon a time not (too many years from now) in a VERY classy restaurant on the top of the highest mountain...
Ground Zero
"Good evening Ladies and Gentleman.
Welcome to the Ground Zero Restaurant and Bar.
Drinks are on the house.
At midnight,
For your enjoyment
A thermonuclear device
Will be detonated in the Main Lounge.
Have a pleasant evening."
Wasted again but hey that's nothing new.
I'm all alone at a table set for two.
The wreck you left me, don't you know my heart bleeds.
Sometimes a holocaust is just what I need
At Ground Zero!
Sometimes I kick it out of bounds.
Sometimes I overdrive my car.
Sometimes I spread myself around.
Sometimes I take it way too far...
That's where the thrills are.
At Ground Zero!
I better slow down on this cheap remorse.
Don't wanna get too drunk for the main course.
The waiter asks me when my date will arrive.
No one should be alone when they're vaporized
At Ground Zero!
Sometimes I wear it on my face.
Sometimes I think I am a star.
Sometimes I rock it into space.
Sometimes I take it way too far...
That's where the thrills are.
At Ground Zero!
Looks like I go this one all on my own.
This is one special trip I'll take all alone.
The waiter asks me what I'd like for last call.
Sometimes a broken heart needs nothing at all
At Ground Zero!
Sometimes I wonder if it's real.
Sometimes I wonder if you are.
Sometimes I wonder what's the deal.
Sometimes I wonder if I took it to far...
To where the thrills are.
At Ground Zero!
Ground Zero!
- G. Laidlaw
© Copyright by the Author. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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