Judy Price is Writing

As a blizzard whitens this cityscape,  my thoughts turn to another Snow City, this one a popular cafe in Alaska.

Of course the temperature on sunny September 5th in Anchorage was far above the minus double digits experienced here today!

One of the local men, a few evenings prior, had given me a tip on how to avoid the long wait to get a table at the diner, provided I wouldn’t mind sitting at the counter for breakfast.

As a single, and used to eating lunch and dinner at various bar counters throughout my stay, breakfast in this same fashion was eagerly anticipated.

I enjoy conversing with whoever happens to be on either side of me when I am seated at a bar/counter, especially when the person is an entertaining and interesting man.

This meal proved to be no exception.

After lining up behind two male tourists, a counter seat became vacant.  When neither man moved to take it for himself, I asked politely if either would mind if I grabbed it.

When they realized that I was there alone and not waiting for two seats together as they were, they both apologetically ushered me to the counter before anyone else behind me could take the coveted spot.

I thought to myself, too bad they couldn’t have sat on either side of me, attractive and ‘gentlemen’ as they were!

However, after ordering a deliciously huge breakfast which I patiently waited for to indulge my appetite, a very friendly man sat beside me, and immediately began a conversation.

He had flown from Fairbanks to Anchorage for the day before heading back.

As he was interested in learning my story, I shared that I was divorced and single, which motivated him to reveal photos of his lovely family.  He is a happily married Utah resident.

While enjoying a friendly and funny breakfast hour, I do believe he was sincere when he unexpectedly volunteered his opinion that any man, including my former husband, was a ‘fool’ to let me go!

As it turns out, being a pilot with a major airline, he was waiting to fly the aircraft back to the lower 48.  This was his regular route when in Alaska.  

After more enlightening exchanges, which accompanied my delicious meal, I was ready to depart.

When I walked away from  Snow City Cafe, my body, mind and soul were all very well-fed!  

Recently, I was reminded of ‘fishing’ analogies.

Thought I would review one of these here.

“Catch and release” is a popular phrase which used to refer to the sport of fishing, not for food, but rather for fun.  Bait/lure, hook, unhook and release. 

No harm done other than losing the bait/lure, piercing the  mouth, terrifying and teaching the creature to steer clear of lures/baited hooks!

Today this term refers to the ‘game’ of dating, and normally to the way men ‘catch’ women and when finished with them, let them go or ‘release’ them.

That is, supposedly, until he finds himself a ‘keeper’.

However, I would surmise that men who have been in the ‘game’ for a lengthy period of time might not even realize when they have ‘caught’ themselves a ‘prize’ worth keeping.

For these men the thrill is momentary, regardless of which woman is ‘caught’!

I know of a male author/speaker who addresses women, incorporating the word ‘catch’ in his work.

However, he is purporting to teach women how to ‘catch’ and ‘keep’, as opposed to ‘release’, a man (singular).

Now, does anyone else see the problem here, the double standard if you will, or is it just me!!

Perhaps if these opposing male perspectives were reversed and male experts advised women to ‘catch and release’ men, while they taught men the art of how to ‘catch and keep’ a woman, the sexes might be able to more readily meet in the middle where some real relationship fun could begin      

Watching a sombre solid sea of blue, led by red RCMP, all marching proudly in our city, gave me pause.

The finest from across North America gathered in solidarity to honour one of their own.

During the ten thousand strong procession down University Avenue, the only sounds I heard were footsteps and hoofs on pavement.

The above freezing temperature today allowed drizzle to fall from gray sky. 

A metaphor to weeping souls holding heads high.

Ryan Russell, a Toronto police sergeant, fallen in the line of duty while protecting our citizens, provided the opportunity for multitudes to join together at his funeral to pay tribute.

It is as if all of his comrades from sea to sea and south of our border, have given us all permission to grieve our human tragedy.

Not only this particular horrible loss, but also all of past devastating events.

Humanity needs this chance to grieve and heal in unison.

Seasoned journalists have stated that they have never seen anything like this before.

With all of the violent disasters occurring in our world, from both natural and human means, our souls crave comfort in the company of fellow beings.

Thank you and God bless us all.

Eighteen months Mom, and the first one of 2011 without you here.

Another Saturday blizzard outside my window.

I would rather be watching and writing than walking today.

Now that a new year has dawned, I am seriously searching for my earthly ‘home’.

Recently, an acquaintance suggested the reason I enjoy being among trees is that I want ‘roots’.

Not long ago, another individual queried of me if I live for my ’children’.

I know I would die for them. 

I prefer to think I live for myself, not anyone else, although I would enjoy a partner to share this life. 

Some of my most memorable and happy times occurred when I was part of a couple with children.

It is feasible that just as my ancestors are my genetic ‘roots’, my daughters are as well.

They do ‘ground’ me on this earthly planet. 

It is a wonderful feeling to be appreciated by them.  That I know.

Now that the astrological signs are in jeopardy of shifting along with the ‘magnetic’ pole, even my ‘air’ status might turn to ‘earth’ !!

Although many astronomers and astrologers seem to concur that the ‘signs’ will remain as they are.  Their readings might be adjusted.  That is all. 

When I try to make things happen ‘my’ way, I seem to end where I began, and the dance starts all over again.

The dizziness of it throws me off balance. 

Little wonder I feel the need for ‘roots’.

With patience, as my life unfolds I will know where I belong.

Born on 9/11, nine year old Christina no longer graces this planet, along with several others who lost their lives to violence this past Saturday.

While I was viewing a blizzard of snow from my ‘sunroom’, the unspeakable horror of unstoppable gunfire, along with heroism, was unfolding in Arizona.

I am told that America is in mourning today.  Anyone in the world who values the sanctity of life is grieving as well.

We are all connected in this universe.  The actions of one or two influence the world in unseen ways.

Negative actions are publicized more than positive thoughts.

When inexplicable acts are perpetrated by ‘seemingly normal-looking’ people, we can only look inward to find the ‘peace’ that these individuals were obviously lacking.

It is inside our spiritual core that we will find the ‘light’ of love and the strength of hope and faith to carry on when ’worldly’ craziness surrounds us .

Last summer, my first full day in Alaska involved encounters with moose; four of them to be exact.  One bull calf, two cows and one bull on the Coastal Trail.

Thankfully during this time, I was on a bicycle.  At least I felt safer on a bike.

Being alone, and cycling along as I turned around a curve on the trail, I really don’t know who was more surprised!

Me or the bull calf moose who was to the left of me and advancing toward me.

We both kept going as his ears perked up, and all of a sudden he turned around in front of me and scampered speedily into the bush where his mother was feeding.

I cycled past and turned my head to see them both amidst the trees. 

I contemplated stopping to take a picture of them, and then remembered what I had been warned the day previously.

Moose can kill a person with one kick of the leg!

I was glad he had found his mother instead of passing in front of me.

Then she would have come out of hiding to find him, and that is not an encounter I care to think of!

As I carried on, not far from my destination I saw a female moose or cow walking in the same direction as me on the same side of the trail.

To my left I also glimpsed a pair of bull moose antlers among the trees.

This time I stopped, readied my camera and snapped two photos of her.

When she had joined her mate on the other side of the trail I pondered whether to continue on or turn back, when another cyclist appeared behind me.

He had not yet seen a moose on the trail, so when I told him about the four I had encountered, he was eager to continue hoping to snap a shot.

I followed him until the remaining trail took its toll on me and my bike which had ‘flat’ tires! 

Now I love to hike, but not with a bike in tow.  When I realized that I had two more uphill miles to go like this, having already cycled nine, I decided to turn around.

The mostly downhill nine miles back were fast and fun!

Until I got to town when I needed to go slowly uphill once again to get to the bicycle rental shop.

That is when I had the brilliant idea to walk the bike the rest of the way.

As I stopped and stepped off the bicycle onto the sidewalk, which was soaking wet due to an overflow from an ‘overhead hanging-basket plant watering machine’, I slipped and fell scraping my knee!

Bleeding, dirty and wet from both water and sweat after biking eighteen miles, I was subdued to say the least!

Welcome to my first day in the Last Frontier. . .

When I first heard about the ‘junior’ hockey final for ‘gold’ to take place between Canada and Russia, I thought to myself, “What pressure for young players”!!

For several decades Canada and Russia have been fierce competitors, whether on the ‘world’ hockey stage or ‘olympic’ ice.

However, these are ‘men’ who are mainly seasoned ‘professional’ hockey players, not our youth.

Albeit, whenever I have been able to attend an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre to watch the Leafs, I have been amazed at how young these players are today, compared to the men I viewed in my own youth every Saturday night on the television show called ‘Hockey Night in Canada’!

This makes me wonder whether the league is accepting them younger these days, or if everything is just relative.

One thing I do know is that the younger the player, the more pressure/stress will be felt without the emotional maturity to deal with it appropriately.

Just look at what happened to the team that ’won’ last night!

The Russian players were not allowed to take their flight home until they were sober after a night of ‘partying hard’.

As I recall, the Canadian junior team was in the media for weeks prior to the final game, being touted as ‘golden’ right from the beginning of the series.

They performed as per the expectation until the third and final period last night.

Then the ’unthinkable’ happened!

What did we expect??

The psychological pressure had to be ‘unthinkable’ for these young men.

What are we doing to our youth, especially those in the world of sports?

Now that is definitely worth our ‘thought’!

I for one am extremely proud of the fact that our junior team performed amazingly well ’in spite of” all of the pressure they must have felt.

Well done!

Love, passion, sex, lust, none of these, some of these, or all of these?

Whatever your perspective, beliefs, values, desires, mores, needs will most likely dictate the semantics used when getting what you want sexually from the partner of choice, or whether you decide to get nothing at all.

The terminology most often used by men, whether in a relationship or not, is ‘to make love’.

How many times have women heard the phrase, “I want to make love to you” by someone they only met once.

In reality, one can only ‘make love’ to someone who is ‘loved’.

Otherwise, the correct word usage would be ‘to have sex’ with someone who is not yet ‘loved’ or perhaps not even ‘liked’ or ‘known’ but definitely ‘wanted’, at least for the moment.

To clarify, it is the body that is wanted, not necessarily any other part of the person that makes up the ‘whole’.

How does one know which it is?

Unless the partner states, ‘I want to have sex with you, and maybe only this one time’, how would you know?

Length of time spent with each other might be the first clue.

How much is known about the person and in fact verified to be true, might be another indicator.

Just because the word ‘love’ is used in a phrase or sentence do not be fooled.

Unless both persons have ‘spoken aloud’ what it is each really wants from the other, make no mistake.  There is no relationship, only sex.  And maybe only one time. 

In which case, if both persons are adults, and willing participants in the ‘spoken’ arrangement, then my advice  is to ‘be safe’ and that is that.

However, sometimes women are not fully aware of the ‘hidden’ consequences of having casual sex. 

I am not referring to the medical or physical effects but rather to the ‘soul’ effects.

Women, unlike men, bond in a spiritual and emotional way every time sex occurs. 

She ‘gives’ and ‘opens’ her body and soul to him in order to ‘receive’ him.

Some women are not consciously aware that each time they ‘give’ themselves to a man, they ‘give’ away a part of their souls.

After a while, if they have given themselves to various men, women numb themselves to their own spirituality, and lose a piece of their souls, over and over again. 

The sad thing is that some women do not even realize the pain this choice can cause to themselves.  

Women need to be aware that men are biologically engineered to have multiple partners, and it is only their ‘conscious’ decision to have one mate that will dictate what they do. 

Men ‘enter’ and ‘withdraw’.  That is a fact.

A man cannot give himself completely to one woman unless he ‘decides’ to do so, and this involves a ‘commitment’.

If one listens to male experts with respect to relationships and the differences between men and women, then one knows that most men are ‘commitment phobics’.

Which brings us full circle. 

Unless a man or woman speaks ‘aloud’ the words, ‘I am committed to having a relationship with you’, and then proceeds to follow up these words with behaviours that match the words, which then engenders trust, it is just sex!

I hope that answers the question.

On the last day of 2010 I decided to walk across the Toronto Islands from one end to the other and back, which is only a total of about 7 miles for those who aren’t familiar with this area.

Even though the 31st of December was a mild day with drizzle after consistently below-freezing temperatures and snow, for some inexplicable reason I had it in my mind that I needed to wear my waterproof snow boots for this venture.

After crossing to the islands by ferry, as I looked around at the barren ground I quickly realized that my feet would have been fine in my trail shoes.

Too late now and no turning back!

The last time I wore these Sorels was when they were in snowshoes one year ago, and that was quite the workout I recall.  On this day they provided no less exercise for my legs!

As I set out along the path overlooking the lake, I was determined to find snow, or at least hoping to see some ice on the lake, or even on the shoreline rocks.  It is winter after all.

Hearing the waves lapping against the shore was not as comforting a sound as it normally would be.

Then I saw a few ice-blanketed rocks in the lake and later from a more inland perspective overlooking a view of the Toronto skyline, I witnessed some fragmented ice covering the water. 

I am posting a photo of each, not because this was so beautiful a sight, but rather to prove to myself later that there was indeed ice to be seen!

Since I was wearing my waterproof boots, I enjoyed splashing in every puddle I could find.   

Besides, the Canadian geese droppings needed washing off!  But that is a story for another time.