Larry Gibbons
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Reviews

SOMETHING STINKS IN DENMARK

2/6/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
“If it were not for the Poetic or Prophetic character,
The philosophic and Experimental would soon be at the ratio of all things,
And stand still,
Unable to do other than repeat the same dull round over again.
                            William Blake                    

​I’m looking outside my living room window and I can’t believe how many birds are out there. Purple finches, evening grosbeaks, white throated sparrows, crows, blue jays, hummingbirds, pine siskins, chickadees, goldfinches, and others that I can’t name.

Meanwhile, the largest wild fire in Nova Scotia’s history is burning bright. And, not far from here, I believe they are doing some clear cutting. 

​
Picture
Cape Breton Crocodile
Something stinks in denmark.

​Only a few mornings after Sue’s disappearance I had a choir outside my window. A large alder bush was covered in blue jays singing their blessed little hearts out. I approached them and they stayed put. I couldn’t help but think that I was getting a peek through the invisible veil. 
Picture
One of the reasons that there are so many birds at my place is because I feed them. And, gosh, but aren’t they having a good time. But, I’m feeling guilty, because I’ve heard that feeding birds can get them partying together and then they might get sick. So far, they are just singing, eating and having a good old time. I’ve found no bodies.

​I feel responsible though. I’m a human being and the partying birds are, in our scientifically harsh views of the world, to be controlled. They are a resource. We’re even considered a resource. Aren’t we doing a good job.

Picture
Sometimes, when I look at my dog, Dominic, I feel that I think too highly of myself. I feed him scientifically approved food when he loves the unhealthy food that I eat. When I give him some of my food, well, he practically swims in his bowl. When I’m preparing his meal, using some of my chow, he’ll stand on his hind feet with his front paws resting on the counter. He’s trying to hurry me up. “Get that food stirred and down here”.
Picture
I know best, but still, he survived in the wild. He drank out of dirty puddles, probably ate dead mice, garbage, who knows, but I’m the human and he’s the beastie. 

​So, the birds are out there, singing their hearts out, while clear cutting is rampant, wild fires burn, politicians push for more oil production and many animals border on extinction. Because, of our hell-bent attacks on nature. But we know best. We interfere and think that we are helping. 


Picture
 Something stinks in denmark! 

A little bird, a chickadee, told me that it’s all ass-backwards and we should butt out and let them enjoy their happy chow-down time.

​“How do you know but every Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, closed by your senses five?”
                            William Blake

 I have found that people who are grieving can recognize others who are grieving. I run into many who are dealing with grief. They are kindred spirits and I’m thankful for encountering them in my life. We don’t need many words.


Picture
One of the things I find difficult to do is, and hang onto your hats, it will seem really silly, but, it’s true, it’s eating in the public.

​You see, it’s not easy for me to understand how I can not talk while I have food in my mouth. What if it’s hard to swallow and somebody has just told me something and is now waiting for a reply. Do I just keep chewing until I can swallow the food, do I spit it out or do I talk while my mouth is full? Am I being neurotic?
Picture
I am an accident waiting to happen. After I spilled red wine on a very elegant and beautiful white table cloth, Sue told our host that giving me red wine, when it’s my first visit, is not a good idea.

​Another time, Sue and I visited her relatives. It was one of the first visits to their place and Sue wanted them to think highly of me. She wanted me to have good manners. To not choke, talk with my mouth full or do other things that she knew was hidden in my eating mishap bag. I pulled out a new twist to my eating out behaviour.
Picture
Lunch Break
I looked around the table and discovered that I was the only one that had a napkin. I was a real Sherlock Holmes.

 I said, “Why am I the only one with a napkin?”

​The answer was, “Because ours are on our lap.”

​Oh dear!
Picture
Cleanliness, is another one of my problems. Last summer, I got invited for a nice breakfast. It was outside on a patio and the view of the highlands was gorgeous.

Poached eggs was on the menu. I love poached eggs. During the meal I couldn’t help but be impressed by how well the other two breakfasters were able to eat. They spilled not a dribble or a crumb onto the table.


​At the end of the meal, the table cloth under and around their plates was void of crumbs, egg bits or spilled liquids. Not my place. 
Picture
Our morning Hiking Route
Do you know how hard it is to properly manipulate a fork and a knife, and at the same time, to talk without your mouth full, to say things that are smart and relevant to the topic at hand and to not have food tumble off your fork when you’re lifting it up to your mouth.

​Recently, I went out with a group of people. I ordered fish and chips. Two of us got our food on square plates. The other three got round plates.
Picture
I tried to join into the conversations and reply when it was warranted while making sure my mouth wasn’t full when I did say something exciting or relevant. 

Now, that wasn’t such a big deal, because there were five of us, and I could, for the most part, just keep my yap shut and concentrate on not spilling or dropping.


​However, within a minute, of getting my food, and I’m saying a minute, one of my fries ran away from my fork and hit the deck, one fell onto my lap and while I was trying to pick them up, I was told by an observer that two of my carrots had jumped ship.
Picture
Shadows
Okay, I looked after that problem, but there was a long term puzzle for me to deal with. It seemed just to be my problem. 

​For some reason, my plate kept rocking and rolling when I was digging into my door with my fork and knife. Every time I pressed down on the plate it would do a rocking horse movement. So, the whole meal people could hear the click, click of my plate. Click, click, click. It was as if I were playing the bones. Everyone else’s plates rested solidly on the table. 
​
Picture
By the way, have you ever tried to use those sophisticated milk and cream jugs that they have in upscale coffee shops? How the hell do you get the cream to come out faster than a dribble? I know. It’s easy. Piece of cake, but not for me. 

​Or hotdogs at a gas station. How the hell do you get the relish, mustard and ketchup out of those little packets. I’m afraid if I try to open them with my teeth my partial will fall out. So, I usually have a bare naked Weiner in a bun.

​There’s just too much to remember when I go out to eat. 
Picture
I hope you readers don't mind me doing a little self-promotion in this blog. I do very little and figure my blog may be a way of getting a few folks to hand over their hard-earned money and buy a copy. 
Picture
ME
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Recent Posts

    Archives

    December 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All
    Aaron Schneider
    Abigail Thomas
    Aboriginal Culture
    Aldon Nowlan
    Alistair MacLeod
    Amos R. Wells
    Answering Machines
    Antigonish
    Antigonish Harbour
    Authors
    Autumn Beauty
    Baddeck
    Ballad Of Winky
    Bats
    Beer
    Bible Reading
    Bible Verses
    Bikes
    Bird Feeders
    Birds
    Black And Decker Tools
    Black Flies
    ‘Black Water’
    Blizzards
    Blogging
    Blue Jay
    Boarding Kennel
    Book Launch
    Book Review
    Books
    Brown Bat
    Building Bookshelves
    Bullfrog
    Buster
    Buster Wear
    Cabot Trail
    Cameras
    Canso Causeway
    Cape Breton
    Cape Breton Beauty
    Cape Breton Books
    Cape Breton Highlands
    Cape Breton Highlands National Park
    Cape Breton Music
    Cape Breton Trails
    Cats
    CBC Interview
    Cell Phones
    Chain Saw
    Chaos
    Charles Hanson Towne
    Chief Seattle
    Clarence Barrett
    Clear-cut Recovery
    Climate Change
    Coltsfoot
    Computer Frustrations
    Computer Jargon
    Confucious
    Consumers
    Cottage Activities
    Country Life
    Coyotes
    Creativity
    Crocs
    Crows
    C.S. Lewis
    Customer Service
    Cycling
    Dancing Goat Coffee Shop
    David Boyd
    David Woods
    Deer
    Denise Aucoin
    Dentist
    Dentists
    D.H. Thoreau
    Dog Food
    Dogs
    Dog Training
    Dog Walking
    Dog Whisperer
    Driving In Blizzards
    Druids
    Dry Rot
    Earwig
    Eastern Coyotes
    Economists
    Editor
    Editors
    ED’S BOOKS AND MORE
    E.J. Pratt
    Election ID
    Elpenor
    Enerson
    Evening Grosbeaks
    Exercise
    Extractions
    Ezra Pound
    Fall Colours
    Family Holiday
    Family Life
    Farley Mowat
    Field Mouse
    Finite Vs Infinite
    Firewood
    Fishing
    Flood Plain
    Floods
    Flower Gardens
    Flying Squirrel
    Fog
    Forest
    Fox
    Freddy The Pig
    Freedom
    Friends
    Friendship
    Frontenac Provincial Park Ontario
    Fundamentalists
    Fungus
    Gamay Wine
    Gazebo
    George Eliot
    George Horace Lorimer
    Glotheri
    Goats
    Gold Brook Road
    Goldfish
    Grandchildren
    Green Cove
    Grocery Shopping
    Grosbeaks
    Halifax
    Halloween
    Hawks
    High Junction Gymnastics
    Hiking
    Hiking Boots
    Hiking Trails
    Hildegarde Of Bingen
    Hints Of Winter
    Hornets
    Horses
    Houdini
    Human Capital
    Humes Falls Hike
    Hummingbirds
    Humour
    Huron-philosophy
    Hurricane-arthur
    Ingonish
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Invasive Plants
    Inverness
    Inverness Trail
    James Joyce
    James Thurber
    Jealousy
    Jennifer Bain
    Jesus The Carpenter
    J.K. Rowling
    Joachim-Ernst Berendt
    John Martin
    John Muir
    John O'Donohue
    John Oxenham
    John Updike
    Joy Of Spring
    K-50 Pentax Camera
    Karen Shepard
    Kingston
    Knotty Pines Cottages
    Lake O' Law
    Language And Politics
    Larry Sez Again
    Lego Toys
    Lewis Carrol
    Life Cycles
    Lily Tuck
    Lion
    Literary Magazines
    Little Clear Lake
    "Local Hero"
    Lord Alfred Tennyson
    "Lord Of The Flies"
    Love
    Lynda Barry
    Mabou
    Mabou Shrine
    MacBook Pro
    Machines
    Magic Realism
    Margaree
    Margaree Forks
    Margaret Fuller
    Marion Bridge
    Marion Zimmer Bradley
    Maritime Mac
    Marketing
    Mary Tallmountain
    Merrill Markoe
    Mica Mountain
    Mice
    Microphones
    Middle River
    Middle River Wilderness
    Mike Youds
    Mi'kmaq
    Mini-homes
    Mobile Homes
    Moose
    Morris Mandel
    Mosquitoes
    Mother
    "Mother Canada"
    Mother Mary
    Moths
    Mountain Climbing
    Mountains
    Mouse
    Mouse Traps
    Muse
    Nature
    Neighbours
    No Great Mischief
    NS
    NS Library
    Ocean Waves
    Old Trailers
    Omnibus Bill
    ON
    Ontario
    Orwellian Language
    Oscar Wilde
    Panhandlers
    PeachTree Inn
    Pentax K50 Camera
    Perversion Of Language
    Pet Dog
    Pileated Woodpecker
    Pine Siskins
    Playing Poker
    Poems
    Poetry
    Political Power
    Port Hood
    Privy / Outhouse
    Profanity In Fiction
    Promoting Books
    Punctuation
    Purple Finches
    Qur'an
    Raven
    Red-wing Blackbirds
    Rejection
    Remembrance
    Renovations
    Reviews
    Rita Joe
    River Lessons
    Rivers
    Robert Frost
    Roethke
    Rules
    Salman Rusdie
    Satellite Dish
    Sharon Butala
    Sherry D. Ramsey
    Short Stories
    Short Story Anthologies
    Short Story Contests
    Short Story Tips
    Skiing
    Skyline Trail
    Skyway Trail
    Snow
    Snow And More Snow
    Snow Belt
    Snowblower
    Snow Blower
    Snowshoeing
    Snowshoes
    Social Media
    SPCA
    Speculative Fiction
    Spiders
    Spirituality
    Spring Peepers
    Squirrels
    Sri Chinmoy
    Stations Of The Cross
    Stephen King
    Storms
    Storytelling
    Stoves
    Stress
    Subjectivity
    Sukie Colgrave
    Summer Activities
    Sunday Breakfasts
    Susan Zettell
    Suzi Hubler
    Swarms Of Mosquitoes
    Sydney
    Sydney Cox
    Technology
    Texting
    "The Great Gatsby"
    "The Murder Prophet"
    Theodore Roethke
    The Saga Of The Renunciates
    “The Subtlety Of Land”
    Third Person Press
    Thoreau
    Titles
    Tolstoy
    Tomas Transtromer
    Toothaches
    Totalitarian Regimes
    Tradesmen
    Trailer
    Trail Guide
    Tree Planting
    Trucks
    Trump's Foreign Workers
    Truro Train Station
    T. S. Eliot
    T.S. Eliot
    Twitter
    Uisgeban Falls
    Used Bookstores
    Veterinary
    Victoria County
    Victoria Standard
    Vincent Scully
    Virtual World
    Vocabulary
    Wabi Sabi
    Wallace Stevens
    Walter Brookes
    Walter Whitman
    Walt Whitman
    War Memorials
    Warren Lake Cape Breton
    W.H. Auden
    "White Eyes"
    Wildlife
    William Blake
    William Carlos Williams
    William Noble
    Wills
    Wind
    Winter Beauty
    Wood Stoves
    Wreck Cove
    Writers
    Writing
    Writing And Playing
    Writing And Soul
    Writing Business
    Writing Contests
    Writing Drafts
    Writing Fiction
    Writing Tips
    Yearbook
    Yeast Infection
    Yellow Jackets
    Zen

    Archives

    December 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Subscribe to Larry Gibbons - Blog by Email
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.