Going Inkless

     They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.  It is true that the older you get, the more daunting it is to pick up a new skill.  You've become comfortable with what you can do, and you're pretty good at that stuff. Considering going back to where you're no longer on top of things can be frightening.  You'd be facing a feeling of incompetence and a mountain of new data to absorb, armed only with learning skills you probably haven't exercised in a while.  Insecurity could prevent and old dog from even starting down that road.  But if you've been at anything long enough, you know it always changes.  What you learned at the start doesn't always apply when the years go by.  Adaptation is necessary to keep up with anything.  So, if you're going to be an old dog, you're going to have to learn some new tricks.  In fact, old dogs have more practice than anyone at learning new tricks.      Way back when I was a ...

     Legos are perfect training for the creative process.  We didn't have a bunch around the house when I was young.  There were a few among the hand-me-downs and garage sale toys we played with, though, and I used them at houses of friends or relatives.  I remember that regardless of how big the supply or how small the project, there was a good chance you'd be one short of the right size and colour for the job.  No matter.  That was good for teaching how to improvise a solution.  Standard blocks and other building toys were good practice, too, and the habit of reusing materials in our house gave me plenty of opportunity to stretch my creative muscles.  My Barbie drove around the house in a tissue box convertible, wore designer handkerchief dresses and ate from acorn cap plates.  Seeing things in new ways was standard procedure.  I only mention the Legos because playing with them is a common experience for many; so it's an easi...

     I cringe when I hear someone called "crafty", and I doubt I will ever feel comfortable using the word on someone who does crafts.  This is one of those situations where common misuse legitimizes an error, like the modern spelling of "donut".  What was once improper becomes not only accepted, but more commonly used than the original.  Language changes with use.  It is alive that way, and I fully accept that describing someone as crafty now means that they either enjoy doing crafts or excel at them, or some combination of the two.  It just doesn't sit right that way in my vocabulary.      When I first encountered the word, it didn't apply to crafts at all.  If you were good with your hands or inclined to crochet, whittle or make collages, people might say you were creative, talented or industrious.  To say you were crafty would be mildly insulting.  It meant you were up to something, something that probably had l...

     "Don't forget to sleep," I tell him as I'm going out the door to work.  At 8 am, he's been home less than an hour after an hour long commute, and he's still working.  There are schedules to arrange and payroll to approve, email and phone calls to answer and figurative fires to put out.  Remembering to sleep is a real concern.      During the holiday buying season, his company is at its busiest, and the shipping operation he manages at two warehouses is the focal point of that activity.  There are hordes of temporary workers to train and to inspire to care about a job that demands attention to details and a quick pace.  There are daily struggles with equipment and technology, delivery schedules and personalities under pressure.  The business goes around the clock this time of year.  Managers and supervisors have divided up the shifts so there's always someone in each warehouse to guide the workflow and respond to the...

     There are astronomical reasons for the similarities among celebrations this time of year.  Despite differences of culture or religion, there are common elements because we share a world.  Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are on the verge of winter, with days growing shorter until the solstice turns the tide.  We have a sense that we are going down into darkness, and that has influenced our holidays.  Winter holidays, and those of late autumn, tend to be about light, family and tradition.  Winter holidays are about making it through to the next Spring.      As days grow short, we crave the light.  Twinkling bulbs, flickering candles or roaring fires all remind us of brighter days and make the darkness a little less bleak.  Even the use of gold and silver in holiday decorations may be an unconscious attraction to the glints of light they reflect.      We also recognize that the cold, dark months ah...

     Just about every family has its own special cure for the common cold.  Mention your sniffles, and you'll get suggestions from all sides.  Some are as simple and predictable as chicken soup, and others are more arcane.  Perhaps this is the natural result of not having an official medicinal cure for the problem.  We have to fight, so we try all sorts of things and hang onto what makes us feel a little better.  At least we feel like we've done something about it.      The primary reason science has had such a hard time with the common cold, as I understand, is that it is as good at adapting to new conditions as the human beings it infects.  Colds change.  They resist attempts to wipe them out, and medicine that might have worked in the past isn't guaranteed to work again.  Fighting a cold can't be done by putting on your heavy armour and reaching for a big sword (metaphorically...or literally, I guess.)  It's...

     "They say the owl was a baker's daughter.  Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be."      William Shakespeare, Hamlet  (Ophelia) Act 4, Scene 5      In school, I was surprised to encounter this quote and not need the teacher's explanation.  Not only did I know what Shakespeare was getting at, but also his original source.  I had read the story of the baker's daughter many years before in the folktales I read for entertainment.  That I could share some common knowledge with an Elizabethan poet (some would say The  Elizabethan poet) was interesting, but it shows how these stories, told again and again to children, are a thread that runs through time.  Shakespeare's reference may have contributed to keeping the story alive in my age, but that doesn't negate the significance.  It reinforces it.  We lift up the stories from our childhood and throw them forward for future generatio...