Unless we adults make them so, children's lives are not complicated. They approach the world with eyes that see, hands that want to touch, hearts open to friends and friendship.
The Teal Umbrella framed print -- https://2-steve-henderson.pixels.com/featured/the-teal-umbrella-steve-henderson.html?product=framed-print
'Pebbling' keeps me connected with friends when I'm exhausted
When the thought of a phone call is too much for me, I can still manage to send an image or video to a friend as I let myself unwind.
How to make friends with ponies in 3 easy steps:
Put out the hay in multiple piles so the ponies have choices.
Sit next to a hay pile like you’re having a picnic.
When the ponies come up to share your picnic spot, resist the monkey-instinct to pat them. Sharing a hay pile may not seem like you’re doing much, but you came here for 3 easy steps, didn’t you?
Actually, the ponies find it pretty meaningful to peacefully share a good snack spot. That doesn’t stop Abner from rudely sticking his face in Abigail’s face just to see if she still likes him enough to tolerate his more annoying behaviors sometimes. Just like sometimes, I don’t manage to resist the urge to pat. And I see in their expressions that they would often prefer if I sat there quietly and kept my hands to myself.
Woke up this morning and the Amazon ranking for The Drowners had jumped 1.3million spots, which can only mean one thing: I've sold my very first copy. Relieved. Excited. And humbled that someone would pay for my words. 
#WritingCommunity #writerlife #TheDrowners #books #booklovers #BOOKERS #YA #mentalhealth #Friendship #lgbtqia
Why I don't discuss politics with friends
https://shwin.co/blog/why-i-dont-discuss-politics-with-friends
Unexpected journey. #grickledoodle #fairytales #gingerbreadman #fox #cartoon #friendship #art #drawing #funny
#goodnews #inspiring #friendship #neighbors #aging #cute #seniors #UK
Neighbors Celebrate 101st Birthday On the Same Day–Living Next Door to Each Other For 4 Decades
They might be different species, but at the core they are just the same. 
Why do we value and treat them so differently? 
Start Your Vegan Journey with FREE Recipes: https://bit.ly/VeganFTA22 
Canadians, Americans wave flags in cross-border friendship rally
Waving both Canadian and American flags, residents near Sarnia, Ont., turned out for what was billed as a friendship rally between the two countries under the Blue Water Bridge linking Ontario and Michigan Saturday afternoon.
#friendship #politics #meeting #Sarnia #Ontario #Michigan
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/point-edward-cross-border-flag-friendship-1.7497244?cmp=rss
But let's be real, skim three more paragraphs and you'll be ready to pilot your own B-17 from your armchair. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown_and_Franz_Stigler_incident #CharlieBrown #FranzStigler #WarHistory #B17Pilot #HackerNews #ngated
In 2009, I had to cancel a scheduled keynote talk at the European Lisp Symposium (ELS) in Italy because I was due to be in surgery at that exact time for my thyroid cancer. (Surgery went well, and I've seemed thankfully free of it since.) They were kind enough to ask me to speak in Lisbon in 2010 instead. But I didn't at the time, in 2009, speak publicly about the surgery or the cancer. Instead I made a vague excuse about an illness in the family (not technically untrue) being the reason I couldn't do the talk.
On the evening before the surgery, I wrote a somewhat metaphorically cryptic post to my blog that I figured would at least capture my apprehension in case the surgery did not go well, or even if it did, I suppose. It's still interesting to have a window back into my thoughts.
https://netsettlement.blogspot.com/2009/05/over-edge.html?
Back to modern day, I do have a planned procedure (not tomorrow, not dire and far more routine, so not to worry, but please don't ask for additional details just now) that I've been reflecting about just a bit.
Though in all honesty, I and all of us are probably at more risk just walking around on the streets in our emerging fascism (here in the US, though other places are not exactly immune either), and that's on my mind all the time now as well. Any one of us could become an unperson, certainly anyone with decent ethics anyway, as that seems to almost be the criterion for who they're going after.
The tanka I wrote is not specific to one thing in particular, just the sum total of various such things that point to the ephemeral nature of each of our existences.
It's both frightening and infuriating to live in a society where we are at risk merely because of our very existence or nature being seen as a crime.
There may be some among us that don't feel at risk. I wish I could say that's good. But I worry it's obliviousness/denial, or privilege, or something darker, perhaps even being comforted by being on the winning side of bigotry. Maybe give it some thought, because I don't want people to be disempowered by what's afoot, but neither should they feel it's someone else's problem. We have real problems that need to really be addressed. It's a time to feel uncomfortable because no one should be comfortable with what's happening. It's a time for people to empathize and contribute to getting the world back onto an even keel.
Meanwhile we are all individually fragile, too. I had a philosophy class in which the professor told us we could not say with certainty that we would have lunch with someone tomorrow. The future is intrinsically less than certain, we're just talking degree here. But the things going on now are good cause to appreciate those we love, and make sure that we've got things in order in case things get wonky.
And even beyond the politics of the day, the state of climate is dire. I talk enough of that elsewhere, so won't belabor it, but its spectre is ever-present.
Still, it also makes it a time to live, not to put off living to some mythical future time when things will be better. (I wrote a different haiku about that earlier this evening as part of this same pondering.) Let's work toward creating a bright future, but let's also not fail to appreciate that today is all we know we have for sure. Make the best of it. And be the person you want others to remember fondly.
For my European and American friends TGIF humour. I reckon you would get better mileage with cider though! #wine #cider #humour #TGIF #friendship
My friend @peteorrall said “experiencing joy is radical.” I’ve heard variations of that about happiness, laughter, and love.
They’re right. The oppressors want us sick and miserable.
Look to people who have been oppressed en masse. While they do have breaking points, they emerge because of their ability to love, laugh, and smile.
Be radical. Find joy. Find love. Find laughter.
When I was young, I expected from people more than they could give: neverending friendship, constant excitement.
Now I expect less than they can actually can give: a silent companionship. And their feelings, friendship, noble deeds always seem like a miracle to me: wholly the fruit of grace.
—Albert Camus, Notebooks 1935-1942
#friendship
Oh #Canada, you've finally figured out that Uncle Sam is too busy with his own soap opera to pick up your calls! 
Maybe it's time to stop waiting by the phone and make some new friends, eh? 
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/us-no-longer-a-reliable-partner-old-relationship-is-over-canadian-pm-carney/ #USA #relations #friendship #humor #globalization #HackerNews #ngated
