__Some pleasant images from my pleasant life___
This is Lacy, Macy's best friend. Lacy is 1 month older than Macy. Macy just turned a year old on June 29. When my daughter brought "her" dog home at six weeks, we had three geriatric dogs. They wanted no part of Macy. At the time we had Lucy (deceased), Macy and Lacy which made for difficulty in calling out names. Lacy would come over every day to play with Macy. We had to supervise at first, for Lacy would grab Macy by her ear and drag her. Macy quickly started to hold her own. The photo below is one from last year when they were both babies. The stuffed baby still exists. It endured many a trip from our house to our neighbor's home. Lacy would playfully steal "baby". Macy would reclaim it.It's really neat that they are such good friends. My dog, Lucy, used to be best friends with Tim's (Tim is my neighbor and owner of Ginger and Macy Lacy (I really had to make this correction!)) dog , Dusty, a beautiful collie. Both are deceased, with Dusty dying sooner by a few years. Lucy was quite affected by Dusty's death for a short while.
(Lucy/Macy and stuffed Baby)Below are photos of Macy (L) and Ginger (R) on a joint fetching mission. I had two bumpers, but Macy was so excited to get it she chewed the end off of one of them. I attempted to use it anyway. It sank, but no surprise. Ginger is the "big dog" I mentioned in my post. I call her Gingus Khan.
The pond is Tim's. My kids have spent many a summer day swimming there. It is also stocked with fish. My son had two embedded treble hooks one summer--one in his calf, one in his head. Emergency room visits required! Lucy (my English Setter) also had an embedded treble hook in her mouth-- Lord only knows how. We heard her yelping, and she came home dragging a pole with a hook lodged in the back of her mouth. We clipped the two showing barbs that we could. That act alone is a testament to the extraordinary trust that English Setters have of their owners and their calm disposition. Lucy went to the emergency room for the balance of the hook removal. Oh how I miss her!
What's funny is that just a month ago, Macy wouldn't even swim. We were not sure that she even knew how. For any of you saying, "All dogs know how to swim", the folks on Myth Busters said just the other day (per my son) that saying is a myth. Some dogs do not know how to swim. I'll say that once Macy confirmed that she could swim, she's been an addict. Ginger swims all day long. Lacy is a good swimmer, but likes to draft. She grabs G's tail and G pulls Lacy along. Lacy tried that with Macy. That's how I ended up tipping the kayak and swimming with big dogs I mentioned in my previous post.Below are the "goat people". That's what I call them. Jack, the black and white goat, is ancient--about 13 years old.
Here's a picture of pure joy--getting a little assisted scratch.
Now you might find the start of my post an odd thing to say. But two years ago, on a beautiful Sunday like today, I would be in my office (at job) slogging through all the stuff that built up during the week, so that I could face Monday without tearing my hair out. Or, I'd be in an airport. So my life is so much more pleasant now. But that pleasantness brings with it a certain level of sadness of all the beautiful days such as today where I never romped with my kids, dogs or goats. However, if I had to do it over again, I'm not sure that I would make any different choices. I've not caused my husband or kids any harm, or even myself for that matter and was able to enjoy a career that afforded me the luxury of having a more flexible schedule now after so many years of inflexibility. Perhaps I enjoy these things all the more now because of then.
The point is. . . living in and truly being in the present moment, whatever that present happens to be, rather than wallowing in the past or fretting about the future, is really an art form. I cannot say that I've perfected it, but I'll say that the pictures above are a tangible reflection of my doing that and feeling great joy. I'm not trying to sermonize, rather share with you a moment of my personal reflection.
I hope that you did something fun and relaxing over the weekend.
7 comments:
So Lacy (the little dog) instead of drafting on Ginger, decides to ride on Macy sending Macy scurrying into the kayak.
So Macy is in the boat with you, and Ginger is along side. What happened to Lacy?
I am still trying to sort all this out.
Russell...pictures are different from the story, but do introduce the motley group of characters!
I was in the kayak alone. Black dog (Lacy) was drafting Macy (my dog--white/brown) as both were swimming toward kayak. Ginger was already swimming beside the kayak. the others were coming perpendicular. Macy then freaked once Lacy made her bob under, and swam furiously to kayak. Successfully boarded. I immediately overcompensated the other way, we all flipped. So all of the dogs and me were in the water. But that was last week. These pictures were from Sunday which was blissfully free of any untoward events.
Since that fiasco, Lacy has swum with Macy rather than trying to swim on top of her.
It sounded more chaotic the way you told it before. You are already breaking it down and tying it together into a rational story of cause and effect.
Of course the rational cause and effect story is much used to explain chaotic events of the market. But it should make you pause to consider: if you cannot predict the outcome of three dogs and you in a kayak in a peaceful pond, then the hope of predicting a highly complex interactive marketplace spanning many countries and languages should just about be impossible.
And speaking of technical analysis, it sounds like Macy described in physical terms a very clear cut head and shoulders pattern:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/24k5y
Re "But that pleasantness brings with it a certain level of sadness of all the beautiful days such as today . . . ."
In the immortal words of Steven Wright, "You can't have everything--where would you put it?!"
Thanks for an evocative posting.
Russell writes: "then the hope of predicting a highly complex interactive marketplace spanning many countries and languages should just about be impossible"
No, I don't think that it is impossible to to make probability judgments. There is always uncertainty. The only way to harness uncertainty is to make judgments based on the knowledge at hand. Yes it is imperfect, but you have to work with what you have. I don't buy the theory that market behavior is random or that markets are efficient. But like any theory, there are adherents to each, and you have to make your theory that you advocate work for you successfully.
The markets are not random in the sense that the outputs are unrelated to the inputs. Rather it is that you cannot get enough of the right information about the inputs to make the type of predictions that we want.
It is rather similar to the weather. You know if it is Summer or Winter, and if you are in Boston or Florida. But day to day our predictions are not much better then "it will do today, what it did yesterday."
The unpredictability of finance has an awful lot of evidence behind it, and I am unaware of any non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary. Most of the arguing is more about how it is unpredictable. Is it efficiently or inefficiently unpredictable? In the case of the latter, you can sometimes make money by knowing that you are in Florida and it is summertime.
"Rather it is that you cannot get enough of the right information about the inputs to make the type of predictions that we want."
I believe that you cannot get enough right information. But I also believe that one has a body of evidence of information that leads one to reasonable conclusions. And I think some conclusions have more merit than others. Now even with a body of evidence stacked neatly in one's favored view, the event/prediction may not come to pass. But that does not color it a random event.
There's a huge difference between unpredictability v. random or impossible-to-forecast outcomes. I believe in unpredictability having had to maneuver it all of my adult work life. But the beauty of any of it is identifying WHAT is uncertain and not knowable--for you can never control that, but you can recognize it--and WHAT is certain or knowable that you can control. IF you manage the latter, you'll have better chances of weathering the unpredictable event for the former.
Post a Comment