New Year Resolutions

New Year Resolutions

 

            The New Year is at the gate, the clock is ticking loud and clear

            I’ll need to hurry if I’m to keep the resolutions I made last year!  Anonymous

             Ever wonder where the whole idea of New Year resolutions came from? It seems we can blame—that is—attribute to the Babylonians the idea of assessing the past and resolving to improve in the new year. It caught on, obviously, and has continued to this day.

            Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve oneself; I’ve tried it many times. In fact, the top three resolutions in America fit well into my list for the New Year as they have for several new years in the past – to spend more time with family and friends, to lose weight and to get fit. I’ve observed, however, that most of the time spent with family and friends is centered around food. Thus, the most exercise I get is the walk to the table and the elbow bend to the mouth. A little counter-productive to be sure—while striving to fulfill the first resolution, I jeopardize the other two! 

            Some slackers might say “you can’t break what you don’t make”. But for those who regard this earth as a garden in which we live, turning over a new leaf couldn’t hurt.  The problem is that producing new leaves takes time, and in a culture that has grown to accept and expect instant gratification, resolutions requiring patience and commitment are thrown aside. Texting and Facetime have replaced the one-on-one contacts and we are barraged with offers for quick weight-loss programs. We want resolutions and we want them now!

Perhaps the wisest approach to making any changes in our lives is to consider resolutions we might be able to keep for a “New Day” or even a “New Hour”, rather than taking on a whole year to try to achieve them. Success comes in small steps even for making the long run.

So, what about making some resolutions this New Year’s? I plan to carefully consider what I decide about them, so that my they will not go in one year and out the other.

 

What Gardeners Know about the Birds and the Bees

Announcing the publication of my first book.  If interested in ordering, you can order directly from me or through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  This book makes a great keepsake or gift.

As a writer, I was encouraged to set up this "blog". I was told I needed to join those who use this medium as a platform if I wanted to be recognized and kept apace with social media. As I contemplated the purpose and meaning of blogging, I thought it primarily a demonstration of acting on the precept that those who blog do it with the belief that everyone is entitled to the bloggers' opinions. So, here I am, jumping onto the blogging board entitling whoever reads this to my opinion.

I am hoping to make it more than just "blowing lots of guff" and that I will post to it if and when I have something I believe those of you so entitled will appreciate. It's a risk, of course, so I will try my best to maintain my self-esteem in the midst of offering my views to those who may respond with various forms of negative responses. As a septuagenarian I have weathered many such responses and my skin is fairly thick or at least gives that appearance with some extra layers of fat I've accumulated over the years.

Thus, if you are a new reader of Fisch Lines, I welcome your visit to my platform and hope you will return or follow this blog.  .

I was offered a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.  This book is a great "list" of resources, but not an actual "guide". A true "guide" would present more in-depth information and categorization; e.g., sub-listing those resources which are free and those which are not.  Also, by providing definitive criteria on the list, it would become a "guide", so that authors would not have to do more research on each listing. It is a fairly comprehensive list, but because the field is constantly growing and changing, the author's might do better served by providing the list on a website that is constantly updated and fresh for the digital consumer. For starters, it provides a host of basic references for industrious writers who want to do the actual in-depth research into the sites themselves.