Aug 25 2023 - How to be polite

 

What can we do this weekend to increase the politeness quotient in our neighbourhood, town or city?  What might we do before September to give Fall a good start?   Something simple like politeness? It seems simple - behaviour that is respectful and considerate of other people.  It turns out that I only thought polite was straightforward - say hello and smile at people, don't use rude language in public, take your place in line, let the other driver change lanes in front of you.   But as I checked out the various lists of what comprises polite behaviour, I was surprised.  There were It so many characteristics gathered together that one would be a saint in order to fulfill all the polite behaviours.  Dailymeal.com's  first rule of etiquette is to Always be polite and kind - practice it at all times.  It says: "You can't be courteous, polite, and kind toward some people and not others. It could very easily lead to a reputation of being two-faced, which is the exact opposite of your goal"  Here are a few more: Be on time Learn how to use small talk Listen Use names Learn how to do introductions properly Stop oversharing Think about your humour Quit cursing Avoid gossip Give compliments...and so on It is things like  "stop oversharing" and "avoid gossip" or ", that move beyond politeness.  So then what?  How do we know what politeness is?   Wikipedia has the word on this - it is called politeness theory: "Politeness theory, proposed by Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson, centers on the notion of politeness, construed as efforts on redressing the affronts to a person's self-esteems or effectively claiming positive social values in social interactions. Such self-esteem is referred as the sociological concept of face (as in "save face" or "lose face") to discuss politeness as a response to mitigate or avoid face-threatening acts such as requests or insults."    It is described HERE in Wikipedia.   It explains to me there may no longer be norms for politeness, as we are not longer have homogeneous societies.  So likely these lists are from long ago and dressed up for today.  I'm going to stick with the simple idea of "say hello and smile".  That's it. I found this at a garden club meeting a few years ago.

I think this Flexifly image looks like "the eyes of technology" staring at us.

May 24 - Dog Tails Know

I am wondering about dog tails, and find these are the four questions that google has showcased: Do dog tails help them balance? How do tails help dogs? Do dogs have feelings in the tails? Do dogs know they have tails? These are hilarious questions.  First the final question's answer:  Here are a few reasons dogs chase their tails... Oftentimes, dogs will chase their tails because they are a bit bored; it's a way for them to have fun and expend some energy. This is especially true for puppies, who may not even realize that their tail is actually a part of their body, but see it as a toy. Balance: Some do, some don't. However, while most dogs technically don't need their tails for balance, some rely on them to do their jobs. Working dogs are often bred to use their tails when performing certain tasks, and in some breeds, that means carefully maintaining balance while performing their particular job. How to tails help dogs? For the most part, canines and felines use their tails to communicate — from the wide, sweeping wag of a happy dog to the quick tail swish of an annoyed cat. In canines, a tail may also serve as a type of rudder to help stabilize dogs in the water.    Here are the other questions from Google.  I must make a side-comment on Google's "grammarisms" such as "? ..." Who decided that? Here are our questions: Why do dogs lick people? ...  Why is my dog's nose always wet? ...  How much better is a dog's sense of smell than our own? ...  Why do dog feet smell like corn chips? ...  Is my dog's mouth really that clean? ...  Are pit bulls actually dangerous? ...  Do dogs get jealous? ...  Who cleans up after guide dogs? Our concluding jokes: Where does a dog get a new tail? At the retail store I just watched my dog chase his tail for ten minutes, and I thought to myself: "Wow, dogs are easily entertained." Then I realized: I just watched my dog chase his tail for ten minutes. Q: How is a dog and a marine biologist alike? A: One wags a tail and the other tags a whale. A country road in Delaware.

Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart was extremely popular in the 1980's, when she introduced Americans to stylish living.  She was the author of books on cooking, entertaining and decorating, and they always featured many friends, many houses, and tall kinds of prestige-living possessions. She's not in the news as much - she's now 77 years old, but she still has a blog.  She remains a promoter of prestige living.  Today she posted about spring blooming trees - of course she has several white and yellow magnolias outside her Summer House, and many more specimens around the vast property. She shows a picture of two large horse chestnuts in front of her stable.   Yesterday's post talks about a benefit dinner that was held at the Rainbow Room on the 65th floor of New York City's famous Rockefeller Center. And the day before:  she's excited to announce her newest partnership with MSC Cruises, the Swiss-based world's largest privately-owned cruise line. So there it is - a little bit of nostalgia of times gone by. Back to our delights of Spring, the white magnolias are opening here in Grimsby. Soon the pink ones will follow. Here's the upcoming meet and greet this Sunday in Hamilton on Dundurn St. S.

Those Rose Thorns

I am always victim to rose thorns in the garden. Enter garden, do a little work, get a rose thorn in the finger.  And the result?  Pain and swelling from the tiniest rose thorn.  Who do these tiny rose thorns hurt so much? Ask an expert: "DEAR DR. GOTT: Last spring, I contracted rose-thorn disease. Very painful and extreme swelling occurred in just one finger. I was in the hospital for days under sedation and on antifungal meds. I’m still having stiffness and swelling in that finger now and then. When will this go away? I must say, everything is not coming up roses here." DEAR READER: Rose-thorn (or rose gardener’s) disease has the technical name of sporothrix schenckii. It is a fungus that resides on hay, sphagnum mosses and the tips of rose thorns. It can cause infection, redness, swelling and open ulcers at the puncture site. The fungus can spread to the lymphatic system and move on to the joints and bones, where it ends up attacking the central nervous system and lungs when the thorn or thorns are deeply embedded.  Diagnosis can be complicated because the condition is relatively uncommon. When an ulcer does present, it is often mistaken by a physician as a staph or strep infection and gets treated accordingly.  It is only when the antibiotics prescribed fail to eradicate the ulcer that physicians look outside the box." Read the rest HERE. Doesn't it give this field of roses new meaning! Here's the upcoming meet and greet this Sunday in Hamilton on Dundurn St. S.