Marilyn's Photos - May 27 2026 - Volcano vs Fireball Meteor

 

A fireball meteor fell near the side of a volcano that was erupting. All around good photos. There were livestreams monitoring the ongoing eruption so they captured the event.  Sometimes we can say "Thank goodness for reddit."  The video coverage is HERE without all the newscasters.  Even the New York Times let us see this one without a requirement to subscribe.  Their coverage HERE is from the other side. Lighting inspired by volcanoes and meteors.

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Marilyn's Photos - May 26 2026 - When Retirement Began

 

The FIRE State of Mind revolves around "retirement"  and how soon one can live off passive income. For my generation, there was no discussion of passive income and being able to save 50 - 90% of one's income. Investing in the stock market was risky and our wages weren't high enough to allow for that level of saving. So our discussion was where would we work to provide us for retirement. And many people chose work and companies based on that.  For example, many of our peers became teachers so they could have the summer off and retire with generous retirement benefits.  People working for larger organizations would be able to retire with excellent retirement income provided by company pension plans.   Our basics were taken care of by government to some extent. The government's "old age security" came into being in 1951. The Canada Pension Plan came into being in 1966. Retirement thinking hit a zenith with my baby boomer generation.   I hadn't realized how retirement thinking had evolved. The idea of retirement in the past was directly related to worker productivity.  Older workers were considered less productive and were a liability.  They needed to be sent off to pasture. Companies created the incentive of retirement income to get rid of old employees. Wikipedia says William Osler espoused this belief - the ages between 25 and 40 were the 15 golden years of plenty. Workers between forty and sixty were tolerable, and after sixty the average worker was useless.  This sounds like it relates to hard physical work to me.  That was what most people did in the beginning of the 20th century. That view held for a long time and drove mandatory retirement.  The age of 65 stood for decades and still defines government pension payouts.  We've moved past that time now.  FIRE supporters have taken us to a new place. In the 1930s most people lived in rural settings and basically were in a subsistence living off the land scenario.  Here we are now in urban areas in companies and professions not doing hard physical labour. So it is interesting that we generally agree that we don't like working in companies.  The FIRE supporters have figured this out. There are those who have "retired" in their 30s and others in their 40s and 50s.  What are they doing during the later part of Osler's "golden years of plenty?"   Reddit to the rescue.  It asks the question:  "For those of you who retired early, what has been your FIRE experience?" So I read through a few dozen and started to see the similarities and trends.  I would summarize these anecdotal responses as generally being lists of activities and state of mind - e.g. doing this or that, working out at the gym, eating better, feeling happier.   And then there is much discussion on purpose in life.  That's a common theme for all ages in retirement.   Too late now to consider FIRE.  I am now in the mid-age of retirement  - ages 70 to 80.  Isn't this an amazing picture - from the Jacksonville, Florida botanic garden.  The tree in the foreground is painted blue and the tiger is painted on the wall behind.

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Mairlyn's Photos - May 25 2026 - FIRE Investiing

 

FIRE - the acronym - Financial Independence, Retire Early.  It is an investment approach that is focused on extreme saving and aggressive investing.  It is a popular approach used by young people.  It has a few principles - the 25x rule - you need to save 25 times your annual living expenses for your retirement income. Then the passive investment approach of targeting low-cost index funds, and accumulation maximizing contributes to TFSAs, RRSPs and so on.  It is considered a frugal style of minimizing expenses and maximizing savings rate. There seems to be a desire at the end of all this to "get out" of the work world and "retire". There are different styles with cute names:   Traditional FIRE - Standard path to early retirement saving 50 - 70% of your income. Lean FIRE - minimizing living expenses to the absolute essentials - tiny homes, second-hand everything. Coast FIRE - build up a nest egg sufficient enugh to fully finance your conventional 65+ retirement years. Fat FIRE - building a larger, more luxurious nest egg while maintaining a higher standard of living. Barista FIRE - Saving a solid chunk of your nest egg, then leaving a traditional high-stress corporate job.  Then work part-time jobs to cover current costs while investments grow.  Baby FIRE - slower, steadier approach with moderate frugality and gradual wealth-building still aiming for early retirement with fewer sacrifices. This seems to mirror my parents' generation and their approach to financial stability. My parents saved aggressively for their first investment - buying a house. We lived very frugally as a family.  I thought we were a poor family. All my clothes came from my older sister or other children. Our cars were second-hand. "Eating out" and restaurants were for rich people.  Our vacations were to my grandparents and father's siblings homes in California and Manitoba, and vice versa. It all worked.  They retired with excellent savings to take care of themselves. But then they were motivated by the survival instinct of having lived through the Great Depression (they went hungry) and then WWII (everything rationed).  These were times of not enough food and having to leave school to work to support their families.  It makes me wonder what "depression" the current generation has grown up in. I think of today's younger adults being in a "slow burn" of oppressive conditions. Jobs come and go just like that - with long hours and poor working conditions for many. There are many more expenses for essential things  like the most recent smart phone.  Look at what cars and homes cost now.   Take the circumstances of children's expenses. My parents sent me out to neighbourhood park - we might play baseball.  Today a family escorts their children all over the province to play in baseball leagues at membership fees that start at $150 a season and go up over $1,000 depending on the league, plus having equipment and travel costs. So I guess the FIRE response is to be expected.  Every generation "hunkers down" under the pressures of the day. Doesn't it seem an apt expression given our Climate Change impact of wildfires.  I went looking for this fire picture.  It projects the opposite of frugality.  It is a Floyd Elzinger sculpture that is a fire pit.  That's an expensive way to roast marshmallows.

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Marilyn's Photos - May 24 2026 - The Seasons

 

The traditional Japanese calendar of the microseasons seems elegant, poetic and eternal.  It seems as though there is a unified view of the seasons. The microseasons calendar came from China in the 6th century when there were 3 to 5 million people in Japan.   Contrast that with our colonized North America. Going back to the 6th century in Canada, there were likely between 200,000 and 500,000 people in the geographical space of Canada, with many societies and communities.  To compile the equivalent of the Japanese microseasons would be a lengthy endeavour given the many Indigenous bands/groups.  In Canada, there are currently 634 recognized First Nations governments/bands, alongside numerous Metis and Inuit communities.  We can follow the steps of Dave and Cathy in definingmomentscanada.ca who explain the topic of Mi'kmaw Moons - an equivalent approach to the Japanese microseasons.  Their article is HERE.  What makes their work so interesting is the incorporation of the Two-Eyed Seeing approach -  "The "eyes of each other" has significant meaning as it is based around "Two-Eyed Seeing" a method whereby traditional Indigenous knowledge and "western" science each guide the other towards a unified appreciation of the subject matter." "In about seven years of working together, we have revitalized the use of the Mi’kmaw names of the Moons and how they are connected with the annual ecological cycle. We teach the Mi’kmaw language versions and how to pronounce them, plus we tell stories of our personal experiences around them. Above all, we show how individuals with quite different backgrounds can learn to see through the eyes of each other." Above is a pictoral representation and below is the text of the Mi'kmaq view of the cycles. "In a manner similar to several other traditional cultures, the Mi’kmaq divide the year into 12 intervals, each associated with ecological events around them, according to the gradual change of the seasons. Here are the 12: Mi’kmaw  Pronunciation English Date Range (approximate) Punamujuik’us Boo-na-moo-jooey-goos Tomcod Spawning /Frost Fish 5 January – 3 February Apuknajit Ah-boo-gah-na-jit Snow Blinding 3 February – 5 March Siwkewiku’s See-uke-ay-we-goos Spring / Maple Sugar 5 March – 4 April  Penatmuiku’s Ben-a-dim-ooh-we-goos Birds Laying Eggs 4 April – 5 May  Sqoljuiku’s Skoalch-ooh-we-goos Frogs Croaking 5 May – 5 June Nipniku’s Nib-nee-goos Trees Fully Leafed 5 June – 6 July Peskewiku’s Bes-gay-we-goos Birds Shedding Feathers 6 July – 7 August Kisikewiku’s Gis-ig-ay-we-goos Berry Ripening 7 August –7 September Wikumkewiku’s We-goom -gay-we-goos Mate Calling 7 September – 8 October Wikewiku’s Wig-gay-we-goos Animal Fattening 8 October –7 November Keptekewiku’s Geb-deg-gay-we-goos Rivers Starting to Freeze 7 November – 6 December Kesikewiku’s / Kjiku’s Ges-ig-gay-we-goos Winter / Chief Moon 6 December – 5 January "It is unlikely the Mi’kmaq counted days for these intervals. Instead, they probably marked the passage of time by observing the happenings in Nature, mindful of what happened before and what was expected to come. In any case, they would not have used the Gregorian calendar before the Europeans introduced it. The approximate date ranges shown derive from applying an astronomical eye to the sequence, making sure that the Chief Moon Time aligns with the Winter Solstice (more about that later). " These seem like very different paths of knowledge.  The Japanese have their enduringl microseasons. We, in Canada, are on a discovery path of bringing together different cultures to see an expanded view of things - a new way of seeing.  I observe on Sunnylea that the season of the Dandelion is completing. And we are in the Mi'kmaq season of Frogs Croaking, with the little tree frogs singing each day in the garden.

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Marilyn's Photos - May 23 2026 - The 72 Microseasons

 

The New York Times message on a Saturday morning is about personal pursuits rather than global news and American politics.  This morning the author writes about "the traditional Japanese calendar's 72 microseasons, each about five days in duration, each charting a tiny event in the natural world. (May 21 - 25:  "Silkworms start feasting on mulberry leaves.)" The article about the 72 microseasons that is referenced by the New York Times author is HERE.  It provides a great insight into the seasons compared to ours. I notice right away how short a Japanese winter is.  That's because their spring begins in February.  So the calendar starts with the Beginning of spring. February 4-8 East wind melts the ice.  February 9-13 Bush warblers start singing in the mountains. Their cherry blossoms bloom March 26 - 30.  And who would guess there is such a thing as April 15-19 First rainbows. It seems to magical.  Wondering when winter might arrive.  First in November 22-26 Rainbows hide.  Then December 7-11 Cold sets in, winter begins.   Doesn't that seem so calming compared to the Globe and Mail headline that a prestigious short-story contest winner has been accused of using AI writing.  If we were to divide our AI future into 72 microseasons, there will be one with the title: The Shakespearean Monkeys arrive. Another would be The Shakespearean Monkeys get to work.    This is a Longwood Azalea.  I am astounded by the "trunk."

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