The Mayonnaise Jar

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem too much to handle,

When 24 hours in a day is not enough;

Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and has some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordless, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and started to fill with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full and they agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar, of course the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous “yes”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

“Now” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things – Family, children, health, friends, and favourite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house  and car.

The sand is everything else – The small stuff.

“If you put sand into the jar first, “ he continued, “there is not room for the pebbles or the golf balls. .

The same goes for life.

So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups

Take your partner to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter.

Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The Professor smiled.

I’m glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

From -10C to +2C in Two Days!

Typical West Coast weather - we were freezing with temperatures plummeting and the wind making it even colder for three days! Then like a miracle we got up in the morning and it was warm and snowing and snowing and now raining and raining! Yep that's BC! 

The worse thing about the snowy cold weather is trying to get around the city.  Most people here go into complete panic mode when there is 4 centimeters of snow on the road and drive like idiots which encourages the rest of us to head to the public transit which doesn't work well in cold weather (yep you heard it right).   Everyone gets up early and tromps to the bus stops only to stand and wait and wait. The buses can't get around or are seriously behind and people stand in the wet and cold for an hour or  more usually to get to a sky train station to complete their journey to work or appointments. However once at the sky train station things can be a little dicey there as well. Fortunately we had the Olympics last year forcing the powers that be to come up with a way to make these trains work in cold weather just in case we needed them during the Olympics. As luck would have it that was not necessary and thankfully so, because today we, the tax payers who pay for this system,  were treated to the new Canada Lines problems. People got to experience what it was like to be stuck, in the train cars, in  the middle of the train bridge across the Fraser for over an hour because apparently the Canada Line can't run if it has an inch of snow on the tracks! Nice work you guys!! Oh well, by tomorrow it will just be a memory.

Needless to say there were a lot of angry people in the city today including my daughter whose trip to work, which is usually about twenty minutes,  took almost three hours!! 

There is one girl who was happy that it snowed today and that was our Miss Lucy. She loves to play snow soccer and was in fine form today! 

Ooops.... just one problem here ... that soccer ball belongs to the neighbors!

New Family on the Block

A family of Hooded Mergansers have taken over the pond at Foreshore Park. I have never seen them there before this year.  They are very shy birds making it difficult to photograph them especially with the diva of all dogs along.  They are such a distinctive looking bird that they fascinate me and I am always trying to get a closer look.

Winter Has Arrived!

Most of us, here in the lower mainland, woke up to a winter wonderland on Saturday morning.  The weather had been so good for all of the fall  that it came as a surprise to realize that winter was upon us. Normally the days get colder and wetter as we move into late fall/early winter giving us a warning of what is soon to come, but this year it just seemed to pounce on us!

The temperatures have dipped into the minuses and  is expected to dip as low as -10C on Tuesday, but the days are sunny so it doesn't really seem too bad. The mountains, shimmering in their winter finery, are beautiful!

 This picture was taken just a block from our house. No matter how many times over the winter I will see this sight it never ceases to fill me with awe.

Sunday Morning on the Drive

My Sunday morning latte in the Italian district!
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