Our next door neighbour is a real hero.

Ty Brackett, not only was he the guy that cut the trees down across the street, opening up our view, he’s a community hero as well. Ty is volunteer fireman and was called out to save this woman whose car went over the embankment and into a river, and he did it!

Reading the article in the paper and seeing the photo, at first I said Yikes! Then I said Yay!

I have to admit I am proud to know the man that lives next door is “one of those guys.” You know, the one who comes when called and knows what to do.

It is nice to know that in our community we’ve got some brave guys who are not only trained, but are willing to help us, when we get in trouble, even if we are in freezing water!

Ken and I spoke to Ty about his experience. He was humble, also a bit chuffed. He emphasized that all the hours of training came together and paid off when it was needed.

He said he was happy that he knew what to do with confidence. That it felt great to have saved a persons life. He also said, any of us (meaning the other firemen) could have done it.

Salute to our good neighbours, firemen, and rescue workers! And thank you.

Our friend Frank is a very clever man. He is funny and quick witted. We have a lot of fun pointing out the silly ways of the world.

One day, sitting around the table, he mentioned that if someone was extraordinary — does that just mean they’ve taken ordinary a bit far?

Can an ordinary person have that extra something to their ordinariness or are they just more ordinary than others?

Word play. I love it.

X is one of 26 letters. Nothing special by itself, but with word play, we give it that X-factor.

Quite often, I am mistaken for another person when I go out. I have no big X-factor, I have a very common look. I’m ordinary. I am one in the world of billions, a woman among women, and friend among friends.

I’m more than fine with this. Being special in the world is not as important to me as being special with Ken, family and friends.

I know I’ve done some good work, and touch a few lives so far. I am lucky. I know how to learn. and I know how to share.

I am loved and safe. I have reasonable health, and enough money. Ken is a good husband, we live in a nice place, and have wonderful friends, good brothers, and a goofy dog,

It kinda sounds like I’m boasting, but really In my opinion, I find this all most extraordinary.

You could say, I’ve taken ordinary to the next level.

It’s pretty obvious that I’m not keeping up with this bloggy thing.

I’m not the only one.

Like so many in the world I have morning routines. Over the years, of course they’ve changed. We wouldn’t be alive if things didn’t change. One thing I used to do everyday was to check the bloggy sites of several friends. They are all still bookmarked, and I still check on them often.

Without naming names here — I will say NONE of them have continued the habit of a personal, public diary and I miss them. And, three people have let me know they miss this one.

While my commitment to write everyday has wained. I continue to think about it but, my fingers don’t head for the keyboard the way they used to. My mind doesn’t come up with topics or insight like in the past and my opinions are not as strong as they used to be, or maybe my ability to express them isn’t.

November came and went; I didn’t even try to write for NaNoWriMo. For years I would write 1,000 words everyday during the month. Not many made sense, I posted very few, but I wrote. This year… meh.

My writing these days can be found on birthday cards and a few holiday cards. Not totally news worthy, still thoughts of love and admiration are expressed, and who doesn’t like getting real mail?

Anna once told me the secret to a good letter is to mention at least one interesting thing. That’s true for a bloggy thing as well.

Interesting things abound but, like others, I find I’m just not writing (or posting) my two cents about them.

I said I wasn’t going to name names, but I lied. I miss reading the blogs of Jenny, Marian, heather, Kayleen, Nancy, and Jim, to name just a few. I still check for updates, but am giving up the ghost. Perhaps I’m following the crowd.

I’m slow to change and acceptance, but I’m beginning to think that the public personal bloggy thing is going the way of the birthday and Christmas card.

My friend Allyson sent this link.

It provides some options.