Day 659: Starbucks street-team

Photo credit: blogTO.com/photographer: yedman (click pic 4 source)

Sometimes — like the photographer who took this amazing shot — you look up at just the right time to catch a special moment.

That happened to me today as I walked around the corner. I was freeeezing, hands jammed in pockets, with one eye on the traffic light counter (I only had four seconds left!

When I successfully reached the other side before the clock ran out, I looked up just in time to see a good deed in progress.

A business woman was coming out of the Starbucks on the corner and she smiled and handed the homeless man sitting across from the door a wrapped sandwich. His face lit up with a toothless grin as he nodded a thank you, she smiled back and off she went.

And me? Earlier in the day I spotted three pennies and two nickels on the sidewalk. As much as I love finding lucky pennies, I resisted the urge to pick them up … figured someone else might come along who needs the spare change more than I do.

P.S. Song for today: “Unloved” by two of my favourite singer-songwriters, Jann Arden and Jackson Browne. Enjoy!

Day 658: Food bank balance

Photo credit: Moi

Each time I make a trip to the grocery store, I’ve been trying to remember to buy a couple of extra things for the Daily Bread Food Bank bin at the front of the store.

Here’s their list of most needed items:

· Baby formula & baby food
· Beans & lentils
· Canned fruits & vegetables
· Canned fish & meat
· Cans of soup or hearty stew
· Dried pasta & tomato sauce
· Macaroni & cheese
· Peanut butter
· Rice
· Canned, powdered or Tetra Pak cartons of milk

Unfortunately, I did not have that list with me when I was at the store… in fact, I didn’t even have my own shopping list with me. So, as per usual, I just winged it. (Although now I see I did pick an item on the list… go figure.)

Is there anything finer on a cold winter's day?

One item I knew I needed myself was that Canadian classic comfort food … Kraft Dinner … so hey, I thought, why not double up my purchase and add those to the food bank bin.

It’s a good thing the KD boxes are compact because, as you can see in the picture up top — the bin was overflowing with nonperishables. Go, team!

P.S. Instead of a song for the day, here’s a rant for the day from a tiny tike who is now my hero. Enjoy!

Day 657: Snow day deeds

I almost got a closer shot, but the little guy was camera shy.

Snow has been blowing these past few days here — thankfully, not quite Snowmaggedon … yet.

I observed a lovely gesture on the streetcar today that I thought I’d share. It is freeeeezing — so cold even the ice sculptures are shivering — so any wait outside for the bus or streetcar feels like an eternity.

Our car was about to shut the doors and move on when a young guy carrying a skateboard (not generally considered a winter sport, but there you go) hopped on and asked the driver to wait. “There’s someone running to catch you,” he explained.

Now, I’ve raced to catch a streetcar (or bus) many times and sometimes the driver is kind enough to wait but other times, I get right up to the door out of breath and the driver zooms off, cackling an evil laugh (okay, I made that last part up).

But  no, this driver nodded and waited the few seconds it took for running guy to reach the door and huff-and-puff his way onto the car.

And me? Just before I got on the streetcar, I’d been in a store and tried on a bunch of different pairs of snowboots in different aisles. And instead of just leaving the ones I didn’t want where they were (for the store clerk to put them back), I walked around and returned them to where I found them. At least I hope that was a good thing …..

P.S. Song for the day. The legendary Etta James who passed away today from leukemia at 73. May she rest in peace.

Day 656: Tale of two mittens

This story began February 2010, after the Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Hudson’s Bay Company (official outfitters for Canada’s team) created a line of Olympic wear that included the cutest. mittens. ever.

They sold out in record time (I blame Oprah), but as soon as they restocked, I raced to the store like there was a hurricane coming and I needed to stock up on emergency supplies.

I bought enough pairs to warm the hands of a small village and promptly gifted them to, um, myself, family members, and some friends in the U.S. Why I thought they’d want to wear red and white woolly mitts emblazoned with a maple leaf, I have no idea but … much like Oprah … they loved them!

When I saw one of these friends in the States this December, she “confessed” to me that she’d given her pair away. I admit I was surprised … I thought she’d said she loved wearing them.

But then she told me the whole story. A colleague had asked her if she had any mittens she could spare … for someone he knew who was having trouble operating the controls on his wheelchair.

Turns out, putting mittens over his hands would help give him the traction needed to move the switch and get his chair where he needed it to go.

My friend said that as much as she loved her Canadian mittens (the only mitts she had), she couldn’t refuse such a touching request.

When I got home and realized I had an extra pair (of the original ones!!!! For, the Bay is selling them again, but they’ve changed the style and ditched the Olympic rings) … I knew what I had to do (although it took me a while to get my package organized, lol).

And off I went to the post office to mail them off to my friend today — as a surprise (that’s a pic of them up top, before I packaged them up) … so this “Tale of Two Mittens” has a happy ending. Just like Oprah.

Day 655: Poetry in motion

Full disclosure: In my excitement to try and take a picture of the poem, I barely missed tripping over a lady in a full-leg cast... her glare still haunts me.

So it was a blowy, snowy morning … the type of day where those pretty little snowflakes ice up and sting your skin like lasers as you walk into the wind.

A snowy day in T.O.

My bus was cancelled. At least I’m guessing it was, because before another one came along, the crowd of people waiting was double its usual size.

I did consider elbowing my way to the front of the line so I could get a seat, but my conscience — and a burly lady in a parka — caused me to rethink that.

I let pretty much the whole group get on before me and grumbled to myself about having to stand the whole way — especially since I’d forgotten my book at home.

Then, I looked up and saw a vision. Well, not an actual vision. But the words of a poem, so lovely, so profound — my eyes spontaneously welled up with tears.

The poem was “Water and Marble” by Canada’s P.K. Page. I’d forgotten about the transit program that posts poetry in Toronto’s subways and on buses and streetcars.

And to think, if I had elbowed my way on and grabbed a seat, I might never have noticed it.

Water & Marble - P.K. Page

And I shall tell him that the thought of him turns me to water
and when his name is spoken pale still sky trembles and breaks and moves like blowing water
that winter thaws its frozen drifts in water
all matter blurs, unsteady, seen through water
and I, in him, dislimn, water in water?

As true: the thought of him has made me marble
and when his name is spoken blowing sky settles and freezes in a dome of marble
and winter seals its floury drifts in marble
all matter double-locks as dense as marble
and I, in others’ eyes, am cut from marble.

Day 654: Litter lady heads downtown

Before! (action shot taken by ... me!)

My previous posts on collecting litter on my daily walk have all involved my own suburban neighbourhood or local park.

Since I work downtown now, I thought I’d take a stroll at lunch and keep my eyes open for trash along the way.

Imagine my surprise when I could barely find a thing! My own sleepy street is a virtual magnet for snack wrappers, cigarette packs and the biggest trash culprit of all *drum roll* Tim Hortons cups.

But I must have covered about eight city blocks before I came across even a stray bit of paper. And Tim Hortons cups? Nada, niente, rien, none.

I did collect a few stray bits here and there … and one particularly smelly plastic bag that I realized (too late) was from a dog walker, if you catch my drift. *shudders* Even though I was wearing my winter gloves, I definitely ran inside once I’d dumped my “finds” in the trash bin and washed — no, scrubbed — my hands. Overall, however, a light day in Litter Lady world.

Either there are more city workers tidying up Toronto’s downtown core than my little street … or city dwellers are a bunch of neat freaks compared with suburbanites … it’s a mystery to me. Maybe I should apply for a government grant to study the situation?

After! (exciting, huh?)

Day 653: Kindness boomerang

In my quest to share others’ good deeds I come across, here’s a comment I spotted on a video today:

“[The video is] showing that 1 person can make a difference and make a chain reaction. Just recently when i went xmas shopping, i dropped my wallet when i got out of the car and had no idea. A homeless couple picked it up and gave it to me. They could of easily had a debit card with 700$ and a credit card with a 3250$ limit on it. I went inside and bought them some jackets, gloves, hats, all that to keep warm and some food plus 40$. I was grateful for them to be honest.” ~ Mike C.

…and the video? It’s called “Kindness Boomerang” … hope you find it as heartwarming as I did:

P.S. Just in case you were wondering about me, I paid a stranger a sincere compliment about their adorable dog:

Ready for her closeup.

Day 652: Good deeds make you happy … who knew?

So here I thought I was doing good deeds to try and make a positive difference in the world, to start a chain reaction of random acts of niceness, to turn those frowns upside down (okay, I made up that last one).

Turns out, it’s really me that’s benefiting. Check this paragraph out from a really interesting blog post I read today called “12 Things Happy People Do Differently”:

4. Practice acts of kindness. – Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.

You can read the other eight 11 things HERE.

So I tried to feel the rush of serotonin when, against my better judgment, I ran over to the scruffy looking stranger across the subway barricade to find out why he was waiving his arms to get my attention. But, to be honest, all I felt was wariness with a smidge of fear.

Turns out, he was just looking for someone to hand him one of the free newspapers stacked just out of reach on my side of the barricade.

I did feel good after I handed it to him, but not sure if that was serotonin kicking in … or just relief.

P.S. Song for the day. Love Stacey Kent’s voice. Enjoy!

Day 651: Choose kindness

This will never not be funny (click 2 enlarge).

I know most people make a list of resolutions for the new year but for the past couple of years, I’ve just tried to come up with sort of a “motto” to keep in mind to carry me through the year.

Last year it was “go with the flow.” The year before, it was “don’t do anything you don’t want to do” (believe it or not, that one was surprisingly effective! ).

This year, I’m going with “choose kindness.”

Why not “be kind” or “do good deeds,” you ask? Well, because the more I thought about it, the more I realized being kind is a choice we can make every day, throughout the day. Before we take action on something, respond to an email, or even the way we choose to greet a stranger.

And since I can be a self-absorbed, cranky-pants much of the time, I know I need to consciously decide to “choose kindness” over, say, being snarky, letting the door slam on the person behind me, or taking the last cookie in the box.

These two little words have already helped me a lot. Just today, I was waiting in line at the store and someone rushed in front of me and right up to the cashier. I could’ve caused a fuss and pointed out that I was officially next in the queue but I caught myself  and kept quiet. Especially since the person was in a rush and I wasn’t, and I could tell they didn’t realize what they’d done (and no, it wasn’t ‘cuz they looked like Dog the Bounty Hunter.)

You may now be wondering, “If a good deed is done in a store line up and there’s no one there to acknowledge it, did it really happen?”

That, my friends, is a question I’ll leave to you! Have a great day!

P.S. Song for the day, Jason Mraz’s awesome new single, “I Won’t Give Up.” Enjoy!

Day 650: Happy 2012!

This has nothing to do with New Year's or good deeds, but I took this photo and find it peaceful for some reason, so there you go.

I thought a great way to start the year off right would be with a brand new post after, ahem, a short break.

To be honest, after two-plus years of good deeding, I’d kind of run out of ideas. (Not for random acts of kindness,of course, but for things you might be interested in reading about. I was even boring myself, lol.)

Soooooo, what I plan to do is mix things up a little … share stories of others’ good deeding along with my own feeble attempts. So please feel free to send me any of your own deeds or others you stumble across!

First up is an awesome initiative for seniors in Pennsylvania called the “Twilight Wish Foundation” … here’s more about them from PhillyBurbs.com:

Cass Forkin, founder and chairman of the Twilight Wish Foundation in her Doylestown, PA, office. (Photo: Kim Weimer/phillyBurbs.com staff photographer)

Never too old to wish

By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer

If senior citizens could have a wish granted, what would they ask for?

That is what Cass Forkin wanted to know in 2003 when she was preparing to launch a Doylestown based nonprofit that grants requests for seniors who lack the resources to make their wishes come true.

Her first answers she got, courtesy of a therapist friend who surveyed his elderly clients, seemed simple enough: a dinner show, a zoo trip, a salon visit.

But the request from an 81-year-old nursing home resident named Margaret left Forkin in tears for three days. The woman wanted a headstone for the grave of her son, who had died six months earlier.

Margaret’s wish, granted three months later, launched more than 1,000 wishes over the last eight years for the Twilight Wish Foundation. The group is among the 10 local charities that the Courier Times and The Intelligencer of Doylestown are highlighting this year.

Forkin, 50, a former corporate health care executive, founded Twilight Wish after a life-changing encounter with several elderly women in the Dublin Star Diner. On a whim, Forkin treated the women to lunch, and they, in turn, inspired her new life mission — fulfilling wishes for low-income seniors age 68 or older and those who live in nursing homes.

The group, which relies on donations and volunteer efforts, has granted nearly 1,660 wishes and counting through its five active U.S. chapters. The number works out to an average of a wish every other day, Forkin said.

“It is exciting every time,” Forkin said. “Everyone has a different wish or a wish for a different reason; when you see someone’s wish come true, it’s such a deep feeling. It never gets old.” Read rest HERE.

Song of the day, jazzy “This Christmas” … enjoy!