I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.

Words are left to interpretation until you get into the giddy-up mode, rolling up your sleeves and digging in.

For years I have been talking about experiential learning and the notion that you can’t master something until you “just do it”, just a Nike did it when the giant multi national organization coined the phrase with this famous motto and branding. In fact, there are many levels of learning that individuals needs to work through until they arrive at the “Just do it” point.

I digress, my last post which talked about the Carmanah Valley and the gentle giants that live within it, was not the main focus of my issue… dealing with rain water in my basement was. At some point, I learned about the environment that I reside in and how to master my journey through the trials of mother natures skillfully played out game. Yes, I have lots of hands on learning experiences, mainly home repairs and maintenance and mostly in the dead of winter when nature’s wrath is blowing cool winter air around my chilled body as I work outside in the elements. I did learn when I was younger that working outside in winter was not something that I resonated toward, outdoors, the summer was great unless of course…Mother Nature decided to sprinkle the arid ground to support it with enough love (precipitation, aka rain) to dampen the day…after all that is her job.

The point of this is that we can talk all we want, we will forget…we can see with our eyes, storing visuals in our brain for future recall, although visual memories fade into the night like a weaken candle as it exhaust it’s fuel. Finally, I do, a point of physical engagement that provides the brain with endorphins, that engagement of receptors in the brain that tells us what the experience is all about and making that decision whether we like it or not…

I am certain that many have had similar experiences as we travel through new Pathway of learning, that never ending journey.

By doing, we remember… hands on experiential learning provide endorphins a time to play, while the brain creates new highways to store that new experience… While we may not be a young as we use to be, the art of learning continues…

Some solutions for a leaking basement

While I have talked about the wonders of fall equinox and the fall harvest, I failed to remember the fall rains that bolster the reputation of the west coast rain forest I live in. When people talk of rain forest I tend to think about the Carmanah Valley on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, not the city in which I live... that would be New Westminster. Yes, years ago this area was known for it’s gentler giants, the Douglas Firs and majestic Cedar’s, Hemlock too, tall enough to touch the stars, big enough to build a house, trees that mustered a size that secured a strong foot in the soils of New Westminster, now to be seen in at least one area of British Columbia, The Carmanah Valley on Vancouver Island. These giants are all but a memory in New Westminster, however what remained of the rain forest was, “The Rain”...stalwart, Mother Nature’s own, remains and for more than a century, continues its regular visit.

Today, I am looking for solutions, not to remove natures own from the fair city in which I live, however, to find a product that will help to defend my fragile wood framed house that the god’s want so badly to water to make it grow… what the god’s don’t know is that this house lives on a cement foundation and try as they might, it will not grow.

This afternoon, while snooping around my cold room, I spied a small but curious stream of water resting in a small but annoying puddle at the base of my foot. With a grimace only a Muppet would understand, I removed all the boxes in my way to get a better look at this indoor anomaly. Well, Mother Nature found a way into warm her cool stream of water… I have looked at the new pathway of learning and realized that this journey would start outside, tomorrow, with hydraulic cement, something that Mother Nature didn’t know about… by tomorrow evening all will be fine…the sweet warm pool of mother natures own will be dried like a minnow in the hot day sun, and for me… it’s just another learning curve… I found the pathway around this one!