Short Musings

Canmore today WOW

2012-01-29T15:42:00.033-07:00

Dog sledding is the best sport ever! We started the day down at the A&W parking lot in Canmore where the office of the Snowy Owl dog sled company is located. A very professional outfit. They are very concerned with the health and happiness of their dogs, they take nothing for granted and go out of their way to make sure every one is happy but the dogs come first, always. They are very concerned that no one ever mistakes them for that gang of criminals that murdered all of their dogs in Whistler. In a comfortable Mercedes van we drove for half an hour up the mountain roads to the mustering place beside the upper Spray lakes. The dogs were all harnessed up and waiting. The dogs love a good scratch, a kiss and cuddle and I tried to make friends with my team before we set out. From the looks they gave me I think they were doubtful of my abilities, but no more so than I was. A deafening cacophany arose as the dogs howled and barked and announced that was enough talking, lets get on with it already.
After a pretty lengthy orientation the drivers were selected and we went out in groups of 3 teams. An instuctor on the lead team and 2 guest drivers each with our teams of six dogs spaced to a count of 20 behind. It is really hard to count to twenty when your dogs are pulling like crazy and you are putting everything you have onto the brakes and your heart is pounding. Fortunately we didn't have any turns or hills for the first 1/2 mile. After that I really earned my privileged position as musher. Bryan decided to ride, he wasn't really dressed for it as he only had jeans on and didn't want his legs to get cold. I think he was quite comfortable to be a passenger. I had no idea how much work there was to being a musher. And, how much strength it takes. Going up the hills I got off and pushed and ran with them a few times, ocassionally I cheated and skate boarded. That always got me a look from Cashew, my left lead. She was very doubtful of my abilities right from the start and rightly so. She would turn and look at me and her look said "lazy cow, put your back into it"..
I nearly dumped us into a creek as we tore over a bridge and the runners slipped out of the ruts. Fortunately, it was either one of my gorgeous, strong wheel dogs or myself saved us, I don't know which but I doubt that it was me. Rounding the corners I was leaning right and left, as I concentrated on driving the team through the trees. My knees were bent for an hour. I didn't know that I was cramped into a squat position until we peeled around a corner, then shot between two boulders and out onto the lake and I stood up straight relaxed and took a deep breath.
I had remembered to breathe.

2012-01-21T11:15:00.001-07:00

this week in my world

2012-01-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Its been a strange week. Monday started out with a shock of cold and since we had only been back from the islands both near and far for a week we just couldn't believe that -27 degrees really could be that cold until we stepped outside.
I toyed with the idea of throwing a glass of water into the air to entertain you dear reader but then I thought that it would be stupid to get dressed up to go out side and fog up the camera for a cheap trick. That is really what we do up here for laughs in the winter. For some reason we lose all memory of how cold winter is and how to drive in it until it slaps us in the face a year later.
We think it is a really hoot to dress up in parkas and touques and throw water into the air and watch it turn to fog as it hits the air. More sane people in other parts of the world where the weather is warmer, splash each other with water in the pool or at the beach and toss their sun bleached hair and clink the ice cubes in their mai tais.
I hit the bricks running this week, my job is to take pictures of and do appraisals of properties and send them off into cyberspace from whence they came and from whence they return to me as listings and then "him indoors" work begins. So not only did I have to find coordinating winter clothes to do the job but I have to give my brain a jumpstart on winter driving.
I spend a lot of time coordinating my wardrobe and footwear and doing my hair and my make-up just in case the EMS people have to pry me from a wreck in the ditch. Our highways are always a skating rink in winter and no end of wingeing by the populace has improved the management of snow removal. So the Deerfoot is always in a state of closure or down to one lane. And of course I couldn't be caught out without my make up and in workout clothes.
By Tuesday I was sick of winter and having had a full 24 hours of it I thought it was time for a yoga class. I love my yoga classes because they are the ony place that I can really slow down and be present. I give lip service to meditating on a regular basis but the reality is I am like a squirrel in a cage most of the time and have to be sedated in order to slow down. I imherited this condition from my mother. We once made a Christmas dinner for 17 people which took 8 hours to prepare and my mother jumped up and whisked everyone's plate and away and had the dishwasher running within 17 minutes of sitting down.
Anyway Wednesday came around and I fell into complete inertia and it took me all day to do one hour's work. So I snoozed.
Around 3 in the morning HIDs tapped me on the shoulder and said, do I have spots? I said no and went back to sleep. I hadn't actully looked but my brain was busy with a dream and I incorporated that question in a the dream.
At 5:30 he tapped me again and said can you look? OMG I said you are covered in spots, and lumps and you are hot. Go take an antihistamine. And I rolled over. 5:30 is damned early. We happen to have both Benelyn and Benedryl in the cupboard, He took the cold med not the antihistamine. At 8:00 am we were up and he staggered to the kitchen where I got a good look at him in the light,.
Gasp. I said to him you have to go to the doc's right away. What have you been doing? What could you be allergic to? It took about an hour for my brain to process it and remember that he had been on an antibiotic for an ear and chest infection that he brought back from Hawaii. Poor bastard, he was just miserable. His face was developing lumps and I was afraid he would go into anaphylatic shock and his throat would close.
Long/short, he got into a walk-in clinic and is now on a powerful antihistamine and is dosing. Poor guy can hardly keep his eyes open. Spots and lumps are diminishing. But never again can he take that kind of antibiotic.
I cruised Facebook. I have only been on that a few times. I hate social media. But, I noticed Ashley's Etsy page. You must check it out... Pottery Ashley Morrow... I hope this works out for her as she is currently unemployed and she will have to sell her stuff for several thousand dollars each in order to support herself.

Okay, so you asked for pictures....

2012-01-15T15:11:00.001-07:00

There goes Bryan, trotting off for his morning walk along the beach. Not to shabby eh? Easy to take a stroll at 72F degrees in the morning. Not so easy to get up and get dressed and start the car and drive through -15 C or so to get the the gym.

The sand is very deep here, unfortunately I didn't discover until the last few days that the snorkeling was exceptional on our very own beach and I didn't have to drive anywhere. There were coral mounds around which the fish would collect and hide. Any disturbance on the sea floor would bring them out to feed on the microscopic organisms that floated out. What a feast for them and for my eyes. All I had to do was float.

I loved the drift wood that washed up. There were plenty of little wee sticks but not many large logs, I guess being out in the middle of the Pacific ocean not many sources for trees. Those that washed up high enough got a really neat silver sheen as they polished smooth.

We found a beach which was off the beaten track. and I mean beaten track, we have never seen a road so rough, not even in Fiji. Pot holes as big as a man hole and nearly as deep. Real tires eaters. This beach was on the lee side and so no rough water,. People were camped and some were set up with several tents and permanent looking surf fishing rods right under the No Camping sign.

this is part of the rough road.

practicing with my new Nikon 9100 on the macro ...this is sand.

There and back in a day

2012-01-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

It does strange things to your body and head when you get up in the morning and fly somewhere and come home and put your head on your own pillow.
We arrived in Comox at 10 am and were greated by Louise who graciously volunteered to pick us up at the airport along with the miriad of other things she had to do. Today was the day of Mike's Memorial.
Her whole family was there helping, along with her 5 grand children and Mike's son and daughter from France.
The memorial was lovely, people spoke of the Mike they knew, and since he had so many facets to his life, everyone's story was just a little different.
Jenny said that as a child she was sure he was 100 years old for all the things he crammed into his short 70 years.
He was in the Israeli army, he caught cobras in the desert for venom, he owned a pub in Germany and one in Canada as well as a hotel in Liberia. He was a record producer, a farm hand, a cab driver, a realtor, an importer/exporter....and the list goes and on and on.
Tears were shed and old acquaintences were renewed and I think Mike would have liked that most of all.

what a day

2012-01-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today we did nothing but lie on the beach. Tomorrow we must go home, we are both ready to leave as we as relaxed as we can be. My day was perfect, I snorkeled on our beach and saw some wonderful fish, just a couple of yards from the water's edge. When I ungracefully staggered back to my beach chair tripping and stumbling on my flippers, I looked up and there were whales. God this is an ungainly sport though, I ate more sand trying to get my flippers off.
The whale show went on for a couple of hours. Huge splashes from their breaching and fountains of exhalations. I just couldnt believe my luck, to be in the presence of these massive beings.
Back to the fish, I saw a little scarface blenny, lots of angel fish and so many endemic to Kauai.
So, back to YYC on Tuesday morning. It appears that the balmy days at home will be over and we will bring some nasty cold and snowy weather with us.
In the meantime aloha.

helicopters and whales

2012-01-04T21:52:00.004-07:00

I definitely have to get down to some relaxing time. I am not a mellow traveler, I like to explore and do stuff while my erstwhile mate likes to snore on a chair on the lanai. He is willing to let me drag him from pillar to post but I can see he needs some down time so I think its beach chairs for him and snorkeling for me for the next few days.
Its hard to post from here as I am not yet comfortable on the playbook...its a size thing I guess, but this was the helicopter and it flew us right down into the crater of Wai'ale'ale. This is the wettest place on earth and although this is winter in the middle of the rainy season the wall of water falls is drying up. water falls yes,but not as full as they could be we saw whales in the ocean below. However today we went on a whale watching tour on a catamaran.
I took my new Nikon camera and not the BB playbook which is what the pictures posted here were taken with. So no whale pics to post but we saw plenty. All were young males and they were rolling and breaching and gave us a great show.

zorry the guy i

the ancient hawaiian garden

2011-12-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

nou o makana

the ancient Hawaiians were sustainable gardeners as we discovered on our walk through Limahuli gardens at the north end of Kauai.

yoga on the beach

2011-12-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

It is so wonderful that right off the bat i met a yoga teacher. I was doing a sun salutation on the sand in front of our unit and along came a wonderful lady who has taught me so much more about yoga. Teachers are everywhere.
Every morning we spread our towels out as yoga mats and begin our day. The sun rises here are magical and no words can describe them. They are not so much sun events as they are cloud events. The clouds transform the sky by colour and action.
Our beach is perfect for us although not so great for young children as there is surf, yesterday a monk seal came up and rested here. We didnt see it as we were struggling up the canyon.

The wildlife refuge at Kiluea Point.

2011-12-24T17:42:00.001-07:00

we saw red footed boobys and nesting albatross, a nene

hawaiian goose,and yet not until we hiked the canyon did we find the red tail tropicbird or keuai

from the sublime to the ridiculous

2011-12-20T16:16:00.003-07:00

we left YYC at 1:30 and with a good strong tail wind were were landing in 7 1/2 hours.

i am trying to learn and post at the same time. forgive me i will get better at it. we only brought the BB playbook and I have no experience with it.

somebody should knock me out before I fallover. I cant believe the view from our room. I am beyond tired.

Ice grips in Hawaii?

2011-12-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

Only 3 more sleeps now. I am trying to figure out how to pack hiking boots and snorkle fins in small carry -on and one small case that will also be stuffed with books,electronics and light clothes. This is the only luggage we will be taking.
I wonder if I can put ice grips on our running shoes?
Bryan has booked us a private hike with a native guide up to the top of Waialea Canyon. Why? you ask? Appparently this is a difficult hike with lots of slippery sections. Why I asked?
apparently it is beautiful.
I don't know if I will be posting to this blog. from Ha, I will only have a play book and I have to learn it. and then live through the hike.

G's first Christmas luncheon

2011-12-13T15:12:00.003-07:00

Stuffed with homemade chicken soup, pita sliders, grape tomatos, mandarin orange,cup of milk, rice crackers,gorgonzola cheese and a wedge of lemon. That was what the tiniest guest had for lunch.
She was somewhat wary of |Toto at first and then she discovered that she had all the power and could feed him. He very daintily took the crackers from her wee fingers and she was delighted. But she came alive when Unca B put Ray on the stereo, This kid is a dancer.
L brought over two huge boxes of toys for her. I mean huge. She has more toys than most kids get in a lifetime. L's grand daughters donated their toys and filled my back room cupboards for G. I hope she takes one or two home with her each time she and her new- to- come sibling visits until my cupboards are bare.

2011-12-04T10:35:00.002-07:00

We woke up this morning to a beautiful fall of snow. When the sun broke through the clouds it seemed as though was wasn't a better place on earth to live. Then I opened the door to a breath sucking temperature of -10C. Damn that's cold.

2011-12-04T10:34:00.001-07:00

2011-11-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Gwynneth and her christmas prezzie

2011-11-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

They left me to babysit

2011-11-06T14:04:00.001-07:00

Some things just change

2011-11-02T16:59:00.000-06:00

If you have been reading this blog you will have noticed how in this past 18 months we have seen huge changes in our lives.
Most of the events have been the deaths of loved ones and then once in a while wonderful news like a wedding. But, sometimes one comes out of left field.

I drove by my old childhood home last night and it is ...gone.
Just a chain link fence around the demolition. My dad built this house, actually my parents did together and I was involved as well. They took pictures of themselves up on ladders with hammers and paint brushes in hand. I carried bags of cement , 2x4's and nails home piled on top of me in the baby buggy. I didn't actually expend any effort. One of my parents had to push the buggy up hill.
We moved into it during completion, finishing the bathroom and kitchen as my dad earned the money to buy the materials.
No one could do that today. Can you imagine city hall keeping their sticky greedy beaks out of your home if you didn't have an 'occupancy permit'?
Now that home, built with such pride and love is gone. It is like a death.

Our friend Mike has passed away

2011-10-26T11:39:00.000-06:00

We got one of those horrible calls again today. " Dad just died," said the sad voice on the end of the phone.,, After a long hard fought battle against cancer our friend Mike Jackson succumbed last night at 9:30. He was in hospital in Comox. About the time Bryan decided to pour himself an 'Oirish'. He doesn't usually do that but felt the need for one about the same time. An unwitting toast to his dear Irish friend.
Mike was a very close friend of Bryan's and mine. I can't believe how many hours, if they were counted up, that the two of them spend on the phone together. They discussed the economy of nearly everything, the politics of nearly every country and predicted often about the economic precipice that they were peering over. It was with great glee that one would call the other about some brilliant buy in a mining stock or somesuch and how much they would make if they sold it today. The next day the call would be about how much they could average their losses had they sold when they first thought of it the day before.
If it wasn't for those nefarious bastards in the city that controlled the stock they bought.
For over 36 years we have been friends, we laughed a lot together, we ate wonderful food together and drank the best wine together. If it wasn\t for Mike I wouldn't know that I should expect to get the best. Mike had the most wonderful sense of entitlement and why not? He always expected everyone to give their all and he would pay for that priviledge.
He stayed in the best hotels, travelled first class and demanded the finest service. He was generous to a fault and over the years has been a kind and loving friend.
We will miss him greatly.

More lessons from Ginger

2011-10-21T21:24:00.000-06:00

Ginger was a very astute and perceptive dog. She could read body language and then give feedback with her wonderful eyebrows. She would ask, "Are you getting ready to go for a walk or to work? Oh, those shoes, that means that I might stay home, right. Which one of you wants to go for a walk? Are you thinking of getting up and getting me a treat? If not, maybe you could think of that, I like the jerky ones."

If things don't go your way, don't sweat it, just take a deep breath and let it out with a blow and rest.
Do upward facing dog every once in a while. This pose helps with your balance when you have to get a sore or tired hind end out of bed.
Downward dog is a good one to do always...slowly and stretch every muscle in your back when you do this pose. Maybe you will be lucky and feel your spine pop. Now, even if you are human you can do this... still in downward facing dog, lift one leg and take your foot as far back as you can, open your chest and turn, flex your foot. This will release any tension in your spine. This is not why dogs do it but the benefit is the same.
Use your nose, not just to smell tree trunks and fire plugs but use it when you snuggle up to your loved ones. Smell them, and take a deep breath. There is primal satisfaction in this action.
Keep a half smile on your face at all times, you can let it break out into a grin when you want to make those around you feel happy.
Wrestle.
Drink lots and lots of water.
Claim a corner of the couch all to yourself whenever possible.
Take a path not well trodden, there maybe a surprise along the way, not always what you might expect.

Eat saskatoon berries.

The shower

2011-10-16T14:00:00.001-06:00

Okay so I have taken a while to get these pics up. I don't have all of the wedding pics yet so I will upload what I have beginning with the bridal shower.

some of the ladies Heather, Linda, Gail and me

Shelley and the flower girl....Gwennyth

Everybody enjoyed a nice meal...lets see , we had a seafood pasta, grilled sirloin on a bed of greens, a dessert of puffy meringue cake and a chocolate cake to die for....covered in little zoo animals. Oh we had too much grub....

my girls

a happy bride and her friends...What is that behind her? Did her mother decorate with toilet paper?

Linda to the rescue ...

oh my goodness what could be in this box

I think this is from Peg....oh my goodness.

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All such beautiful shower gifts. What a lucky pair.

Today's Lessons From Ginger

2011-09-22T09:02:00.000-06:00

Greet every day with enthusiasm. no matter how you feel.
Go outside every morning no matter what the weather.
Say good morning with a kiss to those you love
Don't pack around too much stuff. You don't need much more than your ID.
Greet your friends with a chest bump or something similar.
Run for the feeling of the wind in your hair....or walk fast depending on how old you are.
Never complain
Be kind and patient with your family and friends.
Lean on your best friend and sigh
Nap often
Eat with gusto
Drink lots of water
Take your medicine without complaint
Trust your family
Guard your family
Accept those who don't understand, just walk on by.
Celebrate a bone literally or figurativly
Swim every chance you get
Run around and jump for joy after a pedicure
Roll in the snow and on the grass, no matter how old you are.

My dear old friend Ginger

2011-09-21T13:51:00.001-06:00

I am writing this before she goes because I don't know if I will be able to see through the tears to type when she is actually gone. When you read this she will have passed away.
I met Ginger in 1997 when she was 11 months old and immediately I knew she was my dog. I had been thinking of getting a dog for a few years and one day I opened the paper and my eyes were drawn to an ad for adoption. I should have cut it out and saved it, thinking of it now makes me laugh. The ARF foundation was fairly new and a dog who had been rescued from one of the reserve rescue trips had several puppies and one of whom had been adopted out to a family that was overwhelmed by a new dog and new human babies and the family returned the dog to ARF to be re-adopted. She was as they described, part Great Dane and part Lab and her name was Ginger.
I called Laurie Flavin who was the founder of ARF and she arranged to meet me at the park for an introduction. I asked Linda if she would come with Angel, her German Shepherd so that Angel could give us her opinion as well.
The dogs got on famously and from the very first greeting they were life long friends. They were so close it was as if they were spiritual twins. They never tired of each other's company all through their lives and even shared each other's bones.
Ginger looked like a shepard crossed with a rottweiler. There was no Great Dane. We thought she was beautiful.
The next night I brought Bryan to Laurie's house to meet our dog. He didn't know it at the time but I was determined that she belonged to us. Bryan was armed with cheese in his pockets.
She approached him timidly and as Laurie's pack moved through the house Ginger stuck to them. She growled at us as she went past. I thought surely she will realize that we were her true pack. No, off she went thinkng she would have nothing more to do with us.
The next day after talking it over we called Laurie and she brought Ginger to our house. As Laurie slipped away through the door Ginger panic'd and ran to the window to watch her drive away. She wimpered and came right back to me and kissed me on the cheek. I took that as a "lets give this relationship a try" kiss.
I had never had a dog before and knew nothing of the creatures, She had never had me before and knew nothing of us. Together we learned. She to understand English and me to open my heart to her.
We went everywhere together. She would patiently wait out my client appointments in the back seat of the car and then the van and then an SUV and then a cross over.
We walked miles and miles and miles together. We explored back roads and highways and side tracks. She showed us so many things on our road trip holidays that we would never have noticed without her. She used her nose where ever she went and she taught us to stop still and listen and look.
Together we have been as far as Prince Rupert to the California Redwoods. We have walked wild and windy beaches on the west coast of Vancouver island and we have trudged along the banks of the Saskatchewan river in Nipiwin and floated in the swimming holes of the Kananaskis Sheep river. We have been in snow drifts that covered our heads and hot summer days panting in the shade under a tree. We have shared every hamburger I have ever had and I learned to make a chicken stew that she adored.
Everyday she defended us against delivery people, plastic bags, squirrels and rabbits. She was courageous and brave and always the first at the door to take on an imagined intruder.
We gardened together, and she learned to eat raspberries from the bush without getting attacked by thorns. She lay at our feet under the table at meals, she watched for us at the front window and was so happy to see us return. We made friends through her and we met Angel and Toto and Nikki andTrevor and Charlie and Boo and Ben and Clover and Teddy and Jimmy and Lexi and their attendant humans.
I will miss you my dear sweet kind friend.
(Ginger passed away September 21, 2011 at 1:20 pm. She spent her last morning walking with Bryan and I along the Bow river and even took a drink and a little swim at her favourite place.

I will miss my girl. )

You Asked for it

2011-09-04T17:45:00.003-06:00

I forgot to mention some things during my narration. We replaced the newell posts and the spindles and railings. We took the hardwwod down the stairs. A lot of the kitchen detail is still waiting for the finishing carpenter. But we hired a guy with only two hands and two feet. Damn, next time we do this we hire a guy with many appendages that we can work around the clock.
So we wait for the cove molding at the top and botton of the cupboards and the finishing of the pony wall by the back door. We will get the tiling finished now that I have decided what to do with the back splash.Bryan has ordered some led light strips for the top of the cabinets.
Then the painter comes back to do the floor molding and the walls where we changed our minds on the colour.

a beautiful hot summer day in September...I will try to remember this in the middle of winter.

This is one of the heads in the new shower. They all have governors I think so that they don't blast off your skin.

Then and Now

2011-08-29T11:05:00.000-06:00

March 2011

August 2011...no more pantry but lots of custom shaker cabinets with soft closings and tons of drawers. The tile is not on yet but will get it up soon, maybe this week. I love my induction cook top and the new appliances. I didn't know that an oven could do so many things. Love my new faucet, it is intuitive. The granite is an exotic, a one of a kind and never will be another. Very gorgeous.

I don't have a new picture from this angle yet, but will soon.

We are not done yet, I have to install the new tv, and organize all the millions of pieces of pottery that we had cupboards made to exhibit.

We got Hailed

2011-08-19T09:24:00.000-06:00

Last night the skies opened up and dumped hail and heavy rain on us. I ran outside as it began, risking a pelting to cover up the tomato plant. I couldnt take the stinging pain so nothing else was saved. Surveying the damage this morning we found some trees nearly stripped bare.

Who do we think he is?

2011-08-07T13:50:00.002-06:00

I thought he must be a warbler judging by his size and his all round bright yellow plummage...

he may be a Yellow warbler

singing his little heart out

But I think his song is "I'm leaving town now", not '"Hey baby whatcha doing tonight?".

Oh Happy Day

2011-07-28T14:42:00.002-06:00

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We couldn't resist...we had our first meal on the island....cooked downstairs of course but eaten on hurricane.

Today the granite arrived and has been installed. The holes have been drilled for the taps etc. and in the kitchen the sink hole was beautifully created. Right now everyone is angsting about miinutia as they prepare to install the cooktop. I am so glad that we have meticulous craftsmen putting our house together. And each person that comes in the front door says the same thing. OMG. or wow!!!
Each time I come into the room I say it too. WOW! It almost looks like we know what we were doing with colours and materials. The cabinet lacquer matches the colours in the granite and floor stain is a distinctive colour in the granite, and the lighting, the kitchen metals and even the glass pendants all reflect some of the characteristics of the stone.
The smell of chemicals is giving me a headache and I think I am as high as a kite. I am going to go sleep it off now. Hope I don't start jonesin for more or I will be down at the strip mall scoring glue from the dollar store later tonight.

My baby turned 40

2011-07-25T16:47:00.000-06:00

Gee it is hard to believe that my first born turned 40 years old. Oh, I know it isn't all about me, blah blah blah, but in a sense, it is. If I hadn't been there, nor would she. Those forty years went by in a blink. I can still remember the sweet smell of the back of her neck and her clear blue eyes when she looked at me. I was amazed that I could have had anything to do with her creation. I was her whole world and she was mine. I just couldn't believe I could love anything as much as I could love her....until I had my second baby of course. Then I was astonished that not only could I love another little being as much as the first but the new love did not diminish my feelings for the first one. I felt like the first person to ever figure this out.
We decided to have a party at the Ship and Anchor pub in Calgary, where her sister works. Since our house is temporarily out of commission we thought that would be the ideal venue. Facebook invites and birthday cake and beer.
Ashley is always so serious and hates getting her picture taken, she wouldn't pose for me so this is what she gets.

"You can't make me smile, I will not smile"

"I got my new glasses on the internet"....(from the used glasses bin in India?)

the food is either too hot or too cold or I capture the worse expressions.

Everything comes crashing down

2011-07-22T12:23:00.000-06:00

I woke up in a sweat this morning because I had dreamed that I had lost my purse. Nothing like looking for a purse at 4:30 a.m. and stepping into a dog pee puddle. The poor old girlie has been having some troubles lately...I think I will have to cut her off the booze earlier in the evening. She had her last walkies at 9 but apparently that wasn't late enough. So blurry eyed I was cleaning a carpet in the dark....thank god for my mum's old carpet cleaner, that thing has saved us hours of back breaking work.

Then just as was stepping our of the shower, the phone rang. Bad news. The huge 5x10 piece of exotic granite that had just been cut and polished was being loaded for delivery and it BROKE!!

I had to rush over to the stone place and choose another piece.

This is Hurricane. she is our new baby. Our second choice baby. She will be placed on our massive subcontinent and will match the lighting and the paint colours that I have already chosen.

I walked into the granite store/shop and everyone greeted me with apologetic faces including the "baby killer" :o)). We had visited our lovely piece of granite so often that she had become our baby. Poor Troy just felt sick about the accident. But fortunately no one was hurt and that in the end all that matters. I like the new piece and I think she is from the same chunk of granite in Brazil anyway, just a little further into the quarry. This new piece of granite is thicker than the last and is absolutely flawless, I know we will be happy. In the end it is a small thing to worry about.

A small thing indeed compared to others.

I am thinking about our friends in Comox where Bryan is visiting. Mike has lung cancer and every moment is precious and that is what is important. I know a small thing like a reno going screwy is such an inconspicuous inconsequential thing when compared to what they are going through.

Mike and Louise just got back from a cancer treatment in Victoria and a Cops for Cancer ride for Mike and a respectful formation salute to him. His son in law Alvin is a Victoria cop.

I know that visiting his old friend is important to Bryan, I do hope they have some good times this week.

Time and Tempers

2011-07-15T20:04:00.000-06:00

We learned a hard lesson. We should have remembered that old saw...pick two;

excellent Quality,
job done in short Time,
affordable Price

...but you can't have all three.

We planned, designed and plumbed our new master ensuite bathroom. We bought some beautiful porcelain travertine tile. Then, we left our handyman/tiler to his own devices while we went away and were otherwise occupied with a heavy workload. It is entirely our fault. The result was a horrible mishmash of crooked grout lines and dangerously sharp corners and uneven floors both inside the shower and out.
Rather than tell us that he was over his head, he soldiered on and the result is absolutely horrific. We have had expert tilers in to see if there can be any way of salvaging this mess and each one has shaken his head and one actually laughed.
But we take the blame, we should have hired a professional right from the start.
So, Monday or Tuesday the bathroom gets hacked up and thrown out.
Sigh.

However on the bright side, progress inches slowly on through the rest of the house, I will be getting the granite counter soon, and the cupboard doors go on in a week. At this point I will feel that I am home again. Albeit without an ensuite bath.

It is fortunate that I have been reading Bill Bryson's 'At Home'. It provides a rational perspective for me. This book is a walk through time and an anthropological dig into our home. Why we do the things we do and live the way we live. I loved this book, it is right up my alley. I love delving into the domestic scenes of 500 years ago. He goes on a great length how folks, not so very long ago, had to choose the colours of their walls. If you wanted white trim, you would probably die young because the only way to get white was with lead.
It hasn't been very long that we have had constructed shelter and not living in caves, not in the grand scheme of things. And it hasn't been very long since we have had clean, safe, prepared (read someone else killed it ) food, soft cloth, warm beds, rational medicine and education. Just over 150 years ago I would have been writing this with a quill pen while trussed up in a corset. Probably being 'bled' to cure my headache. Oh and I wouldn't have needed a bath, that would have been out of the question. The toilets would have been a pit because the u-joint hadn't been invented yet.
So I haven't lost my sense of humour or my mind but I may take up wine. That might get me through. That has been around a long time.

Some Pictures that NEED to be posted

2011-07-13T21:04:00.000-06:00

This dark blue iris appeared among the stunning white ones.

Just seconds before she discovered that this is a strawberry and the look of delight was priceless.

Very purposefully dodging the tulips and on the hunt for more strawberries..

Not sure what she is doing here...but taking a break.

She took it upon herself to climb my garden wall and run.

Gwennyth Lamer on a mission.

Bryan's Lament

2011-07-11T21:19:00.001-06:00

Getting closer

2011-07-09T20:31:00.000-06:00

As many of you have been clamoring for details of the reno, I am taking an hour to tap out all the news. We have reached the stage of the critical putting together time. The plumbing trim needs to be put on and the fridge hooked up and the toilets installed. The electrical trim needs to be completed as well, lights installed and plugs placed strategically.
However, our timng couldn't be worse, it is stampede week. We are hoping that our trades don't feel the need to stampede.
The granite counters will be templated this week as well. And the blind lady is coming to install our new window coverings. I hope she can find her way here. Groan.
HRH and I are becoming very snappish with each other. Actually nearly everything that either of us do irritates the hell out of the other. I wanted to rip his arms off the other day for using all the butter, you might think that was a little harsh, but I didn't.
Divorce is out of the question though, both of us want to see it out to the end and then hack each other into pieces.
The problem we have however is that we are both too tired to stay mad for long. I forget and he doesn't care.
I know last week I was stomping mad about something and swore that I would never speak to him again and then I forgot. I wanted him to walk the dog and to get him to do that I had to speak to him. Hand signals would only irritate both of us.
We have our laughs though. We installed our fridge and ovens and I took a few minutes to read the manual. That is something I rarely do, waiting instead until something goes wrong until I haul out the manual.
This time I noticed a Sabbath day setting on both appliances. That just cracked me up. Now we have orthodox appliances. Jeeze, I hope they don't force us to convert.
Maybe tomorrow I will take a movie and post it. Don't pop your popcorn yet I have to finish clearing out our bedroom. I have to wear a dust mask to clean the furniture that was exposed to the subfloor removal dust and the heat of that strapped to my face nearly brings me to my knees.
Who thought a renovation was a good idea? Take that person out and shoot him.

One Down about Thirteen to Go

2011-06-28T08:47:00.000-06:00

The floors are finished and are just gorgeous. They are so perfectly smooth and even that they look like laminate. LIKE LAMINATE? you say? Well, only at first glance. Then the wood speaks for itself.

I shot out of bed this morning after the golf course alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.. That is what I call the kid who drives the tractor pulling the metal trailer full of aluminum rakes. He clatters past our back fence at 80 miles an hour with all the rakes jumping up and bouncing as he drives over tree routes and rabbit holes. If I tried chasing to slow him down, he wouldn't know, he has his cell phone to his ear.

Free stuff

2011-06-22T22:06:00.002-06:00

3 sided gas fireplace
KitchenAid dishwasher
china cabinet
shower door

Pansy Faces

2011-06-22T19:46:00.003-06:00

I think this is the happiest pansy.Some of the others look too agressive and mean spirited, others look vacuous.

Look who's in the Garden

2011-06-21T14:16:00.000-06:00

Look who is peeking out from under the leaves.

I braved the onslaught of mosquitos to check the crops. The strawberries are Eversweet.

The grass is swampy from all the rain, I am sure there are some plants who would have appreciated more sand in the soil, like the grape. Grapes don't like wet feet, ergo the reason they grow on south slopes. I may dig it up and pour some sand in its bed. I don't think I will get far with it this year, unless we have a long hot dry spell.
The rain has been relentless, and huge black clouds are always circling the city at dinner time. So that puts the kibosh on BBQ's, because if rain isn't annoying enough, then the mosquitos come out to feast on us. But the upside is that they bring the song birds.

Our Dear friend Dave McMurdo passed away

2011-06-19T20:55:00.000-06:00

from the Globe and Mail ;

DAVID L. MCMURDO It is with great sadness that the family of David L. McMurdo announces his passing June 13, 2011 suddenly at his home in Eden Mills at the age of 67. Dave was an excellent teacher, a talented musician and bandleader. He wore his heart on his sleeve inspiring many with his unique charm, quick wit and passion for jazz. Dave was a one-of-a-kind, loved and respected by many. He was larger than life. Dave will be lovingly remembered always by his wife, Donna and daughters, Candice (Bill) and Emily (Gordon) and grandchildren, Sarah, Jack and Ashley. He will also be fondly remembered by his extended family, many friends, fellow musicians and students whom his life energy has touched over his 30+ years of teaching. A celebration of Dave's life will be held on July 4th, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at The Rex Hotel in Toronto. In memory of Dave, donations to The Mohawk College Dave McMurdo Memorial Award would be appreciated by the family. To make a gift go to http://www.mohawkcollege.ca/ development and click on Make a Gift. Where has the time all gone to Haven't done half the things we want to Oh well, We'll catch up some other time...

Dave was the best man at our wedding. A long time very dear friend. We will miss him.

A wander around my Garden and my House

2011-06-19T16:41:00.002-06:00

Obviously this is my backyard. I planted it in a frenzy last fall, just minutes before a huge snow storm that hung around for 6 months. I didn't really know the flower bed well at that time and I stuffed 200 tulip bulbs into it. ..er I mean rabbit salad. The legamorphs munched happily under the snow and were fed well. Come spring all that came up were a few tulips and some daffodils. The rabbits were probably sitting on those bulbs as their bottoms got bigger and bigger from all the tasty delicacies. I planted a number of small bulbs but I'll be damned if I can remember what they are...maybe snow drops? Anyway they were quickly mowed down by the rabbits.
The birds and squirrels decimated the bird seed block and spread it all around. That is the mess under the schubert cherry tree. As you travel down the flower bed you will notice some prolific growth and other that is not. The previous garden was dug up, moved and planted by our contractors while I was away. I really had no input as to where things went. Most of the bed is very recent and just needs some recovery time.
They sure haven't suffered froom too much sun.
Anyway I am pleased with what has come up and I enjoy my swing and there I spent an idle 5 minutes this spring, swatting mozzies and spilling my drink all over my book.

I am reading Bill Bryson's "At Home". There is so much I didn't know about my house and why it is the way it is....a good read. If you learn nothing else from my blog, read this book.

The Wood is in!!! Yippee!!

2011-06-11T20:58:00.000-06:00

As you can see the cupboard 'carcases' are in and the hardwood floor is laid. The flooring guy Dean thinks this is the finest wood he has ever seen. We agree. Since it is a site finished project we chose rift and quarter sawn white oak. This wood gives a very fine grain and when it is rift and quarter sawn some of the 'jewel' like qualities of the wood appear. This gets woodworkers excited. I like the look of it and each board is 3 and 3.4 inches wide. This floor will feel like walking on a sheet of glass. We are so impressed with Jack our carpenter who is building and installing our kitchen. He is meticulous and everything is perfectly square. The drawers are perfection.
The painter is next and we haven't even chosen a colour yet.
Funny how the one thing that is most changeable in a renovation project is also the one thing that gives a person the most anxiety. We chose a colour and within hours we hate our choice. Off to the next colour that we are sure would be just perfect reflecting both the light and our personalities and within minutes we are off that too. Of what to do? Bryan chooses colours by the creative names that the paint 'desiginers' give it. Like moose hide or long beach or warm biscuits,and depending upon whether or not he is hungry or needs a holiday on the coast, his choices vary.
Jack is installing our new railings and I can't wait to see how they look. We have chosen a dark stain and wrought iron spinkles in an arts and crafts style. At least I think that is what it is called.
So many more choices to make and stuff to shop for. Today I did 6 CMAs for our lender client and I reached the saturation point for which one human can tolerate the pounding of wood installation, compressors and sanders and sawns and vacuums, phones ringing and rain pounding and trying to do laundry and hang it ourside because the dryer is in need of a belt and I haven't got around to that yet. and try and stay on this ridiculous diet that I volunteered to go on with my jaxxercise buddies. So with all this going on I am also hungry.
Oh it could be worse, I could be living in a war zone....oh yeah what is the difference again?

2011-06-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

the garden is growing at an astonishing speed but the thing that you should notice is that there is NO snow. That's right everything is green. But that is not to say that there will be no snow in the near future...this is Calgary afterall. We could have no garden by noon if a hail storm comes along. You see those golfers in the background? They are women and therefore find no need to show their strength to fellow players by taking a great testosterone whack at the ball on the tee and tear off some of my siding or lop off a tree. The men do that on the week end. The amateurs.

2011-05-31T21:08:00.000-06:00

Ginger wondering where her pantry went to....OMG where will she find her treats?
Can't find anyone strong enough to hoist the 5000lb oven into place. Sure hope the oven fairies show up.

The ceramic tile goes into the back hall and the laundry room. I made the guys move the tile layout so that a full tile was in the centre of the doorway. Not happy campers.

a picture of the garden

2011-05-19T11:50:00.000-06:00

Here it is. Not much to look at today. I got tired of digging holes so I quit and took pictures. The apple tree is in and the rose. I put the rose behind the apple tree in the righthand corner, and I think it will bush up quite nicely and provide a pretty backdrop for the tree with colourful annuals in front. The wigela is next and then the flowering almond. I hope this garden fills in quickly. I hid most of the hideous pee spots from the camera lens. I have a seed mixture on them and I hope the wind doesn't blow them away. Yesterday workmen were digging holes and pulling the back wall up and bracing it with heavy rods. It kinda slumped after the frost heaved. The garden looked like a bomb site and my spinach got mushed. Not that anyone could tell that it was spinach. Just the first two little leaves.

The back yard is taking shape

2011-05-18T16:47:00.000-06:00

I slipped over to Costco on the ruse of buying deodorant but I found myself in the garden centre hauling huge wigelia plants overhead and yet another clematis,this one is Polish Spirit. I bought two different kinds of strawberry plants and I will hopefully not lose the tags, so that when someone says 'My this is a delicious sweet red berry, what variety?" I can reply with the true name.
I bought a standard Japanese willow. Such a sweet delicate plant, I grew it to an enormous size in my other house and alas the next owners killed it dead. This one I bought today has to endure the howling winds down the fairway and the rabbits. I have given it quite an assignment.
A Morden rose, that I can stuff into the back of the bed to give shelter to the new little Parkland apple and a already flowering double plum.
Hmmm what else. Lots of annuals of course. I get the ones in baskets and try not to kill them before I put them into the ground. Yes, I put them in the ground, that way the underground sprinkler system will take over nanny duty.
it will soon be picture time.

Now it begins

2011-05-17T23:24:00.001-06:00

The invisible work has been done. Workers have been here almost everyday laying floors and preparing the walls, installing electrical and plumbing rough in.
Today the drywall arrived and the carpenter began storing the cabinet boxes in the garage in preparation for their installation. I am told that things will go quickly now.
Ha, pull the other one.
We have been in our little basement suite for 6 weeks now.
I am not going to take any pictures until the scenery changes. When the tile floor goes in or the ceiling goes up.

The last few days have been windy windy and chilly. Tonight is a full moon. Everybody including the dog is feeling rattled. Must be the energy shifts.

The daffodils are blooming, the apple tree is blooming, the flowering plum is flowering. My plant baskets have been doing lots of miles, in and out. I am never really sure of the weather here. There is a rule in this city, not to plant before May 29th. I have extended that to June 2nd.
If we survive a frost we will be just in time for hail season. Then we run around with sheets to cover up the plants.
If we manage to avoid getting pounded to green mush then its off to mosquito season.
Did you notice I didn't mention a rainy season? We live in the high desert...enough said.
So after all that it is winter again.
I gotta wonder why I live here.
Oh yeah, its the huge blue sky, the mountains, the beautiful green foothills, our family and friends, the oil industry which feeds our economy...yeah its all of that.

My new Acquisitiion

2011-04-26T20:26:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that I went out searchng for an electric digital pressue cooker? No? I didn't even know I wanted one but here is what happened.

I fell asleep infront of the the TV last week and I must have rolled over on the clicker, when I woke up the shopping channel was on. they were hawking electric pressure cookers. Now, it has been a long time since Grannie gave me my old stove top model pressure cooker. After we tamed it down from exploding onto the ceiling time and again we got the knack and I used it hard for several decades. When it became impossible to find the rubber gasket for it, I retired it to become a popcorn pot.

I wanted that electric digital pressure cooker. I really wanted it. According to the SC it would completely take over my kitchen and we would want for no other appliance. Cooking would once again become a breeze, no less a pleasure.

They are hard to find. I looked in all the major department stores and most of the kitchen stores. I googled it and found that Williams Sonoma had one. In the states.
I happened to be at the mall one day so I stopped in to the store, I was prepared for a big laugh at the price. Usually the price of stuff in WS is so ridiculously inflated that it makes for great entertainment. What? $1200 for a toaster? Who buys this stuff?
But my luck was in and the pressure cooker that I wanted (6 quarts) was on sale for $149. Hmm I said, I saw it on the internet .ca for $99. They couldn't have been more accommodating and it wasn't 10 minutes later that I was struggling down the mall escalator with my new pot.

I initiated it the first night with some stewing beef that I picked up at the Better Butcher. Brown the meat, pour in some wine, season, add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, chop up some mirepoix and toss it in. Pressure cook for 30 minutes. Let off the steam and toss in green beans and carrots and pressure for 6 minutes. Wow!!!!!
Dellicious.
I just made the best stew I have made in many years, in my wee little temporary kitchen with my new pot.
I was off and running.

Next night it was pot roast. My favorite easy meal. Again browning the meat and adding mirepoix, a cup of red wine, reduce for a few minutes and then add some beef broth to the pot.
Pressure cook for 45 minutes. Let the steam ease on its own, probably another 15 minutes or so. In that time you can prepare your potatos and carrots. Once the meat it done, remove it from the pot, add the carrots and steam for 3 minutes, let off the steam and add the potatos and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the vegetables and stir in on the browning cycle, a mixture of COLD water, maybe 2/3 cup and a couple of heaping table spoons of flour. This will thicken the broth in the pot and become a decious gravy.

Another wonderful 'no work' way to make a fabulous pot roast dinner is this; after you have browned the roast, sprinkle a package of dried onion soup mix over the roast then pour in a can of mushroom soup. Pour over 1 soup can of water and pressure cook for 45 minutes. You will probably never use another recipe again and your family will eat the whole roast in one go.

I made a BBQ'd chicken for easter Sunday dinner and after we picked it over I pressure cooked it for 10 minutes. The meat fell off the bones when it cooled down enough for me to open it. Oh did I mention another think I really like about this appliance? You can set it and go out. Yes, you can go out. No longer do you need to dial 911 when using a pressure cooker. When the food is done, it slowly reduces the steam and then sits on stay warm until you open it up.
Tonight we had just the best chicken vegetable soup.
So, when you don't have an oven or at least a cook top and you can't eat junk food at the fast food joints, this is by far the best choice.
More recipes coming.

Easter weekend in the rubble

2011-04-24T19:35:00.000-06:00

How long have we been at this...? Day?

2011-04-16T12:03:00.000-06:00

We are now settled in to our little underground cave. Well, it isn't that bad actually. It is really over 1600 sq ft. Not too shabby for an apartment. We have a level exit to a covered patio to our back yard and the golf course. But I guess it is the snow that is getting to me, endless snow, just when it gets warm up to 10 + or so, the weather gods look down and say 'Oops we haven't given these folks enough grief yet, so give 'em so more snow."
We had a Huge dump of snow a few days ago, probably over 11 inches, wet and heavy. It was a couple of days melting and now another dump of snow on the way.
Above us the floor guys have taken over from the kitchen guy and the demo is on going. Banging and pounding and in a hollow mostly empty house the sound is dementing.
I have sqeezed our kitchen into the little office storage room but it works well and I have made some pretty nice meals in it. I know I have had smaller kitchens in my life.
I have to go buy my appliances soon, choose the tile for the shower and the floors and buy lighting fixtures and plumbing trim. We still have to walk out the kitchen floor plan, making sure that the cabinets will all fit and then off to choose the granite and the back splash material. Oh and we haven't chosen a paint colour or the floor stain colour yet.
We all have our minds on the demo. The creation is the next step. Oh and have a garage sale. or give our surplus stuff all away.....any takers?

Toto alert

2011-04-12T14:36:00.000-06:00

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Later on same day

2011-04-11T13:59:00.001-06:00

Something as small as a sliver will be the complete undoing of me soon. Down in the guest bathroom where I am now finding sanctuary, it sounds like WW111 upstairs. My nerves are rattled and we are both bloodshot with the fatigue of moving all the detritis of our lives. We have given up all social niceties and have loud FU fights with the windows open.
My thumbs are cracked and sore and I could weep with exhaustion and I am on day 2.
I think I would like to become a vagabond.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Heidi <mohrfun@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:29:56
To: bebop_her@yahoo.ca<bebop_her@yahoo.ca>
Subject: Re: Out with the old

Wow! What a monster project! Good on you. I can't handle touching up the trim where they quarter round molding now sits lower after ripping out the carpet!

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 11, 2011, at 3:15 PM, bebop_her@yahoo.ca wrote:

> Some of these cupboards are going downstairs to the little bar kitchen ex laundry room. Then I can put some stuff away. Ginger has been wading through pasta noodles and canned tomatos wondering why on earth we are doing this stupid move.
> It is amazing how much space there is now upstairs that the island is gone...only to be replaced by a continent.
> Ceiling coming down this week too.
> Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
> <IMG00079.jpg>

Out with the old

2011-04-11T13:15:00.000-06:00

Some of these cupboards are going downstairs to the little bar kitchen ex laundry room. Then I can put some stuff away. Ginger has been wading through pasta noodles and canned tomatos wondering why on earth we are doing this stupid move.
It is amazing how much space there is now upstairs that the island is gone...only to be replaced by a continent.
Ceiling coming down this week too.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

24 hours to go

2011-04-09T12:39:00.001-06:00

I hope my reflection does not show anywhere in this picture....did I even wash my face today? I have run out of boxes and I ache in every muscle in my body. I have been at this mess since yesterday late afternoon. I lose my mind occasionally and find myself sorting socks in my closet. But soon desperation reminds me to get back to the grind stone. Sometimes the grind stone is the phone or a client. Then a few hours later I am right back in the middle of this mess. The clock is ticking and every minute counts.

Some how this all has to be packed away somewhere downstairs where I can find it when the whole reno is done..
And you're thinking...'Why doesn't she just throw that junk out?'

2011-04-06T23:48:00.000-06:00

Wednesday

I did my full work out at Jazzercise class. I was sore and tired when I got there so I had to fight to stay to the end. My hips were on fire. Plus a burning knot of hot coal on my SI joint. What agony.

I took off right from class with cooling sweat on my brow and did my morning CMA picture taking tour. That was an hour out of my day.

Then back home for a shower and change and down to the office and I worked until 4:30 on listing projects.

I guess you can tell that the packing and sorting thing is getting delayed further into my day.
I spent all last night dreaming of where to put my kitchen cabinets and it hit me 'like a thunderbolt' that I could put one upper set in the little office kitchen down stairs.

After a full day's work I went back upstairs and tackled packing up two cupboards. It may seem easy to do but I have to consider what I need now, what I will need in the summer and what I never want to see again..
Then off to costco to buy a bar fridge and to Lowes to get a real dolly. or is it spelled dauli? or dahlii? Anyway a moving aid. Finally after all these years I actually have one, Now I can put an end to the back breaking dragging stuff around moving experience.
I have to be out of the kitchen by Monday am and right now the job looks daunting.
Tomorrow I might get more accommplished.
Question. Will I be ready when they come to tear down my ceiling?

The reno begins

2011-04-05T15:35:00.001-06:00

I am so grateful that our housekeeper could help me yesterday. We packed up the china and pictures and finished the dining room and the living room, Tonight, when I get home around 7 I have to get the kitchen set up in our wee little office kitchen down stairs. You can't swing a cat let alone a mouse in it.
The kitchen is being taken out Monday morning and the ceilings come down a day or two after that. I had hoped I would have more time but alas it is underway now.
So, we have to get everything into a pod in the driveway as well as organized in the basement for that is where we will be living for the next 3 months.
I am cooling my heels in the docs office right now, he will probably check my blood pressure....it is bound to be high today.
Before I pass out every night I hope to remember to blog.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

The wedding will be at the Zoo

2011-03-13T14:14:00.001-06:00

Erin and I scouted out the venue for the wedding come October. The Dorothy Harvie pavilion and the butterfly garden which is attached to the conservatory is the location. There is an outdoor patio and a beautiful dining room with a dance floor and a bar to the side. This is going to be ideal. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but if you really need a preview you can see pics on the Zoo's web site. As we wandered around the zoo, we saw the baby giraffe, who is only a month old.

and the pride of lions, not too proud but such typical cats, so willing to nap. I hope he roars at the appropriate time in October.

Dinny stills reigns as the most anotomically incorrect dinosaur ever, open wound in the side for what ever reason. Just as shabby as can be . I can remember sliding down his tail when I was a kid and that was over 50 years ago. I am not so sure the animated ones in the dinosaur section of the zoo are much better.

What a Bloody Day a Life Lesson

2011-03-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

I shot out of bed this morning to a list of things that demanded my attention. I wasn't even awake while I searched for the leash. Ginger is always the first of course and it is a cirque de soleil to get her down the stairs, on her leash and out the door to have a pee before the old bladder gives way, both hers and mine.

I had one hour to eat a substantial breakfast, shower and dig out my shoes and my frozen weights for a Jazzercise workout and hydrate myself for a blood donation right afterwards. My weights have been in the car for over a month freezing solid. Oh I know I shouldn't exercise and then donate blood but I had to multi task today. I had an afternood of work ahead of me as well.
Thank goodness I had been to the farmer's market and my fridge and larder were full. I need a good balance of protein and carbohydrates to start this kind of day. I gave up on the whole 'fresh within 100 kms' diet idea
Actually we didn't even start that plan. But we thought about it. We could do it for the month of August.
I live in Alberta, nothing local here is fresh in the winter except green house produce...does that count?)and we don't grow anything appropriate for breakfast juices. Beets or turnips? And no amount of coaxing will get us a coffee crop.
We truck it in and that is why we have the oil sands. Oh shut up about your carbon foot print. Just ask yourself, how do you get to your stores in Florida to buy your fresh orange juice. I bet you're are using our oil and gas or the fuel of some arabian despot.
Okay off the soap box.
So off I go to the fundraiser and a lot of people have shown up. We are raising money to send a little girl in Litien Kenya to school. Girls don't go to school there unless they have a benefactor. Our Jazzercise group of ladies, I guess a core group of about 15 of us, have put an effort into perpetuating this plan. A small Calgary elementary school began this amazing project and the success of it has lead to adopting another little girl to send to school.
I do about three routines and then decide that I should cool down and get my pulse under control and leave for the donor clinic.
They are quick to get my details and get me in to a chair. I am a really fast donor, I usually hydrate like mad before I go and I am in and out in under 20 minutes.
As I am 'in recovery' at the cookie and juice bar after my donation, my artery gives way and I am giving a second donation.
Sheesh! Spouting like a fountain, blood everywhere, looks like a massacre. I hadn't stayed on the chair long enough I guess, to clot. They were really pushing them through today.
So, I wait for the bandages to do their work and for my body to clot the flow.
I drove home cautiously aware that I could wake up in a ditch. But the trip is short and I am soon in the driveway, talking on the phone with Erin about weddings and then in the house and on the computer to do another CMA for our lender client.
Becoming more and more lightheaded.
Oh my god I have to lie down. I stretch out and nap for 5 hours.
LESSON;
Had I paced myself throughout the day, the time span would have remained the same. The accomplished jobs would have remained the same. I would have relaxed and taken breaks.
Now, I have a laundry job to get the blood out of my jacket.
Sheesh.
Will I never learn how to pace myself?

Gwenn

2011-02-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Been so so so busy

2011-02-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

I love having a busy purposeful life who doesn't? Waking up every morning with a pile of work on my e-mail that results in paydays...that is cool. However a lot of things get left in the dust when I can't pay attention to them. Like finishing the kitchen drawing homework that our designer has given us....she wants it by Friday!!She gave us a number of options that she asked us to think about, sketch on and change to the way we live. or would like to live.
Ahhh, the way we live is flying in and out of the house, eating crappy restaurant food and only occasionally, like twice this week cooking at home.
So why are we putting in a new kitchen?
Anyway, so far we all agree to remove the fireplace, that will add a huge chunk of space into which we can encroach our new island. And its going to be a big one, 9 x 5 ft so far. A big slab of granite. No, wait! its not an island... it is a continent!!! But I don't know whether to put a prep sink in the island, an induction cook top or nothing. Oh what to do?
We definitely want to put bar stools around it for those indolent leaners who come to drink wine and for me to pretend I have a cooking show.
We will remove the stub wall between the eating area and the cooking area and it will become an open galley style kitchen. Nowadays the reno industry has come up with all kind of nifty gadgets, like a pull out trailer affair that fits nicely into a corner and does away with the stupid lazy susan cupboard. I think we will go way up high on the walls with a row of inside lit glass cupboards to highlight the lovely ceramic collection that we have. After that my brain is dead, I can't think of anything else. I only hope that I can work it out in the middle of the night and wake up in the morning enlightened.
But wait... I spent all one night dreaming of weddings, oh not the usual stuff people dream but I got myself all tangled up in the protocol of who drives the bride to the ceremony and who stays here overnight and blah blah blah....god I am tired.

&(^%#%^!!

2011-02-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

I tried to post a video to this blog but the video was taken by my BB phone which apparently isn't a mp4 so it won't post. Does anyone know how to convert it without it being an onerous chore. Does anyone know painless magic?

VID 00002.3GP

2011-02-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Walking along the Bow river.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

2011-02-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

We had a comfortable visit with our buddies on Friday. Ginger and I made a breakfast/midmorning snack and enterained our friends Linda and Peg and Linda's new puppy Toto. Ginger greeted everyone and went back to bed. Toto was well behaved and received his presents with gusto. There never is enough time to say all the things we want to say and cover all the topics. We could have visited for hours.
Alas, there was a plane to catch for Peg and water/melting snow maintenance for Linda.

Skyped by Kat and crew. I asked her to sing to me our favourite song, 'Take me out to the ball game' but she had a different notion and sang her favourite song, twinkle twinkle little star.

The Will to LIve

2011-02-02T09:29:00.001-07:00

There is a lot in that statement. The Will to Live. Not only do I feel better after suffering through a terrible January of bronchial infections but the weather is wonderful and the sun is shining. And this is Alberta and its getting warmer outside.

I think that it really does take 'will' to live wholly, to live completely and to stretch one's belief in oneself to live beyond one's comfortable defining borders. Of course it is easy to say this now, when I am no longer clutching the backs of chairs doubled over coughing my lungs out.

I am back at my yoga practice and I take what I learn in my weekly class and use it and add it to my routine. I am not strict enough with myself to do it at the same time everyday, but when I find or set aside time, to meditate I also do a few poses and stretches. I have my own little studio downstairs that no one but me uses.

But, it does take will to use it everyday. Such a simple and pleasant thing as meditation shouldn't have to be scheduled but there you are, that is how it is for me. Another example of using my Will. Soon I will have to use it to get back to my cardio/free weight dance class, Jazzercise. When my breathing is clearer.

This renewal has also happened to Ginger, my old dear. She has been suffering with Cushings Disease, the symptoms of which are tremendous overpowering thirst, voracious appetite and lethargy. She has been peeing gallons, no surprise when she drinks gallons, but she has trouble controlling her bladder.

back in 2003 sitting on a beach on Denman island

That last few days we have noticed that she is sleeping less, she is more inclined to want to spend time with us. Also, she is drinking less and eating less. AND her hearing is coming back. Could it be that the adrenal tumours have shrunk?. Maybe, who knows. But, it is a joy to have my dear old soul mate back.

She is now an old lady soul mate. She walks beside me, she is less inclined to chase rabbits, so there is no jerking on the leash and she is content to be companionable beside me. Well most of the time. When the snow drifts are too deep she doesn't even attempt to squat for her rituals, she just goes in the middle of the road or the sidewalk. She has that look on her face. That determined 'I have paid for the privilege' look.

On Lake Minnewanka 2009

She will be 14 in two weeks.

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

2011-01-15T20:06:00.001-07:00

Boy did I ever get it. Slapped me down and flattened me out. I actually took it to a different dimention and got a nice case of broncial infection.
Antibiotics finally kicked in and I have regained the will to live.
I did spread the disease as far as I could before I knew I had it. Thats the thing, if ones starts treatment and isolates oneself three weeks before succumbing to the disease then that would nip it in the bud.
The old dog is still hanging in there. She will be 14 on the 20th of February. Somedays I look at her and think she won't make it past the end of the week and then she turns it around and wants to go for long long walks and chase bunnies. Well, not chase exactly but, look longingly after them.
I am sure more adventures are to come when the weather is nicer and B is over the cold I gave him. In the mean time I have caught up from my sleep deprivation caused from coughing up a lung and have watched all the best HBO. Now its back to work.

Warm weather for Christmas

2010-12-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

We sure live in the land of milk and honey. There ain't no better place to be. Alberta. Christmas morning, we woke up to clear sky and a pink reflection on the mountains to the west.
I put the turkey in the oven around noon and we took the old girl down to the river for a walk. The pathways were clear and the temperature was warm, nearly 10 +C. She wanted to walk for miles. Not bad for a nearly 14year old shepherd cross.
At home the wonderful smell of roasting turkey filled the house and I set the table and started to prepare the vegetables.
We didn't expect anyone over until late in the afternoon for gift opening. This is the first time in our lives that we have not had a Christmas morning of gift opening. It was just the two of us, well three but she slept through it all.
Erin and Walter had both worked until late in the night on Christmas eve. Erin bartending and Walter dj'ing. Like a full time job at the university wasn't enough!!
It was the Christmas of body parts and appliance attachments. Erin gave Walter a pair of lamps which were featured in her favourite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. Walter was somewhat flummoxed because he hadn't seen the movie, but non the less impressed with getting a pair of lamps of stylized women's legs in fish net stockings..
He returned the favour to Erin and gave her a dressmakers form. Which quickly became the bodice to the legs.
Ashley surprised me with some laundry art. She knows how I like laundry art and she gave me a plate by Ron Philbeck. He makes marvelous earthenware in his studio in NC. I just love it and can't wait to hang it up. My job for this afternoon.
Wayne and Ellen arrived and things went into full swing with paper and ribbons flying. Every year I swear that we should slow down the gift opening procedure and open one at a time. I know that it took me way more time to choose the gift, the card, find the wrapping paper, cut it to size, round up the tape and carefully wrap the parcel and add a ribbon that it takes for the recipient to rip off the paper and scan the gift. I know that we are better people than this but the monkey of greed just jumps on our backs.
Our dinner was perfection, so tasty and even more wonderful becaue everyone pitched in to help. Ashley had made an amazing sweet potato pie from scratch...really scratch, she worked hard and it was worth it. This is a new food path we are on, imagine our family usually so stiffly directed by tradition casting aside the mincemeat pie, plum pudding and brandy sauce and stepped into the american sweet potato pie world
We should have had many more at our table to share the bounty.

How I found out that Santa really exists

2010-12-18T11:48:00.002-07:00

I heard a bunch of whining phone-ins on the radio yesterday. Each one whinging about how their childhoods were ruined by their misguided and delusional parents who taught them to believe in the Santa fairy tale. Wimpering over their lack of coping skills which they needed to deal with the harsh realities of life, like paying credit cards and making their own beds.

There were some grumblings of litigation.
The callers were mostly in their twenties and thirties and still living in their parent's basements after their second or third divorce. Hungover and sunburned from their Mexican holidays, they were returning to face the reality of having to buy their own Christmas presents and being reminded by their broke and exhausted parents that there really is no big elf to do it for them.
They blamed mater and pater for perpetuating the myth in the first place.

Oh good grief I thought. " Do we need helmets for this too? Must we always be saved from ourselves?

As I drove along listeing to the radio I recalled my own childhood Santa memory.

This is my tale of how I found out the truth about Santa.

I must have been around 6, I know for some pretentious worldly toddlers that might seem old by today's standards, but we were slow then.
It was early December in Calgary and 55 years ago people didn't start decorating and filling the stores with seasonal stuff until the middle of December. But the kids in my neighbourhood had started to talk about the big event. We began to make up a list of the things we wanted for Christmas. Our lists were filled with things that we saw our friends may have had and that we had seen in the Eaton's or Sears' catalogues. We didn't have a TV so there were no ads yet.
Shopping trips downtown had drawn us to the the toy department of the big stores and enormous Christmas window displays of toy trains and sweet dolls with silky vinyl hair.
We were nudged by our parents to add things to our lists that they could afford to let us believe might come our way. I never dreamt of scarves or mittens, but of fancy white leather figure skates.
We cut out the pictures and glued them into our scrap books. Every kid had a scrap book. We used Elmer's clear yellow glue in the glass bottle with the red rubber top and pencil crayons to decorate the pages with our drawings of mistletoe, Christmas trees and cotton wool snow balls. We made miles of paper chains to decorate the tree.

I can't remember wanting anything in particular enough to put it in the scrapbook but I obliged my mother and wiled away many gloomy dark December afternoons creating these pages. We cut out old Christmas cards together and created scenes that I remember to this day.

We had Christmas plays and we could say the word 'Christmas' outloud and not pretend it was something else. We had Jewish friends who also glued cotton balls and sparkles to their scrap book pages and filled it full of things they wanted.
Usually there was a project at school to create something that would forever be a family heirloom and most golden of gifts. This year the girls were making knitting needle and yarn holders out of Quaker Oat cereal containers. The Quaker Oat company sold their oat cereal in a six inch diameter tube in those days. There was a sleeve of poster paper to be fitted around the container and lots of tissue glued on that and thick layers of sparkle and yarn samples upon that. The knitting holders required many days to dry as one can imagine with the amounts of glue we used. Keeping the secret of this magnificent gift was an enormous responsibility
One day I argued with my mother over something and I was so mad that I told her I was NOT going to give her the knitting container that I had made. I heard myself reveal the secret and I was helpless to retrieve the words.
By some miracle my mother had forgotten what I had said and was as surprised at the gift as I had hoped she would be on Christmas morning.

My family's church, Chalmers Presbyterian had begun the ersatz religious hype of Christmas, little paper displays of wise men, donkeys, diamond shaped yellow stars, shepherds with sheep and crooks and the nativity scene decorated the basement where the Sunday school was held.

There was always a White elephant sale about the second week of December and I took my hard earned coins to the sale and bought the gifts I would give my family members. I bought my mother a slightly cracked plastic ivory palm tree brooch and a huge bottle of lovely pink coloured acne cream, for my father, a pair of knee high red golf socks, and for my sister a golden book of the Happy Bunny with only a few wrinkled pages.

The excitment of Christmas glowed in my happy little soul as I wrapped the gifts and hid them under my bed.

Roles were announced for the Christmas concert at school and we practiced our lines and sang the carols every morning after singing God Save the Queen and saluting the flag. I was a tall child so the role of one of the villagers was always mine. I don't think I have ever seen that role reprised anywhere since, but my teacher managed to help me believe that this was a critical character.

On an evening after dinner just before the third week of December we would pile into the 1949 blue Chrysler sedan to go to the tree lots to buy the family Christmas tree. In the trunk would be yards of rope and old sheets to put between the tree and the car roof top.
We always tried to choose the perfect tree, almost always falling short of that goal and bringing home a tree with a huge bald spot. Of course it had to be carefully measured , then shortened as the trunk sawn flat many times then nailed to the 2x4's which would hold it up. The tree was set out to thaw on the back porch waiting for the lower branches to gracefully open out and for the sap to drip onto the mat before it was allowed to come into the house bringing its lovely foresty smell of spruce.

The approach of Christmas was definitely in the air, I know that a day didn't go by when I didn't think of it. There was baking to do with my mum, decorating sugar cookies for the school Christmas tea and bake sale.

Then came the evening that we went shopping for new shoes. New fancy shoes happened twice a year. Just before Christmas and just before Easter. Christmas shoes were always black maryjanes with a strap and some kind of decoration. We had neighbours that owned a shoe store downtown. After Dad came home from work we would drive downtown, awed at all the hanging Christmas lights. The store would be filled with other little kids, all playing in the foot xray machine. Our mother had been a nurse and she was deathly respectful and afraid of xrays so we were not allowed to go anywhere near it. I loved the smell of new shoes and rode home with my nose buried in them.

The final and most important event of our Christmas social season was the Christmas party in the church basement where Santa was the guest of honour.
The smell of wet wool rose from the radiators where people had hung their winter coats to dry. Puddles formed around the winter boots on the floor from the melting snow.
My sister and I were all dressed up in our homemade red velvet dresses with the lace collars and our new shoes. The excitement level was nearing hysteria, a few fights had broken out among the boys and some of the girls looked feverish with red cheeks and glassy eyes.
Finally, to a great fanfare of ringing bells Santa arrived dragging a huge brown potato sack, lumpy with gifts. He was magnificent in his red velvet suit, the exasct same colour as my dress.
I felt like royalty.
A long line up formed and each child climbed onto his knee and shyly told him their secret desire.
Finally my turn was near, I scanned Santa from head to toe, admiring his wonderful elfish self perched way up high on the Christmas throne.
His shoes, black and shiny, looked familiar. They looked very familiar. My dad had shoes like that.
I climbed on Santa's knee. Santa warpped me in his arms and said. "Hello little girl, what would you like for Christmas." Santa had an Austalian accent. My dad had an Australian accent.
I looked up and into Santa's eyes. They looked like my dad's eyes. His cheeks sported an unearthly bright red glow, almost the same as my mother's lipstick.
Santa said,"Well, Deed you have a happy Christmas."
Gee Santa knew my nickname!
On the way home I heard my parents talking with low voices in the front seat. They were concerned that they had outed Santa to me.

But, I was so happy, I was probably the luckiest kid in the world.
I think I figured it out...Santa was my dad.

The Return

2010-12-18T08:29:00.003-07:00

It is so nice to be home, I don't seem to be able to stay away longer than 8-10 days before I need my own bed and a lick from my dog and I need to get my act together for Christmas. Our hostesses Heidi and Donna respectively went out of their way to make our visits so enjoyable. Thank you my friends. We both felt so comfortable in your homes.

We had a wonderful dinner with our real estate ladies. The Terrace Garden put on an amazing dinner and with comfortable company, the evening was a very pleasant experience. And profitable I hope. Well, I am sure it will be.

Thanks everyone for making our sojourn east a pleasant experience.

D and D's house in Eden Mills

Just a charming pastoral scene

Another pastoral scene

There is nothing like a
wonderful dinner,
cooked and eaten with dear old friends

From the sublime to the frantic

the weather

2010-12-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

Oh the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful....blah blah.
Okay settle down everyone, especially you in the back row, we are fine, we are not stuck in the snow and our little jeep is getting us around nicely. But with a nod to the weather gods, because they could turn their nasty vindictive eye to us on a whim, we are respectful of the vagaries of the weather in these parts.
The so called 'lake effect' blizzards whirl around and wipe out different towns willy nilly.
I hear the folks in Sarnia, Petrolia and London haven't seen daylight for 48 hours, the storm trapped some hapless unprepared souls and even the military can't get them out.
Today B and I toured the village of Eden Mills, and dropped into the Art Gallery. We were mightily impressed and astonished at the age of the building. Two foot wide planks on the floors and stone construction. Some of the mixed media sculpture is absolutely stunning.
Then off to Rockwood another charming little hamlet just oozing cute and I loaded up on local maple sugar fudge. Yes Ashley I have a box of it coming home for Christmas.
We motored on past the pastoral Mennonite dairy farms and into Guelph and a hot Thai soup for lunch.
D&D were in Hamilton today, Donna at the dentist and David administering exams to the poor students at Hamilton Uni.
Our business party is tomorrow and we will fight the roads to get there and then home to Calgary on Thursday.

Rural Ontario today

2010-12-12T15:26:00.001-07:00

David and Donna had a big party last night which went on until the wee hours, attended by lots of old friends and aquaintances. Each party arrived with a dish for the dinner and a gift for someone.
Years ago David and Donna nearly came to blows while they were trying to put the lights on their Christmas tree. David says they were spinning the alimony wheel. Just at the moment that they were about to sink carving knives into each other, an old friend Bob Hamper knocked on the door. He sat them both down, put a drink in their hands and proceeded to put the the lights and decorations on the tree and that is how Bob saved Christmas. He is their family's hero and has an open ticket to their home/
Donna thought this was such a good idea to have Bob arrive to decorate the tree that they decided to hold an annual party to accomplish the task. Over time people have arrived as strangers and left as friends, some people accompanied others only to bring more inductees the next year.
We enjoyed a wonderful meal and lots of good wine and music in the living room. David played his trombone, Mike Malone played his horn and Don Thompson played the piano. Everyone had so much fun listening and playing the music. We listened to Don's new CD 'Pink'. I am going to get a copy when we get home it was only released yesterday. Diana Panton is the singer. You should google these folks
There were some large and sore heads this morning.
We ate a lovely breakfast cheffed by Chuck and Dave. Chuck is a music prof at U of Michigan Lansing and his lovely new bride Deb is a visual arts prof at same uni. Funny thing, there is more than one common thread connecting all of us. The obvious ones are good music and great reads but growing in importance is the love of food. Good food, Well prepared and thoughtfully presented food. Of course everything ingredient is carefully sourced and reverently chosen for the recipes that are often competetively created.

There is nothing like a bunch of foodies hanging over your plate waiting your critique.

So, rural Ontario on a winter's day in December is snowrain. No snow on the roads, but thick cold slush is building up on the patio. The path through the woods over the bridge to the mill pond is squashy and damp. It is 5:00pm as I type this and the dark descends. The McMurdo's house is a a solid old brick Ontario farm house. Or at least it looks like one, actually I think it was built in the sixties and so it has better insulation than most. Lovely dormers on the front of the house add to the charm.
I do like the old architecture, not so sure about living in it but the charm just oozes, particularly in the comfortable neighbourhood in which the Cassidy/Mohr clan live. Although I think their house is a sixties house as well. Liza and Derrick who are Heidi's bro and wife live in the town of Clarence in an ancient house with exposed beams and lots of character. Liza was kind enough to take our pictures and she is another one you should google as I am so impressed with her photography that I was eager to see what she could do with us.

I will be posting pictures when I find the cord to connect to the lap top but in the mean time you will have to use the ones I have planted in your head.

particularly the ones of Niagara Falls. I know it sounds kooky but we drove up from Williamsville in the late afternoon with a goal in mind of seeing the falls in daylight and then in coloured lights at the night fell. Along the way Dan drove us through the ever popular tourist attraction of Love Canal and then to the American Falls on Goat Island.

There is so much spray from the falls that when it hits the trees and freezes great chunks of ice fall to the ground with groans and slaps. You want to keep your wits about you and your eyes open wary of a falling chunks of ice.

The ubiquitous Keg dinner rounded off our day and we drove home to fall into our beds to sleep perchance to dream.

Giggling Gertie Gwenn

2010-12-02T18:45:00.003-07:00

Gwenn and Shelley stopped by for tea this afternoon. Little Gwenn had a giggle fit and of course I couldn't remember where my camera was in time. Typical of kids and pets, they stop doing the $1,000,000. thing when the shutter opens.
She was glad to flirt over her mother's shoulder though...what a cutie pie.

I am Going to Become a Hermit

2010-11-17T19:32:00.002-07:00

or maybe a hermitess. I don't want to go outside. The snow is falling or should I say coming in horizonally like frozen bullets. And it was -19C when I woke up. So far today I have done all my work stuff cyberly. I e-mailed, faxed, phoned, and researched on the net and I wasn't even dressed. By two o'clock I had torn my bedroom apart and cleaned and polished everything including the bathroom and the dog. I even vacuumed the mattress. I washed everything that wasn't on a hanger and even some of that too.
Then I cleaned the kitchen.
I am looking forward to sitting around reading books until the weather breaks, it could be days, what luxury. Just stretching out on the couch by the window in front of the fireplace, under an afgan. I wonder how long it will take until I can't stand it any more, and need human companionship. Ah... never, I have a dog.I could stay here forever.
Oh no, I have a workshop rah rah meeting tomorrow. Oh no, I forgot about that. Oh what a waste, I should have spent the day reading in my messy house.

Ashley's new show

2010-11-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Ashley is participating in a new ceramic arts show at Arts on Atlantic. The show is called Turning the Tables. After the run of the show there will be a dinner party and each artist has sold a piece of their work accompanying the dinner ticket. At the end of the dinner party the guests will hopefully order the rest of the dinner set. The dinner sold out quickly so that tells me that people are either very interested in the food or the ceramics or both.

My Birthday in the Kananaskis

2010-11-10T22:00:00.001-07:00

What a lovely day, the weather was warm when we left home...+14C and dropped to about +5 by the time we got to Kananaskis Lodge for brunch. We ate too much but drove down Hwy 40 to Hwy 541 and back home but along the way...

This was the first frost of winter, like a dusting of icing sugar.We were pretty high up but not yet at the highest point slong the road.

I love those ears, she can't hear a thing but it has been her job for all of her life to the the sentry. She loves her back seat, she has a lot of room back there, more than any other vehicle she has owned. Yes, it is true we get cars to fit the dog, it is all about her, this one has lots of windows and the back window on this one has a nice ledge to rest her chin upon.

This mountain sheep just stood there, he had been posing for the cars ahead of us and now he was just waiting to jump the rail and go down for a drink in the river.

I love this cloud, it just hung over this mountain and didn't move, a foreshadowing of winter.

This sheep just walked along the road, we couldn't pass him, he had been on the yellow line until I found the camera and then he moved just a tad. It was his road afterall.

And we're off

2010-11-01T21:23:00.000-06:00

Once again we are going to a reunion. This time in the middle of December. Well, many reunions and all in one locale. Firstly we are going to Buff to see the wee one,Kat. We are looking forward to that, I miss her smile. She has a killer grin.

Then back to Upper Canada to a rural idyllic mill town to help decorate the Christmas tree with old friends, actually Bryan's best man and his family. They are inviting friends, old university pals to a Saturday night gathering. There will be so much BS and old stories told over and over and over ad nauseum. Ahhh lots of fun. Hmmm I am visualizing deep snow, sleigh bells, children ice skating on the mill pond, music in the parlour. No? Traffic and crowded malls? Well, you are probably right.

Then on to Toronto to meet new business friends gathering for a dinner party, where we will finally meet in person as opposed to our e-mail relationships. Again, another event to look forward to.

I sure hope the predicted boat loads of snow hold off until we get home.

Snow before the end of October

2010-10-25T08:09:00.000-06:00

We usually get snow before the end of the first week of November but it snowed here this morning Oct 25. Arghhh!
I wonder if this means a cold winter or just an anomoly. But it is only a skiff, just enough to warn us to get the furniture off the deck and put the unbrellas away.
Today is the day the Genny's head get changed out. Finally after waiting nearly 2 and 1/2 months, Hyundai finally called to tell us that the brains of \B's car has come in from Germany. Or at least that that is the story.
Will post later to let you know. Hope springs eternal.

I am still in my nightgown and its nearly noon.

2010-10-23T11:40:00.000-06:00

Its been a miserable week. Got a call from the Bethany Lifeline people...my aunt was on the way to the hospital. Once more she had felt like she was going to pass out, we had been through this early in the week and I had gone racing up to her place and took her to the doctor with no resolution. This time she pressed the button, ems arrived and off she went. I got to the hospital shortly after she did, after trying to track her down, some bullshit about the Privacy Act and they couldn't tell me which hospital she had been taken to and blah bah blah. I said to the Patient Advocate (another trumped up provincial job with a pension and mandate to obfuscate) what would you do if you were me? and I bullied him into telling me where she was. And to boot I am on the list as a responder!! Jeeze. What a stupid system that is trying to protect us from ourselves.

She won't be going home, another family member bubbles to the surface with dementia. Dementia is such a creeping horrible disease or condition that at least in our family allows its victims to skillfully cover up their memory loss and confusion until one day the bubble pops and the only salvation is a trip to the hospital not to go home again. She is what they call in the system a "bed blocker". She cannot go home until a new home with memory care and dining service is found for her. Thank goodness her son has done the leg work, and h e has a goal in mind. Until then the system will do its thing and hopefully the transition will be smooth for her. Ha! Yeah right. But not for her son who is faced with the massive job of disposing of her stuff. It will be a huge job, but a hey day for the homeless (lots of socks to donate, and nail clippers and stuff stuff and more stuff.)

At the same time, Erin and Walter are having a horrible time as Walter's father is in heart failure, after 3 weeks of having one heart attack after another, he thought he had the flu, he drove himself to the hosptital and was given an immediate triple bypass. So far today, 3 days after the surgery, he has been shocked 7 times over night and 12 more times this morning and is occasionally conscious. We can only send him our thoughts and help the kids where we can. They are all terrified . And so sad. Bill squeezes their hands. Its the only thing he can do.
2010 is just a shitty year.

What are we Grateful for? What do we Appreciate?

2010-10-11T11:19:00.001-06:00

This picture was taken about 7:30 AM when the rainbow caught the early sun and geese flew over. The scene changed seconds later when the sun rose higher and caught the mountains in pink and stole the rainbow.

All the food was perfect, everybody brought a contribution and it was a delicious dinner. I laughed and laughed. I have the funniest family in the world.

Shelley, Gwenn and the Mexican wrestling Thanksgiving Turkey

Wee Willy Winkie ready for Bed

Back again

2010-09-30T09:01:00.001-06:00

Doesn't look too bad eh?

Oh horrors I forgot to hide the laundry basket.

He is hiding in shame...

In out in out up down up down ..its exhausting

It was a long time ago but I still wonder why did they chop these old trees down?

An old lady in a leg brace

No dogs allowed...no wonder

This pastural scene is right across the street from Mike and Louise

Gabriola

The opening bars to John's first composition

Rick, Dick and B

Happy campers

Peg and Mike

Peg admiring the canvas on her boat

moi and Peg and her boat

a rolling bundle of yorkie...Zeke and Charlie

As still as they ever got

The view...

Her back to the view

Pretty big eh?

She is just too cute

Tawny's pic

We have some great photos...some are ours and some are belong to others. Here are a few.

A sunny day in Nanaimo

2010-09-27T12:51:00.000-06:00

Who knew we would spend this glorious day on the water's edge listening to the eagles call and watch the ferries go by. We saw a subdivision sail past. Yes indeed a subdivision. A collection of attached homes on a barge. Maybe 5 homes in all. Obviously a floating home condo. I am too lazy to get up off my chair to go inside to look for the camera cord to upload the pic to this blog but when Bryan is off the internet maybe I will.
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Our camp site tonight

2010-09-26T20:05:00.000-06:00

We are overlooking the waterway between Nanaimo and Gabriola island. Our spot is right on the water. Wow!!! This is special.
We had a lovely day, Lunch with Peg and Mike at Genoa Bay, a tour of Duncan and a tour of their boat. Their house is perfect just what they ordered, they couldn't have done better. I will post more tomorrow.
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deck pics

2010-09-13T10:15:00.000-06:00

Humane calf roping

2010-09-11T13:25:00.001-06:00

Today I am at the all girls rodeo in Brooks Ab. These are wee little peewee ropers. Yes indeed there is such a thing, some of them are only six years old, riding full siize horses. That is over a thousand pounds of horse flesh. The cowgirls rope the calf as it comes out of the chute and immediately let go of the rope. There is a yellow flag on the end of the rope so that the judge knows it has been thrown down and the clock stops at that point. The calf gets a little run and is not threatened or flipped or injured. In fact it isn't even touched except by the rope and there is no tension on that. The calf leaves by the gate at the opposite end of the arena and the rope is slipped off of its neck or from around its feet and it is none the wiser for this experience.
The little girls in this rodeo are born to the sport of horsewomanship and stick to their saddles like they are glued on.There is much skill involved in managing a big animal and the rope and their own centre of gravity, these girls even hang onto their hats. I can only imagine the self confidence they develop for the rest of their lives with the experience gained in this sport. These little girls just know that they can do anything.

BS

2010-09-08T11:34:00.002-06:00

Bob and Sherry that is. They had taken the summer to cross Canada and the US and return. They took their truck and camper and logged...was it 23,000.00 kms? To Lanse Aux Meadows and back. Correct me if I am wrong Bob. Upon passing through Calgary they stayed for a few days and told us lots of interesting stories. However they were still not finished when they got here. We had a huge dinner of Wild Sockeye salmon on Tuesday, local grass finished (Chicken Jerry) beef rib steaks on Wednesday (we are all foodies) and the next day we went to the Bar U. Mostly to see the country side as they hadn't come up the 22 highway where the Bar U is located, snuggled up to the eastern slopes of the Rockies. The previous day Bob and Sherry had gone to Writing on Stone park and had come to Calgary up highway 2.

We heard lots of stretched out yarns from the driver of the percheron wagon that took us down to the old buildings.

Bob was eager to get his lips wrapped around a mug of cowboy coffee at the re enacted round-up cooksite.
Apparently my imported special picked, roasted and ground and french press coffee just doesn't cut it for him.
I guess there is roughage in the grounds at the bottom of a cup of 'cowboy coffee. By the way. Cowboy coffee or camp coffee as we used to call it is made by boiling the coffee grounds right in the the enamel pot which either sits on a grate or hangs directly over the fire. Cowboy burns on the hands when fetching a pot of cowboy coffee were often the side effects of drinking this sludge. Oops coffee.

This is my Great Grandfather Wilson Blain and his heavy horse which I assume was a percheron ...judging by the feathers and the fact that my Great Grandfather was a practical man. I wonder if this horse came from the stock at the Bar U. That ranch was one of the largest breeders and exporters of the Percheron horse. My family came from Ireland via Ontario in the Petrolia area and travelled out west to Elkton /Cremona area where they farmed from the Nitchi Valley to Didsbury. Breaking the land and farming with heavy horses.

I love this bronze taken from a painting by Charlie Russell It sits outside in the parking lot of the Bar u Ranch in Alberta.

The Big Smoke

2010-08-21T09:46:00.000-06:00

Fortunately we have a hepa filter in the car and can still drive around. This picture was taken from the old Children's hospital parking lot. This smoke is coming from the fires in western BC.

The Deck

2010-08-20T12:22:00.001-06:00

the deck is a lot bigger than it appears. and my bank account is a lot smaller than it appears. and the deck is a lot wetter than it appears.
Today the smoky fires from BC are polluting the air so badly that I can't even open the door. The sun is somewhat obscured, otherwise we would get direct sunlight and a dry deck in no time.

Next time Kat when you come to visit in the snow we can leap the fence a whole lot easier than last year.

Every little detail is done, our contractor Jeff, is really a landscaper at heart and I think he would brick over everything if we let him. The flower bed is actually deeper than it appears here and we are awaiting underground sprinkler installation for that on Monday...once again that is a 'maybe'...if it rains, well we are hooped.

ain't my patio purdy? Really well done and so precisely laid out. This one is set in concrete on the perimeter and is at the sill level of the door so that it feels like another room. I can't wait to get it decorated. Of course the post will have battens and will be really beautiful.

Okay, so the deck is up and ready to be covered in vinyl. The vinyl surfacing weasels didn't come yesterday when they were supposed to so of course it rained like a firehose this morning at 6 am and that makes covering the deck impossible until it dries out. Rain showers, with thunder and lightning and hail etc are all forecast for the weekend. D*&^$!!.

I need a caption for these pictures

2010-08-17T11:34:00.002-06:00

and the winner is....from Bryan "Look! I said have it in my hands by Tuesday 10:00 am not 2 p.m. Friday!!"

This is my great niece Gwennyth...what big blue eyes!!

A side trip to Montana on the way home

2010-08-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

We went with friends on a remarkably wonderful little wee holiday. This is the National Bison Reserve in Montana....my dad loved this place.

The Black Spot Reunion...50 years

2010-08-04T17:53:00.030-06:00

August 3rd and 4th 2010 at Cravings in Vancouver

John and His Trusty Camera...Smile!

So...who's she givin' "The Finger" to?

Capon!!! Need we say more?

Uh Oh...B. Morrow has a twin!

Bob Turner and his flowery shirts...some things NEVER change!

I'm tellin' ya Gerry...it's a G Maj. 9th in the 5th bar...

"So whaddya' say...we pick up a chick singer.. "

This is Capon in "Listen" mode
Below, it's Capon in distracted mode and..the limp wristed fellow?
Don't know - I think he just wandered in off the street.

moi and Marion

It feels like Florida

When the sun shone on Ken's bass

John and Ken Capon by the infinity pool

Food and yarns

John and Bryan deep in conversation...probably one they have had many many times before.

I thought the view looked like what I imagine the yangze river looks like. I am only guessing of course. What a lovely spot. I wish I had worked up the nerve to take a dip in the pool. But, I would have been the only one to do so

What a view! The mountains to the east and the water on the west and a delightful spread for lunch. John and Ken and Bill played a few tunes in the dining room even though the bandstand was set up and mike'd and ready to go. I guess everyone was having too much fun reminiscing.

Keith and Doris Angus

2010-07-29T07:56:00.001-06:00

They loved to tango and they danced so beautifully together. They were married in 1943 during the war.

67 years together.We took these pictures at their 60th wedding anniversary dinner and dance on top of Burnaby Mountain where so many family and friends attended.

On Friday June 30th we are gathering to remember them.

They left the planet at the same time.

Keith Angus

May 16, 1916 -June 23, 2010

Doris Angus nee Monck

February 20th, 1921 - June 24, 2010

Its all about Food and Family and Friends

2010-07-16T22:42:00.000-06:00

We are going to celebrate Mum and Dad's life with a gathering of family and friends....it will be July 30th in the afternoon at my house.
In honor of Dad it will be about food and family.
In honor of Mum it will be all about family and friends.
Dad was a man who loved his grub. He could be seen at gatherings or parties not more than a foot or so from the buffet table, circling like a shark. He was always ready to try anything I don't remember Dad turning down food except for cucumbers and always ready for second helpings if Mum wasn't watching. So often he would be reaching for just one more homemade cinnamon bun only to receive a quick slap accurately delivered by Mum on the back of his outstretched hand. He got to be quite adept at slyly snatching one more cookie or one more piece of pie if he thought Mum wasn't looking. She always was though, her goal was to keep Dad healthy inspite of himself and she did, he made it to 94. He wouldn't have made it to an age even close to that had been solely up to him.
She could never sit still for long, always moving, always with a project of some kind on the go. She was the one who got them up mountains and down rivers, on many of their adventures. She did the planning and the packing and even sewed a tent a couple of times. She never shirked her load either. The one time and last time that she let Dad do the packing was when they climbed Mt Robson and at the end of the first day of slogging up the mountain she took her back pack off only to discover that Dad had put the cast iron fry pan in her pack.
We will have so many stories to share about them on that day.

They called me Deed

2010-07-05T17:10:00.001-06:00

That is a name I may never hear again. My parents were the only ones who ever called me Deed. I guess it was a childhood baby name that only parents remember and use. I would answer to it as I would to my given name. My head would snap back as if I was on a leash. Funny, no other voices will be able to do that for me.

Pansies were my mother's favouite flower, she loved their little faces and would often try growing them, surreptitously pinching off and pocketing a seed from a particularly charming little pansy that she fancied in someone's garden.
When I returned home from the coast, I went to a couple of green houses and got just the right pansies to create couple of pots. It is just one small way of remembering my parents this summer. I know there will be many many more little things that will come along as time goes by that will bring them back into focus for me. But for now, I see them in the little faces of pansies.

...and now my Mum has flown away

2010-06-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

What an amazing love story. Together up until the end. They had planned to walk off into the sunset together.We had no idea that it would happen. Not even 24 hours apart.

Doris Elaine Angus nee Monck
born Feb 20th 1921, died peacefully June 24, 2010

He Flew Away

2010-06-23T20:04:00.055-06:00

Dad passed away this afternoon, Wednesday June 23rd. Mum will be right with him. Keith George Angus celebrated his 94th birthday on May 16th. He had a long and fortunate life and he had his sense of humour up to the end.

One of my Dad's favorite poems was

A Bush Christening by Banjo Paterson
On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,
And men of religion are scanty,
On a road seldom cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost,
One Michael Magee had a shantee.
Now this Mike was the dad of a ten year old lad,
Plump, healthy, and stoutly conditioned;
He was strong as the best, but poor Mike had no rest
For the youngster had never bee christened.
And his wife used to cry, "If the darlin'should die
Saint Peter would not recognise him."
But by luck he survived till a preacher arrived,
Who agreed straightaway to baptise him.
Now the artful young rogue, while they held their collogue,
With his ear to the keyhole was listenin'.
And he muttered in fright, while his features turned white,
"What the divil and all is tis christenin'?"
He was none of your dolts, he had seen them brand colts,
And it seemed to his small understanding,
If the man in the frock made him one of the flock,
It must mean something very like branding.
So away with a rush he set off to the bush,
While the tears in his eyelids they glistened--
"Tis outrageous," says he "to brand youngsters like me,
I'll be dashed if I'll stop to be christened!"
Like a young native dog he ran into a log
And his father with language uncivil,
Never heeding the 'praste' cried aloud in his haste,
"Come out and be christened, you divil!"
But he lay there as snug as a bug in a rug,
And his parents in vain might reprove him,
Till his reverence spoke (he was fond of a joke)
"I've a notion," says he "that'll move him,"
"Poke a stick up the log, give the spalpeen a prog;
Poke him aisy--don't hurt him or maim him,
'Tis not long that he'll stand, I've the water at hand,
As he rushes out this end I'll name him.
"Here he comes, and for shame! ye've forgotten the name--
Is it Patsy or Michael or Dinnis?"
Here the youngster ran out, and the priest gave a shout--
"Take your chance, anyhow, wid 'Maginnis'!"
As the howling young cub ran away to the scrub
Where he knew that pursuit would be risky,
The priest, as he fled, flung a flask at his head
That was labelled 'MaGinnis's Whiskey'!
And Maginnis Magee has been made a J.P.,
And the one thing he hates more than sin is
To be asked by the folk, who have heard of the joke,
How he came to be christened 'Maginnis'!

Updates

2010-06-19T20:51:00.002-06:00

Before I left to come home I forgot to mention that Mum and Dad had finally been moved into a double room the 5th floor. They are together and they both have the same hospitalist. They floor is quiet and the nursing attention is excellent. Mum has only a matter of hours or days and Dad is quickly following. He must have had a stroke recently because he is slurring his words and saying the most bizarre things. He seems to be ready to give up dialysis. He is tired and his chest is full of gunk. He is just worn out both physically and with worry over Mum. I think they will get their wish and go together. Who know. I am too tired to speculate right now. Leaving them was so hard but I will return.

We had to leave

2010-06-19T11:09:00.000-06:00

We will return but for now we needed a break. I will probably fly back on Tuesday or earlier and rent a car and a hotel room.
Mum and Dads suite is lonely and boring.
We loaded up the Volkswagen van and have hit the road for Calgary. We will use it this summer as a family cabin on wheels and see where we go after the summer.
We both need to go home and spend a little time with our families.
It was a sad goodbye last night I can't talk about it now but will one day.
However, Barry said his visit late last night ended with Dad saying that he didn't want Mum to die a Mormon and he thought they were in Tibernia. No fear of that happening Dad. He could always crack me up. He is such a busy guy.

13 Days and counting

2010-06-17T12:26:00.000-06:00

When we arrived early this morning Dad was tied into his bed and trying to eat his breakfast. Mum was freshly washed and medicated and curled up. She opened her eyes and looked through me then began to cry and fret. She waves her arms in the air and plucks the blankets. We wrestled Dads chair over beside her bed and he held her hand and began to cry. She reached for him and moved closer to the edge of her bed towards him. They both spilled tears and Dad pulled himself to her face and she reached up again to give him a kiss. A touching moment then Dad slipped and face planted into her pillow. Mum looked up in surprise as his kiss slid past her and landed on the pillow.
I told Dad that this morning I had an epiphany in the shower about his question to me last week. He asked me what a married couple could do if they lived together and needed help. I told him those worries were over now and that we have found them a place to care for them with all their medical needs. Oh, he said. And that was that.
This morning it came as thunder bolt, he was telling me that he felt guilty that he couldn't get Mum the help she needed and he didn't know what to do and that she got sicker and sicker and he felt that it was all his fault. Oh what a relief it was for him when I told him that Lewy Body dementia had bamboozeled us all. Her doctors, her family and friends were frustrated with not being able to get a diagnosis.
But good news this morning three options for moving them have arisen.
Their story is famous in this hospital and people are stopping to ask how they are? People we have never seen before.
Once again, shame on the system. Their lack of dignity is the system's shame. Wonderful folks are working hard to over come the rules.
Tell everyone you know and check back here.

Family meeting day

2010-06-16T14:29:00.000-06:00

We will be having a family meeting with Mum's doctor this afternoon at 3:30.
Barry said he will be here by 3:00 so everyone is lined up to attend including the coordinator of the end of life room in 6 North. Unfortunately we will likely have to have this meeting crowded around a bed.
This has been a very difficult journey for our parents because the emergency ward is so full and so noisy.
Heather and I are exhausted. We sort, pack,carry,cry,visit,move hospital beds and chairs,cry,feed Dad and have end of life talks with him. And cry.
We have little time to think of our selves. We hear platitudes from others about taking care of ourselves and getting enough rest, but it is difficult to eat right when we don't get around to thinking of a dinner until 9:30. A good thing to remember when next I have a friend in the same position is to communicate, to stay in touch by email and let them know I am thinking of them and to offer practical things like a home cooked meal once in a while. Just the simple things sometimes seem insurmountable like hunting down packing boxes. One day we got off the elevator to the wrong floor and stepped into a mountain of discarded sturdy cardboard boxes. A lesson in 'when you put it out to the universe the solution will be found.'
So I am putting it out there, if you have a short message for Mum or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa, Do or Keith, please email me and I will read it to them. They will know and really appreciate you for taking time to think of them.

Together

2010-06-15T12:10:00.000-06:00

The emergency ward staff at RCH are most caring and compassionate and thoughtful. How fortunate we are here in this hospital for Mum's final days with these kind people. However the Health Authority should feel ashamed for the crowded facility, the bean counters that demand over loads of paper work and the under staffing. Folks are languishing in the hallways for days with no privacy. Where is the compassion for those needing palliative hospice? For shame on all of you politicians for allowing this despicable situation. Build a new hospital now while you can't afford it because by God you really won't be able to afford it when the pig in the python reaches the age requiring more intensive health care. Or be prepared to create some ice floes to put us on and with a clear conscience, push us out to sea.
If you, gentle reader, know of a person with any power or authority who would benefit from this story please pass it along

The kiss

2010-06-15T10:05:00.000-06:00

The whole ward fell apart and we are all crying.