My Heart goes out to siblings of ...

Being the middle child in my family I understand being compared to my siblings. I've tried really hard not to compare my children to each other however, it is really hard not to say, "why can't you just do this as well as your brother". Well imagine the dark shadow siblings of missing children must live under. Friday, I was at an event at which we prayed for a young woman who went missing a year ago in Rainbow Falls Park while hiking. I met her mother, who then introduced her son as Christine's brother. I don't know if she told us his name. I was just so taken aback about, what will I say to this family. How do you treat the child you still have at home, when your other child is missing? Mothers don't get instructions on these feelings do we. I also have a friend who's niece Nicole (http://vienneau.livejournal.com/) is missing, since March of 2007. Her brother has done so much to help find her, that I can only hope that my sons would make that tremendous effort for each other, God forbid, it was needed. It is the most awkward feeling to talk to parent/ relative of a missing child. What do you say? I truly don't know. I think of both these girls daily, and pray that their families might find some closure soon. Please keep them in your prayers also. And hug your kids.

Oh my aching bones

When we were growing up my mother always could predict the weather, according to her aching bones. I don't remember if she was right. She also said that it would rain if all the cows in the fields were lying down. Again, I don't remember, nor do I think we ever really documented those predictions. As an adult I always thing there is a scientific reason for everything, including the cows lying down, maybe they are just tired of giving milk. I always felt quite exhausted after nursing. But lately, as I progress through the half century club, I'm starting to say those things to my kids. You know how you start to sound like your parents. Well today, even though I thought I was quite active, I could have predicted the rain. Or ... is my thumb aching because of have embossing metal. Metal embossing requires the use of you thumb for an extensive period of time. Are my feet aching because I have walked more than 6 k. Who knows? But my bones are aching today, and it just happens to be raining. Don't you just hate it when your moms are always right.

In celebration of friends

It's almost the end of May. Spring is here. For a number of years, 18 to be exact, I have been a volunteer in my children's school. Even when my boys went on to Secondary school and then on to university I stayed with the elementary school. I just didn't want to grow up. I was involved first in library, then arts, gardening clubs, and lately in faith development. I'm not sure if any of the activities were meant for the students. I loved them all. I think I read most of the books in the library, I certainly entered them into the data bank, I glued, painted and stapled everything I wanted to. The pizza day moms and I planted a wacky garden in the front, that by the way is doing beautifully, it has no order or rhyme or reason, it just blooms with only the heavens looking after it. As far as the faith development goes. Well, I have met some wonderful people. We sort of loose touch through the school year but come May we all seem to reconnect, not on purpose. Some wonderful event brings us together, we celebrate our faith, with the students, some of them grown up. We sing, we hug, we laugh, we even work our butts off. But a glorious time. Tomorrow is a time for celebration with my friends. I am so looking forward to our day. Bravo for friends.

Bloomin Beauties

This week Suzanne of Quietfire Design
suggested we think of what flower we would like to be if we were flowers. Yes, it must be spring in full swing where Suzanne is. I thought about it and thought about it. I know I would not like to be a Carnation. I'd love to be a Rose, sweet fragrance, a little prickly, but hardy and persistent, able to endure long winters and hot summers. But then I thought what about something a little more exotic. An Orchid, I love orchids. I also lover Fresia, and Sweet William, and Hydrangea, and Lilac, and Violets, although I don't think I'd like to be named Violet. There are just too many flowers I'd like to be. I think I'd like to morph, or be a shape-shifter. Then I could be a Crocus in spring, change to Iris, a Rose, Lily of the Valley, but most of all I hope that at the end of the day I will be a Forget- me- not. Happy blooming. .

An exciting day.

 It's Tuesday, and that's the day I spend with my 88yr. old mother. Today was dentist day. I don't remember oral hygiene being being all that important in our family as I was growing up. Maybe it was, I just don't remember it. I do remember going to the dentist and sitting in the waiting room next to a quite famous wrestler of that time. You see my mother loved to watch wrestling on Saturday night so as children and then teens we were allowed to stay up till 10 p.m. on Saturday because our mother was watching wrestling. So you can well imagine my excitement at the dentist's office when that famous wrestler was going in for a filling, just before me. Having rarely been to the dentist I didn't know that everyone got one of those little bibs chained around their neck. I assumed that the wrestler was so ferocious the dentist did this to protect himself. As I peered around to the examining room I was half hoping that the dentist would cause some pain and thus get wrapped into a half nelson or sleeper hold. Alas nothing like that happened. I followed in somewhat less nervous than I should have been, got a tooth ripped out and off I went. As my sister and I sat in the dentist's office today with our mother and the various components of her mouth were examined, cleaned and tuned up I thought who the heck thought of all these gadgets. Being the mother of a wanaby engineer, I imagine some brilliant engineer with a toothache. Of coarse when I got home I had to check it out on Wikipedia. The engineer also makes us watch all those weird shows, you know, How it's made. and Mythbusters etc. on the Discovery Channel. Did you know that even though Paul Revere is famous for riding around, he in fact was quite a denture craftsman. We certainly would not have thought of that, would we? I always liked Paul Revere. I'm so glad that he had other work, and politics was just a side line. I wonder if the British didn't show up would he have done some outstanding work in denture creations? Anyway till the next visit. Don't forget to brush your teeth.

Moving Day

Do you remember when you moved. The preparation, the excitement. The cost. When I first moved from my room at my parents home to my dorm room I think I fit everything I needed into the back seat of my dad's car. Somehow when I moved back at the end of the semester it took me several trips. Now of coarse I had been bringing things back and forth for winter and a few more books that I bought through the school year, but who would have thought it would have been so much. When I got married and moved to our apartment it was much the same way. When we moved from our first house to the one we are presently in I painstakingly packed my china and crystal in small boxes so we could carefully take them in our car, thus avoiding mishaps. Well on moving day my husband could not be there( a likely story) so it was me and 8month old Daniel moving, picking up keys from the lawyers office etc. Remember I didn't drive then either. When I returned to find the move well underway, I nearly died all my china and crystal were the first things in the that big truck with fridge and furniture on top. (That right there was enough grounds for divorce). Some how nothing was broken except the bar items (which my husband packed, apparently he didn't know you had to tape the bottom of the box). My niece and her husband are moving into their new home soon. I can't imagine they are not excited. Hope they are packing well. You never seem to have enough time to pack everything. Seemingly you need everything until the last day, and then there is no time to pack it. Everyone has their own plan. There are many advice columns on everything, and moving is for sure an important preparation and an exciting new beginning. It will be great to have the summer to fix-up and make a new home. Here is a great moving list.
I can't imagine if I had to move to a smaller home now. I don't know what I'd have to get rid of. More and more of our friends are downsizing as they become part of the early retirees. What do you throw out? What can you do without? My altered art stay for sure, I must freak my kids out. He! Ha!

Smells like a Rose.

Smells are such a powerful part of our lives. You know how you can almost gain weight walking along the beach where there is a hot dog vendor, even if you don't like hot dogs. I spent last night at my sisters home where her lovely granddaughter sleeps when she visits. You know that lovely new baby smell. When the baby doesn't sleep there, my brother in law must keep his clothes or something in there, as I could smell him all night as well, (not stinky, just nice). It occurs to me that we associate certain smells with memories as well. Think about it. I shall never walk past a Estee Lauder counter without thinking of Helen K. And I will always know it must be Saturday evening when I smell spaghetti sauce cooking at my house. I'll always think of my neighbor Joe when I smell grass after it's been freshly cut. And I will remember my husband courting me when I smell Old Spice ( I should have know he'd be cheap). I can't imagine everyone doesn't have these kinds of memories ( what about moth balls)? Who does that remind you of. I even read an article that intrigued me about the smell of outer space.

I must dedicate this post however to my friend Sue P. I'll never forget her singing that song dip dip dip... smells like cheer. I'm so glad we have noses, that are linked to our minds and other parts as well. Photo courtesy of "more pictures of flowers.com"

The Bucket List

With my many interests I receive just as many e newsletters one of which is Quietfire Designs. Suzanne sends us blog prompts. Sort of an inspiration for our blogging. A few weeks ago she suggested " The Bucket List". The Bucket List was a movie starring Jack Nickelson, and Morgan Freeman. It's a list of things you would like to do before you kick the bucket. Well I must say, I have several buckets going. I have a bucket list for my painting interests, a bucket list for my art group, and of coarse one for writing. There is most definetley one for my family and the list goes on. So far I have checked off two items with my painting group. I had the privilege of painting with Maureen McNaughton at her studio this past May, and I painted with Shelley Prior earlier this year. Both experiences were well placed on my list. After talking to my cousin in Poland this week, I thought HMMMM.... should I have a bucket list for places to visit. There are always more things to do, I'll have to live for awhile I guess.

Is my art valuable?

For most of my adult life I have been creating, crafting, painting and altering. With the new Indiana Jones movie coming out soon, my boys and I have watched and re-watched all the previous Indy movies. I wondered if all those art objects Indy was making his way through tombs and caves for, were once some housewife's creations. In centuries to come if I don't clean my pile of painted wood out of the attic will someone like Indy find these things and read incredible things into why I used 10/0 liner to do those hair whisps on my new altered painting. Or would they say why on earth did the people of this time wire the pages of books with beads on the ends or for what purpose were those unusual fibers woven into the spine of this obviously handmade journal. Well it could happen. I always thought I would leave the surprises in my book case as one of our co-altered artists said. "When I die, I want my kids to say our mother must of really flipped towards the end, look at all these books with ripped out pages and stamps and inks all over the text, she must have just lost it." and maybe we have. But maybe Indy will find it and think it's great. So happy creating my fellow artists (and I use that term loosely at least referring to myself).

For the First Time

I have a lot of friends that blog, and I really love reading everything they think about, their past life experiences and their present thoughts. So..... I have jumped on the band wagon and have launched my blog today. I feel well rested after the long weekend. I love when everything is closed. My boys are home and we generally watch crap on T.V. but we watch together. And I love it. So for the first time in my blog, I'd like to say that I love long weekends. I really hated it when our Provincial government did away with most P.D. Days, I enjoyed them too. So after reading the recent articles in the Toronto Star about getting rid of Victoria Day I though I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this one. I hope you'll visit my blog frequently as I try to learn all the cool things you can do on a blog. I will most probably be talking about things I love to do, and people who inspire me. Have a wonderful day, I sure did.