my beautiful grandson, whose hair is the colour of fall........... 

this is me in the garden, not mine. i am digging up a wild white rose to bring home from my friend's cottage.
i tried to put it on my profile, but haven't had any success! 

a hike in the woods to a wonderful
swimming hole......... 

my summer breakfast
 

this is the fairy princess sans cowboy boots.... 

this is a photo of my grandparents.
my mother is on the left.
grandfather was a farmer.
my grandmother was not happy.
she was a city girl.
my mother and her sister on the right
were very mean to their younger sister
in the front of the picture.
they scratched her face off.......... 

this was a day in july at the beach. what a surprise when what should appear but twin moose. they were wading amongst the bathers. just out for a stroll.


 

this is my granddaughter in her fairy
finery. note the cowboy boots........ 

november 28,2006

wow! i finally did it! i put a picture on
my blog. this is the veiw from my study
every day i get to look out on the fabulous
bay of islands.
expect more!
 

bluebird of paradise
november 23, 2006:

Can it get any better than this? The sun is splitting the rock, the sea is sparkling, it's my daughter's birthday and she is published in THE GLOBE AND MAIL !
I am bursting at the seams! I ran up and down the ailse in shopper's drug mart, telling everyone "my daughter has an article in the globe and mail". I bought up all the copies. I mailed one to her right away.
When I got home I phoned her and read it to her over the phone( as she lives in the deep south and it's almost impossible to get the paper there).it's a wonderful essay on Thanksgiving.
As i was reading it I burst into tears. It starts of kind of humorous and whimsical, then without warning it becomes profound. It's a wonderful piece about tradition, subtle cultural differences and mostly about family and love that transcends all differences.
And today is her birthday. How appropriate to have it published on her birthday.
When she was a little girl, maybe 3 or 4, I took her to the ballet. Dame Margot Fontane was doing her farewell tour. As a child I had dreamed of becoming a famous ballerina. It was a dream come true to see the greatest ballerina of modern times preforming her solo of the dying swan. It was such a moving event , I was wracked with sobs, loud snuffling sobs, so loud that people were turning around to see who it was.
I was totally overcome with joy. When the show was over I was determined that my daughter should remember this night all her life. I dragged her back stage and physically thurst her into the arms of Dame Margot...........
Perhaps that was a defining moment. I wonder if she remembers it?

post mid-term election:

oh i am a happy camper today. bush, cheney, rumsfeld et al ; got a trouncing! hooray! hooray! the wicked witch is dead! i honestly had given up hope that the dark days of the bush administration would ever end. lame lame duck . it will be interesting to watch your demise.
i only wish bush will be tried for "crimes against humanity".
it has been a disheartening time in the world . so many innocent deaths, such untold suffering. for what? for democracy? for security? anyone who thinks, can see that bush talks out of both sides of his mouth. watching him at the white house press conference was painful. the man is such a liar. and the worse kind , he actually believes his lies.
a new day is coming i hope , when the cloud of fear and insecurity instilled more by this administration than by al quida, will abate and that rationality well prevail.
everyday i say the prayer of st francis " lord make me an istrument of thy peace........." i ask for guidance to contribute to peace in the world in what ever way possible.


i love reading blogs. there are such wonderful ones on the internet. one that i follow is "coastal time". it's a young woman ,who until recently lived on the coast of oregon. she recently move to hawaii. i get lots of interesting links from her blog. one that i found today was on an organization called "KIVA" which helps entrepreneurs form developing countries obtain loans to start a small business. something like the noble peace prize winner for this year has done . i forget his name i believe he is from turkey. what a wonderful idea. you can lend someone in uganda $25 to start a little shop, others will also contribute to the full amount. perhaps $500. once the business is established the borrower will repay the lenders. you get updated on their progress. once the money is repaid, you can lend it to someone else or get your money back.
i am going to do it. i think it's a wonderful way to help.something like the organizations like Heifer international or Vision canada, where you can actually buy someone in a poor country a cow or a goat or chickens etc. it can be a christmas gift in aloved one's name. i wonder how my grandchildren would feel if for christmas they gave a turkey or a pig to someone in africa. i bet they'd be thrilled. of course they would still want nanny to send them something else , but maybe not as expensive as usual............ it's a thought.
i know of a family who gave up giving each other gifts for christmas. instead they sent money to the charity of their choice. they would spend christmas at their cottage and have a lovely quiet time . like an old fashioned christmas, before commerce hijacked christmas .
i've always wanted to spend christmas at a cottage in the woods. no gifts, just some good food, wine,music and merriment. when my kids were small i wasn't really brave enough to do it. now i need to be near my grandchildren, because it is true ,christmas is for children (even the forgotten one in us).
one of the best christmases we had was one we spent in tobago. my husband was on sabbatical and was writing a play. we were living in a tiny one room apartment near the beach in the town of plymouth. it was our first winter without snow. i was a bit worried as we didn't have a lot of money. when i went in to the nearest big town, scarborough,to shop for gifts, i was surprised at how little there was to choose from . we each got one gift which cost $5.00 tt.my eldest daughter , who was 10 at the time got a labratory kit. it included test tubes and a microscope. she loved it and would take samples of water from the canal (open sewer)that ran behind the house and was so delighted to find pin worms and other nasty looking creatures.
my youngest daughter was given a small blue piano. she played that little piano constantly. like schroder of "charley brown" fame . she would diligently practice everyday. now when her two year old daughter comes for a visit, she runs for the blue piano and pounds out a tune.it's a little off key ,but she doesn't know that. she looks just like her mother playing the little blue piano.
our christmas tree was the branch of a tree we found on the beach. it had no leaves. we decorated it with tin foil from my husband's cigarette packs and other homemade decorations. later we were told that the bush was poisonous.
we had a wonderful christmas. we met a german family on the beach that morning and brought them home for breakfast. mr dumas (our landlord's caretaker) and his son superville arrived with curried goat meat.it was my introduction to goat meat and it was delicious.later that day we went visiting and were treated to a local dish call pastal. it was a kind of corn pasty wrapped in a banana leaf. everywhere we went we had to eat and drink. after the first few visits i could hardly walk , i was so stuffed. i went home with the children and my husband continued to celebrate. like newfoundland, in tobago christmas was 12 days long. during that time you were expected to pay a visit to everyone you knew. at each home you would be treated like royalty. the best food , liquor , which funnily enough was not rum as you might expect,but single malt scotch.
we felt right at home. that is how christmas is traditionally celebrated in newfoundland. in days gone by household would have unexpected visitors called "the mummers" . these were neighbours and friends who would be dressed up in men's old clothes and have their faces covered with panty hose or bits of sheer curtains. they walked in uninvited and spoke by sucking in their breath and saying loudly "any mummers 'loud in here ?" they would have a fiddle accordian and, or, guitar, and spoons. they would play jigs and reels, sing and dance. it was all very rowdy. the host was supposed to try to guess the identity of each of " the mummers". and supply them with drinks of homemade wine and homebrew. the mummers would go from house to house the whole 12 days of christmas. it was very merry.........