Sorry to disappoint you

I'll give you 3 chances to guess what these pictures are...

Anyone who does laundry has it figured out.  Yes, that's the inside of my dryer.

Now I'm sorry to disappoint you if you are still raising young children and think that one day you will no longer have to deal with crayon marks on the walls and marker stains on clothes and furniture, etc.

No, even if your children have left home, you will still deal with some heavy duty messes. Especially if they bring their laundry home.

Someone in my family, who will remain nameless, used to have better laundry facilities than I do in HER first apartment away from home, free of charge. In fact, I wanted to cart my laundry to HER place to do it. This past year however, in her new place she has to pay for laundry, so yah....the trips home always involve laundry these days. Normally, I'd let her do it, but it makes no sense not to also throw our laundry in the same load to save money. So last weekend, I did the laundry.

Thought I checked all the pockets! But to my horror, I saw these marks in the dryer as I pulled the clothes out.

Although I have been involved in money laundering, washed and dried a wallet, blasted some kleenex to bits, and am forever producing some sparkling clean guitar picks, this was my first ever BLACK PERMANENT marker - top OFF. Who cares that there was also a pen and a lip balm in the same pocket....Would this be a good time to mention that the afore-mentioned unnamed member of the family once washed her cellphone??

Remarkably, the clothes seemed to be unaffected which was a huge blessing.

So now...how to get the dryer clean? I tried a few things....even the Magic Eraser that always works for everything else, didn't work. I thought of asking my husband to use some stronger elbow grease and scrub away at it, but he's been too busy mopping up the mess the washing machine made a few days later when it bounced around and knocked the hose out of the wash tub! (It's a wonder we have any clean clothes). The water spread considerably from the laundry room into the adjoining games room, so he had to take a morning off work to move a two-ton (I exaggerate) pool table, heavy sewing machine cabinet, and a thousand other things (I exaggerate), and then use a wet vaccuum over the whole area.

So I googled.

I found out that toothpaste with baking soda works like a charm, as does rubbing alcohol, although both still require a lot of scrubbing at an awkward angle....so I'm doing a little at a time each time I'm throwing something in the washing machine............................

after checking the pockets.................

all of them..........

twice.

Fortunately, I had stocked up on Arm & Hammer toothpaste on sale this week, though I thought it would be used on teeth. I may even have to return for more before the job's done........but hey, I'm all for polishing enamel wherever it is....and bonus.....the dryer has 'a hint of minty freshness' (to quote my favourite Donkey).

Happy Birthday to my 12 year old

Twelve years ago....our Christmas present was born. 

And our vacuum cleaner has never been the same.


Happy Birthday Nikki!!

I cried today

I enjoy my job because it involves solving problems and helping people. While I was on the phone today, the person who was giving me the next batch of problems to solve, referred to me as the 'Problem Resolution Officer'. I laughed and said I hadn't known that was my official title and queried whether a raise was in order.

I delved into the next problem and called a client to provide a resolution. Now I have been trained to be professional and dignified on the job, with a balance of compassion and empathy for clients in an arms-length kind of way because we have to. But for the first time in 35 years on the job, I cried on the phone with a client today.

I had reviewed her situation before calling her and knew she had while on her job, observed a murder of someone she knew. She was still struggling with that for a very long time after, and has just never had the ability to heal from it. Through a series of events, her world had caved in and she now found herself without any hope of a job, when she had gone through school and thought her career was all set. When I spoke with her, I mentioned something about trying to call her yesterday.

Without any emotion, she quietly made the statement, "I tried to kill myself yesterday."

Her tone of voice told me that there was no pretense of a lie or an attempt to influence or evoke anything from me. It was just a true statement.

In that moment, my chest became heavy, I could scarcely breathe and all I could manage to say was, "Oh Lisa! You're serious aren't you?" And I felt the tears involuntarily starting to spill. I was struck with the fragility of life. How different this call could have been yesterday....a telephone ringing on unanswered....and me starkly unaware of someone in desperation.

We both managed a laugh as I said, "you've got me crying now..." I managed to choke out some encouraging words of hope, and she assured me that she was okay for now. We talked about hope and where to go from here. I took a deep breath and tried to go on with the 'professional' business of our conversation, but it took a little time to suck it up and regain my composure. (I will still probably cry it all out tonight in bed!)

Lisa represents only one of so many. Despondent people. Feeling hopeless. Can't see any bigger picture than beyond their world that has caved in around them. Hanging on by a thread and fragile. I am NOT the Problem Resolution Officer. I can't solve these kinds of problems. People can counsel and advise and encourage, but they can't bring peace to a despondent heart through these things alone. We can only trust in One who can.

Know why I love Christmas so much? It's the hope. It's the remedy. It's the mystery that God cared. He planned. And he sent......hope. And He'll never let go - even if we do.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine....

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His government and its peace will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

The Bible, Isaiah 9:2, 6,7  (planned....and written long before the son was given)

Second spring

"Autumn -

           a second spring when every leaf's a flower."

                    - - Albert Camus

Let's go! Blue Jays!

I know it's all over this year for the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a disappointing year...again.

Not so in my back yard though. It was a great summer for the Blue Jays.

I had the delight of watching two baby blue jays awkwardly learning to find their way in the world. They lived for a time in the tall pine tree that spills over onto our deck, so I spent many a time sitting on the swing and watching their antics for the few weeks they were tiny. Blue jays can be very agressive, nasty birds to other songbirds...but somehow my heart attached itself to these two siblings in spite of what I knew they would become. I mean how can you not love faces like these?

Here they are on the little bird bath next to the pine tree:

I got a kick out of watching them flit from branch to branch. They were very tipsy. Landings on branches were executed with heads too far forward, little tails pointing skyward until they could get their balance and right themselves.

One sibling was unafraid of water - just jumped right in to get cooled off.

The other was timid, and was simply content to lap up the water below the bird bath that was being splashed down from above.

One late afternoon I brought my camera out for a few shots. I had been waiting to get a pic of Mama placing food in baby's mouth, but Mama would always hop way up into the heights of the tree for baby to follow....far away from the prying eyes of that lady on the swing.

Tonight was different. Mama and baby were perfectly within range.

Freeze for shot...press shutter.

Right on cue, my camera's batteries died.  (I had ignored it's earlier warnings).  Worse than that for a photographer though, was what happened next.

The 'timid' baby decided it was going to try to fly over the swing to the maple tree behind me to join its sibling who had accomplished that feat.

He didn't make it.

He swerved to avoid the cover above me, and he landed right beside me on the swing! (So cute! And my batteries were dead!) It was one of those 'slo-mo' moments. I sat in frozen silence. Mama and Papa were going crazy in the pine tree because their baby was sitting right beside 'that lady', but they could only watch and 'quack' because they wouldn't come near me. The baby although not seeming afraid of me, hopped around, managed to get underneath the swing, into another small tree by the deck, and then back to the pine tree. Mama scooted him back up into the heights of the tree. And I went to get fresh batteries.

Throughout the summer, these little ones, and their parents would wait for me to refresh the water and put the peanuts out each day, and in return they blessed me and gave me pictures. Mama and Papa have planted peanut trees for us.

The little ones are now large, loud, and cocky like their parents.

I think I can still distinguish them from the other Jays in the neighbourhood. They have spunk...very high energy and continually return to the same pine tree and bird bath. When I'm outside, they will begin to 'scream' and I can't resist. I put out the peanuts which they happily snatch up and go and 'plant' as their parents have shown them.

I hope these beautiful birds stick around much longer than their baseball namesakes.Who knows. Maybe one of these days, or even next year, one of them just might join me on the swing for old times sake.

Flicker....not to be confused with Flickr

I've become a bit of a woodpecker lover this year. I hung suet feeders out back when I realized the woodpeckers were still looking for it in the summertime - I thought it was just winter energy for them. But as I sat on the deck this summer I was able to observe and photograph a downy woodpecker feeding suet to her baby - so I made sure there was plenty available. They are so unafraid of people. In fact, they come near as I fill their feeders and they get right to eating as soon as I move a short distance away. 

Here's a baby...

(Gap between pics courtesy of Blogger)

Here's mom and baby.....

Baby is below, waiting to be served (kids are all alike aren't they??)
 



Notice the awkward stretch backwards to get the suet into the youngster's mouth.

And not to be forgotten...........here's dad.

The other day I had a little birding treat when I pulled into the driveway after work. I saw a bird the size of a robin moving down a tree trunk like a woodpecker. Knowing it wasn't the usual downy woodpeckers around here, I peered to see what it was.

It flew onto the gate at the end of the driveway as I continued to sit in the car. I could see glimpses of beautiful yellow feathers on its underside  and I began to wonder if it was someone's pet that had gotten loose. It flew back to the tree, then back to the gate. To my delight he flew directly into the pine tree right next to me where I had an up close look at him and he was joined within seconds by his mate. The two of them conversed for a few minutes while I studied them, and then they flew off and I haven't seen them since. They were northern flickers, of which I have not seen any for years...but then again, they can be hard to spot unless you're looking for them because they like to forage on the ground in search of bugs.

Here are some Wikipedia pictures of flickers. 

Finally, take a look at a YouTube video of a mother flicker tending her babies. I am envious of the owner of the camera who shot the close up video, complete with a baby flicker and his looooooooong tongue and the surprise ending. Excellent quality! Now I will wonder what really goes on high up in the upper recesses of our maple trees.  Maybe I should get my husband to do some climbing and install a webcam trained on any nice round holes in the trunk.


Somehow, I don't think that's going to be happening....