And our vacuum cleaner has never been the same.
Happy Birthday Nikki!!
Friday, October 23, 2009
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!!
And our vacuum cleaner has never been the same.
Happy Birthday Nikki!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
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.
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)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
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.
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 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.
Friday, October 2, 2009
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.
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....
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....
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Fresh Face Day
This past weekend has been picture-perfect weather. Warm, sunny, yet still with a fresh breeze....beautiful for drying clothes 
on the line.
on the line.There is no smell I relish more than sun and wind-dried sheets, pillow cases, and clothes.
Days like these, I pull dried sheets off the line and bury my nose in them to inhale the fresh scent.
Intoxicating.
On laundry days, I almost can't wait until bedtime to lay my face on a fresh pillowcase, nestled under fresh sheets.
So when I awoke on Saturday morning it felt great to know it was such a beautiful day.
Ladies, you know how great it feels to have a morning shower, freshly washed hair and face, and if the barn needs paintin'...a little fresh touch of makeup to feel alive and invigorated.
That's how I felt with my freshly brewed coffee and fresh face - ('Fresh' is the word of the day, if you hadn't figured it out).
Ladies, you know how great it feels to have a morning shower, freshly washed hair and face, and if the barn needs paintin'...a little fresh touch of makeup to feel alive and invigorated.
That's how I felt with my freshly brewed coffee and fresh face - ('Fresh' is the word of the day, if you hadn't figured it out).
I went downstairs to begin the laundry. We have a laundry chute, and I noticed a sock suddenly fall behind the dryer. So I got in beside the dryer and peered behind it. Not seeing the sock very well, I leaned in farther. I submerged my fresh face squarely and completely into large dusty cobwebs. BLEEECH! So much for fresh. More like itchy (I'm allergic to dust). I couldn't shake the thoughts of tiny spiders and dust mites on my scalp.
Did you know that it is a fact that spiders build their webs at the height of just under 5 feet? It's true. I have several years worth of documented proof....on my face. Whenever my face is fresh - particularly early morning on the way to work - I will walk somewhere where there is a web, just under 5 feet in height, that will hit my face square on. Another little known fact is that oranges or grapefruits when cut will always, without fail, squirt directly into a fresh face...and most often, stingingly into an eyeball.
But I digress.
I carried on with the day, got the laundry out on the line and things were great until I started to prepare an early supper. I peeled the potatoes and prepared some green beans and cauliflower.
Then I got out my trusty compost bucket that I keep under the kitchen sink. It's a beauty from Lee Valley, made of stainless steel so it does not hold o
dours and washes up beautifully, so smelly compost in your kitchen is never an issue.
dours and washes up beautifully, so smelly compost in your kitchen is never an issue.I had noticed that the lid had been slightly off on the compost pail a week ago - nothing to do with my son cooking and putting his scraps in there, of course. I had closed it tightly as soon as I noticed it.
I put the pail on the counter in front of me to dispose of the vegetable peels.
Removed the lid.
HUNDREDS of fruit flies flew right up into myfresh face! I slammed the lid back on immediately, but the damage was done. I had released a cloud of these tiny annoyances into my kitchen. Worse than Grade 9 Biology - fruit fly reproduction 101. My face got itchier.
Removed the lid.
HUNDREDS of fruit flies flew right up into my
I took the compost pail promptly outside to the composter and I had to open the lid and release some flies to the backyard as well - keeping my face well away from the pail. Too bad I didn't know about those flies in there beforehand or I would have donated them to some Grade 9 biology lab.
I set traps...and will contin
ue for many more days...of baggies with decaying fruit. Every morning I will dispose of the baggy full of fruit flies and wonder if they are reproducing faster than I can catch them.
ue for many more days...of baggies with decaying fruit. Every morning I will dispose of the baggy full of fruit flies and wonder if they are reproducing faster than I can catch them.My face was safe for the rest of the day, although I had doubts when I was sloshing and splashing around cleaning a dirty birdbath.
'Twas nice to wash my face before bed and lay it down on the intoxicatingly fresh pillow case.
I even managed to wipe the thoughts out of my brain that there might be tiny spiders, dust mites, or fruit flies crawling around in my hair.
That would be a problem to tackle in the morning..... after putting on my fresh face.
That would be a problem to tackle in the morning..... after putting on my fresh face.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Do your kids send you texts in the middle of the night?
1:39 am
Roll over because I hear my phone vibrating.
There is a text message from my son.
It says,
"Do you know how old the house is?"
I reply with as a
ccurate an answer as one can give while in a fog. I ask why he wants to know. He replies that they (his roommates and he) were just having a discussion about it. I reply with a correction to my answer now that I've had a few moments to process. Then I ask, "Are the guys also texting their mothers at 1:45 am?" I didn't receive a response.
LOL.
I know that some mothers would respond that they would be so angry to be awakened from sleep for something so trivial. Me? I say, "I love this kid!! Spontaneous!"
Now...in Jordan's defence....he had just spoken to me at 1:00 am, only 40 minutes earlier about another matter, so I'm sure he assumed I was still wide awake. After the text I was!...and lay awake another half hour blogging in my head about it! I found it rather amusing and was still laughing about it later in the day.
Perhaps it's my fault, but I've always stressed to my kids that they can disturb me at any time of the day or night if they need me. I cherish the "Mom? Are you still awake?" moments to talk out the stuff they are thinking through, needing some advice, or just a listening ear. I didn't feel like I had that with my parents and just don't want that repeated with my own kids.
Those late night talks just might be more frequent in the near future.
Back in February I wrote about the empty nest as my son was leaving home. This weekend, through circumstances, he has to return home for a bit until the job situation is resolved. I am thankful that it is not a long term plan for him to stay here - not because I don't want him here - but I want him to mature and learn life lessons on his own, and he recognizes that he needs that.
Funny, living around several large trees, I've been following the lives of baby birds and their attachments to their parents. It's one thing to leave the nest, but the babies still make their presence known and need help for quite a while after they venture out of their home. In the case of cardinal youngsters, I've been hearing their cheeping for weeks as their parents spend all of their time providing food and guarding them from all dangers.
So our nest will again be a little crowded, a little more costly, and a lot more messy. But it's a short window of time in our lives and I will just cherish the chats and the texts - no matter the hour.
Oh, and in case you're dying to know ....the house is 48 years old.
Roll over because I hear my phone vibrating.
There is a text message from my son.
It says,
"Do you know how old the house is?"
I reply with as a
ccurate an answer as one can give while in a fog. I ask why he wants to know. He replies that they (his roommates and he) were just having a discussion about it. I reply with a correction to my answer now that I've had a few moments to process. Then I ask, "Are the guys also texting their mothers at 1:45 am?" I didn't receive a response.LOL.
I know that some mothers would respond that they would be so angry to be awakened from sleep for something so trivial. Me? I say, "I love this kid!! Spontaneous!"
Now...in Jordan's defence....he had just spoken to me at 1:00 am, only 40 minutes earlier about another matter, so I'm sure he assumed I was still wide awake. After the text I was!...and lay awake another half hour blogging in my head about it! I found it rather amusing and was still laughing about it later in the day.
Perhaps it's my fault, but I've always stressed to my kids that they can disturb me at any time of the day or night if they need me. I cherish the "Mom? Are you still awake?" moments to talk out the stuff they are thinking through, needing some advice, or just a listening ear. I didn't feel like I had that with my parents and just don't want that repeated with my own kids.
Those late night talks just might be more frequent in the near future.
Back in February I wrote about the empty nest as my son was leaving home. This weekend, through circumstances, he has to return home for a bit until the job situation is resolved. I am thankful that it is not a long term plan for him to stay here - not because I don't want him here - but I want him to mature and learn life lessons on his own, and he recognizes that he needs that.
Funny, living around several large trees, I've been following the lives of baby birds and their attachments to their parents. It's one thing to leave the nest, but the babies still make their presence known and need help for quite a while after they venture out of their home. In the case of cardinal youngsters, I've been hearing their cheeping for weeks as their parents spend all of their time providing food and guarding them from all dangers.
So our nest will again be a little crowded, a little more costly, and a lot more messy. But it's a short window of time in our lives and I will just cherish the chats and the texts - no matter the hour.
Oh, and in case you're dying to know ....the house is 48 years old.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
100 blog posts
I've got lots to tell you!I have written approximately 100 blog posts this summer. Trouble is...they are all in my head and have not been transposed via the keyboard. There are musings on faith, flowers, fish, friendship, funny stuff, and of course, stories of my feathered friends and all their babies I've been following. Good bloggers post daily. I admit I am not in that league.
Fresh blog posts are of course far more superior on current topics relevant to the moment. They have an important place in many people's lives and I read many of them when I can. But life is meant to be lived and God bless you if you do, but I am just not one to carry technology with me to record my posts within moments....or inform followers of my every movement... or to continually read what equates to text messages from others. I get enough text messages from my kids asking for the car and money. The thought of my head buried in a Blackberry or laptop throughout an entire day for purposes other than work exhausts me. No, the only tweets coming from my house are those coming from the trees. Good grief I sound so old and crotchety! Maybe I'll be hip when I'm retired and I'll twitter from my rocking chair. I feel a blog post coming on about what would be contained in those tweets......
Anyways.......it's summer. I spend as much of it outdoors as I can (while my housework is abandoned) and while I am gardening and birding and photographing and reading and visiting, I am blogging away in my head. When I should be sleeping, I am composing a post and hoping I can remember my thoughts when I get to actually write it out. If my thoughts don't all get recorded until weeks later....so be it. Besides, I spend hours at my workplace on the computer (because I have to) and can feel the tennis elbow becoming more pronounced... so I try to rest it when at home. (That's a lie. I do gardening and end up making it worse).
Soon enough the days will shorten and more time will be spent indoors and I will catch up on my postings. Come the first snow day, watch for 2-3 posts per day for weeks on end. And they will all remind you of the summer.
Since I'm finally posting something here, I might as well throw in my thoughts for today which are on a more serious note. We heard a message from a guest speaker at church today who reminded us that God works strangely, sovereignly, and sloooowly. Example: the life of Joseph. His life was a maze from the time he received his technicolour coat from his dad, and each event made no sense on it's own. Where was God when everything was going wrong?? Yet everything was being beautifully orchestrated from an Israelite, to a slave, to a prisoner, to a Prime Minister. Kind of like right now during this heat wave we're experiencing during summer, the autumn is actually slowly working behind the scenes, preparing itself to burst upon us - you just can't see it. It is apparent that it's God's nature to work sovereignly....slowly, often unseen... and not understood by us. We live our lives by clocks and calendars - they don't seem to be a factor to God.
Life is like a big page of that connect-the-dots game. You don't see the big picture until you're just about through. The speaker mentioned that her daughter is bad for leaving phone messages that she has something really exciting to relate, but...."I'll tell you later!". God leaves us waiting...hanging....and we have to trust Him....when we don't think we are getting answers...and when everything seems to be going against us.
He'll tell us later.
There IS a big plan.....but I want to look for God in the little things....to learn about His nature and His ways.....and intentionally love and worship Him.
I was musing on these thoughts this evening when I went back into the recesses of my garden to prune a few rosebush branches (pruning is a whole other blog post of spiritual thoughts...). Suddenly my dog started frantically barking on the back deck. She gets disturbed if we go in the house without her - she needs to be with us all the time.
She had lost sight of me and obviously thought I had gone in the house.
I peered around the pear tree that I was in behind and called her name. Nikki! NIKKI! The poor dog ran from one end of the deck to the other looking for me and couldn't see me. She scurried to the gate to look down the driveway as I continued to call her name....but she couldn't see me. Back up on the deck she tried to listen to where my voice was coming from but she just couldn't see me and was becoming a little frantic to find me.
Finally, I stepped farther out of the garden and called her name once more. That did it. Recognition. The arthritic dog came bounding down the stairs, tail wagging and excitedly ran up to me for reassurance that I was indeed there. I had been there all along. As Nikki ran towards me I saw the very real picture of what I had just been musing on. I love my dog and I savoured her reaction as she lovingly ran to me.
Just because she couldn't see me didn't mean I had left her. I was there all along...my love for her still intact and unwavering. I hadn't left her. I never will.
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8,9 - The Bible
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:16 - The Bible
Friday, July 17, 2009
MJ wasn't the first moonwalker
When I was a child, space travel was still a mystical, uncommon thing. All eyes were on the news if any rockets were launched into space, but never more so than when man first stepped on the surface of the moon - 40 years ago on July 20, 1969. 
I was 12 years old when three brave astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. departed on their Apollo 11 mission to the moon. I remember being with my parents in front of our black and white television watching the Apollo 11 launch, and then the lunar landing.
We watched grainy images of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin. We listened carefully to their historic statements and watched with awe as they bounced along for a no-gravity experience.
We saw images of our own earth as they were seeing them
from the 
moon.
I remember staring at the moon for many nights after that, with an eerie feeling, trying to imagine that there were men up there as I gazed at it.
Later we followed their descent to earth, wondering if they would survive...watching their capsule land in the ocean and the boats travelling out to get them. I was awestruck with it all.
Fast-track 40 years and we learn that Buzz Aldrin's post-Apollo life had spiraled out of control with depression and alcoholism. Fortunately, that is behind him and he has chronicled
his life in his memoirs, "Magnificent Desolation".
Many in the current generation seem to have lost that awe of space travel and other amazing feats that we take so for granted. Another shuttle launch? That's nice. It seems almost as commonplace as an airplane taking off in flight.
Well maybe these videos will engage younger generations....or at least make them laugh. Good old very cool 79 year old Buzz Aldrin aka Doc Rendezvous is very much into the new hip-hop, twitter culture and wants to send a message to this generation. He enlists Snoop Dogg to help him. I could never have imagined this video when I was 12....nor could Buzz I'm sure. Take a look. The second video below is just to insult your intelligence.
(You can also view another version of the making of the video at this link ).
I was 12 years old when three brave astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. departed on their Apollo 11 mission to the moon. I remember being with my parents in front of our black and white television watching the Apollo 11 launch, and then the lunar landing.
We watched grainy images of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon, followed by Buzz Aldrin. We listened carefully to their historic statements and watched with awe as they bounced along for a no-gravity experience.
We saw images of our own earth as they were seeing them
from the 
moon.
I remember staring at the moon for many nights after that, with an eerie feeling, trying to imagine that there were men up there as I gazed at it.
Later we followed their descent to earth, wondering if they would survive...watching their capsule land in the ocean and the boats travelling out to get them. I was awestruck with it all.
Fast-track 40 years and we learn that Buzz Aldrin's post-Apollo life had spiraled out of control with depression and alcoholism. Fortunately, that is behind him and he has chronicled
his life in his memoirs, "Magnificent Desolation".Many in the current generation seem to have lost that awe of space travel and other amazing feats that we take so for granted. Another shuttle launch? That's nice. It seems almost as commonplace as an airplane taking off in flight.
Well maybe these videos will engage younger generations....or at least make them laugh. Good old very cool 79 year old Buzz Aldrin aka Doc Rendezvous is very much into the new hip-hop, twitter culture and wants to send a message to this generation. He enlists Snoop Dogg to help him. I could never have imagined this video when I was 12....nor could Buzz I'm sure. Take a look. The second video below is just to insult your intelligence.
(You can also view another version of the making of the video at this link ).
Monday, July 13, 2009
Creeeeepy Crawlies
This blog post is not for those with queasy stomachs. If you are squirmy about bugs, stop reading now. Go to some other nice, peaceful blog that makes you feel good. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Back in the early days of our marriage, my husband and I visited his parents when they lived on the Georgian Bay. I remarked on an unusual insect there that I had never seen in my life. It intrigued me. It was called an earwig. Strange name....I mean, doesn't it paint a picture in your head?
We must have brought two of them back with us unawares to infest our neck of the woods.
They are now everywhere at our house, starting in about July until frost. If you have them at your house you know what I mean. Pick up anything outside.....a pot....a garbage can....a garden hose....a chair...a rock. Doesn't matter what. If you lift up something outside, there will be earwigs beneath it that scatter when the light hits them. Bring some cut flowers into the house and earwigs will fall out from beneath the petals. They chew stuff. And they like it dark and moist. We've had two rainy summers in a row. Not good.
I'm not sure what eats them. I've invested in all these birds around us. If the birds are eating them, they aren't eating enough of them. If toads or snakes eat them, I'll take about a hundred of each please.
Oh, I know all the ways to knock down their numbers. Like, put out rolled up newspapers or a portion of a garden hose to capture them, and then drown them in soapy water in the morning. Sorry, no time for that - not till I'm retired.
But there's this other nagging problem with them. They're not content to stay outside. We seem to have a 'leaky' house because each summer they begin to pay us a visit...in the kitchen, the bathroom, the basement, and the odd one in the bedrooms.
Back when my daughter was much younger, we had an infestation of earwigs in her bedroom. I'll spare you the details of how they got in - we did figure it out and resolve it. But imagine this little girl feeling things crawling on her....turning on the light, and literally seeing the room alive and moving. Every night after dark....earwigs on the walls, ceilings, floor. Behind the posters and pictures on the walls....under the chair rail....coming out from beneath the baseboards. Everywhere. It's a wonder she didn't have nightmares. Obviously, we didn't let her sleep in there anymore (as if she could) until we tackled where they were getting in the house.
We are no longer infested with them. But if I get up in the night and turn on a light in the bathroom or kitchen, there will always be one or two....or three...that were in transit until the light came on. They freeze and look at you and wait. When they see you move, they try to scurry under something. Their little bodies crunch in the kleenex but you're still not sure they're dead until they go down the toilet...and even then....who knows if they come back? You've heard of gathering at the water cooler? These creatures gather under ours in the kitchen where there's a little moisture. The absolute worst place I have found the odd one is on the flexible trim lining the door of our fridge!
Okay, now that you're never going to visit our house in the summer (in the winter we have flying moths from the bird seed)....perhaps you will implore RAID to bring back the earwig traps they used to produce and have now done away with. They used to work really well. I have some Lee Valley reuseable traps in which you put oil and other stuff, but the earwigs just never go inside them.
Now, I know I'm just whining. I've experienced tropical climates living with everything from tarantulas to chamelions to snakes inside. But I live in suburbia and don't expect to feel like I'm at the cottage or camping.
Even so, I would still rather have earwigs then large ants in my house. Ants are just too intelligent for me. I lived with them at my parents' house when they had an ant nest below the rafters of the house. Every time I entered a room, my eyes would scan the ceilings, walls, and floors. What a feeling to run your hand through your hair and have a large, squishy, wriggling ant between your fingers, or pouring syrup on your pancakes only to find ants swimming in the syrup (I kid you not). But those ants would never die. No matter how hard you whacked them or squished them or drowned them. If only I'd known back then that some of them are allergic to nuts - I would have left out peanut butter traps - because you will notice on the RAID ant traps, they are clearly marked, "may contain nuts". I told you ants were intelligent - they can read. (And how intelligent of us to make the ants aware that the poison that can kill them, may contain nuts that could kill them).
Had enough of this talk? I will leave you then and get some cotton balls for my ears before I go to bed. Whaaaat? EAR wigs. Crawl into dark and moist places. Not sure what they like chewing, but I know I need to keep all of the brains I have, little though they may be (as evidenced by this blog post).
Back in the early days of our marriage, my husband and I visited his parents when they lived on the Georgian Bay. I remarked on an unusual insect there that I had never seen in my life. It intrigued me. It was called an earwig. Strange name....I mean, doesn't it paint a picture in your head?
We must have brought two of them back with us unawares to infest our neck of the woods.
They are now everywhere at our house, starting in about July until frost. If you have them at your house you know what I mean. Pick up anything outside.....a pot....a garbage can....a garden hose....a chair...a rock. Doesn't matter what. If you lift up something outside, there will be earwigs beneath it that scatter when the light hits them. Bring some cut flowers into the house and earwigs will fall out from beneath the petals. They chew stuff. And they like it dark and moist. We've had two rainy summers in a row. Not good.
I'm not sure what eats them. I've invested in all these birds around us. If the birds are eating them, they aren't eating enough of them. If toads or snakes eat them, I'll take about a hundred of each please.
Oh, I know all the ways to knock down their numbers. Like, put out rolled up newspapers or a portion of a garden hose to capture them, and then drown them in soapy water in the morning. Sorry, no time for that - not till I'm retired.
But there's this other nagging problem with them. They're not content to stay outside. We seem to have a 'leaky' house because each summer they begin to pay us a visit...in the kitchen, the bathroom, the basement, and the odd one in the bedrooms.
Back when my daughter was much younger, we had an infestation of earwigs in her bedroom. I'll spare you the details of how they got in - we did figure it out and resolve it. But imagine this little girl feeling things crawling on her....turning on the light, and literally seeing the room alive and moving. Every night after dark....earwigs on the walls, ceilings, floor. Behind the posters and pictures on the walls....under the chair rail....coming out from beneath the baseboards. Everywhere. It's a wonder she didn't have nightmares. Obviously, we didn't let her sleep in there anymore (as if she could) until we tackled where they were getting in the house.
We are no longer infested with them. But if I get up in the night and turn on a light in the bathroom or kitchen, there will always be one or two....or three...that were in transit until the light came on. They freeze and look at you and wait. When they see you move, they try to scurry under something. Their little bodies crunch in the kleenex but you're still not sure they're dead until they go down the toilet...and even then....who knows if they come back? You've heard of gathering at the water cooler? These creatures gather under ours in the kitchen where there's a little moisture. The absolute worst place I have found the odd one is on the flexible trim lining the door of our fridge!
Okay, now that you're never going to visit our house in the summer (in the winter we have flying moths from the bird seed)....perhaps you will implore RAID to bring back the earwig traps they used to produce and have now done away with. They used to work really well. I have some Lee Valley reuseable traps in which you put oil and other stuff, but the earwigs just never go inside them.
Now, I know I'm just whining. I've experienced tropical climates living with everything from tarantulas to chamelions to snakes inside. But I live in suburbia and don't expect to feel like I'm at the cottage or camping.
Even so, I would still rather have earwigs then large ants in my house. Ants are just too intelligent for me. I lived with them at my parents' house when they had an ant nest below the rafters of the house. Every time I entered a room, my eyes would scan the ceilings, walls, and floors. What a feeling to run your hand through your hair and have a large, squishy, wriggling ant between your fingers, or pouring syrup on your pancakes only to find ants swimming in the syrup (I kid you not). But those ants would never die. No matter how hard you whacked them or squished them or drowned them. If only I'd known back then that some of them are allergic to nuts - I would have left out peanut butter traps - because you will notice on the RAID ant traps, they are clearly marked, "may contain nuts". I told you ants were intelligent - they can read. (And how intelligent of us to make the ants aware that the poison that can kill them, may contain nuts that could kill them).
Had enough of this talk? I will leave you then and get some cotton balls for my ears before I go to bed. Whaaaat? EAR wigs. Crawl into dark and moist places. Not sure what they like chewing, but I know I need to keep all of the brains I have, little though they may be (as evidenced by this blog post).
Thursday, July 9, 2009
That's astounding!
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.Thomas Edison
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
29 years
Yes....that's right. I've been married all my life.
Happy Anniversary Dave. You're the best and I lo
ve you!
Happy Anniversary Dave. You're the best and I lo
ve you!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Spring Things
Summer is right around the corner (whether it feels like it or not), so I am providing you with some pics of spring things from around our home, before they are out of season. If you think I enjoy birds and flowers, you are very observant.
I'm not sure how I feel about chipmunks now that they've chewed a hole in the roof vent, chewed the window frames, and many of them can be seen tearing around the outside of the house (not inside....yet), and running along the brick walls. My heart softens when I look at their pictures....but when I see four or more at once in the garden, sending birds scattering in all directions, and scampering back and forth to the neighbours with their loot....I'm reminded they are rodents...rodents with pockets that desperately must be filled. And to think only a few years ago, I had never seen a chipmunk in our neighbourhood and longed to catch a glimpse of one....
Enjoy the show.
I'm not sure how I feel about chipmunks now that they've chewed a hole in the roof vent, chewed the window frames, and many of them can be seen tearing around the outside of the house (not inside....yet), and running along the brick walls. My heart softens when I look at their pictures....but when I see four or more at once in the garden, sending birds scattering in all directions, and scampering back and forth to the neighbours with their loot....I'm reminded they are rodents...rodents with pockets that desperately must be filled. And to think only a few years ago, I had never seen a chipmunk in our neighbourhood and longed to catch a glimpse of one....
Enjoy the show.
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