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Here comes my personal "never to be humble" opinions ... still the same as it was in 2014! - I don't like talking about the weather because whining and complaining does no good ... it is what it is!
- I don't need to know who had a muffin and coffee for breakfast (... or dinner!). If I posted what I did or did not have for a particular meal, someone would have something to say about the nutritional content that I put in my body;
- I hate to be bored or boring. If I am, I hope someone will tell me;
- I want to be a helper wherever I can. I'm not much good if a lot of walking is involved.
- I love photographs, so that I can recognize my ciber friends;
- I love music, but not all genres that are called music;
- I love chatting with friends, even though we have never met. It's so much easier now than it was when we had pen-pals.
- I am amazed at the beautiful graphic that have been discovered, but you will learn that I am much more of a word person than a graphics person. I think that's called 'different strokes for different folks'!
- There are times (like today) that I will post the same thing in a Blog (even those who are not on my list of friends get a dose of this 'word lady'), and in a Bulletin for my friends, who probably rarely visit the Blogs.
If you ever visit my page, you may see similar items listed under "About Me"! Lastly, thanks for your friendship ... and putting up with me. I love this cyber community, and I wish each one of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR IN 2015
Tags: Opinions Friends List 2015
Welcome to 2015! It seemed to have appeared when I was catching some much needed sleep. We had a marvelous International Christmas, with guests from Iowa and Washington states, and Yorkshire, England. Our home was the "quiet retreat" for the grandparents, but the days were filled with adventure. Two day trips were taken to the mountains. Fifteen of us traveled in two vans to Lake Louise so the grandkids could skate on the lake, and tour the Chateau. On the way, we stopped at the Ridge Cafe in Canmore for lunch, leaving only three empty tables for other diners. We had an ideal view of 'The Three Sisters' mountains that is a well-known landmark for postcards. The second trip was to Banff for a swim in the hot sulphur swimming pool, a ride on a gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain. We also made a short stop at the Banff Springs Hotel to enjoy the view of Bow Falls and a delicious cup of hot chocolate. A tour of the town, a visit to the Candy Store, dinner at a Sushi Restaurant, and a climaxed with a slow trip home in a 'white-out' snow storm, causing most of us sleeping longer that night and having several naps during the following day. The university student from Iowa placed this caption on a picture she took during the storm, "Mom was panicking, Grandma was watchful, Zach was sleeping, and I was giggling. That's a different kind of scared." Our daughter and family from Washington were with us for a week, and it was a rare treat to have them come to Canada as a family. The three grandgirls were so wanting to experience 'real' winter for Christmas. They were with us until New Year's Eve. Our British relatives left this afternoon for Toronto, to fulfil a 'bucket list' wish to visit Niagara Falls. We miss all of them already! Now, it's back to our routine! The 'ordinary' becomes a welcome and familiar stage of life. Time to be thankful for the small and familiar blessings; time to catch up with local friends and neighbors; and time to get back to The Hill. So... brace yourself, I'm back!
Tags: Christmas Travel Family Adventure
I'm sure that most of us have a memory of some unusual, unplanned, unexpected, unforgettable event during the Christmas season; creating a number of responses. I would love to hear your story. Here's our story... On Christmas Eve, our daughter and family were coming from their island home off the coast of Seattle, Washington to celebrate Christmas with her Canadian family; a rare experience for all of us. At the airport, our son-in-law was told that the documentation that he uses when crossing the border on business was not acceptable when traveling by air on the holiday. He would need to show his valid passport, which was still in a safe place at their home. Depending on the ferry schedule, it could take him at least three hours to get it and return to the airport. By that time, their flight would be near their Canadian destination. And... would there be a seat available on a later flight? Thankfully, he arrived in the evening, just in time for the dessert and coffee (and a calming drink from the bar!) Today, we are collectively anticipating the arrival of relatives from England. We do know that they are on their correct flight. So far... so good! Life certainly is an adventure. Stay tuned... there may be more to come! Mona
Tags: Travel Family Christmas
We have been preparing for our Christmas Family Game, and this year we will be enjoying a crowd of friends and family. There will be 18 people at our son's home for the Christmas Eve Sleep-Over (that's a lot of sleeping bags and foamies)! Grandparents will be sleeping at our house ... the quiet retreat! Our son lives three miles from us, and we will join the crowd for Brunch. We usually play this game on Christmas Eve, and I thought I would share it with my NOTH friends. There will be 21 playing in our game this year, ages 10 to 78! Here are the guidelines ... Christmas Family Game 1. Any number of people, any age can play this game. 2. Prepare gifts, place in sealed paper bags or wrapped, at least double the number of gifts as players. Place all gifts in a large box or basket, in the middle of the playing area. Gifts can be anything … from the Dollar Store, homemade, candy bags, etc. A variety of gift sizes and weight adds interest to the game. Be creative … remember, big isn’t always better!!!! 3. A deck of playing cards is to be passed out to all players. Depending on the number of players, more than one deck can be pass out so that each player has at least four cards. 4. Have a small basket or container with one deck of cards. As the game progresses, have a dealer call out one card at a time. The player(s) with the matching card is to select any gift from the box or basket. When all the gifts have been selected, there will still be more cards to call, and a gift can then be selected from any player. Continue until all the cards have been called. 5. At the end of the game, give a 5-minute opportunity to trade any unopened gift with another player, if you wish. 6. RULES: Players are to have all of their gifts in plain view … no hiding of any gift. Gifts are not to be unwrapped until after the 5-minute period of gift trading the end of the game. Have fun!
Tags: Christmas Family Game
I never liked being an only child! It was lonely, living on a farm. Our closest neighbors were about three miles from us, a mother and her four sons. Those boys were no fun; all of them were much older than me. I would beg for a brother or sister, promising that I would never fight with them, not realizing how how naive that was! My constant companion, when I was able to be outside, was my dog Spot. He was kind of a “common variety” black and white dog, large enough for me to ride around the yard on his back until I was about five years old. I did befriend some chickens so that I could pick them up and carry them, but they weren’t much fun. My mom would often come outside to see if I still had a stick in my hand when the geese were in the yard, in case the gander decided that I was in his ‘territory’. I was never allowed to go into the barn when my parents were milking the cows. Cows kick, you know, and they also are not particular who is around if they decide to create a ‘cow pie’. Yuk! My mother sewed my clothes, and curled my hair into ringlets using rags instead of curlers. My grandfather gave me used piano when I was five years old, and my piano lessons began. My dad would often take me for rides on his saddle horse, and when I started school, he would take me on his horse in good weather. There were times in the winter that the snow was too deep to get the truck up the hill, so dad would hitch the team of horses to a stoneboat, pick up the neighbor’s boys, and take the slow trip to school. Two school years of that routine convinced my parents that they had to make some changes. My dad didn’t enjoy milking cows and growing grain … he had been a cattle driver in the Cypress Hills for several years before he married my mom, but he couldn’t afford to purchase a ranch. They finally decided to move to the city, making it much easier for my schooling. Dad learned to be a construction carpenter, and my mother looked after foster children until I was in high school. For as long as I can remember, I didn’t want to be referred as a ‘spoiled brat’, even though I probably was. I worked very hard during my “growing-up” years to be independent, as much as possible, but still respectful and compliant to my parents. I didn’t want to be a disappointment to them because there weren’t any other children for them to turn to. It is only in the last several years, and observing sibling conflicts that severely strain relationships in families, that I can say how happy I am to be an “only child”.
Tags: Family Children Alone
"Black Friday" has arrived in Canada, and we were hit with a myriad of advertisements on TV, newspapers, and junk mail. I don't like the shopping malls at any time, but watching all that pushing and shoving, with no regard to others, made me almost sick to my stomach. I have my own idea on why it has been called 'Black' Friday, but I'll keep that to myself.  In our valley, we enjoyed "White Friday", and it is still piling on. I took this photo about 4 p.m. and we have at least double the amount now at 9 p.m. The only sniff of fresh air I've had all day was during several quick trips outside with our furry guest. He seemed a bit confused because there was none of that stuff yesterday, but today he had drag his belly through the unending pile of that cold fluff, just to find an appropriate 'deposit' site. In addition, the first time I took him out with my parka hood up, he barked at me and kept it up until I took the hood off. And I didn't think that dogs were that smart! He has only known me for about three weeks. As for "Black Friday"... don't expect to see me at any of those 'stampedes'! Just show me where I can find a Value Village or a Goodwill store. I'll find lots of bargains there!
Tags: Shopping Sales White Weather
I've been on a learning curve this past weekend, and I decided that I would put together a video (without music) that I could upload to YouTube, and try out the tip I read in a Group here on The Hill. The tool that I learned about is online, and it creates embedded code that can be copied and pasted on a website or blog. That sounds like fun. Here is the link: http://www.tools4noobs.com/online_tools/youtube_xhtml/ I posted a music video on my page, and I also wanted to try a personal video, so here I am. The Garden Shed is in our yard, and was my hubby's winter project the year I became a one-handed typist. The 'boxer' break of my dominant hand required a lot of physio, so we were stuck at home. We had visited a Garden Center and Farm Antique Collection in northern California, and one display of several Garden Sheds, constructed with old barn wood, and resembling one-seater or two-seater outhouses, caught our attention. Cute idea, we thought, and would create a lot of conversation and smiles from our visitors at home! When we arrived home, it was discovered that our septic tank was frozen solid because cold weather had arrived when we were away. We should have arranged to have someone pile snow over our septic tank, but that didn't happen. The Septic Service truck made three service calls to get our system up and running again. During a coffee break around our kitchen table, we heard one of the guys ask, "On days like this, where is the outhouse when we really need it?" It caused an outbreak of laughter. I caught my hubby's eye, and recognized the 'look'! We both had the same thought, and that was the beginning of the winter project. We haven't had any emergency since the construction, but we are prepared! In the meantime, we've had a lot of fun. By the way, the "kid" stuck in the hole, is to slow down anyone who thinks the facility is for everyday use. And did I mention the "Fart Machine"? If you don't know what I'm referring to, post your question, and I'll explain!
Tags: Projects Conversation Antiques
We've been hit with a "double whammy" this week. It seems that winter has arrived because we had to get the tractor out of the shed and plow the snow from our house to the main road. We have very thick hoarfrost on the trees which make the view picture-perfect with the clear blue sky as a background, but that view is only possible in freezing temperatures. The second whammy is that our furnace has decided not to supply our house with needed heat. Today was the second cold day in the house, and I wore my winter jacket in the house most of the day. Even the doggy guest was happy to sit with me to keep warm. I didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen because it's not easy to cook or wash dishes with mitts on!!! We were happy to receive the phone call from the plumbers this afternoon, checking to see if the repairs they did this morning has everything working. When they heard that we were still in the cold, they assured us that they would be back by 9 a.m. tomorrow. I sure hope that they won't be diverted to a more serious situation in the morning!
At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, WE WILL REMEMBER! We are not able to get out of our yard today (a winter blanket was left in our area a couple of days ago), so we watched the National War Memorial Ceremony in Ottawa on TV. Today has brought to mind an experience we had some years ago when my husband's next oldest brother made his first trip to England with us. He had always wanted to visit his father's home in Chester-le-Street, and Durham Cathedral, where their father had been baptized. He also was interested to visit the town of Thirsk where a relative is well remembered for the farm implements, bearing his name, were manufactured. He also told us that if we had any time to spare, he would love to visit the Imperial War Museum and the underground Winston Churchill War Rooms in London. When our relatives heard of his interest, they surprised their Canadian visitors by making arrangements to take us on a road trip, through the Chunnel under the English Channel, to Normandy, France. We sat on a grassy hillside overlooking Juno Beach (one of five beaches in the Normandy landings of the Allied invasion of German occupied France) where the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. We drove along the French coast to Bayeux, where there were many monuments and museums in tribute to the courage of the British, Canadian and American armies on that day. But it was our visit to the Normandy American Cemetery, one of 10 American cemeteries, where there are 9,387 burials of US service men and women, and the Beny-sur-Mer Canadan War Cemetery, where there were 2,048 graves, that created lasting memories for us. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and carefully tended to by French citizens, including many school children, as evidence of the continued respect and gratitude of the French people, for the sacrifices by allied forces for the liberation of France. What I was seeing was real, no photographs in glossy books and magazines, and the reality hit hard. There was no conscription in Canada, but thousands of Canadians enlisted voluntarily for military service, while many others contributed at home in the farms and factories. in supporting roles. My background was in the farming and ranching community, and I don't remember any family members who served in active duty, but many of the men were trained as reservists. My now know that I needed to visit France, to see the "full" story. It is now just past noon, and the ceremony is over in Ottawa. Many who wore red poppies on their left side of the chest, near their heart, formed a long procession past the tomb of the Unknown Soldier to lay their poppies on the tomb. They were veterans, active military personnel, dignitaries, members of the royal family, adults and children. It was a moving and final tribute of the day.
Tags: Remembrance Veterans Respect
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