|
Viewing 28 - 36 out of 244 Blogs.
| Page:
|
|
4 |
|
|
We’ve said our final farewell to 2020… such a memorable year! Have you kept an updated journal, did as much as possible for yourself, and followed the rules as best you could? Have you remembered to have a thankful heart when you wake up every morning? We don’t have a big house, but during of weeks of ‘isolation’, I started to visit the room at the end of the hall that isn’t used very much, except to stash items that I won’t often need or even look at. It is our ‘Library’, initially intended to be my office. It’s a nice room, has a couple of comfortable chairs and a TV that isn’t hooked up now. The closet was “converted” to a small desk, but not big enough to accommodate the stuff that I like to have within my reach when I’m using my computer. During our times of “isolation", and trying to entertain myself during the day, I decided to try and tidy our collection of books and music. Even though I now prefer to read on my tablet, Kobo reader, or computer because of the challenges of my “senior” vision, many of the titles brought back wonderful memories of past delights. I’ve never been much of a fan of fiction novels, but delight in personal life experiences written and published by gifted authors who can be referred to as ‘word-smiths’! Because I enjoy good humor (without the use of common ‘4-letter’ expletives), I spotted a collection of books by Erma Brombeck, such as ‘The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank’. That was a prize, being that we were new to ‘country living’ without the services of city utilities. I have several books by Peter Jenkins, best known for his first book (I think), titled ‘A Walk Across America’, followed by ‘A Walk West’ and ‘The Road Unseen’. I’ve never been much of a “walker”, preferring to ride whatever mode of transportation was available, so to look at the world through Peter Jenkin’s eyes was a real treat. A series of books (‘All Things Bright & Beautiful’, ‘All Things Great & Small’, and ‘All Things Wise & Wonderful’ ) by the animal veterinarian, James Herriott, became even more special when we were able to visit his clinic in Thirsk, England. We were also introduced to Michael Palin while travelling, and have collected several of his travel picture books, including ‘The New Europe’, that are now great reminders of places that we have been privileged to visit in person, or still have in our “Bucket List”. Being a “Royalist” most of my life, my collection of table-top books on the Royal Family has overflown to a cardboard box in the storage garage. My husband enjoys biographies, and anything that supports his two major hobbies… vintage tractors and collectible telephones. A large section in our library covers meaningful subjects in our spiritual journey, by authors you may recognize. Lee Strobel, started his series of books with ‘A Case for Christ’, Donald Miller wrote ‘Blue Jazz’, and an early book by Phillip Yancy is ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’. We also have books by C.S. Lewis, Max Lucado, Josh McDowel, and Brian McLaren… all with thought-provoking and challenging topics. I’ve written enough for this week, and will be working on Part 2 for next week, or whenever I am able to be here on The Hill. In the meantime, be well... stay safe... and remember to be thankful. Life could be a lot worse!
Tags: Books Travel Library Collections
It was in 1961, that a song was written and then recorded by Frank Sinatra, which we all sang with great enthusiasm. We had finished three years of nursing training, we could either go back home or apply and accept a ‘paying job’ anywhere we wanted to be. Several classmates had already made wedding plans, and there were no more curfews. There were several who chose to further their education, travel, and work toward new goals. The majority of my classmates were now twenty-one years of age, and that was a big deal! Times have changed… we’ve had some great years with wonderful experiences, and we’ve had some ‘not-so-good’ years that we don’t want to repeat. We’ve had good jobs, been able to enjoy vacation times, and we’ve watched our families grow up. We’ve even been able to welcome and enjoy grandchildren… who are not ‘children’ any more, but mature young adults, stretching their ‘wings’ to get ready to fly. Life carries on! Where were you in 2000, the year a computer bug threatened to bring down modern civilization? It was the Y2K bug that brought the world together. Experts sounded the alarm, and politicians listened. The crisis was averted due to the unprecedented international effort of governments and private sector leaders around the world. Computers were new and the world was learning how it worked. I had my computer for over 15 years, had a home-based word processing business, and was concerned that I would lose all my files if the virus would hit my computer. We stayed up to watch the new year arrive, and learned that my computer was still working. I’m sure that I checked it again in the morning to make sure that it was still working. Have the events of this year brought the world together again? We need to look around… find out what has been happening in our own community? Now we are at the end of 2020, and we have the opportunity to look back and review the year that was. Are there some things lodged in our memory that, in spite of the many negative reports and personal events, we can still sing the last verse of the song… But now the days are short, I’m in the autumn of the year And now I think of my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs From the brim to the dregs, and it poured sweet and clear It was a very good year. I’m still here; I am rich in family, neighbors and friends. Most of all, I have a faith that is strong, and even though I don’t understand the mind of God, I know that He is the source of peace, joy, and love. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Tags: Past Years Music Thoughts
I’m not yet ready to write a blog about Christmas, but I’ll get there. This week, I’ve been thinking about trains, especially while watching so many ‘going’ and ‘coming’ through our valley. Trains have change in many ways in my lifetime, and this may bring back a few memories for you too. In the early 1940s, our family lived on a farm, and when it was necessary to travel 80 miles to the city, many times my Mom and I would take the train. The proprietor of our General Store, would sell us our tickets, and then put up ‘the flag’ so that the train engineer would know to stop the train to pick up more passengers. I loved the huge steam engine, and the recognizable whistle that we could hear on the farm. I didn’t love it so much on the winter trip in 1947, when the train got stuck in the huge snow drifts. I do remember that we had to sleep on the train one night, until the snow plow helped to get the train going again. When I had my first vacation, after graduating from Nursing School, I treated myself to a long train ride from the small prairie town where I worked to the northern mountain area of the western province. It was my first independent trip to visit my very favorite friends, and the whole vacation was filled with many first-time experiences. The next significant train ride was with our two children, heading to the west coast of Canada on ‘The Canadian’. We spent a lot of time in the Panorama Car, a sort of ‘bubble top’ that was perfect to observe the beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The kids were well entertained, no matter where they were on the train, especially in the Dining Car. Our travels have also given us opportunity to take train rides. We’ve been on trains in theme parks, LRT in several cities, and on a narrow-gauge railway in Alaska. We also toured England on a train, travelled to Edinburgh and Inverness in Scotland, and now enjoy train travels on TV. Our travel days seem to be in the past, but we still have these trains to watch every day. I’m still fascinated, and catch myself trying to count the cars as they roll down the valley. Many of them are well over 100 cars, with multiple engines on front and in the middle, and a pusher at the back. I've discovered that it is much easier to count cars when I’m at a rail crossing in town, and need to be patient.
Tags: Travel Steam Engine Memories
 Most people here on The Hill know that we live in the Foothills of the Canadian Rockies. They understand that we have four distinctive seasons, represented by blooming trees and beds of bright flowers, bright cloudless skies and much warmer days, colorful tree leaves and food-producing gardens, and piles of snow and ice-covered rivers and lakes. So… why have I started this blog with that photo? We’re almost through the first week of December, supposedly getting ready for Christmas, and there isn’t a hint of snow in the photo. You are right… I took that photo from my favorite window. No wonder I’m having a problem getting into the Christmas Spirit. I’ve read many items on the Internet about the banning of Christmas traditional activity, which had caused me to recall our family traditions. During the growing-up years of our children, we developed an unusual list of traditions. My husband’s business activities were always at optimum during the warm weather, making it almost impossible to have a vacation when the children were enjoying summer holidays. It was much more convenient to take a vacation in the Christmas/New Year’s break, and because we wanted to have “family” vacations, and our kids were happy with ‘family’ activities, we would have a yearly 3-week vacation, starting the week before Christmas. We did enjoy a family dinner and gift exchange with grandparents in mid December, a few days before our scheduled departure on our road trip to some southern point of the U.S. Our children knew there wouldn’t be any gifts under a decorated Christmas tree. The trip was our family gift, including visits to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, San Diego Wild Animal Park and Zoo, and other unexpected attractions that we would discover. The most they could expect was a Christmas stocking, and perhaps turkey sandwiches, if we didn’t have any cooking opportunities. Now that our children have their own families, we have enjoyed several similar vacations, and alternating our Christmas celebrations… one year with our U.S. family, and the next year with our Canadian family. Our traditions have been shut down this year, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be celebrating Christmas. We can still communicate with our family members, no matter where they are, thanks to telephones and the Internet. We can celebrate the birth of Jesus, the greatest gift from our Creator God. We can celebrate and be thankful for every breath that we have, for caring friends and neighbors, for our home and for food that many in our world can’t even imagine. We can still keep Christ in Christmas!
Tags: Celebrate Traditions Gifts Family
In the mid-1980s, our two children were both completing their high school education and were trying to decide what they wanted to do as an adult. There were a few ideas, but the question was, “Would Dad and Mom agree?” Our son wanted to sell real estate, like his father did, but had to be convinced that he was too young. Where would he find a customer who would be willing to work with an 18-year old Realtor? Our independent daughter wanted to get a business degree, but not anywhere near home. She also wanted to attend a Christian university, to learn more about her spiritual journey, so applied to various colleges and decided that whoever accepted her first, gets her. She ended up in Indiana, then transferred to Washington for her last year, where she met the love of her life. Shortly after she started her first year, I received a letter from a friend, asking if I had heard about a little known U.S. law that would give Canadians the opportunity for dual citizenship. She thought it probably was a silly rumor but perhaps I would be interested to hear more about it. I definitely was interested and did some investigation. This is what I learned: “Any Canadian who was born before 1947 to American-born parents, had not served in the Canadian Military, and did not have a criminal record, could apply to the U.S. Government for dual citizenship.” Why 1947? Because that was the year that the Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect, with the evolution of Canada as a sovereign and independent nation. I qualified! My parents were born in the U.S. and their families immigrated to Canada in the early 1900s. My husband and I did a lot of traveling, but would we consider moving to the U.S. in our working years? Not likely! Our daughter may want to stay in the U.S., near friends developed at university, and she would need to have a job. As a dual citizen, I could petition for members of my family to receive a ‘green card’, enabling them to work in the U.S. However, only my daughter has a green card, has married her American sweetheart, and they have raised their family on the West Coast. As for me, the ‘dual citizen’, I never used my American passport, and kept in a memory box with other treasured items. We had crossed the International board many times without incident, using my Canadian passport, so why complicate a situation by showing the wrong passport at the wrong crossing. To make my situation more complicated, I have two birth certificates, same date, different countries. How would I be able to explain that to a border guard? Even though I reported the error, the U.S. birth certificate was never corrected, insisting that they never made the mistake. I wasn’t born in the U.S., none of my education was in the U.S., I have never worked or owned property in the U.S., and I do not pay taxes in the U.S. Try and explain how and why I got to be a U.S. citizen to an Immigration lawyer! Don’t you just love government bureaucracy?
Tags: Family History Passports Rules
This blog may seem to be a repeat of things that many of us have experienced and thought about, but here I am… writing again now that I have some “extra” time on my hands. We had an experience a couple of days ago that got me thinking about all the “new” stuff we have learned to enjoy during our lifetime… a lifetime that may seem to be very long, but in the whole scheme of things it is less than an instant. I recently wrote about the progress of photographs from hand-tinting studio photos to personal digital photo treasures that can be stored on our computers. This week I’ve been thinking about the collection of ‘hardware’ that has been in my family’s possession in my lifetime, and in my personal collection. My parents had a treasured box camera that accommodated a spool of negative film that copied the intended photo in black and white. It then needed to be dropped off at the drug store in our town to be sent away to be developed and printed. There was great anticipation for the arrival of an envelope that contained the printed photos. We could enjoy them and would mount them, with the help of “photo corners”, in a photo album with black pages, for safe keeping. My first camera, which was my special Christmas gift when I was in Junior High school, was a Brownie Hawkeye, a bakelite box camera that would take 12 square photos on a 620 film. It had a great glass viewfinder and a carry handle that made it easy to hold steady to take great b/w pictures. My next camera gift was a high school graduation gift from my parents, and it was with me through my three years at Nursing School. I was able to take colored slides and I believe the process was called Kodachrome. Details elude me, but I did have a carousel slide projector with the round slide holders to store the slides. We also had a portable screen to show the photos to family and friends. I still have these two cameras in my collection of "junque"! The photos taken during my “nursing days” were shared at our reunions, held every five years, bringing back many funny and serious memories with classmates. When our Golden Jubilee Reunion was on the calendar, I discovered that some of the slides were fading, so my project was to scan more than 800 slides, making the photos to be digital, so that I could burn them on DVD discs, to be gifted to classmates to celebrate more than fifty years of friendship. We did some travelling with our children during their school years, and my next photography adventure involved a bulky video camera. The battery pack was too heavy to carry along with the camera, so it was mounted on a suitcase cart that I could pull along. No offers to help Mom… if I wanted to take pictures, I had to look after the whole load. No problem… we HAD wonderful videos of vacation adventures and at-home antics, until someone accidently recorded new videos over the old ones. Guess who had the most tears! I loved the colored photos that came from my 35-mm cameras, and wasn’t interested in the new digital camera that our adult son purchased. However, at his insistence, I agreed to take his camera with us on our cruise to Alaska, take the same photo with my 35-mm and his digital camera, and compare them. I had about ten photos to compare, then the motor that activated the LD lens on my camera burned out. I would have been without a camera on our first cruise if I hadn’t agreed to try his new camera. My first digital camera easily fit into my large handbag, to my delight. That was before there was such a thing as a ‘smart’ phone. Now my ever-present camera is in in my pocket or within reach at home. One never knows when a photo opportunity presents itself… a wild animal at our bird feeder or a beautiful sunset, or a fun photo to share with other family members and friends. Some samples have even been posted on the Internet. About my experience this week, thanks to our son. He came to our home to introduce and demonstrate his new “work toy”. He has been a Realtor for more than 35 years, and the results from his new camera will be a great addition to his presentations. He gave me a copy of the video that I can share with my cyber friends who know about our “green valley”. It isn’t green right now, but the view hasn’t changed. We still enjoy it every day!
Tags: Camera Slides Prints Digital Hobby
When I was writing my latest blog, sharing my passion for photos and photography, my mind was all over the place. Why am I so hooked on photos? Are others in my family just as 'hooked' on photos? Has my love of photos opened other avenues of interest for me? I decided that if I included everything that I wanted to say, the blog would be too long, and it would be boring. But it is hard to keep me quiet!!!!! For me, my photos are my version of a personal journal. I never kept a diary or wrote a journal, and writing blogs were something that I started here on NOTH a number of years ago. I enjoyed reading blogs written by others, and decided to give it a try. Having my parents' photo albums, well organized and carefully mounted on black pages and protected in hard cover albums, I am willing to share copies with relatives, some who had very few photos and live on the other side of the globe. I kept trying to figure out the easiest way to share a lot of photos. A couple of years ago, I learned about software and associated website that is a great tool. It is a Photo Scan App by Photomyne. The app installs on a cell phone, and it scans multiple photos, crops them, and saves them in individuals files. It can also store the photos online, and create links to share with others. It will even colorize the vintage black and white photos that have been scanned. It has more tools than Google Chrome, and it is economical. There is no need to remember how to hand-color photos now, but I still have samples of what I did when I was in high school. I also have our own studio wedding photo that I colored, in a glass frame displayed in our living room. Photos now can be colored with computer software, and I'm trying to learn it now. Not too good at it yet, but it certainly has occupied my time during this pandemic. A personal friend, who knows that I once could do photo restoration when I first started working on computers, invited me to join a closed group on 'the other' social media, and help with the challenges being posted on their group. People are welcome to post photos that need repairs... some damaged by a flood, some torn, some discolored by age, and many other requests. The only payments required are 'please' and 'thank you' to the artist who did the repairing. The 'artists' just do it because they enjoy doing it! I had to learn new software because my software (CorelDraw) was so old, it doesn't work on Windows 10. I'm not going to tackle PhotoShop, but there are great tools available online that can be tried before purchasing it.
I am so thankful for this challenge this year... I certainly haven't been bored!
Tags: Photos Hobby
I have always had a passion for photographs. When I arrived in our family, my mother purchased a box camera. I still have quite a few photos of myself, starting as a babe in arms, and my growing up years on the farm. I don't have any siblings so I was the 'star'! When we moved to the city, and I was attending school, Mother used a Brownie camera, with the glass view finder, which I still have in my collection. The definition of a trove, according to Webster, is a collection or store of valuable or delightful things, and I certainly have a trove of photos. My first job, when I attended High School, was at a photo studio where I learned to hand-color photos, both studio wedding photos and portraits. It was a fascinating art and desired by customers because there was no such thing of colored film for cameras. My parents gave me a camera when I entered Nursing School so that I could create memories of three years of training, with new friends and of new experiences. During those years, in the late 1950s, colored slides came into being. I have several large photo albums, with black and white photos mounted with 'corner stickers', that were always available at every class reunion, which were held every five years. I also had carousals of slides and a projector, that we could enjoy together with friends and classmates. When we were preparing for our 50th Year Reunion, I discovered that the colored slides were beginning to deteriorate, so I scanned about 800 slides and burned them on CDs, as a commemorative gift for classmates. They created a flood of memories for all of us... with lots of laughs, happy and sad stories, and some forgotten details. The photos taken of our family, from our wedding, the birth of our children and their growing up years have been preserved in many albums. It is the closest to being a journal, not in written words, but in photos. My dear husband was so generous in supporting my passion of photography with a variety of cameras, from 35 mm with additional lens, to compact pocket cameras, to digital. Our travel experiences have been recorded and shared with family and friends; an experience that my father called "armchair travels". I still take photos frequently with the camera in my phone, which is always within reach. It's the best camera that I've had, and I can sort out the mediocre ones from the treasured ones, at no extra cost, and enjoy them whenever I want. They are my treasure trove!
Tags: Photos Memories Journal
We've just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving... and I even wrote a blog about it. It has been a busy time in our household... birthday celebrations, a bit of travel, thanksgiving with some of the family and missing the rest, plus the daily activities that hopefully keep us out of trouble. October 22/20 didn't seem to fit in those categories. It has been said that "life is the sum total of all experiences...", and for me, it was a 'dousie'! I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, but it happened... and as I said in my previous blog, it is a good practice to look for things we are thankful for, even in the bad times. So here's my list for that day. I'm thankful for: ⦁ ... the lady who drove to our rural location to cut our hair on the driveway, not once but twice, during this pandemic. ⦁ ... the suggestion that I come to her small indoor salon in the city, located in a Seniors' apartment', now that the weather is looking more like winter. ⦁ ... the GPS in my vehicle that helps and confirms my effort to arrive safely at an unfamiliar destination. ⦁ ... the watchful eyes of my stylist who appeared at the door of my vehicle, parked across the street from the entrance, to give me an arm to hang on to as we cross the icy street. ⦁ ... her offer to retrieve my 'forgotten' mask in my vehicle while I wait on the sidewalk and sturdy railing to the entrance of the building. ⦁ ... the snow bank just behind me that cushioned my unexpected fall due to a fainting spell. I even had witnesses. ⦁ --- the city police constable who stopped to find out why a person was laying on the snowbank along with several persons gathered around her. ⦁ ... the staff member who observed the commotion from her window and called 911 before coming outside to investigate. ⦁ ... the professional and caring team in the ambulance who listened, suggested, advised, and tested every way they could think of, before concluding that there was no need to proceed to the nearest hospital. They were also very entertaining, and we had a number of 'chuckles' in the back of the ambulance. ⦁ ... for the extra time that was given to complete the booked appointment, before I headed for home, with a thankful heart, and a head full of questions. ⦁ ... my understanding husband who stopped his activity in his shop to drive me back to the city to retrieve my glasses and my hearing aides from my hairdresser. I didn't even miss them until I was almost at home. What was that all about? ⦁ ... a good night of sleep, and only a few bruises, both physical and emotional. Still can't figure out how all that happened, especially when I had planned to do a bit of shopping in the city after my appointment. I probably saved some money too! I have had this quote by my desk for many years, and I'm thinking it is also an appropriate reminder for me this week. 
Tags: Personal Experience Kindness Caring Friends
| Page:
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
