tears...

Sunset
March 28, 2007

Last night's sunset was gorgeous. I'm not going to say a lot right now as I leave in a few minutes to visite Dr. Torture aka dentist. 'Nuff said.

Moon

Moon
March 26, 2007 7:40 AM

Despite several attempts at trying to capture pictures of the moon I've had little success. This picture was taken at 16x zoom with a Canon PowerShot A540. It is a bit grainy but I think it is a pretty good picture. I have a telescope and watch the skies quite often. I really need a camera that works with the telescope to take descent pictures. Yesterday the sky was a vivid blue so the moon was still visible in the morning. This picture captured Mare Serenitatis one of the maria on the side of the moon that aways faces earth.

The moon fascinates me. It is the Queen of the Night being worshipped by ancient peoples and affecting our whole being. We only see one side of the moon as those with maria. Maria are lava plains covered with dark lava rock. The largest is maria is Ocean of Storms and the other is Sea of Tranquility. The far side of the moon has few maria because the crust is thicker.

Today's weather was equally warm, too warm for the time of year so it was no surprise when our second thunderstorm of the season rolled through. It hit with a furry with high winds and large rain drops that turned into driving hail. March's wrath was upon us for a good 20 minutes creating large pockets of water everywhere. While we've had a brief reprieve the skies are again threatening shortly.

Mute Swan

Mute Swan

The swans have been with us for much of the winter. They are such pretty birds! They are usually in pairs and quite often we have six visit us at a time. It's always a treat when they bring the new family along. For a long time I have been calling them tundra swans because that is what I was told they were and we do have tundra swans fly over during migration season. However, these swans seem to be here for much of the year and their beak does not match that of a tundra swan. Being curious, I called our local conservation authority to help me identify the swans. They are Mute Swans because unlike their close look-alikes they don't make noise but don't let that fool you as they can be very aggressive especially when nesting. They are very large birds that are rather easy to tame if you feed them. They will keep coming back.

The feral Mute Swan population has expanded throughout the lower Great Lakes Region. They are a good example of an introduced species that originally was not indigenous to Canada. They are not without problems as beautiful as what they are considering they compete for food and habitat against indigenous water fowl. The Mute Swans are very territorial when nesting often to the point of controlling and entire pond, effectively removing a nesting area for indigenous waterfowl, according to the conservation officer, They are also a good example of what can happen when a foreign species is introduced into an ecosystem.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - A New Reminder to be Thankful

I first saw the concept of Blog Your Blessings Sunday on blue panther's blog while surfing on Blog Explosion. The idea of taking time to be thankful for even the smallest things in life isn't new which explains the old saying of take time to smell the roses. So, I have joined in this quest to share my blessings weekly. My goal is to find 10 blessings from the previous week and post those each Sunday.

Last Week's Blessings:

1. my husband - He is my best friend, lover, confidant, mentor, strength, and support. He's always there for me through everything!
2. my children - They are amazing young adults with goals and dreams yet know family comes first. They remain very close and in almost daily contact with us and each other.
3. our new grand baby - She's a little miracle! What a wonderful delight to have this little angel in our lives.
4. our home - We are so very blessed to own our home! It isn't fancy but is in a good location with a nice view, fairly inexpensive to maintain and allows me to put good food on the table through gardening. It shields us from the world, comforts us and gives us strength
   
5. my cooking skills - These are a true blessing and one for which I am very grateful.
6. compassion - My new dentist is overflowing with compassion! I found him by fluke out of necessity and with my dentist phobia that wasn't easy. He has gone over and beyond trying to keep me calm and comfortable. He is the first good dentist I've ever had!
7. approaching spring - I'm very blessed that this time of the year sees a building of anticipation and lessening of the dull grey days boosting my mood and energy levels.
8. gnomes - They spark a bit of childhood imagination and make me smile. These little people bring blessings to the garden in so many ways!
9. internet - I've been blessed this week to receive several pictures of our new grand baby, keep in touch with relatives living out of country, do a bit of online genealogy, share some of the pictures I've taken with others through my blogs, communicated with many people I will never get the chance to meet, and met a lot of nice bloggers.
10. just being - The past week was very stressful but I am still thankful for just being.
    

Bashing CBC

Sunset
March 22, 2007

The skies have been reflecting March's fickleness changing from blazing colour in the morning to dull grey during the day and more colour at night. We are getting more bright blue with white cloud skies trying to make their way into the grey.

A few entries back I made an entry bashing CBC for cancelling Emmerdale. Now it does seem to be our national pass time to bash CBC, some of it in good humour but sometimes in the what were they thinking category. As Canadians, it is one of the few things we complain about but we are usually polite when doing so. One thing we love poking fun at is our national icons and who helps us do it better than CBC?

In fairness to CBC, they do present some of the best Canadian humour and my now one and only favourite soap, Coronation Street. Some of my favourite comedies are This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer's Monday Report, Royal Canadian Air Farce, Arrested Development, The Red Green Show and the new Little Mosque on the Prairie. Of course there are the comedy club specials always well worth watching and don't forget Hockey Night in Canada with Don Cherry. They have been know to show some very good documentaries with Canada: A People's History being one of the most memorable. If you get a chance to see this series it is more than worth it. The videos can be orders for your personal library. The are a wonderful resource for anyone teaching Canadian History and have been approved for use in the classroom by many Canadian school boards.

Long live CBC. May it continue to tick us off and be a scapegoat while providing us with some very good Canadian programming.

To the Dentist...

Sunrise this Morning

It was a beauty of a sunrise this morning predicting what was to come. I spent a wonderful hour and half in the dentist's chair but at least it was shorter than last Tuesday's appointment. Now, I have a major phobia where dentists are concerned which meaning serious getting sick well before the appointment. Knowing I had to be there before 9 am really set my day off to a bad start. So they started the work and I only sniveled a couple of times and I didn't bite anyone! By the time I was finished I felt positively nauseated but stopped at the grocery store anyway. I came out to great my husband to pouring rain but pleased with my purchases. One quick stop at a specialty market and I was ready to head home. Numbness is good sometimes!

Three good things that happened today: my new garden gnomes arrived, I didn't bite the dentist, I made cookies!

Out of sorts...

Fog Over the Water

A couple of days ago the temperature fell suddenly creating an almost instantaneous blanket of fog on the water. I really think this picture sums up how I'm feeling right now. The first major problem is the neighbours so we are seriously considering selling. Life is to short to deal with this type of nonsense if you don't have to. So Thursday, we go to look at a new house. It is bigger so I'd have an actual dedicated craft room, guest room and two other bedrooms. The down side is it basically has mature landscaping. I'm sure I can work a vegetable garden in so one step at a time.

The second major problem is my mouth. I finally went to the dentist who was going to pull a wisdom tooth yesterday but couldn't get enough freezing in. Instead, I'm sporting two very nice white fillings and gosh do they ever look nice! Talk about an ego boost. The problem is the wisdom tooth that is half in and half out has to come out as it's already been abscessed once and they have to freeze my teeth for deep cleaning. Because he does it in quadrants for sissies like me that means four more trips with the first one on Thursday. That means with my dental phobia anything I eat between now and Thursday will promptly be coming back up. By Thursday morning I will be sleep deprived and I'll be sniffling back the tears. I'd love to be in one huge fog just until all the dental work is done. Just knock me out, do the work and let me go on my merry way, the way life is intended!

The Beauty of Storms

Triple Lightening

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2007

Mornings

Mornings are one of my favourite times of the day. I love watching the sunrise to great the day and hear the birds twittering as the world seems to come alive. During the growing season it is the best time to be out in the garden. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning does ring true. Some of the most gorgeous sunrises give way to the nastiest weather throughout the day. Another way to tell nasty weather in on the way is to observe the moon on a clear night. A hazy ring around the moon means precipitation will be coming.

Mornings have been a bit rough lately with the time change. Both of us are still a bit sluggish. I'm gradually getting back into my morning routine, rising earlier while it is still dark. The anticipation of what the day will bring plays heavily. Whatever the day unfolds, mornings hold a clean slate for us to shape.

Counting blessings...

A Dream?

Many of us have been blessed to never have been homeless or even very poor. Even a good portion of the poor have it considerably better than the home in the dream. People are truly blessed in North America and the vast majority of people have only seen on television how the very poor or homeless live. Sometimes when we are stressed over financial matters, we may have nightmares over being homeless but for most of us that will not happen.

I was playing with filters trying to get just the right look because somehow the harshness of the picture with all it's truth of how we as a society treat our poor just seemed too raw. Through the filter it does look dreamlike and more like a home in the woods, not the reality it is. Here is the actual photo in all it's rawness. It was taken from the bridge overlooking Cumberland River.

Not A Dream!
Shanty on banks of Cumberland River, Nashville, TN

We visited Nashville, TN for a few days to celebrate New Year's Eve 2005, greet 2006 and see the area. We had a grand time. There were so many things to see, so much great food and ringing in the new year will be an unforgettable experience in so many ways. The cabs were very busy so we decided to walk back to where we were staying. It was dark and from below the bridge I could see a few barely twinkling lights on the river bank. I thought it was a funny time to be fishing and thought no more about it. The next morning we walked over the bridge and to my amazement saw shanties. I was actually stunned to think of people living like this and at the same time could empathize with them for how much they wanted to create their own home. I had to take pictures!

This photo shows how desperately people want to be part of society to the point they will even construct make-shift homes using the cast-offs of such a wasteful society. It was set up so home-like and organized complete with a front and back door. I'm assuming the tent is his or hers version of a washroom or grooming area. The carpeted path lead me to believe this person was likely using this water for drinking and bathing. There was even a small garden bed in front of the shanty. Obviously this person has a desire to get his message out much like any of us who blog or communicate in other ways to a larger audience. I did read the scriptures but will reserve comment leaving that up to you the reader to ponder on, the scriptures not my lack of commenting.

We were told that the shanties are fairly common along the banks of the river in Nashville. The city removes them once or twice a year but they keep returning. The sad thing is, someone is actually making use of things others have tossed out but when the city clears the banks, that stuff all goes to a landfill. We were also told that some of these people can become quite agitated or aggressive trying to protect what little they have, much like anyone else. Sadder still that we as society ignore the plight of these people. It's so easy to pass judgement on them from the comforts of our couches in our warm houses, our bellies filled as we contemplate what to watch on TV or what latest gadget to buy.

Daylight Savings Time 2007

January 2006
Nashville, Tennessee

Daylight Savings Time always throws my body out of kilter so I'm basically in brain fog heaven right now. It's two weeks earlier this year as most of you know. I had to download an update for the Mac that only took 4 hours on dial-up. No problem but then I had to stop everything I was doing and reboot. Sunday morning I was wide awake at 5:30 am only to find out when I sat down to the computer it was 6:30 am. It took two cups of coffee and several times checking the other clocks for it to finally clue in that I had lost an hour. So now it's Monday and my timing is still off. It will take a week or so for me to adjust!

A Fireball Sunset

Sunset
March 7, 2007

I love sunsets! I think they symbolize a day well lived. Sunrises symbolize the promise of what the day will unfold. We live where quite often we are blessed with glorious sunrises and sunsets. They never cease to amaze or dazzle. No two are ever alike! The sun was just at a perfect spot for this photograph. When I took the photo, I didn't think it would come out this vibrant. I have a Canon PowerShot A540. Quite often this time of year photos are taken on zoom from indoors. That's my lazy, not wanting to go out in the cold bone coming out. My only complaint with this camera has been that sometimes it doesn't seem to capture the vividness of the pinks in sunrises or sunsets. Of course, some or most of this is due to user error, I'm sure.

Steam Ethanol Plant

Steam
Ehanol Plant

I was on a road trip a couple of days ago so had a chance to take this photo. The day was grey and I know the steam is more impressive against a blue sky but this sight just matched my mood. The ethanol plant kind of has a love/hate thing going for it. It smells but it provides employment for that area but it smells! Now I don't mind the smell and actually think it smells pretty neat but I don't have to smell it daily. In order to appease some of the complainants, they added to the smoke stack. The idea was if they got the steam higher into the air, there would be less odour. Apparently that isn't working well so the love/hate continues. Those in the know argue it out, those dealing with the odour are being vocal and those with the jobs are grateful.

The Sky on Fire

Sunset
March 4, 2006

The weekend has been sleep deprived and riddled with neighbour problems. Well those would have been bad enough except I have a dentist appointment today. I had an abscessed tooth in November. I'm still trying to clear those dang antibiotics from my system! So today, I'm going to go to the dentist, a new one, to see what needs to be done. The problem is I HATE dentists and have a complete phobia of them. The very nice receptionist said they have nitrous oxide. Hell, I want to be knocked entirely out and that is just for a dental x-ray. Besides, dental x-rays have been known to scramble the brains. Any radiation does affect the DNA and the teeth tend to be fairly close to the brain, last time I checked. This is just not shaping up to be a good day!

Mini Iceberg

Our Iceburg

From the house our mini iceberg was impressive. It almost looked like there was a polar bear on it. It's gone now since the water is moving again. Such a beautiful spot and so many problems...

I'm in a very pissy mood today and something you will seldom see on this or any of my blogs. My neighbours have been at it yet again! We live beside a 7 unit scums-are-us unit where one tenant dictates to the owner what he can and can't do. The owner is scared of this tenant or believing his lies so I've decided after almost four years of dealing with this bs, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Yesterday I put up several several posters in response to their f%^&$#@ orange line marking the property line. Do you know how many people have actually stopped to look at that dang line! Yep, it is the talk of the whole village and she who put it there doesn't want to take responsibility or pretends it doesn't exist while we take the dang fallout. So yesterday after a nice conversation with a passerby and hearing that she who put it there was sluffing it off saying she didn't know who did it even though we have pictures to prove she did it, I decided on the posters. Then I called a nice place that has those portable signs. Guess what is going to be in place by mid afternoon? I'm tired of dealing with this bitch and guess what her rights end at my property line. Period! But I'm not done with her yet. That sign will be lit for at least one month, on our property and not a dang thing she can do about it. Second, I am just in the right mood to set up a new blog not using my blogger ID and hosted elsewhere about these f$%#@(*^ neighbours, complete with pictures. They seem to thing they have all the dang rights while we have to just take it up the arse? I don't think so. And if I think I can get media coverage out of this I will. They put that line down to embarrass us now it is time for them to see what embarrassment is all about!

End of rant and sorry to my readers who have never seen this side of me and like won't again. Sometimes in life you have to make a stand and this time I'm making one!

Sunset over the Water

Sunset
February 22, 2007

It has been a rough weekend yet nothing was going on. Friday and Saturday nights I fell to sleep easily enough only to wake around 3 am. By Sunday night I was too tired to sleep, if that makes sense. Still I finally drifted off to awaken at 4:30 am and have been up ever since. Over the weekend I've become increasing irritable and this morning I just can't get warm, all clear signs of being overtired.

A restless mind is often the cause of not being able to sleep. My problem is quite often my mind just doesn't want to sleep. It does have a mind of its own, no pun intended. So here I sit, needing to update my blogs with a mind that just doesn't want to co-operate. Oh sure, it will give me hints that sleep would be nice but as soon as I try to sleep, it's a whole different story!

One of the questions I'm often asked is why blog? Blogging is a type of online diary but it can be so much more. I started my first blog on gardening then followed it through with another on cooking, one on homemaking and this one on a catch-all but mainly genealogy. So mine are fairly categorized. For me, blogging makes sense. First you can write on any topic you want or none at all. Second the blog hosts make it easy to change your layouts and add posts as needed. Readers can interact with you which makes it a little nicer than home pages. I can remember when they were all the rage! So I think overall blogs are an improvement on home pages allowing the author to share with others what he or she chooses to.

Apparently there are now sites that pay you to post to your blog and of course the adware didn't take long catching on to the popularity of blogging. I have definite opinions on both of these tactics. I think using a site like payperpost.com reduces the quality of the author's posts. They become no longer unique and part of themselves. In short they are no longer sharing what it was they had hoped for when the first set up their blog. They've lost part of themselves. I hate the looks of the "I'm being paid by for this post" icons. Honestly, that will turn me off anyone's blog immediately! Second, blogs were meant for sharing information both personal or theme based, not for advertising. To my fellow bloggers, get those ads off your blogs! I visit your blogs to read what you have to say, learn a bit, to view your pictures, enjoy your humour and sympathize with your pain. I don't want to see ads, sorry!

Welcome March 2007

March Came in Like a Lion
Zone 6A, Ontario, Canada

March came in like a lion yesterday with freezing rain, snow flurries and high winds. Today isn't much better. The sun came out for about 10 minutes this morning then all of a sudden everything got very dark and we had a nice snow squawl with white-out conditions! Right now the sun is trying to shine but the skies again look ominous and the winds are now fiercely howling. It's typical March weather changing minute by minute and never knowing what to expect, very bi-polar if you ask me!

I haven't been doing as much genealogy as I should because I've had other commitments. This is the perfect time for doing research inside given the weather conditions outside. A few days ago, I received a couple of emails from a cousin also doing research. Each contained a picture, one of a family member's homestead and the other of a family group photograph. I would have been able to get a picture of the homestead myself but not of the family group photograph. This is why it is so important to make whatever contacts you can when doing genealogy research. Genealogists love sharing especially tid bits, family stories and pictures. Quite often these little jewels will appear in your inbox or through a phone call as the person is going through some of their data and is generous enough to share the information. So keep those lines of communication open and active!