I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - Happy Hallowe'en

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

This past week we were able to share and enjoy the excitement of a much younger generation's anticipation at dressing up and going door to door trick or treating.  My gosh, how times have changed.  I can remember rushing out the door to be on of the first kids to get Mrs. S's famous fudge then scurrying along as fast as my legs would go to get Mrs. M's popcorn balls and Mrs. T's peanut butter cookies.  Well heaven forbid that the little ones can enjoy that now.  Everything must be wrapped in unopened packages and we daren't give them any fresh fruit either.  At some point the custom of Hallowe'en is going to go by the wayside.  We are really blessed to know what this wonderful tradition was like as children, watch our kids enjoy it and now get to see our grandkids enjoy it.  Traditions are blessings.  They help to ground us, link us to our past and give us a bit of comfort in an ever changing world.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, October 30, 2010

Thoughts About Charlie Sheen

My gosh Charlie Sheen has had an uncanny knack of getting himself in the news lately!  It wasn't bad enough with the last round of attention he is once again in the news for apparently trashing a motel room while in the company of female companion that resulted in him being detained for a psychological assessment.  Now this is just downright sad.

I love watching Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men.  The interaction is just priceless but at some level under shadows Charlie as a person.  Some where the line between fiction and reality has been crossed.  On Two and a Half Men Charlie plays Charlie, a self absorbed, boozing womanizer of rather shallow values.  It is easy to find a lot of fault with his character in this show and yet he is good looking, charming and has a sense of humour mixed with sarcasm giving him a lot of points as far a being the handsome bad boy.  And this is where it should have stayed, all fiction.  Instead he has brought the fictional character into real life or perhaps he brought his real life character into his fictional character which may explain why he plays it so well.  At any rate on tv it is cute, amusing and downright funny, in real life is it far from being cute, amusing or funny.  Somehow knowing his ongoing personal struggles takes a bit of enjoyment out of watching his online persona.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, October 29, 2010

Internet Follies


The internet has become such a large part of our lives that going without is no longer a practical option.  It now is a major way of staying connected with family and friends, finding information quickly and a source of entertainment.  I had wonderful high speed DSL two houses ago.  Our last house while have a lovely location was rural so at that time the only internet service available was dial-up.  When we moved here which is also rural we were able to get satellite internet service that according to them was a step up from dial-up.  It has been absolutely nothing but a pain in the kester!  I'm not kidding if a mosquito is so much as even remotely being near the beam the signal goes out.  Then there is the wonderful FAP graciously approved of by the CRTC.  It means that at some magical bandwidth trigger of which the satellite service does not have to reveal they will throttle down the service to lower than dial-up speeds.  Essentially what happens is you pay 100% for 40% at best of the advertised satellite internet speeds.  Now would you go into a restaurant, order a burger and pay full price if they brought you out less than half of the burger?  Not very likely but the CRTC in their ultimate wisdom on how to screw the consumer thinks so.  And Dalton McGuinty doesn't think spending over $50 for crappy satellite service is not enough so he so graciously added HST to our service increasing the price to just a little over $60. 

Our recent satellite internet outage got me thinking.  The CRTC endorses ripping off the conusmer so even though we are paying a bit over $60 for the service we really are getting $24 worth of bandwidth per month and McGuinty is pocketing about $7 thanks to his handy tax grab aka HST.  My husband put me on his office internet account for $20 per month.  Right of the bat if I stay on dial-up I will save over $40 per month and dear old Dalton will get a lot less of my money.  But it gets better than that!  The CRTC also has screwed up the National Do Not Call Registry meaning if you register your phone number to prevent telemarketing calls the reverse actually happens.  Telemarketing calls increase!  Apparently the CRTC thinks this is acceptable but it's not like they are the brightest lightbulb in the pack.  Oh and I should mention we pay for our phone service so each telemarketing call actually costs us and somewhere along the line they think they have the right to call us?  Wrong!  The only ones who have the right to call us are our family and friends.  On the brightside if I go back to dial-up rather than get a second phone line I will use our main line that will give all the lovely telemarketers a busy tone saving me the hassle of having to add them to my call block list.  All around dial-up internet is looking rather pleasing!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Life Unconnected


Yesterday we experienced very high winds.  As a result our crappy satellite internet service got even crappier with the winds moving the dish out of alignment.  The connection was lost about 3 pm yesterday so I've been without internet!  Let me tell you life unconnected is weird.  The repair is expected to take anywhere from one day to a week depending when dumb and dumber can get out here.  My husband has real high speed at the office so added dial-up access for me so I am now on dial-up for the time being.  However, I'm thinking going back to dial-up until we move might just be the way to go. In order to maximize the savings it would mean learning to do a bit more offline.  Apparently Blogger didn't like my dial-up service but that must have been a Blogger glitch or a connection error as reconnecting got the picture to upload.  Anyway, life unconnected is an experience I really don't care fore.


Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - A Tree in the Forest

a tree in the forest
A Tree in the Forest
October 7, 2010

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Round and Round We Go

Who says Mother Nature doesn't have a sense of humour?  I spotted this little guy on one of the kitchen cupboard knobs at our vactaion home and just had to take a short video of him.  Enjoy!





Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, October 25, 2010

A Short Meme

I've been blogging now for over four years so by now if you've been following my blogs you will know that family is my first priority.  I love cooking, gardening, traveling and if you dig a little bit further into some of my blogs you will know I am a nature lover, have a serious shoe fettish, have a very low tolerance for telemarketers, hate the HST, love a multitude of crafts, am a Photoshop® enthusiast and avid DIYer.  Oh I forgot one of the most apparent things you already know about me.  I love gnomes!

I thought it would be fun to share a short meme.  A meme is a blogging term for sharing a few personal details on my blog for you the reader.  I actually wrote a much detailed meme to share but then decided it was a bit too reveals.  So here are a few things I haven't shared before:

  • My favourite snack food is broccoli
  • I sleep with thumbs tucked in under my fingers.
  • My favourite and most used small kitchen appliance is my KitchenAid® stand mixer.
  • I started blogging in April of 2006 and still enjoy it.
  • I'm a chronic multi-tasker and musser.  I'm not sure which is worse.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - The Weather Held

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

We have had the very good fortune to enjoy milder temperatures the past week.  I turned on the gas fireplace a few times to take the chill off the family room but didn't need to put the furnace on.  This is quite different than last year where the furnace was turned on much earlier in the month.  The longer we can leave the furnace off the better as home heating in Ontario has increased by 8% thanks to McGuinty's greedy HST tax grab.  The milder temperatures meant the gardens produced longer so mid-week I will still harvesting small amounts of peppers and tomatoes.  It was nice seeing others out puttering in their gardens as well.  While it did cool off with rain some nights and one short afternoon hail the frost that threatened passed us by.  In short we were blessed with beautiful autumn weather!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, October 23, 2010

Oh Those 'Happy Days'

I was quite saddened to learn of the passing of Tom Bosley on October 19 at the age of 84.  He played the role of Howard Cunningham, the patriarch of the sitcom Happy Days that aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC.  Set in the 1950's the show was a reminder of gentler times that stressed good family values.  Thanks Tom for the Happy Days you shared with us.  You will be remembered fondly in our hearts forever!  RIP




Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, October 22, 2010

Highway Construction

highway construction
Highway Construction
October 7, 2010

It is inevitable that highway construction goes hand in hand with road trips.  As road trips go while we did run into highway construction both ways we experienced minimal delays.  At some points heavy traffic congestion was more problematic than any construction.  We were very lucky!  Both construction and traffic congestion tend to bring out the worst in some drivers.  We saw one horrid accident that was obviously fatal on the way down, had one very close call in heavy traffic while there but other than that it was fairly average traffic sprinkled with a few bonehead moves. We had for the most part clear, dry road conditions too.  My gosh, looking back we really did have wonderful traveling conditions both ways.  Here's hoping the next trip will be just as smooth.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Railway Bridge

railway bridge
Railway Bridge
October 7, 2010

My gosh I sat down and wrote one of the best memes ever for today's post.  A meme is blogger terminology for disclosing a little more information about yourself for your readers to enjoy.  It was great but then I decided to not post it.  Going through pictures of our recent journey home from our vacation home I spotted this amazing railway bridge.  Railway bridges fascinate because of their elegant structure.  They are based on firm foundations that allow them to stand the test of time.   In a lot of ways they remind me how very important firm foundations really are.   They are a good metaphor for the roos necessary to establish yourself in this world.    So for now you will have to wait until I am comfortable with posting the meme as written.  In the meantime I hope you enjoy the photo of the railway bridge.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - The Causeway

causeway
The Causeway
September 27, 2010

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Farmland USA

silos
Farmland USA
October 7, 2010

In many ways I am a country girl at heart.  Until this last house we always lived in small communities but until we move from here we are officially rural living.  This house though is really like in a miniature community of about 20 families only half of which live here year round with the other half seasonal.  While we do have land and some of our neighbours have chickens we still don't have chickens.  It is not suitable for larger livestock like goats, sheep or cattle although technically if we could make the livestock fit there would be no restriction to having them.  If I had my druthers we would live on a proper farm.  I'm thinking a turn of the century, two story farm house with at least one huge red barn and a brick silo.  I would want chickens, goats, sheep, a couple of pigs, a cow and whatever else I could fit in.  I would hound the auction sales for an old antique tractor like on Green Acres.  Honestly I would be in seventh heaven!  However, life is taking me on a different journey equally exciting so for now I get great pleasure traveling through the countryside.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, October 18, 2010

Bear Taking Pictures

police radar trap
Bear Taking Pictures
October 7, 2010

The return trip from our vacation home to home took us about 28 hours.  Over that period of time we saw a lot of police cruisers.  Eleven cruisers with lights flashing and sirens blasting almost bumper to bumper few by on the south bound lanes at one point.  We saw several people pulled over with the friendly cruiser lights behind them.  We followed one cruiser for about twenty miles.  That was rather painful as drivers all around decided to be on their best behaviour.  It was nice when he finally took an off ramp.  There were cruisers everywhere!  This one conveniently set up shop near IKEA likely because all the great deals there attract speeders trying to be first in line to save money.  For those who don't know, a bear taking pictures is CB lingo for police with radar.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - Getting Back into Routine

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

This past week has been all about adjusting from a three week vacation followed by a weekend of Thanksgiving celebrations.  Now it is time to get back into our home routine that with any luck we will have established before we head out again.  It's also been a week of change especially on the blogging front as I took the steps to take one of my blogs in a slightly different direction and one of my blogging networks has introduced changes that need to be worked into my daily routines. 

If you think about it daily routines are themselves a blessing.  They help us get through the day hopefully not too flustered.  At the end of the day thanks to daily routines we can sit back, enjoy a sunset and say this has been a good day.  The nice thing about daily routines is they become second nature and they aren't written in stone.  When they are disrupted we feel slightly out of sinc and yet the routines quickly re-establish.  I was surprised at how quickly my daily routine at home established itself at our vacation home and upon returning home how once everything settled down the rountines were just there like an old friend :)

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, October 16, 2010

Rarity Mountain, Tennessee

Rarity Mountain, Tennessee
Rarity Mountain Tennessee
October 7, 2010


Shortly after getting on the road for the day we made a bit of a detour to see Rarity Mountain off of I-75 near Jellico in Tennessee.  This really is a scenic drive but also is an eco-friendly lifestyle for those living there.  It is an 5,000 acre gated community with upscale, rustic homes set in beautiful treed lots with moss line paths.  There is a golf course as well.  We only toured a small section not going into the community at all.  It was very pretty though!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, October 15, 2010

Smokey Mountain High

smokey mountains of Tennessee
Smokey Mountain High
October 7, 2010

On our way to our vacation home we hit Tennessee at night so there wasn't a lot to see although the altitude changes did trigger a sinus attack.  On the way back we woke to the beautiful view of the Tennessee mountains having stopped over night.  We made a couple of side jaunts to enjoy the view.  Tennessee is such a beautiful state!  I just love the fog over the mountains that do make them look smokey, don't you?

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Tower

the tower
The Tower
October 6, 2010


As you know we are now home from a wonderful three week get away.  Getting there and getting back was a good 26 hours each way.  My husband and I get along quite nicely most of the time but honest to goodness put in the small confines of a vehicle and that is a whole other issue!  Thanks to Lucy things are a lot more peaceful in the car but still I've been known to get rather on the testy side especially in heavy traffic.  The complete idiocy of some drivers is enough to have me sitting on pins and needles!  One thing I do in heavy traffic is take pictures.  It helps to keep my mind off of those drivers willing to put their lives and others in danger over their bonehead moves.  Pictured is one of the towers I spotted along I-75 going through Atlantic City, Georgia.  Neither of us were impressed with the traffic but at least we hit the traffic at a rather descent hour before it got worse.  You can see how congested the traffic was in the picture.  This is definitely not traffic I want to be in!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Tampa Skyline

Tampa skyline

Tampa Skyline
September 18, 2010

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Are We Going To Mash That Turkey?

A lot of people don't realize I have a few linguistic problems.  Sometimes they can be a bit funny.  Yesterday was our Thanksgiving feast.  Mashed potatoes were on my brain but when I went into the kitchen to ask my husband about the turkey it came out as "are we going to mask that turkey?"  Well we just broke out into hysterical laughter!  I think you really have to understand both of us as we really do have wicked senses of humour.  This was one of those slips of tongues that just triggered fits of laughter!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, October 11, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! The Wild Turkey

wild turkey
Wild Turkey
September 23, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spotted a flock of wild turkeys a few days ago.   I thought it was rather fittingpicture given that today is our Thanksgiving.  I managed to get this close-up picture on one of them. Wild turkeys are quite large birds but impressive looking birds!  What do you think?

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, October 10, 2010

Blog Your Blessing Sunday -

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

My husband and I have just returned from an amazing three week trip to our vacation home so there are an abundance of blessings to report.  We enjoyed wonderful, problem free traveling both ways.  Each way we stayed in a motel  over night rather than pushing through non-stop.  We were able to enjoy a fresh start in the morning arriving at our destinations tired but not exhausted.  We enjoyed some very lovely meals while sharing a lot of laughter and good times with our friends.  Thanks to Wi-Fi and internet connections at both destinations most of our online activities continued as normal.  From start to finish the entire trip was absolutely wonderful!  Not only did we get to enjoy friends who visited from home but also new friends we have made there.  What a blessing it is to be able to do a bit of traveling, thoroughly enjoy ourselves then return home relaxed and refreshed ready to greet Thanksgiving and autumn!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, October 09, 2010

A Bit of Nostalgia

coca cola in glass bottles
CocaCola® in Glass Bottles
October 6, 2010

On our way home from our recent vacation we stopped at Magnolia's Plantation for pecans.  I spotted the neat open top pop cooler sporting glass bottles of CocaCola®.  I may be dating myself but I can remember when most pop came in glass bottles.  Given that any pop cans contain Bis-phenyl A in the coating I still prefer glass bottles or soda fountain pop but then I seldom drink pop.  Still this type of display brings back a touch of nostalgia :)
 
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, October 08, 2010

Homeside

We are homeside so I'm working on getting back into a routine.  It will take me a few days though.  I brought home a lot of really neat foodie things to work on over the next few weeks and we even stopped to see the original Sander's Cafe home of Kentucky Fried Chicken!  We stopped at a nice Amish shop as well so of course a few more goodies were tucked into the car.  Oh and I even did some jamming while away!  The only negative I brought home was a sinus attack likely triggered by going through Tennessee but possibly higher pollen counts as we approached home.  It was a bit rude coming from summer clothes to pretty much winter clothes and having to put the fireplace on but 'tis that time of year.

I'm not a shopper by any stretch of the imagination.  I seriously hate shopping at least the conventional way.  However, give me a flea market, antique shop or farmer's market and I could shop a good portion of the day away.  I managed to get a lot of great deals including 1200 count Egyptian cotton sheet sets for only $16!  I'm already looking forward to our next road trip :)

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Thursday, October 07, 2010

Bewitched

Bewitched staring Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York followed by Dick Sargent and airing from 1964 to 1972 was a favourite of mine but surprisingly not until after being married.  Having kids ourselves I could certainly appreciate the convenience a little magic would bring if only to keep on top of the housework!  There are many a day that little bit of magic would really have come in handy!  I still enjoy watching this great American sitcom on the retro television channels.  Enjoy!




Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Reflections

pond reflections
Reflections
September 17, 2010

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Tuesday, October 05, 2010

police punch buggy
Police Punch Buggy
September 27, 2010

My husband and I play the punch buggy game when on road trips.  Hey it helps to pass the time and gives a few laughs.  I must say today I am officially winning having scored an old VW van but I'm sure that will change very quickly as my husband has eagle eyes for punch buggies!  I picked up this adorable Car 59 punch buggy at the flea market.  It is die cast metal with door, boot and hood that open in scale 1/24 of a 1959 VW Beetle painted as a police car.  The license plate is California BUGGIN!  It really is cute, don't you think?

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Monday, October 04, 2010

Mr. Perfect

Mr Perfect doll
Mr. Perfect
September27, 2010

Honest to goodness my husband really is Mr. Perfect as far as husbands go.  I decided to get him a stand-in so he can take the occasional day off of being Mr. Perfect.  He says cute things like "Sweetheart, your hot bubble bath is ready" and "Good morning!  I've made you breakfast in bed again."   He even has a beautiful big smile just like my husband's.  Isn't the stand-in simply adorable?
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Sunday, October 03, 2010

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - More House Guests

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

Over the past two weeks we have had two groups of house guests with the groups overlapping by a day so it has been quite busy but fun.  This past week we shared a lot of laughs and good food with great friends!  We did a good bit of sight seeing.  It was nice just enjoying their company!  What a blessing it is to have such wonderful friends.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Saturday, October 02, 2010

The Effects of the HST

If you have been following this blog you will already know some of my views on the HST.  I wrote how to avoid paying the HST in Ontario and ways to fight the HST.  I've taken many stabs at Premier Dalton McGuinty's colossal and greedy tax grab.  An unexpected side effect of the HST is how it has affected the rest of Canada.  The HST has been in effect in BC and ON for three months now.  Let's see how well this tax is performing:

  • slowed down house sales
  • slowed consumer spending
  • increased the federal deficit
  • increased the inflation rate Canada wide
  • created a tax revolt in BC forcing a referendum on the HST 
  • if you believe the propaganda has created 6,300 jobs in ON

Well, it certainly does look like the HST is moving Canada into the 21st century, doesn't it?  I give Dalton McGuinty and his sock-puppets full credit for this horrible fiasco! On a personal level, how has this affected us?  For the most part it has had a minimal effect.  Yes we are paying HST on electricity, internet and home heating that at present rates have added about $20 per month ($240 per year).  Occasionally we have to pay HST on gasoline but for the most part we avoid this by fueling outside of Ontario.   We are shopping and vacationing outside of Ontario.  Nothing is purchased in Ontario unless it is food through local farmers, orchards or organic farms.  We've cut back further on our electricity usage moving towards more solar.  All of our solar equipment will be purchased outside of Ontario as well.  We are also working on using a US internet provider that will eliminate our ON internet provider.  We did a trial run with one US provider but maxed out the bandwidth too quick for it to be feasible to make the switch.  The thing is that service worked better and was cheaper than our satellite internet and there was no HST.  We will be trying to connect to our vacation home US internet via Wi-Fi hot spot at home.  Apparently there is a good chance it will work!  If it doesn't it's just a matter of time before we find a US mobile service that will work for us.

Dalton McGuinty is driving people away from shopping or using services in Ontario.  Instead of that extra $20 collected it could be used towards buying consumer goods in Ontario.  He doesn't see that people are fed up with his dishonesty and taxing until we have nothing attitude.  This is going to be a very difficult for many Ontarians as they realize the full effects of the HST on just electricity and home heating, both of which increase during the cold winter months.  I also don't think McGuinty realizes we now live in a global community so Ontarians do have options for avoiding the HST.

I would be curious as to how many Ontarians will simply choose to leave Ontario permanently and how many will choose to live outside of Ontario for a good portion of the year?  While I've seen no reports on this effect of the HST, I'm sure it is happening.  The HST was directly responsible for our decision to buy a vacation home outside of Ontario and it is a major factor in us choosing to live outside of Ontario for extended periods of time.  I think this will be a growing trend for many!

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010


Friday, October 01, 2010

The Need For Roots

Roots
September 24, 2010

One of my favourite quotes that can be found in the footer section of this blog is:
"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings."--Hodding Carter
This quote has a profound meaning especially when it comes to genealogy but also parenting.  As parents it is our responsibility to give our children a firm foundation on which to build their lives.  However giving them roots means so much more than a value based foundation (eg. love, honour, respect).  It means nurturing good family relationships with extended family members so our children know their family history.  Too often people flounder as adults simply because they do not have a firm foundation based on values and family history.

It is interesting to look at tree roots.  They may be gnarly, intertwined and far from visually appealing.  In many cases you won't see them at all.  Yet the roots of a tree can extend a distance greater than three times the size of the tree's canopy.  It is the roots that nurture the tree while providing strength and support.  So it is with people...

Garden Gnome
©2006-2010