I am back in town for a day or two and figured I would leave a quick post. It has been so long and as I type I realize the blogger publishing format has changed, so I hope this works.
Anyway, I miss reading all of your blogs, knowing what is going on with you and seeing all of you coming to visit me. I must admit it took a few days to get the blogging addiction out of my system, and as I began my holidays I honestly considered setting something up out at the cottages to keep you up to date on the daily goings on with me, as well as staying abreast of what was new with you. In retrospect I now see it was best to settle into the land, the wilderness, the speed and the leisure with which I am familiar. Soon enough the computers and watches and mandates all disappeared into a peaceful vacation. It has been a wonderful exploration of nature and of self.
I will be heading back out to the cottages for atleast a few more weeks. I am in town gathering up supplies, paying bills, and picking up a number of kids who will be coming out with us. Most of these kids and some of their parents have never had the opportunity to go camping and after a talk with a pastor friend of mine, together we set it up. I figured I might be able to give back a bit of this wonderful place to some who might enjoy and appreciate it. I am looking forward to it and so are my kids. We have lots of things planned for them. Fishing, tubbing, water-skiing, knee-boarding, hiking, and the list goes on and on.
I wish I could bring all of you out here for a bit. I wish I could let every person involved in the 'run here run there' rat race we all no doubt must be a part, this race we call society, the clock punching existance we find ourselves blended into in the name of survival. It is so peaceful where we are. We have no obligations to no one but ourselves and our hearts, and are guided as such. We are so very lucky.
I have many stories and much writing to share with you when I get back. Everything from a plane crash on the lake we were involved in rescuing (all 6 passengers were pulled from the wreckage safely), to the wonderful little daily discoveries we found and appreciated. I have written a number of new songs also, and met with my old agent and a few other people who came out for a weekend a few weeks back. I am very excited about it, as things are looking interesting. I have so much to tell you. I have much to catch up with what is going on with you.
I could most likely type for days here, but the waters and mountains are calling me and there is much to do before we head back tomorrow.
Yer Treeler 'Er Mine is now officially on holidays!
I would like to thank everyone for stopping in and getting to know you by your comments and in visiting your blogs. As of right now I am starting 6 weeks of holidays and there will be no posting until they are done. When we get back I plan to create a new blog with a more reliable service and publish more consistantly.
I would also like to wish everyone a wonderful and safe summer, or winter for those of my australian friends. It is been a great experience to join your community and I have learned lots, laughed lots, gained insights and inspirations from all of you. I will be looking forward to coming back and getting reacquainted.
Until then, I'm wishing you the best in all that you do!
For Mary over at Rant-o-Rama. Mary was the person responsible for me getting a blog together and offered her time and expertise freely to me to do it. Was greatly appreciated. A good soul that one...
Yes, we have all had them, those embarrassing moments. Moments most of us would like to forget and in some cases, quite justifiably. I have had so many of them in my days I am not sure where to begin. Which one’s might be suitable for sharing, which one’s would still allow me to have even the tiniest bit of self respect left once putting it into print.
Seeing as I don’t really care about self-respect, I will try to pick a moment in time that isn’t too offensive to you readers. One you might be able to relate to.
My parents were always modest people who didn’t put on airs. They rarely asked much for themselves while doing plenty for everyone they knew and cared about. It was just the way they were. However, one year on their 20th wedding anniversary my father called me and told me he wanted to surprise my mom with a party. I was playing hockey out of town at the time and he asked if I could fly into town for the weekend to attend it. Of course I would.
I was playing major junior hockey at the time in the city of Windsor, was 18 years old and attending school there also. Being the firstborn grandchild into a large French Canadian family I was showered with attention and adoration throughout my youth by my many aunts, uncles, and especially my mothers parents. Whenever our hockey team would be in town to play against the hometown junior team, my relatives could be heard screaming, cheering loudly above the rest of the 3000 or so spectators. To them I was a celebrity, and to them I could do little wrong.
The party was to start Friday night at 8 o’clock and I was catching a plane out at 5. With a quick stop over and transfer in Toronto I should arrive just past 7. It was going to be a close call but the airport was only about 15 minutes from the restaurant where the surprise party was being held. My father had secretly booked their favorite restaurant that was owned by a family friend and secretly invited all of their friends, all of our family, and had booked a band to play for the dancing. The restaurant was set up with fancy linen for the meal and decorated in tribute to my father's love for my mother. As well, their 20 years of marriage. Knowing my dad, he was having a lot of fun pretending to forget their anniversary while sneaking around behind her back setting it all up.
I woke up Friday morning with a very heavy head, and sneezing. From the moment I awoke it was apparent I was coming down with a nasty head cold. From what I could tell it was a doozy too. I ended up leaving school at noon that day and went back to my billets house (these are people you stay with when playing hockey out of town) and tried to get some rest and pack up and get ready for the trip. As the day wore on, the cold grew in intensity as a cough developed, and my nose quickly turned a brighter red with each new sneeze and sniffle. It is no fun flying with a head cold.
As fate would have it, there was a snowstorm going on and my flight out of Toronto was delayed. In the airport I noticed people distancing themselves from me with each new sneeze, each wipe of my now continually runny nose, as my head began to pound as my red nose grew. I called my dad from the Toronto airport to tell him I was going to be late, and he told me my uncle would pick me up and I could meet up with them at the restaurant. I wasn’t going to be a part of the ‘surprise’ shout out, but my dad assured me it would be surprise enough for my mom to just see me, for it had been 3 months.
I wasn’t as late arriving as I thought I would be and we touched down in my hometown at 8:15. My uncle met me as soon as I got off the plane and grabbed my suitcase and loaded it into his truck. “Wow, that is some kind of a cold you have there, huh” Was one of the first things he said to me. My pockets were full of Kleenex, my bright red nose was aching, and talking was becoming harder between coughs and sneezes.
When we arrived at the restaurant and walked in, the place erupted. All of my family and all of their friends started hugging and shaking my hand as I worked my way to my mother. There she was, tears filling up her eyes, still overwhelmed by the act of love my father had bestowed upon her, and now getting to see her son she had worried about near every night since I left town to go play hockey. I was quite proud of my dad for putting this all together, and by the look on his face, he was quite proud of himself.
With mothering instincts, the first thing she did was ask the owner, Frank, if he maybe had something to help me with the cold. In a few minutes I was seated at the table with the fine white linen, my grandmother across the table from me with a white flower print dress on, as people were beginning to eat. Frank brought me a hot bowl of minestrone soup and a hot rye concoction of a drink. “The soup” he says, “will help with the cold, the drink, that will cure anything that ails you.” With a wink and a nod. The drink was hot and sweet, the soup wonderful, hot beef and tomato flavored, loaded with vegetables and long egg noodles.
As I took my first mouthful of soup, this is when it happened. Ever have one of those simultaneous cough and sneeze deals that happens at the worst of possible times? Well, it was a powerful blast! Minestrone soup shot out of my nose like machine gun fire, and raced across the table right at my grandmother. She didn’t have time to react, no one did. The first thing I noticed upon opening my eyes was my grandma, sitting there with 2 lines of minestrone soup trailing across here, dotted with half chewed vegetables. Could that be a lima bean, maybe a piece of carrot now adorning her new fancy white dress along the trails of minestrone soup?
The moment seemed frozen in time, slowed to exact frame-by-frame instances as I began to look around the table. As I looked from person to person not only did I notice jaws beginning to drop, but I now noticed everyone’s silverware was now dropping also, amidst gasps of shock. It had only been a few seconds but I realized that things just might be worse then I had first anticipated. Yes, indeed they might. For not only had I coughed/sneezed a hearty mouthful of hot minestrone soup all across my sweet little grandma, but as God as my witness, there I sat…with an egg noodle now hanging out of my nose.
There are moments like this in life, where you have to make a decision. Faced with choice A or choice B and know full well neither of them is going to be pleasant. It had still only been seconds but it seemed like a lot longer, and I quickly assessed my situation. Which choice was I to make? Was I to try and pull the noodle out and run the risk of it snapping off? Or was I to sniff the noodle back up?
I think I will leave it to your imagination what decision I made. One thing I will tell you is that not many people enjoyed their dinner that night like they had planned, and I don’t recall getting many dinner invites for some time after. As for my grandma, she took it all in stride and still likes to tease me from time to time about it. Just a few years ago she sent me over some homemade minestrone soup with my mother, and it had a little note with it, “I hope you enjoy the soup, and I have included some eating utensils with it for you.”
There was one large spoon, a bib, and a set of nose plugs. Ha, ha. Very funny grandma!
Get OFF my site Pedophile freak...yes you!!! You who just googled me for This kind of sick shit . You who's IP address is 212.138.47. and lives in Saudi Arabia. If I had any hacking skills at all I would turn your computer to mush. Get lost loser.
This is the night of the week where my kids and I have our NO RULES, stay up as late as you want, drink pop from the bottle belch contest family movie night. This week we have a friend each for my daughter and my son sleeping over with us.
So, I was wondering, anyone have any ideas for good movies to rent? Hopefully recent releases as we have watched A LOT of movies, and also own a pile on dvd. Suggestions for a real good older movie wouldn't hurt either. I'm thinking a good scary movie or 2, a funny movie or 2, maybe a good action/adventure.
It is always great to find new links to add to your blogroll. The wider the perspective one has, the more there is to learn about people and the world around you. These are the most recent sites to be added...
Busy Mom's Blog is written by a fellow RN and mother of three. She often details her Busy life with Busy Dad, Busy Children, Busy Grandma...and all things, well, very busy. She just received a write up in the New York Times about her blog. Cool Beans Busy Mom!
Buzzstuff is another popular blogger who just recently posted an article about his marriage secrets. A very nice piece. Also, there is a scheduled online 'Blog-Drink-A-Thon' there for 06/27 I believe. I will keep you posted on the details for those of you that would care to join me in it :)
Wizbang is a blog written by Kevin who also is a family guy, but with a penchant for techy things. He just recently created a trackback ping program and offers it to those who would like it. A blogger who believes in giving to the community, as stated in a recent post, 'Priciples I Blog By'.
::BrainFizz:: is written by a woman named Jelene from Kansas City. She is a professional artist and her pop art alone is reason worth checking her out. Very cool stuff!
Other recent additions include ::Peppermint Patty and ::mtpolitics who just met up last week in the real world via blogging. Mtpolitics is also the site that is hosting The Biggest Losers In The Blogosphere, a group of bloggers working together to shed some pounds during the summer. Another site giving back, Great Work!
I would like to thank anyone who has added 'Yer Treeler, 'Er Mine' to their blogrolls, but especially would like to thank you all. Thank you for making the blogging world a fun and more interesting place to hang out in.
Some time ago I mentioned I was having a bit of trouble with ants making their way into my house. I tried a few remedies around the perimeter of our place, a borax + sugar mix being one, and within a week the problem resolved itself. I wasn't really sure what is was that eventually stopped their onslaught, nor did I really care. Both my children and I were more then happy to now have a bowl of cereal without finding one of the little critters in there doing the backstroke as we poured in the milk.
Anyway, this morning I make a pot of coffee and go for the sugar bowl...nothing. I check my plastic bulk sugar container, empty. Awww heck, I NEED my coffee in the morning. I decide to resort to a sugary supplement and go to the cupboard and grab a bottle of maple syrup from the back. This will surely get me through until I can make it to the Tim Horton's and get a seriously good coffee. I'll pick up some sugar later. The top was off the maple syrup bottle, no biggy, those cheap plastic lids always seems to snap off, and it was only syrup.
I squeeze in a hearty squirt (I'm one of those people who likes coffee, but not necessarily how it tastes) and give it a quick stir and go to put the cup up to my mouth in our early morning darkened kitchen. Just inches from taking a sip I notice something. "Hey wait, I didn't order this coffee 'ala raisins."
Ack! Gag! Bleeeck!!
Those aren't raisins!! They're ants!!!
I look closer at the maple syrup container, Oh my God! Chock full of dead ants. It would appear that it wasn't any of my clever outside concoctions that led to the demise of our pesky insect intruders. It wasn't my diligence in the face of their brief campaign to take over my kitchen, and most likely entire house. No sir. It was one forgotten plastic maple syrup bottle sitting in the nether regions of my cupboards that seemingly wiped out the entire force. We haven't seen an ant for weeks.
In any case, my coffee hasn't tasted very good at all today, no matter where it comes from. And if anyone ever does decide to come out with some kind of a raisin-flavored coffee, I'll take an official 'pass' on it right now, thank you very much.
