Wednesday 30 December 2015

Gidyup...


Our little Cowgirl.
Gone but definitely not forgotten.







Sunday 27 December 2015

WINTER is Severely Under-Appreciated



A very happy dog.   Its about  -7'C and that is a BIG smile.   

Take note all you winter whiners and complainers...what a beautiful time of the year this is!     Last night the full moon made the snow actually glisten-sparkle-twinkle like a white starry sky.  I guess I wouldn't mind not hearing about how cold it is outside (yah) or about the shoveling (okaaayyy) or especially about wanting/wishing to be elsewhere (snore).
Hey, I left California,  the land of milk and honey and salads and citrus so,
yeah, I get it sort of.  The monotony of perfect weather, day after day, week after week, year after year,  really bugged me.   Don't laugh -- perfect weather fosters a weird lifestyle of sport shopping and consumerism.
The 'its never enough' syndrome.    

 Now I choose this place--to be present, in the here & now,  where the cold beauty of a winter day and night is 'more than enough'.
Stunning.












  
   






Thursday 10 December 2015

It's My Blog !



Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau pose for Vogue photo shoot (Norman Jean Roy/Vogue) 

The nice thing about having a blog is that I can post about anything I want.  Unlike F-Book which can and does,  de-volve into the 'mundane'  that make up most of our lives, a blog gives one the opportunity to gloat, to compare and contrast, to talk about religion, politics and family feuds (without an onslaught of comments or offended persons).
 I have been paying more attention lately to Canadian politics, as some of you know.
Suddenly things are interesting for a few reasons.
The above picture of 'JT' (from the December Vogue)  is an obvious one but his election also exemplifies a big difference between Canada and the US.
The election process here was swift and there seemed, to me, to be a minimum of mud-slinging, name-calling and out & out untruths being bandied about by candidates...UNLIKE what goes on down south which sometimes seems like
 a gong show combined with a triathlon--
who can be the most ridiculous and who has the most endurance to go the distance.
Yah of course there were some shenanigans here but nothing so outrageous or malicious in nature to cause much trouble. 
You may call me naive here if you please but I call it like I see it and my perspective does have some basis in reality.


Canada is a good place to live and I am so grateful (and lucky) to be here.

                                                               
Yes we do get a little bit of snow, now & then, in our neck of the woods and
there is nothing as beautiful as a fresh snowfall. 





 

 

  




Sunday 15 November 2015

Wild Thing, I Think I Love You




Occasionally, my camera comes through with a more than decent photo.  This one is the eye of a wild (well sort of) burro taken this past August in South Dakota.
These guys are all so adorable.
Yes, we stopped and we fed them carrots.   It was nice to see everyone doing the same thing.  Just feeding and petting and being kind to animals. 
Lots of smiles and just plain happiness.
Thanks Elleoj for being the best horse whisperer and fellow cheap wine drinker around.  Both Ms. Sartonline and I so enjoyed basking in your hostessness.

We love South Dakota!






And now on to my favorite subject of late our new Prime Minister !!!  Yes those are exclamation marks due to my extreme pleasure and pride.   I even read online (so it must be true) that "Canada is suddenly sexy".
Come on people and take a gander at our new head of state!

Monsieur Justin Trudeau
Speaking to the Star’s editorial board on Friday, Justin Trudeau acknowledged the need for Liberals to develop “really big, strong ideas” for moving the country forward.

Am I right?
So, for my stateside friends and occasional readers,  this is who we get to look at and who now represents Canada (exclamation points !!) to the world...Yay.

Yes, this is the adolescent level to which I have sunk,  but the good part is that I am now 'suddenly' interested in politics.

You go, you sexy Canada!






Monday 2 November 2015

How to Fracture a Family




Hmmmm.  Yes it has been quite awhile since I've posted anything here and not because I haven't tried.  Let me say that as is always true in life, for all of us,  things got complicated.   Hence the title of this post.  But I am not going there or anywhere near 'there' today.  I'll leave it to your imagination as to the why and the how,  but I will say that things have sorted themselves out in the only way possible since they were going in that direction for most of my life.   Shortly after that last post way back in February I headed down south for what turned out to be the end of life for my mother.  Unexpected on so many levels yet not on one big one -- she was 88 years old.   It is a all too common story I now know -- a fall, a break, a surgery to repair said break, pneumonia, heart attack, kidney failure, hospice, the end.   For any of you that know me, you know that talking about this now in what may sound like a glib and matter of fact way is only because the shock and exhaustion of the whole ordeal is tucked behind me.  We all did what we felt we had to do and each and every family member and friend that participated in the weeks leading up to and during, and after this event has come away with their own version.

I lost my mother which is a terrible thing for anyone but death is a part of life obviously.  The other family members who were lost,  were not lost due to death,  but their loss was orchestrated consciously out of some need that remains a mystery to me and may always remain so.   I am beyond any feelings of anger or sadness at their choice to absent themselves from me,  although it is ultimately,  very sad.   Out of respect for all of them I will remain out of their sphere. 

Death definitely brings out the worst in some,  but  the very best in others.     Never more true for me than now,  so holding a grudge is not going to be part of my repertoire.   A choice we all can make or not.
 
A thousand thanks to those who acted with grace and selflessness and dignity during a difficult and sad time.  You know who you are.   I think the term is 'stepped up to the plate'.   I would not have been able to go it alone. 

                                    ....     life is indeed still good    ...

  

 

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Life is Good





This is the view on the morning after the one big snow we got this winter.   
Stunning and so perfect.
Pristine.
A winter wonder land.
Glorious.
Oh, Canada!



 

Monday 19 January 2015

Flooring Update-- a little late !










Well the flooring in the new addition is down and has been in since before Christmas but I have been lax on reporting renovation progress....the holiday blues did get the best of me.  The pics are not the best because its kind of hard to get the whole space and so many details are being tended to... like the baseboards.  Stuff like that takes us a whole lot of time but since these photos were taken I can proudly say that 90% of them are attached.  The small length that we couldn't attach is because there is a moisture leak on one of the new(old) reused fixed windows we installed.  We can't do the the re-caulking on it until the temperature warms up -- yes, that frustrates me to no end...I want it done.  Anyway, I will take some better photos as many small details have been completed.  As with any renovation its all in the details!