Monday 29 February 2016

Odds and Ends

I went for a long walk early this morning. It was bitterly cold with the North East wind blowing but it felt good to get out there and move around. Darn good thing I did since I ended up staying in the house for the rest of the day.

Andree was with me when I was driving back from work in Peace River the other night and she snapped this picture of the sun making it's way down just as we topped the hill.


My friend Marcel (handsome chap) was out of power for a couple of days while the power company chopped down trees that were in danger of falling on the power line. As a result he was forced to heat his home with his fireplace and spend the evening in the glow of a kerosene lamp. Poor bugger!  just Imagine that. No electronics of any kind, no noise. Just peace and quiet and one's thoughts.


He sent me a picture of this big tree that had to come down that shows how it was all hollow inside. He was saying how it was possibly eaten up by bugs and remarked how it had survived all this time despite it's inner pain and that it showed just how strong life really is. I had to agree with him on that.


Aren't feet just the funniest ugliest looking things you ever saw? I mean really. Useful. Yes. Pretty? No! Still, less lines and wrinkles on that old foot then on my face. (I said this was about odds and ends didn't I.)

So I listened to a bunch of video presentations about writing today. They were by different authors from Hay House. Made my heart ache. I miss having time to write. I need to do something about that. I'm not sure what. I'll sleep on it. Maybe it will come to me in dream time.


Monday 22 February 2016

Call Me Curious George

Did you see it?

I crawled out of bed, looked out the window and spotted the huge full moon making it's way down the Western sky. What a sight. I stood at the window and admired it for a while and soon realized I needed to live the full experience of watching it come all the way down until it kissed the ground below.

So I peeled off my PJ's, jumped into some outside gear and headed out the door to see the moon set. What a beauty!




As soon as it did that, I set out for the other side of town so I could catch the sunrise. And there it was. A beautiful sunrise coming to help us greet the day. How fortunate we are!






It was a sight to behold on both sides of town!

Back to School - Memories

I attended a band concert at school tonight. Whoa! Talk about bringing back memories. I graduated from that school, in that same gym on that same stage in 1969. So did my 3 girls, each their turn. That kind of says I'm as old as that stage and then some.


Hey, anybody remember this? That was my first reader when I went to Guay School - the school I went to for my first 2 years. It's the book I wrote about having to read from while standing at my teacher's desk in my memoir. Not such good memories.



I went to meet my friend who lives out at Winagami Lake this afternoon and him and I went for a walk together. It was such a pleasant beautiful warm day. I could have stayed out there a lot longer but I had to get back home.

When I got back Pumpkin was waiting for me to take her for a walk. So off we went for a short walk down our street. Then I had to scramble to get ready to leave for the concert.


The rest of the evening I was at the computer. Learning, fixing, adjusting, exploring, writing.

Damn! Just discovered none of my contacts transferred over to my laptop.

Hmm....yet another puzzle to try and solve.

Saturday 20 February 2016

Woohoo!

Check it out! I'm on my new toy.


I am so grateful I bought a service plan from Best Buy which included uploading my new computer with all my programs, transferring all my information, email, and all the other stuff I had on my old machine. I had to spend 4.5 hours at Best Buy in order to get it all done but it was well worth the wait and being there while they were doing it.

As compared to my old computer, this feels like I'm driving a Cadillac. In fact, I'm quite sure I am. It's a sleek little 13.3" touchscreen Hewlett-Packard Intel Core i5 dual core processor with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB solid state drive. Smooth!

I have tons of stuff to learn mind you but that's okay. I'll get there, one step at a time. This is a way better choice than the first machine I purchased and had to return. Yup. I'm a happy camper right now.

Plus I'm sitting at a coffee shop (Starbucks) sipping on a delicious cup of herbal berry tea, which I miss doing since we moved to our little country town where there's no such thing. There's just something about being surrounded by the company of people I don't know chatting away, reading, writing, discussing.

I'm waiting for Andree's event to be over so we can drive back home. She's at the 2016 National Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She was super excited about having the opportunity to attend the opening ceremonies and a couple of games as well.

I on the other hand don't have a clue about curling and not much of an interest either. Hence my time at a coffee shop blogging on my new computer.

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Return to Sender

After spending 6 hours with a computer geek to load all my programs and documents and what not onto the new laptop, plus many more hours of trying to swim my way around with this new toy, I returned it.

That's right. Back to sender!


Not because I gave up on it but because it's got more problems than I do.

When I spoke to the computer geeks today and told them how my battery was not even lasting 2 hours they immediately said that it should not at all be like that and to return it.

To be quite honest, I was relieved. Not only was I not impressed with the battery performance, I was also not impressed with the keyboard, and some of the other features.


Bottom line, that computer is gone and another one is on it's way. A totally different brand, look and feel. If I'm lucky it will be at the store on Friday and it will be up and running with all my programs by Saturday. Fingers crossed on that.

Then it will be back to the learning curve. Can't wait!

I mean really, what other way is there to look at it?


How many months to Christmas? I should have it under control by then. Lol!

Computer Face

That's me after another evening of struggling with a new computer, new programs, and what is clearly a lack of technical knowledge. I'm done!


I'm off for a shower then to bed to read a couple of pages in my book before I sink into what I hope will be a few hours free of computer mumble jumble sleep.

Monday 15 February 2016

Catching Up

No posts from me last week. As much as I don't necessarily like it, sometimes some things have to take priority. Work and sleep seemed to be the ones that took over most of my four day week since I took Friday off to go to Edmonton. Being it was a long weekend I wanted to leave and return early so as to miss most of the traffic and the busyness of it all.

Trying to get ahead of my shadow
It was a good weekend but an expensive one.

It was good in the sense that we had a great visit with Andree's friend. We stayed at her place in St. Albert and that was pretty cool. Our own little suite, jetted soaker tub and all. We talked, played cards, went to a movie, visited another friend over lunch and did some shopping. But before that, on Friday night we took my granddaughter Sadie and my grandson Cole, out for supper for his 15th birthday. He was a Valentine's baby that birthday boy.

Brin, a Bouvier dog, was my friend for the weekend. Especially after I took her for a walk. I wanted to take her home she's so cute and cuddly. Don't you think?
It was expensive in the sense that we bought a new printer and a new computer - or should I say a new headache! Oh my good lord! I am in for one major learning curve I tell you. Windows 10 - a real challenge, new Microsoft Office and a new Word program which I use the most and which is also way different. Plus, just the fact that's it's a new computer presents several challenges of it's own.

Our old printer decided it had worked hard enough.  It has been giving us grief for a while but last week it decided to quit on us and my computer has been crashing a lot and doing all kinds of weird things for a while too. We had to do something. Can't run a business without technology these days.

Sunset as seen through rear view mirror
There are many times today that I asked myself if it was worth it to spend all that money and create so many headaches. I mean really? The better choice, or at least easier and less stressful choice on this  old gal, might have been to buy a new couch or mattress since we need that too. Oh well, one thing at a time is all we can do.

I have to keep reminding myself of this while tackling this steep learning curve. One thing at a time. This old mind isn't what it used to be but eventually I'll get there. By Christmas maybe.......

Sunday 7 February 2016

Party Time


It was my grandson's birthday this weekend. He's three years old already and it seems like he was just born yesterday.

I couldn't attend the party since he lives 8 hours away from where I am but I'll get to see him again come spring time.

Meanwhile we had a grown-up finger painting party of our own going on at home.


There was three of us dipping into the paints. The aim was not to make a piece of art but to create an image born from a sensation evoked by a passage we read.



Friday 5 February 2016

Love Is In The Air


A text from daughter #3 the other day:

"I am soooooo sorry for every morning I put you through hell when I was a kid and didn't want to leave the house."

I burst out laughing when I read it. How could I not?

I chuckled to myself for the next few minutes thinking how life has a way of bringing things around.

Then I started remembering.......and my heart went out to my daughter, son-in-law and my grandson.  No fun.

How I remember the tugs at my heart, the feelings of guilt having to leave my child in the care of others in order to go to work. The cries of protest, the sore stomachs, the tears. Nope, no fun!

~~~~
The next day I got a text from daughter #2.

She sent me the following picture:


Along with the picture was the message: "I love you mom."

~~~
Yesterday, my editor who is a friend of daughter #1 shared with my daughter about a Belief Re-patterning Weekend she was going to for changing your Inner Critic to your Inner Coach.

Daughter #1 responded with:

"I don't have negative self-talk. I had a good momma!"

~~~
By golly-gee. There was love in the air this week and it sure made my heart sing.

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Reflections On Being Present

There are two different kinds of being present in my eyes.

There's being present to the moment and being present to others.

I want to live both and it leaves me with a huge hollow in the pit of my stomach when I can't. I don't know if that's normal. Do others experience that too? Maybe. Maybe  not. I don't know for sure.


Maybe hollow isn't even the right word. It's more like a yearning for. A desire to. A calling forth that I can't figure out how to make happen or deliver.

I see a friend in need of support, emotionally and physically and I want to drop everything, fly over there and be present for her.

I see the beauty of the day unfold outside and I want to immerse myself in each precious moment so I can live it fully but I am inside bound by commitments.

I hear of my grandchildren, one losing a tooth and saying the most grown up things, the other gives herself totally to a make believe stage performance drawn from her imagination because she has not yet been marked by fears, self doubt or her own self judgments and I hope she never will be.

The youngest of the grandchildren is about to turn 3, learns new words and does new things everyday.



Then there's the older two. One is involved in all kinds of neat concerts at a school of performing arts and the other is already investigating what high school he is hoping to attend next year.

I yearn to be a more present grandma and be there for all that too.

Plus I want to be there more for my daughters who could always use a helping hand once in a while and the many other people I either know of or am close to.

I also want to be present to myself and the incessant need to write that keeps gnawing at me.

Is that even possible to be present in those ways? Would it silence the unrest and constant yearning and craving within me?

Maybe.

Monday 1 February 2016

Do You Know What It Means?


You see these signs all over the country side but do you know what it means?

My sister, who doesn't live in these parts and doesn't live in the country, when she was here visiting a long time ago asked, "What the heck are all those signs about? Does it mean there are trucks buried in the ditches everywhere?"

So almost every time I go past one of these now, I think of my sister and I get a little smirk on my face.