Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen one (or two) liners from stand-up comedians:

Women don’t want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think—in a deeper voice.
-- Bill Cosby

Gay people invented sports. Think about it. Boxing: two topless men ... in silk shorts ... fighting over a belt.
-- Ant

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
-- Brian Kiley

I didn’t understand NASCAR until I met some NASCAR fans. You talk to a couple of NASCAR fans and you’ll see where a shiny car driving in a circle would fascinate them all day. I can make fun of NASCAR fans because if they chase me, I just turn right.
-- Alonzo Bodden

The problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.
-- Robin Williams

Michael Jackson is the spokesperson for people who cut off their noses to spite their face.
-- Dennis Miller

You know you’re getting old when work is a lot less fun and fun is a lot more work.
-- Joan Rivers

I called a discount exterminator. A guy came by with a rolled-up magazine.
-- Will Shriner

Have you seen the deer heads on the walls of bars, the ones wearing party hats, sunglasses and streamers? I feel sorry for them because obviously they were at a party having a good time...
-- Ellen DeGeneres

Did you know babies are nauseated by the smell of a clean shirt?
-- Jeff Foxworthy

How many people here have telekinetic powers? Raise my hand.
-- Emo Phillips

You know, marriage is making a big comeback. I know personally that in Hollywood people are marrying people they never married before.
-- Bob Hope

I constantly walk into a room and I don’t remember why. But for some reason, I think there’s going to be a clue in the fridge.
-- Caroline Rhea

Chinese Food

Tonight we went out for Chinese food. Hannah passed off a piece of ginger beef that she thought looked "disgusting." That reminded me of something that happened to me about 10 years ago.

We had a Korean teenager living with us and Rachael and Hannah were both babies. After church one day we went to a Chinese buffet.

I asked Gordon to fix my plate as I stayed behind putting babies in high-chairs. Shortly he and HanEy returned with all of our plates. We prayed and began eating. Before long I came across what I was sure was an aborted baby's hand in my ginger beef. I was mortified -- stricken completely speechless. I sat 100% stunned, unable to even raise my head.

My mind was racing, computing dozens of scenarios. I knew I had stumbled onto serious criminal activity and was trying desperately to ascertain a working plan of how to handle this. I knew if I went to the proprietor with such I thing, he could grab it from me and destroy the evidence. I was thinking the logical thing to do was wrap it in a napkin and take it to a police station. Still I sat there very close to vomiting, unable to speak.

Aware of nothing but the horror in my plate, I slowly became conscious of laughter beside me. I looked up prepared to shatter any light mood that existed at the table. HanEy and Gordon were looking at me laughing. They were saying things like, "It's a chicken's foot," and "It's just a joke." They had no idea the horrifying images running through my head.

When I finally grasped what they were saying, that what I thought was an aborted baby's hand was actually a battered and fried chicken's foot, it was way too late to redeem the situation. I was sick to my stomach and very near tears.

I took one of the girls and went and sat in the car while they finished eating. I was so upset. Not by their joke, but by the horrible images that had just been in my head. My adrenaline was pumping as if I'd just witnessed a murder. I cried.

It was several years before I ate ginger beef again. We never went back to that restaurant which before that day had been considered a "special" place. And until tonight, I guess I've not thought of that most horrific image in several years.

You'll think this is sweet

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http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9e7c4b40cf5a13cea6ca

Monday's question

This week's question is a continuation of last week's. Last week's question was what advice would you give a newly married couple.

I enjoyed reading what everyone had to say and I believe there is wisdom among this readership. (I wish there was more boldness to participate among the group.)

I enjoy the thoughtfulness expressed in your answers, your participation, and the opportunity for dialogue. So this week I'm hoping to tap into that wisdom again -- I guess every Monday that is the goal.

Continuing the theme from last week, today's question is:

If you could share a slice of advice or wisdom with a teenager who just graduated from high school, what would you say?

Does sin sometimes feel good?

In church yesterday Pastor was talking about contemplating sin and finding yourself in the middle of sinful situations, looking around and thinking, "this isn't so bad..."

Well his theme reminded me of an incident back when I was a pastor's wife. Gordon had just preached a sermon similar to the one I heard yesterday. (Actually it was much meatier, but that's another story.) In his sermon Gordon said something to the effect of "when sin feels good."

I think anyone who is honest will admit that sin feels good for a season, albeit often that season is only seconds long. If sin never felt good, there wouldn't be a temptation to sin. Gordon was not promoting sin, he was promoted the higher "feel good" of doing right and following God. (Feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong.)

When church was over, as was the custom, Gordon and I stood at the back greeting folks as they left. A notoriously hoity-twoity parishioner made her way toward us. I could tell before she opened her mouth that her nose was out of joint, yet again, over something Gordon had said.

When she got to Gordon she rebuked, "Gordon sin never feels good and I think what you said could be damaging."

She walked off looking much lighter having set him straight. She was just out of ear-shot when I said, "Well obviously she's never done some of the things we have."

The folks next in line nearly collapsed laughing.

Hannah's party

Today was Hannah's birthday celebration with a couple friends. We went horseback riding. It was great to see them all so happy.

My 11-year-old Hannah.

Rachael

Hannah Bear

Hannah and friends

ride 'em cowgirls.

Roman Laughing and Not

I couldn't resist sharing these pictures.

Happy B'day to Hannah

Pardon my blurry pictures. As usual with the older photos, I've taken pictures of pictures.

Eleven years ago today a 9.9 pound red baby with lots of black hair came into my world. (She had actually been in my world long before then, but not in my arms.) Hannah Kathleen. She looked nothing like my previous babies and had I not witnessed the whole thing, I would have said they'd given me the wrong baby. I wanted to tell everyone in the delivery room, "Hey this is really weird. My other babies were pretty. Really, I mean my others were very pretty. Everyone said so." But no, not Hannah. She looked like a mixture of a cranky Winston Churchill, the fat toothless old lady down the street, and a red poached egg. But I loved her. I loved her lots. "Oh Gordon, she's so ugly," I said proudly. And I was proud.

When we came home from the hospital, my next door neighbor came over and oohed and awed saying stuff like "Look at all that hair," and "She is so sweet." I wanted to tell the neighbor that I knew she was ugly, but I didn't want to sound un-proud, because I was proud. I know a few tricks when it comes to dealing with ugly babies. Among my tricks are, "Look at all that hair," and "She is so sweet." Might as well just come out and say, "Woe is it ever homely."

But I loved her. She loved me too, so I loved her all the more. As she grew she lost the Winston and egg look but kept looking more and more like the toothless old woman down the road. More than a couple times I thanked God that it was a woman down the road she looked like and not a man. When she became expressive with grinning and all, the resemblance to the sweet lady was astounding. My girlfriend Elisa knew the lady down the road. Once the old lady left my house and I confided that I thought Hannah looked like her. Elisa laughed and said the she and Walter thought so too.

Well the pretty fairies visited when Hannah was about 5 months old and she became cute. Actually very very cute. She got a couple teeth and lost the little old lady look.

Unfortunately I was exhausted from having two babies. And it sure didn't help that one of them was Rachael. Exhaustion, hormones, - call it what you wish - wiped me out. Depression came on and my memories of Hannah's babyhood are cloudy and murky. I simply don't remember a whole lot.


When she was just a couple weeks old Gordon told me that there was a surprise baby shower for us two doors down. I sat and wept. I cried hysterically, "I'm too tired to go out." But I pulled myself together and we made it. Those sort of emotions marked those days. Fortunately I have pictures and when I look at the pictures I remember things. She's smiling in the pictures so I think she fared okay through it all.

From the get go in her little life, Hannah had a big sister that was a baby herself. Rachael colored all over Hannah, sat on her, man-handled her like a sack of potatoes. Hannah smiled through most of it.

She learned fairly early how to stand her ground with Rachael. We realized in her young life that she had her own methods of handling her overbearing big sister. Some of those things we still quote. Once as we drove Rachael protested that Hannah was touching her. They were both in car seats and Rachael said, "Hannah's bothering me."

Hannah made a pointy with her index finger and began a little sing-song as she poked Rachael over and over saying, "Bovering, bovering, bovering." We knew then that life was going to balance things out fine. And occasionally we all say, "Bovering, bovering, bovering," as a way of saying I'm trying to get on your nerves.

Hannah grew and became sensitive. She cared about the feelings of others including animals. She became very articulate, loving to learn new words. Her musings in the backseat often were word games. She played it alone and with no guidance whatsoever. "Re-spect-ful. Re-spect-ful." "Dis-cip-line." She spoke slowly and crisply. We could tell she was saying the words just to enjoy rolling them off her tongue. She played this game for years actually. Once after watching the Tigger Movie, she sat in her carseat quoting Tigger. "Splen-dif-er-rous. Splen-dif-er-rous." We loved to drive along just listening to Hannah practice saying big words.

Twice Hannah did weird little falls that knocked her out cold. The first time I was vacuuming when she fell off the sofa. It scared me silly. I phoned Gordon and he did the typical man thing. He rebuked me for worrying too much. Months and months later I felt rightly vindicated. He had taken the kids to Burger King. Hannah did one of her weird falls and went out cold. He absolutely panicked. Someone phoned 911, a lady came over to help out. She told Gordon that Hannah was breathing and would probably be fine. Gordon sat holding her, crying like a baby, waiting for the ambulance.

By the time I got to the emergency room, she was in a tiny green hospital gown soaking up the attention. She was fine. I've often wished I'd stolen that little gown. She looked so cute.

Hannah has always marched to the beat of her own drummer, more than once taking abuse for doing so. When she was in grade 1 she loved to look for and collect bird feathers. At the park some boys teased, "Ooh, it's the feather girl. She's always got feathers." Hannah was hurt, but undeterred.

Her grade one teacher told me that Hannah was a strong little girl who was willing to be different. And she was a bit different.

Hannah is my easiest child to buy for and treat special. She has so many likes, interests, and passions. Dogs, horses, art, music, piano, stationery, pretty things, porcelain dolls, - she has many interests. It's an endearing quality.

She's thoughtful, considerate, compassionate. She's kind, funny, artistic, and clever. She's typically an absolute doll to be around.

Yesterday she and I went to the Humane Society for a date. I was struck again by how easy she is to please.

This morning she smiled broadly as she was served breakfast in bed.


Tomorrow she is going to Beppe's for two nights. I guess they'll do the usual birthday shopping trip. She's excited. Then on Saturday we'll celebrate. She's chosen horseback riding and a picnic. She's so happy with her plans.

Hannah is delightful. I love her so much and marvel at her many talents. Truly to know her is to love her. I'm thankful for her.

Happy Birthday my sweet Hannah. You are beautiful (but I'd love you no less if you still looked like a poached egg). You bring delight to our lives and to our home. May you grow to be all God created you to be. And may you always point others to Him.
I love you.
This morning, breakfast in bed for an 11 year old.

Butts, Big and Small

Another Capernwray story.

One night Gordon and I arrived at "Bistro Night" just a little early. We were supposed to meet another couple, but couldn't find them. We faced different directions as we looked for them. I didn't see them where I searched.

I turned around and started looking in the direction Gordon was looking. While we stood there looking I put my hand on Gordon's butt and started muttering about what we should do next. I kept looking over the patios, but as I did, I started fiddling with Gordon's butt. Now I realize that I was aware something wasn't quite right, but at the time, I was feeling around for clues. Now I realize that his butt didn't feel right but at the time I was just feeling around trying to figure what was awry.

Before this event I don't think I could have told you that Gordon's wallet is always in his right pocket. I didn't realize that was something I knew. But this butt I had hold of had a wallet in the left pocket. Something was weird about that. Evidently I was pretty engrossed in locating this other couple, because I kept mumbling who knows what and groping this butt to figure out what wasn't quite right.

As I groped I realized another thing: this butt was flatter than it should be. Gordon has a very round butt. So help me I don't know why I didn't put all these pieces together, but I didn't. I kept mumbling and kind of squishing this butt in my hand trying to figure out why Gordon felt weird.

The man muttered a-very-in-control, "Val?"

I turned toward him and started screaming like an idiot. Then I started stamping like I was doing an Indian pow-wow (except lots faster) and shaking my hand like I was trying to get bugs off it. As far as I know, no words were coming out of my mouth, just screaming. I saw Gordon about 20 feet from me. I ran to Gordon and buried my face in his chest. I told him what I'd done and he started laughing.

The wife of the man I'd fondled came over to me and was laughing. She'd seen the whole thing, as did a few others. Everyone was laughing and commenting on how red my face was.

The wife sat down beside me, still laughing. She told me a story that she said she'd told so few people because of how terribly embarrassing it had been. And truly her story made me feel better as her goof was lots worse than mine.

When she and Frankie were on their honeymoon, they went to a mall. Frankie wanted to look at tools, she wanted to look elsewhere. When she came back to the tool section, she found Frankie squatting looking at the tools on the lowest shelf. She noticed he had a hole in the butt of his pants. She snuck up and put her index finger in it and did the gichy-gichy-goo squiggly movement.

The man jumped up screaming. It wasn't Frankie. She screamed. He yelled. She screamed. She ran.

She said after what I did to Frankie she felt she could tell me that story.

The next day another lady came up to me and mentioned my "eventful evening" the night before. I thought she was talking about some of the kids' antics. But then she said, "At 1:00 this morning we were laying in bed laughing thinking of the look on your face."

So that is me. I try to bring cheer wherever I go.

Monday's Question (Updated :))

Last week I was pleasantly surprised by the response to Monday's question. I hope all you that responded last week will again this week. Plus I hope some of you that didn't will give your thoughts.

So here is the question I posted this morning:

If you could share one slice of wisdom or advice with everyone you met, what would it be?

However, I was notified by an astute reader that this question is way too broad. I see her wisdom, so I am modifying the question.

Now the question is:

If you could share one slice of wisdom or advice with every newly married couple, what would it be?

This greatly narrows the original question down so I hope to have some participants.

Roman - Sumo Boy

Too cute!

Thursday Thirteen

These are some Winston Churchill quotes. It's no wonder I like reading his stuff.

1. "The more knowledge we possess of the opposite point of view the less puzzling it is to know what to do."

2. "You cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you also understand the most amusing."

3. When the cliche' "familiarity breeds contempt" was used in an argument against him, he thundered, "I would like to remind you that without a degree of familiarity we could not breed anything."

4. Never good with math, he called it, "the dismal bog of sums." (I love that.) As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he brought financial near-disaster on England, making one bad decision after another. Out of that position he said, "Everyone said I was the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was and now I am inclined to agree with them."

5. "We are worms but I intend to be a glowworm."

6. When corrected for using a preposition at the end of a sentence he said, "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put."

7. His nanny, whom he loved much, was very religious and trained him in Bible. In a math lesson he grew so frustrated that his recourse was to threaten to "bow down and worship graven images." (I think that is so clever and cute. Clearly his spunk and creativity was evident very early in life.)

8. Regarding a colleague, he quipped, "He is not in complete harmony with the normal."

9. Regarding a fellow Parliament member he said, "He has many good qualities, some of which lie hidden, and he has many bad qualities, all of which are in the shop window."

10. Following his humiliating defeat after the war, when asked to tour the country and let the people honor him he replied, "I refuse to be exhibited like a prize bull whose chief attraction is his past prowess."

11. After defeat, his wife consoled saying it was perhaps a blessing. He replied, "If it's a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised."

12. Nancy Astor and he had an ongoing strained relationship. Once she said, "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee." Churchill responded, "Nancy if I were your husband, I would drink it."

13. When asked if Niagara Falls looked the same as the last time he'd seen it, he was perturbed with the question and answered, "Well the principle seems the same. The water still keeps falling over."

kayak

This is a Capernwray story. I wanted to canoe all week, to go to a small islands and look the seals in the eyes. I expected my canoeing expedition to be invigorating and deeply spiritual.

My husband however wanted to kayak instead of canoe. So kayak it was. To use the kayaks I had to sit through a brief safety lesson. I had heard it several times with the kids (who had gone tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and speed boating). I had on a life vest, so I knew I wouldn't drown, and really that settled the safety issues for me. Besides they claimed the kayaks were practically un-flippable. (I wondered when I heard that if ever there was a person with more flippable prowess than myself.)

The only thing I was actually concerned with was fitting in the kayak. For 3 days I occasionally wandered up and down the boat dock where the kayaks were to "size up the situation." I needed more privacy than was ever afforded me, so I didn't get to see if I fit in the privacy of my own, uh, my own ocean.

So on the fateful day, I decided to just do it. I squeezed myself into the kayak and was very pleased to find I had a few centimeters to spare. I was set. I got out and preceded to put on the splash skirt. This was a silly little rubber skirt that one wears to keep water out of the kayak. It looked like a gigantic royal blue jock strap. But regardless, the safety lecture had stated clearly that we had to wear the splash skirt.

My fear regarding fitting into the kayak wasn't grounded, but the skirt was a different story. I pulled, wriggled, and squirmed right there in plain sight. I decided, in the interest of pride, to forgo it. Truth is, I would have fit I was just too proud to continue shimmying on the dock. Gordon hesitantly went along with my plan but made it clear he had a problem with my "rebellion."

We had a sweet trip to and from one of the islands. It was nice, really really nice. But because of my guilt regarding not having on the silly skirt, we didn't "land" we just turned around. I didn't frolic with the seals.

As we were nearing the dock, a lifeguard - the one who had conducted my safety lesson - started walking toward us on the dock. I panicked. I didn't want him to see I had disobeyed the rules regarding the splash skirt. I kept paddling like I was planning to drive right up on top of the dock. Thud! The kayak collided with the dock.

I desperately wanted to disembark the kayak before he noticed my missing skirt. I pulled myself up and began my cultured exit. Gordon started screaming, "VALERIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The lifeguard's eyes said the same. With extraordinary delicacy and grace I heaved and hauled myself out of the seat. The last thing I heard was "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I went under water. The practically unflippable vessel capsized with Gordon in it.

When I surfaced, my husband growled, "You crazy woman, what were you thinking?" Others gathered to help the lifeguard and Gordon right and empty the boat.

The lifeguard never mentioned the splash skirt.

I walked to land.

news

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291949,00.html Somebody has way more energy than me...

Monday's Question

I recently met someone who posts a "Monday's Question." I thought it a cleaver idea and decided perhaps I'd give it a whirl. But what good is a question with no answer. Please answer my question. You don't have to sign your name. I'm just curious and hoping for feedback.

Question background:
A few days ago I was involved in a conversation with 2 other ladies. One of these ladies is not a very nice person. She does lots of bad things. She's nasty and admits to being immoral, even brags about it.

In the conversation she said she wanted a big Catholic church wedding. Then she looked up and said, "I am a good person, you know. I am a good person."

So Monday's question is: In just a couple words, how would you define a good person?

a sleepwalker strikes

At Capernwray we stayed in Preedy Lodge. We shared the lodge with several like-minded families and that created an amazingly high comfort level. We never locked our door when we went out or while we slept.

One night I heard Hannah get up to go to the bathroom. Since Hannah has a sleepwalking history, I tried to stay awake till she got back, but failed. I drifted back into a light sleep. Soon I was awakened by talking down the hall. I was slightly disoriented but I knew I had to go out there just in case it involved Hannah.

I stepped out of our room and looked down the hall. I saw a man in his underwear. (He saw a woman in a her short gown.) I was not at 100%, still very sleepy. I tried to figure out what he was doing, and it seemed like he was doing a shooing motion. You know, "shoo, go away" movements.

It took me a second or two, but I soon realized that was exactly what he was doing. He was trying to shoo my Hannah out of his family's room.

I went quickly down the hall (in my aforementioned short gown) and stood a few feet from the man in his underwear. He was trying to say, "shoo, go to someone else's room" to Hannah. He looked as disoriented as me and I didn't get the idea that he was thinking any more clearly.

Without realizing I was doing it, I was calling Hannah's name as I walked down the hall. Because of that she came to the door and smiled gently and sweetly at me. (She always smiles gently and sweetly when she's walking in her sleep.)

The sleepy gentleman did one last shooing motion and I took Hannah's hand and led her back to our room.

crabs and tsunamis

When we arrived on the West Coast we spent our first night at a town called White Rock. We walked the beach and the long pier. Deborah and I were holding hands as we walked. She entertained and sought comfort for two fears: giant crabs and tsunamis.(Interesting how just a few years ago we didn't know anything about tsunamis.)

I assured Deborah that it was impossible for a powerful tsunami to hit White Rock because of all the surrounding islands. I told her about technology that would warn of something like that.

I thought I had effectively comforted her. We walked in silence for a while.

Later she broke the silence with, "Mom, way back there when you said it would be impossible for a tsunami to come while we are on the pier, were you just saying that to make me feel better or did you really mean it?"

Wasn't that an astute question for an 8 year old?

Moving Mountains

On our holiday we visited a major rock slide. Frank Slide. The slide happened a hundred years ago and still looks like it did back then. It buried the town called Frank. It's very fascinating.

I was reading some of the information about the slide to the kids. Among other things I read that the Natives never settled there because Turtle Mountain, the mountain the "slid", they referred to as the "mountain that moves." And they called it that long before the devastating rock slide.

Hours after reading to the kids and visiting Frank Slide we were in the throes of the Rocky Mountains. Mountains rose up on both sides of us. Deborah studied the mountains as we drove. Gently she asked, "Mom did the Natives ever say 'this mountain moves' about this mountain?"

70's child, maybe 80's

You might be a child of the 70's or 80's if...(Or you might be my age, give/take, if...)
You know the profound meaning of "Wax On Wax Off".
You ever wore Fluorescent, neon clothing.
You remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and when he was still black.
You have worn a Banana Clip.
You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout".
You hold a special place in your heart for "Back to the Future"
You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."
You thought "Dirty Dancing" was a good movie.
Punks actually "shocked" people.
You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game.
You own many cassettes.
Poltergeist freaked you out.
You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
You know what PacMan is.
You know who shot J.R.
You had a crush on Shawn Cassidy.
You ever said, "Gag me with a spoon."
You wore leg warmers.
You ever had a Dorothy Hamill or Short and Sassy haircut.
You know who Nadia Comeniche is. (I think it's safe to say I massacred the spelling of her last name.)
You can sing that McDonald's song, "Two all beef patties, special sauce...."
You remember when the oldies said Olivia Newton John promoted bestiality because of her song "Let's get physical."
You ever rented a VCR the size of an end table.

Feel free to add to my list.

Just wondering

My dear sister-in-law recently sent this to me. Now she is years and years and years older than me so I've deleted from her list some of the things I couldn't remember and added a few of my own. When one stops to think about it, there have been lots of changes in my life.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN ...?

It took a few minutes for the TV warm up? We had a clothes hanger on the channel knob to better the reception. Sometimes when the static would be bad we'd argue over who had to get up to hit the side of the tv.
Nobody owned a purebred dog? I take exception to this. I am quite sure our dogs were purebreds. Purebred hounds. Is there such a thing? :-)
Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces? Hey, those are back and I bought some. Fortunately they don't require that awful belt at the top with the little snappy dilly.
All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels? Well my teachers didn't necessarily wear high heels, but they dressed nicely.
You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? "Fill 'er up," is what Mama always said.
Quaker oats had little gifts in the canister. Mama's favorite cup, plastic white with green swirlies on top, came from Quaker oats.
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents? It was such a privilege that I never got it, not till I was a teenager.
When people went steady? Kids these days call it "going out" even if they don't go anywhere. I think the kids are trying to mess with our minds. Then too, I remember using the phrase "going with." But even back in my day, I occasionally got stumped with that one. One day my friend told me she was "going with Jeff" and I said, "going where?"
No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?
Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a ..."
Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?
Candy cigarettes?
Home milk delivery in glass bottles. I don't think this ever happened in my area, but maybe it did and I didn't know. It certainly didn't happen in the country. However, just for the thrill of telling it, my house has a milk cupboard by the back door. This cupboard opens from the outside, where the milk man would leave the bottles, and from the inside, where the lady of the house would retrieve the milk. Isn't that quaint? It's not unusual up here, though I'd never seen it before moving here.
Party lines. We shared a line with Mrs Nash. She and Stacie gave each other a run for their money. They were both quite the telly-gabbers.
45 RPM records. Gordon still has loads of these. I married a sentimental man who can't part with his youthful hobbies.
Green Stamps. I loved it when Mama would take her green stamp books and we'd go redeem them in Fort Smith.
Metal ice cubes trays with levers. Man did I ever lose lots of tongue skin on those babies.
Carbon paper. That stuff was a thrill to have. I found some once and it was a treasure. I made all kinds of tests for friends to do. I got to be the teacher when we played school because I was the one with the carbon paper.
Roller-skates. Gordon was the king of roller skating. He still has them and no matter how many garage sales I've tried to put them in, I've never been allowed.
Drive in movies. I miss these. I think we'd have some great family fun at one of these. And I'm serious.
Lincoln Logs. I never owned any of these, but I loved playing with them during recesses at school on rainy days.
5 cent packs of baseball cards with a pink slab of bubble gum.
Jiffy Pop popcorn. I remember the commercials although we never bought any. The commercial sure did the trick making me want some though.
Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening? We don't have "lightening bugs" here, but often on summer nights I think about them and wish I could see some and see my girls catching them like I did.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was 'cooties'?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team? This happened to me more than once and yes, it was very embarrassing.

Roman smiles

Isn't Romie-Boy the cat's meow? He started smiling today. :-)))))

my handsome grandson with Steph and Christopher

While on holidays, I had no computer access. I went through Roman-picture-withdrawal. At home I can hardly pass my computer without looking at Roman's pictures. I got home last night and immediately went to get a Roman fix. I wasn't disappointed. I smiled and smiled. These are some of the latest photos from Stephanie.
Roman sleeping contentedly.
Aren't they lovely? Stephanie and Roman.
Uncle Christopher (my son) and Roman.

Holiday Pictures and such.

Below you'll find lots of photographs from our vacation to the West Coast. Unfortunately it's in reverse order, but hopefully you'll get a feel for what our trip was like.

Once we got to Thetis Island, I pretty well didn't pick up the camera again. I'm really bummed about that because I didn't capture more of our actual stay. It was an amazing time and I've got lots of stories to tell. But these pictures will have to do for now.

I'll share a quickie before I hit the hay. (It's late, we've only been home for a few hours, and I'm quite ready for my own bed.) We've spent many hours in the car over the past two weeks. Often at red lights, Gordon would study the map. When the light turned green, I tried to keep my mouth shut. (Early in our relationship I learned that Gordon can't stand when I tell him to go when the light turns green.) However he is often disengaged at stop lights and I have to bite my tongue. So over the years I've developed a most horrific twitch. When the light turns green and he's reading a map or looking the other direction, I nearly instinctively motion with my hand for him to go. Doing it this way, I feel like I'm being a good wife by keeping my mouth shut.

Today Gordon finally expressed his frustration with my hand-signalling-go-twitch. The light turned green while Gordon was reading a map. I said nothing but my hand motioned the usual.

He looked at me and dryly said, "Would you stop acting like a neurotic imbecile."

Finally, Capernwray

If you click on this photo you can see where we stayed. It is the farthest away building center-left. It is called Preedy Lodge.
A view from the road right after leaving the ferry. The bridges over streams added so much ambience to the place.
I don't know this girl, but did she ever find a whoppin' big pretty starfish?
Every day I walked past this garden and pretended it was mine. Growing up can be so hard.
Capernwray has more than a hint of English influence. The houses, cabins, and the Tudor Lodge had many flowers, covered bridges on the walkways, beautifully manicured lawns, and terrific ocean views. This house and a few others had walkways that emphasized the English feel for me.

I love this picture of Gordon on Thetis Island.

Day 5

This was an exciting day, as we finally arrived at our destination, Thetis Island. In Chemainus we got on a small ferry that took us to the island we would call home for the week.
This is Thetis Island and we were at Capenwray Harbour. The red-roofed portion you see is Capernwray Harbour. It is beautiful.
Rachael and Hannah on the small ferry to Thetis Island.
This is Deborah at low-tide at Qualicum Beach between Nanaimo and Chemainus. The girls spent the morning collecting sand-dollars. The van had a horrible fishy smell the rest of the trip.

Days 4 and 5

When we left Cranbrook we headed to the West Coast. It was a long, fun, eventful day. In Vancouver, (actually it was Langley), we caught the ferry to Vancouver Island. We spent the night in Nanaimo.
I love this picture because it captures a bit of who Hannah is. Doesn't she look contemplative? She is.
In Vancouver we boarded the ferry -- the girls' first ferry ride. It was a beautiful 2 hour sail to Nanaimo's Departure Bay.

In Osoyoos, (between Cranbrook and Vancouver) we stopped at the lake and ended up banana tubing. It was a hoot. The best part were the crashes. The worst part was being heaved back on by 3 men all thinking something like, "this girl's a pretty good sized woman."

Days 2 and 3

Days 2 and 3 were spent in Cranbrook with our friends, the Jasters. We had a great time visiting some of our old stompin' grounds and especially enjoyed catching up with our friends. This was our first time back to Cranbrook since leaving there in 1995.
The girls and Brenden near Marysville.
At Wasa Lake with our dear friends, the Jasters.
First Baptist. Where we were married and where Gordon pastored for 3 years.
Our first "home". Apt 409.
In the olden days, Gordon and I used to enjoy this spot along the river.
Along the Marysville Falls path. A short hike, but well worth the small effort.

Day 1

Often photographed mountain in the Crowsnest Pass.
Approaching the Rockies.
Deborah. Major rock slide, eh?
in the Crowsnest Pass.
still in the Crowsnest Pass.
Biggest truck in the World. Sparwood, BC
Alberta Foothills
More Alberta Foothills.
Hammy Hannah.