Went to Wal-Mart the other day and parked beside this big fella. He was sitting on the shopping carts and making quite the noise. Ravens amaze me. They are so big and black and their beaks are so strong and dangerous looking and yet they do not bother us. I did see a raven with a baby bird in its beak last spring - a sad sight for sure. They are nest robbers, but we rarely see that. They remind me of a poem I studied in grade 7- Mr. Roy's class. I don't remember the name but the raven plucked the bonnie blue eyes of some dead person. And I just saw a dead raven - something I have never before seen - lying at the base of an electrical pole. I was walking the dogs and of course they sniffed it out. I phoned Yukon Electric (or should I say Atco) when I got home and told them they should remove this bird from the base of their pole. I don't know whether or not they did as I haven't walked that way again. But I have often wondered where the birds go to die. I don't think the base of electrical poles is the answer though. I am now watching Game of Thrones. Lots of ravens in that, carrying messages or gathering in the trees caw caw cawing out danger. Just a few raven thoughts.
Well it was a whirlwind week for me. A few of you will know what I mean and the rest will just have to believe me. I discovered that looking after two babies is more than twice the amount of work of looking after one. I discovered that one hour of sleep is not enough and I re-discovered that one can only do what one can do and must prioritize and just let the rest go. I also discovered that being able to depend on friends is priceless and I don't have to do everything myself. Thank you friends. I can't tell you how much your support means to me and I may be calling on you sooner than you think. The week ended with a meal with my friends at the Wolf's Den out on the Alaska Highway. The day was hot and sunny, a perfect day to break bread and sip wine on the deck.
As much as I am looking forward to moving - not for a month and a half yet !! - I will miss my windows. They help bring the outside in. In the summer that means the flowers, grass and blue blue sky and in winter the clean white billowing snow and blue blue sky. I love it!
P.S. Happy Birthday Dad. I hope you are celebrating with all my friends and relatives that have passed before me.
Guess what SR put together today. The stroller is up and ready for the first walk. So far the twins seemed to like the stroll to the market, a perfect thing to do today as our weather finally decided to be summer.
And today I caught up with Sue. Haven't seen her since the Olympics (???)... a long long time anyway. She was just on her way south to learn dog training. Hope she comes back with some good tips for Run-Away Timber! Great catching up and we promise to meet more often.
Still catching up with friends. Last night it was Iris and Terry as Terry will soon be moving down to Vancouver Island. And Iris just had her ear rebuilt so she can now hear @ 116% hearing - I think that makes her some kind of super hero with super hearing power! So after a quick refreshment we made our way to dinner.
Going Mexican tonight. Sanchez had room inside luckily so we dined and caught up with everyone's news. We'll miss our threesome gabfest. We all lead such different lives so catching up is so much fun.
Everyone remembers the summer holidays as a kid. Hot sun, swimming pool or beach and Archie Comics - catching up on our good friends Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jug Head et al. Well, I am sad to report that Archie met his end today. Below is his obituary. And, it reveals how long ago I read Archie comics. I didn't know he was married, had a child, or of his larger circle of friends. Interesting read. RIP Archie Andrews.
Riverdale — The Globe and Mail
Published
Honorable to his last breath, Archie was an action hero without a cape, an everyday Riverdalian who did not need physiological transformation to perform noble deeds. He was a maladroit ubermensch grappling forever with the forces of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, Betty and Veronica.
On Wednesday at a post-fundraiser party for his controversial friend, U.S. Senator Kevin Keller, the bumbling athlete and love-torn musician Archibald “Archie” Andrews leapt in front of an assassin’s bullet intended for the openly gay U.S. senator. No details on the suspect are known, and sources close to the storyline cannot speak about it because they cannot break their non-disclosure agreements. There was an FBI detail on duty, brought in to protect Mr. Keller after the recent shooting of a gay man at Southport Mall and the discovery of Keller campaign literature in a motel room believed to have been occupied by the shooter.
Earlier in the evening at the downtown venue, Jughead’s Chocklit Shop, Mr. Andrews had ordered a large chocolate milkshake with a maraschino cherry and three straws – an order he had placed thousands of times over the decades. The three straws were an homage of sorts to his teen years when he would share the shake with two girlfriends, the former Miss Veronica Lodge and the former Miss Betty Cooper. Mr. Andrews inadvertently knocked the shake over in his rush to protect Mr. Keller, who was accompanied to both the fundraiser and after-party by his husband and former physical therapist, Clay Walker.
While Mr. Andrews died of his injuries in the seriesLife with Archie, he will continue to live in our hearts, as well as in several commercial iterations, including an upcoming feature film. As if foreshadowing Wednesday’s tragic event two years ago, the film’s director pointed to the psychic demons Mr. Andrews faced. “There are parts of the story that I think people will be surprised how dark and real it gets,” said Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Equally portentous, he is writing a zombie series calledAfterlife with Archie.
Born in Riverdale in 1941 to a family of vaguely Scottish ancestry, Mr. Andrews would sometimes wear a kilt and, on occasion, strangle a bagpipe. He never had “Mommy issues” with Mary Andrews—she was frustrated but indulgent. Their positive rapport led to wide puzzlement over his perennial inability to choose between the solidly middle-class Elizabeth “Betty” Cooper and Veronica “Ronnie” Lodge, the daughter of the local oligarch, Hiram. While Mr. Keller was Archie’s best friend later in life, his most formative companionship was with Jughead Jones, best known for his squinting, thousand-yard stare and signature “clubhouse beanie” fashioned from an upside-down fedora.
A musician of minor note, Mr. Andrews and his eponymous band first tripped out of the gate with his debut song, Bang-Shang-a-Lang, but soon after enjoyed early musical success with its 1969 hit, Sugar, Sugar, a song aching with the wanton teenage lust that would later influence the early work of One Direction. After a long hiatus from the musical charts, he began a love affair with Josie and the Pussycats guitarist Valerie Smith. The relationship was a notable departure for Mr. Andrews. It was his first interracial relationship and, conservative critics suggested it began his slide into the liberal politics that ultimately led to his demise. The couple consummated their relationship with a song, More than Words, and a child named Star.
Mr. Andrews death came quickly on the floor of the Chocklit Shoppe, surrounded, fortunately, by many loved ones, friends and acquaintances of long-standing. As the end neared, he calmly enquired as to the safety of the crowd and declared: “I’ve always loved you.”
Met my friend Deb at the Ridge tonight for dinner. We haven't chatted for a long long time. Everyone seems to be extremely busy this summer so we made arrangements to meet this evening. Above is the path I take to the local Pub. It is only about 3 minutes walk from my current house.
Deb and I arrived at the same time. Good to see my 'ol friend.
For Sale: Selling my house via Property Guys. That is, I am selling it myself. I have had two open houses and many individuals walking through my house. Lots and lots of interest and currently I have an offer on the table. Conditions come off July 31st. Here's hoping.
I took my old neighbour (I should quit calling her my "old" neighbour) Helen out for her birthday lunch and was invited to bring her over to see the twins. Ben was there and he was holding Alanna so gently I couldn't help but take a picture. The twins have been home a week now and have grown immensely. Of course, you couldn't tell if you look at the size of Ben's hand compared to the whole of Alanna!
The new Gramma. This was on a different day, taken while I was watching Germany play in the World Cup.
My neighbour Gramma aka Helen being introduced to Emerson by his proud father.
June 28th. At last, they arrive home. And who brings them to the north?? No other than Air North, Yukon's Airline! Of course, they were the last ones off the plane with an attendant pushing baby paraphenalia behind them.
My first glimpse of my grandchildren, slung over their mother's shoulders. They certainly were cute, even from that distance.
Finally, home sweet home. They left a couple and returned a full family.
After learning how to hold them, how to diaper them and how they feed and sleep (I have never touched a baby that small before in my life!) I left them to sleep in their new home. Sweet dreams Alanna and Emerson!
16 days later, the little ones decided to enter our world. They were premature, Emerson weighing 5 pounds, 2 oz, and Alanna weighing 5 pounds 10 oz. The photo above is one of my favourites, brother and sister so tenderly together in Mom's arms.
The first Family Photo.
SR on day one with Emerson. The hospital staff was wonderful with the newborns and the parents. As they had to stay there until the twins could feed without a feeding tube, the nurses passed along much valuable information. I was still in Whitehorse getting daily updates and looking forward to the day I could actually see them all for real.
June 1st, 7:00 AM: B, with early labour pains, moved from the hospital by ambulance to be medivacked to Vancouver. I followed in my car behind the ambulance to the airport. I sat in the ambulance (my first time in an ambulance - they are very clean!) there until the plane was ready to load its passenger. Below is the plane. Unfortunately SR was in Watson Lake, so at this point he was driving into Whitehorse, otherwise he would be on this flight also. Three hours later, the plane touched down in Vancouver, B was ambulanced to the hospital.
It was a beautiful day the morning the flight took off.
I'm just bursting with news but promised I would wait before reporting it. In the meantime, here I am in Porter Creek looking after a house and two dogs. The weather has been cool (light coat due to wind & sprinkles of rain) but tonight was very nice even if a bit buggy. Sat in my new red striped chair sipping brandy and listening to the birds chirp. This is about 9:30 at night. The days ARE getting shorter every day now. In some respects sad and in others it means it is getting closer to my moving day. Yippppeeeee.
And here is one of the dogs I am taking care of. Little Timber. So cute isn't he ... until he runs away which happens in the blink of an eye. I now keep him on a leash at ALL times and still he has run away from me. The little Scamp!
This has been one of my jobs for the past month, although I have had a reprieve in the last week. Yesterday's walk (above) was with SR, who threw little Timber in the lake - his first experience of swimming. (I can't say he liked it very much although he was thrown in twice). Lily on the other hand loves to swim so fetched those sticks with pleasure.
Haven't written much lately as I probably said in the last post, as I am quite busy. Just bought a house although not moving in till Sep 15th. And selling my house. Listing it privately on Monday, then an Open House on the weekend coming. Getting some repairs on my deck this weekend, then have to paint it then clean the house then, then, then.
For those that don't know Brooke is now on bed rest in a Vancouver hospital. She is growing bigger every day and is probably getting more and more bored every day as she is usually a go getter. It must be difficult just resting all day long. In turn, I am helping out at home - with the house if necessary, with the yard when the lawn grows and with the dogs if no one else is around to look after them.
And along with all the above, World Cup 2014 in Brazil has begun. So am attempting to watch as many games as possible. Yesterday there were 4 games played (my team lost boohoo). Best soccer in the world being played here so don't want to miss too much of it. Two new things added to this World Cup is goal line cameras and disappearing foam, all to make the game more fair.
So I will try to be more vigilant at keeping a blog going but to top things off it IS SUMMER. Time for outside activities and loving every minute of it. But I will try.
Tonight there may be a very cool meteor shower. Between 2am and 4am EST, that is 11PM and 1 AM my time, Earth will be passing through a debris field left recently by a new comet that passed through our orbital plane. Since it is a moonless Friday night, there should be a good chance to see some of this new meteor shower. So, at around 11 PM I looked out my bedroom window and this is what I saw. Looks like I'll have to stay up for a few more hours before the sky is dark enough to see shooting stars and considering the robins start singing at 3:00 AM (the early bird gets the worm & awakens sleepers), there is probably little chance of seeing a good meteor shower.
By the way, these photos are not photoshopped. We are currently getting 18-1/4 hours of daylight. You wedding people from last year remember the skies of a June 21st evening, which is less than a month away. Yup, difficult to see the stars at this time of year.
Not many posts lately. The reason - I am house hunting and getting my place ready for sale. It is a busy busy time, but when I get my new camera (yeah!!!) I hope to take some photos to see how it works and hopefully will find a bit of time to add a few posts.
Who needs to own dogs when you can just take out two dogs for a walk any time you want? It was a beautiful spring day so I took Timber and Lily out for a walk. Now young Timber has to be kept on a leash for his walk. He will chase a butterfly for miles before realizing he wandered away from you, then will get interested in something else, then something else and before you know it he is lost, not that he would care as every little thing interests him, but I would. So ... leash it is.
Now Lily, (the perfect dog), doesn't need to be tethered. She always knows where you are and comes (usually) immediately when called. And as such, she runs about 10 times the actual distance of the walk so she gets a good workout.
After the walk it was back in the dog pen. They were both pooped and content.
Found my long lost friend the other day so we got together for lunch and a long long long long chat today. I have know Shelley since 1976. That's quite a few years. Anyway, it was great catching up and we promised to make this a regular thing.
The second performance of the Pop Choir happened tonight. This time the choir doubled in membership (apparently now with a wait list) and the audience more than doubled and they played to a sold out crowd. Here is just a snippet of what we heard. (Brooke and Emily are the last two on the right). P.S. This plays with flash so may not see it on iPad.
Earth Day and my Birthday. As Taurus is an earth sign it is very appropriate that Earth Day falls in April. It was sunny all day, then as evening began, we received our first rain shower. April showers bring XXX flowers. I know I left out a word but I didn't have to wait for May, I was gifted flowers immediately. It is so nice to have fresh colourful flowers in the house when not even the first crocus has yet to poke out its head from the ground.
And more flowers. What a day. I loved it!
Also rec'd this "scary" owl for my garden. We are hoping it scares away any vermin that may come near but I know Gramma also thought it was the cutest thing ever and thought of me while travelling and brought him home.
Ate at the new G&P pizza house downtown (in old Lil's Diner and also in the original Christies where we used to buy Hot Christies). Apparently the restaurant is larger than their original G&P beside the Kopper King, which is very surprising. The meal was excellent (I had the Halibut), as was the company, SR, BR and the twins. Couldn't ask for more.
Busy busy these days. Looking for a new house and packing up my current house so don't expect too many blogs at this time. I did have the last supper I will be serving to company at my present abode this weekend. Brenna came with her HAMSTER ON A LEASH!!!!! Have you ever seen such a thing? It did come over in a ball as well which was rolling all over my house. Apparently Santa brought this little critter at Xmas.
Had to get a photo in of "the belly". I felt my new little grand kids moving around for the first time tonight!!! It was very exciting.
