That was the theme of last night's choir concert. A theme that was chosen in September when music was selected. It turned out to be an interesting choice of themes when just over 1 hour before the concert, the power went out in the building and a large part of the surrounding area.
In what is being called an inconvenience, a blessing, an act of vandalism, and other varying things, we stepped back into time and had a candle light concert. Vivaldi did not have electric power when he penned "Gloria" all those years ago and we did not have it as we listened to it last night. It was a peaceful night, a beautiful night and an unusual night as we reflected on the light in the darkness. As we visited while waiting for the music to start and during intermission, we wondered how far the outage extended and what caused it. This morning at church those same questions were discussed as we compared stories.
We were enjoying the peace, so we did not even think to turn on the radio on the way into town to find out more about what was happening. Instead we visited and marveled at how dark the countryside was without farmyard lights on. We reminisced about times before electricity. Now I m not old enough to have ever lived without electricity though I have lived far enough north that it was at times unreliable. I have read stories and heard stories from those who are older. My Mother in law was along last night and was able to relay some stories as well, though most of those were also from times the power was unreliable rather than non-existent.
This afternoon, after getting the laptop to finally boot up, I searched for a local news feed to find out what happened. The details are still sketchy as the incident is being investigated but what struck me was the tone of the comments. Many comments were harsh and critical. I understand that people were inconvenienced. I understand that there are safety issues but this seemed beyond that. What about the blessing from being unplugged from all the conveniences of life that tend to control us and plugged into those relationships all around us? What about being grateful that the temperature hovered around zero yesterday instead of minus 10 or colder like is normal for the end of November here. When we returned home the furnace had been off for almost 5 hours. Our house was chilly. We keep a flashlight in the entry way closet. This allowed us to see as we found the other flashlights and candles. In the city, the water worked even though the power was out. Out in the community we were in for the concert, the water is supplied via electric pump which means they had no water, no heat and no power. Yet I did not hear anyone complaining about it. I did hear many positive comments about the evening, how peaceful it was. How nice it was to spend an evening with friends family and music. It makes me wonder, have we forgotten something very important as we have more devices that require power?
1 comments Most Recent Post: 11/30 04:08PM by Anonymous
It's Bruce's birthday today though we are not actually celebrating until tomorrow because the girls have baton tonight.
The birthday person gets to pick the meal and the cake for the birthday (or an agreed upon day close to the birthday). Each year for at least the last 10 we have had homemade pizza for Bruce's birthday. The girls have come to expect it. Actually, so have I. Each year we go through the same routine.
"Bruce it's almost your birthday, what would you like for your birthday meal?"
"Let me think about that."
A few days later, he tells me he would like pizza. Although this year I still don't know what kind of cake he wants.
I recently found out that the reason he has to think about it for a few days is to determine if any of the new meals we have made would be more of a treat than pizza.
Happy birthday, dear. I hope you enjoy your pizza tomorrow night.
It's something. I know, very descriptive. I am ready for snow. The leaves are off the trees and brown and mushy on the ground. The grass in the backyard is brown. Normally we have had some snow by now. Well, I guess we have had some this year as well. On Sunday we had snow that turned to freezing rain. Yuck.
Yesterday, it started snowing. Big, fluffy, lazy flakes that floated down to the ground and melted. Mud puddles everywhere. And then some didn't melt which meant mud puddles,covered by ice. I like snow I like watching the flakes fall lazily from the sky. I don't like -40. I don't like ice or blizzards or car crashes because of stupid drivers that think there is no ice even when we can see the sun glistening off the shiny ice covered road. But I like snow. I like the clean crisp view after a snowfall when everything is blanketed in white. The sun shimmers off the yard making it look like a great big bucket of glitter was sprinkled from the sky. I also like that there is no dust or pollen or mold spores being blown around and causing my allergies to flare up.
Today it tried to rain, then it tried to snow and it seemed to go back and forth with bits of clear sky in between. Apparently that is going to happen all night. I just wish it would make up its mind and snow already. Enough of this freezing rain. I want snow.
Is there any way that we could do away with them entirely? There are many people I know who who be very happy if they knew they would never have another major headache again. Myself included. I have been having a number of headaches again. None of them were migraines but they slowed me down. I had hoped that it was related to some diet changes and then all would be back to normal. Today, the big one came. It has been a long time since I have had a migraine that bad. The pillow felt like a rock. The room was spinning and my stomach was unsettled. I am so thankful that Bruce and mom were able to help out with the girls. I am also thankful that we have found a prescription medication that helps the migraines. But today I took my last one. Good thing I have a new prescription in my purse. Tomorrow I am off to the pharmacy. Tonight I am going to bed early with the girls.
Noah was born Sunday October 19 in the middle of the night. He gave his mom a hard time with labor off and on and mostly on since the Wednesday before. Both Noah and his mother Trisha are doing well. Our family is one person larger. With Noah's arrival my Aunt became a Grandmother. I expect there will be a little spoiling happening to this little guy.
Why is waiting so hard? We spend much of our life waiting. We wait in line at the grocery store. We wait for supper. We wait for special days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. We wait over and over again. And yet every time something really exciting is about to happen the waiting seems so hard.
Today we are waiting for news. My cousin Trisha went to the hospital this morning to be induced. Sometime today hopefully soon, we should hear whether the new little person in the family is a boy or a girl. This is the first baby in the family in about six and a half years. Trisha is the first of my cousins to have a baby. It is even more exciting because she has been staying with my parents since August, while going to school so we are regularly reminded that the time is coming. Kathryn can hardly stand it. The first question she asks after school is if the baby is here yet.
Victoria was induced. It was twelve hours after that that she arrived. I tried to explain to Kathryn that it can take a long time. We are hoping for Trisha's sake that it doesn't take too long. In the meantime, we wait and we anticipate.
While I was waiting, I finished up a page for Trisha. I left room for her to add the journaling about waiting for baby.
Today is Thanksgiving. We celebrated Saturday and Sunday and spent today doing odd jobs around the house and playing games with the girls. As I went about the activities of today, I thought about just how much we have to be thankful for.
I am thankful for health. For the most part, we are healthy. The things that cause concern, like my blood pressure, were caught early. Since August when the girls and I had our check-ups, we have improved our eating habits to combat the growing concerns. I now have slightly less weight to carry around as I go about my day and I have more energy. My headaches have decreased as well. My girls are healthy and Bruce is healthy. We are thankful.
I am thankful for family. I am thankful for Bruce and the girls as well as the extended families that we are part of. It is hard at times with part of the family in B.C., part here and part in Ontario. We are pulled in different directions as we plan vacations and trips to stay in touch with family. I do not like talking on the phone as my siblings can attest to. I am thankful that the internet and email have given me another option for staying in touch.
I am thankful that we have an income. As the economy is on just about everyone's mind these days, I am reminded that there are many things we take for granted. I am thankful for the house we live in and the food we have to eat. This weekend we had more food than we needed as we celebrated the blessings we have.
I have been thinking about this all month. Last week I started a mini album about giving thanks using a hybrid album by Silvia Romeo.
My calendar says it should be autumn. The leaves have turned orange, red, yellow and purple. They crunch underfoot. The carrots are being dug and pumpkins abound.
But...
With all the signs of fall, why are my gladiolas still blooming? And some of my tomato plants that didn't get dug up have started producing tomatoes again. We never have tomatoes in October unless we cover them at night. I did not cover them because I had picked them. And what about this:
Shorts and a tank top in October. Usually that gets exclamations of "what was her mother thinking? Did she not see how her child was dressed?" Not only did I see, I was outside in sandals playing in the leaves. One week earlier, I had admonished the girls "It's the end of September, you should be wearing socks and pants when you leave the house! Don't forget your sweater and do you have your finger mitts in your pocket in case you need them?" Who needs mitts and pants when the temperature soars to 28 degrees Celcius. I looked it up that is 82F on October 2! Today it is once again above 20. It has been above 20 all week. It is unreal.
Ten years ago, we awoke to a snowstorm on Thanksgiving Sunday. There was so much snow that cars were stuck in church parking lots. If you were on a side street you prayed you didn't have to stop at the intersection but could keep going. To stop almost certainly meant you would be stuck. Some roads were blown shut and needed to be dug out. We had our thanksgiving meal with my in-laws that afternoon and were amazed at how much snow had fallen.
Eleven years ago, it did not snow until after Christmas. Our autumn lasted until January 1. The Christmas displays looked odd with no snow. I do not remember if the temperature was this warm that year.
So what is normal? Cool nights, and sunny days with a crisp wind. It is normal to need thin mitts when we leave the house in the morning. On warm days we will shed the sweaters in the afternoon and be thankful that it hasn't snowed yet. Snow could come anytime. Thanksgiving is next week Monday and it is not unheard of to have had snow by then. In October the snow often melts leaving the leaves soggy. They are so much more fun when they are crisp.
I am enjoying the warmer days. It means we can play in the leaves longer. I can walk to work and the bicycles have not had to be put away. I sweep the walk instead of shoveling and am thankful. I know tomorrow could be different. I only hope that we don't skip fall. I anticipate the cool crisp nights as we prepare for the winter. Soup seems so much better after being out in a chilly fall wind. I have been hungry for soup and other fall comfort foods. And why not? The calendar says it is fall and the pumpkins abound.
4 comments Most Recent Post: 10/06 11:11AM by Anonymous
But it feels like August. It was 25C yesterday and the forecast is for more of the same today. My Gladiolas are still blooming.
My Hyacinths are confused and think it is spring. They are growing again. The leaves on the trees are slowly turning color and are crunchy underfoot. Last week we had some nights where the temperature dipped below zero. Brrrr. But now it's summer again. Welcome to autumn in Saskatchewan where anything can and will happen. We watch the weather because it is necessary. It would be foolish to think today would be similar to last Wednesday. My girls would be wearing sweaters and mittens to school and roasting if we did that or worse would wear capri pants and T-shirts when the mercury is hiding in the bottom end of the thermometer.
The confusion in temperature has left me out of sorts. I find myself procrastinating because I am torn between inside and outside. I am torn between tasks I enjoy and end up doing very little of what I had hoped to do. My plans are messy. Yesterday I planned a good fall meal of meatloaf and fresh muffins for dessert. But who wants to heat the house by turning on the oven at that temperature. I should have planned a barbecue. Hmm, I wonder if barbecued muffins would be any good. I do bake biscuits on the barbecue in the summer and I have barbecued bread when the power went out at an inopportune time.
Outside, while the weather is nice I have some planting to do. I bought some purple and yellow crocus bulbs on Saturday. My girls are now convinced that I am a little crazy. They wanted to know where we were planting them and I told them in the lawn. By the end of the week any neighbors who were still doubting my sanity will be agreeing with the girls, unless I sneak out early to scatter the bulbs. We might plant the bulbs after school today. I am actually waiting for some tulip bulbs that my Mother-in-Law is bringing over. She told me yesterday that she hoped I had a place to put them. I think I can find a place for flowers that are brave enough to start blooming before all the ice has melted.
Inside, I have scrap book and other creative ideas bouncing around. I would like to try them. I also have housework to do. Isn't there always housework to do? I have started on a process of rearranging the office. It will probably take all winter. It is my hope though that the space will be better usable by all of us when we are finished. When we originally set it up, Kathryn was not even crawling and Victoria was still in diapers. Now they use the computer at school and at home and need access to the office. As our family has changed, so our space needs to change to remain usable. Unfortunately, it will be a big job because it has become our catch all room. You know the place where everything that doesn't have a home finds a temporary home which becomes a semi-permanent home. That is the office. I don't know how Bruce can work in there. Some days he doesn't know how he can work in there.
I am also celebrating with some online friends this week. It is Digitals fourth birthday. Amanda is hosting a treasure hunt. Many designers are participating in a blog train. Two designers that I work with DeDe Smith and Beth Rimmer have grab bags in the store. I have seen the contents of the bags. They have fun goodies inside them. There are a few other grab bags on my wish list as well. Designers whose work is filling up my hard drive. Many of those same designers have blog goodies all week. I may need to make more room on the hard drive. Did you read that Bruce? I need more space.
2 comments Most Recent Post: 10/02 08:27AM by Anonymous
My thoughts are all over the place today from scrapping to the economy to housework. Yesterday, I read a quote somewhere that "the only place housework comes before scrap booking is in the dictionary". There are times when my house reflects that much to Bruce's dismay.
Monday was suppose to be laundry catch up day to put me on track for the week. It didn't happen. That means today I need to get it done. It occurs to me that the quote could work equally well by substituting laundry for house work.
I promised the girls we would make muffins after school. In fact I took the banana out of the freezer so now it has to be used. In order to follow through on this, I need to go grocery shopping because we do not have enough soy milk left to make the muffins. I wonder if coconut milk would work or if it would be too sweet and overwhelm the flavor? Yes, I have real milk in the house but that is for Bruce's breakfast and Victoria wants to be able to eat the muffins. I also need to buy eggs and buns or bagels unless I find the energy to bake some bread or buns. It is hard to make sandwiches for lunch without some kind of bread product in the house. But I don't really like shopping and would rather not venture out today.
Yesterday, I was a news junkie for a day. I wished I was back in school. The second autumn in a row where I have wished for that. Maybe I should look at studying for my master's degree just so I can be back in university and seeing how the theory that I learned actually plays out. Ten years ago, I finished my commerce degree with a major in finance. I studied bank swaps, exchange rates, market and price shocks, and many other interesting topics. We discussed the great depression briefly and other recessions. Some of the policies that have set the stage for the current crisis were started during the time I was studying. Now we are seeing the effects and it seems no one can agree on what to do. I find it fascinating and frustrating. It is so hard to get the facts. Everyone seems to be presenting it with their own spin and I can only wonder why. What do the analysts have to gain by causing panic? Nobody wins when there is panic and it makes it harder to understand what is going on. It seems to me that confidence has been undermined. Central banks around the world have entered bank swap agreements. Good. The bailout was voted down. Good. But that is where everyone disagrees because of panic. I don't believe it is good to sign a blank check because of panic. My retirement accounts took a big hit yesterday. Ugh. The economy is unstable. Ugh. People are panicked. That can only make things worse. The media, they seem to be inciting the equivalent of a financial riot and some politicians seem inclined to help them. Ugh.
Politics. I am tired of it. We are in the middle of an election in Canada. There is an election in the states. There is political news every where I turn. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any answers to the hard issues. Fluff promises are being tossed about in Canada and in the States, well I don't understand a lot of what happens in the states. To me it seems that there are many distractions from the serious debate in both countries. Maybe because we are losing the art of debate. Far too often it seems the debate turns to name calling or changing the subject. The 'Green Shift' becomes the 'Green Shaft' or the 'Universal Childcare Credit' becomes 'beer and popcorn money' and that ends the debate on those proposals. I think it is only through real debate that we can take the best that each party and each proposal has to offer and turn it into workable policy. That we can truly understand what it will cost us and decide if it is a cost we are willing to pay. That is not happening and we are poorer for it.
The weather has warmed up again which leaves me torn do I stay inside and scrap or do I venture out and do yard work. The leaves are crunchy underfoot, perfect for a walk by the river. I love the colors of fall. I am not looking forward to the cold of winter but am enjoying now.
I have still done some scrapping. Picture from our visit to the corn maze earlier this month. I used Beth Rimmer's "The creepiness Factor" to complete the page.
And now I must end this randomness and go actually put on laundry and get some groceries. Ugh. Hopefully I can scrap a bit later.
6 comments Most Recent Post: 10/01 01:45AM by Anonymous
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