One Part Inspiration...

The maternity ward is busy at The Pokeaway. I know, I know - seen one, seen 'em all, but honestly, you could just eat them up. O.k. not really - not yet. It is definitely a great way to meet your neighbours. One Sunday afternoon, my daughter and I stopped in to look at the building progress there. We poked our head in at the sheep, and found a mama in distress. She looked like I felt when I was in labour. I know nothing about being a mid wife. So I went and met all the neighbours. First, I stopped in at the neighbours closest to us. He has been very kind to us and said to my husband that if we needed him to feed the sheep if we couldn't get there, we should just let him know. So I didn't feel bad at all about seeking his advice when we drove up the driveway and saw a lot of cars there. Obviously there was a party going on, but all I wanted to ask was if he thought I should be doing something more about the mama than stand by. By ringing the doorbell, we met all h...

I had an 'aha' moment tonight describing to my husband a driving adventure I'd had with my son while he was driving down a main thoroughfare in our town. Up ahead was a stop light. At the stop light was a cement truck - first in line to go once the light turned green. We were at least six vehicles behind the cement truck. My son saw the light turn green and began accelerating. The other vehicles didn't accelerate as fast as he did. He approached the vehicle in front of us much too quickly for my liking. I began my famous side-driver routine: grabbing the seat handle, followed by grabbing the door handle, followed by the arched back and pretend brake being driven into the floor by my left foot. My son did not understand my reaction. He felt I had perhaps 'overreacted'. I tried to explain to him the cement truck would accelerate slowly, so there was no point in accelerating that quickly when he was so far behind the truck in the lineup. He would end up plowing in...

I sometimes hang out at the local library for an hour or so while in between drop offs and pickups. Just recently, I've checked out a few books on CD. I have a hour a day for listening as I drive, and now that I'm not allowed to talk on the cell phone (not that I really ever did..), it keeps me company as I go back and forth to work. So far this month, I have listened to 1 1/2 books. One was "Beautiful Lies" by Somebody or Rather, and the other on was a biography of Niel Armstrong called "First Man". "First Man" was a bit too much like a daily diary for me so I fast forwarded to the end and made sure that he returned from the moon in one piece, and then moved on. As of this week, I have a book on Jason Bourne on the go - I saw the movie, but thought it might be interesting to listen to it. The narrator does all the voices - Russian, Mid-Western U.S.A., Thailandi, Aussie. It is interesting to listen to, but I must admit to getting lost in s...

Tonight, my son and I went shopping for groceries. Although we didn't go to load up the cart, we ended up with a trunkful. We got the basics and a picked up a few extra,s thrown in for good measure. As we loaded it into the van, a man came up to us and said he was trying to find money for groceries and wondered if we could help him out. His fingers were stained with nicotine and it looked as if he was missing a few teeth. I don't know what you think about this dilemma, but my personal policy is that if I have some groceries to share, I will. I have had occasions where people who ask for help, take my groceries and then deposit them in the garbage. Others walk away, hide the groceries, and immediately approach the next person for money. I try to give the groceries in good faith, because I honestly don't know what has led these people to have to beg for food and money. I haven't always been treated in kind, but I try not to judge. There have been times when we ours...

As they say in the outhouse, 'things have been piling up'. I have been in an increasing state of "I- must- remembers" and "Oh -man,- I -forgots". So yesterday, I got out my little black book and started writing. I wrote down everything I could think of, which needed to be done, everything I was panicking about, and everything which needed an answer, even though I couldn't find one. I thought listing it out might help me clarify some of the uneasiness I've been experiencing over the things that I need to get done, the things I wish I could control, and any upcoming additions I would have to slot into my schedule. Amazingly, it helped me to find some calm. Every time I thought of something, I wrote it down. By the end of the day, the page was full. And I was even able to cross a few things off the list. This made me feel like I'd accomplished something. And having the others written down, allowed me a bit more confidence that I would be able to han...

Our temporary abode is in a very interesting neighbourhood. Since we moved in, we've met some of our neighbours, reacquainted ourselves with living 'close to town' and been privy to many types of activity - some legal and some not-so-legal. One thing which takes getting used to is the type of noises we hear. There's a four of us living in a small space, and some of us (the two teen-aged boys in particular) generate a lot of heat. So we often open up the windows to get the air moving. This is a Catch 22 Decision, because the noise on the street can be very loud. We are close to the freeway, and the airport, and the main thoroughfare of town. So we hear traffic, airplanes, ambulances, buses, as well as the conversations of people on the street. Some of these conversations are held in the middle of the night. Much as I like to be a people watcher, I am not really interested in what the young things two floors down and one door over think of the state of the world. This is ...

For Christmas one year, I bought my husband a clock radio/phone. It was a sacrifice, but I have never been sorry. I have privately congratulated myself many times for a good consumer decision. The clock radio has two alarms, so that, if say on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you have to get up at 6:30 and on Tuesday and Thursday you have to get up at 7:00, the clock doesn't have to be reset. How clever! The phone also has a few fantastic features. Back in the day, it was pretty high-tech. The best feature is that it is an 'old fashioned' phone - one that plugs into the jack. You can't move around the house with it. This means you will never have to search for it under your son's bed, where he put it just before he went to sleep - four days ago. It means, that if the power goes out, the phone stays connected and you can call Hydro to let them know you're in the dark. It means that the phone will not die on you mid-way through your conversation with your sister abou...

The week school came back, two of the three boys came to my classroom for small-group instruction. They informed me that the other boy was in Quebec. "Really?" I said, thinking that was a little off the beaten track. "Is he skiing?" "Nope" they replied. "He's swimming with the dolphins." "Dolphins?" "Yep." My geography is a litte rusty. I wondered if the St. Lawrence Seaway had dolphins in it. Especially at this time of the year. Then my mind turned to the lesson at hand. This week, he returned from his trip. I passed him in the hallway and said "Welcome back!" He replied "Thanks, I was in Cuba." I guess if you say QuÉbec as the QuÉbeçois do, then Cuba and QuÉbec can be easily confused.

I am a New Year's Resolution junkie. Every year, without fail, I bow to the pressure and make my list. In recent years, I have cut back to one main resolution. This is to try and circumvent the biggest problem I have with resolutions: Saying " I resolve to... " makes me feel instantly defeated. Somehow, those words carry a burden. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I am certain I won't be able to carry out my intention. It is altogether too easy to spiral down into the abyss of " What did I tell you? I'm a failure ." So then, what's the use of trying? I know that I am not alone in this. Many people give a blank stare when you ask them if they've made a resolution. It's as if they think that ignoring the question will make it (and you) go away. Making a resolution is all about intentional living. Saying it out loud to someone else, or putting it out there in cyber-space can be daunting. Suddenly, the word "accoun...

When I was little, I loved flying. I thought it was ever so exciting. Getting on a plane. Taking off. Sitting as far back in my seat as I could, in anticipation of the plane lifting off. Watching the wheels tuck up underneath the plane. I loved flying through the clouds. I used to imagine I was close to heaven. Perhaps my excitement about flying had something to do with the stewards and stewardesses. They always seemed to have an extra space in their hearts for little kids who were cooped up for hours on a plane. I remember being enthralled with the crayons and the books of puzzles I got, as well as the kitsch from the airlines. I treasured the little plastic airplanes with the logos on them; I kept the napkins and the stir stix as long as I could. As much fun as it was to fly, it was boring to wait for the flights. On one particular trip back to Canada, we landed in Germany. We were there a very LONNG time. My brother, my sister and I took to riding the escalators backwards - up t...

Today we pulled nails. Lots of them. . Some were insanely long. Some were insanely hard to pull because their little heads popped off before the job was finished. Many weren't even nails. Lots of what held the house together was screws. All kinds of them. We also pulled insulation. We made the pile outside even bigger. Then we stacked all the garbage we'd exposed in the bin , swept up, and went back to our temporary abode. Dusty, and dirty, and looking like a little like we had faded into the drywall. There are many layers to a house this age. When we first looked at the house, it had wallpaper and paint. Now after many hours of hard labour, it is mainly boards and studs. Covered up windows are now just exposed wood. Water damaged insulation has been discarded. Wires which go nowhere are visible, and completely unservicable pipes are unmasked. We've found lots of hidden treasure. There were pennies and hair dryers behind studs, baseball cards under the flooring, and Yaht...

I heard an inspiring story tonight on CBC's "As It Happens". An eighty year old woman is wheeled to the wrong area to catch a connecting flight after a visit with her daughter in Texas. She is told she has to take a flight to Chicago in order to get to Winnepeg. On that flight, a man across from her, takes up a conversation with her, and ends up taking her under his wing, and what happens next is worth some sort of movie. If you have time to listen to it, here's the link http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/ Make sure you find the program for Monday January 4. It is Part Two - scroll through to about half way through. Trust me, it will make your heart sing, and your eyes swim.