Unnerving morning

~~on my lunch break~~
I arrived at work this morning to find my inner office door ajar. I was quite sure that I had locked it last night when I left at 4pm. A quick glance around and everything seemed O.K.
One of the techs who is at work early commented that my door was open when he arrived and there was a terrible stench "like a dead squirrel in the wall" in my office. Thankfully I was spared that.
Then...the chap next door said when he left at 5:30 pm last night, our outer door was open and when he came in, calling out to see if anyone was here, he discovered my office door open and the warehouse door unlocked and unbolted and the lights on. Curiouser and curiouser as the owner's son assured me that, "Everything is locked," when he left around 3pm.
While we were hearing this I opened my little fridge to put my lunch away and discovered my left over salad from yesterday and my apple juice was missing!! What is going on? Then "the boss" discovered the bottom of the salad container on the floor in the men's washroom. yuk (no I do not want it back)
Yesterday was a mild day and our office and the business next door had our doors propped open to the foyer and the outer door open as well. What the men think is that sometime after 3pm someone came into the outer office snuck past my door while I was on the computer ( I face the window) and hid in the warehouse while I was at my desk. Are you freaking yet because I am? Normally I check the warehouse before I leave but as I had been assured everything was locked, and had no reason to doubt it, I skipped that part of my routine. I locked my office door, shut off the lights, locked the outer door and went home. I locked the intruder in. Oh crap. It is assumed that the "person" then let himself out and was probably planning on coming back with a truck sometime in the night and cleaning out the warehouse. Our neighbour who has a set of emergency keys locked up thinking that I had lost my mind and gone home leaving the whole damn place open for the asking! Jesus, Mary & Joseph!!!!!
I am alone in this office 90% of the day. To say I have been jumpy today is putting it mildly. I am getting a motion sensor for the front door.

Now here is the mystery. How did he get in my office? Today I am not happy.

edit: A new motion detector has been installed at the front door. It chimes three times when ever someone comes in or out. I do not mind it one bit!

Bureaucratic Mumbo Jumbo Clap Trap

Oh, I just had to vent. Governmental holier than thou overpaid pensioned to the teeth bureaucratic pains in the butt. GRRRR, where do they think their salaries come from? The sweat of the little person paying exorbitant taxes, that's who. I just had to deal with a sanctimonious no body who, unless I want to garner their wrath upon us, had to be treated with kid gloves. Peasants revolt. I have a news flash for her. You would never make it in the retail sector honey, your customer skills are pathetic.

*running around the room screaming*

Thank you I feel better. Now, I have to go wash my face from all that ass kissing.

Dancing down memory lane...

Saturday evening Carl had to wait for clients in Port Stanley so I drove down to join him for a couple of hours. The last time I drove around the village was about 40 years ago. I was trying to decide if the ice cream shop had been Booker's Grocery Store when the young girl behind the counter proudly piped up with, "This has been an ice cream shop for 25 years." Her mouth fell open when I said I was thinking of 40 years ago!! I suddenly realized how old I must seem to her.
The house is still there where we sat eating birthday cake and watching the landing on the moon on our black and white TV. Now there are hideous extensions affixed to the back and a second story addition. I hardly recognized the place. Quite dreadful! The harbour has been extended which eradicated several blocks of old homes. I was shocked. The trees are HUGE..lol
Even though it was raining lightly we walked along the beach and I told Carl when, around 1965, I sold tickets for the dances at the Stork Club ( don't miss this 6 min clip) on Saturday evenings. Although Guy Lombardo was long gone the memories lingered in the maple dance floor, once billed as North America's Largest Dance Floor." We used to open the large windows on the second floor and the wind off the lake would blow the cigarette smoke away and keep the huge room cool. Peter was the bus boy and at the end of the evening we would have a dance together. I remember how sad I felt when my mother called in 1979 to say it had burnt down.

There was magic in the atmosphere on those dark nights when the last of the dancers had left. As Peter shut down the band stand lights and the mirror ball slowly came to stop I twirled beneath it my arms outstretched and dreamt of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Wandering through history

What if you could go back in time? What would you want to experience? My thinking along this line has been triggered by listening to Michael Crichton's book "Timeline." I read it ages ago now I am listening to it on audio whilst driving to work in the morning. So, I started to really think about (aka : daydream) where I would like to go. Proviso: that I am one of the elite and not a peasant..lol

Salisbury: during the building of the Salisbury Cathedral

Palenque: While it was being built.

Victorian London: once again; providing I wasn't poor.




Pompeii: a year before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

If I only had one shot at it I would be hard pressed to choose. It is a tantalizing thought. If Albert Einstein is to be believed it is possible. On the other hand can you imagine the havoc that would be wrecked upon the world by reckless interference in history?

Lazy Summer Days...50 years ago

Today is my brother's birthday..that would be him on my right.
Oh hot July days he would ask,"Toots, can we go to the sugar bowl?"
I would make some "peanny bukky" and jam sandwiches, put some over sugared Freshie ( kool aid) in a jar, load my Nancy Drew book, and a couple of towels into the basket on the front of my blue and white Canadian Tire Super Cycle Special and off we would go.
The Sugar Bowl was a bowl shaped park area with a large wading pool in the centre. I would ride the approximate mile standing up while David sat on the seat of my bike his little hands firmly grasping my sides. We never fell over or got hit by a car. Wonder of wonders as I rode on the side of the road down Central Avenue from Bertie Street to the park. We would be gone a couple of hours. No cell phone for our Mother to check up on us, no money for pay phones and no identification if we had got hit by a truck. Pure bliss. Pure Memories.

Happy Birthday Dai Llencyn!

That's the way it was....

O.K. I admit it, I have spent an inordinate amount of time gasping at the beauty of the world in High Definition. With channels like "Treasure, Oasis & Equator" I mean, Wow. The novelty will wear off. Be patient. I am busy working on a shawl for my childhood friend Jackie. We are going to Connecticut the end of August to see her and Paul. It has been at least 25 years since we have laid eyes on one another. This is going to be momentous. Yes, there is a wool shop in her town..I checked and I will be going to the grocery store to stock up on kool aid for dyeing. There are much more interesting flavours available in the states that we never see.

Walter Cronkite passed away. If you remember him then you are as old as mud like me...lol ...The shooting of JFK, The First Man On The Moon, Apollo 13, Vietnam and Watergate are all moments that are synonymous with the sound of Walter Cronkite's voice and "That is the way it was." A nostalgic moment...sigh

Although we have only had one heat wave this summer we are still busy at work. This has turned out to be a cool summer. I heard the other day "summer" is still going to happen and that we are running a month late. It is either global warming or eternal Canadian optimism. Time will tell.

I am following a project with the greatest interest. Go to The Yarn to see the latest post. What a wonderful story about his grandfather, reminded me of "Ernie," my grandfather. Be sure to click on the "gallery of all the squares."

Carl has to work today. Me thinks I will park myself in front of the TV and knit like a fiend.

I have heard mixed reviews of the new Harry Potter movie. If there is nothing on the TV I may go to the pictures. Carl would sooner gag than go PAY to watch Harry Potter. Some things just have to be seen on the HUGE screen...lol

Saving Up

I realize that the concept of "saving up" for something is foreign in our present society. We live in times of instant gratification via, debit cards, lines of credit, overdraft protection and the curse of the 21 century, credit cards. I have actually been saving up for a treat for myself for over eighteen months. First the car had to have a repair....start over...then dental work...start over...we needed to buy a new bed, I chipped in for that...start over...more car repairs...well you get the idea.
This past weekend, with goal achieved, Carl and I headed out to spend the hoard. He was off work on Friday so he did a "reckie" whilst I was slugging it out at the office. I looked, I pondered. I listened to sales men pontificating on the virtues of this over that.
When you wait for a long time and save your pennies the actual parting of same can be a traumatic step. Friday night came and went with no purchase. Firstly, (is that even a word?) the item was more expensive than I thought. I was hoping to have a buffer left in my account. Wait another couple of weeks was Carl's council. (not a chance) Secondly, When it came to the thought of actually parting with my savings I was wracked with doubts. Who knew spending money could be so hard? Saturday morning, I awoke with determination and back we went to the store.
Here it is all 42" of high definition loveliness. The first movie I watched was "The Duchess" with Kira Knightly. Absolutely wonderful. Both movie and the watching of same.
Totally frivolous purchase but come this winter when the snow flies I will be transported to another time and dimension. All I have to say is, nothing better go wrong with the car.
Meet Daisy, the sweetest little lady. She is the sunshine of my son Evan's lady love. This wee doggie was rescued from a basement window well after living wild for it is thought up to a year. The medics estimate she is about eleven now and believe she was in a puppy mill prior to that. Her ears are ragged from being chewed on. A timid little soul she has blossomed since moving to London. She adores Brittany and the feeling is mutual. Ernie gave me the lei on Sunday and Britt and I couldn't wait to take her picture.

Freedom Seventy-Five

We were having a discussion on retirement the other day when this catchy phrase came up. If you are in Canada you will have heard of a program called Freedom Fifty-Five. The theory being that with sound investments (?) and savings you will be in a position to retire at fifty-five. My scenario is more the title. Laugh or weep. It is what it is. I am still aiming for 5 more years of work, (the thought of 12 more years makes me gag) and then I can relax in abject poverty and knit...lol...

Yesterday the world wallowed in excess emotion. They will be petitioning the Pope for Sainthood next. Enough already, It's Elvis all over again, look how well adjusted his child turned out and she had a mother. Those kids don't stand a chance. You Tube has a video of a ghost at the Neverland ranch and himself has already been spotted in Mexico. Will it never end?????

Car toys.....

Fine, call it juvenile but I have a lady bug that goes every where I do. The "travelling bug" has been to France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy.. Rome (2x), Pisa, Venice(2x), Canada..Calgary Sask., Vancouver BC, Victoria BC, London, On and UK and Cancun, Mexico just to name a few.
In a moment of weakness...Dragon..Red..I bought another one.
Not a good idea. I am getting the "Mumma help" psychic vibe here. I think I have to find a new home for the "draig goch."
Lady bug seems a little frantic.

It's Dominion Day

...That's what we called today when I was a little girl. That was a life time ago. Carl and I were talking about the "100th Anniversary of Confederation" song written by Bobby Gimby in 1967 and I said I remember the kids singing that.
Then I realized the "the kids" weren't my children but my brothers. Yikes now I really feel old.
Today my Baby Boy is Thirty. How did that happen so quickly? It just seems like yesterday when he was this little blond baby you see here.

When he was little he thought the fireworks on Canada Day were for his birthday...he still does.

The park behind us will be filled with hundreds of people today. It is only 8am and the trucks have already started to roll in to set up the trailers. I hope the weather holds. So.....
Happy Birthday Evan! and Happy Canada Day!