Oh god, not MORE politics?

I don't know about you but I am heartily sick of American politics.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse now we are going to have an election in Canada. however, we will have the campaign over with in 6 weeks the election in one day and the Americans will still be hurtling insults back and forth. It is a wonder anyone bothers to vote down there. They must be sick to death of it all.

Don't you just love the picture of Mc Cain nuzzling Bush's neck? that brings on a gag reflex in me. I am an Obama fan. I just don't think he can win. He is articulate, intelligent, knowledgeable and dignified. Somehow I just don't think the "good old boys" of American politics are ready for the "Change" that an Obama government would bring. Pity, really, the US is no longer the force in the world it once was. The war in Afganistan bankrupted the USSR. How much longer will the American people be willing to pour money and lives into a war they can't win? We thought VietNam was bad, it was nothing compared to this mess. It was wrong from day one. It would have been a lot cheaper if the CIA had just bumped off Sadam and his cronies and had done with it. Greed thy name is OIL.


So for the next 6 weeks we will have to endure insipid ads for the pathetic offering we have to pick from.

Conservative Stephen Harper: present Prime Minister, nothing exciting happening there.




Stephane Dion: (Liberal) Ooo lets have another tax. We will call this a green tax. Oh gee why not? As if we aren't being taxed to death already.








Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP. Reminds me of a little terrier chews on everybodys ankles but doesn't amount to much.

My choice for a write in???

David Suzuki, Canadian, Environmentalist, Author, Scientist and all around great guy! I just know he could clean up Parliament Hill!

Company at work

As if there aren't enough men around the office......... I had a watchdog yesterday.

Meet Jack.

One of the chaps was away for the day so Jack came for a visit. Great little guy actually, until he scarffed back a bowl of water and then hurled on my office floor....sigh.... good thing it was only water

Riviera Maya, Aventura Spa Palace

This afternoon my boss said to me, "I would like to speak to you for a moment."

"Hmmm," thought I, "I wonder what's up?"

THEN HE SAID........

I would like to offer you and Carl this trip to the Mayan Riviera !

Expenses PAID.

Jan 11-16, 2009



I could hardly breathe.


I am so excited.


Look at this place......



and there is beachfront too....


The room has a balcony and a double jaccuzzi.

When I say all inclusive I mean ALL inclusive...

go HERE to see more



Now, this is what I call job appreciation!


- bye the way I accepted his offer!

Aging Gracefully

Death and taxes are, as they say, the things in life that never change. I guess I would agree with that. As I get older (where did last week go?) I am, finally after 50 years of trying, at a place where I am more accepting of me. Aging gracefully is my goal. Nana has always been my role model. My grandmother was, as my grandfather, Ernie, would have said, "A class act." I smile as I type that. I remember him saying, with a touch of awe in his voice, that my grandmother was a beautiful woman. She was 63 at the time. This is Nana at 90.

I am getting there. I have definitely mellowed. I would like to spend the next 50 years being kinder to me. Eating healthy, dressing appropriate and being well groomed is part of it. It is also being proud of my accomplishments and letting go of my failures. Too much time has been spent lugging around emotional weight. Time to lock it away and loose the key. Hmmm not an easy task.

I had dreams and expectations for my life that did not happen. (Who doesn't) Now I am blessed on so many fronts. It is time to rejoice in that. I have found a caring affectionate partner, a satisfying job, good friends and a loving family. It turns out that I am a very good teacher and in an old fashioned term, I am an accomplished needlewoman. Life is good and can only get better.

Happy Birthday Miss Potter, July 28, 1866

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of reading Beatrix Potter's books. Life was quieter when I was a child and although my grand children could not comprehend life with out CD's, DVD's and iPods we children of the 40's were fortunate indeed. We have our imaginations intact and very well developed. Nurtured on the prose of the ilk of Miss Potter my two favourites were:

The Tailor of Glouster, (pronounced Glaw-S'-ter). Phrases such as, "cherry coloured silk", "no more twist" and "snippets" ran around through my brain as little mice furiously sewed the Mayor's wedding coat. I did not like the cat "Simkin", nasty old thing I was glad when he was thwarted.
The Pie and the Patty Pan was my next favourite. In case you didn't know a "patty pan" was a small pan placed under the pastry to hold up the crust so it didn't fall into the savoury and get soggy. There was a subtle message here about greed.
Miss Potter passed away 4 years before I was born but she is still very much alive to many of us today.

Sleepless in.........

It's 4 am and my alarm goes off. At 4:02 his alarm goes off. Gee that's an improvement over last Sat morning when this scenario played out at THREE A.M.

Yes, he has an early morning run today. Now, I will be awake until around 8 when the body will suddenly say, "What were you thinking?" and I will fall into bed. Good thing I am off today. In typical procrastinating form I have to get my July knitting contest project on the needles. So this is as good a time as any.(Sigh, part of my Ravelry addiction) AWHHH, nuts. It has taken me this long to come up with an idea. August looms and I still haven't decided whethter I will go into the Knit Olympics.

Our morning conversation went like this:

He: OMG I have bags under my eyes.

Me: Thank God for glasses that turn dark in the sun. Go stand out side for a moment.

He: It's 4 am......

Me: Oh...pause..OK I will go get a flashlight

He: Does it have UV rays???

Me: (silence) sigh, What time did you say it was? I rest my case.

I was restless this weekend......

It isn't really boredom and I am not depressed. I just have been feeling a little lonely. The damn gas is so expensive I haven't been able to take off on the weekend as I wanted. I wandered over to the mall but I didn't see one person I knew.
I used to work retail and..ergo.. spent a lot of time talking to and with customers. I now sit in an office by myself and although I usually enjoy the silence lately it has been making me feel a little wistful for conversation in the workplace.
I mean I talk on the phone all day to customers and suppliers but it isn't the same. Mind you when they are annoying I don't have to stand there and smile I can stick my tongue out at the telephone ( how childish..lol).
Then, quite often when I get home at night my partner is at work. I miss him when he's gone so much. Now that Chloe is gone I don't have any company except the geriatric cat and she sleeps all the time. Oh well, this sounds like a whine and I didn't mean it to. I think I am just pissed off I had the whole weekend at home alone and I couldn't go anywhere because the gas is so expensive. Boo Hoo. Poor Me. OK enough of that. I am actually feeling very good about myself right now. Life is good I have just had a little more alone time than I would like. I should keep track of this date for later when I will be wishing for a little peace and quiet. Some days there is just nooo pleasing me...*laughing*

A Jane Eyre Weekend

The weekend flew by, as usual, and Monday morning looms. I have to be out of the house in an hour..sigh. It seems all my favourite blog reads are stuck in a summer "daze". There was nothing to read this morning and I have been as guilty as they.

There is something wonderful about Monday morning. the week, clean, free of mistakes and fraught with possibilities, lies ahead.

I was exceptionally lazy this weekend and spent Saturday watching Pride and Prejudice (again)and Jane Eyre )again). I went out to the used dvd store and found a new BBC rendition of Jane Eyre, for some reason that story appeals to me. I am not happy with this one the actress is insipid. I will watch to the end but doubt I will watch it again. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the best Jane Eyre (1996) I have seen. William Hurt is a believable Rochester and the costumes and settings are authentic. All in all one of my favourite movies.

I also worked on my Ravelry account. I added more projects, finished and WIP. Look for me there as "Suzanknits." I still have to take pictures of my yarn stash and get them posted. I joined a couple of groups on Bead Knittng also. As I said, it was a lazy weekend.

Summer Is Upon Us....

When I was a child I used to enjoy picking the mint leaves from the side yard. The plants grew like a weed under the kitchen window and I would lay on the grass in the sun and absorb the aroma

and now as "I am old" I would like to add to that memory a little....

(Tzar Nicholas and his Tzarina and family have always evoked the deepest feeling in me. Queen Victoria should be held accountable for turning her back on that family.....I digress as usual.... )

......also some

and liberal applications of ice....Divine! ...Ola mojitos....

........sigh..Summer has finally arrived!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy...

...Evan...July 1st 1979

and Canada.........

When Evan was little he thought the fireworks were for his birthday. Where have the years gone?