Sunday Afternoon.....

Sunday afternoon and no one to talk to. So I decided to go for a drive, not far, just here in London. While I was getting ready the sky opened up and poured a deluge. I went a head and packed a picnic, grabbed the camera, plugged in my my ipod and took the umbrella from behind the door. I went to visit Eldon House, which was open, but then the sun came out and I had a better idea. I went to Woodland Historical Cemetery. It was just me and the deer...right in the middle of the picture, 2 of them. You can hardly see them but they were there. The rain stopped and I wandered around reading headstones. Cemeteries are a fountain of information. They chronicle the health, prosperity, artistic tastes, morality and the growth of a city. To a student of history, cemeteries are gems of information.
Cemetery art always facinates me. Mount Pleasant cemetery in Toronto or the Necropolis are facination islands of history. This is Luigi's family they were from Moderno in Italy.
The is the center of 3 hill "crypts." Very interesting. dating from the late 1800's
This Celtic cross has different knotwork on all 4 sides.
In memory of "Emma", 47 (!) and 2 infant children. Life was hard. July 31,1883
This was for a child called simply "Baby Sloan" . Makes you wonder why they would go to the expense of a statue and then just call the infant "Baby?"


The sun finally came out and I stopped by the water at Springbank Park. This bench bore a plaque(under the bench) saying it was erected in memory of "Mom" thank you Lisa and Michelle I enjoyed the use of "Mom's bench." This is a far more practical memorial than all the other's I saw this afternoon.


Yes, that is knitting on the bench next to my lunch...the bamboo socks linger on....
The view was quite lovely and there was a little chipmunk running around the leaves.

Time to pack up my "stuff," as George Carlin would have said and go home.

Canada Post Employees...shame!

2500 years ago the Greek historian Herodotus is credited with saying,"Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." This phrase one way or the other has been used to describe the postman. Well not any more, people.

Last Wed, June 18th I sent a package, Xpresspost, ( an honour for which I paid more) with the assurance that it would be in Kincardine on Thursday, June 19th. Which according to my tracking number, it was duly noted as arriving in the post office. This is where the ball got dropped. My sense of humour being such as it is and because I was mailing to a Scottish town in Ontario I sent the parcel to " The Roberts Clan" I had the correct address and the correct postal code. My oversized label was also printed on the computer in large bold easy to read type. Tracking also informed me that a delivery had been attempted and a card "had been left." Not So. No card, no parcel. Nadda. Forward to Tuesday of this week, June 24th, 5 days later and my son finally recieved the card in his super box...no house delivery in Kincardine. Super Boxes are reputed as being more efficient and cost effective...ya right The card was directed to ..and get this ...."R. Clan" and it was the wrong house number. Stupid bleeding twits. Shaking my head. Thank God there is no "R. Clan" living on my son's street or he would wonder why he just recieved 2 handmade quilted girly wall hangings, in the mail. Canada Post should have a prerequisite to hiring employees, and that is that they should be able to read.

Raspy scratchy noises.....

........are emanating from my throat. I endured being called squeak at work today. Customers were mercifully brief on the phone either a} they felt pity and decided to let me off the phone ASAP or b} my voice reminded them of nails on a blackboard and all they wanted to do was hang up.

My stomach is upset and I feel like crap. Now, I am from the "old" school that says, "when you are sick you drag yourself to work so you can infect all your coworkers." Having done my worst today I may take a sick day tomorrow. Every time I swallow it burns like acid...sigh....

I feel so bad I don't even feel like knitting...OMG!

Rubbish

It should be clearly understood there is a difference between "rubbish" and "garbage", at least in my mind.
Rubbish is the detritus of life that can't be recycled. Garbage is yucky kitchen left overs. In my on going down sizing plan I have just put out a PILE of rubbish for the dustman. We, in London, are on a 4 bag limit with restrictions on what we may and may not put to the curb. You may put out a monitor you may not put a computer. What if you have a broken lap top???? do you rip the top half off???? Mystery....anyway....
I tried very hard to sort my rubbish and even tied up my cardboard with 2 strings!! I refrained from putting a bow on it I was afraid that that may smack of a little sarcasm. Don't piss off the trash man. Normally we don't even have half a bag of non recyclables, so I have no guilt on my offering for tomorrow.
I am also cleaning out "The closet", sigh. I am not hard on my clothes and I tend to wear the same thing year after year. ( Leaving any left over cash for yarn...snicker) I have 2 bags in my car so far and tonight I am going to tackle it again. I am sssssooooooooo sick and tired of what I wear..gag. It is time to get rid of the memories some of those outfits evoke plus the "what was I thinking when I bought this" things. yee gods.
On my way in the door tonight I dropped my computer case on my toe. "Oh my," I said in a falsetto voice,"but that smarts a trifle." Hmmm piggy #2 is competing with #1 in the size department.
I better go get the ice.

Leafy Sea Dragons

No this is not a Disney creature but a living sea dragon. I was intrigued by a report in todays news about a pair of Sea dragons that have mated in captivity. Say what?????

I have never heard of this creature so Good Morning Google Images and here they are......


They range is size from 9 to 14 inches. A cousin of the seahorse they do not have a prehensile tale. They have little pectoral fins and are content to float with the current and dine on tiny "sea lice."



Then I found a picture of this little beauty..... this is a Mandarin fish

.......all my favourite colours too. I would hang his picture on my wall!

Nature in all it's splendor is a sight to behold.

Trikadekaphobia

If you have it then you will be staying home today. The unreasonable fear of the number 13 began with the slaughter of the Knights of the Templars on Oct 13. 1307. There is no row 13 on an airplane, no floor 13 in a hotel , no seat 13 in a theatre amoung many others.

Give a thought today to that moment in history, fueled by jealousy and greed, that destroyed so many lives. Who knew then we would still be talking about them 700 years later?

I did the right thing.

I made a very big decision this past weekend. I had to find Chloe a new home. Shih Tzu's are sociable little souls and Chloe was suffering being left alone so much. It simply wasn't fair to her. She was sleeping her days away and then just laying in a bed all evening when I was home.

I have been struggling with this for a long time but once I made my mind up I knew I had to "just do it."

I placed an ad on Kijiji. Wow. What a response over 800 hits and 60 emails in less than 2 days. Finally I just stopped reading the emails and started making a list of potential homes. I spent to weekend sending and receiving emails and making phone calls. My criteria was simple, 1. no young children, ( she loves children but not 24/7) 2. someone who didn't work, and 3. someone who needed her companionship as much as she needed them.

I deleted all the nuts first and there were some believe me.

Monday evening Dallas and her mother Jan came to meet Chloe. It was love at first sight. Some people just radiate dog love and animals respond. I knew I had the right family. We drank tea and talked and Chloe went home in their cute little lime green car. Dallas thoughtfully sent me two pictures and two emails to say how very happy they all are. Even her husband is totally smitten with Chloe. So I know I have done the right thing.

I came home to an empty house last night and I keep going to let her out things like that.....and I cry......doing the right thing isn't easy.

Bumblebees

One of these just bounced repeatedly against my office window. Not big in the smarts department. A marvel of aerodynamics to be sure. I was watching one hover outside the bedroom window yesterday. They have a penchant for nesting in our chimney.
Oh joy of bliss.... a sure sign of warmer days!

Thomas Pump Organ

My brother bought this pump organ in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. It was manufactured in Woodstock Ontario.

I bought it from him in about 1994. There is some minor damage to one foot and the pedal on the right needs to be attached to the webbing. All the ivories and the stops are intact and the wood is in very good condition. At present it is sitting in my garage and I would dearly like to find it a good home.

This organ has a "Once upon a time" feel to it. I can sit in front of it and stroke the keys, with my eyes tightly closed, and envision the original owner playing a piece of music. Her corset does not allow her to sit anyway other than erect at the key board. Lifting her skirts free of her shoes she pedals quickley to fill the bellows. Her hands, fingers curled, hover over the keyboard. She gently carresses the keys and the sweet sound fills the room.

This organ has a sweet tremulous sound that deserves to be heard again.

Who will want to own this beautiful piece of Canadian history? Talk to me.

Right foot
Pedals
Side view
Carved Panel
Carving
Keyboard
Keyboard closed
Music rest

Pet Peeves

Ok people I can not stand it any longer.

1. Left turning lane. When the light turns green get into the intersection for the love of god!. We all know you want to turn left because you are sitting in the left turning lane, your signal may or may not signify that. Move forward so the back wheels are over the white line...This is enough to drive me to road rage!. If you are into the middle of the intersection you may make a proper turn into the LEFT lane. This diagonal dash, when the light has turned red, into the right lane going west makes me wild. Take a driving course pleeze!....OK I feel marginally better.

Next and this one really pisses me off:

The countries are "i-taly", "i-ran" and "i-raq" . You know "i" like "it."

Not for the sweet love of god, eye-ran and eyerac !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you don't say eye-taly do you?..hmm maybe you do, I even hear some of you uneducated peons say eye -talians. I almost chocked on my coffee the other night when I heard a news presenter make this gaff.

I accede to the wisdom of Christiane Amanpour who tried vainly, I might add, to educate a news commentator on one of the major US stations. Lets face it if anyone knows how to properly pronounce a country it would be this intelligent woman who has spent the majority of her career covering the news in the middle east.

Our names are our identity and I personally feel that if you can not take the time to properly pronouce a persons name or country it is just another indication of how little chance we have of ever opening the doors to real communication, in this case, with the east. It is called respect now smarten up!

There..... nothing like a little vent to clear the mind!