Time for a Change

Right now, as I'm looking out my back window, I can see the slightly fuzzy beginnings of buds on the neighbor's oak tree. My crocuses are ready to bloom and the tulips are making tentative noises about wanting to come out and play. The birds are back too, swooping and carrying on with Mr. Robin taking on Mr. Cardinal for who can make the most noise. I believe it's time for a change.

It's time to take this off my front door.....

And it's time to switch from my happy waving snowman sugarbowl

To my majolica-like, found it in Florida sugarbowl!

I'm ready for a few changes....how about you?

We're Talking Hair

There are some people out there who really like my hair.

"You are so lucky - you have such nice thick hair." I get that one fairly often.

Or

"You hardly have a gray hair on your head!"....true again. They are there, poking out in funky wiry ways but they are a minority and at my age....past 45...well, that's nothing to sneeze at.

But like most women, my hair can drive me crazy.

It's curly in some places, straight in others. On a day where there is even a slight hint of humidity it expands and takes on a life of it's own, better known as "frizz". Now I know there are shampoos and conditioners that claim they can tame frizz but I have yet to find one that can take on my hair on a rainy day, or a foggy day and especially a windy, rainy foggy day (not a chance).

So I've tried a number of things. Let's take a look shall we? Fair warning - I do not photograph well hence the reason I'm usually on the other side of the camera.

There is a blow dry till you die and then finish it with a straight iron method:

There is the add some mousse and let the curl just happen method

There is the just let it dry method (I don't recommend this one - it is like the mousse method but worse). Note - this was taken on a non-humid day. Just multiply this by X4 on a humid day and you get the picture.

So what I have resorted to is often letting it grow long in the summer so I can ponytail the masses when humidity takes over and Medusa complex sets in. I've often considered cutting the lot of it quite short but with some curly and some straight....not sure how that would work out. Plus my husband get into a bit of a funk when I talk "short" hair.

Now my daughter, on the other hand, inherited my full head of hair without any of the frizz and no curl. She gets up in the morning, gives her head a little shake and voila - perfect. She doesn't even brush it....ever....

But me....this love/hate hair relationship just continues on. Someday, maybe when I'm all grown up we will have come to some sort of agreement. Until then, I will carry on, complete with mousse, flat iron, blow dryer and hair elastics.

Onion Denied

For the past 20+ years I have lived with a man who hates or better yet, detests onions.

That means no onions for me.
No onions to cook, smell or eat for over 20 years.
I miss French Onion soup, onions in my food, onions on my hamburger etc. etc.
I could, of course, continue to eat these but there would be no kiss good night for me.
Onions make my hubby literally gag so I have denied myself this right and privilege.
The other day my son had some hooligans, I mean friends, over to watch movies and one of them brought chips.
Sour cream and ONION chips to be exact. No one opened them so there they sat in our snack cupboard. Since I don't have onions in the house my kids then grew up never eating them, hence they are not that interested in them and believe me the hubby wasn't about to crack that bag open.
One day when I came home from work there they were....waiting for me. I'm usually very disciplined but my moments of weakness usually hit when I get home from work, tired, stressed and hungry.
I opened that bag of sour cream and ONION chips and had a few...had a few more....heaven help me. It's fake onion flavouring I know but onion all the same. A little blast from the past.
Once in a while a little contraband doesn't hurt....right?

Patriotism to the Max

If you live in Canada you can't help but to have been affected by the Olympics over the last couple of weeks. We've been transformed into a country of red and white, a country of flag waving and heartfelt anthem singing. It's everywhere. We are Patriotic to the max.
On the day of the big game (you know which one I mean - Canada's game - Hockey), we were in Toronto to get our daughter back to University.
Having spent a last couple of hours in an IMax watching Avatar we landed back in the lobby just as the game had ended.
"What's the score? Who won??" Everyone was asking.
And there on a TV over a bar we could see our men's Canadian Hockey team standing on the podium in the middle. A dead giveaway - we won. Heartfelt congratulations were exchanged and then we stepped outside onto the street to head home.
In the middle of downtown Toronto
Right after the BIG game that we had won.
I was not prepared.
If I had not known we had just won a hockey game I would have thought Godzilla was loose and stomping through town.
People screaming and yelling everywhere, on the verge of riot.
Cars honking and beeping everywhere
Flag, flags and more flags waving in the air.
It was true pandemonium.
As we inched our way through the streets in our car we stopped to let some of the crowd thin.
I stuck my hand up against the car window and received a resounding high five from some guy walking by - a red Canadian flagged mittened hand smacked the other side.
I saw the proverbial boyfriend helping the proverbial drunk girlfriend get home as sheyelled and wavied her flag.
I saw police doing their best to keep order and those same police also getting hugs and high fives from passers by.
Suddenly we heard this banging and I thought oh oh....gunshots! But no, it was a bunch of guys crowded into a truck with a snowblade on the front of it. As they headed down the street flags waving they banged the blade up and down on the road.
There was even a oneman band performing on a string of drums that surrounded his waist and blowing on a whistle. He sounded like a complete marching band on his own.
Talk about a victory celebration!
Go Canada Go!

Winding Down

This week at work I had the opportunity to visit several long term care homes. Two of them were "older" homes and one was pretty bright and shiny new. All three of them were filled with precious souls - sleeping, staring, wandering, thinking and waiting. They are at the end of their journey, they are winding down to the finish line.
This is a difficult topic for me. We live in a society with the glut of them being elderly. We do not have the resources in place or the finances to meet the needs of this group. We live longer.
It would be nice if there was a comfortable affordable place where everyone still felt needed and necessary, no matter what age.
Long term care nursing homes can be a place that is warm and comfortable, still provide a feeling of being a part society and have the structure in place to meet the physical care necessary for those winding down.
They can also be places where we feel, forgotton and unneccessary, where we are just waiting. They can be very lonely.
We could look after all our family members at our own homes - keep them part of the family. But this is not always possible. Many of us need to work and there is no one at home to care for those who need to be monitored on a full time basis. In fact the burden of care can wipe out a whole family, especially if dementia is involved. Most of us don't have the finances available to make this a reality. Some of the elderly really have no one left - they are on their own, living in drafty old homes or lonely apartments.
The older nursing homes I visited were cramped. Filled with people and paraphenalia. Some rooms having 4 beds in them - little old people all sharing a tiny space. The newer home was roomy and bright - at the most only two beds in a room. They even came complete with little "porch" areas built out into the hallway where one could sit and watch the goings on of their world. But the warmth and sense of belonging was prevalent in all of them. I met "Tootsie" a little dog in one of the older homes that trotted around, visiting everyone. I met Oscar a dashing young man in his younger days, still very bright. And I met a lovely old lady who didn't say much, just followed us around, clutching her doll tightly. She was looking after her baby and had her nails painted to match her dress. Some of these people had jobs that were very important to them; folding up food bibs, helping to sorting laundry, delivering mail to residents. Something, anything to feel useful.
The elderly, those winding down, are such a vital and necessary part of our society. One we need to look after and honour. I know this is what God would want us to do. The question is....how.

I Did It!

Well....It's finally happened. I've taken the Leap, the plunge, turned the corner, crossed the finish line whatever you want to call it.
I finally found a new frumpy sweater.
One that's warm with long sleeves to cover my poor wittle wrists and a working zipper.
One with pockets for my endless supply of kleenex.
One that is Frodo friendly meaning if I pick him up his claws don't become permanently entrenched and I can easily put him down again and not have a big 15lb cat stuck to my chest all day.
One that is big enough to put on over other layers and definitely fits into the frumpy description.
You may wonder what happened to old faithful, the original frumpy sweater. The one with holes in the pockets, only a 2 of the 6 buttons left on it and has paint stains on the back. I couldn't quite let her go so I lovingly gave her a good washing and stashed her in the back of my closet.
What.....it'll be great for future messy chores when I'm still trying to keep warm but don't want to get my NEW frumpy sweater covered in paint splatters or dead leaves or whatever.
NFS (New frumpy sweater) was purchased for a phenomenal price at Value Village. You can't put old wine in new wine skins ya know. I'm definitely verging on the well-aged old wine vintage so a well-used wine skin is what I was looking for.
I'm wearing my NFS now, it's working good, I'm ready for the next 10 years.

That Beautiful Smile

She had the most beautiful smile and lovely bright eyes. She was young and full of life. Her picture was everywhere you went smiling back at you. And we all wanted her to come home. Collectively,
In agreement
We all connected with Jessica. All the parents longed for their lost daughter to come back, all the children prayed for their missing sister, all the grandparents ached for their precious grandchild.
And when she was found a profound sense of loss, grief and anger blanketed the entire region. The day they announced on the news Jessica's body had been recovered in the woods near Tweed a friend of mine was shopping in the mall. She felt everyone looked in need of a shower - dirty, tired and oppressed.
We are a small, quiet rural region and murders of this type are shocking and unheard of. Even worse, the accused murderer, a sexual predator and serial killer lived amongst us for many months preying on other women and responsible for the murder of another woman, Marie, less than 5 months previous.
A man of authority, Commander of our local Air Force Base no less.
We are shaken to the core and our trust is shattered. For the moment a man in uniform instigates a knee-jerk reaction in me of suspiscion.
Are you really who you say you are?
I don't like feeling this way and I know in time it will pass.
Jessica is safe now. No one can hurt her any more. She will forever be 27 with lovely bright eyes and a beautiful smile.
I pray for the healing to begin not only for Jess' family but for the whole region, for all those who work in the Armed Forces and everyone else who diligently cried out, insisting this darkness be exposed and justice initiated.
We have a long road ahead of us and still many questions in need of answers.
"But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Father God, we need you more then ever - open your floodgates of Grace and wash us clean with your Love. Amen