Belly Up

A walk in the Jordan Valley

2011-10-23T20:08:00.005-04:00

This past Thanksgiving Monday, we went for a walk in the Jordan Valley in the Niagara Region. This was the last place my parents lived in the Niagara Region before they moved to B.C to be with 3 of their 4 children, and 10 of their 13 grandchildren. They moved just before Thanksgiving 2010 - packed up "Big Brownie" as we call their RV,and traveled across Canada one last time, retiring Big Brownie

tis the season for pie

2011-07-08T01:03:00.005-04:00

It's close to midnight on a sultry July night and I have a cherry pie nicely browning in the oven. My husband is brushing his teeth, my sons have said goodnight to their blackberries, the moon has shown herself to be waxing and the air outside is thick - the newspaper I just rescued from the backyard is damp, and my fresh strawberry jam jars are sparkling on the counter. What am I, a

Weeding out the weedy.

2010-08-09T22:01:00.017-04:00

Since last post, I needed to lay my burden down as they say in old spirituals...and go to the market where I bought a huge bouquet of multicoloured Zinnias (I used to grow them in the back garden of a house I rented with some girlfriends oh, say about 18 years ago) but haven't grown them since) and fresh Ontario fruit by the basket - blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and peaches - yum! So

This one's not for happy-aholics, but it could be for happy people who've been melancholic

2010-08-06T15:40:00.180-04:00

I haven't written since May. But I have written things in my mind, fleeting things that I forget, let slip when I start to look for a parking spot, when I hand over my bundle of a new niece to her mother, when I turn to a new page in the newspaper, when the disembodied GO train voice tells me I've reached Union station, when I yell down the hall, "dinner!" I just didn't have the gumption

Exhausted but uplifted

2010-05-30T23:53:00.007-04:00

I have been very challenged lately. I am in a teacher-training placement at a Skills Centre to practice teaching English to adults - 8:30 - 2:30 every tuesday and thursday. I am learning so much I am exhausted for days afterwards. I am still figuring out how this is going to all work out for me - this too is exhausting, and as a result, I am deflated and beat. Not to mention all the Grammar I

Musing when my Brain is at Rest

2010-05-16T00:31:00.012-04:00

Love yourself.first Accept yourselfall of you even the bits of you thatsociety does not accept that you don't want to accept as you especially love those bits - be honest about them, yes, there they are those are the bits that cannot be canned contained made to obey conformsome of those bits might be smoothed into the character, essence of you - honed by time and wisdom other bits are

Little letters worth the postage

2010-05-12T00:17:00.018-04:00

I am riding a meme wave back from Kristin's blog Wanderlust. Her bloggie buddy Marie Claire started it. I am going with the premise that a meme is an idea gone viral. Not sure how viral this is, but it could be - so try it. The idea is to write little letters to inanimate objects or pieces of flesh. Here goes mine: Dear Newspaper: Why is it that you cost a monthly chunk, get thrown in my

On domesticated men and handy women

2010-05-10T22:48:00.008-04:00

It was Mother's Day, I entered my mother-in-law's kitchen, to behold a sight I would rather not see: Mother-in-law and sister-in-law cutting up fruit and sausages and cheese and things for consumption by the brothers and husbands in the living room. If my husband was there, he would not be sitting down. (He was at a soccer referee training day). I asked them about this curiosity, especially

Mother's Day Reality

2010-05-10T12:01:00.005-04:00

Well, did it turn out the way I fantasized it? It did, with some twists, human ones... Fresh sheets - check. Hear the sounds of breakfast making of sons and husband - check. Leisurely time getting dressed - not really, I had to speed things up because my middle son and husband had to go to their last day of Soccer Referee training...by 9 am...(I forgot) ...from an array of outfits - check,

Mother's Day Fantasy

2010-05-07T23:55:00.004-04:00

Wake up.Close my eyes.Smell my fresh sheets. Smell bacon. donuts. croissant. fritatta. ? smile Hear coffee beans being ground.Get a little giddy.Open my eyes. Look at the sun shine through the leaves of the Oak tree.Get up as espresso is steaming on stove Take shower, leisurely like.Hear whipping cream being beaten for crepes. Get dressed, leisurely like. From an array of outfits. Listen

Dutch Lesson II: Sunday Afternoon

2010-04-23T15:02:00.009-04:00

Many western traditions have the Sunday walk - probably a Christian thing as it hinged on Sunday. In Canada, up until the early 1980s, the majority of stores and businesses were closed on Sundays...aka, there was nothing to do. After Sunday Dinner (lunch), a walk in the countryside, perhaps a drive, or even a bike ride was in order. There was NOTHING to watch on t.v either. Maybe re-runs of the

Dutch Lessons I: Coffee time

2010-04-22T14:50:00.016-04:00

This clock would NEVER be caught ticking in a dutch, reformed immigrant's kitchen in Southern Ontario (Canada). Not now and not since the bulk of dutch immigration in the post-world war II era.Though non-dutch Canadian observers, very rightly, might think this would be a very appropriate clock for their dutch neighbor's kitchens. Afterall, these dutch delay, sometimes by hours and hours,

Happiness is not a feeling.

2010-04-20T11:55:00.011-04:00

Happiness is a choice. I have learned this late. I seem to be always late. But it is not too late. It has been a slow percolation. But I know it now. At least I understand it one layer deeper. Happiness is not reliant on anything exterior to our selves. This is something you learn when you live in a tiny bungalow in a big-house town. When you start over in a new career and you are bottom of

back from down south

2010-04-15T14:55:00.007-04:00

We went to Florida for March Break. It was cool. As in, average 70 degrees farenheit. But in the sun, this felt lovely. The wind was a bit of trouble - and the water was a little too cold for skim boarding for the kids. But we managed to find warm spots and still had a lovely holiday together. By far the best day was the last day (see above). The water was perfect and shallow enough to catch

FLORIDA: just the drive will be paradise !

2010-03-10T23:30:00.004-05:00

We are off to FLORIDA on Friday to visit this guy. Cottage on the Gulf of Mexico. I think I will collapse in the van on Friday morning and look at my husband and kids and say,i in a southern drawl to practice -well hello! - this is what ya'll look like! I don't think I have ever gotten more projects done and met so many deadlines in such a short time period ever. BRUTAL, as they say. But I

Digging myself out of a Rut

2010-03-07T13:03:00.023-05:00

I don't know if you have noticed, but I am in the process of change. Deep personal change. A reconstruction of how I see myself in this wacky world. I am digging down deep. It isn't that sudden heart-stopping explosive change that happens to you when you leap headfirst into the chasm. Its more like a gradual inner realization, the opening of a flower and everything that can happen because of it.

On the Verge

2010-03-05T13:31:00.084-05:00

"Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference".~Mignon McLaughlin - The Neurotic Notebook~ Is choosing misery over change all that? must be where is our sense of adventure?we need a sense of adventure to make change...really? too many quick remedies available sacharine delights to obscure the real perpetuate our misery cloud

A room, a life of one's own

2010-03-02T10:27:00.024-05:00

I am swamped with work for school...and thats exactly when other life bits get interesting...or become a little overwhelming. I have a hard time concentrating when the boys get back from school with appetites that baking can fill, and the groceries need doing, the toilet needs a scrub, the floor needs vacuuming, the dinner needs to be cooked, sons hockey and basketball games need to be cheered

Personal lessons learned from a City

2010-02-27T01:21:00.035-05:00

Hamilton is considered the armpit of southern Ontario, Canada. It knows this, but keeps on anyway. It has mouths to feed. There are a number of huge multi-national Steel manufacturers that dominate the landscape in many more ways than one - one being the smokestacks. Another being a blighted downtown. Downtown Hamilton has lovely bones - as you can see above, but the bones are often

YES-HUH ! Part I

2010-02-23T10:20:00.041-05:00

(copied with Natalie's blessing: http://www.nataliedee.com/archives/2009/Jun/) I was raised, as probably most of you were, to say NO, far more than to say - YES. Was yes far too positive in a world full of "no-no's" maybe? Other than saying No to unwanted solicitations, I don't think that there is much more use for NO. And sometimes we didn't even use NO for that - and ended up only saying

Kerplunk: It's a revolution

2010-02-21T11:10:00.024-05:00

"Everything begins with the self. A change in one's outlook or intention triggers a change in the self and radiates outward to effect society-wide revolutions. " --Buddhism Day by Day, Daisaku Ikeda. So I recieve these lovely awards (look to the right), and what - I think it's a society-wide revolution? Well, perhaps. Blogging awards can be that intitial kerplunk - like a drop of water or a

Internal Bikini

2010-02-17T10:56:00.021-05:00

Well, its bikini season...or soon to be in the mid-driff of the Northern Hemisphere. Every year i get out some bikini i found on clearance in a cloud of optimism, and imagine that possibly, this year, if i do more power yoga walking running and say NO to donuts...then maybe when we go to Florida in March, or perhaps this summer by a lake or our pool, I could wear this thing...its so darn cute it

Hang out the wash - i double dare you

2010-02-16T11:38:00.012-05:00

I decided to create my own Blogging award and hand it out when I sensed the time was right. I think it is time. I was graciously awarded that lovely thing you can see to the right, and thought it high time I pass on the recognition and encouragement. Even the most highminded of us need a little nod.Since blogging in earnest this January, I have found myself within a hive of connectivity and

Strange Inspiration

2010-02-14T23:17:00.019-05:00

Everyone wants to be a winner. And Canadians, the proverbial polite 2nd placers have won in Alexandre Bilodeau's gold medal in Men's Moguls....tonight on Canadian soil ! Congrats ALEX. Even though Alex is a virtual stranger, he has the power to affect us - the synergy of life...My son Ezra and I witnessed this moment - when Alex triumphed on the hill and the crowds, red mittened and Canadian

Housewifery and him called god

2010-02-12T02:07:00.018-05:00

So no big secret - I am not a housewife, even though I was in a solid dutch training camp from the age of 4. Yes, 4. I remember crying to the point of needing a glass of water because I had to make my bed. I think I was imprisoned in my room until I did it. I recall my father had to come in for a pep talk - i think it involved making beds in the Air Force...i can't imagine I was expected to

Your greatest enemy is your greatest teach..darn it!

2010-02-10T00:09:00.014-05:00

I read this beautiful and simple Buddhist saying somewhere, a number of years ago, within a moment that stood alone, separate, as if waiting for me. It was that poignant, that perfect: "Your greatest enemy is your greatest teacher" I knew this in every fibre and twitch of my being as soon as i read it. But it took me a few moments longer to process it with my sludgy brain. So I searched for

Ezra's Ears aren't plastic! They're for real. Honest.

2010-02-08T21:13:00.008-05:00

Ezra loves his new plastic-surgeried-up ears. Wish I had a before pic but that would be a little cruel as Ezra is fond of saying. He had no folds in his ears to give them shape or the ability to fall neatly to the side of his head...as a result - perp ears ! (perpendicular to the head ears :) Some kids, including us kids, find the term PLASTIC surgery a bit misleading...I mean Ezra's ears

Where the wild things are

2010-02-04T17:38:00.014-05:00

This is what I see when I look out of my livingroom window in the morning. It's the park across the street from our house. Kids and squirrels and dogs and racoons run around and chase each-other here. Adults sometimes throw a ball, run on the path, but generally walk properly and sit on benches, chat and watch their kids. We watch the goings on out of our window like cheap t.v. We especially

Tell your inner editor to take a hike

2010-02-02T13:34:00.011-05:00

I was stabbed, perhaps in the eye, when Annette Kuhn in her piece "Remembrance" (1993) said that personal photography is really all about the promise of a brighter, better past...for future consumption. We want to produce a certain kind of past for future viewing - we seek to produce a particular kind of story - like a happy story, the story we want our lives to be, with photography. Though

Shamelessly showing...off

2010-01-31T23:36:00.009-05:00

Um, wow. Look what i got! Ain't it Purty! I am becoming a shameless blogger who now, shamelessly, accepts blogger awards...Tony Anders, who became my 7th follower, (funny term, that) has awarded me, along with 9 others, a Best Blog Award!I should really get writing...there are a lot of stories that I have kept in lay-away - but life is sooo busy! It helps when writing and blogging are my respite

Buddhist practice: magically delicious

2010-01-24T21:22:00.012-05:00

Practice, practice, practice - meditate. i can do this. I can do it again, having tasted its delicious fruit.

Ezra's Earz : nipped and tucked

2010-01-22T22:59:00.005-05:00

Ezra and I are playing "Loaded Questions"...in our family we usually play games for 5 reasons and five reasons alone: we are camping or driving forever somewhere (florida, BC), during Christmas holidays, when grandparents visit, when someone is sick, or after someone has plastic surgery. (haha) Ez had plastic surgery yesterday (thursday) on his "earsies" as I am known to call them. Otoplasty.

Picnicking with Buddha in the Stacks

2010-01-20T08:40:00.016-05:00

I am a late-blooming gal, finishing an Hons. B.A last June from McMaster University at the age of 40. Previously, in my fundamentalist Christian youth, i completed a Bachelor of Religious Ed. - a bit of a mis-nomer as it may be more accurate to call it a Bachelor of Christian Superiority. Which is too bad really.