Feast One Hundred & Forty One

Welcome to Feast One Hundred & Forty One
for
Friday, April 27th, 2007

Pull up a chair and dig in!
Friday's Feast is a meme of five questions
cooked up by the chef each and every week.
Enjoy!

Appetizer
How fast can you type?

With how many fingers?

Soup
What is your favorite online game?

I don't play online games, but if I do then I guess it is Solitaire.

Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), how intelligent do you think you are?

About a 7...okay maybe an 8...do I hear 9?

Main Course
Name three of your best teachers from your school years.

Mrs.McElligott, Sister Simpson, Sister O'Neill

Dessert
What are your plans for this upcoming weekend?

Shopping, scrapbooking (yes, I am finally going to do the 'first' stick-to for the album)

The State of our Planet

After my post about how beautiful a weekend that was, we once again have cooler temperatures, but at least these are the normal temperatures for this time of year. With Global Warming taking over as the new catch phrase, we can assuredly see more diverse weather pattern changes, with almost constant fluctuations.

Now, I recall a time, not too long ago, when the temperatures were downright chilly. We had purchased our new sailing vessel in the fall, and had committed to a date in the spring (we had no clue as to what type of weather we would see, but securing this date was a must). In preparing to launch in the spring of the following year, we needed a guarantee that there would be enough moving water in which to place the boat, which there was, but the rest of the marina still had solid ice.

The following pictures are a Then and Now view of roughly the same time of year.

THEN April 2003 (Notice the tiny icicles hanging from the lifelines)



NOW April 2007 (It was 25 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The only reason that we are not in the water, is because the bottom needs some work, otherwise we'd be floatin')


See how our seasons have changed?

We can all do our part. Don't assume that our Governments will do everything.

1. When shopping, refuse bags. Bring your own bag(s), cloth preferably, and reuse. Many places still do not recycle soft plastic. This goes straight to landfill and does not decompose.


2. Recycle, recycle, recycle!


3. Choose environmentally safe products, especially if you are a boater or a cottager. These particles end up in the water system.


4. Drive environmentally friendly vehicles. Maybe you don't really need that honkin' SUV?


5. Lightbulbs - get rid of the old incandescent bulbs and start using the funny looking eco friendly ones....and yes, you CAN fit your old lamp shades on them!


6. Leaf blowers and gas lawn mowers (and gas anything) all release toxins...think first before buying AND using!


7. Many restaurants do not recycle hard plastic. Take it home and recycle it there. We do. And then comment to those establishments that they should beef up their recycling program.


8. Boating - power versus sail.....guess which one is better for the environment?

Good Day, Sunshine

Warning...earworm ...Good Day Sunshine......dum da dum da dum.....Good Day Sunshine....

There that should set our minds in motion. An earworm, to mark the most beautifully warm and sunny day that we've seen in quite some time. People are in a good mood. Motorcycles are buzzing. The birds are singing in splendour. The tree frogs are back too (we could hear them on our drive home)...and that means that they will soon be singing in the ravine across from our house.

Today, We did what any smart person would do in our particular position....we, along with others, went to spend some quality time at the boat. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Of course we shmoozed with friends who also went to caress and dote on their babies, but we also managed to remove the boat cover and the frame, and get it stowed at the locker. We are also installing deck wash, so that is underway. Got the dodger and enclosure up. Once we get the new floor, we'll be able to install that.

We'll probably head back up tomorrow to finish the already started jobs and maybe tackle a few others.

Cheers everybody...now get out and boogie in that sunshine....

11 Years Ago

They say that we get over the loss of our loved ones.
They say that in time, we'll return to a normal life.
They say that it will get easier.

What do they know anyway? Not everyone really knows me, I mean really really knows me. It's all a very personal thing, when you lose someone that you love.

Yes, we get over it, but we never forget.
Yes, we return to a normal life, but we always harbour a special place in our hearts.
Yes, it gets easier, but there is always an emptiness.

On this day, eleven years ago, my Dad passed away. Every year, I place a memory for him, because I still remember him, I still love him, and I still miss him.

So here's to you, Daddy. Because I still.

SLENO, Stewart Allen, In memory of my dear Dad who passed away eleven years ago today. There is an ache in my heart that will never go away. What I wouldn't give for one more hug from you. Sadly missed, Maureen and Brian.
Published in the Montreal Gazette on 4/19/2007.

It's About Time

I always wanted to write a post that contained the title of my blog, and tonight, my friends, I finally have the opportunity to do just that. Why? Well, because of AI of course, and the ejection of the kid freak himself, S-a-n-j-a-y-a.

No more eerie grin.
No more weak singing.
No more crazy hair.
No more strange stares.
No more fuzzy bushy eyebrows.
No more sloppy appearance on stage.
No more of anything!

YAY!!!

It would seem, then, that finally someone was actually listening to the performers last night, because the votes said it all.

My worst nightmare is now over.....the nightmare of seeing him stand there in the final 2, and winning the AI crown.

I will sleep well tonight!

Go Melinda! Go Kiki! Go Jordan! Because the ladies truly rule this year!

Fast Food Day

Here we go again...another day to celebrate something. So today is Fast Food Day. I promise not to write something as strange as I posted last time. Well, maybe I don't quite promise just yet, because I never really know how my posts are going to develop and flow. I guess we'll just have to wing it (pardon the pun re chicken wings).

Now how do we celebrate Fast Food Day? Well, we can go out and gorge ourselves silly on french fries, onion rings and triple sized hamburgers. Chicken wings, ribs, and fries. Triple cheese pizza and ooey gooey Caesar salad.

No? I didn't think so. Me neither. Can't do that.

How about King sized milkshakes made with premium ice cream? No? Me neither.

I guess you can look at it another way as well. You could celebrate the 'Food' part of the day or the 'Fast' part of the day. If you celebrate the 'Food' part then you will certainly go out and gorge. Decision made. Let the puking begin.

If you decide to celebrate the 'Fast' aspect, well you can either hip-hip-hooray at the speed with which your food is flung at you from the order window, a speed so fast that condiments and napkins are not included (takes extra time to do this!). On the other hand, you can avoid the whole scene and 'Fast'....refrain from gorging in any of the fast food (I can hear the mass rumbling of tummies right now). Maybe you want to have a yummy salad (I know, I know....there are no yummy salads....yes there are!). Maybe you just refrain from the fries and have noodles instead. Pass the burger to the next slob and opt for cluck-cluck. Bottled water instead of the milky way shake.

So, what am I doing for Fast Food Day? I am going out for Asian food....probably beef stir fry with Japanese salad and Miso soup.

So, Happy Fast Food Day, and remember.....

'Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.'

I'm loving it............NOT!

It's Friday the 13th and also........

Blame Someone Else Day (aka Not Me or Dunno!).

Yes, it's Friday the 13th. Time to pull out the scary movies and stomp all over them to let the demons of this day know that we are not afraid. Trash those old VCR copies. Bay at the moon.

Now, would I go so far as to suggest that you step on all those sidewalk cracks or walk under ladders? Probably not. That would be unfair and surely tempting the demons of today. But go ahead....dance the spooky dance....shiver your timbers....but please, no 6-foot crucifixes indicating that others are in the presence of martyrs.

While we are swirling to the beat of the demon dance, we must also pay homage to the fact that it is Blame Someone Else Day. This is a truly momentous occasion. And don't tell me that you have no one else to blame something on. Everybody does. We all have that special someone, just waiting to be blamed.

Who left the toilet seat up ---- Dunno!
Who left the margarine out all night? ---- Not Me!
Who peed in the bathtub? ---- meow (not me!)
Who left their smelly gym gear in the closed bag? ---- dunno!
Who put the empty milk carton back in the fridge? ---- Not Me!
Who's pukey is this at the bottom of the stairs? ---- meow (not me!)

Not Me and Dunno are popular people. They have their own distinct personalities, but their job in life is to be blamed. The objects of our affections.

I could go on and on with possibilities....my mind swirls.

In any case, Happy Friday the 13th AND have a Happy BIOSE Day.....

Today is Look Up At The Sky Day

Bet you never heard of that eh? Neither did I. But, I learned of this momentous event, and thought that it was a worthy topic for a blog.

So exactly what do you do for Look Up At The Sky Day? Well, perhaps you could start by looking up at the sky. What do you see? What did I see? I saw nothing but clouds...many many clouds, a pure white sky containing clouds that all suspiciously look as though they might contain more snow (seeing as we had quite a blizzard here last night....the snow had hit the high road by the time we got up).

What else do you see when you look up at the sky? Do you see shapes in the clouds? Maybe where you live, you are seeing stars right now. Maybe you are watching lightning striking across the sky.

So, as the Friendly Giant used to say 'Look up....look waaaay up'. You never know what you're going to see.

Happy LUATSD!

Frozen Croppings

You thought I made a typo didn't you...croppings instead of droppings? Heh. Well, I didn't. But I am frozen. And so are my croppings. Scarp croppings that is. I am unable to move forward. It's not a serious thing either, so no need to get excited.

A little background.

I mentioned that I started scrapbooking cards. This is something that I really enjoy doing. It may not always be appreciated, but it is a form of therapy for me. Creative expression. I also mentioned how I wanted to put my Dad's WW2 photos into a scrapbook. That is still my intention.

I have the photos all sorted.
I have a format.
I have text.
I have the album (a nice textured one).
I have the nice patterned paper.
I have the plastic pages.
I have the little sticky photo corners.
I have ideas.
I got it all, baby.

But I am stuck. I am afraid to make the first of anything on the nice paper. The first glue, the first cut....anything! I am afraid that the end product will look shoddy.....and I haven't even started yet. I am afraid that when it is complete, people will look at it and not really give a hoot.

Now, this is all probably stemming from the fact that I have only been using Scrapbooking for Dummies, so I have no confidence whatsoever. I haven't really had any instructional sessions. This would certainly ease me out of my fear of starting. My friend told me today to just start. I thought 'okay...I'll just start'.

I ended up making a card instead.

It's almost like the card has such a small canvas to work within, and it's so much easier and quicker to create something. I don't know.

Maybe this weekend I'll be able to make the first dent in the scrapbook, but for now I have to figure out exactly how I am going to get to that point.

(if only the world problems could be like this, eh?)

My Guest Blogger Makes an Easter Appearance

Last month, I had featured something called Guest Post Saturday.

Seeing as it is Saturday once again, my Guest Blogger is being featured for a special post. We hope you enjoy it.

*SHIVER*

It is dark...

The sky is partly cloudy....the odd star peeks through the clouds...

It is cold...the temperature is well below freezing...

Light snow is falling...in spite of the broken cloud cover it never stops...

An uncertain wind shifts around from all directions...blowing the snow into little April drifts on the ground...

My hair is stiff with snow, frozen into odd spiky tufts that crunch when I run my hand through it...

We've been out here for hours, hardly moving...it's about one o'clock in the morning...

The forest around us is quiet, no other sound except what the four of us are making ourselves...

My exposed skin feels cold as death...how much longer can we take this?...

I reach for the container and take a short drink from it...it's a wonder it hasn't frozen already as there's a crust of ice around the top...

We wait....

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Finally, as two of us are falling asleep, one of us can't take it anymore....

"I don't think I can stay out here any longer", says Norm, to my left.

"I don't think I can either", I reply.

"Can you bring in some of the beer bottles?, he asks.

"Sure, no problem" I say.

I climb out of the 104degF hot tub and scramble into my sandals and a towel and make for the house as the snow overflows onto my feet. "Dammit, it's cold", I say to myself, "but I wouldn't have missed this for the world!". Too bad you can only stay in a hot tub for just so long...indoors or out.

Life is good.

Happy Easter everyone!

Yes, I Scream At My TV

I did just that last night. I screamed and screamed at my TV, but I won't divulge which TV program I was screaming at. I'll let you guess. Oh, and another thing....I will NOT be blogging about a 'certain' TV program until the right decision is made. Again, I'll let you guess which particular TV program, although you probably know.

ANTM saw another lady go home. This one I think was justified. And, at least my favourites are still in....for now....thank goodness it's Tyra and company who make the decision and not the public.

On a hoppier note, and seeing as Easter is approaching, Skittles posted about a blog that is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt Easter Egg Hunt. It's a really neat idea, and fun, so you might want to try it.

The weather here is quite blowy and snowy, certainly not what I had in mind for an Easter weekend. However, we are visiting with friends on the weekend, and they have a hot tub! I think it's going to be really cool to sit in the tub with the snow falling all around us. Can't wait.

Also, the organization freak has a Daytimer devotes to scrapbooking projects. I am using it to keep track of ideas etc.

WooHoo! Today I hit 4500 on my ticker. That's a pretty okay thing I think.

Have fun with the Egg Hunt....

Wordless Wednesday #6

Truly Scrapbooking

Over the Christmas holidays, I fell in love - with scrapbooking. My SIL, whose link I have posted on my sidebar, introduced me to making scrapbooked cards, and helped me to get set up with enough materials to get me started. Until now, I have been making my own cards for various events. Depending on the type of card, I can spend anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours making these.

I have progressed.

I am now attempting my very first real scrapbook. You see, I inherited all of the photos that once belonged to my parents. Photos of them before they were married. Photos of me when I was born (what a cutey!). I also have a collection of photos from World War II. My Dad is pictured in many of the pics, as are some of my uncles, and my maternal Granmpa. So, I purchased the Scrapbooking for Dummies book, and this has become my new bedtime friend. It has an enormous amount of useful information, enough to get me started with an album, sheet protectors, and some lovely back paper. I also started to sort through all of the pictures, trying to get them into some theme to carry throughout the book. So, now I have a plan worked out, as well as some journalling to go along with the pics. I have also been transcribing the scripts that are on the backs of the photos. These will be incorporated with the pics, using a nice font and cool cardstock. I also need to mount the photos on some backing with corner mounts.

Obsessed? Yes!!!! and hooked.

Next year there's a scrapbooking cruise....gosh what I wouldn't give to go on that!

A Cute and Easy Tag

My SIL has tagged me with a cute little meme, whereby I have been asked to list 5 things that I can call an obsession. I am to tag five people to do the same.

Five things I can admit to being obsessed with:

1. Handbags (and I just got a new one yesterday!)


2. Our kitties (mwah!)


3. Scrapbooking (into cards, and have just started to tackle an actual scrapbook)


4. Exercise (Les Mils Body classes rule!)


5. Organizing (anything and everything)

I now tag the following people to follow suit:
Jeni,
Terry,
The Post College Years,
Skittles' Place,
La Tomate

What to do with a Meme: Copy the questions into a new post and answer them. Tag some different bloggers. Go back and let the person who tagged you know that you did it.

always....have fun!.....