Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch | Video on TED.com

One of my favourites from TED Talks

I wish everyone would watch this!


Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch Video on TED.com

Sun Dog

SunDog
Originally uploaded by hyacinth50
who knew?

A Cold Snowy Day in Stratford

Avon River

There is just something about heading out on a very cold snowy day at 4:30 with a pocket camera. As my personal chef slaved over a hot stove, I went out to play.  It awas so pretty and quiet by the river and then I came across these 2 troopers.

 I could hear them long before I saw them. They were happy, laughing, chatting and just having fun! As it turns out I know one of them the, her name is Lorraine, she is tiny and accompanied by her sister in law Pearl who must be her husbands sister because she is tall like her very tall brothers. I think they have the secret to walking in the very cold...goggles!

I then headed over to Gallery Stratford and came across these young people sledding down the sidewalk. It was snowing quite heavily and they kept the walk shovelled for more speed!

Gallery Stratford

I love the way the snow sat on this scupture!

I promise myself I will brave the elements and do this more often!



Sandwich Wars

Tonight I took the Panini Press out of storage, well it was in the back of a bottom cupboard where it has sat unused for probably a year. Panini sandwiches intimidate me. In other words I have never been able to make a really good one although I have tasted many very good ones made by others. One person in particular is my pal Lori. Hers are amazing! My mission is to make a very good one that I could serve to Lori. So Tom and I each made our own sandwich to compare. The ingredients were very similar. Sundried tomato bread from The Butcher and The Baker, sauted portobellos and yellow peppers, onion, pesto and gouda. Now for the meat mine had leftover sliced beef brisket and Tom's had Noah Martin Summer Sausage. I dipped mine in a dill mustard. We each had a side of a dill pickle and coleslaw. Topped it all with a bottle of cabernet and voila a fun war on a Friday night. Both sandwiches were quite tasty and we plan to do this once a week for the winter.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2191459865/

After dinner we watched the movie Jack Goes Boating with Phlip Seymour Hoffman directing and acting. A flim about friendship, love and betrayal which takes place in NYC. I loved the learn to swin scenes! Good movie on a snowy night.

Book List

It is just so dangerous for me to read book reviews! This is the need to read list that I made this evening after reading Globe Arts.

The Lake of Dreams - Kim Edwards
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
Personal Matter - Kenzaburo Oe
The Guardians - Andrew Pyper

A Collection of Essays - George Orwell
Little Princes - Conor Grenan
Even Silence Has an End - Ingrid Betancourt

Now this is one arts section out of one issue of one newspaper. Yes I was the type of child that read the ceral boxes cover to cover as I was eating breakfast and yes I did have a hidden flashlight!

A little tidbit from the Andrew Pyper review is that Andrew calls Stratford (he is from here) ''Woodstock with rouge"

Rant

Well I am not even sure whether or not I will post this or even where I am going with it.

First off all my morning started off pretty good with this lovely breakfast made by moi for moi!

 Healthy and delicious in my beautiful new bowl...thanks Brenda! Sitting happily alone in a bit of a pensive mood. I got up late, feeling a little under the weather again, still recovering from the bug I guess.

At this moment I am listening Paoli Nutini, he is helping me relax thankfully.

There is so much on my mind. I am finding myself surrounded by some passive aggressive people right now and I just do not have the patience for it! As I am writing I am keeping the profanity at bay, my profanity...the words I really feel like using!

Lovely Leonard has just popped up on my iPod...hurray...he is my man!

There is no sentence structure here and you know what...I don't care!!!  My mother thinks I am becoming a communist! Now I am one of the least political people in the world. But I am sick to death of the rampant capitalism that is destroying so many lives. Everytime I hear of another plant closing, moving the work to Mexico or China, I fume! Too much inequality, too much greed, it is just sad.

Tom will be retiring in one year. This is so frightening to me. I do not want to be old. Not sure what we will be doing. Tom wants to move...where??? He talks of the east coast but I don't know if I can do that. On the other hand southwestern Ontario is not where I wish to be either....I just don't know.

This is a painting I did a few years ago called Who in Solitude inspired by a sculpture that I saw in The Haliburton Sculpture Forest and by Leonard for the title. It just fits my mood right now!

blah blah blah

Jenny with attitude

Jenny with attitude
Originally uploaded by hyacinth50
Last night late after work while going through photos on my computer I came across this one of our daughter Jenny that I took around 1978-79. I just love it! It so represents who she was and is. Kind of an "ok now lets get on with it" attitude. I love her beautiful eyes and hair. I just want to hold her in my arms when I look at this.

Pardon my sentimental tears.

A Winter Afternoon

There is something that I love about a winters afternoon, the quiet, the peace and the stillness.

Upper Queens Park Stratford Ont

Just imagine how this space looks in the summer, beautiful as well but in an entirely different way.

Today this is exactly how I wanted it to look and feel.



An Angel Card

While having a lovely afternoon visit with my pal Lori I pulled an Angel Card. The reason for doing this is to help guide the direction I will take in this brand new year.

The card I pulled is called Manifestation

Card Meaning: You have manifested new opportunities and abundance. Know that you can experience these gifts right now!


Your hoped-for aspirations are on their way to you. They may arrive in a different fashion than you expected, but the rewards that you truly desire-such as feelings of peace, security, and happiness- are manifested exactly as you requested. Ask your angels to help you have faith in your ability to manifest. With this faith, you and God can do anything!


This is the process by which all thoughts transform into tangible form. First, they begin as an idea, born of Divine sources. Then the idea meets with a feeling. If the feeling is loving and nurturing, the idea and the feeling create the embryo of the manifestation. You nourish your newborn idea by believing in it and by following the step-by-step guidance that God and the angels give to you through your feelings, dreams and visions.

It will be interesting to see what develops...I am open to possibility.

stuck

this reminds me of one of those times in life when you just can't get moving but eventually you use all of your energy to plow out or perhaps the snow just melts

Taken with my cheapie cell phone camera, I had planned to call it abandoned but then had to personalize it by calling it stuck.

Abandoned is an emotion that I  almost never feel,  although I can feel stuck from time to time. Usually what happens is the sun comes out and the snow slowly melts away.

Even mom enjoys sledding from the bridge

Even mom enjoys sledding from the bridge
Originally uploaded by B℮n

this is one of the reasons I spend so much time on flickr! If you double click and view large on black you will get the full impact, look for the ship in a window!

The Bunky

Oh how I love my friend Brenda! She always has cool ideas, she is so real not a pretense in her at all, she always makes me feel good!


Now these are pics (not mine but Brenda's which I asked her to email to me) of the bunky that she built in her back yard overlooking the lake.

A little haven that I plan to spend some time in this summer!

why did I buy this book for Tom?

He spent the entire week highlighter in hand, entertaining me with details...thankfully just to keep some balance I also gave him the Keith Richards  book!

still sick

So I remain on the couch, had to get someone to cover my shift today, I now have until Sunday to recover.

 I am immersed and almost finished Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness. This book has been perfect for my time on the couch. It is just so in my head, the stories are dark and disturbing, almost as if the protagonists must pay for too much happiness. Alice has an amazing mind...just my opinion!

Sick

Today I am on the couch after working the evening shift over New Years weekend! How fair is that! But thankfully I am off for 2 days so hopefully will be on the mend by Wednesday. It is just a cold but it is a feeling sick kind of cold.

I am reading Alice Munro's book of stories called Too Much Happiness. This was a Christmas gift from the Hemeon's of Milton Nova Scotia...many thanks, I am loving this book. Also have been checking out some of my favourite blogs one of which is Advanced Style, a blog of fashion for those of a certain age.

I came across this photo on the blog from the best of 2010. I love how this lady is dressed! So cheery to look at on a January afternoon. She just looks so upbeat and so comfortable as well. This is how I wish to look when I am of a certain age. Oh never mind I wish I looked that good right now!

Day 1 of a brand new year

In a few minutes I will be heading off to work. As I look out the window I am dreading the 25 minute drive. It is rainy and foggy, most of the snow is gone but thankfully I love my work so will persevere.

What I have promised myself for the new year is more art in my life, which I have neglected in the past year and feel some emptiness because of that. I also promise more gratitude because I have so much to be grateful for.

Wishing all a very  healthy, happy, peaceful and grateful 2011!