end of summer

a few snippets from our summer vacation, something to cheer me up as the end of summer always makes me sad...

a good book

heading to the beach to take in the sunset

Tom in his funny pants

Steve takes some pics

Maddie and Isaac

Shelley our daughter's very good friend

Linsy and Jay

my brother Danny

Maddie on Danny's Seadoo

Isaac

Mallory, Linsy, Tracey, Jenny and I

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world that was always June...L.M. Montgomery

The Annual Family Camping Holiday

Our first time camping at The Pinery even though it is only an hour away from Stratford. I have a love/hate relationship with camping, love the family time, the beach, the night noises, the simple food, hate the washrooms, the sand in the tent, the disorganization etc. We had a wonderful time as we always do!

Melaina and Maddie pitch thier tent

Isaac on a cool night

our son in law Steve relaxes

Isaac waits for the sunset

and the sun sets

The Passage

On our annual family camping trip I finished The Passage by Justin Cronin.

 Funny I so often remember what I read during vacations. Often it will be the type of book I do not ordinarily pick up,  some of the past were Oryx and Crake and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill...loved that book! Many many years ago Children in the Attic by VC Andrews, this on the porch of a cabin at White Point Beach Lodge in Nova Scotia.

The Passage is a post apocolptic story, mostly about the survivers who try to survive, it is rather bleak but written very well, the kind that is hard to put down. Reminds me a little of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood, a bit of Stephen King.

While driving into the Pinery Provincial Park I came across this view...seemed spooky and perfect in a way that expressed my feelings about The Passage.

1:20 am

O sleep! O gentle sleep!

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee,

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down

And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

Shakespeare,

Henry IV, Part II

Sometimes this is all that I can manage

it does make me laugh though!

Love these fellows

Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant have the greatest podcasts...I always learn something, have a laugh and just enjoy the banter of these great guys. Be patient it takes about 30 secs to load, it is worth it!

Weekend Getaway

Last Saturday was the annual girl cousin get together in Whitby. This is the Foster side of the family, my Dad's side. Originally my cousin Sandi hosted at her home in Pickering but has since moved to Vancouver Island so now her sister Lori hosts at her home in Whitby which is actually the home the girls grew up in.

4 generations my aunt Joan, her daughter Janice, her daughter Katelyn and 1 month old Maddox

the hostess Lori

ho hummm

bread at McEwan

sunday morning breakfast at The Pickle Barrel

Gabrielle

this year the theme was pink!

Now there is a crazy order to these pics, I have been trying to rearrange them with no luck...I give up for now

Journal Page

Sometimes you just need to be on the move!

Snippets from the Weekend

We headed to the Port Hope/Peterborough area for the weekend to spend time with my parents, celebrate a 50th anniversary and visit with some good friends.

First stop the Whitby waterfront, this is where I grew up and spent so much of my childhood, the fries were delicious!

my parents home...well this is the garden shed

the herb garden

Sunday afternoon for my Aunt Rosemarie and Uncle Jerry's 50th wedding anniversary

At Rice Lake to visit our good friends Richard and Brenda, Brenda always has so many cool vignettes,  always artistic, often with a sense of humour, I loved this "fish table"

my dear friend Brenda

another garden spot

Lucy, rescued a few years ago by Brenda

our good freind Richard, in his newly acquired "living room" on wheels, he took us on a tour of the area, we were neighbours at one time, many fond memories of living there. This car is a 1995 Buick with 25,000 k on it, all you can do with this perfect older car is tour, it feels like you are floating and it is certainly a ""Richard" car

looking across at the house we built in 1984, many good memories of living there

Potato Salad

There are so many things I love about summer and one of those is potato salad. I love to make it and I love to eat it. The potato salad I make is pretty traditional, no fancy ingredients, no recipe, just potatoes, some fresh veggies, eggs and Miracle Whip NOT mayo it has to be Miracle Whip. The veggies I usually use are onions, celery, cucmber, peppers and tomato. I always use paprika and never dice the potatoes , I just toss the potatoes in with the chopped veggies and mix with a big spoon. You end up with some creamy potatoes and some chunks as well.

 This is the type of salad I grew up with and this is the salad my family loves. I even had a niece tell me once that that was what she wanted for her birthday gift!

Just one of life's little pleasures.

Interesting Outrageous and Sad

While driving home form work Friday night I listened to Q on CBC radio and caught the last 15 minutes of this interview with Seastian Horsley. I was not familiar with him at all but found the interview delighful in a srange sort of way. A life lived for sure. When researching after arriving home I discovered Sebastian had passed away on Thursday. Definitely sad.

Warning: Some may find this Offensive

The Rose

Still I marvel at the beauty of roses, these by my front step in the moonlight. Whenever I think of roses I also think of a writing by Leonard Cohen.

I was never bothered by the rose. Some people talk about it all the time. It fades, it blooms. They see it in visions, they have it, they miss it. I made some small efforts to worry about the rose but they never amounted to much. I don't think you should do those things to a flower.

I am unsure why I love this so much, I guess it is just Leonard!

I love my ipod!

The non human love of my life at the moment is my ipod...thanks to Leah who sold me her used one last year as she upgraded to a new one.

 I have an amazing amount of music on this which I take in the car, hook up to my home stereo etc but best all are podcasts!

I listen to these at night as I am falling asleep. I have huge sleep issues in that I cannot fall alseep because my mind races but thanks to this little device, I just listen; no more mind racing, just listen to beautiful voices on all kinds of topics. One of my favourites is This American Life which has a new podcast every Sunday, usually 3 stories on the same topic, always so interesting especially if you are people person and love to hear people stories! 

Click on the link below.

Home This American Life

June

I love June! My most favourite month of the year, I love the warmth, the green, everything coming to life, the first trip to the beach, eating on the patio, I could go on and on. All of this and more to come over the next several months!

I wanted a small water feature, last weekend Tom made this for me!

another view of our very tiny back garden

in the front garden

roses by the front step

front planter

Since moving into this condo a few years ago the garden space is small but fun to work with!

Summer

29 degrees in Stratford today with a feel like of 34 degrees! As happy as I am to just be at home, I would love to be at the beach, or just lounging with a good book. Instead I am still working on my course...poor me! You would think I was the only one who ever worked on drudge...sigh.

To make myself  feel better I thought I would post a few garden pics and then it is back to the books.

Update

This morning I met with my very good friend Lori who mentioned that she was missing my posts, especially the postcards that I have been receiving.

Well I have been very busy with this course I am working on. Anatomy and Physiology for Assessment, I have a love/hate relationship with this textbook! There is definitley lots of cool information in it but oh some of it is just drudgery. I will finish it though, one way or the other.

I promised Lori I would post today with pics of the postcards and as I arrived home there was a new card in my mailbox!

I received this one today form Roberta in Lithuania, she purchased the card in France last summer.

I love it!

This card arrived a few weeks ago from Jim in Germany and he purchased it in Scotland.

Love this card from China!

 

Now knowing how much I love all things paper Lori brought this card back from her recent trip to the market in Halifax...how perfect considering my Leonard obsession...Bird on a Wire...thanks my friend xo

  

I love this photo!

We spent this Mother's Day weekend in the Port Hope area, to spend family time with my mom and other special family members. Sat eve was Chinese at my brothers home. We were celebrating Mother's Day and my niece Jillians 23rd birthday. Tom took this pic of my fabulous sister in law Lorraine and I during a happy family moment!

Contemplating

Here I am again doing everything I can to not work on my course...procrastinator!

Laura Bush's deadly car crash and my own

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While checking my email today I came across this Salon piece (click on the link above) about Laura Bush's amd the author's deadly car crashes. The accidents were similar in that both were female teens and in each male was killed. I cannot imagine the regret that these women have had to deal with.

Have you ever ever done something in your life when you wish that you could just turn back the clock and have a different outcome?

I cannot judge either of these ladies, such horrible human error here but what fascintated me were the comments...90 plus, although I have not read all of them. Interesting reading for sure.

Just thinking about this today!

Men Should Relax

Men Should Relax
Originally uploaded by Becky F

I came across this digital collage on flickr today and thought...perfect!