Killing time during a Sunday evening thunderstorm

Now you see them...

What did you do on Sunday evening?? Watched the amazing display of lightning and heard the dazzling array of thunderclaps, whilst enjoying the pelting rain, is my sincerest hope! It was a delightful evening - though i will admit to still being a little leery of thunderstorms (but only when i'm by myself at night in the dark!! I think that's justifiable - i don't freak out or anything but i'm not always enamoured by the idea of being zapped right down from the crown of my head to the tip of my toes with a huge voltage of electricity, which would burn holes in my shoes and cause me to quiver and have frizzy hair!) However, i was not alone on Sunday eve as i was accompanied by some very good friends of mine who dragged their Settler's game out of semi-early retirement and dusted off the cover and cracked out the little men for a round of nefarious dealings and underhanded techniques. Yep, it's been a while since our last game and so i was quite rusty - witnessed by my score of 5, but possibly this was worsened by playing by candlelight (for atmosphere but not so good if you have to find out if you have a tree or a rock on the board), and a total lack of concentration on the game due to a fixation with the weather! But it was fun times all around - Alvar beat us all soundly and made us realize we have to sharpen up our gaming skills and hone our minds to better defeat our tabletop competition!

Now you don't... Settlers by Candlelight...

Secrets and Surprises

Some of the little culprits who aided and abetted our scheming!

What do you get when you put three responsible women in a kitchen with a table piled up with 75 balloons and a birthday on the way?? Add into the mix three rather hyper children, a room longing to be filled with balloons, and lots of hot air and you have the recipe for a fun time!! Somehow my dear friend Carina's room became absolutely crammed with these colourful globes of air which would randomly pop for no good reason at all, causing palpitations and frights to all who were involved in the process!

REd is pretty....oh so pretty (scary!)

Oh Deer....

Now, i've had a few days off this week, mysteriously, all the shifts seemed to have dried up this week or have fallen into the black hole that sometimes nursing shifts fall into, but this has left me with gaps of time in my life schedule (or shedule, depending on how you like to pronounce things). These gaps of time have afforded me the occasions to indulge in some thinking, sometimes about minor things in life but occasionally about deep and meaningful things as well - maybe i'm finally becoming a daughter of my mother at the age of 30, a slow learner.

Anyhow, my big think for today or actually last night as i was careening down country roads in the pitch-black darkness surrounded by disorienting fog, was this, i hope i don't meet a deer. But then i thought to myself would a deer really like to be wandering around at 11:34 pm? If i were Bambi, i would think it would not be too easy to see the grass and leaves and other such floral delectibles that i would like to indulge in. Or do deer have night vision? They seem to like to creep out in the early mornings and at twilight, but where do they go in the middle of the day? (prime eating time in my opinion) Do they just sleep the night away in the woods in a little thicket (that's a real Disney word - Carina's looking at me like i'm from Mars currently because it took me a little longer than normal to come up with that word - i was stuck on nest, copse, glade...and finally with a triumphant cry, remembered that word!) So that's been my deep thought for the day - crazy or not. Doesn't it make you want to think too? Maybe someday we will fawnally come up with a good answer. But at this stag in the game, there are no clearcut antlers so the buck stops here! Heehee!

Fog bound

Brrr... shiver... my fingers and toes are still a little numb and tingly from spending the greater portion of the late morning and early afternoon outside... doing what you may ask? Cheering on the kids at the Timothy play day... It was sorta a chilly misty event, children blundering into each other in the fog as they tried to compete in blanket waterballoon tosses, shoes throwing, soccer ball kicking, sponge relays and all other assorted fun games! Aaah, the good old days of Field Day - i reminisced about this with Laura - and i remembered how much fun it was to walk around free from school for a day, garnering up ribbons on our shorts and eating ourselves sick with candy - especially licky-sticks.. those were my favorite!!! I had one a few years ago and sadly it didn't quite meet my memory's standards, but things change as you get older. That and Nerds. I still like Nerds. How you would get a double pack and sometimes there would be a few of the wrong colour on the other side and how that always seemed kinda fun.
And our hill at school - running up and down it... and the log - sitting on it and having long chats and playing clapping games whilst we waited for our groups to finish. It was more about individual competition then, which can be a good thing - a little competition is healthy for the soul and body - i speak even as one who didn't always do so well on sports days except for running and standing long jump - i usually did pretty good in those, until the year we had to put a hop, skip and jump in there for Triple jump and then i fell apart, too many things to coordinate at once! And having Mom and my younger siblings come and cheer us on for the day - that was always supremely fun. Hence why i dragged my sometimes lazy butt out today and went to cheer Esther and her compatriots on. To Field Day!!
p.s. whilst my fingers are now warm, the rest of me is still pretty much cold, so here's also to a cuppa hot chocolate!

What to do?

Last night i faced a moral dilemma... as i pulled onto Twenty Road from my parent's survey to head for home last evening, there came through the intersection before me a large pickup truck. The truck did not stop (as much of the traffic coming through that intersection does not do, so that in itself was not so unusual) but it kept driving up Twenty Road at a very erratic pace and weaving to and fro, now putting the bright lights on, now putting the flashers on. I had no idea what was going on. I maintained my distance from this fellow, not sure what to expect from him. Behind me was another pickup truck, following behind me at a discreet pace, and my first thought was of some disabolical plot between these two, to surround unsuspecting motorists, to force them off the road together and to steal their money. (Fortunately i had just been to church, so my wallet was empty). However, this was not the case, to my relief, but my next immediate thought was that this fellow was rip-roaring drunk and the other truck was a buddy of his following him home. But why you would allow your friend to drive in such an inebriated state is beyond me.
They eventually pulled off to the side of the road and i pulled on ahead and left them behind. However, my conscience could not allow me to carry on home in an unscathed manner. My head kept replaying scenarios which may be applicable to this situation. Perhaps the first guy was hurt or too upset about something and just needed a break, perhaps there's been a domestic quarrel, perhaps it was none of my business. But then i thought, if there's someone killed because of a drunk driver on this road because i didn't stop to make a difference, it would probably haunt me forever... so i took a few passes up and down the road and other than the two trucks standing there behind each other with their flashers on, and a lady talking on a cell phone, there didn't seem to be any emergencies as such. But as a single girl, i didn't really dare to go much further on my own... so i came home, told Carina the short and long of it and we ventured out together... but all parties involved were gone by that point... so who knows really if there was something funny or nefarious in the making and we may have stopped it or things may have settled down... These little moments in life occur when your life touches another and we never know what effect we will have on the other person! I'm glad i turned around and went back, and i'm glad also that there was nothing to be done for us... I hope all involved got home safely and in one piece!

Whatizit??

Well, yesterday afternoon, my parents and I betook ourselves to the field that runs at the end of their street, a field which is now burdened down by heavy bulldozers and earthmovers and which will shortly be filled with a huge number of disgustingly large houses squeezed onto postage stamp sized lots with too many bedrooms to count and families with only one child to fill all those rooms... as if there weren't enough houses already in this city, but they have to allow urban sprawl to ooze its way onto my parent's quiet little street. Why, oh, why can't the city dwellers stay where they are and leave our little paradise alone? Not only are these houses coming, but the city is planning to add sewers, sidewalks and curbs to ensure that there is an urban feel to life. Not that any of this was asked for since we seemed to be doing quite well without all these "improvements". Sometimes i can feel so angry and frustrated with the city planners who never listen to the "little guys" and simply proceed with their plans in all their concrete glory.

So we took a little wander out in the field to see what there was to see, to ponder the loss of country life and to see what changes were afoot. About a year ago, there were some people who whose job it was to find out if there was anything archeologically significant to be discovered in the field. They dug a lot of little test holes in the ground and spent some days seeking but apparently not finding the lost Incan city of gold or Atlantis or any other archeological treasures. Thus development could continue... Mom and I thought we had to take matters into our own hands and see if there was any last ditch efforts which could be expended to halt the building process... At last our search proved fruitful, there hidden in the tiretracks of a large machine lay our treasure! It just displayed a little rim of ceramic to us from the dirt grave. However our curiosity was peaked and we now would not be denied. We had to know what this thing was... Was it an ancient Indian burial pot? Was the former emperor of North America perhaps entombed here? We frantically dug on, using the only tools available to us, shards of the former pot?/bowl?/urn? We most likely botched up every single archeological dig rule - first of all stomping all over the ground in the vicinity, not using white gloves, not using a cute little vacuum, using a piece of the artifact to unearth the larger part, and not taking one single picture of the dig. However, sometimes in life, one has to break a few rules! After much blood, sweat and hacking, we managed to extract the below pictured object from the clutches of the muddy earth.

Its identity has since been made know to us, but as we carried it out of the field, multiple uses for this object filled our thoughts - perhaps it was a huge ceramic ashtray from the explorers who first discovered Mount Hope? Perhaps it was a lamp base for a huge primative searchlight used by the first inhabitants of this area to find their lodges back at night? Perhaps it was a tractor wheel mechanism - this was my best guess since it had two initials embossed on it "HI" which could have stood for Harvester International. Though HI could also be Hamilton International - which led me to believe it was part of an airplane which was accidently lost in the Twenty Triangle - slightly less well known but equally as mysterious as the Bermuda Triangle! Though this option was a little bit shady since HI can also be taken as IH which could potentially be International Harvester or Internal Hangover or Investing Hamilton)

The options were endless - we wanted to bury this object back in the middle of one of the archeological test sites and then call them up and ask them to take one last look - and then when the object was found, all the plans for housing development would have to be put on hold indefinitely as the experts were all called in to identify the mysterious thing and build a theme park to celebrate its history and then we would have so much traffic from the theme park that the initial housing development would start to look pretty good.

So in the end, we took it home, hosed it off and it is now on display on the outside table, a symbol of the past and our quest for discovery.

Mom's war wounds displayed alongside the mystery object.

Presumably the underside of the object... Happy guessing!

Home at last...

Cows, cows everywhere!

So, here Mom and I are back on good old Canadian soil after 10 short days... enjoying a lovely day of sunshine and beautiful temperatures... laundry on the line... suitcase unpacking and finding places for all the old things and some new things besides which have managed to make their way across the wide Atlantic to our fair homeland.... yet there is still something inside me that misses Holland so much, misses our family... misses our cousins and the connections we made, I hate distances sometimes... i hate that it takes a year or two before we see our family again.... i hate that goodbyes have to make you so sad. I trust we will meet again somehow somewhere... but in the meantime, i miss everyone. Though i'm glad to see my friends again and my dad and siblings. Travelling is so busy and thoughts are always twirling around in your brain and seemingly not getting anywhere, not having any time for expression and meditation about the insightful things that we talked about, that we cried and laughed about, that my brain cells sometimes stretched themselves to understand. So in lieu of further words, here comes a battery of photos to enjoy.

Happy viewing!

The Statue of Liberty?? Did we accidently stray into New Amsterdam??

Nope, it's a person sized duplicate of the superhero of freedom... right in the

middle of a Dutch farmers field!

A typical Dutch scene... the windmill, symbol of the ever-present struggle

between the Dutch and the sea.

All the family gathered in the barn on Sunday for a barbeque... and man,

was that ever barbequeing (how do you spell that word?) Eet smakelijk!

We visited Oma and Opa's gravesites, left flowers, said hello and

i learned more about family history during our tour of the cemetary.

It is such a lovely peaceful place.

The Afsluitdijk, the barrier which was completed in 1932??

I did have the date memorized at one point... the great marvel of engineering

which split up the sea and make a lake and created the right conditions to create the polder lands.

Een lekkere cappucino op de Afsluitdijk... heerlijk!
One, just one, of the delicious meals which we were privy to on this trip...

our family are fair culinary giants so we ate very well!

Part of Panorama Tulipland... a huge round painting of tulip growing and culture

in Voorhout... a very interesting and intriguing thing, panoramas...

Oh, how i love flags!! The Dutch tricolour flies proudly above the beach in Noordwijk! It was a cold and windy day...but we enjoyed it thorougly!

The three sisters united again! An, Mom and TinekeMom eating some lekkere kibbeling by the sea... it was hit the spot...

Mom and I went to a fancy "high tea" at her cousin's place

in Nieuweerdinge, we had a nice time with all of her cousins and sisters

and relaxed in the garden with a nice cuppa!

Drinking tea again, but this time at a tea museum in the north of Groningen.

Did you know you could order up to 8 kinds of rooiboos? I had no idea.
The sun sets again in the west and spreads its dying rays over the landscape, painting the sky with spectacular colours and breathtaking beauty.

Hallo again

Hallo
Thoughts are running around through my head like a bunch of wild crazy runaway rhinocerusses/rhinoceriii?
Why is Dutch bread so yummy? For all of you who share the same sentiments, i ate two slices of brood for you this morning with relish (not real relish in a physical sense but internal relish and enjoyment) and with kip kerrie on it.
Why does time fly so quickly?
Why does our family live so far apart from each other? Dat is heel yammer, eh? I wish we could teleport ourselves from one place to another with ease... but i suppose that'll be the next step on the world's ever increasing pace of life... so maybe it's a good thing that we have a nice long plane trip to consider what it is that we just did or to ponder and anticipate what comes ahead.
Can i still remember how to work? Do i still want to work in the same place? Sometimes my head would like to explode with all the exertion of thinking about what to do in my life... and then i just leave it all and go on vacation... solves everything right???
Anyways, i should probably leave off now cause we are going to go to the centre of Groningen for a little bike ride to poke around and then we leave to go to Woubrugge...
How time flies when you're having fun!!!

Groeten uit nederland

Hallo everyone
Groeten uit Nederland... Yep, here i sit in the land of my parent's birth... the land of milk and honey, nope, oops, of droppies and chocopasta and everything else lekker. We have had a whirlwind trip so far, seems like a different bed every night and not enough time for all the things that i would like to do. We have been in Woubrugge, Smilde, Stadskanaal, Nieuweerdinge, Emmen, Groningen and all sorts of kleine dorpjes inbetween. We have eaten so much that i believe i will need to starve myself for a good week (impossible really) when i get home so that i will once again fit into my clothes... it seems our Dutch family always wants to feed us good things and being good guests, we don't refuse either!! That would be so rude. So sure, i'll have another stukkie koek, or sure, i'll take another schep of soep. Aaah, we are such good guests... eating everything that is put before us.
It is so nice to drink in the sights, smells, sounds and tastes around us. To spend time with family (i do miss everyone at home though), to see places you remember so well from childhood, to hear the birds singing, to see the canals, cows, windmills, cheese, cows, small little cars, crazy driving, cows, the Afsluitdijk, the bikes, cows, droppie winkels and so much else that is Dutch. But mostly to catch up with family whom we haven't seen for a while, we had a "nichten"dag gehadt met mij mom's cousins gister and that went well... she got to see all eleven of her direct cousins on her dad's side of the family and i got to meet them all as i came into the door, one after another... hello, i'm tante allie, hello i'm tante dinie, hello i'm tante ardien, hello i'm tante dinie... yep, there were even a couple of double names since there were four cousins named after the same oma! Confusing enough to have all these tantes coming at you but then to have the names the same... i'll confess to sitting in the car later on and asking my mom "so who was the one with the big hat"or "who was the one who was smoking" cause it was so hard to tell everyone apart.
Anyhow, ik geniet ervan en i will be sad on Tuesday when we leave here.
Pictures to come... but i have biking to do now!
Love you all!

12:03.. where are you?

Well, for all of you out there who have thought that the writer of this blog had possibly accidently been sucked out of the earth's atmosphere into a black hole in deepest darkest space, or that she might possibly have been run over by a runaway ostrich or been eaten by coyotes (Lauren!! heehee), i'm here to let you know that there is life in this neighbourhood. It's just been a little on the odd side in the last few weeks. Hmmm, for a quick synopsis of what i've been up to, okay, hmm... i could tell you that i won the $10 million dollar lottery prize, have settled up all my debts, bought a mansion on Georgian Bay and have decided to live the rest of my life fishing for trout (or whatever sort of fish live in Georgian Bay) and eating marshmallows. Or that i have finally found my prince charming and he turned out to be a baker and now i live in above a bakeshop on James Street downtown and decorate cookies with icing all day long.

The truth is actually much less fantastical and more down to earth. I'm suffering from a severe lack of inspiration. It seems everything that comes out of my mouth or head as ideas for this blog have severe flaws, too dull, too factual, too run of the mill. I love reading other's blogs so much more than i enjoy trying to think of what to write here. To be honest, i haven't even written in my journal book for an age (i seem to only write in there whence i am very distraught or emotional, and i seem to have been suffering from a severe lack of emotions for the last year and a half). So what is a girl to do?

But as there seem to be a small core of loyal fans and friends who find an iota of entertainment herein... i will endeavour to be more faithful.

So news flashes:

- My car is making clunking noises again - i do believe the mechanics feel i am overly paranoid and make a lot of fun of me behind my back when i describe to them yet again exactly what is going on with the car... i feel like a broken record sometimes, playing an nonsensical recording. I feel like just asking the mechanic to just come for a ride each time to hear for themselves what i am hearing firsthand. Maybe then they would believe me! I believe going back to the good ole' days of horses and carriages (i have to be very careful of how i word that since i was once pounced on as a girl for wanting to be married in a "horse-covered wagon" as opposed to a horse-drawn wagon/buggy. Is there no mercy for the grammatically inept?

- I am leaving for Holland in less than a week! Joy and gladness fill my soul... i love love going there and seeing family and friends again... the time will fly, it is only 10 days but it will still be a good time - i'm travelling with my mom and i'm excited about that - the last time we travelled together, we drove to Boston! So no freak rainstorms this time and ... i'm falling asleep... pretty soon, this post will involve a whole lot of nonsense and gobbledygook dribbled from the saucepot of my mind to the cookstove of the internet.....

So i'll try to finish this up on the morrow complete with pics....

Sorry bout that... but it'lll give you hope to keep you posted

Okay, just a little more Mushmish

Now you don't see him...
Now you do!!!

Okay, y'all thought i was done for the night, probably for the week or even the month now, didn't you? Fess up, you did believe that... well, i'm going to blow you all out of the water and post twice within one hour... about nonsense. Yup, no room for deep thoughts or soliloqueys or poetry tonight, unless you count that sorry excuse of a poem in the previous post of the evening, see post #100, 9:40 pm. Anyways, lightning has struck twice in the same place and now there come a few more pics your way for your viewing pleasure.

Today i bravely ventured to do a task of which i was not sure of the outcome (is that correct grammar?) I had scooped up some of the pristine white sugary sand from the beach in Florida over two weeks ago now and entrapped it, together with some unwashed shells in a sealed ziplock baggie which then made its way from Florida via mini-van accompanied by five children for two days til it reached good old Ontario where it took up residence on a friend's counter for the next week, whereupon i betook it to my own abode, where it sat and mouldered upon my bookshelf for another week or so. In my humble estimation, i was thinking that the smells which would emanate from that baggie should it split open or be opened incorrectly would be horrifically stale, seawaterish and otherwise not so pleasant to inhale. Thus, i opened said Ziplock with caution expecting the worse, but finding to my pleasant surprise, no odor whatsoever!! All my precious white sugar sand from Anna Maria had survived intact and was displayed now for my viewing enjoyment on a dinner plate where it could dry up and breathe. It then came to me this evening that it would be nice to call this an "executive sandbox" and to somehow find a little rake and amuse our infrequent guests with such a novelty. However, to my surprise, after the first initial photo assay of the sandbox, there appeared a figure in the sand. He was tall, dark and strangely quiet. His features were fixed in a strange glazed expression as he contem"plated" life. And where his lovely princess could be? This solitary figure, this lone Romeo, could it be? Is it he? Sacre bleu! It's my Prince Charming! He's been wandering around all these years in an endless trackless wasteland of sand. Poor fellow, he must be nearly dune in, going against the grain like that. Anyways, i just thought i'd let you know that the search is over and we have been united at long last!!!

A Hundredth Post Mishmash

My new haircut...

Some facts for you to think about:
Today was sunny and nice

We had a yummy dinner consisting of fish, veggies and rice

(looks like a Milk Calendar picture!)

I am in a good, mellow state of mind

Isn't it nice CDs don't have to rewind

Our new toaster is nice and red

Holland has wonderful bread

One of my favorite things are my flowers

I've been on the internet for way too many hours

I am going to Curacao in the summer

My stomach is rumbling like a Hummer

I like my new haircut (nothing rhymes here but it will never look the same

as it does today unfortunately unless i hire my hairdresser to come

to my house each day to do my hair for me so it looks nice! Might be a bit expensive!!!)

So here's a few pics from the last little while... some are of little Petertje, who daily gains in cuteness, i miss him dearly and hopefully will see him soonagain, cause i really need to hug him right now. I also had my hair done today so i've included a few pics on here for my family who might not see me today and who need to know that it looked good today, since i couldn't send them over email cause it was cycling at about the speed of a 98 year old fellow who has a bike with two flat tires and only a low-speed gear. I also have a pic of the lovely flowers that grace our home's windowsills... we can't really get anymore plants cause we're out of space. But that never stops us!
I don't really like this pic but accidently uploaded it and now can't get rid of it... stupid blogger!! So if you know a way, let me know! Otherwise, i've nothing astute or important left to say and i hope you have a lovely evening!

Memories of Anna Maria

Images of Anna Maria!!

A pelican, these birds fascinated me with their kamikazi dives into the ocean and their voracious appetite for fish! So much so that one hooked itself on Aaron's fishing rod in pursuit of take-out dinner!
Sunrise on the island, amazing that i was up this early!

The little girls found a new friend and the neighbour dog found his niche, with an admiring fan club all set to smother him with love and feed him "cause he's hungry, mom!"Terns on the beach, looking a wee bit wind-blown, much as we did at the end of the day, with sand in every possible nook and crevice.

Apparently, there are some problems on the island! Heehee!

And some rowdy tourists got locked up in jail!

Oh, i am so itchy. Why am i so itchy? Perhaps i've got fleas, or maybe some sort of contagious skin disease... nope, i'm peeling. Yep, read it and weep. Peeling. From a sunburn. In March! I love it! Who gets a sunburn in March? I'll tell you. Someone who just returned from much warmer climes and has enjoyed an early kiss of the sun's burning rays. Albeit a very funny looking sunburn. Apparently i am incapable of applying sunscreen consistently and am now consequently left with big blotchy pieces of skin on my legs, alternating red and white. Perhaps i could hire myself out as a human barber pole, if i spin on the spot quick enough, and blur the colours, no one would know the difference, forgetting about the arms, legs and hair that might give me away that i am not a barber pole, but in fact a sunburned human girl.

In all seriousness, i truly enjoyed my time away. It was short and sweet. I left on Monday afternoon with Dad dropping me off in Buffalo and via Atlanta, arriving in sunny Sarasota... okay, maybe not sunny since it was about 10:30 at night but warm at least. Melissa and Fran picked me up at the airport and we drove the half hour drive to Anna Maria Island, which is where both of their families had rented vacation homes.

I spent three full days with Jeff, Melissa and their family, soaking up the sun, walking on the pier, unsuccessfully evenly tanning myself, unsuccessfully angling for fish (although Aaron did catch a pelican! That was pretty monumentous in our estimation, but apparently quite common on that pier, since there were posted instructions on how to retrieve a hook from a bird's mouth!), playing games, riling children up right before bedtime with "doctor, doctor, we're all tangled up" and "spoons" which turned out to be far too violent and had to be stopped. Some of my most vivid memories include:

- waking up early in the morning to go shell seeking on the beach

- feeling the warm, warm sun on my pale, cold skin and tasting the salty sea water on my lips

- playing in the ocean waves with the kids and feeling like a big kid myself

- not having my watch on

- doing some cross-border shopping with a grand total of 17 people! I'm sure the store owners were nearly having coronaries when they saw the mass invasion and later stared in disbelief at the chaos left behind in their dressing rooms!! Head count, anyone??

- a very rough landing in Newark on the way home; due to high winds playing havoc with the airplane, the pilots had a tough job to land that plane safely and received a warm round of applause from the passengers when they finally managed to wrestle the plane to the ground! The lady beside me nearly passed out and i wasn't too sure about the whole situation either! Aah, the joys of air travel.

- chatting with a very jet-lagged and frustrated Scottish fellow, with flaming red hair, who was having much difficulty with the multiple delays imposed on our travel schedule by the windiness of the day. I did my utmost to calm him down and help distract him from our woes and uncertainties and it sure helped pass the time!- shivering away in my bed at night due to my sunburn... feeling i would possibly never get warm again in my life and wondering if it was possible to die from shivering... also worrying whether it was possible to bite your tongue in two due to your jaw chattering so badly!

Some strange local wildlife was spotted!!!

Yet another unsuccessful fishing expedition, complete with about 9 children, all wanting to have a turn with a total of 3 fishing rods!! Mass chaos!

Leaving on a Jet Plane... again

Well... i'm finally off into the wild blue yonder.... yep, in only 11 hours, i will be basking in the Floridian warm and sunshine... well, okay, not really sunshine since it will be night time but you get my drift... it will be significantly warmer there than it is here... not that i mind at all the snow and cold - i don't really at all - but i am excited to have a few days away with friends, good friends in a different place, enjoying ocean breezes and warm water - azure blue water and white sand... yep, doesn't sound too hard to take. I am joining the mass of Canadians already hunkered down and hiding away in that most southern part of our American neighbour. At one point last week, before the big storm hit, i was certain that North America was likely to tip over to the south due to the massive amount of people influxing that state of warm bliss, Florida. I will confess it is not one of my "top ten" destinations, somewhere i've always, always wanted to be, i prefer some tropical location that is not quite as popular or doesn't have quite the reputation to be so "Canadian" in flavour - seeing as i heard rumors of people from our church having a church picnic down there, that is just a small token of how many people are down there! But i am happy to be going with Jeff and Melissa and spending time with them and their family, which i always, always enjoy! So i'll see you in a few days with a tan and feeling more relaxed!!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Morning

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

by Robert Frost