Winter has arrived

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11302716@N04/?saved=1

47 years ago today.....was it really that long ago.......

I remember it well as this was the day i had the second surgery to remove the cancer spreading in my throat. Six months earlier surgeons had operated and thought they had removed all of it.  This time they did get it all and i'd live happily ever after but i didn't know that at the time and needless to say was scared to death; i was 19 years old and i had 3 small children to raise.

And then the news came down from nurses and visitors to the hospital that President John Kennedy had been assassinated this very morning and that sickened and scared me even more.
JFK was my hero and my pastime had been a scrapbook about him which ended soon after he died when i began a new scrapbook; this one on his brother Robert, which also ended abruptly.
I don't make scrapbooks anymore.

But on this day 47 years ago Nov. 22, 1963 i was in shock at the news and then being in recovery from the surgery i wasn't able to see any of it on tv and several weeks had passed by the time i was able to go home.  By then the coverage wasn't being repeated. I often felt i was the only person on earth who hadn't seen the whole thing live or at least fresh. And being as how i was his biggest fan, well, it dosn't even compute how badly i wanted and needed to see it all. I always recall this every year on this date.

I was scared, as scared as those terrifying 6 days previously when everyone in Canada and the U.S. was scared to death; we were on the brink of a nuclear war! Some of that fear was of mistakes or somebody accidentally hitting a red button but mostly it was the threat itself as the message was very clear to all.

Thank God for President Kennedy keeping his cool and handling it the way he did; he wasn't my hero for nothing.........

Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Military History Companion

Cuban missile crisis (1962). In May 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev promised military assistance to the beleaguered Castro regime in Cuba. Two years later, he saw that the USSR's relations with Cuba also represented a unique opportunity to offset the threat posed to Moscow by US nuclear missiles based in Turkey. In addition to aircraft, air defence systems, armoured vehicles, and troops, Khrushchev offered a selection of nuclear-armed medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles. Castro accepted the offer and within months the USA and the USSR were on the verge of all-out nuclear war. On 14 October 1962, following indications of increased military activity on Cuba and a growing Soviet presence, an American U-2 aircraft photographed missile sites in western Cuba. Subsequent intelligence indicated that the missiles—SS-4 and SS-5, both with 1 megaton warheads—had the ability to reach almost the entire continental USA, including every Strategic Air Command base. On 22 October 1962, after intense debate in the Executive Committee (ExComm) of the National Security Council, during which the possibilities of aerial bombardment or invasion of Cuba were discussed, US Pres John Kennedy announced a maritime blockade to prevent further shipments of missiles and military equipment. Kennedy also demanded that Khrushchev dismantle and remove all missiles from Cuba. For six terrifying days, the two superpowers considered their options until on 28 October Khrushchev agreed to Kennedy's demands. In return, the USA agreed never to invade Cuba and (secretly) to remove its missiles from Turkey.

— John P. Campbell

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/cuban-missile-crisis#ixzz163bOQjlC

Pavel and the paparazzi

What part of i want to be left alone don't you understand

Hiding from the paparazzi

Hiding out in Paris

Going in disguise; dam paparazzi!

Is she gone yet?

On the 11th day of the 11th month....we remember

On Remembrance Day i encourage everyone to take the time to remember those who have fallen in the service of our country, as well as those who continue to serve Canada with courage and compassion.

THE RED POPPY

Long before the Great War, the red poppy had become a symbol of death, renewal and life. The seeds of the flower can remain dormant in the earth for years, but will blossom spectacularly when the soil is churned. Beginning in late 1914, the fields of Northern France and Flanders became the scene of stupendous disturbances. Red Poppys soon appeared.

In 1915, at a Canadian dressing station north of Ypres on the Essex Farm, an exhausted physician named Lt. Col. John McCrae would take in the view of the poppy strewn Salient and experience a moment of artistic inspiration. The veteran of the South African War was able to distill in a single vision the vitality of the red poppy symbol, his respect for the sacrifice made by his patients and dead comrades, and his intense feeling of obligation to them. McCrae would capture all of this in the most famous single poem of the First World War, In Flanders Fields.

John McCrae

The doctor's work achieved immediate universal popularity which was subsequently reinforced by his own death in 1918 from pneumonia and meningitis. He was buried in a military cemetery near Calais on the English Channel, thus becoming one with those of whom he wrote in his famous poem. Probably by the time of his internment, John McCrae's verse had forever bound the image of the Red Poppy to the memory of the Great War. The poppy was eventually adopted by the British and Canadian Legions as the symbol of remembrance of World War One and a means of raising funds for disabled veterans. An American war volunteer, Moina Michael, helped establish the symbol in the US where the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion also embraced the Red Poppy tradition.

All people must stand together and fight for freedom and peace, regardless of nationality, race or creed.  We must honor and remember those who gave their all for it lest we forget.

Wheres Willy now?

Looks like he's heading home, getting close to Quebec again......

http://www.whereswilly.com/report.php?key=ee9faadd624e5ef3001d432286bde7538c18b44294e76b13

This is the first report of my $20.'s journey since it left my hands back in Aug. when i set it free at a lottery ticket kiosk in the local mall.
Its been travelling at a rate of 13kms per day for 82 days and now is just 508 kms from where it was first registered.

Maybe Willy was homesick.....maybe he'll start on a journey back to B.C......who knows.......maybe i'll find him again if i ever win anything again.........maybe his original owner will find him again.....
wouldn't that be a hoot!

I'm glad to hear he's well and moving along.  I'll keep ya posted.

All i never knew about a stick of butter

I got a new oven so of course i wanted to try it out and bake something.  I googled to find the newest and most modern cake and cookie recipes but just about all of them called for an ingredient i've never seen before and that is a stick of butter.

So.....whats a stick of butter?  i mean i know the butter part but how much is it, in lbs. cups or tsp.or TBS.

I guess photoshopping one won't tell me much but i tried to imagine one 

How about an old Burt Reynolds movie called Stick?

No?  Me neither!

How about carrot and celery sticks

or hairsticks, stickpins, glo sticks, glue sticks chapsticks

and i even saw a wiping stick..... 

Yes, there is such a thing! but didn't think you'd want to see it

And a very funny old Fed ex commercial of a guy tying a stick to a Pterodactyls leg which wouldn't stay in this post. It went last night after everything else was so messed up and had to be re-done. Look for it under this post and sorry if you got notified of a blank post.

Yeah, i know about other kinds of sticks like

Living in the sticks.....don't do it! 

                                                             
Lacrosse goalie stick

hockey sticks
                                                                              

woman with her hockey stick

                         Daniel Sedin with his hockey stick

peel and stick tile 

                                                                                                       

                                                              

candlesticks, incense sticks
swizzle sticks
marijuana is sometimes called a stick

yowsers this disorder is making me crazy. What sticks did i miss? Which ones are twice?

 and a Chapman stick is a musical instrument.

And then there's joy sticks, stick-it notes, a British band,a baton stick and a stick of gum but they’re not in the recipe i chose which quite proudly boasts “Who says you need a pound of butter for cupcakes? This recipe makes a doz. cupcakes and uses just one stick!”

My first thought on that was “if there’s only one does that mean it’s unimportant and can be left out without causing a recipe failure”?

As far as i knew it could be anything from say, one lb. of butter (that would be one very fat stick and probably called a pound cake) but I think it has to be skinnier and twiggier to be considered a stick.

A stick with walking stick insect on it

                 A different walking stick -            

Am i the first person to inquire of a stick?

 Heres a stick a guy had to use to fight off a cougar
 The blue and white stick is a pen

  and here's a stick family

a comic book character named Stick
                                                                                                                   a pool stick

                                                                                                            
A dog with his stick

                      
                       Led Zeppelin album cover Stick

Some youtube people are saying that eating butter is bad while others say it'll improve your arithmetic and maybe it'll improve spelling too.  I'll try it and see.

I’m guessing all the recipes i found were created by American cooks who probably buy their butter already formed into sticks and therefore understand the term.  That’s great, but it doesn’t tell me how much to use, we who purchase our butter in one lb.                                  

blocks. If all the other ingredients are in measurements of cups or tsp. and TBS. why go and complicate the butter?

Imagine a recipe calling for a large brick of butter, 1 kg.+ 5 cubes of sugar, a lb. + 8 tsps. of flour, 5/8th of a litre of milk 1/12 of a ladle of cinnamon, an ounce of salt……probably not many bakers would tackle such a recipe and whatever it would make would likely turn out awful!

ok, seriously i know that 1 cup of butter would be half a lb. It’s easy to chop a 1 lb.brick of butter in half cuz there’s a line on the half way mark!  Half a cup would obviously be one of those halves cut in half (also marked) and so it’s not even necessary to melt it and messy-up a measuring cup.  But where does the stick come in on this? Mine look like mini blocks and mini block isn’t in the recipe.

So to make a very long story even longer because i’ve never seen a stick of butter in my life

i had to re google for  “what is a stick of butter”

Well…..

i found butter eating contests, mostly challenges that people take for anything from $2.00 to $100. to eat X amount of butter in a very short time. There’s youtube videos of throwing up said butter in fun locales such as home parties, limo’s and on keyboards. There’s people drinking huge quantities of beer and eating a lot of butter, a guy inhaling a gal of milk and eating a lot of butter, people  slurping down 5000 calorie milkshakes which evolved into lots and lots of vomiting videos which then went totally off the subject of what is a stick of butter.

I got back on track by reading “how much is a knob of butter?”

Answer: Some butter.  More than a dash.  More than a pinch.

Less than 3 TBS.  More than 1 TBS.

In other words i'd say it’s about 2 TBS. or however much you want it to be.

Now, i ask you where’d all the recipes go for knobs of butter?

Also found out how “to dot” something with butter and this butter stick which would be great for

corn on the cob.  I’d love to find one of these

and it would be great for toast too i think. Or maybe not as hubby already leaves behind way too many crumbs and he’d have a butter stick all messy in no time flat.

Well, it took some time but i finally found out:

1 stick of butter = arrghhh omg! this post has been so stressful i’ve already forgotten!

Then i noticed the chosen cupcake recipe had already divied out the one stick proudly mentioned into

3 TBS. of butter for the batter and 5 TBS. of butter for the frosting for a grand total of 8 TBS. What the heck!  But at least now i’ve a clue how much a stick consists of but i’m sure not about to use my measuring spoon to find out by filling it with butter 3 times, then 5 times digging it out from a block, brick or tub or whatever to know i’ve got the correct quantity cuz that’s not only time consuming but messy, goofy and just plain wrong.

And then to top it off the recipe says to use UN salted butter and then later on it says add a tsp. of salt!

What a crazy world; i don’t want any part of these new fangled complicated cupcakes new oven or not.

Fed Ex Superbowl Commercial

Like a miracle some golden words rolled off of someone's tongue

Google - i think everyone googles and i do a fair share....what would we ever do without it!?!
Sometimes disappointing but more often than not you get the info you need.  Once in a while it takes you on a different path than intended and often for me the results are amazing.

I'm not a country music fan although i've listened to it alot as its my hubbys fav. music genre and he has it on alot.  Thirty plus years ago we had gone to a concert and i couldn't remember the artists name but i remembered her words after all this time.

So i googled them and found Lacy J. Dalton and her song 16th Avenue. I hope you enjoy it.

Lost

I often have trouble thinking of things to write so i was happy when i found 

http://www.oneminutewriter.blogspot.com

as theres often prompts that i could reply to, but not in just one minute.

So, i'll use the prompts when i have something to contribute and post it here on my own blog and link back to theirs.


Lost

Several years ago i went to a function in the city with 2 friends and I drove. At lunchtime I drove the 3 of us about a mile to a mall for lunch. After lunch we were to go back to the function but upon arrival on the malls parking roof we couldn’t find my car!  Friend A said “wait here; I’ll be back” and she took off into the mall.

Friend B and I stood on that spot for ages and ages until it became ridiculous; my car was still lost and so was friend A! After waiting some more we took turns walking around looking for it while the other one stayed on the spot in case friend A returned.

Finally we decided we had to do something more than just waiting as we feared something bad had happened to our friend. We retraced our footsteps back to the restaurant and then stopped to inquire at the service counter in the mall to see if any accident or something untoward had happened or maybe a note was left for us.  


There was nothing and without any clues we were confused and worried sick about friend A.  This was back in pre cell phone days so I called both my husband and hers from a pay phone in the mall but neither had heard from her.

Friend B and I then went back up the escalator to the parking area again and there was my car exactly where I had parked it, right there in plain view!  We waited again for a while then friend B and I drove back to the function and there was friend A who fumed at me “you moved the car!“ and when I asked “how did you get back here?” she angrily replied “I hoofed it!”

We both told her I hadn’t moved the car and how we had waited and worried about her and waited some more until finally after returning into the mall the car was suddenly there, where it had been all along.

She didn’t believe us and we both lost her friendship that day.  For some reason that was also the last time I ever saw friend B as well.

I don’t go into the city often anymore and have returned to that mall only once since then. I checked out the parking/escalator/elevator situation thinking it would confirm my thoughts that perhaps there were two parking levels or the elevator and escalator exits opened in opposite ways or find some reason or an explanation of why we couldn’t see my car. 

There was nothing to explain its disappearance and reappearance. It’s still a big mystery to me.

I’ve never forgotten the sting of being accused of something I didn’t do and the loss of two good friends over it. All three of us lost something that day.

Pavel's 15

Happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Pavel

happy birthday to you.

Pavel Petunia Blue is 15 years old today. He spent most of it sleeping just like it was any old day. Here's another shot and dosn't he look young here

Really kittenish isn't he?  Not bad for 15

and here's his big foot.........yowsers Patty........!

Pavel is doing well and is such a joy to us.  I cannot imagine a life without him around.

Here's a quote from Jean Cocteau:

"I love cats because i love my home and after a while they become it's visible soul"

Yes, that's so true; Pavel is the heart and soul of our home. He is so loving and beautiful and content to be ours.  He has grace and power and mysticism even when he sleeps. I know that when he's gone his absence and silence will be overbearing.

And unfortunately that time creeps nearer as another year adds up. Cats can live into the twenties, and we did have one who almost made that. Will Pavel have another 5 years with us? 

He seems healthy although he sleeps most of the time.  Well, what else is there for him to do? He dosn't go outside, no need to hunt for food....he does get up once in a while to find another spot to crash in. And he loves to find a sunbeam to relax in but sunbeams don't happen every day. He also loves to watch car commercials. And he loves snuggles and thats what we do best. 

Nighty night now Pavel; i know you're tired and bored with the posing but lol! do you have to look so crabby! C'mon, a little smile......pleeze.............



The wisdom of Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it's between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa Aug. 26, 1910 - Sept. 5, 1997

Dreams/Nightmares

Dreams and nightmares; i guess we all have them. Do they mean anything? Are they a sign or warning? Do you pay any attention to your dreams? Especially the bad and reoccurring ones……..what do you do with them?


My there’s a bad man in the house nightmare has been reoccuring for a long time. Today as i was cleaning and sorting out a bunch of papers i came across an accounting of one of these dreams. It was dated Sept. 2006 and i had just started an online class on Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way.  I think i only lasted about 2 days in the class, but anyway, this was day one instructions - hand write 3 pages on anything that comes to mind first thing every morning….

This is what i wrote:

“Last night i dreamed that i was just stepping out of the shower when i heard a bell toll 3 times. I opened the bathroom door and started down the hall wrapping a towel around myself as I went. Suddenly a man stepped out in front of me. He was tall and thin with a long narrow nose and he was wearing a baseball cap. He saw me and changed his mind about robbing the place and he turned and ran out the door as i shouted “you bastard; get the fuck outta my house” I went immediately and locked the door and then it dawned on me - what if there’s another one and he’s still in the house? What to do now; unlock it and run out? Leave it locked, stay in and hope there’s not another one. Do burlars usually come in pairs?"

This “morning page” mentioned how i was concerned about the sound of the bell tolling 3 times, like in the Bible when the cock crowed 3 times and Jesus knew that he had been betrayed. Am i comparing myself to being able to receive signs like Jesus? Or what?

It’s always the same theme; Bad man in the house!!!  and i wake up hyperventilating and drenched in fear and panic but not jerking bolt upright like they do in the movies. The characters change and sometimes it’s two men; other times it’s one. Always strangers although i feel that they’re real men and i could identify them if i ever saw them again. What would i do if i saw him out shopping or somewhere....i'm no Alison Dubois so can't very well tell the chief of police.....uh sir, i dreamed that man is a bad man....

Last night i had the dream 3 times and jolted awake after each one. Different burglars every time and for the first time i recognised one of them. He was a country music star who used to have a tv show. I haven’t even thought about him in 20 yrs or more. Buck Owens i think it was, and maybe he’s dead by now, i don’t know; I’m not even a country music fan. He wore blue jeans and a baby blue plaid shirt and he looked young and fresh faced and energetic. What the heck was he doing in my house looking like he was just about ready to grab his guitar and burst into a cowboy song!?!!?