Thursday, June 25, 2009

Discovery

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Zoe leads a quiet and rather boring life while I am at work. With our preparations for moving next week things are everywhere. I set a mirror on the floor, and someone makes a fine discovery.

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Hi there ! Do I know you ?


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I think she is very pleased .


Her predecessor Sam used to growl at any reflection of himself. Puppies are so much fun !

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

God’s Surprises

“No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
I Corinthians 2:9

Have you got God figured out? Have you got God captured on a flowchart and frozen on a flannelboard? If so, then listen.

Listen to God’s surprises.

Hear the rocks meant for the body of the adulterous woman drop to the ground.

Listen as the Messiah whispers to the Samaritan woman, “I who speak to you am he.”

Listen to the widow from Nain eating dinner with her son who is supposed to be dead…

God appearing in the strangest of places. Doing the strangest of things.

Stretching smiles where there had only been frowns. Placing twinkles where there were only tears.

(From Max Lucado Grace for the Moment Volume 2)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day

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I have three sons , and two of them have children, so today I want to wish them a Happy Fathers Day.
Above is Jason and his first born Anneka Jewel. He was born to be a very loving and tender dad.

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This is my first born son Timothy with his son Joey. This pic is a few years old now. Tim is a faithful and devoted dad .

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Here is a very old picture of my dad and Tim . This was taken nearly forty years ago.Dad really took delight in his grandchildren.

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My own dad and myself the last time I saw him . The Lord whispered to my heart that day that dad would soon go Home. He went to Jesus eight weeks later. I am looking forward to that Reunion Day !

So now on this and each Fathers Day I am grateful for those on this earth and most certainly my Heavenly Father who is with me here always.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thinkin' On Sparrows

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How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young - a place near Your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, they are ever praising You.


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Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?
And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered
Do not fear therefore;
you are of more value than many sparrows. (Mat 10:29-31)


So we're ok then....Good.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Can You Believe It?

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St. Peter's Catholic High School Grade Nine A. 1960...(I think)
I wish I had saved my year books , but they are long gone. I wonder if anyone saved them ?

Monday, June 15, 2009

Friends in the 'Hood

The ride down in the elevator finds Zoe with her nose to the door in anticipation of who we will meet on the other side as we head out for our walk. Most days this is a very fun experience for her socially.

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This young fellow is called Timber, and when he sees us coming he crouches down and thinks he is hiding from us.....every time...he's so cute and he and Zoe romp together just enjoying playing.

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Next we have Rory, she's a large, friendly, pretty, young Doberman and lives down the hall from us. She's a lady and her emotions are very expressive on her face, especially delight, when we meet.

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Below is Ginger. She also lives down the hall from us. Poor Ginger has a troubling cough that sounds to me like smokers cough. She's about eight now.

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Recently we met Mayer a very young Shih-tzu and he's coming along really well.

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The very latest new comer to the building is little Maggie. She gets very excited and jumps all over Zoe who seems to take it pretty well. Maggie will be our neighbor when we move up to the seventh floor in July.

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This little fellow is called Bandit another little buddy hardly able to contain his excitement when we meet, AND he also loves to give kisses.

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Last but certainly not least there is Thatch, or Thatchy as we like to call him, and he is absolutely Zoey's favorite friend. She starts nagging me to go out in the evening half and hour early just because she knows her big friend will be waiting.

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No, we are not eccentric , at least not yet and then again that may be a matter of opinion, but we do love our pet friends.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Just Been Thinkin'

So Nana is one hundred and one years old and since I was trying to imagine the many changes she has lived through I was led on a search for myself.

First I found an old book on one of the chairs from a waiting room and it's a hardcover LIFE issue . 100 events that shook our world in the last 10o years...or something like that.

Very interesting ! Actually they have a really interesting web site of pictures to browse when one is not so busy at her desk.

Then I started to remember for myself all the changes in my many (not as many as Nana) years on this planet.
So it was a lot of fun trying to find old pictures for this post and I focused on things remembered when I was a child.

My parents were war veterans. They were in Army Shows, and entertained the troops. My dad was a musician and my mom was a high kickin' dancer, like the ones that used to be on the Jackie Gleason show.

After the war, they were given the opportunity to buy a 'war time' house and if I remember correctly they paid $4000.00....in installments. That same little three bedroom house sold for over $120,000. several years ago.

Anyway, one of the items we owned was an Icebox...later when credit was popular we graduated to an actual refrigerator.

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Ours was white I think and there was an 'Ice Man' that would deliver the large blocks of ice to our house. We were allowed to collect the ice chips that would fly off when he would cut the block to the size we needed.

Then there was the Milk Man...Tommy was his name, delivering milk in actual glass bottles in his horse drawn wagon to our back door.

There was the big old furnace in the cellar.

Very scary ! Next to it was the 'coal bin' that would receive the load of coal through the cellar window. We also had wood delivered to the driveway, and we kids would have to throw it into the basement as well.

When mother decided we needed a spanking (often it seems) she would send my brother to the cellar to get a 'stick' for her to use on our backsides.
When he would be sent to get 'my' stick he came upstairs with a two by four...not funny Rob ! No she did not beat me with a two by four, thank the Lord, she used the kindling .

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Ah the memories....anyway, this pic is very similar to our old furnace, and we would have to 'empty the ashes' and throw a bit of wood on in the winter mornings. Man I hated that cellar !

Then there was the telephone ! My grandparents had one kind of like this on the left and ours was more modern. Most folks had a 'party line' or shared line, where nosy people would listen in if so inclined, so eventually we acquired a private line. I did seem to spend many hours on that phone .

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It was later when colored phones became popular, and I remember my dads mother had a lovely red one in her front hall. I now own one of these myself.

The days before television came into our home we listed to the radio, and played out doors. It was safe to leave your house unlocked and the inside door open in the heat of summer. Summer spent mostly in our bathing suits and bare feet.

Hurricane Hazel in 1954 turned the sky a strange shade of yellow green and we were brought inside until it passed. Actually in researching this event it seems our little town was spared a lot of the damage that Toronto received. I just remember the warmth of the rain puddles to my bare feet afterwards. I was eight.

Then the wonderful day we welcomed the Television !! With Ed Sullivan , Howdy Doody ,Clarabell the clown, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, the Cisco Kid....I became a big fan of sitting in front of the tube and disconnecting from life around me.

The Hi-Fi Stereo came just in time for the Elvis, Fabian, Ricky Nelson (all were honored on my bedroom walls) the Twist and of course The Beatles ! My dad was a radio announcer and was able to bring home new releases of those little 45 records, and I fell in love with the British Invaders...
She loves me, yeah yeah yeah! Man,I had hundreds of those little disks.

In 1960, Catholic High School and terrible black uniforms with white plastic collars and cuffs . Oh my gosh !! Did anyone else have to wear those underarm padded things to keep the perspiration off the clothes ? EEWWW !!!

AND Saddle Shoes with white ankle socks....

Today, I would love some of these shoes. Go figure....

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I have to say though my mom was expert at making our clothes, and I was so proud when she created my very own green flared felt poodle skirt.

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Today

We have so much advanced technology who could have imagined it back then?

Now I own two computers ,(remember when one computer filled a whole large room ?) and if we didn't have email and cell phones and the internet what would we do ???? When I see the commercials displaying the wonders of the ipod phones with every application imaginable I am amazed.

As for me....

How could I survive without the internet and all the options available, most especially the live web streaming from IHOP.

Oh almost forgot to mention blogging and Facebook of course.

So, I am aging, but I want to keep pace to some degree with all that is being discovered around me.
It's great fun, and after all, I never would have thought I would ever own my very own Red Rotary Dial (working, mind you) telephone.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Nana is 101

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This picture was taken a year ago at Nana's 100th. Birthday Celebration , and now today she is 101 years old....

What an amazing lady!

I haven't seen her since her party last year, but am told by reliable sources that she is doing very well, and just finished reading six books.

It would be fun to interview her and ask about all changes she has seen in her lifetime.

Someone should do that....

Anyway...Happy Birthday Hilda, and may Jesus continue to bless you each and every day.