Old Blue Eyes

And no, I don't mean Frank Sinatra. 

One of Lloyd's most beautiful features are his blue eyes.  He's the only blue-eyed person in his family but he passed them down, in various shades, to all of our kids and all but 2 or 3 of our grandchildren. 

He woke up a couple of days ago with an added color...

He says he wasn't hit with a ball or golf club earlier in the day - I think he'd remember something like that anyway.  It wasn't like that when he went to bed the previous night.  I absolutely deny any responsibility for his shiner.  Really.

As it appears to be healing, we'll just chalk it up to one of those mysterious injuries - at least until someone admits taking a poke at those beautiful eyes

Hockey Night in Canada!

In true Canadian custom, my 5-year old grandson, Max, is in his second winter of hockey. Last year when he started he could hardly stand up on his skates. He's a little better this year and can actually propel himself around the ice, swinging a hockey stick, a bit awkwardly since he's left-handed and using a right-handed stick. Today we went to watch one of his 'games'. There's no score keeping in the games with these little guys so everyone's a winner. Some of the 5-6 year olds are quite confident, easy skaters.

Our son-in-law (Max's Dad), Quincey, holding baby Quinn, and Max's Papa (Lloyd), both avid hockey players in their earlier years.

Max's baby sister, Dad, Papa, Mom (Sara), and Auntie Mary (blurred)

That's Max, skating toward us.

Max coming to check on us and say hi.



Checking out the action in the game in the other half of the arena.

That's Max in action - #2

Here he is with the puck on his stick winning the face-off.

Crouched down ready to win the face-off in the above picture

They rotate the boys through all the positions. Here he's trying his hand as goalie.

Waiting patiently for a puck to come at him for him to stop.

And, finally, as in the big leagues, the teams line up and congratulate one another before leaving the ice at the end of the game. Teaching them good sportsmanship as well as game skills.

It was a nice way to spend an hour or so on a Sunday afternoon.

Blessing or Curse

Is your cell phone an occasional convenience or a constant necessary business tool?

Do you like to be constantly available to all and sundry who might decide to call you or do you like being having time free from interruptions?

How essential have they become to everyone from kids to grannies?

Everyone has their own answers and reasons why they want or don't want such a convenience.

I like having one, although I can go days without sending or receiving a call or text. Sometimes I even forget to turn it on. It'd be different if I depended on it for business, but it's just for my convenience when I'm out that I have it. I've had several different models and now have a Samsung Galaxy S, which is more computer than phone I'm thinking. Someday I'll learn to use more of the functions and download more 'apps'. In the meantime, I'm thankful for a son-in-law who is a computer guy and comes over to solve my problems.

My husband, on the other hand, lives and dies by his Blackberry. This past weekend was a real challenge for him. His phone 'white screened' on Friday. He couldn't even turn it off without taking the battery out. There was no place open all weekend where he could get it fixed. One outlet told him that when the phone white screens it has to be totally reset...meaning that he'd lose all his data. He went into withdrawal...depression...frustration...you name it. Easily 80% of his business is conducted via Blackberry. The chiefs call and text him at any time of the day or night. All his contacts (and he has hundreds), all his appointments, travel claim information, etc. are in his Blackberry - with no backup or easy paper source. He was lost. On the upside, he had a peaceful weekend without the nuisance of phone calls and text messages. Finally on Monday he was able to take his phone back to where he bought it only to be told that the software had crashed, as we had already been told. They fixed it - loaded new software - and gave it back to him, completely empty of all his important information. He'll be spending hours inputting his contact list, contacting his assistant for his appointment schedule (he has missed several appointments already) and recreating his business life.

I think we have become too dependent on these little tyrants. When they rebel and trash our vital information, we're lost.

I'm going to use my phone for fun and convenience. I still have an old-fashioned paper address book, and write appointments on an old fashioned wall calendar. While I love and appreciate all this new technology, I'm going to remember to keep paper backups of important stuff. No paperless world for me!

And Lloyd's happy now and looking forward to retirement when he can use his cell phone for enjoyment rather than as a business tool.

Which One's the Antique?

When Lloyd was young his family lived in a rural community called Harvey Station, New Brunswick. Their home was surrounded by acres of farm land so his parents invested in cows, an infamous nasty bull, a dog, cats and chickens. Lloyd loved the years spent on the farm in spite of the chores that fell to him to complete. For one thing, almost before he could reach the pedals, he was allowed to drive the tractor. Such freedom and responsibility! He loved it.



When he was 14 his family left the farm for the 'big' city of Fredericton, and he never had the chance to live on a farm again.

When one of our city-raised daughters took her city-raised sons to a farm museum in rural Alberta, her #4 son, Micah, discovered that he too loved 'driving' a tractor.

"Look Mom I'm a farmer"

I guess some traits skip a generation. On look, I just noticed, the 'antique' tractor Micah is driving is the same as the 'modern' one Lloyd was driving back in the late 1950s.