Jack Who??

Why, Jack Frost of course.  Here's some of his handiwork on my bedroom windows.

Very pretty stuff. 

My next entry will be from the Valley of the Sun where there's no such thing as frost.  I don't think I'll miss it.

Hibernation Sounds Good To Me!

The bears have the right idea.  As soon as it gets cold, they go to sleep and stay that way till spring thaw.  That's what I feel like doing today.  It's our first real snow of the year (winter weather warning issued last night).  Today is a grey, windy, snowy, blustering day.  Not a day to venture outside unless you really have to.  Not one of our pretty sunny snowy days, but just cold and ugly.  I wouldn't mind except for the fact that Lloyd is out of town - in Arizona no less - and I'm going to have to go out when/if the snow ever stops, and shovel the walk and driveway.  It's the law!  I don't want to be fined.

Anyway, so far today I've done two loads of laundry, vacuumed, dusted, made the bed, tidied my scrapbook room, answered emails, played a few computer games and packed.

In reply to your unspoken question, Lloyd is in Arizona on a retreat with his staff.  In his case, the retreat consists of a lot of golf with his boss, as well as organizing the retreat sessions.  He has such a hard life!  To be fair though, he's staying an extra week after the retreat is over and I'm joining him on Saturday morning and we'll spend a week together at our place down there.  Then he's coming home and I'm staying another week and Mickey is coming down to join me for that week.  When Mickey and I go down, we take a few scrapbook projects to work on so we have something to do between shopping, sightseeing, and lazing by the pool.  Unlike our native Arizona friends who insist that you don't go swimming in the winter, we do.  That's why we had the pool put in.  If the air is a bit chilly, we just crank the water temperature up to 85 and enjoy.

By the time I'm back here up north, it'll be December and maybe then I'll feel more in the Christmas mood.   I love Christmas time and the music, shopping, excitement, etc. but this year I just haven't been able to get into it.  I can't even listen to my favorite radio station these days.  They're calling themselves "Edmonton's feel good Christmas station" and since Nov. 12 they've gone to the 'all Christmas all the time' music format.  Not to be a grinch, but isn't that a bit early?    I don't mind the stations doing all Christmas all the time if they wait till December to start it.  I love Christmas music, but I'm going to be sick of it by the time December starts if I listen to that station any more.  Bah! Humbug!

Anyway, that's where I'm coming from today.  Here's a picture a friend sent me.  I've actually seen this animal bridge.  It's quite amazing.

This bridge was built across a highway outside of Banff, Alberta, because the highway interfered with the animals' natural crossing and they were being hit as they tried to cross the road.  The bridge runs parallel to the highway bridge, just a bit lower.  It didn't take the elk long to figure out what it was for. If you can't read the signpost, it's pointing right to Calgary and straight ahead to Lake Louise.

Hope you're having a warm, cosy day today.

Pat

Digging through Old Pictures

I've been digging through stacks of old photos these past couple days looking for specific ones my sister needs for a project she's working on.

It took me longer than I anticipated because there are hundreds of pictures, and some I forgot I had and they brought back memories that I had to sit and think about.  Some were just good for a laugh. 

Here's a few I found of me taken 'back in the day'.  Feel free to laugh.

This is me when I was six.  We were all dressed to go to my sister's Christmas concert.  Mum had washed my hair and put millions of pin curls all over my head.    When it was combed out, you can see where Mum tried to make nice smooth curls, but it mostly just went frizzy.  My hair was pin straight back then.  On a positive note, I loved, loved, loved that dress.  It was yellow with little white flocked dots all over it and the belt was a blue velvet ribbon.   I wish Mum had kept it for me to dress my little girls in.  I would even have put pincurls in their hair and taken a picture of them too! ;)

Fast forward 13 years.  I was now a single working girl, living in an apartment with three other girls, two of whom were to become my sisters-in-law.  I had a pet budgie who I used to let out of his cage.  He would sit on my head, or shoulder, or book, or whatever I was holding.  And would you look at those glasses - I started wearing them when I was 18, just for reading, and got the most fashionable ones I could afford.  Look at those upswept points! Really cat's eye glasses.  I wouldn't be caught dead in them now.



 I was 20 or 21 in this picture.  For some reason I was determined to get, and play, a banjo.  When one of my boss' post doc students asked me if I'd type his thesis for him, I used the money he paid me to buy this lovely instrument.  I took two lessons, realized I'd have to practice a lot, and quit.  I think we eventually sold it at a garage sale.  Oh well.  It was a good photo prop.

I went home to visit Mum and Dad the summer I was 20.  Dad had bought a pool table and he and my brother would play every chance they had.  I had to try too.  I don't think I ever got a ball in the pocket (except for the white one!).  See that glass-fronted bookcase at the left of the picture - the one with my sister's high-school graduation picture on it?  That was in our home for as long as I can remember.  I occasionally had the job of dusting it, inside and out.  It is now in my home, and I love it.  Dad always had books in the bottom three shelves, while Mum kept some knick-knacks  and fancy glasses on the top shelf.  That's exactly what I've done with it in my home.  One of my daughters has already spoken for it so it'll be in the family for a long time to come.  I don't know what happened to the pool table.

Now isn't this the most glamorous shot you've ever seen!.  I was 23 and 8 months pregnant with our first son, Rob - a very exciting time in our lives.  Now, see those two owls in the lower left corner?  They were the start of my owl collection.  The big one was Hoot and the smaller one was Screech.  I was better at naming my kids than I was at naming owls.  I was so excited when I brought Hoot home when I was still living in an apartment with my roommates.  When I brought him in the door, his head banged the door frame and came off!  I managed to glue it back on and he 'lived' with me long enough to meet at least three of our children.  One of our moves did him in, and Screech soon followed.

You know what the great thing about pictures is?  It doesn't matter if you don't always look your best - they are real pieces of your life.  How much would I not remember if I didn't have photos to prompt my memories?  That's why I have so many, and why I don't mind sharing them with you, even if I look weird or wore weird clothes.  You should see some of the outfits I dressed the kids in! They looked good at the time, but oh dear! what was the fashion world thinking??

Pat

A Week With Anson

Since last Sunday I've been staying at my son Rob's home taking care of his 10-year old son, Anson, while Rob, Cindy and their 8 year old daughter, Brooklyn, went to Arizona for a week. I've written about Anson before here.  He's profoundly autistic and presents his own set of challenges.  It was originally Rob and Cindy's plan to take Anson with them, but they realized that with his behaviours and fears, flying would be very difficult for him and  there'd be other issues once they got to Arizona.  Anson needs his routines and has to feel safe.

Lloyd was going to be there with me, but then he had to be out of town for work and only joined us for the last two days.  Anson and I managed very well on our own, as it turned out.  Our daily routine was mapped out, with him spending time at the Children's Center (it was a school holiday this week) where he is well known and liked by the workers who devote their time to working with special needs kids. He always greeted me with a hug when I came to pick him up and was happy to be with me.  He has such funny little quirks - like stripping down the minute he walks in the house and putting on his 'comfort' clothes. 

Several times during the day he'd drag his duvet into my bedroom (his parent's bedroom) along with nine books, grab my hand and tell me he wanted to snuggle.  So we'd go in and lay on the bed and I'd read all nine books to him (luckily they were short pre-school type of children's books).  After about the third day of this, I realized that we were reading the same books in the same order each time.  He loves books.  Those were my favorite parts of the day.

He loves the computer and spends a lot of time watching YouTube (with parental guides in place) and Sesame Street clips. It's amazing how he can maneuver around the computer.

Anson on the computer

On Saturday Lloyd and I brought him to our place for the day where he had fun exploring a new environment and getting into all sorts of stuff.

He's such a happy boy - we had no incidents, no meltdowns, no problem behaviour.  He took his medications without a fuss and ate everything that was prepared for him.  His diet is simple - gluten free, dairy free, and minimal sugar.  We ate lots of vegetables, mostly raw, and meat and rice cakes.  All with liberal servings of ketchup!  

Breakfast - bacon, rice cakes, vegetables, apple juice

I learned so much about Anson this past week and came away with a much greater appreciation for Rob and Cindy. It's not easy having an autistic child.  The vigilance is constant and tiring.  They moved here from Regina several years ago because this area reportedly has the best programs and services for autism in Canada.  As well as programs for the autistic children, there are programs and helps for parents, caregivers, and siblings of special needs kids too.  Rob and Cindy take advantage of them all, especially the much needed respite workers.  And Brooklyn participates in the programs for siblings, because their life is affected by the needs of the family as well. 

So, although I was nervous about having the responsibility for Anson, I was glad I spent this week with him.  It was good for both of us. He's a precious little boy.

What's In A Name???

Do you like the name your parents gave you way back when you didn't have a say in such things?  Have your learned to like it over the years?  Or have you grown into it?  Or changed it?  Or do you have a middle name that you can fall back on?

I was ambivalent about my name for many years...mostly not liking it.  Luckily, my mother didn't like it either so she searched the baby name books for a name that would go with it and stuck it in as my middle name.  Dad was determined that I'd be named after his parents - Duncan if I was a boy, and Millicent for a girl.  So I became Millicent Patricia...and had the unlucky pleasure of being called Patsy until I was old enough to insist that Pat was what I was to be called.

I loved my grandmother named Millicent - everyone called her Millie except for her grandchildren who called her Nanny.  She was strong and loving and we loved going to her home every summer to stay for a couple weeks.  Widowed in 1932 when her oldest child (my father) was only 10, she single-handedly raised her five children during those depression years, as a store clerk and then as a postmaster in their small village.  Everyone loved her.  It was a sad day when her heart failed her, complicated by diabetes, when I was 10 or 11.  I have vivid memories of that time in our lives.

Wendy, Nanny, Pat

Anyway, over the years I've become more and more comfortable with our shared name.  My sister's sassy daughters, having been told by their mother that I didn't like my name, started calling me Aunt Millie, trying to get a rise out of me.  That backfired on them because as I heard them calling me that, I decided I really liked it.   So they reverted to calling me Aunt Pat, except when they're in a teasing mood.  Brats!

In all my 63 years, I've never met another Millicent (except for Nanny).  The Barbie dolls don't count - did you know that their real name is Barbara Millicent?  True!  I know other Millicent's exist though.  Just look.

You might have to enlarge the picture to see it, but in the circle I've drawn of this section of the Alberta map there are two towns fairly close to each other - Millicent and Patricia!  How weird is that!!!  I remember years ago when Lloyd and I were driving on some of the smaller highways in the southern part of Alberta seeing a roadsign with both names on it.  That was before I was in the habit of carrying my camera with me everywhere so I wasn't able to take a picture of it.  And we've never been down that road again.  Lloyd said he'll take me down there so I can take a picture of it.  I'll hold him to that - or go myself - I'm brave and daring and a good driver - and I can follow a map too!

So that's my story about my name.  I've learned to like it mostly because of who I was named for, but I also think I've grown into it.  It's unique, and I like the way it looks in print. 

So what's your name story?

I Just Discovered Some UFOs

I was searching for a needle this morning and spied a box on the top shelf of my bedroom closet here in Lethbridge that I thought might contain one.  It did.  But it also contained some UFOs ....some from as long ago as 2000 and others only four or five years ago.  No, they were not little alien space ships...although that would have been fun.  They were projects from my cross-stitching and knitting days before I discovered the world of scrapbooking.  UnFinished Objects.

I had been a cross-stitch fanatic for years.  I always had a project on the go - Christmas ornaments, pictures large and small, samplers, etc.  I've often thought of the last project I was working on and wondered whatever happened to it...an unfinished casualty of scrapbooking.  Today I found it.

I loved the colors in this one, and the wolf.  It's stitched on linen so
is a bit harder on the eyes to work than if it had been done on Aida
cloth.  All I have left to do are the angel's wings and some backstitch
outlining.  I stopped working on this around 2002.  If my eyes are up
to it, maybe I'll make an effort to complete it sometime this winter.

When I was a teenager I used to spend a lot of evenings babysitting and to pass the time I started knitting baby layettes.  By the time I got married when I was 22, I had no fewer than 13 complete baby sets - sweaters, bonnets and bootees - in my hope-to-God chest.  They all eventually got used and when the time came I started knitting the sets for my grandchildren.  Of course by then I had lots of other things on my hands and mind and only two of the babies received hand-knitted layettes from their Grammie.  Not that I didn't want to knit for them, but I just never finished them.  By that time cross-stitching had taken over from knitting.  It seems I can only concentrate on one craft at a time.  Here are a couple of UFOs in the knitting department that I came across this morning in my search for a needle.

This is the front and back of a sweet little cable knit sweater.  All it needs are
the sleeves and finishing touches.  Unfortunately the pattern wasn't in the
box with the finished portion of the set so I'll have to wait till I locate it
before I can finish it.  I remember making this pattern in blue for my very
first nephew - way back in 1971.

This is the back, sleeve and partially finished second sleeve of the
Quaker set.  It's an extremely simple pattern - maybe that's why I
never finished it - too boring.  I still have the pattern though so maybe
it'll get finished this winter too.

These are some odds and sods of very pretty yarn that was in the box with
the UFOs.  A few years ago I made all the girls hats and scarves for
Christmas with some of this yarn.

I know at home in Edmonton I have a partially finished sweater I started for my 35-year old daughter back when she was 16.  Maybe I'll finish it in time for her 7-year old daughter to wear when she's a teenager!  Also, sitting by my chair in the livingroom at home is a knitting basket containing a partically finished sweater I started making for my 4-year old granddaughter when she was 2.  Do you see a pattern here???

The weather forecasters are predicting a long, cold, snowy winter this year.  Guess I'll just have to sit by my fireside (television) and complete some of these UFOs.

Pat

Internet problems, Scrapbook fun, etc.

I was totally without Internet yesterday - don't you hate when that happens - so I spent almost two hours on the phone today (a large portion of it on hold) getting the problem fixed.  My router had malfunctioned so the tech services guy walked me through downloading a new version of it while I still had no access to Internet.  Those guys are magicians.  The upshot is I now have a fully functioning Internet just in time to update my blog before heading to Lethbridge in a couple of hours.

The reason I didn't bother getting the internet fixed yesterday was that Mickey and I were spending the day scrapbooking and I didn't want to take such a huge chunk of time out of our fun.  Some of these layouts are from our previous session, others from yesterday.

Sara's cats, Percy and Mickey, in the snow last year

Two of my daughters, Emily and Sara, and two grandchildren, Charlie and Max, have recently taken up Tae Kwon Do.  They all had testing on Saturday and they all succeeded in breaking their boards.  It was Sara and Emily's first testing session as they've just been at it for a month or so.  Max and Charlie have been doing it for about five months so are ahead of their mother (Sara).  It was a very proud day for them all.  Sara had forgotten to tell me when the testing was being held so I missed it.  Luckily my friend Mickey was there watching her grandson, James, test for his black belt so she took pictures of my crew too.

These two form a two-page layout about our recent trip to the corn maze.

These three are layouts using the pictures I took when I was in Winnipeg in September visiting Mum and Wendy.

And that's it for today.  Now I'll go pack a small bag to take to Lethbridge, and get ready to leave.  Have a nice weekend.

Pat