Old Relics

It's a strange feeling when you realize that you are the 'old guys' at the family get-togethers now. Our generation has finally made it to the top of the heap! It's rather nice to have all the work and organizing for these semi-reunions done by our children's generation - we and our sisters and brothers and in-laws get to finally just sit in our lawn chairs and watch all the fun happening around us, cheering on the grandchildren in their races and games, and holding all the new babies. All we had to do was show up, bring sun screen, mosquito repellant, lawn chairs, and food for the potluck. It was great fun.

At one point in the afternoon Lloyd's brother-in-law, Duane, took us and daughter Jenny on a jeep tour of their acres of prairie. Now that was fun...bouncing across the acres of prairie land! I was just afraid we'd get stuck, or have a flat tire someplace in the lower 40 and have to hike back to the homestead. Luck was with us though, not to mention Duane's excellent maneuvering of the jeep through the fields.

We came across three or four 'old relics' out there among the prairie grass...a 1943 GMC truck (wow! it was at least 5 years older than us!!!), a 1954 GMC truck, and an ancient Fargo. There was also an old Ford there but I didn't take pictures of it. Here are some of my favorites.

Jenny and Duane checking out the Fargo

The unusual signal light

...and where it was placed on the truck

My very favorite 'old relic' - Lloyd

Fun times!

Lobster Anyone

One of my favorite treats is fresh lobster and there's no better place to get it than in Nova Scotia and/or Prince Edward Island. When we lived in NS and were visiting PEI we went to an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet and thought we died and went to heaven! Biscuits, seafood chowder, and heaping trays of fresh lobster were piled onto our table. When they were gone, more lobster was brought to us! It's one of my best memories of PEI!

When our daughter Mary and I went to visit Mum in NS three years ago, another lobster treat awaited us - and we drove 40 miles from where we were staying just to have it! Lobster rolls...McLobster... McDonalds best creation! Only available in the Maritime provinces and New England and only in the summer! To die for! Large chunks of real tail and claw meat, mixed with mayo, arranged in lettuce, on a hot dog bun...my mouth waters just thinking of it! It's reason enough to go back to Nova Scotia in the summer.

The golden arches present - McLobster!

Mary loved it!

I loved it!

Even Mum enjoyed it!

For our anniversary a couple years ago, our daughter Sara arranged via internet for a fresh lobster dinner to be sent to us from Nova Scotia. It arrived via air and contained two live lobsters, clam chowder, rolls, shrimp cocktail, even the butter to dip the lobster in. It was the first time I had to cook live lobster! Easy! It was delicious. A wonderful anniversary gift for two displaced Maritimers.

Ready for the pot.

Yummy!

That reminds me of a funny story. When we lived back east a visitor who had discovered the joys of fresh lobster had some live lobsters crated and sent home to his parents in the southwest USA. The parents received them all right but called to tell their son that they had to throw the lobster out because it was bad...it was green-brown instead of red! He should have told them before they got the lobster that they don't turn red till they're cooked. I wonder how many other people have done that!

I've got way off track here. The main reason for this post is to show you these very creative lobsters that we saw all around Halifax on our last visit. I wish I had taken pictures of more of them. They're great!

At the Dartmouth ferry terminal. The song the lobster is singing is "Farewell to Nova Scotia"

This one was at Historic Properties at the waterfront in Halifax.

On the Boardwalk, Halifax

And another one on the Historic Properties boardwalk

Now lets all meet at Red Lobster for dinner!!!

It's What I Do

I've been doing more scrapbooking - looking at older pictures lately rather than up-to-date goings on of the family.


These three layouts are ones that I did the basic work on last October when Mickey and I went to a scrapbook convention in Glendale, AZ. I've looked at them a lot since then and finally, in the past week, I got the pictures, words and embellishments right and put them all together. I think they turned out pretty good, in spite of my not liking the basic design/papers we were given to use.

I loved the wording in this one. I had a hard time deciding whether to use me and my sister as the subjects or my five daughters. Settled on Wendy and me. Maybe I'll do one for my daughters later.

I love doing layouts of me and Lloyd and in this one I was able to include pictures of us together from our pre-dating time in 1965 till a self portrait in 2009. The lovebird embellishments were done on my Cricut cutter.

We were given this purple/yellow/green color scheme at the convention. When I went through my photos I came across this beautiful picture of Brooklyn in her purple dress last year.

I hope to do more scrapbooking this weekend.

Quinn Sadie Hardwicke-Brown

On July 22 Quinn finally made an appearance - our 4th child's 4th child - our 20th grandchild, 8th granddaughter. By noon on the 23rd she was home, surrounded by her family and blissfully oblivious to the joy and excitement her birth caused. Sara tells a harrowing tale of pain and tears and fainting husband but to those of us on the outside looking in, it was a healthy pregnancy and easy birth, with the best result possible.

Charlie, Sara and Max with 2-hour old Quinn

Big sister Charlie

At home - 1 day old

Quinn's appearance was a surprise to all of us - our family has a history of bald or blond babies. A few have been born with a light skiff of slightly darker than blond hair, but this little beauty has a full head of black hair, at least an inch long. Now, at the age of 5 days, we notice that her feather-soft black hair is looking like she's been to a beauty parlor and had her tips frosted. The black is turning to gold. It'll be interesting to watch the transition.

Her feet are long and wrinkly.

Quinn with big sister Elly, who is still ambivalent about her feelings for the baby, gingerly consented to have her picture taken close to her.

Quincey's Yard

Sara's husband Quincey loves to work in his yard and garden. He can be seen early in the week-day mornings, dressed for work in suit and tie, out watering his flowers and plants. He spends nice spring and summer evenings and weekends visiting his favorite nursery and buying, planting, watering, mowing, and generally taking care of his front and side yards. His hard work has not gone unnoticed this year. His yard has been nominated for Edmonton's annual Front Yards in Bloom award and tour. Here's a few pictures of his project.

The sign that was put in the garden by the Front Yards in Bloom people. Something to be proud of.

All the rain we had this summer prematurely knocked the petals off of the roses. Quincey has planted a row of roses in every color imaginable. The large bush at the back right of the picture is Alberta's wild rose. The rose featured at the top of my blog is one of Quincey's from last year.

Under the large pine tree Quincey has created a waterfall, pool and rock garden. Keep going to see the close-up pictures.

The two upright rocks flanking the walk are water fountains, with water bubbling out of the top of them.

This creature stands on a low wall in front of the living-room window. It's animated beak opens and closes as water pours out into its basin.

This is the pool at the front of the rock garden under the tree. There's an animated crocodile who 'lives' in it.

This is the back of the rock/water garden.

This beautiful little antique tricycle holding a box of daisies resides in the rock/water garden too.

There are three large hanging planters at the front porch - same flowers, different colors.

I know next to nothing about flowers. Is this fuscia, or maybe bleeding heart?

This unique sculpture is the centerpiece of the garden in front of the porch. It matches the free form chairs on the porch.

This is one of the potantilla (?) bushes we planted when we lived in this house. It's nice to see it growing so well.

And here's the man himself, watering the plants on Saturday morning.

Part of the sidewalk border.

Close-up of one of the fountain rocks flanking the walkway to the house.

Close-up of the second rock fountain flanking the walk.

I love this Inukshuk - made of rock, of course - symbol of Canada's north. I want to get one to put in our yard in Arizona.

Behind the tree at the rock/water garden

The waterfall, which runs into the crocodile pond further along.

The crane standing guard over the rock/water garden.

They call this one the volcano rock. It's at the very back and to the right of the rock/water garden and it too bubbles water from it's top.

I didn't take pictures of all his rose bushes because they're past their prime right now. I've realized while doing this that Quincey's favorite of garden seems to be rose, water and rock. He's done a beautiful job with it this year.

Getting Old(er)

With all the new baby grandkids entering my world this year, sometimes I wonder if I'm getting old.

Hannah - March 28

Tate - May 14

Quinn - July 22


I saw this the other day and it's so true it's scary...but that's life, and life is scary at times. Read and laugh, or not.

A very weird thing has happened.

A strange old lady has moved into my
house. I have no idea who she is, where she came from,
or how she got in. I certainly did not invite her.
All I know is that one day she wasn't there,
and the next day she was.


She is a clever old lady and manages to keep out of sight
for the most part, but whenever I pass a mirror I catch a
glimpse of her. And, whenever I look in the mirror to check my
appearance, there she is hogging the whole thing, completely,
obliterating my gorgeous face and body. This is very rude!
I have tried screaming at her, but she just screams back.
The least she could do is offer to pay part of the rent, but no.


Every once in a while, I find a dollar bill stuck in a coat pocket,
or some loose change under a sofa cushion, but it is not nearly enough.
I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think she is stealing money
from me. I go to the ATM and withdraw $100, and a few days later,
it's all gone!


I certainly don't spend money THAT fast, so I can only conclude the old
lady is pilfering from me. You'd think she would spend some of that
money to buy wrinkle cream.


And money isn't the only thing I think she is stealing. Food seems to
disappear at an alarming rate-especially the good stuff like ice cream,
cookies and candy. She must have a real sweet tooth, but she'd better
watch it, because she is really packing on the pounds.


I suspect she realizes this, and to make herself feel better, she is
tampering with my scale to make me think I am putting on weight too.

For an old lady, she is quite childish. She likes to play nasty games,
like going into my closets when I'm not home and
altering my clothes so they don't fit.


And she messes with files and papers so I can't find anything.
This is particularly annoying since I am extremely
neat and organized.


She has found other imaginative ways to annoy me.
She gets into my mail, newspapers and magazines before
I do and blurs the print so I can't read it.

And she has done something really sinister to the volume controls on my
TV, radio and telephone. Now, all I hear are mumbles and whispers.

She has done other things - like make my stairs steeper, my vacuum
heavier and all the knobs and faucets harder to turn. She even made my
bed higher so that getting into and out of it is a real challenge.

Lately, she has been fooling with my groceries before I put them away,
applying glue to the lids, making it almost impossible for me to open the jars.

She has taken the fun out of shopping for clothes. When I try something
on, she stands in front of the dressing room mirror and monopolizes it.
She looks totally ridiculous in some of those outfits, plus she keeps me
from seeing how great they look on me.

Just when I thought she couldn't get any meaner, she proved me wrong.
She came along when I went to get my picture taken for my driver's
license and just as the camera shutter clicked, she jumped in front of
me.

I hope she never finds out where you live.

I really do!

© Rose Madeline Mula