Because I feeling so sensitive about our beloved pets these days...

A couple of months ago, I posted a video about my dream "maid" Gracie, the golden retriever. Because I didn't watch all of the site vids, I didn't realize that Gracie had passed away.

Here's her "Dad's" tribute video to her. I'm not crazy about some of the tricks he made her do (would you want to start eating then be told to "drop it?" I don't think so). But it's clear that there was great love between guardian and pet (Yes, I said guardian, I don't believe it's our place to "own" animals.) We are here to offer them love, companionship and a good life, a simple idea that seems lost on many.

Here's to you sweet Grace. I hope you are up there "cleaning house" and having a ball. You deserve it.

The most sense this guy ever made...

Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted. ~John Lennon

The long weekend hangover

We just passed the Victoria Day weekend here (our first "long weekend"--the official start of summer in Canada) and I still feel like I've been run over by a truck. The weather was beautiful, hot and sunny on days known for cold/rain. It used to be our big fireworks day (in celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday, a marker of Canada's still-present connection to Britain) but it rained for so many consecutive years, that the majority of the big light shows got moved to Canada Day (July 1st)

Anyway, Mom and I headed out for a nice walk along a local beach/pier and man, people were out in full force, eating ice-cream, guzzling down cold drinks and swimming in the MUCH TOO COLD Lake Ontario. Yes, I said swimmimg. I swear, Canadians would swim next to icebergs if you asked them to, we are so desperate for warm weather after months of cold, who cares if we get hypothermia? Seriously, it was too ridiculous for words, and what is with people having like thirty foot boats? Unreal. They were all out there in clusters, no doubt comparing sizes:-) The jet ski die hards were fun to watch as they raced each other, skimming happily along the top of the water at a blistering pace, reveling in their self-made waves.

I ran into trouble by the time I made it home because I had forgotten my hat. We both managed to give ourselves a mild case of sunstroke. Mom from pushing me and not drinking, me from just the sun exposure as it was beating down on me in the wheelchair. A mistake neither one of us will make again, but it put a bit of a damper on the day.

I ended up going out with a friend the next day, and I was dragging myself around like an eighty-five year old. Kinda ruined outing number two  (fries and ice-cream at a local dairy) so, lesson learned.

More nice weather since, but I'm still wiped. The moral of the story is---go back upstairs for your hat, the two minutes I saved was SO NOT WORTH IT.

Happy start to the summer all!

Mother's Day at the Royal Botanical Gardens

We won brunch at the RBG for Mother's Day. It was a nice spread and afterward, we hit the lilac section of the gardens for a stroll both literally and figuratively. It used to be free to get in, and apparently, I used to love to roll down this steep hill into a valley of purple/blooming trees and crawl back up. I saw that hill, and all I can say is, I was clearly in better shape as a youngin because as much as I wanted to make my way down that incline, I knew it wasn't happening. Memory lane is a wonderful thing, in it, I am young, mobile, quick, and love a challenge. If wishes were horses...

Anyway, here's a couple of pics, and oh yeah, a present I bought Mom. NO she isn't keeping it, it's already back where it came from, but it is a standing joke between us as every time we pass one of these things, she tries it on and says she wants one. :-)

She got one and well...



"If it's this cold outside, I think I'll stay inside..." :-)



You can see where I'm going with this...

Anyway, on to the decent pics

The Chicken Dance

Putting this up just because it made me laugh! Been to any good weddings lately?

Mother's Day at the Royal Botanical Gardens

We won brunch at the RBG for Mother's Day. It was a nice spread and afterward, we hit the lilac section of the gardens for a stroll both literally and figuratively. It used to be free to get in, and apparently, I used to love to roll down this steep hill into a valley of purple/blooming trees and crawl back up. I saw that hill, and all I can say is, I was clearly in better shape as a youngin because as much as I wanted to make my way down that incline, I knew it wasn't happening. Memory lane is a wonderful thing, in it, I am young, mobile, quick and love a challenge. If wishes were horses...

Anyway, here's a couple of pics, and oh yeah, a present I bought Mom. NO she isn't keeping it, it's already back where it came from, but it is a standing joke between us as every time we passed one of these things she would try it on and say she wanted one. :-)

She got one and well...



"If it's this cold outside, I think I'll stay inside..." :-)



You can see where I'm going with this...

Anyway, on to the decent pics

Moms can surprise you...

One of the great things about getting older is that you start to see your parents as people. They aren't the heavies anymore, keeping you from everything you want to do most in life, they aren't the only thing keeping you from going to that all-night party, (never happened over here:-)) they are honest-to-goodness flesh and blood people. They make mistakes, they learn, they have a past. They were "people" long before their kids were around, and personally, I really enjoy getting to know "Sharon" the person versus "Sharon" the Mom.

I can't even remember how it came up, but somehow we got on the subject of poetry. I started telling her that I had two favourites that stuck with me, and she surprised me by naming one of her own. "We had to memorize it." She told me. I asked her to look it up and send it to me and later she would tell me "it all came rushing back." as she found it on the net.

Mine:

     Five Ways To Kill A Man

There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.
You can make him carry a plank of wood
to the top of a hill and nail him to it. To do this
properly you require a crowd of people
wearing sandals, a cock that crows, a cloak
to dissect, a sponge, some vinegar and one
man to hammer the nails home.

Or you can take a length of steel,
shaped and chased in a traditional way,
and attempt to pierce the metal cage he wears.
But for this you need white horses,
English trees, men with bows and arrows,
at least two flags, a prince, and a
castle to hold your banquet in.

Dispensing with nobility, you may, if the wind
allows, blow gas at him. But then you need
a mile of mud sliced through with ditches,
not to mention black boots, bomb craters,
more mud, a plague of rats, a dozen songs
and some round hats made of steel.

In an age of aeroplanes, you may fly
miles above your victim and dispose of him by
pressing one small switch. All you then
require is an ocean to separate you, two
systems of government, a nation's scientists,
several factories, a psychopath and
land that no-one needs for several years.

These are, as I began, cumbersome ways
to kill a man. Simpler, direct, and much more neat
is to see that he is living somewhere in the middle
of the twentieth century, and leave him there.

Edwin Brock

I wasn't surprised when Mom told me she didn't care for it. She truly believes the best of everyone so I'm not surprised that the topic didn't sit well. I told her that it held up with the way things were today and sadly, she couldn't argue.

   The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

I wish I could say I've lived my life this way, and in some ways, in some moments, it's a big SOMETIMES but not nearly as much as I'd like...

And finally, here's her choice. Simple, charming, and if you close your eyes you can see a child playing amongst the pillows...


The Land of Counterpane
by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay, To keep me happy all the day. And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go, With different uniforms and drills, Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All up and down among the sheets; Or brought my trees and houses out, And planted cities all about. I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-hill, And sees before him, dale and plain, The pleasant land of counterpane.

Yeah, another reason NOT to go into public washrooms (like I needed another one)

Okay, I'll just come right out and say it. I hate going into public washrooms. I'm by no means a gemaphobe, but the idea of touching all of those shared surfaces makes my skin crawl. Despite this, I found myself in one on Thursday evening  I blame my mother. Yes, that's right, my mother.

You see, a man had stopped by our table (we were in a coffee pub) and unceremoniously decided to join us. "May I sit?" he asked, as he half pushed Mom over in the booth. We had seen him in the restaurant a couple of times and Mom being Mom had politely said "hello" but that's as far as it went.

Sharing a large ceasar salad (2 forks) we were going about our business when we heard "isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Mom was nibbling off my plate so he was commenting on the fact that it's usually the kid that steals from the parent's plate.(At this point I recalled that Mom HAD mentioned to the guy in passing on a previous visit that we were mother/daughter.)

Mom hasn't met a person she doesn't like (at first glance) and quite frankly, it annoys me to no end. Stopping to have needless conversations (particularly when I'm trying to get somewhere) is another pet peeve of mine.

Anyway, the guy was overstaying his (limited) welcome, so I tried the old "let's go to the restroom" trick, telling Mom I was heading out. Expecting her to take the life-line and follow, I was shocked when she didn't try to excuse herself from what was becoming a very awkward situation. The guy was prattling on about how he was doing this, that, and the other for the community, and how he single-handedly planned to save the world. I could see that Mom was thisclose to an eye roll, so I thought my clever (if somewhat unoriginal) break into the one-sided conversation,  would not only be appreciated, but seized upon. I was wrong.

Instead, when I stood up and announced my intentions I get this response "okay." What? I'm sure the shock was written all over my face, but off I went, already trying to figure out how the heck I was going to open the very heavy bathroom door without touching anything and everything. I made it through, but I should have known it wouldn't end there...

Groping my way into the stall, I had just shut the cubicle door when I heard "Is anybody in here?" I knew it wasn't Mom but I jokingly answered "I'm here!" In truth I was hoping the lady would stick around long enough to help me on the way out. No such luck. Instead, I hear "Oh good I'm glad someone else is here because I can hardly see, I just had eye surgery."  Oh goodie. I start laughing to myself knowing that if it's assistance she's after, she hit the wrong bathroom. :-)

Apparently though, this woman didn't want help, she wanted an audience. This was the one-sided conversation I heard from my side of the wall.

"I'm so glad I got my eyes done. My Dad came here from Italy one hundred and one years ago, it was that, or starve. It was so cold there. He had the chance to immigrate to the United States, but it was full. I'm so glad because I wouldn't have gotten this eye thing covered. I can finally see. We had a coal oven. My dad would shovel the coal into the stove of our our kitchen so we could be warm. Do you believe that? Yeah, I love that the hospital is free here."


Yeah, I'm not kidding. I wanted to look the lady in the eye and say 1) You're crazy. and two,  "Gee, I'm so glad Canada gets your seal of approval thanks to your free medical ride." Honestly, I was so disgusted. Canada deserves so much better than that from her citizens. She is the home of free speech, free thinkers, free assembly. Free medical care is the bonus, not the sole reason to make your way here. I made sure that she left before making my way out of the stall. Seriously, if I didn't wait, I was going to end up confronting her or better yet, calling immigration to see if I could pin something on her to get her deported. :-)

And we wonder why some of our hospitals are on the verge of financial ruin. Ten to one she is a frequent visitor at her doctor's office because it's "free."

I KNEW I should have stayed out of that bathroom! :-0

Inspiration meets education as a little girl's story touches millions...

http://averycan.blogspot.ca/2012/04/smavery.html

Avery died on Monday, after her too short battle with SMA.

I'm sure most of you have heard about the "bucket list" her parents created for her upon diagnosis...

Her Dad wrote all of the posts from her five-month-old perspective. Talk about great parents!

Kudos to them for being proactive and not wallowing in self-pity.

Inspiration and education rolled into one. What greater legacy is there?

Rest in Peace Avery, you were a true gift.