Six things that make me happy, among 106 at least.

By nature I am a happy, contented person, and so it is a pleasure to accept an invitation to list six things that make me happy.

1. Our marriage brings me deep and happy fulfillment. Despite the ups and downs of relationships this one seems to have had a lot of chemistry to keep it buoyed up!

2. Music makes me happy, - in particular playing the piano. I can lose an hour easily at the keyboard, and it is not only the music I play but the memories it rouses.

3. I love to garden, - a busy life before we retired kept the gardening to vegetables, but now getting my hands into the soil is my passion.

4. It give me a lot of happiness when I have an opportunity to chat, lightly or at depth, with our grown up children.

5. Reading, reading, reading..... All kinds of reading, - the kind you underline and make marginal notes and the kind you just enjoy for a good story well told.

6. One of the most delightful ways to spend an afternoon is to go driving with Charles and the camera. He has such a good eye for pictures, and I have a quick finger on the button, - especially when we are taking pictures out of the car window. Otherwise, I have good legs for hopping out of the car and finding the best spot from which to aim the camera. Nice companionship, too.

Now, I love the mathematics involved in weaving, and preparing a warp, and I'm always happy having lunch out with old friends. I like to knit. It makes me happy to put on some good music and spend a morning baking (tired legs, though) and tea with grandchildren is a great delight. There are a lot of things that put a smile on my face, but these will suffice for now...

What tickles your fancy?????

SkyWatch Friday

May 22, 2009

A soft April afternoon sky...





and in the evening it dons its romantic Monet colours.






April was fickle this year, but this day she was feeling generous and held out splendid promises....

ABC Wednesday

R is for Reading

And HERE is Clifton Fadiman's Lifetime Reading Plan.



It first came to my attention when I had a little more Lifetime Reading left in my future. At that time I took it quite seriously, and set myself to read at least some of Mr. Fadiman's suggested books.

Now I pass it on to anyone who loves to read, to whom books are life's blood and to whom the education obtained in a wide, wide field of writing is priceless.

Have you read the Iliad, the Odyssey,The Pillow-Book by Sei Shonagan, The Mill on the Floss, The House of Mirth, The Magic Mountain or Women in Love?

Look at Clifton Fadiman's list and make your own choices. Open the book, turn the pages, and lose yourself in other worlds......

Rodeo Days in Keremeos on the Victoria Long Weekend

Rodeoing started in the early days in the Similkameen Valley when the majority of the inhabitants were ranchers, and eager to compete and display their skills with horse and cow and lasso.



Keremeos held their first official rodeo in 1921, next to the Victory hall in what is now the centre of town, and without any fences or corrals.



In the early 1940's the Elks took over the rodeo events, and the site was relocated to a spot across the river where cowboys still gather to compete, and where the excitement of the wild horse rides, the bulldogging and the calf roping keep all the spectators on the edge of their seats, - that is the ones who haven't gone to find refreshment at the hamburger booth or the beer garden.

When the children were growing up we attended rodeos faithfully, with the movie camera (all the rage at that time) and we have faded films of small cowboys/girls chasing calves, and many an exciting moment when the clowns had to come to the rescue of riders just one step ahead of the bull that had just thrown them.

Everybody wore jeans and cowboy hats and neckerchiefs and with six children it was a night-before-the-rodeo chore to make sure everything was laid out and ready to hop into come the happy morning. When our youngest daughter reached the age where she could attend rodeo's on her own we gave up the pleasure of sitting in the dust and the hot sun, and stayed home with a cool drink! But we have exciting memories....





Some of the very best riders to compete in the Keremeos and Chapaka Indian Rodeo (held Easter Sunday) are First Nations Cowboys.

Here is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Aeneas Nehumption who were Flagbearers for the 1950 Rodeo Parade



We still occasionally go to parades.....

Sometimes we even take part....

O Day of Rest and Gladness, O Day of Joy and Light

An old traditional hymn - the words written by Christopher Wordsworth, a distinguished English Bishop and a man of letters.



Christopher Wordsworth, 1807 - 1885

And a man of good sense.... This morning, because I didn't have to play the organ at church today, I was sorely tempted to stay home and 'worship' in the garden.

But then I thought of what 'worshipping' in the garden entailed. Probably another heavy battle with the coutch grass, which doesn't exactly typify a Day of Rest and Gladness. Or perhaps I would have been tempted to get the potatoes cut and planted, - or I would have been recruited as a go-fer as Charles stuck closely to his favourite maxim - 'never let a day go by without doing something useful'!

I preferred Christopher Wordsworth's advice, and so we went to church and sang some very modern 'inclusive' United Church Hymns. You must go a long way back to the 1938 edition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to find 'O Day of Rest and Gladness'.

Today we sang 'It Only Takes a Spark - Pass it On'.

I can't leave this subject without remarking on the inclusiveness of modern hymns. 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind' has become 'Dear God Who loves all Humankind' - and then we have 'Dear Mother God your wings are warm'.....

My eyebrows shot skyward when instead of 'Halleluia' in an Easter response, the pew bulletin instructed us to say 'Hurrah, Hurrah'. Oh dear, how does one know when one is just too old and needs to 'hermatize'.

I have digressed from the subject of days of rest and gladness. We came home from church, with me still thinking 'days of rest', but with Charles thinking 'good opportunity to add that thing-a-ma-jig to the garden tractor'.

I had a little nap, fussed about the house a bit with a duster, read a few pages of the book I'm going to praise soon, - but Charles went out and fussed about the garage, frustrating himself because he couldn't find what he was looking for, - got down on his knees at least three times (a major endeavor getting up) and now I see him, poor darling, rubbing his paining hands, trying to ease his aching muscles, and all because nobody told him about The Bishop of Lincoln who recommends A Day of Rest and Gladness - in song.

I don't have to play the organ next Sunday, either......



(Photo borrowed from Flickr)