This and That

The skies continue gray and melancholy here in the Similkameen - time seems at a standstill and I have to keep busy to keep cheery!

In the mail this morning were a couple of uplifting bloggy type e-mails, - one from the Rev. Barbara Crafton in which she speaks delightfully of her cats and their sojourn in the house during the winter.  She ends by saying

"The weather this winter has been a bit harsh for this part of the country, and February always feels long, though it is the shortest month.  But consider this:  even now,  the days are lengthening.  Even now, the buried shoots of plants lie suspended in their preparation for the signal they await: More light!  It is time!  Head toward the light!  Even now, their tiny hearts foretell the green leaves, waiting to pierce the surface and unfurl, offering their green faces to the life-giving sun. 

All the snow is water.  So is all the ice. We've had a goodly amount. The flowers will be wonderful this year."


which made me feel quite happy. 



And another from Sheila Gregoire, - in reality her weekly column on family affairs, maintaining some morality in society and a fair number of common sense tips on how to cope with life as it is now.  In this particular column she praises the film "The King", but goes even further in praising the honourable man and his family who accepted duty as it was thrust upon them, never shirking.  She says.....

"Throughout the film, people did the noble thing, the hard thing, the courageous thing. The movie leaves you feeling as if you have not just touched history, but have touched something profoundly good". 


 Here is a link to her column.

On another note, the Guru Grandson came on an emergency visit last evening, bringing his stethoscope to examine the ailing Printer which has been very recalcitrant, refusing to rise to the occasion and carry out its duties - if it were going to be around for any length of time I would probably call it the Duke of Windsor, but alas even a re-install didn't perk it up, and so we are in the market.

He also came to say last words over Windows Installer, which has been corrupt from the get-go, and has now been replaced by a brand new cheery chappie who is behaving in a most exemplary manner.

While the grandson was here we fell into conversation about Holograms (which he understands and I have just the faintest inkling of what they are all about).  He also showed me his Iphone and all the fantastic things it is capable of doing, and I grew quite dizzy as I stood in the middle of the room and the phone panned everything around me.  We discussed whether this amazingly smart generation is gaining as much wisdom as knowledge, and I wondered if they are being gently robbed of self reliance with all these scientific things that make life such a breeze for them.

Did you know that if you are out golfing that Iphone can measure the distance of your shot, and how far you are from the hole.  He didn't say if it was instrumental in forcing you to 'keep your head down' when you swing.

The other day Charles and I were watching a DVD which we converted from movie camera film, first shot in the years we were on the farm and bringing up a family.  We shook our heads and rolled our eyes a lot, - were we ever so young, - look, look at the children when they were just toddlers and then growing up, eventually marrying and having children of their own.  We remembered incidents and things the children had done and taken part in, like May Day celebrations, - there were horses they had, birthday parties, Christmas mornings, and old and dear friends who visited,   Our parents were there, and I saw clothes I had made for the little ones,  and our youngest daughter performing as Dolly and Mame at school concerts and our oldest daughter looking quite beautiful, home for Christmas from Art School.  It was a lovely experience, lots of laughs and poignant remembrances,  but at the end of it I was left with a wistful and almost unbelieving feeling that we had ever been that young, and I am reminded of the thought Charles ended his recent blog with -  did we actually do all these thing - well, we checked the record at least on that DVD.