Sunday Afternoon

January 15th, 2017

Sunday Afternoon

Just stuffed with delightful things...

First of all the temperature hit zero C and the sun shone for at least two hours!

The amaryllis I saved from last year started to bloom

I finished the long pink tube I was knitting, dropped the stitches

 I had added in the beginning,

made some pretty tassels to put on it

and here it is!

This is a wonderful recipe for mindless knitting.

You just go round and round three needles in plain knitting,

never having to peer at a pattern or wonder where you are.
It's great for taking to meetings, or carrying on conversations

and it morphs into a lovely lacy scarf.

I did a little spinning, with another scarf in mind..

A little out of practice and there were a few thin spots which

caused me to think of plying it......

but there, thin spots give it character.... 

While I was spinning I was listening to the Gabriel Faure Requiem

on the Knowledge network

For me the highlight of the concert was a beautiful rendition of

Faure's Pie Jesu.  I didn't catch the name of the soloist

but the performance left me a little breathless and damp-eyed.

Here is Barbara Bonney, marvelous lyrical soprano
as she sings Pie Jesu

Barbara Bonney - Pie Jesu

.........and my daughter brought me a chicken pot pie for supper!!!

What more can one ask for (aside from someone to share it with)

And what shall I do next ?

January 13th, 2017

Last night, after my little session with Netflix, I turned over, tucked the pillow between my neck and shoulder, closed my eyes and whispered to myself " Tomorrow I shall make some buttermilk biscuits!

I haven't made them yet, but I'm still going to...

The days are short, - but the days seem long as I am confined to the house because of ice and snow and too many ancient people falling down and breaking things, so that the children frown when I suggest I might go to the store, or get the mail.

It's not that I haven't a dozen things to do.  Pictures to sort and label, so that in the years to come family won't say, - "and who is that, - does anybody know?" and then throw away a photo of a great aunt, or a far away cousin....

I have a pretty purple/red scarf on the loom, and thinking about a pink chenille one next...

I have hauled the spinning wheel out of the bedroom so that I could sit in the sun when it skims across the top of the mountain somewhere around lunch time, and spin some pretty aqua roving that the moths will get into if I neglect it much longer...

There are two or three books waiting for me now that I have finished The Saturday Night Girl, by Heather O'Neill.  A book I thought I would never be happy reading, but it grabbed me in the middle (of the book) and I finished it, accepting the mores of another generation and finding that under all of this life goes on in much the same way....

I am still trying to get my head around space time, having put in my days in a linear world.  Re-reading Barbara Crafton and  The Also Life as well as Frances Collins' Language of God wherein he states the case for reconciliation between Religion and Science.  I have yet to start the next Book Club story - The Boy in the Moon. by Ian Brown.  It is a book about parenthood, and a father's loving and ethical care of his disabled son.  I expect to be inspired, and impressed, -  but not joyful.

I have Mary Oliver for joyful!

I remembered about the buttermilk biscuits when I awoke, but it was garbage day, and the blue bag had to be filled with discarded recyclables, like old calendars and out of date newspapers.

And then the coffee pot!!!  I pressed the little red button to start it pulsing while Bruce and I attended to his pressing needs...but when I came back to pour a lovely hot cup of the day-starting brew, nothing had happened.  The light of promise comes on but within a moment it sighs a bit and disappears....  I turned to the French Press to provide the morning elixir, took it in to check my email,
looked for a Youtube video of a replacement coffee maker and instead the video of the Baptism of the Lord service from the National Cathedral in Washington landed under my mouse.

I watched it - the gorgeous drama that they make of services in the cathedral, - the use of the lovely familiar words from the  Book of Common Prayer, - the candles and the incense, the marvelous music. Such praise and pageantry, but underneath it all I, at least, find comfort and memories.

The preacher was young and enthusiastic, and compared  'baptism' to the modern shuttle 'liftoff', complete with lift-off audio.  A way to start life - Let's GO!!!

After a while the sun came out and I had a filling chowder lunch.  Knitted a bit, threw the shuttle for a while (the loom shuttle) until Callie came to sit beside me and rest her head on my shoulder, remembered my resolution about more blog postings, and now!  Now it's time for the buttermilk biscuits.

Warmer weather tomorrow, - perhaps I will be able to trundle through the snow to get my mail....

Anticipation

ABC Wednesday
January 11th, 2017
The letter is A   for  

I anticipate that this is going to be

a fabulous round

of ABC Wednesday!!!

Lucy Maude Montgomery said that

anticipation is fifty per cent of pleasure.

My mother used to say that

anticipation is ninety percent of pleasure.

I say that anticipation

is shivering with excitement

or sometimes with apprehension...

and it is a close cousin to 'awareness'

and a friend to little children!

and gardeners....

but a word of caution from old Aesop...

Hope that life lives up to all your sweet anticipations!!!

More A's here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to all who do such a splendid

job of maintaining this meme.

Z is for Zuckerback

ABC Wednesday
January 4th, 2017
the letter is Z, for Zuckerback

Oh, I think, as I bring out my daily journal while I breakfast, - it is Wednesday, ABC Wednesday day, and the letter is Z - whatever will I write about this late in the game.

I open my Facebook to say Happy Birthday to a sweet granddaughter, and there is my answer.

Mark Zuckerback

One of the world's youngest billionaires

A computer programmer, entrepreneur and philanthropist

Five hundred million people participate in his creation, - Facebook..

How else would you know what your friends and family are doing at any given moment!!

The epitome of Marshall Mcluhan's quote

"The Media is the Message"

more Zs here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to all who

create and maintain this

great meme.

Looking forward to A in the 20th round.

This and that between celebrations

Thursday, December 29th, 2016

For a long time I have been quite dismayed that there is no public recognition of the Fairview Heights Irrigation District where as Veterans we turned 600 acres of dry sagebrush and grasses into a verdant orchard that stretches along the Cawston Bench, a veritable treasure of apples, soft fruit and grapes.

(Well, I wasn't a veteran, but we veteran's wives did our bit towards accomplishing this wonderful new community)

A few days ago I read that the Province of British Columbia Heritage Branch  was planning to add to their marvelous collection of signs marking historical spots, and I thought, "oh there, an opportunity to recognize these war veterans and the wonderful farmland community they established!!!".

I went to the site, filled out the submission (which must be done online) came to the end with my mouse on the submission button (I guess) - turned my head to check a point and when I looked back everything was disappearing from the screen, and all I saw in that flash was 'thank you for your submission' - nothing saved, no way to get the information back.  Did it go winging over space to the office of the Heritage Signs or did it disappear somewhere into that dark hole that sometimes swallows whole screens of information....  I will have to wait and see if I get an acknowledgement email....

In the meantime, back to my knitting!

I am making this mysterious scarf, the instructions for which were scribbled down on a spare bit of paper and whispered in my ear as we went to singing a few weeks ago.  The idea is to divide thirty stitches amongst three double pointed needles, join them and work two rows of ribbing.  Then increase in each stitch, knit a long, long tube that will go round your neck and shoulders, DROP ALL THE INCREASED STITCHES YOU ADDED WAY BACK AT THE BEGINNING, knit two rows of ribbing, cast off and then gently pull the knitting so the dropped stitches make their way down to the beginning and you are left with a lovely lacey scarf.....  I have about five inches to go before I can see the metamorphis!!!

Yesterday afternoon I settled down to knit in earnest.  I had two David Garrett DVDs to watch and listen to.  His "Legacy" is the one I like best, live in Baden Baden  with the National Philharmonic of Russia and ending with Beethoven's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D, - but Garrett's Rock Symphonics has the Adagio in G Minor which I find so moving, and he plays it so beautifully.  So I listened to them both and got to within the light at the end of the tunnel as the needles clacked along in plain knitting....

Still Christmassy here, but the New Year approaches

 and we have all those family birthdays coming up within the next two weeks!!!!

I will let you know how the scarf turns out.....

Yuletide

ABC Wednesday
December 28th, 2016
The letter is Y for Yuletide

YULETIDE

 A period of celebration of a pre-Christian festival

 associated with the northern winter solstice,

 and later absorbed into the festival of Christmas.

One of the traditions of Christmas Eve -

Bringing in the Yule Log for the warmth and light of Christmas

and here is a Yuletide Carol with just slight variations
from that which you might find in a Christian hymnbook

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green,
Here we go a-wandering, so fair to be seen!
Love and joy come to you, and to you good wassail, too,
All Gods bless you and send you a happy New year,
All Gods send you a happy New Year.

Originally the historical Germanic peoples

connected the Festival to the Wild Hunt

to the king, Odin,  and the pagan Anglo Saxon,  Modraiht

The Winter Solstice is still celebrated by many in these times.

Ring the Solstice Bells

For more Ys click here to visit

ABC Wednesday

with thanks to all who celebrate and help

with this thought provoking meme.

X for the joys of Xmas

ABC Wednesday
December 21st, 2016

The letter is X for Xmas

One of the joys the season brings is the

beautiful music that fills the air and

carries us along

through baking and wrapping 

and concerts and all those things

we keep busy with at Christmas time.

I had a dear friend who sang O Holy Night so beautifully,

each Christmas Eve,

and who was so well loved

by all our family 

that tears come

surreptitiously

whenever we hear it sung.

Pavarotti comes second to my friend, - but close!

To all I wish a most joyous Christmas

and most especially to all those

who make this wonderful

meme available throughout the year.

More Xs here at ABC Wednesday.

whistling

ABC Wednesday
December 14th, 2016

The letter is W for Whistling

Roger Whittaker - The Skye Boat Song

Moved me to tears....

Never could whistle, - one of my many failures...........

For more moving Ws visit here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to all who work to make

this meme so delightful

and interesting

The Venerable Bede

ABC Wednesday
December 7th, 2016

The letter is V for The VENERABLE BEDE

In the first place the title "Venerable" is bestowed on Anglican Archdeacons

and on saintly Roman Catholics.

In order to live up to the adjective one must be wise and esteemed, respected and reverential,

 and being ancient helps as well...

The Venerable Bede fits the bill!

He lived and died in between the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow in the northeast of England between 673 and 735 AD.  

Widely regarded as the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon scholars he wrote or translated some forty books on every area of knowledge, including nature, astronomy and poetry.  However his most famous writing was on theology and history and his best known works is the

 Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

He is remembered today as the earliest English Historian, whose work has shed light 

on a period of English history that would have otherwise been unknown.

The Venerable Bede's bones have been in Durham Cathedral since 1022, 

when they were brought from Jarrow by a monk called Alfred, 

who had them buried alongside Cuthbert's relics.  

They were moved to the Cathedral's Galilee Chapel in the 14th Century.

When we in the 21st century become too complacent and pleased with ourselves 

we might remember our beginnings

 and the wondrous things accomplished by the people of that time, the Dark Ages,

without benefit of the technical devices which aid us today, - 

and I think especially of Sir Google as being pertinent to this blog!!!

More interesting Vs here at ABC Wednesday

 with thanks to Roger, Denis, Leslie, Melody 

and all who have helped make this meme so fantastic.

This and That

Sunday,
December 4th, 2016

It snowed the other day - just a little skiff that soon disappeared and the fabulous mild weather we are having returned.

Today it snowed in earnest during the night, and a northerly breeze makes one loath to go walking.  It was not always that way, - I loved the winter, but that was the blue sky-dry frost-sunshine prairie weather.  We got Bruce's winter coats out, but he forewent a walk in favour of a romp in the snow in the back garden and I didn't bother to get my winter togs on...

Watching curling, and knitting.  One very large pair of lovely red socks with blue toes all finished, and now on to a pretty pink hat for the last little girl great grandchild.  Out of eight great grandchildren only two girls...the boys are an exuberant joy, but the girls are a sweet and rare treasure too.

It was Light-Up here on Friday.  A great parade they tell me, and afterwards Santa and Hot Chocolate and all the wonderment of it all.

There is a Christmas Craft Faire, and I went looking for unusual Christmas gifts;  delighted and surprised, as usual, with the talent that springs to public life with a chance to display it. Art work, jewellry, knitting and beautiful quilted pieces.  Marvelous bakery items, wooden toys, candy and home made Christmas cards.

I went twice around the Faire before my knees started to complain, and came home with some sweet knitted hats, some teas and biscotti, a couple of pair of earrings, and some fabulous small apple pies made by one of the ladies of the Eastern Star, who grow older each year but persevere in their participation of this Christmas celebration  I had one for supper, - delicious!

Today I planted the paper whites.  The amaryllis in my header is blooming with great vigour and enthusiasm.  It inspires me to dig out all the Christmas decorations and choose which ones will brighten the house this year.  Always the Creche, of course, and the ones that touch the heart because of sentimental memories, but it is not possible to cram the decorations of a five bedroom house into this smaller space, - I hear Charles telling me that as I make my decisions, and as usual I have to agree with him.....

I have just received the very welcome news that those of us who have been struggling with the Ukulele to meet band requirements will not have to be playing at the Senior's Dinner after all.  Oh, I was so pleased... Even though I forgot to say White Rabbits when the 1st of December dawned my son tells me I must have some good luck left over from other months when I DID remember.  It is one thing to play Silent Night tenderly to oneself, quite another to be on display in public at this advanced age!

When I went to bed last night I made a little mental note to waken at two and listen to the Christmas Horn Concert (Berlin Philharmonic) which was to record in the far reaches of British Columbia at that time.  Eleven A.M. in Berlin....

I did waken, but alas, my Ipad in the bedroom didn't seem to be synced with my PC, in the computer room, and I will have to wait and hear the Christmas Horns in the Archives.  I went back to sleep listening instead to the Piano Guys, and their Advent and Christmas offerings.

Beautiful - especially their rendition of O Come O Come Emmanuel.

I appreciate so much that one of the "meadow" sons not only gave me the Ipad but rigged up an intriguing way for me to watch it while drifting off to sleep...spoiled rotten!

Off to put some chicken thighs, honey, nutmeg and veggies in a casserole for supper, and to listen to Cecelia Bartoli on the Knowledge Network,  And maybe I'll have a small sip of Orange Brandy while I watch....

Shari Ulrich

ABC Wednesday
November 30th, 2016
The letter is U, for Shari ULRICH

A Canadian musician-songwriter

(born in San Rafael, California)

who lives not far from home on Bowen Island

on the west coast of British Columbia

A musical instrumentalist, she plays violin, mandolin,

guitar, piano and dulcimer

 It seems that she has been around for ages, close by

and sometimes playing locally 

at our Grist Mill.

She performed on the coffeehouse circuit around Vancouver

in the early 1970s, then formed the Pied Pumkin String Ensemble

with Rick Scott and Joe Mock.

Here she sings Fear of Flying with the Hometown Band (Valdy's Band)

In 1981 Shari won the Juno Award for "Most Promising Female Vocalist"

and has been part of the Canadian Music Scene ever since.

She continues to perform solo (often accompanied by her

daughter, Julia Graff) on violin, piano, mandolin,

guitar, accordion and vocals, and occasionally tours 

with the Pied Pumpkin and other Blue Grass and Folk Bands

she has been associated with.

And here she sings a beautiful version of the same song

with The Pied Pumkin Ensemble in 2012.

For more interesting Us click here

at ABC Wednesday with thanks

to Roger, Denise, Leslie, Melody

and all other ultra-special helpers.

Turtles

ABC Wednesday
November 23rd, 2016

Letter is T, for Turtles

I am very busy Threading and Treadling 

in the loom room, 

but Ogden Nash to the rescue!!

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks

Which practically conceal its sex.

I think it clever of the turtle

In such a fix to be so fertile.

For more interesting Ts visit here

at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to Roger, Denise and Leslie

and their terrific helpers.

Christmas is coming.......

November 18th, 2016

The kind of morning that makes your bones ache as you step out the door, - damp and overcast and very Novemberish....  There is snow in the mountain passes, and as I look out my imagination leaps forward to Christmas and snow hanging heavy on the branches, glistening through the Christmas lights.  That first fall of snow, - that fills your heart with memories of prairie winters and skating and toboganning and the lovely dryness of the cold.

Later on, as the cars pass by and the snowplows come and make mounds of snow dotted with bits of dirt they have scooped up, somehow winter loses its' charm.  Those are my thoughts as I finish my second cup of coffee, and contemplate Christmas giving.

Wrapping gifts, packaging up parcels, the annual Christmas letter, lights and garlands - what am I prepared to give up when my energy refuses to match my boundless enthusiasm????  Shall I keep the memories of Christmas Past precious in my mind and be content with just one tradition, a simple Great Grandma Christmas Eve come-as-you-can Stew?  And maybe a box of shortbread for everyone....and books for the Great Grands....

I think about all the knitted hats and mittens I would like to make for the little ones, - all the Christmas weaving I might do if I had started twelve months ago, - and then I think about the email from Owl and Chickadee advertising their children's books, on sale for Christmas giving.   I have always been the kind of Grandma who tucked books into Christmas parcels, - do little kids still like books?  Are big kids still enthralled with knowledge and adventure between the covers?  I am going to look into what they have to offer and fill the morning hours with cheer!

Looking online, - same as lying on the floor, leafing through the Eaton's Catalogue in days gone by!

Off to google Owl and Chickadee and see what they have to offer!!

S is for Swift

ABC Wednesday
November 16, 2016

The letter is S, for SWIFT

Monday morning I awaken full of enthusiasm for working in the Loom Room.

I have a naked loom which must be dressed, and the first task is to turn skeins into balls that I can wind a warp with.

I use my UMBRELLA SWIFT

and while I am busy doing this humdrum task my mind wanders to other things I must do today.....ABC wednesday flits through my mind, - along with S, - for the Swift I am using,... for the bird who lives mostly in flight....for the essay and satirist, Jonathan Swift.  I am on to something!!!!

The Swifts are the most aerial of birds and the larger species are among the fastest fliers in the animal kingdom.  Even the Common Swift can cruise at 70 mph.  Compared with typical birds swiftlet wings have proportionately large wingtip bones and by changing the angle between the wingtip bones and the forelimb bones they are able to alter the shape and area of their wing, maximizing their efficiency and maneuverability.  Like the hummingbird they are able to rotate their wings from the base.

They have a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang.  Most of their lives they spend in the air, - catching insects on the fly and even sleeping aloft.
The nests of many species is glued to a vertical surface with saliva, and the genus Aerodramus use only that substance, which is the basis for bird's nest soup. Over harvesting of this expensive delicacy has led to a decline in the numbers of these swifts.  Remember that when next you order Bird's Nest Soup...

The other Swift I am familiar with is Jonathan, the essayist, satirist, political writer and clergyman.  He was born in Dublin on November 30th, 1667.  His father died two months before he was born and as a consequence his mother, hoping to give him every chance possible, gave him over to Godwin Swift, her late husband's brother, and an attorney.  After an impressive education Jonathan Swift turned to writing and to the priesthood.  His first political pamphlet was titled A discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome. Further writing earned him a reputation in London and the Tories asked him to become editor of the Examiner, their official paper.  After a time he became fully immersed in the political landscape and began writing some of the most cutting and well-known political pamphlets of the day,  When the Tories fell from power Swift returned to Ireland and took the post of dean at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

While leading his congregation at St. Patrick's Swift began to write what would  become his best known work, Gulliver's Travels.  The book was an immediate success and hasn't been out of print since its first run,  which is quite a record!!

Gulliver's Travels is an adventure story involving several voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon, who, because of a series of mishaps en route to recognized ports, ends up instead on several unknown islands living with people and animals of unusual sizes, behaviors, and philosophies, but who, after each adventure, is somehow able to return to his home in England where he recovers from these unusual experiences and then sets out again on a new voyage. Here is a little taste of his first voyage, and if you haven't read Gulliver's Travels yet find a copy and find out about his adventures with the Brodnagians, and others.

More interesting Ss here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to Roger, Denise and Leslie

as well as their Super helpers

(The Super Moon is shining down upon me as I write this)

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, November 13th, 2016

I was up early..

Caught the morning rising of the sun and the pink clouds he scattered in his wake; 

showered, fed Bruce and Callie 

and settled down to a breakfast of toast, peanut butter and honey.

I examine the contents of the peanut butter jar, taking stock with the grocery list in mind.  At one time I didn't often eat peanut butter - it was a standby for making a sandwich for Charles (who loved it) when I was 'out to lunch with the ladies'. 

Now I watch as this smooth brown comfort food disappears from the jar, and enjoy it with my memories....

I keep on the breakfast table books that are easy to delve into momentarily, to read and enjoy as I eat.  Present literary company is a collection of short stories by Anne Enright, and Mary Oliver's compelling 'Upstream" essays (which I find hard to put down...)

I am coming to the end of Mary Oliver (although nothing says I cannot flip the pages and start over again from the beginning!)  The paragraphs on 'Winter Hours' is particularly relevant  to my habitual early rising.  A cameo - "winter walks up and down the town swinging his censer, but no smoke or sweetness comes from it" and I think of how it will be in a few short weeks when the leaves are all gone, and the frost is bitter in that dusky time before the sky lightens and the sun returns for his brief mountain-limited visit to the valley in December...

Here at the back door we have not yet reached that time of the year, and the rowan tree still clings to its radiant funeral garb.

A morning at church, home for lunch, a visit from my daughter as we watch those nice athletic young men in a curling championship on T.V. and soon it will be time for Radio City and Brahms Requiem with the Vienna Philharmonic and the legendary Herbert von Karajan conducting.  Kathleen Battle is the female soloists and my clock has just struck three, so I must leave my wanderings here and go to listen....I am not over the moon when it comes to Requiems, but love Kathleen Battle!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Well, it was beautiful and serene and I knitted a few inches on a nice lacy scarf I am making....

While I watched daylight disappeared and we are well into the long, November evening.

Time to forage in the fridge and see what would make a satisfactory omelet
for a Sunday night supper.......

Love and Remembrance

November 11th, 2016

Remembrance Day

As I prepare to attend Remembrance Day services

in the morning

I remember especially with love

My father

who squeaked into the lines

of the 31st Battalion

despite his young age,

and was wounded at Cambrai

on the 11th of October, 1918

My darling husband,

and the band of brothers

who were his crew -

those men who kept the bond close

for seventy years

until death came to each of them.

My two brothers-in-law

who I never met,

and who left a void in their families' lives

when they were killed;

one at Falaise,

and the other in the Hochwald Forest.

We visited their graves when

we traveled to Europe in 1995...

Charles carrying a small rock from the

hills of home which he had 

embedded in a plaque and

attached to their graves

 - a bit of home to keep them company

as they lay at rest far

from those who loved them best.

As the service progresses, and we come to the 

Reading of the Names of the Fallen

my heart catches

and I hear echoes of my 

dear one's voice

as he called the names over the years...

I am grateful that there are no sons' names

to add to the list of

the bravest and best.....

Rooster

ABC Wednesday
November 9th, 2016

The letter is R for Rooster

A sad tale....

A sky blue rooster proudly shines..

A fox's dream comes true

More Rs here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to Roger, Denise, Leslie

and their resolute helpers

who come to visit.

Sunday Afternoon

November 7th, 2016

It was yesterday -  Sunday afternoon, -  and I was late tuning into 

Radio City on Knowledge Network.

It is one of the highlights of my Sunday, and how could I have forgotten -
should I blame the time change???
We have said goodbye to Daylight saving and now it is lighter in the morning,
 but darkness falls earlier and the evenings are long.

In any event, I did join Radio City soon after the program started 

and was delighted with the Orchestrae de Paris
as they performed Mozart and Haydn, 

and most especially with the legendary pianist,
Menahem Pressler.

At 92, and the survivor of a threatening aneurysm, his performance 

was amazing and impressive.  

I believe the program was recorded in the past, 

and perhaps at that time he may have been only 90 years of age,

 but there was a sweet smile as he played,

 and his lips moved in concentration as he lived the music. 

 And what's a couple of years after all those decades...?  

Well, I can tell you, there is a difference, and I speak from experience..  

two years ago I could operate a can opener, 

but now I am on the look-out for an electric appliance 

that requires one only to press a button!!

For an encore Pressler played Debussy's Claire de la Lune.
He smiled a lot at the audience,
and I smiled a lot with pleasure
and the chance to hear him perform....

Here is a short video of him making his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2014 

  Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17.

I knitted a bit while I watched, and sighed contentedly when it was over.

There was still a little time before supper,
so I picked up the book that I am trying to finish before a

Monday night meeting of the Book Club
where we will be discussing "The Pearl that broke its Shell" by Nadia Hashimi,
- a generational story portraying Afghanistan
'in all its perplexing, enigmatic glory'.

An absorbing and troubling book, when one considers
that the lives of some of the women in Afghanistan
are fraught with male domination and sometimes cruelty.  

As I read towards the end of the book
I am comforted by the indications
 that change is happening in the cities
and perhaps even in the villages as women grow more courageous 

and men more enlightened. 

I still have 62 pages left to read,
 and my thoughts to put into order....

"Nadia Hashima left Afghanistan in the 1970's
and was raised in the United States.
In 2002 she visited Afghanistan for the first time
with her parents".

She is a pediatrician and lives with her family
 in suburban Washington D.C.

November 4th, 2016

After my pitiful whinging

about melancholy, dismal November

my youngest son sent me this photo,

retrieved from a friend's Facebook..........

the path along the Similkameen River

In November

so how can I continue to be despondent about this month

that has many sad remembrances

but is still beautiful

and still filled with lovely and meaningful things....

I just took a pretty casement-lace silk scarf off the loom

woven with precious balls of fragile silk

I have been saving for years,

and now the loom is empty and looking for the next warp

to dress its lovely limbs!!

Our eldest son and daughter-in-law came to

have dinner with me

and brought flowers

and fridge art...

Whilst making room for this intricate adult colouring

I took a few quips and quotes off the fridge, and amongst them

a little blue pencilled observation

from Fredelle E. Maynard's book,

The Tree of Life (p245)

"My parents have died, the love of my youth has died.

I am at the top of the tree, beyond the fruiting branches.

But I am still here, looking skyward...."

It was attached to an aged and yellow sheet, defining Maturity.

Maturity is the growing awareness that you are neither wonderful nor hopeless.

It has been said to be making of place between what is and what might be.

It isn't a destination.

It is a road.

It is the moment when you wake up after some grief or staggering blow

and think, I'm going to live after all.

It is the moment when you find out something you have long believed in

isn't so, and parting with the old conviction

find that you are still you.

The moment when you discover somebody can do your job as well as you can,

and go on doing it anyway.

The moment you do the thing you've always been afraid of.

The moment you realize that you are forever alone, but so is everyone else,

and so in a way you are more together than ever.

And a hundred other moments when you find who you are.

It is letting life happen in its own good order

and making the most of what there is.

I was glad to read this again...how many times have I opened the fridge door

and it has been so inconspicuous to me,

but now I read it once again, as I first did when I found it

and put it there.

Life is discovery and re-discovery, and all of it good.

Q for Quartet

ABC Wednesday
November 2nd, 2016
The letter is Q for QUARTET

Here is a Visual delight, as well as an Audio pleasure 

from Carmen, Habanero

for more Qs click here at ABC Wednesday

with thanks to Roger, Denise and Leslie.

Alfred East

Even if something is left undone

everyone must take time to sit still and

watch the leaves turn.

Elizabeth Lawrence

The lane where Bruce and I go walking these days is awash with scarlet and yellow leaves,

 -  and walnuts fallen from the great, old walnut trees the neighbour cherishes,  

(the fruit of which I gather and prepare to glaze for Christmas...)

The leaves fall patiently.

Nothing remembers or grieves.

The river takes to the sea 

the yellow drift of leaves...

Sara Teasdale

In the orchards, and the hills, and along the river banks

there is nothing but the golden glow of Autumn

to carry us forward into the sombre gloom 

of November.

I hate to say that, but November is not my favourite month.

So much sadness, so much dreariness.

so much heartache.

But between now and the first of November we have that delightful

(and overly commercialized) celebration of All Hallow's Eve.

I have my candy and my witches hat all ready, but who knows

how many little goblins will visit down the street.

I was going to make carmelized popcorn balls

but my daughter told me they would just be thrown away

when the little goblins got them home.

There is such a fear among parents of needles and razor blades 

and sometimes I wonder what

that fear is doing to us as a society....

Will we eventually lose our confidence and our sense of derring-do

and adventure

and if we do will it be a result of the media and too much reliance on government????

Oh dear, time to put fear away and go and look at glorious October..

November will come soon enough.

George Eliot says..."Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking

the successive autumns."