The day to day aspects of life: what is happening around the house and in our family
It is now 2008. In two more years the Winter Olympics will almost be open here in the Vancouver area. Irene and I will hopefully have a trip away from the area planned so we can avoid the traffic and endless “Olympic this” and “Olympic that” nonsense.
I remember spending a couple of summers on my Uncle George and Aunt Yvonne’s farm when I was about eight or ten years old. Two of my Uncles, George and Charlie Gillies, and my Grandma lived near Big Beaver, Saskatchewan. The family farm, split between the two brothers, had grown to several thousand acres from Grandpa’s original homestead. It sat on the American boarder…as I recall, the big “excitement” was going across the border to Scobey, Montana, to use their swimming pool or shop in the American stores.
Irene and I opened our gifts a couple of hours ago. We both received lots of wonderful things, but most of all we got the best gift of all: each other.
Each year at Christmas time I like to take a moment to reflect upon everyone who is not so fortunate, or who as I often do lacks the will to see their good fortune for what it is. I’m so very lucky. I’m basically healthy, as is everyone in my immediate circle of friends and family. We have enough for essentials plus a great deal of non-essentials.
It is thanksgiving in the U.S., and so there the usual news items regarding how many things we have to give thanks for abound. I’m Canadian, so our thanksgiving was a few weeks ago…but our friendly neighbors to the south generate the majority of our news, so we sort of get the benefits of two holidays through a sort of osmosis. Unfortunately, I’m feeling under the weather today, and any time I have a cold or flu I end up feeling a bit sorry for myself- I wasn’t feeling any particular “thankful” vibe today.
I am sitting here in the gathering dark as our short winter day comes to an end. We had a serious wind storm here during the night and into the morning, and around 9:30 am or so our power failed. It is a bit past 4:00 pm now.
November 11, 1918: the signing of Armistice, the end of the War to End All Wars…only it wasn’t. Millions have died in wars since, and millions will undoubtedly die in future conflicts.
Remembrance Day is the the time we take each year to contemplate the men and women who went to war and still do today so that you and I can live in prosperity. Those who came back broken in body and spirit, those who came home changed in ways I can only begin to imagine, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
My Mom’s 85th birthday was yesterday. My sister Judy pulled together a surprise party, and as many of us kids as could make it were there.
Once in a very long while I’ll do something that isn’t really “me”. Today, I went to an NHL pre-season hockey game at GM Place.
It is worth while to note that I am not a sports person. There isn’t a single sport that I watch: not football, not baseball, not hockey, not basketball…none of them interest me. I don’t play them either. Basically, I never really figured out the appeal. The only sports that I ever got involved in even to a minor extent were things like track and field: sports without teams. I think a significant part of it was that I hated being yelled at or teased as a kid, and team sports is all about being yelled at and teased. When I ran the 100 yard dash and came in 13th out of 19 competitors, no one yelled at me. I just had myself to blame, and that was okay.
I have a stainless steel coffee mug that Irene bought me a while back that I really like. I use it several times a day. It is an extremely well made Oxo mug, highly polished inside, so it took a long time to build up a stain. But eventually, even a really good coffee mug needs more than just plain soap and water to make it sparkle.