- Several days of increasing temperature...
- A humidex peak of 41c yesterday...
- Day Two of a smog alert...
- ... and the firm prospect of 4 more days of the same conditions
Monday, July 5, 2010
I Very Sorry...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Really... Seriously ??
So I get a fancy legal letter in the mail this week. Oddly enough, from a lawyer no less. Truth be known the lawyer folk are just a conduit for the real author – Ontario Justice A.Pazaratz. They, and their ere so just peers are writing to tell me something I already know (in part). It would seem that I am now officially, in the eyes of the law and those who make and enforce them, divorced.
Obviously not news, as this has been in the works for a while now. No great surprises here on any front save one.... the date of the order: January 14/2010. This was the day that someone read the appropriate papers, thought they were in order, and thumped them with a stamp to say just so.
The very last line on this simple single page of fact says that the order comes into effect one month after the heretofore mentioned stamp. This brings us to the definition of a “month”. Is this four weeks? Twenty-Eight days? Twenty Nine? Thirty? Thirty-One? What is a month exactly. Originally, I was inclined to think that a month is 4 weeks (a month of Sundays if you will). After consulting the feral wilderwebs, and a select few thinkers... well, lets look and see, shall we?
If I start from the original premise:
1 month = 4 Weeks – 28 days – February 11...
If we "fait la google":
1 month = 30.4368499 days - February 13th.
However, add that extra little .563151 days:
1 month = 31 days .... yup... February 14th
Really? Seriously? Valentine's Day?
... wow ...
Friday, January 22, 2010
Jean R. Allen (1929-2010) - A Eulogy
What follows is not the original text from the service for my mom. As it was written, it was more a point-form layout designed to be read aloud rather than perused. I did my best to recreate it, without too much embellishment. I have not included the kind and insightful words offered on the day by Reverend John Perkin (I will endeavour to transcribe and add at a later date).
The visitations and service were well attended by a broad scope of individuals who had been touched in one way or another by my mom.
All that being said, there were countless others whom I know were unable to attend. My hope is that I can reflect the events of the day and share them with all to remember.
I have had the great privilege of knowing my mother my whole life. Outside our life together was another span equal to my own in which she lived a life I can only see remotely. My thoughts today offer testimony to all I have known of her, and far beyond.
As a craftsperson, my mother contributed and created for the world around her.
The NanaJean Ball (So named for it's maker)
is one such creation :
It is soft, pliable, chewable if need be; yet firm enough to grasp, to hold, to squeeze and still retain it's shape. A down-to-earth pragmatic solution to the problem of safe play for a young child.
Upon closer inspection we see each panel having 5 sides.... As if to reflect her own families (Atkinsons and Allens). Each panel, as made by hand, being slightly different. Always colourful.... and when assembled, having a use far beyond the abilities of the individual piece.
It gives me great joy to say that dear friends of mine are expecting their first child in July. I will have the great honour of giving them one of the last remaining NanaJean Balls for their newborn to enjoy in the years to come.
Before any sons or husband, my mother worked with the Victorian Order of Nurses. Over the span of her last days, I met a nurse here in Sackville who remembered my mother to me.
She would have been a young woman herself when my mother tended to her ailing grandfather so many years ago. She was recollected to me as “jolly”, “happy”, “down to earth”. Hearing this extended the reach of my mother's influence beyond both my knowledge and my existence. It gave weight to the impact and affect we all have on the world around us as a result of our actions and choices. There is no real way to quantify how near or far my mother's deeds reached. What remains is to be able to qualify them. Her way – her methods – her personality – had such scope as to give us all here pause, and to hopefully empower us to achieve the same in our own daily lives.
Four days ago (Jaunary 5th, 2010) we learned yet again something new about our mother. We had no knowledge of it's existence. At first it had no meaning... no context... no place in our story.
Upon her passing, my brothers and I assembled some of my mother's affects. This included her wedding band. It was our desire to reunite the rings of my father and mother to give honour to both. Upon closer inspection, we found an inscription on the inside of her ring. It included the date of my parents wedding and a small, three word phrase.
When bringing her ring together with my father's, we found the very same inscription on both rings. Stored in the same box as my Father's wedding band, we found a third ring... it too bore this same three word message. Based on it size and date (May 31st, 1916), we believe it to have belonged to our grandmother.
All three bands bore the inscription: Ke-Non-Wes.
We found it to be an Iroquois phrase meaning: I - love - one
A simple bond: exchanged 50 years ago between husband and wife. Expressed in the most unique and wonderful way. One that now know has been expressed in the same way for two generations, and that we can share with you here almost a hundred years after it began.
Note: It had been our intent to have three baskets of yarn clippings (selected from my mother's varied collection ) available at the the front door of the parlour. Upon leaving the house for the service that afternoon, we sadly left them behind. I've included this section so that those that choose, may act upon it's intent.
In the foyer, on the table by the door, there are three baskets of yarn fragments taken from my mother's vast collection. We ask that on leaving there today, to please take two clippings:
One to keep: in the spirit of remembrance of the woman herself and all she has meant to us, and
One to cast away at the time and place of your choosing: to acknowledge, be it brief or lasting, the depth and breadth of influence we have on the lives of those we touch.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Mental Ulceration
- Friends with a baby in their tummy
- Cookies from a student's mom - I haven't taught the student in like 2 years, but I was still referred to as "the best teacher she's ever had"
- Friends with new digs - much needed, much deserved
- Friends with purple Docs (women's size 8 to be precise - Awesome!)
- Snow
- Did I mention the cookies?
- The smell of the ocean (it will be cold when I next get it - but powerful nonetheless)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Swamp Land in Norway
Looks a little like spaghetti... FSM?
Crazy ass beacon for the Magi?
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tired... yet tireless
- Camera - The spankier the better, but as I have none, anything will do. I've been feeling the desire to produce in that medium for a while now, but lack the tools at the moment.
- Storage/Router - Laptops are truly laptops when they are free from tethers. Storage becomes more critical if there's more production/amassing of media.
- Eye Candy - A new telebishion and shiny PS3 are "wanna gets" just for the fun of it. An indulgence for certain... one that the grown-up brain has difficulty reconciling. In my mind, it's perfectly acceptable for a 40+ fella (age, not size) to want to run around and bounce off virtual walls. Justifying it however, is a different matter. Admittedly, I also feel oddly competitive with "El Ex" on this one as well.
- Recording Gear - So as to help execute the on-going threat of actually producing something for the world to hear. I've had some notable difficulty in actuating this to date.
- Chip-Nuts: The FSM's gift from the dining world to the snacking world. http://www.picardspeanuts.ca/products/chipnuts
- Better Friends: I am not asking for more - nor are those already in the fold lacking in any way. I just wish really good things for the ones I have, thereby giving them better lives and times.
- After a particularly "enlightening" phone conversation and some heady reflection: I would forgo the entire list and countless things beyond it if Mr. Boots could grant a little more time.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Ta-Dahhhhhh
- Get a jug 'o' distilled water: boiling over and over again is tiresome and wasteful in the energy department.
- It's not pinball: tilting is TOTALLY endorsed. The head; the neck; the elbow. Anything to avoid backwash.
- Baby formula/Baby Bear's' Breakfast: the wrist test works wonders to get the temperature right. My first time in was too warm. Second, too cold. Third.... just riiight.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Attempt # 2
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Near the village.... the peaceful one.
Monday, September 7, 2009
To Sleep Per Chance....
In defiance of Twitter
- A growing desire to redefine and assert myself after a year of significant change.
- A spanky new laptop from which to post.
- A penchant for verbosity that twitter just kain't handle.
- Middle Aged Brain Droop