J is for Joints

As if that big jokester in the sky hasn't given me enough jabs and jolts lately, I recently found out that I can't take any more NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) or any regular anti-inflammatory medications (like Advil). The joyous news is that these drugs have affected my kidney function. Isn't that just the juiciest bit of jarring news ever!

Yes, I'm limited now to Tylenol for the pain of osteoarthritis, which caused all my back problems since the age of 29, and the newer pain of some rheumatoid arthritis in my hands. Just great! But as I said to my wonderful new doctor (a lady), "I'd rather have a bit more pain to deal with than jeopardize the life of my kidneys."

So today I joined up again at the pool, taking what we call "Gentle Fit." Jumping (and I use that term loosely) into the pool, the ladies formed a circle as we awaited our leader. It was quite amusing as we went around telling each other why we were there - hip replacement, awaiting hip surgery, angina, triple spinal fusion, etc. etc. Ah, well, we jested and joked about the alternative.

I took it easy today to avoid jarring my joints, but I have to admit I had a jolly good time and even remember some of the others' names. Naturally, there were the aquatic form of jumping jacks along with cross-country skiing, jogging, and other fun forms of exercise. The jury is still out as to whether or not this will help to alleviate the pain I live with. However, by my judgment, journeys to the pool three times a week can't hurt any more than I already do.

Oh yes, the bathing suit still fits!

I is for IMAGES

I couldn't think of much to celebrate this week's letter I for ABC Wednesday. Finally, I decided to show you four of my favourite images that are indicative of the seasons here. I hope you like the ones I've chosen.

first tulip bud this past Spring
one of our many gorgeous fuschias
grandson's toy truck in Autumn
sunset at Deas Park in Winter

To see more ABCW contributions click here to see the list of participants. Just click on a name and their blog will pop up for you to have a look.

H is for Heron (Great Blue)

A couple of months ago, Lorne went off on his own one day, armed with his trusty camera. He loves to go down to the local marina and watch the boats come and go in between reading his latest book. That day, he was given a wonderful sight - a Great Blue Heron was sunning itself in the marshy area nearby. I hope you enjoy the short slide show I put together of his photos.

From my book "Birds of British Columbia" - the Great Blue Heron is probably the best-known bird in British Columbia. It hunts a variety of small animals day or night along rivers, lakeshores, beaches, fields and seashores. They nest together in the tops of trees in sites often known as rookeries. The oldest known colony in British Columbia is in Vancouver's Stanely Park, where permanent scopes are set up to view the birds. In flight, Great Blue Herons fold their necks back over their shoulders in an S-shape and make slow-motion movements with their wings. Similar looking cranes stretch their necks out when flying.

Since living in this area of BC since 1978, I've had the opportunity to see many many herons standing by the side of roadways, in ditches, at the Boundary Bay Regional Park, and in country fields everywhere. In the late 80's to mid 90's, our house must have been right in their line of flight because every Spring, Summer, and Fall evening around 8:00 I'd sit out on the patio to watch them fly overhead on their way to somewhere.

In early October of 1986, my (late) husband and I went down to the local mall and went our own ways to do some chores. We met up later at the Sandcastle Art Gallery (no longer there) where I found him admiring a brand new work of art by Carl Brenders.

The artist writes: Since childhood, I have had a special place in my heart for herons. It always fascinated me to see the standing on one leg, their long necks seeming to disappear into the feathers of their bodies. I had observed them in this particular stance so often that it seemed natural I should depict them in this way in my first major heron painting. Winter often attempts a final attack at spring by covering the new life appearing everywhere with a blanket of snow. This creates a special effect in the wetlands with the yellow sunlight penetrating the cold, early morning mist surrounding the heron, who is in his breeding plumage.

I had already seen the picture a few days earlier and had fallen in love with it. However, I hadn't mentioned it because we'd just bought our new house and I felt it would have been extravagant to purchase it. As I got closer to my husband that day, he turned to me and said, "Isn't this the most wonderful picture!" I told him that I'd already seen it and did, in fact, love it! He then said, "I'm buying it for your birthday then!" Even though he's been gone now for 18 years, I still have that painting and will never part with it. (Click to see larger version of picture.)

G is for GARDEN

Although last week I did F is for Flowers, I decided to continue along this vein by doing G is for Gardens this week. Saturday was the annual corn roast at some friends' place and it was so much fun! Lots of great old and new friends in a setting to make one green with envy. Every time I go over there, I wander through both the vegetable and the floral gardens. I left my friends to fend for themselves while I took the time to replenish my soul by seeing through my camera lens into the glory and beauty of God's creation. Then today, while I was thinking over what I wanted to post, I looked up some quotes about gardens. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I recognized myself and Lorne in some of these quotes:

The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for Him there. (George Bernard Shaw)

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. (Author Unknown)

I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. (F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace)

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul. (The Koran)

We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.

Sometimes when I'm puttering around the house doing my chores, I'll stop and think "Where's Lorne?" Inevitably, he will be out in the garden doing something. These days, he always has a garden chair handy for when he gets a bit dizzy or feels weak so that he can sit down right away. He doesn't mind because he is in his glory in the garden. He might be sitting near the tomato plants keeping an eye on the hose, moving it into each plant pot as needed. He does the edging on the lawns, sits down for a rest, and then mows the lawns - both front and back. Just yesterday, he weeded all along one side of the house moving the chair along with him. When he finished, he sat for a while in the sun, admiring what he'd just accomplished AND the gorgeous rose bushes we have at the front. Not only do I appreciate all he's doing (and has done) to give me a garden worthy of note, but I also pray that he is feeling the hand of God on him as he struggles through this grim and grisly ordeal of chemotherapy. After the gardening chores are done for the day, he enjoys sitting near or in the garden reading a book, pausing to chat with the neighbours who come by to admire his garden and to inquire after his health.

I put together another little slideshow with some photos from Saturday's corn roast along with a few others that fit the theme. Hope you enjoy it.

F is for Flowers

This summer, Lorne was able to spend quite a bit of time in the garden since he can't work due to his chemotherapy. I think the gardening has been a form of therapy for him because he can get into creating beautiful things for me to admire and for him to forget for a while what he has to endure right now. Our roses did extremely well in the front garden, but the two in the back have been a bit disappointing - we only got a few blooms on them. Lorne also planted several varieties of lilies, which did very well, and we could admire them from the dining room window. His baskets of fuschias flourished again this year with gorgeous blooms and my clematis climbed the fence and gave us numerous blossoms. Here's a little slideshow I created showing some of our flowers from the summer of 2010. One of these days I'll learn how to add music to my slideshows. Oh, and if you double click on the slideshow, you can see it in full screen. Enjoy! And if you wouldn't mind mentioning, which is your favourite flower or photo?

E is for Enormous Edibles

Last summer, Lorne planted 6 tomato plants that grew to be over 7 feet tall. We had an enormous crop of both red and green tomatoes but we ended up having to throw a lot out. I even made a batch of green tomato pickle relish that we haven't managed to eat yet, even though I gave some away!
Ergo, this spring I suggested that we only do 3 or 4 plants. However, "he" ended up getting double the plants we had last year - 12 - so we now have an extremely enormous crop of tomatoes! They're all still green, but eventually, they will ripen and we'll be giving them away! Let's hope we don't get an early fall and they all end up rotting on the vines! The photo only shows part of the crop, too!
Last weeked, Daughter #1 stopped by with the two grandchildren and they were so excited to see these enormous plants. They spent at least half an hour helping 6'2" Lorne water them with his "special" water (full of some sort of growth enhancer). Sure was an easy way to entertain little ones!

D is for Drawbridge, Demolition, Disturbing

The Westham Island Bridge is a drawbridge located in my village of Ladner, BC, Canada. It passes over Canoe Pass in the Fraser River Estuary and connects Ladner with Westham Island. It was officially opened in March 1910 with a lavish banquet and ended the residents' desolation. Today, as we celebrate its 100th birthday, we still cross the original bridge to pick berries or buy produce from local farms, taste wine at the Westham Island Winery, or visit the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. To read more of its history, click here. All photos will embiggen if you click on them.

We had a devastating fire a few months ago right in the downtown area of the village and several stores were destroyed, along with the apartments above these stores. Some of our residents are very artistic and they banded together to decorate the plywood boards that had been erected to deter anyone from entering the area after the buildings had been demolished. I think they did an aDmirable job! Can you see some of the scaffolding in the back right side of the photo? Hopefully, the gap between the stores on the main drag will soon be filled by new stores.

Also demolished recently was Johnny's Store that had been a distinguished institution in the area since 1963. The building, which marked the entrance point to the old village, will be replaced by a two-storey design with retail space on the ground floor and offices above. The owner of Johnny's, Daniel Lee, has said that he's not sure that the store will be back, although he and his family have first dibs once the building is complete. For now, they're traveling in South Korea and relaxing after all their years of dedication to the village. Again, our local artists have deliberately decorated the plywood walls surrounding the building site.

Outside of the village, I love to drive around the back roads looking for delapidated old barns. While cruising one evening with Daughter #2, we came upon this dingy old wreck and took several photos. I gave it a chalk & charcoal look with Photoshop Elements to make it look dreadfully creepy. Does it look as disturbing to you as it does to me? It looks like it's drawing on children to come and explore inside...but...what might dwell there? The devil? Bwaahahahah!!!!

C is for completely common nouns

For this week, I thought I'd do a concise compilation of words beginning with the letter "C." Be sure to click on the pictures to see more detail. First up is my decorative bird cage. When I saw it, I fell into a complete crush of love for it. I would never put a bird in it, because that would distract from its intricate design and also make it unclean. Therefore, it covers half the top of my china cabinet and every time I walk by, I see it and continue to love it. Even though this cage is colossal, a Canada Goose would never fit inside it. So in order to admire these spectacular specimens, one must take the car and drive to the Reiffel Waterfowl Refuge.

Next in my collection of C words is our CD collection ranging from early 60s to current, from the Beatles to Abba to Joe Cocker to Phil Collins to Eric Clapton and beyond all the way to U2.

Coming to my next picture, we have an antique clock. This clock was refurbished by Lorne's Dad many many moons ago, but the innards need to be replaced in order for it to actually chime on the hour. In the meantime, we know it keeps the correct time twice a day. Next to the clock is one of pretty much everyone's favourite carbohydrate vegetable - the lowly corn on the cob. Did you know that in the past corn was cultivated as food for pigs, and that the cobs can be made into corncob pipes or into charcoal? Hmmm, better be careful not to overcook them on the barbecue!

Finally, I wanted to show you two cushions that one of my sisters gave me (2 different Christmases). They are definitely conversation pieces and I love to kid people that the one on the left is true. And whenever I'm not in the mood for conversation, I just hold the other one up in front of my face!

Well, there you have my collection of C words for this week's ABC Wednesday. I hope you all have a cracking good week and I'll catch you all next week for the letter D.

B is for Beautiful Beaches & Broken Beer Bottles

I think beaches is the perfect word for this week! Our weather has been perfect - not too hot and not too cold, not too windy and not too still - just the right temperature for beautiful summer days.

Here is my favourite photo of my local beach called Centennial Beach, taken several years ago when my brave little grandson, wearing his blue t-shirt went toddling off on his own to explore. (Mommy and Gramma were watching closely, mind you.) There is a wonderful new play area at this beach now, so we should go back, this time with his baby sister. Be sure to click on the photos to see the detail better!

The next beach we frequent fairly often is about a 20-minute drive northeast to the village of Steveston. We park at Garry Point and watch the boats - sailboats, whale-watching boats, and tankers - heading out of the fresh water tributary of the Fraser River into the Strait of Georgia.

There are several beaches in the city of Vancouver, notably Spanish Banks (below), Kitsilano, and English Bay where you'll always find singles, adults, and families enjoying themselves. If you go, be sure to get some of our famous fish 'n chips from one of the many stands. From Spanish Banks, you have a brilliant view of downtown Vancouver. It was at this beach when I was 5 years old, that I knelt down in the shallow water to play and ended up right on top of a broken beer bottle. The doctor said he could hear me scream all the way at his office 20 blocks away! Several stitches later, I bear the scar to this day!

I've travelled by ferry to our very famous "Sunshine Coast" and meandered along the many beautiful beaches over there. There are lots of coves there, too, where back in the day you'd find smugglers bringing in rum and other contraband. The water and weather is perfect for sailing in this area, too! Can you see those gorgeous sailboats? I wish I were on one of them right now!

I have had the privilege of dipping my toes in the Pacific Ocean in the west and in the Atlantic Ocean from both sides. The first time was on the beach at Prince Edward Island and the second time was in Biarritz, France. I don't think I could live anywhere in the world unless I was near the ocean.

Now to one of my favourite beautiful beaches of all time - in Lerici, Italy. This was the view from my hotel room the first night out of Rome after driving for about 4 hours north to the Italian Riviera. Lounging on my patio, it was beatific to sip red vino while admiring the view all the way to sunset over the Mediterranean! Hope you all get a chance to spend some time on a beautiful beach in your neighbourhood. You can find them on lakes, rivers, seas, oceans! Just watch out for any broken beer bottles!

A is for ANXIETY, ART

I really didn't want to continue in a vein of worry over Lorne's chemotherapy, but this week's treatment has been postponed due to some complications with his health. Therefore, the word ANXIETY reared its ugly head and it's all I can feel or think about. Apparently, both his red and white blood cells are very low to the point where they need to get them up before any more chemo can be given or else it could make him very very sick or even put him in danger. In the meantime, he has to have a shot every day. When he said I'd have to give it to him, I panicked and said, "NO!" because I know myself and prefer if he goes over to the public health nurse. This is a very anxious time for both of us, but we will persevere.

So let's move on now and think of some other happy A words. As a teacher, I automatically think of A is for Apple. But, pondering my years as an academic, I recall one of my favourite units in ART where I taught the students about Impressionism using Claude Monet as an example. We had such fun over the weeks as we experimented with pointillism, reflections, and making our own works of art using impressionistic techniques.

Another favourite unit in Art for both my students and myself was Abstract Art. One lesson had the students use a regular pencil and without stopping and starting again, make swirls and squiggles all over the paper. The next step was to use pencil crayons and colour each section in different colours. This usually took the whole hour lesson (and for some, even more time was needed). The next time we had Art, the students would use a sharpie and outline all the sections. Next, they chose a partner and they would take turns looking at their pieces of Art from all angles and from varying distances until suddenly, they "saw" something - a bird, a house, an animal, a piece of fruit, a tree, whatever! This led into creating a title for their artwork. They chose a coloured piece of construction paper upon which they glued the picture. Now their art was "framed" in a lovely co-ordinating colour. I would type up the titles they'd chosen on labels that the students stuck on the "frame." All the Artwork was then displayed on the hallway bulletin board for all the other classes to admire.

Now I must admit that I am not an Art teacher! But because I had to teach it, I had to learn a bit about it. And I found that it was one of my favourite classes. Towards the end of the year, one student's mother (who is an artist) came in for about 5 or 6 times to lead the class in making tile art. Each student had that piece of art to put somewhere in their garden or cement it into their sidewalk.

I can't believe that this is Round 7 already for ABC Wednesday! Huge thanks to Denise Nesbitt for coming up with this idea and keeping it going, now with a whole team of volunteers to help her out.

Z is for ZERO

September 11, 2001 - a day never to be forgotten by the world! Even though I live on the opposite coast to New York City (now and forevermore known as Ground Zero) and in another country (Canada), I will never forget that day for as long as I live.
I awoke to my alarm clock reminding me it was no longer summer and that I had to get going to school where my new class would greet me. Sleepily, I reached for the TV remote and flicked on the news. At first, I thought I had the wrong channel and that a movie was on. But after changing channels, ending up at CNN, I immediately realized that what was happening was real!
Not bothering to shower, I quickly dressed with one eye on the TV, when suddenly the second plane hit the tower! All I could think was that World War 3 had begun!
Thankfully, my school was close to my home and I was there early just like all the other staff. The principal quickly set up one of the televisions in the library where we all gathered around, many of us in tears. We had to decide how to talk about what was happening to the children without scaring them to death.
My older daughter phoned me in panic, wondering whether she should go to work. At that time, she worked in one of the towers in downtown Vancouver and there were concerns that some unidentified aircraft were approaching the city. Later that morning, the building was temporarily evacuated, but it turned out to be nothing.
This horrific attack on the World Trade Center affected not only those innocent people involved - injured, killed, survivors and all types of aide workers - but also people around the free world. We here in Vancouver worried about being so close to Seattle where the Boeing airplanes are built and being directly south of Alaska. No one was safe during that time and hearts were pounding in horror everywhere.
I pray that all types of terror and war will one day end, and we will be able to live in peace with zero worries in this respect.
Is it possible?

Y is for YEE-HAW

Yee Haw is a slang expression used mostly by cowboys that means, "Hooray, let's go!" Here's a typical country song by Jake Owens - click here!

Years ago, when I was fairly newly widowed (I say "fairly" because it took me a few years to recover, if you ever do), I decided I needed something to do besides read, watch TV, or take the dog for a walk. So a girlfriend and I did some research and learned that there were line dancing lessons not too far from home. So off we went in search of a little fun. And we found it! There were more women (in all shapes and sizes) than men, but we didn't care. Neither of us had been country music fans but we soon caught onto the beat and followed the leader stepping out high with hands on hips, doing turns and swirls and Yee-Haw-ing to each other! We took home lessons and music suggestions and it wasn't long before I was taking the dog for walks while listening to Billy-Ray Cyrus on my Walkman - it helped to keep up my pace.


So take a gander at the Jake Owens song "Yee-Haw" and you'll see what I mean about the beat.