The Pictures are in My Mind!

Yesterday marked our 40th wedding anniversary, a milestone that used to be far in the future but has now come and gone. I remember my parents' 40th which they celebrated by throwing a huge dancing party in the Community Centre. My thoughts at the time were that they were getting old and my own 40th just seemed impossibly far away. So now I'm there what have I learned?
1. Get out and embrace all the experiences life has to offer so that at the end, whenever it comes, there will be no regrets, only pride and pleasure in recalling wonderful memories.
2. Learn to love yourself and let those imperfections go. Life is too short to constantly be beating yourself up. (There are always enough people who'll do that for you!)
3. Find the things that make you happy and give yourself permission to do them.
4. Find a partner whom you love almost more than you love yourself and revel in that love.
5. Find a partner who loves you so much that he can't think of life without you. His joy is in watching you grow and be happy.
6. Every day, take stock of the many blessings in your life, no matter how sad you are about something currently pulling you down.
7. Life has many waves and when you are riding one, hang on and enjoy the ride. When you hit a valley, know that the crest of another wave is coming and do all you can to keep swimming.
8. Step back and watch the people you meet to find the secret key to their persons. There is a saying I have found to be very true. "I don't like that person. I have to get to know hin/her better."
9. Enjoy the simple things in life such as the freshness of the greens in spring, the peep, peep of new mourning doves nesting in the potting table honeysuckle vine, or the relief of cold, icy water sliding down a parched throat, and if possible share them with the love of your life.
10. Make a mental list of all your best memories. Mine includes a black night lying on cushions on our back deck, snuggly under blankets, watching a miraculous meteor shower with my hubby and our daughter. We shared the binoculars and the fun to make a memory that will star in my mind forever.
So what did we do on our 40th? We took a wonderful afternoon car journey to Niagara Falls where we went straight to the helicopter pad and waited our turn for a ride over the Falls area. It was fabulous! Hubby sat opposite me as we strapped in and put on the excellent ear protection--there would be no talking on this flight! There were six of us. First, a girl about ten and her mother who was wearing a leg brace--I thought how great it was that she had shorts on and was not self-conscious at all. Good for her! Second, a young couple who didn't make eye contact with white-haired people such as us, although we couldn't help noticing her tattoes across her lower back, her G-string panties showing above her jeans and her long, fake fingernails! And ourselves in our shorts, laughing, joking, happy to be there, and determined to make the most of the $200 it cost to take the 12-minute ride.
Of course the obligatory camera man was snapping pics as we boarded the plane and we knew we'd be herded by to view and buy at the end. In no time we were up, up, and away. My neck couldn't swivel fast or far enough to see all I wanted to. I didn't want to miss a moment. There were two huge reservoirs that I had no idea existed--ohhhhhh! There's the Niagara River. It looks so small. Where are the Falls? Turn around! Turn around! Oh, yes, the American Falls, the recorded voice in my ears said. What? They'll only be around for another 2000 years? Better see them now. And finally I see the Horseshoe Falls, Canada's pride, in all their glory. (I reach for hubby's hands and we smile our excitement.) They really look small from way up here. I am amazed. And the Niagara River before it divides and flows over both falls is a surprise. I see the white foam marking rocks that step down in layers before the water's final plunge over the falls. And there are two deep channels in the river, visible from the air but not on land. Oh, but the Falls! So awesome in the full sense of the word.
All too soon, the helicopter is landing on its pad and we're unloading. I move to the door and the attendant steps up to help me. I look at his hand, steady myself on the seat and hop down. I am not going to dim my elation by letting him make me feel helpless. I can do this and and I do!
Outside the small building we meet a man with his small daughter who is going in to take the ride. I approach and ask him to take our picture with the helicopter sign in the background. We need a little memento, we think.
We go for a lovely late lunch at the Whirlpool Golf Club Restaurant and sit enjoying our wonderful fruit plate and sandwich as we watch the golfers come up to the 18th green. We talk and I tear up thinking so many thoughts but mostly how incredibly lucky I am to have found this man on a blind date so many years ago.

Blessing or Curse?

Is it a blessing or a curse? I ask myself this question often. Why? I have to continuously find new things to interest and challenge my mind. No matter how intriguing the idea, eventually it goes as stale as doughnuts in a smoking-allowed bakery. So here's the question, is my need for new and exciting ideas a blessing or a curse?
Take my dark blue sweater, for instance. You know, the one I started knitting eighteen months ago, had to have help figuring out the pattern, worked diligently on for 6 1/2 months, and haven't touched now since its warmth was too hot on my lap a year ago! You heard me--a year ago! I am so close to the finish line. Why haven't I gone the distance?
And then there is the antique Singer sewing machine in the basement which I bought several years ago, could picture refinished, started the stripping, researched how to fill in the chipped spots, and lost interest. I am very close to the end on that one, too.
On the positive side I have explored many exciting paths while those projects sit. I have learned to write my music on my PrintMusic! software. I have compsed a few new songs and revamped several old ones, printing them out beautifully and even creating a book of my compositions. I have made a king-size quilt from start to finish with fabric I purchased in Arizona and with the help of several elderly ladies who met in my basement over six weeks to teach me the trade and to work away till we finished the quilt. My hubby and I had it on our bed all winter and it kept us toasty warm.
I took two pottery couses and mastered to a small degree the great challenges of controlling the clay in my hands on the wheel and just doing pinch pots. All of it a combination of great frustraton and final elation. The glazing was very interesting as I never really knew how my mixtures would fire. Sort of like deciding to have children. None of us know how our mixture will bake up.
As I write this I think I've answered my own question because these things were great fun to do and I feel such a sense of 'job well done' when I see my row of beautiful pottery, wear one of the latest beaded bracelets I've made, or sit down to sing out of my very own songbook. Now all I have to do is embrace the blessedness of change, throw out those ideas of 'finish what you start' and just recognize as wonderful blessings those various flying moments of new discovery.

Beader Girl

“What do you do with your time?” I’m sometimes asked and now I have a new answer. I bead! This great new hobby has come to me via my best friend, who learned it in Arizona a couple of years ago when she was snowbirding and I was back here snow shoveling. You can’t tell from the picture above just how small Delica beads are but, believe me, they’re tiny! When I first saw them I loved the products but figured I’d never have the patience to make my own. Surprise! I tried, I conquered, and I’m hooked. So far I’ve made 6 bracelets, one necklace and two pair of earrings. The other bracelet in the picture is made with larger beads, elastic thread and tiny pink safety pins. Very cool and a lot of fun.
Beading has changed my life in several ways: I eat less as I’m preoccupied with my beading while watching (well, listening to) television. I feel such a sense of accomplishment when my chosen colours come out looking more beautiful than I had hoped. I have fun jewelry to match my outfits. I spend quality time with friends at our beading club. And I have a whole new chapter for my 30-year friendship with my best friend. We go to bead stores. We shop online. We have mastered E-Bay and PayPal. And we both love to create these wonderful beauties.
Now you know why I call myself Beader Girl!

A&W Memories

Yesterday my hubby and I were having a root beer at the new A&W on a nostalgia trip down the road to our combined past. This restaurant has recently opened in our area and we have made two journeys there so far, the first on a wind-whistling frigid February day and the second yesterday in the 33 C heat. We looked forward to the frosty mugs, the tinkling ice and the cold crackling fizz of the root beer in the throat yesterday far more than in February! We sat at our diner-days table and sipped on the root beer, cold but, regrettably, not in a frosty glass, and remembered the night we went to the A&W in our pj's many years ago.
We were living in London in our first apartment, just newly married and learning how to live together. For the most part this was easy but occasionally problems would come up. On the night in question we had some kind of falling out as we were getting ready for bed. I can't remember the cause and I probably wouldn't write it if I could but we quarrelled, I cried, my sweetie consoled and we made up. So there we were lying in our pajamas, wide awake, and wanting to end the night on a happier note.
"Let's go to A&W!" hubby spouted.
"We'd have to get all dressed again," I answered.
"No, let's just go like this."
And we did. We put on our coats and hopped into our '61 second-hand Pontiac Laurentian and drove downtown to the A&W, pulled up to a parking spot and the carhop appeared at the window. We giggled as we gave our order and laughed out loud when she disappeared. Apparently she didn't notice our attire. Soon we were sipping from frosty mugs and eating burgers and fries, happy again with each other and delighted to be sharing this small joke.
As we approach our 40th wedding anniversary we both still remember that night and our funny way of settling our argument at the A&W in our pj's!