Another day, another year.

Yesterday (Oct.23rd) was my birthday. How did I get this old so fast? My God it's frightening how fast the years are going by! It seems like yesterday, or at least last month that I was about twenty or so years younger. I suppose I should be grateful that I have reached this age because it's not THAT long ago when the average age for women was not much older than I am now! I should also be grateful that so far I have lived in to my 60's without suffering through a major illness or disability, despite having Asthma, high blood pressure, and a problem with my right hip when I was a child! My mother was younger than I am now when she had breast cancer (she was 62 and survived another 17 years before the cancer returned in her stomach), and my Grandmother died at the young age of 40 with a heart problem! My mother's mother that is, and she died long before I was born when my mother was only 14! The grandmother I grew up with was my grandfather's second wife, and she died at age 60 about two months after my 16th birthday. So I guess I should be happy that I'm still here! My birthdays always bring about mixed feelings to me. For a long time they were tinged with a bit of sadness, but as the years have gone on, it has become easier to just let the day roll as it may. The sadness comes from one particular birthday.....my 20th. On that day my favourite Uncle, my Mother's step-brother, Ernie, was killed in an industrial accident at work alongside his 21 year old apprentice! I still remember that day in all clarity. I remember the look on my Grandfather's face when he rushed into the store where I was working to tell me that he'd just received the news and was on his way down to the factory where my Mother, her younger sister and step-sister all worked. No one in our family had a phone in those days. Not many families in our neighbourhood in England had phones (now they all do of course) in those days and so it was easier for my Grandfather to go to the factory to tell his daughters in person rather than use the corner store phone! It's too long a story to go into here, but the events of the next few days are still clear in my mind. Uncle Ernie was a very popular man. He was short in stature, but stood head and shoulders above many men when it came to how big his heart and generosity of spirit was! I remember him always laughing, cracking jokes. He loved to be with his family, and was generous with hugs and kisses. He treated me like one of his children, and he was the one who taught me to ride my bike. He was also the one who introduced me to alcohol, which in these days would be frowned upon! It happened one New Year's Eve during my Mother's annual house party. Uncle Ernie came upstairs to the bedroom where I was in bed with my cousin (his daughter) and he had two small glasses of sherry which he let us have to sip on. We were twelve years old at the time! There we were sitting in bed, giggling while he said "shhhh don't let your Mother's know!".....but then it was too late because a few minutes later my Mother caught us, but all she did was laugh! I really had a great family! Anyway, every birthday I think of Uncle Ernie, and I know that Auntie Jenny, his widow (in her 80's now) still does. The sad thing is that it's her birthday the day before mine (Oct.22) and so she also has a birthday tinged with sadness. The other night my nephew asked me how old I would be when he becomes 18! My husband had said something to the effect of Jackson being able to play professional Soccer when he would be 18 or so, and we said we'd come and watch him play! So then he turns to me asks how old I would be then.....and I honestly had to think for a minute before telling him I'd be 76....that's only 12 years away!!!!! He looked at me with big eyes and said, "you'll be nearly as old as Oma (his Grandmother) is now!" OMG...he's right! My mother-in-law is 80! Then he whispered, "but she'll be dead!".....and I quickly replied, "she might not be as her Daddy didn't die till he was 95!"......and the darling boy gave out a big sigh. I think he was relieved! We quickly changed the subject then! I just hope I will be at that soccer game when I'm 76!

Happy to be in Canada!

This evening whilst eating supper, my husband and I were discussing the fact that we are grateful that we live in what is probably one of the most liberal and diverse countries in the World! Each day when I watch the news or some other programs about what is going on around the World, and especially when I follow the Presidential Election that will take place in a couple of weeks in the USA, I realise just what a great country Canada is! Of course we grumble over stuff...no country is perfect....(although I have heard that Danemark comes pretty close as far as social issues are concearned).....and being in such a large country we can't expect every region or group to be totally satisfied with their lot, but on the whole I think Canada gets it 'right'! Hubby and I were discussing these things because we'd watched Colin Powell endorsing Barack Obama as his choice for the next President and the things he said struck a chord in us. The fact that even though Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim (as some Republicans would like people to believe)......it shouldn't matter whether he is or not. It shouldn't matter what religion, if any, that he is! Then it dawned on me that I don't even know which religous group Canada's Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) is....and I don't care! The fact is, most Canadians probably don't know either....it just never comes up in any decision making process, or in any campaign movement! I've never even heard it mentioned! On another note...I'm tired and every bone in my body seems to be aching and stiff tonight! The last two days I have been gardening. Cleaning up the small gardens we have in front of the house, and the patio garden at the back. Not a lot of work you would think, looking at them, and no where near the size of our former gardens, and yet my body is crying out in protest! The joys of growing old...er! ;)

New look.

If you've stopped by to visit my blog before, you will notice I've changed the look! This was the original template I had chosen when I set up this blog, but then I fiddled around with other templates, used a different one for a while, but tonight decided to go back to this one. I just think it's a cleaner look....not so cluttery and suits me. If you like it please let me know as I'm notorious for constantly changing my mind! lol I guess that's the Libra part of me coming out, as I find it hard to make decisions! I was born on the cusp of Libra/Scorpio and can easily see which parts of my personality are from either sign. (Most of the time!)

The day after

Yesterday there was a general election in Canada....our third one in four years! Heaven help us! The election was called by the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper because, according to him, the Governement was "not working", and the opposition parties were not co-operating! Hello? Isn't that the reason we have opposition parties so that they don't just allow you to push through laws at your convenience and to watch out for the people's interests???! Harper is so bloody arrogant that he thought he could push an election at the time that many are pre-occupied with the American Presidential Election and therefore not pay much attention to what was going on in Canada! Unfortunately he seems to have guessed right! The voter turnout was very low....something like 59% across the country! Disgraceful! However I don't think it was just that the Presidential race in the States is that much more interesting, it's the fact that the alternative choices in Canada were not great! The Liberals were so focused on their carbon tax theory and plans that they couldn't see that most Canadians right now are more worried about the economy and the carbon tax is seen as another way that will push up prices and utility bills. Of course we have to worry about the enviroment and sooner or later we will have to pay for it, but I don't think this was the right time to be pushing it! To me the only leader and party that was focused on the ordinary family and the economy was Jack Layton and the NDP.....the Green Party was close. I was happy to see the NDP gain seats. They did well. In the city I live, it is solid orange....the colour of the NDP party! Of course this is no surprise, it's a 'blue collar town', and industrial city steeped in the Union traditions. However in recent years the NDP have stepped back from having too many ties with the Unions.....deemed too scary for most voters in large areas of the country. To tell the truth, I also would not vote for them when they were so tied up with the Unions, but now I trust them, and I like Jack Layton. So we end up with another minority Conservative government, and we see the waste of $300million tax payer dollars, just to give Harper the extra boost of confidence he was looking for! Jerk! He authorises that much money to be spent on an unnecessary election, yet at the same time cuts funding to arts programs because in his mind only the "elite" are concearned with the arts!!!! The only bright thing to come out of this election is that Justin Trudeau, the eldest son of former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, was voted in as MP for a riding in Montreal. This gives me a glimmer of hope for the future of the Liberal Party. Given time I think we will see Justin Trudeau emerge as a future leader of the party, and see him (hopefully) emulate his father who would take no bullshit from anyone, and was one of our greatest PM's! Now more than ever I hope to God that Barack Obama becomes President of the USA, because if McCain gets in.....heaven forbid....Harper will be licking his ass just as he has done with Bush!

Babysitting night.

Right now I'm tired and should be going to bed instead here I sit at the computer relaxing with my tea putting off going to bed untill Jackson, our 5 year old nephew is in a deep sleep! He's been here since 3pm while his parents golfed and then went to a party, so Jackson is staying overnight with us. From the minute he comes in the door it's all systems go! Non-stop activity! We played bowling and baseball on the Wii, went outside and played 'catch' with the ball, followed by kicking a Soccer ball around and that was all before Richard came home from work at 5pm! After supper we all played Uno, then Richard tried giving him a second lesson on playing Chess, but he got bored with that. (I really don't think he's quite ready for Chess.) So then we had to play with his racing cars....both of us scrambling around on the floor, then he and I retreated into the basement and played with the castle and knights we bought him last year. After a quick break for milk shakes it was back to the Wii for a short time untill he finally admitted he was getting tired!!! Thank goodness! lol At 8:45 about 45 minutes after his regular bedtime I finally managed to get him into bed where we read books for about half an hour. As soon as I said I was putting the light out and he had to sleep now....he rolled over and was almost asleep before I left the room! I did feel like curling up beside him but knew that if I did I would be up at about 3am...so I resisted! Now when I go back to the bedroom it will be to curl up next to him and sleep while poor Richard will have to make do with the living room couch! I'm sure when the little guy wakes up tomorrow at 7am there will be no usual slouching around for me....it will be all systems go again! I'm tired tonight, but it's a happy tired. This young boy manages to blow all cares and worries out of the window for a few hours.....just what I need.