T'is The Season & A Merry Christmas To ALL!

A Late Snowy Nite Walk

Could walk for hours when the snow gently flutters down. It is even more spectacular at night taking a nite stroll. Not much in the way so snow as yet in my neighborhood but maybe Sunday - just enough but not too too much -  okay :)!

Beauty Of A Geisha

I came across a couple of beautiful images the other day which reminded me of an intriguing book I recently read. The history of the geisha and the radial transformation from decades past to modern times was a most informative read. This prompted me to scrap the beauty of this young lady in a page. 

A line from the movie 'Memories of a Geisha' seemed to suit the mood of the subject and is the final touch to my page.

Could Only Happen In My Ole Home Town!

Tho I moved away from PA many years ago, I still have a lot of family & friends that reside in and around there so keeping up with local events, news etc is always of interest. Not much happens there
and folks are pretty low keyed, but I couldn't stop laughing when I read this the other day:

"Police in PA, Sask. recently pulled over a man for using a lawn chair as a driver's seat.  No word on how the front seat of his car went missing, or why he decided a lawn chair would make an adequate substitute."

Geez, would I  have loved to have seen the look on the officer's face when he saw and pulled over this car. And to listen in on the conversation that must have ensued would  have even been even more hilarious.

Lest We Forget

He so proudly fought for a country he dearly loved - my Dad during WW2. The picture has deteriorated so much over the years, but I thought I would use it anyway to make this page in his memory just in time for Remembrance Day. The prayer added was written by a Canadian soldier - the name of that soldier/author is unknown.

Thanks Dad & likewise to all those brave men & women who have fought & served to preserve our freedom.

HAPPY TRICK N TREAT'N

Careful comin' over to my house - just can't seem to get rid of that darn ole witch, LOL!!



Awhellno!! I know what you're thinking & "no" it's not me!

HOPE For A Cure

One remarkable little girl; a fighter & survivor. She has captured my heart and should be truly an inspiration to all of us.



Aleisha - you are one lil trooper - bless you

Conclusions Drawn To Amuse Myself By

Like I Could Give A HOOT!!

Felt like playing around again with doing another animation today. Decided to also post the page in an SBF challenge - we'll see how the page fares.



Well what can I say - it sort of captures my mood today too :)!

A Congrats

Worth Every Penny

Never thought I would see the day when I would get to see Paul Rogers upfront and personal. What a great opportunity to see  Bad Company perform live! It was  thought not too long ago they would not reunited and tour again. I couldn’t wait to get tickets when I heard a 2010 tour was in the works. They were only scheduled for two dates  here and would be performing at a casino not too far away.  

The show was sold out very quickly. The only seats that I could get were not that great but the music was so awesome where I sat didn’t much matter.  Paul sang all my old favourites of his – bad seats or not, to see Paul Rogers live was a real treat and worth every penny!

I Didn’t Know That!

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

Canada is an Indian word meaning ' Big Village '.

I Think I Can, I Think I can……

My poor Ms Mitz is so determined to get her baby, (one of her stuffed toys), but is so very wary of the moving swing.  She just about jumps up anywhere but she hasn’t had the courage for anything moving since jumping into a rocking chair when she was a puppy.

Mitz

I know she is going to figure it sooner or later and then we will have to find a new spot to keep her attention occupied  !

Ashton Rest In Peace

A Facebook memorial site has been set up for Ashton as a common gathering place for those who wish to share their memories, stories, pictures of Ashton or simply just to offer a few kind words of support to her family and friends may do so here.

You Have To Ask Why.....???

You really can't make this stuff up,  but it has to make you wonder "What the .....!!"!

Happy CANADA Day To All!!

Queen Elizabeth always receives a warm welcome when she visits Canada though there are those who feel the monarchy no longer has a relevancy.  She looked radiant as ever as she visited Ottawa today not only to inspect the Guard of Honour at Parliament Hill but also to attend Canada Day festivities.
I remember my excitement well when I had an opportunity to see her up close and personal here and at Buckingham Palace several years a ago. She looked remarkable then and still does today at 84.  One has to marvel at her stamina; she never seems to tire  even though her  appearance itinerary is jam packed. Wish I had made a greater effort to see her this time – you never know when it could be her last visit overseas. For me, it will be a sad moment when her reign is no more.

No ONE Even Called!!

Dear ex-family & ex-friends,

Well I gave it more than ample time to see if anyone would even think about seeing if I was all right/hurt etc after the June23rd earthquake that hit here in southern Ontario last Wednesday @ 1:41 PM!

Seems not one of you give a crap!! It's one week later and not even "ONE" family member or "ONE" friend have checked in on me - Absolutely shameful!!!!

Oh nah, nah, nah - don't go rushing to your phone or anything now - it's way, way too late for that! All relationships are now severed.

By the way, (not that you care) , I made it thru all right but suffered quite a bit of property damage as you can see,

Seems I don't have to worry too much tho' - just received confirmation from my Insurance company that they will look after covering all the damages & anything else. Thank god for strangers!!

Your now ex-family/friend,
Mimi

Keep it Simple

One of my favorite pages to make is a black & white with a splash of color. I was playing around with one and  I added it to a recent challenge at SBF. 

I was so surprised when the challenges owner picked it for her choice award. It was so sweet of her.

WeekEnd From Hell!!!

What happened this weekend was clearly avoidable. One begs to question right from the onset; why the very heart of Toronto's entertainment, financial and shopping district??

Was not the impact and destruction predictable - of course it was!! Doesn't take an Einstein to figure this out especially given that there were the past experiences of other host countries to draw upon.

The hooligans could not have perpetrated the chaos and the extent of damage if the summit had been held in desolate field somewhere.The inclination would have been lessened where little mind or attention would be paid them.

Kudos to the great work of our fine men and women of the policing agencies here and those who came from across this country to assist. This was an undertaking unprecedented; they did their utmost to maintain security and the safety of the community at large.


Unfortunately many Torontonians will not forget these few days when their vibrant city was essentially taken from them and the businesses, their premises damaged and their revenue losses incurred before, during and after.

The Costs Of Vanity & Self Importance

Now one has to wonder just what it was that was really accomplished at these summits besides just another orchestrated photo op for Mr. H! I would hazard a guess that the fine folks to my left would have delivered an outcome with some substance at a cost substantially less than the billion plus spent by our gov’t to get the powers to be together for a think tank or is it photofest?!

Well this group of friendly protesters would get my vote any day. Not only are they entertaining but I bet they would keep their promises if our elected officials :)!

The Scent Of Wild Roses

Wild roses are one of my favorite flowers. I have a wild rose bush in my back yard that is in full bloom right now and simply stunning this year.  Their wonderful scent drift's right across the whole back yard.

It is so pleasant and peaceful sitting out there and smelling the roses :)!

Slow Down And Enjoy Life

When I see scenes like this, I yearn to go back to Alberta.  This mountain sheep contently ambles down the highway just outside Jasper, photo taken by my bro from his car.  Tho the May 24th weekend, it had snowed the night before blanketing the mountain tops and the untravelled areas.

Goes to show there are still places on earth where man and animal can share unrestricted.

Just Out Walking With My Daddy

Before I took up scrappin'  a few years ago, I always either deleted these shots or wondered what the heck do you do with them. Well I see some folks do just some awesome stuff and decided to take a stab at it using Carena's kit, (who's work I just love), - Walking in the Park". Thought it a perfect kit for this photo of one of our grandsons walking with his dad..

So We're Not Perfect!

Don't know who wrote this but thanks - it says like it is!! 

We never claimed to be perfect

That means we’ve learned to be humble

We say excuse me and I'm sorry…as well as please and thanks.

Even when its not our fault we apologize.

Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise,
But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say…”we’ll help”

And yah, there is a fence around the flaming torches,
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our prime minister and most famous Canadians.

We put Gretzky in the back of a pick up, in the rain, not surrounded by police…and he was okay.
By the way... the great one is Canadian…and HE wasn’t complaining!

We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't even have a gun they have to leave at home.

The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are open to the world.

It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week….but let’s not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't .

We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time….but we will, eventually

Just like we did when we invented the zamboni.

Citius altius fortius

If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger ?

Was the first quad jump perfect?
Should we not have given snowboarding to the world "in case" it didn’t take off?

So, big deal…one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good thing we had 3 more! It’s called contingency planning!

But remember…the Canadarm works every time…in outerspace….and insulin turned out to be okay.

We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop to global warming.

We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but, per capita, we ponied up for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever .

Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care is universal.

We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration and song but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic event...together..spontaneously…and unrehearsed.

What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet, fiddlers with piercings and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while our multilingual female haitian- born, black, head of state shares a box with her first nations equals


We’ve shown the world that it doesn’t always rain in Vancouver, that you can strive for excellence but not get hung up on perfection
And we’ve learned what it feels like to be picked on by some no name newspaper guy and we don’t have to take it lying down!

So the point is not the snow, or the hydraulics or a couple guys being 5 minutes late to a ceremony

We know we’re lucky that these are the biggest problems we had to deal with in the last couple weeks.

So take your cheap shots…... cynics of the world

We're bigger and better than that and what's more we're finally starting to believe it!"

Canada Is Golden

My one word to describe the games is "Monumental"! Canada finished with some pretty powerful hours in concluding the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games!! Our athletes, contributors & supporters are to be congratulated for their dedication, expertise & hard work in making these games a monumental success. Canada now assumes its rightful place as one of the leaders in the making of sporting history.

The closing ceremonies were also fabulous!! One thing that caught my eye several times though; most at the event embraced our national anthem with the exception of our PM & wifey. Not once when the cameras flashed to them was there even a miniscule movement of the mouths. But then it wasn't a Beatles tune and aww yes, a high profile photo opt couldn't get any better than this now could it!

Burton Rocks!!

Watched Burton Cummings' live performance from BC Place last nite & he rocked the place. No doubts he stills got it as he wooed the folks with his infamous "These Eyes" to " American Woman"!!

One of the all time Canadian Greats and one who's career I have followed since my younger prairie days - in fact Chad Allen and the Expressions even rings some bells. Geez, I still have the original Guess Who's Canned Wheat LP, now that a waaaay's back!!

Anyway Burton - ya rock my friend!!

Olympic Torch Run -2010

As the torch neared Toronto, you could feel the excitement in the air. I spent the afternoon at the Civic Centre  freezing my feet off - it was like -25, (freckin cold!!), to see the torch arrive in Scarborough. It was worth every minute however standing out in the cold. I love trying to animate,  tho not great at it, I did this as a memory page from a photo of the passing of the torch taken on the outskirts of town.