International Respect for Chickens Day!

May is International Chicken Month and May 4th International Respect for Chickens Day!

Doesn't that just rock your world?

Look at their agility!

Maybe I'll become an Urban Chicken Farmer!

I will choose my chickens based on agility!

Windsor Whirlwind!

I was away in Windsor attending a wedding this weekend with the ever so emotional Munroe clan. I swear that lot tears up so easily I always end up feeling like I am so cold hearted. Which those who know me know I am not.

I just don't cry easily! Never have. Some women ball their eyes out during sad movies but I rarely do. A tear here a tear there and that is about it.

But the Groom for God's sake was almost unable to make it through his vows, his speech, his dance with his Mom etc... Then everytime I looked around some other Munroe was dabbing at their eyes!

I think they find it as funny as I do! They just can't help it. And, you've got to love a group of people who are so in touch with their feelings. Maybe it shows the difference between Scottish lineage and German lineage! Germans are so good at keeping it all under control. Or, maybe it has nothing to do with heritage but the my ability to erect protective walls during emotional events...

I got a few good photos too. One that I love of Papa Munroe's nearly 90 year old hands.

And another of Nana Munroe looking a bit pensive.

I swear every other time I looked at her she was laughing at me! Who knows what I was doing but by the end of the evening she was holding on to her jaw because it hurt so much for laughing! It is always great to see her out and enjoying herself!
My favorite part of the evening was, you guessed it, the dancing!!! One of the things that I dislike about being of an older, respectable age is the rarity with which a dance floor is available for just dancing! Not organised, formal dancing but the freeform go with the beat dancing. Dancing with a group of people who don't give a rats ass what your technique is. A group who can get just as into the rythm as me. And that is what the Munroe clan women are good at!! (Barb and Sheila especially!) This time though all our husbands joined in and that was a hoot! At one point everybody kicked their shoes into the middle of the circle and danced barefoot. Everyone but me that is because I had on heels that were strapped on and I had no intention of sitting down to take them off! And..I was 3" taller than usual which is always a good thing when you are only 5'2"!
Note to self: Must get invited to way more weddings! Just for the dancing!

The Meaning of Existence

by:Les Murray (b. 1938)

Everything except language

knows the meaning of existence.

Trees, planets, rivers,time

know nothing else. They express it

moment by moment as the universe.

Even this fool of a body

lives it in part, and would

have full dignity within it

but for the ignorant freedom

of my talking mind.

Painting: The Ignorant Fairy by Rene Magritte

Added later:

Moments after finishing this post I found out that my cousin Jane passed away after many many years of living with MS.

She was 46.

She is pain free now.

Futility

By: Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Move him into the sun-

Gently its touch awoke him once,

At home, whispering of fields half-sown.

Always it woke him, even in France,

Until this morning and this snow.

If anything might rouse him now

The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds-

Woke once the clays of a cold star.

Are limbs, so dear achieved, are sides

Full-nerved, still warm, too hard to stir?

Was it for this the clay grew tall?

-O what made fatuous sunbeams toil

To break earth's sleep at all?

Painting by: Susi Franco

A Walk In The Woods

No not the book by Bill Bryson! I did not enjoy the book very much but I always enjoy a walk in the woods.
Sunday my friend Louise, my daughter Rhea and I went for a walk in the woods in the Midland/Penetanguishene area.
Not a long one. It was a total of an hour or so but it seemed longer because we got misplaced.


No we did not get lost. We were simply misplaced!


At least Louise said we were not lost. She knew the basic direction we needed to go to get back to the cars. She kept pointing in a north-easterly direction and sure enough we found our way.


We zigged when we should of zagged and went beyond the point of return so ended up trampling the undergrowth making sure to avoid the trilliums!

Luckily this has been a dry Spring so the boggy areas weren't really boggy.
Although a dry spring is not such a good spring really since we also had a dry winter.

I love being in the woods. I love the silence and sound of the trees and the birds. I love the smell. I just want to live in the woods.

Any woods where I will not get displaced!

BoobQuake Today

Causing an EarthQuake, oh, I mean a BoobQuake!

Random Information

Six names you go by
1. Martina
2. Mar
3. Emsker
4. Marty
5. Mom
6. Tarmina

Three things you are wearing right now
1. Jeans

2. glasses
3. my wedding ring

Four things you want very badly at this moment
1. my bed
2. coffee
3. a good laugh
4. more innate talent in anything!!

Three people who will answer this
1. You'll have to volunteer. I did.
2.
3.

Two things you did last night
1. Spent time with knitters at the shop

2. Watched the Marriage Ref (not so good last night)

Last two people you talked to on the phone
1. my Mom

2. Jim

Two things you are going to do tomorrow
1. Be a shop keeper
2. teach

Three favourite drinks
1. chai latte
2. tea
3. Mojito

THE RANDOM FACT INGREDIENT
I have a birthmark in the shape of an anchor.

My HD Personality

I am a highly disorganized (HD) person. I don't work very hard at it. It comes naturally I guess.

One of the side effects of being HD is that I often misplace items of some importance. Today, I have misplaced my watch.
My watch is usually on my wrist but last night while I was relaxing watching American Idol (Crystal Bowersoxs rocked it last night!) it began to bother me. It was on the arm that got bashed around yesterday when I fell.
I took it off and put it on the side table. Yes I distinctly remember that.
Once I was off to bed I picked it up to put on my bedside table.
Then....the watch ceases to be in my memory banks.
With Kessie at my heels I stopped off at the computer to check my inbox, went to brush my teeth and hopped into bed.

This morning the watch was not to be found. It was not on the coffee table, not by the computer, not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom and not in the bedroom. (I feel I should be able to write a Dr. Seuss story about it!!) Kessie has been no help at all in the search!
So I am sans watch today.
Not that the watch is an easy one to read anyways...It has no numbers on the dial and I am always guessing as to what number the hour hand is nearest. When someone asks me the time I usually respond with something like.."It is either 5:25 or 6:25." Then I have to go to one of the other timepieces that I have access to for confirmation.
The fact that I have not gone out to get a more appropriate day to day watch is an indication of my HD personality as well is suppose.

Way back when I wrote an entry about my tendancy to pile everything. http://inasknit.blogdrive.com/archive/57.html



I have reformed somewhat but I think this tendancy is an HD symptom as well. (ya think?)

I have tried to be organized I really have! I get containers and make lists and sort and everything! Then, after a few days it all starts to fall apart. I forget which container is for what or I lose my lists and can't remember my sorting categories. Sigh. The best is when I put something away in a really great away spot only to never find that spot again. Like my High School yearbooks which I have been trying to track down for about a month. Out of sight out of mind with me.





In the meantime I still search for my watch. Here is a picture of one like it.

If you happen to see it anywhere let me know please!

Edited to add:

This morning (April 22, 2010) Judy Gerstel has an article in the Toronto Star called Badly Disorganized? Chronically Forgetful? It may be ADD...

I can't find it online yet but it speaks to my issue of being HD!

I've always said that chronic knitters have ADD tendancies!!

I have fallen

...but I have gotten up!

yep...scratches on my arm, twisted left ankle, slightly swollen left foot and a bruise on my right leg and...and...and.... a grass stain on my shoes (I think I will cry now!).

Actually not a bad one this time compared to other times.
I am a frequent faller. I haven't had such a big fall in about a year but it is about once a year I seem to step badly and wipe completely out.

This time ; step up onto first step at shop, foot slips off, right ankle cannot take the load and I have to save my coffee!!! (Yes, the coffee is the most important thing to save isn't it!
Thankfully the lid was on tightly and nary a drop escaped despite being catapulted over the edge and into the garden right side up.)
I go ass over tea kettle!
What amazes me is that I rarely get hurt that badly. I am really good at going with the fall (as long as my coffee is safe) and rolling or bouncing safely to a stop. This time a 70+ lady (who turned out to be a customer) rushed to see if I was ok. Little old ladies are rescuing me now!!

In the past I have broken ribs and an ankle and just basically bruised myself nearly to death.
Good falls of the past include

1. Falling down the basement stairs with my arms at my side taking the brunt with my face and chest. I broke only a rib surprisingly. Looked like I had been beat up bad. I felt so bad for dear hubby because he was interrogated like a criminal.
2. My last fall was in the winter. This one at least is a bit hilarious. I was carrying 2 bags of groceries to the car wearing winter boots that were loose on me and not tied up (stupid). I caught the toe of one boot on the edge of the cement sidewalk block and fell completely onto my front. When I leaped up, telling everyone who witnessed the incident I was ok, my boots were a good 5 feet behind me and my groceries 2 feet in front of me. I think I threw the groceries so I would have my hands free to stop my face from hitting the ground. I was so wishing that someone had caught it on film! How horrifyingly hilarious it must have been to watch!

There are others but I shall not go on....

Yes, I have fallen and I will probably fall again. I think I need to get some iron pills.

But, I'm fine really I'm fine!

(art by Picasso)

The Trees

The Trees

by Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985)

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too.

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written in the rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Photos taken this morning while walking the dog.

This Could Get Addictive!

http://www.bookdepository.com/live

Save me!

Stop All the Clocks

by: W.H. Auden (1907- 1973)


Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The first time I really listened to this poem was during my first (yes, multilple watchings ensued(ing)) viewing of Four Weddngs and a Funeral.

It makes my heart stop everytime.

Poetry Time Again

In Broken Images

by: Robert Graves

He is quick, thinking in clear images;

I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting his clear images;

I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;

Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;

Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;

When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;

I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;

I in a new understanding of my confusion.

The Routine of Life

Today I have been noticing the routines of my days.

We all have them.

Most of us accept them most of the time.

Get up, feed the dog/cat, get dressed, go to work, yada, yada, yada.
Ho hum.

I found this quote:

“Voluptuaries, consumed by their senses, always begin by flinging themselves with a great display of frenzy into an abyss. But they survive, they come to the surface again. And they develop a routine of the abyss: ''It's four o clock. At five I have my abyss... ''”
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette quotes (French Writer, 1873-1954)

Today I throw myself into the abyss at 6 and develop that routine. Ought to shake things up a bit.

What is a Voluptuary?

voluptuary : (və-lŭp'chū-ĕr'ē)
n., pl., -ies.
A person whose life is given over to luxury and sensual pleasures; a sensualist: "an adventurous voluptuary, angling in all streams for variety of pleasures" (Thomas De Quincey).


[French voluptuaire, from Old French, from Late Latin voluptuārius, variant of Latin voluptārius, devoted to pleasure, from voluptās, pleasure.]


Hmmm.....I will attempt to more of a voluptuary from this day forward! Should work for at least a few minutes a day don't you think?

Then....back to routine.

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.
Mike Murdock
(Michael Dean Murdock (born April 18, 1946 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States) is a televangelist and pastor of the Wisdom Center ministry based in Fort Worth, Texas. )

Or...Not

The less routine the more life.
Amos Bronson Alcott
(Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer and philosopher who left a legacy of forward-thinking social ideas.)

One hour and fifteen minutes left!

The Last Laugh

by: John Betjeman (1906-1984)

I made hay while the sun shone.

My work sold,

Now, if the harvest is over

And the world cold,

Give me the bonus of laughter

As I lose hold.

When I see a steamed up window I must draw a smiley face.

Wild Swans

Artist: Harry Clark

Wild Swans

by:Edna St. Vincent Millay

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.

And what did I see I had not seen before?

Only a question less or a question more;

Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.

Tiresome heart, forever living and dying.

House without air, I leave you and lock your door.

Wild swans, come over the town, come over

The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

Happy Easter

What a beautiful weekend it has been this Easter weekend.

It really seems to be that winter has left us and summer is on its way.

Both of the walks today were strolls of enjoyment for both Kessie and me. This evening's was filled with the scents of barbeques and the sound of birds. Kessie for sure is enjoying all the smells that she is encountering . Even if I wanted to take a brisk walk I probably wouldn't be able to without dragging the girl behind.

So between the sniffing and the peeing on every other blade of grass (yes there is some grass now too) my walk around the block is taking twice as long as normal.

But she is just so damned cute that I bear her no grudge!

We wish you all the best weekend!

April is poetry month....

For my birthday this year my daughter gave me a book and CD of The Great Modern Poets. I have been reading through it lately and have found some I really enjoy.
Since April is poetry month I am going to take some of the posts to share these poems with you.
I love poetry. I love it when it is read to me most of all. When I read poetry to myself I usually have to read it aloud so feel free to read these aloud to yourself or to the people you are with.

Today's poem is by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). He was a doctor and a poet.

This is just to say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

Single Story

This inspires.

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Pensitivity

I wrote this on Monday early afternoon. It is Tuesday now. I am still pensive but yes...writing does help..

I am sitting at this computer with classical music playing in the background. It is sad music. It is making me melancholy.

What is melancholy exactly? Let me look it up.

mel·an·chol·y   /ˈmɛlənˌkɒli/
–noun
1.a gloomy state of mind, esp. when habitual or prolonged; depression.
2.sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.
3.Archaic.
a.the condition of having too much black bile, considered in ancient and medieval medicine to cause gloominess and depression.
b.black bile
–adjective
4.affected with, characterized by, or showing melancholy; mournful; depressed: a melancholy mood.
5.causing melancholy or sadness; saddening: a melancholy occasion.
6.soberly thoughtful; pensive.

I have looked up black bile and I so not going there! I am soberly thoughtful and pensive.

Being pensive is one of the stages of creating for me. One of the first stages.

There is an idea brewing in there and I can't quite pin it down. As now, it usually comes when I am nearing the end of one project.

I am at the point in my current piece where it is all pushing forward and putting the final touches on it. I have to figure out the leafy part.

This is the part of the technicalities of having a piece turn out as imagined. Fun and interesting but my mind is looking to something new already.

Over the weekend I took my mind off the tree by finishing off a Printer's Drawer to be hung. Actually not sure if it is "finished"......crap....

I like it but I think it needs more now that I look at the photo.

It will come to me though...

"All changes are more or less tinged with melancholy, for what we are leaving behind is part of ourselves. "
Amelia Barr

A Day Off

Sunday.

Gloomy and drizzly.

Went outside anyways.

First to the backyard where there is promise that spring is really coming.
Yes, tulips are starting to push their green leaves through the ground.

I righted this mirror that fell over in the winter winds. It shows a reflection of the yard. Our birdwatching chair, which, if I were your average gardener, should be brought in every winter, is no longer serviceable as a chair. It is now...SCULPTURE... ya, that's it.

I have this slight obsession with mirrors in the garden. You can see another one in the top corner. I have another one sitting in the basement ready to join in.

I also have a slight obsession with decay. I rarely take things in during winter because I am curious to see what the season will do to them. Big chunk of child like wonder left in me in this. I am always fascinated.

Then headed out to Thickson's Woods. I like making a visit every year while there are no leaves on the trees yet because you can see the jumbled structure of the trees etc...

Lots of trees down again this winter. We some big winds and this is such an old stand of trees.

Here again my love of decomposition guides my photo taking.

I think it is the textures that draw me in.

Look What I Bought!

I popped into the local "trendy" upscale clothing shop on Friday.

Clothing seemed to be only for waif-like ethereal beings.

But I fell in love with this bag.

Love that there are a few cats on the Dogs We Know side.

Yes I freaking Love this Bag!!!

Procrastination is Making me Latte

Make that a Chai Latte please.

I am at home for the morning. Alone. That doesn't happen often. I know I should be grabbing the dust rag or sweeping the floor but I am making myself a coffee and writing to you all.

And now I remember that I have Chai tea at the shop which I will have to make when I get there. When I get there.

'scuse me checking on the coffee...maybe the coffee will help me up off my duff...

I am all alone this morning because Los Kiddos are at school Jim has gone on a day trip to Algonquin Park today with a bunch of his birding buddies. Nice sunny day for it but back to below freezing... I hope they see lots of the flying creatures and hopefully some Moose babies. Wonder if he brought a camera? Wish I could be there too..

I continue to have 10 plus projects on the knitting needles...I am actually not sure of the number I will have to count. Let me see..Hmm I have finished a couple so only 7. Yeah!!
Three pairs of socks,












Of which this is one... I love Jay walkers!



1 linen blouse,

1 shawl,

1 tree


and 1 tank top that I do not have a photo of yet although I am holding it in one of the photos from the previous post.

I do have one rug hooking on the go too.

So maybe I just need a morning off ? Maybe, just maybe I am productive but just not in a house wifey way?

Where is my Chai Latte?

My Hands

My Hands they are the Tools of my Trade. (from Laura Smith - I'm a Beauty on Vanity Pressed - a Collection CD.)


My Hands are growing older along with the rest of me.
There are times I look at my hands and don't know who they belong to.
I am looking at my Mother's hands. When did I get my Mother's hands?
When did time betray them? When did the scars, bumps and age spots appear? When did arthritis start to turn my fingers and cause me to feel pain?











I see the hands of an older person.
How did this happen?
Somehow they grew old while I was busy having a life.





















Then I see this photo taken by my daughter's hands. It is of my Sister's and Mother's hands.
My Mother's hands at 80 years of age.
I realize now that when I look at my hands I see the hands of my Mother's 50 year old hands. Her hands have had 30 more years of life than mine. Think of the things those hands could tell mine.


They tell of a life fully lived. Of things created and work long done. Of wisdom and experience. Of risks taken and opportunities explored.

Do I still want the pristine hands of youth? Hands that are unwise to the ways of the world?

No not really...

I want to see the life I have lived in my hands. To remember the creations I've made, the babies I've rocked. I want to feel the aches and pains (I lie!!) that have resulted from not wearing rubber gloves while I do dishes and knitting for 8 hours straight or forgetting to wear mittens on the coldest day of the year.

I want the memories.

I want those memories to temper all future actions taken by my hands.

I want my hands to create new memories, feel new textures, give strength to others for as many years as possible.

My hands are the tools of my trade and my life. I will embrace their aging appearance.

Jan6/2006 Replay

Found another 4 year old post that is worth a re read! Timmies and I have a real love/hate relationship!

Friday, January 06, 2006
Idling in La La Land

SO I was sitting in the Montana waiting in the take out line at Tim Horton's (the temple of coffee). I was enjoying the sun (which had not been seen for about one year). I inched foward while raising my face to the glorious sun. I was relaxing and warming. I was visualizing being on a beach. I bumped up a small ramp. I waited and basked. I bumped down a small ramp. I looked behind. I was past the ordering monolith!!! My window was closed and I had been basking! They were probably all yelling "CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER!!! HELLOOO....IS ANY ONE THERE. WE NEED AN ORDER! HEY!!! WAKE UP!!!! WE NEED AN ORDER!!! " Then off I went.... I had two choices. 1. Leap out of the vehicle and run backwards and interupt the orderer behind me. or 2. Continue on and make a full confession at the window. The sun was warm and gorgeous so I opted for the latter. While waiting and basking yet some more I went over my options of opening line. I ended up saying " I am an idiot and I was in complete la-la land! I forgot to order! They all looked at each other with the realization that it was just another brainless suburbanite in a Montana. I was so grateful they didn't make me start again! They gave me my order (they may have over charged me but I really don't care if they did) I didn't have plain old coffee to order I was ordering 3 Cappucinnos and then I didn't have enough money out so I had to search my change cubbyholes! As left I made sure I let them know that I would stay awake while driving back to work (a little late). Man I needed a coffee....but the sun was la la lavalee....

A trip downTim Horton's Memory Lane....

I posted this 4 years ago. Sometimes it is good to look back and see what a goofball one can be..

Don't take me through the Drive Thru

Last week was not my week to be going through the drive through at Tim Horton's. Pretty soon all the Timmy's in the Whitby area are going to know me as the "Crazy Drive Through Lady". Any of you who have read my past entries will remember the last incedent I had at Timmy's. I have only compounded my problems!!

Experience #1:

I was on my lunch time with the most lovely Miss Ann who teaches in the Junior Room. As per usual we ordered our coffees, teas and for the most beautiful Miss Ann a ham and cheddar cheese sandwich on wholewheat,toasted, no tomato, no sauce. Well do you think the lady could get the order right?? First off she talked with an accent that made her difficult to understand. Then she seemed to have trouble understanding my accent. So I order the sandwich, taking my time and allowing for the keying in of each item, and

she says "Sat his Ham and Svuiss?"

"No, Cheddar." I respond.

"Chedar an Svuiss? On vhite?"

Now I am trying to talk louder, " Ham and cheddar on whole wheat." "Oh...(to the lady making sandwiches) Not svuiss...Can you make Cheddar? Yes, Cheddar...Ok good."

Me again..."on whole wheat!" "oh ok (long pause as she mutters to herself trying to find the whole wheat key) Toasted?"

"yes" I yell "TOASTED"

"Vill there be anyting else?"

"I am not yet finished with the sandwich order!!! No tomato, no sauce!"

" Oh, I forgot to key in...(again to the person making sandwiches) You remember , ok? No tomato, no sauce.? Goot. Anyting else?"

I am by now speaking as loudly as I can, " 1 Steeped tea with milk, 2 Coffees....."

"I so sory you yell...I so sorry.... Drive trhu"

Once up to the window of delivery I ask the person taking the money if there is something wrong with the intercom system. Her response...."Sometimes the wind makes it hard to hear."

Wind??? There was no wind.... Only a very frustrated orderer with many very frustrated drivers waiting in the long line up behind her!



Experience #2:

At another Timmy's on another day. I pull into the drive through only to find to my joy that there is NO LINE UP! I pull on through , make a left swerve and then realize I have gone straight past the intercom order taker!!! No cars are behind me. I stop, put the car in reverse and back up to the speaker. I get greeted with a very pleasant "Welcome Back!" I had to confess that this was not the first time I had made this error. She then very pleasantly took my order and I carried on. The beautiful Miss Ann was witness to this too. It is a wonder that she will go into any drive throughs with me.

So, now there are 3 different TH's who's staff probably duck and run when they see my van. My apologies to them all.

Actually, there is a 4th that dropped my change on the driveway and I had to wait for someone to retrieve it. Then I dumped all the change out of my wallet onto my lap and had to drive all the way back to work that way. (I was running late you see) (Miss Ann was with me yet again)

Someone care to accompany me to get coffee? No! Don't run away!


Posted at Monday, May 01, 2006 by martina

I am better at drive throughs these days...promise!

Trees on the Brain

I have started another 3-D tree and want to get pictures of it and real trees together in one place.

Chicken Fun

Chicken Fun
Originally uploaded by martianknit.