other people's blogs

I wandered over Mike's blogs today - he being a librarian type who can make fancy blogs with all sorts of links- and came across one from a neighbour of ours. It is funny when you think something and believe yourself to be the only one who thinks it - only to find a much better writer has not only labelled it well but has written about it.

So I won't bother - I will leave Queenie to tell you all about the red chair man in her blog entry Garden's all planted as well

I left my volvo in Nova Scotia

Now anyone who has known me all these years would know that until this May 25th I have only owned Volvo's or Volkswagons - and I truly thought that I would only be a V owner until the end of my days. Well the red matrix has been worn in and we woke up to a nasty flat tire on the Volvo one day - the last day we drove it.

The guys painting the house have offered to buy it which is better than we could do anywhere else - its got some body rot and in need of various work which the mechanic advised against.

But once this car was driven by kings - of sorts. You see our 1989 Volvo was once owned by Terry Matthews, the founder of Newbridge Networks. In its heyday it was a hip car driven by Ottawa's finest IT royalty. Now almost two decades later it will retire to Nova Scotia - where it will be driven by Joe MacIsaac, the house painter. And it will carry paints and ladders and other acroutements of a painting vocation. I love my volvo and hope it will remain on the road for years to come.

things I love things I will miss

a spoonful of nutella washed down with a glass of Lunenburg strawberry wine

the lobsterman's sandwhiches, the lamb man's roasts with apricots and raisins, and Wendy's ribs.

wooden houses

friendly drivers, slow drivers, too cautious drivers, people who let me in and then wave, or smile

being called darling, or love, or babe, or honey by the shopkeepers - and it not being derogatory

being 5 minutes away from any number of bodies of water

friends from my school, friends from the neighbourhood, friends from the kids school

the fog

maple smoked salmon, mushroom madness burgers, petes frootique

my backyard

container ships, tugboats, and tall ships

the sea

leaving the pipes

its hard to believe that a whole year has passed by. it has gone by so damn quickly! Ok the last decade went by pretty quickly too, I'll blame it on Mike since I blame him for everything else too. But MAN! WHERE DID THESE 12 MONTHS GO???

I don't like crying - and when poop hits the fan I often don't. The reason why I make jokes about my Aunt's heart attack, or either get mad or ice up at other inopportune times. and sometimes I just don't notice the sadness creep up on me, slowly from behind while I'm running around with mundane activities - like oh a thesis.

But today I got out of bed early and headed for the market for the second last time and on CBC radio one they were airing some of the phone in messages they had received on the subject of bagpipes. Apparently I missed a weekend of bagpipes at one point and there was talk of having another weekend of pipes. And of course, being in the maritimes there was an overwhelming number of calls of support, guys with thick east coast accents asking for Scotland the Brave. and darn it - I started to cry. Only in the East Coast will I ever find a whole region of people who love the pipes enough to have a whole weekend of it on CBC.

perspective

The kids and I went down to point pleasant park to get some more sea glass, the glass that washes up on shore along with less desirable objects... but we won't talk about that..

its funny how you can bend down and get truly focussed on finding small pieces of glass among all those stones. if you go quickly you will find almost nothing. if you get right down in a squat you can find good pieces. but sometimes what you really need to do is just stand still. stand still and really, truly just.....look. how amazing it is. you find big white pieces right there in front of your nose just waiting for you to notice. alot like life actually. you can rush right through it focussed on some stupid deadline, or dinner party, or extracurricular activity - and actually miss the whole point. the big pieces of glass.

when you spend time looking for glass you forget the world around you. you forget the amazing shells, the smooth stones, the seagulls and sandpipers, and the everpresent ever rolling sea. you can spend time looking for tiny pieces of glass but every so often you need to stand up and take in the sea, how it changes colour with the sky almost like a temperment.

on that note - I find that I get used to going to certain places where everybody knows my name. it could be the grocery store, the bookshop, the market stall, or coffee shop.
so a while ago M and I went out for coffee on the Saturday of Natal days. This time I went to Steve ORenos instead of uncommon grounds (which has super muffins). Steve's was the place I usually went to on weekdays before 8:30 class but this was the first time I went on a weekend. and there was this older gentleman obviously a regular who was once the head of some crown corp. apparently he asked for the job from Brian Mulrooney and got it - ahhh patronage. But as odious as his politics had been he was very friendly and interesting and talked my ear off, telling me about the political scene in Nova Scotia and I'm glad to have met him.
and so sometimes you just have to take that coffee shop less travelled, or straighten up and just look - it is amazing what you will see.