sock it to me

some old pictures 

I always needed to fold the socks in just the right way.

They had to be matched perfectly or they were vanquished to 

the "looking for my mate socks box"

 

I even got the kids in on it

seal of approval?

With the previous post being a witch flying headlong into a tree 

I thought it best to get some violence out of the way.

Now I am pretty sure that 

the poor seal had been swimming about 

and minding his own business and, 

not having read his horrorscope,

 was not fully prepared for the fact 

that he is about to be devoured

I mean,

how do you prepare for that?

But the shark only sees

lunch or dinner

and then it could be linner

or dunch

or perhaps it is lunch or supper

and then it could be sunch

or maybe lupper.

which witch

A warning to remind us 'don't drink and drive'.

Which reminds me that we don't really mean 'don't drink and drive'
when we say "don't drink and drive'
what we really mean is 'don't drink alcohol and drive'.

I sometimes drink water when I drive and
I am pretty sure I am not rebelling against
the impassioned plea to 'don't drink and drive'.

Can you tell that I am a stickler for accuracy?
Or am I just annoying?

How is that for a loaded question?

watermelon

Andrew is particularly fond of watermelon.
Maybe I should do this to our next watermelon.

D'ya think?

and now for something with ap-peel

                                    

orange you glad someone thought of this

                                 

this time together

Last week Friday I was able to go to Niagara Falls with my brother Jeff to see a show put on by Carol Burnett. She showed some clips from her old variety show and answered questions from the audience. It was notable to see the outpouring of love and affection towards her by members of the audience. That kind of admiration has to be a bit heady at times.

She was asked lots of questions which she used as a stepping point to relate some of her stories.  She regaled us with the time Tim Conway was pulled over by the police, how she met Vicki Lawrence, the ushering job she was fired from and lots more. Many of these stories were in her book This Time Together but she told it in such a special way that our laughter freely flowing that evening.
I was able to ask the second last question of the evening. I wish I could remember the exact wording but I will try to summarize. 

     I bought your book last week and finished it before I got here. The chapters are just the right length for time spent in the bathroom. There were some chuckles here and she made some sort of crack about fibre of some such thing. Since you wrote such a nice book for me I thought that I would write a book for you. Since you are always answering questions I wrote down a question on each page. Just in case you ever have an audience with no questions - you can answer these. My first question is - What is your favourite charity?

She answered and someone from her staff came over to get the book from me and offered to get her autograph for my copy of her book.
After the show the book was returned with the signature of the author. The wonderful and remarkable Carol Burnett.

another brother

I wrote about Jeff a couple of days ago but my other brother is Doug.
He lives in Holland with his wife and three daughters.
My parents are on their way back from a visit with them and
there are times when I really miss having them around.

They were here last in February for Dad's 80th party and, as always, the time was too short. But it is what it is, and we try to stay in touch long distance anyways.
Facebook does help with that. Seeing what they are up to is always a treat.

I think that Doug and Frans are particularly good parents. They are involved and caring and it shows. That is wonderful to see.

Me and Doug in the early 80's.
Do we look alike?

things are going swimmingly

I don't think I will ever be doing anything even remotely close to this.

I am not a good swimmer. I manage to keep afloat to a certain degree but do not have any appreciable swimming strokes.
I don't like to get water in my eyes and so have never opened them underwater.
I do not like getting water in my ears because when I do, it drains out over the rest of the week.
I do not like getting water in my nose. It goes straight up into my sinus cavities and there percolate and makes my brain hurt.

I think that much of this yuckiness about the water stems from the fact that, when I was a toddler, I am told I almost drowned. I had been on my father's shoulders and we both went under and when Dad came up I was nowhere to be found. After some frantic searching I was pulled up but apparently I did spend quite time under the water.

I wonder if that is the reason I am not so comfortable around water?

did it all get done?

There is nothing that I was committed to doing today.
I had wanted to stay in jammies all day long decided to head out and do some errands

To the bank to put some money in. DONE
To the post office. DONE EVEN IF THE FIRST POST OFFICE I WENT TO WAS CLOSED - NOW THE GOVERNMENT HAS SOME MORE OF OUR MONEY
Drop off some mail. DONE
Drop the paper. DONE
Donate some VHS's. DONE
Checked out the N2N bookstore. DONE AND DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING THAT I NEEDED TO BRING HOME
Looked for some essence oils so I can make some soap. DONE
Took Henry's beer cans back to the store from whence they came - only empty now. DONE AND THE COINS ARE MINE
Since I was near Talize I took a quick run through there. DONE AND FOUND A NEW VEGGIES TALES DVD
Looked for a bubble machine at toys r us seeing as I had an airmiles coupon and maybe a double stroller rain cover for Anne. DONE AND DONE
Looked for some specific sized containers for the duplo that I am trying to organize. ( I know - organizing the Duplo is a bit much but I can hardly help myself ) NOT DONE - I CHECKED AT ZELLERS AND THERE WAS NOTHING THAT FIT THE BILL
Go to Fortinos for some groceries. DONE - BUT I CAN'T FIND THE SPRING ROLLS I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO EATING

nothing on the calendar

There is nothing that I have committed to doing today.
I had wanted to stay in jammies all day long but now there are some errands I have to run.

To the bank to put some money in.
To the post office.
Drop off some mail.

And now since I am out and about I will add to the list.

Drop the paper.
Donate some VHS's.
Check out the N2N bookstore.
Look for some essence oils so I can make some soap.
Take Henry's beer cans back to the store from whence they came - only empty now.
Since I am near Talize have a quick run through there.
See if I can find a bubble machine at toys r us seeing as I have an airmiles coupon and maybe a double stroller rain cover for Anne.
Look for some specific sized containers for the duplo that I am trying to organize. ( I know - organizing the Duplo is a bit much but I can hardly help myself )
Go to Fortinos for some groceries.

Let's see how far I get on the list.
On your mark - get set - go.

happy birthday jeff

Today is my brothers birthday. Since I am 50, he must be turning 49.

One of my favourite surprises that I was ever able to pull off was the time that I arranged that Jeff meet his celebrity crush Mag Ruffman.

A number of years ago I was able to contact her before an appearance at a Home Show in Hamilton and ask her if she was willing to meet Jeff. She said yes and the plot was afoot.

I concocted a story which had Martin having a booth at the Home Show and me having to bring down concrete colour samples down to him. I asked if Jeff would bring his camera to get some video and pictures so that we could perhaps use it in advertising. Off we went to the Convention Center.

When we got there I explained to Jeff that Mag was doing a presentation and then it was arranged that we were to go to meet her. The 'concrete colour samples' that I had been lugging around was actually a dozen roses that Jeff was to present to Mag.

She gave a very good presentation with a very happy guy sitting in the front row with a big smile on his face.




We met her and
Mag was such a good sport.

She made such
a fuss over him.

I don't know
if he ever washed
the lipstick off.






We actually met her again a number of years later
and I took some video of the occasion.
There is 6 glorious seconds of youtube video
showing Jeff talking to Mag.

Great memories.

more trees

I do like trees. 

Especially sturdy ones with very low branches that I can climb up on. 

Trees with leaves and trees with blossoms. 

Trees that have nests - the bird kind and the squirrel kind. 

Trees that loose their leaves and trees that are evergreen. 

Trees that have moss on them. 

Rough bark and smooth bark. 

Ones with tire swings.

I especially like ones that keep company with each other in a forest 

where the leaves of several years are slowly turning themselves 

into dirt beneath a canopy of green. 

One of my favourite trees is in my backyard. It is a maple and it allows us shade on a sunny day. It was hit hard by the ice one year and never fully recovered. One year it had very large leaves and I took one and was going to press it between the pages of a book. It was such a large leaf that we did not own a book large enough that part of it wasn't poking out.
Yeah for trees!

down the road

what a lovely photograph

it makes me want to find this road and

stroll down it

Uncle Donovan

The 2012 Olympic Summer Games is set to begin 

in London England this summer.

While I am not a fanatic about watching the Olympics 

there are some rather thrilling remembrances for me of past Olympic games. 

Nadia Comaneci, the Canadian Men's hockey team, Greg Louganis.

An old friend's sister was in the luge many years ago. 

My sister-in-law's sister was a coach of a Danish speed skater.

Years ago my daughter Karen was told by one of her parents that Donovan Bailey was related to us. Karen's maternal grandmother's maiden name is Bailey and so Karen was told that Donovan Bailey was her grandmothers brother thus leaving Karen with the realisation that the great runner Donovan Bailey was also her great uncle. Karen went so far as to tell people at school of her famous relative.

Problem is that Grandma Eleveld (nee Bailey) 

doesn't look very much like her brother. 

or does she??

another Carol who I just love

Later on today my brother Jeff and I are going to see Carol Burnett.
I am so looking forward to it.
I got her latest book and have been reading it all week.
Below is part of an interview she gave describing the show that we are going to see.

Forty years on, CAROL BURNETT’s self-titled CBS variety series (which aired from 1967 to 1978) still stands tall as an exemplar of TV sketch comedy. She chatted with us in regard to her traveling show "Laughter and Reflection."
You’ve done this show before.
Uh huh. The show is called “Laughter and Reflection”; I’ve been doing this quite a few years as an extension of the Q&As I did on my TV show as a warm up every week. They were such fun to do, I decided I might go out and do some evenings in theaters, bump up the lights and just wing it, you know? It’s a little nerve-racking at times, but always exciting, and fun because there are no “plants” in the audience, I don’t read any questions that are pre-submitted, and I never know what anyone is going to ask. It’s totally seat of the pants. What it does is keep the adrenaline and the old gray matter ticking.
Each show is different, although over the years I’ve grown to expect certain questions that are always the same. I call on questioners at random, but usually somebody’s gonna ask me how I came about doing the Tarzan yell, or “is Tim Conway really that funny in real life?” I love that expression, “in real life.” And how did I find Vicki [Lawrence] and Harvey [Korman], and what were my most embarrassing moments—things like that. So I can call up some stories that actually have developed out of these evenings over the years.

it is a matter of perspective

another odd picture that I find interesting

more cute

ain't that a sight