walk blog 10

The last posting was of my walk last Friday where I met Mom while walking.
Another interesting thing happened on that walk.

I had been heading home with my loot which consisted of two bright orange Talize bags
that had been recruited for duty and had been filled quite abundantly
with potential laundry soap containers that had been deftly pilfered
from the recycling bins set out for Friday collection in Hamilton, Ontario.

I was walking back home, listening to a podcast, when I could hear in the background someone yelling.
"Hey, you, hey"
"Hey lady"
"Hey, you lady"

There hadn't been anyone else on the street other than a kid who was playing outside.
I am guessing about 8 years old or so.
 Could have been older but also could have been younger.
I am assuming that the kid belonged to the voice that was calling out.

I did not turn around to pay attention to the voice.
Did not really know that the kid was talking to me.
So I kept walking.

Then I heard the voice say something that made me think it had been talking to me.
It turns out that voice had wanted to ask me a question.
A question that I didn't know exactly how to answer.
"Hey, lady, are you poor?"

I think that the kid was thinking he could meet his first 'bag lady'.
But some questions in this life just do not get answered.

Sorry kid.

walk blog 9

Look who I found on my walk

wiith my loot

gratitude week 4

A family member.

It was harder than I thought to start this one.
Who to choose?
My family is consists of many people.
Who gets the honour? or who would prefer not to be written about?

Since not a whole lot of people read this
I figure that I am risking little in communicating my gratitude for ...
my mother.

Carol Mabel Joyce Eleveld (nee Bailey)

I have known my mother all of my life....
But not all of hers.

I certainly can't write here all that I can. That would probably take a book.
And as for pictures there are a ton of them.

It is really hard to think of my mother without thinking of her role as a wife to my father.
Lots can be said about marriage and theirs is not a perfect one.
But it is one that has many aspects that I wish to emulate.
Suffice to say : they each make the other a better person.

She has a great sense of integrity
(I don't know that it has ever been questioned - by anyone I know - ever)

She has a wonderful sense of humour.

She is tenacious.

She is kind and loving.

Her faith is evident.

She works hard and gives everything she does her best.

She always has been my best cheerleader.

I could go on for pages but I feel her blushing already (and maybe crying)

I love you Mom

makes me want to try this

walk blog 8

Remarkable

One might not equate the above picture 

with my walking

 but equate away.

Found this while walking over the Linc overpass on West 5th.

It had been used as a planter and was sitting among a number of plain old planters 

with a various assortment of dead and dying plants entombed within.

It turns out to be rather unremarkable in its markings.

The bottom only says made it Italy.

But it looks fancy dancy with a lot of gold on it.

Don't really know why I picked it up.

It seemed to want to come to my house.

So it did.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

That same day over another Linc overpass - this time on Upper Wentworth

but what did I espy in the grass by the side of the road.

A spoon.

One isn't usually too thrilled by a spoon 

but it looked remarkably similar to the set of spoons that I own.

So remarkably alike that I felt it necessary to pick up the spoon and bring it home.

It is not identical.

But close enough for me.

Sounds good to me

another nifty idea for people who have little people in their lives

Trying to post from my phone

We will see if this works. Did it?

Who is upside down?

Don't know how Google knew 

how to put these pictures that I took today together

but they did

and they make me smile

Time and trees

Don't know how accurate the above statistics are.

But pretty sure mankind is not that good at taking care of the earth.

Since I am a part of mankind.

I, too, am guilty.

Titanic

Watched Titanic again not that long ago.

Enjoyed it 

but have seen it so many times 

that I got more enjoyment

 out of the deleted scenes 

then the actual movie.

poor doggie

Hey Blinkin

Goodbye Rita

Today was the memorial service for Rita teGrotenhuis.

A lovely lady.

The mother-in-law of my daughter Anne.

The mother of my son-in-law Ken.

The Oma of two of my grandchildren.

A thrower of very nice birthday parties.

At Anne's baby shower. 

 Rita had to get sprung from the hospital 

to come to the shower 

and it just showed me so clearly her determination.

A wonderful lady who will be missed.

I love Lucy

An answer to yesterday's question

Just how many chairs was Wendy going to sit in?

Turns out way more than I took pictures of

But here are several that I did I catch her in

Luckily for her I didn't get a picture of her sitting in the

African Birthing Chair

mostly because she didn't sit in it. 

She wouldn't because I had made myself annoying

and had not promised not to post any picture I took.

But she sat in plenty of others.....

I can sit in 

I can sit out

I can sit while the dentist takes my tooth out.

Wendy, you are fun to 'road trip' with 

be it near or far

be it on foot 

or in the car.

Thanks for being my friend.

Sinfully Sweet....and a question

Last Friday whilst eating our way down Ottawa Street 

we stumbled upon a delightful place.

Sinfully Sweet was a charming little respite from the heat.

We sat quietly in the window and chatted.

We mostly wanted to figure out

 just how many chairs Wendy was going to sit in 

before our afternoon was over.

We decided to split the three desserts three ways 

so that we each could try three desserts.

The purveyors of the establishment were terrific 

and I will put it on my list of places to go again.

Yummy

gratitude week 3

Family

Have been putting this one off because I don't know that I will do the topic 'family' justice.
In fact, I know that I won't.

A simple little word.

Family is that group of people that I have come from.
The Elevelds and the Baileys.
A group of pretty fine people and some odd ducks
( I count myself among the oddest of the odd ducks )
And when it comes to the extended family I feel so very close to some of them
and some of them I do not believe I have ever met.

And Family includes another group.
One that I have married into.
One that has welcomed me and included me with love.
One with whom I have taken the last name given to me at my birth,
and after marrying Martin, have forever changed it to theirs  - Joldersma.

And another part of family,
perhaps the best of all,
is the family that I helped make with Martin.
It started with our four daughters and two sons.
Now others join us, spouses of our children,
children of our children.
Others have joined us, some just for a time.
But all, I feel, have made my life better.