Lights

On Sunday morning, I got up early and pulled out all of our Christmas decorations. I wanted to get the Christmas lights up outside before it got too late. I did have a couple of opportunities earlier, but the rain caused me to postpone my task. It wasn't raining on Sunday but it sure was windy. I can deal with the wind, it's one of the reasons I like Victoria.

Laura helped me hold the lights as I strung them along the gutter, then we plugged them in an found out that one of the strings of icicles didn't work. We had to take them down and start over again. I'll have to try and remember next time to see if the lights work before putting them up. After that was done, we put up the rest of the lights around the door, the window and around the bush in front of the window.

It is so nice to see the lights shining when I come home from work. It feels so festive and warm. A couple of years I've not bothered to put up the lights because we've been too busy and it was so disappointing. I think I have to get some new lights though, the ones we have are getting so old and worn out. There's also the power factor as well, because the old lights use so much electricity. I'll have to see if I can find some discounted lights after Christmas is over so that I can get them cheap for next year.

We also have a wreath on our door which Laura made when she was at her Grama's house last week. It adds a nice touch to the entryway.

On my next day off, we are getting a tree and then decorating the inside of our house. We used to have an artificial tree but we stopped using it a few years ago because the kids out grew it. Every year they asked if the tree was shrinking. It was only a five foot tree so as the kids got bigger it did seem to them that it was getting smaller. I used to have to lift them up to put the angel on the top of the tree (they take turns each year) but when they could just reach up and do it themselves, it seemed funny to them. It's not as though I could lift any of them up anymore.

December, Faster Than the Speed of Time

It starts out with people saying, “Only a month until Christmas” and you think: “I've got lots of time.”

It sneaks up on you. It gets busier at work, you get busier at home, you have more meetings to attend; and then there's the parties. Before you know it, it's nine days before Christmas, no more pay days and only two days off. What happened to the month? There's still so much to do. The tree isn't up, the shopping is not done, you have people to visit, food to buy, the house to clean, laundry to wash; the list goes on.

Why couldn't December go at a February pace. The shortest month of the year always seems like the longest and December, one of the longest, always seems like the shortest. And it seems to get worse every year as you silently curse the people who are organized as they tell you they finished their Christmas shopping in October.

I think that we do it to ourselves though. We thrive on pressure and December is when we can get the biggest mouthful, trying to choke it down as we run off in a panic to our next imperative task. We need to be busy and we like to have the attention as we tell others how much we still have to do before the big day. We all know it's coming and we could really prepare ahead of time but we don't. Everyone has the same 365 days in a year. That's why some stores will be open 24 hours a day before Christmas and some will even be opened on Christmas day! There was a time, not too long ago (I think it was the year before we went from a paper dollar bill to a loonie) everything was closed on Sunday -- every Sunday. Everything was closed and no one worked. Can you imagine what that was like? Maybe things were slower then, less commercialized.

Were things better then? No, different. We are evolving. I'm sure that, back in the time when everything was closed on Sundays, that people felt busy as well, remembering back to a time when they seemed “not quite so busy.” Was there a time when everything was closed on Saturday as well as Sunday?

It will be interesting to see what the future brings. How much busier can we get? Maybe we are not any busier at all. It could be that we are just a different kind of busy and we adjust our lives accordingly.

Something to think about, but I have to go now, I've got so much to do today. Christmas will be here in nine days, you know!

Christmas Party

Saturday was the Thrifty Christmas Party at the Cedar Hill Rec. Centre. Susan and I went for dinner as we usually do and left shortly after we had finished eating. The party gets a little crazy after that. We got all dressed up and had a good time. It's great to have a free meal once in a while. Then we went to the video store and got a movie to watch for the rest of the evening. Because we were all dressed up, we got the kids to take a few pictures of us so I thought I'd share them here as we don't have many nice 'couple' pictures. We still have Susan's Christmas Party to go to next week. It's hard to believe that Christmas is so close, such a busy time of year!

The Most Intelligent Thing on TV

On channel 1 right now in our area they are showing the Holiday Fire Log. It is a simply a camera pointed at a burning fire in a fireplace. A hand comes in occasionally to stoke the fire and put on another log. Other than that it is just a fire, but to me it is the most interesting thing on TV.

I love to sit and watch it, listening to the crackling of the flames. I can almost smell the smoke of the burning wood. It takes me back to when I was a kid and we used to have a fireplace. It made the room so warm and comfortable, a special holiday feeling. It was best after playing out in the snow all day, coming in to sit by the warm fire.

It is apparently a very popular channel, which got me thinking. When I was in elementary school (30 years ago), the Grade 7 students used to make fire logs to put in the fireplace which would burn in brilliant colours. It was a popular thing because almost everyone had a fireplace in their house. Now I doubt that they would be able to do the same thing with such success because of the lack of hearths. The few people who do burn in their house probably do so with a wood stove, or a gas fireplace.

Times change and with it go traditions and rituals which were once important to us. It's nice to think back and remember how we felt during those times, holding on to warm memories. The fire channel helps me with that, try it out, maybe you'll feel the same.

Football Banquet

Last night was Kyle's football banquet, a wrap up of the season of football. The Bantam Warriors, Kyle's team, all received team jackets. They also received their team and individual pictures.

There was a great roast beef dinner to start with. Then came dessert which all the boys devoured pretty much before anyone else could get to the table. Glad I ate seconds of the dinner; I was stuffed and didn't really care that I missed out on dessert.

After dinner, the President of Spartan's Football did a little speech, then the Head Coach from each team came up and handed out awards to three of their outstanding players: Best Defensive Player, Best Offensive Player, and Most Valuable Player.
That was it. Short and sweet, done in an hour and a half.

I can't wait until next year, Kyle will be in the Midget league. They can stay in Midgets for three years, unlike Bantam which is only two. It just seemed like they were coming together as a team and then most of them move up to the next level. It will be a good start for the Midget team though, even if only half of them sign up again next season.

Splash!

Now, this is the type of Victoria Winter that I love -- rain!

A couple of days ago they were threatening snow, and we did get a little bit, but then, yesterday it warmed up to 13 degrees and the rain came down in torrents; still is. That is fine with me because no one in Victoria can drive in the snow.

The best part, when it's raining like this, is the puddles. The leaves have been falling from the trees for a couple of months now and have clogged up the drains in the road. This combination provides big puddles in various places along the side of the road and I know where most of the good ones are. There is something about driving through a puddle and making a big splash as I go through which makes me feel like a kid; like jumping in a big puddle with gum boots on. I haven't owned gum boots since I was little, so now I just use my car.

The thing that makes me feel better about doing this, is when I'm following someone who is doing exactly the same thing. This tells me that I'm not alone in thinking that there is something exciting about driving through a big puddle. I make sure that I am driving far enough behind that most of the water settles back down so that I can make a big splash as well. Even though it's fun to watch, it's better actually doing it.

There's a lesson in this: Remember to always find something which makes you feel like a kid, it helps to keep you young at heart.

Old Picture

When the kids were little, we were downtown and decided to get their picture done in an old style photo shop. The boys were not impressed as you can see by the looks on their faces, even though they were carrying guns. Laura thought it was great because she got to dress up in a pretty dress.

The picture has been on the wall in our hallway since it was taken. I recently took it down and noticed that it was quite dirty and a little damaged so I cleaned it up and scanned it for safe keeping. Then I thought that it would be a good idea to share it with everyone. I just love the picture so much, it holds memories of a fun family time when all the kids didn't mind being with us in public (teenagers; you understand). I'm glad we got it done, even with the boys' protests. I'm sure they will be one day as well.

Enjoy.

Christmas Is Just Around The Corner

A couple of years ago I come upon a website which has a very nice advent calendar. I forgot about it last year but this year I remembered in time and went on a search. It was quite difficult to find because it comes from a Finnish site.

You cannot open before the date, but when you do, you get a nice picture, a positive statement, saying or story, and a song. You can look at previous years on the site to see what I mean.

I enjoyed it so much the year that I found it, I thought I would share it here.

I have included a couple of other sites which are also from Finland. Santa Television and Santa Claus Office where they have a real Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland. The nearest town, Rovaniemi, is 8 km away. There are a couple of webcams which run for all of December so that you can see what Santa is doing. Pretty neat stuff, especially if your kids are little and still believe in the big guy.

Football Wrap Up

On Sunday we went over to Cloverdale to attend Kyle's last football game of the season. We had to be at the terminal at 8:00am so that we could be on the 9:00 sailing. When we got out into the open water, the sea was very rough and the ferry rocked back and fourth, making many of the football Mom's seasick. Once we were on dry land again, everyone was feeling better.

The game was not scheduled to start until 2:15 so we had quite a wait. A ten o'clock sailing would have been much better for us if there had've been one. In Cloverdale there is nothing as far as malls or places to shop, at least around the facility the boys were playing at. We asked around and someone told us that there was a Starbucks about a twenty minute walk down the road. We considered for a while whether it would be worth the walk -- we certainly had the time. The weather was kind of cloudy and it was a little cold so we finally decided that the walk would warm us up.

It took exactly twenty minutes to walk there. When we went in to order our drinks, we discovered that they had started making Eggnog Lattes, which is our very favourite drink and we ordered three. Mmm, they were good. By the time we got back to the field, we only had about half an hour to wait for our boys to play.

They did very well to begin with and were up on them 7 to 6 but then Cloverdale scored a last minute touchdown going into half time to make it 14 to 7 after getting a two point conversion. The Warriors played so well though and really held them off. Three times Cloverdale had them pinned at the goal line and three times they denied them and got the ball back. The Warriors also picked off three interceptions. The Warrior Defence played awesome through the whole game. It was just too bad that the Offensive line couldn't gain any ground. They walked away knowing that they had played a good game none the less.

I walked away from the game with a very raw throat from cheering them on. It's funny, I always used to watch the games quietly cheering in my head and taking pictures. Now I am one of the loudest parents out there and Laura is the photographer. It makes the game much more exciting and it helps the team too I think. The Warrior parents were much louder than the Cloverdale parents. I believe that the more I understand the game, the easier it is to cheer as well, at least I know what I'm cheering for.

They didn't win but they were winners and had come a long way from all of the losses at the beginning of the season. They ended the season with two wins, one tie and seven losses and ended up thirteenth in the standings. They have a lot to be proud of.

Next year a lot of them will move up to Midgets, Kyle among them. That's when things get really serious. The boys that are moving up really gelled together and if they stay in contact as they plan to, they will help make up an awesome team next season. I'm looking forward to it.


Tonight Kyle has his last practice. It is a helmet only, just for fun practice because they have no more games. After that, we have to return all the gear and then in a couple of weeks there is a banquet to wrap things up.

I am so glad that Kyle decided that he wanted to play football. It is a great sport and it has taught him a lot as far as teamwork and self discipline. It is also good for keeping him out of trouble. His association is with a great bunch of kids and for that I am thankful. Here's to a great season and looking forward to next year. I love being a football Dad!

Halloween

On Saturday night, Laura hosted her first dance. She and her friends reserved the common room in our coop for the event. They bought pop and chips and made little invitations to give out.

She took our home stereo and Kyle's strobe light for music and effects. There were eight of them at our house early to help set up. When the guests started showing up, they were all boys; about fifteen in all. Finally about half way through the dance, a few more girls showed up and it really started going.

The music was loud and it was very hot in the small hall with all the bodies in there. I stood outside and checked in on them from time to time, just to make sure that things didn't get out of hand. They were all so cute dancing the night away. There were a couple of times that the boys got out of hand and I had to send them back in, but all in all it was a good little crowd. About twenty-five kids in all.
It was supposed to be a halloween dress up party but no one really dressed up, they were all more interested in the dancing part of it. Laura tried to organize a few games too, but there didn't seem to be enough interest to get them all playing.
Finally at about 9:45 the crowd dispersed and we were left with the clean up, which didn't take too long with all the girls helping out.

All in all I think that it was a great success. Laura got to see first hand how much work something like that is to organize and run. It was a good experience for her though and I'm glad that we had a facility like that so that she could host it, because there is no way we would be able to have even close to that many kids in our house at once.


After this party was over though, I was told that she wanted to go trick-or-treating with her friends and not with me. :(

It was so strange staying in this year. I'm just glad that I was right there for all of my kids Halloween years. They are special memories for me. They get older and move into different stages in their life and I am happy for the time that I've had.

Warriors Win First Game!

It is a victorious day. Kyle's football team, the West Shore Warriors, won their first game. They played the Coquitlam Chargers at Royal Athletic Park and won, 30 to 0! This was a very sweet victory, as you can see by the look on Kyle's face.


Coach Paul asked Kyle(#2) at the beginning of the game if he would like to be the kick-off yeller. Kyle said he'd have to practice first and then yelled out "WARRIORS, ARE YOU READY!" as loud as he could. He also was switching between corner-back and line-backer. He likes to play in the line-backer position because he gets to really "hit a lot", and hit a lot he did! The whole team played so well and we are very proud of them.

The Warriors started out by getting two touch downs in the first quarter to make thirteen points (one of the extra points was blocked). During the second quarter, in the last minute they kicked a field goal to make the score 16 - 0.

The second half of Warrior games are usually their downfall, so Coach Paul had a different approach for their half time break. Instead of going back to the locker room or sitting in the corner of the field relaxing, they stayed out on the field, running around a bit to stay warmed up. This kept them pumped up. It worked because they played in the second half with the same drive and energy as they did in the first half.

During the second half, the Warriors scored two more touch downs and barely let the Chargers get a first down, let alone a touch down. Last year they lost badly at the hand of the same team, which is why it was such a good win for them. Last year's game was also the first time that Kyle was knocked out cold playing football, which was one of the hardest things for a parent to watch. One of the coaches on the other team recognized Kyle's name and commented to him that he didn't get knocked out this time which Kyle thought was kind of funny.

The Warriors have two more games to play this season. Next week they are in Nanaimo and then the following week we are over to the mainland. Hopefully this win will boost their confidence enough to help them win the next two games. They have always played very well as a team and have come a long way during the season. They have worked hard and kept their spirits up, not letting losses (usually only by a hand full of points) and one tie game get them down and today they were rewarded for all of their hard work. This win was well deserved!

Prodigy

Yesterday Susan and I were standing in line at Starbucks and there was a woman with a young boy in a stroller ahead of us. He had beautiful curly, red hair. He was reading things on the product signs, but he looked much too young to be reading. I asked the mother how old he was and she told me he was just three. I said that is amazing, but she said what's amazing is that he can do addition and started reading numbers when he was eighteen months old. She explained that they don't know where he gets it from, that he just does it on his own. He loves reading and can't get enough of it. Seems like they have a little genius on their hands. It would be interesting to see if he keeps advancing at that accelerated rate as he gets older and if so, what field he branches off into.

Dragonfly

As Laura and I were finishing up in the garden, she pointed to the ground and asked, "What's that?" I leaned over to see what she had found and to my surprise, it was a dragonfly's exoskeleton. I'd never seen one before. It was completely dried out and light as a feather. We took a couple of pictures of it and then put it on Susan's dragonfly garden stone. It was an interesting find.
Dragonflies are Susan's favorite thing. She has many different pins and she wears one on her blouse every day.

A Special Day and Another Garden Update

Today is a special day. Thirteen years ago today, Susan and I were heading up to Qualicum Beach to be married. Hard to believe that it's been that long. Seems like just yesterday to me. Funny how time just slips away on us. It was the best thing I've ever done in my life though.

On another note, I dug up my garden today and planted the bulbs. It was quite a job and we ended up with a very full wheelbarrow. There are pictures below of the end product. I put most of the bulbs on both sides of our front door. I've also posted a picture of my little helper. I was told that the bulbs should be in by October the first, so I actually did something on time with my garden. I'll post more pictures again, when the tulips and daffodils come up in the Spring.

Saanich Fair Produces Bulbs for my Garden

On the Labour Day long weekend, our family tradition is to go to the Saanich Fair. It is a wonderful family day that we use to wrap up our Summer. We have only missed one year I think, and that was when we went over to the PNE which was very disappointing to us because everyone was tired from travelling over there and it was so much bigger. We'll stick with our small town fair thanks.

There are farmers fruit and vegetable stands where we always buy corn and some fruit. Lots of animals: bunnies, horses, donkeys, chickens, ducks, llamas, pigs and cows. Food, fun pictures, games and rides; in order of importance to us. The burgers and the hot dogs, the fries and the corn. Don't forget the mini donuts -- I stood in line for over an hour this year to get four bags. It was worth it. We play some games but no one goes for the rides anymore which is fine by me, too much time in line ups. There are also raffles and contests.

Susan took a dollar from my pocket and entered a raffle in which she won $100 gift certificate to Elk Lake gardening centre. So yesterday we went and bought some gloves, fertilizer, a few tools and a whole bunch of bulbs. It is so exciting to think that I am on the ball enough with my garden that we will have daffodils and tulips in the early spring. Now I just have to decide what I am going to tear out first and where I'm going to put all my bulbs.

My Garden

As promised at the beginning of the Summer, here are the pictures of my garden right now. You can see that it has grown quite a bit compared to the first few pictures that I posted. My pride and joy is the sunflowers which are amazing. Even though I planted them late and it has not been a very hot season, they bloomed beautifully. Again, the pictures do the garden no justice and it is much more stunning when standing right beside it.

I'll be more prepared next year and plant earlier. I also have a better idea of what to do and how certain plants and flowers grow. It has been fun and I can't wait to start over again next Spring.

That is my latest update. More to come soon.

No more Baking

Wednesday was my last day of baking. I am now going to be working as a store receiver and also in file maintenance. Very exciting to be moving on from being a baker after seventeen years. My sinuses will thank me I'm sure. I guess this means that I'll have to change my profile.

I've been very busy this Summer and haven't been able to find the time to blog. So much has happened and I'd like to write it all down here now but I think that it'd be better if I took my time and write one subject at a time. So, here's to a wonderful busy Summer past and a bit of a slow down going into Autumn, with more time to reflect and write. I'll fill you in on a lot that has happened over the Summer in the coming weeks hopefully.

Bunnies

We have a couple of residents at the entrance to our co-op. The black one was named Roscoe by our neighbour and the other one we named Bud. They are so cute. Most of the time they are facing away from each other so that they can bolt in different directions if they get spooked (there are usually cats prowling around). Now, every time we are driving up our road, we look for the bunnies and it is disappointing if they are not there to greet us. The black one was actually the pet of one of the families on the street but he got loose and found a friend. Have you ever tried to catch a rabbit? Funny bunnies!

Woodwork

This year, Laura did a couple of woodwork projects. She was so excited about it. Each day when she was working on them, she would bring them home to show me her progress. The first project was a candle holder and the second was a "Pocket Watch" hanging clock. The clock is hanging in our computer room and the candle holder is on the TV cabinet. She was so pleased when I hung the clock!

New Addition

I just received a new addition to my Coca-Cola collection: two cans from Lebanon! A friend I work with just came back from there and brought them back for me. You can see them in the first picture below. The other side of the cans has the regular English label. Very cool.
I decided that it would be a good time to showcase the rest of my prized collection. I am amazed at how much I have accumulated over the years, especially for something that just started out as a few glasses and cans. The cabinet that I keep it all in has been outgrown and I must look for an alternative display.
In some of the pictures, there is a lot of stuff crammed behind that you can't see. I am very proud of my collection as you might be able to tell so I am glad that I could share it with you.

How does my garden grow?

Very well I must say. The pictures below do it no justice. I am so proud of my little gardening project. I had no idea how relaxing gardening is. I go out each night and take out some weeds and trim some flowers back. Then I give it a little water. It is quiet meditation. I am so glad that I started it. I always thought that a garden would take up too much of my time but it is really not much of a time commitment at all, especially when I am looking forward to it after a tough day.
Another plus is that every time I go out my door, or when I come home, I have a lovely garden to look at.
Relaxation, Meditation, Beautification, Fascination, Contemplation.

Victoria Day

It was a very good Victoria Day. Laura and I went downtown at 8:00 to go and watch the parade. We sat in front of Susan's coffee shop. It was very long though. Three hours. Good weather for it though, not too hot or too cold. I really like the drums in the marching bands. Something about the feeling, when they are right in front of you, you can feel it in your chest, pounding.

That evening we had BBQ hamburgers and smokies for dinner. So nice to have the BBQ out for the summer once more. I'm going to be cooking outside this year a lot more than I did last year. I love outdoor cooking. Something about standing in the fresh air in front of an open flame grill. It's the best kind of cooking. Much better than having the hot oven on in the house!

Story of the Beardo

Yes, I was called a "Weirdo Beardo" and I can tell you that I was not too popular in my house for the month that I was growing it.

When I was a young boy, I dreamed about a time when I could start shaving and growing hair on my face. As I got older I finally was able to grow a goatee, but my cheek hair was never thick enough to bother with a full beard. Besides that, it drives me nuts if I let my beard grow on my cheeks. Itch, itch, scratch, scratch.

This last winter, I decided to let it grow. I got past the itchy stage and it was actually coming in evenly. I had to let it grow into a full beard to satisfy the kid inside of me. The kid who always wanted to grow a beard, just like my Dad!

Let me tell you, I didn't like it. I could not get comfortable with it and I daily wanted to just shave it off. My goal though, was to grow it and then get a picture of myself so that I could see whenever I wanted that I'd had a real, full beard.

Below I have posted the progression of my beard. Now I will put a current picture of myself in my profile so that you can all see what I presently look like. I find it difficult to take a picture of myself, so I will probably change this one soon.

And now you all know the story of the Beardo.