a year in review

Wow, I sit here thinking on all I have had the opportunity to see and do this past year and am left in wonder at what 2008 offered.

It began with good friends ringing in the new year at the Irish Times where a friend's band "Kitangus" played.
It was warm and lovely and a good indication to the year that lay ahead.


January and February saw my life altered through the experience of being part of a wicked production team and performing in "the Vagina Monologues".


A life shaping experience that was so much more than one can imagine. The play itself is transformational, add to that the women who so courageously wore the skin of the women whom shaped the play, to share their stories. Truly an awe inspiring production. Yay for "the web" ! The show raised $30 000 for the Womens' Shelter locally and that is a jaw droping accomplishment I am proud to have been a part of.


Between shows, preparations for the "Shadows" project, vocal coaching and directing for the Autism Society, the spring moved along quickly. I finally brought home my first electric guitar...something I have been saving for , for well....a loooooong time...she is soooo pretty and red and the sound...yummy!



It also was the second annual "World Tiara Day", the day we don our tiaras and walk tall as the queens we all are...and I am happy to note it has tripled in particiation since last year.



May saw me turn 40 with friends and family....yay 40.


40 means....well..."40". It is the ultimate response.....why? "well... because I am 40"
And because I am 40, I got a new tattoo......my own personal faery to travel with me through life.



Then there was the gift of a trip in June to see my stepsis and family in Philly combined with a week in New York.
My mom and Reg, Daiv and I took in Broadway, art, sights and sounds that left us a little breathless...whew..it is a wonderful crazy paced town.





It also got me wanting more! More travel please....
David re-introduced me to the language of art at the Met and the Moma and the Philly Museum of art, an excellent lesson to take with me alone to Europe.

Then along came Europe.....all its splendor,sounds, smells, tastes, family connections, friends; new and old, and those stones...



Those glorious old stones that resonate of times gone by and times to come.
A journey that inspires me to keep reaching for new creative energy. That reminded me of what is important in our world...the little things, that teach our hearts to be more. The trip that reminded me that art for art's sake is still out there.

Coming home was a poignant and bittersweet thing. Not for the reasons you may think, I was excited to be home with Daiv and the furries and my bed, and unpack....



but it also saw me say goodbye to my dear pussycat friend Abby, another gift of a creature who showed us so many life's lessons over her 16 years. A bittersweet farewell.




Home meant revving up into the holiday show season with not much preamble. Whew!
It meant the sewing machine came out, kitty pi's were knit and prezzies baked and sewn for family and friends. I did not shop in one mall for a Christmas prezzie....I love making things for the holidays.




And then....
Who knew so much would be altered on account of 2 and a 1/2 feet of snow :)

I have been doing snow dances for so many years it seems it all fell at once in response...glorious, blissful blankets of snow. Okay so I couldn't get my car out of the driveway for a week......snow is magic.



This year its magic included my Mom and Reg's new baby, Maggie their Golden retriever...



I am thankful for all of life's mysteries; sorrowful and happy, that remind us what living is all about.
2008 has been the cherry on a pretty good life of sundaes, and I am so grateful for every moment.

I hope that when you look back you also see that you are looking forward, and I wish you all a happy remembering.

doesn't anyone want to leave a note anymore????

I used to love coming in and reading your thoughts, but alas, perhpas there are no more thoughts to have?

A crowning achievement

Does not everyone wear a crown for their Christmas dinner?

It has just been brought to my attention that perhpas not everyone does?

I am shocked and quite concerned at this. Why.....it has been custom to do this every Christmas dinner as long as I can remember.
The smell of the explosion after the cracker is pulled, the flinging of the toys inside the cracker, across the room and down the wall with the strength it needs to tear those crackers apart... the inevitabele colour choices of those crowns, the playing with the toys and ofcourse....the all important.....

READING OF THE JOKES...LOLOLOLOLOLOOLOL!

What would Christmas be without them...?????

A Very Merry Christmas, Hanukah, kwanzaa, Solstice to everyone

It is here...that peaceful lovely feeling that comes in with snow and family and smells of home.

Wishing you all peace love and joy this holiday and the year ahead...and maybe just a little bit more snow??????

Happy Festivus!

We are putting up the aluminum tree and making preparations for wrestling :)

Thank you Seinfeld!


(from the web)
Main elements of Festivus

The Airing of GrievancesThe Festivus celebration as described on Seinfeld includes four major components:

The Festivus Pole: The Costanzas' tradition begins with an aluminum pole, which Frank praises for its "very high strength-to-weight ratio." During Festivus, the unadorned Festivus Pole is displayed. The pole was chosen apparently in opposition to the commercialization of highly decorated Christmas trees, because it is "very low-maintenance," and also because the holiday's patron, Frank Costanza, "find[s] tinsel distracting."

The Airing of Grievances: At the beginning of the Festivus dinner, each participant tells friends and family of all the instances where they disappointed him or her that year. As quoted from Frank Costanza: "I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it!"

Festivus dinner: In "The Strike," a celebratory dinner is shown on the evening of Festivus prior to the Feats of Strength. The on-air meal appeared to be meat loaf or spaghetti in a red sauce. In Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us by Allen Salkin, drinking is encouraged with hearty beer, rum, bourbon, or wine. In the episode, no alcohol was served, but George Costanza's boss, Mr. Kruger, drank from a flask.

The Feats of Strength: After the dinner, the head of the family tests his or her strength against one participant of the head's choosing. Festivus is not considered over until the head of the family has been pinned to the ground. A participant is allowed to decline to attempt to pin the head of the family only if they have something better to do instead.

The Festivus Miracle

Although it is not an official element of the holiday or its celebration, the phenomenon of the Festivus Miracle is mentioned several times in the original episode. Kramer causes the occurrence of two "miracles" by inviting two betting-window operators to dinner with Elaine (men whom Elaine wished to avoid), and by causing Jerry's girlfriend Gwen to believe that Jerry was cheating on her. On these occasions, Kramer enthusiastically declared, "It's a Festivus miracle!"

The Origin of Festivus

The Festivus idea originally came to Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe from a tradition started by his father Daniel O'Keefe. The elder O'Keefe had discovered the Festivus holiday in a book, published in 1966, that outlined obscure holidays. (Read More)

The Human Fund

"The Human Fund" is a fake charity used used by George Costanza. Instead of buying Christmas gifts for his coworkers, he gave a cardthat stated that a donation had been made to a charitycalled "The Human Fund". The slogan of the Human Fund was "Money For People". It was such a good scam that George's boss, Mr. Kruger gave George a company check for $20,000 to "The Human Fund". Later, the accounting department informs Kruger the charity doesn't exist, causing a chain of events that sees George inviting Kruger to his father's Festivus celebration.

This just in....

Lunassa La fey, our faery cat, loves snow as much as I do, the dogs on the other hand are in the house.

..... Nessa chasing snowflakes...



catching snowballs in her paws...



and watching them disappear....



it is now covering the top of my snowboots.....hee hee heee..



I simply love snow!!!!!!!!


My little Lunassa La Fey kitty, loves snow too!!!!!!

And in other news.....

All extraneous shopping is done and not one corporate store was needed....yay for handmade for the holidays.


Blizzard warning in some areas of our coast.
It is currently -12 celsius and much more snow coming....lots more they say! :)

Good thing we are off now and can stay put and cozy up!

Everyone stay safe....it is crazy out in the world.

a new obsession emerges....

uh oh.......I have found something that I must learn to do.....WAAAANNNNNNNNTTTTTTT!



This is done by needle felting....and I am destined to become brilliant at this...make fabulous furries to go with my kitty pi's and be seen by millions on Oprah!





I suspect the fact that this technique is done by poking and poking the wool with a very sharp barbed needle could cause for a few ummm owie learning moments.
but look........how adorable ...seriously....?????

Maxine....

Why do we...????...

... end up with more things to do than time to do it???

No matter how well I plan, make lists, organize.....every year, my "to finish making" list gets biggr and bigger and there is this flurry of activity right up to Xmas eve, when I finally, in the 11th hour, complete all my gifts....exhausted and hoping I haven't forgotten anyone...

And then there was the year I made decoupaged terracotta planters for everyrone and slipped on the stairs on the way to Christmas gift opening and oooops....there goes Christmas.....every pot broken......not to mention my tail bone.......

Oh dear....memo to self, be careful on stairs.

Etsy me please....

Hello...I have officially etsy'd.

I love this site and have purchased many handmade items as gifts and now add myself to the group. Please check it out....

My store is "Seachild Comforts"

Well done Dr. Zonk.

My other dad, Dr. Reg Mitchell...is saying farewell to teaching and retiring.

This evening I attended a retirement party for Reg, where it was obvious how well respected and loved he has been by many, throughout the Academic societies of the world.
Award winning professor, well respected radio personality on the chemistry of daily living, beloved alter ego Dr. Zonk and pretty decent guy, I am happy to share a little snippet of his success here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisR3YJcaKU&feature=related
( copy into browser windown)

Ugh, snow good....windchill baddddddd!

Okay I give........the snow is awesome...0 degrees, ,minus 1, all good, but this? This is freaking cold and hurricane force winds and my car won't start and my feet are cold....damn..........who called the snow????????

Wasn't me!


and this pussycat is not impressed getting the wind blown up her butt either!

A gentle peace over the world....

It is a windy day, but a day that is clouded in hushy white sounds and peaceful streets. I love hearing the sound of scrunching snow instead of cars....people and sleds and happy excited faces are all about...ecstatic there is a snow day.

One thing that I have always noticed at moment's like these is the way neighbour reaches out to neighbour after the snows fall.
I see people digging out each other's pathways....driveways... and helping out with groceries for our seniors who don't feel safe walking about the slippery streets.

I love the magic that snow offers the world. A little reminder that it is about the village we live in, every one of us and we are in this together.

Our Budha is presiding over it all with grace and a smile...

It came... we played.... we caught snowflakes!

It is still falling and a magical hush has fallen over our world.

All the branches all have a light frosting and it is crisp and cold and just beautiful.

Of course Niko insisted on playing and tried very hard to catch snowflakes on his tongue.




Our old 15 yr old husky cross loves snow most of all though, and no arthritis can keep her in when the world is white....


She truly is my dog...





Our little pussycat is not sure what to do after she catches the flakes, they do not act the same as a mousie.

"Where did it go???"


<

and curled up by the fire after the fun is the best way to while away a snowy, cold winter night of pure purrrrrrfection with two best friends.




The fire is crackling, "It's a Wonderful Life" is playing on the TV, dinner smells delish, and snow.....I am smiling!

THE SNOWMAN COMETH.....

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED.

The snow has begun.......freezing rain now becming light and fluffy snowflakes.......

I have 2 very excited sled dogs also.........panting at the door to go and play......well...if they insist.......

Go ahead, try and catch a snowflake on your tongue.....ya know ya wanna!!!!!!!!!!!

White Rabbit....

I'm late...I'm Late.....ugh....I am late for class.............I should be driving!

Congrats to Dab Gallery

I am super excited to see one of the great Vagina Warriors from our last year's cast of the "Vagina Monologues" follow her dream and create an amazing art space here in town.

If you are in Chinatown...don't miss walking into Dab gallery and taking in some local artists.

It is truly inspiring to see someone take an idea to fruition like this. Way to Dab!!!!!!!!!

Let it Snow....

I have all paws crossed...I have told all the furries to cross their paws and am hoping that we get tons of snow here.

We don't often get snow and it is even threatening to snow for Christmas...

Oh please...oh please....oh please........ :)

Greece....

I am watching the news and the rioting in the streets of Athens. The same streets where just 2 months ago, I was freely walking and enjoying so much.
I am reeling with shock and sadness thinking on the faces of people I got to know, who remain amongst this turbulence now.

I haven't written much of the people whom I met, and who changed my perceptions of the world.
It is so intensely personal and hard to put into words, but so very special and for which I am grateful forever.
My experience was so positive, even amongst being haplessly lost in the Acropolis....even with my taxi getting haplessly lost enroute to the hotel. The air, the life, the people, wonderful.

The people I met taught me so much about what being Greek meant to them. Something I searched deep inwards to understand, being from such a new world.

I came to understand that to be Greek was to be a surviver.
It was the ability to keep a language, an alphabet, an entire history and culture alive amidst foreign occupations, and not being able to speak their own language outloud for hundreds of years.

It was rooted in the family unit grandma to grandchild...generation to generation..... in little abodes around a cooking fire.
It came from the humble stones of home.

I met a woman who sold beautiful leather goods for her family. A family that has sold and made leather goods since the Turkish occupation. She had studied Greek philosophy and was so happy to share her thoughts over wine with me.

We talked into the wee hours of what she called " the Greek condition". Her dark beautiful eyes explaining much more even, than her broken English.
A struggle to survive against oppression, a desire to survive and to be a free people, a struggle that is still entrenched in the young people today; as we are seeing on the streets of Greece everywhere.

This energy that lays just under the surface, has exploded after a police officer shot and killed a young man, even though that officer has been charged with manlaughter by a government who has yet to deal with the riots in its streets and the bullying of a police force that began them.

That energy of survival against oppression and occupation, against injustice and corruption.......it has the energy to move mountains.
It is hundreds of years in the making.
It isn't just young men who are protesting, it is young women, older women....regular people like you and I, who feel the surge of injustice moving them to act.





To touch a piece of Greece is to feel that energy rippling through every molecule.
People have asked me why I need to run my fingers over old stones and ruins....this is why, to absorb some of that energy, to feel, to experience, to take in.....to learn from the past.


I hold Greece close in my thoughts now and forever, a connection to a land so far away and yet so close to my heart.
Such a special place, so unlike anywhere else, so.... well...
...so Greek.

Why do we enjoy this soooooo much????

Taking our animals and dressig them in completely innapropriate things for the holidays.
I can't help myself...antlers, elf hats, santa scarfs...count me in and warn the furries...
A couple of elves for the holidays....

WANTTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do when you want something soooooooo bad and can't have it???????? or at least think you can't have it?

Ask Santa??????? Talk to a mortgage broker??????

Sigh............I think I will do both and make a wish on a star!

the fandamily

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Naughty or Nice?????

Miss Lunassa La Fey has been causing a little spot of bother since she found us 2 and a half years ago.
We knew she was a special kitty and she has proven this to be the case but go figure, this being her third holiday with us, this is the year she would discover......



THE TREE!

"Hmmmm.....I thnk this might look better over dere?"





"umm...Nessa.......what have you been doing?





"I don't know what white fluffy garland you iz talkin about?"

our wild child has a story to share.....

Too bad her person can't figure out how to link to photobucket...anyone???? Help??????

the Most Wonderful Time of the Year????

I know that I am known to be a holiday enthusiast ( and so is my dog, Niko :) ) and friends will mock my need to get the tree up at the beginning of Decemeber.....but some years are better than others.

We went out and got our tree, not our usual thing, normally we go and chop ours down from an ostrich farm and leave a little growing for another year.

This year though, time got away from us so we went to the tree place...you know the one, where dudes in wader pants and fuzzy hair try to sell you the biggest tree available in a parking lot surrounded by festive lights??

Well we were not fooled, we got the second biggest tree available :)Brought it home and set it up in the dining room, for the first time. Usually in the living room...again, switching it up.

I was real;ly not happy where it was but stayed silent. Decorating last night, I stepped back and put my slippered foot into the dog's water bowl, spilling said water everywhere, reacting and banging my head on the overhead lamp, and spilling glue onto my grandma's birthday present. Sigh......okay hint taken, finish it in the morning.;
Comes the morning......I decide to move the tree.....scene of first tree...was up in front of irror and behind ceiling lamp



I know.... you are all thinking...NOOOOOOOOO.....DON'T MOVE THE DECORATED TREE...... and you would all be right.
I slid the tree and all was well.....


.... and then crash, it came down to the ground....almost.... I caught it by a small branch and prevented it from completely crashing to the ground. Whew....

I set it back up, crooked in the stand...adjusted the hanging lights and realized it would be like that for awhile.
D came home and I fessed up to my movng attempts ( he had warned me not to try :() and then we spent the evening, undecorating the tree, moving it and redecorating it.......It is much better now.




I believe I have officially become my mother though, my mother who has a tree in every room of the house......my tree is decorated BEFORE hers this year...oh dear.

the holidays may kill me....

technology...ugh!

RIP my fair little pooter friend.
The computer that was my silver friend, my cyber voice, and keeper of my images alas, met an untimely moment with a tiled floor in Spain, and while it made it through my travels, for which I am ever grateful...it did not make it at home.


It has truly died......I am now trading it in for a new pooter but will miss my little silver buddy!

and can you believe....

I am siting on a train from Paris to London, all reserved seats, and a woman sits right beside me.

We get chatting, she asks me where I have been, I tell her Greece....she looks excited and says she has been to Greece....we remnisce together.

I say Spain,,,,
she says Spain...
I say the UK....she says the UK
i say Prague..(well you get the idea....parallel paths for sure).....we giggle

then she asks me where I am from, I say Canada

...she says she is from western Canada

I say I am from western Canada

....asks what city...

I tell her Victoria

she says she is from Victoria...

asks me whereabouts, I say Quadra and M.....she gets soooooo excited now, she also comes from my hood......we can't believe it.
I have not met very many western Canadians in my travels and this was right from my backyard.

We spent a lovely train ride comparing notes, sharing chocolate and giggling....the time went very fast and then we said goodbye.

These are the moments that make it all so special...the perosnal connections that come and then fleetingly go, but make permanent footprints on our journey

More to come...

Abigail Pussycat...1992-2008

About Abby- Abigail Pussycat.

She came to us a broken down, skinny kitten, living on the street, drinking puddle water and munching on bugs, tiny and sad , not knowing how to play.

She Showed up at Daiv's old apartment porch one Halloween night and meowed, the only time I ever heard her make a sound. She was meant to be apart of our lives and it was obvious she had made her choice. We named her Abigail after my favourite play "The Crucible"

We couldn't keep her in either of our apartments, so we decided to move in together.( Isn't that what all of us would do :)?)
It is because of Abby that our life moved in the direction it did, together as a family...she was the force behind it all. That was 16 years ago.

We discovered she was pregnant and her kittens were born, 5 in all...beautiful... but Abby got very sick, almost died and she and her kittens had to spend some long days at the ER til she came around.
She never let her kittens down for a second though...an amazing and generous mom.

We kept Flame.....the most intriguing of the bunch and I know Abby was grateful they didn't all abandon her.
I think that close touch with the spirit world changed her somehow.
She was simply the wisiest, bravest, most courageous soul I have ever known. There was a knowing in her eyes that trancsended her species and our realm.

After that time, we knew there was something even more special about Abby than we had understood. She was a sort of changeling kitty....she would appear and then poof, and then reappear , right where you were looking. Our Gray Ghost.


She rose above death, more times than I care to count, and it was years before she was finally diagnosed with triaditis.
Even with being that sick for moments in her life...she never lost her grace or dignity and would let us do anything we needed to help her...never a raised paw, never a harsh look. Right til the end.

She taught each of the new addititions to our house about love, interspecies especially :), and would seemingly host tea parties with neighbouring kitties in our backyard. Alway a Duchess...always the Matriarch, holding court. Her nobility was awesome.

Setting her free was an easy decision to make, because she made it, and she communicated with me that she knew her body was done, and it was time to move on. Little did we know she had kept intestinal lymphoma, a fast moving and hugely invasive cancer, at bay until I came home and spent a happy week, playing and snuggling and not knowing there was anything nearly so serious moving inside her.
She was so happy the day we went to the vet for the last time....she had a great couple of meals of some of her favourite food, we had napped together..snuggled up and she had spent the day before chasing butterflies and hanging under the butterfly bush in our yard with me.
Truly, hard to believe there was cancer right under the surface, it moves fast.

I will miss her soft, soft bunny fur and her eyes, but her energy and spirit lives amongst us and I am so ....so very grateful to have known this beautiful spirit in my lifetime.

Farewell my friend.... she leaves a legacy of courage and healing for other kitties in her wake.

and now the little things that made it all so special...

I spent a fair bit of time creating a broad picture to reflect upon here in this blog.
Now I am home, and the individual moments are what are sharp in my mind's eye.

The next series of posts will be to honour some of those people who are a part of the fabric of this European Tapestry.

( I do not have any pics from train stations as I did not feel safe to reach into my bag and pull out my camera.
You will have to use your imaginations as to the magical grey, cold, misty veil that hangs over a European train station at night., making the pavement glimmer like molten silver)

1st...Kosovo.
Standing in a train station in Cologne, waiting for a train to Prague, late...ugh very late in the evening, I am surprised by the amount of other people waiting for trains. I find out from a kind young man who speaks English, that all the trains are at least an hour late due to an accident on the tracks. He also confirms I have found the correct platform as nowhere does it say......Prague.
We start chatting and I notice an elderly couple are watching our conversation with smiles on their faces.

My new young friend also speaks a language they understand, and while he translates two languages, neither one his first language, we discover they are from Kosovo and very interested in Canada.
We all chat like old friends for about 45 minutes, talk of our homelands, of politics and survival. You can see thye have survived much.
This all results in this wonderful couple inviting me to their home in Kosovo and hoping I make it their after Prague, insisting we share their delicious home cooked picnic of sausages, baguette, cheese and flask of wine, I shared my patisserie, and they gave me their address and phone number.

I was unable to get there this time, but what an amazing gift to have known such a warm welcome and to have made such dear friends to break bread with.

You can go home again...

...and home is lovely. After the long...looooong 22 hours of travelling to get home, I was met with flowers, hugs and a new puppy in my mom and R's world and brought home....my furries were confused by all the smells all my things carry, but soon they were surrounding me and catching up for lost time..

D and I caught up and had a nice visit before the comfort of my own bed called......yay for my own bed!

Was that really two months?????

Chicago????

Well here I sit in World Business class on my way to Chicago…what you say? Chicago?
That wasn’t in the plan? Aren’t you supposed to be going home???

Well you are sooooooo right about that.
How on earth then, one might ask, does one go from an economy class ticket from Amsterdam to Vancouver and end up in Chicago in world business class?
Wellllll, it’s like this.

I checked in this morning, Wednesday November 5th at 11:00 in Norwich. There I am told my plane home from Amsterdam has been re routed through Chicago and I won’t be getting into Vancouver until 10:30 pm making me miss my flight connection from Vancouver home to Victoria. An extremely unsympathetic woman kinda shrugs her shoulder and says I’ll have to take it up with KLM in Amsterdam….hmmmmm…you’re damn right I will. I also find out I have been involuntarilly rerouted with a 5 hour layover in Chicago because they overbooked my original plane. I am steaming mad, but summon up a sense of humour and wish my dear friend a final goodbye…I will really miss her and Reading Room Cottage, and I know she is worried about my travel issues too.
Have I mentioned how much I do NOT want to travel through the states on the heels of the election?????

Now, I arrive in Amsterdam and am told to go to gate 6 transfer with my concerns. I do, and am met with a woman whose bun is so tight it is pulling her wrinkles out of her forehead…I am worried.
I explain what has happened and she looks coolly at me and says…”exactly what do you think I can do for you?” At this point I start vibrating with anger and dammit, that usually means tears and I say, I will need to re book a flight in Canada, possibly pay for a hotel room and I expect some kind of compensation as it was an involuntary reroute at a minimum or a place on my orignal flight, that I paid extra for to have a straight through flight, as an ideal.
She says again, “there is nothing I can do, here is your boarding pass, I suggest you hurry they are starting to board.”
I ask her if this was her daughter, what would she like to see happen, really… watch her sleep in an airport all night?... and she just glares at me without a response,a staring contest.
I ask to see a manager and she hands me a complaint form to fill out, no manger is called.

I walk away and the emotion of it gets the better of me…because I am soooooooo maddddd….but as it always does, this comes out as tears and I am riding an escalater, tears streaming down my face when a kind cleaning crew ask me what’s wrong in broken Englsih. I explain, they tell me that’s ridiculous, ofcourse I will get compensated and lead me to another transfer gate. I meet a lovely angel, named Wendy ( my mom’s name ☺ ) who sees the mess I am in, sees my flight is leaving in 30 minutes and tries to create a few miracles.
1…no way I am getting on my original flight, and she really tried,……but they will compensate with a very generous bank card holding Canadian dollars for me, she rushes this paper work through.

2nd….she checks to see when the last air canada jazz is from vancouver to Victoria and discover there is a flight at 11:45 I should be able to catch, and now have more than enough money to buy that ticket in Vancouver.

3rd….after bringing me water….stopping the loading of the plane to wait for me, organizing my paper work to rush through for the cash,…she escorts me to the security line, informs all of the crew what has happened and surprise, hands me my world business class ticket to Chicago, I am pleased…now this is an 8 hour flight and a little space, glass of wine and good food has certainly stealled me for the longer trip home. On my individual screen , I have watched Frasier episodes, Mama Mia and Sex in the City….a few old friends to help cheer my mood.

The crew have bent over backwards to be kind, the pilot came out to aplogize to me for what happened, and I am now still not happy about going through the states, but I have filed a large complaint, with the crew’s help, against the first woman who would have seen me sleeping at the airport in Vancouver before helping me in any way…apparantly she has a repuation. They all knew who she was.
Sigh…once again the kindness of people wins waaaay out over the cold unfeeling snatches, and it is that I will remember, even as I have to travel for 24 hours. Sigh….Now to break it to the family they will not be picking me up until 12:15 instead of 7:30.

Sigh. I think I will have a bit more champagne

Home again...away from home

I am back at the comfort and hugs of Reading Room Cottage and a bonfire and fireworks would have been the plan but for the rain and windstorm. Instead we stayed in and ate much fabulous food and drank mulled wine and caught up.

It is so incredible to think I will be home in Canada and not able to pop back back to Norwich anymore. it has been an oasis of tranquility in my travels that would have seen my trip be very different without my time here.

My family in southern London were spectacular also. They welcomed me as a long lost friend and made sure I had all the family history ( gossip..tee hee) and brought as many other family members round as possible while I was there.

England has really opened a whole new world of connections and family and a knowing that there is history ad roots out there beyond Canada, and who exist as friends as well as family who I coul go back to anytime and who I hope will come to us in Canada.

Sigh........Canada has so much I am thankful for, but it does not offer access to the kind of art, family members and architecture that Europe does and I will dearly miss that.