captured memories

Sardis Park 

 (aka: Goose Poop Park)

Sardis Park, Chilliwack, BC, Canada

welcome

to one of my favorite places 

in Canada

i love to go for a walk 
any time of year

around sardis park
in chilliwack, bc

sardis park is just a 

hop, skip & a jump

down the road 

from where
my canadian's live

it's a very small 
little park

and usually 
very peaceful

but

at certain times of the year

hundreds  of Canada Geese 

descend on the pond

and into the park

to have their babies
poop!

ergo - 'goose poop park'

lots of geese

 =

lots of poopy little landmines

scattered everywhere
throughout the park

lots of 
feathers & poop
&
poop & feathers

it's quite a poopy feathered mess 

if you've never been 

up close & personal

with a Canada Goose
they can be
quite intimidating

they are big 
they hiss
and will come after you

if you get too close
and

become very aggressive
if you go near

their babies

but if you give them right.of.way
and watch where
you're stepping
they are quite 
beautiful

(clicking on the pictures will enlarge them)

poop = manure = green grass

cadabra UPDATE

Abracadabra'

100x100

This is my Life-List.  

1998 - 2058

***Items changed or completed since list was last published

1.  Complete my Undergraduate Degree (Returned to school 1998, UW, BA (2004)

2.  Give a speech in public (2004 - UWREN)
3.  Take my Girls Aboard (Italy 2001)
4.  Live long enough to see a cure for MS
5.  Relocate to a small town (Edmonds 2013)
6.  Host a party of at least 10 (Dana's Surprise BDay)
7.  Complete & Pass at least 1 chemistry class (1999)
8.  Complete & Pass at least 1 math class (1999)
9.  Take a Civil War Tour of the South
10. Visit the Hoh Rainforest.
11. Go on a 'Scotch' Tour 
         (grab a photo op on our 930 cm² of Scottish land courtesy of Laphroaig)
12. Visit Ireland
13. Learn to ID at least 10 birds by sight, flight & sound
14. See Jessica graduate University (UCFV, B.SW 2005)
15. See Katy graduate University (WSU, BSc. 2009)
16. See Katy graduate Veterinary School  (May 10, 2014
17. Take a public speaking class
18. Attend my Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary (01.28.2006)
19. Volunteer (Seattle Audubon, NW Harvest, BBG)
20. Learn to knit
21. Get a Maple Leaf Tattoo (Katy's Vegas Grad Trip, 2004)
22. See Elwha Dam Breached I haven't seen it yet but it has been breached (2011)
23. Go on a 1 week vacation by myself
24. Teach a Wildlife Gardening Class
25. Visit Scotland
26. Visit Germany
27. Visit Brazil
28. Visit China (2012)
29. Walk on the Great Wall of China (2012)
30. Visit Czech Republic
31. Zip-Line in Costa Rica
32. Ride an Airboat in the Florida Everglades
33. Visit a Tarot Card Reader
34. Ride a camel in Egypt
35. Boat Cruise down the St. Lawrence River
36. Ride the Orient Express
37. Travel the Silk Road
38. Ride the Train across Canada
39. Visit the Windmills of the Netherlands
40. See Katy happily & completely in love & settled
41. Rock Katy's children to sleep
42. See Jessica happily & completely in love & settled (2013 - married Jordan)
43. Rock Jessica's children to sleep (2002, 2013)
44. Walk amid the ruins of the ancient ruins of Rome (2001)
45. Sleep in an Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada
46. Visit every province in Canada
      (BC, Alta, Man, Sask, Ont, Que)
47. Visit every state in USA
      (Wa,Or,Id,Mt,Nv,Ca,Md,Va,Il,Ak,Ha,Tx,Pa,NY,De)
48. Visit Cuba
49. Take an Anthropology class
50. Become a Master Gardener
51. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
52. Take 100 Walkabouts with Therese
      Walkabout No.1 | 2007 (65 70 walks taken -35 30 more to go)
53. Visit a National Park in every province of Canada
      (Banff, Alta, Glacier, BC,)
54. Visit a National Park in every state of US
      (Glacier Bay, Ak, Mt Rainier, Wa, N.Cascades, Wa) 
55. Take a Movie/Culture Class
56. Learn to shoot a gun
57. Visit 2 Ghost Towns
58. Have a Girls Only vacation (Lake Chelan, Dana 2008 & 2011, Leavenworth,  2012)59. Find Spiritual guidance (BFCC 2008)
60. Finish my Garden (HaHa)
61. Follow the Lewis & Clark Trail
62. Get photographs organized (ongoing mess)
63. Visit the Heligan
64. Go on a Girl's Only Camping Trip (Cultus Lake, 2011)
65. TaKe a singing class
66. Own my own Vintage 1958 Shasta
67. Learn to play golf
68. Learn Orienteering
69. See the Northern Lights in Alaska
70. Lose weight permanently
71. Follow the Oregon Trail
72. Cruise through the Panama Canal
73. Visit the Hoover Dam
74. Take an Improv Class
75. Walk in a Half Marathon / Marathon
      (I walked 20 miles in 1 day: Breast Cancer 3 Day but no marathons yet)
76. Learn to read Tarot Cards
77. Become US citizen (2001)
78. Trace family history (both sides)
79. Vote for a US President (2004(Kerry), 2008(Obama), 2012(Obama)
80. Plan & host a family reunion (2008)
81. Consider - at least - graduate school ( 2006)
82. Read all of Ralph Waldo Emerson's words (begun)
83. Join a BookClub (UWB 2004)
84. Join a community service group
85. Learn & practice Tai Chi on a daily basis
86. See the Grand Canyon
87. Watch Aidan graduate High School, University

88.  Watch Grace graduate High School, University
89. Visit the Vatican (2001)
90.. Visit Iceland & Greenland
91. Visit the richest Country in the World (World Bank: Luxembourg)
92.Own a miniature horse
93. Learn to speak Spanish
94. Celebrate my Mom's 80th BDay with her. Retired
95. Take a Photography class
96. Read all of Gandhi's words
97. Give someone a chance I never had
98. Watch a space shuttle blast off
99. Move home to Canada
100. Be buried in Canada next to my Mom and Dad (overlooking our family farm)
.............................
Completed

In Progress
Retired

.............................

'Life is short even in it's longest days.'  

- JCM -

100 years are flying by.

2058 is rapidly approaching.

Abracadabra - 'I create what I speak'

garden peace

'It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees'

-  George Eliot -

what better start to the day

 than sitting outside, alone 

surrounded by morning quiet
and sunshine

i love to sip my morning coffee

 lost in my garden thoughts

Bliss

i love that my garden is never silent

only, on occasion
quiet 

a hushed sort of peace
that is constantly
interrupted

by the wayward signs of life

the excited chatter of chickadees
the squawks & complaints of the blue jays

the bark of a neighbor's dog
or the blast of a ferry horn

it is here
sitting alone
I do most of my garden planning  

and plotting

and day dreaming

i am always trying to decide
where my yard & garden should be,
wants to be

i am not really a 'big picture' kind of thinker 
or planner

 i can't look out into the big 'blank'
 and just  'see' it

i admire people who
 can plan it all out on paper
execute that plan
and be happy with it
but
that's not me

i need to plant my ideas in the ground

pile up some rocks, dig up & move a tree
drag around some flower pots
move a birdhouse

before i begin to get any idea 
of what my garden wants to be
and bring it into focus  

I don't garden well on paper 
i never have

I spend a many of my 'gardening' hours
just thinking on it
rearranging it
in my mind

and then
digging up yesterday plantings
moving them around

and then
thinking on it some more
mentally erasing parts 
adding this in or moving out that

i 'feel' my garden 
more than see it

so, sometimes
it takes a lot of trial & error 
before it feels right
to me

all this moving & dancing about
in the flower beds
i call it the

Gardener's Waltz

and
 as my Dad used to always tell me

'it's just work'
so, there is never any bad feelings
between me & my garden

i am most content

when i can at least say, that 
for right now 
today
i have found 'garden peace'

my garden
is a process
and will never truly
 be finished
and i'm 
okay with that

happiness 
is when I am outside

 alone 

in my garden

because then

 I want for nothing

 and need no one. 

outside, is where i

love me

 best

life files

life files

from my typewriter files

june 24 2015

Satisfied

1. Family

2. Home
3. Garden

from my garden files

my 'new' red barn

from my heart

my {heart} is missing it's other half

come home soon

from my TV
right now my tv's loving:
1. game of thrones
2. true detective
3. whispering pines
4. when calls the heart
5. any documentary: last  watched: 

Always Faithful: Military Dogs in Iraq

from my junkin' files

love, love, love

this old (1959) framed wall map

(it's huge)

i found junkin' on saturday at an estate sale for $5 

I love that it's previous owner 

used orange push pins 

to show the trail of his life

we will continue this map's tradition

and add to it - our own life trails 

 his = black 

mine = green 

from my 'childhood' files 

i love my mother beyond words but
i can clearly trace
every fear i have in life 
back to her irrational fears 
that one of her children 
would die or leave:
Here's my top 10 list

choking - grapes, peanuts, fish bones, marshmallows etc
standing or sitting too close to the edge of anything
heights: (see above)
cars - esp. driving too fast around corners
machinery - operating or standing too near 
 (anything from a lawn mowers, tractors, weed eaters,blenders, etc)
knives: sharp knives, dull knives or butter knives
drowning: oceans, swimming pools or buckets of water
big animals or animals with teeth: horses, cows, dogs or enclosed zoo animals 
getting lost: although we did walk over a mile to get to school and crossed a busy hwy?
growing up & leaving: moving: far away from her
some of these fears were actively reinforced
 some were learned through association
and yes
i did pass 
a few of her fears & 'concerns'
along to my own kids
what can i say
i am a 
'safety mom'
and I
learned from the
best

[

 

red barns

a

childhood memory

'if you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.'

- tom stoppard -

i 
am obsessed
with my childhood 

i think about it
 dwell on it 
obsess over it

i cherish it
and constantly
relive it

i know why

but what i don't know

is when this obsession

will end

my childhood.
I have washed it clean
and polished it until
the good shines brighter
 and the bad sparkles like gold
because
everything that glitters

- a crumbling red barn. but not mine -

i recall 

not far from the home piece

off the #10
 down colebrook road 

was a chunk of the farm
we called the red barn

and on it
stood an old red barn

long-neglected

tired & worn
 by age & weather

full of owls, tractors & rotting wood beams

it was, for me
a cathedral of sorts

and sometimes

the sun would creep in 

through gaps in the failing timber

and light up that barn 

like stained glass 

in a church of god

-  childhood playhouses, but not my red barn -

that old red barn

was so big
and so beautiful
 that it could hold 
all my little daydreams

and long before it was gone

i knew it would always 

be missed

sometimes, 
 my childhood memories 
work overtime
struggling
 to keep that barn standing
 but, in the end
time, circumstance & decay
always get their own way

i 

am obsessed
with those massive wood beams
and red stained planks
i wonder 
where did they go
what happened to them
and where - i wonder
 did all my red barn
daydreams
go

- my red barn was deemed unsafe & dismantled 1989 -