9 Years Young.

Happy Birthday Chad ☺

Every day, you take my breath away. Love Mom.

May your spirit soar gracefully

on the whispering breeze.

May your joy

run strong

as the deepest seas.

May your soul

reach out

to embrace the sky.

May your heart

guide you truly

as the years go by.

Valentines Day

Love - a wildly misunderstood, although highly desirable, malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker.

Feeling SO blessed today, to be loved by such an amazing family.

Reflecting back just for a moment - 2009

Sitting at my desk. The fire is roaring within the wood stove which sits in front of our front window framing the barn atop the hill. The sun has just set and it's lightly snowing. Supper is cooking on the stove. The hockey game is playing in the background while the Beatles puzzle is being put together, and my boys..... I hear them upstairs - giggling, playing, enjoying life.

This is what I am thankful for today and every day.

Looking back at 2009:

• My amazingly beautiful and talented boys, they breathe life into my soul each and every day.
• Our family as a whole, we complete each other.
• Mom, Dad, brother and sister - we are a part of each other, always.
• Our friends, we are truly blessed.
• New friends made, particularly from school - a beautiful soul.
• My journey in becoming a Doctor of Homeopathy began and so my dreams are being fulfilled.
• Travelled across the country to Alberta and back with my parents was an experience I will not soon forget. From swimming in the mountains, to exploring prehistoric fossils, to crashing a wedding party to staying at the Banff Springs Hotel, to a quiet moment under the stars in the mountains at two in the morning eating flour-less chocolate cake with my Mom - A surreal experience. I am truly blessed to have been a part of the experience and am forever grateful and thankful.
• A flight out to Calgary to accompany my parents on yet another visit to see my brother. A hug, even just for that reason would have been just enough to go out there and back.
• Attending the birth of my nephew, for that I am thankful to my sister for having me be a part of such an extraordinary and spectacular event.
• Attending the births of the many thoroughbreds here on our farm - to help bring a life into this world with my own hands..... inexplicable.
• My amazing canine family members. Everyday they make me smile, I can only hope that I do the same for them :)
• Growing our own vegetables throughout the Summer and Fall, there is nothing like pulling fresh heirloom vegetables from the ground and serving them minutes after.
• I am truly blessed with how I am able to raise our beautiful boys ALL on our own and am SO very lucky to have the family that I surrounded by.

Welcome 2010.

Happy New Years 2010!

May love and laughter light your days,

and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Yule - The Beginning

"Yule, is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb. Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider."

"The Winter Solstice, also known as Midwinter, occurs around December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere. It occurs on the shortest day or longest night of the year, sometimes said to astronomically mark the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's winter. The word solstice derives from Latin, Winter Solstice meaning Sun set still in winter. Worldwide, interpretation of the event varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near the winter solstice; examples of these include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pongal, Yalda and many other festivals of light. The solstice itself may have remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since neolithic times. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archeological sites like Stonehenge and New Grange in the British Isles. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line framing the winter solstice sunrise (New Grange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not assured to live through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months. Starvation was common in winter between January to April, also known as the famine months. In temperate climes, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was nearly the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but the beginning of the pre-Romanized day, which falls on the previous eve."

All Hallows Eve (The Eve of Samhain)

Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,

Voices whisper in the trees,

"Tonight is Halloween!"

When witches go riding,

and black cats are seen,

the moon laughs and whispers,

‘tis near Halloween.

World Humanist Day - June 21st, 2009

Being

There is but one divinity:

the living Cosmos.

All is full of all

All is immanence,

all is incandescence.

This Being has no name,

It has no source, nor aim.

Other than its own continuance,

its own delight,

what cause, what purpose,

could be needed?

Who moved the cosmos?

It was its own prime mover

as a dancer breaks into motion

out of pure exuberance.

Aeons are its playground.

Ceaseless in change, it rests

in endless peace.

Who organized the cosmos?

Its own self.

Spontaneously,

fireflies synchronize

the radiance of their desire.

Don't look for a soul in the cosmos.

inside a roaring flame you will find

neither a warm heart nor a vengeful one.

Conceive no god

in the image of man.

Instead conceive humanity

in the mould of the cosmos.

See in your self

no self, but only

existence,

transience,

incandescence.

You need no imagination

to envisage divinity

only sensation.

You need no prophet

to point to the invisible.

You need no faith

to believe the unbelievable,

only science and sense.

Don't close your eyes to see God:

open them.

Don't look in a book to find God:

look around you.

Don't wait for death to find justice:

seek justice now.

Hold fast to the mountain face

of What Is.

Depart from the given,

and you depart from the divine.

Faith in phantasms

is idolatry.

There is no heaven in the beyond:

heaven is here and now.

There is no hell beneath.

Hell is separation from here and now.

This present world

is not an exile:

it is the homeland.

It is not a pathway:

it is the destination.

It is not a question:

it is the answer.

Welcome Summer Solstice

Great is the sun, and wide he goes

Through empty heaven with repose;

And in the blue and glowing days

More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull

To keep the shady parlour cool,

Yet he will find a chink or two

To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad

He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;

And through the broken edge of tiles

Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around

He bares to all the garden ground,

And sheds a warm and glittering look

Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,

Round the bright air with footing true,

To please the child, to paint the rose,

The gardener of the World, he goes.

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

Hot Cocoa's & Mocha Java's

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.

This past weekend my parents drove down from North Bay to spend some much needed quality time with the boys, James and myself. Friday night we reserved our table at our favorite Chinese Restaurant in Georgetown and enjoyed a delectable meal together. Lots of food and lots of laughs, good for the soul!

Saturday my sister and my niece and nephew joined us for a day spent in Georgetown, yet again, this time we enjoyed hot chocolates and Mocha Java's at my new favorite cappuccino shop a friend introduced me to on Main Street. We enjoyed some fabulous brownies from the bakery and did some window shopping on one of the first 'warmer' days so far this year.

Saturday evening was spent in front of the fire playing foosball, then we retired to the living room to watch 'Lakeview Terrace', great movie. I don't think I have ever eaten as many munchies as we all consumed that night, crazy!

Sunday morning came too fast. After a few mugs of morning java Mom and Dad were on their way back home. We enjoyed their visit and look forward to the next one, hopefully soon :)

And yes I know, will will try to head up there sometime soon Mom. After foaling season is over and done.

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. ~Walt Streightiff

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

For twas not into my ear you whispered

But into my heart

Twas not my lips you kissed

But my soul

~Judy Garland

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.

A baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase.

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.

~Woody Allen

Grandfathers are just antique little boys.

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.

Happy New Year

New Years Eve was a quiet one this year, no fireworks and flame throwers like last year. It was nice for a chance to bring in the New Year with the four of us, sipping on Ginger-ale and bubbly.

New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.

McKnightmas

The holidays were amazing this year. It was so nice having the family all together again.

~ The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~

McKnightmas Day

McKnightmas Eve

Spoiled bunch yet again. PS3's and Wii's, Digital movie Cam's, jewelry, clothes, chocolates, sewing machines, car starters, knife sets, and the list goes on!

Turkey Dinner, Xmas Pudding, a walk through the barn yard, strumming guitars, what a glorious day.

~ Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. ~

Christmas Breakfast

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.