Gratitude

This morning my great nephew Awesome Austin was on our local

Breakfast TV show with his Mom and Dad.  I received the link about

half an hour ago and want to share this with all of you who sent love

and support from across the miles.  Austin is doing so remarkably well, as

I watched this video I had tears of gratitude streaming down my face and

the joy of miracles has really touched my heart this morning. 

Here's the link
(it may take a second to load and the commercials
are annoying...but it's worth it!)

If you have a few minutes to spare please feel free to watch a true

miracle.  Austin also got to meet Mike Riddle, he's our local champ

who won the silver for Canada in freestyle half pike skiing, Mike hung

his medallion around Austin's neck, I can't even imagine the feeling of

wearing an Olympic medal but I think this photo speaks volumes! 

Two local heroes in my opinion! 

This photo of Mike in action I retrieved from here; 

 this was shot by 

FRANCK FIFE / AFP/GETTY IMAGES 

Congratulations Mike and 
Awesome Austin way to go! 

It's so cold...

It's been unbelievably cold this past while, tonight they're calling

for -37c, that's without the windchill factor I believe.  It was so

cold last night that I sat at my computer wearing my new leather...

If it stays this cold I'll have this jacket broken in well before Spring!

Now that I have this jacket, it's incentive to keep plugging

along in hopes of getting the bike to go with it. Six more weeks 

of these studies, six short weeks and a bit of a change as I'll 

head into a practicum and be in only one online course. Next

year I'll be able to work full time as I'll only have two courses left

to complete to earn this Masters degree... now to get from

here to there and I'll be one happy camper! 

Headed Home

It was so wonderful to get out of winter for a week, I was up early

getting ready for the trek back home, back to our winter wonderland. 

We left in plenty of time anticipating there might be

a delay due to traffic, or we may get lost, or or or... you 

know the be ready for anything on the way to the airport

types of oops's that transpire in life. As it was there were no

traffic snarls, we made it straight away to the car rental area, 

then were whisked off to LAX with 3 hours to wait. I was rather 

surprised there was only one duty free shop to browse in, there

were a few other shops as well but nothing too interesting so I sat, 

and sat, and then remembered I had my computer... woohoo

something to do other than sit an wait.  The flight was good, 

and I definitely knew when we reached Alberta...

there was the nasty white stuff all over the ground. 

Yup, I was getting closer to home. 

One thing I absolutely love about flying is feeling the sunset, or the sunrise. 

This here is our beautiful sun setting over Alberta, 

I'm home to cold and snow, but I'm home! 

Back to my writing, reading and all that jazz. 

Gotta love reading week! 

Newport Beach

So I figured what's a trip to California without

spending some time on the beach?  It was a chilly

day, but that didn't stop us and off we went to 

Newport Beach...

This hotel caught my eye, it's rather quaint. 

Unfortunately the Dorymen's Fish & Crab wasn't open

until later in the day so next time I'm visiting CA I'll have

to remember this, I'd love to try it. 

This is an old shipyard, close to where we dined, we

ate at The Crab Cooker which wasn't too bad.

Then we went to Balboa Island to sight-see and have dessert. 

This Island is so gorgeous, expensive but it's absolutely beautiful. 

I didn't take my camera along so I didn't get many photos of this 

place, but the uniqueness will linger for years in my memory. 

Today was a wonderful day, our hosts are magnificent and I

only hope one day to be able to have them sit at my table for dinner. 

Thank you for the hospitality Marg and Jim, you are amazing

people whom I hope to see again one day! 

LL

Live from California...I've been visiting in Riverside CA since Sunday
and head home to winter and back to studies this Sunday, gotta love
reading week!  Today was a special day for me, read on and you'll
see why. 

Just over 5 years ago I started my blog, the blogging world was

foreign to me and I wasn't quite sure how it worked. I start out doing

a P365, a photo a day with a few family members commenting on my

posts. After about a month or so of blogging someone made a comment

on my blog, the comment I remember like it was yesterday... "You're funny" 

and that was that. I checked out who this LL was who left this comment

and we connected, I love his blog and sense of humor. 

Fast forward five years, I got to meet LL today, after connecting virtually

 I felt as though I already knew him.  LL you're everything I'd imagined you 

to be, and then some!  For those of you who have not yet met LL, he is an 

amazing man; personable, friendly, generous, wise, and funny, 

he's what I call real people (and a wee bit taller than I am, we were

standing side by side in this photo, but never let size fool ya!)  

I hope our paths cross again one day LL, thank you for the 

company as well as lunch, and when you want perogies... 

well like I said you're going to have to come to Canada 

and sit at my table for dinner.   

Love is in the air

Yesterday my children came over for a visit and dinner. 

I prepared a few things for us to do 

while they were here...

let me back up a wee bit, first things first.

Elyssa was allowed to open her Valentines gift

as I won't see her for a few weeks. First she opened

her card and was so excited...

She was impressed with the size of her card, I told

her I had to get one this big cause I love her that much!

After Elyssa was done opening up her Valentines gift it

was time to get down to some serious fun, 

we decorated heart shaped cookies and Red Velvet

heart shaped cupcakes. 

I love watching Elyssa when she's being creative, she really

focuses on what she's doing, as does my daughter 

who is in the photo above. 

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines day, even if

you don't celebrate it, I hope you feel some love

in the air! 

Thank You

I haven't updated how Awesome Austin has been doing for some time now.

He's one remarkable child, to say the least! Yesterday, we were at the 

Stollery Children's Hospital, since his heart transplant

Austin has tests done I think about once a month. Austin's mom,

 my niece, and Austin were talking with Judy, a beautiful lady

 who works with the children in the hospital.  
This lady shared a story with us. 

There's this one young man, he's 25, who went out and purchased

$10,000 worth of Lego, for both boys and girls, and he 

donated it to the hospital for the children. I would

love to thank this young man personally for making my great

nephew's day but I have no idea how to get in touch with him.

The next best thing I can think of is to say thank you publicly;

Whoever you are, wherever you may be... an immense

thank you from the bottom of my heart. You made my 

great nephews day, he had to get two pokes yesterday for

his blood work and your gift helped him to forget the pain he

had to endure. Your gift will bring insurmountable hours of

joy and pleasure into this young boys life. 

Thank you. 

Austin trying to decide which set of Lego he'd like, 

an obvious tough call on this one! 

5 Artists One Love

In my last post I shared some photos which I went to 

shoot for the Black Community, they were hosting

a function and wanted a photo for their program. As it turns 

out I volunteered some of my time to go down and shoot

the event, and what a fantastic event this was! 

The music was unbelievable. The event opened

up with a gentleman playing the bagpipe, then

3 men joined in on their drums and WOW! 

The music touched my soul.  There's a few perks to

 taking photos, I get to go where I want and you

bet I was up front and center the entire evening. 

Sing me a song you're the piano man... 

And this gentleman sang the most amazing

rendition of Hallelujah I've ever listened to...

I enjoyed this event immensely and will most 

definitely attend it again, and again, and again! 

Well done Darren, you brought together an 

amazing event! 

Get Lifted

Even though studies are driving me a tad bit nuts I

made the time yesterday to get out and shoot a few

photos.  There's an event happening this Friday, I'll just

share their info, and they wanted photos and me, well being

me, I offered to snap a few. 

As you can see, the theme is "GET LIFTED", so off

we went to get lifted and talk about cold fingers!

The young lady I met sure is springy! lol

It was so nice to get my camera out again, 

I've missed not only taking photos, 

but sharing with all of you! 

Cheers. 

Out With the Old

I hope you all had a magnificent Christmas and enjoyed

bringing in the New Year with those you love. I wish each

of you a blessed, healthy and prosperous New Year! 

I've been spending some time away from my blog, I've

been more active in life and with these studies starting up

again tomorrow I've decided after 5 years of blogging

almost daily that it's about time to take a break from it. 

It's been a difficult decision, I've met so many wonderful

people, both in person and over this wide world of the web,

but I feel I don't have the time to commit to posting or 

keeping in touch with those I've connected with here. 

What started out as a year long project has turned into 

5 years. I've come a long ways in a short period of time and

would like to thank each and every one of you who have

offered me words of support and encouragement throughout

the years.  I'll be back from time to time to post, 

I'm not going to quit cold turkey as I would miss all of

you way too much if I just stopped blogging, you've all 

become a part of my community... thank you for this. 

Last night to being in the New Year, I cooked a nice meal for my 

son and myself, then I spent the rest of my evening alone and

I reflected on the year gone by and have a few goals set for this

brand new year, but what will be will be. 

Til we chat again I wish you well, and I hope and pray

that this upcoming year is a blessed one for you and 

your loved ones! 

Cheers.