REMEMBRANCE DAY...

"Lest Ye Forget"...

I haven't!

My tribute to the fallen...it's been lit since the 7th and will stay lit until tonight at midnight!

I remember the high pitched wails from the "War Sirens" that used to be in Edmonchuk [Alberta, where I was born]! There was one half a block from our house. When it went off one never knew whether it was real or just another practice run! Being that close to it made it really loud and quite impressive to a young child like I was. To this day, that sound, still sends the same chill down my spine and the old feelings of dread returns! Our town has a fire alarm siren that is about the same distance as the one from the olden days and it sounds the same!

That was the worst reminder that ones life/freedom could be taken away at any moment by unknown forces!

The other is the "Poppy"!

The RED Poppy!


Removing the War Sirens was a great thing for me and I hope they never have to return!


But removing the color out of the red poppy to promote peace sounds dumb to me!

All that does is make the red poppy insignificant!

Doesn't the red stand for the blood that was spilled for the sake of our freedom?

How does draining the blood that was spilled from that war symbol make it peaceful?

Removing the color from this symbol makes no sense!

The "red" poppy is the symbol for war reminding, isn't it?

Is this not the symbol for peace...

[I meant to show it as a white dove...oops]

?

I thought they could add it this way....

But I still don't like it on the poppy!

Other symbols like the health and disability Awareness Ribbons...

are represented by colors!

Removing the color did not change the reasoning for their awareness.

The white stands for something else!

 So today I am standing up for ALL of our Veterans who gave it their all for US! 

LEST YE FORGET!

SIGNS OF LONG LONG, AGO....

 

One of my dad's favorite snack was freshly cooked bannock [he made] slathered in lard! Never could stand the stuff...can't say we were happier

A favorite topic.....how about feminine hygiene...

 

Can you imagine...using that?

Okay let's get even more private huh.....

Don't yah just love it when they do this....

After all Doctors do it....

 

 Besides....

 

Or my personal favorite diet.....

 

And the old folks say things were much better back then...?

F -ING CREEPY!


Just woke [3:30am] from one of the most creepiest dream I have had in a longgggg time!


I seldom have nightmares but when I do, they can be real scary...gee, I wonder why?

This one was about an old memory of the haunted house half a block from my childhood house.

We called it the "Haunted Mansion"...it kind of looked like the run down mansion they use on the "Crypt Keeper's" TV Series/comic books.

This place was the usual rundown abandoned type building that was long overdue for removal. The kids in our neighborhood dared each other to go in there alone, after dark. The group I hung out with were no different. To my recollection none of us ever did. I know I never had the courage!

Well last night in my dream... I did!



I was all alone and was looking for this bomb [no I don't know why]. In my flashlight beam there were creepy cobwebs everywhere! As I was searching I had this horrible feeling of dread, like someone/thing was in there with me...following me! I was trying to be quiet but the floor boards were too creaky. I even felt goosebumps on my arms... the hairs standing on end.



This old place was huge...never ending, rooms kept changing. I know I didn't want to go into the basement! As my search continued this creepy feeling felt like it was getting closer & closer.

But for what ever reason I needed to find this bomb before it blew up?


Somehow I ended up in this falling down old shack out back of the place and had finally found it.

When something grabbed me from behind!

Happily I woke up!


Now as I sit here recalling this wonderful memory [sarcasm] I find that there was an actual haunted place and A BOMB in my childhood.

Why this memory...?

I don't think the house was that big, but as a child [of 11 or 12], it looked huge. It had lots of dead trees and bushes to the help with the atmosphere of being haunted. It probably had some creepy murder story to go with it but I don't remember there being one.

The true part was the bomb!

Back in the early 60's we used to be able to get 3 candies for a penny. It was pretty hard to come by that penny...if you saw one on the ground you dove to pick it up! That penny meant 3 candies...can you imagine what 5 cents was? Us kids would then take this large amount of money, get the candy then hang out in our hide-a-away to eat it. Which by the way candy was a rarity and generally forbidden! All extra money was supposed to go to buy necessary things like school supplies & such. Time were tough!

Our hide-a-way was this old shack out back of the haunted house. In this shack was this big tank that was laying on its side on blocks. It was kind of long and narrow, with a pointy end. It was long enough that 4 or 5 kids could sit on it at once. It was a great perch...easy to get off and on.

We used this place for quite a few years before we found out that it was a missle of some sort and it was still active! I remember watching them come and remove it.

Why there was a missle in this shack was a mystery and how it got there was never explained...to my knowledge.


Why this thought?

I have been watching some scary shows [re-runs of both black xmases] lately so I can see the haunted mansion...

But why the bomb?



I think I'll go back to bed...


Hopefully dream about "sugar plums" instead...


Although, that wouldn't be good for my sugar levels...;)

IT'S BEEN 40 YEARS!


Since I graduated from high school!


I remember my graduation day celebration just like it was yesterday...



No..........not really


But I do have a few moments:

-50.00 [guess-tament] bride's maid dress [worn the year before paid for by parents], that I made, designed a wrap from left over material and [I] bought long gloves. I made the flowers for my hair. Parents paid for the hair-do. All the accessories were from the wedding. So maybe 100.00 was spent to cover both occasions. When PoD graduated dresses were going from 300.00 to LOTS more!

- I was from a large school so there was no classroom pictures and I really didn't know too many of the kids that were in my grade. I started with a new school in grade 10 so it was hard fitting in. The diploma event was held in the school's gym....my parents never showed up. They never did take a picture of my BIG DAY and they only one who did was my escort's parents....they made a big fuss
Man was I ever skinny back then....yet I always felt like I was too fat?


The gala event was at a fancy hotel, it was a super and dance. My escort paid for the ticket or otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go. My close friends had planned to drive out to this beach and have our own private party, so we skipped the dance. I had permission to stay out all night so it was supposed to be the most exciting night of my life!


That was the night I had decided that I was going to learn how to drive!



No, I didn't get drunk and drive around crazy like...



I sat watching all of my friends get TOTALLY S___FACED and PASS OUT!


There I sat tending the fire all alone, nursing beer after beer, yet never got drunk...

Trying to stay warm....

Mosquitoes eating me alive every time I had to take a "bush" break...

Monsters and wild animals in the dark threatening me when I did...

All I could think of is how I could get back home without hitch hiking...that was too scary even way back then!


As for the gifts, partying with relatives and friends...nothing.


This was my first BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT and our family's only graduate that actually finished school and GRADUATED when they were supposed to!


;(


I made sure that both my kids got what I didn't when they graduated...with in reason of course...;)


Full filling the wishes on this day is very important to me and I like seeing the glow of happiness from the grads faces when they enter their special world...



IT IS WORTH ALL OF MY WHINING!




P.S.

Here's what my dress would look like today...
Wish the face was as wrinkle/sag free as well...


;)

ORBS-R-US

This is what I called my blog mainly because this "object" has been a questionable wonder to me for quite a few years. 38 years this coming Father's Day.

In my introductory statement of my blog page I stated that my first introduction to this phenomenon was in 2001, when actually I was introduced to this item in 1971.

I was going out with my boyfriend [soon to be husband] when Father's day rolled around. I was amazed that he had never celebrated that day with his dad let alone buy him a present. His father and mother had split-up when he was young and he had chosen to live with his dad so it puzzled me that he never showed his appreciation with a gift.

I talked him into buying him a real nice shirt & tie.

His father responded to the gesture 3 days later by hanging himself with the tie while wearing the new shirt and sadly it was his son that found him!

-note that the writing has changed to italics.....believe it or not, I can't seem to change it back! This happened on it's own.......:o?

Anyways.....

I felt really bad as the gift was my idea but couldn't understand WHY that man would do that? There was a suicide note saying that the gift was a parting gift and his son was a traitor? To this day I still don't understand just what went on there?

Three days after the funereal I was trying to get some sleep [I was living at home at that time, my room was in the basement] and thoughts of "what if I hadn't said anything" were going through my mind. My dog was with me and was trying hard to comfort me. I must of dozed off when I was startled awake by the sound of her growling next to the back of my head.


I opened my eyes and saw this bright ball of light about a foot from my face!


I was lying on my side at the time, facing the window, and watched as it hovered there for a few seconds then it moved quickly to the foot of my bed. It paused for a second [ I felt like it was LOOKING at me] then it shot straight up to the ceiling, made a 90 degree turn and shot straight out the window [which was closed at the time]! This ball of light did not light up the room and it was the only source of light at that time so....

I reached up, without sitting up, and turned on the light!

My dog was then at the foot of the bed growling and whining while looking towards the window!

I know I didn't dream what had just happened, unless my dog had dreamt it also!

The feeling that came over me right after the incident was that it felt like it was my boyfriend's father!

The short time that it was in front of me it felt sinister yet changed when it moved away?

Needless to say, I didn't go back to sleep after that and sat staring at the window just in case it might come back. It didn't help that my dog would occasionally growl or whine while looking there too. She never liked going into my room much after that and I didn't either!


The memory of that moment came back to me last night in a dream...actually more of a nightmare!

In my dream I was being followed by this light source through a house [didn't recognize the place] and couldn't get away from it! Happily I woke to find that it was a dream yet it felt so real!

This weekend the Calling Lakes Paranormal Reasearchers are coming to record more of the court house and will have a CTV crew with them.

I'm hoping this dream is just my excitement of them coming and not something that I will encounter while there!


I MUST REMIND MYSELF THAT I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK..........

PS...
We now have to wait for the 22 & 23 as they had to postpone this weekend visit...:(

SOMETHING THAT PUZZLES ME?

I have always wondered why I can do the things that I do without having learned them from books or being taught. One of my puzzlement is being able the read and chart survey notes. Some of my past job experiences had me working as a drafts person for engineering companies that needed someone to be able to decipher this info and put onto maps and charts.

A peak into my family history might shed some light on this question.

During my stay with my brother last year I read a book written by my cousin on our Great, Great, Grandfather [my dad's side]. As much as I hate giving out personal info this is just too interesting not to share. I had tried at one time to research my family tree but got nowhere. It seems that an error was made on the spelling of my last name.

As it turns out I am related to Philip Turnor born on a farm [1751...I was born in 1951] in Laleham, Middlesex, England. At the age of 27 he was hired by Hudson Bay Company on April 30, 1778 to be their "First Chief Surveyor". He was known in Britain as a practical astronomer and compiler of the Nautical Almanac issued by the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

I was able to Google him and came up with many hits on the man. Here's the blurb from the Wikipedia...
"Turnor was hired on for 3 yrs as an inland surveyor with the HBC and landed at York Factory [Manitoba] on Aug. 24, 1778. After mapping York itself, he set out to map the route to Cumberland House [Sask] and the newly established post of Upper Hudson House. He is credited with exploring & mapping many of the settlements & their connecting rivers & lakes for the company in the late 18th century."

Other searches on Turnor [www.biographi.ca], tell of him being the teacher of other great surveyors: Peter Fidler and David Thompson. Thompson is known as "Alberta's Legendary Exploratory Surveyor". From what I have learned his roll as Thompson's teacher gave Thompson the necessary means to explore and map the untamed wilderness of Alberta & Sask. Being unable to haul surveying equipment in their canoes, it was necessary to learn to chart by using mercury levels and using the stars. In my mind, Philip Turnor, should have been credited with more than just being a "teacher"! Some of his notes and drawings [maps] help make the "Arrowsmith Map" [being used in schools today]. Sadly he was afflicted with horrible rheumatism and his days as a surveyor were numbered. He later returned to Rotherhithe, England where he taught navigation. He was given the watch he had used on his trips as well as 100 pounds by the London committee "in consideration of his services in having surveyed the Company's several settlements & explored several New Tracts & laid down the same in a large and accurate map".

So is mapping/surveying in my DNA?


During his mapping of Lake Athabasca he discovered a new species of willow growing on the sand dunes. This tree/shrub was later named in his honour "Turnor's Willow" [salix turnorii raup] which by the way only grows there and is now on the endangered list.

I love trees especially Weeping Willows...?

He also has a lake named after him "Turnor Lake".

Turnor was not married when he came over here and my other family ties are from the "Stony Cree" Indians. The HBC frowned on its employees fraternizing with the natives so this side of my history became the dark secret. Loneliness and not knowning the land made it impossible to do it alone. These guys had to consort with the natives and the indians liked it better if there were family ties...it made it safer for both sides. Plus who would teach them about the plants and animals living there.

I love to camp. Is this in my blood? I have a great sense of direction and never get lost?

So is this why I'm able to do some of those things...?

A FLASH FROM THE PAST...

Been finding it pretty hard trying to keep my blog going, whilst slaving at the designing/building/painting our stage set and props! While I am doing this stuff my mind never stops...

Suddenly "a flash from my past" reminded me that I had designed and drew my first stage set in grade 4 [9 yrs old]. It was a Xmas skit about Santa and 3 Dwarfs named Hardrock, Coco and Joe. The set was Santa's sleigh and his reindeers. It was also the first time that I even performed! I played "Joe". Our whole class had to audition for the parts.

I just had to look it up and believe it or not...there it was. The info on it said that it was written in 1951.

I was even able to find the video version of it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT5Ohgl7eTM

I guess the old Alzheimer's isn't as bad as I thought it was!

OOPS

I must tell you of my error in reporting a story of my brothers impending trip.

Remember those little games that one played, where someone whispers in your ear, a story, then you have to repeat what you heard to another person? The story that comes back to you is totally different? Well, it seems thats what happened to me! I should have re-reported this earlier but my involvement with our play had become more than I figured and somehow I forgot [old age thing]?

Anyways I reported that my brother was flying off to a scary place and my worries about it? It seems that my sister and I were playing that "story" game! He finally read my account and had to e-mail me the truth. These are his words from part of his e-mail:

"To ease your mind a little, I'm going to Chandigarh, India, not Kandahar, Afganistan. I couldn't run my fat ass quick enough to stay out of trouble in that country. I was scheduled to leave for Chandigarh (it's approx. 200 km NNW of New Delhi and about 300 km from the Pakistani border) today. Some problems have occurred in Chandigarh, and we are on hold. I don't know for how long. As you can see the only danger I will be in, is that I will be close to the Pakistani border.
As to what I'm teaching, well that is not the right phrasing. I'm a welding instructor, preparing foreign workers to weld and write the Equivalency Test set down by the Province of Alberta and the Country wide Red Seal Program. These foreign welders are already qualified welders (tradesmen). So, I'm not a teacher, just an instructor whose task it is to make sure all those coming to Canada are close to the standards set by the Red Seal Programs and should be able to pass their tests when they get here.
I have lots of work in the Ft. McMurray area (leaving Thursday afternoon for 3 days) and if the India trip does not get the go ahead soon, I'll probably be off to the Ukraine, sometime in the middle of March. I'll be gone approx. 34 days. I hope this clears up what I will be doing. You couldn't pay me enough to go to where they're sending our military."

Lets say...I have never been so thankful of being wrong! I haven't heard anything since but I always think that's a good thing as "no news is good news"!

My brother was touched that strangers would care enough to worry for him and I must thank those who did comment.

He also reminded me of the story "Why I don't like Monkeys".

In my zoo story, I told about the bear but forgot about the monkeys that we would feed!

These monkeys could quite entertaining and would stick their hands through their cage begging for the food we would bring them. Well there was this one monkey that had a real nasty habit. Once you gave him his food and you didn't have any more he would coax you closer and then pee on you! It was even worse if you didn't bring him food at all! He was one nasty character! I shouldn't blame all monkeys for his misdeeds but they all had nasty habits. I guess to me, the only cute ones... are stuffed!

Hopefully I can find some time to report a little more often but like I said...I'm busy making props and stuff for the play!

BEAR NIGHTMARES!

Last night I had my reoccurring dream about "The Bear"! I'm always trying to get away but my feet are like I'm running in mud! All I can feel is this bears hot breath on my neck and the doomed feeling that I won't get away! I always wake in a cold sweat.

WARNING...maybe too graphic for some...continue at your own risk!

This stems from an incident from my childhood...one that my sister Buttons and I shared. I was either 7 or 8 yrs old at the time and she was 6 or 7?

We used to live next door to Edmonchuk's first zoo. It was located about a half a mile from our house and it was a park/zoo that boasted one of the city's first pool [where we swam competitively].

Way back then parents weren't afraid for their children [or at least mine weren't] if they went that far away, by themselves, to play in the park.

This park was also home to many wild[?] animals and was called the Borden Park Zoo, which by way opened in 1909. The Zoo was part of the Exhibition grounds. This Exhibition used to have a permanent Carousel [now permanently located at Fort Edmonton Park] and Roller Coaster. We had fun as kids playing on these attractions on their off seasons. If our parents only knew how close we came sometimes in killing ourselves, they would have locked us in our rooms!

Anyways back to the bear story...

Buttons and I liked saving crusts of bread, food scraps, etc to feed the birds and animals there. These animals got to know who we were and I remember the joy of being able to feed them. The zoo caretakers got used to seeing us there also and never worried about us...because we were always careful and never mean to the animals.

The zoo was in the process of closing down [official date was 1954] and the animals were slowly being relocated to the new zoo far away. It took many years to accomplish this. With it being partially closed there weren't too many visitors as before so the security wasn't that great.

One of our favorite attractions was the bear...
To us this guy was really cute and just loved the scraps that we used to bring him. He was our "live" Teddy Bear! We even called him Teddy and thought he would be a nice pet! He would even let us rub his nose through the mesh fence, licking our fingers. When I think about it now we were very foolish thinking this bear could be tame enough to be considered a pet!

The only sad thing was that some of the kids and some adults used to tease Teddy a lot. They would bang on the fence, poke sticks at him and generally make his life hell.

Way back then the animal enclosures weren't as safe as they are now and contact with Teddy was pretty easy. His enclosure consisted of a fence and a mound of dirt that was his sleeping den or a place to get out of the weather. This mound of dirt wasn't very well protected and it's fence wasn't very high. The mound was constructed in such a way that the bear wasn't able to climb it to get out so everyone felt safe?

Trouble was the fence wasn't high enough to keep others from getting in and torment him by throwing stuff down on him.

One day Buttons and I had collected enough scraps that we decided to go and visit our animal friends. We could hear the screams as we got closer to the bear enclosure! There were hysterical people all around, wailing and crying. Above this turmoil you could hear Teddy roaring! Wiggling and squirming, Buttons and I managed to worm our way to the fence to see what was going on!

I'll never forget that sight as long as I live!

There was our "cute" bear throwing his head back and forth sideways, roaring in rage, with what looked like a red doll in his mouth. It was like watching a dog tear apart one of it's toys! All I remember most about the scene was how red it was and how the "doll's" legs swung wildly around! It was like watching a gore scene from a movie...stuff was flying everywhere!

Somehow a young girl had climbed the fence and had fallen into the bears enclosure! Teddy had immediately attacked her and was busy tearing her apart! I guess all of his rage at being tormented all those years was too much for him and he was now taking his revenge!

The bear handlers where trying to get him to let go of the poor girl and were jabbing him with their long sticks...to no avail. He wasn't about to let her go! Finally a shot rang out and he fell to the ground! Only he didn't die right away! It took a few more shots to kill him!

Only it was too late for the little girl!

It was a nightmare scene... too much for two young girls to take in! Both Buttons and I walked home hugging each other and crying hysterically! Forever to have our thoughts changed about bears! "Teddy" was now to be our nightmare!

Our mom was livid when she found out what had happened! We never went back to the zoo! In fact I think they moved it out faster after that! The new zoo opened in 1959 and I believe it took quite a few years before it ever hosted bears again.

We both had nightmares about it for years. I still do!

Through the years this event really affected me and has forever changed the thoughts I have about "Teddy Bears".

This toy misleads children into thinking all bears are cute and cuddly creatures! Their killer instinct is down-played too much! I know now that "Teddy" wasn't solely to blame and that all bears should not carry his misdeed. Wild animals were meant to be free...after all "it is the nature of the beast". I just think it's dangerous to lead children astray knowing the beasts true nature!

Today...if I know that there are bears in the area...I return home. I have been driven out of my favorite camping area because the bears that live in that area started getting too close for my comfort!

It was even scary hearing that there used to be "Prairie" Bears in this area! Thankfully they don't exist anymore!