Saturday, March 28

Childhood Memory: Enchanted Evening

I have many happy memories of my childhood on the farm here in southern Ontario. Those were the days of hard work but when the work day was finally over and our chores done for the day, it was time for a bit of fun. In summer, my brother and I were always outdoors. Here is my memory of one thing that we used to do.
Enhanted Evening

My brother and I run from the house. The sweet fragrance of freshly mown hay drifts on the evening breeze. The whack of the screen door, slamming behind us, lets us know that we are in for a scolding when we return. We race across the damp grass, raindrops from an earlier storm soaking our bare feet. The smooth, hard glass of the jars we hold is cool against our skin. Laughter echoes over the hollow, rebounding from the distant hills as we make our way toward the marshy pond across the road.

The long, soft grass brushes our legs, tickling, as we move toward the basin. The tiny, twinkling lights at the pond’s mossy edge, urge us on. As we wade deeper, mud sucks at our toes and oozes between them—our jars swoop to and fro in our attempt to catch the elusive fireflies. After several tries, we have each captured a few tiny fairy lights. We quickly screw the tin lids onto the jars, metal from the air holes scraping rough against our hands.

Time passes. The glow of the twilight deepens and turns to darkness. The full moon casts beams of light that dance on the rippling surface of the water. We lay back, the dampness seeping through our clothes, cool and refreshing after the hot, humid day. Not a care is given to the yellowish-green stains that will have to be scrubbed until they vanish. We have eyes only for the flickering fireflies that zigzag over the water, gently lapping at our feet.

The rustle of flapping wings draws our attention—then silence. A great gray owl glides, wings outstretched, on the wind currents, its silhouette vivid in the soft, golden glow of the moon. Then, a sharp chirp, chirp, chirp, and a bat glides by searching out a feast of buzzing mosquitoes.

No words are spoken. We lie in complete silence, listening to the night sounds. Bullfrogs thrum from across the marsh. A nightingale chits somewhere in the stark stand of trees to the north that tower against the night sky. In the distance, a train’s wheels click-clack on the rails. The engine nears the crossing. The mournful whistle wails a shrill warning.

We roll onto our stomachs, the cool moisture soaking us, to watch the spirited fairy lights in their glass cages. The fireflies dance feverishly trying to escape their translucent prison.

Dad’s voice carries faintly over the breeze. The moment has ended. We twist the tops off the jars and allow our captives their flight to freedom. They dart away into the humid, night air, becoming lost in the dozens of other sparkling lights over the bog.

We speed, like arrows, through the dewy grass and up the lane, gravel digging into the tender flesh of our feet. We pay no attention to the biting cinders and sharp stones. In our minds, we’re back at the pond, still wrapped in the magic of the enchanted evening.

I hope you've enjoyed traveling back to the evenings of my childhood. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. ~Blessings, Mary~

Friday, March 27

A Warning to Those Taking Medication


This morning I got a call from Jordan. He wasn't feeling well and wanted to know if I would come and stay with him because his mother had to work. I did and though he was well behaved and helped me out, I'm tired tonight. The stairs at Michelle's play havoc with my arthritic knees.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said that the woman doctor who was taking my GP's place while he was on holidays gave me Pennsaid. Well, I've been using that and taking my Celebrex, which has helped. However, the pain is still quite evident even using these, so I have been taking ibuprofen.

Last night I was surfing the net and found that when you are using Pennsaid, you should not be taking ibuprofen. Apparently both are very hard on the stomach and when used together can cause internal bleeding. So today I called my pharmacist to confirm whether this was fact or fiction.

Now my pharmacist is on holidays so there was a lady taking his place. She told me I should not be using Pennsaid and taking iboprofen. Furthermore, I should not be taking Celebrex and iboprofen or using Pennsaid and Celebrex together. The lady doctor is the one that prescribed Celebrex, so she was definitely aware I was taking it when she prescribed the Pennsaid and then I was told if I was still in pain to take ibuprofen. GRRR!!!
I am tired and am not sure if this is as clear as mud, so I will break it down.

* Do not take ibuprofen if you are taking Celebrex.

* Do not take ibuprofen is you are using Pennsaid.

* Do not use Pennsaid if you are taking Celebrex.

A word of advise. Do not trust any health professional without looking into matters yourself. They do not follow the guidelines. The do not have your best interests at heart. They do not take the time to make sure that their patients are safe.

Always be sure to check with your pharmacist when new medication is prescribed. I've been taking all of these and am lucky that I wasn't admitted to hospital with internal bleeding, according to the pharmacist. I've been using ibuprofen and Celebrex together for months. I've been using all three for the last two or three weeks. So now I'm back to square one. Of course my doctor's office was closed today, as it is every Friday. No information was forthcoming from there. I'm not sure whether to take the Celebrex and quit the ibuprofen and Pennsaid or whether to use the Pennsaid and stop the Celebrex and ibuprofen. Maybe I should just quit using everything.

Trust your own judgement. Check and double check. Everything that is online is not true, but at least it can give you a heads-up and you can check it out to make sure the meds you are taking are not going to kill you. And believe me, if you get the wrong mixture they can interact and yes, they can kill. Use extreme caution.

On a happier note, our weather was gorgeous today. We only needed jackets, the sun was shining and there was only a slight breeze. Enjoy the nice weather. ~Blessings, Mary~

Thursday, March 26

New Garden Ornaments

Today I took a little trip away from the house. My objective was to pick something up for the boys for Easter. I can't tell you what I got them, as they sometimes read my blog and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. I do know they will be delighted.

After finding what I wanted for them, I browsed in the garden section of the store. There, I found a garden fairy. The one I had last year was broken when Meeko went into the garden and got his lead wrapped around it. He knocked it over and broke the wings off. I have the pieces and may see if I can repair it.
This fairy looks as if she is up to mischief. She's not as big as my other one and she is in grayish-green tones. The other was flesh colored. I'm not sure if I should attempt to paint this one or leave her as she is.

After that, I stopped in at the dollar store to pick up a couple of things. While there, I found another delightful garden ornament.
These two frogs and their little pad have chains to use for hanging. I can picture these cute little guys hanging on the back stairs. The little pad is scooped so birdseed can be placed in it. The birds will be eating out of the cute little dish this summer or maybe it will be squirrels, but something will be eating birdseed out of it.

I enjoyed getting out, even though I was only gone for a little over an hour. The temperature was 9C --about 48 F. It was a nice spring day, though a little damp. I hope you were able to enjoy a bit of pleasant weather. Enjoy your weekend. ~Blessings, Mary~

Wednesday, March 25

For My Friends

Well, my intentions were good, but didn't get any spring cleaning done today. It was a damp, rainy day and my knees were killing me, but I did get around to visit some of my blogging friends that I haven't visited in a while. I mostly took it easy, did a couple of loads of laundry and got some simple tasks taken care of. Hubby was feeling a little under the weather as well. He had a bad headache and I suspect his allergies are starting to kick in. So we didn't do a lot of heavy chores...just necessary things.

I took the time to be a little creative and made the button below to pass along to my blogging friends. Please know that I appreciate each one of you. Please take the button as a token of our friendship.

Tuesday, March 24

Spring Cleaning

Unlike Maxine, I decided to do a bit of spring cleaning. I've been doing it in bits and pieces and today I cleaned another corner of my computer room. I hate when this room gets cluttered and disorganized and that may be some of the reason I've had trouble concentrating on my writing lately. Last week I started in the worst corner and got that done. Today I looked through some old manuscripts and boxed them up. I don't want to throw them away because just when I do, someone will want exactly what I've just thrown out.

I need to purchase a nice cupboard for this room. A solid one that can hold manuscripts, writing supplies and a few other things. However, since we've had a good sized cut to our finances this year, it will have to wait. There are more pressing things to take care of for the time being. But...I will have that cupboard one day. Just something to look forward to.

I also washed the floors, did a load of laundry and did a few other menial tasks. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get this room even more organized. I must stay focused. If I took Maxine's advice, I'd be lost in a world of clutter.

From the garden...my snowdrops are blooming and my tulips and daffodils are about 4 inches high. It gives me hope that soon I will be out in the garden.

Enjoy the rest of the week. We're to have some spring weather tomorrow, but then it's to rain for five days out of seven. Guess those April showers are coming early. ~Blessings, Mary~

Monday, March 23

Writing

My regular readers will know that I love writing and am currently taking a children's writing course. I sent in assignment two and received it back last week. My teacher was very pleased with the effort and only found a few minor mistakes. She advised me to revise a little and send the story off to Cricket. Well, the revisions are finished and today I mailed it off to Cricket. Now I will wait patiently (well, maybe not) to hear if it is accepted. I'm praying it will be, as this would be a major step forward for me in my quest to become a children's author.

Tonight I went to my writer's guild meeting. This is only my second time attending. Two weeks ago, it was a lot of fun. Our writing exercise was about a dragon that liked to paint. Tonight, it was different, but still fun. We were introduced to Naani, which is one of India's most popular Telugu poems. It was a genre that I was not experienced in. Naani means an expression of one and all. The poems consist of 4 lines, the total lines consist of 20 to 25 syllables. The poem is not bounded to a particular subject. Generally it depends upon human relations and current statements.

Here are the examples we were given:

A dream
As a particle in eyes
Remains as tear
Wounded desire.

Example # 2

A dialogue
When lengthens
Remain questions
Without answer as criticism.

Though I had no clue what I was doing, this is what I wrote:

A clock
Tells of passing time
Moments of our lives
Until the ticking stops.

Here is another:

A printer
Humming, clicking
Spitting out
The written word.

I hope you will try Naani. It is fun and though mine are far from perfect, I'm sure you will enjoy this writing exercise. Write me a Naani in the comments. Don't worry about being professional. Let's just have fun. ~Blessings, Mary~

PS. If anyone from the US has a Pay Pal account and would be willing to send me some first class stamps, please let me know. I need US stamps to send self-addressed stamped envelopes to publishers in the USA.

Sunday, March 22

Fun at the Park

Saturday the boys came around 3 pm to stay overnight. It was their parent's anniversary and they were going to spend the afternoon at Niagara Falls, stay overnight and return today. The weather was chilly, but we decided to take Dakota and go to the park across the street.


Both boys wanted a turn at walking Dakota. Here they are in the park. Brandon has the leash. Notice Dakota keeping an eye on Jordan.
Then it was Jordan's turn. He can't walk their dog because it is quite large and pulls. Jordan finds himself on the ground when he tries, but he can walk Dakota very nicely. In fact, he took Dakota out for his house training lessons quite a few times while he was here.
Brandon trying to keep up with Dakota. I don't think he realized that a little puppy can move at the speed of light.
Brandon has the lead but the boys are calling for Dakota to come and he flat-out, answering their call. I believe he may have a stick in his mouth because the boys were throwing it and he was fetching.
The boys playing fetch with Dakota. He brings the stick back perfectly, but then it's a job getting it away from him.

Besides taking him out to do his business, the boys played ball with him and also played with him and his chewy toys. They had fun playing Mario Baseball with hubby and he enjoyed it as well. This is a favorite game that they play. They all have equal skills and so it's always a surprise to see who wins.

The boys' parents picked them up just after 1pm today. I'm sure they were tired from playing with Dakota. He had a nap when they left, but not for long. I would give anything to have the energy of that little ball of fur. I was exhausted and had a nap. The rest of the day was leisurely. Hubby watched a movie and I did some mandatory reading for my writing course.

I would love to hear what you did this weekend. It was still a little chilly here with a brisk wind, but it's to be warmer as the week goes by. ~Blessings, Mary~