MURAL

         A few weeks ago I showed some of our wedding photos as it was our anniversary. Everybody's wedding is extremely important. The surroundings and events are not forgotten.

         The venue for our wedding was different. The wedding was held in a place called Stinger Hall Chapel. Inuvik had a 1000 student school. Kids were brought in from up to 1000 miles away and kept in two hostels. Stringer hall was a residence that held about 300 kids. 

         The chapel was for all the kids in the residence.

         Inuvik was a special Arctic settlement planned and built after the Second World war. Construction was officially finished in 1957 but some of it still continued. Stringer Hall was finished long before the Hotel was built. Travelers stayed in the student hostel. A pilot stayed there on a regular basis. He was a bit of an artist so painted the large mural behind the alter  during his stops in Inuvik.

      The mural shows a picture of children coming to Christ. The big thing in this mural is that the children are aboriginal. 

       I'm not sure if the idea comes from a biblical quotation. Far Side will be able to cover that Chap and verse if there is one. 

     So I've always considered this an interesting mural as well as the story behind it. 

LAWNMOWER

       Recently I had to buy a new lawnmower. 

       The last lawnmower I bought was in 1971 so that means that it was 53 years old. The bumbling old handyman kept it going that long. I knew what to fix on this lawn mower but the part cost over $50.00 and then I would still have an old mower that I would still have to pull a cord to start it. 

       So my lawnmower info goes back to the 1970's. So what to buy. There are so many different lawnmowers for sale. Then there are electric cordless machines. With the micro Manager help we researched different machines. we also had to learn about cordless electric machines. We finally decided on an electric cordless mower. This old boy didn't want to pull cords anymore.

     Then the fun started. There are three owners manuals. One for the machine. One for the charger and one for the battery. I would get the manuals mixed up. I'd be looking in the charge manual for something about the battery. It was confusing.

    Finally, we had crossed all the T's and dotted all the i's and were ready to go outside and start the machine and test out the mower.

    So I did what I thought I as supposed to do. There was utter silence. I'm sure the look on my face would have said volumes. I checked connections. I checked instructions. Everything looked okay.

   So nothing for it to go back in the house and look in the manual. So first I went to the start section. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small word that I had missed. There's a start button. It says press and HOLD. I had missed the word hold. 

   So I went out and followed instructions again and it started. 

   I find directions for new appliance to be a challenge!

   Do I like my new mower? You bet I do. 

   

THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED

         I have a one meter wide strip going across the front of my house. I have a few shrubs and many perennials in that strip. The shrubs are mugo pine and juniper. The strip with plants is fairly dense. I keep it clean of weeds and the soil is soft and easy to keep.

       However, for the last 2 or 3 years some animal has been leaving indistinct tracks and moving soil. I suspicioned a cat but I very seldom found cat feces. There was quite a bit of soil disturbance . I would smooth out the soil trying to find out what was in the shrubbery. No damage was ever done.  

     This morning I went around the corner to the strip. A jack rabbit popped out from under a mugo pine! Mystery solved. Jack rabbits have been hiding in the shrubs. 

     The jack rabbit moved about 3 meters and then stopped. He/she stared at me as if to say, "Get out of here so I can go back under your shrubs."

     I never thought that this might be a jack rabbit. 

    This strip is right below my front room window. The plants are dense enough so that I didn't notice them from the window. 

    I will be checking that strip from now on.

   Was this Spencer? I have no idea. 

58

       Fifty eight years ago today I put on my new suit and tie and walked across the road to the Stringer Hall Chapel and strolled down the aisle to the waiting minister. I stood facing the minister. People were coughing, shifting in their seats, dropping things. You hear much more when it's quiet. A float plane roared off the river. The Minister said, "She's left town!" Soon after , the crowd was asked to stand and there were flashbulbs popping and a shuffle up the aisle. Mrs Holman who couldn't play the organ, volunteered to play the music. Yes, the bride made it. Somebody gave the "woman" away and the veil was removed.

     Yes, today is our 58th anniversary. 

     We got together with friends and said our I do's. 

    It was a different wedding as we were married in Inuvik, NWT so didn't have relatives, just the friends.

    There are so many good things we remember about the day of our wedding. People volunteered to help us make a wonderful day. Mrs Holman was the assistant hostel administrator and took us under here wing. She played the organ and got a girl's choir to sing.

THE BISHOP

       A former student of mine has made some awesome achievements.

       After high school she entered and completed a theology program. The next challenge was to be ordained in the Anglican church. Now at that time the Anglican church's official policy was that they would not ordain women . However, there was a loop hole. Some churches chose to ordain women. This was against official church policy. She was ordained. 

       I'm not sure how the next part of the story goes. I'm not sure what positions she had in the church. 

      However, she was a very gutsy lady to push and be ordained. 

      Yesterday, I heard that she is now a bishop! Her father was in the same residence as my friend and reported that his daughter is a bishop.

     These are the type of people I like. She challenged the status quo and won. 

     She opened doors for many women coming after her. 

     She is now the Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kootenay. 

I NEED A TOPIC MACHINE !

      Lately blogging has been a struggle. It's been hard to think of interesting things to say. I have not been out with the camera. Now that I've said that, I know what I'll do tomorrow. I'll get out and get some spring photos so that you can compare your spring to mine.

     I want to whine and make excuses about not posting but that would not be very honest. Yes, I've been busy in my mind, but others would disagree with me. 

     What I've found out is that if you're not very active, topics are are to come by. Spring weather has been variable and not really nice . We haven't had warm weather so every time we have a nice day I'm working in my yard. Some of those precious nice days are occupied with appointments of one kind or another. We've had lots of smoke on some days.

     One day I did not reply to comments and I feel that if someone goes to the effort of making a comment they deserve a reply. I have read all the comments. Once again I think that comments are an interesting and important part of blogging.

    So my tomatoes are on the south side of the house. My radish and lettuce are seeded. I should say my radish that never develop to and edible stage. Radishes don't like me!

     Today I went to a stress test. You feel pretty awful from the preparations. No coffee for 24 hours. No breakfast. And with all that I do not sleep well so I feel fairly woosy at test time. Tomorrow I find out if I passed. I must be glowing as they use a tremendous amount of nuclear stuff. It was an interesting process. The new technology used is amazing. 

MOTHER'S DAY

       I wished my wife a happy mother's day ...yesterday. I got ahead of myself. 

       for days like Mother's day and other days marking special occasions or people, I like to think of their origin and how it was celebrated when I was young. Yes , they were all celebrated when I was young and in many parts of the world . Mny of the origins are similar. 

      My Father felt that special days were rather artificial so he did not give them much importance. So very little notice of mother's day was noted in our home. Our mother deserved recognition as she worked very hard with limited resources. She was a farmer's wife and had very few conveniences. Rural areas thought of these days as related to urban people. 

      So I looked up the origins of Mother's day to see where it originated and when it began to be celebrated. As with most of these special days , the origin goes far back in history. 

      As I said before, my mother was hard working but not only that a very caring person. My Mother died when she was 59. I often think of her and how her life was shortened by cancer. The older I get the more I see what a strong caring person she was. I also see that many of my strong points come from her either by teaching or inheritance. 

     I was looking for another photo of Mom when she was older. So this will have to do when she was younger and spending most of her time looking after me.

BOTTLES AND CANS

     I have been known in the past to think that Alberta is the best place you can be. I've been know to think that everybody is the same as us . 

     Well the comments on  The Money Machine was Empty, jerked my head up about these assumptions. By the way the comments were awesome and made me rethink the issue. 

    Many of you wondered about the idea of being paid for return of bottles and cans and other containers. Reading between the lines some of you are going, "What's going on here?" We always had a program of payment for return of bottles and cans. As a child I would walk along the ditches picking out bottles and cans. I got one or two cents for each container. 

    Okay you can see the first idea coming here. Paying for return of containers gets the garbage picked up. It also gathers material to be made into something else. 

    It also gets sillier. When we buy certain products that we can return we are charged a environmental fee. So when I return bottles and cans it's money that I've already paid. 

    Some groups have fund raisers by picking up containers from road allowances. 

    The homeless get some cash.

     So for the countries where people are wise enough to not throw things out the car window ao just drop something on the street. Great! That's the way it should be . We should all take responsibility for keeping the environment clean and tidy. 

CHAIRS

         In many public places chairs are a one size fits all. In restaurants after you get too big for a high chair all the chairs are the same size. 

         First, kids have to endure the big chair. No wonder you see kids swirling back and forth on their bum because the chair doesn't fit. I'm sure that there are are many messes because the chair doesn't fit.

         When it comes to adults some people are too small for the chair and some people overwhelm the poor chair. 

        I know a number of people whose feet do not touch the floor. Getting on and off a chair could be hazardous. Then there are the huge people whose bodies completely hide the chair.

       We have a brand new  casino with a large restaurant. All chairs and tables are exactly the same. The flooring is carpet and the chair legs are metal and do not slide. So try to move your chair closer to the table or further from the table. It's a challenge to move. And then the table legs have very little room for your feet. It's a crowded situation. 

        So I ask again, why can't there be a variation in size of chairs to accommodate large and small people as well as average sized people?

THE MONEY MACHINE WAS EMPTY

      I take my cans, bottles etc. to a large bottle depot. Sometimes you wait 30 minutes to drive through. 

      Once you get to a wicket your junk is quickly counted. It's high tech so a plastic card is issued. You take your card inside and tap the machine where it says tap. The machine spits out the amount of cash which was on the plastic card.

       Well, today the guy in front of me had a big surprise when the machine said that it had run out of cash? What? 

         There is an attendant nearby and she came quickly and found a supply of cash to pay us. 

        I don't know when they'll fill up the money machine.

        It's sort of like getting stuck in and elevator.

         On a happier note my friends are celebrating a 61st anniversary! Happy anniversary to B and A.