Happy Orthodox Easter

This is the Orthodox Easter week end and what a beautiful week end it is.
The beach is where it is at. Hope you have a chance to get to some body of water
to relax around.
xoxoxoxoxo

Happy Easter

Hey! Where are the Father in law jokes? I've never heard of any? lol

I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it
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I had amnesia once---or twice
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I went to San Francisco . I found someone's heart. Now what?
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Protons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.
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All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy
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If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses sidesaddle.
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What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?
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They told me I was gullible and I believed them.
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Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.
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Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.
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One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.
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My weight is perfect for my height--which varies.
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I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.
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How can there be self-help "groups"?
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If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?
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Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off
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Is it me --or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

Have a wonderful week end. :)

Easter Chicks Go Wild

What cute little chicks I remember we could buy them this way.
Ours used to grow all summer and fed very well until winter when they became dinner.

My parents never told me when they did the deed because they knew I wouldn't eat them.
lol

But otherwise I never knew and it made no difference.

This is the time of year to take out your Christmas trees and decorate them with your favorite eggs.
One family in Germany, filled their whole back yard tree full of eggs. It was gorgeous!!! The work involved was tremendous.
Then the job of taking everything down is another story but it made for a good copy right picture so I couldn't put it on my blog.

The idea is simple enough though with Christmas trees because all you do is change the decorations and the tree can have its own nook in the house and keep celebration in your hearts.

I did this in Singapore but in Canada with people fighting over holidays, it kinda spoils the mood. You wouldn;t want to OFFEND someone. lol

Well chicks are still fun so I hope you enjoy the clip :)


The Canucks were slaughtered yesterday 7-2 in Chicago. But I hope they bring the game and business back home to Vancouver so people can enjoy a victory.
There's no place like home!!!

GO CANUCKS!!!

On My Father's Side

“To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.”
~ William Blake




HAPPY EASTER!!!

On My Father's Side

GOOD FRIDAY

Rubens

Good Friday

Many Orthodox Christian churches often observe Good Friday at a later date than the Good Friday date observed by many western churches.
Good Friday focuses on Jesus Christ’s death, which is described in the Christian bible.

The day is also known as Great Friday, Holy Friday, and Holy and Great Friday

What do people do?

Great Friday is a strict day of fasting for many Orthodox Christians .

Some Orthodox churches begin observing Holy Friday on Thursday night where the liturgy’s main feature is the reading of 12 sections from the gospels, all of which are accounts of Jesus Christ’s passion.
Other churches may have a Good Friday liturgy in the evening. Some priests remove icons of Jesus from crosses and wrap them in linen to reenact ancient burial rites.

Some Orthodox Bulgarian churches have special traditions, which include allowing people to pass under a table in the middle of the church and light a candle after the church bell rings.

This ritual is believed to wash away one’s sins. Many families of the Orthodox Christian faith may spend time on Great Friday to decorate Easter eggs as part of the Easter preparations.

Background

Many Orthodox churches retained the Julian calendar after the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Europe in 1582.
Therefore they often follow a different Easter date compared with many western churches. Easter holidays, such as Good Friday, are “moveable feasts” as these dates change according to calendar calculations.

There are different types of Orthodox churches that are well established in the United States.

Some of these churches include the Greek Hellenic Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Russian Orthodox Church in North America can be traced back to the late 18th century, where a Russian church was built on Kodiak Island in Alaska during that period.
Alaska was previously part of Russia. The number of Greek Orthodox churches grew as Greek immigration increased after the late 19th century in the United States.

Symbols

Many Orthodox Christian families prepare Easter eggs, which are beautifully decorated and often dyed red to symbolize the Jesus Christ’s blood.

Jesus died to prepare mankind for his Fathers World
He died in Faith
He died leaving people to believe he would resurrect into life everlasting.

His death brought upon dark clouds and a storm they say.

Today I look out my window and the wind has been blowing a few days now threatening
stormy weather.
Is it a fluke?

I have noticed it before in previous years.

:)

Easter Blessings

This week my blog is dedicated to Easter
It was always a special time for my family.
I can still see my Mom making her dough .
She’d collect her coffee cans weeks ahead to be ready.
She got all her ingredients together and had such painstaking
Love and pride in making her Easter bread.
They were her babies and she’d hover over them and
roll them so they stayed nice and round

She would make three / four runs at it, so we’d have about 25
by the time she was through, all different sizes.
They tasted so wonderful .

She never gave away her recipes,
But people would call her and ask
to exchange one of hers for one of theirs.
She could have said no but she never did.
It was her pleasure to make people happy.

My job was to make the pysanky eggs to give away.



My Dad would have the job of going to St Lawrence Street to get the special bacon
which could be eaten as is, and the schmaltz herring, the best in the whole world.
He would get the cheese to make the special cheese dish made for this occasion.
And the polish garlic sausage that was sold in rings and other kolbassa’s. like Moishes smoked meat.
They sold caviar in glass jars. It was always fresh.
Fresh salt was also included on the list.

You could never beat Montreal’s, St Lawrence Street, where food was concerned in those days.
The smells filled the street as you walked from store to store.
The old people knew their stuff and the secrets died along with them.
I have never tasted a bagel or a cheese knish, poppy seed danish or even rye bread, as good as the way
these people made them. Their stores never cried for customers.
They came in hoards and there was always enough.

The ovens baked continuously. People worked quickly.
It was a question of pride for them.
Being war survivors, food was important to enjoy.
And very few people were fat.

Preparing for Easter was a very big thing for our family
We always had a beautiful basket to take to church to be blessed.

Every family went out of their way for their baskets and it brought people
together because we could compare notes,
have nice things to talk about and share.

Today it is all changed. We throw away so many good traditions which are important
to raise good families.
We set examples for our children to follow and if nothing is important
to us, then nothing is important to them either.

So I dedicate this week to Easter.
I dedicate it to the Love this man Jesus, brought into my life.

I thank him for sending me to be born, live with and understand war survivors
who raised me to be a good person, and kept me ignorant of the ugliness
they had to go through, so I could have a child hood.
They could have been bitter but instead they learned what it meant to be alive
how to love, and how special every day is.

Though they may be gone, I carry them in my heart and soul and every day
I feel their presence all around me.
I see their eyes and their smiles.
I miss them
I miss their sunshine but I am happy knowing that where they are today
is a blessed place.
:)

We Are Forgiven

One must never forget why Adam and Eve were thrown out of paradise.They disobeyed God and God was angry but he understood why they did what they did.
God loved man and he had faith in him but God also wanted man to have faith in him. God showed man good will by letting him go.

Man is worthy if he follows Jesus.
Man is worthy if he doesn't follow Jesus.
Jesus asked his Father to forgive us for we know not what we do.
Jesus forgave Juda for betraying him and Juda knew that he knew.
Imagine how this must have played in his head?
Jesus forgave Mary Magdaline.
Jesus forgave the crucified criminals.

Jesus's last words were: Father, why have you forsaken me?
But he was resurrected so again, God came through for him and for mankind.
Jesus was not forsaken as neither will man be.

This is the story that Christianity is based on......Hope .....Faith.

It has always been a question of trust and faith which Adam and Eve did not have.

The Christian religion is ingenious. There is none like it in the world.

Of course there will always be false prophets and we are warned about them and told to use our heads.
Isn't this true freedom, to be given a right to decide for ourselves and time to make the right decision through coming to an understanding?

In the end, God will show us TRUTH and we will be educated.
This is why God doesn't fear the devil because the devil is not about TRUTH but its' manipulation.
The thing about TRUTH is that, in the end, you must either understand it or self destruct because you can't.
This is the way our minds were constructed by God.
He knows who we are.

That is the plan but first God is giving us time to do what we need to do to obtain understanding because it is important to us, not to him.

God recognized man's need to understand first before he could himself be trusted by man.Being smart he must have known that there is only so much arguing one can do with oneself lol
If God was ever to have a friend and not be ONE, it had to be based on truth.
We do not know the whole story behind that.
We only know God did not want to be alone.

In the end, it is between man and God as it was between Jesus and God.

Religion isn't about clothing, food, torture or judgement. These directions were given to us because we did not know about germs or dust or social etiquette etc... elements which were harmful to us not to know. Since then man has progressed.

Religion is about forgiveness and love.
How do you judge a humble shepherd leading innocent lambs?

When you have peace because you understand, it is better than begetting peace through the sword.
Man is like a dog or horse who would give its life for someone it loves but will never risk losing its life to help an owner, if the owner is harsh and beats it.

This is why I believe in Jesus.

He had a message of TRUTH I think was worth sending forward .
His Truth crosses generations because some things just never change.
It doesn't matter who you are or what station you hold in life, there is something
for every one, found in the teachings of a humble shepherd.

AND

we are all forgiven.
We were forgiven the day God let Adam and Eve live.

:)

Crosses

 

There is an interesting story about a husband and wife driving down a highway.
The wife saw the husband looking past her into the woods .
A tear came down his cheek.

She wanted to know why he was crying.

He told her he remembered what his Dad, who passed away now,
told him a long time ago about Pine trees.
He was 8 years old, it was spring and they went fishing.

His Dad said Pine trees know when it's Easter.

Two weeks before Easter, the new shoots begin to grow.
The tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross just weeks before Easter.

It was one week before Easter .
The wife looked out the window and saw what her husband saw.

The spruce trees were full of yellow shoots and they were
full of crosses.

It is amazing what effect parents have on their children.
A small thing a parent tells a child, stays with him and
memories emerge when least expected.

Crosses you bear and pass in life's journey appear everywhere and cannot be escaped.

It brought the husband and wife closer, to share an intimate moment from the past,
that will repeat over and over again every Easter, no matter what a country's political
agenda is.


Joke:
Man: "How do you like your eggs in the morning?"

Woman: "Unfertilized."
-----------------------------------------------------
The elephant asked the camel: "Why do you have your breasts on your back?"

The camel clearly irritated by the outrage of modesty replies: "What a silly question from someone who has a dick on his face."
===============================================================

Song:
you are my everything -

Happy Easter my lovely friends

Because He emptied Himself of all but love, you can be filled.

Because His body was broken, your life can be whole.

Because His blood was shed, your sin can be forgiven.

Because He submitted to injustice, you can forgive.

Because He finished His Father's work, your life has worth.

Because He was forsaken, you will never be alone.

Because He was buried, you can be raised.

Because He lives, you don't have to be afraid.

Because He was raised, you can live eternally.

Because He reached down to you,
you don't have to work your way up to Him.

Because His promises are always true, you can have HOPE!

Because Christ did not remain in the tomb,

But conquered death by rising again,

We can live in the joy of the full salvation

Provided by a risen, living, coming Redeemer!

Easter blessings from the heart ~ from me to you!

HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY

Well the day has finally arrived.

GOOD FRIDAY.

A pretty sombre day commemorating the crusifiction of Jesus, to those of us who celebrate Easter.
It has a special meaning for me regardless of whether or not Jesus was the son of God.
It is irrelevant to me. I choose to believe in him for what he believed and for who he was and for what he represents to this day.

1) He believed he was the son of God.

2) He died believing he was dying for the world's salvation. He wanted his Father, God, to respect his love for people "who do not understand what they do". He asked him for his mercy.and he asked him for hope for a people of his creation.
He lived with people so he understood them better than the Father.

He self sacrificed as a lamb and not as a lion, to earthly powers, without objections, as if he knew this had to be.
This certainly makes Christians different from Muhammads followers.

3) His forgiving of the other two criminals hanging beside him, was also significant, in that if they didn't believe, if he didn't get them to believe in him, then why would they ask forgiveness of another crucified man? What hypnotic spell or trickery, could a mortal, man do on them?

4) and why would there be a storm immediately after his passing?

As a child, I remember the day my Mother pulled me into this little delapidated church, in Montreal, which has since been torn down because they were building a Metro system.
The last thing I wanted to do was stand in church but when we opened the door.....
something undescribable happened. I couldn't explain it as anything else but HOLY.

There was nothing special about that church It was old, smelly and rotting but I wish to this day, they did not tear it down. I don't even remember where it stood exactly but I am sure that whatever is in that spot, is still Holy.

Whenever I had a bad dream, I would wake up with a pounding heart and cross myself, and it immediately took away the horror and replaced it with Peace because I knew then, I had nothing I to fear. I was being looked after.
A very small thing but it kept me safe.

Whenever I drive, I keep a guardian angel icon with me for the road and being on the road so much, I had so many bad things that could have happened to me but for some reason didn't because something always foretold me of danger ahead.
So uncanny and beyond belief and I really need to knock on wood not to jynx myself for telling this story. lol

Once on a highway, we were driving relatively fast. It was around 11pm and we were doing a cross country run. For no reason something told me .....slow down here.
There was no reason to slow down. It was a perfect road, empty, wide. The moon was out so it wasn't very dark.

Anyway, just then this huge Moose ran across the road. His body was higher than the front of my Ford 150 truck. He was looking at me with this yellow eye . I could see his muscles ripple as he ran past, that was how close he was to the truck. Where he came from, I don't know.
I had just enough braking power to slow down, to allow him to pass without hitting him.

I had two kids sleeping in the truck. Had I hit him, we probably would have been a statistic today.
After that night I said to myself ..no more.
No point to risk your life to save a few minutes time.
I never saved time anyway because there was always something forcing me to make a detour away from the main highway.
So time I made in one place, I lost in another.
I found if I stopped at 5pm, had a good nights sleep and then continued the next day at 8 am, I had better timing and less fatigue, than doing it my way. lol

Incidences like this, made me understand that if it is your time, you will not have these impulses to do things you would not otherwise do and then finding that having not done them, would have cost you your life.
I guess every one must get them every now and then but I pay attention when I do.

Another thing I find weird about myself.
I could be anywhere, doing anything and for no apparent reason, by accident, I happen to look into a persons eyes and the person into mine and a thought pops into my head, that this person is going to die.
Its a momentary thing and life goes on. I don't know this person but later on somehow, I find out the person died.
Why was I told this? What was I supposed to do with this info?
Was I meant to stop it? Was I meant to look ridiculously insane by going up to a total stranger and telling him to be careful?

As you walk through life, things happen, which leave you at a loss as to what you have to or need to do.
I know now that if it ever happens to me again, I will tell this person to be careful.
Maybe it will help change destiny. Only God knows how many times mine has been. :)

So with all this in mind I celebrate Good Friday but I look forward more for the ressurection of a man who believed in good ness and love, enough to go through all this for people, so they understand.

I am not a particularly religious person because I have no faith in the people who profess they are working for God. I believe religion should not involve money. It's personal and holy and if you go to pray into God's house, well this world is all God's house.
This planet is a miracle. Life is a miracle. Love is a miracle. Knowledge is a miracle.
Survival is a miracle.
We live miracles every day and we don't even know it.

Have a Blessed day and thanks for listening to my ramblings. lol

When Roses Bloom

When roses bloom

I check for imperfections.

A perfect rose is what I seek

An unblemished symbol

Of pure and perfect love

But Love is very fickle.

It tarnishes with ease

Love burns britches at both ends.

It kills and drives a man to drink.

Love’s unkind and so imperfect

Why do we yearn it so?

The heart and mind and soul in love

Are enslaved you know

The only thing that’s splendid about the rose and true

Are the thorns which draw red blood and remind you so you know

The sacrifice entailed to love another so.

The perfect rose stands tall among the flowers

It lives for all to see, that even with imperfections

It is still a rose, you see.

A splendid rose, wisest of flowers, elegant and free,

Has just a touch of scent, desired by the world and me.

When roses bloom

I look for imperfections

I perfect rose is what I want.

I put one in amongst the dozen, for her to find.

A perfect rose, one in a dozen,

Is all that she will need, to know

A declaration of pure love, by one prepared to bleed.

A bright red rose, unblemished and untouched

To ignite a perfect love,

When roses bloom…… beware

They’ll tear away your heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fyFumisiU&feature=related

Jim Reeves - The Blizzard.

PUSHKIN, ALEXANDER 1799 - 1837

Matt Monroe From Russia with love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Q8Zczgx7c

Born Free
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_89U-N-5w0g

ALEXANDER SERGEVICH PUSHKIN 1799-1837




PUSHKIN was the founder of Modern Russian Literature
I was fortunate to find his family tree which is as excellent as his own life story.
His Heritage dated back to Abram Hannibal, an Ethiopian Prince.
I hope to be able to write something about that because this would make
Pushkin a modern day OBAMA.

The joy of Easter....

It is a shame society destroys holidays today because each holiday gives us an opportunity to celebrate and interrelate.For instance, my Christmas tree stayed up all year round, for many years, while my children were growing up.All I did was change the decorations from Christmas, to Chinese New Year, to Deepavali, to St Patrick's to Easter etc..and my house was always full of joy as a result. We always had something nice to discuss and celebrated life with people around us.Easter was especially significant because we spent so much time preparing for it.

My Mom would make her extra beautiful Paskhas or Easter bread and her famous syrnyk (recipes can be found here) She would make her own sausage and I would share in making the colorful eggs to fill our basket with.We would go to all night mass and get our basket blessed by the priest.The Church would be filled with flowers and a symbol of a casket and it also gave people a colored egg at midnight, after Christ had risen followed by a procession around the block with people singing holding candles. The priest would then go and bless the baskets and people would exchange eggs with their friends.I remember the day when Easter was not very pleasant for me. I was around six and Pysanky Eggs were a treasured item in those days.. The old ladies made them and would not share the process they used to make them.The first time I saw a Pysanka Egg, I was mesmerized by its intricate beauty and I stared and stared not being able to get enough of it.But the old lady who owned the basket, shooed me away, as if my looking, harmed her eggs. I was heart broken and I vowed to myself that day, that if I ever learned how, I would make tons and give them to every one.

Well, we changed churches and the new church I went to, had very poor, simple baskets. No one decoratedthem like in the church that broke my heart.Then one day I met a Ukrainian girl who invited me to make them with her. I could not believe my good fortune!I did not give away my joy nor show her any evidence that I cared one way or another for fear she would see and change her mind but inside I was bursting.

So three of us sat and made one egg each.When I got home I bade my Mom get three dozen eggs and I began to make as many as I could, determined to elate as many people as I could Easter night, as I was when I first laid my eyes on these beautiful creations. I made three dozen eggs and then had time to make three dozen more. My hands were black from the egg color.The day finally came when my basket was presented on the table to be blessed. It was gorgeous!

This is the first time we did not put in eggs to be eaten but all these wonderful colorful Pysankys, all with a story to tell because the colors and symbols you use also tell a story of what the eggs wants to say to you.

The people did not know whose basket it was and brought my parents over to view this “beautiful basket” and they were secretly pleased but did not let on.

Then this huge group of hippies came over and I suddenly became so frightened they would steal the eggs because they were not from our church.They loved them and called them psychedelic. They were nice and only looked….. like I just wanted to look, some ten years back.

When it came time to exchange eggs, soooo many people came to our basket and we exchanged ours, for one of the edible ones.That was my best Easter ever!!! We came home with tons of edible eggs and they each got one beautiful one they could enjoy looking at, at home.

What I did that night was give people a little bit of joy and an incentive to take pride in their baskets. They began learning to make Pysanky’s, and/or have children stick stickers onto a colored egg. Easter became a joyful event in that church thereafter

What is even nicer is that, when it dries, the egg would stand upright by itself without rolling over, like a little soldier.Since then I have done many things with eggs and they are my favorite thing to work on.

Recently my cousin told me she still had a few of the eggs my Mom sent her that year. Gosh they must soooo old !!!!! loll

She said they were very fragile now and she was afraid to touch them in case they broke. I told her to spray them with shellac so they harden.

Wow! I can’t believe she still has them.

This is a memory that still makes me smile today.