The Fedora Hat

Reading Westras blog today, I remembered my own Dad.

His country house still stands and his fedora Hat is still hanging on the hook where he left it.

His boat and trailer is still in the garage.

Our scenic wall paper is still in the family room reminding us of all the nice pictures and times we had beside it.

I think , a time will come when it must come down but then I think, there are too many memories

here and the paper should be repainted and refreshed.

All the trees we planted together are tall now but his garden suffered because no one takes care of it and neighbors are

not what you expect.

They come in and help themselves to the flower bulbs and fruit trees robbing an unprotected property.

My Dad had a car standing there he kept to give to one of his grandchildren

and the neighbors came to ask me if they could take the hub caps.

I told them no. How arrogant of them to even ask, I thought . They replied, well we are nice.

We asked, but we could have taken them when you were not here.

This is where you learn what people are really like.

These are the same people who grazed on my parents garden and did nothing for themselves.

My parents worked and had plenty to share.

Now they ask when will you come and have a garden again? loll

I keep my Dads place because he built it and his last wish was for it to be passed onto his grandchildren because this was the only

Heritage he could leave them of himself. And so I keep the hat and glasses and some other things of his I want to frame and hang on the wall

For posterity.

Children don’t understand and not living there, we hardly made any memories for them out there.

Nevertheless, its our family place and we will return to it once the time is right.

Maybe we will make some memories, enough for them to want to come out there before we die.

The town however, took pictures of my Dads place and put it on record as his place being one of the first older homes being built there.

My Dad has become a part of the fabric of the towns beginning and growing.

He was well respected.

We have a few more years left before our second son goes off on his own and then I guess we will pack up the ship and head on

Back to the green green grass of home where we belong.

Back to my parents garden and big trees we planted. Back to the franklin stove we can here crackling in winter.

Back to the deer who visit us and the birds and other little critters like he fall ducks red and orange forests and winter ice fishing.

Back to the Appalachian mountains and the French language and the Richelieu River I swam and water ski id on.

Back to the Iroquois and Samuel de Champlain.

My Fathers house is rich in history and heritage. The life he was robbed of by war and politics he regained and made richer

By the life he led in anew country, as a young man,husband, father and grandfather.

He left a nice legacy and we should never forget it.

We try to instill values in our children to carry on and hope for it to live on when we are gone.

Waking to the splendors of life, enriches the soul.

But everything has a cost.
and every one pays.
Lituya Bay, Alaska, shows us how things can change in an eye blink and then things go back to normal
and beauty and peace reign.

I guess nature teaches you that too much of anything, is never good.
So we must take pleasure to enjoy things in small quantities.

I put on one video to show what happens when a valley gets a landslide into the waters edge causing a Mega Tsunami that is different from tsunamis created by wind.
Other videos on the right hand side of this one, show the actual tsunami doing its work in an otherwise calm and beautiful bay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RMprH-4QC4&feature=channel

Thomas Jefferson Koran

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/jefferson.asp

Snopes on the Thomas Jefferson Koran seems to be true.

What an interesting story.

WHEN KEITH Ellison was sworn into office as a congressman, he wanted to swear on a Quran instead of a Bible, so they used Thomas Jefferson's Quran, which they borrowed for the occasion from the Library of Congress. The story behind Jefferson's Quran, and what he did with it, is an instructive look at the power of accurate knowledge.

It began before Jefferson was president. He was then the American ambassador to France, and he was disturbed by what was happening in the Mediterranean. For centuries, the "Barbary Coast Pirates" had been raiding ships passing through the Mediterranean. These were not "pirates" in the sense that we usually think of them. They weren't rogue agents acting independently. They worked for the governments of the North African countries. They would steal the ship and return to their countries, confiscating the booty aboard the ship, most of which added to the wealth of the Islamic state. They also took the ship's crew members captive and ransomed the ones they could. Most of that money also went to the Islamic government. The crew who could not be ransomed were sold into slavery.

In addition, these "pirates" randomly raided towns on the coasts of Europe and captured people, bringing them back to North Africa to ransom or sell into slavery. They even came so far as the shores of America to capture settlers, to bring them back to Africa to ransom or sell. They especially prized young women and children who could be used as concubines or made into eunuchs. Over a million Europeans and Americans were sold into slavery during the 200-year reign of the Muslim "Barbary Coast" rulers.

Many European countries wanted this to stop, of course, to which the leaders of the North African countries replied, "All you have to do is pay us a certain amount of money annually, and we will not attack ships from your country." Many European countries paid the tribute. It was cheaper than going to war. Of course, that was a short-term, self-defeating solution, since paying the tribute made the North African Muslim countries more powerful and more capable of terror, plunder, and mayhem.

The United States was paying this tribute also. This bothered Jefferson. It just so happened that while he was an ambassador in France, Jefferson met with John Adams (then the American ambassador to Britain) and together the two men met with the ambassador from Tripoli (one of the North African Muslim pirate countries). Jefferson and Adams sat down to talk with this man. They asked him why Tripoli attacked ships. Why attack the United States? They had no previous interactions. Why the hostility? Why did they choose America as an enemy?

The Tripoli Muslim ambassador was very straightforward. He said, basically, "That's what we do. We are commanded to do so by Allah." Jefferson later wrote that the Tripoli ambassador told him, "It was written in their Koran that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman (Muslim) who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to Paradise."

Completely taken aback by this revelation, Jefferson decided to look into the matter further, and did the one thing everyone should do: He read the Quran. He learned what Islam was about.

And when he became president, he formed the United States Navy, created the Marine Corps, sent them to the shores of Tripoli, and soundly defeated the Muslim warriors. This brought an end to the "Barbary Coast Pirates." This was the first foreign war fought by the U.S. and military aggressiveness of Islamic countries remained contained and weakened for over a century.

It's amazing what a little accurate information can do.

Read more: Thomas Jefferson's Quran.

Refreshing Air of Freedom

This is refreshing .

Cattle Guards.

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paintingsby stacey


For those of you who have never traveled to the west, or southwest, cattle guards are horizontal steel rails placed at fence openings, in dug-out places in the roads adjacent to highways (sometimes across highways), to prevent cattle from crossing over that area. For some reason the cattle will not step on the "guards," probably because they fear getting their feet caught between the rails.

A few months ago, President Obama received and was reading a report that there were over 100,000 cattle guards in Colorado . The Colorado ranchers had protested his proposed changes in grazing policies, so he ordered the Secretary of the Interior to fire half of the “cattle” guards immediately!

Before the Secretary of the Interior could respond and presumably try to straighten President Obama out on the matter, Vice-President Joe Biden, intervened with a request that...before any “cattle” guards were fired, they be given six months of retraining for Arizona border guards. 'Times are hard', said Joe Biden, 'it's only fair to the cattle guards and their families!'

Ya hum lol Guess they don't watch TV lol There's nothing to it.

As Plain as the Nose on My Face

I woke up at 5 am this morning and saw my husband was already up and at em.
I called downstairs to ask him what he was doing and he said he was going to eat now.
So , happy, I said ok and went back to bed.

At 7 am I woke up again and my husband did not come upstairs
so I decided to go down and share some coffee with him.

I found him snoring on the couch watching CNN.
I checked further to seek evidence of him having eaten something.

I saw his eyes open and asked him what he ate. He answered: "Nothing."
I said, "But you said you were going to eat."

He just shook his head sideways and made a face.
So I made us coffee and asked him if he wanted breakfast and he said no.

Before going to work he searched for his sandwiches in the fridge and seemed disappointed not to find any but smart me, I already hung them on the wall where his keys hang so he would not forget them. lol

Nag nag nag, nag nag....... That's me. Now I can nag him at work to make sure he ate. lol
My husband is like Pinochio whose nose gets longer when he is under stress and I am like Geppeto, the wood carver, who hovers over his beautiful creation to make sure it is safe

This morning's events reminded me of the Smothers brothers. This video made me laugh.
Hope it makes your day as well.
Have a good one :)

Knitting is The Life

Yesterday was a very nice Sunday even with the dull wet weather.
My son did not run anywhere and neither did my husband.
The two of them sat and chatted about cars and soccer and school and it was sooo nice to listen to them.
The family was at peace and everyone was happy.I busied myself to make them the salad they wanted with cheese for lunch and this after I made my husband the rare breakfast he eats with bacon, eggs and toast. The thing with my family is that I have to suggest to them what I have to make them and then it needs to sit a while for them to absorb it and get a taste for it, before they ask me to make them something.
lol The men today are worse than women with their diets and figures.lol

We later went out to look at a few cars since my son now needs one.

Volks wagons apparently all have transmission problems and the guy told my son the car he was interested in, was just redone, so we said thank you and goodbye.

Rebuilt transmissions hardly ever work. Its asking for another transmission job in a year or so. So sad. What happened to Volkswagon???
Even the clutches break and cost a mint to repair.

The US has such low car prices and here, we have to pay through the nose.
Hardly seems fair. It’s the same car.
Since I will not have my car tomorrow, I asked my son to take me to Walmart for thread to finish my scarf.

Walmart is doing a reno job so I don’t like going there right now but today they seem to have done a lot of progress and I found what I needed and got extra things like water for soccer, toothpaste, a smoothy mixer you drink from like a cup for my son and he got himself vitamins to keep himself healthy and strong.He is the youngest on his team and he says the men they play against are much bigger and tougher.For my husband I got the back support pillow to rest against in bed with arms on the side.I have been looking at it for a long time.

As for me, its always the same.

You make things and then run out just at the end so you buy more and then you have so much left you begin another project lol
I began a nice wool sweater with a yoke for my husband but it looked small.

Well my husband shrunk as well. Loll

The man hardly eats and I have to always pay attention to this and email him at work to make sure he doesn't forget to eat. I have become what you call, a nag lol

He jokes saying he eats to live so that leaves me with living to eat, cause I enjoy flavors. Well, what can I say. People need balanced meals. Loll
Now I make sure to make him sandwiches cause if I don’t he will never go and get something.
He’ll just work right through lunch and come home a grouchy bear till his stomach is full.

I like things to be big and bulky so I was disappointed and stopped knitting this sweater, at the yoke part.

I might finish it this week.
It will fit him . Its more for skiers in Switzerland so it will be warm.
If not, then I guess I can sell it.
I am soo proud of it, except for the size.

When we first met at University, I bought him one similar for his birthday and he loved it.
I don’t know if he loved it for the sweater or because I bought it . lol
He wore it and wore it and wore it and wore it, my handsome
Engineering student.:)And I was tickled that he did.

Now that I am sooo good at knitting (cough cough) I may pick up the stitches above the elbows And reknit the arms of this ancient sweater.
Elbows are very hard on sweaters and this one has many memories now.
Hardly seems worth it to throw away. Loll It needs resurrecting lol

When I finish this new one, I have another pattern, for the woodsman. It is shown in the picture above.
It has deer on it and a zipper and it looks like a jacket.Walmart has the zipper and I should have bought it because they are hard to find.
I find it doesn’t take that long to make these sweaters and people really appreciate them.But I want to run it with two threads, one out of wool and the other normal thread.This way it will not shrink and will be thicker.

I saw one woman doing this and she said it was well worth it.
She made them for childrens' charity plus she had two adopted girls from somewhere in Africa.
It's amazing how many women you meet at these sports events doing such crafts.
This time, I will make the sweater XL or even XXL It is disappointing to find out the pattern is too small after you are almost done the sweater.
The model wearing the sweater doesn’t look that small.The sweater, if it's too big can be worn over a fleecy or even a leather jacket for extra warmth.
It can be very helpful when you stand around watching soccer games.

These will be my new projects for Christmas.

Have a great Day Everyone!!!

Recovering Fundamentalist

Jesus hung out with prostitutes and Muhammad killed them.
Interesting.

Jury Duty

Today was spent at the Supreme Court in Vancouver in a Jury Selection process.

Thankfully I was not asked to participate.

It would have been a very interesting case dealing with Cocaine and intents to traffic.

The defendants pleaded not guilty and the case was expected to last 20 days.

I never knew that they would ask soo many people to come but I learned some things today.

Many people were rejected because they did not speak English.

If nothing, but for doing your civic duty to our country, people should learn the

common language. It makes for a better society.

I saw today how hard it is to select a jury ,

how frustrating for the judge and sheriff and lawyers to get the people they needed to procure a right decision for their clients.

The defendants also had to sit and go through the process with everyone watching them.

By the cross section of the people I saw today, at the court house, our nation is hurting.

So many are old , ill, parents with children who need special care and/or hurting financially .

Any and all have reason to take drugs just to get away from it all.lol

And I guess, by the looks of it, many do. Otherwise why would we be there to convict or find innocent

Men who traffic and destroy innocent minds?

Outside on the other hand, there were soo many driving in expensive cars, in expensive suits,

Living an expensive life.

Not going down town very often, to see vividly, this wide separation between people, was alarming.

As always, looks may be deceiving, but it takes you down memory lane to days when you had a chance to be one of these career people

but decided on family values and a slower pace of life, rather than a time consuming career, taking priority in your life.

Today I think, if I had to do it again, would I change anything????

No. I don’t think so.

I lived my life exactly how I wanted to live it.

Loving and being loved.

SOLAR ROADS

This is interesting.

Killer Merengue

A wealthy old Gentleman decides to go on a hunting safari in Africa , taking his faithful, elderly dog named Killer, along for the compan One day the old dog starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch. The old dog thinks, "Oh, ho! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old dog exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder, if there are any more around here?" Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old dog nearly had me!" Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes, but the old dog sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine! Now, the old dog sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old dog says... "Where's that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard! Moral of this story... Don't mess with the old dogs... age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! BS and brilliance only come with age and experience.

Fall Spirit

People today are not allowed to do many things and it's a shame.

Growing up was fun in our town. It had pig roasts and local sweet corn from our farmers fields,
cooked in barrels and all the towns people would come to play games, eat and enjoy a night with a huge bonfire every fall.


My Dad also made one, every fall. We'd go around collecting long logs anywhere we could find them and before long we'd have this huge 16 footer
crackling away, while family sat around chatting eating,
playing a guitar, singing and keeping warm on a late October night. If neighbors wanted to drop by they were welcome. It was a fun time.

Sometimes people would collect piles of wood and shrubs and after the snow would fall, we'd again have a huge bonfire in someones back yard. There was no danger of it spreading because of all the snow.
There is nothing like it. It's so spiritual, just sitting and watching the flames, watching little fireflies getting away from it and disappearing in a deep dark starry sky. The cool freshness of the air mixed with the smell of wood still rests in my nostrils today. Once the big flames died down the hot dogs and marshmallows would come out and the kids would have fun playing with fire until almost dawn. We would have our sleeping bags and pillows outside and eventually fall asleep, red cheeked and charcoal dirty but ever so happy. lol It's funny but the kids were responsible and no one worried about fire hazards.

===================================================================

A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable at all. On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest. Discipline was not a problem from that day forth!

A Birch Eye View

I spent my week end continuing making hats and scarves.
I have 6 sets and all different. Can't get myself to pick up a camera though
to make a collage Maybe later. lol
My son gets 2 in the green color cause those are his school colors.
I have one green scarf left to make for him
Now I have to go to the dollar store and see if I can get those dollar gloves to include in the sets.
They are very nice and hardly worth making for that price although my son would like those
fingerless wrist warmers and those all you need is to buy woolen tube socks and cut off the feet part. The feet part can be sewed up and crocheted around to make nice slippers and the top is ready to wear without much fuss. On the soccer field it will be cold and every little bit helps.

Other than that I love Birch Trees. I can't get over that they can be used to write on and when I was a kid people would go into birch areas to pick wild mushrooms. Those were the days.

My Dad and I would go very early in the morning and bring back 2 x 50 pound potato bags full.
Then the rest of the morning would be spent sorting cleaning, cooking and canning. It had to be done fast before the mushrooms spoiled.
This my Mom was great at. Canning was her specialty. We would have tons of pickled mushrooms for winter and they were good. Sometimes we'd eat them out of the jar and sometimes we'd fry them with eggs or onions with sour creme. They made for a lovely condiment.

These are days when I really miss my parents. They did so many crazy things lol
and I remember every day so vividly like they happened yesterday. There is nothing nicer than working like a family team. Today we don't have families like this anymore.
Reminds me of the Waltons.
Well, here's a few puns.
I found one yesterday on CNN : Police shoot dead dog for biting.lol

Puns for educated minds

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

22.Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Amoy/Shanghai/Pagodas/Temples/Life 1929

I made a collage of all the photos from Shanghai And Amoy.
These are interesting to see from 1929. I guess they can be made larger by clicking on the picture. They can on my computer.
When I found them at the flea market, I bought them right away.
They even show beheadings . I have yet to make a study of this era
but what I did read about it was truly interesting.
I can imagine how the person who took these pictures lived during these times.
I mean, to be able to be there for the beheadings is something.

===================================================

You can see fortune tellers,smiths market, bamboos coolies,1929 kuikiang Pagoda,
Travelling by wheel barrow,Native cargo boats,Haing Chow
Pagoda near Peking, Peking Pagoda, Temple in Soochow, travelling book shop, House and bridge in Canton, roofs of Shanghai,Amoy Harbor,Peking city wall , Mandarin woman, Amoy, Street in Shanghai,female prisoners in wooden head locks,Kukiana??,native shoe maker,opium smokers,loongfa pagoda near shanghai,native prisoners rolling in street, native fisherman,
beheadings near hong kong,executions of Normon???women in mourning,native parber and customer,young soochow woman,Buddhist Priest, water mill, bridge over river,English settlement Nanking road, Ningpo.

Hope you enjoy this collage.
:)

Soochow City

I got some old pictures from a flea market that are interesting.
I will be putting them on because they are worth seeing
A moment in time.

A young Law student, having failed his Law exam, goes up to his crusty old professor, who is renowned for his razor-sharp legal mind.


Student: "Sir, do you really understand everything about this subject?"

Professor: "Actually, I probably do. Otherwise I wouldn't be a professor, would I?"

Student: "OK. So I’d like to ask you a question. If you can give me the correct answer, I will accept my marks as it is. If you can't give me the correct answer, however, you'll have to give me an "A".

Professor: "Hmmmm, alright. So what’s the question?"

Student: "What is legal but not logical, logical but not legal, and neither logical nor legal? "

The professor wracks his famous brain, but just can't crack the answer. Finally he gives up and changes the student's failing mark into an "A" as agreed, and the student goes away, very pleased.

The professor continues to wrack his brain over the question all afternoon, but still can’t get the answer. So finally he calls in a group of his brightest students and tells them he has a really, really tough question to answer: "What is legal but not logical, logical but not legal, and neither logical nor legal? "


To the professor's surprise (and embarrassment), all the students immediately raise their hands.


"All right" says the professor and asks his favourite student to answer


"It's quite easy, sir" says the student "You see, you are 75 years old and married to a 30 year old woman, which is legal, but not logical. Your wife has a 22 year old lover, which is logical, but not legal. And your wife's lover failed his exam but you've just given him an "A", which is neither legal, nor logical."

Jeanne Robertson

Columbia River - on the Kooteney, Canadian side
I would Imagine the Colorado would be similar.


This video is very funny as Jeanne describes their journey down the Colorado River.
Left Brain, is what she calls her husband. He is slightly deaf.

We Don't Need No More

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I can listen to this video all day. They used it At Fifa World Soccer.

All]
We don't need no more trouble
We don't need no more trouble

[Erykah]
What we need is love (love)
To guide and protect us all (all)
If you hope good down from above (love)
Help the weak if you are strong now (strong)

[Bob]
We don't need no trouble
What we need is love

[All]
We don't need no more trouble
We don't need no more trouble

[Erykah]
Weeping for the living
Weeping for the dead
Weep for one another
Weep for happiness
Weeping for the struggle
Weeping for the pain
Weeping for the children
We must take the blame

[Bob]
Seek happiness
(It's sad enough without your foes)
Come on, you all and speak of love
(It's sad enough without your foes)
We don't need no trouble
What we need is love now
(What we need is love, sweet love)

[All]
We don't need no more trouble
We don't need no more trouble

[Erykah]
Now end the war which you just begun
It's sad enough without your foes
I thought I told you not to mess with me
Don't want no trouble but trouble found me
But Marley saying speak of love not war
But we be trying but then eh we don't

[Bob]
Oh we don't need no trouble
We don't need no trouble

[All]
We don't need no more trouble
We don't need no more trouble
(Make love and not war cause we don't need no trouble)
We don't need no more trouble