Facebook Down Today . . . Hmmm . . . Think Of The Possibilities!

FARMTOWN FACEBOOK, originally uploaded by sydneyreyesjr.

Looks like the Facebook website is down today.

So, I guess we can find out what we could be spending our time on.

You know, your farms' harvest will wither; you will miss who went to Starbucks and who skinned their knee.

Gonna miss who has the sniffles today and who is already at work. Now, if they are at work, how come they are still updating on Facebook?

Well, I am not going to blog on this topic for very long because that would just point out to you and everyone else how much time I and all of us spend (waste?) on Facebook each day.

Today, Hubby & I have planned a lunch to spend time with a Canadian friend who will be on her way back to Peterborough after wintering down in the warmth. (Of course, I expect she will mention that it wasn't as warm this year as it usually is. And she might also mention the snow we had.)

Then there is the pile of index cards I have on the side of the kitchen table to organize coupons and deals so we actually take advantage of them.

Ah yes, then there is the dust I can remove. There are clothes to be washed. There are some items to take back to Belk Department Store (best return policy ever) and some grocery shopping to be done.

So, there you have it! I bet you have a few things to do.

A day without Facebook . . . well, let's see just how well we can cope without the constant invasion to our old-fashioned routine which actually worked quite well.

Ah, yes, Hubby off to Band Practice tonight which is as good as it gets when you are looking for a hobby.

Time to look for a vase to place some flowers for a friend having surgery today . . .

Oh, yes, I think I can get by without Facebook . . . as long as it is down long enough for me to learn how much I can do in a day . . .

See Something You Like About This Photo?

FAMILY dinner night, originally uploaded by aimee4frogs.

We "oldsters" out of touch? I think not. The total boredom and searching for multi-tasking, represents a totally out-of-control generation who cannot get enough thrills simultaneously. Is everyone on alcohol and drugs? This is the generation who have been eating their dinner out of the microwave at the counter. Family togetherness apparently is a rarity now. We certainly have come a long way, Baby! This is the generation raised by the so-called liberated people. The world must be winding down. (Some scholars of the Book of Revelation must be nodding their heads.)

This is what I wrote as a comment to a news story from our local TV station that a young girl (I think it was 11 years old) was gang-raped by at least 15 young men. There is a trial going on and they are actually looking for more suspects.

Well, guess the young people are pretty happy that they have gone so far south of the way we seniors were raised. This is heart-breaking, sickening and totally divergent from any teachings we learned.

God bless us all!

Are Our Leaders Fiddling While Our Country Burns?

Nero and Rome Music Box, originally uploaded by edburkle.

Two years into President Obama's term, people are still getting press, still circulating e-mails and generally wasting their time pondering whether this man is a bona fide American.

(As you know if you read this regularly, I am originally from Canada and became an American several years ago. That means I have dual citizenship and may hold any office but the presidency.)

Right now, while United States of America - to quote Donald Trump - is the laughing stock of the world, and needs to fix the economy, fix healthcare, fix that very few of the durable goods we buy are made in America, we need to focus on FIXING!

Why are film and television actors who misbehave and/or may have mental health issues getting so much space in the press - newspaper, internet and TV?

There is a very old expression from approximately 64 A.D. that says the Emperor Nero was fiddling while Rome burned.

Well, that is pretty much what is happening today.

(Yes, I know that generally this blog is more gentle but somebody had to say it!)

James White: Accountable Politician - You Are Going To Like This Man!

This election marked the first time my Hubby ever put an election sign on the lawn. We heard a lot about James White and one of our friends was working on his campaign.

Well . . . guess what? James White was elected!

Yes, James is now a first-term Republican Representative for Texas State House District 12. He invites people to visit him at the Capital office - E2.720 in the Capitol Extension. You can phone him at his Capital Office (512-463-0490) or e-mail him at james.white@house.state.tx.us.

Soon, James' Lufkin Office will be open as well.

The first week he was in Austin, I got to meet James at a Chamber of Commerce First Friday Luncheon.

What really sets James White apart from other politicians I have known is how accessible he makes himself!

James is a school teacher in East Texas and also has a farm (well, okay, a ranch). He cares about people and naturally he cares about education.

At the Chamber meeting, James had a presentation showing a flow chart of the Education hierarchy here. Now, first he told us that he had trouble fitting it on the one page. Then he told us that when he clicked on some of the squares, there was another grid that come up on his computer. So, what James was telling us is that there are too many people and too much money being wasted. You just knew from listening to how sincerely and quietly James spoke, that down-sizing waste was going to be a priority for him in Austin (the Texas capital).

James is on Facebook and also writes a column each Sunday in our local newspaper outlining what is happening.

When I think about James, I recall one of the first politicians I knew back when I was about 20 in Toronto. His name was Len Reilly, a locksmith and every time I saw him he would say hello and quote my street address.

Well, that was then and this is now but I think that James will remember each of us every time he sees us (although he might not quote an address).

You gotta love a person so sincere and pleasant when he speaks. This man is not a "politician", but more my neighbour who has gone to the Capital to see if he can make my life a little easier.

God Bless James White!

Thank You, Peter Jennings: How I Became The Yonge Street Texan

When I first came to Texas from Toronto, I marveled at how many entertainers and broadcasters were also immigrants from Canada. (I arrived here in December, 1996.)

On 9-11, Hubby and I were headed to his college reunion in Terre Haute, Indiana. Bags packed, we saw the same thing you saw on our television screen. That was more than a wake-up call for me and was a focal point in my defining the differences between Canadians and Americans. The first thing I went for was my passport and retrieved it from the filing cabinet. That - back then - was a Canadian passport. (I know have American and Canadian passports. Dual Citizenship is available in U.S.A. to persons immigrating from 130 countries.)

When I was a kid, it was the atomic bomb people worried about and I remember my Dad always saying we would get into our car and drive north (from Toronto) . Well, that was my first thought that morning. Well, we were driving north all right, but we would have to drive about 1,600 miles just to get to the Canadian border and then the drive to isolated country - or "safe" country - would be about 200 miles or more. Two Hundred miles drive north of Toronto would put you approximately in Algonquin Park which is a National Park with lots of wildlife, lakes and is probably not a hot spot for terrorists to target.

So, now I was really afraid! This was another challenge for my thinking. Back in 2001, I definitely thought from a Canadian perspective and I probably still do today.

My mother used to talk about Peter's father, Charlie Jennings who wrote for a Toronto newspaper going to North Toronto Collegiate with her and how she would see him at parties. If you listen to the interview above, you will hear Peter talk about his father and mother loving to socialize and inviting all kinds of people from the arts into their home. Charlie Jennings loved to socialize!

In this interview, Peter also talks about smoking (after having quit many years before) during his coverage of 9-11. I remember him taking calls from his children who called to say they were safe and I recall he was still on air when we got to - I think it was Hope, Arkansas (yes, Bill Clinton's birthplace) toward the end of the day to stop for the night.

I remember my friend, a broadcaster, calling on my cell phone to ask about gasoline lines. Yes, there were lines at some stations and none at others where they had run out. That meant we did a lot of stopping just to make sure we were going to get there.

That is a little digression there to tell you how omnipresent Peter Jennings was in our lives.

When he announced in 2005 that he had lung cancer, ABC welcomed messages for Peter to encourage him. I tried to think of something that would indicate to him that I was also originally from Toronto. (There is a camaraderie when talking to someone who is from the same place you are.)

Toronto is very much a north-south, east-west city. It sits on the north shore of Lake Ontario so if you drive too far south, you will be in the Lake! As opposed to when Peter and I were young and there was a population of 500,000, there are now 5.5 million people in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). The center of the city is a street called Yonge (pronounced "young") which goes all the way from Lake Ontario, north to the Metropolitan limits and beyond, up to cottage country as Highway 11.

So, you could pick a Nom de plume to use at the ABC website and rather explaining I was Canadian, I figured right away, Peter Jennings would have to know a Yonge Street Texan was from Toronto! When I started this blog, which would reflect how a Canadian living in Texas feels about things, it was a natural name!

A few months before I became an American Citizen in 1994, Peter Jennings also became a Citizen in a ceremony in New York City. My swearing in was in Houston with just Hubby and the official present. My party may well have been as flashy as Mr. Jennings' as 150 well-wishers came and went.

On Sunday, August 7, 2005, Peter Jennings lost his battle with lung cancer at his New York home. He is lovingly remembered by millions for the 22 years be came into our homes each evening as well as covering special events and interviewing heads of state worldwide.

I like to think he enjoyed knowing a fellow North Toronto neighbor enjoyed his frequent slips to Canadian pronunciations of words like "schedule" which Canadians say "shhhedule" and of course the letter "Z" which we say "zed".

So, now you know why I am the Yonge Street Texan!

More About Westminister Kennel Club's Winner

Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon, originally uploaded by Cheryl's Art Box.

Photos both uploaded from Flickr.

Sally Sweatt, the owner of Hickory, the Scottish Deerhound who won Westminister Kennel Club's Best In Show this week, is back home in Minneapolis. Hickory and Sally have had a whirlwind time in New York City and of course, this is the first time a Scottish Deerhound has won Best in Show.

The judge who awarded Hickory with Best in Sporting Group on Tuesday night was James Reynolds of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Hickory then went on to win Best in Show under Italian Judge, Mr. Paola Dondina. Mr. Dondina had some mighty nice things to say about Hickory and how he conforms to everything Mr. Dondina has learned and read about Scottish Deerhounds. That means that for Mr. Dondina, this was the ultimate Scottish Deerhound. It means this dog came closer to its breed standard than any of the other six dogs presented to him in the Best In Show ring.

For Sally Sweatt, Hickory represents a little more. Hickory, like your dog sitting beside you right now, means the world to Sally. In fact, Hickory has contributed to her life itself.

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, Sally knew she could not quit . . . she knew she had a fine dog and an excellent handler.

"You have to go forward in thought. You cannot go back because life goes forward", Sweatt said. She is cancer-free now.

Our dogs mean everything to us - I know mine does. Ms. Sweatt said she focused on her passion instead of her struggle.

Havanese

2009 Havanese National Specialty, originally uploaded by Hav n Knit Lover.

This breed is in the Toy Group and you might mistake him for a Shih Tzu. He is newly recognized and is gaining in popularity.

Indigenous Canadian Breeds -Labrador Retriever

Regyn rules (2), originally uploaded by piotr m.

This photo of a 4-1/2 month-old-puppy pretty much explains why I often recommend this breed for families. Is this dog listening to us? Is He interested in us? You betcha! You are sure to see this breed at Westminister - perhaps not this color - in the Sporting Group.

Newfoundland Dog - The Obvious Indiginous Canadian Breed

Newfoundland Dog, originally uploaded by Kassondrabarryphotography.

This one just happens to be posing at Signal Hill, overlooking St.John's Newfoundland, Canada. You will probably see a Newfoundland in Group Three - Working Dogs.

Indigenous Canadian Breeds - Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

Holly and the Cottonwood roots, originally uploaded by pocuddm2.

Yes, you will likely see this breed at Westminister in the Sporting Group.

How I Became Published . . . About Dogs, Dog Shows and Dog Owners

This beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog has a cross of white on his chest which was mentioned in the original standard approved by the Canadian Kennel Club. What a beautiful puppy!

At a dog show one day, oh, probably 25 years ago, I wrote a piece about a St.Bernard and Bernese Mountain Dog breeder who had been killed in a car accident. His name was Ray Fernandez. He had his own Bernese loose in the back of the car and a small dog in a crate that he was going to show at the Sault St. Marie Kennel Club Show. (For your knowledge, the caged dog was shown the next day and the Bernese had a leg injury: Crates save lives!)

I showed what I had written to a Borzoi breeder who also was Canadian Kennel Club President for many years and he suggested I submit it with a photo to a man named Nigel Aubrey Jones who was publishing a magazine called Canadian Dog Fancier. Mr. Jones loved to judge, write and breed wonderful Pekingese.

That was the real beginning for me writing and being published.

That man was Richard Meen who is now a Dog Show Judge and a pretty good writer and speaker himself.

If you love dogs, it sometimes comes naturally that you will write about them and speak about them.

I also used to do promotion for shows and that was a real learning experience. Controlling three dogs in front of a TV camera is an accomplishment! (I always found it amusing that many breeders would bring their dogs but did not want to appear, leaving me the interview job.)

I did not even have a dog when I was young! (Yup - deprived childhood!) Mother had had a Collie on the farm when she was young and Dad never had a dog. You have read about my first dog, a Boxer named Red, and you also have seen lots of Buddy the Lhasa Apso who holds court at our home now.

Another thing I was able to do was have the experience of one of my dogs doing a television commerical. I maintain today that Dogs Sell Products. Dogs are naturals and almost everybody enjoys seeing dogs. If you are trying to sell yourself, your product or your service, I think your potential client relates well to you if he sees you with your dog.

If you are wanting to write and you have a dog, try writing about that dog. I believe it is important that we all write about what we know. (Also for me, the Romance genre was always out because I wanted to be proud of what I wrote and recommend it to everyone. And yes, the Romance category probably sells better than a book about a dog.)

At http://fido-and-fifi.blogspot.com I will be helping you understand a dog show a little better so you can enjoy the Westminster Kennel Club Show next week. Some of us look forward to that show every year!

Oh, yes . . . and "Hello" to that fellow sitting next to you there . . . YOU are the world to him and please don't forget that. We should all honor our relationships with our dogs!

There is No Patriot Like An Immigrant - So, Let's Talk About How People Sing The National Anthems and Patriotic Music!

At the beginning of 2004, I officially became an American citizen. I memorized facts, answered questions and passed all the requirements to be an American citizen. In United States, something like 130 countries' immigrants to the U.S. may have dual citizenship and that is what I have. Hence, of course, I became a Yonge Street Texan (see above for explanation).

Now, people new to anything, often know it better and have more respect for it.

The above photo is me at my Citizenship Party where 150 people came and went and we had the Lufkin Community Band in attendance. My friend, Bonnie, brought me the hat from California. It sits on a shelf of honor in our home where I have many other American symbols.

The photo just below is Buddy the Lhasa Apso in his American flag cap that my friend, Kathleen, gave him.

And of course, below that is a picture of an exact American flag, exactly as it is supposed to look.

What got me started on this particular blog today?

Well, like many hubbies across North America, mine has the Super Bowl on TV.

I am in a room about fifty feet from that TV and the misery of the National Anthem being sung still broke my heart. And the other patriotic song, America, was just as bad!

There is an old saying about if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The National Anthems of each country worldwide are sacred.

What if we were watching the Olympics and heard butchered versions of these anthems?

The glory is in doing something well. The mastery is doing something the best you can.

I am not saying I have never heard wonderful and true renditions of the American National Anthem and various patriotic songs. But today's were not that at all.

Why would anyone even attempt to improve on a patriotic songs that have been sung for all these years?

(In case you were wondering, Francis Scott Key composed it ("In Defense of Fort McHenry) in 1814 and Congress proclaimed the Star Spangled Banner the U.S. Anthem in 1931.)

Buddy the Lhasa in His Flag Cap

The American Flag Newport R I Ship, originally uploaded by Peter Camyre.

We Cannot Live Just For Today!

The concept of "Live Well Today For Tomorrow We May Die" was in vogue during the Hippie Era.

Well, the Hippie Era ended about 30 - 40 years ago. The concept of doing just what suits you has never worked and still that applies to today.

One time in the 80s when I was in Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, I noticed that something seemed strangely familiar to me. At that time, Victoria's inner city reminded me very much of the Yorkville District in what was then midtown Toronto. There were bunches of people old enough to be dressed in suits. carrying briefcases and supporting families, homes and children in school who were roller-skating and basically doing nothing. They were frittering away their time.

"Live today, for tomorrow we may die!"

Well, guess what? Those same people are most likely on British Columbia's welfare rolls and their life is miserable.

We learn very early - if we are taught and if we pay attention - that we cannot just live for today.

I saw an article today that proclaims the world's end May 21, 2011. Well, gee, that would mean that there is no need to save any money, stock the pantry, pay back loans . . . you get it.

You know that is not going to happen! Or, you at least have enough doubt to not take a chance on having nothing on May 22nd!

Many times for various cults, they have found that similar predictions did not come true. So, they were left with bills to pay, no place to live and no food to eat.

There is another thing we learn even more about as we age. We learn that we have absolutely NO idea of what might happen tomorrow. The younger we are, the more we believe we control our destiny. As we age, we see how little we know about the future and what might happen tomorrow.

So, we try very hard to be kind to people, to mend any broken relationships. We know that tomorrow things could be very different.

Someone we ignored or belittled yesterday could die today.

Someone we were unkind with could become physically disabled tomorrow.

The one truth we know about life is that we do not know about what will happen next. We can plan: we can predict and we can think we are ready for tomorrow, but the truth is we do not know what tomorrow brings.

It is legion the numbers of people who had a falling out with someone and did not mend a slight or patch an argument until years later.

That is no way to live.

We learn every day we are on this earth that right now is all we know. We need to be kind and gentle to family, friends and every person we have contact with because tomorrow, that person or situation may no longer exist.

If you do not believe me, ask some of your older friends and relatives and many of them will have stories of people who were thriving, well and healthy one day and totally disabled or dead the next.

We must never take tomorrow for granted because some day tomorrow does not come, and that is not because the world is going to end but rather because circumstances change.

God Bless and may you live every day to the fullest and best you can. Blessings!

Just Can't Fix Stupid!

This is a follow up to a blog I did about a month and a half ago about a major (as they say) Department Store processing and mailing me a check (or up on Yonge Street that would be cheque) for one penny.

At the time it did remind me of the old joke where the person takes a check for one penny into the bank to cash and the teller asks him if he wants it "heads or tails".

Now, the one cent represented an overpayment from Hubby guessing the upcoming bill when paying online. A credit of one penny would have been just fine.

Hubby suggested ripping it up, but well, I don't do anything that simply . . . you know that.

Seems like I took it to the credit union and they said they could not process it. So, today, Hubby was going to the ATM with a government check for me and I suggested he add the penny check with it. He was going to a fancy new-style ATM where you insert the check into the machine. (Over my dead body, isn't that what Charlton Heston said?) I have a policy with bank machines and it is simply, that if the machine is giving me money - okay. But me give the machine money . . . oh, no . . .

So, the machine took the government cheque (ah yes, check) and that went well. Then Hubby deposted the one penny check and the machine didn't not want to do business with him.

So, Hubby had to go into the Lobby of the bank (yes, you folks up on Yonge, that is what they call it when you go inside the bank here) and hands the check for one penny to a live teller who hands him a penny.

"Does this happen very often?" (Hubby)

"Yes, all the time." (Teller)

Oh, man . . . and how much does it cost to mail that check? And how much does it cost to process it? Why does the store not just put the one penny toward the person's account as a credit?

Is this the mentality in the business world now?

We thought it was bad when they would centralize a company and then a few years later de-centralize it!

Well, now, since they are sending checks for one cent or de one cent - I guess they have de-sensed their company!

Sorry . . . just could not pass that one up, folks!

Oh, yes, since I am feeling a little like saying this,

If you are still wondering what company would do this . . . well, it is a large department store chain that rhymes with . . . not cent . . . but penny.

Yup, the same chain that back in 1977 in Miami, Florida, would not accept a Visa card from a Canadian couple trying to do a little Christmas shopping.

Christmas - Perhaps The Hardest Time Of The Year . . .

Christmas season, which should be the most beautiful time of the year, is probably the most difficult. Everything is accentuated. There are more things to do and more money to be spent.

Each group you belong to seems to have a dinner or get-together of some kind. Some of us still send cards so they have to be written. There are presents to be bought and then wrapped.

When I was a young girl - you know where I was (up in Toronto) - we had an aunt who used to climb up the steps and ring the bell. Mother would answer and the aunt E would shove three packages at her and say,

"We are just on our way to the West End."

Mother would ask Aunt E to wait and go fetch two packages for them and hand them to her. They never came in to visit.

Every year, Mother would be upset over this and then my Father suggested that she just say,

"Merry Christmas" and let the aunt go back down the stairs empty-handed if they did not want to visit with us.

Over the years I have thought about this and all the things some people do at this time of the year to truly spoil it.

One of the grandchildren quickly learned that I keep a basket of "generic" gifts for someone who might stop by during the holidays. I always have chips and dips, cookies and candies and all of those fattening things people like to eat. That's just in case someone would like to visit.

Our Christmas is centered around Christmas Eve Church service. Here it is at 7:00 p.m. Up north it was at 11:00 p.m.

Every year I enjoy seeing all the families home at Christmas time. Since I have been here 14 years, I have watched many of them grow into adults.

I love the music, the candles and especially singing Silent Night by candlelight. I think of how many people in how many places (including foxholes in war zones) have sung this beautiful carol in many languages.

We have a huge tree at church and there is a creche beside it. Actually, this year, we have a creche hand made by our Pastor. When I look at that cradle, I cannot help but think of that young couple who could not find a place to stay when the Baby Jesus was born. What a time they had on their way to being counted for the tax system . . .

The birth of our Lord is the one story we learned from when we first attended church. People who were not raised in the Christian faith still know who Jesus Christ was and they do know about Christmas.

So, if Christmas is so fundamental and so many people know about it and everyone likes to celebrate it, why is it a time when so many people have such a sad time?

This is the season when there are more deaths suicides, more accidents, and more fires. Many people are depressed - especially those who have lost loved ones during the year.

It is a time when we want things to be "perfect" but that is just the problem. There is no planned perfect. We can only do our best to have things as nice as possible for people to come and visit and enjoy them while they are with us. (Just ask all the brides who planned all those weddings we attended this past year how much planning an event takes!)

Once you are older, you start to realize what "perfect" is. Perfection is very rarely planned.

I guess for me, "perfect" are the moments I think about from all the years that can bring a smile or maybe a tear as well. The older I get, the less I think about in terms of "perfect". I think about how intense some moments were and how I just never forgot.

I think about my friend, B, and her Louisiana accent when she used to kid about, "The bright city lights" . . . and she could string that line so it became a paragraph. That still brings a smile to my face.

I think about my Grandmother who made her delicious cookies - you already know about those!

I think about my son, Robbie who was born before Christmas and died just after. Since that is 44 years ago, had he lived, he would have long ago had children of his own. I do not even have one photo of that child. I just have the image of him in my head. That makes me so sad, still, all these years later.

I think about Shih Tzu puppies playing with the cardboard cores from wrapping paper. (I think if I look hard enough I might have a photo or film of that.) There is so much fun - once you know they are healthy and progressing as they should - with a litter at playtime. I used to give them about 30 minutes in the evening to run lose in the family room. The humans had as much fun as the puppies.

I think about the year my husband, John was so ill and how he had pneumonia. I remember when they told me there was nothing more could be done and I went to the York Super Pharmacy and bought a jar of Metholatum. I took it back to his bed and put some just below his nostrils in hopes he could breathe a little better. Then I went home in the dark ice and snow and drove too fast up the driveway. (That would be the dent we hammered out before we sold the house.) That was the year my neighbour, Brianne put the decorations on a little tree for me. They had been stored in a little pink tote box. Then, on New Year's Eve, the day John died, Brianne's mother placed those decorations back in the pink tote.

To be honest, I think for me there are as many sad memories from the holidays as happy ones.

This year, I have two friends who have lost their husbands this year. (I know what that is like and how blessed I am to have found life again and married Hubby.) I think about the hospices and mortuaries here who have special services to help those survivors. Those are very special!

Right now, we are putting the finishing touches on my sister-in-law's Christmas box. She has had a hard time this year, especially adjusting to losing her eyesight.

We had the perfect present, and Hubby set it up and it was ready to go about a month ago. But you know, since 9/11, we have to think different, and it might not get there if the postman juggles the box and it says,

"9:45 p.m. . . . 37 degrees."

Yes, it would have been down that low because my sister-in-law - actually, the sister I never had - lives in Cleveland where the weather is much like it is up on Yonge Street. So, we will take the talking clock when we visit her next in the spring or summer!

So we found her something else that talks . . . on a CD.

When we have such high expectations for an event, it puts major pressure on us. Perhaps we should just do our best - have a little food ready - have a few gifts on hand.

I hope some very nice people drop by your house this year and make smiling memories with you!

As the jolly rotund fellow says,

"Merry Christmas to All . . . and to All a Goodnight!"

Being Nice To Everyone - Is There An App For That?

BFF, originally uploaded by Ronaldo F Cabuhat.

This morning I read a column by a woman I have not read before. Although I did not care for her epitaph to Elizabeth Edwards nor her picky comment about John Edwards' white shirts being too large, it did trigger some thoughts.

Have we come so far, technologically that we are now robots rather than humans?

People do things for various reasons. In the case of Elizabeth Edwards, I believe she led with her heart. (My own father used to say I wore my heart on my sleeve and he warned me about that till he died when I was 22.)

I did not know Elizabeth Edwards personally but I did know my old friend, Belinda very well. She lived to reach out to others, to make the other person feel good about themselves. She always wanted to stop and sit down with the person who was not doing so well. She was as close as it has come in my life to knowing an angel here on earth. She also died much too young and I miss her every day. (Her husband always calls me "Belinda's old friend" so I have to think that B used to tell others about her "old friend". ) We are very lucky if we have such friends in our life: non-judgmental, listening, reaching out . . . special.

Each of us is only a small part of this huge universe. If we live in the Big City (as I did in Toronto), we quickly learn that we have to get along with all kinds of people - from many walks of life, many religions, many races. Where I live now, there is not that diversity and so there are not perhaps as many ways of looking at life.

Each person counts. No matter whether you practice Christianity or some other mantra, if you sit back for a moment, you can see that.

If we were all the same, life would be very boring and in fact, there would not be much to talk to any other people about.

It is fundamental to respect other people. We don't have to agree with how they live; how they do things or what they believe. We just have to respect their right to live as they wish.

We seem to have a generation now in their late teens and twenties who feel us older folks are simply technologically challenged and unable to "get it".

Our grandparents made Canada and United States. Yes, with their hands, they toiled the soil; worked five and a half days a week; helped those less fortunate and still made time to sit down with their children at a dinner table groaning with homemade food.

There is no application (app) on your cell phone or ipad to truly connect with other human beings and their feelings.

Generations before me have thought this way and I hope generations following me will come to the realization that we must reach out to other. When we sit down and give some time to those who may be different from us, we always learn. We always benefit. We always come away feeling good about ourselves and leaving them feeling good about themselves.

It is extremely hard to understand the harassment - or bullying as they are calling it today - that is going on particularly among students.

In our area, we just lost another student to suicide this past week. How bad is that? How bad is it when my young friend on Facebook posts that this was his worst day ever?

We are only young once and it should be a great time for learning, for experiencing, for making memories that last a lifetime - and I mean GOOD memories.

Let us not judge the other person lest we be judged. (I know that has been said many places, but I am saying it today.)

Let us live and let live - again, as we used to say - and have respect for every other person to have their own ideas, their own ways of doing things.

Most of all, let us be kind to everyone - because everyone has something that is troubling them. Everyone has something they don't like about themselves. Let us not remind others of their weaknesses but encourage their fine qualities.

Let us respect all human beings. Let us remember that everyone struggles with something.

The attractive people - like John Edwards - struggle with their magnetism just as those of us with weight problems struggle with food addictions.

In high school - a girl's school - I admired several girls who were (or so I thought) prettier, smarter and trimmer than I. One girl I really felt had it all married her sweetheart who also seemed to have it all. They made the perfect couple, didn't they? Yes, perfect enough that when her sister died very young, to adopt her children into their own family and raise them as their own. All these years later, when I go back for reunions, that "girl" and I have a lot more in common than we ever had back in school.

Everyone has problems. We have them at different stages of our life.

Teaching children and friends to respect the other person helps them as much as anything else we can do for them.

. . . and there is no app for that!

Grandma's Shortbread . . . but that was in the 50s!

Homemade Shortbread Cookies, originally uploaded by mooshee85.

Mary Maude Bell Croome was her name and she was born in St.Mary's, Ontario, Canada in about 1872. She baked beautiful shortbread cookies. She only made them at Christmas time. I guess she thought they were a lot of work as well!

That was then and this is now.

Over the years, I have made the recipe and it never really comes out the same every time . . .

So, here I am in my lovely large and modern kitchen trying to replicate what Grandma did in a tiny kitchen in the High Park District of Toronto in the 50s.

We are having a Cookie Swap tomorrow at Scrapbooks & Memories running concurrent with our Scrapbooking Crop. The idea is that each of us bring some homemade recipes and a batch of the cookies. Now, I guess I was busy . . . or nervous about how well they would turn out, but here I am at the "midnight hour" with a kitchen in shambles and three cookie sheets of absolutely delicious homemade shortbread cookies.

Actually, they taste VERY good. Now, if I just adjust my printed recipe to reflect the oven temperature and put a few disclaimers about different ovens taking different times . . . I should be all right.

The other problem will be to clean up the kitchen which kind of looks like a tornado hit it. I used several cookie cutters, many spatulas, knives, three cookie sheets, a rolling pin, many knives, etc., etc. Yup, I used about 30 to 40 pieces of equipment for this project.

I knew there was a reason there are about three bakeries in town in addition to the supermarkets.

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

BUDDY, the Lhasa CAN LISTEN VERY WELL!

The longer I live, the simpler some things become. Bet you have not heard that too often from too many of your "elders"! (It is very true that many things become harder and the days seem shorter and energy is less.)

The other day, I found out that our granddaughter, Kyla was doing very well in school but is having trouble with reading.

As you might know, I have been a student of purebred dogs - and dogs generally - for about 39 years now. I have been seeing news on children reading to dogs to improve their reading skills.

Dogs are not judgmental and in fact, most of them are very sympathetic to their human's needs.

So, it was only minutes before I thought of writing some simple pieces for Kyla to read to her dog, Shiloh. Shiloh is a Labrador Retriever which makes her one of my favorite breeds for children. Labradors are fairly big but generally, they love children and are very patient with them.

When a child reads to their dog, the dog will just sit and listen. When a child reads to an adult, the adult often corrects them as they go. When a child reads in a classroom, well, now we are talking major scarey. All those people listening: it is like adults feel when they have to give a speech.

I thought about it and then took it one step further. I think there are lots of children who are trying to learn to read and it does not come easily. It is a major struggle. So, I thought,

"Hey, I could perhaps make it easier by doing a special blog for children to go to and read to their dogs." Most will likely print out the simple story and I envision their "Rover" listening to it over and over until the child is ready to read it to an adult.

I practice a little with our Buddy, but I can tell you that every dog I have had would sit down with me and listen while I talked or told a story. The right dog paired with a child will pay rapt attention to his or her young master.

This is a new and experimental project to me. I would appreciate your productive input and ideas you may have.

Happy reading, children and if you can read even some of this, you are on your way to being confident in your reading.

Reading skills help us every day in everything we do!

Happy Reading!

Link to Children's Reading Blog "Reading To Rover" is in the right column on this page or go to

http://Read-To-Rover.blogspot.com