Sunday, March 23, 2008
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL
Sunday, March 16, 2008
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/MacAdam_Pat/2008/03/16/5017906.html
Pat McAdam grew up in Glace Bay in the 50's just up the hill from my place. We were just a block or so from the harbour and can remember jumping the ice clampers in the harbour and those who fell in or had to be rescued by the RCMP when they drifted out too far. It is true winters were sometimes very tough but "it was winter in the cape and there were certainly no wussies" - we just had a lot of fun with it (skating on ponds or anywhere there was a strip of ice, sleding, hooking onto the back of cars, road hockey, forts, tunnels under the snow and snowball fights). Schools never closed and getting home (about half a mile) in a blizzard was no easy task only to be sent out the door back to school after lunch - some kids were not found until spring -no, that's not true, but would not have been surprising. We all walked everywhere and there was no excuse for not venturing out even on very cold and wintry days. The kitchen stove was the main source of heat and we huddled around it trying to get warm. In the early years we had no basement and ashes were banked around the house to keep out the drafts and also to keep the mice out!! We could see our breath in the morning and dressed under the covers before venturing down to the kitchen stove to thaw out before facing the cold and snow outside. Must admit I am a wee bit older now not to mention a whole lot more spoiled - figure I have a right to complain if there is anyone who cares to listen???
Pat McAdam grew up in Glace Bay in the 50's just up the hill from my place. We were just a block or so from the harbour and can remember jumping the ice clampers in the harbour and those who fell in or had to be rescued by the RCMP when they drifted out too far. It is true winters were sometimes very tough but "it was winter in the cape and there were certainly no wussies" - we just had a lot of fun with it (skating on ponds or anywhere there was a strip of ice, sleding, hooking onto the back of cars, road hockey, forts, tunnels under the snow and snowball fights). Schools never closed and getting home (about half a mile) in a blizzard was no easy task only to be sent out the door back to school after lunch - some kids were not found until spring -no, that's not true, but would not have been surprising. We all walked everywhere and there was no excuse for not venturing out even on very cold and wintry days. The kitchen stove was the main source of heat and we huddled around it trying to get warm. In the early years we had no basement and ashes were banked around the house to keep out the drafts and also to keep the mice out!! We could see our breath in the morning and dressed under the covers before venturing down to the kitchen stove to thaw out before facing the cold and snow outside. Must admit I am a wee bit older now not to mention a whole lot more spoiled - figure I have a right to complain if there is anyone who cares to listen???
Monday, March 10, 2008
Okay - do we really need anymore snow????? Had an appt at CHEO yesterday afternoon for a long awaited MRI and had hoped the road would be cleared by the time we ventured out - no such luck. We managed to get out on the street and started on our way but a car was stuck in front of us. Got that out of the way and we managed to creep up to the intersection. The MRI in itself was quite an experience and one that I would not care to do more than really necessary. Being enclosed in a rather small tube like contraption and enduring the sound of a hundred jackhammers is not conducive to the requirement of staying perfectly still and relax for about 40 minutes. Because I like to live in a fantasy world sometimes and I can go there whenever I like - they all know me there - I was able to take myself on a rather expensive shopping spree - oh what the imagination can do for you when required. After that episode they informed me I was to have an ordinary X-ray and sent me wandering the halls of the Children's Hospital in a hospital gown surrounded by teddy bears - OMG what has my world come to???? Anyway, we managed to get through the snow filled street and back home just in time for the snowplow to come - would'nt you just know? Now I wait and see if I need to have anything replaced or repaired and there are indeed some body parts that could be updated!!!!
Mother Nature does not believe in Global Warming. Looking out the front window it sure does not seem like March. 325 cm in enough already!!!!!
Scheduled for a MRI for my lower back next Sunday at CHEO - lucky to get one so soon as some hospitals have a waiting list of six months. Gave up on physio, acupuncture and ultra sound, etc as it was costly and did not do any good. The shopping malls are suffering greatly without my contributions I am sure - perhaps I should get one of those scooter contraptions and run folks down in the aisles - watch out as there is no way I can NOT SHOP - I am already suffering from withdrawal and it ain't a pretty picture!!!!!
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Mother Nature does not believe in Global Warming. Looking out the front window it sure does not seem like March. 325 cm in enough already!!!!!
Scheduled for a MRI for my lower back next Sunday at CHEO - lucky to get one so soon as some hospitals have a waiting list of six months. Gave up on physio, acupuncture and ultra sound, etc as it was costly and did not do any good. The shopping malls are suffering greatly without my contributions I am sure - perhaps I should get one of those scooter contraptions and run folks down in the aisles - watch out as there is no way I can NOT SHOP - I am already suffering from withdrawal and it ain't a pretty picture!!!!!