pink panther and some other

tonight the drive in starts.



Also... this just in ::

"Harvey" informed me this morning- "Lesley you need to find a boyfriend so that you can go to the drive in".... "you aren't allowed to go without one... that's the rules". Also, "You need to bring your ID with you, they check it after midnight".

seasons

so, I hate change. but I'm sure you know that. have I mentioned the coffee pot incident the summer of '91? (note:: previous line to be said with the high pitched emphasis on "mentioned the coffee pot incident" you know.. so it sounds like me...)
I like people a lot, they grow on me, the become a part of me, I care for them, want to see them do well. I worry for them, I expect too much from them. I become attached. And sometimes it's kinda random.

Last night I had a visit from an old friend, she came for supper and we went for a walk with her kids. About part way thru the night we looked at eachother and just stopped. She said it first. "This is kinda strange eh? almost awkward... we don't know anything about eachother anymore." I nearly wept then and there.
I'm still struggling.
We're in such different stages, geographically distant, and have so little contact outside our weekly "hey how's it going" that we've got nothing. UGH I hate that! We made a pact to try to do things together... here's hoping.

And at the same time, I know that I don't have to be all things to all people (obviously that's not my job) But I do want to be close and involved with the people who have impacted my own life.

On a slightly related note::
Bob and Jess and Stacey were let go from Shoeless. I'm still trying to get all the details before I go off on a rant about the underhandedness of the whole situation. And I'm pretty sad about the fact that it's going to mean we don't have regular contact with them. It came up at Tim Horton's last night though... maybe later in life they'll remember the "churchies" and if they're having a rough time they'll seek out more of the same for help...

on a completely unrelated note:: did you catch the deflection of Harryoke's full hug into a half hug?

very very very peoplesmart.

so today at work we were to have some people from United Way come and do a work assessment for us. They put together some work teams each year from some of the local companies, and they help out around the town with odd jobs. We put in a request this year (our first time) to have someone come and do some painting for us, two bedrooms...
This morning as I left the house to take someone to work, I said as I left "guys, some people will be coming here at 9:30 to take a look at some of the rooms in the house, I'll be back by 9:30, let them wait if they get here before me...." I should have followed that up with "do you understand?" or better yet "could you repeat what I just said?"
I returned to the house at 9:25.
I was greeted by "Fred", who said... "some people wanted to look at our bedrooms, but I sent them away. They weren't staff...."
wait for it.....

"I don't do business with people who aren't staff."

where you least expect it...

So today, the lovely day that it was... I rode my bike.. it's been in need of in some serious repair.. or maybe even a little fine tuning.
my beauty has sat on the front porch all winter (next year I'll cover it with a BBQ cover) and it's acquired a fine covering of rust. YUCK.

there's also that little run in we had back last spring... (after searching my blog it appears I forgot to write about the incident) I'd just gotten my bike, and was meeting some friends for the haunted ghost walk... while peddling around the parking lot, I moved to side saddle (just because it makes me feel elegant) and ... promptly fell over backwards, bending my fender. The fender has slowly been migrating since that time, and has just recently moved into the bike's chain's territory... Noisy grinding noises have been the result.

I decided that I'd stop at an establishment downtown to see what they charge in the way of bike tune ups, when I spotted an avid biker I'd met thru SVFF. "AH HA" thought I, "there's someone who'd know where to get a tune up". So I called out to Lawrence for his advice....

in minutes, Lawrence had found a screwdriver and popped the fender back to it's place, and started in on the "lonely brake pad" (that's the brake pad that thinks it should always have contact with my back wheel) Next thing I knew, Peter from Canyon Mountain had been summoned and my beauty was receiving full attention from the two of them.... needless to say, I've TWO heros of the week.

in addition to the previous

.... things I've lost this week

my keys (x3)
my cell phone (x2)
my phone (once... I think I know where it is now) (I think I saw it when I was looking for something else)
my income tax sticker (still missing)
my space pen. (still missing)

my little turtle and the spring thaw

I lose a lot of things.

I was putting a new little hoop earring in the other day and it got me to thinking...

I was trying to remember why I'd pierced my ear in the first place. I've got this one hole near the top of my ear on the left side, and I know it was one of those teen-anger driven moments, but what was the precipitating factor in it? What was the fight or the frustration that led me to thinking a little self mutilation might solve the problem?
I remember going up to the bathroom, being angry... I remember thinking "hmm, that'll fix them" (because obviously it would?) and I remember freezing my fingers with an icecube and stabbing my finger... giving up on the icecube... shoving a needle through my ear... then realizeing that I couldn't fit the earring through the dinky little needle hole... shoving the earring though and walking downstairs hoping someone would notice and be mad...
uh... yeah....

anyway, I was putting this little hoop earring in and missing my turtle. I've searched high and low for him. he's only gone missing one other time before, and I've had him for 10 years.
this turtle.. turtle earring I mean, has been lost in the worst possible place... outside.
every day when I go for my walk, I scan the ground in the hopes he'll return... that the snow blowers and plows have thrown him to somewhere that I'll see him waiting for me. True, he left in November, but I'm still holding out for his return.

TURTLE where are you?

sappy

could someone please explain to me why there is snow on the gound and in the air this morning... it is lovely snow... it's boy friend snow... BUT for goodness sake! my bike is out of control in the slippyness of it.

We are heading to Fair Glen this morning for a day of fun filled sappyness at the sugar bush....

good times

gah... duh... bah...

seriously... how do you guys put up with me?
I've got to be the most akward person I know sometimes...

I love you for putting up with me.

TONIGHT

yo, I know I sent you all a txt about this and an email, and have driven some of you crazy in it's regard,
But
tonight there's a Newland/Caswell concert at the Spill in Ptbo, and I'm going with Jenny and Manda and some others... you should come too (for reasons outlined in the email).

when did this become a forum for information as opposed to an outlet for my soggy brain?

:S

ummmm , er, sorry folks... and sorry self.

I miss my blog.

there are a few posts sitting in the edit box, we'll have to wait till I've got a min to sort them out.

and thru the magic of the internet... they'll be posted as if they were posted in the past...

the long way

I have this problem, where in... I hate most country music... but I love the cowboys. There's something about the swagger, the rough, the style, I don't know, it makes me want to follow them down the street.
When I worked at the ranch, the "cool thing" was to have the attire. But we were all more leaning towards the Aussie than the West, we loved dark fringe-free chaps, the oil skin hat... and the slicker.
Not the half slicker.
The LONG slicker.
Deep brown oilskin, with it's rich sent, it's canvas warmth. The type you could wear riding in the rain or cold, and spread it out, so your horse's back was dry, and it funneled the heat up to your body. I think it's part a throw back from the hours of "Man from Snowy River". And part... it just looks good.

out there.

in a ranch setting.

or somewhere where there's trees.

or at the very least... a field.

There's this young guy in town, he walks William St. everyday around the same time, with a paper bag in his hand ( ham sandwich?). Dressed in the long one. and he looks kinda silly.
and I feel bad for him, and for myself, because I'd like to be in a place where that's what you wear, and it fits.

no bad karaoke

tonight, I have the pleasure of the company of my dear friend Laur and her husband Mike... We hit the karaoke floor running on high from some Kirk Franklin tunes in my office.... and then.... Bob calls me over to the front, "hey Les, come up here a second" and he begins to rummage around in one of his many duffle bags.... "I've got something for you" and he digs a little deeper....
I've got me a "no bad karaoke" t-shirt!!!!!

spring WAS in the air

... and now in it's place are snow flakes.
This is the most bizarre time of year... really. I remember working the March Break camp at Maple Creek, I think I did 9 years of winter camps (not in a row), and not one was predictable. I remember my first year, we started a day late, the camp was snowed in, no one could get there. Then next year we had no snow, just mud, but it was really cold. Then there was another year where we had to stay for two extra days because we got snowed in... the next one we wore shorts. The poor horses... so winter hairy in the heat! Or worse! having shed their coats early and being covered in those icicles

But there's one constant... spring fever.
it hits in march.
and it's contagious.. have you noticed that?
ugh.

for- jiv?

I have to apologize....

tonight I walked into the apartment and heard loud intermittent thumping... Immediately I rushed to my room and began bawling out the rabbit... I even grabbed the spray bottle and gave him two quick shots... AS I entered the room. He didn't have a chance.

after regaining my calm (his cage, my room- is directly above the landlord's bedroom) I went back in the room and let him out of his holding. I walked away and went to the kitchen.... MORE THUMPING! "what the heck? he's not even in his cage, what's his friggin problem" (thought I, as I dashed back to the room already armed with the spray bottle) He just sat there watching me.

It was then that I heard the thumping from down the hall... not my room... not the rabbit.
but rather... somewhere in Australia.

Last spring and the spring before that, we had a family of raccoons take up residence in our ceiling above the computer (there's a space there, created by the roof dipping down. The sunroom is built on the other side of that wall... and in it's creation for some reason, a raccoon dwelling sized space was left). The water damage to the ceiling above the computer desk (from the raccoon's break-and-enter) was shaped like Australia in it's first year, it's now more like a bloated Baffin Island, but the first name stuck.

Long story short... the coons are back.
I think they knew their home in the tannery behind our house was numbered in it's days... and they've decided to take up residence with us again.

Norty... I'm sorry I shot you with the water bottle... alot.

that space

you know that feeling?
when you walk into a space and the people and the space itself are just ...
just joy?
joyful, joyous, enjoying, enjoyment, joy-giving,
I got to go to one of those spaces yesterday.

I spent some time with some fantastic people, people I wish I had the opportunity to interact with more often.. rather than just those chance encounters at the Bean... People that for some reason, I fully trust even though I hardly know them.

I was exposed to some new music, not new to the world, just new to me. One of my friends turned to me and said "surely you know this one?" when I didn't,they just shook their head "how old are you again?"
I cried a few times... not cheesy movie type tears, just so filled.. that it had to come out somehow.

The visiting songwriter started out a little frazzled, it'd been a long day, but within the first two chords.. That first song... those opening notes... were incredible. Four hands working to make one voice...
At the end of the song, she said "there.. I needed that".
I did too.

to the tune of:: groove is in the heart

spring is in the air....
spring is in the air...
SPRING is in the air...
yeah spring is in the ai-ai-air


on many a day like today::

short sleeves
no coat
pink ghetto blaster
mini pops cassettes
soft blanket
back yard deck
baton
skipping ropes
plastic picnic basket
tiny snack tupperwear containers
filled with dry cereal
laughing
breathing

in one of the coolest twists of fate, as I was driving to the Burg on Wednesday night, having posted my last entry just hours prior, I was tuned to the old faithful, CBC.

I was pretty much annoyed with the fact I'd been 40 mins late for Worship practice, and pretty much more annoyed with the fact that I was going to arrive late for Karaoke. But then it happened.

Earlier that day I'd posted a memo to myself to tape a broadcast on "Ideas" featuring ethnomusicologist Lynn Whidden, talking about the "essential song". And.. as par for the course.. I forgot to tape it.... BUT because I was running SO late... I heard nearly the entire thing in my car on the way back from the Petes.

Guys.. it was GREAT.
It's the stuff that I love, just enough anthro, just enough psych, just enough music theory.... I'm waiting for my transcript of the show to arrive..... then I'll fill you in more...
but really what it boils down to was this great insight to the purpose of essential song; to create a bond; developing harmonies WITH others in community... encouraging and strengthening dynamics.... all with that weaving of the layers of sound... binding..
*sigh*
again... great stuff

1, 2, 3, 4

There's paint by numbers.

I was thinking that my life is more "life by numbers..." But not like, 1, 2, 3, 4.... I'm thinking it's more musical numbers.
I've LONG held that life should, infact, be a musical production... There's a song for every occasion, and I'm usually singing it (much to the dismay of those around me!). Recently I heard that a friend of mine had said he wished his life was a musical... WELL! I propose here and now.. (no I'm not proposing TO you, you morons!) (hmmm, unless you were planning on saying yes...) that we pick a day and make it just that... A day of our lives as a musical.

The ground rules I suppose are in order...

• it's a day long affair.
• while in the work place you do not have to participate.. Unless you can get away with it
• songs can be made up, or of popular origin (or even, not pop.)
• song is to be used as the main form of communication with people
• dance could be used where words fail
• songs do not have to rhyme
• they do not have to be in the same key
• and there should be at least two numbers that require use of a cow bell.

So, what day is good for you?

Dear Abby

ok, I've decided that my last post echoed a little too much of a Dear Abby desperate... "Dear Abby, I'm writing this in the hopes that my loved one will read this and recognise this in themselves...." HA
wait, here it is again...
HA
the person isn't going to read it.

better said by someone else

I was getting frustrated the other day by a person I run into on occasion, I ask what's new, and they launch into telling me the good things people have said to them about themselves. Or about the nice things they've done for people.
I'm never sure how to respond.
I found this post and it's a little bit related. But I'm still not going to say anything to that person, I don't want to have it sound the wrong way... it's one of those touchy things... I'm not that involved in the person's life, so I don't have that right, I don't think anyway.

"Grow! We all need to keep growing and never rest on experience or on our precious education. I've met a few very proud people who like to let people know their value and past accomplishments. And I say, "Why is he telling me this?" "Yesterday's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster." Maxwell says that what we strutted yesterday, the next day is just cleaning dust off of shelves. Okay enjoy the accomplishment for a moment... lift your glass to the Lord and say, "That was good Lord, Thanks for using me!" But in the next breath remember to say, "What's next?""

my secret identity

I know I don't use the lingo, and for the most part I don't really know how it all works. But I think that deep down inside... I'm a geek. Or I want to be one.

I do know I want one of these.





and not to be morbid,
but stew's right... they should come soprano style...

and I mean to be there

the other day, I was driving down theatre road, when my eyes happened upon this large sign;

OPEN APRIL

do you know what this means?
the drive-in is open in less than a month... how exciting!

continued...

it seems I missed a few things when I filled out that form the other day... ok, maybe I didn't miss them, maybe I just can't remember what it was that I was so excited to post this morning- so excited that by the time I got home tonight it was gone!

4 places I'd rather be...

1) on a lake
2) on a horse
3) overseas
4) either sheltervalley or anywhere northwest.

4 pets I've owned and how they eventually died

1) Bubbles (the turtle) - got all soft and squishy... I don't know if he really was dead when I flushed him
2) hampster (that was his name... not to be confused with the hampster named "what dog" also a pet I owned) - he used to make alot of noise at night, and it got to the point that I couldn't sleep... so I put him in the closet in the spare room... I remembered him a week later.
3) Sonny (the beater pony) - one of those ponies you could do anything with, while not technically mine (he was owned by an old lady who rescued him from the dog food company- I just took him with me to camp each summer and played with him) - he had this "cute" trick (read:: horrid trick someone taught him) where he would lift his leg and beg for treats... he stuck his leg thru a wire fence begging for treats from the passing cars... we had to put him down, the leg was shredded.
4) Pinecone (the rabbit)- he got old.


4 annoying habits that drive me nuts

1) use of a tag line at the end of every utterance ( I had a girl guide leader who followed every sentence with "and that")
2) people who eat with their mouths open... I'm fine with talking with food... just.. close between the conversation please
3) "pick and look" (the nose.... gross)
4) hmm, have to think about that one