monday bunday

memories

(written several days ago)

Today I was flooded with memories. And... today I realized the giant gaps with the things I've forgotten.

I parked in the parking lot of my primary school.... I was on my way to a funeral, and remembered vaguely in the corner of my mind that there was a back staircase from the school yard to the church.

I pulled into the yard and parked by an old cement retaining wall. The school is built on a hill, the yard at the bottom, one side of the yard is a steep embankment, tree roots the only thing keeping the neighbour's yards from tumbling down to the pavement below. In one or two places, at some point in time, someone decided to pour some cement to hold back the earth. When I was in grade three they were leaning... when I was there today they were leaning some more. The same foot path runs up beside them, up behind them and up to a big tree root, perfect for sitting on, and not too high that you might get in trouble for climbing the hill.
The school itself is built into the hill. To get to class, each grade had to line up, and class by class we were sent up the stairs. Of the two years I lined and waited at the bottom of the steps, then marched to the top... I can only remember one or two trips to the top... but running my hands along the railing, I could hear the conversations we'd had from countless others.
I looked back and pictured the bouncy balls and Frisbees that would collect on the roof, cleaned off for the summer.
I passed by the windows to one of my old class rooms... I can't remember what I learned there... but I remember the smell of the room, and the faded green feeling it had.
I climbed up past the school, and rounded my way to the church, I didn't remember the house being so close to the stairs, I couldn't remember a single instance of climbing the steps... but yet, I must have used it often, I instinctively lifted my foot a little higher on the last step, my mind remembering it's tendency to trip.
The church was smaller than I remembered, the paint new, the water damage gone, the frayed carpet replaced...
we sat, we stood, we sat, we stood, we kneeled, we stood, we sat. we sang songs tucked away in my memory, and the smell of incense filled the church. The service was beautiful.
Afterwards, I headed back down the stairs. More memories woke up, moments that had passed came back to life, games and gossip played out. Best friends were remembered and "life long" enemies were hated again... all in the few moments it took to get to my car.
I'm glad I parked in the school yard.

D'oh!

I saw the Simpsons movie last night...
go see it!

ALSO yesterday I got to go to the zoo for work (yeah, I know, the zoo is pretty cool) (in fact... it IS my favorite place to be).
but guess what???

THEYS GOTS OTTERZ!!

yeah, I was happy.

Strange thing though yesterday, I have NEVER seen those animals quite so active. I've been going to the PTBO zoo for years, I went daily for a few years, and yesterday:: The Python was slithering, the reindeer were running, the otterz were swimming, the dholes were running, the wallabies were sleeping (ok, I'm pretty sure the zoo doesn't even have real ones, I've determined that these same 4 creatures have ALWAYS been in the same spot forever, perhaps they are yard decorations) the meercats were digging, the tortoises were humping, the goats were pacing, the lemur was hopping *whew*!
there was a lot of activity.
it was great.... I nearly even forgot I was at work for a moment.

elder

uh... naked mole rats.

I have two beautiful (or so I've always believed) little moles on my left arm. Upper arm. Outer upper arm (and one in my arm pit.. I'll have to check the mirror to figure out which one it is, I can't remember right now). These little cuties have been with me for as long as I can remember. A number of years ago they each sprouted three hairs.
Three lovely dark hairs.
Which, when they have reached the appropriate length, I grasp and pull out.

Yesterday, while driving... I rubbed my arm and felt the familiar hairs greet my finger tips. I glanced down... and was shocked!

I'm so old that one of my mole hairs is WHITE!!!!



ps. Pontouf's feet are too big for her to run and jump and frolic! she starts... then trips!

wow

some things amaze me. dumbfounded.
end thought.

new
thoughts.

quote of the year goes to Will, with the astounding phrase (in reference to people reading archived blogs in the future)

"Note to digital archaeologists of the distant future:
Those cats could not actually has cheezburgers"

no really.. I LOL'd this one. so much so that I had to read it out loud to the roomie.
end thought.

new thought.
later.

everyday when your walkin' down the street

If you've ever lived with me at any point in the past few years, you know I've a bit of a soft spot for Arthur, and you've probably heard me yell randomly "cat on my head".
In university we didn't have all that many channels.. ok, we had three... and one was french. We'd often go over to "the unit" to watch cable, Thursday night held a standing date between our house and the one behind us...
Anyway, I'm getting away from my point. really, there is one today.

So, my favorite episode EVER of the Arthur series is the one where Francine's cat meets Pal (Arthur's dog). ...in later episodes they can talk (to each other) but that first contact resulted in the cat jumping up on Arthur's head, and him running randomly around in circles screaming "cat on my head, cat on my head, cat on my head!" with his hands waving in the air.
pretty funny.
ok, I'll admit, I laughed so hard I might have even peed a little. It was random.. and very Simpson's like in it's delivery.

no, really, I do have a point...

so, last night I was walking down the stairs, nearly at the bottom , with Fynn in my arms, and a phone in my hand.
Phone rings,
Fynn freaks,
he then scrambles up onto my shoulder, loses his balance, then ...
jumps on my head.
From there, he jumped onto the stairs.... scratching the beejebus out of my scalp.

what's my first thought?
"Fynn on my head, Fynn on my head, Fynn on my head!"

good thing I don't wear a watch

this weekend ended up being CRAZY.
but good.
I often wonder if I'd fit as much in if I wore a watch, or if I'd be so busy trying to encourage activities to fit within a certain time frame, I'd miss most of the fun?

any way...
after much waiting... much sorrow... much MORE waiting... I'd like to introduce you to a "little" friend of mine...

PONTOUF! (yes, like the imaginary kangaroo)

Now, it's kinda hard to tell... but this little fluffy is going to be a giant. A Flemish giant... at only 5 weeks, Pontouf is....

Nearly the same size as Fynn Fynn (who's now 5 months!)

As you can see, Fynn isn't so sure about this new addition, but I think it's mostly just hormonal. He's going for the almighty snip at the vet next month, so then I can bond the two of them.. and they'll be bestest buddies for ever and ever :)

Pontouf is still really light (body weight), but I'm sure that in the past two nights s/he's gained several ounces.... despite being so huge, s/he's still pretty little to accurately guess gender... The guy thought he had 2 males and 1 female... but they all looked like males to me, so he might have made a mistake too...
anyway.. VERY exciting.. but... also some sad news. Pontouf's dad was killed by that same German shepherd last week that killed the last litter and the doe.

in droves

funny, can't find something for forever, then they come flying at you in droves!

So, I got an email this week from the original person I'd contacted about the Flemish giants... not the German Shepherd ones. It said, "contacting the people on my waiting list, I have one doe, and one buck, light grey in colour, 7 weeks old, let me know right away" that was two days ago. SOOOO, of course, I hmmm and hawwwed for about 12 hours, then replied... "YES please" and gave both my phone numbers.
Turns out my answering machine, though it's plugged in, isn't recording messages (going to go buy a battery today to fix that issue... hopefully).
I haven't heard anything, haven't received an email... 7 weeks for a Flemy means it's going to be the same size if not bigger... than Fynn Fynn.

The phone rang just a few minutes ago... the German shepherd lady has 3 brown babies, cheaper price, and 5 weeks old.

I asked that I be given till tomorrow to decide...

eek.

I haz interveew

Ok, so last night I had this dream that I was dating this big burly (read:: teddy bear) garbage man. Having never seen said garbage man before, I made sure to be dressed in time to take out the garbage this morning...

in case it was a prophetic dream.


in other news.
~I have an interview this morning. Pray it goes well and that if it does go well... that the start date details would sort themselves out.

~big bunny is coming home this week (end?) pray that it isn't eaten by a german shepherd before I get to pick it up.

~there was no big burly garbage man, just some little guys. I wonder if I modeled the guy after the 'burg bushman/construction guy? you know who I mean?

~ I found a post that I forgot to drag out of drafts from this week... I'll fix the post date so it can be read... lol... as if anyone's waiting.

WET

although the camping was cancelled, it was for a good reason. Please pray for my friend T who's Dad just passed away, it's going to be rough for the next bit for her....

BUT... because camping is cancelled, many other things have sprung up in it's place. Including, but not limited to .... A concert tonight (never turn down the opportunity to hear two men passionate about their ukuleles), a JOB INTERVIEW Friday morning... which, as my program manager said "I hope you get it, it's doing the same job you're doing now, but you'll be able to focus on the individuals without all the extra stuff here, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to do that for you." (WOW!). BBQ Friday night with the house group rats, SVFF meeting type thingy sometime this weekend, camping in the Baltimore valley perhaps... I was told I could make pancakes on the campfire, so I may set my tent up (if the rain stops) if the rain doesn't stop, I have some movies to catch up on. A "church at our house" dinner, three mornings to sleep in, the possibility to go pick up my Flemish giant bunny (wondering if I should wait for the next litter as Fynn-Fynn isn't fixed yet) And hopefully a visit to Kaw and Caleb who are home from China for the month.
PHEW!!!
There's more, but it's slipped my mind.


ok, so this isn't one of the guys, but for those of you mocking the uke.....