I think I'm seeing things differently. . . .

June 21, 2011


8.00 am:

Sitting in at my home office desk, waiting for Stephen to get himself ready to leave for work, while Em sits nervously beside me anticipating the reception of her report card.

THE report card.

The one that determines whether or not math is on board for summer school.

Or if she is free to spend her summer working to pay off her car repair bills.

One of those choosing between the lesser of two evils moments.






Yesterday's Simply for Life weigh in wasn't as traumatic as it could have been.

In spite of my eat-out-fest of this past weekend, I still managed to lose a pound.

Not my most stellar moment, but better than gaining.

More importantly, Stephen returned to SFL.

(I just noticed that I typed DFL. I fixed it and then thought, hmmmm. . .Dawne for Life?)

He had been going, but his commitment to the early morning weigh-ins, 9.45 am, was less than it should have been.

But something has happened to kickstart a newfound interest, a stronger commitment to getting healthy, and there he was sitting beside me yesterday, ready to renew his vows to a healthier, happier Stephen.

Sometimes these meetings are challenging, not just because of the weight issues, but also because my counsellor calls me on my shit.

In particular, that gardening, while a healthy activity, does not necessarily replace yoga and that a healthy lifestyle would include both.

Because yoga is good for the body and the mind.

The thing is, I want to be outside, not inside.

So it would appear that I will be doing yoga in the backyard.

Our neighbours already think I'm a nut bag, so what's a little more evidence.

I wonder if Stephen would come out with me?

What's the temp in hell again? Enough for it to freeze over?






A nice thing about students is that even after they graduate and move on to the next stages of their lives, they sometimes come back.

And take you out for lunch.

This was yesterday's other happy event.

The first being Stephen's return to SFL.

Both young women are now RCMP officers, one out west and the other in a neighbouring province.

We talked about their adventures, domestic violence calls; hitting dead, frozen elk on the highways out west; the trials and tribulations of hitting deer in the back woods of Atlantic Canada; paper work. . . .

All while we munched on club wraps with soup or salad.

Nary a french fry to abscond.

Which was probably a good thing because if I only lose a pound a week, it's gonna take me another two years to reach my goal weight.






Em worked last evening from 5.00-8.00

Mer and Keith started sometime around 5.00, and didn't end until much later.

After depositing all my little chicks at the mall so they could subordinate their labour to Empire Theaters, Stephen and I headed downtown with the camera.

You know where this is going.

Most people travel all over the world to visit new and exciting places.

I wanted to wander through downtown Fredericton as I would in a city I wasn't familiar with.

And doing so revealed things we had never seen before.

In spite of living here.

Most of our downtown travels are for specific purposes.

Fixed engagements with fixed times, meaning we actually don't take the time to look at what is going on around us.

In fairness, when you're trying to navigate your mother's wheelchair, with your mother in it, through the streets of downtown anywhere, taking the time to look at what is going on around you can be a little challenging.

Same can be said for trying to subtly meander with Frankie and Tikka.

One behaves as if he is constantly on alert for the next apocalypse, while the other goes where ever the hell she wants regardless of whether or not you actually want her to.

And with the kids?

Um.

Mer is busy checking herself out in every shop window she comes across, Keith is trying to prevent her from making a public spectacle of herself, and Em is usually bending my ear with tales of teenage trauma.

Although Em and I are planning a walk downtown tomorrow afternoon with both our cameras.

Em has the most phenomenal eye for pictures.

She has taken some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen.

I'm hoping she can show me how she looks at things.

So I can take stunning pictures, too.

And then we're going to see The Green Lantern 3D.

Payment for dragging her all over downtown to show me how to take pictures.






10.30 am:

So, with the camera, comfy shoes, $20.00 for dinner in case we found ourselves hungry, we started off on our shutterbug adventure.

One of the facets of Fredericton I love is the abundance of old, unique houses.

When I've been to other cities, like Montreal and Toronto, I don't see these kinds of old homes.

The house below, represented in the next four pictures, is currently on the market for $700,000. Not a high price in cities like Vancouver and Toronto, but a lot for a heritage house in Fredericton.

And this is just a small, small sampling. There are so many houses in the downtown area that scream, "There isn't another house like me anywhere!"

Of course, whether I'm technically allowed to take pictures of them is another story.

In fact, I really didn't think too much about if I should be taking pictures or not until I took this one:

. . .and was honked at by a driver (not the one in the picture) who thought I was trying to take his picture.

I just thought it was cool that I was almost at eye level with a traffic light.

Usually they're a lot higher of the ground than I am.






Another element of Fredericton I quite enjoy is the old train bridge.

It's no longer used for trains.

But, it is a walking bridge that connects the South side of Fredericton with the North side.

All year long people walk and bike across the bridge.

Last evening was the annual prom for Fredericton High School, and dotted along the bridge's landscape were parties of parents, other family members and friends posing on the bridge for prom pictures.

Young women in dresses that cost more than my wedding standing proudly beside their male companions bedecked in rented tuxedo's and looking as if they wanted to be anywhere but where they were.

I didn't think I should take pictures of them.

Besides, Em will be experiencing the prom-madness next year and I can wait until then thank you very much.

The bridge:

South to North

And North to South

And of course, the glorious looking St. John River:

The tall spire in the distance is part of the lovely Christ Church Cathedral:

Stephen, when the kids were younger, had them convinced that the ghost of some woman connected to the church haunted the church grounds in the evening.

He told them this during an evening walk, in the dark.

Em wouldn't go near the grounds of the church for years after that.

I should have given him a boot in the ass for scaring her like that, but my feet don't seem to carry the same impact as his:

Thankfully, he's never felt the urge to kick me in the ass.

At least as far as I know.






And of course, there were the requisite flower and trees pictures.

Again, I don't know if I had the "right" to take these pictures, but no one came out and stopped me:

Amid the flowers I came across an arbour. Now I want one.

Finally, things I found interesting. And that was all the reason I needed to take them.

Below is the Fredericton Peace Pole. It's just before you walk onto the train bridge on the south side.

Imagine all the things you see when you look at what is familiar.






And Em passed everything, including math.

No summer school.

Just working to pay back the man. . . .

. . .who, in this case, is me.



Title Lyric: Hey by Rooney

Let's watch the flowers grow. . . .

June 20, 2011


One of my newfound hobbies is gardening.

Stress relieving, heart pumping, calorie burning gardening.

Like raising children, gardening is a task that never ends. . .there is always something to do.

Unlike raising children, it's something you can do when you want to, feel compelled to, need time to peruse wanted or unwanted thoughts parading around your head, or have to in order to avoid causing physical, bodily harm to another human being.

Gardening, blogging, yoga. . .I am so seeing a pattern here.






Much of what we have in terms of gardens are completely because of Stephen's hard work and industry.

I've just started picking up my fair share of the gardening work.

And thus enjoying the results far, far more than I had in the past.

For example, we had planted several clematis plants, only to have each one wither and die.

Finally, with advice from an old Mennonite friend of Stephen's we planted it in the most unlikely of places.

The corner of the house.

And it is starting to flourish.

Of course, it doesn't look anything like my mother's clematis, which is sporting at least 100 buds.

Nothing has bloomed yet, but when it does, I'll be driving to my parent's place to take pictures of it.

Dark purple blooms. . .it is so beautiful.

I hope ours will be the same.






We have a large yard. . .this is the side view coming around the corner.

And the front coming into the driveway.

The front houses several varieties of plants, and is where I've been concentrating much effort over the past couple of weeks.

First, removing the invasive-ground-cover-from-hell-that-took-over-everything.

I know it looks pretty, but it was ALL over the front yard, choking out the other ground covers, in particular this nice tangeriney colored flowered one.

This is all that was left when I rescued it from the other ground cover. But, it's starting already to create new growth.

I just have to make sure it doesn't start taking over.

When we were married, Stephen's cousin Darene and her husband Dan, who are avid gardeners if what Stephen tells me is to be believed, sent us a rain gauge for a wedding present.

We love it because it means we can always see if it rained overnight, even if the pavement is dry.

Stephen found a bird bath several years ago. From spring to late fall it sits outside. In the winter it lives in the basement.

And if I can become remotely efficient with the camera, I may even be able to manage to get pictures of the bird's using it.

We have our usual hanging basket. Stephen picked it out this year.

The back. . .well, it needs lots of work. . but there are several gardens back there as well.

As well as the pods.

What you probably call composters.

They're open because it rained a lot over the weekend and everyone knows that water is very important for composters to do what they're supposed to do.

One of the reasons the spearmint and rhubarb look like they're on steroids is because of their proximity to the composters.

In fact, we have to take out a lot of the spearmint, so if anyone is interested in having some, just let me know.

We are MORE than willing to share.

Among our other backyard plants are:

The very hearty periwinkle:

Donkey's tail. Em picked this out from a garden center ages and ages ago. It comes back every year.

Lamb's ear. The kids had a think about plants with animal names.

Sand cherry, which looks gorgeous with it blooms.

But you can see there's lots and lots of work. What we really need is a professional landscaper.

Unless we sell one of the children, the likelihood of this happening is slim to none.

But, we plod along and do what we can, hoping each year that things improve.






In addition to providing a great place for the dogs to run, the farm also has the most beautiful rhododendrons I've ever seen.

Each year we take several trips to the farm just to look at them.

If you can get to the farm, and you have never seen them, you should go while they're still in bloom.

But watch out for the mosquitoes.

I incurred several bites trying to get a close up of a lilac.






Em is on her way to work in a little while and after dropping her off, Stephen and I will be taking a walk downtown.

Avec the camera.

More pics to come.

Who knows when the novelty will wear off and what I will end up catching on film before it does.

Muwahhhhahahahahahahahahahaha. . . .



Title Lyric: Flowers in the Window by Travis