Rock On

I love rock. As in......cliffs of them!


I don't care if it is granite, sandstone, igneous, sedimentary. It doesn't matter to me. I am not prejudiced. 

All I know is that I have an affinity for the stuff.

I wish there was a giant cliff of rock in my yard/garden. I'd be in heaven!

             This is me in my 'rock heaven'.


Yesterday we went to the Bay of Fundy which is about 120 kms from here. This area is noted for it's VERY high and fast tides.

               If we stayed here for another 20 minutes or so, we'd be          
               swimming back to our car!


Maybe I was a rock in one of my past lives!!!

              What's up with Ron?

I wonder when this chunk of rock fell off.

Contemplative Monday

A lot of people get confused and don't really understand the purpose of meditating or praying.

Matthieu Ricard, in his book 'Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions', says what he thinks meditation is not.


"......meditation is not an attempt to create a blank mind by blocking out thoughts---which is impossible anyway. Nor is it engaging the mind in endless cogitation in an attempt to analyze the past or anticipate the future....."

Also he says what he thinks meditation/prayer could be :


"There is indeed an element of relaxation in meditation, but it is connected with the relief that comes from letting go of hopes and fears, of attachments and the whims of the ego that never stop feeding our inner conflicts."

Retro Saturday

I love to browse through old magazines and catalogs. There is usually a treasure-trove of information to be found.

It's like looking into a time capsule and discovering what 'things' were like 'back then' in the old days.

From ads to short stories, these mags cover everything that were deemed important and fashionable for that time.

Today, we find those values, and ways of communicating those values, as amusing....to say the least!

I think we are where we are today because of the past and everything it stood for. They call it progress and hopefully we have learned from the past.

But, those ads are still a riot!

I wonder if women were really that gullible and naive. I guess the culture at the time certainly didn't entertain the notion that women can think and make decisions on their own. 

But the ads in these mags reflect the times in which they were published.

Mind you, things were a lot simpler and cheaper!?

I figure we have progressed somewhat. What do you think?

              Make sure to double-click each picture to get the full effect.

For My Next 100 Posts.......

I'd like to post this, my 101st. blog, for my father....Jim Sr.

Yesterday we took Dad to lunch. We chose a place that I mentioned once before. It's called the Rose & Kettle Tearoom & Giftshop at the Cole Harbour Heritage Farm Museum......phew. The staff there are very kind to Dad. They love his wit and tolerate his sometimes 'cutting' responses.

The manager and head chef at the Tearoom is Linda.

               Linda and her daughter hard at work.

She will do her best to do whatever Dad asks of her. He will call up for tea-biscuits and she will always manage to put aside at least half a dozen for him. And all the times he has asked for take-out, (and they DON'T DO TAKE-OUT!), he gets it.

So today we thought we'd 'surprise attack' them.

We got there early before the lunch crowd. Got a table and ordered. You do not mess around when you have a hungry, sometimes grouchy older gentleman who likes his meals ON TIME.

             Ron and Dad (yes I know, Dad looks like the guy in the Six Flags commercial with those sun-glasses!!)

Ron and Dad ordered the Tearoom's famous Fishcakes and Baked Beans. I ordered the special of the day.....Chicken Pot Pie plus a salad.

Linda was very excited to see Dad and she personally served him and made sure everything was just right. Dad lapped it all up.

When it came to dessert we had Raspberry Cake with cream cheese frosting and Date Squares. They were great.

The Tearoom is like an English country cottage inside and out (or at least how I would imagine one to be). It is jam-packed with crafts from Nova Scotia.

By the time we left the place was packed, Dad was content, and Sophie was waiting patiently for us in the car.

Dad doesn't get out much and he appreciates when he does get the chance. He loves the attention he gets from the shops and restaurants in the area. And Linda and her staff certainly give him a lot.

A couple of hours later, after Dad was back home, Ron and I were at the local Thrift Shop/Sally Ann.

 While looking intently at something in the shop, I heard this 'Jim, Jim'. I turned and saw the mother of one of my ex-students. I almost called her Linda because she looked like Linda at the Tearoom. It was Lisa. 

We chatted and I introduced her to Ron. After a few moments of chatting Ron said to her that she looked just like Linda at the Tearoom. Lisa said she gets that all the time.....because Linda is her sister!!

I have known these two gals for a few years and I had no idea they were related. I know Nova Scotia is small......but this makes it really tiny.

              Kids' groups use this facility all summer long. It is a small working farm.

Wordless Wednesday.....almost

Found this at an auction sale years ago. Love it because of the 'hustle and bustle' outside Grand Central Station, NYC by John Haymson. It is a print from the original watercolour.

The Beach Towel

We all had or have our favourite towel to take to the beach.

Today was ideal beach weather....not too hot but sunny, and with a good warmish breeze off the ocean.

It was low tide and was still going out when we arrived around 2 P.M.

We headed to the river as it would be rushing out into the sea.

Who would be in the river first? Sophie of course! Then Ron and finally me.

The towels came in handy after playing with Sophie in the river. We were playing 'Sophie save me'. She would come out to us in the water and let us hold on to her collar. Then she would pull us in to the river bank. She loved it!!

The towel featured in this post is my hubby Ron's. (still weird saying that!). He's had it since the late 50's. It is getting pretty threadbare but still works for him!

Contemplative Monday

"What now remains, compared with what then existed, is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away......Mountains which now have nothing but food for bees......had trees not very long ago. [The land] was enriched by the yearly rains, which were not lost to it, as now, by flowing from the bare land into the sea; but the soil was deep, and therein received the water, and kept it in the loamy earth......feeding springs and streams running everywhere. Now only abandoned shrines remain to show where the springs once flowed."


This was written by Plato in his unfinished dialogue Critias in the year 400 B.C.

I got this quote from a book I am presently reading, A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.

The above quote is particularly appropriate, I feel, in light of the devastating floods in Pakistan. Will we humans ever learn from the past?

Sunday with Dvorak and Joshua Bell

This is one of my favourite pieces of music. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Have a great Sunday.

Retro Saturday

Just wanted to share with you the few 'things' I picked up in PEI last week.

Got these at the Blue Moon antiques and collectibles shop. It was a church and now it is completely jammed with stuff!

I've found myself 'picking up' kitchen glasses lately and couldn't resist these.

Does any one know whether or not these (below) are 'Gay Fad' or not? I know the Gay Fad company purchased 'blanks' from glass companies and hand decorated them but don't know about these. One is Fenton, and the other is Anchor Hocking. Got them anyway.

This little dessert bowl is from California....I liked the colour.

This is a Fire King pie plate.

And a Pyrex pie plate........no excuse now to make a few.

Now, this pitcher I found is quite nice. It is made in Japan and is 'crazed' all over........those are not serious cracks on the bottom. It will still hold a liquid without leaking. I loved the colours.

These were all reasonably priced....the most expensive was the Fire King pie plate for $10. Not bad, I thought.


Now I'll have to find some room in the basement for this stuff..........I'm sure there is some available. I know what I need is a 'shop'.......to re-sell it all. Later, maybe.


Have a great weekend everyone!