Mackenzie's Christmas hat

A season of funerals

Over the last week we have three deaths -- this is after Jeremy Frith's death -- and three funerals. Donnie Smith, ND Carmichael and Mayme Eckhardt. These are great losses to our small community. I have placed their obituaries on a separate blog that you can access by clicking on the post header above, or on this link:

www.realobituary.blogspot.com

A gift to share: thank you Jerome!

Sometimes you get a gift you can share with friends, and my wonderful friend, Jerome Stueart, gave me a gift like that. Jerome house and dog sat for us in Whitehorse one winter, and he is again house and dog sitting (not for us) and has a new contraption that makes movies on his computer. This is the movie he made of a dog walk in the woods in Whitehorse in memory of our dog, Misery, who did love company, and who came to Whitehorse old and arthritic, was rejuvenated in the cold dry air so had two wonderful doggy years in the north, then died peacefully.

To view Jerome's video, click on the link here, or on the post header above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY-4ACL6zSc

The picture above is of Honey on a snowy dog walk .

Merry Christmas, 2009

It happens overnight: all is calm, all is bright.

The Christmas bread is rising, the butter chicken is marinating and I'm singing carols in my head. In the very early morning quiet, I can hear you all sighing, snoring, turning in your beds, smiling in your sleep. I am blessed, having you all there so close to me, in my heart, on my mind. Merry Christmas.

Indian Brookers: Thirty-six years later

Thirty-six years ago, we -- Marion Thompson, Bonnie Thompson, John Roberts, Danny Robinson, Alistair Watt, Greg Mason and I -- bought a piece of property together from Effie and Johnnie Shaw at Indian Brook and we built our homes there. Life, as it does, intervened. Now one of us has died (Greg), one lives in North Shore (me -- with Andy Watt), another in Jersey Cove (Danny), three remain in Indian Brook (John & Marion on the original property & Bonnie with her 94 year old mother, Helen) and one has just moved into his new home on the Meadow Road (Alistair). We're older, greyer and rounder (some of us!) but we remain good friends and we have been reunited in this wonderful place we all came to love way back then.

The above photos show us at the road in Indian Brook with our dog, Eustace, and our friend Edward Shaw (Alistair is missing from this picture) behind the truck upon which Greg and I built a camping home. The second picture was taken yesterday after Alistair's moving bee on the Meadow Road.

Dreams for Women calendar 2010

Antigone Magazine out of UBC asked women athletes to create postcards representing their dream, and the postcards have been made into a calendar -- Dreams for Women 2010 -- available through Antigone Magazine. Check out the sample cards on the website -- wonderful! This is a calendar I hope you will all consider buying -- for yourself, for your daughters and granddaughters, your mother, sisters, friends, sons, husbands, you get the drift. Just click on the website I've provided and have a look for yourself. http://antigonemagazine.wordpress.com/2010-dreams-for-women-calendar-featuring-2010-athletes/

My feeling about women being restricted in the Olympics (or anywhere): For every event where women are not represented and want to be, restrict men's participation until the resources are found to allow both men and women to compete. Fair is fair.

A grandchild's hair cut

I'm told it was an unhappy affair, but the results are lovely! Our little girl is growing up.

And it's Friday, so if you're free, listen in to An Hour On the John tonight at 7 PM Cape Breton time, 6 PM Ontario time, 3 PM Yukon time. John will be doing a two-hour Christmas On the John special tonight. Click on www.cfyt.ca and go to listen online. Follow the instructions for your computer. And remember that the online show only starts when John gets it all set up, so be patient, please. If you have any requests and/or comments on the show, you can email John at anhouronthejohn@gmail.com

You can also join John on Facebook (An Hour On the John on Facebook) where you can become a fan, make requests, offer comments and view John's fabulous playlists.

I see London; I see France; I see...

The North Shore walkers had their Christmas gathering last night, and party hats were worn.

Snowblower

We bought a snowblower this month. Today we're thinking how very smart we are. We've had snow every day since last Saturday night, which began with an ice storm. Today there have been white outs and blowing snow and except for a short reprieve after Jeremy's funeral, the snow hasn't stopped. The accumulation tipped us over from packing the snow down with the cars, and making walking paths with snow shoes, to needing to get rid of snow. So Andy fired up the blower and I took the shovel. We started around 2 PM and it's now 3:15 and Andy's finally putting the snowblower to bed in the shed.

John Watt's radio show: An Hour On the John

For the regular Friday night special, go to www.cfyt.ca "An Hour On the John" (or click on the above header) for an eclectic song list on online radio. 7 PM Cape Breton time, 6 PM Ontario time, 3 PM Yukon time. And if you miss it, listen in to John's jazz show, Another Side of the John which follows An Hour On the John. Go to "listen online" then set up your computer for online streaming and enjoy. John's show is the first in the line-up, so the streaming starts only when his show does. Be patient.

Requests and comments can be sent to: anhouronthejohn@gmail.com

Jeremy Frith: wake & funeral arrangements

On Friday evening at sundown, at the home of Sue Browne & Jeremy Frith, there will be an at-home wake. On Saturday, December 12th, at 11 AM, there will be a service at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in North River, Cape Breton followed by burial and a reception.

To know Jeremy a little bit, and to listen to a song Jeremy liked to sing, go to: www.realobituary.blogspot.com

Dawn of winter: a Jim Steele photo

My neighbour and friend, Jim Steele, rises early every morning and takes a series photographs of the sunrise. Jim and Marianne's house is perched on a bit of land carved out of a mountain so his vantage is extraordinary. Posted is his first photo of the morning after our first big snow. Click on it for a better look.

An Hour on the John

Click on the above header "An Hour on the John" and it will take you to John's Facebook site where you will find more information on his radio show, An Hour on the John and Another Side of the John on www.cfyt.ca. You'll find set lists, and you'll be able to make requests. And if you like, you can also email John with questions and/or requests to: anhouronthejohn@gmail.com

To access John's Friday show, go to www.cfyt.ca and click on "listen online" and then follow the instructions to set up your computer for online streaming. John's show starts at 7 PM Cape Breton time, 6 PM Ontario time, and 3 PM Yukon time, and you won't hear anything until he signs on, so don't give up.

Menopause: Cold Hurts!

The word menopause means the end of monthly cycles from the Greek words pausis meaning cessation and the word root men from mensis meaning month. It is said that a woman has reached menopause when she has been a year without regular monthly periods. Along with a range of effects that include the cessation of periods, abdominal bloat or weight gain, vaginal dryness, a change in sexual desire (could they be related!), mood swings, memory loss, tiredness, sleep disturbances (could they be related!), some women experience hot flashes and night sweats. I was one of those women. From the age of 45 until this fall (I am nearing 59), my hot flashes & night sweats meant that I didn't feel the cold at all, and in fact basked in a body heat that varied from toasty warm ( dreamily comfortable) to a raging fire (opening windows in -40 weather, throwing off bedclothes, giving up on pyjamas, taking sweaters off and putting them back on only to take them off again ten minutes later etc., sleeping with my feet out of the covers, learning the art of fashionable layering for quick and graceful on and off technique -- you get the drift).

But something has changed this fall. I still experience hot flashes, some quite strong, but for the most part my body is now governed by the weather. Imagine! So now when it is cold in or out, I am cold. When I first discovered these new (or renewed) temperature driven sensation shifts, I thought I was sick because I had something I can hardly recall: shivers. And I am here to tell you that shivers aren't pleasant. They make the skin feel tender and sometimes hurt. I'm sure I will get used to being post-menopause and to shivers and the sensation of cold in and on my body once again, but I would like to point out to anyone who is going through menopause or peri-menopause that there is an up side to being impervious to cold, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Photos: First snow: red cabbage and red lettuce in snow