It's a wrap

It is that dreaded time of year again, time to wrap the Christmas presents. I always delay the task until necessity dictates the parcels have to go in the mail. Then, it begins.

Scissors ✔️

Tape ✔️

Wrapping paper ✔️

Ribbon ✔️

Name tags ✔️

Pen ✔️

That's how it starts anyway.

Then, a black hole opens up in the room. Scissors, tape, tags or any of the other wrapping essentials disappear and reappear again numerous times during the process. The search increases the time necessary to finish the job. Frustration is time consuming!

 

                                          Where is that pen?

Besides, how does one wrap some of these unusual shapes? Gift bags can be a good solution but they don't always work. Boxes help but they aren't always the right size or shape. Regardless of the wrap used, the implements continue to disappear. That black hole doesn't respect anything.

Eventually the wrapping is done, often after multiple attempts, due to my dislike of the task at hand. Perseverance to complete the job in one sitting is not one of my virtues. 

As if knowing what to buy isn't difficult enough! But, I'll take the shopping over the wrapping any day. ✔️

Ten little snowflakes

When you are three, singing a song about ten little snowflakes,

 

and they fall on your tongue...

 

Ready?

It was the first storm this season. 

 

Since most of the outside work was done, we were ready. The lights flickered several times and the flashlights, candles and matches were ready too. Electricity was off in a number of areas of the province, but we have a generator in case of an extended power failure. Readiness is second nature to former teachers.

Ready. Such a curious word, read with y attached. Much of life requires readiness, reading the signs and preparing for what's to come. We prepare kits in readiness, first aid, emergency, tool, road kits for the car. Read the signs, prepare, be ready. If only it were that easy.

Life hums along, busy, but more routine with age. The familiar provides comfort, requires little effort in its familiarity. Breakfast at 8, lunch at noon, dinner at 5, bedtime around the same time every night. Familiar meals are on the menu, the treadmill counts out the kilometers each day if we can't get outside. Volunteer work, shopping, friends and family fill the days. 

The phone rings.

Beach sculpture

We haven't seen the sun much in the last month and the temperatures are hovering around freezing. It is time for a reminder of warmer times and places of natural beauty.

You can find many interesting items on a beach.

 

Some of the most interesting include whitened, weathered tree stumps which are natural sculptures. 

 

Sometimes, a large part of the trunk is still attached.

 

Other times, the sculpture appears stained.

Some sculptures find their way into a fire on the beach.

 

Sometimes, part of the root system is present in an intricate design.

Or, seaweed covers some of the sculpture.

 

Some sculptures stand straight, reaching for the sky.

 

Small trees can become curious sculpture, 

or do you prefer aliens?

 

All you need bring to the beach is your imagination!

 

 

 

Wonderland

"Is that wonderland jam, Nanny?" my three year old granddaughter asks as she waits for the partridgeberry jam for her crackers. Wonderland is what Caitlin calls Newfoundland.

 

"Yes it is," I say as I spread the jam for her and smile. Caitlin doesn't have any memories of Wonderland although she has been there. She was two months old when her mother took her to Corner Brook to see her sick great grandfather. Somehow, in Caitlin's mind, Newfoundland is Wonderland.

 

I know what she means. While I love my current island home, my soul belongs to Wonderland too and this time of year, as Christmas draws near, my thoughts always turn to home.

The people, the rugged landscape, the way of life, are part of my being. It is a place where weather is a conversation piece, where wind predominates and fog, rain and snow are common. You don't visit for the great weather. However, that weather is one of the features which binds the people together, as they fight the elements and struggle in that rugged environment. 

Humour is a way of life too. The people see the lighter side of life and can easily share a joke to ease a burden. We are deeply rooted in our island home. It is said you will know all the Newfoundlanders in heaven. They are the ones who want to go home. 

We are also a friendly, hospitable people as evidenced by the events of September 11, 2001. The people of Gander and other central Newfoundland communities, opened their hearts and homes to passengers of over 30 giant aircraft, forced to land while in route to their destinations in the United States on that fateful day. They landed in Gander, almost doubling the size of the town in one day.

The story of their reception in Gander is now on its way to Broadway as the musical Come from Away. It played in Gander and is on stage now in Toronto, opening in New York in March. It has received rave reviews. 

In the face of some of the worst which humankind can do to one another, there was an example of hope during those tragic days. 

"Yes, Caitlin. There is a wonderland."

The story of the musical when it played in Gander is here.

The prose of a tree trunk

When the leaves are gone, tree trunks are exposed and beautiful!

 

They grow to the sky in their own unique ways.

Each has a story

 

 we can read at our leisure!

The view from here

During our recent excursion to Seven Mile Bay, my husband and I observed the bridge from one of the roads to the shore. 

 

As we approached the shore, we saw a paddle boarder out on the water with the bridge as a backdrop. 

 

It was only 9 degrees Celcius that day and one could imagine how cold the water was if should she topple. However, the young woman had no trouble staying upright. My elder self imagined her as a yoga partitioner with a keen sense of balance though her youth probably gave her the physical stability. 

As she paddled, 

 

traffic entered and exited the bridge, including many trucks. She appeared oblivious, peaceful. She had her own place of serenity in the world.

 

Watching her, we were at peace too, a peace unknown in much of the world. It is one of the reasons we love this place.