Moving Day

Well guys and dolls, I have gone and done it. I am moving. Moving to another blog server that is. I was so impressed with Big and Little's site that I looked into Word Press and found it had lots more potential for me. So that is where you will find me from now on. Of course, the site will continue to be in some form of renovation until I can settle on the most spectacular page for my taste. So far it is good but I think it can be better. I will be posting up pictures there and hopefully include some videos if all goes well. I have my puter, my photoshop and my pictures.... I'm almost all set. I've added a couple side bars to the new site, including links to my absolutely favorite blogs. I will keep this site open for at least a month, just in case there are stragglers and I will email the usual suspects so that they can find me..... you know who you are. If you really, really want to find me you can reach me at http://alitrebitowords.wordpress.com. Catchy play on the "litre" don't you think? Of course the primary purpose of the blog remains the same as always but I thought I would bump it up a little. I hope you really like the template.. it seemed appropriate don't you think?

I look forward to all of your comments, present and future.

Signing off.......

A Chapter is Closed......

Yesterday Senior was put to rest. He was 83 years of age. I had not seen or spoken with Senior for I would say at least four years. The last time I had any contact was when he had had a stroke and was transferred to the unit where I work in a hospital.

Now as far as I can remember, Senior was never interested in religion, of any sort, but particularly Jehovah's Witnesses. As I said, I had not had contact for at least four years however I am certain of the fact that he was demented and so whatever his state of mind at the time of passing, his beliefs when he was of a clear mind should be taken into consideration. This statement is a forethought to what I am about to report.

The service was being held in a United Church. Okay, I accept that; this church is very amenable to all other religions. They are open to just about anything. They have gay ministers in some locales for goodness sake. I thought perhaps the service would be in the chapel of the funeral home handling the burial but this would be okay too. In any case, I arrived just after the service started in the morning... didn't miss much at all really. I slipped into the back of the church and sat down on the last pew. I looked around at the people who were showing their respect for Senior and his family. There was Senior laying up at the front of the church in an open casket. I sat and listened as the Minister (I didn't pay particular attention as to his identity) carried on with his Eulogy. As I sat there my attention was certainly brought back directly to the Minister as the Eulogy had a distinctive familiarity to it. The Minister referred to "Jehovah" which as a former J.W. was not completely foreign to me. What did seem out of place was the fact that a United Church Minister was using God's formal name and quoting scriptures. I truly felt like I was in a time warp. I focused on the speaker and it occurred to me that this was not just any Minister, this was Junior! (I won't point him out in the group pic and he is not the one of the couple in the other pic, I will leave this for you to decide). I didn't recognize him at first because I had not seen him for probably 10 or more years. I was aware that he had succumbed, oh sorry become a baptized Jehovah's Witness but was not aware of at what level he had reached. So there he was, giving a Jehovah's Witness sermon to a room full of non-Jehovah's Witnesses in a United Church with a Cross on the wall and Je.... oh wait.... Jesus! To my utter dismay I took note that the Jesus who had been hanging on the cross at the front of the church had been cloaked with a black sheet. Now, I realize that the United Church tries to be open to all, but come on... seems a bit disrespectful to presume to take over another religious order's tools of the trade and core belief. Now I'm not an organized religion person by any stretch; I am a Christian however. It is no wonder that non-Jehovah's Witnesses think that the JW's don't believe in Jesus Christ. I don't know how many times when I have reported that I had been a Jehovah's Witness that people have asked me a question about whether JW believe in Christ's sacrifice to save us. This experience certainly does not support my usual answer that yes they do believe and that their only salvation is through the belief that Jesus Christ died for us so we could live (it is just where they will live is the gigantic difference between what Christianity believes and what the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn New York teaches). I wondered what the people who run that United Church must have thought being requested to cover up Jesus their Savior.

I don't know who arranged the location of the service. I have been to a few other funerals where the service and eulogy was held in the chapel of the funeral home. My own mother's service was in the funeral home (and not in the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses; yes she was a baptized Jehovah's Witness). My mother did have a Jehovah's Witness Minister sermonize her eulogy - even though he hadn't spoken with her for YEARS. The whole time my mother was hospitalized (and even a few years before) there was very little (almost non-existent) contact with my mother who had been baptized in 1948. In fact I had called this minister who I had known and my mother had known for years and years - (he had been an Elder in the congregation we attended for years) at least a week before she died and she was still lucid to come and visit her but alas, his wife told me that he was busy selling off his BUSINESS (surely he could either take half an hour out of his day or at least send someone else). I'm sure that she would have appreciated ride to and from the Kingdom Hall should they have thought to ask. You see, my mother was different. She was diagnosed finally in her elder years as schizophrenic. She was certainly not a popular Jehovah's Witness. She never fit into any of the various "popular groupings" that usually could be found in any congregation. She died in 1994. Although she had been baptized for almost 50 years, her funeral attendance pretty much consisted of her family (pretty much all of whom were non-Jehovah's Witnesses), a neighbor who lived across the street on Bannerman Avenue, my friend (also a former Jehovah's Witness) and her son, one elderly female Jehovah's Witness who probably was the only one who visited her on a more regular basis and the Minister. I had written the obituary and wanted to speak at the service, however the "Minister" wouldn't allow it. I'm a woman of course and women hold no positions of authority in this "religion". However I digress; back to the here and now.

I do not know who suggested the service be held in a United Church or why. Junior could have done his sermon in the funeral home chapel. There would be no statues or images to cover up. No crosses to worry about covering. I don't know for sure if Senior wanted Junior to do a service for him, no idea, didn't ask that question after the service.... wanted to keep it low key out of respect for his children and grandchildren and cousins etcetera. Funeral's over, another chapter begins.... these questions had to be asked though. I have retold this experience to a couple of other people, one of whom is a spiritualist and even they could not believe how disrespectful this appears. It would have been better to have had a non-denominational minister provide a service with the family saying their respective pieces... even Junior if he wanted to do his sermon because that is his belief. Spirituality is like a food plan. Dietician's promote a balanced diet partaking of all food groups (in moderation). One will never get all the nutrients a body needs unless they have variety. The same goes for the spiritual body. The same menu/diet day by day by day is not only unhealthy but BORING. You have to be aware or even try other foods to be able to choose to keep eating it or to reject it. Isn't this what our mother's tried to teach us as children that we had to eat the green vegetables too? I try not to be biased because believe me I was certainly indoctrinated to be biased. I had my rosy glasses on for a very long time. I have eaten from the tree of knowledge and now have an open mind. Nobody is perfect, everything is not all as it appears, and sometimes a lot of people get hurt before the biggest and most important get taken down by the Powers that Be. And that goes for every religion on this planet.

Well, that's enough from my soapbox. I'd be interested in your thoughts in this matter.... be they positive or negative..... as I said, I have an OPEN mind (if I haven't earlier, I meant to). I read, I listen and I CHOOSE. Jehovah God created us to CHOOSE whether they be good or bad choies. Keep in mind this is my soapbox. This was my experience, my perception; your experiences will certainly be different (or similar perhaps.. whatever). A psychologist I met with a few times quite a few years ago to deal with all the negative experiences I had had in the past and was going through at the time told me that writing things down would help a great deal (by the way the Society do not condone going to secular psychologists/psychiatrists... but as far as I know they don't have any of their own because when I attended they frowned on post-secondary education, but perhaps they have recruited some). Hence I am writing this down. Had to get this off my chest. There, done. Phew!

Stiver

I was looking through some old photos and did post some up to flickr, so for family and friends that have access, feel free to go ahead and have a peek. The above photos are pictures of Great Grandma Eva Stiver who lived in Elgin, at least that is where she was living in 1941 as I found one single page of a letter from her to my mother Joyce (granddaughter) at the time my mother was pregnant with Irene and my Dad was already enlisted and likely in England. He was not here when Irene was born, unfortunately. It must have been very hard being 17 years old and pregnant and not knowing if your husband was going to come back in one piece. Great Grandpa Stiver died in 1919 of the Spanish flu which is kind of funny as this particular flu was in the news lately because the Federal lab here in Winnipeg has managed to resurrect this flu to study, and I live barely half a mile from the lab. Kinda of funny I think. Anyway, I had seen this photo before but I wasn't certain who this lady was until I found another picture of her that my mother had said was her "Grandma". The back of this picture states "Mother 1928" and it looks like Constance's handwriting (which I recognized from another historical letter to my mother). I find all these little gems just so interesting.

Let it Snow

I must profusely apologize for the HUGE delay in posting. I had no earth shaking news to share. With this information age most or all of you have the up to date news from the usual media sources. There is nothing really big to report from this end.

Christmas dinner, hosted by myself, included guests Olive, James, Ken and Serena, and Derrick. The usual picking up of guests, cook dinner and bake dessert transpired. I'm glad it's over, that is all I can say. I did receive a very lovely and cozy bath robe from James, which was a complete surprise on my part. I am looking forward to using the bread machine that was a gift from George and I am kind of having a bit of fun playing around with George's gift - an MP3 player. It is just the tiniest thing with the biggest sound for such a small package.

New Year's Eve came in with a HUGE dump of snow. We got 29 cm here in Winnipeg and some surrounding areas received 30 to 35 cm. I still have not quite shovelled out my garage and parking pad yet. I suppose I should get to it today. My problem is that during our venture out to The Forks to see the fireworks at midnight earlier this morning, I sprained my ankle yet again. I don't think when you get older you are supposed to walk on uneven snow and other such surfaces. Pisses me off really. I have the weakest ankles. I don't remember having such weak ankles. I must sprain this same ankle at least three times per year. So here I sit in front of my puter with my tendons bound up yet again, limping along and wondering how in the world I am going to trudge through the back yard to get to my car and shovel yards of snow. (I may be taking the bus tomorrow, just wait.)

Well, I haven't any pictures to post today. Just wanted to get something up an running before my sister busts my but about it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you! I hope 2007 bring lots of success and world peace and all that kind of stuff.

Guide for Happiness

I received the following in an e-mail circulating through cyberspace. I felt it had some value and that anyone reading it might benefit from the message. I know I did. I find that I can find more reasons not to get up out of bed and get going than vice versa. Sometimes we just need to remember what we might be missing. We need to be keep focused on storing up those good memories. So here is the story.....

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coiffed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing."
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Winnipeg Birthday Trip Addendum 1

Skinners (Clockwise from L) Linda, Len, Aleta, Barry, Greta

L'Esplanade Riel

As you can see by the pictures we had some fun before and during the party. Linda and Len arrived with Barry and Greta late Thursday and we got to do some touring on Friday and Saturday. Got to see the St. Boniface Cathedral, the Fork's Market, a couple of antique shops and off to Skinner's in Lockport, Manitoba. I have to say I haven't been to Skinners since don't know when and it was like the old days with the best hot chocolate, dog and francophone fries one could sample. You have to get down there if you are in these parts. Trust me, it's great. I've attached some pictures for your pleasure, I didn't want to be completely outdone by my big sister Linda. You can check her blog and pictures at the Kootenay link on the sidebar. Unfortunately Blogger does not seem to allow us to post up more than a couple photos at a time so I have had to break up this post into multiples. More to come.

Welcome to Geriatrics

(L-R)Irene, grandson Darian, Bill, daughter Amanda, son Joe and Shannon, John's Cheryl at end

First of all, may I apologize to all of you for my not posting for quite some time. I've been busy (Linda would say "doing what?"). Just busy. We put on quite a surprise for my big sister Irene's 65th birthday which just passed on October 22, 2006. We put a real good one over on her this time. She was completely in the dark about the out of towners who arrived just for her. I have to thank Bill for making this the surprise it turned out to be. Of course, even more so thank you to my sister Linda and husband Len, Uncle Merv and Auntie Georgina plus cousin Betty-Lou and not to forget thank you to Barry and Greta for making this such an event! They certainly went to quite an expense to get here and I certainly appreciated the effort. It was so good to get together again and see everyone. Unfortunately it ended rather too quickly and the weather didn't cooperate as I had hoped. It warmed right up after they left which was good for us but not for the time we spent here. The snow is arriving tomorrow and it sounds like it may be a cold Halloween in these parts. Enjoy!.... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRENE!

(L-R)Len, son Joe, Irene, Uncler Merv, Greta, Barry, Amanda, Darian