Day of Thunder.....

It's raining outside and it's hot! Yesterday 'twas 35C with a humidex warning of 40C. Today it will only be 27C but with a thunderstorm..... those lovely Manitoba thunderstorms that I remember so well from my childhood. I love these storms. For some they may be frightening but for me it reminds of some of those really happy childhood moments running around outside in our bare feet in the grass with a thunderous down pour to cool us off. Our war time north end house was always so hot, particularly in the upper bedrooms where we slept (or didn't) during the summer. The hard rain has always possessed the ability to make me feel rested and ready for sleep. This day, we'll have another of those hard rains with heat; today though I have central air and the upper bedrooms are much cooler here. I'm having a pretty good day today. I've been on holidays and undertaking some much needed cleansing and preparing to follow through on much needed financially draining work in my almost 100 year old home. It is such a shame that there are so many utterly valuable antique properties that could be so much more if people took the time to keep them up to the standards of today. Of course, I knew that this property would be a task and a half (really I have just seen too many This Old House episodes; I would bound to end up with one). In any case, I have decided I will enjoy the process, stop procrastinating and get down to business.
With all that, I had started with decluttering and organizing my office. With that of course I have oodles of old pictures of family left in my tender care by my mother who passed away almost 12 years now (wow how time flies). Occasionally I wonder how she must have felt inside at this same age that I am now; her circumstances of course were completely different from mine but I imagine how much more difficult it must have been for her. I think I'm pretty lucky (my significant other often tells me this). It must be true but there are times when I just don't feel that way; sometimes I'm just overwhelmed. I talked with my sister Linda (Kootenay Linda) the other day and she feels the same way I do at times. Sometimes I just rack it up to hormones (we're both in THAT stage, you know) and other times I think our lives just get us in a funk and we start reminiscing about the tough periods in our childhood that got us to this point.
I've been catching Oprah's repeats this week; how timely this paricularly series is for me. Her week is all about debt and the reasons for it and how to get out. I usually don't get to watch Oprah but it has been very beneficial for me to be able to see it this week (after I've just been to the bank to sort things out this week - actually for the better this time). I'm on the road to recovery - having a really good day/week. I have decided to not proctastinate any longer. My sister Linda would be ecstatic. Linda, I'm on the way to freedom.
Back to one of the primary reasons for this blog, is to share family information. With going through some pictures, I decided to post a picture of my parents at the beginning of their family. Newly married (doesn't my mother look too young - she was) and dad, well right after getting married he left for the war. I've read little notes left behind in my mother's papers that in retrospect she married way too young. As this blog is getting too big, I'll simply come back to it later and in the meantime post what I have including the picture (if the photo is not visible, it may be too large to view, keep fingers crossed). The photo was taken at my grandmother's farm (George's mother Mabel) about 1941 probably in the spring, going by the vegetation in the background. They were married November 3rd, 1940 and she gave birth at age 18 (barely) to my oldest sister Irene in October 1941 so.....