Rising From the Ashes

I've always had a different perspective of September 11th.  I tried to explain what that day means to me in a blog written 2 years ago The Day the World Kept Turning.  You see, September 11th is my Mom's birthday.  For several years these two occasions have left me with mixed feelings.  I have a sense of devastation and celebration.  It's very confusing to feel and explain.

I don't know when Hubby and I decided that we should go to New York for our spring vacation.  I don't think I always wanted to go, but it seems like I've wanted to travel there for what seems like five years.....maybe more.  I even tried to convince Hubby that we should go at Christmas time so we could visit Times Square and see the ball drop.  Instead, we found a great deal on Expedia shortly after Christmas this year and visited New York for 10 days over Easter.

New York is an amazing and incredible city.  We stayed in Queens just a short jaunt from the subway.  We decided to do all our travelling via subway or the foot-mobile.  It was the only way to truly experience the city.  I'd see people from all walks of life.  Everyone was eager to help giving directions.  I never felt like my safety was in question.  

The new World Trade Center construction.

Whenever we took a tour, the guide was sure to point out where the Twin Towers stood.  The gap in the skyline is obvious.  One tour guide said that no one should ever call it Ground Zero again.  He said that Ground Zero refers to a place of chaos and devastation.  When you look at the World Trade Center site now, there is rebirth.  The 9/11 Memorial is open and the new buildings are taking shape.  It is now a place of remembrance and hope.

On our final day of our trip we went to the 9/11 Memorial.  Visitors must book a time online ahead of time.  Then you go to the Visitor Center and claim your ticket.  You have a certain window of time to be there.  We were ahead of time so we visited St. Paul's Chapel where the firemen, policemen, and other responders took refuge in the days after the collapse.  

WTC 2 Reflecting Pool

There is an immense amount of security at most New York land marks.  At the 9/11 Memorial there is airport like security, but once cleared, the Memorial is breathtaking.  In each acre footprint there are reflection pools.  Around each pool, engraved in bronze, are the names of the victims.  It's very tactile.  You can touch each name.  Some of them look familiar from seeing them on documentaries.  What is most striking is the life the site is bringing to the city of New York.  The trees are growing, children are there laughing and just beyond the memorial the new World Trade Center building is taking shape.

I look forward to a time when the security restrictions are lifted and one can walk down the street and stop to gaze into the memorial pools.  I look forward to a day when I no longer dread that my Mom has to share this day with something so tragic.  Everyone deserves to move forward because the City of New York has found that courage for us and has risen from the ashes.

Postcards - The Staten Island 9/11 Memorial

You Should Do This More Often.....

.....he said.

I picked my jaw up off the floor.

"You seem so happy after your pedicure and if it makes you feel so good and be so happy then you should treat yourself more often."

Holy Mother of Meatloaf.

Who is this guy and what has he done with my husband?  Never mind!  I'll keep this guy!

But he's right.  It was freaking amazing.  The spa is called OHara's and is clear on the other side of the city in where most of the seniors tend to live.  As a result my Pedicurist said that a lot of her clientele was aged.

She put on soothing oceany music.  I told her it needed seagulls because there are seagulls at the ocean.  She said seagulls are annoying when you're trying to relax.  I suppose so.

I soaked.  I had a sugar scrub.  I got pumiced and massaged and then the most epic part of the whole experience happened.....the paraffin wax.

*drools*

I have never felt anything quite so heavenly.

Well.....almost.

Then she painted my piggies with a colour of my choosing.....OPI Extra Va-Vaganza which was part of the Burlesque collection.  My feets are super sparkly!
 
*sigh*

I really really liked the Pedicurist.  We really hit it off.  By the end I had her convinced she needed to go shopping at Pennington's for a dress, cute lingerie and shoes!  I said, "Hey, aren't you the one that's supposed to up sell me?"

It was awesome.  I'm planning on going back in August for a manicure.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brandy~puppy the Super Dog gets to go to the spa tomorrow.  She is in desperate need of a new hair do.

I've been slightly worried lately and honestly, since her near death experience last November and subsequent surgery.....I tend to worry too much.  Anyhow, she's been a little off this week.   Hubby says I shouldn't worry and there's nothing we can do.  He's partly right.  It just breaks my heart that my little baby pup is on bonus time.

She's not sick.  That's true.  She's just been picky about her food this week.  And her potty breaks have been a little "loose."  But she's obviously not in pain.  I worry that I wouldn't be able to tell if she was in pain.  But her tail still goes and I guess that's a good sign.  I suspect that she just ate something that didn't agree with her and with a spunky doggie you never know what that might be.  We were at the farm last weekend after all and she wasn't in my sights at all times.

I did see her chase a large frog under a spruce tree.

Anyhow, last night Brandy got very excited when I opened the door to retrieve the mail.  We don't often use the front door.  She isn't tall enough to exactly see out the door and that's when Hubby got the bright idea to take the cushions off the couch and stack them to make the doggie more comfortable.

Why didn't we think of this before?

This is what it's come to! 

Note:  This was a blog post from July 27th.  We later took Brandy to the vet and found out she had an intestinal virus and our vet said she should have been sicker than she was.  She was on meds for a week and is almost good as new.  Although some test results told us we may be looking at kidney disease down the road. 

Wishful

I turned my head to gaze out one of the three windows of my living room. For the moment it was quiet and peaceful. It was early evening and the sun was glancing off the lilac tree situated at the corner of my neighbours house across the street. All at once, my sensations were flooded and memories came rushing back and I realized, I was wishful.

We won't be going anywhere this summer. There aren't any fantastic across border plans happening. This year, this summer we will have a staycation. I am teaching Friday mornings and Hubby is changing jobs. Neither of us is going anywhere.....at least anywhere far away. Nope, this summer will be filled with back yard barbecue, summer reading and the noise of the city.

And I am wishful.

Who am I anyway? Once upon a time, I hated to go anywhere. It's lot's of work to pack up the camper and take off for the weekend. You need to grocery shop. You need ice. You need bug repellent.

We used to go almost every weekend. By the time Hubby was off work Friday, I would have the camper packed and ready to go. We'd hop in our green Ford truck which hauled our camper and towed our little red boat behind which inevitably would break down AGAIN and we'd get to Piprell Lake or Anglin Lake or once even Morin Lake just in time for a wiener roast. It would always be cooler at the lake. By sun down you'd need your bunny hug and warm socks.

Thinking about it.....I could almost smell the campfire.

So wishful.

Don't get me wrong! I love my little corner in the city. I love my little house and my little yard. I love that they are building a new Walmart Supercentre right here so I won't have to drive to the south side anymore. I have great neighbours..... But there's that nagging feeling. That feeling that it would be so much more relaxing somewhere else.

I am NOT a tenter. Back when I was a kid, my family camped in a tent. We had fold up cots to sleep on at night. Soon, my Dad thought it would be more comfortable for us if we were up off the ground. So he turned his utility and tent into a tent trailer. We were camping in style! Then Dad had to put it up once too many times in the rain. The family got a camper. That was something else! Who needed to cook over the fire anymore when you were equipped with a stove and fridge? Eventually, Dad upgraded to a motor home and donned the personalized license plate UP N GO. That's the evolution of camping.

Once back when I was about 10 years old…..maybe even younger…..we were camping in that homemade-fold-’em-up-tent-trailer and it was the middle of the night.  I was asleep as you can imagine one would be in the middle of the night, when my Mom woke me up.  “Wake up and be quiet…..there’s a moose outside.”  How much quieter can one be when said person is asleep?  Indeed there was a moose outside.  And you could hear him chomping.  We must have parked amongst his midnight snack buffet table.

Another time, when I was not so child like, we were camping and heard rustling in the woods, or maybe it was the sound of a large animal running down the gravel street.  At any rate, it was not a sound any human could make.  We had been gathered around the campfire swapping fish stories when this sound occurred.  I looked at my Mom.  My Mom looked at my Dad.  We all looked at each other and made a mad dash for the motor home.  That is, all except Hubby who had failed to hear the sound we heard.  He didn’t know what had happened to make us high tail it inside so quickly.  We had left the poor guy in the dust wondering what the heck had happened!

We always had our share of mishaps when we were camping.  Something always went wrong with our boat trailer.  It was always needing repairs.  On one of Hubby’s and mine maiden voyages we locked ourselves out of the truck camper during a rain storm.  Then there was the time that the support on the tent trailer broke and we hauled the picnic table over and propped that end up with oars from the boat.  There was the time that the spare tire rolled out of the wheel well during the night making me think a wild animal was charging the camper.  And there was the time that a bear left us his calling card by rubbing up against the truck camper and leaving scuff marks.

Yup.  Good times.

Snap.

Crackle

Spark!

That’s the sound of the campfire under the stars and northern lights.  It’s calling to me.

And I am wishful.

Memories of Pee Paw

~My Coffee, My Book and Me~

By Sandi J. Holland

A misty, rainy morning and

it's back to bed for me,

My coffee drips invitingly,

My current book lies dog-eared

at stopping place,

from last personal quality time.

What else can I do

but plump my pillows

and climb in?

You would too.

With hot libation,

and mental laxation,

peace is mine.

Today was Victoria Day. The long week-end that so many look forward to. It's a land mark holiday. We made it through the winter. Spring and summer are here....it's time to get away. Mother nature has played a cruel trick. Thursday was HOT. 26 degrees Celsius. Friday was COLD. It even snowed just north of here.

We were going to garden this weekend. We did visit a few greenhouses and purchase some plants. It was too miserable to be outside. It was dull. Overcast. Then lastnight....rain....all day today....rain. We stayed indoors.

I was surfing the interweb when I found the poem. Instantly, I was taken back to a few years ago. It was May, when Hubby, Puppy and I escaped the city for a week to Pee Paw Lake.

Pee Paw Lake is not a touristy place, in fact, it's just a little blurb on the map. Once upon a time there was camping and picnicking, but the fire places and picnic tables have now been removed. Back then, they thought cabins could be built there. Friends of Hubby's family, the Anaka's, moved in what was a church and converted it to a cabin. They have prime property overlooking the lake. Over the years, they've constructed sheds, a deck, fire pit and of course the necessary amenities. They said no other cabins could be built there. So there sits in the woods a little cabin on Pee Paw Lake and our home-away-from-home for one week in May two years ago.

When we arrived for the beginning of our holiday it was HOT. I remember wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. We sat on the steps of the deck, taking it all in. The silence, the rustling of the leaves on the trees, and the chirp of a squirrel off in the distance. I don't know how long we sat there, drinking pop and eating Spitz. Listening and enjoying.

The next day we awoke to rain. "No matter," we said and we relaxed. Hubby made breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash browns on the cook stove. The cook stove like a pioneer would have used. It had to be stoked with wood. There were two cooking temperatures...blaring hot, and off. Hubby would be hot and sweaty in the kitchen area trying to cook and it would heat up the cabin.

We'd sip coffee and gaze out the picture window to the lake through the haze of rain. I'd do word searches in a book I bought special for the trip. When I got tired of that I'd read. There was only a radio for outside contact. We would listen to GX94 and the news. In the evenings, we would make a fire and I would read to Hubby.

Hubby has always poked fun at my books and I can see why with titles like the Fudge Cupcake Murder and Death of a Domestic Diva. Because there was nothing else to do Hubby was captivated by the stories and more so than I thought.

At lunch one day, Hubby says breaking the silence and totally out of the blue, "Lisa did it. I just know she did. She's the murderer."

I was totally taken by surprise.

Brandy~Puppy the Super Dog was in doggie heaven at the Pee Paw cabin. The dining room table, and I use dining room loosely, was right beside one of the 6 beds. She could stand on the bed with her back legs and have her front paws on the bench at the table. Who needed to beg when she was front row centre? 

There was one day during that week that we were asleep more than we were awake. We slept WAY in, got up to eat brunch, had an afternoon nap, got up to eat supper, had another nap, read a little and then turned in for the night! Now that is total relaxation.

We spent a whole week tucked away in the woods in the rain. We could have even stayed a couple more days, but then thought better of it when we realised the drive out might be muddy and slick. Everyone thought 'how terrible that you got rained out'. But really it was the best vacation we'd ever had.

Situated away in the forest on Pee Paw Lake was our slice of paradise. Something we hadn't planned on, yet something so perfect and wonderful. A unique memory brought back to me by this poem My Coffee, My Book and Me.