She Wears Rose, Lilac and Barbie Doll

She wears rose, lilac and Barbie Doll
Fluffy, sparkly, and bundled up in down,
her skin is fair, her nose pink.
Big blue eyes peer at you from chestnut bangs too long to leave loose, too short to be tied back.
Restless purple galoshes kick the door of the jerking train; He hands her his keys.
Her tiny fingers pick through leather, plastic baubles and cold metal pieces - jagged edges with a strange taste.
She holds them up to her father, her face a question mark.
“Vroom, vroom”. Daddy steers an imaginary vehicle.
SHAKE! Shake! Clash! The keys are violently tossed aside and she laughs.
He bends down to pick them up, playing her little game; he will do anything for his little sweetheart.
Gazing faces blush and turn away when she meets their eye.
She steals hearts, this little princess who can make any man smile.

And still they dance....

http://www.guluwalk.com
http://invisiblechildren.com


If you have it in your heart to support 40,000 Acholi children who walk as far as 12 km each day to a place called Gulu for a safe place to sleep away from the preying eyes of the Lord's Resistance Army, then please check out if there is a Gulu Walk taking place in a city near you.
Get informed, and when you are, spread the word. Over a million people have died and many of the children forced to become soldiers who have to kill to survive because of this civil war that has been happening for the last 19 years. It's a secret that needs to be let out. The LRA has to be stopped and these poor children and their parents saved. The United Nations stepped in during the genocide of Rwanda but yet Uganda seems to have been overlooked and the crisis is only getting worse.

Gulu Walk - Worldwide, October 22nd.

They didn't think he could pull it off...

Well Turkey Day is over for us Canucks.
This was my family's first Thanksgiving without my mom who passed away March this year.

My dad actually bet another postie at work that he wouldn't be able to pull off Thanksgiving since it was my mom who usually did everything starting the night before from peeling potatoes and brussel sprouts to stuffing the bird.

She also made this wicked broccoli and cauliflower casserole that could make even the pickiest child go buckwild for the stuff. She had the recipe of course that she followed more or less but she had her own secrets that we never got.
She had a lot of secrets that I wish we had bothered to ask for long ago.

My younger sisters actually made everything - it was their first time making - well just about anything other than the basics (Kraft Dinner, frozen pizza, toast...etc.). And they passed with flying colours! It was bang-on just like Mum's.

One by one we all passed out from overeating - the sedatives in the turkey, the heat from the fireplace and too much wine, Grandma was out cold first.
I went home and said of prayer of thanksgiving, because even though I am without her now, I am closer to my dad as a result and my family is doing ok; and heh, I didn't have to do dishes.

Cheers Ma!

Operation Eden

Have you ever had a morning where one small event can drastically change the course of the day?

I found Clayton's blog this morning. Operation Eden.

We are all aware of Katrina and her wrath, no matter where in this world we are.

Bittersweet comes to my mind. This ties along with my other post this morning how beauty can still be found in the muck. Some cannot see it, others try hard to find it, and some of us cannot ignore it.

Hey, your glass is empty
It's a hell of a long way home.
Why don't you let me take you,
No good to go alone.
~ Sarah Mclachlan


Another 2000 people lost their lives again this morning in India, to the chaos that is Mother Nature's character. How strange that she can make this world the thing of beauty and glory to the Creator that it is , and then a tyrant of rage and malice the next moment; ironic it is that some of us on one side of this planet are basking in the cool autumn sunshine and pulling dry red leaves caught tangled in our hair - while on the other hemisphere people scramble for their lives, when not running from eachother are surviving earthquakes, typhoons and the like.

I am forever scratching my head wondering how we can all live on this SAME earth and yet we allow those to suffer amongst us in this day and age. How can a powerhouse like the US of A, which claims so much of this world's suffering due to unfair trade, war and poverty not be able to provide for it's OWN PEOPLE??? How can Bill Gates live knowing he can single-handedly provide for almost an entire countries people who are deprived of the bare necessities of food, water and shelter. What is the use to horde finances, where does capitalism gain get us if the ones among us are still without so much. Is it worth it to be ahead and above? Amazing how even when our eyes are open when we move around this world, they are blinded to so much( or how much we refuse to see.)

It's evident to anyone who reads this that I am still worrying about where I am going to get my morning cups of coffee this next week once my last $10 runs out .
For the record, I am just as guilty as the above. My eyes are open but sometimes I just don't want to see.

I am running out of coffee and I only have $10 to last me til next pay day, a bit more than a week to go. What does one do?
Easy you think, just go and buy yourself some to make at home in the morning. Yes well for anyone normal with domestic capabilities ( note* that's not me) this would be the thing to do, the no brainer solution; however I am the type that will somehow find a way to burn it ( how do you BURN coffee exactly?), and if i am not careful when i make my toast in the morning, I will put two slices of bread in one slot - no, not really, but bad like that.

So I get home tonight from work, thankful that this weekend is Thanksgiving, because that means a couple meals I won't have to worry about paying for, and it occurs to me I am almost out of coffee. And so, the next thing I do is go and make myself a pot of coffee. I know I have it, I know I have to save it, stretch it, spread it out, split it up and yet in a moment of impulsiveness I will inhale it all and leave myself with nothing left for later.
Time and TIME AGAIN, I screw myself over.
It is true, I am my OWN worst enemy, and the future is looking bleak ( and jittery.)

Now could someone be a dear, and go buy me a cup of java to calm my nerves??

Hosers.

So let me start this one off and see if this blog business actually works or if I am capable of operating something like this! And why not go ahead and post a pic of two of Canada's Finest men, Bob and Doug Mackenzie!