Lots of snow! Best of all I have a snow daybecause of all the snow! Yahoo!
I actually had my first student but by the time her lesson was done the rest had cancelled. My student drove here herself but her father called to say he was coming to get her because he didn't want her out driving on her own. Don't blame him.
It's crazy out there and this being Victoria nobody knows how to drive in the stuff.
Sammy Jo sleeping on the table that is positioned over the heater. I don't think he's going to be moving anytime soon!
Unfortunately my pics of the Government Gardens came out all fuzzy so this is a pic from a previous snowfall.
When I was taking pictures this morning in the gardens I heard a loud crack and freaked because I had no way of telling which tree was about to go and where I should run. Ran for the closest clearing and as it turned out the branch was pretty small for such a large ominous cracking sound! By then I was kind of freaked out and my fingers were frozen so I came back home to dry out and warm up but I will head out again soon.
Some friends and I are going to get together and have a snowball fight. Hey, this is Victoria we don't get the chance to hurl snow at one another very often.
p.
s. For anyone interested I finally have a new story on my cat blog.
University exams start in less than two weeks so this post will be a little hit and miss until they are over and done with.
So good luck to anyone out there having to go through the dreaded finals. I hope you find them ok.
In the meantime here are a couple of pictures I took with the new toy.
My ocean pictures didn't turn out so good but hopefully next time they will.
I
I loved the plastic wreath someone had made for this tombstone.
I do not know why my spacing sometimes gets so weird.
I'm also having trouble placing the pictures where I want them. Any suggestions?
"In Auschwitz" by H.
Olomucka
Lest We Forget
Today's post is very long but it was written for my parents.
In remembrance of my family's history of involvement in the Military in World War I and II
On my mother's side:
My grandfather, John Hamilton Jones, volunteered in the Grenfell (Saskatchewan) Detatchment 217th Overseas. He was shipped overseas in 1916.
He was in the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, and was wounded in action August 26, 1918. After time spent in hospitals in France, then England, he was sent back to Canada and spent another several months in the Veterans' Hospital in Moose Jaw. My grandfather had been badly gassed as well as having received wounds to his right knee.
Shrapnel was permanently lodged in his knee and left him with a stiff leg. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, branch #55. Sadly, I never met my grandfather and know him only through stories from family members.
My grandmother's brother, Murdock Alexander Clarke, when 17 years of age but pretending to be older, joined the Lord Strathcona Horse Regiment in Winnipeg in February 1917, going overseas in April. He went to France in November, 1917 and took part in the charge at Moriel Wood. His family received word that he was missing in action and later that he had died in France on April 1st, 1917.
There is little doubt that Murdock did die at Moriel Wood, but as there was no real confirmation it was one more sad case of a family expecting their son and brother to one day walk through the door.
Along came the Second World War. My mother's cousin, Alexander Hamilton McDonald (named after my grandfather during World War I), joined the R.
C.A.F.
in 1940 and in 1941 went overseas as a fighter pilot. He flew a Spitfire fighter plan in the air battles over Britain and France. Sad history appeared to be repeating itself when Hammy was reported missing in action.
There was great joy a few days later when it was found Hammy had been shot down in the English Channel but was rescued and soon back in action. Hammy later became a Senator and died on the Senate floor while delivering a speech.
My grandfather and grandmother Jones had two daughters, no sons.
I do know that not one boy from my Aunt's graduating class returned home alive.
My father's side of the family:
My grandparents on my dad's side of the family were born and raised in the United States.
When the U.
S. joined in World War I, my grandfather, Roy Hugh enlisted July 24, 1918. His service No.
was 3.807.919 Company D, 129 Infantry.
He was in the army but a month before being sent overseas. He was promoted from Private to Corporal in Eggelbrock, Luxembourg. We know he saw active service but details are now sketchy.
In 1925 he immigrated to Canada.
My father was born in the United States and immigrated to Canada with his parents when he was a young child. He joined UNT in September 1943, and was accepted in active service with R.
C.N.V.
R. in March of 1944 when he was 18. He served in H.
M.C.S.
Unicorn; Hunter; Cornwallis; Naden. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion in Radville, Saskatchewan and then later in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. My father would later discover that he had been stripped of his American citizenship for serving in the Canadian military.
Top Ten List of Stormy Rainy Songs:
Ok this list ended up not going exactly where I wanted it to. Instead of being a top ten list, it's just a list. I had to do a bit of scraping to come up with ten.
Yikes I just realized my order is way out of whack. Numbers 2, 3 and 5 need to take a dive downwards.
1. Beethoven's Sonata No. 17, Opus 31, Nr.
2: The Tempest (an absolutely incredible piece of music)
2. Joy is Like the Rain (a little kid's song that immediately sprang to mind when I first thought of this list but unfortunately it has remained embedded in my head all week playing over and over..
.and over, agh!)
3.
Rain: Hawksley Workman
4. The River in Reverse: Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint: The River in Reverse (fabulous CD)
5. After the Rain: Blue Rodeo
6.
Buckets of Rain: Bob Dylan
7. Funnel Cloud: Hem
8. Rainy Night in Georgia: Hem (I can never have too much Hem.
If I could carry a tune I would want to sound like Sally Ellyson)
9. Who Let in the Rain: Cyndi Lauper
10.
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