Monday Meander - April 12, 2021

Rainy days and Mondays

When I took in the dreary, wet view outside my door this morning, that familiar song by The Carpenter's spun up on the turntable in my head. It was very soothing to my soul and I wanted to listen to the original as only Karen Carpenter could sing it. What was not so soothing was the discovery that Rainy Days and Mondays was released FIFTY (50!) years ago, April 1971. Holy Hannah, how can that be?  I had to do the math twice, on a calculator!

Mom and her girls, Easter - April 11, 1971)

Fifty years ago I was grade 12, the man and I were dating. He had taken a year off between high school and university and was working the computer floor at IBM, two-week cycle of eight-hour shifts (days, afternoons and nights). 

The way we were - 1971

Life was rich. Unless he was working the social graveyard shift (4pm to midnight), we were at my house on Friday evenings watching TV with my folks (remember the days on ONE TV in the house!) or going with them over to Gram and Gramps. I think 1971 was the year we spent god-knows how many hours soldering circuit boards with resisters, integrated circuits, and more to make into a radio/tuner. It was a kit made by Hallicrafters. It looked something like this one. I have a picture somewhere but after half an hour of searching my slide catalogue, I let the internet find this one.

The summer of 1971, my parents, younger sister and I flew to Vancouver on a 747 ("Fat Albert"). It was epic! A fabulous adventure from start to finish. And we still got to make the annual family to Breezy Point, NY afterward. What a summer!

Capilano River Park with "The Lions" mountains

My slide catalogue has 7 lined pages of entries for 1971 and it's been a fabulous trip down memory lane just to read the notes. It has also taken me over three hours to write this post as I keep returning to the catalogue and then the slide cases to view the actual photos. Turns out this rainy day and Monday has given me energy and purpose. It's time to begin the task culling and then digitizing important slides before the colours and the stories fade even more.

What a great job for this stay-at-home gal on blah days when the garden is off limits!  

 Score!

 

©2021 April Hoeller

Thursday or Thereabouts - April 8. 2021

It's been awhile since I last took up some space in this time slot but this week's Monday's meander got buried under a load of coloured eggs and sweet treats.

And now here we are at Thursday! Warm spring weather has blessed the land for some days now, bringing vibrant colours to life and raising hope for better days ahead. 

Such glorious days soothe the stresses of yet another shutdown, another state of emergency, another stay-at-home order due to raging CoVID-19 variants. There's plenty of yardwork just outside my door. Though it's too soon to give the lawns a thorough raking, I did haul five wheelbarrow-loads of winter debris from the wide ditch out front. Woot! Woot! So too was taking the winter tires off the car and firing up the BBQ for the first time this season. 

The man and I had dose #1 of the vaccine last week so I'm more confident about that light at the end of this very long pandemic tunnel. In the coming month I can putz around in the garden, or even just sit in sunshine watching and waiting for the reemergence of life in all its hues, reaching out to take hold of hopes, dreams, and happiness.

Stay safe. Stay sane. 

Stay at home. 

©2021 April Hoeller    

Monday Meander – February 22, 2021

Sitting in my wagon at the top of this week I’m not sure I want to kick off. I’m stuck in the blahs, beset by indecision, and tentative about everything. I’m in need of some positive motivation, so what’s in the good/optimistic category this morning?

It’s the LAST Monday in February! The coldest month of the year is on it’s way out.

It may be snowing but for the first day since that  silly rodent predicted an early spring twenty days ago, the temperature is not in the MINUS double digits this morning! In fact it’s heading  into positive territory. And we could really do with a little melting here.

The birds outside my door are swooping it up! Chattering and sometimes bickering as they tank up.

Apparently it’s National Margarita Day! I’ll have mine here, please.

The days are getting longer. The sun rose at 7:05am and will set tonight at 5:57pm EST. In just twenty days and with a little boost from Daylight Savings Time that great star will rise at 7:31 am and set at 7:25pm! Ahhhh…

And last but by no means least:

I can do this!
We can do this!
All while staying safe at home.

 

©2021 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts – February 11, 2021

Train of Thought

While the polar vortex chugs along outside, I’m happy to be stuck at home today letting my mind do the traveling. A little time travel seems right. Back to the early 1960’s…

A blue station wagon pulls in the driveway of my house and out pops a young guy delivering the groceries my Mom bought at the IGA earlier in the day. He plunks the boxes down in the front hall. The deal is that if I help unpack and put away the stuff, I get to spend the rest of the afternoon with the boxes. I eagerly and often way too quickly empty the boxes of tins, jars, cartons, and packages. The magical time is about to begin. No construction, no decoration required, just two empty boxes full of possibility. And two empty grocery boxes become trains. 

I cram myself into the front car. The car behind me might be carrying coal, or gold, or my little sister.  “All Aboard!” I shout then “Wooo! Wooo!”  I lurch my body forward, “ Chuga, chuga, chug, chug.”  And we’re off bouncing and jiggling our way along the rails, steel-on-steel screeching around curves. There is no destination in mind, no amazing scenery to behold, no point to the travel other than just the wonderful imaginary experience of riding the rails, and it was grand!

If my Dad was home, he put on the record of train sounds that he had and turned the volume way up.  Now that just boosted the experience to a whole new level of reality. Have a listen: here. The album cover pictured in the link is different but this is the cover we had.

Not only were the sound effects unique (the recording was made in the rain along the tracks of the New York Central Railway in 1952), but the record itself was a deep cranberry colour vinyl not the usual black. Very special to my primary school self.

Ah well, time to return to the here and now. A truck pulled into the driveway earlier and my grocery order now sits in the kitchen awaiting sorting.

Can you hear the train whistle?

All Aboard!

 

©2021 April Hoeller

Monday Meander - February 8, 2021

 Poking my head out the tent flap today, looking to see if anything has changed...

Nope. 

But at least the great day star is doing her best to warm us all up. She's got a long way to go seeing as we began at -17°C (1°F) first thing this morning. February always feels tedious. February in a pandemic lockdown the tedium is just piled higher and deeper. Oh to escape to somewhere lovely, comfortable, and safe where the sun doesn't have to work so hard to warm me up.

Great escapes in February or any time of the year remain the stuff of dreams for now. Last week the Canadian government extended the ban on passenger vessels operating in our waters until February 28, 2022. Not a surprise really but still it means that our  Arctic expedition punted from last July due to the pandemic to this August has now been kicked into 2022. And we're also being advised to avoid all travel on cruise ships outside of Canada. I understand that too, but still...

I just want to get out of Dodge. Don't we all?! Apparently, the fastest way out of here is to stay put. Now doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart?  I guess armchair travel and trips down memory lane will have to suffice. Where shall it be today? How about the Galapagos for a bit of adventure?

That feels better. 

Onwards my friends. Stay home. Stay safe. Dream on! 

©2021 April Hoeller