Monday Moanings - May 23, 2016

Victoria Day Weekend - The 2016 Edition

Lady Spring has delivered up a cracker of a three day weekend to celebrate the kick off of the summer season. It's been a weekend complete with blossoms and birdsong, sunshine and sizzle.

I'm still recuperating from surgery, so a weekend that ordinarily is crammed full of yardwork, had to be very laid back. I've been a spectator on the sidelines as my love rolled the electric lawnmower out of the shed for the first time this season and took for a spin around both the front and side yards. I confess to a moment of envy as I watched someone else do a job I so love to do. Ah well ... my hiatus won't last forever!

Yet another glorious blue sky sits above me with the promise of a another lazy summer-like day. This long weekend of revelry has seen me be more of an event planner than worker bee. I menu planned, wrote lists, and gently offered direction when required. Others fetched, carried and cooked. Though I did make the coleslaw and sat careful watch over the BBQ.

Queen Victoria painted by Andrew Melville in 1845 
(public Domain)

Though originally a holiday set aside to celebrate the birthday of the late great Queen Victoria (born May 24, 1819), this celebration has more popularly become known  as the May "TWO-FOUR" weekend, with an obvious reference to what is known as a case of beer in Ontario. I wonder how the Old gal feels about her party being supplanted by hops and malt? Amused? Or not...

Today is also the official celebration of Queen Elizabeth's birthday in Canada. It's celebrated in June in England, even though ER II was actually born on April 21st. Go figure!

Nevertheless, it's #90 for Elizabeth, so banish the moaning, break out the cake and candles along with the gardening equipment, burgers, beer and wine. Light up the sky with shooting stars and roman candles.

Happy Birthday Lilibet!

©2016 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - August 20, 2015

In the moment, and on the day!

As Wednesday yielded to Thursday, a musical flourish rang out. The screen on my cell phone lit up the midnight darkness. And I smiled. This is the day!

Okay, so perhaps an electronic triplet of tones does not a fanfare make,
still for this common blogger, today is a day of jubilation.

              

                              Blogpost #250!

"What I'm thinking today - A collection of random thoughts, worries, celebrations and memories" debuted on August 11, 2011 with the piece "Opening Gambit" I was off and blogging at full tilt, posting almost daily for three weeks, before running low on fuel. Posts then slowed to an intermittent trickle and sometimes dried up altogether for months on end, with not even so much as a single photo.

The approach of my 60th birthday in 2013 put a pen back in my hand along with a renewed commitment to regular blogging. "Monday Moanings" first appeared on March 18th, 2013. Three days later "Thursday Thermals" appeared with a reflection on "Ready or not, here comes 60." Three months later during the Stanley Cup hockey finals, "or Thereabouts" replaced "Thermals" in the weekly lineup. And the rest is history, or perhaps just a legend in my own mind.

With the exception of those times when I'm travelling with my love out of the country, I publish a post to this blog twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. Almost without exception, each one is written on the day. I've tried writing them earlier then scheduling publication to the blog, but that never seems quite right. Clearly I prefer to be in the moment, on the day. Some days it's a struggle - ideas refuse to gel and words come slowly or not at all. Some days I have to leave it to my photos to do the job. But some days ideas, words and images come together as though they were a well rehearsed piece. Those occasions, though few, always surprise and amaze me.

I no longer write each piece out in longhand as I did when I first set out on this blogging expedition. Most posts are keyboarded at my desk computer. Rest assured this does not mean that my beloved fountain pen now lies dormant. It is pressed into service on special occasions, such as this one.

And I do always enjoy what happens, what flows across the page, whether it is to a place I intended from the outset or to some place I never imagined. So I'll keep on blogging, sharing my thoughts, worries, celebrations and memories in words and pictures with all of you.

I am grateful for all my readers and followers. Thank you for taking the time to read my posts. Thank you for the likes on Facebook, 1+'s on Google+ and blog comments. Bless you.

Life is about doing the best I can, enjoying each day as it comes.
And at the end of the day, it's about being content with what I have done and what I have not done,
so that I can look forward to a new day, new joys, new possibilities.

(first written March 21, 2013)

See you Monday!



©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - July 20, 2015

Too Pooped to Pop

I promised you I'd be right back here today, ready and eager to share stories and photos from an amazing wedding. And here I am, EXCEPT I'm too drained to come up with much more than mumble and a smile that stretches from ear to ear.

Saturday was the hottest day of the summer here. It was very humid = lots of 'glowing' people. Oh heck let's call a spade a spade - there were lots of sweat soaked clothes and glistening faces on Ward's Island Saturday afternoon.

BUT there was way more joy and love and fun.

My job was Mother of the Bride, not photographer, so at the moment the pictures I have are somewhat limited to the early part of the day. My love snapped a few during the ceremony and my sister Pat clicked off some afterward. Here's just a sampling, with a promise to share more stories and pictures in a bit...

The day began at 7:30am with the bride and her Dad making a quick trip over to the Island to do final set-up. It was an 'atmospheric morning' with mist wafting in and out.

While they were off tending to that chore, the bridesmaids and I were treated to the skill and care of master hair stylist and makeup artist, Jennifer O'Leary of  Jennifer's Hair Boutique.

Kristen's hair has always been a challenge as well as a delight, and Jenn has always been equal to the challenge, which explains why Jenn has been Kristen's #1 hair stylist since she was 10 years old.

It was indeed a great privilege to have Jenn play such an important part in Kristen's day. Thanks Jenn!

The Hoeller Women and Bridesmaids shared a toast...

then it was off to the water taxi and across to the Island for the ceremony and party.

This last photo was taken by my sister. Thank you Pat!

This is what the photographer called "The original Hoeller family" - Norbert, Kristen, Geoff & April. But in our hearts and lives, we are larger than this. The marriages of both of our children have added one new daughter and son each. So the original four have become six. We couldn't be prouder!


©2015 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - July 2, 2015

Short and Sweet

As I sit down to write this post, cakes are baking in the oven. Ordinary white cake layers. 

But I'm scared to look in the oven window. 

Cakes are not new endeavours for me and this particular recipe is the same one I have used many times for our kids' birthday cakes. Still, I'm sweating bricks about it today.

The celebration is still over two weeks away.
The cake ingredients are not costly.
So there's plenty of time and money for error recovery.

I don't have to do the decorating - that job is delegated.
And because I'm here on my own today, I don't have to share the beaters!


So what's my problem?

It's not a child's birthday cake... 

...with animal cracker decorations.

I'm baking my daughter's WEDDING cake!!

I gotta go pace around the kitchen some more. While I do that, here's how I celebrated Canada Day: in the kitchen of course!

Turning these beauties

Into a year's supply of jam.

hmm hmm good!

 ©2015 April Hoeller

Monday NO Moanings - June 29, 2015

Canada Day WEEK, 2015

The rain has stopped. The sun is shining, The strawberries are ripe for the picking!

AND 

Wednesday is Canada Day!

There's been some moaning about this mid-week holiday; not about the day off, nor the occasion, but rather about the timing - smack dab in the middle of the work week with no weekend within a day's reach. Well I realize it seems inconvenient and even strange to not have a Canada Day long weekend, but how about going for a Canada Day Week? I know it's not the same. Many have to go to work, but still you can get the flag out in the workplace as well as at home, EH?

Let's shake off the scales of cynicism and complaint and enjoy the privilege of living in this great land.

There are four wonderful seasons, each one offering its share of glorious days along with a few clunkers;

there are awesome landscapes of mountains, lakes, forests and prairies;

there's architecture in cityscapes that incorporate the old and the new along with green space too;

and so many diverse cultures to enrich and inspire each one of us to be who we were born to be.

I'm thrilled and proud to be a part of the colourful mosaic that is my home and native land. We're not perfect, not by a long shot; we're not without problems; we've got critical issues and controversies that need tending, but not right now. Let the problems and politics, failures and controversies take a back seat this week.

On July 1, 1960 John Diefenbaker, Canada's 13th Prime Minister, introduced the Canadian Bill of Rights in Parliament with these words:

"I am a Canadian!
Free to speak without fear,
Free to worship in my own way,
Free to stand for what I think right,
Free to oppose what I believe wrong,
Free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and mankind."


Be safe. Be happy. Be proud.

fotolia.com

Happy Canada Day, all week!

©2015 April Hoeller