I was checking around and found the picture of Tom and Jerry and I from the story I mentioned a couple of posts down...once again it is a picture of a picture so the quality isn't great

Old Pictures

I am in the middle of a big project...my son who hasn't lived here for years, has all his "stuff" still here and as we are running out of room around here, it is time for him to take it or dispose of it or something.....so I began in a room that has me amazed at how much stuff he had stuffed away in there...while bagging, boxing etc, I ran across a few old pictures.
The first photo is me as a flower girl. I was the youngest girl on my Dad's side of the family and was a flower girl a remarkable three time in about a year and a half. I am not sure of the year of this photo but I must have been seven or eight as my "big" teeth are in. My cousin Sandi got married to Phil. Sadly both have since passed away. My Mom is on the far right and I am the flower girl!

The next photo is of our backyard when we lived in Hawaii. If you look really close, I am floating around that pool. And the bottom photo is of our breakfast nook at my Mom's house in Hawaii. Once again I am taking pictures of pictures so the quality isn't all that great!

This has been one of those awful weeks, where bad things happen to good people, stuff that was supposed to happen didn't, and whatever could go wrong, did. So I wasn't terribly surprised when we drove to the beach today to find the train was going through and we couldn't get across the tracks to actually get to the beach. And of course it had to be the longest train ever...

While we were waiting for the never ending train to go past, I turned around and took a few pictures. The brick colored building is Coney Island fish and chips. I think they have the best fish and chips anywhere but I admit to being slightly biased as I have been eating here since I could barely walk. I remember sitting on stools at the counter and it was one of the few times I was allowed to have soda pop and I always asked for the pink Creme Soda. Yum.

To the left of Coney Island is Moby Dick fish and chips...many would argue they have the best fish and chips anywhere...and the line ups outside there most days might indicate this as well...but for me it is Coney Island. I have history with that place...it was there long before Moby Dick's was around. Granted it didn't always look like this as it once burned down and was rebuilt but it is still Coney Island.

To the left of Moby Dicks used to be a corner store called "Red and White" but it has been gone for many years and I see the building was recently renovated and a new restaurant is there. And beside this restaurant is this hill.....I was standing across the street and up on higher ground when I took this picture but that is a big and winding hill across the street. When I was a little girl, I lived in a house at the top of this hill and down the lane way a few steps. It was actually a summer house but when I was about 4, we sold our house in the city and were moving to a new house but it was under construction so we had to move into the beach house for several months. There was a set of little boy twins my age down the lane named Tom and Jerry (long before that ice cream bearing the same name was around). That summer we were like triplets and played together every day...outside...in those days it was relatively safe to let your kids go outside to play and you knew they would show up when it was time to eat. We never went far but we found all kinds of fascinating things to do...catching caterpillars, butterflies, picking flowers (I remember bright multi colored nasturtiums and orange California poppies as being my favorites then) and walking through the blacktop the city had just paved the road out front with...black top when it is warm feels really nice on tiny bare feet and toes...I never wore shoes when I was little and still don't like them. And we liked to squish snails with our bare feet...that habit has not moved into adulthood with me.... That summer was so much fun and I hated when it ended as we moved into our new house and I started kindergarten. My birthday is at the end of the year so I started school at the tender age of 4.

Here is White Rock today, the tide was way out and the puddles close to shore were nice and warm!

The daffodils are now gone and in their place are these pretty flowers. We had a nice time today and it was a nice break.

MOTHER'S DAY 2010

M-O-T-H-E-R
"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold;
"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER,
"A word that means the world to me. by Howard Johnson


Happy Mother's Day...to all Mommie's, Gramma's, Auntie's.....I hope everyone had as lovely a day as we did!

THE 'BZZZZZ' REPORT, NABOB COFFEE AND PALMOLIVE DISH SOAP

My name is Linda and I am a BZZZZZZ Agent...really truly....I know a lot of you are laughing and saying "she's WHAT"??? What kind of agent??? Well I am a Bzzz agent, and I have been for quite sometime now. Bzzz is a leading company that focus's on spreading product info by word of mouth. You to can become a Bzz agent and participate in various campaigns if you go here and sign up
http://www.bzzagent.com/

I have been included in two recent fabulous campaigns that I am going to talk about today. First I was sent this lovely bottle of Palmolive Aroma Sensations dish soap. Now I have to be very honest here and say that the scent they sent me is fresh green apple and much as I love apples, I have an aversion to anything apple flavored, be it shampoo, room freshener or....drum roll...dish soap. So it took me a few days to try this out. I finally bit the bullet so to speak and liberally poured it into my sink and turned on the hot water fully prepared to gag. And was pleasantly surprised. The apple is not over powering and has a very pleasant smell! Once over that initial hurdle I tried it out on my dishes and have found it is excellent. It cleans the greasiest pans and dishes with no residue left, it bubbles up like no other dish soap I have used in recent times and a tiny bit goes a long ways!! I give this product a two thumbs up! It is great and I would not only recommend it but I would buy it again and even in green apple scent. I quite like it!!

My next product received is Nabob coffee. They sent me two tins. One is Breakfast and one is Full City Metropolis. Nabob coffee is rainforest certified and belongs to the Rainforest Alliance. The contents of each tin have more than 60% rainforest certified coffee beans! Even the canister it comes in is made from 100% recycled material! This is a wonderful company doing their part to ensure the planet is in good shape for the next generation! The coffee itself is great and we would highly recommend either choice. Full City Metropolis is their darkest roasted coffee with a full bodied robust flavor, perfect for even the most picky coffee drinker in your midst! And a great wake up coffee to get you going in the morning! The Breakfast coffee is a lighter bodied coffee with bright citrus notes and great if you don't want that strong and heavier type of coffee... so there was something for every taste in this wonderful Bzz kit. Both coffees smell great perking! Thanks for letting us try these great products and you can bet we will be heading to the store to stock up on more! Two thumbs up for Nabob too!

Thursday at the mall

Thursday Loretta and I met at Metrotown mall for lunch and a few hours of stimulating conversation. Time always goes by way too quickly when we meet up. Charmin Chatty Cathy came along with me to the mall because she talks and Loretta hadn't heard one talk before. It was kind of hard to hear her in the food court as it turns out it is a pretty noisy place but she got the idea. So we had lunch at Manchu Wok and then wandered into Build a Bear as it is one of the few "fun" places left in the mall and I had a coupon burning a hole in my pocket to use there. We visited several stores while shopping and then I had to go as I had to pick up my fur balls at the groomer. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon! We should do it more often.

Turn Around...

My friend Loretta over at the House of Houben did a post earlier this week about how fast kids grow up...go and have a look over at the House of Houben to see her son and nephew from stroller to grown men...it makes you think about how short our time on earth really is and how fast it goes by. I remembered a song I saw performed on TV many years ago and so had to go looking for it to post in her comment section. Of course one thing led to another and thoughts of time passing made me go around taking pictures of my little dear heart as she is growing up way to fast also. I changed computers along the way and haven't quite gotten the hang of posting pictures from CD's so the picture quality isn't good...I got creative and took pictures of the pictures hanging on my walls, the last one is her school picture this year which I do not have a hard copy of but took a picture of it when I saw it as I thought it was so cute. Well, in any case, here is the song that has been going through my head since seeing Loretta's inspiring post:

TURN AROUND
Written by: Harry Belafonte, Alan Greene & Malvina Reynolds


Where are you going
My little one, little one
Where are you going
My baby, my own

Turn around and you’re two
Turn around and you’re four
Turn around and you’re a young girl
Going out of the door

Turn around, turn around
Turn around and you’re a young girl
Going out of the door

Where are you going
My little one, little one
Little pigtails and petticoats
Where have they gone

Turn around and you’re tiny
Turn around and you’re grown
Turn around and you’re a young wife
With babes of your own

Turn around, turn around
Turn around and you’re a young wife
With babes of your own

Where have they gone
My little ones, little ones
Where have they gone
My babies, my own

Turn around and they’re young
Turn around and they’re old
Turn around and they’re gone
And we’ve no one to hold

Turn around, turn around
Turn around and they’re gone
And we’ve no one to hold

Where are you going
My baby, my own