Wonderful Wedding

Saturday past Theresa and I attended a wedding for our Grand daughter and her new partner Jamie. It was a family get together like few from the past. One hundred and sixty people who came together to celebrate this special day. We met people that we never saw for many years and as our friends and family mingled it was so great to experience that feeling which comes from renewed friendships.

The minister was a lady who we knew from previous weddings and she had the ability to hit all the right buttons to make the service personal and so meaningful. I often feel large weddings are out of style because of the costs involved but after this particular ceremony I felt that all the work and pomp was absolutely worth every effort for these young people .

Weddings are special as they expand our extended family and make us look more and more like Canada and the cosmopolitan matrix of its people.We now have representatives of many diverse culture, religions and ethnic backgrounds and our people have gained a inclusive attitude with few if any prejudices.

This was the third wedding among our grand children and we still have five more to go. I look forward with  great anticipation for the next family wedding.

Trees and Birds are Back

The last two weeks has seen a magical transformation in our area. Our trees budded and blossomed and right during this time the birds came back in large numbers. Our two apple trees were stressed this year from unseasonal weather during January and February. This stress did not have a huge effect on the blossoms and now the fruit growers are saying that they are looking forward to a bumper crop.

In our community we are restricted in as far as bird feeders are concerned. My neighbour Ed and I follow through anyway and place our feeders in the trees where they are difficult to see and the birds flock to the welcome feed. I love the finches and the orioles but we have only seen a few orioles so far.

We have many red winged blackbirds and they are very aggressive and tend to drive away the little birds. Only the robins will stand up to them. Watching the birds has been one of our favourite pastimes

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Mothers Day

Every year when Mothers Day comes around I have memories that pop up to keep Mom alive in my life. It is 42 years since Mom passed away but it does not seem that long ago. When I talk on the phone to my siblings our conversations usually get around to some Mom stories. Jeannie and Carol have great memories of their mother and shared some of them with me while I am completing my latest book.
I asked the family to pass on a few pictures of Mom and Dad as I have very few. I was amazed that in this day we would not have many more photo memories of our parents. When we were youngsters I cannot remember a camera in our home until they became common everywhere.

How I wish I had a picture of Dad building that monstrosity of a hay baling machine or some of the unique toys he built for our backyard. A few pictures of Mom appeared in the mail and I was astonished to see Mom in six or seven and she looked just great. Mothers Day has become a commercial event  for some but in reality we celebrated Mothers Day as a family day and all eyes and attention centered on our Mother.

Mothers have come a long way and the picture of Mom's in the home all day long is not really the picture of motherhood today. Moms contribute to every walk of life and have shone to be good at nearly everything they try. I know that given the opportunity for an education my Mom would have been a leader in a myriad of fields. Look what she accomplished with limited resources and a work load that three women could not master today.

Mothers Day does stir up memories of Mom but I see her now as a leader of a family and a person that made it possible for her children to make a positive contribution to Canada and society in general. Mom was truly a Super Mom.