Monday, September 27, 2010

An Amazing Attraction!

You all know how it is - you never appreciate the attractions in your own community, that is until you have company? Our parents where here for a two and a half week visit and on the very last weekend I tagged along with my Mr. and his Dad (not TOO close - so they could have some "guy time")  I secretly had planned to photograph them together for memory sake but wound up being immersed in the wonder of this place. 

I'm talking about the Osoyoos Desert Miniature Railway - I think I've linked this blog post to it, above by the title to this post.  I could try to describe what we saw but I think some photos will do a much better job!  I'll only preface to say this incredible place is spic and span spotless - thoughtfully laid out, decorated beautifully and run by a nice family. 

If you were to visit the Railway you might see...

 
A Volkswagen Van (a sister to our Van?) 

 A Tiny Metropolis? 

 A Funeral in Progress?

A Heart-Touching Graveside Ceremony?


Inside the Tent at a Circus ... at NIGHT!

A Bike Race?


Fishing on a Lake?

A Swim at the Beach?

A Corn Maze?

An Active Mine?

And now you've seen only a FRACTION of the wonders of this facility - how do you feel when I show you the size of each of the tiny people in this set? 


How Small!

The owner and his wife have put together this incredible display - the largest European Style Miniature Railway in Canada.  She has painted every one of the 18,000 (and counting) figures here.  And all this while in a wheelchair.  Truly inspirational!  

What I especially admire is they keep adding relevant displays - everything from wind turbines to skateboarding and almost anything you can think of that people do today.  Definately worth the mere $7 entrance fee.

Do YOU have an attraction in your town which is a "must see"? 

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

You're KIDDING Me!


Do you agree with me that a store should never, ever do this?  I mean what were they thinking - placing cans of chile directly next to dog food?  I could not resist snapping a picture of it. 

Chili-Dog, Anyone?  *snort*


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Whew - 52!




Life is GOOD!  I celebrated my 52nd birthday last week and it's odd but I feel a peace and comfort as never before.  I'm in good health, can't think of a think I have to have and I feel a sense of FAMILY.  As time goes on one realizes the one of the most valuable thing is having a close-knit family. 

Speaking of family, my Mother and Father in law are visiting with us until September 27th and we've been having a wonderful time.  As my Mr. was working on my birthday my in law's pampered me with a...


DQ Ice Cream Cake


NUM - they know how much I like ice cream cake.  I had it for breakfast on more than one day, along with my daily bit of chocolate (including truffles from my Honey!) 

I had someone suggest I blog a bit of my "Birthday Bootie" and so I shall, only I am going to blog a few of my favorite things, without the who its from!


Ohhhhh - SO elegant!


Who do we know who has taste plus plus?  And this was gifted along with two attractive T's perfect to show these beauties off.  This person makes all year long like a birthday for they collect little gifties for me on an ongoing basis and give me little "care" packages every now and then. 



Notes All Year!


What a sweet and thoughtful present, for these magnetic note pads are labeled by month and they were accompanied by pretty stick-um notes and even seasonal themed page tabs.  The presenter of this gift has much more in store yet, only waiting for a window of open time to celebrate. 


Whoa - will you look at THAT?


And this dear person made this with their own little hands.  Are'nt the brilliant colors and glitter just me?  I have a very special place for these beauties.


And so, these are just some of the spoils of my celebration and I feel cherished indeed.  I have deliciously scented creams and such from another person dear - fondest of fond - to my heart.  What I appreciated SO much was that each of the gifts I recieved were thought out with my heart's desires addressed. 

I have so much more to blog yet - but for now I am sucking up every bit of quality family time with my in-laws.  I'll try to post in between and... perhaps I'm even thinking of playing in PS and trying my hand at making a digital element or two... 



Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Help Us Celebrate our Police Force!


Let's Honour our RCMP!

I was always brought up to respect "the authorities".  Its never been a question to me but to have a basic trust in the government, officials, firemen, paramedics and Police.  When I was a child, of course, if I were ever in trouble all I'd do is find one of the above and they would look after me - right? 

Now I'm an adult and I STILL feel the same despite what I see in the media.  I don't watch a lot of tv, gosh we still have an old analog television and a pair of rabbit ears which is interesting sometimes. We still recieve a signal and get two whole channels.  Mostly we watch the news.  Now, if we were to base our trust of "the authorities" on the news, why everything would be corrupt. This is because when things are ticking along nicely, well, it does not make for "good news"  so we are continuously exposed not to what they do right but only when they mess up.  And without pointing out that all our "authorities" are composed of real live people, and people make mistakes and yes, some people make poor choices and yes, some people do bad things - sometimes.  But perhaps we are only showcased only one apple out of the entire harvest.  

I don't know about you but I feel confident in our Police.  I feel my back is covered.  I sure would not want to do the job they do.  When was the last time you thought about the fact they put their lives on the line for us every day?  Do you think they like giving out traffic tickets?  I think they care more about your safety than being popular.  Have you ever begun to think what it would be like without our Police?  When I watch tv I see a lot of people pointing out the shortfalls of the force, not what they do thats positive.  It must be discouraging for them sometimes to see how they are portrayed on the media, how some people see them as an imposition when they do the job they hired on to do.  They must find it difficult to always have the public eye on them - a very critical and judgemental eye. 

Once in a while when my husband and I see our RCMP out and about - having coffee etc, we will tell them we appreciate the job they do - you'd be surprised how much that small gesture can mean. 

And I've often thought it would be so nice to honour them someway - a bigger way, as a community so....



A month ago I became aware of the "Pepsi Refresh Project".  This is how it works: "We're looking for individuals, businesses*, and non-profit organizations with ideas that will have a positive impact on communities."  I was invited to submit my idea and my idea is to host and appreciation event for our RCMP and families to honour them.  So I submitted - and my idea has been accepted!  I now must campaign to have you all VOTE and if enough of you vote - my idea may be granted $25,000 to make my idea happen. 

Now I BELIEVE it can happen - I'm hoping that YOU - your friends and family etc... VOTE - spread the word via your facebook, twitter etc and lets see if we can get our RCMP in the media in a postiive way!  To vote for my idea just click on the following link.  (and send your friends to as well, please!) 


 Voting goes until October 31 and I will keep posting here.  Lets spread some enthusiasm and make this GOOD THING happen.  And thank you!

Friday, September 03, 2010

This and That


Silly Me!  I forgot a very important visit we also had which I should have posted last time - it was a birthday visit with Melanie - sweet and beautiful daughter!  We were only able to share a short time with her as she was working.  We all chose to do a "picnic" of sorts - in the parking lot of her workplace.  So we brought part of the lunch but she brought her own dish, a recipe she created herself and it was so delicious.  She's given permission for me to share it here:

Melanie's Pesto Prawns

Raw Prawns
Several Tbsp Pesto
Pinch of Curry Powder

Saute in a fry pan on medium heat for several minutes until Prawns are done.  Thats it! 
This dish is wonderful chilled as well. 

Not only has the girl grown into an attractive and confident woman, she's a good cook too.  Thanks for sharing your recipe Mel.   It runs second only to your chicken stuffed with goat cheese.  And we don't even like goat cheese but you made it taste good.  Amazing.

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And I also forgot to thank my friend JanMary for the subscription to Life Beautiful Magazine which arrived in my mailbox the other day.  Its bright, crisp, inspiring and inspirational!  I really appreciate it.  A few articles have "hit home" already.

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Bird with a Street Address

Our friend Roger is a fabulous photographer, and he also has a good eye for an interesting subject - and a great sense of humour.  He's also a philosopher of sorts and he sent me his thoughts on technology recently and has allowed me to share them with you.  He gets you thinking...

Computers Later On




This is what I think will happen with computers in the future.

Hardware would be almost gone. No keyboard, screen, mouse, etc.

The ‘screen’ would be the optical centre of the brain. The visual portion of the message would enter this area and would be seen just as if you were looking at it directly.

The same would be done with audio, scent, touch, taste, etc. Cooking shows might be more interesting. Pig farming, not so much.

A person could see, hear and feel as if they were actually there in person.

The two versions of the input would be external or implanted. The implanted version would have an induction charger which could be used while the person was asleep. In this case dreams could be downloaded. Or a person could study during their sleep. Programs would be loaded this way as well.

Kids would show there incisions to prove they were in the upper escalon of communications. However, most of them would have virtual friends that they would never meet. Make-believe avatars in a pretend world.

To write an e-mail the sender would think it and when it was ready think Send.

Checking e-mail would be the reverse, by just thinking receive and selecting what to look for.

The communication could be written or spoken. A person’s feelings could be added as well, making a real emoticon. Having a lot of depressed, paranoid friends and relatives would make this feature rather unattractive.

Surfing the web would be similar. Think about what you want and it searches for it.

Write a story by just thinking it.

More than a computer, this would be a unified system: phone, TV, reader, banking, medical analyzer, GPS, music instrument, camcorder, calculator, PDA, etc. etc.

You could download a movie, read a book, have your health checked, attend a business meeting, do your shopping, visit places around the world, write a story, paint, design, start your car, order a pizza, pay some bills, control household appliances, or just hang out with your family and friends.

Instead of a camera, you could just record what you see and hear in 3D and stereo.

Since brainwaves are unique they would be your password.

You could record your holiday this way and torment your friends and family with it.

The downside would be people doing all these things while driving or walking.

When talking to people you would never know if they were listening to you or were in some other activity. You know for sure your kids aren’t listening.

Spam would be crowding your brain and people would be trying to steal your thoughts of things, like your bank account and where you keep your valuables.

Homeland security would want access to your mind to see if you were a terrorist, or avoiding taxes.

We haven’t even mentioned cyber drugs.

This is just a bit of what could be done.
 
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And I agree with Roger - anything is possible.  Its mind boggling.  Its sometimes overwhelming.  In fact I often get overwhelmed and thats sometimes why I disappear - I just want, actually need, time away from all the tech toys.  And the other day I heard this article on NPR which got me thinking even more about the influence it has on us.  Just click on the title to be taken to NPR where you can either listen to it or read it. 
 
 

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