Posted on August 10, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

We were hit by lightning. No kidding!

 

I was driving Betty around to yard sales on the weekend and ended up at a house in the country where this goat resided. This was not a farm. The yard had all kinds on interesting animals. As she tells me ( repeatedly! ), you never know who or what you are going to see when you’re on the hunt for stuff that other people are trying to get rid of.

We had a very interesting weekend as many of you know. Our house was hit by lightning late Friday afternoon. I was home at the time. You always see people being interviewed on television after some natural disaster and they have trouble finding the correct words to describe what they heard. Include me in those numbers. We’ve all heard loud thunderclaps, especially when they are nearby. Magnify this sound by a factor of 10 and it will give you some idea of the force of the hit to the house. The house shook. I shook. Truthfully, I was unaware that we had been hit until Betty arrived home from work.

You see, the lightning struck the upper reaches of the side of our house and knocked out power to that area alone. Had the power gone out downstairs, I would have been inclined to go looking. When Betty came through the back door, I knew something was wrong. There was concern ( alarm ) written all over her face. “We’ve been hit by lightning” she said. I registered a look of surprise and then went outside to see the mess in the yard and the gaping hole in our house. The arrival of the fire department certainly caused quite a stir in the neighborhood.

It’s not very often that a story just lands in your lap. I already have this one sketched out and believe it or not, there were some funny aspects to the whole affair. Once we realized that no one was hurt and that the property damage was not insurmountable, we found dark humour everywhere we turned. As you know, our house is for sale and we thought that we could add the line “air conditioned” to the description.

One of the interesting things about the lightning hit was that we lost internet, cable and telephone. With cellular devices, this is not a huge issue but it was still weird not being able to access services that we take for granted. It was particularly problematic for me with my writing as I was unable to post my Saturday story. We hope to be up and running with these services mid week.

So, my Saturday story, “Bugged” will appear tomorrow. I have a few others in the queue as well including the lightning story.

Thank you for all the messages of concern on the weekend … and the birthday wishes. From your responses, it is evident that natural disasters are more popular than birthdays! ( although some days, Betty considers me a natural disaster ).

I know what Betty wants for her next birthday: a firemen’s calendar! We were both extremely impressed with the response and professionalism of our local fire department.

Have a great week.

Posted on August 4, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

A “wig” I won’t be wearing any time soon

 

 

This is a “special” time of the summer, especially a hot and humid summer, when a wide variety of bugs make their annual appearance. I think my favorite is earwigs, pictured above. I was getting in the shower the other day and was unwrapping my towel from the shower curtain rod, when out popped a couple of very large earwigs. They landed in the tub near my feet. I wasn’t surprised or alarmed. More like mild disgust. Earwigs must have been standing in the “ugly” lineup when the creator was handing out looks.

The other insects you may have noticed in abundance lately are fruit flies. Yes, like you, we dutifully compost and have a small container in the kitchen that eventually makes its way to the green bin. But not before armies of fruit flies find the container and hover around the lid like teenage girls to Justin Bieber. ( apologies ladies! ). Not comparing Bieb to fruit flies.

Do you remember what your green bin looked like when they only picked up garbage every other week in the summer? The maggot problem has been solved with the invention of the plastic compost bags. If you are not using them, grab a box. Experts now tell us that we should keep our compost in the freezer until moved to the green bin.

Ok. All of this talk about insects prompted me to write a story about this summer phenomenon. It is appropriately called “ Bugged. “ This one has a surprise ending.

I attended a marionette show last week with my granddaughter. It was absolutely fantastic. It was amazing to see the age ranges in the crowd. There was at least one infant (!) and one 90 something lady. The show was for the young and young at heart. It brought back a lot of memories as the show was “Rumplestiltskin”, a play that I performed in during elementary school days. I sure wish that I could turn straw into gold today. It would make retirement planning somewhat easier.

I also attended the Busker Festival in Halifax on the weekend. It was bedlam down at the waterfront. We went there with our one year old and six year old granddaughters. I bumped into some friends from “The Hawk” who were also chasing around a five year old grandson. They looked as ragged out as me. We all love our grandkids but trying to keep up with them over any extended period of time ( beyond 15 minutes! ), is a monumental task.

Thanks for the great response to “Ticket to Ride.” I think everyone can identify with that feeling when a Mountie goes by you and you know you might be going a bit too fast. The quick glance in the rear view mirror, followed by accelerated heart rate and sweaty palms. If you missed this, you can go back and read it. All of my stories are archived.

Every writer likes compliments and every once in a while, you get one that is special. I received one last week and the author had an interesting way of describing my writing. If you go to my home page and click on “Testimonials” you can see his remarks.

The second last Antigonish Art Fair show is this Friday at Chisholm Park. We have a jam packed lineup of entertainment, art and cuisine from around the world. We will also be treated to a performance by one of the world’s leading practitioners of Sheng Zen Qi Gong, Master Li. Master Li is coming from China to put on some workshops and will be our special guest. If you haven’t made it out to the Art Fair yet, please join us. It is a fun filled evening for the whole family.

Hope you have a wonderful day off today and enjoy the week ahead.

P.S. My Tuesday story will run on Wednesday this week.

Posted on July 28, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Sunshine Sue’s Shoes ( say that 3 times! )

 

 

It was another glorious summer weekend. As usual, there was lots to do…too many things to do and not enough time. Sounds vaguely familiar? Yes. This was the subject of my story “Feast or Famine” which was posted on the weekend. If you missed it, go back and take a look. All of my posts are archived and are easy to find using the search bar.

So, how about those sneakers belonging to Sunshine Sue, one of our featured performers at the Antigonish Art Fair this past Friday?  It was an amazing evening. Over 800 people showed up and enjoyed the entertainment, the food and of course, the art, which is the whole point of the fair. It was definitely a family affair as there were oodles of small children along with parents and grandparents. The entertainment was first class. There were so many highlights it seems unfair to single out any act but I think if you conducted a straw poll, I believe the young Filipino singers and dancers would easily be at the top of most people’s list. As I said after the performance, we are very lucky that this group of people has decided to call Antigonish their home. We are the better for it.

I received a lot of interesting e-mails this week. One was from a lady from Northern Alberta whom I met a few weeks ago at the gazebo prior to the start of that evening’s “Art in the Park.” I’m not certain how we got on the subject but we chatted about the delicate balancing act that is known as marriage. She started telling me how she and her husband maintain the scales of justice in their household. I asked her to put this in writing, which she did. It is absolutely hilarious. I may ask her if I can edit it and use it. Basically, they have a “tit for tat” arrangement. He collects old cars ( and car parts) which she thinks is frivolous. She, in turn, spends equal amounts of money on clothes. She had accumulated so much clothing that they changed the deal . Every time he brought home another old car, she could get a new cat. This lost its lustre with her husband after cat number 4. And on and on it went. One of the great joys of writing is hearing other people’s stories.

We travelled to Guysborough town last week to see an excellent concert with Steve Wright and his family. I had a chance to catch up with some old university friends. We chatted about their home town and how beautiful it was in the summer. They have all the amenities a community could hope for including a top notch performing arts venue. One of them lamented that what the community needed most was people. They are suffering a common plight. Outmigration. The region desperately needs new business to keep it alive and well. I’m not sure what the answer is. Any time a new industry appears on the radar screen, it seems that there are many people who don’t want it in their back yards. We all want our families back from Alberta but they need work with good paying jobs to keep them here.

July is just about in the rear view mirror. What a blur.

Hope you have a great week.