MRB's Talking Fingers

 We have seen so many changes in the last several generations, and this past year, with many of us who have time to spare, may have reconnected with friends from our past, and some who we may have never met in person. Technology has given all of us the ability to communicate quickly with friends who live on the other side of our planet. Gone are the days of pen and ink used to write letters that were delivered by the Postal Service, sometimes weeks after it was posted. Even though we understood that we would never meet in person, I have learned that two of my treasured cyber friends (Clydene and Barb), who I met on the NOTH website, have come to the end of their earthly journey. We enjoyed many chats online over the years and looked forward to meeting at our Eternal Home. Clydene was the first person who sent me an invitation to be her friend, and I was pleased to accept. Her home was in an area that we would pass through on a planned road trip to Branson, MO. I have never forgotte...

  Our Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, November has arrived, and we've just experienced our first snowstorm of the season. It has been quite a year, and Christmas is just around the corner. This year, we are being encouraged to shop early because supply may be a challenge. I am so happy that I don't have to go shopping. Years ago, our two adult children suggested that we should find a Christmas project to donate to, because none of us needed anything. We agreed with their request that if we wanted to gift the children, one gift for each was enough. One gift didn't mean one big box with six items in it... it meant ONE gift! During the year, we could still remember birthdays with cards and gifts, and “just because” gifts were always acceptable. We also stopped sending piles of Christmas cards with just a salutation, but send a New Year’s newsletter to our friends. It was not our original idea, but when we started receiving letters from friends that included their spec...

 I don’t have to check my calendar … I just have to see the department in my chosen shopping location, to see the massive displays of Halloween costumes and other paraphilia to prepare for the end of the month. It seems that the majority of costumes are for adults. I grew up in a time when Halloween was a school party and a tour of the rural neighborhood, to sing a song or recite a verse at a neighbor’s front door as payment for a treat that could have been made in the their kitchen. There were a few pranks, instigated by some young adults, and most were accepted in good humor. There were no injuries, no food poisonings, no razor blades in home-made popcorn balls, and no defacing of personal properties. Our costumes were put together at home, often using clothing from our own closet or our parents’ work closet. Most of the time, we used face make-up instead of masks, and often wore a warm coat and boots if there was a layer of snow, suggesting that winter was coming early. For th...

What happens when it's time again to celebrate your birth date. Are you as excited about it as you once were? Are you disappointed because the family didn’t come up with a ‘surprise’ party like they did ten years ago? I hope you answered ‘NO’ to both of those questions, and have filled your heart and mind with grateful and thankful thoughts… for another day, for loving family and friends, and acceptance of the challenges that all of us are experiencing this year. September was my month, and I had prepared myself that whatever happened, I would be thankful and content. There were wedding plans for our only grandson and his fiancé, and the anticipation for several family birthdays, including my own. In the meantime, I had time to think about lots of things that have changed in my lifetime. Who would have thought that we would be able to experience a plethora of experiences that were so different from what we thought were normal. I’m hoping that when you continue to read, it will br...

The summer of 2021 has created a lot of questions in “face-to-face” and “cyber” conversations with family and friends … ‘ Who are you visiting these days?’, ‘ What is occupying your time?’, ‘ When  were you bored with nothing to do?’, ‘ Where are you most days?’, ‘ Why have you stopped writing blogs?’ Here comes my attempt to answer as best that I can, and if this gets too long, take a break or find something that is more interesting to read. 1.        WHO am I visiting with these days? - My husband any time of the day - Chats with neighbor over the back fence or on the road - Anyone who calls me on the phone or accepts my telephone call 2.        WHAT am I thankful for? - The day my husband came home from the hospital after open heart surgery and complications - For the love and support of our adult children and their families, even when we couldn’t be together. - The circumstances in my life have increased ...

I hear that song many, many times because it was our daughter’s favorite song that she learned on a visit to Disneyland. She loved the dolls and music, and her record player in her own room. Some unexpected events recently have brought back that song… and for me, music sticks very hard in my ‘memory bank’. It has been quite a summer for us, some events were not pleasant but surprising, and some events were surprising AND pleasant. Being that I haven’t been ON THE HILL very often, I decided that it was time to write an ‘update’ blog, to let you know that we are still on the right side of the grass. My husband is on a great road of recovery… and our hearts are filled with thankful thoughts and prayers from the ‘army of friends and family’ who were standing with us. Little did we know that this was the season for both of us to recover from successful surgery. I must say that both of us are grateful for the wonderful medical community available to us, but tired of all the medical appoi...

  After some discussion in recent blogs about our use of the English language, it brought to mind one of the major projects that was presented to me some twenty years ago. My abilities on the computer were being honed with persistence, and my first two major contracts were to design and print “advertising cards” for companies who wished to advertise through Welcome Wagon, and announcement cards for Christian Women’s Club. Being a home-based business in a rural setting added a lot of road trips to my adventures. On one occasion, I received a phone call from a gentleman who said that he had received my business card from the Welcome Wagon representative, and wondered if I did proof-reading and script preparation for publishing; did that fit into the job description of “Your Choice Designs”? He was looking for someone to review his autobiography and ready it for printing. No, I had never done anything like that before. I told him that I was a retired nurse, I loved to read, and now wa...

How many times have you said that you didn't want to be a bother” to a friend, when you know they are going through an unusually busy or stressful time. You would like to do something to help, but then wondered what you could do that would be helpful. Even a phone call would interrupt their busy day, and that could just be annoying. Many years ago, when your children were quite young, we had an experience that I’ll never forget. My husband had a serious accident at our new home under construction. I had just returned home to put our children to bed, when the doorbell rang. I didn’t want to see or talk to anyone, especially someone who would be trying to sell me something that I didn’t need. However, after about the fourth chime from the door, I opened the door a wee bit and recognized the callers. The gentleman worked in our office, and he and his wife had travelled across the city to bring us a box of homemade cookies for the children’s lunch bags. They told me that they didn’t kn...

  I hope my readers are enjoying the spring days of the long weekend. It doesn’t really matter about the weather, which none of us can control, or the restrictions imposed on all of us.  I’m sure that you are wishing that you could enjoy some time with your family or some close friends. I’m in my favorite chair by the window, and I won’t see the sun set this evening because it is so foggy in our valley. It has rained off and on, and some areas have even had a bit of snow. I think we are still having April showers but the leaves are coming out and our valley is green. My evening is quiet and I’ve had some time to reflect on the last couple of weeks. It has been amazing and something that I didn’t see coming. My husband and I can still say that we are content, even though most of the year has been on our little patch of land, except for necessary trips to town for ‘essentials’. His shop seems to have received a sort of ‘facelift’ and I has been surrounded by photos and scrapbook...

  How many times, in this last year, have you read the phrase ‘Food For Thought’? Some are meant to give us thoughts to ponder, perhaps on topics that had never even crossed your mind. If you ask Google the meaning of ‘food for thought’, it tells us that it is “something that warrants serious consideration”;   something that needs to be thought over carefully before deciding or acting. The topics can be varied; medical, political, religious, or daily living. Some can even be silly, just to entertain the reader. I’ve been thinking a lot about food this last while. What do I need to have on my grocery list? Do I want to prepare a meal from scratch or do I want to try some prepared meals from a deli or the frozen food section at the market? What about the ‘craving’ for my favorite dessert, what would be easiest to chew with my new dentures? During one of my personal photo scanning sessions, I came across a number of photos that reminded me of some of my favorite meals...

  It is hard for me to realize that March is almost finished... at least in our part of this world. We did get a taste of Spring somewhat early but that’s gone now. The temperatures have been in the mid 50*F and we are now told to prepare for a coming snow ‘blizzard’ after the expected balmy weekend. I give up! I have enough to tend to without worrying about what kind of weather is coming or going. If you have read my last blog (dated March 10 th ), you will know that I planned to let you know how many photos will make a ‘truckload’. I still don’t know, but I now have some idea because I’ve been busy with the first ‘haul’. But first, I want to give a ‘big’ thank you to our own NOTH owner and computer repairman, TC. With just one email to answer my question about the difficulties I had in installing the new photo scanner that I purchased. He carefully wrote the instructions, step-by-step, in what I should do to solve the problem. I carefully read and followed his instruction, and in...

  I’ve been at it again… trying my best to remember to do the things that I must do, and enjoy the things that I like to do. My goal is… never have a boring day! There are so many possibilities, no matter what our abilities are. If we are still breathing, we should be able to talk, eat, and sleep! That’s a good start! The past year has been filled with challenges, no matter where we live. As some signs along our highway state… ‘WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER; WE WILL GET THROUGH IT!” I hope it is working for my readers too. In our home, there have been the usual duties… shop for groceries, attend medical appointments, do the laundry, tidy our living area, and make the necessary phone calls. There are extra activities that are more fun… bake a cake, work on a jigsaw puzzle, paint a fence, do some handwork like knitting or crocheting, pursue a hobby outdoors or in the shop, enjoy some armchair travelling (either on TV or your own collection of photographs), learn something new, even on a...

  Following graduation, the class of nurses went their separate ways, to find their first job as a Registered Nurse (known as an RN), continue their education, or to finally marry the love of their life (which was not allowed during training days). They were now members of the Hospital Alumnae, and made concerted efforts to travel back to attend the annual Alumnae Banquet. Traditionally, each class planned their own class reunion every five years, which included attending the Alumnae Banquet. The first class reunion, five years after graduation, was filled with stories and photos of career jobs and weddings. At the tenth year reunion, there were photos of babies and young children, along with new jobs and travel experiences. The ‘sisterhood’ was deep and the weekends were filled with planned events, dining wherever possible, late night chatting in hotel rooms, but there was very little sleep. There was great sadness in the class when it was learned that the hospital was closed and ...

Is it my turn to write a blog this week? It has been a busy time in my “office”, phone conversations, text messages, and email ‘letters’, updating my contact list, and remembering to save all the info that I’ve been receiving. My title this week may be a bit confusing, so let me fill in some blanks. This story started many years ago, on a sunny day in the late summer. A large group of young ladies, most who had just graduated from high school, had received notice of the anticipated event, including the date, time and location. Some lived in the designated city, and others had to make travel arrangements. It would be the first day of a life-changing three-year commitment, commonly called ‘Nursing School’. Introductions were made by the “house Mother” over a cup of tea in the Lounge, then a tour of the building to familiarize the facilities, and then an orientation packet, including room assignments, were handed out to just over one hundred first-year students. The residence was a ten-st...

I decided, because of past events that have recently popped up in my memory, to share this blog that I wrote in the A-Z Alphabet Challenge a couple of years ago. I guess this is my "Throwback Thursday" story... _____________________________________________________ I would like to introduce you to a guy I met many years ago. He was a lot older than me, but the first time I laid eyes on him, I knew I wanted to get to know him better. He was gorgeous, and to me, he looked like a giant with a great smile and sparkling gray eyes. He said his given name was Gustav but everyone called him Gus. He and Brownie, his horse, had come to our neighborhood four years earlier, looking for work. He met his wife on a neighboring farm, but that didn't bother me. She was a nice lady, and she would stand and smile when he told me many stories, some about his first home in North Dakota, and his father’s decision to move to Canada. He said he wasn't really a cowboy; he was called a cattle d...

  Last week, I posted a list of books that I “rediscovered” on the shelves of our personal library, books that I know I’ve read but I can’t remember the contents or what I liked about a book. I must have liked it or I wouldn’t have kept it. This week, I want to tell you about the lasting impact that several books have had on my life. The first book that I daily enjoy reading and re-reading, starting in print and now on my Kindle, is ‘The Voice’ (‘ a modern language, dynamic equivalent English translation of the Bible developed by Thomas Nelson (a subsidiary of News Corp) and the Ecclesia Bible Society. The original New Testament was released in January 2011, the revised and updated New Testament was released in November 2011, and the full Bible was released in April 2012 (copied from Wikipedia). My departure from reading my leather-bound King James Version started in the early 1960s when I was introduced to the paraphrased version called ‘The Living Bible’. I appreciated the absenc...

  We’ve said our final farewell to 2020… such a memorable year! Have you kept an updated journal, did as much as possible for yourself, and followed the rules as best you could? Have you remembered to have a thankful heart when you wake up every morning? We don’t have a big house, but during of weeks of ‘isolation’, I started to visit the room at the end of the hall that isn’t used very much, except to stash items that I won’t often need or even look at. It is our ‘Library’, initially intended to be my office. It’s a nice room, has a couple of comfortable chairs and a TV that isn’t hooked up now. The closet was “converted” to a small desk, but not big enough to accommodate the stuff that I like to have within my reach when I’m using my computer. During our times of “isolation", and trying to entertain myself during the day, I decided to try and tidy our collection of books and music. Even though I now prefer to read on my tablet, Kobo reader, or computer because of the challenges ...