Month: November 2011

All I want for Christmas

/ edebock / 7 Comments

Six months ago I couldn’t do a push up; not even one. In fact, in spite of all my years of weight lifting, I’d never been able to do one; not even a so-called ladies or knee push up which, in my opinion, isn’t really a push up at all. When the tendonitis healed and my frozen shoulders thawed, I decided it was time to learn. I found a great little instructional video on YouTube and got to work.

Beginning with wall push ups, I worked intermittently over the summer months, gradually moving down from doing push ups against the wall to the kitchen counter to the bathroom counter to the three step landing in our entrance. By fall, I was using the coffee table. That’s when I decided what I wanted for Christmas… ten perfect push ups… real ones, on the floor! Today I struggled through seven fearing that I was going to collapse face first on the floor at any moment. It wasn’t pretty!

Can I eke out three more before Christmas? I’m really not sure but I’m going to give it my best shot.

From drab to dramatic

/ edebock / 3 Comments

It’s amazing the difference a change of colour can make. After visiting Matt and Robin last month while they were in the midst of renovating their new house then stopping at Melaina’s on the way home and seeing how a coat of paint had taken her small bathroom from drab to dramatic, I came home all fired up to do a bit of redecorating of my own.

I began by tackling the feature wall in our bedroom. Down came the 1980’s wallpaper and on went several coats of paint. Choosing the colour took awhile and involved consultations with several friends. I wanted a colour somewhere between brown and burgundy but who knew that there would be so many shades to choose from. We looked at colours with fanciful names like Avent Garde and Arabian Nights but settled on Burnt Brick. It isn’t easy to imagine what a finished project will look like based on a 2 inch colour chip but I’m delighted with the outcome.

Before

After

Did you notice that we also raised the headboard on the bed?

So, if a new colour makes that much difference, is there something here that I should change? So far, I’ve chosen not to cover my ‘silver highlights’ but what do you think?

   

A changing view!

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Exactly one week after posting my latest rant about the unfinished house across the street a crew pulled in and started working on the exterior! I feel sorry for the men working out in the cold but finally, after sitting untouched for three years, the house going to be finished! I feel as if I’ve been given a gift. We’ll finally see something more attractive than that ugly monstrosity every time we look out our front windows. I’ve always loved the style of the house and I think the grey siding is giving it a very classic look.

I don’t think my rant had anything to do with the sudden change even though I did send a link to the new town administrator. Unlike her predecessor, she replied almost immediately telling me that the property owner had been given until December 20 to finish the exterior or the town would hire someone to do it and charge the work to him.

Rumours abound in small towns and one never knows for sure what to believe but we’ve been told that work on the house came to a standstill because the property owner was dealing with legal and financial issues that started when one of the subcontractors failed to complete his portion of the job correctly and then had a lien put on the house when he wasn’t paid in full. Apparently those issues have finally been resolved and work can now continue.

As a future neighbour, I tried to be patient and only complained to the town a couple of times. Like the rest of our neighbours, we would probably have been much more sympathetic if either the property owner or the town had communicated with us and given us some idea what was going on and when we might expect the situation to be resolved. I was startled recently when an acquaintance told us that that was none of our business! I’m trying to be generous and assume that that’s because he’s never lived in town and doesn’t understand why there are things like unsightly premises bylaws.

What do you think? What should a good neighbour reasonably expect to put up with?

Channelling my inner W.O.

/ edebock / 5 Comments

When I wrote about the things I like about winter, I mentioned that we auditioned for parts in W.O. Mitchell’s play, The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon, last week. I didn’t get the part I wanted but I wasn’t overly surprised or as disappointed as I thought I’d be.

Flagstaff Players has always had trouble recruiting men. We usually pick scripts with fewer male roles than female but this time we really went out on a limb. Black Bonspiel has nine male roles and only one female one! Could we do it, we wondered. Amazingly, men came out of the woodwork and we had no problem filling all nine roles! Competition for the one female role was fierce, however, so I knew that my chances weren’t great.

One of the reasons that I’m not too disappointed is the fact that Richard scored the lead role! He’s playing Wullie MacCrimmon himself! I’m so delighted for him that my disappointment pales in comparison. I’ve had lots of lead roles but this will be his first.

The second reason that I’m not feeling crushed is that I think the directors did an excellent job of casting the female role. It went to one of my former students, a delightful young woman who was an active participant in the high school drama club back in the days when Melaina and Nathan were involved. Following high school, she went on to become a teacher and it was she who was hired to take my position when I retired! We acted together in A Christmas Carol two years ago and I know that she’ll do a wonderful job.

I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed though. I love to act and I really wanted that role. The friend who phoned to give us the news knew that and tried to soften the blow by telling me that they were looking at writing in some bit parts for some of the women who auditioned and didn’t get roles and that I would definitely have one of those. That’s not what I wanted but what could I do? I could wallow in self pity, I could accept the situation gracefully or I could channel my inner W.O.

Not only do I love to act; I love to write. What if I put the two together and wrote my own part? That’s the idea that hit me late last night when I couldn’t sleep. The part of Lucy Tregellis was an obvious one. She’s really Mitchell’s creation, not my own. She actually appears in the script but only in disparaging remarks made by the other female character. What if we brought her to life and put her onstage? I knew it could be done without changing W.O.’s story line and I knew I could do it. I messaged the directors and they loved the idea. It will only be a bit part but it will be mine, all mine, the first role I’ve ever written for myself!

First snow

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Winter’s first snow fell this morning; tiny flakes sifting down and gathering on the streets and between the grass. I’m not a fan of winter. Here in Alberta, it’s long and bone chilling cold with temperatures that drop well below -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit). This year’s snow came late. It’s often here before Halloween and it doesn’t melt away again until sometime in April. Roads are often icy and travel can be treacherous. I almost did a full circle in an intersection this afternoon and that’s with good winter tires on!

It’s easy to dwell on the negatives but this year, as winter approached, I began thinking about the things that I like about winter. It’s not a very long list but here are a few.

Winter sunrises

I’m sure that there are beautiful sunrises at other times of the year but that’s another thing about Alberta, long hours of daylight in the summer and equally long hours of darkness in the winter. I’m never up early enough to see the sun come up in the summer but, as difficult as it is to crawl out of bed in the dark of winter, I’m often rewarded with a glorious sunrise.

Cross country skiing

Winter can be pretty depressing but when the weather allows, getting outdoors and getting active is invigorating. There’s nothing better than the swish of my skis under a crystal blue sky with snow sparkling all around me to lift my spirits.

Drama

Drama is my other favourite winter activity. This winter’s play will be The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon, a story about curling, the quintessential Canadian winter sport. More than a few curling fanatics would consider selling their souls to the devil for a chance to compete in the national championship known as the Brier. Set in small town Alberta in the 1930s, W.O. Mitchell’s hilarious story tells what happens when main character, Wullie MacCrimmon, has the opportunity to do just that! Auditions were held on Wednesday evening and now I wait to find out whether or not I get the role I really want.

Boots

Last but not least, one of the best things about winter is boots. I’m not sure why but I really like wearing boots! My absolute favourites are my old well-worn brown leather ankle boots. I loved them the moment I first saw them and was thrilled when Richard gave them to me for Christmas many years ago. They’ve been reheeled and resoled and fit like a glove. Then there’s my brand new pair of tall black fashion boots. The slouched look and the strap detail around the heel give them an edgy look that I really like. Of course, when the temperature plunges neither of these pairs would keep my feet from freezing for long so I also have my trusty Cougars. With warm insulated lining and deeply treaded rubber soles, they’ll easily take me through the long snowy winter that lies ahead.