Reunion!

February 16, 2023February 16, 2023 / edebock / Leave a comment

Ten years ago this month, hubby and I arrived in Dalian, China where we were to spend the next semester teaching English at Liaoning Normal University. There were six of us on the native English speaking staff and this week four of us were together again for the first time since we completed our contract there.

Richard M (yes, there were two Richards on our staff of six) and his wife, Colleen, who was with him in China are Americans who, after spending a few years living in China, Cambodia, and then Vietnam, have retired to Coatepec, Mexico. They are close to our age and were the only other couple amongst the teaching staff, so we spent a lot of time together in China, even climbing the Great Wall together. This is our third visit to their home here.

Cliff, also an American expat, was our lead teacher in Dalian and after also living in various locations in Asia, he retired to Xalapa, a larger city just 15 km from here. He arrived shortly after our last visit to the area four years ago.

On Tuesday, Cliff came out to Richard and Colleen’s and what a reunion that was! The afternoon was spent reminiscing, laughing together, looking at the yearbook that Cliff had so thoughtfully brought with him, and enjoying a delicious seafood meal prepared by Richard M.

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Then yesterday, the four of us met Cliff at Parque de los Tecajetes, a beautiful jungle-like park in Xalapa. Though not a huge park, it was easy to forget that we were in the middle of a city.

Although you can’t see any in the photo above, the pond was home to many koi. If you look closely though, you’ll see a couple of the resident turtles of which there were many. Here are two others sunning themselves in a sheltered nook.

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The egret and the greckle seemed to be posing for me!

And, of course, there were flowers! Flowers in February always amaze me.

After enjoying a stroll, we had a delicious lunch together in La Estancia de los Tecajetes, a beautiful traditional Mexican restaurant overlooking the park.

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That’s Richard M, Richard D, myself, and Cliff. Thanks to Colleen for taking this and a couple of the other photos.

Sippin’ Pretty

September 24, 2022 / edebock / 6 Comments

When a former student of mine retired from teaching school (how old do you think that makes me feel?), she decided that she needed a hobby. She loved wine, loved teaching, and happened to have an empty 1927 house sitting on her farm property. She and her daughter, also a teacher, studied wine and food pairing courses, researched the history of the house and the people who lived there, then took it back to its original look and turned it into a 1920s speakeasy called Sippin’ Pretty!

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What is a speakeasy, you ask? During Prohibition (a nationwide ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol in the United States that lasted from 1920 to 1933) hidden bars and nightclubs sprung up in cities across the country. The term speakeasy is thought to have come from the fact that patrons had to whisper, or speak “easy”, when attempting to enter these illicit establishments.

Sippin’ Pretty, located just a few minutes from Killam, Alberta, offers classes teaching the basics of wine tasting and food pairing to small groups in an intimate setting. It was there that I spent Thursday evening with a very special group of friends.

Craft night ladies sippin wine

On a September evening, thirty-three years ago, four young women gathered around a kitchen table and Craft Night was born. I was invited to join the group a few months later and not long afterward, a sixth member completed the group. We were all busy young moms and in the early days our monthly Craft Night was as much about having an evening out as it was about the crafts that we did. Whether we were knitting, crocheting, cross stitching or tole painting, we shared our lives and our stories. Several years ago, two of the original members moved away and since then another joined us. Then came Covid and like everything else, Craft Night came to a sudden end, or so it seemed.

That was not to be, however. After not meeting together for more than two years, a couple of us heard about Sippin’ Pretty and decided that it would be the perfect setting for our group to reconvene. It seemed appropriate since sipping wine was always an essential part of Craft Night! One of the former members who moved away was even able to join us for the evening. We sampled six different wines, three white and three red, discussing their colour and aroma and learning how to taste for things like sweetness and acidity and in the case of the reds, tannin. We learned about the kinds of food that each of the wines pairs best with by sampling a variety of meats, cheeses and delicious pasta dishes.

And we talked! In fact, I think we could have talked all night! We’ll have more time to catch up with one another soon though as I’ll be hosting Craft Night again next month and the tradition will continue! Although we actually abandoned doing crafts years ago, the name stuck. Thursday night we talked about the possibility of changing it, but we decided not to. Thirty-three years is a long time and it just wouldn’t seem right to call it anything else!

The time before

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 / edebock / 10 Comments

It’s been over ten weeks since the World Health Organization officially declared the worldwide outbreak of Covid-19 a pandemic and countries began to shut things down. More and more I hear people expressing nostalgia for “the time before” and wondering when, if ever, life will return to normal. As I’ve mentioned before, I feel fortunate that my life has not had to change as drastically as many others have. As a retiree, I don’t have a business to close, a job to lose, or children at home. Nevertheless, life is different now and I’ve been pondering the things that I miss.

In the big picture, most of the things I miss are small, but small things are often what bring interest or significance to our lives.

I miss browsing our local thrift stores and perhaps finding a treasure or two. After cleaning out our storage room and kitchen cupboards as well as doing my seasonal wardrobe switch from winter to warm weather clothes, I also miss being able to donate the items I no longer want to keep.

I miss impromptu lunch dates with my husband at The Wooden Spoon, our favourite local eatery. We usually go at least once or twice a month.

Although I enjoy being at home with hubby, I miss spending time with other women. Whether it be dropping in for a cup of tea and a chat with a friend, a morning coffee time with women from my church, or sipping wine and visiting with my “craft night” friends at our monthly get togethers, I need my girlfriends. Thankfully Zoom has helped, but it’s not the same as being together in person.

Though we’ve been enjoying online services from the comfort of home, I miss gathering together with our church family on Sunday mornings.

We don’t live close enough to see our grandchildren on a regular basis, so two months without seeing any of them hasn’t been too hard to handle, but there are babies close by who are changing so quickly that I’ll hardly recognize them when I finally see them again. And then there’s the one that was born late last week. How I’d love to visit and hold her!

Though I’ve learned to live one day at a time, I miss being able to plan ahead. Not knowing if or when we’ll be able to travel internationally again is especially difficult for a wanderer like me. Half the fun of traveling is the planning that goes into it.

Perhaps more than anything else, I miss having things to look forward to. Never before has the calendar page been so blank! In fact, the only thing I’ve written in for the entire month of May is the morning that the nurse comes to give me my monthly injection! I don’t mind life slowing down a bit, but at the moment it seems almost to have stopped and there’s a sameness in our days that’s getting rather tedious.

Perhaps when life finally returns to normal, or the “new normal” that everyone is talking about, we’ll have a greater appreciation for the things that we’re missing right now. Or will we quickly get back into routine and begin to take them for granted again?

What do you think? What do you miss the most from the time before?

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Abaya

June 10, 2016June 9, 2016 / edebock / 5 Comments

Screen Shot 2016-03-18 at 11.07.24 PM 3 I spent last Saturday at our church’s 16th annual ladies retreat. This year’s theme was Pilgrimage and as part of the program, my friend, Leigh, shared her testimony, the very moving story of God’s intervention and work in her life, and I did a slide presentation on our recent visit to Jerusalem.

Almost two months ago, when the retreat was still in the planning stages, I received this message from Leigh.

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I had never heard the word “abaya” before, but I quickly Googled the term and learned that an abaya (pronounced a-buy-a) is “a loose-fitting full-length robe worn by some Muslim women.” In the photo that Leigh sent me it looked quite beautiful, so I let her know that I’d love to try it on. When I slipped it on later that evening, I felt like a princess!

It fit as if it had been made to measure and, believe it or not, I even had a pair of orange sandals that matched it perfectly! I quickly sent Leigh a message with a photo and here’s the conversation that followed.

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I was blown away by her generosity!

Sometimes worn as an outer garment over other clothing, a traditional abaya is often black and covers the whole body except the face, feet, and hands, but like most other clothing, colours and styles vary from region to region. You can find some beautiful examples here. In some Muslim countries, abayat are worn with head coverings and/or veiled faces.

Though mine looks like two pieces, it is actually an all-in-one garment. Apparently, it was handmade and the detailing on it is exquisite. With no zippers, buttons or snaps, it simply slipped over my head and in a moment I was fully dressed and completely transformed!

When I asked for the story behind the abaya, Leigh told me that both the one that she wore and the one that is now mine were gifts from Arab friends in the community where she used to live. Mine, from Syria, is one that would normally be worn as a wedding dress by a village girl. She jokingly told me to tell my husband that he now owes my father the bride price of nineteen goats and one red camel!

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Photo: Doris Johnson

Farewell dear friend

May 8, 2015May 8, 2015 / edebock / 22 Comments

There’s a party going on in heaven today. I’m absolutely certain of it! Our dear friend, Mary, went to be with her Lord in the wee hours of this morning and our loss is definitely heaven’s gain.

Mary Cameron
1917 – 2015

Photo: Deborah Proctor

Life was not always kind to Mary, but she took it in stride and never lost her fiery spirit. She came to Canada from her beloved Ireland as a war bride, leaving behind a home equipped with all the conveniences of the day and finding herself on the lonely Canadian prairie without electricity or running water. She knew the heartbreak of losing a child and endured the break-up of her marriage, but oh how fiercely she loved and how vibrantly she laughed! At 98 years old, Mary still lived alone in her own house and took part in activities at the local seniors’ centre where she was an avid bridge player. She stopped coming to church regularly only when we all stopped speaking loud enough for her to hear us. Of course, it couldn’t possibly have been that her hearing was going!

Mary was tiny in body, but huge in character. For the past twenty years or more, she was known as my husband’s “other wife.” At the reception following the funeral of an elderly gentleman from our church, a lady from out of town met Mary and the two of them struck up a conversation. Later in the afternoon, before she left, the lady returned to Mary’s table to bid her good bye. At that point, Richard was sitting beside Mary and the woman, obviously without looking too closely, said “Oh, this must be your husband.” Mary immediately went off into peals of laughter and from that moment on, always referred to Richard, who was 33 years her junior, as her husband. She loved nothing better than to raise eyebrows by referring to him as such in public settings where she would then have to tell the story of how she became his “other wife.”

Richard was MC at Mary’s 98th birthday celebration just three weeks ago where she was as bright and vibrant as ever. Sadly, I wasn’t able to be there as I’d had a treatment earlier that week and was radioactive. I was looking forward to popping over and having tea with her as soon as I felt well enough (that’s a story for another day) but now I’ll have to wait until we meet again on the streets of gold.

Mary was especially close to our youngest son, Nate. During his teenage years, she hired him to do her yard work. When he finished, she’d always have a cold pop waiting for him and they would sit and visit. Since he’s been grown and gone from home, whenever Mary saw me, she’d ask how “her boy” was doing and when he was coming home again. When he did, even if if it was only for the day, he’d almost always drop in to see her.

Three years ago, when Richard and I were performing in a community theatre production, Nate came home to attend one of our dinner theatre performances and took Mary as his date! Like any good date would, he took flowers when he went to pick her up and when I stopped by their table after the performance, she was glowing!

Mary was always one to speak her mind and you never knew for sure what she might say! The first time Nate brought Colleen home, he took her over to meet Mary who, after spending a few minutes getting to know his girl, expressed her approval by telling him that she was very happy that he hadn’t brought home a trollop! That’s a Maryism that won’t soon be forgotten! I’m sure it will long be part of our family lore.

While chatting with my daughter this afternoon, I asked her how I could possibly put our Mary into words and she gave me a great illustration. I’m not a Dr. Who fan like she is, but according to Melaina, Mary was like the TARDIS, Dr. Who’s time machine/spaceship, “small on the outside, but endless on the inside.” Yes, our lives will definitely be a little less colourful without Mary in them, but oh how blessed we are to have known her!

Letting it go… with thanksgiving and hope

December 31, 2014 / edebock / 6 Comments

In just a few hours, 2014 will be forever behind us. For me, it was a year filled with challenges and loss. At the beginning of the year, my smile looked like this

but now, it looks like this.

Like the rest of me, it’s a little worse for wear, but thankfully I still have much to smile about. As I reflect on the struggles of the past year, I’m ready to sing the refrain from Frozen that I, like most parents and grandparents, have heard a bazillion times this year.

Let it go, let it go!

Yes, I’m ready to let go of the negatives of 2014. Instead of dwelling on those things, I choose to hang on to the things that I have to be thankful for.

First and foremost, I’m thankful for a personal relationship with a God who never lets go of me! At the beginning of my cancer journey, He promised to take care of me and he has done just that. I’m thankful for the amazing team of medical people that He’s placed in my life and for the expertise He’s given each one of them.

I’m thankful beyond measure for the love and support of my amazing husband who has walked every step of the journey with me and who helps me hang on when I reach the end of my rope.

I’m thankful for my children, now young adults who make me very proud, and for my darling grandchildren. Being present for Simon’s birth in mid March was definitely one of the highlights of 2014!

Drew and Simon Jami-Lee

Nate Sam

I’m thankful that my father didn’t give up on life when Mom died in June and for the fact that he’s made a remarkable recovery from the stroke that he suffered in September. I’m thankful that we’ve been able to spend time with him this Christmas season.

I’m thankful for the fact that 2014 was the year that I finally reconnected with a cousin who lived with us for awhile when she was a toddler and I was a teen. Though she lives about 4000 km away, it’s been great having ‘little sis’ back in my life!

I’m thankful for amazing friends both near and far including those of you I’ve only met through blogging. I’m especially thankful for the other three-quarters of the Rav 4 and the fact that they convinced me to go to Vegas with them in November!

photo credit: Sheryl Culbert

Yes, even in a year like 2014, I’ve had much to be thankful for. Now’s a good time to let go of all the rest and to look forward to a brand new year. I choose to step into 2015 with hope.

I hope that my treatments continue to be successful and that they become less frequent. That alone would make 2015 a less crazy year! I hope that we can get through an entire year without a family crisis of any kind. I hope that I can enjoy each moment not worrying about the things over which I have no control and I hope that a year from now, I can once more look back with thanksgiving.

What do you have to be thankful for this year? What do you need to let go of? What are some of your hopes for the New Year?

Rav4 in the Mohave Desert

November 15, 2014November 15, 2014 / edebock / 11 Comments

When I agreed to go to Las Vegas with three of my closest girlfriends, I knew that I would want to get away from the glitz and glamour for a little while and see the Mohave Desert but would the others agree? I know that they would do almost anything for me but would they enjoy it?

See for yourself. Do they look like they’re having fun?

At first, we considered a tour. In fact, we almost booked a 4 hour Pink Jeep tour. After all, one of the girls loves all things pink and frou frou. Look carefully and you’ll see her pink iPhone in the photo! What could be better than a pink Jeep?

Practicality led the way, however, and we decided that renting a vehicle would be a better option. We wanted a small SUV so we reserved a Toyota Rav4. Sadly, when we went to pick it up early Tuesday morning, that model was unavailable and we were offered an “upgrade” to a minivan. A minivan… are you kidding? Our kids are grown and we’re past our Minivan Mom days! We wanted something sporty! In fact, we’d even considered renting a convertible but again, our practical sides and our purse strings said otherwise. A minivan was what was available though, so minivan it was. No problem, we’re flexible. We simply decided that we were the Rav4 and a group nickname was born!

Renting was definitely the right choice as it allowed us to go at our own pace, spending as much time as we wanted wherever we wanted. The half hour drive out to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area was an easy one. Our first stop was the Visitor Center where we were given a map, some great advice about where to stop and hike, and some valuable tips such as “Watch where you put your hands and feet. Rattlesnakes, scorpions or venomous spiders may be sheltered behind boulders or under rocks and shrubs.” Fortunately, though we saw lots of holes where they may have been hiding, we didn’t see any of those creatures!

We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t see any of these ones either!

The 13 mile one-way scenic drive gave us ample opportunity to see the area from the vehicle but we were there to hike and explore. Our first stop was the Calico Hills where we were allowed to climb and clamber wherever we wanted. The sights were spectacular and the red rock against the brilliant blue sky was absolutely stunning.

It was November 11, Remembrance Day or Veteran’s Day as it is known in the US, so we stopped and built a small inukshuk, a Canadian symbol adopted from the Inuit people of our far northern region, and pinned a poppy to his lapel.

Throughout the Commonwealth, the poppy is a familiar Remembrance Day symbol and people on the streets of Las Vegas recognized us as Canadians because we were wearing them.

On our second hike, in the Willow Springs area, we saw the remnants of an ancient agave roasting pit as well as one of the “Hands Across Time” pictographs waving to us from the canyon wall, reminders of those who made their home in the desert centuries ago.

There was abundant and interesting plant life in the area, much of it looking like something out of a a Dr. Seuss storybook!

As much as I enjoyed Las Vegas itself, it was when we drove away from Red Rock Canyon that I truly felt like I’d had a holiday!

Las Vegas!

November 14, 2014November 14, 2014 / edebock / 10 Comments

Las Vegas was never on my list of places I most wanted to visit but when three of my closest friends suggested last July that we replace our annual Christmas shopping trip with a trip to Vegas in November, I immediately found myself saying yes! It wasn’t the destination that captured my attention but the opportunity to travel together and enjoy several days of “girlfriend time”.

When we booked the trip last summer, we had no idea how perfect the timing would be. After an unusually long autumn, we woke up to winter on Saturday morning. We drove on icy roads through snow and slush on our way to the airport, happier than ever to be leaving Alberta behind! As the temperature here at home plunged to around -20ºC, we enjoyed daytime temperatures in the +20s in Vegas!

We packed a lot of living and a lot of laughter into the next few days and proved that four Christian women can have a fabulous time in “sin city”! The laughter started Sunday morning when one friend, who shall remain nameless, discovered that she’d forgotten to pack her pants! Not all of them, fortunately. Just the ones that she intended to wear to church that morning. It continued until we arrived home and she found out that the pants had actually been in her suitcase the entire time!

We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel, a fairytale castle near the south end of the Strip.

On Sunday afternoon, we strolled the Strip enjoying the sunshine, eating lunch on an outdoor patio and taking in the sights.

We stopped at the Bellagio Hotel to enjoy the conservatory with its multitude of flowers and floral statues, see the world’s largest chocolate fountain and watch the outdoor fountain show. We visited a few shops along our way. Can you imagine four storeys devoted to anything and everything related to M&M candies? That’s Vegas where everything is over the top!

We took in two shows during our three day stay. We saw the Blue Man Group at the Monte Carlo and The Tournament of Kings back at our own hotel. How does one possibly describe the Blue Man Group? Hilarious! Fun! Unforgettable! Or, according to their own website, “an energetic and innovative combination of music, comedy, and multimedia theatrics.” The Tournament of Kings was a delicious dinner served medieval style with no cutlery while the audience, seated around the outside of an arena, watched the non-stop action of knights on horseback engaging in competition.

Shows in Vegas are over early in the evening leaving patrons plenty of time to spend at the casinos. I’m not a gambler but I had lots of fun playing the penny machines and when we left for home on Wednesday, I was ahead by a whopping 55 cents! Pretty cheap entertainment!

We shopped til we dropped at Vegas’ two factory outlet malls. Even with our Canadian dollar at an unhealthy low, there were plenty of bargains to be had and one friend was heard to say, “I had money left over so I had to buy more!”

Though there are many strange things to be seen on the Strip after dark (a large hairy man in a wedding dress is probably forever etched in our memories!), we really saw the underbelly of Las Vegas on a late evening visit to Freemont Street. With a zipline overhead and live bands playing, it’s billed as a premier entertainment destination but it felt to us like a carnival gone wrong. There were many, including the scantily clad dancers atop one of the outdoor bars, who would have frozen some pretty intimate body parts if they’d been on an Alberta street but I think we were most disturbed by the two young beauties wearing huge glittery angel wings and very little else who were selling themselves to passersby. Sad.

This trip was more than just our annual Christmas shopping trip in a new location or a girlfriend getaway. It was also a celebration! When we started planning it, I was two-thirds of the way through 30 rounds of radiation. Now, with that ordeal several months behind me, we were celebrating survival and on our final evening in Vegas, my friends treated me to a very special celebration dinner.

The destination didn’t matter but the company did! I am so blessed!

25 years of fun and friendship!

September 18, 2014 / edebock / 3 Comments

On a September evening in 1989, four young women gathered around a kitchen table and Craft Night was born. They had no idea that they were beginning a 25 year tradition. Though I wasn’t one of the original four, I was invited to join the group a few months later and not long afterward, a sixth member completed the group.

We were all busy young mothers and in the early days Craft Night was as much about having an evening out as it was about the crafts that we did. Whether we were knitting, crocheting, cross stitching or tole painting, we shared our lives and our stories. Sometimes, instead of a craft, one of us would bring a stack of photos to label and we’d share those too. Over the years, we must have handed hundreds of photos around the table; pictures of babies, family holidays, graduations and more recently, grandchildren. Three of us were school teachers and papers have even been graded at Craft Night. If the choice was staying home to get the marking done or bringing it with us, the work got done at Craft Night!

Over the years, in addition to doing our individual crafts, we occasionally tried a group project. One Christmas season, we made a huge batch of antipasto, enough for each of us to take a few jars home with us. Another December it was chocolates and a couple of years ago, we made Christmas centrepieces.

Meeting monthly, we take turns hosting. The hostess provides the wine, an essential Craft Night ingredient, and a snack. Over the years, we’ve tested a multitude of appetizers and shared many a recipe. Though we still call our evenings Craft Night, we seldom bother with the crafts anymore! Instead, we just spend our time visiting. In 25 years, we’ve been through a lot together!

Between us, we have 15 children, 4 of them born since Craft Night began. We’ve watched them grow, sharing their trials and their triumphs. They’ve all graduated from high school and between them, they’ve earned 21 degrees or diplomas. 10 of them are married and 2 are engaged. 3 of us are now grandmothers with a total of 13 grandchildren. Nowadays, our discussions often revolve around aging parents and 2 of us have lost our mothers in recent months. Perhaps the statistic we ought to be most proud of is the number of divorces over our 25 years together… 0! We’re all with the same husbands we were with back then and occasionally some of them also get together on Craft Night to play cards or throw some darts.

Craft Night took a severe blow a couple of years ago when two of our group moved away within a month of each other, but the remaining four continue the tradition. When we met at a lovely restaurant for a 25th anniversary celebration last evening, we were delighted that one our missing members was able to join us. It was a delightful evening of reminiscing; sharing 25 years of fun and friendship!

Meeting Donloree!

May 6, 2014 / edebock / 8 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the perks of blogging is connecting with other bloggers and, in some cases, establishing long distance friendships with them. I first heard of Donloree Hoffman when I read an article in the Edmonton Journal in October 2010.

“Donloree Hoffman is about to do the scariest thing she’s ever done.

She’s going to put on an itsy bitsy teenie weenie purple bedazzled micro-bikini, slip her feet into five-inch Barbie-doll heels, and strut her new lean and toned self in front of some very judgmental people.”

The article’s opening paragraphs captured my attention and I immediately checked out the link to her blog. I’ve been following it ever since.

In the early days, Donloree introduced me to the fascinating world of fitness competition. A leadership coach who is passionate about empowering people to break out of their comfort zone and be the best that they can be, Donloree describes herself as a bodybuilding hobbyist, an avid reader, and a lover of audacious living. She also has a wonderful sense of humour.

Until today, I had never met one of my blogging friends in person but, after spending this morning navigating the maze that is Edmonton’s University Hospital in preparation for tomorrow’s surgery, I did just that! Donloree and I have been trying to connect in person for awhile and this time, it finally happened. When she walked into the Starbucks where we’d arranged to meet, it was like reconnecting with an old friend and we chatted for more than an hour!

I’m very fortunate that Donloree lives in Edmonton, just two hours from home. There are a few other bloggers that I’d also like to meet but they live in more exotic places like San Antonio, Texas and Dubai! That might be a bit more difficult to arrange!

Following Augustine

A lifestyle, travel, and fashion blog by Elaine DeBock.

Friendship

Reunion!

Sippin’ Pretty

The time before