Stranger than Fiction Indeed

Saw the movie. Plus a couple others recently (A Good Year, The Nativity Story). They've all been inspiring in their own ways.

Thoughts From Stranger than Fiction:

1. What is more important a human life or a really good book?

2. Would I choose pancakes over life?
(and you may know how much I love pancakes...)

3. "Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric rocks.

4. My life is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's epic.

5. Rebecca Napier = Maggie Gyllenhaal

Hmmm... well tomorrow I'm going to Cora's!

The Valley

Today I drove to the Valley. Blue sky and bright sun made for a beautiful drive over this picturesque area in Nova Scotia. I made a stop at Tangled Garden (pictured left, fall 2005). It is one of my favourite places in Nova Scotia. While the gardens were much more barren... being November and all... I was still able to sit outside lit and warmed by the sun and read. I also bought a few jars of the their coveted "Apple Sage Jelly" for Christmas gifts.

Stops:

Tangled Garden

Hennigars Farm Market

The Coffee Merchant

a book store

an art store

a pharmacy

the lookout (I don't know what this place is called but there's a gazebo and it overlooks the bay)

Spotted:

Acadia University

Horses

Sailboat at sea

Missed:

Alex Colville... I always want to track him down when I'm in Wolfville!

Thankful for Brothers

It's my brother Jon's birthday today. He is my older-younger brother. We're only fourteen months apart!
As I circled his birthday on my calendar I realized his birthday is the same as American Thanksgiving which is funny because my younger-younger brother Mike was born on Canadian Thanksgiving! (but this year it landed on the Tuesday not the Monday holiday). When Mike was born my Dad wrote an article for the paper about "what we're truly thankful for" after the birth of his son. I think it was about healthcare.

Five Reasons I'm Thankful for Jon Today:
1. He defends my honor. (and incidentally has taken action to do so... let's just say I think he broke someone's nose in highschool)
2. We're very different but we have the same sense of humour; he makes me laugh!
3. He lets me call him Jonathan and be the "big sister".
4. He's passionate about history, music and kids and he's going to make a great teacher!
5. He introduced me to Camp Queen Elizabeth! Oh the memories!

*I don't have a good pic of him... so you'll have to settle for my Matthew Perry one.

80's Anthems

Often I'll hear a song in a mall or at a restaurant and I'm reminded of the movie it comes from. Sometimes I can't even recall the band's name but I know the movie that featured it!

This past week I kept hearing this one 80's song "If You Leave" which led to this blog!

Can you match these 80's movies with their anthem?

1. Pretty in Pink

2. Mannequin

3. The Breakfast Club

4. Say Anything

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

A. In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel

B. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Starship

C. If You Leave, OMD

D. Don't You Forget About Me, Simple Minds

E. Twist and Shout, The Beatles*

*not in fact an actual "80's pop song"... but popularized again in the 80's by this movie!

What to do?

so... I received a letter in the mail this week from an elderly-- and I expect well meaning-- lady that is a distant family friend. The letter was dated November 3rd and after some salutations stated:

"I was very sorry to hear of your mother's death. She suffered much yet was so very courageous. You will miss her dearly."

Thing is: I talked to my Mom November 10 and she's alive. I haven't spoken with her yet this week although now I'm feeling that much more inclined to call her... but what do you do?

Do I call the lady and tell her? Do I write her back and tell her? Do I let it pass?

In Another Life...

Do you ever think about other jobs that would suit you? According to an extensive profile I had done a few years back the career that suits me best is in the legal profession!?! But I think I would make a great casting director...
I have a compulsion where I write down the names of friends and who would play them in a movie/resembles them.

Here's a sampling:

My brother Jon: Matthew Perry
Tyler Mattheis: Daniel Craig
John Brunet: Matthew Macfadyen
Loni Smitts: Joan Cusak/Jennifer Garner
Joanne Hinzelmann: Barbara Hershey

"Who's going to turn down a junior mint?
It's chocolate, it's peppermint,
it's delicious. It's very refreshing."
–Kramer


A convenience store war is brewing down the street.

Events:

-friendly neighbourhood convenience store shuts down practically overnight
-renovations begin
-new cleaner and more organized convenience store opens up in its place
-it appears to be family run (father and young son at the cash)
-building I never noticed was empty, across the street*, opens up with giant fluorescent Bristol boards announcing it’s “Coming Soon”… one of the boards declares that the guys formerly across the street are starting up again in this new location
-who will I go to for my convenience needs… hmmm… the old guys always let me buy change for laundry and had a fresh supply of junior mints, sometimes they’d shoot the breeze with me… but the new store is run by this nice religious family…

*it’s hardly even across the street… it’s two car widths and a couple sidewalks apart…

November Rain

While I still can't fully recall the lyrics and tune to this Gn'R hit, I've been experiencing the November rain. I have a sturdy rain coat and even rain shoes... but the weather yesterday brought to my attention the need for rain pants. With the wind in Halifax the rain comes at you from all angles and an umbrella isn't necessarily your ally. Yesterday, the back of my pants were soaked through from a ten minute walk.

I'm not sure if it's a pathetic fallacy or what right now but the truth is...

I love the rain.

1996

I've been debating about whether or not I want to post this and usually I don't think that much about what I post (maybe you've noticed that ;) ... it's been on my heart a lot lately.

1996 was the worst, the hardest, the most challenging year of my life. It was so bad that at the end of it I made myself make a list of ten good things that came out of 1996. I like the list. I still have it.

Ten years ago today my friend Jon Benjafield died. He was 18 years old and just a month shy of his 19th birthday. He died suddenly from complications with his heart, at the University of Guelph, in his dorm room in South. I was in my last year of highschool. We were camp friends. We wrote letters through the school year for three years. How I adored him...

His was my first funeral... and it was weird because up until that time that year I had anticipated my mom's funeral being my first.

His death brought to life for me the urgency to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone.

Five Songs from that Time:

1. Kissing You- Des'ree
2. I will Remember You- Sarah McLachlan
3. Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
4. A Long December - Counting Crows
5. I'll Be Missin' You- Puff Daddy and Faith Evans

The Poppy

So it's like November 6th and I've already lost my poppy. I twice stabbed myself with the poppy-- once producing enough blood to warrant a bandaid! My Sunday school girls told me they use safety pins or other such devices with their poppies to avoid such injury. And then I noticed it was gone last night... the full pin was still on my jacket but the flower had disappeared!

I like wearing my Remembrance Day poppy and since moving to Halifax have participated in Remembrance Day events.

But when I think of poppies I'm also reminded of "the poppies" in the musical "The Wiz" (the funky motown version of the "Wizard of Oz"). Those poppies are alluring females dressed in red who sidetrack Dorothy and friends with their feminine charms. When I was in highschool we put on this production... I wasn't a poppy... I was a munchkin!

Which reminds me in highschool it was one of my goals to be part of the Remembrance Day assembly... and I almost acheived it. I was asked to be part of a drama involving correspondence between a newly wed couple- him off at war, her on the homefront... but I never made that assembly. I ended up missing school.

Top Five Favourite People of the Week:

so it's been awhile... but here they are:

1. Matt Rice
2. Carolyn Porter
3. Phil Shadd
4. Laurie Wang
5. Cristina Yang

good day things...

today I...

-read a little "Journey of Desire" an old favourite from a few years back which I picked up on sale yesterday
-spent good chunks of time with women I care for deeply
-had a thirty minute power nap
-was encouraged to care for the world and develop a heart for it with practical ideas!
-spent too much time trying to remember how "November Rain" goes...
-checked blogs
-enjoyed the "best Nov. 1st weather ever" day
-sang "Holy Holy Holy" to my Lord