dear craig

You are with the angels now in the presence of God, you have recieved the goal of your faith. No stress, no pressures, no more deadlines, no more meetings (although knowing you, you will convince everyone that there is a need for meetings in heaven and will be guiding them through Roberts Rules).

You were an incredible friend. Thanks for the many talks, I learnt so much from you about what it means to have a solid faith. You made me question things that I hadn't before and challenged me to grow in all aspects of my life - even the business and politic area). The life you lived was an inspiration.

I'll miss you so much. I don't know how we are going to do it next year without you here. Who is going to sit in on the meetings, faithfully read the minutes, and check the website everyday? Who's going to ask me to look over their papers for grammar errors? Who am I going to watch and quote the lines of Zoolander and Night at the Roxbury with? Who will I talk about 'So You Think You Can Dance?' episodes with? Who am I going to spend hours with counting loose change? I still think we should have invested in the change counting machine 2000. You were the only one I knew who could eat a full plate of extremely hot wings without breaking a sweat, and the only one who could ever convince me to try one.

Thanks for being such an upstanding leader, example, and man of God. Thanks for all your encouraging words and actions. Thanks for caring, thanks for being my friend.

Dance with the angels for me, just try not to break out the techno, Im not sure they could handle that.

I love you,

Katrina

making light of flight.

In about 5 days/120 hours/7200 minutes/432000 seconds I'll be in Alberta, but who's really counting anyways?
I'm really quite excited. The only little thing is that I'm a tad bit afraid of flying. Hopefully the person sitting beside me won't mind me holding their hand very tightly for about 5 hours.

In order to warm myself up for flying I was reading a bunch of airplane jokes, this one was my favourite.

Occasionally, airline attendants make an effort to make the "in-flight safety lecture" and their other announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:
1. From a Southwest Airlines employee.... "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane..."
2. Pilot -- "Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land...it's a bitcold outside, and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."
3. After landing: "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.
4. As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a lone voice comes over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"
5. After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced: "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after alanding like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."
6. From a Southwest Airlines employee.... "Welcome aboard SouthwestFlight XXX to YYY. To operate your seatbelt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seatbelt and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask beforeassisting with theirs. If you are traveling with two small children, decide now which one you love more.
7. Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."
8. "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."
9. "As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."
10. "Last one off the plane must clean it."
11. From the pilot during his welcome message: "We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry...Unfortunately none of them are on this flight...!
12. Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day. During the final approach, the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hardlanding, the Flight Attendant came on the PA and announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"
13. Another flight Attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroobounces us to the terminal."
14. An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline." He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment.
Finally, everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?"
"Why no, Ma'am," said the pilot, "what is it?"
The little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"
15. After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the Flight Attendant came on with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt up against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we'll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.
16. Part of a Flight Attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of us here at US Airways."

burnt stew

It is never a good sign when you come in from the barn and you are unable to untie the laces of your work boots due to the fact that your vision is impared from the smoke billowing from the kitchen.

Last night was my little brother's graduation and since my parents had to attend the grad dinner, my mom had prepared stew ahead of time. My Oma, with the best intensions, thought she would warm the stew for her starving grandchildren who were hard at work in the barn. According to Oma our stove is the wrong way, hence the reason why she turned the element to max instead of min. But don't worry, she 'saved' the stew by taking it out of the original pot, scraping out the burnt parts, and putting in a new pot so we would not even suspect what happened. Unfortunately, she didn't take into account the obvious clue of smoke lingering in the air and the fact that the stew tasted like woodsmoke (not that I have ever eaten wood that was smoked). Since my Oma felt bad enough we decided to choke down the stew, insisting that you couldn't even taste the difference. That night I discovered that there is a way of making old leftovers taste worse, burn it.
We tried to feed the rest to my dog Chester, but after the first lick he ran away with his tail between his legs.

Believe it or not when you compare other situations to burnt stew it has a way of enhancing them...
The following will be classified by using the burnt stew scenerio:
1 being burnt stew -- 10 being chocolate chip cookies

Missing an episode of 'So You Think You Can Dance' -- 5
Having Sarah repeatly fart on my lap -- 4
Being taken out by the knees by Chester -- 7
Weeding our one acre garden -- 6
Putting my hands in stinging nettles (again) -- 4
Being kicked in the head by a cow -- 2
McDonald hitting a clinch, inside the park homerun, in the 10th to win the game -- 9
Leafs not picking up any huge names in the draft -- 5
Watching someone break random things with their but cheeks -- 6
Watching the same annoying car commercial 8 times in one hour -- 4
Playing catch with Mike -- 8
Having a skunk spray its wonderful scent right outside our house -- 3
The fact that there are only 10 more days until I head on out to Alberta -- 15.4!!!!!!

Cheers darling!

winchester is on the map baby!

The one and only Rick Mercer came to Winchester for our annual hospital fundraiser.
Nope, not making this up, the picture is proof. But if you still don't believe me check this out.

I can just see it now... you will all be turning green with envy as you watch my hometown on national television.

easy silence

A professor strides into his classroom, the chatter of students subside as they turn to face the front. Some of them eager to learn, while others are there with the sole purpose to obtain a credit. The professor turns towards his class, but does not say a word, he stands in silence, staring.
The students wait, note books open, ready for him to begin casting pearls of wisdom. Yet, he does not speak.
The only sound in the room is the constant ticking of the clock. Five minutes go by, then ten... *coughing, awkward shifting* Some students get up to leave. Still, he does not utter a word.
Finally, 23 minutes later, when the students feel like they could not take this any longer, the professor asks, "What is happening here?"
He pauses, looks each student in the eye, " What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?"
"Why do people only feel comfortable when they are filling the air with words?"

Awkward silence... something I hate, something most of us hate (if I can make that assumption). I'm sure we have all been in a situation where we are with someone, or even a group of people, and all of the sudden the convorsation runs dry. There is usually a long pause as you rack your brain for something to say, and then the moment is saved as someone pipes up with a comment about the weather. Fantastic, relief is felt and the convorsation continues.
Now, I will admit that I am usually the pipey person... the one who 'saves' the convorsation. But why? What is it with silence?
Why do we feel like we always have to fill our lives with noise? While we are driving - crank the tunes. While we are cleaning - crank the tunes. While we are with people - talk, talk, talk. While the family is sitting in the playroom - tv on in the background.
Don't get me wrong, I love to listen music, I love to talk, and I even love to watch tv... But honestly, I think we drown out life sometimes, forget to enjoy it for what it is.
If I was the doctor of this world, I would perscribe a good dose of easy silence.
The silence that is allowed to happen between people. When two or more people are sitting in the same room and no words are needed; there is no pipey person.
The silence when you are in the house by yourself, you hum, you sing, you dance.
The silence that lets you think. Getting lost in the thoughts that are scary, taking you places you really don't want to go, forcing you to deal with the stuff that you rather just not, making you truely realise what you have been compromising... Getting lost in the thoughts that are incredible, taking you places you really want to go, giving space to contemplate the great things in life, allowing you to dream...
The silence that surrounds you as you sit outside on summers night. Crickets singing, birds chirping, wind rustling through the trees, as you watch the sun set.

The silence that feels like a gift, the easy silence.

songs that make me sing

Weak in the Knees - Serena Ryder

Easy Silence - Dixie Chicks

This Love - Maroon 5


You Love To Sing - Copeland