My Brother COLIN, my English Idol....

This is my big brother Colin, he lives in England (as do all my family) and has just retired from 40 years in our family's cardboard box factory, which has now been sold. Our grandfather William built the factory in the early 1900's catering to the hat trade, as we were born in Luton which was the birthplace of the straw hat and he saw the potential, but that is another story.

Colin beat me into the world by 7 years, the war years intervening with my parents' relationship, which unravelled completely when I was but two and a half and Colin was 10.

I managed to stay with my Mother, but Colin was bounced back and forth quite a bit and they were not so happy years for him. I missed him dreadfully. He was and still is my big brother who I love dearly and miss so much. After school he went into the factory, but then went for a stint to a Real Estate's Office before going into the Guards. Yes, my brother was a Grenadier, I was just so proud of him...he saw action too, (they don't ALL stand outside Buckingham Palace!) in the mid 50's in Cyprus and missed being killed by a landmine due to the fact he was in the jeep, his buddies in the armoured truck behind weren't so lucky.

He came home a changed man, and went into the Factory where he remained and carried on when our Father retired at 54. Colin is an amazing handyman, he has a great eye and does most things to perfection. He is a "fixer upper", a builder, carpenter, you name it, he can do it. Very mechanically minded as well. I sure could use him in my house for a month!!

Although he is a big,tall man and can look quite daunting, he has a very soft side, which is just wonderful this became very obvious when he became a grandfather. He married Wendy Batt in 1969, they had two boys, Noel and Jonathan. Noel went on to have twin boys and Jonathan has three girls.

Colin has a marvellous sense of humour, can recite jokes for hours, whistle just as long and has the most sarcastic english sense of humour I have ever heard, I used to be able to keep pace, but that was long ago. Now I hardly understand his lingo!

It was very difficult emigrating to Canada with Romy and losing that strong contact with my brother. We only saw each other for short periods of time after that, when we went on vacation. When my children were younger and flew over alone, he made a point of taking them on an outing....they have souveniers, a patining of a double decker bus, pictures of feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square, a cuckoo clock as they were fascinated by theirs etc. He was referred to as Big Uncle Colin, to distinguish him from my son "little Colin".

Colin moved away from our home town when he retired and lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire which is slightly north and to the right of the middle of England. He has been travelling since retirement, but unfortunately Wendy doesn't like flying, so a trip to Canada isn't in their plans.

I have been trying to get Colin to come on his own around hunting season, he loves the outdoors and does a lot of r'ving. He doesn't want to leave Wendy on her own, which of course I understand.

Memories of my brother Colin are all good, except when he chased me round the piano and I needed stitches after hitting my eye on the corner of said piano, or when we fell off the motorbike he had been forbidden to give me a ride on to school, and so couldn't tell my Mother why I was limping or how my coat came to be so dirty!

I do remember knocking people over on the train platform, when he returned from Cyprus, we were so anxious to see him and check he was all in one piece. I wasn't happy when he used to come after my boyfriends and haul them out of pubs, because "did they know I was underage!!!"..or "you are too old to be taking my sister out, if you lay a hand on her etc. etc."..........he was certainly a daunting sight for said boyfriends. Even when I dated a fellow Grenadier and one of his buddies one time, he came along! Boy, talk about being protected!!!

We had one last holiday together, it was 1968....and we met them in Brittany, France.
Romy, was stationed with the RCAF in Germany, where I met him and we were engaged. Colin and his young family and our Father, stepmother and younger siblings were vacationing there. We camped close to Guerande, they were r'ving, we had a tent.

Great memories of that holiday, we showed them how to look for satellites and a huge roar went up when we saw one....they were few and far between in 1968.
We were the family who ate the most Langoustines (huge prawns) in one sitting, commandeered a small bus to take us to a market (both my Father and Brother have a commanding presence, which people don't like to mess with). I also remember their stunned faces, when Romy came onto the beach in american style longer swimming trunks,(all men wore speedo's back then) his CLOGS, aviator sunglasses, a beer and a cigar. The fact he was also "only" 5'7" alerted them to the fact I was very serious about this guy!

I only dated tall guys!....My Father, three brothers AND my sister are all over Six Feet. (I am the runt, it was the war......)Actually my sister says she isn't six feet, she is Five Feet Twelve and a half Inches!!

So my brother is very, very important to me, he was and still is my Idol, when I grew up, I couldn't wait to have a son so I could name him after my brother, and now I am hoping he can persuade his wife to come out and visit me here in Canada someday.

Love you big brother.....

NOW HERE IS WENDY, My Sister in Law...



I don't know a lot about Wendy, her Father was in the Royal Airforce as a Wing Commander and they travelled the world quite a bit, I know Wendy makes the best Chinese Food there is. She loves gardening, likes a clean house and doesn't like wishy washy people. She was hairdressing when my brother met her, a very petite girl, well she still is, she never had a weight problem. Lucky girl.

Being under 5'2" my brother dwarfed her, but she was tough enough to bring up two boys, Noel and Jonathan. She then helped with the raising of Noels twin sons, Sam and Ben with my brother, when Noels' marriage fell apart.

Wendy has one brother and one sister. Her beloved Father died some time ago after retiring from the forces and opening a sport shop. Her Mother quite recently.

Wendy is one of those people who always looks "put together". She could fall into a pool, brace a hurricane,or nearly drown in a downpour, and she would come out ot it with her hair in tact and her nailpoish and jewellery still perfectly placed. Even the pendants she wore didn't seem to ride up the neck as so many do. She continued to style peoples hair from her home, and when the empty nest syndrome hit, took up lawn bowling which she did very well in, likes to go r'ving, enjoys a drop of plonk as my brother does, but hasn't managed to give up smoking yet.

The last time we saw Auntie Wendy and Big Uncle Colin was May last year, when our little Canadian family went on a memory lane trip to Europe for four weeks. Little Colin and Big Uncle Colin were finally together. We met close to where our late parents had lived, had a nice long pub lunch and a walk around the famous pottery factories in Poole.

When we meet up, its like we were never apart, its just like going back in time, we just pick up where we left off, we went through a lot together, sometimes our childhood was difficult, more so for my brother. Luckily he met Wendy, had two fine sons and now has grandchildren to keep him content.

Calli, thought Big Uncle Colin was just the cats' miaow, her little sister Marin was still 3 months away from being born, and has yet to meet her Uncle and Auntie across the pond....next year hopefully.

Happy Retirement, Colin and Wendy!

COLIN, My number #1 Son

Finding a picture of my favourite and only son proved a little difficult, the ones I had were all with family and his two favourite nieces! This picture was taken in Tofino last year on a family holiday. He is named after my big brother Colin and the name is also derived from Nikolaus, which was his maternal great grandfathers name.

Colin was a serious child from the beginning, as long as he had food, juice and treated to cake, he was a happy little soul, but always had a contemplative look.
His first professional photo was a challenge to the photographer who finally said, "this is one serious little boy, can I take it without him smiling?" I was never sure, was he really deep in thought or was he just day-dreaming?

Actually he has an infectious laugh and can be the life of the party, but it takes some doing! I wish I could post the picture of him a foot off the ground doing his famous "Rasputin" Ukrainian Dancing (at which he excels), at a charity benefit for the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, a year or so back, it was so good, they made him repeat the performance, which almost killed him!!!

Colin spent most summers in England with his grandparents, sometimes with his big sister and many times without. He preferred the latter as he was spoilt rotten. Apart from his grandparents, there were the doting Aunties who just couldn't wait to get their hands on this serious little boy to make him laugh. This worked with trips to zoos, playgrounds, beaches and the inevitable sweet shops found as frequently as the English Pub in the UK. Grandad and Nanna Peta rented a beach hut for them for a couple of summers and sent him sailboarding in Poole, the largest natural harbour in the world. Very shallow and perfect for the sport.

He loved animals from an early age, participated in soccer for a while, spent quite a long time in Beavers and Cubs, but excelled when he went into Sea Cadets and found that he had quite the ability to teach as well as learn. He spent almost 7 years with Cadets, we were so very proud of him as he worked his way to the top, winning all kinds of awards.

Colin went one summer to Holland on a Cadet exchange and related his experiences on a postcard home....he had been "sailing on the Royal Yacht, (without Queen Beatrix though) touring the marijuana shops and red light district of Amsterdam and managing some Cadet sailing on the Atlantic as well!!" Interesting postcard, I didn't faint when reading it, but was definitely a bit dizzy!

He worked summers at a lumber mill, stacked shelves at Overwaitea, and spent one summer with his girlfriend of three years working for Forestry, these jobs saw him through a Science Degree and then a lens making job at Lenscrafters. helped a little as he went on to Naturopathic College. He is now a Doctor living in Toronto doing a 2 year residency with the same College, it is a diverse but demanding job, but he also managed to start up a practice outside of the college one day a week.

He studied 9 years and coped with my heart attacks, back operations and the only, but fatal illness of his Father and the deaths of his grandparents. A very, very tough time for such a serious kid. His father had absolutely no fear whatsoever that he wouldn't graduate, he just knew he would do it and he sure did, graduating last year.

Last year in between exams and grad he, his 6 month pregnant sister, her husband and their 2 year old daughter and myself went to Europe to retrace where their Father and I met and to visit Uncle David, now a widower and then friends and a godmother in Germany and Switzerland. They saw the vineyard where we met and the town where we got engaged etc...they were also welcomed with open arms by their Fathers' "german family" who rented an apartment on their vineyard to their Dad. They got to drink a lot of wine, learn how it was made, and to meet their children and grandchildren. It was a great four weeks touring five countries.

Colin was fascinated by the history, scenery, high alpine roads and the architecture of Europe. One day he was standing on very old, worn steps, I believe it was in Salzburg, Austria and was deep in thought...it was the year of Mozarts 150th birthday and his music was wafting down the alleyway from a student playing a piano in a courtyard...I asked what he was thinking and he said "just think of all the humanity that has walked down these steps over hundreds of years, wearing these steps down and now I add my footsteps to them" it moved him and I knew he loved Europe as I do, he even looked at the possibilities of working there, so who knows what the future holds for him.

As parents we were very lucky that through his teenage years he didn't seem to want to venture too far, or party too hard, but was more set on a career....now he is a fully fledged Naturopathic Doctor. Seems so strange to call him Dr.

He is planning on doing a lot more travelling, but first he is establishing himself in the working world, and he is slowly getting out of student mode and spending a little more on groceries these days!

So this is my son, he lives alone, no serious girlfriend, but is thinking of sharing his apartment soon - with a cat! I am one lucky Mummy to have such a great kid, love you.

Now, my next post should be his namesake, my brother Colin.............stay tuned!

HARRIET, the resident cat.

Today I introduce you to my resident cat, Harriet, she was called Hairy Harriet, now its just plain "Harrie".

She came via the SPCA in December 99. A pal for our 7 year old Pookie. It took Harrie a year to accept Romy, she didn't like men at all and especially if they wore a baseball hat. She had obviously suffered in her first 8 months of life. She will be 8 at Christmas and is very laid back.

She stayed in for a year, then ventured out, coming home with offerings, never an empty mouth. The she came home one day smelling of rotting fish. The final straw was the skunk, and after suffering through a tomato juice bath in the kitchen sink, she wasn't as anxious to go out anymore and is now an inside cat (with the occasional escape for some green grass and fresh air).

She had one traumatic experience since living with us when the workman came to fix our furnace in the crawlspace. Harriet wandered round the trapdoor and it fell on her. How she survived I don't know, hearing the bang I rushed in and she was sitting chewing her lip, I saw her jaw was hanging open, blood pouring out etc. She kept falling over.

"Apparently" I got hysterical about this time (I find that hard to believe) and called Romy at work to come home immediately, we had to go to the hospital. He was not impressed when he got here thinking I had had another heart attack to learn we had to get to the vet.....however after viewing the cat, he scooped her up and away we went. The vet said her skull wasn't fractured, the jaw was not broken but dislocated, she did have teeth in her lip and both her upper and lower sharp incisors(fang) teeth were broken in half.....so he put her under anaesthetic and the jaw went back into place on the first try, he didn't find any other injuries although her eye was a bit swollen and probably "black" .... she recovered quickly with anti biotics and pain killers. Recovery for Romy and I took a little longer after we saw the vet bill!

So Harriet has an odd grin now and is a bit shy of smiling, but she declined more dental work and manages to eat with her two half teeth and the one missing.

Cats are pretty uncanny, and both were quick to give support to Romy when he fell sick, they were always on the bed or couch, or sitting on the table with him when he did crosswords etc. It was their awful howls on the night he died, which alerted me. Pookie just pined for her master and faded away 3 months later.

So now its Harrie and me..........she is a great bodyguard, the minute I get up from anywhere she is infront of me leading the way, braving the unknown down the hallway, into the kitchen etc.
This is simply astounding to me, how a cat, deep in sleep, fully stretched out, can leap and be ahead of me within 3 seconds of me moving. I am NOT a morning person, and anyone who has had the misfortune to wake me or see me wake up, has never wished to repeat that experience, and I so admire cats for being able to do that. Unbelievable.

She is at this minute stretched out, basking in the last of the suns rays coming through the patio door......if I get up from my chair and start towards the door, she will be right there, and so I have to disturb her as have an appointment to get my snowtires on at 5pm. So better get going.

Today was minus 11 at sunrise, up to a balmy minus 1 right now, but no snow today and no power outages here in town, thank goodness.

The TV addiction

This is Marin and Calli enjoying cartoons one afternoon as the weather turned ugly and both were suffering from snotty noses, so they wished to snuggle up. The new Lion sleeping bag unzipped flat which they thought was lovely, cuddly. However it is the deep concentration on the 14 month olds face which amazes me. How can they become so attached to tv so soon in life?

Marin now has to say "please" for anything she wishes for, and, as she is only starting to use a few words, this is beyond her but she says "puh", very, very repetitively when she finds the rice cakes or something similar. We had bought a small box of Timbits when getting coffees the other day, (a very infrequent occurrence) and I was throwing away the box.....when this little creature quickly came shuffling up to me saying "puh, puh, puh"......again she had recognised the box and remembered the little donut she had been allowed to eat as a treat.

Seeing it going in the garbage was very traumatic and I had to find something quickly to divert her attention, luckily there was a squirrel running by outside and she watched it.

As TV, Timbits are all limited in their household, how is it that they can be so entranced and so focused on certain things, their memory bank now stamped with a picture of a timbit box etc?

Yes, as I was watching the Amazing Race tonight and then Desperate Housewives, it occurred to me that I am as bad, my days of the week go by the daily tv show I wish to watch.........and I wonder where my grandchildren get it from? DUH!!!! Their mother and I will phone each other as to possible outcomes during those shows.....DUH!!

It is extremely cold here tonight, such a biting chilly wind, one that just seems to go through you, and believe me to go through me that is a pretty strong biting wind!!! It is currently minus 8 and a clear, twinkly star night, which I only have the knowledge of as I just had to put the garbage out. Where is a man when I need one?

Tried taking pictures of my cat tonight, but the minute the shutter goes down halfway and the red light comes on her face, she squints, silly cat......guess its time for a consultation with my technology expert in the morning! Hello Montreal????

The Perfect Smile

Although I don't know how to get the red eye out, I love this picture of my favourite "girl".
Again this was at supper at Bert and Sylvias place.................we had opened the last bottle of wine that Romy had saved over the years. It was a Bacchus from Domaine de Chaberton of Langley, BC 1997 vintage. It was a great wine and we toasted Romy as we savoured it.

My girl has had an amazing life already, always popular, loved ballet, soccer, drama, travelled to the UK regularly as she grew up, and to Switzerland to her godmother on occasion. She was a prolific writer and poet, had some great experiences as an Au Pair in Germany, travelling to her hosts Chalet to ski in Austria, to their boat in Italy for summer vacations, attending the last Kurt Cobain concert in Munich, before his untimely death etc. As a flight attendant she was in her element, as she loves people, helping and caring for them. Her role as bride, then mother has also been met with the nurturing abilities she has, even managing to ace her Herbalist course in between babies.

Of course her Crohns illness cut short her teenage silly years, almost losing her life, she had go grow up and mature too fast, she managed to do that though with aplomb, doing homework from her hospital bed.

Losing her Grandparents, her Nanna and her Dad all within three years has been especially hard and again, she has come through, altered, a little tougher but still my "little girl".

That is how I see her of course, she is my best friend as well as my daughter, I am privileged to share that with her, as I did with my Mother. I always hoped this could happen and I hope that she in turn will have that relationship with her girls.

She also loves her brother unconditionally and worries and cares for him, far more than she lets him see, but that is a whole different story.

Love you Jennilynnie............

Oma and Opa

On their last evening, "the girls" were invited to supper with Sylvia and Bert. Calli asked for chicken and Opa had to coax her to eat it, as it had "bits" in it. She did well and was allowed whipped cream on her apricot/custard flan. Calli is a bit scared of the dog who is only one and quite boisterous, but loves the three cats.

We saw 26 deer on the way out plus three bucks which I only just managed to miss as they dashed across the road. It was a fun evening and the girls both fell asleep on the way home.
Calli loves Oma's jam, and along with a new "lion" sleeping bag and some sweat shirts, Calli now has 12 jars of different jams. As I had added to Callis winter wardrobe as well, Jenni found herself having to pack another suitcase to get all the loot back home!

Needless to say, when we woke this morning rather late, it was snowing, raining, slushy and fogged in! We went to the airport expecting the worse as we couldn't even see the runway, but the pilot who had been on a "weather advisory" since leaving Vancouver managed to come in. We had readied the house/cat/me in preparation of a drive to Vancouver, but it wasn't necessary.

The house is so quiet, I miss them already. Although we were all so sick with head colds, we managed to have a good time, even if we couldn't visit anyone. Everything else in my life was put on the backburner so we could enjoy these precious moments, they grow up so quickly and change in the blink of an eye, nothing is more important than spending as much time as we can together.

Calli and Marin are so lucky to have such involved parents and Callis manners are constantly remarked upon by others....even little Marin now knows she has to say "puh, puh" before she is allowed anything, that is the closest she can come to please yet, but she knows the concept, as is well endorsed when she finds the hidden ricecakes! She drags the bag to Jenni and says "puh, puh" etc., she does love her food, although only certain things!

Okay, I will stop bragging now. Well, I have introduced you to my BF Marie, and my BF's Bert and Sylvia along with two of the most precious granddaughters, who is next, stay posted.......
and you can comment, I changed the setting, so you don't have to be a blogger to comment!

Now, if I can just remember to take my digital with me, take photos......my oh my, so much to remember in my dotage.....wow!

Maiden Voyage

Ahoy Everyone, I just set sail on a new adventure............this is my first Blog and very first picture I took with my new digital camera. Jennilyn has been visiting for two weeks with my two favourite girls, we all fell sick with terrible colds and couldn't visit anyone. Marie just couldn't stay away any longer and decided she would brave the germs for a quick lunch hour visit as they leave tomorrow. On one of our few outings, Jenni helped me buy a camera and explained all this modern technology to me.....phew!

So my Snugglebunny and little Marin got hugs from their "Aunty Marie" before she had to go back to work.

Jenni finished packing and leaves at 1300hrs tomorrow, staying in the big city and then a direct flight back to Montreal on Friday morning. Although we were all snotty nosed, it was sort of nice to just hang out and observe and join in the fun and games, two toddlers can dream up 24/7...............while we were busy collapsing the Kleenex boxes for recycling and disinfecting all surfaces touched every few hours, using the hot wash on the washing machine and all dishes went into the dishwasher! Hopefully we have "the bug" contained and didn't pass it on to any poor lost soul.

Oh, I forgot to mention "Dad" went a'hunting and although sick as well, managed to trudge through bush, mountains, fell and glens to bring home the "bacon" or in this case, (hopefully) some good moose meat and sausage. He is keeping the home fires burning also with kleenex boxes and looking forward to "his girls" return.

I better stop and let Jenni get to bed, a long day ahead, car seats, luggage, stroller and two toddlers, backpacks etc.....she is a bit panicked (wonder why).......of course I keep reminding her of how courageous I was when I was young, carting her and Colin off to England at regular intervals to visit their stack of english relatives without any problems at all. (Please.....no comments about my age and memory loss okay!)....also of course I took only ONE suitcase for 6 weeks....etc!!!

bye for now, if I can dock this Blog properly and weigh anchor, well then my maiden voyage will be successful and I will endeavour to make a return trip, really soon!