Wonders in your own back yard

It's hunting season around here again....I hate this time of year...none of it has ever sat well with me, even as a child. But, because of the abundance of wildlife around here, it's a big part of the reason many people have chosen to live or cottage in the area. For the most part, I believe everyone is pretty responsible about it, but last week, at the beginning of the season, we found some folks just aren't. A calf about to come home from pasture was mistaken for a deer and shot in our west pasture. I don't understand that if someone isn't close enough to know the difference, why would you shoot into the bush (not to mention...it was on private property, with no permission given). Anyhow, it did nothing to improve my feelings about the sport, to say the least.

We brought the calf home to autopsy, and before we could dispose of the remains that were behind the bale yard, a group of Bald Eagles found them. It was breathtaking to look out and see at least eight of those amazing creatures gathered for a feast. There were at least 3 fully mature ones, with the other's either immature based on their plumage. We often see one or two at a time, but never a collection like that. It's no wonder that so many cultures find the bird such a source of beauty and inspiration....they are awe inspiring in their majesty. Even amid the frustration of needless loss, we are blessed to be living in a place that gives us such beauty in exchange.

Last night we headed into Portage for the Prairie Player's production of Play On at the Glesby centre. It was the first dinner theatre I've been to in years, and it was a really great night....something out of the ordinary, and wonderful fun. I was amazed at how many old friends I got the chance to connect with at the production as well. It was just what was needed after resurfacing from the recent sadness.

A quiet weekend around here. It's a nice change from some of the hectic circles of the past year. Time to do a little thinking about Christmas if the spirit will allow me to. I've been trying little baby steps, but it's really hard to get into the swing of the season yet...I'm not even sure if it'll happen at all this year, but we've got to keep trying.

I've been very proud of the fact that I've been able to maintain my walking...I'm now past my fifth full month, and have only missed 8 days. It's not doing as much as I'd like for my weight, but it does wonders for my spirit, and that's worth a million bucks right now. Unfortunately, I think I'm killing my treadmill slowly but surly. It died badly enough last week that when Cec and I had two days in the city, we spent the whole time running around looking for a replacement, that I never did find! Then when I came home and tried it, it worked fine again...until today when about 2 minutes from my finishing time it crashed again! Darn that jars you when you've got your momentum going! :( Oh well, maybe it's just needing a little rest before getting back at it tomorrow! I can only hope!

well, that's about it for today.
Till next time.

Lynda

www.musicwriter.ca

Catching my breath

Feels like we're finally being given a chance to catch our breath a little around here. Still pretty crazy on the farm, trying to get the last of the cattle home from pasture etc, but we've had the first of our snow, and if feels like we're starting to settle into the winter mode.
Things seem to have been coming together a little smoother the last week or so. Work seems manageable, there hasn't been too much craziness on the home front, and there seems to be a little time each day just to sit back and breathe. Feels like that's been missing for much of the last year.
I attended the Manitoba Farm Women's conference in Brandon last week. It was a really great collection of sessions and seminars on self care and stress management. Came at just the right time. When I actually charted all the stuff we've had to deal with over the past 12 months on a stress calculator, I realized just how hard the past 12 months have been. Now the goal is to try and keep that knowledge front and centre, and to bear it in mind each time I consider taking on something I don't truly have the time of passeion for, and to try to ensure I keep thing manageable for myself. No one else is going to do that for me!
Started getting the first mixes of the songs for the new album this week. I'm really happy with what's coming in. I just hope it'll be together in time for Christmas...but that's getting iffy now. It was never my worry to have it for Christmas, but it seems when it's this close to finished, it would be nice. We'll see what happens.
Not too much else happening of interest right now....that's nice for a change. We're hosting Ken Hamm at our Home Routes house concert next Tuesday, November 25th. After that there will be a break from the concerts for the holiday season, unti the restart in February.
Speaking of Christmas, I'd like to offer a free download of my Christmas song "Upon that Christmas star" once again. Go to
www.musicwriter.ca/tunes/15.htm
to get your free download. Sadly, blogger doesn't seem to be working for adding pictures or direct links properly for me right now, so you may have to access it manually. Althouth this is a free download for the Christmas song, it was written to support Winnipeg Harvest, and food banks across Canada. Because of that, I've committed all Socan royalties for this song to be donated to our foodbanks, so whenever you have a chance to support or request radio play that will work provide royalties, you can be sure that you are supporting foodbanks. It's critical that we remember that there are thousands of people across our country that don't feel the gift of joy that most of us are fortunate enough to experience when the holidays roll around. Let's all do what we can to change that!
Until next time.
Take care,
Lynda
www.musicwriter.ca

November Remembers

Another month has sped by, and more heartbreak in our household to deal with. Cecil's mother, Hazel Turner, passed away on October 27th. For the second time in six months we found ourselves coming to terms with the loss of a parent, and it all seems just too soon and hard to be doing that again. Rememberance day just around the corner, and that too seems extrememly tough this year as both my Dad and my Mother-in-law were veterans who served our country and deserved to be recognized at this time of year. This year that recognition brings more sadness than ever before.

October had some hightlights that need to be shared. On October 16th I got to check another thing off my 'to-do' list, when I got to see Neil Young in concert at the MTS centre in Winnipeg. What a show he put on...and two hours into his performance, his voice still never wavered. One half expects that time will steal the ability to rock away from us, but is certainly hasn't touched his performance one bit! I loved it, and am so glad that it finally happened.
We were trying to figure out just how old Neil was now, so a couple of weeks after the concert I had some time to kill, and did a little googling. I was blown away to learn of Neil and Peggy Young's involvement in the Bridges School in California. I'm particularly interested, as I've been doing my practicum on augmentative communication. Bridges School was founded to support communication for children who are unable to communicate verbally. They seem to be leaders in the field. The Young's son Ben has cerebral palsy, and sounds like he struggles with many of the same symptoms and challenges that Shane faces every day, and it was because of Ben that the Youngs founded the school in 1986. Of course all this new knowledge has lead to another to-do on my list. Every October they host a 2 days accoustic concert to raise funds for the school...so of course somewhere down the line I'm going to have to find a way to attend that one day. Sheesh! My list just never does get any smaller does it!

We were out in BC recording the final voice tracks for my second CD in October as well. All went well with that, and the hope is that the cd will be done by Christmas time, so that's a positive to help offset some of the heartaches of this year. Of course, some of those heartaches are reflected in the songs of this collection, but there are also songs with humor and of appreciation to offset the sadder tunes as well, so I hope it's a well rounded collection.

Our second Home Routes House Concert of the season was held the end of October, with Rose Cousins as the performer. Rose was a lovely lady from Halifax (a native of PEI though), who entertained us with songs off her "If you were for me" CD.
We had our first snowday of the year from school yesterday. We got about a foot of snow dumped on us here Thursday/Friday, so I guess old man winter has arrived in the valley. We're not as ready as we'd like to be with all the events that have taken place over the past few weeks, but then we never really do feel like we're ready for winter again anyways!

Till next time,
Take care,
Lynda
www.musicwriter.ca