riddle me this

two tonight - the first one is - guess what I am? the second is a puzzle - add all the photo parts together come up with a word or phrase....


what am I? (1 point)








An extra point will be given to whoever guesses who is in the last picture in this set. So for this set of photos, you will add the photos together to create a title. That's a pretty big clue...

So tonight there are three points up for grabs. Good luck!

get a star

Alright - so I'm being too easy, am I? The correct answer was blueberry but that was actually my mouth. It was the super sized one that no one has beaten the record on... yet. I've been trying to do some homework on whether or not my blueberry was any kind of feat of nature. Right now, it appears that people just simply aren't interested in large fruit... unless it is enormous or super petite. So I guess I will hereby proclaim that I found the largest one until someone proves me wrong. (This shouldn't be too hard - I read one site that said their plants grew quarter size berries... but hand no actual proof of said fruit.)

So here is how you will get your star tonight -



minus eel



plus a word that rhymes with this

Enjoy - if that makes any sense at all.

because the first one was too easy :)

and no - this isn't something dirty - you dirty little birds - after I cropped (hint) the photo I realized that it also looked like... well something that it isn't - good luck

what am I? (might be too easy)

Stars will be awarded for correct answer.
.

fun times

During BBDays Kyle took in his first amusement park rides. Before I hit the hay I wanted to share a couple.

Pure Joy

Michael - Look at me in my cute new hat!

Hooray for rides.... more tickets, please.

Today at the gym another mom was telling me she had braved the ferris wheel and then said 'I don't know how I got on that ride, it's one thing to go to Disneyland where you can lick the ground, it's another to get on a ride constructed by people on acid'. Thanks for reminding me about that. I was nervous enough watching him drip on for dear life on the dragon roller coaster...

hint taken

Alright, so I guess racism is a little too much for the readers. So in that vein I will lighten the mood and share with you my discovery. The largest blueberry that I've ever seen. Please see the photos below. What I would like to propose is that all readers/viewers buy blueberries this season, and while eating them, carefully inspect them for size. If you find a blueberry that is larger in diameter than mine, I will mail you a jar of jam. I will mail it to anyone, anywhere - even if you aren't a regular reader/user of the site. In order to receive a jar, you must provide photostatic proof of your discovery. The berry must be whole - you can not smmmmsh it and then take a diameter reading. While we are on the topic of abnormally large objects - anyone seen any other vegetables/fruit that were larger than normal?

More than 7/8 of an inch in diameter and 1/2 inch in depth.

racism

First of all, sorry for being a lazy blogger. I've been reading and writing at other blogs, but not really doing much to mine. Well I'm back - full of a rant.

It was Billy Barker Days this weekend in the goldpan city and, rain aside, things seemed to go well. It looked like there were lots of people in town and things were busy. We went to the parade; we go every year. We are sitting there and a display goes by of a skidster... hmm - that's the wrong word. Anyways, it is a car that is equipped with four additional wheels to help you learn how to drive in snowy conditions (skid control). It does a big spin near us and as this is going on a group of east indian woman come to the curb. The people behind us tell them to wait and I guess one of them made a face. The car spins by again and with that the woman start to walk across the street. Now this could have easily been a case of the woman not understanding english. The people behind us then proceed to get all fired up about. What are you going for? I guess that's what you get for trying to help people out. (So granted, I didn't see any of their faces in all of this, but I'm pretty sure that no one gave the bird, or anything like that.) And the one girl, more loudly says, maybe you should just go back to you own country then. I was shocked into silence. Ok, so start thinking about - should I have said anything?

Now after this little production at the parade - that really left me thinking. How can people continue to be so unkind and thoughtless towards others? Not just about race but about understanding others... I won't deny that I've had some pretty awkward introductions to people I've only talked to on the phone, as they assume that I would be chinese... of course I only married into a last name. So I'm in an interracial relationship - yes we've had looks and I think both our families are quite reasonable about race and race issues.

Ok - so I've been through the parade, I've had time to think and then this happens:
Setting: my kitchen
Opening scene: we had just come home from bb days activities, and we are chatting
Characters: husband, me, mom (mother in law)
We are chatting and mom asks, where was czechoslovakia? I bumbled, thinking maybe it was part of russia at some point. So I agree that maybe it was a part of the soviet union at one time (no it wasn't). And then I hear this, - I figured it was part of russia, there is a woman in the office, she is very sneaky... again I am shocked and surprised at her comments... So again I ask... what could/should have been said?

My grandparents were racists and one of my cousins. My grandma hates japan, as she fought in world war 2 and at 81 continues her dislike for them. My grandparents were more focused on insulting native people and my cousin for whatever reason decided at four years old that she couldn't watch the NBA because of black people - to which I told her, I like them and I was watching and she could go do whatever she wanted. I think my parents tried to show us the good in everyone. I hope to pass that along to my kids.

Alright I have work to do - Blueberry competition coming... watch for new post soon!

me sista

I just had one of those... gees that makes me think of mel moments... here you go kid - this ones for you

It is a fair bit pixelly... the little dude is saying woot woot

home again

My parents ended up staying with us for two nights and then the third day they got antsy and decided to risk driving back out to get more stuff. Large sections of the road have been burned - 10 - 20 km at least. The fire seemed to make a snake like path through the Nazko valley. They meet up with the forest crews at the school and were told that houses near the river should be ok because the crews had sprinkler systems that would sit on homes in the event that the fire got close enough. The fire has come within 30 miles of my parents house, which might sound far away but if the fire were to pick up speed it could hit them in a very short period of time.

There are a few fires near each other and the concern is that they will merge. So the valley is still on 2 hour notice but my parents have decided to stay out there. They got 2 hours of rain yesterday and I guess that that and the sprinkler system made them believe that it was ok to stay. So we will play it by ear from here on in. There isn't ash falling out there anymore (they had more than a day of ash falling just a few days ago) so I think until that happens again they will stay.

Michael had his 6 month check up - he is now 18 1/2 lbs and 27 inches tall. My doctors office has made the big leap to technology so each office is now equipped with a laptop and he just sits there and punches everything in. So I ask something and he goes... click click click - that means this... he punched in all Michael's stats and it showed the growth chart changing... he is in the 50 percentile for weight and 75 percent for height. Kyle was easily at the 100 percentile for weight and about the same for height. Other than the growth stuff he is ahead of schedule on the doing stuff list (those without children.. the doctor has a list of 20ish things your baby should be doing for 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months - they read off the thing, you say yes or no.. say no a lot they give you help... say yes a lot.. you wonder why you come in). He really has the hang of backwards crawling. He can get all over the place now. It won't be long before he has forward. Food stuff - well he appears to be allergic to wheat and potato - so I'm holding off on introducing them again for a while. My mom has suggested we see a naturopath - any thoughts from the blogger gallery on this?

I'm bagged - I've been up since 5. Have a great weekend. And as my grandma says, be good and if you can't be good, be safe.

more photos and fire

As I'm typing my little computer (finally fixed - only took two months) is loading up my digital photos from Jon's wedding and with any luck I will post some here in the next few minutes.

So my parents were evacuated from Nazko (1 1/2 hours west of Quesnel). I'm not sure of all the details but the fire that is approaching is 80 km wide and is moving pretty fast. They've closed off the main access hwy to the valley and everyone is on a secondary crap road to get out. They are worried that the secondary road will also have flames on it so they are asking everyone to pack up.

My parents actually haven't arrived at the house yet tonight - they were packing valuables at 9:30. So this has prompted me to think about this - what do you pack? You've got one hour, or less - what do you take with you? Why are we such a possessive culture when a mere fire could cause us to lose everything and have to start over? So please share what you would grab as you left your home, maybe for the last time.

I know that I would take my computer and photo disks. I would also take my photo albums and scrapbooks. After that I think it would be hit and miss for stuff. I guess you can replace most things with insurance. As I sit here though there is rafts of stuff that I would be pretty sad to lose. So everyone tonight let's all send some good thoughts (pray if you're into that) to everyone in the province and the west that is having to run from fire tonight.

pics...

Me and Andy

Brendan trying to play with a squirrel

Veitch performing acts against physics

Jon and Sheryl getting ready to cut the cake

photos

ok - for some stupid reason blogger is not letting me upload photos tonight - so please click on the flickr link (that box of moving photos on the left) and it will take you to all of the wedding photos ... ARG! Why did I stay up until 2am to load them all just to have it fart out on me - Blah!

wedding

As promised, here are some of the photos. If you click on the flickr link you will find a bunch more and there will be even more in a couple of days. These are the photos I scanned and cropped.

I also wanted to mention that Jon and Sheryl picked the best wedding song ever. I hadn't heard it before and as it played everyone around me was just captured by it. 'Who is singing this?' whispered through the crowd. I had remembered Andy saying something about the Dixie Chicks, so I said, I thought it was them. You could then clearly tell it was. This played as Sheryl walked down the aisle and as they walked back together as Mr & Mrs Jon Gardiner. It brought tears to my eyes.

I've placed the lyrics below, in case you are interested. As a result of 'Lullaby' being played at the wedding I went and bought the CD on the way home. Click here to have a short listen to the song.


They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up