It's my turn now....

Happy New Year my friends…a new year…a slate wiped clean..another chance to begin again, start fresh, start new…to change what has been to something different..something more…that is what I think every new year at this time…

But this year is different…this year I feel change coming…not just for me, but for all of us, if we choose to let it be so…change will always occur…time moves on..but that is not what I am talking about here…something is in the air, I feel it…and it will bring with it something new, something different, something good…this year is not like any other year I’ve ever known…and at 61, that’s saying something…

I felt something similar when I was 23…I was told because of reproductive surgery that I would never have children…but something was in the air in that new year…1977..I had my surgery at Christmas…I was pregnant in February and birthed my eldest son on November 1st…went on to have four more children and eight grandchildren…

The same when I was 46..in the year prior, my youngest son was trying to find his niche…he was a big kid, who looked 3 yrs older than he was…I had signed him up for soccer two yrs. prior…and he loved it…that year he became goalie for his team, so at Christmas I stretched to buy him a signatured soccer ball, because I felt the same thing…something was coming, something was in the air…the new year came in…1999…he and his team not only went to finals for the county, they went on to play finals for the province…and took the Soccer Cup from Acton, ON, which had held that cup undefeated  for ten years! Not only did they take the Cup, but the two heretofore unheard of Grand Valley teams, ousted Acton and ended up playing against one another…so it didn’t matter which team won..the Cup would go to Grand Valley for the first time in ten years! It was one of the most playful soccer games I ever watched…the kids just had fun, because they were playing with their schoolmates…in case you were unaware, the words ‘soccer’ and ‘playful don’t go together as a rule…and that year, more importantly my youngest boy came into his own…found himself…because of it, he became who he is now…an amazing young man with guts and heart…you see what I mean? There was something in the air that year…

And I’m so up for it…I remember those two years and others I haven’t cited, where this feeling came in and change for the good, undeniably astounding change for the good came with it…I’m up to the plate and it doesn’t matter how many times in other years I’ve ‘struck out’..I know I’m going to whack this baby ‘out of the park’!  Change is in the air for sure…and it’s my turn now…

The Promise - Narnia Christmas Tribute (LWW)

I saw this video a few days back...I've been saving it for tonight...for Christmas Eve...this is the night above all nights...the one night of the year that has us hoping for something more, almost reaching for it...this is the one moment to remember what has been...a little child that changed the world forever...but..it is about what will be...no one ever thinks what it is they're hoping for...but this one night, if we're honest with ourselves, we hope for something new to happen...something that will change us...if it changes us...we will change our world...it's not just about what has been, but what is surely to come...I cannot say it is a belief I have...it is something I know...something I've known since I was a child...he has been here once...it is why we celebrate this day...he will come back..I know it because he promised us he would...what would it be like if he came back at Christmas? Every year as long as I can remember, I've hoped and prayed to see him...but at Christmas, well...that would be so wondrous...people think I'm crazy to hope for any of this...but I'd rather be called crazy, than give up on the one thing, the one person, who, in a heartbeat will change this world forever...he did that once, and he was just a baby...what would he do now, for he is a baby no longer...

....whatever you hope for this Christmas, it is my fondest wish that you receive it...this is my hope for this Christmas, and every one yet to come...Merry Christmas, my friends.

Who Knew?

Posted on June 16, 2015by Catherine Mary

I have been reading R. H. Heinlein for as long as I can remember.  He’s a science fiction author, who’s been writing since the late 1950’s. Imaginative, extremely creative and definitely strange…way out on the far side…not ordinary sci-fi…from “The Rolling Stones” to  “The Mark of the Beast”, this man has never written anything that wasn’t completely off the grid…which is why I liked him and read him…

Science fiction is NOT my usual cup of tea, but when I was pregnant with my daughter (2nd of 4), my brother-in-law introduced him to me…and BECAUSE he was such an unusual writer, I got hooked and have never left the spot, as it were! Then I came across this quote while looking (of course) for something else entirely…

…it shouldn’t have surprised me..after all, behind every weirded out sci fi writer, there IS a human being who, like everyone else, has something to say about the everyday ordinary things of life…just in an extraordinary way…I saw this quote and it was, for lack of a better word…perfect.  Butterflies are like hummingbirds…one of the oddities of creation that are rare to see, but when you do, they take your breath away….

 

….if butterflies are ‘self propelled flowers’, then what are hummingbirds? Two seconds of emerald and garnet sunshine? What do you think? Maybe you can come up with a more descriptive phrase than this tired mind can produce…whether they are ‘self propelled flowers’ or a blur of jeweled sunshine, Heinlein was right..they are part of creation…he stopped long enough to see…to speak of their wonder…take time to see the wonder all around you today…something out there is worth two minutes of your time, whether birds, or butterflies, children, or life itself… moving, changing, growing with every moment that passes…you don’t have to have the skill of a writer, or the eyes of an artist to have that moment…something that will stay with you always…

https://youtu.be/jcmvc4iVtsM

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Changing the World, Part Deux, or My Answer to the 2012 thing...

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Catherine Mary

I recently had an email from my brother, Howard, out in B.C., discussing the 42 day countdown for peace world wide in 2012…I actually hope I got that right, as I am VERY baked today…..this 2012 discussion has been on my mind (and in my heart) ever since my friend, Eddie Two Hawks put up different blogs on the subject last year…went into all the sites he used and had a general look round…was completely fascinated as there seemed to be two camps–people who think we’re about to blow ourselves up (self destruct), and people who believe, way and away from world disaster, we are about to experience a new time of great peace..so I went further into the subject and found, as time passed, more people seemed to be in the camp for a world wide change for the better (peace) and less people seemed inclined to believe we were about to see “THE END TIMES”…as some have so aptly named it…interesting…

I think what I would like to say, is that as long as someone, anyone, cares about someone else, it isn’t likely that we’re going to be destroyed…I wish people generally speaking, while I’m at it, would stop either being AFRAID that GOD IS GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD, or that said imminent destruction would be his doing… would any of you willingly destroy your home with your kids in it, or better yet your whole town/city, because your kids are in it? Let’s face it, we don’t always like what our kids do, and sometimes we don’t like them much either, but unless your name is Jones and you’re passing out purple koolaid, I think it’s safe to say you’d do nothing of the sort…why? BECAUSE YOU LOVE YOUR KIDS!!! God isn’t any different…this world is his creation, and like it or not, we’re his kids, whether we’re admitting kinship(belief) or not…and like any good parent hopes to do, God keeps his word…that would be the story of Noah, for anyone reading this who is not necessarily scripture friendly…he PROMISED he would never destroy the world again…this isn’t rocket science, and unlike his human counterparts, parents, who cannot always keep their word, he has always kept his…back to my main point, lest I digress too far…

I think it has been positively thrilling to read people’s responses…some people are numbering the days (42) like a countdown to bring in this new era of peace….the Mayan calendar discussion shows a great change about to occur somewhere around Oct 12(I hope I have that date right)…as a result, many people on line, off line and in other media forums around the world are centering their hearts and minds on love, for each other and for this world they live in as a way of heralding this coming event that some feel will affect everyone’s life…and that is actually what WILL change things…people themselves will change what happens next, because they are taking time out of their busy, if crazy lives (and whose isn’t these days?), to focus on what really matters to them, and to send that message around the world if they can…from one heart to another…and this can work, I believe will work…because if one person, any person cares for one other, then the planet cannot self destruct, no matter how many do not care, will not give, will not hear, will not accept…

…so this is what I’ve done…my little bit in a bid for a better time to come to us, a better day, a brighter tomorrow…this is the message I’m sending across the world today…

http://youtu.be/lEuXOEZUBEs

…this is what I think will change everything, if we let it…and I believe we will…y’all have the best day ever!!

I Can Hear the Bells

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Catherine Mary

‘I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play:

And wild and deep the words repeat of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

I thought how as this day had come, the belfries of all Christendom

Had rung so long, the unbroken song, of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

And in despair, I bowed my head…’There is no ‘peace on earth’, I said-

For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead, nor doth he sleep:

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.”

Because today is Christmas Day, I wanted to share something with all of you that has great meaning for me…this very, very old hymn that is written above has, over the passing years, forever brought tears to my eyes and lifted my heart…the author of it, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote about what he knew…the realities of life that are sometimes so very painful, so very difficult to get through, that despair threatens to take us over… his life was hurtful and difficult, yet these are the words that came out of his personal tragedy and hardship…there have been many times I myself wondered how any good could come out of what was happening around me…but like Longfellow, in those times I came to see that, “…God is not dead, nor doth he sleep…” Wrong has failed, right has prevailed, and ‘peace on earth’ comes to my heart again…
and I can hear the bells...



It is my fondest hope that this day finds you celebrating in the way you love best…whether noisy or quiet…alone or with friends and family…and that this Christmas time is the most blest one for all of you…


…and may every one of you hear the bells…

http://youtu.be/AUWD9Rsmfuw

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!

On Changing the World...

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Catherine Mary

In the last six months, while on hiatus from the net, I spent a lot of time ruminating on who I am, what I do, and why…how cosmic is that?!? Point is, I’d like to say that I’m at that time of life where one spends more time in thoughts of life, the universe, etc., because one is older and finally has the time to do just that…but, for me, I’ve taken these kind of breaks most of my life, where I take time to ponder what my strongest or deepest point is, in that moment of time…what am I doing? Attaining, for myself and/or for others? Where am I going? What do I want to see happen, to see change? What is my part in that and why? So this has been a constant since I was oh, twenty -three or so, and at the end of the time spent, I find I have a new direction to go in, a new idea unfolds and I can take hold of it and run with it…and I truly have found myself amazed each and every time this has occurred, because the actuality of what happens next consistently exceeds my wildest thoughts and expectations…in other words, the direction or idea I had in the first place, turns out to be far bigger and has far more impact than I ever expected it could…

I cannot remember a time in my life where I haven’t been teased by family and friends…or jeered at by ‘unfriendlies’, because of what I thought I could do about something that needed someone to do it,especially when everyone tells me ‘it can’t be done’…(oooh, what a challenge!)…most people love me or despise me because emotionally I will dare to go where most people will not…I will dare to love, to care, to try..to take time to listen…and it has constantly astounded people one way or another, that my maxim of life, is that you can do dishes, dusting, cooking, cleaning, anytime, but the moment you get with the person in front of you may only be that one moment, so take it..unplug the vacuum cleaner, toss down the tea towel, turn off the oven…all that will still be there later (it’s not like it’s going to disappear or something!)… but the person who needs you now, may not be here tomorrow..whether sister or brother or mother calling long distance, a friend who needs a listening ear (and not advice on how YOU’D deal with it, whatever it is)..someone who needs a cup of sugar or flour, a jar of coffee, five bucks, or a pack of smokes… and the teasing comes in because when others ask me why I’m doing these things, I tell them that it is not only the right thing to do, but it’s actually my bid for changing the world…

Now some people seem to have gotten the idea that I’m walkin’ around with blinders on..I don’t see what’s really out there (I don’t know how many times my kids alone have said this to me over the years…if I had a dime for every time, I’d be a millionaire! lol!)…cuz if I did, I wouldn’t act the way I do…other people who don’t know or cannot see what my life is really like, think I’m safely esconced in the aura and softness of a middle class life…that I am secure in my financially sound surroundings so I can spew ‘sugar and pixie dust’ everywhere I go, because I have such a safe and beautiful life….nothing could be further from the truth…someone who has known me for forty of the fity-seven years I have been walking this earth once exclaimed that most people have five to eight bad years in their lives, give or take, and then they have some sort of turn around where things change for the better, and by that discussion, I have suffered more hardship and distress than ten other people put together…no exaggeration there..I couldn’t argue the point on any count, because the person talking was absolutely right…the last thing I should be doing is deciding that giving to others, at whatever cost to myself is the point…but I don’t see it that way…the more you hurt, the more experience you gain…the more experience you gain, the more you have to give…if you aren’t giving, you aren’t living….

My brother, Howard, is a marine biologist by profession…just got his PhD. a year or so back…he’s 55 yrs. old, and he’s been in an all out, do or die discussion for saving the planet since he was about, oh, twenty-five or so…he often teases me (light heartedly because he’s my brother and he loves me), that possibly I shouldn’t spend so much time trying to save the world…I tease him(just as lightheartedly) right back and say there wouldn’t be any point in saving our ecostystems, ie, the planet, if there’s no one left to take care of it!. lol!

In all the places I’ve been, all the things that I’ve seen, I have come to this one inexhorable truth: change will happen to us corporately and individually, no matter what we do…but by what we do or say, we can make change a good thing, for ourselves, for someone else…we all could use a little less of the phrase, ” Seeing is believing” ….turn it around and it becomes “Believing IS seeing”…believe in it, act on it, and then change will occur…maybe only something that seems small, not necessarily signifcant at the moment…but even in history do we see that one small act changed the outcome…

On that note I hope y’all have the best day ever! http://youtu.be/-mM3QaKaBAM

Waiting for Christmas to come...

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Catherine Mary

…this blog is actually dedicated to my daughter, Sharon, who by virtue of her incredible good taste in music(don’t know where she got that from..ahem! lol!), has accidentally introduced me to an Irish artist named Johnny Reid…she posted this song on fb, ‘Waiting for Christmas to come…it was so-o-o-o incredible, wonderful, amazing, touching…

….so I thought I post it from ‘youtube’ for y’all, it will so lift your hearts, let me tell you… http://youtu.be/wT9mJTYq-P8

….after this, while on the same site, I caught this video of children(and staff) from Hartley Bay School, who made their own video of this song…it was really, I don’t know…is it too corny or passe to say, precious? So here’s some Christmas to take through whatever sort of day your having…merry, merry!

http://youtu.be/Yn2i9K1-UWU

Just a little thing I forgot yesterday...

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Catherine Mary

At the end of every blog I usually put up a song or video…but I was tired enough to forget…duh! So here is what I wanted to end my blog with…to all of you from us…

http://youtu.be/PM92DKVRPcg

…I’ll be fine…really! Merry, merry!!

GOODNIGHT, NEVERLAND!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Catherine Mary

Hello, everyone:

You may have noticed that I’ve been offline since June…life…what can I tell you, it’s always there and must take precidence…and are we not constantly richer for the changes, the ‘scrambled-eggs-for-brains’ we sometimes are left with, the hopes, the fears, the fun, the tears…that’s life as they do say…and I’ve had plenty of it…

Had a lot of time to reflect, to think where I’m going next (because one is always going somewhere, even if one is standing still…think about it!), what’s around the corner…we’ve downsized again to yet a smaller house (and I MEAN small-

S-M-ALL)..Len and I both can walk from the front door to the bathroom, in under seven seconds!!!(this is often handy! lol!)

I’ve missed all of you terribly..Eddie, Stephen, Janae, Simon, Sue, Aussie, Chip, both Annes…just everybody! I’ve thought and prayed for all of you often in these last months..hope you are well, happy, delighted with life, and doing whatever it is that makes you feel not just good, but great!!!

Tomorrow is my birthday…57 yrs old I will be…wow! And I still don’t need bifocals…but perhaps computer eyeware may be in the offing this next year…and, of course, we are fast approaching another year end with Christmas just around the corner…so who’s coming over for eggnog and some of my very best Christmas cake…let’s not forget the shortbread and the gingerbread cookies…tea will be served from 7-midnite on Christmas Eve..hope you’ll drop by cuz I’d be delighted to see you…we can swap stories of Christmases behind, the things we like best about the season and perhaps some of the personal traditions that have been part of our Christmases over the years…that would be truly wonderful…

Until next time…I hope for each of you good things, good friends and happy moments at this very special time…stay well.

Grace...

‘Grace, she takes the blame, she covers the shame,
Removes the stain, it could be her name;
Grace-it’s a name for a girl,
It’s also a thought that could change the world.
And when she walks on the street, you can hear the strings,
Grace finds goodness in everything.
Grace–she’s got the walk, not on a ramp or on chalk,
She’s got the time to talk;
She travels outside of karma, karma, she travels outside of karma.
When she goes to work you can hear the strings,
Grace finds beauty in everything.
Grace–she carries the world on her hips, no champagne flute for her lips,
No twirls or skips between her fingertips,
She carries a pearl in perfect conditon,
What once was hurt, what once was friction,
What left a mark no longer stains,
Because grace makes beauty out of ugly things,
Grace finds beauty in everything,
Grace finds goodness in everything.
‘Grace’- U2-

http://youtu.be/RVFgxkL_vuk

Some interesting thoughts for a rainy day….may this day be all that you need, and nothing you don’t….

Hello and good morning to all of my friends on all of my spaces…how is everyone doing today? I have had a very busy two weeks, with much to do, but in between I have found myself in a unique place of quietude, of peace…it’s been something I haven’t known for many years…

 

In the human framework, I have been rearranging my house, room by room in the aftermath of my children moving out…the things I’ve found that I’d forgotten I even had because they were tucked away, would amaze you! Went through old photos, even found some of myself as a young girl…OMG THOSE were the days!

 

Overall, though I have found that in the settling dust of all these different changes, in the sorting of things that were/are the bits and bobs of my life, a great calmness has come over me…how long it will last is anyone’s guess, but it is truly wondrous to be standing within it, even for a moment or two, if that’s all I will have of it…

 

I wanted to tell you that in life it seems that many things that begin in a hectic or startling way, where we seem to have life turn topsy turvy..where things seem to become somewhat shaken up, do end up settling us in one way or another..perhaps the key is acceptance of what is happening at the time…I am not totally sure of that, for some things that come our way are hard things to accept..but in this instance, I believe the acceptance I had for the unexpected changes in my life recently, was the catalyst to comfort and eventually to the peace I now am enjoying….even my dog and cats are settling to a quieter mode, and that I am truly thankful for…

 

If I could be granted a wish, just one, today I would wish for all of you to have a measure of this quiet peace that seems to have ‘come in the back door’ of my heart…that you would have a day, today in fact, where everything around you settled itself for you in every way…be well my friends and take care…may this day bring all that you hope for…

http://youtu.be/Mht0Bzm_Cgs

A Poet I'm Not...

I have so many friends (and friends of friends that I get to read occaisionally) that really produce fantastic poetry...I READ poetry quite often...mostly the classics, and won't bore you with that here...I find rhyming pentamater extremely soothing at times...and very funny sometimes...I can still quote several parts of Dr. Suess that I read to my kids, speaking of funny...but I'm not really a poet myself...however, Lenore, my friend and I spent several hours yesterday booting up here on blogspot or blogger, whichever, and at the end of ALL THAT, she challenged me to write a SPECTACULAR blog this morning on my new site...I've been 'hemming and hawing' for about an hour now...and the only thing I can come up with is a poem (one out of six) that came to me out of a dream back in 2005...and I hope I still remember it the right way up, so to speak: so here it is...a side of Catherine Mary you've never seen before...
                                    Not every man is a stranger
                                   Who darkens our threshold, our doors-
                                  Unaware, we entertain angels
                                  Come in from the wilds and the wars;

                                 Not every blade that was broken,
                                Must be reforged, ere it stand:
                               Not every word is one spoken-
                              Not every son is a man.

                            Not every gift that is given
                           Is possession-to have and to hold;
                          Not every heart that is riven,
                         Is left there to bleed, in the cold.

                      When the new green grass meets the heather,
                      When the morning mists melt in the sun,
                      When two hands touch in the evening,
                      When two hearts fall into one:

                     Then will this exile be over,
                    Heartache and pain will be past-
                   Then begins, 'Always, forever',
                  Then we'll have come home at last.

                                                        -Catherine Mary -2005-

                                 http://youtu.be/7uHvGtoDOfk