Choir silliness

Our church choir put on an evening of entertainment along with a turkey dinner made by the church women's group. We sang some "serious" group numbers (Broadway songs) and then "branched out" into our renditions of some of well known groups from the past. A few friends from other choirs joined us for the event.Here's a few pictures of that event. Everyone had fun! From the top:

The choir and friends singing a group number. Or version of The Platters, singing Sentimental Journey. One of the Platters, Vic, who is 92 and a retired United Church Minister, one of the sharpest and most knowledgeable men I know, who wore a big grin throughout the evening. The "Mamas and the Papas" That's me second from the right. Me and another "Papa" singing California Dreaming. "Under the Boardwalk" I can't remember who they were supposed to be. "The Angels" with My Boyfriend's Back. That's me in the blond wig. There were others numbers but you get the drift!

Graduation Time

For Karen! Added a close up of Alix and her prom date. Didn't have one of her on her own.

I haven't posted in quite a while. Here are a few pictures of recent events. From the top:

Our daughter Nicole graduating from The University of New Brunswick in Saint John (Bachelor in Applied Management in Hospitality and Tourism): greeted by the Chancellor, getting her degree, the graduate with her sister Alix, dad Marcel, mom (me), and grandmother Annette.

Our niece, Josee, graduated from a private high school (Kent School) in Connecticut: her dorm building, Josee )in white) with Marcel, Nicole and me, Josee with her parents, brother Andre and Annette.

Our daughter, Alix, before her prom last night: Alix with friends Lindsay and Alex (MHS Drama is going to miss this hard-working trio!), Alix with 3 girls she went to Elementary and Middle School with - Caroline, Danielle and Danika, group shot of the grads at the park, Alix with date John, Hannah, Alex, Lindsay and Mitchell. Alex and Alix will be going to Ryerson University in the fall (in Toronto) and Hannah (from Riverview High School, who they know from the District 2 musicals) is going to George Brown University nearby, so they will all be close next year. Lindsay will be at Queens in Kingston, Ontario, about 2 hours away from Toronto.

The actual graduation is on Monday, June 23.

Highschool Improv Games

This event has been held in our area for nine years now. The degree of energy, imagination and creativity that the students show is just wonderful. My daughter has helped out with the team from her school for a couple of years and this year she was on the team and performed. We are so proud of them as they came a close second in a very strong group of teams. If you are not sure what Improv is, think of the TV show, "Whose Line is it Anyway?" as an example. They have to come up with skits on the spot based on suggestions from the audience. We took some pictures but it is really hard to get good ones as the lighting was poor and the kids move a lot. Anyway, here's one of the team and their coaches, as well as a few from the competition.

Here's my house

Or should that be "where's my house"? Yesterday I went out to shovel the front steps and decided to take a picture of the house from the corner. Lots of snow, right? We have had over 300 cm so far this winter. We did have a period in January when some of it melted too, so if we hadn't had that there would be even more of it!

Snow in the city at Night

Just a few of the pictures my husband took on New Year's Eve of our house and neighbourhood.

Wasn't tagged but...

I read this year-end set of questions on a friend's blog and decided to try them:

What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? I went on a cruise in the Mediterranian with my family. I saw a card I made published in a magazine.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't recall any resolutions so it's a good guess I didn't keep any!

Did anyone close to you give birth? No

Did anyone close to you die? My father-in-law.

What countries did you visit? Bahamas, United States, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey

What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? I can't think of anything.

What was your biggest achievement of the year? Celebrating 25 years of marriage.

What was your biggest failure? Not MY failure really, but the biggest failure I experienced was that a joint venture of my church with another fell apart after over a year of work.

Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major. I have a problem with the retina in my right eye that I had investigated this year.

What was the best thing you bought? Not sure

Whose behavior merited celebration? My husband's - he is so innovative and committed to his work as a radiologist and helping diagnose women with breast cancer.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? A group of people from the other church who undermined a lot of other people's good work and slandered their good names.

Where did most of your money go? Scrapbooking, travel, (well...and groceries, heating oil...)

What did you get really, really, really excited about? Traveling with friends and with family (especially the Med cruise) and by myself.

Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, richer, nicer. About the same. Probably poorer (see above re travel and scrapbooking). Somewhat sadder due to the church thing.

What do you wish you'd done more of? Sleep

What was your favorite TV program? CSI, Criminal Minds

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate anyone. I am dissapointed in a few people.

What was the best book you read this year? I don't know. I've read a lot of books.

What did you want and get? Lots of things!

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 54 last March. I can't remember what I did. Next year I will be on a cruise with friends on my birthday!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If the church ammalgamation had worked out.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Casual and comfortable.

What political issue stirred you the most? Climate change debates.

Who did you miss? My mother (still miss her since 1991)

Who was the best new person (people) you met? My middle daughter's boyfriend is very nice. I also met a lot of people from the church we were trying to merge with who were very nice.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. Some people just don't understand the concept of progress.

I would like to tag anyone who would like to participate. Leave a comment that you have done so.

I'm so excited!

If you look back a few posts you will see one about Canada's Scrapbooking Crops for Kids and see I was honoured with 3rd place in a card contest. Well...today I got an order from Scrapbooks by Design, a store in Toronto and got a copy of Scrapbook and Cards today, which is a free magazine supported through advertising. What did I find but a page all about the card contest with a few of the cards and mine was there! It is the "thanks" card, very simple but they seemed to like it. Closest I'll ever get to being published in a scrapbook magazine (seeing as I don't submit layouts!).

Altered Apple Juice Boxes

We have been buying this apple juice which comes in pouches, 10 to a box. The boxes are just too good to throw out! They are a double walled box, with a thickness of a little over 1/4 inch. They just perfectly fit a CD box cross-wise. So far I have made a box to hold Christmas cards and 3 boxes for photo CDs, which also fit perfectly on the shelf. As you can see, I labeled the card one on the side and the CD ones on the end.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

After a couple of years of fairly little in the way of snow we are back to what passes as normal in this area. Here are a few pictures of the house from the front and then the side after we have had two big snowfalls.

Canada's Scrapbooking Crops for Kids

In October, this event was held for the first time in 6 locations across Canada. The closest one to me was in Saint John, NB. It was held over a weekend and we had meals provided and some great classes as well as cropping time on our own. All the money raised at each location went to the local children's hospital or ward. In the case of Saint John, it went to the neonatal intensive care unit at the Saint John Regional Hospital. People could also submit layouts for contests for $2 or cards for $1 and all the cards were then given to the hospital for use by patients/parents. I didn't take a lot of cropping stuff with me as I mainly took classes but I decided once there to make a few cards so I bought a few things from the on-site store and made them. One of my cards was picked for third place and will be published on the website for Scrapbook and Cards Today, a Canadian magazine. The top winner from each location will be published in the magazine. I was very excited about my card being chosen as it was very simple and I had seen some of the gorgeous cards that people made, however they seemed to be looking for simple ones, maybe easier to reproduce. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. First the table of prizes they had to give out. The sponsers were amazing! We got awesome goodie bags as well. Our crop room and the little store they had set up at the end of it. Our meals were served buffet style in the room right next door. Me and my table mates (kind of blurry for some reason - I didn't take the picture...obviously). We were assigned to tables which was nice as I went alone. Kerry McRorie, Editor-in-Chief of Scrapbook and Cards Today and one of our teachers for the weekend, holding up my card. Kerry and I with my card.

Family Thanksgiving

We had all the family home for Thanksgiving weekend and my sister in law had everyone over for dinner on Sunday. It was a great opportunity to take some pictures of all the family, incuding all the kids who are normally away at school. Here are a few. Top to bottom: the assembled company, grandpa and grandma with the grandkids, my husband and I, our daughter Renee and her boyfriend Miles, all the cousins.

Added a few pictures

I added a few to each section of the Mediterranean trip from my pictures.

Mediterranean Cruise

My family and I just got back from a 12 day cruise in theMediterrean. Here are just a few of our over 4000 pictures. They are backwards chronologically here. That is we started in Barcelona, went to Villefrance, etc., and Naples was our last stop before getting back to Barcelona.

Naples and Pompeii, Italy

More from Pompeii - tracks from sliding doors, stepping stones and chariot tracks, Marcel, Alix and Nicole at Pompeii, a beautiful fresco.

You have to admit this is an odd sign! Street vendor in Naples - anyone need a Prada bag? Frescos and a lovely Roman home in Pompeii, also Roman baths, the forum with Mt Vesuvius in the backgraound and "this way to the brothel" sign on the street.