Sunday. Bobby and Krista make it to Toronto. We're all stuck inside...what to do? Put on 20 shirts, LJ's, toque and gloves and WALK TO GET MOVIES/PIZZA etc etc...essentials for a snow day!

...I think it's almost my favourite song...Neil Young 'Harvest Moon'.
I don't know exactly what it is that I love about this song so much...maybe the ebb and flow of the rhythm. I heard it first as a teenager and I've never stopped loving it...

With Christmas fast approaching, so are many exciting things...
I get to see my Dad. I haven't seen him in well over a year!! Not only that, I get to spend Christmas with him, Marie, Val and Keisha!
I also get to see the scemo, in Italia, que felicidad! Looking forward to meeting his family and friends, andando por la calle con el and even hearing his karaoke. I must be crazy (!). My Aunt Marina seems to be on to what my friends are thinking as in a recent email she posed the question....you didn't give me the return date from your time in Italy....you are coming back, aren't you? jajajaja

I'm going to miss my Mum this year, but we are gonna have our own Toronto post-Christmas celebration which will be great!!


"Bring what has made you who you are and bring it, neither in pride nor in embarassment, but in order to offer it as a gift. It's possible to say to God, 'Use what my experience and my mistakes and false starts have made me in order to let your transfiguring love show through' ".
-Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

As a kid, when my Dad was home from work, he loved to prepare breakfast for me in the mornings (I used to be a morning person, and my mood still cooperates with the morning...my body, not so much!). He would ask me what I wanted for breakfast...and before I could even respond, he would say, Oatmeal? Of course, I love oatmeal...so the answer was often, YES!
We would get the packets of brown sugar oatmeal, incidentally my favourite, and read the quote on the package...sort of like a fortune cookie experience, but at 8:00 am.

When no one was around to see me doing it, I would often empty out the box of oatmeal packets and read all of the quotes then, shove them back in the box and wait to see what i would get when I next had oatmeal.

Why am I writing about oatmeal??? This morning, I had oatmeal. It was disappointing. THERE WAS NO QUOTE ON MY OATMEAL PACKET. Hmmph. I will be certain to tell my Dad this in a week and I am sure that he will also be astonished.

I'd be putting a comment in the oatmeal comment box if I knew where it were or that it existed.

But enough about that, I like oatmeal...boiling water, mix, splash of milk and brown sugar drizzled on top!!

yo recibi un
soneto de ti en el
alba mi amor

...que gusto sentirte y descubrirte al despertar...

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS FERNANDO!!!!!!

Querido Padre Espanol,

En mi cuarto tengo una foto de la familia en frente de los piramides, pero en el salon tengo una foto de ti con Iris y yo en el balcon de la casa de Santa Cruz del Retamar...nosotras vestidas con la ropa de Belinda de cuando era joven y tu, con tus ojos brillantes, riendote de nosotras.

Ojala vuelva a verte prontisimo, con esta sonrisa tuya tan contagiosa, para decirte yo misma cuan feliz haces a todos a tu alrededor.

Me encanta recordar como nos harias a cada uno un vaso de zumo de naranja fresco cada manana. Yo me decia, cuanta suerte pueda tener un hijo en esta vida como para tener un padre que se le cuida a la familia con tanto carino. Vaya.

Felicitaciones Fernando y gracias.

Te queremos todos.

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
-Swami Sivananda

Leave it to Woody Allen...the man has talent.

"If Jesus came back and saw what's going on in his name, he'd never stop throwing up"
Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters

"Let you alone! That's all very well, but how can I leave myself alone? We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"

Fahrenheit 451...I remember reading it for the first time, turning every page with fervor...

Yesterday, during an interview, a woman told me about how she posted for community prayer that people pray for those who want to pray but aren't able to. Later she was approached by someone who thanked her and said that it meant a lot to him because one of his parent's had alzheimer's and probably wasn't able to pray anymore alone given the mental status taken by the disease.

Tears were filling my eyes as she told me this. My Mum lost her Dad to Alzheimer's and my last memory of my Grandpa was from a time when we visited him in the hospital. He had such a sweet, gentle smile. I remember my Mum saying, Dad, it's me, Diana.

I later thought about my Grandmother's funeral service. It was held at the Lutheran Church in Norquay, just down the street from my Grandma's house. Everyone came. The Church was filled and I felt so much love and concern for her. She was so soft and lovely. I was happy thinking about how she'd finally see my Grandpa again after so long without him.

Once, on the phone, she said to me...Kate, all of my grandchildren are talented and beautiful but you are the only graceful one. I'll never forget hearing her compliment that because I always felt that it was a quality passed from her to my Mother and from my Mother to me.

It's simple what this woman asked of the congregation and at the same time it is extremely thoughtful...those people who would like to pray but perhaps aren't able to, given circumstances, that we pray for them, that their thoughts, voices and prayers are heard.

I really appreciated that this woman shared this story with me.

Here you are Mum, as per your request, some pictures of Enrico. I decided to show you a variety since sometimes his hair is short and sometimes he has a beard...

I remember the day that my Dad told me I was going to have a sister.
It was just 2 hours before my 20th birthday.

I thought he was calling to say happy birthday. I was driving, snow was falling and he said....

"I have a birthday surprise for you....remember how you always wanted a sister? Well...you're going to have one."

Then the phone disconnected.

I was in disbelief...confusion, I even cried, I don't know why. Then, I became overwhelmed with joy.

A little over a month later, my sister, Keisha Stefanie, was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti.

I spent that Christmas with my Dad and my Grandmother in New Brunswick. He brought me a picture of Keisha at birth with the details of her weight and length.

As I looked at her picture, I knew immediately...we will be the best of friends and I will love her always. Even though I am 20 years her senior...I will be involved in her life and I will beat the crap out of the first boy to break her heart. JUST KIDDING....anybody who knows Keisha KNOWS that she will first break a heart, then have her heart broken....regardless, I will be available on the phone to tell her that it all gets better.

The news of her existence was the best birthday present I've ever received.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEISHA! Love you.

DEBI y ART...felices en Mexique
TQM Debra

OK, I know, it's too much but...I have another song....I had a motown moment last night before freezing my @ss off in the snowstorm and I needed to share it.

Because my hometown is right next to Detroit, and Detroit = motown...I love motown tunes.
Yesterday, Smokey Robinson came on the radio at Lena's friend's place and I busted out singing "I second that emotion" only to look over and see Stefan's friend Tim, also rocking out. Love that song! You can't hear this song and not want to move, just a little...

IGNORE the weird star trek video...just listen to the song...you know you wanna lip sync it...

Last night, while Lena and I were out. Improperly dressed. A snowstorm hit Toronto. As we tried to make our way home by any means of transportation possible, our feet were quickly becoming popsicles and icy snow encrusted our pants legs...we finally got on a streetcar after an hour of walking and waiting...dodging in and out of office buildings. I've never been so glad to get on the TTC in my life.
Welcome back to Canada and canadian winters Kate Price.

---

Yesterday I reflected on how, as a person, I sometimes complicate things a lot. When I feel something, I feel strongly about it and it's not that I feel too much, rather, that I feel strongly. That's when I remind myself, as my Dad use to tell me, think before you open mouth and enter foot...(as Joy used to joke with me, said in a british accent..."I have no inner monologue").
I also think it's good to feel a certain level of insecurity because if you take the time to evaluate what makes you feel that way and then why it shouldn't, you can learn a lot about yourself. I believe that overall, I'm a confident person...the things that come into my life and shape it do so because I work for them, allow them to, choose them, am surprised by them and even leave space for them to grow on their own.

'change is inevitable, growth is optional'

Right now, i'm ecstatic about / mildy afraid of (but am embracing) life and love.