Just Breathe

What a day! I found out my car needs a whole lot of expensive work. I had to bum a drive home as my car is unsafe to drive. I have no way to get to work tomorrow.

In the two drives my car took while I was away, I received two serious car issues. I took it to the airport on Tuesday. My daughter drove it home from the airport on Thursday, the day she arrived from the west. My son delivered it to the airport for me the night before I was to come home three weeks later. He inadvertently opened the trunk hatch while he was getting gas and forgot to close it. There was a wind storm that night and the trunk slammed and slammed into the back window. The body shop guys showed me two spots on the window where the trunk had hit repeatedly and told me it was a miracle that it had not broken.

From the minute I picked up the car at the airport I knew there was something wrong underneath. My mechanic had just told me of an imminent problem before I went away so I thought it was that. No, a spring has been broken and two struts are leaking. It was another strut I'd had replaced just before I went away and these two weren't leaking then. I have to have all that replaced and the sway bar that he'd already mentioned. It is not safe to drive as the broken spring could blow out the tire if I hit a pothole.

My kids (or one of them) drive like maniacs it seems. Mr. Mechanic said it must have been a hard hit to break all three things. Life costs too darn much I say. It's hard to survive it with an old vehicle.

I had very good news just moments ago. One of my oldest friend had a double mastectomy today and she just called me to tell me she was alright. She said she was returning the favor because I has surprised her so much when I called her personally from my hospital bed after my kidney removal. She was expecting one of the kids and I really surprised her when I called myself. She's great and feeling lighter.

I have four songs or more I'd like to put up now in honour of my breastless and cancer-free friend. I normally do only two a day but will do all of them because I won't be here for a few days. Some extra music to see you through.

I think it will be very difficult to go to morning blogging as I had to do last year when I worked so will only blog here when I have time off or feel like it in the morning. I will still keep up the other blogs as best I can. This one takes the longest and most committment. I like to read blogs in the morning not write them so I'll still be here reading and listening.

Here's more music for Pam who is still frozen and on pain relief drugs for a time. I'm glad she's Breathin'.

• Breathe by Women In Docs
• Breathe by Alexi Murdoch
• Breathe by Sia
• Every Breath You Take by The Police
• Breathin' by The Camilo Project
  

Snowed In

A post with no time for talking. I do have a few photos of the blizzard we've had for the last two days. It snowed yesterday but not today but the wind was 60 - 80 km. per hour both days and the drifting was severe. My driveway was plowed out twice since this since this morning and sis in law had a terrible time leaving here after that. My son can drive through anything and will get down, then plowed out again before he gets up in the morning.



The above show approximately the same spot in around twenty six hours. It is still blowing like crazy as I write this thirty hours later.

Most of the ground was bare before this 'spring snowstorm'. Poor man's fertilizer, I explained in 2007. Ha, I found out I talked about it in 2006 as well. Anyway, we really got walloped this year, I think.





The music tonight will come from the past. Nothing new.

• Life Is So Peculiar - Louis Jordan & Louis Armstrong
• Gospel Plow - Old Crow Medicine Show
• Cold to Colder - Sasha Dobson
• Emotional Weather Report - Tom Waits
• Breathe - Sia
• Come In From the Cold - Marc Broussard

Distractions - Sia

For today, a storm day on PEI, some pictures from this little hide away. We've had freezing rain off and on all day. The off melts the last adherence. It's not too bad as you can see. It could be serious with the weight of ice pulling down tree branches and electrical wires. I could hear ice falling off (luckily) because the temps here were on the warm side.

I had too much old music yesterday probably, but I enjoyed every bit. Here is some music for today:

Life Is So Peculiar - Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong

Girl From The North Country - Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash


Que Sera Sera - Doris Day

Breathe

We are in the midst of a huge blizzard. I started snowing yesterday afternoon, took a bit of a break overnight but started up again before morning and is now ripping and roaring. We have 100 km winds and zero visibility.

Of course, my twenty something year old kids are out adventuring in it. They went searching for someone's lost dog, tried to find sleds at their dad's so that they could go sledding and are now planning to come here to see what they can find in my barn. I'm staying in where it's safe and warm.

This is probably going to feel like the longest week of my life. I want Monday to come more quickly than it really can. I want this monster out of my body. I've been obsessing all week about what I should eat and what I should not. For instance, the surgeon asked me what medications I was on. He asked if I take supplements and I told him that I take them all. He said, "Do you take vitamin E?" I told him that I did and he didn't expound on it nor did I question it further. I certainly wish I had. So all week I've been wondering why he asked about that specific vitamin and whether I should leave it out or double it. My mind needs quieting. Take a deep breath.

Today's music is two different songs with the same title; Breathe. The one by Sia had been up before but disappeared and the one by Alexi Murdoch I've put on playlists but not on the blog. Both are very nice and mellow....just what I need.

The Path

Click to Play:
Free Yourself - Fantasia Barrino
If It Be Your Will - Leonard Cohen
Dead End Road - JJ Cale & Eric Clapton
Distractions - Sia

A Winning Week

My blog, Photos and Pursuits, is my answer to the daily photo challenges available to the photo community throughout the week. For each daily challenge, I either upload a shot from my Shutterchance blog or post a new one on Photos and Pursuits.

Some of the challenges have 'winners', some do not. Some of winners are decided by popular vote, some are chosen from a volunteer judge and some are chosen from the site owner. This week I was a winner in two of them and last week was a winner in one. What is so strange is that I was getting discouraged and this week didn't bother to enter two on Tueday or one on Wednesday. Here are links to the challenges which link to the winning photos. Today's Unique Exposures, last week's Unique Exposures, and Shutterday. I can't link to the specific week on Shutterday but the subject was Smoke 'em If You Got 'em. I like that this one is popular vote.

Today's music brings Sia. I like her kind of unusual voice that is so filled with emotion. Today I have Distractions and Soon We'll Be Found. Check out her My Space page. Here are a couple from before: Little Black Sandals and I Go to Sleep. Her song Breathe, which was the first I heard and really like, has disappeared.

Walk - Sleep - Walk - Sleep

I've ended up shoveling enough to tuck my car back in to the spot where it was until yesterday. I parked along the side of the road last night. It's the snow on the other side of the car that I had to shovel. What you see in the photo is allowed to stay till it melts.

The favorite ex was just here and she's going home for a nap. I think do the same. I started a while ago but the phone rang then I shovelled and now I'm here. I still haven't had my walk but have a sore hip so may forego that.

For music today a couple of songs by Sia. Little Black Sandals (she's walkin' away) has nice rhythm and Sia's unique voice and lyrics make this nice. I Go To Sleep is from her too I'm taking her advice. That's just what I'm going to do.

What to Do

All I can say is ahhhhhh! If I can just get through the big fund-raising dinner on Thursday and get caught up with the treasurer this week, I will be a happy woman....on a break for a few weeks.

In my daily blogroll, I go to a few sites that give cool links to peruse. Spy's Spice is my favorite as he concentrates on art and another favorite is Growabrain because he has really cool links and has mentioned me a couple of times on his blog. Both are listed in my links. Another is Look At This and I must get him? up in the links too. Anyway, I have a few hundred bookmarks of cool sites that I go to and would like to share with you. I used to be Stumbler till something screwed up and one morning my Stumbles and Bookmarks were gone. I got my bookmarks back and then shook for an hour. Dreadful feeling.....

So, along with my music, I'll add one link per post.

Link: Click to start then use your mouse. That's all I'm going to say other than this is soooooo cool. Supercoolpic.

Music: I made a soft cd for Brody last night that is being hand delivered to him in the Arctic on Friday. I'm listening to it now so a couple from that..... Fine and Mellow by Billie Holiday is such a great jazzy number and Breathe by Sia is sweet and quiet vocals, piano and drums. I made a cd for his 30th birthday last Sunday and sent it by mail and am thrilled to be able to get one hand delivered soooo far away...it's the Arctic for God's sake.