and where no better then we where last year. We are in week 3 of lockdown with at least another week to go. Things are better on the covid front but we still are seeing cases but we are in the single digits of new cases and I think we are just a little over 100 active cases. With 2 new deaths bringing our total to 6. I haven't really been keeping close tabs. It is stressing me out to be honest.
I have been doing the bare minimum most days for to many days now. I just can't seem to get out of the funk I am in. I have moments but, nothing that is lasting. I have to force myself to do other things just to get it done. This is so not like me. I know part of it is the lockdown and part of it is winter. I just can't get out like I want to walk. Plus going places now is just to much worry about getting sick or bringing it home to those who really can't afford to get it.
The things that usually brings me out of my funk isn't helping. I love to read but last month I read only two books and that was early in the month. I did manage to read a book last night it was a little over 100 pages so I guess that is something. I love to listen to music but don't get to do that much where I usually get the time to do that is on walks. One silver lining has been tiktok. I have probably been spending too much time on there but it seems to be the only thing to distract me lately. I really need to keep out of me head it isn't really a good place lately. I know this will pass but I just wish it would sooner then later.
Sorry things have been crazy busy on my end. On top of that haven't really been feeling 100 percent for awhile now.
I went in for day surgery, Wednesday past, female stuff. Here's hoping it was worth it. On the mend, but some days are better then others. Only time will tell if it fixed the issues I was having. I got in under the wire, because by Friday everything was shut down.
We are in lockdown number 2 here. One of our high schools got the covid variant from the UK, so we are trying to get things under control. Thankfully it wasn't my daughters school. So for at least the next two week, the kids will be doing online learning. I figure once we get closer to the 26th of the month they might extend it another week or more.
We are only allowed to go out when we have to. Most places are closed except for grocery stores, drugstores and the such. If you can work from home they want you too. Fast food places and restaurants can do deliver or curb side pick up.
So far we have 296 active cases and all but a handful of those are from the one cluster out break. sigh
Winter is here still. I thought we were getting an early spring Mister groundhog. So I guess the last few storms we are having is going to make up for that. I think we have another one coming the middle of this week.
On a fun note I have found a great new distraction and it is called TikTok. lol God help me. I don't post I prefer to watch. lol I mean watch creators well thought out videos and comment accordingly lmao
Is it an age thing? You reach the age of 60 plus and you decided I think I will nit pick and criticize anything and everything a person does from here on in.
Stuff that they seen you do many times for years. The way you clean the house, the way you dress, your hair. They way you cook, and the list goes on. Then when you lash out at them and tell them to knock the hell off and leave you alone, or do it yourself then. Well I might have cleaned that up a bit for this post. lol bleeping out a few curse words. Of course then they get pissed off at you for standing up for yourself and they stomp off like a child. Like really.
Most times I can just let it roll off my back. They are just looking for an argument. To know that they are getting under your skin. But sometimes enough is enough.
thank god. Well it was only a matter of time. This being Newfoundland and all. We got our first snow storm of the season and I think it is here to stay. The kids come home early yesterday and today they had a delayed opening. So naturally my high schooler didn't go at all either day. lol
The dog wouldn't take no for an answer when he asked to go out in the middle of the storm. FYI he is a shih tzu that is trained to a litter box. So no real need for him to go out. But of course he wanted to. He jumped out the back door when up past his belly in snow. Then had the nerve to look at me saying help. lol So I had to lean out and not loose my balance and take him out of the snowbank lol .
I have a love hate relationship with snow. I love the beauty of it when it is down or falling. Love to take pictures. But I don't like going out in it. Only because once I get cold or wet I am not fit to talk too. Plus the whole slipping and falling down.
it is one of my favorite holidays with Halloween being a close second. I love to decorate for both. But dam is it alot of work. It takes me 3 or 4 days to decorate for Christmas and then another 2 to take it all down. Yes I have that many decorations. lol My friend would say Christmas throw up in your house. I can't help it I love Christmas. lol
But Christmas hasn't really been the same since the kids are older. No fun Christmas morning when they know everything they are getting. They are at the age that they are too hard to shop for. So Christmas morning isn't' at the crack of dawn it is more closer to noon. Not that I mind the sleeping in after being up late getting the gifts wrapped and under the tree Christmas Eve. But it just isn't the same.
Looking around the house now that everything is down, well all but the tree. The house looks bare. But I know in a few days I will be use to it and Christmas will be forgotten till next time.
At least it is for me. Nothing better then getting out of the house for a walk.
I put my music on, to drown out my thoughts, not always a good thing living in my head. To just, try to be in the moment. It is one of a few things I get to do just for me, alone. Yeah it would be great to have someone to talk to sometimes, but what can you do.
Thankfully where I live I can go for a walk around the block which takes about 45 minutes.
No matter how much you do. Like really was it necessary for you to give me attitude. Then you wonder why I have one. Or as you say I am crooked all the time. I wonder why I even try or open my mouth anymore. Then I wonder why I don't know how to talk to people anymore.
Thank god for my online stuff. Only thing that keeps me sane most days. Even then some days that doesn't even help. Maybe that is why I have been watching way to many Hallmark movies. sigh
lol .. yeah nope. Hate to break it to you, what you see is what you get. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. But you have been warned. Life is too short to be any one else but you. I think last year was proof of that.
Anyway after last years mess. I think I will go with the flow a bit more on my goals/resolutions for the year. I see alot of people saying, they are going to take each day as it comes. That they what to take more time for themselves. Sounds good to me. I know I stretch myself too thin most days and don't leave anything for me. That is why I like being online, doing things that interest me. These things are just for me, no one else.
So with that in mind I want to find a few minutes each day to pop on here and post something. Anything even if it is just to vent about things that are going on with me.
I really need to get out of my comfort zone that I have been living in for way too long. I feel like I have gotten into a rut. Of course I decided to do this when you really can't do much socializing well at least in person anyway. So that is why I want to put more of me out there. I tend to keep things to myself which most of the time isn't a good thing. But then I think why would anyone be interested in what I have to say and so I don't.
I have other interests out side of being online so I am going to try and do more of that as well, reading ( I have a blog for reviews that I am terrible of keeping up to date), photography ( I have a blog for that as well). I like to walk, but not in the winter. I hate the cold well it is more like once I get cold I am not fit to be around. lol I like doing puzzles, regular and 3d. I have a few activity books that I like to do as well.
Anyway, the jury is still out for me if this year is going to be better then the last. We will see I guess.
Well this year has been a shit show from the beginning and it didn't get any better. Here in my little slice of the world we started with Snowmagedden which hit us in January. Then the Pandemic hit us in March. Which we are still dealing with and will be still dealing with going into the new year. But we are doing better then most place. But I guess that is the benefit of living on an island. We still get case but they are all travel related due to people coming and going for work.
I would like to say things can't get any worse but I am not about to temp fate on that one. She might call my bluff.
Not sure what has kept me going all these months. I keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and I thought we were seeing that with the vaccine but then the UK gets a case of covid that hasn't been seen before. So of course Canada can't be left out and now we are seeing new cases of this variant as they are calling it.
But I guess one good thing came of this year, Trump wasn't re-elected. So I guess that is something. But he isn't going out with out a fight. He is acting like a spoiled child that didn't get his way. Thank god I don't live in the States but I feel for all those who are struggling and going without because of that man. I haven't seem someone so selfish as that man.
Anyway just had to put my few thoughts down on this year so when this is finally all over I can look back. But I don't think I will forget this year any time soon.
Only a few more days left of this dumpster fire of a year and I can't wait to see it in my rearview mirror. Here's hoping for better things in the new year. Stay safe, wear your mask and keep your 6 feet, keep your bubble.
Margie Osmond (left) and her sister, Cathy Breen, both of St. John’s, hold a framed display of photos of their grandparents, along with their four uncles, who were killed during the Second World War. — ROSIE MULLALEY/The Telegram
Maurice, Michael, James and David O'Brien were lost in one two-year period, from 1940 to 1942
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. —
Growing up in a tiny house with their family in St. John’s, sisters Cathy Breen and Margie Osmond could never figure out why their grandmother always looked so glum.
“You never ever saw her smile,” Breen said about her father’s mother, Margaret O’Brien (nee Hickey).
“I remember being told not to make any noise because Nanny wasn’t feeling very well.”
“She lived with us,” Osmond added, “and now and then, she’d call us into her room to say the rosary and always had her prayer beads, but we weren’t allowed to bother her. She always seemed so sad.”
As children, they never knew why she was so unhappy.
It was only in later years that they realized what their grandmother was going through.
“Nanny was Newfoundland’s most bereaved mother."
Margaret O’Brien was a woman in mourning, having lost four of her sons in the Second World War, all within the span of two years.
Maurice Jr., 19, named after his father, was the first to lose his life, on Dec. 2, 1940, while serving in the Royal Navy on the HMS Forfar. Four months later, on April 19, 1941, Michael, 28, a member of the Merchant Navy, was lost at sea while serving on the merchant ship Easterlea. A year later, in July 1942, news arrived of the death of her 30-year-old son, James, who died while also serving in the Merchant Navy. On Oct. 5 of that year, David, 26, a member of the Canadian Navy, was lost at sea on the HMCS Frisky.
Two other brothers — Jack (Breen and Osmond’s father), a member of the Newfoundland Militia, and Denis (Dinn), who served in the Royal Navy — were honourably discharged.
“Nanny was Newfoundland’s most bereaved mother,” Breen said.
There were also two other brothers in the O’Brien family – William and Patrick — as well as three daughters, Mary, Bridget (Bride) and Perpetua (Pet).
“Dad was so quiet,” Osmond said. “He didn’t like to talk about any of it.”
“I can never remember Dad mentioning anything about the death of his four brothers,” Breen added. “And the same with Nanny.
“The first inclination we had of any of this was when Dad took Nanny, his mother, to the war memorial every year.”
Every Remembrance Day, sisters (from left) Margie Osmond, Joni Snow and Cathy Breen visit O’Brien Park at the corner of Signal Hill Road and Battery Road in St. John's — on the site where their family home once stood — to pay tribute to their four uncles who were killed during the Second World War. — CONTRIBUTED
As mothers, Breen and Osmond can empathize with their grandmother.
“When the O’Brien memorial was placed (there), I found myself trying to imagine the unspeakable pain and heartache that my grandmother must have suffered for the rest of her life from that tragedy,” said Breen, adding that Margaret’s husband, their grandfather, Maurice O’Brien Sr., also died in 1942.
“I have four sons of my own and I can’t even begin to imagine losing one of them, let alone four.”
Their grandmother was a National Silver Cross Mother, an honour bestowed by the Royal Canadian Legion as a memento of personal loss and sacrifice on the part of widows and mothers of Canadian sailors, aviators and soldiers who died for their country during the war.
Margaret died in 1963 and their father, Jack, died in 1994. Whatever information the grandchildren had about the four O’Brien brothers, they heard from their mother, Mary (nee Finn), who died in 2003.
Remembering their sacrifice has always been important for Breen, Osmond, their sister, Joni Snow, and other members of their family.
In 1980, the four O’Brien brothers were commemorated with a memorial park at the corner of Signal Hill Road and Battery Road, on the site where their family home once stood. The official opening ceremony on Aug. 4 of that year was attended by government officials, including then-mayor Dorothy Wyatt, along with Jack Dinn, who was president of the Battery Neighbourhood Improvement Program committee at the time and spurred the efforts to have the park built. Several residents and family members were also in attendance.
“That’s Mom and Dad and Dad’s sisters at the opening ceremonies there,” Osmond said, pointing to one of the black and white photos scattered with Telegram newspaper clippings on the dining room table at Breen’s house earlier this week.
They say residents and tourists pass the park frequently, but many don't know what and who it commemorates. Breen, Osmond and Snow visit the site every year on Remembrance Day to lay a wreath.
The family is disappointed the brothers aren’t recognized with a wreath at the annual official Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial in St. John’s
“It feels like they’ve been forgotten,” Breen said.
“Not a lot of people know about these men, but they gave so much. We just want people to remember the sacrifice they made during the war years.”
However, they’re glad many still do remember the brothers and their sacrifice.
There’s also a memorial grotto at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, where the O’Brien brothers lived.
Breen and Snow also have framed photo displays of the brothers and their parents. Snow’s includes the brothers’ medals.
“We’re just really proud (to be their descendants),” Osmond said of her four uncles.
Breen’s son, Peter Breen, found a permanent way to pay tribute to his great-uncles. Two years ago, he got a large tattoo on his left arm, on which is inked the O’Brien brothers’ names, their dates of death, large red poppies and four crosses.
“People are nice to wear their poppies in November (for Remembrance Day), but I thought, why just November?” he said, proudly displaying the colourful body art. “It’s something I always wanted, especially with our family ties.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of the official Remembrance Day ceremony in St. John’s, the family is asking that people, in their private memorials, remember the O’Brien brothers.
“Not a lot of people know about these men, but they gave so much,” Breen said. “We just want people to remember the sacrifice they made during the war years.”
They believe if their grandmother was alive today, that’s what would make her smile.
I am so over this year. Can we just skip to 2021 already. Or at least I want a do over for this year. With the Covid-19 taking over our day to day lives and life as we know it is no more. I don't even see a light at the end of the tunnel either.
Don't get me wrong where I live we have flattened the curve hell we have eradicated Covid-19. But all our hard work and doing with out, might be for not. We have opened our boarder to other Atlantic Providences. Now for the most part those 4 we have invited to join our bubble have gotten a handle on there cases and have little to no cases. But with all good things, people go looking for loop holes and before we know it we will have cases again. Then there is talk to open our boards to the US well don't get me going on that mess, 50 thousand cases a day. Yikes. I think not keep the US out till they get a handle on things.
I want my daughter to go to school next year, do her grade 12 in class and graduate with all the bells and whistles that she has worked so hard all these years. I know things won't be totally the same as previous years but if we have no new case and we do social distancing then the school year can be achieved. Yes we have to learn to live with Covid but all this hard work and sacrificing we are doing only to have others from outside our provenience to ruin it just isn't fair. We have gone without seeing family, gone without socializing, gone without vacations, gone without our normal day to day lives. We have proven that social distancing does work and to wear masks when we can't but to allow visitors that could potentially bring the virus back to us only to have to go back to lock down when we just opened up isn't fair.
Now I don't know things might go swimmingly, with minimal to no cases but I am a glass half empty person and I don't see things working out in our favor.
On January the 27th my city declared a state of emergency (SOE) for the first time in over a decade. You see we had one hell of a snow storm. Now where I live it isn't strange for us to have lots of snow. We do after all have winter here on the rock.
But mother nature was surely pissed at us for what ever reason because she dumped 93 cm's of snow on us in a 24 hour period. At the same time for a 12 hour time frame we had very high winds, 130 plus gusts. We had white outs with zero visibility. The only silver lining is we didn't loose power. Usually with such a storm we do.
So by Saturday morning a SOE was in affect. No one was aloud on the roads, no business where aloud to open. Only city snow clearing workers where aloud out, trying to clean up the unending mess. Everyone woke up to at least 6 foot snow banks or more. To make matters worse we had a major snow storm just before Christmas and we got at least 30 cm's of snow then.
Doctors and nurses where stranded at work with no relief for over 50 hours. Emergency vehicles where escorted to there distentions by snow plows and even then it was slow going. One hospital emergency was bought in by snowmobile. She delivered a health baby some time later. What a story to tell to the child when he or she is older.
On day 4 of the shut down they opened up temporarily, supermarkets and drugstores from 10 am to 9 pm. So we could stock up on food and medications. I thought for sure going to the stores would be madness under the circumstances but it wasn't, it felt like any other Saturday granted it was a Monday. Busy but nothing like in the joining city where there was long line ups outside of the stores waiting to get in. This went on till the city totally lifted the SOE Friday morning at 6 am.
Of course all this time the kids where home from school and loving it. Not that my daughter has set foot out the door since she left school on Thursday before the storm. Only down side is she's in high school and missing a week of school work with exams coming up the following week wasn't a good thing. But the school has since pushed back the exams a week so she will get her review time like planned. What a relief.
Considering once winter hits I hibernate and only go out when I have to. I started to get cabin fever being stuck in. Isn't that the way you can't do something and that is exactly what you want to do. lol
The city is still cleaning up the snow, trucking it away. Hoping they get to the sidewalks before the kids return to school on Monday.
We haven't gotten any mail in all this time and of course I have 4 package due. But hoping to see them sometime next week.
Hats off to all the city workers that haven't stopped clearing the streets and I hope we have seen the last of the snow for this winter season. Talk of 5 to 15 mm's of rain Monday night. Guess it is better then snow lol
I decided way late in the month, like half way thought, that I wan't to do writing prompts to get me posting everyday.
I scoured the web from prompted ideas. Found a few different lists that I meshed together in one. I took the ones I like and thought would get me writing and so here we are.
I am a bit behind but being a completest I am not just going to start half way thought the month. So what I am going to try and do is post two each day. One for the actual day and one past prompt. Till I get caught up.
I hope this, like most things I start, I can keep it up for the year. I know lofty goal. I really need to do things I like, that makes me happy instead of dropping them and filling my life with everyone else stuff. Basically I need to make time for me.
So you have been warned and maybe if you see me slacking give me a kick in the butt. lol
This post was a long time in the works. I just haven't had a moment to sit and post anything. See posts to come on that.
Like every new year I have high hopes to what the year has in store for me. I look at the new year as wiping the slate clean to all the crap of the previous year. I just hope that unlike every other year I am not left disappointed and nothing has changed.
I know alot believe that change comes from with in, and only you can change your fate. I would like to believe that but when there are obstacles at ever turn it is hard not to get discouraged.
Anyway each year I try to do more things for myself, to carve out a little slice of heaven for myself. Even if it is just baby steps towards what I want, what I need. As long as I continue to move forward I am making progress.
I thought I knew where this post was going to go when I stared it but some how it gone off the rails as it were.
Not sure if that is a good thing or not. Maybe I shouldn't post late at night, almost midnight here, but when it is my only alone time I have to take what I get.
"Passion is a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone or something. Passion can range from eager interest in or admiration for an idea, proposal, or cause; to enthusiastic enjoyment of an interest or activity; to strong attraction, excitement, or emotion towards a person." I am reminded of a scene in The Big bang Theory where Penny is upset that she isn't excited about anything in her life, like her friends are. That she thinks there is something wrong with her because I know the feeling. I am the same way. I wasn't always like this. There was a time when I would eat and breath my favorite shows, books, music. I would find eminence joy in watching the newest shows, reading the latest book, etc. Don't get me wrong I still like these things just not like I use too. I am not sure what or why I have changed. If I did I wouldn't be writing a different post lol. Maybe it has to do with the fact I barely have enough time and energy for the day to day things these days. There is so much I would love to do but "insert various excuses here". But then I see others doing way more then I do in a run of a day and I am left wondering why can't I do that to or what am I doing wrong that I am not? Have yet to figure that one out but that my be another post as well.
I feel sometimes that if I am actually doing something, that I have to rush to finish it so I can move onto another thing. Maybe the joy I once got is gone because I don't take the time in that moment to focus on that one thing. But also with so many distractions in my life, that kind of ruins things as well. I think I have hit on the problem. Now to find a solutions. Might be easier said then done. But I am dam sure going to give it the old college try. Wish me luck.
Talk about understatement of the year. But let me back up but a bit. I was going through my goodreads books suggestions via email. When I saw the title of a book "Women who think to much". I actually read women think to much, hence the title of this post. No this isn't a book review. lol Anyway back to the point. But really we do think to much. Even now as I type up this sentence I am just not thinking about what I am typing but also thinking you are not getting any more dog food. You see me dog is sitting next to me, looking at me wanting to be feed. Boy is he going to have to wait. Pause I best feed him before he has a fit. lol Back... I don't know about you but through out the day I feel like my computers web browser. I have about a dozen tabs open, each one with something different that wants my attention but I can only concentrate on one at a time. Only way to do the task or what ever it may be justice. But feel like I need to be quick or I will loose out on what is going on in the other tabs. Or forget to do something which is usually the case. Hope that makes sense. Let me reread that. Anyway... I blame society. To much is expected from us in a run of a day. Like if we don't accomplish a certain number of things or have something to show for it, then the day was a waste. Maybe that is why I have so much trouble getting to sleep. Well that is a topic for another post. I swear I was better at keeping my thoughts from running over but somewhere along the way I lost it. Oh a good descriptions may be my thoughts are like one, long ass, run on sentence that never ends lol I feel like I might of gotten off topic but that is life I guess for a women who thinks to much. Who whats to get it all out of her head before she forgets it. lol
and what does that really means. Nothing, lol. When it is all said and done the next 6 weeks of weather will be what ever it is suppose to be. I would love to put my faith in that chubby, not so little rodent when he says an early spring only because I hate winter. But in the end will he be right.
It seems that there is no definite consensus on what the next 6 weeks of weather will be if you go the Canadian and U.S groundhogs. I believe they are split right down the middle 50/50.
All I know is by the end of the 6 weeks I would of have forgotten their prediction and will still be complaining about the weather. lol
Found the pic below when I was searching for a groundhog pic to post on Facebook. I am not sure if the info is even correct, I did no fact checking. Not that studious today, down right lazy if I must tell the truth. lol
I actually had a bit of a productive day. Granted all I did was put a basket of laundry away, lol. But as I was doing so I clean up and gutted each of my dresser drawers. Two dresser equaling 8 drawers in total. Then I set my sights on my closet.
It takes a beating Christmas time. It is where I hide all the Christmas gifts. Where I put away pictures plus odds and end that gets displaced because of my Christmas decorations. I didn't get rid of as much cloths as I thought or hoped. But I have decided that as I take out something to wear and it doesn't work it goes in the donate bag and out it goes.
The bottom of the closet didn't get touched much. That has four big plastic totes full of stuff that need to be gone through. Which is on my list to do this winter. One tote is my sons school things, another is my daughter school things. The third one has various stuff belong to me and the last one is a bit of everything. Which has some wooden bird house and such that are suppose to be projects for me and my daughter to paint.
Got lots to keep me busy now that the winter is here and I hoping this is the start of my being productive. Fingers crossed ......
I needed a new charger for my Samsung Galaxy A tablet. I found what I thought was the right charger online but when it arrived it wasn't. Of course :(
Now the return was simple, took it to the store a few days later and bought the right one. The store staff was knowledgeable and set me right with little to no fuss. The one bought online was 50 percent off. I had to pay full price for the right one in store. The sale was over, grrr. I bought the brand name which was a bit pricey but it was what I wanted.
I could not use my refund towards the purchase of the new one because it was bought online. Oh my. But my refund was returned to me in record time, with in 24 hours. It went to my paypal.
So all in all things worked out rather easily. Only thing I had an issue with is when I tried to call the store locally, the wait was ridiculous and when someone answered she put me on hold and never came back. Well to be fair I got sick of waiting and hung up. Miss the day when you could actually get a hold of someone at the physical store. Not someone taking calls god knows where. Ahh to the simpler days lol.
