Noisy neighbours

Noisy neighbours
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

This weekend was my wife's birthday. A grand family get together somehow materialised as the stars and planets aligned and busy people all ended up in the same place to spend some of that ever so precious commodity, "time" together.

This got me thinking, to a lot of people a family gathering should be, more aptly named, 'family feud' but to me, my inherited family and the get-togethers are something to look forward to and enjoy.
I remember a few years ago talking with my Mother-in-Law about the grand family dinners we had as the children grew, good times all.
Somehow they slipped away as families grew and the need to provide for them pulled everyone to different parts of the continent and the world gobbling up chunks of "time".
No one meant it to happen, it just did.

Now though the children are grown, starting lives of their own and the pressures are easing.
Saturday evening was a testament to this as almost all the family were able to gather to celebrate my wife's birthday.....

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Family, where good times go hand in hand

Two quotes to consider this week:

What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering than the family and the gathering. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable. ~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer, Big Love, "Easter"

p.s.Next time Gary, next time.

Still beautiful

Still beautiful
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

This last week my wife and I took a mini vacation.
Just the two of us and no particular destination in mind apart from a couple of reservations in small towns north of us.
Long leisurely drives, early dinners and stopping whenever something caught our eye or sparked our imagination.
I really enjoy these times alone with my wife, we get a chance to catch up and to some degree reconnect.
Life can be so hectic and there are so many demands on our time that days like these become more and more important.

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~Simone Signoret

Now that a kn-oy-fe ....

Now that a kn-oy-fe ....
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Lets talk about people,
people who you can rely on,
people you can rely on in a pinch.
Don Corby is one of those people...
let me explain ...
Late on Friday evening I was given the opportunity to show some of my photographs in Fergus. The trouble was I had no images in frames and no frames to put them in.
Hence the panic call to Don ...
Don, I need 6 frames by Monday !! I whined ( if you can whine in an e-mail).
I now, I know, said I, busy weekend, last minute panic etc. etc.
Don replied "what time do you want to pick them up on Monday morning".
This is not the first time he has bailed me out and it probably won't be the last!

You know Don deserves to be put on a pedestal for customer service and an excellent product.

So Don here is your moment in the sun, a heartfelt "thank you" from your pain-in-the-butt customer :-)

http://www.corbyframing.ca/

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill

Golden Hour Glow

Golden Hour Glow
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

It seems that the only time that I want to be outside during these inferno like months is early in the morning. The earth has had a chance to cool before the fireball rises above the horizon yet again to scorch the fields, man and beast once more, to torture us for another long day.
So my photography fix has to be had in that few hours before the sun climbs too high because the rest of the day is spent hiding in the air conditioning.

This is one mad dog Englishman who does NOT go out in the mid-day sun!!

Still there is hope ....

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. ~Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting