Scary Words We Hope Never to Hear

We live in a world of beauty.

                      Engulfed in that is friendship, love, peace, harmony, possibility, hopes and dreams.

                                                  LET'S FOCUS ON THESE BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

 And with the good there is always rebellion, judgement, prejudice, death, poverty, heartbreak, devastation........you understand. I won't post pictures for these examples, we've all seen too much of it already.

I can admit, as we all can, to having been subjected at one time in my life to many/all of the above in some form or another yet still manage to kid myself into believing in the good things and hold the 'we can fix this' attitude. Reality is that we can't fix everything.

I mentioned scary words as my post title. The fear of things. The dread. The worry. The denial of things.
We all fear different things. Drowning, fire, tornados, losing a job, losing a loved one, dying. We all dread things like Monday morning, winter, humidity or even the end of the world. We worry about not having enough money, enough food, the cost of vehicle or house repairs, not having a pension,  getting a serious illness and an debilitating accident. Denial is different. It is not wanting to admit to any of the above. We want to turn our heads and hope it goes away, the inability to deal with what is in our face.

So we go on day to day, with these nigglings in our head yet determined to fill any empty spaces with alternatives. We learn to swim, or buy a lifejacket, we don't play with matches, we live in parts of the world with the least storms, we work hard and follow rules, we protect and care for our loved ones and we prepare for dying. This last one is inevitable so we try to make the best of the time we have.

A new scary word that I am being forced to  face these days  is "STRIKE".

That is me in the back...waiting.

I'm not talking bowling here although I do feel like I'm a ten pin at the end of the lane.I don't know how good the bowler is and will I get hit or missed.

Our workplace union group is in the throes of a possible legal walk out and it has many of us up in arms, on the defensive. I feel some days that we are all running on the little hamster wheel tryiing to keep ahead of the rumours. We talk about it until we are blue in the face but there isn't much we can do but wait for the fall out or settlement. We are nearing the end of StageOne of four stages in this labour dispute and I can't help but compare it to the fight that must be involved in surviving a deadly disease. Basically our hands are tied, waiting for the powers that be juggle our future. In a local union of 1600 members there is no way to know each individual case, who voted to walk and who voted to cross lines.

I don't want to be in this line up.

My husband and I have never been supportive of strikes and we have had a few close calls in my 32 years with this employer. More money is not a worthwhile fight for me, never has been. It isn't and has never been about the all mighty buck in my world.

I have heard too many stories of how much you can lose by the end of it all. Even if a 1, 2 or 3% pay raise was the result, no thank you. Sure we'd all like more money at the end of a pay week but at what cost? In the last 25 years we've experienced a wage freeze for a consecutive 10 years with Ray days. We'll never get those back again.

In the past, at contract time, we've lost benefits, cost of living allowances  and all accumulated sick time that was awarded for good attendance. 240 days gone, just like that. Although we have gained some perks over the years, the losses have been greater.

I've still never voted YES on a strike ballot. It doesn't help that both my husband and I work for the same employer so we wouldn't have a spousal income from any other source. Just double up the strike pay.....if there is any and try even harder to make ends meet.

Today, we don't even know what we will be walking for other than the fact that we have been without a contract for over a year and until this week there had been no talk of 'talks'. Need I remind you, for those who are aware, I am 6 months away from retirement. My husband is 10 months away. Although we have found out that our retirement pension group does not penalize worker's time in a legal strike, we do know we would have to buy that time back in order for it to remain 6 & 10 months respectively. This is after receiving a meagre strike pay for however long, trying to manage bills and debts. I totally emphasize with those who have endured the stress and financial devastation before me and am not willing to experience it for myself. After 32 years at this job the last thing I want to be thinking about is a strike.

I'm still a bit on the fence but pretty sure I will cross the 'fence' if our union walks. Yes, that could be rough, uncomfortable and repercussions threatening. We'd have to deal with it if we chose that stance.

We're not sure how it will pan out but naturally anyone we talk to are hopeful that some kind of agreement can be met before it comes to that. It is easy to say we'll cross the picket line and you can tsk tsk all you want to that, to each his own, but if we get locked out completely by the employer, we'll have no choice but to do our duty, walk the line when told to do so and eat weiners and beans for the duration!

                                                                                                        Wish us luck!

Good tidbit to remember.

Thank you for reading. Sometimes a girl just has to vent, ya know?

Sisters' Weekend 2015

I've mentioned earlier in one of my posts, I think, that my 5 sisters and I get together once a year without spouses and children. Since our children are grown with the exception of my youngest sister, who has a 9 yr. old, it is easy to commit to the time away from home.

This year, Bill and I had our rv loaded Thursday evening, July 23, and all hooked up ready to go. When us girls get together, the guys make a camping weekend out of it too going back and forth between two properties owned by my sister and her husband. We pulled out of our driveway by 6 am on Friday. The weather looked perfect!

Our temporary home near Durham, On.

Arriving at the Ridge just outside of Durham around 9 gave us time to set up before my sisters, Audrey and Donna, arrived to pick me up. I loaded my suitcase and camera in the car and we were off to Chatsworth.

Gayle and John's place 

                          We stay at Gayle's place for the weekend, she has lots of room for all of us. Ignore the snow in the picture, it is the only picture I had of her place!

Cathy arrived around noon, we had a nibble and the four of us headed off to Owen Sound to begin the day properly with some special bargain hunting.

preparing a snack

My youngest sister, Wendy, works at the Grey Roots Museum and the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre.  http://marineandrail.ca in O.S. and wasn't done until 4. She didn't mind missing Value Village and the other second hand stores this time.

We always have a great time shopping together, finding clothes for each other and helping someone else find that one thing they were looking for. I found a toolbox for Bill that I thought might be perfect for his downsizing in the rv so I snapped it up.
The price was right. If it doesn't work, we can sell it.

By 4:30 we were pretty much shopped out and each of us had a few bags in the trunk of Gayle's car when we arrived at Wendy's house. After a catch up chat with the babe of the family, a cool drink and a small photo shoot we walked downtown to find a place to eat. We found a place we visited last year and decided to give the new management a chance under the new name of Avalon Jazz Lounge.

My first No Tipping restuarant!

Gary, owner and waiter for the night

It was a long wait for dinner but we had quite a time with the owner, Gary, over placing our orders, asking our questions, changing our entree choices because they were out of beef and in general just laughing at his antics throughout the process.

The colour coordination was not planned.

We walked away with an awesome meal under our belts and a great experience. They hadn't been open that long so we remained very positive and understanding for their few shortcomings. I can definitely see us going back.

We then walked to the waterfront and Wendy gave us a private tour into the museum where she is curator/administrator etc. 

This is a new position for Wendy where she shines. She is a great historian and provided us with many stories. We left with an ice cream cup, Chapman's no less!

Wendy, Gayle, Cathy, Donna

Wendy and Audrey

Donna and I chose our bed in the bedroom off the patio and slept well. Saturday brought us a whole new experience. We had made reservations to go to Windsong Carriage & Ranch for trail riding. http://www.windsongcarriage.com.  This was a suggestion Wendy, our event planning sister, made to us a month in advance. She didn't expect quite the positive feedback since she didn't know whether we had ever ridden before. None of us really had and speaking for myself, never had the desire to try. Yes, I have always been fearful of large animals, horses being one. Although admitting they are beautiful I have always chose to stay my distance. When everyone else said they had never ridden and wanted to try I took the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon. Something to cross off the bucket list that was never on there in the first place!

Nerves were settling in by the time we'd eaten breakfast at Kettles and arrived at the ranch. LOL what had I gotten myself into? Gord and Heather greeted us with a smile even though we arrived very early and soon took us on as beginners.

With an introduction and wee sum up of who we were in our working/retiring lives we were aligned with a horse that would suit us individually. I admitted my fear/nerves and was told that he would help me get over that.

Sitting pretty letting Magic graze

Our horses were all drafts with the exception of Jack who was a western. Jack was the smallest but also the only one with different instructions on how to handle him. Wendy accepted the challenge. We all walked our 'own' saddled and bridled horse to an inside arena where we were taught how to talk to them. "Walk on" "whoa" echoed throughout the building as we learned to control. I wasn't too far around with Magic, a beautiful big black beauty, when Gord said 'okay Pat, bring Magic in here and we'll get you in the saddle". Sitting atop his broad back I was totally overlooking everyone else.

Gord  led us all out into the fields, through the woodland, down inclines, across the creeks, up the path and followed a trail for an hour with his helper, Lincoln, bringing up the rear. Immediately I could feel my body relax, Magic behaved much better outside behind Gayle's Holly than he did inside. He is 8 yrs. old and still playful with his bit which was a challenge to keep his head steady. He lost all interest in his tom foolery when we were in the great outdoors, thank goodness!

Because of the wide berth of Magic's back, my knees were giving me grief within the first half hour and throughout the whole ride, but it didn't deter the feeling of pride and accomplishment I was experiencing. I was RIDING A HORSE!!

Gayle on Holly, Magic and I, Audrey on Daisy

When we were on the last field before 'home' Gord advised that we could stop and let our horses graze. They deserved a rest, so we lowered the reins and relaxed a bit more. Gord took a few pictures of us on our animals.

Audrey, Lincoln, Pat, Gayle, Wendy, Cathy, Donna
Daisy, Magic, Holly, Jack, Bonnie, Marley

Getting off was worrying me because of my knees and I was the last to dismount. Our hosts helped my sisters off in traditional cowboy style and Gord came to me and asked if I would like to get off cow  girl style. Oh goodness...........what the heck is that? I lifted my leg up front over the saddle horn as instructed and sat side saddle before sliding down off Magic into his outstretched arms. Phew! My right knee gave an inner groan and failed me for a minute but within the time it took to walk him back to the stall I was fine.




Later that day after Gayle and I had a hot tub and we all relaxed a bit and shared our purchases, we dressed up, another photo shoot with my Canon and tripod, and headed to Hanover to have supper with Mom.

Cathy, Donna, Wendy, Audrey
Pat and Gayle

She did not remember we were coming and we weren't expecting her to, so was very very very (6 x) surprised to see us all. Donna had reserved the separate dining room/kitchen at the Village for our special dinner.  Roasted chicken, salads, bread, cheese and wine was just what the doctor ordered.

A special dinner with Mom. Cheers!

Wendy expressing what I was feeling!

 As a matter of fact, by this time our butt muscles were screaming and a doctor may have been a good idea! Well at least the wine we consumed didn't hurt! We took advantage once more by taking pictures with Mom. She will not remember by nightfall but we will.

Our special guest, Mom, 89 yrs.

After dinner photo shoot

1000 pcs of hell!

 We spent some time after cleanup in Mom's apartment trying to piece together a very difficult jigsaw while topping off the meal with some vanilla ice cream and berries.

Puzzle making with the girls

Back to Gayle's for the night. My weekend was cut short, by choice, only because Bill and I had a friend coming in on a business trip from B.C. to take us out for a belated anniversary dinner. We don't see Colin often enough since they moved from London 4 years ago so since he was making a special trip from Toronto we wanted to be home for his visit. He has never seen our 'soon to be our forever' home and we didn't want to miss this opportunity to share it with him.

Bill picked me up in Chatsworth at 10 pm on Saturday and we slept at the Ridge before heading out early on Sunday for home. With the laundry done and showers out of the way, we were ready when Colin called at 6 saying he had arrived at the Delta Armories downtown.

We had a wonderful dinner at earls on Wellington Rd. S and would recommend it to anyone in the area. On top of our regular drinks, Colin bought us each a sparkling bubbly to toast with. It was our first time there and being a Sunday it was quiet, not crowded and perfect for visiting while we ate.

earls for dinner

We spent the evening in the rv with drinks and more photo shoots before Bill drove Colin back to his motel. You may ask why he doesn't stay with us when he comes............but he has his own way, the motels are paid for and he isn't feeling that I am going out of my way to make our home accommodating for him. He is just an all 'round great friend and doesn't want special treatment. Hopefully he will be back on his next trip to T.O. at the end of the month.

The weekend ended and it was great for all of us.

Until next year ladies!

Thank you for stopping in for a peek, Your comments are always welcome and appreciated.