This is another computer.  My apple gave up the ghost yesterday.  It will not even turn on now.  

Lots of changes this week.  I gave notice at my job and will be finished next Friday.  It will be so nice to have time off again!  I want to start exercising four or five times a week and catch up on all the things I have missed while working almost steadily for the past few months.

I actually went down a few pounds when I weighed in at Weight Watchers this week.  Our goal last week was to ask ourselves each time we reached, or wanted to reach, for food if we were physically hungry.   If our stomach's weren't actually asking for food, we were to distract ourselves with something else.   I tried this and it worked a few times and a few times I ate anyway.  At least, overall, it worked for this week.  And I may get even better at listening to my stomach!

This is another sunny Saturday so this will be short.  Tomorrow I will tell you all about the book I am reading - Water for Elephants.

It's snowing again in Vancouver!!!!   This is the longest winter I have experienced here.  It turned cold and snowed in early December and it has felt like winter most days since.  I took a flex day to see my dental surgeon and go for a job interview today.  I have just cancelled the doctor and may have to do same with job interview as I have no snow tires.  Most years we have snow drops and crocus in bloom by now!  

Since seeing Benjamin Button (which was a lot like Forest Gump in some ways), I have been thinking a lot about how often random circumstances change our lives.  In particular how Fran, she was our new found sister who came into our lives in the late 80's, changed my life, and probably the lives of my siblings as well.   Her mantra at the time was 'The truth will set you free'.   She was on a mission to find the truth.  She felt that by not being told about her birth circumstances she had been betrayed.  She had a deep desire to understand how and why she was given up in such a manner at birth.   By that time of course, anyone who had known our mother well, when she was 20 years old, was long gone.   

Would the truth, could she have found it, given her solace and set her free?  Did the little bit she was able to glean from the few people who were still around make her feel better or worse? Would it have been better to 'not open that can of worms' and 'let sleeping dogs lie'.  Unfortunately I will never know.  Fran, who was in remission with breast cancer, had a re-occurrence and succumbed to the disease a few years later.  Maybe the stress of these new circumstances in her life played a part in the disease returning.  We will never know. 

Benjamin Button

Went to see Benjamin Button yesterday and since then have been wondering about family secrets. When is the best time to pass on delicate information.   Is there ever a good time.  Or do some secrets need to go to the grave?

Our family secret happened in 1935.   On July 1st, my mother gave birth to a baby girl in Toronto.  She was just 20 years old.  The father of this baby was a business associate of her father and a married man.  When my mother began to 'show', her brother brought her from the small Ontario town where they lived to Toronto.  She stayed with a good Catholic family until her time came. Within four hours of birth, her baby was baptized and given to a neighbour to raise.  She never saw her child again.  

Instead of going back home, my mother went to live with her recently married sister in a northern Ontario mining community where she met my father.  My Mom and Dad were married the following June (1936) and by May (1937) of the following year my mother had the first of five more children.  We grew up in a safe, loving home and I, for sure, had no idea that there was a secret.   My mother's family were all able to keep the secret for many years.  

I am certain that my father could not have known or suspected anything, ever.  My father loved my mother but he was also very self-righteous.   He believed there were only two kinds of women and my mother was definitely, in his eyes, at the top of the heap in the good camp.   He had quit all communication with one of his own sisters over some moral issue.  On looking back, we certainly know why the secret had to have been kept during our years of growing up. 

My Dad passed away in the early 80's and my Mom followed two years later.   I often wonder why my Mom did not tell us her story during those two years.  There might not have been opportunity as we all lived away from the town where we grew up.  But we all did visit back and forth during those two years and there were lots of telephone calls.  I don't remember any serious conversations during that time.  Of course my Mom would have spent a good deal of that time grieving at first.  I wonder if she wanted to tell us and didn't know how or if she did not want us to know or if she was just waiting for the opportune time.   My mother did have some distinct approaches to life - we were often told to "let sleeping dogs lie" and not to "rock the boat".  Maybe she was still applying these principles.  I guess we will never know.

In the late 80's, this baby, born on July 1st, 1935, went to apply for a passport for the first time. It was then she discovered her birth name and that she was 'adopted'.  She went seeking information which lead her to find us (her siblings).  This story was pieced together only after she found us.  Everyone who had insight into this situation had passed on by this time so she was left with many unanswered questions.  

  

My plan was to post a blog each day.  But work has interfered with that this week.   Unfortunately I am working full time again for awhile and like many other lower mainland commuters have been dealing with increased traffic this week due to the bridge closure.

Hurray!  Today is Saturday.  I can do as I please.  I have already worked out today - joined Fitness World this week.  Like a million others I plan to lose weight and get stronger and healthier this year.  

And, I am drinking coffee again.   Now it is supposed to ward off Alzheimers.  Is coffee good for you or not?

I quit drinking coffee daily several years ago as it was supposed to help stop hot flashes and reduce my stress levels.  I would allow myself one cup a week (usually on Saturday) but I did drink more tea.  My caffeine intake definitely went down, my stress levels stayed the same and hot flashes have come and gone over the years.  I probably have less indigestion from it.  

At the time, caffeine could destroy your adrenals which help control hormone distribution and stress levels.  It depleted calcium in your system and I was concerned about bone loss.  My biggest source of caffeine was coffee.  Now we are told that coffee can delay the onset of Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's, type 2 Diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver.  It has lots of good antioxidants and is even a mild diuretic.  

But, what about the 'latte factor' if I start drinking coffee every morning.  I  have tested a few places around work and it will be an average of  about $2.00 per cup.  I used to do twi or three cups a day and often would buy for others.  I know I can make it at home but it never tastes as good. I like it freshly made.   Thank goodness I don't want or need to have the super gourmet stuff -http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23coff.html

Hope this link works, unlike one of my other ones.   This is Sunday now.  I abandoned this yesterday to get out to enjoy our sunshine.

This is downtown Vancouver this morning at sunrise, viewed from Cypress Mountain.  We have had fog and a temperature inversion for several days.  It is like Spring on the mountain while still feels like Winter down here.

Have tried for three hours to upload a photo, and all of a sudden it turns up here when I start to type.  

This is my  great great grandfather Clement and some of his family.   It was taken in  1868 in Woolwich, England.  He is about 69 years old. His son, my great grandfather, would have been about 34, married and living in Nova Scotia.    

Below is the blurb that came with the photo.

Sort of Back L to R   Ann Barton b c 1835 Scarborough (Thomas John's 2nd wife), Esther Frances b 1855 Sunderland (Aunt Fannie), Clement Croft b 1799 Sunderland (or Newcastle) (I believe Sunderland) (Master Mariner - Thomas John, your Clement and James father), Unknown (I don't think it is a child, it may be Ann Barton's youngest sister who would have been about 25 when the photo was taken), Thomas John Croft b c1832 Sunderland.   Children at the front   Thomas Christopher Croft b c1867 Woolwich London, James Clement Croft b 15 Sep 1862, Lewisham, London (my Great grandfather), Mary Ellen Croft (Aunt Polly) b c1866 Woolwich London, William Thomas Croft b 1859 Sunderland   Esther Frances and William Thomas were the children of Thomas's first wife Esther Smith. She died the year William Thomas was born at the age of 23.   The only child not in the photo was Charles Edward Croft b 03/08/1871 Monkton, Pembroke I knew Uncle Charlie (your Clement's nephew), he died during the very bad winter of 1963.    The photo was taken I believe in 1868 or 1869 in probably Woolwich.   It's a coincidence that Thomas and your Clement both left Sunderland around 1860.

My Cat - KT

This is KT.  She is at least 16 years old.  

Didn't get to Callaghan to ski this morning      http://www.crosscountryconnection.ca/winter/wop.html 

It would have been a perfect day - minus 2 and sunny.   My consolation will be a few hours a Cypress this afternoon which should be just as good conditions.  http://www.cypressmountain.com/index.asp

I missed three or four hours sleep last night again and am working full time this week so could not get up at 5 a.m. to get a ride to Whistler.  It is not pleasant when your body lets you down. 

Hormone conditions apparently cause the temperature changes that keep you awake at night. Yet the medication to reduce this has huge risks.  Seems to be way too risky.  

Holistic practitioners tell us that our bodies have a natural tendency toward health but we are standing in the way of this by poor choices of diet and exercise and balance.  It sounds really good in theory, and I know that it must be a continuing work in process,  but in practice, it is a slow and sometimes unrewarding approach.  

I go to Weight Watchers each week.  We have a new program - no more core foods - it is all flex points.  We are told that our bodies require the same volume of food to feel satiated each day. If we make low calorie, low glycemic choices, we will lose weight. See www.SmartEmpowered.com for a list of these foods.  It is all about knowing when you have had just enough food to feel satisfied.  I know this works well when you don't let yourself get too hungry but is impossible to do when you sit down to eat when you are famished.  The trick is to avoid grazing but to eat often enough to avoid getting too hungry.  I guess that is where balance comes in.  www.weightwatchers.ca/

And if our fat cells store estrogen, and we are reducing, eliminating our fat cells when we diet, why doesn't that estrogen supply our deficiencies.  If our bodies are so good at reaching balance, why isn't that estrogen grabbed before it is excreted.

I need to get out and enjoy our rare sunshine on the west coast this year.  Today I am practicing inserting links.  My next project will be photos.

Hello

Hi, 

I am new to this media.  A fairly newly (semi) retired single person, my interests are cross country skiing, bridge, weight loss, cats, reading,  genealogy, travelling, investing and playing Pogo.  This seems like a good place to express my opinions on these and other subjects. 

One of the best books I have read lately, called Three Cups of Tea, is the story of  an elite mountain climber, Greg Mortensen, and his efforts to provide schools for children (mostly girls) in remote villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  It is not only well written and moves along well,  but best of all, it leaves  you with a feeling of optimism and hope that the world can change for the better. 

Tomorrow, I am planning on skiing for the first time at the new  cross country facilities   at Whistler.  I hope the weather is good!   Will let you know how that turns out.