Happy Birthday Mary Ellen

On New Year's Day 1979, according to our established custom, we sat down as a family of 7 with kids aged 6, 5, 3, 2 and 9 months, and made our plans and goals for the coming year. Each child was asked what they'd like to have happen or to do in 1979. When it was 6-year old Rob's turn, he sat there holding 9-month old Mike and said, "I think we need a new baby this year". So, always willing to do our best to make our kid's wishes and dreams come true, Lloyd and I got right to work to give the family a new baby in 1979. Consequently, on December 4, 1979 our 4th daughter, Mary Ellen, was born in Prince George, BC.

She was a sweet, good-natured little baby and was doted on by her parents and older siblings. Right from the start she has been a pleasure and a joy to us.

A little bit of a showman - she loved to dress up and look glamorous.

Her third birthday cake was made to look like one of her dolls.

At 3-years of age she showed promise of the beauty she grew up to be, and her sweet personality easily shined through.

We moved east when Mary was three so we could be closer to my parents and extended family in Nova Scotia. On the way we stopped at Niagara Falls where this picture was taken. We had the kids on a buddy system whenever we were out of the car. Mary's buddy was Jenny. Not able to pronounce 'buddy' very well, Mary called Jenny her 'bunny', a term that stayed part of our family language for a long time.

In Nova Scotia Mary finally met the person she was named after, her great-grandmother Mary Ellen Logan...shown here with Mary and her cousin Meredith. Grammie was thrilled to have one of her 50+ grandchildren named after her. Grammie called Mary Nell after the name that she was called for all her 95 years.

Finally, when Mary was 6 years old, she became a big sister. She didn't seem to mind being removed from the position as youngest child and has always been close to her baby sister, Emily.

True to the promise of her childhood, Mary grew to be a beautiful young lady, pictured here in her high school grad picture. She was very popular in high school. She was very athletic and played basketball and volleyball. She still is very active and fit, hiking and running on a regular basis.




She met and fell in love with Greg Bourne when she was 18, and got engaged when she was 19.

They were married when they were 20 and will be celebrating their 10th anniversary in May of 2010...a fun couple who are very much devoted to each other.

Mary and her daughter, Layla, travelled to Nova Scotia from Edmonton with me two years ago to visit my mother. Here we all are at Peggy's Cove, NS. Mary was very kind to Mum and enjoyed revisiting the place that was her home from ages 3 - 9.

She's a very devoted and caring mother to her children, balancing a career as a medical lab technician with loving and caring for her family.

Mary has lived up to our expectations of her. We love her and Greg and their sweet children, Layla and Baron. She continues to be a joy to our family. Our only regret is that she lives 1000 miles from us so we don't get to see her/them as much as we'd like to.

Happy Birthday Mary.

Kittens and Christmas Trees

Sara put her Christmas tree up while I was away this weekend. It looks beautiful standing in their living-room. This morning while I was in the kitchen I heard Max in the living-room saying "The tree is moving. There's something moving in it". So I went to investigate, grabbing my ever-ready camera as I went, and this is what I saw.




Mickey, having never seen a Christmas tree before, and being a curious, inquisitive cat, decided to check it out up close and personal. She batted ornaments around, chewed ribbon, and maybe even knocked a few off the tree altogether. Her favorite one to bat around was the crystal snowman you can see in the picture above.

You can see her in action here. Luckily for us, her cat-friend, Percy, was content to curl up under the tree and sleep.

Off Again

We got home from Arizona on Monday, Lloyd went back in High Level yesterday, and I'm headed to Winnipeg today. When I finally get home again on Sunday, I'm not budging from Edmonton till well after Christmas.



I'm going to Winnipeg today to help out for a few days with Mum. She's in a hospital right now awaiting an opening in a nursing home that has the capability of dealing with patients in the advanced stage of Alzheimer's that Mum has. Wendy has been spending every day for the past three weeks in the hospital with Mum and its becoming too much for her. She hasn't had time for Christmas shopping, or quilting, or helping her youngest daughter with her January wedding plans, or just to relax.

Wendy, Mum, Me - May 28, 2009

It'll be an interesting weekend walking the hospital halls with Mum. At 88 she's still very energetic and needs to keep busy. I hope I can keep up with her. Her memory has deteriorated to such an extent that she doesn't know anyone except Wendy (and isn't always aware that Wendy is her daughter), and has no memory of having lived anyplace except the hospital she's currently in.



Alzheimer's is a horrible disease. Mum and three of her siblings so far have been afflicted with it, and the ones who haven't been live in fear of getting it. Wendy and I are hoping it's not an inherited condition, although Mum's parents lived to be 95 with no sign of it.



I probably won't be blogging again till after I'm get home on Sunday, so don't forget me and keep checking in, just in case. I'll have my computer with me but I'm not sure I'll have internet access.

Wrap-Up and Review

All good things come to an end and that's what we're facing today - the end of a lovely holiday. Our last day is always spent (partly anyhow) in clean-up and shut-down activities. So far, and it's not yet noon, we've vacuumed all the carpets, washed all the tile floors, packed just about everything (including the extra large suitcase we bought to carry all our Christmas purchases), changed the beds, and completed two loads of laundry with another one chugging away. We just have the kitchen and bathrooms (3) to clean. Then we'll relax. It's worth it though for the enjoyment of the past week.

Here's a brief summary:

We discovered the joys of underwater photography

We admired Clyde's ripening tangerine and orange trees


We enjoyed night (and daytime) swimming


We introduced Jenny and the boys to the beauty of Campe Verde and Jerome

We all enjoyed the pool - at least twice a day - in spite of the native Arizonans rule that you don't swim in the winter!

We climbed the waterfall trail at White Tank Mountain

and admired the crop circles from the plane as we flew down here. Montana/Idaho I think.

And now back to the hated job of cleaning. We'll be home tomorrow.

Almost Oranges

Today, the Quist's last full day here, we decided to not do anything more adventurous than shop and visit Uncle Clyde in Sun City. Jenn and the boys were looking forward to seeing oranges growing on the trees. It'll be another month or so before they're ripe enough for picking but they were still fun to see.


This one was trying its best to turn orange for us. We appreciated the effort.


Clyde and Jenny had a good visit.


Sam reluctantly let himself be photographed with one of the orange trees. He tends to run when he sees someone try to aim a camera at him.


Jonah went right up into the tree to get to know it up close and personal.


Never having seen a green orange before, he was fascinated with the little unripe fruit.



But cutest of all was the robust little tangerine tree, full of semi-ripe fruit. We'll all have to come down again in a month or two to taste those ones!!!

Ghosts

Today we visited two of my favorite, so far, places here in Arizona - Camp Verde, site of Montezuma's Castle cliff dwellings, and Jerome, a very interesting resurrected ghost town. It was a mining town which had been deserted when the mining operation closed down, then resettled in the late 1960s by hippies. It is down a very artsy place full of old buildings, facades, half fallen down buildings and very interesting people - and ghosts.

We had heard that most of the old decrepit buildings in Jerome were haunted, but that could easily be a tourist ploy. However, last week the old Hotel in Jerome was featured on Ghost Hunters (so my daughter Sara told me) and they verified that the hotel was indeed haunted. We visited it today and didn't see any ghosts though - maybe they sleep during the day.

The haunted hotel

Part of the town of Jerome

Jonah and the old, easily escapable, jail.

Lloyd with a piece of rusted mining machinery.

At the cliff dwelling site it always seems to be so very peaceful and quiet...you can almost feel the spirits of the ancient people who lived in such precarious homes, farmed the land, and mined the salt deposits a few miles away. I love sitting there in the sun and looking around at the old cliffs. The fall colors were incredibly bright and beautiful.

Jonah

Jenny, Jonah and Sam with Montezuma's Castle

A cotton plant with ripe cotton spilling fro the bolls.

Sam and me enjoying the peace and beauty of Camp Verde

Swimming Season???

We received an ad here in Arizona that began by saying "Now that swimming season is over..." What are they talking about? Sure, it's November, but the temperature is in the high 20s-low 30s (that's in the 80s for you Farenheit people). That spells swimming season to me...if it's so hot out that you break into a sweat walking across the street, it's hot enough to jump in the pool! Just ask these people.





We have friends down here, native Zonies, who think we're crazy for swimming when we come down here in the winter..."you just don't swim in the winter". Again, to my way of thinking, you decide whether or not to go swimming by how hot it is outside. Of course, it helps if you have a heated pool!


We'll continue to swim in the afternoon and again in the evening as long as we're here. We may be the only people in Arizona in November having fun!!!