I am Living My Dream!

the rain has poured all weekend except for a few brief

intervals during the evening.

I lay in bed last night listening to the pouring rain,

feeling the dampness in the air. My cat sat at the 

window screen peering outdoors, maybe just maybe

she might be able to catch a glimpse of the robin

that  can be heard still singing. The cats tail was

going back and forth I guess in happiness enjoying the moment too.

As I lay there sleep escaped me, my mind working in overload.

Where do all these thoughts come from and why do they come to me

in the middle of the night.....I was remembering different things I have

seen over the years. I really am a nature lover and have been overjoyed by,

Only seeing once fireflies flitting about lighting up as they flew.

I was amazed to see them, what a lucky vacation evening that was.

I have seen the Northern Lights  and you can not describe adequately

the feeling that surrounded me as the colors changed and swirled in the sky.

I have been in a canoe where the whole lake was filled with lily pads

while the loons have echoed in the background. I have seen a field of 

snow geese, I pulled my car over and listened and could have stayed all day.

They were beautiful, the sound was intense. It was a great sighting.

I have seen seventeen moose all in one evening, they are

large monsters appearing  out of the darkness, so close

you can almost touch them. I have seen a swarm of bees

that covered a large barn amazed by the buzzing and amazed

at how fast my little feet could fly as I ran into the house,

also amazed at how guickly they were gone.

I was amazed by the honey they made in the walls of an

old granary. I have experienced an owl perched on my shoulder with a 

broken wing, I saw it take flight and repeatedly come and tour

what had been his residence. I have seen bald eagles fly with

their beautiful wings spread in their full glory.

I remember feeling breathless, I have seen seals swimming in the ocean

while my nephew swam right along with them, bobbing around as if

somehow they have all belonged together, I have sailed in a boat

amazed at the speed the wind was moving us along in the wavy water,

I have ate fish caught from that very excursion. I have seen racoons

move into a building on the farm, little thieves with masks on,

I have seen fields with deer maybe fifty at once,

I have seen about 300 blue Jays perched out on one of the Elm trees

out front of my house, I have seen canyons and falls that made my

mouth drop open. I have climbed trails I never thought I could conquer,

but so grateful for the gift of the falls when I had made it to the top.

I have toured forests with such enticing tree trunks, mosses,

life breaking forth from the earth and the smell of the rich soil..

I have seen bears slumbering along. I have seen mountain goats

high on a mountain ledge just across from where we had been driving.

I have watched gorillas through panes of glass at the zoo.

I can't get enough of them or the movie Gorillas in the Mist.

I have seen Whitehorn Sheep in Jasper and I have watched

a Falcon perched on my back shed for about two hours one

afternoon. I have watched tiny humming birds divebomb each

other at my Dads bird feeder, I have listened to the rain,danced in the rain, 

and ran out of the rain, hail, snow, glorious sunsets and sunrises,

watched lightening storms, listened to the thunderous loud

boisterous booms of a thunder storm, and the list could go on and on.

I have never seen the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty,

or driven fancy cars, lived in mansions,  travelled far,

but I am lucky, I have been given all these gifts,

and I am living 

My Dream!

.......

If the sun comes out 

I may get to see another rainbow.

It would make for a glorious day.

............

Have Your Best Days Ever,

Amazing and so whittle.

This was sent to me a couple of days ago.

I was amazed and thought you would enjoy it.Guy rescues baby hummingbird after it was attacked. [VIDEO]

Have a great day,

may you have your very best of days.

Cinner

CNN 2010 Hero Awards.....A Must Read!

 I lucked out on Sunday evening when I was able to watch this show on T.V. ....It is a show where thousands have been nominated as heroes and ten are chosen. They had the most inspiring stories I had ever heard, and I can only admire these people. What struck me the most is that these were all down to earth people, they looked like you and me. From watching the show it is the smallest things that can change a world, save a life,

feed a hungry individual, give light for thousands to read by so they have educations. If after seeing the show, I can not imagine one person not feeling empowered that they too can make a difference and change the world.

The below information was found in the India Journal on Wikepedia

Anuradha Koirala Named ‘CNN Hero’       Date Submitted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 LOS ANGELES, CA - In a star-studded ceremony on Nov. 20 at The Shrine Auditorium, here, Anuradha Koirala was named the ‘2010 CNN Hero of the Year’, after nearly two million votes were cast at CNNHeroes.com. Actress Demi Moore introduced Anuradha Koirala as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes; host Anderson Cooper announced Koirala as the CNN Hero of the Year at the end of the evening, after a powerful performance by Grammy Award-winning band Sugarland. Each Top 10 CNN Hero received $25,000, and Koirala’s organization, Maiti Nepal, will receive an additional $100,000. Anuradha Koirala is fighting to prevent the trafficking and sexual exploitation of Nepal’s women and girls.   Her group, Maiti Nepal,has facilities throughout Nepal and India, with its main campus in Kathmandu.  Roughly translated, Maiti means “Mother’s Home.”  By raiding brothels, patrolling the India-Nepal border and providing safe shelter and support services, Koirala and Maiti Nepal have helped rescue and rehabilitate more than 12,000 Nepali women and girls since 1993.     Koirala was voted CNN Hero of the Year from among the Top 10 CNN Heroes, who were all honored at the event. Celebrity presenters included Halle Berry, Kid Rock, Renee Zellweger, Jessica Alba, Marisa Tomei, Gerard Butler, Kiefer Sutherland, Aaron Eckhart, and LL COOL J. Bon Jovi, Sugarland and John Legend featuring Common & Melanie Fiona each performed. Now in its fourth year, CNN Heroes is a multiplatform campaign that shines a spotlight on individuals who go to extraordinary lengths to serve others; in 2010, the campaign received over 10,000 submissions from more than 100 countries. The Top 10 CNN Heroes were selected by an esteemed Blue Ribbon Panel, which included, Muhammad Ali, Ela Bhatt, Sir Richard Branson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Ricky Martin among other humanitarians.       “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming  obstacles.”By Christopher Reeve “A boy doesn't have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn't like pie when he sees there isn't enough to go around”by Edgar Watson Howe. The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010 (in alphabetical order): Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega of Juarez, Mexico Susan Burton of California, USA Linda Fondren of Mississippi, USA Anuradha Koirala of Kathmandu, Nepal : 2010 CNN Hero of the year[1] Narayanan Krishnan of Madurai, India Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow of Scotland, UK Harmon Parker of Kenya, Africa Aki Ra of Cambodia Evans Wadongo of Kenya, Africa Dan Wallrath of Texas, USA Please go through the list, you will be inspired by each and everyone of them, so often we read of the hardships and they can be overwhelming, so it is wonderful to see the stories and feel a renewed hope

A Hero

A lady reaches out to save the children

from the harsh reality of prostitution,

a man destroys the minefields,

that he and other children were taught to assemble,

his reality is the necessity within him to save another life,

so far he has dismantled over fifty thousand,

A man sees veterans coming home from war,

he does what he can by building homes so that they can have a better life,

It is because of these men and women that he is free,

Another man goes against his culture

by taking care of the poor, the hungry, the sick,

He even hand feeds some of them,

and knows that everyone needs love.

Another lady fights to save people from obesity,

to give guidance and better understanding,

another man distributes 14,000 lights to homes

so children can read and do their homework,

so they can have a better life,

Another man builds bridges for safety

so people are not swept under water when the rivers run high,

Another woman cares for the sick in the hospitals

helping to change a country,

another man, another woman,

another child,

just one moment,

when one acts,

another hero

has awoken.

Hope

continues,

everlasting.

....

written by:

Cinner

Still I Rise, Maya Angelo and Strength!

There is nothing I admire more than strong woman and men

I have met so many of you here through your blogs

and everyday life and struggles,

We can all rise up,

all we have to do is believe in ourselves

and in others that  love and compassion

for others will make this a much better world.

.........

Today I wish for all people to feel safe, worthwhile, and loved,

I wish for houses for all the homeless, I wish for health to those suffering,

I pray today that all of us can rise up and together we can continue

to change the world.

Oh yes we can!

we must!

Stay Strong.

.........

Have Your Very Best Day

Never Take It for Granted.

The morning sunrise,

The smell of the sea, the sound of the water,

the breeze on my face, if only that were true,

the heart in the sky, do you see it?

Such a lovely day.

The colors of the day are emerging,

the clouds in the sky are breaking up,

It must be raining way off.

It will be a beautiful day.

Chatterbox Falls,

so appropriate for my sister to go,

my Dad always said she was a Chatterbox.

lol Penquin

Check out these trees, Oh I would love to climb in them.

yes even at my age, 

Imagine swimming here, looks so peaceful.

I am sure the eagles would be flying overhead.

Look at these harbor seals, lollygagging their day away.

Now I wonder what happened to this tree,

maybe a great  place for a treehouse.

beautiful Ignukshuks

(not sure of spelling)

A beautiful grey whale apparently that has

been swimming in the channel all season

as the salmon run was more than normal.

My sister said it was hard to get a picture,

because you either watched the thrill of a lifetime,

or you took a good photo.

she chose to watch.

I would have been so excited.

Beautiful picture of the falls,

can you imagine how loud they are,

if you have never heard that,

it is so powerful that it really is indescribable.

jellyfish

Pictures are courtesy of my lovely sister and her fiance.

Our world is so beautiful, please do your part in taking care of it.

...............

I hope you enjoyed seeing one of the Islands in British Columbia.

Have a great day, the sun is shining, and I am going to enjoy

these last warm days of fall.

Take care,

Cinner

Wow, wow, wow and wow.

Good Monday Morning,

these were actually from Sunday morning

with no editing at all.

How could you edit to be any better than they are.

It is beautiful,

I think our sunrises in the fall are just brilliant,

I am grateful to my hubby for taking these yesterday.

He leaves early for work so he can stop off the highway

and spend a few moments enjoying this loveliness.

That man of mine has a great eye,

I think he is reminding me that it is 3 months until

no I can't say it yet! Get that thought right out of my mind.

Out I tell ya, out, out, out,

Oh that was a close one!

Now I look at this photo and I think this is the best.

I am like a kid in a candy store,

wanting more and more.

..........

I had a wonderful birthday

enjoying my solitude,

counting my blessings,

had a black forest cake brought home,

and since it was my birthday

I enjoyed every bite.

..............

Thank you to everyone whom sent emails,

phoned, and to those who left me comments.

I sure felt loved.

..............

Final thought for this post

May your day be filled with beauty,

whether there is a sun or a cloud in the sky,

and may you have

Your Very Best Day Ever.

Enjoy.

Inspirations, friendship, and life.

What happened to

The fresh air that I breathe,

A smoky haze has filled my house,

I look outside there is a looming haze,

I shut all my windows, turn off the air conditioner,

and let my dog in, and double check that the cat is

inside as well.

I cough and then cough again.

I put on my shoes to step outside to make sure they was no fire on our street,

thinking that one could possibly be very close.

I could smell the smoke much stronger outside,

I could see no firetrucks.

I was somewhat dumbfounded as to what was going on,

as I had only been awake for about five minutes.

I went inside and turned on the television.

It turned out that because of the smoke in the next province.

and with the wind that was causing all the smoke,

They were recommending anyone with any type of respiratory problem 

to stay inside, and anyone with serious illnesses as well.

They had done some air quality test and it was considered to be jeopradized.

Those poor people in British Columbia,

The fires must make it very hard for them.

Every year it is common due to lightning strikes in the mountains

to start fires. Nothing saddens me more than to see the remnants 

of the trees , burnt grass, destruction left behind..

So far the worst day was Wednesday,

people complaining of headaches,

nausea, sore throats, sore eyes,

and breathing problems.

Hopefully it will disapear in a few days,

and that the fires will be put out,

and that everyone is safe and sound,

and healthy and breathing okay.

.................

Fires have always scared me,

I worked in a sunglass store,

and I had a gentleman that would come and visit.

He was a burn victim, had no ears, hardly any nose, fingers gone,

I would say at least 90 percent of his body was scarred very badly.

I have to admit he startled me, I had been putting stock away,

and when I stood up, he must have seen the expression on my face,

I told him sorry that I had not seen him because of putting the stock away.

He needed the best kind of sunglasses because now he was so light sensitive,

the glasses could not be too heavy because of no ears,

we finally got him into a pair of Polarized Oakleys,

He loved that he could be styling.

Over a few years he came many times to visit,

and he was always surprised that I had no problem touching his skin 

and doing adjustments. I learned so much from him,

what strength he had to face the world where most people automatically look,

because he was different,

What a kind soul, what an inspiration,

he never once complained,

He had his big floppy hat to protect him too,

and he always smiled when he said goodbye,

and I always shook his hand,

again I think he was surprised by that.

.............................

He never volunteered his story,

and I never asked,

we both knew he had been in a fire..

After  I went on to another job,

I never saw him again,

I think about him often, and I smile,

I often wonder if he knows what an impact he made on my life.

He taught me that you can get through anything,

that life is about hardships, and living is about how we deal with them.

When life can get to you, you pick yourself up by your bootstraps and you go on,

and  you adjust.

We all have our own battles,

I have an illness that when I laugh I  can lose muscle control and fall down,

Some people say they are inspired by me by how I live my life,

I don't have a right to complain,

I think sometimes God has a really funny sense of humor.

But he is right there walking beside us,

teaching us lessons that we are even unaware of..

I think of David often,

not of his difigurement, but of the friendship that grew,

I often wonder what pair of sunglasses he is wearing now,

I pray that people got to know him and were not scared off,

because sometimes when one feels uncomfortable,

we can act really foolish.

I pray he is well and that his days have been pain free.

There are Angels that walk this earth,

To me he is one of them.

................

One of the bravest, strongest, charming, determined individuals I have ever met.

He is beautiful.

I hope one day we cross paths again.

..................

Have a wonderful weekend,

and I hope

it is your Best Day Ever.

Are You Freakin Kidding Me?

I believe in being a responsible Pet Owner.

I make sure they get their shots, licenses, walked,

cleaned, etc....

The above lovely fellow is Kula as some of you know by now.

and we have a cat named Stinky (black and white)

like you could not guess that one.

.........

Anyway this past Saturday I phone City Hall to pay the pet fees.

After waiting a short while, I did get through and this is how the conversation went.

HER: Hello licensing and Planning Department, how may I help you.

ME:  Hi My name is Cindy -------, and I need to pay for my pet licences.

HER:  You can do that on line.

ME, Yes I know, I do prefer to do this over the phone please.

HER: (With a Snarky Attitude) One moment then.( She comes on the line and says)

That will be 76.00 for the three pets,,,,,

Now here is where it became difficult.

ME: I only have the one dog Kula and the cat Stinky, the other dog Sparky had gone back to the

Spca. back in early February.

HER: We need confirmation of that

ME;  I am confirming with you that he went to the SPCA and was adopted out 2 days after he was put on display.

HER: You will need to come down to City Hall, they are open Monday to Friday to confirm you no longer

have this second dog.

ME; The only confirmation I can give you is that the SPCA  will have a record of this. I am disabled and I am not coming down to City Hall, I need to pay for just my two pets over the phone.

HER; One moment.

(Now here is where the conversation went South Quickly!)

HER; There is no one to confirm you do not have a second dog.

(I am thinking to myself, I am about to confirm that I am going to lose my mind,

however not knowing what kind of a day she had, and what problems she had in her own

life I took a deep breath and bit my tongue as she continued to explain.)

You will have to pay for the three pets because they all show up on the same invoice,

and once you pay for the three pets the bylaw policy is that we do not refund for 

any pet licencing, so you should wait until we can verify through SPCA that you no longer

have your second dog Sparky......

Well Miss Cindy Crankypants showed up I am not proud to say, but I thought this was utterly ridiculous

and I have always paid and have had no problems, My concern was that there is a $250.00

fine for each pet if they get caught without a new license.

ME: So you are telling me that you will not take my money to have two of my pets licensed. There must be a place that you can indicate that the client has informed us of not having a second dog and insisted upon paying for her two pets that she states that she has.

HER:  Correct we can not do this unless you want to pay for three.

ME: Can you tell me if my pets got a ticket would there be a note indicating that I had attempted to pay the

licence fee.

HER; NO

ME, So possibly my pets could get a ticket for $500.00 that I would have to pay because you would

not take my credit card over the phone for a total of $46.00. I said that I would go to court and fight the tickets and make sure that I will be calling the complaint department as this is not how to do business.

HER: Well you can pay for the three if you are concerned about getting a ticket, but there will be no refund for the second dog. 

ME: (THINKING OMG) I said, no thank you, who am I talking too.

HER; My name is --------

ME, thank you have a very nice day!

............................................................................

Twenty five years I have worked in customer service and I know at times it can not be pleasant,but I also know having worked in management that there is always something that can be done. I just had to shake my head in dismay at the interaction above. I would give them a call on Monday to straighten this up. Then I was thinking about all the people that do not get licences for their animals, and I was just trying to do the right thing, and what if my dog had died, how would have I proved that...................................................................................................

Monday Morning

I make the dreaded phone call,

I kid you not the same lady answered the phone,

HER: Licencing and Planning Department

ME: I would like to renew my pet licences.

HER: OH , one moment please.

Within two minutes all was done on the phone by the new person without any confusion or confirmation

that I did not have the second dog. I never said anything to this lady about what had occurred on Saturday

and at five o'clock there was a message left on my phone by some manager that he was terribly sorry

for the confusion on Saturday and that they will look into changing their policy, but that they do stand by it as it is.   I felt like calling back to say it had been handled and I only had to pay for the pets that I had without

being asked for confirmation. I did not as I felt too much energy had been spent on this already.

......................

But I have to say this, Hundreds of times I have watched shows about puppy mills, horses starving, cruelty to animals, etc and it makes me sick to my stomach. Instead of wasting their energy on such a ridiculous scenario, maybe they should be out doing what the bylaws are meant to do. and that is to

Protect the Animals.

Well I hope you have your Very Best of Days,

Be kind to all people

as we too can have a bad day!