Ursela's Blog

"Pizza Pie"

2005-02-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

One of Dean Martin's biggest hits was a song called "That's Amore". I was at the age where I knew the words to every song on "The Hit Parade" - a sacred DUTY when you are a teenager! "That's Amore" began this way......
"When the sun hits the sky
Like a big piece of pie,
That's Amore."
I was singing the song about twenty years later and finally clued in to the fact that the "piece of pie" was a "pizza pie".
Why the mistake?
We didn't know that pizzas existed when the song came out in the 1950's. I can remember many an eating get-together in college and we never ate pizza - so it wasn't just a family non-trait. I can't even remember the first time that I had a pizza but I'm assuming that it was in my late twenties??????
Today I watched a television program on Pompeii and Herculaneum. Those two cities were completely destroyed by Mount Vesuvius in a matter of minutes in 79 AD. 1500 years later, the remnants of the cities were first discovered and archeologists have been working at digging up this complete showcase of the Roman Empire ever since. Guess what? They discovered that the people ate pizza!
Sure took a long time to get from Italy to Canada!

A Reversed Age Thing

2005-01-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I was brought up in a time when older people were always addressed as Mr. and Mrs. - a sign of respect. I am a teacher and have spent my whole adult life being addressed as Mrs. . Even the adults (people who work in banks and in the stores) have always called me Mrs. because I either taught their children or some member of the family over a span of thirty years.
Well now I am one of the "older people" and live in an area where I haven't taught practically every walking human being in town. I have now become "Ursela".
I'm quite aware of the fact that times have changed but it feels very strange. Actually, it strikes me as funny. But, I wonder if the prevelant lack of respect for people has something to do with this slight change in habits. Of course I realize that my point of view is old fashioned but should showing respect for people ever BE old fashioned?

Quotation

2004-12-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Intelligent people discuss ideas.
Mediocre people discuss things.
Simple minded people discuss other people.

Quotation

2004-12-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

It is love that measures our stature. There is no smaller package in the world than that of a person all wrapped up in himself.
William Sloane Coffin

Quotation

2004-11-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - DO NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

Storm

2004-11-20T00:02:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I moved to Halifax is because of the maritime climate - bluntly put, there is less snow. I have a messed up ankle and walking in snow basically means that I sprain my ankle with every step I take. I don't have masochistic tendencies so spraining my ankle twenty times to get to the car or the dumpster is not my favourite past time. Therefore, I now live in a "rich bitch" apartment with underground parking and inside garbage drop off. It's all terribly practical and horrifically expensive. However, running out of groceries and worrying about smelly garbage should now be part of my past.
And, of course, there is much less snow in Nova Scotia. This is vitally important as well since I still have to walk from my car to the grocery store!
WELL! We had a snowstorm this week - a reminder of the "bad old days" in Quebec. Everybody was shocked because "this NEVER happens" so early in the season. Yeah right!
The electricity went off, people were housed in shelters, some families lost their homes trying to use alternate heating sources and every night, the top story on the news dealt with the weather and the latest hardships that people endured.
But.............I didn't have to move my car so the snowplow could do its job clearing out the parking lot and I didn't have to go out and retrieve it once its job was done. The move car-bed-elevate leg- get car-bed-elevate leg cycle never occurred! Plus, there is this electricity phenomena in my building that meant that we had heat and hot water and some of the plugs actually worked. Once we shut up beeping smoke detectors, life was quite manageable with snaking extension cords running all over the building.
And do I dare admit it - it was rather fun trying to cope. My stove had limited power and my neighbour managed to cook a full course meal in and on this appliance. Then I was invited to share this meal. Many people in Nova Scotia were surviving on sandwiches - we had roast pork, browned potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes and a bottle of Chardonay by romantic candlelight! Tough life!
It was a few days of fun with neighbours, laughingly finding solutions to problems and feeling a bit guilty because our lives were just NOT that difficult. Different, yes. Difficult, no.
My first storm in Nova Scotia! Survived it oh so nicely!

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

2004-11-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

I wrote this story about getting lost in Halifax but somehow neglected to mention WHY I was IN Halifax in the first place.
The great thing about moving to a new place, is that you end up being a tourist in your new environment. And, Nova Scotia has the most beautiful sights imaginable - the countryside is so stupendous that just a little car trip becomes an adventure. At every turn of the road you see pleasant coves, incredibly picturesque towns, gargantuan glacial deposits, stately lighthouses, hidden lakes and the stony edge of Nova Scotia - the Atlantic keeps popping up regularly. Superb! Plus, there is so much history in this little province that even a history buff is continuously stimulated.
So on the day that I got lost, I was out to do my "tourist bit" - the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic was my objective. The museum is on the Halifax waterfront, housed in an old brick building that used to belong to a chandler.
The location is perfect because huge windows "let in" the boats and the activity of the Halifax Harbour. The outside feels as if it's part of the museum. Well done!
So I walked around leisurely, learning interesting facts about boats and lighthouses and studying boat models that are being wonderfully restored by volunteers.
A large portion of the museum is devoted to the Halifax Explosion which occurred in 1917 and was the largest man-made explosion in the history of the world until Hiroshima. This disaster was of incredible magnitude, killing and maiming many Haligonians and destroying much of Halifax.
Another section of the museum displays artifacts and information about the Titanic. Extremely interesting to see Halifax' contribution to another sad event. It was boats from Halifax that went out and picked up bodies and debris from the sunken liner. The bodies were stored in a huge hall and eventually, many of them ended up being buried in a Halifax cemetery. (THAT will be another trip!)
The museum's displays are extremely well done - the look of the place is airy and the feeling of "maritime" is everywhere.
On the way out, there is a large room which displays the wares that chandlers used to sell in the past - in honour of the company that owned the building for so many years. The room is filled with wooden barrels, nets, rope fenders and all sorts of old artifacts. All the things that a sea going vessel might need. The young lady behind the counter ably told us all sorts of interesting facts. For example, the old rainhats (sou'westerns) were coated with tar in the old days to waterproof them and coats were boiled in linseed oil for the same reason. Good stuff!
Then I left for home - and eventually even got there!
Terrific day!
And my next trip will be.............

2004-11-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

Model of Titanic

2004-11-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

View from Museum Window

HRM

2004-11-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what basics you DON'T know when you move into a new area.
When I first moved to Bedford, I needed a break from unpacking 7 billion boxes and shoving furniture around so I drove down to the waterfront. Perfect place to go for a short making-myself-familiar-with-the-area-walk. As I meandered down the lovely walking path next to the Bedford BasinI started reading the various historical markers. One of the stone markers used the initials HRM. THAT, of course, stands for Her Royal Majesty - except that it made no sense whatsoever in context with the rest of the little paragraph.
I can't stand NOT knowing something so I hiked myself over to a couple sitting on one of the green benches that conveniently dot the area.
"Excuse me, but HRM means Her Royal Majesty to me but that doesn't make sense as far as that marker is concerned."
The man looked a bit perplexed.
"What does HRM stand for?" I tried again. " I just moved into the area and....."
Then he smiled and said, "It stands for Halifax Regional Municipality."
I guess he figured that I should KNOW where I live.
So I live in Bedford but with the current trend of amalgamations, maybe I also officially live in Halifax.
I DO know that I live in the HRM and Queen Lizzie has NOTHING to do with it at all.

Conversation!

2004-10-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

I seem to be "into" discussing conversations - both the good and the bad aspects!
So here's another one!
The other evening I was watching a historical program on TV. (I AM a history nut!) I dragged out a history book because I couldn't remember this depicted child and how he fit into the royal family of George V of England. The book ended up on the floor next to my chair.
The next day, one of the owners of our building knocked on the door. I always like it when he visits because we have good conversations.
The first thing out of his mouth was, "Do you have a book on Russian history?"
I just looked at him and grinned.
"You watched Masterpiece Theatre last night!"
He nodded and returned the grin.
I went to my chair and picked up the open book off the floor and handed it to him.
"There is ONE picture of little Prince John," I said. "It's the only one I could find. Have a look at that while I dig out my book on the Romanovs."
...............and for the next hour or so we discussed European history and how all the monarchs were related because of Queen Victoria!
GREAT stuff!
Well, it's great stuff if you're a history buff!
It's not of interest to everyone, of course, but it sure feels good when two people can thoroughly delve into something that interests both of them.

Opinion #2

2004-10-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

There are comfortable people and then there are those who are not.
I am talking about people who take everything personally. You are discussing some chit chat topic or other and then,
"I don't like what you just said."
"Okay, we don't have to agree on everything."
"No, I mean that I don't like being told off."
You do a doubletake and then say something innocuous like,
"But we were just talking about the weather (or whatever) - we weren't talking about you."
"Yes you were, you were getting a dig in at me."
You are frantically trying to remember how anything you said might be misconstrued - how some stupid comment about some stupid topic could be taken as a personal insult.
And you immediately feel uncomfortable because here you are trying to think of something to defend yourself against something you never said or meant.
Paranoia has struck again - and you just want to be GONE from this person's presence.
I don't get it. Do these people really think that they are the centre of the universe and that everything revolves around them? Can they not discuss anything NOT related to them and they have to bring the topic back to themselves? Where does this complete self-absorption come from? Or, do they just like making people uncomfortable by unfounded accusations?
Life is tough (how's THAT for a cliche) - why would some people choose to make life harder (or more uncomfortable) just because they have a need to cause discord?
Obviously these people are just too toxic to ever become a friend but they ARE a part of our everyday lives and we need to know how to cope with them. While I get the urge to run away when I see this sort of person, it's hardly a polite reaction! But even NOTHING type conversations seem to become a quarrelsome issue and that is just so tedious..
I know that there is some psychological term for this (maybe passive/aggressive?) so someone PLEASE explain it to me!

Jaden

2004-10-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

I have four grandchildren and all of them now live 1200 km away. Three of them have their own hotmail account and we email to each other. (I'm sure that the youngest one will have her own hotmail once she learns how to write!) Unfortunately because of a router, I was advised not to use a Webcam because it would just be too complicated. But, this afternoon I received a video file from my youngest grandson. There was Jaden, with a newly shorn haircut telling his nanny what his great Hallowe'en plans were for the week-end. How special is that? I could actually see and hear him. I know that the technology for this sort of thing exists, of course, but receiving it is just so special - just because he is my grandson - just because it came from Jaden.

My Three Guys

2004-10-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

I have always thought that comfort was more important than style. Comfortable shoes are a priority, furniture needs to be "sunk into", clothes should look decent but musn't be binding - and candles and wine certainly add to a feeling of relaxation and well-being.
......and more than anything I love comfortable people. Yes, I like them bright and articulate but I also want to be able to "sink into" their personality.
This brings me to "my three guys".
I was very fortunate because I spent many an evening with three gorgeous men - sometimes individually and sometimes all of us together. They came in different ages and different sizes, were great conversationalists and we made each other "feel good" because we all cared about each other. Two of them also made their own wine so that, of course, helped make good company even better!
I supplied the comfy ambience with lit candles.
A few months ago I moved to Nova Scotia. The youngest of "my" three guys now lives in Scotland, the middle of "my" guys has returned to his roots and lives an hour away and the man closest to my age is lying in a hospital bed and has been diagnosed with cancer. Plans are being made to put him into palliative care.
My heart grieves.
I wish I could comfort him.
I wish we could stand at my kitchen counter and clink our first glass of wine of the evening.
I wish........................

2004-10-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Grandchildren: Devon,Jaden,Amber and Brandon

2004-10-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

My Three Guys!

Lost Again!

2004-10-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

I got lost in Halifax, Nova Scotia today. I can't remember EVER going to Halifax and not getting lost in the process. I live in Bedford, NS which is now actually a part of Halifax and have lived here for five months. You'd think by now I'd know where I was going. But if you always get lost, then you never have a route that you can repeat!
After the first, "Oh damn, here I go again" reaction, I kind of settle into the being lost and thoroughly enjoy the unplanned trip. Halifax is a city and obviously has large official looking buildings and major highways running through it. But, Halifax has these lovely surprises. There are numerous wooden architectural gems - usually beautifully restored and many of them flaunting their pride in pastel colours. And it is a city of incredibly imposing stone churches and amazingly elegant older buildings with stately entrances and curving balconies. Then, of course, there is the joy of always being near the water and seeing huge ships and the daily waterfront activities. But what I enjoy most are the unexpected "village" sections. Suddenly I'm driving through an area filled with cosy houses sheltered by enormous trees. I barely leave a huge highway and here I am in a section that just yells out - THIS IS HOME TERRITORY! Little villages nestled within a big city. It pleasantly shocks and surprises me every time.
Those are also the places where I get reoriented. I am in a seemingly little town. So when I see someone in the front yard, I just pull over and ask, "Could you please tell me how to get to Highway 102?" And, in small town friendly fashion, I am always told where to go!!!
Today I ended up in one of those sections again and slowly drove around rubbernecking wondering where I was. A young man in a truck must have seen my puzzled face because he just stopped and asked if I needed help. There we were, going in opposite directions, with our vehicles stopped in the middle of the road and he takes the time to give me careful directions. He had nothing better to do than to be helpful to some lost dame who was miles (kilometers?) away from the highway that she needed.
Being lost has always been a positive experience.
I remember the streets I followed to get back to the highway today and must look up my route on a map. Or maybe I won't!

Opinion #1

2004-10-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

I went to a party on Labour Day week-end. A lovely hour long drive through incredibly beautiful countryside and at the end of it was the only person I really know well in Nova Scotia. I arrived early so that we could visit a bit before the rest of the guests arrived. Sometime during the middle of the afternoon there were four of us. We did the polite little social chit chat bit and then literally dove into the most thought provoking and mind expanding discussion that I had had in months. I love to discuss, analyze and reevaluate just about anything and I was in a room with three knowledgeable, articulate, opinionated people who had extremely worthwhile things to say - even though I disagreed with a number of the points made. (I'm not a great proponent of conspiracy theories, for example!) But that's what makes a great discussion, doesn't it? Expounding various points of view and being respectful because alternate viewpoints make a discussion so much more lively. Hands were flying to make a point, fingers were pointed to get an idea across, faces were animated and the room was just filled with thinking and thinking and thinking underneath the clamour of voices. You could just about see the adrenalin flowing. It was fantastic. It was so exhilarating.
And I realized how much I missed that kind of get together in my new home.
I have my ocean and I fully appreciate it but I need to meet people who make me feel alive and mentally stimulated. I need to meet people who love to debate! Where are you hiding?