Noche Azul

For me, the sky is still the most fascinating place of all..Beyond the blue firmanent with just our naked eye, we can only see cloud formations during the day time and an infinitisimal number of stars, galaxies and nebulae at night..We can see some stars with a simple telescope but the bigger ones in observatores ( like the one in LA ) reveal cluster of stars, galaxies, and swirling cosmic dust, etc..

When I am bothered by minor problems which earth men are usually confronted ( rising cost of goods, rudeness of people in the bus, , etc ) I usually think of OUTER SPACE..

Why can't the planets collide with each other?..Why are we still alive when other stars have became black holes and whole systems are sucked in like a vacuum cleaner? How big is space as we see it?..

No I will not talk about sci-fi movies. I just want to skim the surface of this big, big topic that even Albert Enstein was not able to explain..


I will let my art show you what I sometimes visualize..if I imagine riding in a stellar vehicle..My drawings of stars and galaxies and nebulas.

Accompanied by the piano styling of Ernesto Lecuana, a well known Cuban composer..Name of the piece?..NOCHE AZUL..Blue sky..

If you heard this piece before, it means you belong to the same age bracket as I am...:)

ENJOY the music!!

cruel days of winter

One of the best ways to soften the blow of a harsh winter is to have flowering plants inside the house. This orchid, which came all the way from San Diego, California bloomed right during the first week of January while the strong blizzard winds were raging outside...It has a faint sweet smell that reminds one that "spring is not far behind.."


The cruel looking icicles hang down from our eavesthrough in front of our house. They are still there as I write. Remember in one of the DIE HARD movies? Bruce Willis used one to kill a bad guy by sticking an icicle into one of his eyeballs...

These winter babies are caused by the heat going through the roof of our house. It melts the snow capping the roof. The water runs into the eavesthrough and when it overflows, these weird looking thingies are formed. Need ice to mix with your beer? Just snap a couple and put them in your glass. They will make fancy stirring sticks too...

Icicles under the evergreens. Strange how pine trees survive the chilling -30 during these cold days...

Welcome to 19 Dixon road..Pay us a visit..Maybe you can help us shovel the driveway!!!!!!

(Just kidding, as usual )

photo essay bt VCostes

additional text to the article below...

Our JANUARY 20 trip to Washington DC

Dave ( my husband ) drove to the metro station (subway or train)with me and our friend Ronen from Israel. Took 20 min., then we took the train and it was packed. That ride to DC was 1 hour and 30 minutes. It was usually about 40 minutes. Once we got to DC we walked and walked towards the MALL* and we ended up in the Washington monument. That was the closest we can get because so many people(estimate 2 million).

In going home, we were stuck for about an hour. We couldn't get to the parade route because of all the security. There were so many people going home at once. How long did it take? It was hard to tell. We just learned how to be patient.

People actually are very nice. We met people from California, New Orleans, Houston, Texas and other places... We were all happy and jubilant. The excitement was overwhelming!

Want to know how cold it was? Lowest was 10 degrees, highest was 32. but it was so windy! One has to consider the wind chill factor... Ve-rrrrry cold.!!!!

We were dressed in layers. (Long thermal underwear, sweat pant then ski pants 3 wool socks, sweaters on top of sweaters, then boots) I was probably carrying 10 lbs. of clothes. I was walked like a duck. I felt so fat, but at least I was warm. My nose got cold and red a little.

So we left the house at 7:00am, didn't get home till 5:00pm. Ben and his friends left the house at 5:00am. They got there earlier so they were closer to the Capitol .

We didn't get a ticket but outside it's free to the public. Our congressman can't get tickets for everybody. We are fine where we are, we watched the proceedings on the Jumbotrons(big TVs that were set up all over the mall area). We were standing the whole time.

Obama isn"t Superman, but the world is expecting him to be. However, there is a lot of hope from every one, everywhere.

submitted by Marcie Uson Wise

from Marcie Uson-Wise

Marcie and Dave went to Washington DC...

Weather was fine as long as you do not mind feeling like a snow man, I mean snow woman...:)

The milling crowd with the venerable White House in the background..

The historic day when the first African American President was sworn into office...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Manong Vic,

Just sharing inauguration photos. What an experience to remember! I'll be able to say 20 or 30 years from now that I was there for the inauguration of the first African American President.

We were so happy to be able to attend (after convincing Dave--just kidding) this wonderful event. We were impressed by the truth and grace of the new President's speech. May God Bless Him.

Cheers,
Marcie

Reaching the Horizon...

..BY LEAVING THE SHORE

A few months back, I was wondering whether I would make it once I would move out of my cocoon into the real working world.

With nothing but faith in God, I left my last job which was slowly burning me out. Believe me, a live-in work is one of the most stressful ( and financially unsatisfactory ) job out there. Then, I received my open work visa and I decided to quit, unsure whether I could get another kind of job..

But I still remember the lines: You can never reach the horizon, if you just remain on the shore.
Thus I left my ocean shore and embarked on a new journey towards the unknown. I was not scared anymore. Once you have landed and worked on a foreign land all by yourself, you are never scared anymore of anything standing across your way..

After a few weeks of daily search ( and leaving resumes to the RIGHT persons,) God answered my prayers. I found work in two places close to each other. After my first days of work in both places, I came to like both jobs.

Now, I have 2 full-time positions. The work fits up my alley because both involve sales and customer relations.

I even have a 3rd job which I do now just once a week ( another 8 hours ). I do not like to give this 3rd one up because my employer is one of the nicest persons I met here in BC. She would not like anybody else to work for her except me.

Now I am wondering where I get my strength in performing those several work-hours. I amaze myself ( and my co workers too )how enduring I am to my jobs.My smile seem to attract new and steadfast customers in both places! In most of the seven weekdays, I have only 4 hours sleep..Even if I am given 2 days off, I am still called to work ( if I like ) during those free days... Why not? I say to myself. It means more money and God knows how much I need the $$ now-a-days!

My present life is a testimony on how good God is. I was never sick in all the years since I arrived in Vancouver. One time I thought I could never get anymore my Immigrant papers, but someway, somehow God showed me the way...

"Praise the Lord!!" will always be my battle cry....

( by Rain )