Thursday Thirteen - 174 - 13 Ways to Enjoy Two Wedding Showers

1 - Last weekend was a bridal shower double bill for my sister.

The first was a city shower hosted by my mom and my cousin, and was held at my cousin's house.


























2 - Above, Julianne MacLean and her cousin/bestest friend/critique partner, the bride-to-be, Michelle.

My sister with our mom, Paulette.



























3 - Tasty shower delectables.



























4 - Catching up with friends and family.































5 - Time to open prezzies. Including lovely confections like this lingerie.














6 - And this collection of recipes from my sister's friends at the office.


















7 - A new day, a new shower! This time at the cottage.



























8 - This shower was hosted by Michelle's new family-in-law-to-be. Above, her fiance's mother Joan chats with her lifelong friend.

My sister's new family-in-law has sisters, step-daughters, cousins, nieces and a step-granddaughter.































9 - More delish dishes of yumminess.












































10 - More fun - above, my mom nabs her gift back during a Yankee gift exchange.

The photographer informs Michelle what she'll be saying to Newt on the wedding night. These are taken from all of the bride-to-be's remarks as she opens her gifts. Hilarious!












































11 - More frothy confections!














12 - Newt's sister bestows a handmade cooking apron to Michelle. Now she's in like Flynn.

















13 - A lifetime of happiness is wished for Michelle and Newt!

Join me next week to hear what my sister's shower predicted would be her wedding night words.

Janet says I can't wait to read the 'wedding night vows' next week - I've been to showers that have played that game and it always turns out to be hilarious :)

Anne MacFarlane says Julia, it looks like so much fun. Hope Michelle's big day is just as wonderful.

Kelly Boyce says Congratulations to Michelle and Newt! I'm so happy for them.

5 on Friday - Set 24

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

This week my mind wasn't far from the blooms unfurling in my garden. So here are five songs that celebrate flowers.

1 - Will Ye Go Lassie Go (Wild Mountain Thyme) - Lark & Spur

Oh the summertime is coming
And the trees are sweetly blooming
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather

Will ye go, Lassie go?

And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will ye go, Lassie go?

- William McPeake



2 - A Cherry Tree is Swaying - Ural Russian Folk Chorus

Outside the window
A cherry tree is swaying
Scattering its petals

Near the river
A familiar voice is heard
The nocturnal singing
Of the nightingales

A maidenly heart
Began sweetly beating
Ah, how it's blooming now
In the garden

Wait for me, my tender one
My joyful one

I will come at the secret hour

- Boris Timofieiev



3 - Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flowers) - Traditional Chinese (instrumental version)

The version I've used here is an instrumental piece, but this is often sung. Here are some of the lyrics:

What a beautiful jasmine flower
Sweet-smelling
Beautiful
Stems full of buds
Fragrant and white
Everyone praises
Let me pluck you down
Give to someone
Jasmine flower, oh jasmine flower

- 18th century traditional folk song



4 - My Wild Irish Rose - Apponequet Barbershop Quartet

My wild Irish rose,
The sweetest flow'r that grows
You may search ev'rywhere
But none can compare
With my wild Irish rose

My wild Irish rose
The dearest flow'r that grows
And some day for my sake
She may let me take
The bloom from my wild Irish rose

- Chauncey Olcott



5 - Honeysuckle Rose - Django Reinhardt

This is another instrumental version of a tune with lyrics:

Every honeybee
Fills with jealousy
When they see you out with me
I don't blame them
Goodness knows
My honeysuckle rose

When you're passing by
Flowers droop and sigh
And I know the reason why
You're much sweeter
Goodness knows
My honeysuckle rose

- Fats Waller / Andy Razaf



Linda says I do so love a good quartet and the mixing and blending of voices into one instrument; My Wild Irish Rose is one of the most perfect songs ever for that sort of harmonizing!

Mike Golch says Great selection, thank you for sharing it.

Jamie says Oh my! Will Ye Go Lassie Go and Django Reinhardt in the same group! Now that is a genius collection.

Thursday Thirteen - 96 - 13 Random Shots From My Collection

- 1

One happy me at Toronto's Union Station













- 2











Two shutterbugs at my parents-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary, Oct. 2007

My sister-in-law Violetta and my husband's cousin Sheila


- 3










Three high school choir friends, 20 years and counting on a Girls' Overnight in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia

Maureen, Dawn and me


- 4









Three uncles and a niece

My mom's brothers: Uncle Warren, me, Uncle Charlie and Uncle Louie


- 5











Five cousins at the November family dinner, 2007

Myself and fellow blogger Heather, my cousin's wife

My cousin Julianne, her daughter Laura, my sister Michelle


- 6











Six members of my parents-in-law's bridal party:

Groom's sister Pat, groom's best friend Dalton, bride's sister Ruthie, couple's friend Barry, bride Joan and groom David


- 7










Seven Christmas partiers from my old office, Land Registration:

A fellow from another county (in the city for the party,) then my Legendary Scan Team of Yore - Mike H.; Mike J. - the King of Supervisors, me, Ning, my late friend and Eco-Hero of the mega-watt smile Pam Langille, and Chris


- 8












Eight members of my great-grandparents' family:

Isabel, Adelta, my great-grandfather Eugene, Danny, my great-grandmother Emilie, baby Olivette, eldest child Angeline, and my late grandmother Juliette at far right.

There would be four more children before their family was complete.


- 9











Nine writers at the White Point Beach summer retreat:

Elaine, Annette, Pam, Nikki, John, Heidi, Christine, Renee and me


- 10

Ten members of the Dartmouth Choral Society in concert (I'm in there somewhere)



- 11











Eleven old friends sharing stories at my parents-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary, Oct. 2007

Clockwise from left, my father-in-law is 2nd and my mother-in-law is 4th


- 12











Twelve diners at O'Carroll's Restaurant in Halifax when my writers' group took visiting Tor editor Heather Osborn out to dinner.

Clockwise from center: Julianne, Heidi, Pat, Cathryn Fox, two anonymous diners in the back corner, visiting editor Heather Osborn, Annette, Renee, Tammy and Anne


- 13











Thirteen Pension Agency team members who manned the stations for our Amazing Race last summer:

Stephen, me, the CEO, Laura, Karen, Bev, JR, Denise, Jim, Kathy, a member of the White Team, Tracy, and the dance instructor who taught us Irish step dancing

25 Random Things About Meme

Heather at Random Wandering Thoughts tagged me for this a little while ago. I think some one else or even a few people may have tagged me for this on Facebook. I'm going to do any and all Facebook tags here on my blog, because it will show up on my Facebook page as well.

My apologies for forgetting who tagged me besides Heather. I've been in the grip of The Unending Migraine From the Deepest Depths of Hell. It's a wonder I even remember my name.















Photo by Ryan Remiorz

1 - Did I laugh my ass off Thursday when President Obama arrived at Parliament Hill, shook Prime Minister Harper's hand, then basically ushered the Canadian PM forward to wave to Obama's adoring crowd of cheering admirers?

Yes. I laughed with giddy glee. Stephen Harper has been prime minister for three long, excruxiating years. He has the social skillz of Napoleon Dynamite. Does anyone line Harper's route in the freezing cold, cheering as if he were a rock star? No?














Photo by Tom Hanson













Photo by Pam Snow

2 - Yesterday three trapped dolphins were rescued by the community of Seal Cove, Newfoundland. Thank God for 16-year-old Brandon Banks, who took a 17-foot fibreglass boat out to the dwindling open hole in the freezing-over cove to create a do-it-yourself icebreaker. Brandon plus four other men rocked the boat back and forth to carve a path through the ice so the dolphins could make it back to open water. The entire town had heard the dolphins calling out at night. When their request for an icebreaker was turned down, when it was pointed out that nature culls its population in the winter, they grouped together, gathered what resources they had and found a way for the dolphins to escape. I'm so grateful to them for showing such innovative determination and compassion.

Read more - Globe and Mail


















3 - I've been into serious Elvis gospel lately. Brad got me the Ultimate Gospel CD for Christmas last year. I've been listening to it over and over, the past few weeks. I get like that with music. My favorite tracks are So High, Milky White Way, I Believe In The Man In The Sky, Run On, I John and Take My Hand Precious Lord.













Photo by Glenn Meisner

4 - A few years ago, I temped for two weeks for the city of Halifax in accounts payable, and my manager was Joe Colley, who sings with a gospel choir in Preston, Nova Scotia. That's a town just a few minutes' drive from where I live (in Cole Harbour.) He told me his church was having a special prayer event with a visiting minister and Canadian Idol 2nd place winner Gary Beals, whom my mom and I just love. Plus Joe's choir, of course. My mom and I went out to St. Thomas Baptist Church in North Preston for what turned out to be an amazing, amazing night.

First of all, the small band that accompanied everyone (bass, drums and keyboard) just cooked. I mean cooked. They are the groovin-est band I've ever heard. The choir rocked the house. Gary made me cry, he was so emotional and passionate. And when the whole event started, when the congregation stood up and the church filled with song, my hands sizzled with electricity. I'm talking Science Centre Static Electricity Ball time. I kept staring at them, but the feeling did not go away until we left the church. Totally mind-blowing.

If you want a taste of what it was like, CLICK HERE and click on Track 6 - We Come to Praise the Lord in the right-hand sidebar.














Photo by Tom Hanson

5 - If I'm watching something on TV, like the news or a documentary, and someone mentions or shows the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I start crying on the spot. Without fail.








6 - "The eight financial industry executives scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee this past Wednesday learned a lesson from the Big Three auto makers: they flew commercial or took the train." - T.W. Farnam, The Wall Street Journal

*playing my pity violin*

7 - A guilty pleasure of mine is Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans. It used to be a regular feature on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, a political satire show on CBC.













Rick Mercer toured the United States, talking to Americans as if from a Canadian news program, asking them about 'Canadian issues.' The object was to see how little some Americans knew about their northern neighbours. The piece was so popular that the CBC had Mercer create a one-hour TV special based on the segment. It became the highest rated comedy special in Canadian television history when it aired on Canada Day, 2001. Mercer abandoned the concept after Sept. 11, 2001. - Wikipedia

I was just mentioning this bit to one of my co-workers yesterday:

Rick Mercer asked students and professors at Columbia University to sign a petition asking Canadians to discontinue the practice of abandoning the elderly on ice floes. - Wikipedia

Sadly, these man-on-the-street interviews showed tenured professors agreeing that yes, that was a horrible practise and should be stopped.













8 - I'm not a fan of the English-dubbed track on foreign films. *shudder* I need to hear the real actors emoting. So it's subtitles for me every time.














9 - I'm supposed to go get my breasts squished/screened sometime soon. Looking forward to that, of course...

















10 - I really, really dislike being in the position that mimics hyper-extension of the arms behind the back. Some stretches move the body into this position, and a few times I've tried to do it but basically got very panicky and had to immediately get out of it.


11 - So far my favorite whisky is Glenfiddich. Neat.
























12 - My favorite apple was Mackintosh, which I thought would be an unchanging feature of my life. But then my grocery store began stocking Pink Lady apples. And from that moment, there's been no turning back.


13 - One of my favorite stories as a kid was The Little Red Hen. Never liked that sense of entitlement the non-helpers had when they arrived to eat the hen's yummy bread. And how I loved it when she said, "Too bad. So sad." No bread for the ones who didn't help.















14 - There's a commercial on the air right now in Canada featuring a white shaggy dog outside on a chain through all sorts of scary, bad weather. It's encouraging dog owners to bring them inside when one would hope such a reminder isn't necessary. I can't watch this thing. I need a defibrilator...












Photo by Michael K. Harvey

15 - When herd mentality backfires... Thursday we had a bad winter storm, and most of downtown Halifax became an instantaneous gridlock of workers leaving early in slippery, unplowed snow. Meanwhile, I finished off my regular hours, got the ferry and bus, all the roads were plowed and salted by then and I actually got home ten minutes earlier than normal.


16 - Stewie Griffin makes me laugh. A lot.

Oh I know it hurts now Brian, but look at the bright side: you have some new material for that novel you've been writing. You know...the novel you've been workin' on? You know the the one, uh, you've been workin on for three years? You know the novel. Got somethin' new to write about now. You know? Maybe a, maybe a main character gets into a relationship and suffers a little heartbreak? Somethin' like what... what you've just been through? Draw from real life experience? Little, little heartbreak? You know? Work it into the story? Make the characters a little more three dimensional? Little, uh, richer experience for the reader? Make those second hundred pages really keep the reader guessing what's going to happen? Some twists and turns? A little epilogue? Everybody learns that the hero's journey isn't always a happy one? Oh, I look forward to reading it. - Family Guy Quotes














17 - I've had a lo-o-o-n-n-g week. All day I've been longing to get snuggled on the couch, curled up with Brad and my dog. Almost there...












18 - The book-blogging community I've encountered has an incredible rate of books they've read compared to me. I'm doing the Dewey Book Challenge, which gives me a year to read six books. I'm going to need that whole year. Meanwhile, some of the book bloggers have already ticked off their challenge books already. It's February, people.


19 - Brad asked me to check the waiting list at the library to see where we're at for the copy of Season 5 of MI-5. I checked. We're at 58.






20 - I'm very, very proud of Brad today. He walked home from his shift at Blockbuster. So what? you may ask. So - my husband has agoraphobia, which is an offshoot of his larger bipolar disorder. That's so what. Walking outside by himself is not one of his favorites. But he did it.

















21 - Michaëlle Jean, Canada's 27th Governor General, greeted President Barack Obama when he arrived on Air Force One in Ottawa yesterday. I get a huge rush of joy when I see how delighted they are to be in one another's company.





















22 - Brad and I recently watched the first season of HBO's True Blood and totally fell in love with it. Edgy TV, melancholic vampire, shapeshifters, quirky townsfolk and a heroine cursed with hearing everyone's thoughts - just can't get enough.










Photo by Jim Ross

23 - Wait...I'm having a flashback to Canada's reaction to George W. Bush's visit in November, 2004...



Photo by J.P. Moczulski
















24 - The good news is...we qualify for the GST cheque. The bad news is...we qualify for the GST cheque.



25 - If you're in the mood for a rollicking good gospel concert, join me, my mom and the rest of the Dartmouth Choral Society at Grace United Church, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia at 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon.

I won't tag anyone, but if you pick this one up, let me know so I can drop by.