Christmas Greetings

A Blessed Christmas to you all.

May God's gift fill your lives as we remember the birth of

Jesus our Saviour;

Not forgetting the reason He came to earth;

That we, through His death, might have Life.

Christmas is Close

As Christmas draws near I feel more and more lonely for family. The norm, these days, is for a quiet Christmas with just Richard and myself, just the two of us. The children will not be home again this year. You would think after 15 years I would be used to it, but I'm not. Evette, Ian and Lynda have spent one Christmas with us in the past 15. I have not had a Christmas at home in England in 30 years. Used to the fact of not having close family around? No, I'm not used to that fact.

Before we moved to Nipigon we lived in MacNutt, Saskatchewan, in the area that Richard's Great Grandfather Wilhelm (William) Mensch homesteaded. Richard has many cousins of various degrees living there. The four Christmas' we spent in MacNutt was not quiet. We had many invites to extended family gatherings and friends, beginning Christmas Eve running right through to New Years Day. There was no reason to have a quiet Christmas. But I still missed our children, and my family in England, but we were busy.

This will be our fifth Christmas in Nipigon, Ontario, during that time we have had two invites during Christmas week, last year it was for Christmas dinner. Maybe we have just got old and tired, we have stopped making the big turkey dinner. No more crackers to pull and silly paper hats to wear. I write very few Christmas Cards and talk on the phone to less and less of my family. This year will be particularly sad as there will be no phone call to or from my big brother Steven. Hopefully the rest of my family in England will be home for my call to wish them a Blessed Christmas.

The one part of Christmas I always love is the Church Services. Christmas Eve is the traditional Carol Service, the final hymn is usually 'Silent Night' and the candles are lit, lights turned out and voices raised in one accord singing the old familier words;
'Silent Night, Holy Night,
All is Calm, all is bright,
Round yon virgin mother and Child,
Holy Infant , so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.'
as the last verse is sung I move to the back of the Church ready to leave before the candles are blown out. We do not have Christmas Morning Service here and I miss that opportunity to worship on the day we celabrate the birth of our Saviour.

Christmas for me is about families yet mine is so fractured.

September Trip to England

It has been some time since I last added anything here. I keep busy with work and my BOXALL One Name Study.

In September I went to England, primarily to attend my brother Steven's funeral, but I spent two wonderful weeks with my daughter and her intended, Smiley aka Richard. Although Evette did not have the full two weeks off work, we managed to fill our days with shopping, visiting and site seeing.

These three pictures were taken after Steven's funeral. The first one are his three children, Tammy, Robert, and Philip. The middle picture is me, Mum, Bill (brother-in-law), and Pat my sister. The third picture is Mum with two of her great grandchildren, Jonathan and Annie. It was a sad occasion that took me to England, but offered the chance to visit with my family that I so rarely see living here in Canada.

Evette also took me visiting with my Mum and my other siblings, Christopher and Keith, who were unable to attend Steven's funeral. If they had it would have meant that we were all together with our mother for the first time since Pat's marriage in 1964, albiet Steven was deceased, he was there in his coffin.

The first picture is of my brother Keith, the other is of Mum, Evette and Smiley and their dog Moose. I did not take a picture of my brother Christopher while visiting him as he was busy eating his supper. Visiting family was great and it gave Evette an opportunity to meet her uncles and basically break the ice so she would feel comfortable visiting with them again in the future.

My favourite piece of site seeing was visiting the church's that were used for baptisms in my BOXALL ancestors lives. We walked through the church yards amongst the headstones trying to disifer BOXALL family members no this was not successful. We managed to go inside the Singleton Church but not so lucky with the West Dean church.

These are pictures taken outside the church in West Dean, West Sussex and a headstone showing how weathered they are and very difficult to work out who is buried there.

This church is in Singleton, West Sussex, to actually go into this church, to see the font where my ancestors were Baptised, to see names of ancestors on the War plaque, to wonder the church grounds, was amazing. My family research started several years ago, and Evette gave me a very special gift, taking me to these two churchs.

This first picture is of the Devils Punch Bowl the picture really does not do it justice but it is a large depression in the landscape. We stopped at the tourist spot and had lunch and icecream. The next picture is of Ware Band, Evette plays cornet, they had an engagement to play so I went with Evette and took lots of pictures. The third picture in this series is of Emsworth Harbour, this is in the area I grew up and I had never seen the tide out this far. As children we always swam in the harbour, I saw signs up that said no swimming allowed so I gather no families are now found there swimming in the summer. I even stopped a couple to ask them if it was normal not to see the shore line, they told me it was these days but it was particullarly out a long way on the day we were tourists. It was great to share some of my childhood memories with my daughter.

These show me as the tourist. We tried to visit the Tower of London but got there five minutes after they closed the ticket office windows. So here we have the corner of the Tower and me posing with Tower Bridge in the background. The last is of Evette taking a few quiet moments on the train to read.

I had a great visit and thank my daughter Evette for making my visit possible. I love all the clothes I purchased on our shopping spree. More than that I loved spending the time with my Evette and Smiley.

"French!"

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated.You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's" Your Inner European?

This makes perfect sense to me considering I do think I have the best of everything.

First and most importantly I have God Given Faith to believe that Jesus Christ has done it all and I will one day be in heaven.

Secondly I have a loving husband who takes great care of me.

Thirdly I have children I am proud off.

Lastly I have my health.

What more could I want?

TAGGED!

Laura tagged me and I guess it's time I played! I guess I really should get this over with!

The rules of this are:
1. Link the person who has tagged you.
2. Tell seven true things about yourself.
3. Tag seven new people.
4. Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it.

Now to state seven truths about myself............. not sure about tagging seven new people I think I only have two on my list...

1. I love to travel... although I can't really afford to.
2. I spent a year in the Salvation Army Training College when I was much younger.
3. Four years of my childhood were spent in a National Children's Home.
4. I wanted six children... but God only blessed me with two.
5. I'm very very spoilt by a wonderful man... thank you Richard.
6. I would love the opportunity to once more play in a brass band.
7. I hate housework but hate a dirty house more.

I can only tag one person but she has many that she can tag.
It's now your turn Evette Actually I think I shall tag Evette's friend Yvonne

Our August Adventure

August: Richard made arrangements for us to take our Motor home and meet up with Ken and Trish at Melville, Saskatchewan. Then we would travel together to Cyprus Hills, Saskatchewan. This is quite a trip from Nipigon, Ontario. We had not seen Ken for at least three years and Trish more like six years in that time they had increased their family by two. On our way to Melville Richard drove until we were in Saskatchewan (14 hrs), in order for us to be able to visit some of the parishioners from our last Parish. What a surprise we gave several of the members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Landestrue, and Christ Lutheran Church, MacNutt. It was great to touch base with members of these two Churches where Richard had been the Pastor.
After the visits we headed down to Melville to meet Ken and Trish, from there we turned our noses towards the South-West corner of Saskatchewan. As usual this trip turned into another one of or adventures. As we were turning off Highway 1, only about an hour from our destination, our motor home died. Ken and Trish continued to Cyprus Hills and we sat waiting for a tow truck, several hours later we were towed into Medicine Hat, Alberta. In the morning the vehicle did start and the diagnosis; we needed a new fuel pump. The option was to stay another day there or take our chances or continue with our trip. As this was only a trip of 10 days we chose to continue knowing the risk of breakdown was always imminent.
Finally arriving at the camp site we found Ken and Trish and proceeded to set up camp. The whole trip was for Richard to take part in an Astronomy Star gazing convention. Richard had always enjoyed working out the constilations and wanted a chance to learn more, hence this trip. When we camp I try to do as much walking as I can, since becoming an amputee this has been quite a challenge. This year Richard purchased hiking poles for me and what a bonus they are. During this trip I got to try them out and found it how much easier to walk on rough ground while using hiking poles.We had a great time visiting with Trish and Ken although Richard found it very tiring due to all the very late nights he spent star gazing. Sunday arrived and we turned our noses towards home. We decided to travel through America this would be faster and the fuel is far cheaper. Our motor home is quite a gas guzzler. I had to be back at work on Tuesday so we had no time to waste. Just before the boarder I saw three deer and we were able to take several pictures.
Our adventure was not over, remember we had a failing fuel pump. The weather was really hot traveling across Montana and North Dekota, just before we crossed into Minnesota the engine began to die. Richard realising we were about to come to a standstill saw an abandoned building and coasted into the parking lot as he pulled the motor home around to the side of the building we did not realise the building had an overhang. Now this overhang was just high enough for us to go under but not high enough for us to pull the vehicle all the way through. We damaged the roof, a vent, and part of the railings from the back ladder. There wasn't much we could do so we waited several hours for the fuel pump to cool and then continued the trip.

This was not the end of our adventures, we had decided to keep north in Minnesota and not go through Duluth, so we stayed on Highway 1 (MN), we saw a road that would take us down and join up with Highway 16 (MN) this would then take us to Thunder Bay and home. What we didn't know was; there was a section of this road where there was a need for a detour.And what a detour this was. We are talking logging road, with lots of hills and bends, this is a gravel road, we are driving a 35 ft motor home, our speed was cut sometimes to barely over a crawl because of the washboard affect. I spent my time out of my seat closing cupboard doors and the fridge door to stop items from spilling everywhere. These two pictures really don't show the road to being as bad as it was. This detour was about 25 miles the section of road that we were driving around was 8 miles. Just another adventure for our annuals. We arrived home to a garden full of poppies. We were never more happy to see this array of colour as we pulled into our driveway and parked. So now we have two lots of repairs to be done on the motor home, the roof was going to be replaced anyway, so now we have to get it done, no more procrastinating.

Life is short

This is never more true than when you have a tragedy in your family. Saturday my oldest brother Steven died in a car accident. He was hit in the side and died from the shock. Loosing him has made me realise how much I took my family for granted. At least my brothers and sister. We just believe that they will be there for ever and time slips by and before you know it several years have past and you haven't spoken.



Our family was not what you would call a close family, maybe because we were all split up for several years when we were young because Mum had to go into the hospital, by the time she was able to have us all home again the older ones were making new lives for themselves. I used to phone each of my siblings every Christmas but as the years went by and I continued to live in Canada I phoned less. Steven was always the hardest to reach, for many years he didn't have a phone and I would have to rely on him phoning me. Needless to say last Christmas went by with no word from him and now there won't be any more phone calls. It is too late for me to talk with my oldest brother but I still have a sister and two brothers who I can make sure I keep in touch with more often.



It is very easy to make excuses for not phoning family members, the biggest one being 'it's time they phoned me'. Once it's too late though you can't turn back the clock. Life is too short to play games of 'it's your turn'. Make sure you pick up the phone regularly and talk to your siblings and other family members because you never know when tragedy will strike, a careless driver, an unforeseen medical problem. Death comes like thief in the night.

Quick Update

I thought it was about time I updated my blog. I've either been too busy, sick or away so this has fallen down on my list of things to do. Now to quickly post a small update. Richard and I went for a week of holiday to Cyprus Hills, Saskatchewan. This proved to be quite a trip and I plan to write more fully on it this weekend. Suffice it to say we don't think we will take such a long trip in such a short space of time again in the near future. Is that a sign of us getting older? I must admit this summer due to being sick so much I have felt like I've aged several years in just a few weeks.

On our first holiday I caught a virus which lasted a full month it seemed I had finally gotten clear of it only to come down with a cold last Friday that has pulled me down to a "poor me" mess this week. I try not to complain too much when I have a cold but this one really got to me. Whether it was because I had been sick with a virus for a month earlier in the summer or that I'm just plain run down, I complained so much that Richard told me I was sounding like a guy. I even left work early on Tuesday I felt so miserable, something I never do for just a cold. Finally the week is drawing to a close and I am feeling a lot better but I have so much work to catch up on I'm not sure where I shall begin. I've barely come near the computer all week, at least here at home, I work on a computer all day but that doesn't count. I have a ton of emails to catch up on and the bills have to be paid, the laundry needs to be done to say nothing of the weeding that I still have to do. Life continues at a hectic pace maybe even more so now I am older. That reminds me Mum always did say that as you get older time moves faster... I finally know what she meant.

Garden Challenge

On Saturday I was invited by Janet to go and visit the six local gardens chosen for this years week-end garden tour. I was amazed at the amount of work that has gone into each of the gardens I visited. I had planned on taking some pictures and adding them to this blog but I forgot to take my camera with me. I think of how long it has taken me to get just my front garden looking fairly nice and it is nothing in comparison to the gardens I saw.

Each year our local horticultural club choices six different gardens for this week-end tour, for a community of less than 2000 residents there are a fair number of wonderful gardens. When you consider the well laid out beds so neatly trimmed and weeded you know that the owners of these gardens love working in them. The use of raised beds and water features made each garden unique.

I would love to have the energy, and not be allergic to the small black flies that bite so viciously here, in order to be able to spend more hours working in my front garden. I have three basic areas of garden, if you count my pot display on the steps it would be four areas. Each flower bed has it's own challenge.

The very first garden is under the kitchen area and is basically clay, I've added peat moss, black dirt, manure and this year compost from our own compost bin and still the clay takes control. If you know anything about clay, you will know that thistles love it and I have spent the last four years trying to eradicate these thistles to no avail. This year a dug this flower bed up trying to get at the root of the problem, but I did not succeed, I found a product called Total and sprayed the offending weeds. Yes the thistles are gone but so are some of my perennials which will have to be replaced next year.

The next garden is separated by the width of a small path in front of the clay one. This one is all rock and gravel, so obviously it is my rock garden. The biggest challenge to this garden is the clover, I wouldn't mind if the clover was pretty but it isn't and every year I try to weed it out, every year it is back again. This is going to be an ongoing battle.

The third garden is across the steps from the first and under the living room window. This one is very very sandy. It originally had two large lilacs but now only has one after I requested the other one be removed two years ago. The biggest problem with this garden has been the suckers from the lilac and the daisies that like to take over.

I love these gardens each having their own challenge, I can't spend as much time as I would like working in them. They would be amazing displays of flowers if I could devote the time to them. With all that said and done they give a lovely display of flowers for all the passers by to enjoy. and I'm happy to be able to devote a small portion of my time to these gardens.

Of course none of these pictures were taken when the garden was at its best this year. That would have been when we arrived home from holidays at the end of June. The rock garden had a carpet of yellow with purple Johny jump-ups in the midst. As usual I procrastinated too long before taking pictures. From these pictures the garden looks overgrown this is a misconception many of the flowers are finished and only the greenery remains. Each year I look for new perennials and move plants around for their best advantage and growing needs. I find this small area a lot of work I can only imagine the amount of work that went into the gardens I saw on Saturday.

What's in a name?

I've just been sitting here this evening pondering once more what to call my blog. I feel this name has to be me or at least represent me. It was suggested I play on my nick name... Ronnie... Ron Ron Ron but I'm not sure. Tonight I feel it should be something on the lines Ronnies Rumblings or Ronnies Ramblings and Rumblings... but I wonder if that would end up sounding more like Ronnies Grumblings and we don't do much in the way of rambling. I could on the other hand use my full name and call it Veronica's questions and answers... but no I think I still have to ponder on this more.

As of yet I haven't told too many people about my blog. I'm not sure that I'm really ready to have everyone see my thoughts of the moment. Doing a general blog about where we've been and what I've been up to would be fairly boring, interesting for those who know us but that's about all. My life is not that exciting. I work full time which takes most of my energy leaving me little left for the things I really want to do.

What do I truly like to do? I like to garden but the tiny black flies that bite so viciously here, and from which I swell up, make this impossible for me for any length of time without the need of protection from a full upper body bug jacket, which is basically a fine net which completely covers my head, face, arms, well my whole upper body. These jackets are so hot and then I over heat and suffer the rest of the day. I've been told that the black flies are at their worst in June but I have found that they bite me all summer long.

I also like to do cross stitch and petit point, and I have loads and loads of projects to do, but once home I just want to sit and veg-out not start concentrating on intricate patterns. My third love and probably my biggest passion is my BOXALL One Name Study. It seems though as soon as I get deep into researching a family and tracking down the lineage and trying to get my facts straight it's time to turn in for the night and the momentum is once again lost.

The need to work is not am option at the moment but the day will come when I can retire and put my mind and hands to the activities I really enjoy and want to do. For now I sit here and ponder... What do I call my blog?

ROUTINE

If there was a time when I was grateful for routine, this week was that time. The cold, or whatever it is, that I have (and now Richard has caught), since the 2nd week of my vacation, continues. I did not have the luxury of staying off work sick, in order to become completely healthy again. Tuesday morning found me back at my desk at the hospital working.

I find my job very stressful these days but I was never more grateful for the routine of part of that job, that is the Accounts Payables. Check the invoice make sure it's signed by the correct person, connect any back-up to said invoice, enter it into the computer to be payed asap. Many times during this past week I found myself on the brink of falling to sleep, which meant routine was necessary. There was nothing I had to do that required any deep thinking. This was good. I had two weeks of invoices and other paper work to work through and a cheque run to be made at the end of the week. I then proceeded to clear my desk of two weeks of paperwork that was routine. Next week I will put my mind to work.

Routine also follows at home. Arrive home from work, check e-mail, eat supper, fall asleep in chair, wake-up, go to bed, just about sums up the balance of each day. I shall be so glad when I once again feel healthy. So never knock routine.

Vacations Over

This is our home away from home. We have been here in Grand Marais for a week and tomorrow morning we will be heading back home. The weather hasn't been the best Tuesday it rained, Wednesday was overcast, Thursday to Sunday the sun peaked out from the clouds. One day we went into town to buy groceries. On Saturday the sun came out to play and I took advantage of it, even with 30 protection on I still burned, actually I'm blotchy because the cream didn't go on evenly.

Sunday Pastor Dennis Schutte collected us for Church. When we first attended this Grand Marias congregation about three years ago it was a mission church. They were accepted into Lutheran Church-Missouri as Life In Christ Church and are now a small struggling congregation meeting in the town community centre each Sunday Morning at 9:00 am for Divine Service. We have made this a regular part of our June Vacation.

The last few days I've been able to sit outside and work on my cross-stitch picture which is almost finished, I just have to do the balance of the back stitching and then we can have it framed. This was the hardest picture I've done, it had a lot of quarter stitches and tons of back stitching. It has been worth all the effort, it is a lovely picture and will go well in our home with our nativity collection.

Our vacation has gone by fairly quickly as vacations are won't to do. It has been a good rest for both of us even though for this whole week I've had the most awful cold with lots of congestion. I pursuaded Richard to stay the extra day even though it will be quite hectic tomorrow once we are home. We have to make sure that everything I need for Tuesday morning is taken out of the motor home and into the house. For Tuesday once again will find me at my desk in the business office of the local hospital. All good holidays come to an end all to quickly.

My First Blog

OK... so I now have a blog... now what to say... let's see... we are currently camping... at least our motor home is parked at a camp ground in Grand Marais on the shores of Lake Superior. This has to be our favourite place to spend our vacations.

How can you not love a view like this?















I love walking around the camp grounds looking at all the different Motor Homes and dreaming that one day we will have one with slide-outs and all the uptodate fixtures. Don't get me wrong... I love our motor home even if it is a 1990 model. Considering we only use it for a total of four weeks in any given year why would I need something newer right now?

We have just spent a week down in Greenfield, Milwaukee with our friends The Koch's. We park our Motor Home outside their house for five or six days. From there we attend the Catachetical Symposium held on the Third Thursday and Friday of June each year. Aaron and Laura drive us to and from the symposium and other points of interest...

one of those being the Half Price Books shop. Here you see Richard just going into the shop.

I love the opening service at Peace Lutheran Church, Sussex which is held on the Wednesday Evening. After the service there is a reception. This is a chance for everyone to catch up on the previous year and also to meet new people and eat the wonderful spread provided by the Peace congregation.

After the symposium we usually head back north and shop in Duluth. This year we shopped in Greenfield instead, which meant the rest of our holiday could be spent at our favourite camp ground. Unfortunetely I have a cold which is in my lungs so I'm feeling pretty miserable, and the weather isn't that wonderful right now. Today we shall head into Grand Marais to window shop. On our way back this afternoon we will eat at the Angry Trout.