Monday, 3 August 2015

Two men, one couch.

Sitting side by side
on my best friends couch
my old heart, my new heart
my brain's about to explode
they couldn't be more different
one in pain
one in confusion
my heart says reach out to the pain
my head says thats not your job anymore
sit back, encourage the confused - i love you
pretend the one in pain doesn't exist
he never really did anyways
at the same time he will exist forever.
Forever, and I just need to accept it.

3 big Don'ts regarding your cat or dog.

3 big Don'ts when it comes to owning a cat or dog. DO NOT crop your dogs ears. DO NOT declaw your cat. DO NOT dock your dogs tail. If these things are a problem for you get a hamster.
I worked in the animal care field for years. Not only did I see it first hand but I admittedly assisted Veterinarians in preforming these procedures. My first hand experience is telling you, its cruel, its barbaric and every one of those poor little creatures DO suffer.
Seriously get a pet gerbil or something.

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

I am seeing robins today. 04/02/14

I am seeing robins today.
A long time ago they all went away.

The Sun is back and it feeds the green.
The leaves are budding and what does that mean?

The sludge, the snow, the dirt and the grey.
All of that will go away.

The cold confining long winter season.
For more than 2 decades is the reason.

I hide once a year for months so long.
But when it is over I play my song.

Here comes the Sun from my favourite band.
Then I see robins drawing lines in the the sand.

I will rejuvenate as the Sun heals me.
Soon there will be blossoms on all the apple trees.

I will come out of hiding, a little at first.
The Sun will trigger my annual thirst.

To absorb all the sunlight, as much as I can.
My mind will heal and my skin will tan.

I will wake from my sleep and it all starts now.
No thinking of next winter, I'll get through it somehow.

This season is for me, this season is mine.
And today I saw another sign.

I am seeing robins today.
In too short a time they will all go away.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Drug Testing

Bucket List

Things to do before I can't.

Go on a plane

buy a piece of land

create simple, cheap, very small, sustainable, green home on that land

own 100 gunne sax dresses.

Live in Spain or the South of France for at least a year.

Go to the Caribbean

Drive to Newfoundland

Drive to British Columbia

Camp at Algonquin park.

Learn Spanish

Learn code

......to be continued.

The Garden

Friday, 3 January 2014

Witches Herb Garden must haves.

Basil, Dill, Marjoram/Oregano, parsley, peppermint, rosemary, thyme, catnip.

For the Bee's

Herbs:  Lavender, catmint, sage, cilantro, thyme, fennel, borage

Perennials: Crocus, buttercup, aster, hollyhocks, anemone, snowdrops, geranium.

Annuals: Calendula, Sweet asylum, poppy, sunflower, Zinnia, Cleome, Heliotrope

Christmas without Grandma.

Monday, 23 December 2013

A family dinner?

Dec 23, 2013

2 days before xmas.  Until an hour ago everyone was spending xmas alone.  Now after a plea to my Aunt we will have a family xmas like Grandma wanted.  When the messages started to pour in that they were coming I cried.
Our first xmas without Grandma.  We are all feeling it.  We miss her more, not less as time passes.  As matriarch of this family she kept us together.  Now she is gone and the first thing we do is plan xmas apart, alone from each other.
So far, Mom, Brian, Aunt Donna, Donovan, Uncle Lloyd, the kids and myself will have dinner together.  Maybe, just maybe we will see Joline and Aunt Val too.  Grandma is gone but we need each other, we need to stay together.

June 13, 1997

June 13, 1997

I wrote this in May of 2008.  jcl. 




I walk out of the funeral home and look towards the parking lot. Chad is still leaning on the back of his car. Several of our friends surround him with very morose looks of concern on their faces. I stop several yards away and look at him. Look at them. "He won't go inside" I hear one of them say. Well, I'm not going back in either.

I see her mom standing outside smoking her brains out. I wonder how she feels? Is she like every other mother who looses a daughter? Do all mother's grieve the same way? What about mean stupid drunk mothers? What about mothers who beat their daughters with brushes, and throw them down stairs, who punch them in the stomach, who call them ugly and stupid and worthless and a mistake? Yeah I wonder how her mother feels right now? I wonder how she grieves? I go over and put my arm around her. I squeeze her shoulder and say sorry as I look into her bloodshot eyes. I don't know if she deserves this mercy and I pray that I never see her again.

I'm in Chad's car with Chad and his pregnant fiance. We are following a car and a car is following us. The viewing is over but the sun is up late in June. I want to see the place, and others want to see it too. We follow Fran. She knows where it is, the little dirt road. A country concession with farms and fields. It's quiet and trees divide the fields. I try to concentrate on what we've been told.

-She was driving. She reached for her cigarettes. She hit the bridge.-

I look for a bridge, the kind with 2 great slabs of concrete erected on either side. I look for it. The car ahead of us slows down and pulls over beside a little stream. There is a line of trees about 50 yards away and the creek lazes its way out and through the field. It is dotted with blue and purple and yellow and white wild flowers. It burrows under the road and out the other side where it continues to flow with more flowers and more trees and there is the nicest breeze. Going over the creek is the road. There are 2 small concrete barriers 1.5 feet tall, maybe a foot thick. You might not of noticed but to trip over them.

This is wrong. This can't be it. Where are the big slabs of concrete? How could this of killed her? That's crazy. I don't believe it. I look at Fran and say..."What the fuck? Are you kidding? This can't be the place."

Chad takes my hand and crosses the road with me. On the other side we look down into the weeds and flowers and water and there are scraps of metal everywhere. Fiber glass, glass, paint chips everywhere. Debris left over from the cleanup.

"No way Chad. Look? She would of driven over and...? It's no more than going over a ditch. This isn't right? This didn't kill her?"

"Look Jen, there's her car. Thats all from her car".


I don't say anything. I let go of his hand and look up to notice an old man approaching.

"Did you know this girl?"
Someone says yes

"I called 911. I saw the car after it went in."

"She died right away, we were told"
 someone says

" No no. She was alive when I got to her. Tried to move. Talked a bit. She was in trouble."

I grab Frans hand and walk across the road. She needs to get this guy out of here. "Fran, get him out of here...now". She does...she tries. She asks him once. Then twice. She starts to get angry and Chad steps in and starts to lead him away. Fran and I sit down on the concrete curb at the side of the "bridge". We watch as Chad continues to walk with the old man and listen to his story...and then I cry.

10 minutes later the man is leaving. Chad comes over, kneels down and looks at my face. I'm fidgeting with my hands, playing with my fingers and I don't look up. He puts his hand on top of mine to stop me and finally I look at him.

"What do you want to know?"
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Chad, nothing."
"Ok."


I keep trying to play with my fingers. He takes both of my hands with both of his and starts to examine my fingers with me. He laughs at the terrible polish job I did on my nails the night before and he makes me smile. He brushes the hair out of my face and kisses my forehead. Then he kisses my horribly painted nails and smiles at me.

"We should go" he says
"I don't want to go" I say
"Come on...lets go to the car"


We turn the car around and we go. I watch out the back window and we drive away. The trees shrink and the stream is gone. I can't see the flowers. I don't see a bridge. What happened there is gone. I study the line of trees, afraid I'll forget this place. Afraid that I won't be able to find it again. I think of the old man. I hear him say she was alive. Did she see the trees? The flowers and the creek? Did she feel the breeze? Was she really alive? Chad knows. I'm afraid to ask.

That tree was planted 12 years ago by her mom and dad.
That tree was planted 12 years ago by her mom and dad.
The tree
The tree
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
the bridge
the bridge
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
<span id="t_msg_subject">A Picture/Video Message!</span>
Line of trees the creek flows out of
Line of trees the creek flows out of

Happy Birthday to me.

Happy Birthday.

You asked me to get up and speak,
Tell them why today was a happy day,
To tell them who you love,
To tell people I loved, who you love,
Tell them why today was a happy day.

Happy birthday to me.
What a present you had,
What a present you gave me.
Thank you? No thank you.

I do as you ask, I always do.
Happy? Ok,
I lie with my face.
A party? A party! A party on my birthday.
I'll pick out the decorations,
I'll pick the music,
I'll pick the food,
I'll pick the clothes,
Its a party! A party! A party on my birthday!
Not a party for me, but hey thats ok?
No but ok.

I'm in charge.
Early early, lots of stuff to do.
Get you up, get you ready, get you fed.
Steak and eggs and sausages and bacon,
Protein keeps us strong, and you have a long day.
Get you dressed,
Fix your tie,
Find your cufflinks,
Get you ready, get you ready.
It's a big big day.
It's my birthday,
It's your big day.

I read my lines,
I read my lines,
I wrote it for you,
I read my poem.
I practice.
Boy I'm nervous.
I don't like audiences.

In front of everyone,
I stand up and read it for you.
I tell them why they are here today,
I tell them why today is a happy day,
I tell the people you love who you love and why.
I don't tell them its my birthday.

Happy birthday to me.
What a great day.
I'm a year older,
And congratulations you're married.
We share a special day.
My birthday,
Your anniversary.
And I helped this day happen,
I helped it be perfect.
Because I do what you want me too,
I always do.
Because although you love her,
I love you.

I watched you marry another woman on my birthday.
I helped you marry another woman on my birthday.
I danced with the groom on my birthday.
Happy happy birthday?

Favourite Atheist Quotes.

"By simple common sense I don't believe in God." - Charlie Chaplin

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child." - Robert A. Heinlein

"Science should be taught not in order to support religion and not in order to destroy religion. Science should be taught simply ignoring religion." - Steven Weinberg

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Refugee's are not at fault.

December 11th, 2013

Re: Med's for Madi.

Sun News headline : Ontario liberals put refugee claimants ahead of 12 year old Madi.

A young local girl needs drugs that are expensive and not covered under OHIP.  

Today my facebook newsfeed has been inundated with posts from locals admonishing the Ontario liberals for taking care of the needs of refugees and illegal immigrants waiting for deportation.  Refugees and immigrants are being used as a pawn, to distract you from where the real problem lies.  The little girl in question lives in my small conservative village, and the conservative villagers are raising their pitchforks and asking for heads.    

Wynne and McGinty's Liberals quite simply suck. They are not a party I support, but they are not to blame in this case.  Refugees are not to blame either.  Refugees do not receive better care than any other citizen.  It is PHARMA's fault. 

My facebook status today, 1:45pm : Lying to boost a cause will only hinder it.  There are truths to your plight and you can use them. 

Freaking conservative town.
Freaking Sun News.

In Canada health care is a human right and that idea is the reasoning behind our Universal Health Care.  Refugees are as human as a tax paying citizen.  A non-tax paying citizen is human too.  That is why they should be provided health care and have their rights protected. 

Human rights are not allotted only to people who pay taxes.  Human rights are for everyone.  

Madi is a human.  Madi's human rights demand she be provided health care. Madi should have her rights protected.  She should have access to her medicine.  All humans should have access to care and medicine, and in Canada that is law.  This is a human rights issue.  Fight for Madi and fight for her rights. 

The Charter of Rights!  We have one. 

Call me a liberal but say it with a little 'l'.  Liberal with a lower case 'l' for me.  Upper case L for Wynne.  Hudack isn't the answer.  I am on the fence about Cheri DiNovo.  I don't have all of the answers besides the charter should include all of us and human rights go beyond politics and borders. 

Refugees should/do not have more rights than a 12 year old girl.  They should/do have the same rights.  Let's fight for our rights.  They are ours so demand them and then protect them. 

It isn't us vs them.  Don't pit yourself against a made up enemy.  Madi should have her medicine, and refugees, people we welcome into our home to escape oppression should partake in all we have to offer. We have a duty to keep them safe and secure.  We can have it both ways. 

Giant rich pharma companies hold us hostage.  They limit our freedoms and deny us our health by pricing medicine so high, average middle class families can't afford them.  They cohort with governments and law makers and use dollar signs to lead their conscience.  I amend an earlier statement.  The government is responsible, for holding hands with pharma and allowing them to infringe on its citizens rights in order to share in the pot of gold. That isn't a liberal game though, it's an across the board political one.