It's been a lot of years that I have not posted. The sailing really inspired me to write. Where do I start now. I have made a lot of changes in life and in technology. I don't have my pictures on my computer they are all on my phone/camera and on my Canon camera. We had the Amherst Island Bird Count with Bonnie Livingston and Janet Scott organizing and leading us and and putting us into groups then sending us out to spot and identify as many birds as we can. I was with David Pickering, Sharen English, Stephen and Allison Kendell. We saw the .... the birds you would expect to see: blue jays, chickadees, crows, ravens, waxwings...what were they...I'll have to look it up...Canadian Geese, Common Merganzers, Buffleheads, Mute Swans, Northern Harrier, maybe an immature Eagle ummmm I'll have to look at Bonnie's list to remember the others. I have some pics but I'll have to download them onto my computer to upload them onto my computer and put them in my blog. 

Friday is also Lexie Day. I took Lexie shopping and then we tried to hook up her DVD player but didn't have an HDMI cable so I'll drop one off for her next week. 

Tomorrow we are going to Toronto to visit with Bonnie Collington, Doris Mahoney, Jim, Bohden and Janni and Bill. We'll stay overnight at Karen's. She is in Newfoundland visiting her brother and her mom is in respite. 

I'm driving for Driving Miss Daisy to keep myself busy. It's like a taxi but we usually take seniors to Dr. Dentist appointments, hair appointments, their children's places for Christmas, to the airports to go South and sometimes just companionship. I love it. I love my clients and I love driving. I'll get some pictures of that too.

Monday is radio morning on Amherst Island. Anthony and I do The Cheesemaker's Daughter Show 10:00 to 12:00. Sometimes Keith Miller joins us on his harmonica. We have live music for the first half hour then Verna Mann Renaud talks about composers and plays 15 minutes of piano music then I call Hannah Anscomb in Yellowknive to do the Climate Corner for 15 minutes, Judy Wambera does the Poetry Corner for 15 minutes and Joyce Bierma does 15 minutes on anything she wants. OK that's all I want to write now. I'll fill you in more next blog. 

Dec. 16 2017 It's been a long time since my last post.

A lot has happened between 2009 and 2017. With Facebook I get to publish my pictures and a short explanation but I wanted to write more thought coming back to my blog might be a good idea. I pulled a bunch of pics off my CDs that I didn't want to forget so I'm going to tell stories around these pics. Here we go.

These are my grandchildren in Calgary. Madeline, Rebecca, Michael, Mathew and Roland and Rachel hasn't been born yet. Great pic, Jerri, thanks for sending it to me. When I lived in Okotoks I was a foster mom to Jerri Black who was 14. I was teaching a class of students who were Trainably Mentally Handicapped. Some of the students I had taught at Joe Clark Elementary School in High River. Claudine Powderface was a sweet gentle young girl. When she came to me three or four years from this time she didn't talk. It was such an honour to be around as she blossomed and started talking and gaining confidence and learning. Her foster mom, Carol, was planning on moving to Saskatchewan to help out on her brother's farm and you can't take foster children out of the province so Claudine was going to have to look for another home. So, I thought I would love to get her as a foster child so I applied to be a foster parent and took the course and got qualified. As it turned out Carol didn't go to Saskatchewan but I was still qualified to take a foster child so the Social Worker came to me one day at school. She had an emergency situation and had to place a young girl with long black hair whose locker was outside my classroom. There was this young girl with long black hair that came to my room for lunch every day and I thought it was her and I said sure I would take her. When the Social Worker took me upstairs in the school to introduce me to Jerri it was not the same girl but....I had already said that I would take her so I did. That summer we went to the east coast and we took Jerri with us. She was great with Sarah and Kate who were 4 and 7 years old. She was very quiet but was good in the van, considerate enough not to smoke until we stopped and gave her time to smoke outside the van.  It was great introducing her to my family in Ontario. When Jerri became 16 or 17 she left home with another teenager in the house Jill. Jerri continued to be my daughter and to this day she is in her 40's and is still my daughter. I don't get to see her as often as I would like. She now has 6 children and I am their Gramma. I communicate with the older boys and girls on Facebook. Rachel and Roland are too young yet to be on Facebook. When we get together we have a big birthday party for everybody's birthdays and eat pizza. They are all great kids and Jerri has had a lot of difficulty with alcohol but she had done a great job with her kids and has never abandoned them. 

She looked up her birth mom in Gleichen, Alberta but she has passed away since then. I'm glad she got to meet her.

Madeline is in her 20's now. Rebecca has a partner and two babies, Athena and            , my great grandchildren. Michael must be close to 20 and Mathew close behind him. The boys live at Rebecca's. Rachel and Roland are in foster care but the whole family gets together often. There is lots of love there but life isn't easy. Jerri is trying to do her best. Much love to you Jerri and your lovely family I'm so glad to be your mom and their gramma and great gramma.

273 Bahamas 2014

William's Town

$2 Bar, 2 beer for $5.00

273 Bahamas, Shavargo, Funmi...

A boy on his bicycle in Williams Town.

Doris and I working on our computers, planning her business.

Funmi and Chris' side yard. Funmi wants to build a Retirement Home here.

The second car I rented. The first one wouldn't start so they gave me another one.

Our kayak at Funmi and Chris' place. The grandchildren use it in the summer in the canal.

Sea Grape plant.

A spotted Eagle Ray in Funmi's canal.

Dillies. They have a Dillie Tree in their yard. The good fruit, sweet.

The canal that divides Grand Bahama into two.

Shavargo and me in Port Lucaya.

Shavargo's hands brailling. This Brailler came from my friend Val Sheekey and her friend is Al. Thanks to Val and Al for their great gift.

Island seas Beach, Williams Town Beach.

272 Brailling in the Bahamas and Portia, Fumi, Bonnie and me

Sunrise at the house over the bridge, Fumi and Chris', on the canal.

One year I went to Young Husband Ave. to The Haven where the PACE girls go to have their education while they are pregnant, young teenage girls. Val and I taught knitting and crotcheting that year.

The Haven where PACE,Providing Access to Continued Education, for young teenage girls who are pregnant.

Buildings for the orphanage in Freeport.

Bonnie and Portia in Port Lucaya.

Fumi and me in Port Lucaya.

Fumi, Portia and me.

Portia and Fumi.

Miss Carolyn and Miss Latika with me. They gave me roses and a plaque in appreciation for my work. Thank you so very much to everyone in the group, Brailling in the Bahamas Group at Ruby Swiss.

Pastor Lornel Wilchcombe and his wife Miss Peggy.

Latka's finder brailling.

Leona's fingers brailling.

Leona Armbrister and her daughter Latika a Ruby Swiss.

Vanny Roole's finger brailling on my Brailler from the Peel Board of Education.

My Brailler for the Peel Board.

Leona and Vanny at Ruby Swiss. Wes always brings us a drink on the house. Vanny gets a virgin Pina Colada and Leona gets one of those red ones. I get Campari and grapefruit juice. Miss Carolyn owns the restaurant with her adult children and she gives us the space free and then treats us to drinks and food. She is a VERY generous woman.

These are Joniece's fingers brailling. Her brailler came from Donna Winter's and her son Tim.

Joniece's fingers brailling.

Wes' fingers brailling. His brailler came from a lady sailor who is blind and she gave me 3 braillers this year, 2015. Unfortunately I didn't get her name and so I can't thank her personally but I'll send out thank yous to her in cyberspace. Gayle, a friend and sailor at Ocean Reef, fixed this brailler for Wesley.

Wesley and Miss Carolyn.

Janiece and me.

Miss Carolyn's fingers brailling on her brailler. Her brailler came from money I collected from the Women's Institute on the Island, Presbyterian Women's Associaion on the Island, David Pickering and Janet Scott. I bought this one brand new.

Here you see 5 cassette tape recorders. I use them to speak their contractions and dots onto so that when they go home they can play the tape and listen and braille. I bought these from money that I collected in my donation jar at the Cafe' and from Anthony and me.

This is a picture of two braille labellers and an abacus.

This is Leona and Vanny. There are two other braillers out there that Pastor Lornel has and Shavargo. I need one more for a new student, David Thompson and one for the new student that hasn't come yet.

272 Bahamas, Banana Bay, Fishing with Les...

A great book from Fumi. Learned good ideas for listening. Tell me about...then listen for signposts....ask another tell me...using the signposts...do brief inserts while listening and people will tell you a lot more.

My first rental car. My second one was grey and 2 door. The first one wouldn't start after 3 days so they gave me a new one.

Fumi working on her computer in the kitchen.

The view of the canal and backyard from my chair.

Grasses inside Fumi's house, beautiful sunlight.

Fumi and Chris' front yard.

Fumi and Chris' front yard.

Standing in Fumi and Chris' front yard.

Fishing with Les.

Les kissing the Grunt Fish.

Fishing with Les.

A Laughing Gull.

Bonnie under the Socializing Palm Tree at Ocean Reef.

Bougainvillea Bush.

Pirate outside of Grand Bahama Scuba.

Edmund brailling.

Edmund Brailling.

Edmund brailling on Brailler from me and a sailor who is blind.

Edmund brailling.

Leron brailling.

Leron brailling.

Leron brailling.

Banana Bay Beach.

me

Banana Bay Beach

Banana Bay Beach, met Gabriele there and went with Bonnie.