How I got it all wrong.

My therapist is a very good listener. He tells me to sit in the back yard when stressors or grief from our recent family losses threaten to creep up and strangle my quest for a positive outlook (what wonderful psycho-babble, eh?). So yesterday I gave a lawn chair an early reprieve from storage and plopped myself on the lawn at the back of the house. At 6PM it was rainy and dark, but warm for November. Some observations: In the dim grey glow of the porch light I noticed that the silhouette of the cedar hedge dips a bit where a nearby mature maple siphons off its light and water. The chrysanthemums struggle to bloom against all odds, and frost. And, I installed the downspout BACKWARDS!

Since Dad died over a month ago I have been acutely aware that I no longer have him to call for advice when faced with a domestic chore. I used to pick up the phone on an impulse to ask him for advice, and he always had some, even long distance from PEI. I really miss those calls. So, two weekends ago I was faced alone the chore of reattaching the downspout from the eavestrough to our house. Last year's duct tape solution was a failure, something I never confessed to Dad in fear of scorn. This year I was so proud because I figured out that if you drill a hole through the connector piece and the pipe, then twist in a screw, the pipe holds firm! Suzy and I managed to clean and reattach all of the downspouts in an hour. I felt great, but I couldn't understand why I could see the downspout through the window in the kitchen.

As I sat in the back yard last night, it all made sense. The pipe that was jutting out from the roof into the yard was meant to curl gracefully under the eave and descend inconspicuously along the brickwork to the ground. Some might say I got it all wrong. But I'm going to leave it like that. It's my downspout, it gets the water to the same place (just a different way), and that's all that matters.

Lowell and Sharon, above ground.
My brother Lowell and his new wife, Sharon O'Grady, have moved into their new house in Calgary! It's their first house. They are both very excited about it -- understandably so! Since they met over three years ago, they have been living in a basement apartment. As Lowell says, "Now we can have plants!". Check out the first photos of the new house!

>> Send e-mail to Lowell and Sharon.
>> Place your bets for when the pregnancy announcement will come with the eager Grandparents.

The cover of the Globe and Mail shocked me this morning. Two tiny footprints, each smaller than a thumbprint. The story was about a Victoria, BC preemie who is reportedly the world's smallest surviving baby on record. Baby Noella was born April 13, 2000 and weighed 1lb. That's two weeks earlier and 3/4 of a pound lighter than our Jasper. Noella endured a much more difficult road to health: surgery, pneumonia, oxygen mask at home to nine months. Jasper hasn't even had a bad cold since we brought him home 15 months ago. What a miracle!

Building a CD collection: Walden -- Music for the Woods
Walden's resident music afficionado, Alex "Kwesi" Larose, sent us our first suggestion for the Walden Cabin CD, Music for the Woods. The CD will be left in the cabin for rental guests. To find out how to experience Walden Cabin in PEI, click here.

"This is one of those enchanting songs I woke up to one morning, last fall. My radio alarm clock was set to wake me up with CBC radio 2, as it always does. Out of the abyss of my dream state came voices of angels. They took me from the arms of Morpheus and led me to entrance of reality. The transition was so soft that I remained in a pleasant, semi-dream state for the remainder of the day."

"The first time I heard Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings was during the sad and sobering movie, Platoon. This haunting chorus version is a beautiful rendition of an already amazing song. I recommend you listen to this song first thing in the morning, and if you're able to set your alarm clock to start with a specific song, this would
have to be the one!"

>> Download and listen to the MP3 (60-second sample)
>> Download the full MP3

Write to our music guy, Alex Larose