Coucoumellisms

Found out yesterday that a friend and previous teacher of mine is dying. He doesn't have long to live. He has cancer in the membrane of the brain. Am feeling a little sad for that. He was such a good influence for so many young people growing up in Moose Factory. I am just glad that I had the chance to see him again last summer after so many years.

H A P P Y E A S T E R ! ! I had a wonderful Easter, it isn't over yet, today is Easter Monday... and there is still the whole Easter Octave... I went to everything. I fasted Friday until after the 3:00 service. I went to a procession in the morning, the service in the afternoon and did the way of the cross at home with the children. Saturday I went to the Easter vigil. Danielle and Sylvain were here on Saturday. I went to mass on Sunday with the children and then Rose Anne and I prepared brunch. Marc went to get Thérèse. Thérèse spent the day with us.

St. Joseph's feastday today,... patron of the family... We are going to watch a movie again tonight, soon I hope, so we don't get to bed too late... Not much to say today... HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLY WEEK PEOPLE!!! I INTEND TO...

Introvigne said he believes that "The Da Vinci Code" has had such enormous success because it "brings together two types of social 'tastes' which appear to be quite widespread": "on the one hand, the notion of 'conspiracies' and secret societies that dominate the world; and, on the other hand, an increasingly unashamed and virulent anti-Catholicism." My turn to hysterically laugh... but the above so ACCURATELY describes my husband, an X-files fan and a firm believer of conspiracies, extra-terrestials and anything anti-catholic... Now I'm being snide... how un-charitable of me...

This whole Da Vinci Code thing is enraging me. Of course it's all in the papers all over that the Vatican doesn't like the book, of COURSE it's not going to like a book that not only attacks it but also attacks it's faith reducing it to nothing... HEELLLOOO people!!! Are we stupid or what? Would jews stand by and say nothing if someone wrote a book saying Abraham was just another nomad, and Moses never really crossed the desert to bring the Israelites out of slavery and that Yahweh was never there for them, and that they are riduculous because they only eat cocher and won't touch porc? etc,... Yesterday in La Presse, they even went so far as to call the Cardinal a "Prince of the Vatican", sarcastically of course... My husband this morning, as the subject came up on the radio asked snidely "Did you hear that? The Vatican has banned the book." This is not true and I told him so. They do not recommend the book because it is false and full of ...

On my island I have no husband, I have no children, I have no job, no errands to run... I am alone, but not lonely. I eat coconuts and go fishing. I sweep the dirt floor of my hut and then my housecleaning is done because I have so little that there is very little to clean. I have a few visitors from time to time, Aquaman and the Gypsy Queen,... but mostly I am alone, except for the parrots. There are parrots on my island. They fly around squawking and I do not have the patience to try to teach them to speak. I have time for painting on my island, and noone to get into my stuff while I am at it. I draw and I paint. I am an artist in my soul. I write poetry and then I rip it up and burn it in the fire if I don't like it which I often do not. I have no phone, (except for my satelite phone, which needs to be charged), and mail is never delivered to my island. The sun is shining today. I am alone, I have not had a visit in awhile. The parrots are doing their thing, and I am breathing p...

-I am close to my family, brothers and sisters and parents -I have a good husband, who does not often complain, and is quite patient with me even when I do not always deserve it. -I have four beautiful children -I have a house to live in and meals to eat, and clothes to wear -I have outings to look forward to and parties to go to every once in awhile -I have friends even though many of them are not in town -I am not constantly surrounded by violence -I do not fear for my life -I do not worry about where my next meal will come from -I have the opportunity to study -I can read -There is music in my life, and art and poetry -I live half in the country, with space around the house for the children to play in, a park behind us, a pond in our front yard with fish and frogs in it, there are huge trees in our yard and a place to build a fire outside -I am healthy and not overweight -I am lucky enough to speak three languages and have access to information and best of all, friends and family in...

I am struggling somewhat with this right now. I am a believer in choice. I believe in mind over matter (somewhat). I believe that we are able to find joy in what we have and be happy with that, but it is not always easy. I am going to start with this story as an example, one I have read a few times, it is going around on the internet and I have received it a number of times already, but it still is a good example: ******************************** John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How ...

Thinking about what I just posted today,... about the FARC. (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) They kidnap and "disappear" people all the time for politcal or economic reasons. They kidnap people for whom they can expect to be paid over a million dollars for their safe return, and they do not negociate because they know it is highly unlikely that the person could ever be rescued. If they are not paid raight away, they up the price and charge interest. They kill the person with no regret if their security is threatened. Life is worth nothing to them. This is what happened to Cecila Cubas, (daughter of ex-president Raul Cubas of Paraguay) she was put in a tunnel that had been dug out to keep and then she was assassinated. The pictures I posted along with the article below say it all, people are held chained and drugged in holes and tunnels in inhumane conditions. Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian Presidential Candidate, and her Campaign director, Clara Rojas were ...

Saturday we went to the Sugar Hut "Au Pain de Sucre". It was a very nice place. I am glad I chose that one, it wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either, it was in the woods, we went walking, we went for a ride on a wagon pulled by a horse named Rosie, (a percheron) and the food was great... of course we had maple toffee on snow... it was a lot of fun. Rose Anne was with us and some neighbours down the road, that we met because their daughter Emily went to school with Dominic before he changed schools. Plus we had Brother Laferrière whom we knew from all the way back in Moosonee, years ago. He only lives about 15 minutes away from us now. Sunday we had Serban, Anca and Mara for supper. Rose Anne was still with us, and I had a bit too much wine to drink,... but we had a lot of fun. We laughed the whole time. Serban is Dominic's godfather. Had a headache from all the wine last night and had a couple of weird dreams, woke up after the first, and couldn'...

Gregorian Chant over the internet: (works with Windows Media Player) http://homepage.oninet.pt/862mch/ Click on Tune In If that doesn't work, open WMPlayer and search for RADIO SET gregorian, that is what I had to do and it worked that way... ABSOLUTELY HEAVENLY!!!

It has been eight years today since I married Marc. Two big moves (both cross-country) and three children (had the first before) later, we are still together. We have already done better than (what are the statistics on this?) half (?) the people who got married the same year as us in Québec. It's not always easy, but the good outweighs the bad. Here's to eight more years... (gulp!) Ok that gulp could be interpreted in a couple of ways, let's just interpret it here as the champagne being gulped down, hee hee. Happy Anniversary to us.

The Kiss 06/03/2005 by Jeanne Chabot Charcoal on Paper (Used a photo off of Yahoo Picture Gallery for the subject, so while the drawing is my original work, the photo wasn't...)

Maryssa Went outside this afternoon to finish digging out the quintzee outside. Quintzee is the Cree word for the snow shelter they make... Gabriel The difference between a quintzee and an igloo is that a quintzee is dug out of a pile of snow, and an igloo is made of blocks carved out of the snow and piled up to fit together perfectly... Jean-Alexandre and Dominic A snowfort in other words... Anyway, this one room is done, and I am digging out another one, and eventually I hope to have a tunnel linking the two. "Sleeping" We used to do this when I was young... and had great fun especially at night running around with flashlights in the dark and crawling through tunnels... I am hoping my kids will appreciate this as much... Gabriel Got my workout this afternoon!! Shovelling snow is hard work! Snow is heavy!!! Kids in the snow fort

(Circa 1989-90) Around me in their stench they lie, A thousand falsehoods left to rot and die. In the vigor of their life they did so well As in the ocean the waves do swell, They were so high, then came down low And we have damned their flow. In the heat of the fire They cry out from the mire; The mess that they have created. And we walk by with breath that is bated Lest we smell of the stench that is theirs, Or one should fool us into thinking he cares. We have nearly overcome Though the job is yet undone. And in some places they still cause pain. And we cry as it seems we struggle just to gain A life that is hard for all But especially for those that are small.

Circa 1994-95? The student in the corner, The man staring at me, The beer on the counter, The Dali on the wall. The tears on her face, The words on his lips, Thoughts in one's mind, Dirt on the floor. He will sleep with her tonight, Tommorrow he is gone, Policeman at the door, "Sorry Madam." Nothing more. Quiet in the house, She looks in the crib, At the son he left behind, Bullet through the heart. Struggling for a cause, Defending your beliefs, A small place in Heaven, Blood on sacred ground.

We are going to watch another movie tonight, so the kids are supposed to be cleaning up their lego... that's a good initiative for them to clean up, they really like to watch a movie. I think we will be watching Open Water tonight. Last night we watched Shall We Dance? I wanted to go out and take dance lessons again after that... AHhhhhhhhh!! Sighhhhhhh!! But I don't have a partner... and I don't want a leech (like Rose Anne called them) like on Satrday night... Me, today... wearing the sweater I wear quite often... to keep me warm... I've had that sweater a loooooong time, probably since 1989.... 

Any québecer who is a true québecer has to go at least once a year to a cabane à sucre... so we are going this year on the 12th of March.

Here we are in the month of March again,... spring is coming, and also the season of birthdays, anniversaries, etc, (at least for us)... starting with our wedding anniversary on March 8, eight years of marriage. Maryssa will be 5 on March 30, Jean-Alexandre will be 11 on April 25, I will be 33 on May 14... plus there is Mother's Day in May and Father's day in June. I must go and get the floors cleaned upstairs now, so I am going to drag myself away from here and get that done...