Coucoumellisms

Del Diario ABC Color , Asunción, Paraguay: Los padecimientos del padre Vicente Barreto San Juan Bautista es la capital de Misiones. En 1976 fue la capital del terror. Los torturadores Camilo Almada Morel, alias "Sapriza", y Lucilo Benítez, alias "Kururu pire", entre otros, abrieron las puertas del infierno por donde pasaron los miembros de las Ligas Agrarias Cristianas. El pasado viernes, en la audiencia pública convocada por la Comisión de Verdad y Justicia, presidida por monseñor Mario Melanio Medina, algunas de las víctimas relataron su experiencia inolvidable. La intensa lluvia no impidió que la ciudad misionera fuera escenario de la primera audiencia pública en el interior del país. La anterior fue en Asunción. Mucho público en el salón de la Cooperativa San Juan Bautista Limitada. Jóvenes estudiantes, en su mayoría, escucharon con emoción la historia de quienes fueron los actores de un proyecto que intentó mejorar la suerte de los agricultores. Irónicamente, l...

To love is a gift. To love is to create. God is pure love, He is the creator. Love can change even the hardest of hearts. I do not believe in making an effort to convert anyone, one cannot be converted by desiring it. But perhaps I should be making an effort to become the kind of person, who by temperament alone, unconsciously converts those around her. Alas, I am no saint. I do not even come close to sainthood. Perhaps my continued stay on this island will inevitably bring me closer to God? The parrots make such a racket some days, I lose patience and yell at them. Even the monkeys get on my nerves from time to time. But they are only parrots and monkeys, doing their thing. I pray for patience. Impatience destroys. I need to pray more. Period.

... was yesterday. As predicted, we "celebrated" without him. I let the kids have pop again, we went to soccer, made cards for him and left them on the stove under the small light from the fan there, for him to find when he got home. (Which ended up being at 1:30 am) Must have been fun.

The Northern Canadian Street Gang

Today is Gabriel's birthday. We had spaggetti and cake and brought out the pop to celebrate, and Gabriel opened his presents after supper. Marc still hasn't come home from work, so we clebrated without him. He was home at 10:30 last night and didn't think he'd be home much earlier today so I didn't wait long for him. I have a very sore back, it has been bothering me like this for a couple of weeks now. I wake up, I'm fine for a few hours, or until I sit down to write, sew or do something on the computer, and then I have really bad pain on the right side of my back, under the shoulder blade and close to the spine. Everyday it is the same, and even standing up, cutting hair does it to me. Even reading a story to Dominic at the table was painful. Am starting to look forward to not being pregnant anymore, although I have to say, in general I am enjoying this pregnancy more than the others. If I could just not have back pains, it would be perfect. Oh, and tommorrow i...

I have met yet another strange character on this island. He appears to be a wanna-be greek warrior, yet he has given himself (or was given) a Spanish name. The other day I sat for hours with him in front of my hut, listening to battle strategies and learning all about Greek heroes and legends. His name is El Alejandro. He is an interesting character to say the least, even though what he talks about (for someone not impassioned on the subject like myself) is rather repetitive and I found myself drifting off and thinking about other things as he explained the advantages of one type of weapon over another. El Alejandro is a rather handsome dude, even if he is a bit dark for an ancient greek. But I imagine that even back then, there were dark greeks even if they prefered blond. El Alejandro wears armour and carries a sword. He wore a laurel wreath around his head the other day. He is very passionate about war and battles but he has not yet enlightened me on the finer points of greek soci...

Sitting here, alone on my island, I have plenty of time to think. I think Gollum would have liked to be like everyone in the upper-middle class. At some point, he found out that all he really wanted was to have a very good salary, a nice (big) house, not more than two children and wife who worked and also made lots of money. I think he resents not having this "ideal" of society, another thing which makes him bitter. Unfortunately, this is something Gollum can never have, or at the very least he will have to wait a few years before he comes close. Ahh, the burden that weighs him down gets heavier as the years go by. It is a horrible thing to carry, yet he cannot let it go. It consumes him. I , on the other hand, do not need material riches. I could live simply and with little, as long as I am surrounded by friends, for as long as I live. Which is why I do not mind my island so much, only the solitude sometimes. Gollum cannot understand this in me and it irks him. But I am ...

Dominic's soccer coach has been letting all the children on the team try being in the net, in order to find the child best suited to be a goalie. Today was Dominic's turn in the net and he did so well that the coach left him there and at the end of the match he told Marc "I think we've found our goalie." Way to go Dominic!! I saw a bit of it before leaving to take Maryssa to her soccer match, and he was positioning himself very well to intercept the ball, throwing himself on the ground to grab the ball, coming out to meet the ball instead of staying stuck to the net like some do, and paying attention , unlike some who forget they are in the net and suddenly find the ceiling very interesting, or their feet, or... whatever. Ha ha. So now he just has to practice kicking the ball so he passes to his team a little better (and not to the opposing team!) and he'll be set.

Maryssa really liked Auntie Rose Anne's hair the other day. She wanted to change her hair colour too. Here, I styled her hair like I did for Rose Anne and then I sprayed some temporary hair colour (the type you get for Halloween costumes). She was pretty happy with her new look.

Maryssa went "shopping" at IGA at the end of September with her kindergarten class. Here they are in the newspaper, thanking the manager/owner for his welcome. They each got a shopping bag of some fruits and other goodies. How cute!!

DH has finally found a job. He will be working at Bell Canada, starting Monday. The children and I have been praying for him to find a new job for a long time now, and he has been to umpteen interviews. Some background on the subject : DH was working for Canfor in Prince George BC when he found a job in Montreal, working for a company called Trisotech. Trisotech sent him on contract to work at the Molson Brewing Company in old Montreal, which wasn't too bad in terms of commuting, (from Saint-Jean-sur Richelieu) it's no more than a half an hour by car (when traffic is good) and maybe an hour by bus and metro. When you live in a city the size of Montreal, spending an hour on a bus is not extraordinary. So to commute an hour from a city outside of Montreal is pretty good. He didn't get along too well with his supervisor at Molson though. The whole point of him being there, is that HE was the expert on VIP the program that he was supporting and sometimes making changes to, to...

I did a google search for my name (Jeanne) and came across the blog of another Jeanne called Body and Soul . It had an interesting title so I thought I'd go take a look. It turns out it is a very political blog, and quite leftist too, in terms of social justice, peace, etc,... which is okay by me, but I get bored after awhile reading nothing but politics, I like something to break up the seriousness... plus, in the same way I get tired of the conservatives bashing the liberals, I don't like hearing the liberals bashing the conservatives either, although this girl doesn't seem to be in it for pure bashing. In fact, she seems quite fair. I noticed she classifies her articles into different topics, among other was religion, and so, since this is what interested me most, (specifically to find out if there are any other "liberal" traditional Catholics out there...) I decided to go take a look under that topic. At first I couldn't determine whether she was protestan...

Rose Anne has just graciously sent me a recent picture of herself in Ecuador for the "before" picture, also to be known as Rosie by day... So here we go: Rosie by day and......... Rosie by night

The wind blows through my hair, which has grown longer since I have been here, and I am reminded of a old photo of my mother, long hair blowing in the breeze, surrounded by children. Here, though, there are no children, instead I am surrounded by monkeys, jumping and chattering in the trees. Sometimes it is just easier to get things done by yourself, on your own. Sometimes it is worthwhile to not include reluctant people in your plans, no matter how important they may be to you, however important it might seem for them to be with you, just to avoid conflict and stress. I have begun to purge Gollum from certain areas of my life. Gollum is a strange mix. He desires good, but does not know what good is. He can be patient and generous with many things and then suddenly turn around and crush me. Gollum was once a happy, innocent lad and then something happened to him. He carries a great load, it eats at him, it makes him very bitter towards certain people, places and things. I have lear...

There is this picture that sticks in my mind of my mother, 7 or 8 months pregnant with her fourth child, posing in the park not far from our home in Moose Factory, with us older kids and our Grammy (her mother). It is 1977, probably August or September, and my mother still wears those "cat" glasses from the 60's. She has one of those semi-psyquedelic shirts on, a mix of reds, oranges and browns. Her hair is long, (falls past her breasts), blond, and parted in the middle. She also happens to be blessed with naturally wavy hair. It is one of those lovely late summer days, there is a small breeze and wisps of my mother's hair are dancing lightly. It is a moment lost in time. This was one of the last summers Grammy spent with us. She stayed with us again in 1979 when my mother was pregnant with her last child. She left not long after my brother Jean Pierre was born in November. My mother accompanied her on her trip home, but she never made it home. They made it to St Cath...

"You are a WASP/Convert" You've been to a parish bingo game once. Don't worry, we won't tell. After all, WASPs are allowed in the Church as well. We just don't trust you very much. Provided by Are You A Cultural Catholic? brought to you by Quizilla What I would like to know is: What the heck is a WASP and why are "we"(?) not to be trusted? And how did I even get that result? I thought I was a pretty good Catholic, I thought I chose fairly Catholic responses... and why the comment about going once to a parish bingo, is that supposed to mean that's as often as I've been near a Catholic Church? I don't think so!!! Edited to add: I went to the author's page and saw the (hilarious) explanation of what it is to be culturally Catholic. So that cleared things up. I am definitely not very culturally catholic. And I think the bingo thing doesn't mean I don't go to mass, it just means I'm not the type to go to all these extra-...

. . . I s h o u l d b y t h e t i m e t h i s i s o v e r . I h a v e j u s t s t a r t e d a n e w p i n a t a f o r G a b r i e l . Gabriel's birthday is on the 26th of October, and I'm going to have a small party for him on the 6th of November. I would have done it on the 30th and gotten people to dress up in costumes, but Marc has a course on that weekend, all weekend long, so I'm doing it on November 6th instead. I am doing a Boots pinata this time. (As in Dora the Explorer and Boots the monkey friend). We don' t know anyone with children his age in our area, so it is going to be a small party, probably with more adults than children invited. No Halloween party this year. It was just too much effort and hardly anyone came last year. And besides, like I said, Marc has a course on that weekend anyway.

This would be funny, if it weren't for the fact that my poor daughter actually had a good scare and was very upset: The other day, Maryssa decided to put up a big fuss when it was time to go to bed. I tried brushing her teeth, but she wouldn't open her mouth and just pretty much gave me a temper tantrum, so I decided "I'm not putting up with this, she'll just go to bed now and forget about all the bed-time rituals". So when she decided all of a sudden that she DID want to brush her teeth, (once I put her in bed - or should I say dumped her in bed), I refused. "Teach her a lesson", I thought, "If she's going to put up a big fuss, she won't get a thing". So when she even got out of bed and put toothpaste on her toothbrush herself, I rinsed it off and sent her back to bed, where she cried (herself to sleep?). (She didn't actually cry that long, maybe a couple of minutes, which means she either fell asleep very quickly, which sh...

My brain is jello, my legs are limp, I have no more energy left in the evening. It is so quiet here during the day, then rush hour hits. Or should I say rush hourS? The three oldest come home and then I have to get them all snacks, because they're all hungry, and then I have to do homework and cook supper at the same time, make sure they finish their supper, make sure they're done their homework and finally get the three youngest to bed. All at once, one thing on top of the next and/or one right after the other... It is just crazy. Then I sit down with my legs out in front of me and catch my breath. By the time DH comes home, the only one still up is Jean-Alexandre and he is either done his homework or finishing it. So he basically eats and then can relax in front of the TV. He doesn't get to see much of the kids on weekdays, poor him, but he DOES get to relax when he gets home! And I just feel like I've been flattened by a bulldozer. Whiskey anyone?

I previously promised some pictures of the soccer festival, back in August. Well, here they are, finally, along with a few others. Je an-Alexandre during the regular soccer season, Aug. 2005 Dominic, at Drummondville, just before the Légendes Fantastiques show Dominic, at the soccer festival Aug 27, 2005 (Yellow shirt on right) Maryssa, bringing up the ball at the soccer festival Goaaaaaaal!!! Maryssa scores, Aug. 27, 2005 Jean-Alexandre at the soccer festival (white shirt) Dominic's 7th Birthday, Sept. 25, 2005; blowing out his castle cake Dominic's birthday party, Oct. 2, 2005 (notice the belly in the background) Dominic's soccer cake Oct. 2, 2005

I once drew a cartoon picture of my sister Rose Anne as she normally appeared, baggy T-shirt and jeans and hair not styled very much... I labled it Rosie by day . Then I drew a cartoon of a much sexier, done up Rose Anne beside it, nice clothes, hair all styled, make-up... and labled it Rosie by night . At least one of my friends saw it and (laughing) commented on how lovely Rosie was by night and would he get a chance to meet this Rosie? Over twelve years have gone by since then, and "Rosie" no longer wears huge t-shirts and baggy jeans. And her hair has changed a bit too. But she came home Thursday from spending two months in Ecuador where her hair had gotten a bit longer, (past her shoulders) darker roots had grown in (she colours her hair) and her perm had pretty much grown out and a lot of it was frizz... So I cut her hair on Friday, and on Saturday we had fun colouring it. We went a different colour this time, a blond-red, instead of just blond. She usually just colour...

I don't think the holiday is as popular as in the US, most people are just happy to have a civic holiday, but don't necessarily celebrate it in anyway. The children do, at school, when they learn about the first Thanksgiving and the American pilgrims, etc,... Growing up, we never really celebrated Thanksgiving, not with Turkey and a big dinner anyway. Now, with my family, we do sometimes. Marc bought a frozen turkey that was on sale a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to thaw it out for Thanksgiving. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any. Yesterday we were gone all day. We went to the baptism of the daughter of a friend. The reception was at another couple's house (also friends). We stayed longer, along with many friends we used to see quite often. All of us stayed for supper, then Marc and I left with the kids to go back home. I think we were the only ones from the Montreal area that were actually returning home last night, the others were staying overnight in Québec City.

Here's a song that Great Big Sea sings... A (once) popular Catholic song and it made it's way into their repertoire , along with many other traditional Newfoundland songs. I love the way they sing it, think a mix of barbershop quartet and raucous celtic/East Coast style, lots of life and gusto to it. Something that would definitely appeal to kids today. I found the sheet music here , (just scroll down the page a bit), and it was actually free !! But the words aren't exactly the same on that version. The first good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of one, To see her own son Jesus Christ when he was first her son. When he was first her son, good man and blessed may he be, Oh Father, Son and Holy Ghost for all eternity. Oh Father, Son and Holy Ghost for all eternity. The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of two, To see her own son Jesus Christ when he was sent to school. When he was sent to school, good man and blessed may he be, Oh Father, Son and Holy Ghost for al...

...could there possibly be anything more delicious than a yogourt and fresh fruit parfait? In fact the word parfait sums it up,... perfect. The only thing missing in mine this morning is a bit of granola... didn't have any. Dominic's birthday party yesterday was a success. I'm pretty sure that the kids enjoyed themselves. Uncle Cecil did a good job with games and stuff so I didn't even have to do that. THANK YOU CECIL! :) There were enough adults there as well to make it interesting for Marc and I too. I decorated a cake as a soccer ball to go with the pinata and decorated some white styrofoam plates as soccer balls too and hung them on the walls. So now I have all this good, yummy fruit left over from the party yesterday. I always have fruit at parties... and it's so nice the day or two after when I can eat the left-overs... why do we only buy a bunch of yummy fruit when others are coming? Doesn't make sense... but that is the way it is. Got strawberries yeste...