Coucoumellisms

What do you get when a white family moves north to live among the Cree? Dad grew up a pioneer in what was still a sparsely-settled province of Alberta. Mom grew up on a farm in New Brunswick that had been in the family for generations. Dad was a Catholic French-Canadian, whose family had been in Québec for centuries. Mom was an English speaking Anglican of Scottish and Loyalist descent who lived in an area where people were suspicious of French-speaking people. Dad liked the outdoors, hunting, snaring, trapping and camping. Mom was afraid of horses, so she rode the bony backs of cows home instead. Dad on the right, on a hunting trip What do you get when you put the two of them together? Besides a Dad who knows the name of just about every fruit-bearing tree and potato plant available in North America; a mother able to tell the difference between McIntosh, Empire, Spartan and Cortland apples (as well as a few different breeds of cow); Midnight mass at Christmas complete ...

  But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.  Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and  foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will  be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’   (Matt 22:11-13)   I came across another version of the "Which of These Made a Vow of Poverty?" memes on facebook the other day, and I re-posted it with my own commentary, but I'd like to add a few things; one was pointed out by a friend, and the other I came across while reading Bible stories to my two youngest. WHAT is the point of this meme? That it is morally wrong to wear ceremonial robes to a ceremony? So what now? We can't wear wedding dresses to a wedding? We can't wear graduation robes to a graduation? Military personnel ...

Certain things happened at my part-time job which led me to seriously consider quitting.  It turns out that I did not have to quit, because I was fired instead, with no real explication why (although I have a few hunches).  I was more than happy to leave, it saved me the bother of going through agonizing weeks of " Do I continue and see if it gets better even though I don't foresee it getting better soon or do I quit now? " I suppose that this was God's not so gentle nudge out the door and through a new one.  This particular job experience gave me the desire to work for myself, at something I LIKE to do. For years now, people have been telling me I should make pinatas to sell.  So I decided I would start up my own business, making pinatas, painting pictures, and sewing things to sell. It took a while to finally come up with a logo that I liked, that looked professional. I wanted it to be something mushroom-y because the coucoumelle is a mushroom. I also wa...

The traditional stockings picture The table - and my christmas log, which I actually managed to make look presentable!! The ones that made it all happen, (my sister and I) with the ones that made us want to scream... (we were a bit tired after making 15 pies, one cake, turkey, stuffing and trimming, roast beef... etc, etc...)  Note to self, DO NOT let Marc prepare the contents for chicken pot pie the evening before Christmas Eve ever again...  (Also, I really am going to have to try to bake as much as possible AHEAD of time...  We were almost too exhausted to enjoy anything!! The Christmas log, which was made for reveillon (Christmas Eve dinner) but which, on Christmas evening, has yet to be touched.  Noone's been hungry enough to eat it yet. Nicky fell asleep half-way through Dealing out gifts... :) family Brunch this... well, not morning... more like afternoon... with Rose Anne's baked Camembert

If the creative juices stirring in our houses are any sign, Christmas (and more imminently, Advent) is coming. I can't sit down anywhere and just DO anything, without one or more people sitting down beside me and wanting in on the project. I really want my kids to be creative, honestly I do. But not when I am being creative! Because then I have to work around the child that insists apon sitting on my lap and "working" too. I have to fight for the scissors, I keep losing track of the glue, my paper selection dwindles rapidly and I start to get stressed out about people wrecking what I have done. What I need is a proper art studio, with a high table/counter for me and a lower table for little hands to work at. No, wait, maybe a cage would be better? No no no, must.remember.to.let.them.be.creative.too. Anyway, amid the mess of paper that accumulated in our office downstairs, the misplaced glue sticks, the battles for scissors, the jealously hording of my own private, person...

Last Wednesday evening, St. John's School had an awards ceremony for their secondary students. Jean-Alexandre received an award for the Catholic Religious Instruction class. Jean-Alexandre, receiving his award. Nicolas and Gabriel, while they were still behaving

My children - November 14, 2008 I took this photo for Christmas cards. I like how it turned out, other than that Jean-Alexandre is not looking at the camera.

For the crafty people: Choose two rolls of ribbon with colours that go well together, and a pipe-cleaner to match: Cut about 2 feet of ribbon (more or less depending on the size of bow you want to make) cut ends into a point (or you can cut two points): Fold over one end of ribbon: Do the same for the other end: Prepare second ribbon in the same manner: Place one bow on top of the other: Place over pipe-cleaner and wrap pipecleaner around both bows: Wrap around twice and twist in back: Fluff out bows. You can leave it like this if desired: ... or you can tie some deocrations to the middle, like this cone. Small bells work well too, the dollar store is full of things that can be tied on: This is where my ribbon ended up, above the mirror in my hair-salon, the colours go well with autumn flowers too: Have fun!

If you were to walk into my kitchen, it would not be immediately apparent that, at heart, I am a girl who likes to be organized. I like things to have a place and to be neatly organized in a stylish, but practical way. It has to be easy to get at, easy to put away and logical. I have always enjoyed classing things and organizing things. It would only take one look at my kitchen counter however, to believe exactly the opposite of me. There, you will see empty milk bags that children have left there instead of rinsing them and putting them in the recycling. You will see the occasional half-eaten and rusting apple. You will see an endless amount of toys and other miscellaneous objects that I have picked up off the floor with the intention of returning them back to whence they came. Papers abound, as do stamps, crayons, and other office paraphernalia. My counter is, 80 % of the time, a catch-all for everything. And there is no room for me to prepare meals. Every once in awhile I get suffic...

I am gone downstairs for 10 measley minutes and this is what awaits at my return: Cat food strewn all over the floor. Yes, I spend far too much time on the computer. Yes, I hate housecleaning. But gosh... how can anyone keep a house clean with 5 of these terrorists running about? Ok, I take it back, I've managed to brainwash the first 2 into being civilized human beings for the most part, and the third is on her way... but still... Update He did it again, and it is still morning: Playing cards this time. And no, this time I was not on the computer when he did it, I was taking a shower...

I'm making my own coffee at home now... caffe moka, caffe latte, espresso... The only thing I don't offer is a paper cup with a rim to roll up to win...

I went up to my room about an hour ago, and found this in my bed. I cropped it, and fooled around with lighting and warmth and added the fuzziness and partial B&W, and this is the version I like best.

Since I have posted these pictures just about everywhere I have an account on the web, I may as well post at least one here. This was my latest project, a wolf pinata for Dominic's birthday. This is one of my favourites to date. You can check out some of the others here: http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2005/09/introducing.html http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2006/03/pinata-time-again_22.html http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2006/10/working-on-yet-another-pinata.html http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2006/11/gabriels-birthday-party.html http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2007/04/tale-of-pinata.html http://coucoumelle.blogspot.com/2005/09/while-we-are-on-topic-of-pinatas.html Or just click on 'pinatas' under LABELS on the right-hand side there, and that'll take you to them all. The poor wolf is going to be destroyed tommorrow. So I am going to admire him all I can today.

Last weekend, we went to my parents' place and on the way home, stopped in Ottawa so the older boys could go to a FIFA U-20 world cup 1/4 finals game. It was Argentina against Mexico. (Argentina won) I got to see my niece (and goddaughter) for the first time, and visit a bit with my brother Cecil, his wife Jane and Jane's sister, Mary. I also got to visit (for a very short period) with my aunt Pauline and uncle Eddie, who were visiting their grandchildren. (My cousin and her husband live in the same village as my parents). Here are a few pictures of us all at Grammie and Grandpapa's house, Saturday evening: Claire, one month old Jean-Alexandre and Claire The family: Marc, myself, Jane Dominic, Cecil, Gabriel, Jean-Alexandre, Claire, Grammie Anne, Maryssa, Grandpapa Jean-Nil, Nicolas The cousins: Gabriel, Maryssa, Jean-Alexandre, Claire, Dominic, Nicolas Sunday morning, we went to mass with Grammie, then ordered pizza for lunch. We went walking with Grandpapa, played with ...