"...wE mUst bE thE chAnGe wE wiSh tO sEE iN thE wOrld..." K.G.

1/22/2011

Ghost..as I sit here at my desk with the only light coming from my monitor, I can look out the window and watch it snow. it seems so peaceful outside. I opened the door just to listen and all I heard was the quietness one finds at 3 a.m. there was no traffic in our neighborhood at that hour. I love my alone time like this.. maybe that’s one reason I am such a night owl.

Ghost..today Diane played out in the snow with Julian and I took a few pictures. he had so much fun! his little cheeks were so rosy when he came in.. we found him a one piece snow suit at good will and I enjoyed getting him all bundled up like that kid from “a Christmas story” … lol he too could hardly walk. I wonder if he would bury his face in his mashed potatoes? here is the lil munchkin~

A

042

B

044

Ghost..making snow angels..

046

Ghost..snowball fight..

048

Ghost..Bella got in on the action..

053

Ghost..she loves the snow..

051

Ghost..her lil white paws are buried..

052

Ghost..after this shot they walked down the street to the park by our house but I didn’t go..

050

Ghost..and YES, those are socks on his hands. his mom forgot his mittens so we improvised. he had 2 pair of Alex’s socks that went up to his shoulders on, and didn’t get cold at all!

Ghost..when my kids were little, we spent hours playing in the snow, and I have home videos of us doing that. it was SO much fun. when I was growing up my siblings and I had a long toboggan the 4 of us could fit on, and we’d take it behind Notre Dame school where we attended. there was a hill on the side of the school that wasn’t safe at all, as it was steep & close to the building… but as kids we didn’t care and went flying down the hill on our toboggan regardless..

Ghost..for those of you who are wondering, yes we did hit the building many times.. we quickly learned to BAIL just before we got to the wall.. we were just fortunate that we didn’t get hurt or break any bones. I think angels watched over us because the hill was so steep we’d actually lift off the ground and land hard then hit the building. our mom would send us out for the afternoon.. if she saw what we were sliding down, she would have been mad.

Ghost..but small towns seemed safe back in those days. no one ever locked their doors, even at night. you pretty much knew everyone in town and could always spot visitors~ and people would watch them like a hawk everywhere they went. there also weren't any black people or brown or Asian.. nothing but north country white.. [doesn’t that sound like a kind of bread?] which was restrictive because I didn’t know how to act around those folks once I married and moved away.

Ghost..my lack of social conscience was a weakness I did not like. at first I had fear because my only exposure to other races came from the TV so I was familiar with only stereotypical typecasting. it took a long time for me to grow up and realize we are all the same inside, we just come in a variety of colors. wouldn’t you think that is the simplest thing one should just know?

Ghost..we were very cocooned in our little village. and because we had no vehicle, we didn’t venture far. sometimes we went to Montreal by bus or relatives would come and get us.. and I’d notice other races in the big city but didn’t have the chance to get to know anyone. all I felt was fear because that’s what I tend to feel when I don’t understand something. knowledge is nutrition for the mind..

Ghost..last week when it snowed, Diane tried to take pictures of her gloves with snowflakes on them… they were HUGE flakes.. I hope you can see the different shapes.. the pictures click larger.. aren’t they just beautiful, though? I LOVE big snowflakes..

016

Ghost..and this was last week when Bella went out with Diane..

003

GhostI hope all of you peeps have a fun weekend.. it goes by much too fast!

C

8 comments:

ChiTown Girl said...

After the incredible cold snap we had yesterday, it's snowing here today, too. I'm sitting on my bed, watching the beautiful snow fall outside my bedroom window. It's still pretty mutha scratchin' cold, though, as I found out when I let Dorky Dog out. Brrrr! I DID where my pretty purple scarf yesterday, believe it or not, and man, it kept me nice and toasty! Truthfully, I had to take it off on the drive home because I was getting overheated. :)

fromsophiesview said...

So true re: small town life! In the 50's as a youngin' I only knew of one non-Caucasian family. They lived in my town because it was an university town. The only thing is that they were so much older than me so there weren't any children to grow up with thus no interaction, socialization thus no life experience . It took years before I realized the diversity out there and now the past seems so distant. University influence soon helped me experience such diversity....lots of stories there..maybe Sophie will twist my arm to divulge some....OH the SNOWFLAKES...fleeting beauty...Cheers for All of you + Bella...Sophie's Dad Ron

ny edge said...

Having also grown up in a small town in upstate NY I can so relate to this post! Happy memories of snow man building, sledding, ice skating, skiing, etc....what else were you going to do as a child in the snow belt?!?!
Also can relate to the lack of, um, ethnic diversity. One day my very excited friends told there was a new "Spanish" girl in school & that we must meet due to our shared ethnicity. After introductions, the friendly new girl offered to share her lunch of homemade tortillas with me...Huh?
It took a few conversations to realize her Mexican background & my Spanish/Puerto Rican one didn't have a whole lot in common except for a language I barely knew, but we did become friends and I did enjoy my first taste of Mexican cuisine. Funny, it had never dawned on me before that my family would be considered "exotic" in white bread land and how very sweet it was of my schoolmates to think that was something cool!

Busy Bee Suz said...

I looked really hard at Diane's gloves...and the old saying is right: NO two FLAKES are the same!!!
Love the photos of Diane and Julian playing in the snow, The socks for mittens idea is brilliant.
Cocoa and Ozzie saw the photo of Bella and they said: WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING IN THAT WHITE STUFF???
They were scared and appalled at it all.
Don't worry though, I calmed them down by telling them it was whipped cream and Bella was a super duper sweet girl who never farts or snores, that is why she gets to play in the good stuff.
xoxoxoxo

jo.irish.rose said...

ROTL @ suz!! haha! morgan doesnt like going out in the snow. we got about 8-10 inches last night, when i took her out before bedtime, she disappeared! poor lil thing! her lil legs are only an inch or so long! all wrinkly and cute! she hops like a bunny, bless her lil heiny! she doesn't want her cootchie touching the white stuff! i wouldn't either!

and in chris' story about the toboggan? guess who sat in the front when it went down the hill crashing toward the school? sometimes i didn't get the word to jump! so there i was...just sitting there...thinking...i'm gonna die...if i dont steer this thing. well, anyway, we had alot of close calls.

Maria said...

I am still scratching my head at how you can actually think this awful white stuff is beautiful.....

Jim said...

And to think that no two snowflakes are alike!!! That is a beautiful photo Chris.

I grew up in a bigger city than Ron and saw different people than myself on a daily basis. I was fortunate to realize at an early age that there is no difference between people from different races. I don't know how I knew that because I was certainly not taught that! Just instinctive I guess.
Nice post Chris.

Technodoll said...

What lovely pics! Lookit all that snow and those smiling faces, wagging tail, pretty angels - awe!

If you want more snow I'd be glad to send some over, haha ;-)

We too lived a very sheltered life in a small town, very white and very... redneck, in a way. those were the only colors, basically!

I'm sure glad we both expanded our views of the world eh? How much we would be missing otherwise!

love ya mon amie!