A World of Peace - A new poem

A World of Peace

A year of memories are put in a drawer

Some good and others we have no answers for

A year of blessings, a year of sad loss

A year of disasters at someone's cost

We pray for a new world that we can be proud of

While raising our children in an everlasting circle of love

If we walk hand in hand, joining oceans and land

We can defeat the evil we've come to withstand

Emerging as one family under our sun

Creating unity in a world that's become so undone

We can live without hatred, bitterness and war

We can make this planet even better than before

A new year has begun, a new hope to become one

A world of peace, a beautiful planet of love

With kindness and blessings from our creator above

(c) 2012 Debra Ann Beach

Caligrrl Poems

December 31, 2012

A Day of Reflection

This morning I woke up and lay here looking out
 my bedroom window. The sunshine was
filling the room with a softness that I found was very 
warm and comforting to me on this sad day.
It cheered me up a little just seeing this glow. The trees
were looking nice through the sheer curtains... so I took a
photo to remember the moment! :) 

Today was a tough day to get through, as it is every year

on this day, for the past 6 years. I relive each moment in

my mind and the memories are so very sad and many

 tears are shed. My dear sister, Cheryl, passed away at
the age of 51 to lung cancer. She was such a beautiful
woman, so smart and always lit up a room with her smile
and precious laughter. I sure do miss talking to her on the
phone and her silly way she greeted me each time. Oh, how
I miss being able to hear her voice, see that smile and her
glimmer of golden hair, she is among the angels now and I
am so happy to have had the time with her throughout my
life. She was my big sister, my "2nd Mommy" as
our mom called her because she would help take care
of me when I was a baby and through my younger years.
I was blessed to have her in my life and blessed to be her
little sister. I am the youngest. Cheryl and I were 4 years
apart and our sister, Corinne  is a year younger than 
Cheryl. Three sisters, many fights, but many happy times
that I will forever treasure and hold close to my heart.
I spoke to my mom on the phone earlier and she said she
released 2 balloons for our dear angel. Mom was very
upset and like every year, I try to cheer her up by remembering
the good and happy times we had with Cheryl. She was so
very loved and cherished by her family and friends. 

Today, to take my mind off the sadness I've been feeling
for quite a long time, I did some knitting. I have finally finished
one leg warmer for my daughter and have begun to
knit the second piece. Knitting with 4 needles is quite the 
poky experience!! You would laugh at the way I knit...I 
usually use 2 needles and stick the one with the stitches
between my knees or legs to hold tight while I knit away 
with the yarn threaded through my fingers...it just goes
quicker and I like to see progress coming along fast!!! 
I guess I am impatient when it comes to doing projects...
when I sew, I like to get it done and I don't care how many
hours it takes, I don't quit... well, unless it's a quilt,
then I have to take days and weeks to finish that.
As a matter of fact...I made a quilt top and still haven't 
finished it and that was done about 7 years ago! Oh
my goodness... I have so many projects that aren't finished,
I guess the results weren't quick enough for me!! Oh well,
back to the four needles... so, here I was knitting 
"in the round" and poking my fingers like crazy with the
needle tips... I couldn't grab those darn needles with 
my knees, too short, or I would have!!! lol
I'm doing a K2 P2 rib so it will hug my daughters legs when
she dances! She does ballet and all sorts of dance.
And she has a sock addiction... she loves them! These leg
warmers are just a quickie project to mail off to her soon.
I will be making some more fashionable lacy and other
styles of leg warmers for her too... :) Maybe some
on the knitting machine... quicker results! HA! ;)

Now I just see the time!! 12:47 AM...I guess time flew by

and it's now the 31st... last day of the year... what a year

it's been. One of the hardest years in my life. I hope that

the New Year will be much better for everyone,  more loving,

kind, and peaceful, now that would be nice! I have 

a lot to work on with myself and one day at a time will be

good for now. I can't expect quickie results on healing 

my heart or changing some of my ways for the better.

That takes time... 

So, now that it's New Year's Eve, I thought I would start on

my 2013 greeting, so this is what I came up with. It started 

out as 3D text and fireworks and then I got all artsy fartsy on it, 

adding snowflakes and some special effects to the fireworks.

Now for some snowflakes, since Alberta always

seems to have snow, even during the fireworks at

the lake. I'm sure they will have some tonight!! 

Fireworks for sure, maybe snowflakes too... ;)

I'm having a great time with the new software, last night I was

trying a little animation!! Not ready for that yet!!! lol

Have a wonderful last day of 2012!!!

Stay safe and don't drink and drive! 

Love & Peace to ALL!!

My Sister

Heaven is a better place with an angel shining her light from above.

Six years ago today I flew to California 

to say goodbye to my sister, Cheryl.

Cheryl

You are missed 

and loved beyond words.

I miss the light of your smile,

the beauty of you,

the joy you brought,

your giggles,

your big heart,

your love,

and all that you were.

Forever you remain in my 

heart and in my thoughts.

I love you. 

Sleepy Post

I've been extremely tired lately and sleeping a lot... I'll try

posting a bit later... coffee is not working today. I just

want to close my eyes and drift off... 

Photo Fun

I have been working with a new software program and I 

really like all the different things I can do with it... more 

creativity and I love it!!

Below are some photos from the public domain which I had 

gathered, and combined them all to make one photo for a

 comment. I love old photos and sun, landscapes, flowers

and all that pretty stuff... as you must know... :) 

Well, who doesn't like that? lol

Happy Boxing Day or is it?

 Hello!! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas

and are recovering well from all the festivities. 

Today is Boxing Day here in Canada and other

parts of the world. When I first came to Canada I

asked people what Boxing Day was. What are they

celebrating, what is this "holiday" that falls 

the day after Christmas?  I never did get a straight 

answer from anyone... but one thing that it did

mean to Canadians was MEGA sales!!! Kind of

like Black Friday in the USA. Mad crowds, people

everywhere, fighting over bargains, exchanging gifts

they either didn't like or didn't need... or wrong size.

Well, I don't partake in the madness.  I am content with

all that I have. 

This Christmas, I didn't expect any Christmas gifts, cards,

calls... or anything. My family is split far and wide... and 

now family here in Canada is pretty much non-existent

besides my youngest son and me. So yesterday was a great

day for him, opening every gift ...no name tags, he knew

they were all for him!  lol  He was very happy with everything,

even his package of socks! He's been having fun with all of

his new games for Xbox and his laptop.

I made turkey dinner on Christmas Eve so I didn't have to do

any cooking. Good thing, because I was wiped out.  I spent

most of the day in bed trying to recover. 

I called my mom and my daughter... which was great.

I sure miss them and my older boys. I didn't hear from 

them which makes me sad... maybe one day they will

come around. It was a delight talking to my daughter.

She's grown so fast and I am so very proud of her and all

of her accomplishments. She will be graduating in June 

with her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. She is also

a dancer since the young age of 5 when I put her in

her first ballet class. Now she does many different forms

of dance, of which skills didn't come from me!! She does

love to bake and is quite the crafty lady...now that I can take

credit for, since she said so!! lol  I love her so much!

So, this morning I was feeling tired and fell back asleep

after sending out some greetings on Myspace and Facebook.

I don't do nearly as many as I was doing before. I post more

here than anywhere. I woke up again and went to stretch...

well... my hand touched my chest and I felt something 

through my t-shirt... just like last time. Like fate had put my

hand there in that spot... last time this happened, it turned

out to be breast cancer. I had mammograms which never

showed any problems... the cancer was quite high and an

ultrasound was the only way besides my own discovery to

detect it. So this morning, my heart kind of sank... I can

feel a lump above where the last cancer was, but I also have

a lot of scar tissue, feels like a hard rope under my chest. 

That area is a bit numb from the surgery and radiation

I had previously. So, today I was pondering what to do

and right now, I think I will just wait and see what happens.

I don't want to go through another surgery or chemo, which are

my only options the second time around. I don't have anyone

here to help if I did go that route... so I may just leave it all

in God's hands and take things a day at a time. I've decided

not to worry, because it doesn't make things any better, and

usually I am worrying for nothing. Given the situation of my

life at this point, and all the things I've had to deal with in the

past several years... the stress and all, it wouldn't surprise me

if this cancer has returned. I started hearing crackling when I 

inhale about 2 months ago or so... which isn't a good sign. 

So I look on the internet for symptoms ...and it didn't look 

good, it just made me worry that now it has spread to 

my lungs or bones, which breast cancer can do...so I am 

just not going to worry any more about it. 

Whatever happens, happens... I guess time will tell and

I have some things to seriously think about... but for tonight,

I am drowning myself in music... and just soothing my soul.

It's been one lonely Christmas... and I desperately need to 

take my mind off things... so, music, root beer and back

to knitting some leg warmers for my daughter, next week

I will decide if I want to be checked out... my mammogram

is due but I don't think it will detect this high...if so...omg

NOT looking forward to getting my chest smashed together.

It hurts so bad it brings me to tears... but I know it has to

be done... just gotta drink something stronger than diet A&W 

root beer to get my courage up!! LOL  

Oh, and before I forget... Boxing Day!!

Here is a link if you want to know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_Day

Have a wonderful evening and Thursday! Enjoy

life and all it's beauty regardless of the bad things

that make us stumble on the way...it is still worth

every breath... believe... it will be better one day.

One thing at a time... 

one day at a time.

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful Christmas Day. God Bless you

with love, health and happiness, always! 

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!  I decided to cook the turkey

for Christmas Eve so I can relax today and not

worry about cooking. 

The mashed potatoes were the first to be done, 

I reheated them later after everything was finished.

I had all this wonderful fruit on hand so I

decided to make a nice fruit salad with grapes,

oranges, banana, apple and pomegranate seeds. 

The pomegranate was huge and so dark red it

was almost black. It added a nice crunch to 

the salad... so good!!

I made the stuffing simple... celery,

onion, chicken broth, bread cubes, and

many spices... it came out good!

Turkey is all done! Ready to UNstuff!!

I love stuffing!! 

Some nice veggie mix with peas, baby corn and carrots.

Can't forget the whole cranberry sauce!!

Let's eat!! 

Brendan loved it... he ate a LOT! 

It was nice to make a holiday meal for my son...

A quiet Christmas and less fuss. Casual

and delicious!! 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Something New

Some art using a new software program... 

it will take me some time to learn all the 

different tutorials and such... but so far I like it! 

Here are a couple of quick projects I have done

with it.

Merry Christmas - A gift for you

Thank you for your friendship, love and support.

I truly appreciate your kindness and hope you

have a wonderful holiday season. God Bless you!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wishing ALL a beautiful New Year!

GB/BB

imy

All set up

I've been very busy this past year...below is just a small portion

of the items I have made. Some I haven't listed on my Etsy shop

yet and others I haven't finished... 

I have a home showing tonight... I hope to sell something! 

Above are some unfinished things..dish cloths,

scarves and more... I love the dish cloths,

they are the green and the blue on the right of

the green...I crocheted these Tunisian style.

Actually the 2 scarves on each other side of

them is also Tunisian crochet! I am addicted! 

Happy Winter!

Winter is officially here, although it's been 

a white landscape for many months here! 

I was in my room and looking out the 

window and everything was white, even 

the sky, so I took some photos.  They came out 

a bit darker than it actually looked outside, 

but still very pretty. Have a beautiful first 

day of winter and many more beautiful 

and happy days ahead! 

A Christmas Tradition

Christmas time again and baking cookies is a 

family tradition that my mom passed down

to my sisters and I. She would make all the

different doughs...and triple them up for giving

as well as eating! We would help her decorate 

the sugar cookies, but she would go through so

much to make everything perfect... I sure do 

feel for her. This is a recipe out of an old,

'really' old Betty Crocker Cookbook which she

sent to me after I asked her to leave it to me

in her will... omg... It is all ragged and old, but I LOVE IT!!

It brings back so many fond memories of Christmas'

past. What wonderful memories they were... I try

to keep with traditions but now with just my son

and myself it's not like big family gatherings or all

the fuss any more. I used to make all the same cookies

that my mom did when I was a child... they included

Ethel's Sugar Cookies, Russian Teacakes, Almond 

Crescents, these are all from this cookbook she had.

Well, I tell you, I'm tired!!! I only made Ethel's 

Sugar Cookies and didn't even make the icing and go

through all the elaborate decorating this year. 

First of all, the store was out of all the decorations

and I had to use what I had on hand... They aren't

as pretty as the cookies my mom, sisters and I made

years ago...but it was enough work for me. I was

in the kitchen for about 6 hours. These cookies

need a lot of chilling time, first the dough is made, (I 

tripled the recipe because my son will be taking some to

his school tomorrow for the class party). After

the dough is mixed it needs to chill for an hour,

after this, it needs to be rolled out between waxed

paper sheets and chilled again, then it needs to be

cut out into the shapes with cookie cutters and chilled again,

then you must carefully and quickly get the cookie out

and place it on the cookie sheets, decorate, put in

the oven for 7 minutes at 400F and chill the rest of the 

dough left and repeat the whole process again.

Well, I had many sheets going and tried to roll, cut, decorate

and get it ready to go by the time 7 minutes was up.

I was on a roll! lol   Now I'm on my bed, worn out.

One year I made them with the icing and all, that took

2 days to make!  Remind me next time to thank my mom for

passing this recipe down... LOL!! That cookbook is older

than me and I KNOW they have quicker methods to make

these, but, everyone LOVES Ethel's Sugar Cookies and 

this is the choice my son wanted to share with the school. 

First sheet done...

So many cookies... I will not be making any more,

no Teacakes, no Crescents, no Biscotti or any

others that I've made through the years.

My family is so small now, but I had to make

it special for my youngest son. Notice the bone 

cookies above?  LOL  His request, he loves dogs!!

9:00 pm.... relaxation time. 

Santa better like them... ;)

I just had to add some photos of the infamous

Betty Crocker Cookbook that this recipe came out of

... 

So many wonderful memories of my mom's delicious

cooking and baking... look how worn out it is!!