Dreaming time

How very odd, this is the second time I have had a very vivid dream of my friend Betty in Montreal. This time, it was almost like a life review, from the time when we met when we were 18 years of age, her parents, her brother, her son as a baby and in different stages of his life, our boys together, my son's first step taken in her home on a visit to Montreal, her old home, things we did together and each was in detail.

It was as if I were living it all over again. It was fantastic and very comforting to see all this while I slept.

I'm wondering if it means anything? My friend has had a by-pass a few years back. I will call her to make sure she is okay. I did call her last week but she was not home so just left a message.

It made me realize that Betty and I go back almost 50 years. Her Mom and Dad were from Germany and I used to speak German to her Mom when we were young. After my head injury from the accident when I was 28, I lost some of my abilities and am currently trying to regain some of the German that I spoke.

This dream makes me remember thatI must cherish my dear friends and relatives more, as life terminates and how terrible it would be if I did not tell them how I feel about them! I remember when I was 30 years of age, I wrote a beautiful letter to my parents and told them what a good job they had done with raising us children and how much I appreciated them. I also did that for a minister friend of mine. He and his wife were good, solid friends and we still remain the same to this day. I also wrote how much I appreciated their friendship through all the difficult years of raising my children alone.

I have had two times where my opportunity to tell people of my love for them was gone, and I have been granted an extension on my life for a little bit more time.

I express myself in writing better than in person. Perhaps this is the time to write to Betty and tell her how much I value her as a dear friend.

She is not on the computer so it will have to be snail mail!

Some good news from a friend

I received some wonderful news from a friend, Jennifer Foster, that she won second prize in a contest put on by Perspectives Magazine.

I am so very happy for her! It is exciting to win contests and to have one's writing published!

Congratulations, Jennifer, for your winning!

May you have many more successes in the writing field!

Jewellery display at Arts Hamilton

Observe the beautiful art work on the walls, the display of jewellery in the showcase, the hand crafted cards on top of the display case and the unusual bowl in blue!

Sitting in front of my display.

A snapshot taken by Paul Dickens of some of my work and myself behind the counter.

Sample of work (on the right) of local artists. More inside to choose from.

An explanation note of what I am selling under "Wilhelmina's Creations".

I spent a couple of hours at Arts Hamilton arranging my display today, taking pictures and just chatting with people there. I am quite happy with the result and hopefully people will look in the display case and may even purchase something!

I am sharing the top shelf with two other jewellery people, both of which do different work than I do. Their work is also very beautiful and I would encourage you to take a look.

Arts Hamilton is a good place to buy original, handcrafted items; poetry books, history of Hamilton books as well as beautiful wall hangings and paintings. It is located in the International Village on King Street, between Ferguson and Wellington.

Not only does purchasing from Arts Hamilton help the local artist/writer, it also helps support the work of Arts Hamilton which is a non-profit organization.

Hamilton's art's community is alive and flourishing and for an original piece of work, why not drop in to see them?

E.L.W. meeting today

It went very well and the ladies were quite receptive. Pastor Frank even came.

This was Rosie's first time at leading the meeting and she did very well. She really worked hard at it and attended nicely to details.

As for me, it was a piece of cake as all I had to do was write a topic and read two poems.

There were quite a few compliments on the afternoon.

I have decided to go for it!

ARTS Hamilton will display my jewellery for me in a very nice cabinet. I am quite thrilled about that.

I think what I will do is use the leather straps for most of the designs to make it more economical for people to buy. I will put a note that they can use their own gold or silver chains if they wish.

I also will make sets to sell as they would make nice gifts for people to give.

This has opened up a new window of opportunity for me. I am so pleased about this as I don't have to exert a lot of energy to do this and can do it while at home.

If I sell any through ARTS Hamilton, I will then get the Vendor's license which is free. One is allowed to sell $100 worth before having to get the license.

This is a good way to test the waters.

Afternoon with Rosie

At Bayfront Park - notice the bare branches and the ice still on the Bay. Lovely day though!

Me, as a happy camper at Bayfront Park. I love trees and even though I have a winter jacket on, and the trees are bare, it is so nice to be there!

The ever present birds at Bayfront Park. Some ice still on the water

What a lovely day today was! My friend Rosie brought lunch over (yummy home made soup) and cold cuts and cheese and great coconut cake!

She didn't want me to do any cooking which I appreciate at this time.

We finalized the programme for Tuesday and then went down to Bayfront Park and walked around, sat and chatted, walked some more, and in general had a great time.

Bayfront Park is hard for me to get to as the hill to it makes it "too much" for me to handle going up. It also is quite far from the bus stop.

I am always so appreciative of the kindness of friends. We took some pictures, but Rosie does not want her picture on the blog so will respect her wishes. She took some of me so will put them on instead.

All in all, a very good day! I am tired now but happy.

An afternoon with Tower Poets

How wonderful it was to be out of the hospital and among friends. We ran into a problem at the library as they had double booked our room and we lost out. Not quite fair as we book it for each month in advance and on a yearly basis. I don't like confrontation as it makes me feel under stress so I went to sit in a quiet area until the issue was settled. Our Editor-in-Chief is more assertive than I realized, but that is a good thing. He is braver than I am!

A good thing worked out of this situation, Jean, one of our oldest members offered up her home for our group and we all went there. I actually loved being their better than the library as it was more intimate and I could hear much better.

Mind you, I am a homebody type in many ways so perhaps that is why. I loved the intimate feeling.


I thought today's event went much more smoothly than usual - it was more orderly. I liked that.

I decided that I would bring my poem on Whitehern and the storm day as I haven't written any poetry since I got involved with jewellery making. I got some valuable suggestions and will see about incorporating some of them into the poem.

I brought my friend Jennifer with me or rather she brought me! Stella offered to pick me up but when Jennifer accepted the invitation finally to come to Tower, she offered to pick me up. This saved Stella an extra trip. Bless Stella for thinking of it though! Taking a bus to Westdale would have tired me out too much, especially if I had to wait for one for some time.

I was a lucky gal, I got a special hug today which made me happy.

My son Ken had gone grocery shopping for me near him and we picked it up on the way home. He was so kind to do that and it was very helpful as I am not allowed to lift anything over 10 pounds for a while.

Now I am set for a little while as the Farmer's Market where I shop will be closed for two weeks and there really is no reasonable priced grocery store near me.

I was so glad to have been able to attend the poetry meeting today and to be among people I care for.