VirginiaMiddleton.ca | Category Archives: Family

A Place Like no Other

Posted on October 3, 2010 Posted in 2010, Bull Pond, Family, NL .

Everytime we come up to Bull Pond where the family summer home is located, I’m always reminded of how lucky I am to have a place like this.

Not only is it an escape from city life and a personal space in nature, but it’s only 40 minutes away from our current home.

We’ve had this land for over 20 years and it’s come a long way. There’s always a project happening and something to do, but it’s established enough that you can have a comfy place to stay if the weather doesn’t hold.

I practiced my meditation techniques from Thursday’s class down by the pond this morning . It went really well and I’m realistic that meditation takes time. It’s a new “place” for one’s self and you can’t just go barging on in expecting a life-changing experience . Here at Bull Pond though, I’ve always felt a special connection, so it was a lot easier to connect with myself and the environment around me.

Do you have a place to call your own? Maybe it’s not a summer home, but a place in your community that you hold dear; when you’re there everything feels right in the world.

Friday Five Follow-up

Posted on December 6, 2009 Posted in 2009, Family, Friday 5, Friends, Xmas .

As mentioned in my previous post, as time allows, I will post an expanded version of my Friday Fives.

Here are some additional details to my December 4 Friday Five…

1. Enjoy family traditions

This is something I could talk and write about all day and night and there would never be enough time to cover everything. Christmas and the holidays have always been a big deal in my family and I’ve dug up two videos that can help visualize what it’s like for us. Every year, relatives from both my Mom’s and Dad’s families get together to celebrate this special time of year.

There are often sing-alongs, lots of food and many laughs. Click on the videos twice to see their YouTube details.

2. See the Christmas lights in those hidden pockets of the city

Do you have any idea how intense the Christmas decorating is in St. John’s and the surrounding communities?!

There are houses that are pretty much covered from top to bottom with lights and colours. I’ll try to get some photos and video footage this year to really show how crazy and awesome it can be.

3. Have an annual dinner with friends from high school

It may seem odd to a lot of people, but most of my friends back in St. John’s have been my closest and dearest friends since High School (even Junior High and Elementary School for some!). Amongst a few of us is a tradition to get together on December 23rd. We normally have a potluck, but this year we’re going out for dinner. We have a blast and it’s a great tradition that will hopefully continue for many more years.

4. Spend time with my parents and immediate family

I have a lot of family and friends in St. John’s and it isn’t always possible to see EVERYONE in 10 short days.

It has literally been a year and half since I last saw my brother, sister-in-law and two adorable nieces! We’re all pretty excited that we’re all home for Christmas this year and being able to spend time with them and my parents is going to be so great!

This photo was taken in St. John’s Airport back in either 2006 or 2007 just before my husband Matt and I returned to Toronto.

5. RELAX

Going home is always fun, but relaxing isn’t always something that happens easily. With so many friends and family to see and things to do – it can leave you exhausted and a bit dizzy by the end of it all. My poor husband is used to a much quieter Christmas and he’s a real trooper to keep up with me and the fast pace of it all.

This holiday season, I hope to read more, work on some knitting and make sure I feel rested when returning to work on January 4th.

So those are my hopes for the holidays. What are your plans? Did any of the above seem familiar to you? Do you have certain traditions or “must haves” that really make this season magical for you?

Visiting Home

Posted on February 15, 2009 Posted in Family, NL, St. John's .

My husband and I arrived in St. John’s on Thursday morning at 4:00 a.m. Our flight was technically suppose to arrive at 12:00 a.m… but ironically, there was a lot of fog in Toronto and very few flights were getting out. Luckily though, we endured just a delay and our flight wasn’t cancelled.

We planned this trip months ago with the purpose of me organizing a bridal shower for my friend Darleen. She and her fiancé, Mark, are getting married this June. I’m their Matron of Honour and I want to help them prepare for their special day as much as I can despite living away from St. John’s.

Tomorrow is Family Day in Ontario, and I’m happy to be in St. John’s spending the day with my family here in St. John’s. My parents are having a number of people from my mother’s side of the family over to have a belated birthday celebration and to also celebrate my grandfather’s birthday which is on Wednesday. Poppy will be 82 and we’re really glad to be here to celebrate. We unfortunately missed the big party that was held for his 80th, but we were lucky to be in St. John’s last July for Nanny’s 80th.

The photo in this post was taken on Saturday while at my grandparents’ for brunch. It’s a real Newfoundland breakfast with Fish ‘n Brewis, scrambled eggs, fried up ham, cheese and bacon toast and of course a piece of bread with some Newfoundland jam (marsh berry and bakeapple were the two types I had).

Whenever we come home for a visit, I really try to make sure I spend time with my grandparents, and great aunts. Not to sound terribly morbid, but none of them are getting any younger and someday I’ll wish I had taken the time to see them more. But I also know that the opportunities I have now are appreciated so much more because I’m aware of how lucky I am.

What would a visit to St. John’s be without “getting some weather”? When our plane touched down, the weather couldn’t have been better (again, it was so ironic that fog in Toronto was stopping our flight from taking off!!). We’ve had snow a few times since that time, but it’s just a normal thing this time of year. Even today prior to the shower, there was a lot of snow blowing, the roads became very slippery… but it didn’t stop people from going out and tending to business as usual. In fact, we had a really good turn out this afternoon. I think approximately 38 people were invited and we had at least 28 in attendance.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this trip home and lots of photos for Facebook and Flickr.

My Camera May Have a Cold… or Worse…

Posted on February 4, 2009 Posted in Family, NL, Photography .

I really enjoy taking photos. Since receiving my Canon SLR Rebel XTi last year for my birthday (my very awesome husband surprised me with it just before we left for a long weekend in Montreal to visit my cousin Megan), I’ve been very pleased with the unique shots I’ve been able to capture.

I’m a little frustrated right now because my camera seems to be glitchy and is corrupting files left, right and centre. I did contact Downtown Camera and chatted with someone about the situation. It was suggested that I reinstall the latest firmware upgrade. It seemed to improve things, but I’m a little weary because the corrupted files are still happening, but not as frequently.

There’s a bit of a dead-lock situation as such right now too. If I have the camera sent away to be examined by Canon, I won’t get it back in time for the cruise we’re going on during the first week of March (long-time friends Jason and Heidi are getting married while we’re in Grand Cayman!!). But I have concerns that it will be hard to detect when corruptions occurs (and losing some fantastic photos really bugs me).

So for now I think I’ll just try to take multiple shots when provided with a good photo opportunity (going forward and until after the cruise). But once we return, if I’m still having file issues, then I really have no choice but to send the camera away and hope that there’s something that can be done. At the end of the day, it could mean my camera is replaced… but I would be happy to have it simply repaired because I’ve shared some fantastic adventures with the camera and am not ready to call it quits just yet. :)

My camera is an extension of me when I’m using it. I’m protective over it too (almost like it’s a child and I worry when people who are not experienced camera users like myself try to hold it or mess with it). When great photos happen, I’m proud of the work my camera and I do together. And I have no problem bragging about how I feel really in sync with it when a shot turns out even better than I anticipated.

I thoroughly enjoyed using my previous camera, the Kodak C360 (a simple 5 Meg point-and-shoot that’s nicknamed “3-60”), and I still enjoy using it now and then for outdoor shots and of course for video. It too has served me well and I’ll only trash it once it finally dies.
I still remember lining up outside Future Shop in St. John’s for the annual Boxing Day Sale in 2005. It was a cold, cold morning where I crawled out of bed around 5:30 a.m., drove across the city, and then waited in line until the store opened at 7:00 a.m.. It was a completely new experience for me and I did it on my own and with stubborn determination (because really, whose body voluntarily gets up at 5:30 a.m. without out SOME protest). I know, I know, the whole “adventure” doesn’t seem like that big a deal. But at the time it was for me and I was very proud of my success. I remember calling my parents while outside in the line up. They weren’t overly responsive and mostly mumbled “yes, that’s nice”, but I was wired and too enthusiastic to care.

Last year (as in Boxing Day 2007, so perhaps some would classify that as two years ago), Matt and I went to the same Boxing Day Sale in St. John’s with my parents. There were a few things on the list, but mainly my parents wanted a new laptop and also some kitchen appliances. So we each had an “assignment” and split up once the doors opened. We then met in the appliance department as it took longer to process that order (it made more sense for Matt to scout out the laptop and I hunted for headphones my aunt was hoping we could get for my uncle). It was a lot of fun and despite the early rise, we were full of energy. Once the purchases were taken care of, we then went on to celebrate at Tim Horton’s by devouring some breakfast sandwiches and hot coffee.

It’s interesting to see how this blog post progressed… I started telling you about my beloved camera that is seems to be ill, and I’ve managed to meander into a member from back home. It’s normal for everyday routine-like actions to somehow trigger a memory or spark a reminder of my family or St. John’s and Newfoundland in general.

As the song Saltwater Joys says, “Some go to where the buildings reach to meet the clouds Where warm and gentle people turn to swarmin‘, faceless crowds.” That’s how I feel (sadly) about Toronto on a semi-regular basis. But there are those rare occasions when you encounter someone who feels the same way as I do and is happy to exchange a smile or a passing friendly glance. It really helps this city feel less cold.