Category: Children

Kids Do Say the Darndest Things

Published on by J. Kelland Perry26 Comments
First Day of School
First Day of School

This morning I read a funny post by 40 is the new 13, a fellow blogger, on how children make crazy assumptions based on their own brand of logic, such as dogs are boys and cats are girls.

It sparked a memory for me. It wasn’t of an assumption one of my kids made, but a memory of what my son said one day when he was in grade two. I think it would be considered a malapropism.

Above is a pic I took of my boy back in the day, waiting for the school bus on his first day of kindergarten. When he got to second grade, his teacher, Mrs. Snow, was a kind and lovely young woman, and all the children adored her.

One day, when my little boy was nearing the end of that school year, he got off the bus and came home with an interesting piece of news. My friend and I were chatting over coffee when he entered the kitchen. He dropped his book bag and announced,

“Guess what? Mrs. Snow isn’t going to be a grade two teacher anymore.”

“No?” I asked, curious. “Is she giving up teaching already?” It seemed odd because she was nowhere near the age of retirement. “Oh, she’s going to teach a different grade, is she?”

“No,” he said. “She’s going to be a prostitute teacher.”

I nearly choked on my coffee, while my friend tried in vain to suppress her laughter.

Now the first thing I did was gently correct him. “You must mean substitute teacher, honey.”

The next thing I thought was, where did he hear that word? It wasn’t a word that was bandied about in our household. It wasn’t like he was living in a bordello, or that we let him watch a steady stream of  TV shows like Hill Street Blues or Spencer for Hire. And I sure as heck couldn’t imagine it as a topic of conversation among him and the other kids around his age. How did this word get into his vocabulary?

Hill Street Blues

 

To this day, the answer remains a mystery.

Another one I liked was when my niece asked for a “girl-cheese” sandwich. Even when her mother corrected her, she continued to say it.

“It’s my cheese sandwich. And I’m a girl, right?”

Did you have any “verbal typos” to share from your childhood, or from one of your own kids?

(Of course, you don’t need to be a kid to say the darndest thing. The other day I called a take-out restaurant and asked if they had any “pressure-treated” chicken. I’m still shaking my head over that one. 😉 )

More fun reading:
Dogs are boys, Cats are girls

Travel Theme – Bridges

Published on by J. Kelland Perry30 Comments

 

Here is my contribution to this week’s travel photo challenge, Bridges, by Ailsa at wheresmybackpack.com.

I simply had to begin with my favourite bridge from my travels in Europe, the Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) over the Arno River in Florence, Italy
Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) over the Arno River in Florence, Italy
One of the thirty seven bridges over the Seine River in Paris, France. Here's a challenge: Can anyone tell me the name of this one?
One of the thirty-seven bridges over the Seine River in Paris, France. Here’s a challenge: Can anyone tell me the name of this one?
Barrel Bridge at Tom Sawyer's Island - Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Florida
Barrel Bridge at Tom Sawyer’s Island – Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Florida
x 2
x 2
x 3 - the grandkiddies loved it
x 3 – the grandkiddies (and the son-in-law!) loved it
x 4
x 4
x 5
x 5

And now for a couple of bridges that are closer to home:

Bridge on the Random Passage walking trail near Cape Freels, NL
Bridge on the Random Passage walking trail near Cape Freels, NL
Mr. Blue Sky and me - Bridge right here in Newtown, NL
Mr. Blue Sky and me – Bridge right here in Newtown, NL
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My First Anniversary…and Ten Things I Didn’t Know When I Started

Published on by J. Kelland Perry16 Comments

 

One year ago today, on New Year’s Eve, 2011, I started this blog, Jennifer’s Journal. And as I mentioned in the very first post, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, I had no idea where my blog would take us. So here is what I found out.

1. I didn’t know I would have the resolve to faithfully post to my blog a little more than once a week on average. WordPress, being the best blogging site – in my opinion – had a lot to do with my enthusiasm.

2. I didn’t know I would be taking my visitors and followers on a pictorial journey of our 2011 trip to Italy and France. Nor did I know that one of these installments,
“Scenes From Italy – Part Three: Siena and Florence, Tuscany” would consistently be my most visited post, from all around the world!

3. I hadn’t made plans yet to take a Spring vacation in Florida, with my husband and my daughter and her family. My photo album from that trip,
“For the Young, & the Young at Heart: Disney’s Magic Kingdom“, would garner a record of 449 views on May 8th, the most views I had in one day.

4. I wasn’t fully aware of how beautiful it actually is where I live, here in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, until I read your lovely comments on my local photographic efforts. 🙂  “Autumn Walk on the East Coast” was a particular favourite.

5. I came to learn how the poems, musings, and photographs of my grandchildren would be a popular subject for many!

6. That goes for the posts of my little cats, Maisie and Vivian, as well. One of them even guest-posted in “Vivian’s View From Here“.

7. I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of support my blog received, as I was losing my mother. I cannot fully express what a source of comfort those caring comments were, and still are.

8. I didn’t know I was going to publish sixteen of my poems, and that I would be proud of them. 🙂

9. I wasn’t sure (but I am pleased I did) that I would keep my resolution to start writing a novel, and am now starting Chapter Six of the first draft. My post about it, Then You Must Write It, would be one my most popular blog posts, generating many of your comments.

10. Novel writing or not, I love my blog as the vehicle of self-expression it has turned out to be, and I will continue to update it in 2013. Connecting with many of you and making new friends is one of the best advantages of blogging.

So, let me say to all of my followers and visitors from sixty-six countries, a GIANT THANK YOU! And a Happy New Year to you all. 🙂

A Welcome Weekend

Published on by J. Kelland Perry6 Comments

This Friday, my husband and I are going to town to spend a few days caring for our two little grandchildren. Allowing L and J’s hardworking parents to go off on a private weekend and enjoy some time by themselves has become a little tradition for us, a tradition we happily and gratefully accept.

We look forward to taking them on a couple of outings, one of which will be to buy a Christmas present for a needy child and putting it under the Happy Tree at the mall. Some visits with family, a Santa Claus Parade, and the obligatory games and bedtime stories will ensure lots of fun-filled moments for the children and grandparents alike.

This weekend couldn’t come at a better time for me. Spending time with my sweet little ones is just the diversion I need right now, a breath of fresh air that will help me regroup, regain focus, and get back to my normal life. There’s this novel I started writing last month that I had no other choice but to put aside due to my recent loss, but it is back on the agenda this week, I am pleased to say.

Here are just a few photos I selected from fun times we had with L and J, over the past year.

Four more sleeps, kids! Your Nanny and Poppy can’t wait. 🙂

“Life Means All That It Ever Meant”

Published on by J. Kelland Perry15 Comments
 The past few years have taken our mother on a difficult journey, and our family right along with her.
Mercifully, she finally succumbed to her illness last week, and

we were able to say our goodbyes as she entered into her eternal rest.

I found this poem that speaks of my sweet mother’s lifelong attitude of pragmatism and hope. Somehow it gives me strength and reassurance, reminding me how lucky I was to have known and loved this woman who was my mother.

 All Is Well
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other,
That we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone,

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

 Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,

Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.

 Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was,
There is absolute, unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you,
for an interval.
Somewhere very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

 Henry Scott Holland
1847-1918

Travel Theme: Foliage (and Other Living Things)

Published on by J. Kelland Perry8 Comments

Trees and their foliage are, without a doubt, some of Nature’s most wondrous treasures.

But sometimes, the best photograph of a tree is not as much about the tree itself, but what is found in and among its foliage and branches.

Like in this photo I snapped in Varadero, Cuba, you may see tiny birds:

…two “love birds”, perhaps?

Or you might happen upon a couple of sister cats exploring among the leaves:

Paradise backyard, Newfoundland

And if you see a magnificent tree such as this one day, don’t be surprised to find little children playing among its sturdy limbs:

Bowring Park, St. John’s, Newfoundland

This has been my contribution to wheresmybackpack.com’s weekly Travel Theme.
This week: Foliage

Thank you for the inspiration, Ailsa!

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The Youngest Man In My Life

Published on by J. Kelland Perry10 Comments


Meet the little fellow who happens to own a giant chunk of my heart.  At just four years of age, “J” is the youngest person in my family, and in my life.

In many ways, my grandson J is your typical little boy. He likes to do the things his dad does, which includes everything from working on the car..

…to collecting Star Wars figurines!  And like most little boys, J loves to get up close and personal with wiggly, wriggly things.

Usually our little man doesn’t mind getting his picture taken…


..but not always. 🙂

When I go to visit my little grandson, at first he is usually very shy, and his first instinct is to hide behind his mother’s legs. Then out of the blue, he suddenly runs toward me, barreling into my waist with the sweetest, strongest hug! What makes a four-year-old boy do that?

He makes me think that I must be a pretty good grandma, and that he knows I adore him. But I bet he hasn’t any idea just how much. ♥

Travel Theme: Oceans

Published on by J. Kelland Perry11 Comments

June 8th was World Oceans Day. World Oceans Day has been unofficially celebrated on June 8th since 1992 when Canada proposed the idea at the Earth Summit in Rio, and was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. The official website is worldoceansday.org.

Here is my contribution to a weekly travel theme challenge created by wheresmybackpack.wordpress.com.  Because I live by the Atlantic Ocean here in Canada, I thought I would share some pics from last year when my daughter and her family visited, and had fun on our sandy seashores.

“looking for treasures”
“I found a starfish, Nanny!”

“Look what I found…a baby crab!”


“dancing with the waves”

For the Young, & the Young at Heart: Disney’s Magic Kingdom – a Pictorial

Published on by J. Kelland Perry9 Comments

Here are some scenes from Disney World last week, during our vacation in Florida with my daughter and her family.  I apologize for the less-than-perfect quality of some of the photos, as I was quite caught up in all the fun myself.  Lack of photography skills aside, I hope I managed, in some small way, to capture the essence of  “The Magic Kingdom”.

And this was only what I managed to photograph.  We enjoyed other attractions, depending on the level of courage;  only the men did Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, and Paul and I did the Haunted Mansion.  The Barnstormer was scarier than I thought it would be, and the kids were frightened by Snow White’s Scary Adventure. I thought there should have been a warning for the littler ones.

So long, Disney.  Perhaps we’ll be back if we have any more grandchildren.  😉