Written by Cat Stevens
Torn from their families
Mothers go hungry
To feed their children
But children go hungry
There’s so many big men
They’re out making millions
When poverty’s profits
Just blame the children
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
Dying for causes
They don’t understand
We’ve been taking their futures
Right out of their hands
They need the handouts
To hold back the tears
There’s so many crying
But so few that hear
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
If he can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
If there’s a God in heaven
Well, what’s he waiting for?
If there’s a God in heaven
What’s he waiting for?
Repeat
Written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Davey Johnstone
My One-Year-Old Daughter and Me
Denise was born on a beautiful sunny day, just like today. She decided to show up three weeks before her due date of July 6th. Born at Carbonear Hospital, she was the smallest baby there at the time, weighing a dainty five pounds, seven ounces.
My life as a very young mother had begun!
Denise at Six Years Old
Denise was a happy child, but she was also softhearted, intelligent, and focused.
Bachelor of Nursing Graduate
She always worked hard to realize her goals.
Her Beautiful Family
Happy Birthday, Denise! I am so proud of you, and can’t imagine my life without you in it!
Love Mom ❤
“Happiness resides in imaginative reflection…”
“…when the picture of one’s life…as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” ~ George Santayana
“Any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel…”
“…Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
~ John Lennon *
What does Reflection mean to you?
*Quote taken from Lennon’s interview to KFRC RKO Radio on the same day of his death.
This post has been my contribution to the Photo Challenge: Reflections and Ailsa’s Pink Theme.
Due to an interruption in our internet service, this post didn’t go online yesterday as it should have on my son’s birthday. My apologies!
In the midst of a snowstorm back in the eighties, my boy decided to make his debut into the world. Because I couldn’t make it to Carbonear Hospital, Brian was delivered in the nearby cottage hospital, a high point for the staff there that day. He was a strapping nine pounds seven ounces, and I was thrilled to have a little boy, as I had a girl at home.
As most little boys are growing up, my son was a bundle of energy who kept me on my toes, but he was also super-affectionate.
♥
How quickly the years have flown by! Here is Brian in his teens.
Happy Birthday, Honey. You have enriched our lives beyond measure. ~ Love, Mom ♥
Well, what a week it has been around these parts! Old Man Winter in Newfoundland, as it has been for much of the continent caught in the “Polar Vortex,” is baring his teeth and delivering a wallop to most areas, a wallop stronger than any in recent memory. It has made some of us wish we could hibernate until spring, and others long to escape down south for an extended vacation or even retirement.
But the weather has also made some people shine. Like the old expression about when the going gets tough, that is just what was needed when our version of a “perfect storm” arrived: record low frigid temperatures, record amounts of early snowfall, and lengthy bone-chilling blackouts, the like which has not been experienced since 1994. Add a blizzard and our inadequate power infrastructure for our needs today, and you’ve got real trouble.
Sometimes it takes a situation, (or a “crisis,” if I may, Premier Dunderdale) to see who the heroes are, to see who is willing to stop complaining, roll up their sleeves and help wherever help is needed. No matter where any blame lies that contributed to the power problem, I’m the sort of person who prefers to look at the positive side of things whenever possible. I have heard stories of gratitude for those who shovelled, plowed, or dug people out of their homes. I have seen good folks answer the call when warm food and shelter were needed, and still others with wood stoves and propane fireplaces open their homes and offer comfort. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Newfoundland Power maintenance workers and crews, the snow plow operators, and everyone who worked and is still working tirelessly to return everything back to some semblance of normal.
But it is the personal stories that warm me more than any wood stove can. Like the couple who went ahead with their wedding Saturday night in spite of the blackout and the freezing temperatures (link below). No, perhaps it was far from ideal, but they have quite a story to tell their children and grandchildren one day.
Even my daughter and son-in-law were up to the challenge this weekend, when they decided not to postpone our granddaughter’s sleepover birthday party at home, but went ahead with the event in the dark. Son-in-law even barbecued hot dogs outside in the freezing cold for them. And the party was a success! These are the things lasting memories are made of.
So whether this makes you think Newfoundlanders are hardy, or just plain foolhardy, that is entirely beside the point. All I know is the warmth of the human spirit is alive and well in our little corner of the continent.
Do you have any storm or power outage stories to share? How about one with an unexpected positive spin?
Jennifer’s Journal has revelled in an amazing second year in the blogosphere, and it is all because of you! and you! and you too!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you, from eighty different countries, who have followed my little blog, liked each post, and took the time to share your thoughts and comments with me. This goes for those of you who liked and commented via Facebook as well. A special nod to those who shared on Facebook, reblogged on WordPress, and to those who retweeted on Twitter. 🙂
These are my posts that got the most views in 2013.
These are my posts that got the most likes in 2013.
In my next post, I will highlight my most frequent commenters, because it was your kind words that kept me inspired and driven to post each week.
Cheers to you all as we welcome 2014. Muahh!
Love, Jennifer
xoxo
Why does an individual like me keep a blog? I have been asked this on a few occasions, and at times it makes me stop and think, and even reassess what my intention is.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts and on my About Me page, the origin of this journal came to me as a way to create consistently, in the form of a poem, a musing, or a small gallery of my personal photography. Usually the subject of these posts focused on something or someone I love, a topic I feel strongly about, or a place I have visited and wanted to share through pictures.
I also reported from time to time on my work in progress, a coming of age novel, Calmer Girls. (This is my working title and may or may not be the ultimate one.) My hope was by mentioning it in my blog and simply putting it out there, I would become more accountable and motivated to see it through to its completion.
I can say, without a doubt, my plan has been effective. This is not to say my blog is wonderful or the novel is going to be commercially successful. But what I can say, is that I took on a challenge, didn’t quit, and tried my best. Yes, due to the very nature of life and all it entails, there have been some weeks where I have found it difficult to produce anything, but thankfully those weeks have been in the minority. To a large extent I am pleased with my efforts, and the direction my blog and my new novel have taken.
I am expecting the novel will be ready for its first critique by the end of January. And I have no intentions of ending my blogging life any time soon! This is due in large part to the pleasure I derive from keeping it going each week, and connecting with so many other bloggers and readers all over the world. A number of my followers have been a Godsend, checking in and commenting regularly on my posts and encouraging me all along the way. You know who you are. 🙂 In the very near future I am planning to highlight my most faithful and prolific commenters and give their wonderful blogs the shout-outs they deserve. They are the ones that help make blogging for me so rewarding.
This joy of discovery is real, and it is one of our rewards. So too is the approval of our work by our peers. ~ Henry Taube
What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. ~ Bob Dylan
Keep on being good to one another!
She is solitary,
silent as a spectre,
outside on another tentative
feline adventure.
On soft freckled pads, with
green eyes ever searching,
she sees, hears, smells the world
the way it is. Its cold reality.
Her white whiskered face
suddenly feral and hungry, she
runs, returns home to the warm lap
she has grown to trust.
No longer silent, but with rattling purrs,
she nuzzles and exchanges
a sandpaper kiss for the expected
morsel of love.
In that little Cat’s eye
that sees my soul and stares into
my heart
there is nowhere to hide.
I see my reflection.
Jennifer's Journal 