Arta's 10 “Always-to-be Remembered” Moments of 2009

I have been thinking ahead to the New Year and wrapping up the old year, so decided to see if I could think of what was fun this year. Here is a list of 10 outstanding moments:

1. Richard and Miranda’s wedding – I liked the mauve dresses on the little flower girls, the ceremonial words share by a hippie justice of the peace and a law professor, the dancing all night [I had forgotten I can do the Congo line], two roasted pigs and the wedding breakfast waffles

2.The Easter Monday LaRue AGM

3.Retirement – As my brother-in-law, Ralph Sabey predicted, retirement, the best job of a lifetime.

4.London in the Fall – museums in the mornings, markets in the afternoons, the theatre at night; then practising the dance moves we had seen on stage when we got home from the theatre in the late evening.

5. The Camp and the Ramp Camp – especially the legend of the Half Man/ Half Goat, roasting marshmallows, holding the skull to share a story, seeing the space station as it passed by , Gabe’s bag(s) of treats for all, singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “The Quarter-Master’s Store”, and the walks back up to the cabins for those who can’t make it through the night … yet.

6.Making Home Depot my best friend – just today I was trying to find where I put my nail set. My $5.39 nail set. I have wanted to buy a tool box but I am afraid Richard, David Wood and Glen would mock me since they carry their tools in wooden and cardboard boxes. I shall do as they do -- invest my money in the tools.

7.Lunch with Judge Claire L’Heureux Dube. Did this really happen to me?

8.The Polygamy Workshop in Victoria – I was coerced by Rebecca both to write a joint paper and to go the event. Still the workshop ranks up with one of the outstanding events of a lifetime – not writing the paper. That was excruciatingly painful. But listening to the other papers from across the nation. I didn’t go to sleep in those sessions. Or for nights before hand.

9.Bread Making at the Lake – Ceilidh can punch down the bread for me. How sweet is that? Shared work.

10.David Camps and Meighan Johnson’s Art Work – free form, some three feet high, created with lovely blue pastels in less than 10 minutes, -- on the porch, the outside stucco, all along the basement wall, up the stairs and in the bedroom halls. Move over Picasso. Enter Camps and Johnson.