My Mum 08/16/1929 - 07/21/2004

Eileen Hicken was born August 16, 1929 in Cape Town, South Africa, daughter to Isabel and Frank Voges. She was sister to Joyce, Audrey and Yvonne. She arrived in England for a holiday with Joyce in 1950.

Eileen started her nurses training in the same year, at St. Mary's hospital. She worked a year at St. Mary's (54 -55), a year at St. Albrights (55 - 56), and 23 years at Colchester Maternity hospital (69 - 92). Her contribution in providing a vital service to mum's and their babies was phenomenal. She gained personal satisfaction and made many friends throughout the duration of her career. She retired in 1992 after 26 years of nursing.

Eileen met Phil a soldier, in Colchester and after a romantic courtship, married on March 7, 1953. They enjoyed 51 loving years together, enhancing their relationship with a son David, and three daughters, Mary, Lorna and Yvonne.

Eileen was an aunt to Kathy in Ireland, Ann in Australia, Della in New Zealand, she had a nephew, Johan in South Africa, and her closest nieces and nephew, Marilyn, Felicity and Glen in England.

Throughout her life Eileen loved to broaden her knowledge of the world. She took in students from all over who came to Colchester to learn English. She traveled to many places in the world and returned to visit her home, Cape Town after 48 years.

Eileen had many friends who admired her. Her three closest friends were Millie, who became an aunt to all of Eileen's family, Connie who nursed with her from the begining, and Anne who nursed with her at the maternity hospital.

She loved her grandchildren and they loved to visit her. They were always surprised with her latest find from a car boot sale.

Vanessa enjoyed having her grandma as her hair dressing model.
Megan and her grandma enjoyed each other's company, having a chat and a laugh.

Jack loved adventures at the beach hut and Friday woods with his grandma.

Jenna's last visit with her nanny was full of laughs and funny sketches nanny thought her very talented.

When nanny visited Folkestone, Chris looked forward to his visit with her at the Burstyn Hotel, especially watching a show with her.

She was proud of Thomas in all his endeavours, including his studies at university.

James would willingly drop everything to drive his grandma wherever she needed to go.

She knew Sophie's love of chocolate, and would always appear with a big bar of Galaxy to Sophie's delight.

One of the most fun filled family events that was enjoyed annually, was the Boxing Day trips to the Mercury Theatre to watch the Christmas Pantomime.

Eileen knitted many sweaters for children in Africa. She collected money to buy goats for the poor families in Africa. Her family will continue to collect donations in her name for this very worthy cause.

Eileen enjoyed the volunteer work she did with the seniors at the Activity Centre. It gave her pleasure serving tea to the "old dears" and listening to their tales.

Some of Eileen's loves were:

Her family
Her grandchildren
Her career
Roses
Travel
History
Helping children and their families in Africa
And watching sports and athletics on television

Rest in Peace, Mum

BASKETBALL

Here I am many years ago sitting on the left end of the bench. Only 5 feet tall and still I managed to play on the girl's basketball team. Way back then (circa 1970) there were only a few other schools that had girl's teams.

Our coach was David Cook who was our geography teacher (not pictured here). He was pretty good, we did pretty well I think. I also used to score for the boy's team. The boy on the right end is Julian Castle who scored for the girl's team.

Last semester I watched all of my school's girl's games, they did really well. They got to the semi finals that they won, and then on to the finals. They won the finals and went onto the regionals. They did really well however lost the last game by one point. The girls are amazing.

This semester I am following the boy's team. The two teams play very different games. The boys so far are in the middle of the semi finals. Next game is sometime this week.

At the last sports awards assembly the girls showed off their pennent for the finals win. All the kids who played on any team got awards of some sort. The parent's of the girls who played basketball surprised the 2 coaches with basket balls signed by the team. Then I was surprised when Vanessa, another teacher, and I received an award for being the best teacher fans!

Sad News

Yesterday I told you about sweet little Cora fighting a tremendous battle. How sad I was today when I read that she lost that battle. I can't imagine the sadness her family is going through now. Keep them in your prayers.

The Macs

I came across this blog quite by accident from a scrapbook blog who commented on the story. I sat and read the story and cried. Then I went back to the beginning of the blog when Jess and Joel gave birth to their little Cora 11 months ago.

After an ear infection and little Cora not feeling herself, he parents took her to the doctor who quickly saw things were much worse than an ear infection. Late in January they took her to the hospital where it was discovered that she had Neuroblastoma. She has had 4 surgeries since then, removing the worst, having tubes put in her ears, releasing fluid build up around her heart, and her parents and uncle have been updating their blog to keep everyone informed. The family have a very strong religious belief, and are asking everyone to pray for them. If you are interested or can help with prayers, please go to their website and make a comment to help the family know that others are concerned for them.

It is when we read things like this that we realise how lucky we are, even when we think things are bad, someone else, somewhere else is battling much worse scenerios and are doing so with dignity.

I just wanted to blog about this in hopes that others would read it and then send their prayers to whomever they think can help.

http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/

Dad's upcoming birthday

While I was talking to my dad on the weekend, I was wondering how fast his Alzheimer's would progress. He was hit by a car last week while crossing the street. He misjudged how far the car was and thought he had enough time to cross before the car came. He left the dog outside for 6 hours in the snow in December, having forgot that he had let the dog out. Someone brought him back home the week before last, explaining to a neighbour that he'd forgotten where he lived.

This particular phone call he only repeated himself once, which was unusual. However on about 6 occasions during the call he forgot simple words. "The thing with grated carrots and stuff," I reminded him was salad. "Those things I take in the morning and at night," medicine. My brother had been over that weekend explaining to him that he would like to be the Power ofAttorney for him. I'm hopeful he understood what it was, but said what a great thing that my brother wanted to do that for him.

Aging is hard enough, but watching your parent slowly decline is awful. We all try to keep a positive outlook, but at the same time we have to remember that it's his disease when he sometimes says hurtful things, it the disease when he forgets to bath, its the disease when he forgets his keys and can't get in his house, (only to discover that when you show up to let him in, that the keys were in his pocket all along).

On February 3 he will turn 82. He is the only one from his own family left. His parents, step mum and both sisters died many years ago. His wife of 51 years died 4 1/2 years ago, and he now shares his home with Lucy, his faithful dog. My 2 sisters visit him weekly, my brother makes it there when he can, and all that I can do is call him once a week. We talk for about an hour, and often he has very little to tell me about, but I try to fill in the gaps with memories of old times, or stories of my kids at work.

This is the card I made for him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I was all prepared to sit at home and work on a few scrapbook pages when I got a text from Glenn saying that he had a spare ticket for the play Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I checked out the time of the show and realised that I had 10 minutes to get there. I got my boots and coat on and rushed to the Canon Theatre. I had been there a few weeks previously to see A Chorus Line.

Glenn met me there and we went up to our seats to watch the show. I was a little disappointed with the singing, and the play itself lost a lot of the story, so for those who were unfamiliar with the story, they didn't quite understand it. But it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I was given the ticket for free.

I did however manage to get a couple of scrapbook pages done earlier in the day. I haven't any journaling on either one, as that is not one of my strong points. I have made notes on the second one though.

January 1st

So after over 2 months I finally got a scrapbook page completed today. I have been working on Thank You cards for the kids at school.

Then I decided to make a gift tag for my friend Vanessa. I think she'll like it, I figured she can use it as a book mark. It is 6 x 4.

So when I finally pulled out some page kits I put together in the summer I found one that was relatively simple to do.

Well it's a start anyway, I'm pretty sure I will add more to it, but I am happy that I found some creativity to get me going again!

New Year's Eve, couchsurfing style

I arrived with Beatriz around 9:30 at Mita's home and offered the food that I made.
Then we got drinks and left the kitchen and went into the living room.

There was food there too.

Just before midnight we all gathered in the living room.

Here is Mita's New Year's Eve Ball:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After the ball dropped.

Even Bugs had a great time.

I celebrated with my good friend Beatriz.

Thanks Mita for a wonderful party.

Hanging out with friends

It has been a year since I last got together with Debbie and Louisa, but we try to meet at least once a year. We all worked together over 10 years ago in Daycare. But we've remained good friends.

Louisa moved sometime ago to the outskirts of Toronto, and is presently living in Whitby working as a social worker.


Debbie lives only 25 minutes from me, and is training to be a midwife.

Louisa wanted to do something different, so after meeting at the Eaton Centre, we walked to an Indian restaurant for dinner and then on to Second City to watch a comedy show. I enjoyed most of the humour, and one comedian in particular. After the intermission they did a little improve. Louisa was worried about the 2 extra chairs that had been set next to her, concerned that they were adding more people to the table. As it turned out both Debbie and Louisa became a part of the show. The 2 seats were occupied by a couple of the troupe and the scenario was a car stuck in a traffic jam. It was very funny, especially having them both in the skit. Debbie was mortified that they chose to sit there, but she attempted to pretend to drive the car and honk the horn!

After the show we went to Gabby's for some drinks and to laugh about our fun we had just had, and the silly things we used to get up to!

Friends, no matter how often or seldom you see them are the spice of life.

Christmas Day Events

This is likely the last post for 2008.

I just wanted to document my Christmas day.
Thomas and I opened our gifts and I was surprised by a beautiful cup and infuser that Thomas brought back from Korea, as well as 4 delicious herbal teas. Kay also sent me a gift of rice cakes for Korea. I had requested a bath robe from Thomas and he found the greatest robe that I will try out tomorrow. He also gave me a mouse for my new laptop, and loads of candy and chocolate and chips from an English store I just found.
WOW it was great.
I gave him clothes and boots that he picked out as well as a pair of slippers that clean the floor while you wear them!

Later that morning Thomas made himself a nice pancake breakfast and I just fasted as I had an upset stomach and wanted to feel better for dinner.

I called my sister Lorna and spoke to her. Although my dad was there I didn't get to speak to him as he was sleeping. They had a great Christmas and were just chilling and were going to watch Lorna's favourite DVD Weekend At Bernie's.

I made dinner later. Thomas had bought a whole roasted chicken for himself that I heated in the oven. I made roasted vegetable lasagna for myself. We also had peas, broccoli, carrots and roast potatoes. For dessert we had apple crumble which is Thomas' favourite.
Later that evening we were watching my all time favourite movie, Lost Horizon (1937) and I had just finished making a cup of tea when there was a bit of commotion in the hallway outside my door. I heard a child calling out that there was a fire in the building. We opened the door saw and smelled smoke and then got ready to leave the building.
It was a fire in the garbage chute that the fire fighters had out quickly. We had the same fire in the summer time.

Of course I took my tea AND my camera!

Some of the good natured residents smiling when I said, "Merry Christmas"

(Yes there were a number of good looking fire fighters around)
When we got back into the apartment we finished watching the movie and watched t.v. and ate our chocolates.

Now I am preparing myself for 2009 and another great year. This year I predict a big change in my single status!

Novemeber photos

Well so much for this great idea! I tried and then when I uploaded the pictures onto my computer, I somehow managed to delete them. So now I am a few days behind. Oh well here are the ones that I managed to save!



My metropass

My desk

Tomatoes

Scrapbook supplies



Omlette

Box in a bag

November pictures

The plan is to take a picture each day and then cut a 2x2 piece of it out and make 12 x 12 scrapbook layout for the month of November. So far I have taken 2 pictures and this is what they look like.
A very late dinner
Laundry..... it must be Sunday!

What MARY means

What Mary Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

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Couch Surfing Calendar

Weekend Scrapbook Retreat

Keitha and I drove down to Romeo Michigan where we met Kathy and Felicia for a weekend of scrap booking.  We stayed at the Scrap Palace where they treated us like queens.

Keitha and I shared the blue room.  There were 7 other women there who were from Michigan.  A loud lot.

I managed to get 16 pages completed as well as 2 cards and 2 make and takes that Keitha demonstrated.

The food was really good, and even though I am vegetarian, Amy and Pierina were able to come up with some great dishes for me.  Snacks and drinks were always available. 

Scrap Palace has a great variety of tools, inks, stamps, paper cutters, punches and a host of other scrap booking supplies available to use.

I had a 15 minute massage on Saturday which really helped out the pain I had in my neck and shoulder, and made my headache disappear.

We also spent sometime and money shopping in Archiver's a great scrapbook store.

The 2 nights we spent there were quite enjoyable and I know that if the opportunity arose to go again, I'd definitely go.

Villa Cuba

Other than the fact we sort of missed 2 days due to travel, our vacation to Varadero Cuba was wonderful.

The hotel itself was much better than I had anticipated. I read reviews from Tripadvisor.com just to know what we were about to venture into, but other than the Pepto Bismol pink walls in our room, the hotel was fine.

The staff were both happy and friendly always with a greeting and a smile.

The food was way better than my last trip to Cuba 14 years ago, and even though I am a vegetarian there was enough to eat. A good variety and plenty of it. We tried out a couple of the restaurants and their food was excellent. However being in the lobby lined up to make reservations was ridiculous. After 2 days of being unable to get into the Asian restaurant I was advised to talk to the hotel rep, who made it happen for me. So take that piece of advice.

There were quite a number of bars throughout the hotel, as well as one close to the beach. The beach bar seemed to have a little less alcohol in the drinks, which is probably wise since the ocean is right there, and drunks and water don't mix! The bar near the pool never had a shortage of alcohol in their drinks. If you require a special frappuccino made with amaretto ask Evidio. He is the master. Pick up your espresso at the Cafe Cuba and take it to the bar near the lobby where he will whip up an amazing drink for you.

If you want a great coffee, don't expect it in the buffet restaurant, go back to the Cafe Cuba and ask there. They make a mean cappuccino as well as other coffee drinks.

The entertainment was good, although I only caught 2 shows. The mosquitoes will eat you alive at night, so make sure you take muskoil with you. I heard other tourists comment that the best entertainment was when they included the guests in their show.

The water sports were fun too. We took a paddle boat out and another day we went on a 2 hour catamaran boat ride where we snorkeled with the fish. The guy on the boat threw in huge chunks of bread and the fish just swarmed around me to get it. I didn't bother with the kayaks as they seemed to be too much work, along with the wind boards.

We went on a double decker bus, paid 5 pesos and could ride all day long getting on and off whenever and go from one end of Varadero to the other. We also took a day trip to Havana. We found a local who took 12 of us in a mini bus for 35 pesos, half the price of the organized trip.

I'd have to say that I had a wonderful time in Cuba, enjoying the sea, the sun and the Cuban people.

Mosaic of me

I found this idea on another blog, and thought I'd give it a try. Turned out pretty cool I think.

1. patent mary janes and white anklets, 2. ready for the party......???, 3. Lovers, 4. freedom, 5. 536.png, 6. SOUTHERN COMFORT, 7. Stand Still, 8. Merangue, 9. don't worry be happy new year, 10. The Earth is God's Canvas., 11. Hobbit Road?, 12. Little Wishing

You can try this yourself.

Answer each of the questions below. Surf over to Flickr and type your answers into the search bar. From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you. Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL. Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs. Click Create. Voila!

The Questions:

What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
What is your favorite drink?
Where would you go on your dream vacation?
What is your favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
What is the one word that describes you?
What is your Flickr name?

Things about me

Five Snacks I Enjoy

1. Veggies and dip
2. Cheese on toast
3. Mixed raw nuts
4. Fruit
5. Yogurt and granola

Five Things on My To-Do List Today

1. Wash the dishes
2. Grocery shopping
3. Wax my underarms
4. Work on page kits
5. Host a mixer at Peridot at 8 pm

Five Jobs I've Had

1. Receptionist at a brewery (I got free beer!)
2. Quality control lab in a canning factory
3. Dish washer on a cruise boat on the Rhine in Germany
4. Travel agent
5. Medical Records filing clerk in a hospital

Five of My Bad Habits

1. Interrupting people when they are talking, (because I think I'll forget what I was about to say!)
2. Raising my voice when I think people aren't listening
3. Spending too much time on the computer
4. Leaving the dishes in the sink until the morning, (I just prefer to wash them in the morning!)
5. Dropping the 'g' when using words ending in 'ing'

Five Places I Have Lived

1. Colchester, England
2. Reading, England
3. Ottawa, Canada
4. Toronto, Canada
5. New York, USA (only for 2 weeks then decided to leave my boyfriend!)

Five Random Things

1. I was born on February 29 and just celebrated my 13th birthday this year!
2. I miss being in a relationship. My partner died 11 years ago and I haven't been in another relationship since.
3. I lost my 2 front teeth in high school while playing rounders. Rounders is a game similar to baseball.
4. I am, and have always been a vegetarian. I do eat dairy and eggs, however I am in the process of finding out if I have a dairy allergy.
5. I am passionate about my job working with children who have a variety of special needs.

February 29, Leap Year

I am really quite a lucky person as life goes. What are the odds of being born on February 29? Pretty rare, no doubt.

I seldom watch t.v. in the morning, but last week I decided to turn on Breakfast Television, and then went to check my email. Within 5 minutes of turning the t.v. on I heard them say that if your were born on February 29 they wanted you as an audience member as they are hosting a big birthday party. So I sent an email to them.

Lo and behold I received a response the next day and called my friend Beatriz to ask her to join me.

We arrived just before 6 a.m. and sat in the front row. There was one other person there who was "13" as well. The woman sitting next to me was "22" and the youngest "leaper" there was "2."



We had pancakes and sausage from Golden Griddle, coffee from Maxwell House,



a huge birthday cake from Longos that we all signed our names to, and lots of balloons.

There was an illusionist who levitated one of the younger leapers, and an astrologer who told Beatriz she'd get what she wanted and a cooking segment from Today's Parent magazine. There was also a deejay playing birthday music for us!



I was chosen to play a game "pin the crown on the frog prince" and although I didn't win the game I got a great consolation prize from Reebok. The other 13 year old won a laptop computer for choosing the shortest ribbon on the balloon.

It definitely was a party to remember, thanks BT .



I went from the studio to work where the kids seemed very excited about the fact I was on television, one even referring to me as "famous!" After work I went to my friend Andrew's house and prepared for the upcoming pyjama party. He was making food for the guests and left nothing for me to do. On the menu was beet soup, Caesar salad, vegetarian curry, rice, and a black bean and mushroom dish.

There were 2 cakes a black forest one from Andrew and a chocolate one from Richard and Sharon. Mmmmmm!

I got some beautiful flowers and gifts from my friends and returned home tired and happy.

Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate, and a very special thanks to Andrew.