Edmonton 2005

After my short time at the lodge in the mountains, and working with some wild and crazy kids on their own adventures...I thought wow if their mother's knew what I saw would they freak out LOL
as parents I think it best not to know all the details of what they are up to!

I drove to Edmonton and stayed with my late cousin wife Ollie, my mother phoned her ahead of time and asked if I could stay with here while looking for work with catering companies on the oil rigs...
I had only met her once before about 25 years ago...I was taken in and she told me amazing stories and I was blessed to get to know her and her family and the type of person her husband my late cousin had been...I will cherish my moments with her....

Nam-ta-jah Lodge Bow Lake

I worked at this lodge in the mountains for a few weeks before they closed for a couple of months
I was auditioning for dining room manager......it was great waking up to the majestic mountains each morning I worked the breakfast to lunch shift, I have no trouble waking in the morning.....
I was the oldest one on the property as far as workers went that year LOL...hmmm 47
I had fun while it lasted......on to the next adventure north to Edmonton

Warm day looks like a plan...

Calgary 2005

I stayed with my brother George for a couple of months after leaving Hilton Head, he was living in this condo near the college...this was the view from his balcony, funny that I don't have too many pictures of Calgary.....it's a nice city as cities go to live in......George took me and his new love and her girls to the international fireworks competition they where awesome.......you can see the fire works in the photo gallery......

Joseph with black hair

The "M" Team

This group of girlfriends are my closes confidants and they all start with the letter M....
from left to right MW, MB, MJ, MA, MM
my "M" Team support...
I thought is funny that I don't have too many photo memories of these girls......
the memories I have of them are of sharing spoken moments...reflecting on time past....

Adventure

I like the Myrka picture it reminds me of Indiana Jones the female version...I love that series of movies....like Indy I enjoy a good adventure, well maybe my adventures are not equal in danger as his LOL
I don't seek danger in my adventures; just discovering new things, places a view.....

My first attempt at living in the tropics was checking out an island off the coast of South Carolina...
I could drive there I thought......

I stayed in a great house a block from the beach....I got back on a bicycle after not riding one since my accident in 1991 there, they have some wonderful bike paths thru the Plantations they call the subdivisions they are gated communities surrounding a golf course for the most part.....

after spending 3 weeks on Hilton Head Island in July of '05 I found it wasn't the place for me to settle to...too many complications for living there and extremely humid in the summer.....

Here is the collage of my memories of Hilton Head Island

Westward Ho.....on to Calgary............

i. e. About Me

Meet i.e. aka Myrka;

I thought after reviewing my photos and getting creative with them....what have I found?
I found that; In my head I feel 24 the age I am in this picture LOL
I am a child of the universe, a part of One; experiencing the moment.
I choose to focus on the positive and remember the good moments;
at this moment;
I have two great beings/boys/men in my life, they are my joy..... words can't explain how proud I am of them, they are living their moment and I am Happy ....
I'm blessed to be apart of some of their moments....

I'm blessed that I have family in the Toronto area that care about me ......they stay where they are and are working at their moments............ I know where to find them when I need to be near them...

I'm blessed in getting to know more family along the way
I have a comfy spot to live in
I have time to think...
so who am I? who is i.e.?
I'm on a journey of simplicity, finding peace...... after all my name implies peace in the Greek language....Irene, Irka, Irena, aka Myrka in cyber space....... I've had Elder as long as my maiden name..........Elder; it too is more simple I like it and it suits me....

I like the way it looks together as initials

i.e.

so these past few years I've been on an adventure of discovery, I've seen a lot of this wonderful country, my birth place......met some awesome people, heard some unusual and sometimes sad stories, all in all some great moments shared.....

I've de-cluttered my life to the point that all I want to own right now can fit into my car, and still at times this too can be too much......it's amazing how lite one feels when not caring for or carrying extra weight of things on ones shoulders..........less things is easy for packing up and moving on.......

on my journey of de-clutter I've helped some friends and family with some of clutter issues that plague many of us....Less is More is my theory these days, it works for me....

What do we do with our things really, do we need all of it ....can we live without, most of it?

I've also been studying the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, I started out listening to Dr.Dyers audio version and now I'm posting my altered photo art with a modern interpretation by Ron Hogan..I post one daily so check it out often.........

When I stayed with my mother I started painting the mural in my old room in her house, I used water colour pencils to draw out the picture and then used a brush and water o pull out the colour, I found it great fun to do.....

Reflecting in the attic at Mom's

Last year I had the opportunity to spend a few months at Olga's in my old room on the third floor of her house in Toronto....

I loved sitting and looking out the window at the roof tops and trees and birds, reflecting.....I thought boy do I want to be somewhere else...I've learned this much about myself....I prefer to live in a smaller community or in the country.......Ahh the Ocean is calling me ..........LOL

I find it harder to do a self portrait than work on anything else......I thought is it; when looking that deep what does one find?....

SELF PORTRAIT under construction...

I thought that if I took a good look at the photos and the faces of the subject I might see something; what was I looking for? did I find it in my face ......did I see the DNA

the pictures are the start and finish of the mural..... it is a combination of herstory mystory .....ourstory my bit of history

Happy Sunday

I received this in an email this morning..thank you W