Morning Friend,
I have found that the best vacation is one that takes you as far away from the humdrum of your everyday existence as possible....a "reality makeover" if you will.
This is why Winter getaways are so popular amongst us denizens of the frozen north.
Just the dramatic difference in temperature - from minus 30 to plus 30 - is enough to turn humdrums into giant kettle drums booming to the heartbeat of your magical getaway!
The "all-inclusive" option makes it even more magical because it allows one to completely eschew the minutiae of day-to-day living and to focus simply on having FUN!
If your idea of fun includes grocery shopping and cooking then your Therapist or Mental Health worker has probably already nixed the "all-inclusive" option for you. ( Your days are already "fun-filled"!?)
Being pampered and coddled in a four star tropical adult day-care setting - while decadently delightful as it is - can be exorbitantly expensive.
However if you have loving parents as I do, who don't mind "keeping house" as an economically prudent way to holiday in the Caribbean for extended Winter periods, then my friend your "Best" vacation awaits.
Welcome to Grace and Jerry's Barbados' Leisure World! ( and Timmy's Fantasy Island!)
I won't go into the Utopian wiles of Barbados.... today's Muse would take on "Michener-esque" proportions, but I will say that I have spent some ideally idyllic sabbaticals sharing room and board, and Paradise, with Mom and Dad.
"Pop"'s innate joy and skill in the kitchen combined with Mother's larder management prowess allow me - and other fortunate flown-in family members - to mindlessly luxuriate in equatorial splendor.
"Shall I go to the pool or the beach?" is the one and only pressing issue I must wrangle on any given day.
My fashion option ( now that the Speed-o is "out") is limited to a pair of shorts.
It is a hedonist's haven of:
"I am hot, I shall get wet."
"I have finished reading this book, I shall read another."
"I am tired, I shall take a nap."
"I am hungry, it is almost lunch time...good."
But the "all" in this "all-inclusive" is more than the amenities of convenience.
It is the harmony and togetherness that doesn't seem as common these days, but which has always been a tradition in our blessed family; born out of necessity in a 7 children household you might say.
It is the opportunity to share precious time and memories with those whose bond of love includes you, whose Faith in God defines you, whose dedication inspires you, and whose sense of humor encourages you.
Any time spent anywhere with the easy-going Lawrences falls easily into the category of "away from the humdrum of everyday existence".
When it so happens to be in Barbados in the Winter, you have yourself the ingredients for a very fine and remarkably inexpensive vacation that you'll cherish for a lifetime.
(So long as you don't mind taking your turn at the dishes.)
"The PLANE Boss!!!!....let's hope it's full of PAPER PLATES!!!!"
love tImMy:/
* booking now for 2012 :)
Laugh as much as you breathe...
Love as long as you live ( time sharing)
THREE Angels!
Angela, Ash & Janelle
Abraham Stainer Esq.
a.k.a. "Ab"
Tinker-Timmy & Friends
Jan'l. Angeela, Ash and Ab
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
"Heaven..." #82
Morning Friend,
Feeling a little "hellish" on this fine frosty Monday?
Let's skip to 1935 shall we and take a listen to Fred Astaire "styling up" Ginger Rogers in the movie "Top Hat".
"Heaven, I'm in Heaven...and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak....".
Written by the legendary American composer Irving Berlin, it is a classic song - you may have heard pop up in contemporary movie soundtracks such as "The Green Mile" or "The English Patient"- personifying Mankind's everlasting endeavors at personifying the concept of everlasting bliss we refer to as "Heaven".
As the lyrics suggest, a dancer's vision of Paradise features a romantic spin on the dance floor with a like-minded, light-footed and fair-featured gal: "....and I seem to find the happiness I seek, when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek ".
Mr. Berlin has nicely rhymed "speak, seek and cheek" and with its' delightful melody the song evokes pleasing thoughts of Earthly rapture.
This song comes into my head, a lot.
Not because I'm an "old movie" buff and not because my vision of the hereafter includes a pearly dance floor - or Ginger Rogers.
My perception of Heaven is that it's not a whole heck of a lot different than the ever-wondrous movie I've been cast in here on earth; a romantic musical-comedy about a young man, ( a poor dancer with bad hair reborn through sobriety and spirituality) whose quest for peace, love, harmony and a sweet fishing spot takes him on many a madcap and zany adventure!
The sets in this "extravaganza" are breathtakingly magnificent and the cast of thousands is replete with characters of every ilk.
Because the script places me in several divine situations and in the presence of so many angelic individuals it only stands to reason that the soundtrack should include something "after-worldly"?
You're in in this flick too my friend so sing along with me now.... the Director is cuing up another number.....
( with apologies Irving...)
"Heaven, I'm in Heaven....and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;
though Monday's not the favorite of the week,
we're one day closer to eating pickerel cheeks!
love tImMy:/
Laugh as much as you breathe...
Love as long as you live ( Paradisiacal)
Feeling a little "hellish" on this fine frosty Monday?
Let's skip to 1935 shall we and take a listen to Fred Astaire "styling up" Ginger Rogers in the movie "Top Hat".
"Heaven, I'm in Heaven...and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak....".
Written by the legendary American composer Irving Berlin, it is a classic song - you may have heard pop up in contemporary movie soundtracks such as "The Green Mile" or "The English Patient"- personifying Mankind's everlasting endeavors at personifying the concept of everlasting bliss we refer to as "Heaven".
As the lyrics suggest, a dancer's vision of Paradise features a romantic spin on the dance floor with a like-minded, light-footed and fair-featured gal: "....and I seem to find the happiness I seek, when we're out together dancing cheek to cheek ".
Mr. Berlin has nicely rhymed "speak, seek and cheek" and with its' delightful melody the song evokes pleasing thoughts of Earthly rapture.
This song comes into my head, a lot.
Not because I'm an "old movie" buff and not because my vision of the hereafter includes a pearly dance floor - or Ginger Rogers.
My perception of Heaven is that it's not a whole heck of a lot different than the ever-wondrous movie I've been cast in here on earth; a romantic musical-comedy about a young man, ( a poor dancer with bad hair reborn through sobriety and spirituality) whose quest for peace, love, harmony and a sweet fishing spot takes him on many a madcap and zany adventure!
The sets in this "extravaganza" are breathtakingly magnificent and the cast of thousands is replete with characters of every ilk.
Because the script places me in several divine situations and in the presence of so many angelic individuals it only stands to reason that the soundtrack should include something "after-worldly"?
You're in in this flick too my friend so sing along with me now.... the Director is cuing up another number.....
( with apologies Irving...)
"Heaven, I'm in Heaven....and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;
though Monday's not the favorite of the week,
we're one day closer to eating pickerel cheeks!
love tImMy:/
Laugh as much as you breathe...
Love as long as you live ( Paradisiacal)
Monday, January 3, 2011
Krazy Heart #81
Happy New Year Friend,
Yesterday was only the second day of 2011 and I had what can only be described as the first "magical" moment of the New Year.
As luck would have it, it was my turn to work this past weekend and the "moment" I speak of might have passed me by were it not for the fact that I am always on high alert for distress when I am on the job.
The layman visiting a sick friend or relative at St. Boniface Hospital probably gives short shrift to the drone of the announced "codes" and pages over the intercom, but to employees they are a constant reminder that the precarious stage upon which we perform our duties features a script written seemingly by a madman on the fly.
It is drama of the highest "life and death" order really; with some mystery, plenty of surprise twists, tragedy and triumph galore, an undertone of love and romance, humor ( dark-ish?), and of course a plethora of miracles and MAGIC.
I'm now in my 29th year at the that House of Horrors and Wonder and aside from the incalculable debt of gratitude I owe the place for providing the incentive to change - and save - my life, I happen to be one the many people you will find who LOVE working there.
Yes it can be ugly....downright nasty really, and so sad your heart ends up being more Krazy Glue that actual heart tissue.
But many like I, THRIVE in that Arena of Mayhem because it is an endless source of gratitude and satisfaction; the glue that mends a broken but dauntless caring heart.
How many "thank you"s do you hear in an average day my friend?
Well unless you're the bartender on "Free Beer Night" or just standing on a street corner giving away money, you will not feel nearly as appreciated as you will providing help to the helpless.
I'm not involved in direct patient care on the wards these days but over the years I must have said "You're welcome!" about 3/4 of a million times ( I did the math! ), for everything from "Thanks for the ice water" to "Thanks for making my Mom's last days so comfortable".
My present-day housekeeping duties at St.B are considerably less demanding and infinitely less stressful than they were as an "aide", but my oft-repaired heart no less delights in contributing to MY hospital's reputation as a place where compassion is King, smiles are free and the "extra" mile is every one.
I had just rolled my mop and pail onto the "beehive" known as the intensive care surgical unit yesterday morning when an old withered hand beckoned me from the first bed.
There amidst the usual array of tubes, lines and monitors - and the ambient noise of a video arcade - lay a frail little lady trembling fearfully; in a state not unexpected I should say, of disorientation.
I don't know if she thought she knew me or if she was just flat out afraid and thought I looked like someone who could help but I did know that my expertly incomparable floor cleaning was about to be put on pause.
I set aside my mop, removed my work gloves and with a smile I took her warm parchment-like hand carefully in mine and said, "Everything is just FINE my dear....don't you worry about a thing...you're in the BEST of hands.....".
In but a moment her features relaxed and a thin smile acknowledged my "....Happy New Year".
As I turned to fetch my mop she hailed me once again until I was close enough to hear her mouth those magical words, "thank you".
The ward clerk at the nearby desk who had witnessed the exchange, warmly said to me a few minutes later, "You'd make a good Health Care Aide Tim!"
You'd have to be Krazy.
love tImMy:/
Laugh as much as you breathe...
Love as long as you live ( mAgically)
Yesterday was only the second day of 2011 and I had what can only be described as the first "magical" moment of the New Year.
As luck would have it, it was my turn to work this past weekend and the "moment" I speak of might have passed me by were it not for the fact that I am always on high alert for distress when I am on the job.
The layman visiting a sick friend or relative at St. Boniface Hospital probably gives short shrift to the drone of the announced "codes" and pages over the intercom, but to employees they are a constant reminder that the precarious stage upon which we perform our duties features a script written seemingly by a madman on the fly.
It is drama of the highest "life and death" order really; with some mystery, plenty of surprise twists, tragedy and triumph galore, an undertone of love and romance, humor ( dark-ish?), and of course a plethora of miracles and MAGIC.
I'm now in my 29th year at the that House of Horrors and Wonder and aside from the incalculable debt of gratitude I owe the place for providing the incentive to change - and save - my life, I happen to be one the many people you will find who LOVE working there.
Yes it can be ugly....downright nasty really, and so sad your heart ends up being more Krazy Glue that actual heart tissue.
But many like I, THRIVE in that Arena of Mayhem because it is an endless source of gratitude and satisfaction; the glue that mends a broken but dauntless caring heart.
How many "thank you"s do you hear in an average day my friend?
Well unless you're the bartender on "Free Beer Night" or just standing on a street corner giving away money, you will not feel nearly as appreciated as you will providing help to the helpless.
I'm not involved in direct patient care on the wards these days but over the years I must have said "You're welcome!" about 3/4 of a million times ( I did the math! ), for everything from "Thanks for the ice water" to "Thanks for making my Mom's last days so comfortable".
My present-day housekeeping duties at St.B are considerably less demanding and infinitely less stressful than they were as an "aide", but my oft-repaired heart no less delights in contributing to MY hospital's reputation as a place where compassion is King, smiles are free and the "extra" mile is every one.
I had just rolled my mop and pail onto the "beehive" known as the intensive care surgical unit yesterday morning when an old withered hand beckoned me from the first bed.
There amidst the usual array of tubes, lines and monitors - and the ambient noise of a video arcade - lay a frail little lady trembling fearfully; in a state not unexpected I should say, of disorientation.
I don't know if she thought she knew me or if she was just flat out afraid and thought I looked like someone who could help but I did know that my expertly incomparable floor cleaning was about to be put on pause.
I set aside my mop, removed my work gloves and with a smile I took her warm parchment-like hand carefully in mine and said, "Everything is just FINE my dear....don't you worry about a thing...you're in the BEST of hands.....".
In but a moment her features relaxed and a thin smile acknowledged my "....Happy New Year".
As I turned to fetch my mop she hailed me once again until I was close enough to hear her mouth those magical words, "thank you".
The ward clerk at the nearby desk who had witnessed the exchange, warmly said to me a few minutes later, "You'd make a good Health Care Aide Tim!"
You'd have to be Krazy.
love tImMy:/
Laugh as much as you breathe...
Love as long as you live ( mAgically)
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