Lady Diana...a memory...

It was ten years ago today (August 31) that Lady Diana died in that tragic car accident. Some things I never forget. I was filled with such grief when I heard the news from Leona, my sister. I was in a state of shock for one week.

While thinking about that event today, I realized how much has changed in ten years. Each morning I would walk to the corner of the street nearby and buy a newspaper. Each day for one week the headlines would have another picture of Diana. They went overboard for one whole week, and I drank it in. I couldn't help it. I grieved along with the rest of the world. Today I would simply go to the Internet to get all the ghastly details, embellished with video clips. I would be overwhelmed and inundated with too much at once.

Why was Diana such an icon? Why did we love her so passionately? Why did we grieve so much when she died?

I don't know. I met her in person in 1986, when she visited Vancouver for Expo, our world's fair. She walked over to us, waiting in the lineup at the Pan Pacific Hotel, and she spoke to my sisters and took their bouquets of flowers they held out to her. She noticed Marie's "sheep jersey", and commented on it.

Personally, she was a breath of fresh air in our odd world. She was young, beautiful, vibrant, full of life, and we needed a princess. She fit the role so well. At least, we thought she did. We didn't know or realize what her personal life was really like.

Now she is just a memory, a memory of things that could have been, but weren't meant to be. That's real grief.

Fantastic Friday

On this fantastic Friday (aren't all Fridays fantastic?) I've been cleaning. My sieve like head forgets where important papers are filed, even though we have two metal filing cabinets in our home office. At one time when I used a type writer, I used to type labels for the files in the cabinets. I was my hubby's secretary when he had his own business once upon a time.

I have a dreadful habit of collecting the mail each day, putting it on the dining room table, eventually opening it, then placing it in a pile on the book case in the living room. From there it should go upstairs to the office and be methodically filed, but usually it sits a week, then when it finds its way upstairs, it goes into a pile to be filed.

The piles have taken over the office. I should have taken a before picture and put it in this post. I've had it, and am getting rid of the piles once more. This usually happens twice a year, spring and fall. It's not quite fall but it sure feels like it, so I'm cleaning in a frenzy.

We have a garbage strike going on, in its 5th week, so I have to figure out what to do with the paper. We set up a compost bin 5 weeks ago. We've been putting a lot of fruit scraps into it, and it needs more "brown" stuff, and I recently discovered that I can compost PAPER, so I'm planning to purchase a large shredder, and get rid of my paper that way. Isn't that COOL? I didn't know you could compost paper. After shredding, the paper has to be moistened. I might never have much garbage again!

Wouldn't it be neat if everyone had a composter? Now I'm off to finish those piles, before tackling the vacuum cleaning. My office is looking great!

It's quite true.

I needed to have a new blog, as my travel blog is just about finished, and once started on blogging I can't stop now.

When thinking of a name for my new blog I kept thinking of my mind and how sievelike it's become. It never was very good at retaining things, as I suffer from migraine headaches and they seem to act a lot like strokes. No one knows what causes them, so I'm doomed. My dh noticed that after a migraine, whatever he's told me of importance the day before has been magically erased.

Therefore, I think this will be a great name for my new blog. My paternal Grandma, Alma May Williams, had a favourite saying. "I have a head like a sieve."

That's my blog's motto.