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What We've Seeded... So Far!

Category: My Garden 2007 | Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:37 pm

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I distinctly remember Chris and I agreeing last year that we would try to restrain ourselves from seeding so many plants in the next season.

Yeah, right! :D

The following is a list of what we've seeded so far:

Nasturtium - 2 kinds, Jewel mix and Alaska mix
Calendula**
Cornflower
Lavatera - Silvercup*
Aster - Dwarf Mix
Marigold - 2 kinds, Hero Mix* and Queen Sophia
Strawflower*
Stocks
Delphinium**
Viola*
African Daisy*
Cypress Vine
Hollyhock**
Columbine - Pink Tower*
Sunflower - Summer Sun
Painted Daisy*
Chinese Lantern
Dahlia - Star Gazer*

* These are all plants I've grown before and will probably keep growing.

** These are plants that either Chris and I or my mother purchased already in bloom. We harvested seeds from the Hollyhock and purchased seeds for the Delphinium and Calendula.

This year I'm trying to grow ornamental grasses from seed. The ones I've planted are:

Little Blue Stem
Cyperus Glaber
Pony Tails
Sedge
Bronzina

I want to put some of the grasses in our front flower bed where there are some junipers. The others are going to go in the 1/2 barrel planters (we have 5 of them).

Last year we bought some roses but only managed to get one of the climbers planted. I'm hoping and praying that the others have survived. We have a Hunter, a Senior Prom and I'll have to check on the others.. I can't recall offhand their names. Thanks to Chris and mom, I've already got a nice assortment of miniroses. I fell in love with them last year.

That's it... so far! ;)


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Rock 'n' Roll Adventure, Part 2

Category: Catching Up | Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:08 am

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Saturday, October 7, 2006

It was cold and rained all day. We didn't care. We were warm with the fresh memories we had to share. We thought how rotten it would be for Mick and the boys and the fans if the Stones' second show was that day.

Sunday October 8, 2006

The day began with light showers as well. By the afternoon the sun was peeking through the clouds, but there was still the crisp fall air. Chris said we would go and hang around the stadium to hear the second show if the rain held off.

We had our rock and roll adventure on Friday and so there would be no chance of seeing the band a second time. I checked our account and there was only $24 left, so we drew out $20 to buy a souvenir as we listened to the music. At least this was something to look forward to.

We left the house shortly after 5 pm and walked to Taylor Field. Tonight we had no hope to get in, so I took my camera along this time. Cameras were banned inside the stadium so we didn't have it with us at the first show. Chris wanted to get some photos of the fireworks going off. It wasn't too cold when we left the house but by the time we got to the stadium it was getting chilly. We were bundled up though and were prepared to tough it out.

Once again the place was a madhouse of excited people making a beeline for their seats. We sat outside the west gate and watched the crowds. A slight sense of melancholy crept over us because we knew we would not be getting in but we were happy to relive our adventure of two nights earlier. Chris joked that he would sneak us in like he used to do when he was in highschool. It got closer to showtime. We made our way around to the north end where we could see the stage through the fence on the previous night, but there was a green tarp over the fence now blocking any view and a huge crowd of hopeful spectators had assembled making it hard to breathe, let alone see anything (especially for me in my wheelchair!)

We headed to the south end of the stadium to be closer to the music. The opening band was doing their best to warm up the crowd by now. Most people were inside. We wandered around looking for a good vantage point, but all spots were taken. We wound up at the southern most end of the parking lot. It was at this security gate where trucks full of equipment and such could drive through. There it seemed we had a bit of luck because through the security fence we could see the jumbotron screen on the side of the stage. It was as good a spot as we could hope to get. "Good enough," we said to each other. "WE saw the show on the first night anyway." Chris pulled out his stool and sat behind me and put his arms around me to help fend off the increasing chill. It was a long, long hour between the opening act and the start of the Stones' show. By that time there were about 70 people who had the same idea as we did all standing behind and around us. We had to move at one point because we were right in front of the main gate for vehicle traffic going backstage.

The show commenced and the fireworks shot skyward. Chris snapped as many pictures as he could and hoped that they would turn out all right. The Stones were in great form and had just launched in to their second song, when the most and unbelievable thing happened to us.

There had been people going in and out of the gate all night, with bundles and packets of posters and merchandise for the stalls. Suddenly, Chris saw this fellow out of the corner of his eye walking up to the gate from behind us. The man was very nicely dressed with neatly styled grey hair and he was wearing an official Rolling Stones tour jacket which told us he was connected with the show in a big way. The guard immediately opened the gate for him and he went through. After a short while the man came back to the gate and spoke to the guard. The guard opened the gate wide and the man in the official jacket motioned to Chris and I to come in and follow him! We were completely stunned. I looked at the man and pointed at myself and said "Who? Us??" I looked back incredulously at Chris. The only thing I could think of was that we were in some kind of deep trouble. But the man nodded and beckoned us to follow him. Chris jumped up, grabbed his stool and pushed my chair as if in one motion. The next second we were inside the gate following him. He leaned close to speak amidst the booming music. He said he had some business to take care of and told us to stay put, then he went someplace for a moment or two. By now we were right at the edge of the back of the stage. The once so small jumbotron now towered above us, and there was the ramp the boys used to gain access to the stage. Our new friend came back and directed us to follow him. He led us down past the side of the stage through the guards and right to the front edge of the stage. This fellow had power alright. People parted for him like the Red Sea parted for Moses. He put us in the aisle about halfway between the front row and the stage. He spoke to the guards and pointed to us but we couldn't hear what he told them. Then he said to Chris "You'll be fine here". Chris thanked him but he was already gone. Chris and I stared at each other in utter shock. A few minutes passed and the man came back... with a chair for Chris! Chris and I shook his hand and said "Thank you so much! You are a very kind man!" He smiled and walked away backstage. Our words seemed so inadequate for what he had done but we couldn't think of anything better to say.

There we were, closer than front row and only 20 to 30 feet from one of the wings of the stage where in the previous show Keith Richard had walked to play for a delighted crowed seated in that area. This show was as fantastic as the first one. The Stones played a slightly different set this time. As in the first show, they joked about the weather saying things like "We thought it was cold in Boston!" Mick introduced Ronnie Wood as being "part of the Frozen Finger Brigade" and everyone laughed. I thought how funny it would be if they knew that it was not unusual for there to be snow in Regina at that time of the year. Ha! Now, I was already about as stunned as stunned can be but then Mick started another song and sauntered down the wing of the stage, straight to where we were!! He was... you guess it!... a Stones throw away! :D

When the show was over we just sat there and watched the crowd swarm by us and the roadies as they started to dismantle things. We wanted to avoid having to push my chair through such a crowd (another 40,000 to 45,000 as in the first show) so as soon as there was a gap Chris pushed me towards the backstage entrance where we came in. He was prepared to say something to the guards, but didn't have to as they opened the gate for us and let us through with a big smiles. No crowds that way. We also ran in to an old school chum of mine who was working on the local part of the crew and said a big hello.

On our way home we stopped and bought a poster from the souvenir stand. We went to the 7-11 for a giant coffee and to tell a friend of ours who works there the unbelievable story. We wandered home through the wet streets. It hadn't rained all evening on us, the fans or the Stones.

That night was so special that it changed our lives. In a subtle way, mind you, but changed us in positive ways that lifts the spirit and makes a person feel special. Chris had said we would have a rock and roll adventure. He wasn't kidding!

Last edited: Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:15 am

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It's Been a While

Category: Catching Up | Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:34 am

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Hi, everyone. I hope some of you remember me. I'm Prairie Lily (Deborah) from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It's been quite a while since I've posted here, mainly due to a crisis in the family, but I've really missed this forum and I feel ready to get back into life again. So let me tell you what's happened since we last chatted:

March 4, 2006

My oldest brother Larry passed away from cancer. He was 59. His death hit me very hard and I basically withdrew from life. He was one of my heroes. Some of you may recall that I was born with a physical disability and so I use a wheelchair. One of my fondest memories of my big brother is of a visit with him, his wife and two sons at their home in Calgary, Alberta. We were all sitting around the kitchen table one evening just chatting and laughing. I mentioned something about having a tub bath but that I'd have to wait until I got back home. Larry had a two-storey house and the bathroom was upstairs. Well, one thing led to another and Larry single-handedly carried me in my chair upstairs so I could have a bath and not have to wait. You see, to him I was just Little Sis. It wasn't like the chair didn't exist, it just simply didn't matter to him. Like I said, he was my hero and I miss him terribly.

Summer 2006

It was June or July, I just forget which, when Regina was knocked out of its collective sockies. The news arrived that the Rolling Stones would play a concert here in October as part of their "A Bigger Bang" tour. This was the biggest thing to hit this town in... well.. in my lifetime! The Stones had never played here before. But Chris (my significant other.. more about him later) and I are on a very limited income and we knew we'd never be able to afford tickets. Luckily, though, the concert was to be at Taylor Field which is the local football stadium. We live only about 8 blocks away. So we planned to walk over and hang out outside the stadium where we could at least here the legendary band. If the weather was bad, we figured that we could very likely hear them from our house. We felt it was a good compromise.

As time went on, however, I became more and more depressed at the thought of missing my one and only chance to see The Stones. I remembered when they first hit North America. Seeing one of their shows live was always a pipe dream of mine, one I knew would never happen because why would they come to little ol' Regina?? But they were coming! In fact, the show scheduled for October 8 sold out in a record 20 minutes so they added a second show for October 6! We would be the only city on their entire North American leg of the tour to have more than one performance.

Friday, October, 6, 2006

We spent the day working on the garden with my mom, pruning roses and digging potatoes. Mom left around 3:30 pm and Chris was all played out so I said "Oh let's just stay home." Chris said, "No! We are going to have a Rock & Roll Adventure! You get ready. I'm going to the bank!" Chris figured that we could maybe buy two tickets from the scalpers he knew would be outside the stadium. Scalping is not illegal here, at least not at this time. We decided to go for broke (literally!). This was a chance of a lifetime and so I agreed to let Chris draw out what little cash we had left. Normally, I would never have done such a thing but Chris convinced me. Bless his heart, that man can and has talked me into all sorts of things I would never normally do (and no, I'm not going to elaborate on that!! Ha!).

So off Chris went, first to the bank and then to Canadian Tire. They had a sale on a folding stool for $3. He figured it would come in handy if we had to sit outside the stadium. When he got back we had to hurry so we rushed to get dressed and ran out the door for the 8-block walk. When we got there the place was a madhouse. People all over the place and everyone in a big hurry. We made our way to the west entrance as Chris was sure that's where the scalpers would be selling tickets, and they were. Most were $300+. One guy had one for $1600, just outrageous! The closest we came was one guy who had 2 tickets, $200 for the pair. Chris offered the guy $160, all we had, but he blew Chris off and with that our hopes were dashed. We sat there for a short time then made our way through the crowds to the north end of the stadium. At that time there was a spot where you could look through the fence and see the stage. So we stopped there and Chris pulled out his stool and sat down.

Just then two girls approached from the other side of the fence. They asked us if we had tickets for the show. When they heard we didn't one of the girls said "My boyfriend is working backstage and has some extra tickets." She called him on her cell phone. He had just given away his last spare ticket. Argh!

Soon after that a man came walking towards Chris with a sign around his neck. "Need Tickets," said the sign. Just then a man walking the other way stopped and said "Yeah, I got extra tickets. Two of them. Yours for $115 bucks." Chris just about fell over! He rushed over to the guy and asked if he had any more. He didn't of course, but the guy with the sign offered to sell Chris the sign for $5. Chris said "No, thanks" and came back over to me. He stood there and started to call out, "Tickets! Extra tickets! Anybody got extra tickets?" He did that several times and finally someone behind him said "Yeah, I have 2 tickets." Chris turned around to see a guy and two women, smartly dressed, inside the stadium fence. One of the girls was holding two tickets.

"$100 each," she said. Chris said "I'll give you $100 for the pair." She said no, the best she would do is give them to us for $185 and that was half price. Chris said "I'll give you $160 for the pair. That's all I have." She still said "No. $185 or no tickets." Chris looked her in the eye and said "In a few minutes, your going to have some real expensive souvenirs." She thought about this for a minute and finally said "Okay, it's a deal" and bang! A bigger BANG!! WE HAD TICKETS FOR THE SHOW!!!

We couldn't believe it! We had to open the envelope and look at the tickets a few times to make sure they were real. I held onto them with a death-grip as Chris pushed my chair to the west entrance. This was the only one we were familiar with, as we'd only been to the stadium once before. We were a little apprehensive because these tickets were not for handicapped seats. But we were determined to flub our way somehow. We got to the gate where they took our tickets, only to be told they were for seats by the east entrance. Yikes! Another end run around the stadium and the opening band was starting it's set. We weren't sure if we would be able to take the little stool Chris bought in with us as there was so many restrictions as to what not to bring, and chairs were one of them. We had the stool hanging on a string on the back of my chair. Would we get rejected because we didn't have handicapped tickets? With trepidation we approached the gate. The first guy took our tickets and waved us through. The two guards searching people (everyone was being searched!) took one look at us and waved us through without a second look. We were in!!

Oh, the magic feeling of being inside the stadium! We wandered around looking for our section number. We didn't see a wheelchair sign directing to the wheelchair seats so we found a hostess and asked where they were. She wasn't sure and told us to follow her while she looked for the head hostess. We found her, but she was busy with other people and told us to wait right there and so we did. Soon she returned and asked to look at our tickets. We showed them to her and she looked puzzled, then she asked someone on her radio, "Do wheelchair tickets look any different than regular tickets?" Our hearts were in our throats. Fortunately for us, the reception on her radio was so bad, she couldn't hear what was said. She said, "What did they tell you when you bought these tickets?" We said we were told there was handicapped seating on this side, so she led us to the handicapped section which was on the north end of the east bleachers. The stage was at the south end and there was a lighting tower covering 1/3 of the stage, but we didn't care. We were there! We would see the Stones!

We looked around. We were the only people in the handicapped section besides security guards. The opening band wrapped up and the stadium lights came on. There was a security guard sitting close to us. Chris remarked to him how odd it was that we were the only ones in the handicapped section. The guard said there was another handicapped section identical to this one on the south end of the bleachers, close to the stage. He said he thought it would be packed. Chris asked him if he would use his radio and ask someone if there was room for us down there...and he DID! And there WAS! He told us how to get there and off we ran out across the front of the bleachers and down through the crowd and checkpoints. He must have radioed that we were coming because none of the security guards gave us any hassle. They just moved aside and through we went, down to the south end of the bleachers and that stage just kept getting bigger and bigger! Once there, a guard moved a barricade for us so we could get back to the ramp up to the handicapped section.

When we got there, everyone in wheelchairs were clustered close to the bleachers which left a wide open spot between them and the railing surrounding the section. So Chris unfolded his stool and we sat right up at the railing as close to the stage as we could get. It was the perfect spot. We were ten feet off the stadium floor with a clear view over everyone's head and about as close as close could be to the stage.

The crowd of around 45,000 started to do the wave and it wasn't long before Chris and I joined in. Suddenly the lights went down. The crowd shrieked! The Stones trademark giant lips graphic filled an enormous videotron above center stage. Other graphics followed and spread into two other slightly smaller videotrons which flanked the stage. Fireworks exploded and the sound of a guitar cut through the night with a deafening rif. It was Keith Richard, saying hello. A spotlight picked him up as he swaggered out onstage. Mick Jagger stepped into his own spotlight and started singing "Jumpin' Jack Flash". The stage lights came up to reveal Ron Wood and Charlie Watts and all. The show was on. The spell was struck. Magic chimed out in waves of sound and light. The crowd went berserk and so did we. What a night!

There they were. As seen on album covers. As seen on TV and heard on the radio. As seen on posters, magazines, t-shirts. Everywhere and forever, it seemed, and now here they were in person. Forget those annoying "aging rocker" remarks or any other dumb thing you may have heard. They were here! The REAL THING! The Kings of Rock 'n' Roll. A performance so perfectly dazzling in every way, delivered as only The Rolling Stones can. What's not to love?

It was over too fast. Only when we had left the bleachers did we notice how cold we were. We were outside in less than a minute and walking home. What a night it had been. But wait!! Read on, as our rock & roll adventure doesn't end here.



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