THANK YOU'S are the order of the day!

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

Thanks a lot!

Thank you so very much!

Thanks ever such a lot.

Thanks a bundle!

You are too kind!

Cheers!

and from my British background;

'Ta very much!

Here are a few more ways to express 'my' gratitude:

WOW! How kind of you!

Thank you! That's good of you.

I don't know what to say ...

I'm overwhelmed ...

Thank you so much1

What can I say!

You are the best.

This present is so nice1

Oh! You shouldn't have ....

So many ways to express your thankfulness and appreciation.

Mine will be a simple

THANKS FOR THINKING OF ME ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Love 'ya!   Suzanne


P.S. Thank you's are also very AWESOME!

WHY BIRTHDAYS ARE AWESOME!

March 27, 2011

 and IT’S MY BIRTHDAY !!!

I love birthdays and I always have!

The first birhtday parties I had, were always special even though I was born on my mother’s birth day as well. My mom and grandmother always had a cake waiting for me with all the candles and I always shared it with my cousins and family, friends and neighbours. I learnt at a very young age that birthdays are a special and unique event that belongs to you only among other celebrations  during the year.

Later on, in the 60’s, I had parties in the unfinished basement of our then home. I remember organising a ‘beatnick’ party with my friend, Francine and also inviting this very handsome guy. He didn’t know why he had been invited for he was the older brother of a classmate. But I got to dance with him on my birthday.

I even remember a few years later organising another party which ended up being  my own SURPRISE birthday party! That's what I call a REAL surprise!!!

And I don’t just love my own birthday, I love other people’s too.  I can’t seem to understand why some people loathe birthdays;  I think they’re awesome and fun!  

Here are some of the reasons why I love birthdays. Of course it’s still about the cake and the gifts and the ones you love singing the song but it’s also about:

- A birthday celebration means that you are celebrating the end of a year and the beginning of another that has nothing to do with the calendar! You are celebrating LIFE, the one you were born into and the one you live everyday!! You celebrate the very fact that you somehow made it from being non-existent … to existing.  You are a living, breathing, walking, talking human being. Not only were you born – but the very fact that you are celebrating a birthday indicates that you’ve managed to stick around.  Having a birthday means that you are alive.  you get to live – and do all the wonderful things that come along with it.

- You also get to reflect on your year.  Celebrating a birthday inevitably brings about memories and reflections of things that have happened since the last time you celebrated.  What awesome things happened to you in the last 12 months. Maybe you gained a family member, maybe you got a new job, picked up cooking or painting, bought a house, learned a foreign language, overcame a long withstanding fear, saw the great wall of China.   Perhaps by your next one, you’ll have started a new project, have a new home or best friend?  Birthdays allow us to reflect and 

feel thankful for those things we have done since the one prior.

- Birthdays also help you set goals. Thinking about what you want to do in life is a little daunting, a little too broad; too much time and too much to do. But birthdays are a natural one-year timetable for our goals. I really prefer March 27^th to January 1^st. I,personally, feel that my birthday is the best time to decide what specific things I want to accomplish between this one – and the next.

- And lastly, you can get away with a lot on your birthday ;)

So this year, what will be new for me?

Welllllll, I’m going to adopt a cat 

and Lucien, that’s his name, 

will become my new friend!!! 

And he gets to have his birthday 

on the same day as mine!! 

I wonder which one of the two of us 

will be the happier this coming year …

SUZANNE 

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

GOOD MORNING!!!

Lately I've been 'under the weather' battling this cold. But this morning, as I got out of bed, I could feel that today was going to be a great day. I feel much better, thank you! Might have to do with all the positive energy I 'soaked in' yesterday at my last class.

My friend, Diane, brought a cake and a very delicious and sweet maple syrup pie to class. She also brought her collection of sheep themed coffee mugs to drink tea that she had also brought.  Mine said: "I love EWE" . Of course we have a play-on-words here which actually is a homonym of YOU.  If  you look up the pronunciation of both words you will see the same phonetic symbols ... Have a look!

Everyone knows what 'you' means of course, 

but now you know that a 'ewe' is a female sheep.

Now back to Diane's friendly gesture ... 

As a really good friend, she wanted to celebrate my birthday with me because she won't be able to on Sunday. So, thanks to her, I celebrated part of my special day, in advance, with some of you also! Brilliant! ... Thus, all that positive energy. 

Thanks for all your wishes and hugs, 

especially taking a chance with my germs ;)

And a very special THANKS to you, Diane!

Now my birthday celebrations have started 

and will go on till Sunday! YAY!!!

That's why I'm not sick anymore! Yessss!

The perfect medication for a bad cold is called:

 FRIENDSHIP 

NOTE:

A male sheep is called a RAM and the ram is the symbol used to represent ARIES, my zoological ... OOOPS! Astrological sign.

... EAT MORE CAKE !!!

SPRING is here! And all its little 'germs' !!

              HEDDDDDO! Ebry ... one! 

    

Well ... I've got a cold!!!

This past week I had a scratchy and sore throat,  

it turned into a bad cold, called, 'na grippe'.

I think that because 

SPRING was just around the corner, 

I took off my gloves.

My theory is that my covered hands 

might have protected me all winter

from other people's germs.

YESSS! TODAY, I'm still sneezing and 

blowing my really, really red nose!!!

My nose is so 'runny' that I can use an analogy 

to the sap flowing in the maple trees 

and dripping into the buckets !! 
In French, "les érables coulent" ... 

I will spend another day in bed

'coz I need to :(

On the other hand and on a positive note,

I am resting and relaxing, and to boot,

I am experiencing a wonderful deep and sexy voice ;)

I will see you all next Tuesday and Wednesday,

by then, I should be OK!

As I wrote to some of you yesterday, 

be prudent and take care.

It seems like the spring flu season is upon us!!

SUZANNE

(No kisses) 

P.S. Last night, I had to go out to the pharmacy

to get some medication and

a couple of boxes of tissue (Kleenex).

Did you see the full moon around 8 o'clock?

WOW!!! It was SPECTACULAR!!!

That was the 'silver lining'* to having to go out!

I would have missed it, if not ... :) 
The spring sunshine I did miss yesterday
 and I'm going to miss it again today,
but I got an amazing view of the moon!
* Every cloud has a silver lining (proverb)

 

TRADITIONAL IRISH BLESSING and my personal wish for you!!!

Here are the words to the blessing:

MY WISH FOR YOU

I wish you not a path devoid of clouds,

nor a life on a bed of roses,

Not that you might never need regret,

nor that you should never feel pain.

No, that is not my wish for you.

My wish for you is:

That you might be brave in times of trial,

when others lay crosses upon your shoulders.

When mountains must be climbed

and chasms are to be crossed,

When hope can scarce shine through.

That every gift God gave you might grow with you

and let you give your gift of joy to all who care for you.

That you may always have a friend

who is worth that name,

whom you can trust and who helps you in times of sadness,

Who will defy the storms of daily life at your side.

One more wish I have for you:

That in every hour of joy and pain

you may feel God close to you.

This is my wish for you and for all who care for you.

This is my hope for you now and forever.

     I would like to add: 

My wish for you is to be in Ireland one day 

     and experience the lush green country side, the traditions 

     of the Irish people that are still very alive:

 their music, their dances and their way of life. 

That you may sit with them in a great old Pub 

and listen to their many musings.

That you drink with them

until you feel you are Irish too!

     And of course that you may understand 

and enjoy their English and they, yours!!!

KEEP UP YOUR EXCELLENT WORK! SUZANNE                   

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY in QUÉBEC and CANADA...

Today, many Quebecers have an Irish ancestor somewhere in their family tree. The Irish brought the celebration of St. Patrick's Day to Montreal, making it one of the oldest of its kind in North America. Quebec's most praised poet, Émile Nelligan, is born of a Quebec French-speaking mother and an English-speaking Irish fathe

Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in Montreal

One of the longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal, the flag of which has a shamrock in one of its corners. The parades have been held in continuity since 1824.

In Quebec City, there was a parade from 1837 to 1926. The Quebec St-Patrick Parade returned in 2010, after an absence of more than 84 years. For the occasion, a portion of the NYPD, (New York Pipes and Drums were present as special guests.

^{Famous Irish Quebecers:}

• La Bolduc
• Pat Burns
• Jean Charest
• Jim Corcoran
• Sir Edmund Flynn
• Daniel Johnson, Sr.
• Daniel Johnson, Jr.
• Joe Malone
• Pierre-Marc Johnson
• Brian Mulroney
• Emile Nelligan
• Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan
• Robert Guy Scully
• Patrick Roy
• Yves Ryan
• Louis Saint-Laurent
• and , do you remember, I do, O'KEEFE 
• and the bear I first drank!!     

Montréal Shamrocks hockey club 1899

Source: Wikipedia

Forever Friends Saint Patrick's Day

A very cute version of the River dance.

ENJOY! and 

don't forget to CLICK on the title 

for a history of the orogins of Saint Patrick's Day.

And for some extra reading,

I'll post a very popular and

traditional Irish blessing.

LATER!

Suzanne

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS !!!

THE DAY AFTER ...

NEED I SAY MORE ...

Except that I'm going back to bed!

Have a great weekend.

Suzanne

TO SHOVEL, shovelled or shoveled AND SHOVELLING ALL DAY or shoveling

NEED I SAY MORE ...?

Right now,

I am shovelling 

You are shovelling

She is shovelling

We are shovelling

They are shovelling

He is watching the hockey game ...

OOPS!! ...

but in all fairness,

he has shovelled before!

What's so hard about English verbs?

I always shovel.

My neighbour shovels too.

Every one in Québec shovels.

I have been shovelling all winter.

I have been shovelling all day, today  :(

So right now, I am 'F...+ing' doing nothing!

Byeeeeeeeeeeee !!

Suzanne

WHY WE LOVE CHILDREN !

 The Logic of Marriage - A Child's View 

Jack, a very young boy of four, says to his father,

'Daddy, Daddy, I want to get married.'

His father explains,

'For that Jack, you have to have a boy and a girl.'

So Jack answers,

'I've already found a girl.'

'Who?' splutters his dad … 

'Grandma,' continues Jack happily.

'Now, let me get this straight,' his father says.

'You want to marry my mother?

 …  You can't do that, Jack!’

'I don't see why not?' Jack responds,

'You married mine!'

PRACTICE, PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Note: should be spelled ELOCUTION

Hi! It's a grim and gray Sunday afternoon!
'Want to have some fun?

If you have some extra time and 

have the urge to practice English,

here's a TAKE ACTION CHALLENGE for you.

Just click on the following links and

see where they take you ...

Remember it has to be OUT LOUD,

never mind who is listening !!

And see how time flies!!!

Have a great afternoon,

Suzanne

1. http://www.englishmeeting.com/esl_video_pronunciation_lessons.htm

2. http://www.wordnik.com/lists/words-that-start-with-a-silent-h
3. SEE >>> TOOLS in the right-hand column of this blog 
    and click on: Online pronunciation exercises just to your right