Back in the Saddle

I realize it has been some time since my last written blog post and I thought there may be some family members out there that could use some posting. Cheryl and I have been very busy for the last few months and our adventures have been grand. We have engaged in new endeavours, enjoyed the summer, and even travelled to the farthest reaches of planet Earth.

Our teaching year wrapped up well. I thought Cheryl and I were rather organized in closing our first year of teaching. Once everything was wrapped up with a nice little bow we immediately busied ourselves with our summer business selling jewelry and accessories.

We had a huge sale on Canada Day in Osborne Village. We were attempting to liquidate most of our remaining stock from last year and Winnipeg, being as cheap as it is, responded voraciously to our reduced prices. This set us up well for the next step in our summer plan; our first business trip overseas.

Once more we were packing our things to fly over the Pacific to walk amongst the Buddhists. It was refreshing to return to Thailand. Our first experience upon arrival was classically Thailand in that it required an immediate Mai Pen Lai attitude. Apparently the door to the luggage bay on the airplane was stuck. The voice on the airport intercom claimed we would receive our luggage inside of 30 min., but we knew otherwise; after all, we lived there once you know. Of course, after 30 min., the intercom once more intruded upon us to indicate further delays. This event repeated itself until about 2 hours later when we received our luggage. Mai pen lai.

Thailand was beautiful just as we remembered. We worried very little and enjoyed a lot. We even went to our old neighbourhood to check things out. It was such an interesting sense of nostalgia to return to our former Thai nesting area. We visited the Thai massage place that we loved. We ate at our favourite restaurant. We saw other falangs that were just getting their Thai legs in their new neighbourhood. It was fascinating!

Revisiting our old business contacts was a lark. They all recognized us and invited us into their shops to ply us with Thai goodies and generous hospitality. It was like visiting old friends. And we felt much more climatized to the massive market situation than when we first visited in 2007. We approached the sprawling market with a "can-do" attitude. We went in, shopped, bartered, bought, made deals, and still got out with our heads intact (a feat not easily attained amidst a market of thronging thousands).

We made sure to spend a few weeks on Koh Chang (my favourite place in the world). Although the rainy season ensured a lot of precipitation we enjoyed swinging in hammocks, reading books, swimming, motorcycles, and way too much delicious food.
When we returned to Bangkok it was a flurry of business; buying, packing, weighing, and then back to the airport. I still can`t believe how much we got away with packing in our luggage!

Upon our return home we took off to Saskatoon to try to sell our newly acquired goods. The festival was good and we enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately, we didn`t get to see much of my folks whilst we were there as they were at the lake.
Ever since that time we have been adjusting to returning to our little house on the Prairie. Cheryl has begun her first year teaching Grade 5-6 and is enjoying it whilst I am substitute teaching and otherwise fill my days farming the garden and creating some websites for us to begin doing business online. I`ve already launched a pre-website on Etsy.com. If you go there and type in "Walk About" or "jayewert". You can see our first online products for sale. I`ll keep you posted in the following weeks about the official launch of Walk About Jewelry online.

Life goes on and we are back in the saddle. We are happy, healthy, and grateful for what we have. Between that and the fact that we have each other, I would say we`re doing pretty well. Feel free to leave a comment to tell us how you are because we always miss our friends and family.

Music is for Everyone

I found myself sitting with my guitar this morning and writing a song. Then i realized that it has been way too long since I have done that sort of thing. So I took the time to slap a recording together of my newly born song.

Please click the link to listen and offer some advice...
example: put a bridge after the second verse that sums up the premise of the song.
example 2: try to suck less and rock more!
example 3: make the lyrics more universal.



I am hoping for feedback via "songwriter's circle" here so please let me know what you think of this track and I'll be sure to follow.

cheers

Jay

Hello all. I know it has been sometime since I have posted but there is good reason why; I went all the way to the other side of the world and back! I'll tell you more about that later because right now I want you to know about what kept me busy this week. Please go to this link and find out.

Walk About Jewelry on Etsy

I hope you like what you see. I will now begin on a much larger project of creating a massive site for your imports. I'll keep you posted.

cheers

Jay Ewert

To My Mother Whom I Love

Mothers are the first movers of our universes. Without our Mother’s we are nature without nurture, reality without comfort, life without substance. We need our mother’s to teach us just about everything that is important to know, and so let us all raise our glasses to our mom’s.

My mother is one of the best there is. In fact, she is so wonderful she didn’t even come with a warranty. I suppose God had such confidence in his creation he simply felt a warranty was unnecessary. I have to agree because to date I have not yet tried to return her. And why would I? She has provided me with everything from life to clean underwear. When I was young she was omnipotent and omnipresent. When I was a teen she was my source of undying, unconditional love. Even as an adult she is still my mother. She worries about how I am doing and what my future holds. She prays for me, dreams of me, and cares for me because that’s what good mother’s do. I call her to let her know how things are and she keeps me on the phone because she still loves me. I keep her talking because I will always have that little warm feeling inside that says she cares for me.

One Christmas I was in a bookstore and saw a copy of “I’ll Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch. I thought of my mother and how much I missed her living 800 km away. I felt sort of cheesy buying a copy of that book for her but that’s the kind of thing that melts a mother’s heart (and Mom’s heart always deserves a good melting). At Christmas time I gave it to her. She looked longingly at the cover, her eyes filled with love (because that’s what tears are when they are in a mother’s eyes), and she said “I have something else for you. I was afraid you might think it was cheesy but now I think I can give it to you.” She exited silently and soon returned with a second copy of “I’ll Love You Forever”. I admit, I cried a little (okay, and maybe a little more whilst writing this). It was one of those moments when we realized how important we were to each other. I look forward to someday reading that same book to my own children so that they know I will always love them just as my mother will always love me.

Our mothers are fuel for the soul and they are classically under-appreciated. I hope my mother is reading this and knows that I love her enough to declare it to the entire digital world. Happy Mother’s Day Mom, I will always love you.
From your number two son,
Jay Ewert

The Flood, The Duck

The flood is spreading, receding, teasing, flowing, and consuming. It is hungry, heavy, and constant. It is behaving badly, possibly due to emotional scarring obtained in Fargo. Since it’s humble beginnings somewhere in the deep South it has grown to mammoth proportions. At times it slumbers, and lumbers slowly on. Then, with little to no warning, it gets a kink in its plans, the ice jams, and like a sock in a drain it obstructs all traffic wreaking havoc among all around it. Then, in the night, a crack splits the air, and just to be fair, the river moves on to new horizons filled with farmers, families, and prairie towns.
I grew up in the vast flatness of Saskatchewan. Our sky was endless, waves were seen as wind in the grain, and water stayed where it was told to. I learned that somewhere in the world floods could happen. I imagined those places were in some untouched region where unknown people lived mysterious lives unattached to myself. Then I went to Manitoba in ’97. I saw an ocean where there should be none. I saw the extent of the Canadian armed forces being utilized for purpose of sandbags. I realized that floods were real events happening to real people in my very own country. And, I realized that water does what it wants, when it wants, and the heck with the rest.
Each morning I drive between the town where I live and the neighbouring town where I work. In the winter I would greet the sunrise whilst driving with my coffee, music, and a smile. These days I drive under an overcast sky and observe the birds floating amongst the ample waves drifting across the farmer’s fields. I see water that flows, water that sits, water that waves, water that drifts, water that saturates and water that swirls. It is water that threatens and unfurls its gentle fury in an agonizing Mecca journey to the vast watery plain of Lake Winnipeg. And like the early settlers of Canadian history the water cuts its way through the lives of those already there and demands that anything it may touch becomes part of it destructive path. The drive to and from work has changed from a soulful sunrise to a pallor of persistent force.
The community binds together in a counter effort. We gather on the bridges and ask the same questions over and over. We continually reply to each other with universal phrases about Mother Nature, the will of the water, and many variations of “so it goes”. But no deal is ever struck with the water. I don’t know if the water simply forgot to send a delegate to the meeting or if us humans have slighted water at some point and are just now being taught a lesson. In the meantime, the prairie folk are doing what they can and that will have to be enough.
As it stands the water has begun to recede. That is not to say that it will not rear it’s head again, however, for now we are all breathing a little easier and counting our eggs even though they have yet to hatch. Perhaps the water is finding peace at its Mecca and the message is being received by the water still in transit. But there is always an aftermath.
This morning I observed for the third time a baby duck floating listlessly in a flooded ditch. Each morning it appears as a lone figure on the scene pining away for a mother that is yet to be seen. It is alone amidst a larger aquatic happening similar to how many of us feel when faced with the adversity of something we cannot change. But, like the duck, we must all do what we can, and although we may never find the comfort of the mother we can at least float with what we have. To those negatively affected by this flood, my heart goes out to you as it does the lone duck. You have suffered a loss but so long as your head is high you will live to see the next sunrise