Let the games begin ! ! !

Competition of the Week!

I am not actually saying that this will happen each week, but i am offering a prize total of £2.50 or $5 to whoever gets them all right. (or the person who has the most) Seeing as there is a total of about 2 people that actually read these you have a pretty good chance. Send your answers to pk@muskokawoods.com. Don't post your answers in the comments as others will use them.

Let the games begin

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I have holes on the top and bottom. I have holes on my left and on my right. And I have holes in the middle, yet I still hold water. What am I?

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

Cross out six letters so that the remaining letters, without altering their sequence, will spell a familiar English word. BSAINXLEATNTEARS

I was carried into a dark room, and set on fire. I wept, and then my head was cut off. What am I?

What letter is immediately to the left of the letter three to the right of the letter immediately to the left of the letter three to the right of B?A B C D E F G H

What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

What object has keys that open no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?

Can’t fight, fly or crow

I have been thinking about my favourite scenes from movies and this was one of the first ones that came to mind.

It is a scene from the classic movie Hook, starring Dusting Hoffman, Robin Williams and Julie Roberts.

This is the scene where Peter Bunning (Peter Pan) meets Rufio (King of the Lost Boys) for the first time. Peter Bunning doesn't even believe that he is Peter Pan so Tinkerbell is trying to convince him and the rest of the Lost Boys that it is true. Back and forth they go from Peter’s side over to Rufio’s side not knowing who to believe.

A little boy has been left standing looking up at Peter. He motions for Peter and he gets down on his knees so that they are at eye level. Slowly the boy takes off the glasses and puts them in Peter’s pocket. He spends the next minute or so squeezing Peters face in all directions, raising his eyebrows, and pulling his hair back. Finally he takes his cheeks and pushes them backwards making his skin tight. A smile comes on his face and he says quietly, “Oh there you are Peter!”

One by one the boys come over and see for themselves that this is indeed the Peter Pan they once knew and loved.

One boy says, “Peter you’ve grown up; you promised you would never grow up,”



This type of scene makes me think of peoples identities. How that over the years and through different circumstance they have slowly changed into something that they never really wanted to be. Do we need what Peter Pan needed, someone to do a little poking and prodding to really see who we are? I am sure Peter Pan never really wanted to forget who he was but over time he did. He had allowed other things to take his focus off his passion and his dreams.

If you look back in the movie you can see slight traces of the original Peter Pan in his life. You can see this in the way he walks and stands as he sometimes takes the stance that Peter Pan is famous for. In this case he had forgotten mentally who he was but deep down at the core this was his foundation.

I think of who is the Tinkerbell in my life, that someone who hasn’t forgotten the potential I have, that can see the real me and will do their best to never let that disappear. That can bring me back to Neverland that I can rebirth the real me.

DO I have that kind of a kid in my life that will get eye to eye with me? Who will look me in the eyes knowing that there is something more and deeper inside. Knowing that with the right stretching here and there that my true character will be revealed. Pushing me in the right directions to help me discover who I was created to be.

And that my friend is why I love that scene from Hook.

How cute is Cassey?

Chris & Erika Schryer wedding

What do you think?

I've Lost My Marbles

I have been in Ireland now for a month and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed my time here. It wasn’t my choice to come home this time; the decision was kindly made for me by the Canadian government. For once I wasn’t apprehensive about coming home as I knew that I had a lot to accomplish while being here.

One area of my life I have struggled with (and I thank Carol Smith for pointing this out) is my memories. I have a terrible memory, whether it is birthdays, where I have just left my wallet, or events that have happened in the past. I have talked to Carol about this before because she says that you should be able to remember back to when you were 5 years old. I can hardly remember back to 5 minutes ago.

Being home has brought back a lot of memories. This is the main one.

While I have been back I have been fortunate to have job. I have been working as a classroom assistant in Dundonald High School. This is the school that I used to attend. Walking around has make me think of times that I was at school. Teachers I liked, friends I used to hang out with, parts of the school that we used to love to go to but now don’t seem to interest them and most of all the smell of the sausage rolls from the canteen. I must confess I did have one for old time sake. (It was gross)

School has definitely changed since I was there and I feel bad to say it but it has gone down hill. I feel bad for the quality kids that are in the school, the ones that want to learn but they seem to get out shadowed by the kids who have no desire to do anything other than disrupt the class, torture the teachers and vandalise the property.

All the staff that I was working with were amazing. They do such a good job. I feel that they are under appreciated. I don’t know how I survived being the only male in the staffroom.

The class I was working with was a year 11 class and they were great. At times they were noisy but they were nice kids. Every one of them is unique in their own way. With their own gifts, talents, humour. They would probably hate to hear this but even though they try to be annoying, and do as little amount of work as possible they are a great. In their uniqueness they work and function well as a team, and they look out for each other.

Some things haven’t changed though, and it is a very Northern Ireland thing. We are quick to criticise and extremely slow to encourage. We would rather encourage and build each other up with our sarcasm than actually say well done or congratulations.

And now I am on my return back to Canada. I will take these memories with me and definitely arrange a time with Carol to meet up and tell all. I have finally been approved with an 8 month visa so the next time I will be home to Northern Ireland will be for my brothers wedding on the 29th October 2005 – exciting.

I feel like the grandfather out of the movie Hook who has just found his marbles. Great to have some memories back.


Tootles from the Movie Hook

Who would have known?

The year is 279AD, you’re in Rome and you've just met the love of your life. There is one problem, marriage has been banned and all the single men are being packed off to the army.

Now there was a priest called Valentine. He was a Christian and he knew that marriage was a gift so he had been secretly marrying couples. On Feb 14th he was caught and executed, although he did manage to leave a note for the jailer's daughter before he died. Since then lovers have been exchanging notes, cards and gives on this day and so it has become known as Valentines Day.

I used to just think that Valentines day was a day that Hallmark made up to make even more money, or a day that the owners of flower shops got together and decided that they would all jack their prices up 300% on the same day each year.

Who was to know?

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Summer 2004 

Virgin Post

This is the first post i have ever made and possibly the last one I ever make. I do think that i could get used to this. I thank Tim Jebb for persuading me to check this out. What a guy.