Calendar Girl Blog: The Big Slow

I am entering the Big Slow as I type this post. It's the wind down time for Calendar Girl and the Calendar business. The beginning of a long hum of relaxation. A no cyber space zone.

I'm getting in my canoe and getting out of my head. I'll be back for the Dog Days of August.

While I'm communing with nature and you're surfing blogs, you might want to check out my other two Blogspot Blogs.

My Menopause Blog: How to punctuate life without a period.

The Breast Views Blog: Daily News & Alternative Views of the Wonderful World of Breasts.

Do leave some comments please. Calendar Girl gets all a flutter when neat folks leave comments.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Boobscape

Photo Contest Entry, Copyright 2006.
Photographer: Juli Gillard
Title: Breast Mountain

Calendar Girl
Bringing you breasts in their natural environment.

Calendar Girl Blog: A Mother's Gift

How do you say good bye to your mother?

And how do you share that farewell with people, who themselves have been gathered, slowly, randomly, over decades by a woman who's life span 75 years and two continents? A woman who requested no grave and no funeral home.

A woman who loved the wind.

About 100 of us settled under the rustic open walled pavilion, on the edge of the forest, by the small lake. Children of all ages and dogs of many sizes brushed through the crowd. Her daughter Stephanie and her son Doug, carried the blue and white, Chinese urn, filled with their mother's ashes to the picnic table under the mature maple. Leaves danced in delight.

Yes, the wind was in full attendance.

The slide show, lovingly complied, danced slowly on the screen to the piano accompaniment. It was then that I got to know my friends mother. The images revealed the life of a baby girl, young child, teenager, woman, wife, mother, grandmother in a beautiful flow of poise and gracefulness.

Life, when viewed in it's full span reveals much more depth of character than a simple meeting ever offers.

I could see my friend Stephanie in her mother's smile.

Later, much later, as we few, Stephanie, her husband Jeff, dear friends Mark, Chris and Val supped on Thai food and cold beer on my deck, the sky turned dark and the wind fell quite. Hella's lovely Urn sat on the candle lit table along side my small sandstone Urn, filled with my beloved dog Stew.

We laughed easily and often. And we agreed that we had all just shared a wonderful day together.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Dogs at a Memorial

Calendar Girl is on task today as the sandwich delivery girl for the memorial service for Stephanie's mother. The service is being held, outside at a countryside Mission and summer camp close to Guelph.

I have scraped the dog hair out of the backseat.....at least the clumps. Even though the food is tightly sealed, dog hair knows no bounds.

For once, the car is also free of Breast of Canada calendars. My last box of 50 from my first order of 1000 was delivered to the Bookshelf on Friday.

If you were a poet and you were asked to write about a perfect July Saturday, you would end up describing this very day.

As I drive across the field to the gathering place at the rear of the camp, I see my puppy friend Splash bounding joyously with his human close behind. Dogs at a Memorial. I am instantly relaxed.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: A Mom, A Daughter and Breast Cancer

My friend Stephanie's mom died from breast cancer last week and her memorial is tomorrow.

It's been a dynamic year for Steph and her family. She, doing her internship on the west coast of Canada was frequently flying to Toronto to assist her mother as the cancer took hold. Her brother became a first time father making his mom a first time grandmother. And, Steph graduated from medical school and got married with her mom witness to both.

Joy, bliss, heart ache, grief....life in its many forms flowed in and out wave after wave. And now people will gather to honour a life lived, to re-aquaint, to re-confirm and to remember.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Swami Says, A Horror Scope

Yesterday, my friend Jayelle commented on my toe to top wardrobe choice of bright orange. She said, "Swami's wear orange."

Instantly, her comment brought on a flashback.

It was the mid 80's. University. Slightly post degree but still on campus at the student newspaper.

I wrote a weekly column that sometimes didn't appear weekly.

Swami Says was a horror scope. I did not consult any oracles. I simply made up the content. Ha.

Questions to self: Was this an early indication of my future as a calendar publisher? Should Swami reincarnate within Breast of Canada? Do I need to put a restraining order on my imagination?

Anyway, so as not to appear selfish, I will share a slice of Swami Says with you. Here's my prediction for Cancer, our current sign of the time from a week back in 1987.

Cancer: June 21 to July 22
Today is yesterdays tomorrow AND now. Accent on pizza brings out flavour. Financial interests compound. Leo in closet.

Calendar Girl likes the swishy sound of Swami.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: My Echo Magazine Cover Girl Story

Chris from Breast Stories wondered if I am on the cover of the Echo Magazine in this blogs sidebar.

The short answer is yes.

My principle photographer, Melanie Gillis, thought it would be cool to put me on a roof top in downtown Guelph, sporting some duds and accessories from one of my calendar vendors On the Verge.

Of course the photo op required me to be topfree.

And plastered up with 'natural looking' makeup. (I digress, but, how does putting makeup on make your natural, non-made up face look more natural?) Anyhow, the makeup was strangely more disconcerting than not wearing a top. Especially when the store owner, Kathy, whom I've known and done business with for years, didn't recognize me when I arrived to get fitted for the shoot.

The published cover got mixed reactions.

I loved it. At 45, I figured, being saucy and bold and a cover girl was pretty much fun with a capital F.

Some of my friends (?) were um...unsure.

Regardless, I've got a copy hanging in my front entrance at home. And my brother took it to his baseball practice. He likes bragging about his artsy baby sister.

Calendar Girl tries to take opportunities when they present themselves even though she is as introverted as she is extroverted.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Accepting Compliments

Dear Calendar Girl - you have outdone yourself!

The 2006 calendar is brilliant.

I think the many collages and group photos is what does the trick. There is joy, hope and acceptance in the 12 months.

I'd like to order two more please. I'm keeping one, giving the other to my breast cancer friend but would now like to give one to my GP and have one to show around for potential ordering/distribution for you. Go ahead and charge me for two more please!

Go girl! You rock. From: A happy customer.

Calendar Girl appreciates the feedback from her customers. It's like fuel for the tank and energy for the soul. And Calendar Girl also likes to let others have their say about how the calendar affects them. And, even more importantly, Calendar Girl believes that learning how to accept compliments is an important step in personal growth. Do you bat compliments away from you as quickly as they arrive. Or do you catch them with graciousness?

Here's another response.

"Thank you very much for sending me your gorgeous calendars! They are even more fabulous than I had expected! When I showed them to my 9 year old daughter, her response was that the calendars were "beautiful". She said it so sincerely and so sweetly, I wish you had heard her say it."

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: Our Breast Haiku Contest

Introducing the 2nd Annual Breast of Canada Calendar Haiku Contest

Haiku Contest beckons
Sweet words of breast love
Soft comfort gently shared

We at the Breast of Canada calendar would like to invite you (yes YOU) to enter our Haiku contest with your breast Haiku. The photographic theme for the 2007 calendar is Women and Work....perhaps this theme can be poetically incorporated. Or not. It's up to you because you, my friend, have creative license.

Please send hard copy submissions to:
P.O. Box 714,
Guelph, On N1H 6L3

Deadline: September 30th 2005.

Please include your return address, phone number and email address.

Several submissions will be published in the 2007 Breast of Canada calendar.

And as further grease for your creative mill, here are some examples of our 2006 Breast Haiku Contest submissions.

These are mine. Not grand
and not perfect but I want
to keep what is mine.

Connie Jones, Alberta

before childbearing
flowers bloom without nectar
breasts of young women.

Nancy Olwen Morrey, Ontario

Constant companions,
grown tired over the journey -
no less beautiful.

Ellen S. Jaffe, Ontario

While it was that day
the doctors threw it away.
Breast of Canada.

Janet Hosokawa, B.C.

Calendar Girl encourages you to put pen to paper. Be Brave. Have Fun. And please share this Haiku Contest info with anyone who might be interested.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: The Salt Lick Boys

The geriatric yellow dog, Tully, is melting into a puddle on the deck. We've discussed him moving into the shade but he is finding the heat to be therapeutic to his stiff old joints so he's decided not to listen to me. Rather than argue (you never win with a lab) I've moved into the shade as testament that my brain is bigger and I'm smarter.

So there. Na, na.

Last evening, I attended the 50th birthday celebration of James and Val, a couple I've known pretty much since moving to Guelph in 1981. In a previous incarnation, when I worked in the music industry, I was James' booking agent and publicist. I spent ten years booking gigs for him (and his various bands) all over North America. During the same time period I took a three year stint (89-91) as Artistic Director of Guelph's Hillside Music Festival.

Despite not being a musician myself,(my musical claim to fame was that I owned a stereo) pretty much my entire world was layered with live, original music and the folks that made it. Never would a week pass without me catching a couple of acts or working a gig, listening to demo tapes or attending a recording session.

But time marches on. I changed vocation to seek my own art, unplugged from that scene and now only on occasion venture out to catch a show.

Still, live original music owns a piece of my heart and rests fondly in my memory bank.

So imagine my delight when the 'The Salt Lick Boys' took the stage to entertain the B-day crowd revilers.

James and Val have two sons, Evan and Geordie, currently riding around their second decade of life and both ridiculously talented musicians. Together with two other sons of musicians, they took the stage. Evan on keyboard sported a sharp white dinner jacket, big dark shades and close cut hair, head bobbing rhythmically with the groove and confidence I associate with world class. Geordie, sweet faced, with a 50's flip and guitar slung loose like a holster was front man. He and the other two lads, dazzled with swank maroon and grey jackets and 'slippery shoes' that afforded them moves that Elvis would have coveted.

The audience was on full perma grin and the birthday girl(mom) and boy(dad) beamed like lighthouses. It was an electrifying show. The audience erupted with bellowing, whistles and rousing applause time and again.

After the encore, Calendar Girl asked Geordie to sign her arm. He bashfully declined.

The old yellow dog finally took my advise and got out of the sun. Of course, Tully claimed it was his idea.

Calendar Girl
Publishing a calendar for you to record your life on.

Calendar Girl Blog: A Happy Customer

Dear Calendar Girl,

Greetings bear I from wet eastern shores to sunny Guelph. Allow me to update you. Since the Venusberg confirmed that the consignment of gold arrived today, I careened into the office and said 'anyone for shopping?'. It turned out to be a bad moment due to conference calls so they entrusted me to the shrine alone.

The good ladies of the shop of the evening star,Venus Envy, (which is much more fun to visit in company) were intrigued that I should be scooping out calendars from the cardboard box under the table that had only just arrived, and not been unpacked. I think I sort of promised them a stampede. I had promised my colleagues not to look at anything in the store and especially not to peek at the calendar, which was now wrapped.

I returned to the office where we referentially and ceremoniously opened the Tablets of Stones of Sue to determine the messages that would guide us during 2006.

Well Calendar Girl, you have excelled yourself - again. Unbelievable - no it isn't, you know I have unswerving faith. I think we have decided to hang the calendar in the entrance way as the first thing visitors will see. They think you are really cool and neat, and so do I.

Then over to Atlantic News where Breast of Canada is prominently displayed amongst the women's magazines, not the calendars. Odd, but not wrong. Thank you Steve and Michelle.

Phew - not bad for day 1, like Nouveau Beaujolais. I shall let my reactions percolate for a while.

A Loyal Coaster of Halifax

Calendar Girl must tell you that she wore mitts, a scarf and a wool coat last night while sitting around a camp fire....it was that cold.

Darn, maybe we are always frozen up here.

Calendar Girl

Calendar Girl Blog: The Yellow Dog

Tully, my 12 year old yellow lab friend is staying with me for the weekend. I've known him since he was the size of a butter coloured volley ball.

In his day, Tully was an athlete. He took Gold for 'Freestyle Diving Off Rock' as deemed by the two Canadian judges, one of which was his human.

Yes we were biased. And the only other dog at the competition was afraid of the water. But still, Tully's form, distance and entry was enough to make us leap to our feet in a standing ovation time after time.

Now at 84 in dog year's, Tully's still a looker but his arthritic joints and feet prevent him from engaging in his sport. Mostly he sits on his blanket, smiling and waiting for supper.

Since the first calendar, Tully has made the credits page. I list him under the heading Dogs and his job is integral to the projects success. If it were not for Tully (and the other dogs that have been listed in the Breast of Canada calendar over the year's: Stew, Lou and Maeve) I would have gone crazy by now, and been picked up by the Humane Society for some manner of inappropriate behaviour. Likely biting people.

But thanks to Dogs, I have stayed sane and free of incarceration.

Here's why.

My dog friends love to go walking by the lake, river, in the forest, through the fields and even around town. When walking they are totally consumed by the walk and all that presents itself on the walk. They are not worrying about their next or last walk, their dinner, their bank accounts, or anything for that matter. Any concerns that might have stuck in their brains are wiped clean or put on hold for the walks duration.

I have learned to follow their example. It's a form of mind rest that rivals any mindfulness meditation and inevitably leads me closer to a place of peace. All I have to do is leash up a dog and let him/her take me on a walk. Unless I'm totally mindless and unable to be in the moment at all, I will be rewarded. My dog friends joy is infectious and impossible for me to ignore.

Calendar Girl's dog Stew died in her arms two and a half year's ago from cancer, with a vet's assitance. Tully arrived later that sad day. He went directly to her final resting spot, sat down and started to howl. Within seconds all the dogs in the neighbourhood joined in on the Wailing Wake for Stew. Calendar Girl included.

Calendar Girl
Hippy Canada Day (thx mg)