Sep 28, 2014

KIDS | Spending Some Time with "Pa"


When I first saw these entertaining pix of 2 1/2 year old Aeitch Ruberg enjoying some outdoor fun with his Grandpa, the first thing that came to mind was Happy Rolph's -the bird sanctuary in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

As it turns out, I had good reason to have thought of the popular park, that's precisely where they were!  The paths, those rocks their sitting on. I recognized them all.

Just call me Nature Boy Leavoy.


Sep 22, 2014

KIDS | Fun at the Fair



Seeing these pix of Dylan, Ian, Em, Ethan and the gang having such a great time at the Annual Renfrew Fair, it reminds me of myself at that age and at that exact same fair (heck I bet they might even have some of the same rides and stuff there still.)

I miss that fair, it is truly one of the best -and I would say that even if I hadn't won First Prize for my painting of Suzie Squirrel, when I was in Grade 2.

Definitely I can identify with the smiles of our friends pictured here because the Renfrew Fair truly has something for everyone. 

DOUBLE DUTY- WE LIKED THIS PIC SO MUCH IT MADE ITS WAY ONTO TWO NEW POSTS THIS WEEK

Sep 15, 2014

EDITORIAL | Record Response to Summer Posts


When we launched PART ONE of All About Your Summer last weekend we received over 500 visits in just one day! 

That's a new Scribbles record and I'll show my age by quoting Sally Fields when she won her Oscar Award in 1985, by saying, "You like me, you really like me.'

Granted, it had been a few months since we had added a lot of new content all at one time, and we did feature two full webpages of your Summer adventures, two things that definitely account for the larger than usual response.

Whatever it is, we hope to continue that trend this week with PART TWO of All About Your Summer. There's plenty more adventures that your fellow Scribbles pals were up to and our second installment tells you all about them.

Now that we've pretty much covered most of your Summer stuff, in the coming weeks, we'll be looking to add some new videos, introduce a new feature and keep you up-to-date with coming events details and what everyone's up to right now. 

I won't carve anything in stone, but I'd like to publish blocks of new posts on a weekly basis, it's a format that seems to work for me right now and gives you something new to look forward to each week. We'll see how things go -sometimes pain management and doctor appointments take top billing in my day-to-day life, leaving less time for my favourite creative outlet.

A great big thank you once again, for your the tremendous response to last week's relaunch. As you've probably guessed by now, it takes a great deal of time and thought putting Scribbles together.

Something that may take you only a few minutes to read, view and enjoy, might actually have taken me many late hours to put together. Knowing that so many of you are stopping by to check it all out, makes every second of my efforts worth it.

'Till next week.

Ken Leavoy
EDITOR  |  CEO



ENTERTAINMENT | Y&R Fall Teaser

You've got to hand it to the Young and the Restless, as twisted and ridiculous as the show's storyline's are, they get props for their ability to hype it. Here's a recent sample.

Sep 14, 2014

SUMMER | PART TWO


Life Imitates Art

Just when you thought you'd seen and chuckled at all of Jeanne Prince's zany vacation pix, along comes the two amusing shots above.

PIX FROM PART 1 OF JEANNE & MEGAN'S VISIT
As you'll remember from last week's first part of All About Your Summer, Jeanne and her daughter Megan Fox spent an adventure-packed week in Niagara this August. Always in great demand by family and friends, the girls cram a lot of visits into each day.

While staying in Niagara, Jeanne and Megan make a local motel home base for the week. A few buildings away there is a sex shop. Somewhat surprisingly, the store's merchandise is quite visible from outside its doors. Generally such stores keep their windows covered, but not at this remote location.

Always entertaining, our friend Jeanne strikes a pose...the pose of the mannequin in the window to be precise and does a stellar job.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see a new career in Jeanne's near future?


If you missed PART ONE of Jeanne & Megan Brighten Niagara...  click here.


KIDS | Little G & Me!


Scribbles VIDEO

YOU | Nana's Special Gift


ME | My Serine Getaway

I LOVE TO SIT AND ENJOY THE VIEW OF THE RIVER AT THE CAMPGROUNDS WHILE TIMMI RUNS & PLAYS
As we've mentioned many times before, my good friends Doug & Heather have a trailer at N.E.T. Camp Resort in Vineland, ON.

The popular campground has plenty of attractions. There's a swimming pool, a splash pad, a river and lots of events throughout the Summer months.

Of course, you can also choose to simply stay at Doug & Heather's trailer, party a bit, hang out around the campfire, just relax and forget your worries for a while. This is usually what I do the most, whenever I have enjoyed a visit there.

DOUG, HEATHER & THEIR TRAILER
Depending upon whether or not Doug & Heather's dogs are at the trailer or not, my buddy Timmi has often joined me at the campground. He loves it there, especially when I take him for a walk around the river, where there's plenty of open area for him to run around, play and relive his childhood (or would that be "puppy-hood"?)

I usually don't stay for more than one night when I visit the campground, because I don't like leaving JJ all alone for longer than that. Doug came up with a "purr-fect" plan...bring Timmi AND JJ with me. This way I could stay for a couple of days and enjoy the trailer with both of my "kids".

JJ was quite content exploring the trailer and observing the action outside, through the sliding patio doors or one of the many windows.  Just like the rest of us, he had discovered the appeal of being at the campsite.

We're planning on doing this one more time before the campground closes for the season on Thanksgiving weekend.





UP IN SMOKE: A CLOSE-UP OF THE CAMPFIRE


KIDS | How Can it Be, Colton is Three!


ENCORE VIDEO | 

Here's a video from Father's Day 2013 featuring Cole and his dad Tim.



Little Brother Steps Up to the Scribbles Spotlight

With all we've mentioned about Cole and his parents Tim & Robin, you'd be forgiven if you thought he was an only child. You'd also be ....ummmmm.....wrong! 

Adorable little brother Campbell is the newest member of the Whyte family and as we see here, he just might have a career, starting at a very young age.  LOL!


YOU | Rich Gets "Reel"


When our Fort Erie friend Rich Hunt posted this pix to his facebook page, he titled it "Worst Fisherman Ever". Alas, he might be on to something, even the animated fishies I added to the photo, don't seem to be biting.

When I look at this pix, it reminds me of how Rich makes the best of each moment. No matter what the season or the weather, you can bet Rich will find a way to turn it into something special.

It's just one of many things I love about Rich, the man of many talents and a thousand words of wisdom.

Scribbles ENCORE VIDEO

This video gives you a double dose of Rich Hunt. All the photos featured in the video were taken by him and he also performs his original song "Be Awhile". Scribbles put the two together and this is the result.




"Excuses and explanations for personal reasons, in any connection, are a plea to have both the listener and the speaker accept what is. It is egoic living and they blind both parties from the real truth."

-Rich Hunt 

KIDS | Super Swingers!




PHOTO COURTESY MEKO PHOTOGRAPHY

 And we'd be remiss if we didn't include this adorable pix of the Dennis twins in their Sunday best.

YOU | Fan-tastic!


Angela O'Neill-Whiteley could barely contain herself, when she and some friends attended Fan Expo on Labour Day weekend.  The four day event gave fans a chance to meet some of the stars of their favourite TV series and movies.

From cast from The Walking Dead to Star Wars Chewbacca, our excited friend met them all.

Not just a fan, Angela, a skilled body painter, shared a booth where she got to show off her talents. Her efforts attracted the attention of some celebrities, C3PO from Star Wars fame and even Global TV.  The network featured a report from Fan Expo, which featured a glimpse of Angie creating works of art on the human form.

Sounds like you can scratch a lot of things off your bucket list after this momentous event Ang!

INSPIRATION |


Sep 7, 2014

SUMMER | PART ONE BEGINS HERE...

YOU | Cottage Retreat


The Convery family have always been close and this season was certainly no exception. Becky Lee, Shannon Convery, Susan Convery, and other family members spent as much time as possible at the family's brand new cottage located on Pappineau Lake in Eastern Ontario.

It's been several years since I have been there. In fact, they hadn't even begun tearing down the old place and replacing it with a modern dream cottage. But regardless of the cottage you slept in, it was all about "location, location, location." and still is.  "Maggie's Cove" [the name the family gave their cottage in memory of their mom] is located in a remote area. Sure there's other cottages dotting the lake, but compared to the hustle bustle of a city or town, it's a piece of heaven. Peaceful and serine.

Heck if I had something like that, I'd be tempted to spend the entire Summer there. Glad you gals got to enjoy time at your very special place.

KIDS | Introducing Vincent Carlomusto


OK,  we confess, we are most definitely a bit tardy with this announcement, but as they say, "Better late than never."

Proud Mommy Meghan wrote this on facebook this Summer, "Vincent Michael Carlomusto (6lb 3oz) entered the world Mon. July 6 at 11:00pm! He surprised us all coming a little early but we are both doing great."

Little Vincent certainly has a great sense of fashion, as we see below in this recent photo.

He's adorable Meghan and Joe. Congrats!



YOU | Star Struck Stacey

Stacey Monahan with Country singer Terri Clark
In July, our friend Stacey Monahan not only enjoyed Country singer Terri Clark in concert, she also met her in person after the show.  What makes this story even more interesting is that Stacey had no idea she was going to meet Terri Clark that night. 

How did it happen?  We'll let Stacey tell you herself...

Tatts the way, uh huh, uh huh, she likes it -Stacey gets inked
"It was quite an amazing story how I got to meet one of my idols and all-time favorite country music stars Terri Clark. Months before the concert at the Scotiabank Center in Niagara Falls, notification of tickets on sale popped up on my Facebook page and I jumped on front row seats. 

I will digress for a moment and say that currently P!NK is my all time hero, but back in the day (90's) Terri Clark was my P!NK...

I had planned to prepare an acoustic guitar with a portrait of Terri painted on it to take with me to the concert with a mere hope that because the venue was so small and Terri is no longer the unapproachable high-profile celebrity that she was in the 90s, there might be a chance I could get it autographed. Because of my busy schedule I never ended up getting the portrait painted so I brought the guitar blank. I was disappointed in myself because I figured seeing her portrait guitar would be my surefire ticket to get an autograph if she saw it.

It was my hope that she would see my big goofy smile sitting close to the stage with my guitar gleaming in the lights, Sharpie [marker] in hand, and maybe come by quickly and sign between songs. I even had an "X" Marks the Spot, so that if she had to do it quickly she would know where to sign.

As the concert went on it started to feel like I was not going to get my guitar signed. I was okay with that because I didn't truly expect it anyway, it was just a hope.

I went out for a beer and in the line a woman standing behind me started asking about my guitar. I told her my story about the guitar & the hope I had for it. I told her about how far back my love for Terri went and how much it would mean to me if I got it signed. The more I spoke the more her eyes lit up. I started to wonder why this woman was listening to me so intently.

Terri Clark photo & tattoo
She FINALLY gets a word in edgewise when my piehole took a breath and the words that came from her mouth astounded me. She said "how much does that signed guitar really mean to you?" 

Of course I promptly reassured her it would mean the world to me as I wondered where she was going with her question. She reached into her purse as she was telling me "I have something in here I think you might love and you can have it if you promise to pay it forward" at that point I really was not sure what she was going to pull out of her purse. She pulled out a Terri Clark concert meet and greet VIP ticket and handed it to me.

I swear that thing had a white halo around it!

I was stunned and shocked and immediately hugged this perfect stranger.

I was on cloud nine for the rest of the evening. The meet and greet was set up like an assembly line and was very quick but I was super happy to get my guitar autographed. I will be painting her portrait on it soon. She signed close to the X I had marked on the guitar so it will be perfectly placed along with the portrait when the artwork is done.


Since the concert I have had her portrait tattooed on my leg in addition to several of my other female music idols from different genres and different generations. This musical tattoo piece was also a wonderful lucky fantastic story as the artist who did it was Sarah Miller from the second season of ink master. Another separate amazing story.

I don't get star struck easily but I can definitely say meeting Terri Clark was a bucket list highlight. 


Next up...P!NK!! I might have to wait until the prime of her career is over to get it but I am determined. 

These ladies mean more to me than just good music. It Is what they stand for, what they believe in, the message they deliver and just the bad-ass beauties that they are, appeals to me & reflects a little of who I am as well" 


Wow Stacey, that's quite the wild adventure, thanks for sharing it with Scribbles.

YOU | Our Newest Scribbles Friend

TIMMI GETS A LIFT AS HE POSES WITH LORENZO OUTSIDE OF HIS HOUSE.
It's pretty awesome having friends who have been hangin' out with Scribbles for many years now. but equally exciting is introducing someone who has only recently discovered our one-of-a-kind site.

Meet Lorenzo Cromwell, who moved to Port Colborne this Summer with his cats Miss Lily and her kitten brother Mr. Pepper.

I met Lorenzo through mutual friends Mikol Zarhochak and his husband Dave Nelson. Lorenzo and I seem to have several things in common and visiting with him is always nice.

Lorenzo lives in a cozy home that's within walking distance of a grocery store and an array of amazing cafes and shops in the city's downtown section. Despite how close those amenities are, it's actually very quiet where Lorenzo's house is located, ideal for his passions, photography and painting.

Port Colborne really is such a nice place. We had dinner at the Smokin'  Buddha, we sat outside where Timmi was welcome to stay as well. What a cool little city, no wonder people flock here for Canal Days each year.

So here it is Lorenzo...your "official" introduction to the rest of the Scribbles gang. I'm quite certain you will all get along just wonderfully!  LOL!



YOU | Forever Love

PHOTOS COURTESY: DORTHY GALE, CHERYL TERRYBERRY-BRAYE

Perhaps wedding bells were ringing and classic cars had horns a beeping, at the wedding of Donnie and Jen MacLean.

The happy couple who reside in Calgary, Alberta, returned to Ontario to be wed in Beamsville, with family and friends on hand to witness the big event.

In a facebook post, Donnie wrote,  "August 23 2014 I married my best friend my love and soulmate."

A few days after the wedding Donny added " I can't thank Jens and my family enough for everything they did for us for the wedding and the time spent while we were down."

Congrats Donnie and Jen. You truly make a great couple and we couldn't be happier for you.

PHOTO COURTESY CHERYL TERRYBERRY-BRAYE

KIDS | Life's a Beach for Little Alina


YOU | A Sweet Reward


My niece Erin graduated from Niagara College this Spring and in early July we all gathered at her parents home for a graduation party.  Relatives from near and far were on hand for the big event, which included several mind challenging games and a dip in the pool for some of us.

Erin successfully completed the Baking and Pastry Arts program, something that was quite evident with the desserts she had made. Deeee-Lish!

Congratulations Erin!