enRICHments | You Are Who You Are

PHOTO COURTESY: BASIA BIGDER

More Words of Wisdom by Rich Hunt

"YOU are NOT defined by what you do! YOU are NOT defined by what you say! You can't be defined! You are who you are...sometimes you need a break and sometimes you need to give it! Don't define others and don't define yourself. 

Why you ask? Because you are worth more than imagination...you are perfection unfolding in a unique and perfect way.

Perfection may not always feel good, but sometimes a good kick in the butt to get things motivated is required just try!

That's all anyone can ask. It's all I ask"

CHECK IT OUT!

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Scribbles sidebar now contains more info than ever before, including expanded EVENTS and YOUR  BUSINESS sections, your favourite FACEBOOK pages and a massive archive of SCRIBBLES VIDEOS and PAST POSTS. Plus we have SCRIBBLES INTERVIEWS & REVIEWS and our MEMORIAL section.

And if you're looking for MUSIC VIDEOS or other viral clips from the past few years, you can now find them near the end of our sidebar.

New info, ads and events listings are added almost every day, so even when you haven't received an email from us telling you there's new posts on Scribbles, you can visit our website ANYTIME 24/7 and find something new in our sidebar section.

KIDS | Sam I Am

PHOTOS COURTESY JENN YOUNG | FACEBOOK

Seems it was only a few weeks ago that we were introducing you to Jenn and Sean Young's new pride and joy, their son Sam.

Now the wee guy is 6 months old! In the left photo above, Sam shows us what he thinks of his blended chicken... "Gross".

The middle pic really warmed our hearts. Jenn took the photo of Sean, baby Sam, and the family's pets all nestled in together.

Jenn said on facebook, "All of my boys are enjoying the book that Granny sent! Such a special gift... A recordable book! Now Granny can read to Sam before bed every night."

And the last photo... well the frame says it all, little Sam poses when he recently turned 6 months old. Such a cutie.

Looks like it will be a very special holiday season in the Young's home this year.

INSPIRATION |

YOU | Introducing Willah

Our friend Karin Campbell-Gadd shed tears of joy as she held her new granddaughter Willah for the first time.

Karin told Scribbles, "Willah Logan Gadd was born Nov. 3rd at 3:55 pm weighing 7 lbs 6 oz and 20" long."

Willah's parents are Karin's son Dustin and his fiance Taylor Flake.

"There are not enough words to describe how it feels to become  grandparent" Karin proudly shared.

Judging by the magic moments seen here, we think pictures truly are worth a thousand words.

CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED | Who Had This Year's Favourite Costume?

Call it a Tradition

Every year it gets a bit trickier to put together contests for Scribbles, not because we've run out of contest ideas, far from it. But you can't expect many people to enter a contest if you don't have some type of prize to offer them.  Be that as it may, Scribbles Annual Costume Contest is one time we go out of our way to find something "scary" to offer which is usually accompanied by some type of gift card.

This year we had 23 costume photos entered in our contest. That's our highest number to date and makes me very happy.

The video above reveals this year's winner, along with the runners up and takes one last look at all of this year's creative and oh-so-cool entries, who would all get prizes if I won a lottery!

Thank you to everyone who sent in photos this year and to those who took the time to vote for their favourite.

Our next contest is only weeks away and another Scribbles staple. Yes, Jane and our other longtime Scribbles friends, "Find Frosty Contest" is returning. Find Frosty debuted in the early 80's  in our Sunny Digest days and was featured annually in Scribbles Magazines. It has appeared on our website as well.

When it debuted, the prize for finding the tiny snowman we had hidden somewhere amongst our pages, was about 25 cents.  I can personally assure you this year's prize value is worth 4 times that amount...LOL!

THIS JUST IN!

This year's contest winner has asked that we hang on to  DVD movies. We have a few other prizes also on hand and in 2015 we should have a great contest and offer all these goodies as prizes!

CELEBRITY | 23 Years Ago

23 years ago we said goodbye to Freddie Mercury, although sometimes it feels like he is still here.

Queen continue to tour, paying homage to Mercury with Adam Lambert and previously unreleased tracks featuring Freddie's vocals are now also available.

You can visit You Tube, FreddieMercury.com or many other sites to watch concerts and music videos featuring Freddie at his finest, or interviews with the always outrageous legend.

I remember listening to Queen, my home lit only by candles, on the evening of Nov. 24, 1991 as I cried over the world's tremendous loss. I would cry, laugh and pay my respects shortly later, when a star-studded group of musicians played a tribute concert to Freddie, beamed live across the planet.

Freddie Mercury's persona and success were grander than life and still continue to be, 23 years after this remarkable voice was silenced.

REVIEW | DCT's 'The Queen of Bingo'

DTC'S 'THE QUEEN OF BINGO' NOV 8 PERFORMANCE - PHOTOS by SCRIBBLES

As I've mentioned before, I often think of the Dunnville Community Theatre [DCT] as the little engine that could. You know the old kid's story... the little train doesn't think he can make it to the top of the hill, but then conquers his fears and succeeds.

PHOTO COURTESY DIANE MORRIS

DCT's a lot like that. The local theatre group resides at the Dunnville Optimist's Club and for over a year now, the building has been undergoing major renovations. As a result, the group's past few productions have been performed in the auditorium using makeshift stages and minimal set changes.

While some might use this state of disarray as a valid reason to take a break, the devoted members of the DCT just keep chug chug chugging along.

DCT's latest production The Queen of Bingo by Jeanne Michels and Phyllis Murphy played well in the Optimist Club's auditorium, where the hall often holds Bingo. During the play's intermission, the audience got to play an actual game of Bingo. I came so very close to winning.

The Queen of Bingo starred Diane Morris and Angie Knuth as Bingo loving siblings Sis and Babe, Michael Maloney as both Father Mac and the Bingo caller and Candace Stern, Sheila Schumacher and Liza Kennedy as the Bingo hall's helpers. 

Sis and Babe may be sisters, but their personalities are as different as night and day. Sis plays Bingo mainly for the fun of it and seems content in her widowhood. Babe on the other hand is very VERY competitive and tired of being alone. Together Sis and Babe are there for each other - and, thanks to the brilliant performances of Ms. Morris and Ms. Knuth - often with very amusing results.

Audiences may recognize Diane Morris and Michael Maloney from their roles in previous DCT productions and this was Angie Knuth's first show with the diverse theatre group.

The Queen of Bingo was directed by our friend Nancy Erskine, who is no stranger to live theatre and a familiar face on Scribbles.co. My sister Kim & I enjoy getting to see Nancy as much as we do DCT's creative productions themselves.

It will be an exciting day when this group with a heat of gold, shines once again in its redesigned theatre. But until such time, the show must go on, from whatever space is available at the time.

That's something this determined little train engine has grown to understand with proudness.

MIKE MCLACHLAN OF DUNNVILLE ROTARY
 PRESENTS DCT PRESIDENT NANCY ERSKINE WITH THE JACK MERIGOLD BURSARY

ME | I Need a "Little" Christmas

THE SNOWMAN IN MIDDLE PIX SITS UNDER MY XMAS TREE

This will be my first Christmas at my new place and with it came the question, "Where will I put my tree and decorations this year?"

LITTLE TOUCHS ON DOORS & WINDOWS

This is a small apartment and fortunately so is my Christmas tree, which sits atop my fireplace, making it look ever so much taller...LOL!

With no money for new decorations, I've repurposed some old stuff. red and white berry clusters which were once part of a floral bouquet, are now tree decorations.

An old silk poinsettia whose stems were frayed, have become part of my kitchen table centrepiece, amongst the potted faux cactus and succulents, minus their worn out stems.

Raised up on a small pillar in the hall outside the washroom is another poinsettia with faux grasses added to give it even more height and "umph". [LOL, ya, ok whatever you say Mr. Decorator.]

A small ceramic Santa and snowmen are on the window ledge in the living room, while a singing reindeer greets you in the john.

A tiny touch of Christmas here, a little touch there and we're done.

Less is more. Good things come in small packages. They all apply when "It's beginning to look a "little" like Christmas" is the look you're going for.

YES, I KNOW "BAD KITTY" FOR SITTING ON THE TABLE - BUT HE JUST LOOKS SO CUTE WITH THE XMAS CENTREPIECE & POSED ALL BY HIMSELF

INSPIRING | A Single Pink Bloom That Means So Much

It may seem a bit odd to see a close up of a Christmas cactus with its lone pink bloom, in a photo whose quality won't win me any accolades.  Not unlike its owner, my old iphone's camera is showing its age and doesn't fair well when it comes to trying to zoom in on things.

Yet despite the fact I would have preferred a better source for snapping this pix, I can't begin to tell you how freaky it was to have discovered the little pink bloom in the first place.

This particular Christmas cactus used to belong to my aunt - Connie Farquharson - who passed away on July 21st.  

When I joined family members in Renfrew for Connie's funeral, we stayed at my aunt's apartment overnight. Needless to say it was a bit surreal to be sleeping in the place my aunt had called home for several years.

Some items had already been packed or claimed by relatives, while others had been labelled by Connie to indicate who certain things were to go to.  A tiny ceramic elephant I had once given Connie as a gift, had the words "KEN L." written in ink on the bottom. It was now mine to bring home with me.

I had always admired my aunt's houseplants. In its prime, Connie's collection was a small jungle of flourishing plants in assorted coloured flower pots. It wasn't quite the great forest, creek and crops that surrounded her and uncle Don when they spent decades living on the infamous Farquaharson farm, but it was still an impressive collection.

As no one had expressed an interest in the Christmas cactus and the wicker container it was in, I checked with my cousin's to see if I could give it a new home at my apartment. It's been here ever since.

This will be my family's first Christmas without my aunt. Discovering her plant has sprouted a flower feels like a sign that a little part of my aunt is in some way here with me this holiday season.

A single pink bloom that means so much. 


Related Link:
SCRIBBLES TRIBUTE SECTION IN LOVING MEMORY OF CONNIE FARQUHARSON - CLICK HERE

PETS | Mother's Little Helper

When it comes to seeing pix of our Niagara Falls friend Kerri Thomson-Fortier's cat Maggie, there's one thing that immediately comes to mind, "Man, does that cat ever look like JJ"

Your cat doesn't necessarily have to look like Maggie for you relate to your kitty's eagerness to help you set up the Christmas tree and personally inspect each ornament in your big box of decorations.

Photos like the ones above remind us that in the air there's a "feline" of Christmas. [OK, these are getting just too sappy, someone needs his nap now LOL]

ENTERTAINMENT | Get to the Hospital, the Patients are Restless!

(L to R) GENERAL HOSPITAL STARS: DONNA MILLS, MICHELLE STAFFORD, MAURA WEST, BILLY MILLER, EMME RYLAN

Does anyone out there in Scribblesland still watch GENERAL HOSPITAL? I tune in occasionally -I don't even know many character's names or their storyline history, but I still tune in for unintentional laughs, because the soap's storylines are so bloody ridiculous.

They have 3 very good looking openly gay characters, something that prompted me to check out this ABC daytime staple in the first place, but you don't seem to see much of them in the over-the-top storylines.

The show has picked up a ton of former THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS stars lately. The Y&R's original Abby, Diane, Phyllis and now even the "first Billy, the good one" are all on General Hospital.

GENERAL HOSPITAL THINKS OUTSIDE THE "BOX" WITH THIS GAY LOVE TRIANGLE

My favourite is popular soap star Michelle Stafford. On the Y&R, her character Phyllis fell down a stairwell and went into a coma about a year ago. This way Michelle could return to the show in the future if she wanted to. That didn't happen. Stafford is now Nina on General Hospital, who - quite coincidentally - awoke from being in a coma for many years. Go into a coma as one person on a show and come out of it as someone else on another show (and network).  BOY...that was SOME coma.

Former Knot's Landing icon Donna Mills has also joined the bulging General Hospital cast. If you don't remember her by name, her face should be familiar...and we DO mean FAMILIAR. The 71 year old actress looks exactly the same way she did back in the 80's. She's obviously had plenty of work done.

Spend a mind-numbing hour watching General Hospital (or any of the other 3 U.S. daytime dramas still on the air) and you'll see why this silly, sudsy type of programming continues to lose viewers in record numbers.  

Will they remain on the air much longer?  As they say in soap opera land, "Tune in again tomorrow"

We must admit, we're not certain who the lucky person was who had the opportunity to take the photo seen below, but we're sure glad they did.

With all the images coming in from Buffalo, NY of homes and towns buried beneath up to 7 feet or more of snow and the snow that's blanketed most of our cities and towns in white, looking at photos that feature snow, may be a bit much for some of us to take.

But in the case of this tranquil pic, we're willing to make an exception.

When I first saw this photo on Lorenzo Cromwell's facebook page, the first word out of my mouth was a very loud "WOW!"

Taken near the entrance of the Niagara Gorge, a few days before Mother Nature covered everything in a blanket of snow, Lorenzo has once again captured the beautiful colours of Fall in a way only he can.

Awesome photo Lorenzo, thanks for letting us share it.

ME | "Winner/Gagnant"

ME @ CAMPGROUND IN SUMMER -RETOUCHED

Life's funny sometimes ..... I went to get a few groceries today, carefully sticking to the list I had streamlined to include only the things I need NOW as opposed to those that can wait until the end of the month when I will have a little more to spend for such luxuries.

As I was leaving the store, I remembered I had a 649 ticket from a few weeks ago which I had not checked yet.

I was all prepared to see the words "this is not a winning ticket" or be teased by the ticket scanning device saying "Winner/gagnant" only to discover I won a free ticket or $5 but instead WAS THRILLED to see I won $89.60. 

WOO HOO! I was so excited!

Can't plan to travel the world or buy a new house, but I will be going back for those brand name Cheerios a bit sooner than first thought!

KIDS | Do You Know The Muffin Man?

PHOTO COURTESY: CATHY DICK

Photos of our little pal Emerson Rose seem to be appearing frequently on Scribbles these days. And as long as she keeps melting our hearts with moments like this, you can expect the trend to continue.

These photos were taken while Em was visiting with her Gramma, Cathy Dick, helping out in the kitchen, baking muffins.

Em certainly does look impressed with her yummy creation, doesn't she?  LOL

If the photo of Em looking down at the muffin in awe looks familiar, it is.....well, sorta.  We used a photoshopped version of this photo in our Costume Contest Video, where she's looking at gift cards instead of what really made her happy.

EVENT | Fri. Nov. 28

CLICK HERE TO VISIT FACEBOOK PAGE WITH ALL THE DETAILS

YOU | Welcome to His Nightmare

ALICE COOPER IN CONCERT AT CASINO RAMA  |  RAMA, ON  |  PHOTO COURTESY LARRY SAGE

You may not always walk out a winner after hitting the slots at Casino Rama, but you'd have hit the jackpot if you were there the night Alice Cooper recently appeared in concert. The classic rocker and his band The Alice Cooper Army entertained a sold-out venue as only the macabre Cooper could and with Halloween in the air, the show was all that much more spook-tacular.

Scribbles friend Larry Sage and his girlfriend Dawn were at the concert and as his photos we feature here make obvious, they had ideal front row seats.  This was Larry's 6th time seeing Alice Cooper and the couple's 5th concert together.  

Larry told Scribbles, "The best part of the show had to be when Cooper's wife Cheryl danced and performed on stage as the nurse."

Judging by the pix of her seen in this post, that's one nurse I wouldn't want to mess with. She looks familiar. Didn't she used to work at the old St Catharines General Hospital? [an unnecessary slam I know, but hey, at least I joked that she was from the old hospital and not the modern shiny new conglomerate.]

"Alice has never put on a bad show." Larry shared with Scribbles. 

Thanks for letting me use your concert pix Larry. I have always loved Alice Cooper. I have two of his albums "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell". 

Can you believe there was a time I could recite them both, word for word, from the very first piano note on side one to the last chilling moments on the flip side? It's true!  And that's a devilish bet you can take to the bank. 

NAUGHTY NURSE  |  COOPER AND HIS WIFE CHERYL  PERFORM DURING CONCERT AT CASINO RAMA  |   PHOTO COURTESY  LARRY SAGE

MEMBERS OF THE ALICE COOPER ARMY  |  PHOTO COURTESY LARRY SAGE

ALICE COOPER IN CONCERT AT CASINO RAMA  |  RAMA, ON  |  PHOTO COURTESY LARRY SAGE