Tag Archives: ice cream

happiness

Church and ice cream 

We went to church this morning. I realized as I was sitting there that it was the first time in years I had gone to church with another adult (besides special holidays when we go as an extended family). It was so nice to have someone to sit with during service. Little things like that can bring great happiness. In general I find that it is the little things that add up to big happiness. Time spent sharing stories and laughter, kind words and big hugs – all the things that go into making one feel warm and safe and loved.  They being happiness. 

Tonight Jenna and I had dad’s dessert. Being the northern Ontario guy that he was, maple syrup was important. So it was vanilla ice cream, maple syrup, and peanuts. We added strawberries just because they were there. Yum. It was another happiness moment sitting with her and sharing fun memories of ice cream desserts from the past. 

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The ride home from DQ

We went out this evening for a little DQ treat. I am not exactly sure how the kids convinced me it needed to be done, but they did, and there we were. For some reason when we were there all three of us were cranky and out of sorts. How that is even possible while eating a sundae is beyond my understanding, but it happened. 

On the way home there was an explosion of emotion of gargantuan proportion. My poor little family has been through so much over the last couple of years, and it seems sometimes like there’s been no chance to stop and absorb all the changes. 

One good thing about the bond the three of us has is that we are pretty in tune with each other’s emotions. Even when there’s an explosion it does not last long,  and it’s usually a pretty effective way of getting all the emotional crap out and dealt with. 

I’ve discovered on this happiness journey that true happiness is so much more than butterflies and rainbows. It takes many shapes and often comes out of harder times. My happiness moment today was talking through some deep stuff with my little people. They teach me so much about how to be kind and strong. They show me how to love unconditionally and how to keep faith no matter what we face. I am so grateful for those two little souls. 

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Just do the opposite 

During my Ayurvedic energy session yesterday I spent some time going through my diet to see what we could switch up to help with my sleep. 

We talked about my love of maple syrup (I am Canadian after all) and Asrael said it was ok to keep that in – if I was chowiig down on ice cream that would be different and we would need to address that. 

So, today after I picked the kids up from school we headed to Mackay’s and I did the opposite of what may be best for my sleep, but we sat outside and ate ice cream. But it’s Mackay’s so that makes it ok right?? So many memories are attached to this ice cream, it is a little like a happy pill. 

  
Then we grabbed my mom and went for a family movie night. What a great way to head into the weekend. 

I have had a huge release of that negative emotion and stress over the past couple of days. I know that we will make it through this and that we are loved and protected. We are attracting wonderful things into our lives. 

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Pie and ice cream

Tonight we had a dinner party at my mom’s house. It was the first gathering of laughter in the house since before Dad died. A much needed, long over due time for laughing and sharing.

That house has always been a great house for gathering friends and family. From the time I was a young child I remember people coming together in Grandma and Grandpa’s (now Mom and Dad’s) house for tea, for visits, for fun.

When we would have supper in recent years it was usually finished off with a bowl of ice cream. Never were my sister and I so lucky as kids to have ice cream for dessert on a regular basis, but somehow becoming grandparents turned my parents (my dad in particular) into an ice cream eating machine.

Part way through supper Dad would look at one of the kids, point his fork at them and while shaking it up and down say “someone better go set the ice cream out on the counter”. Always one, usually more, kids would jump up and run out to the garage and grab the many varieties of Mackay’s Ice Cream that lined the shelves.

We didn’t eat any ice cream at the dinner table this summer. It just didn’t feel right.

Tonight loving, dear friends of Mom and Dad cooked and brought out supper to share with us. They along with my cousin and her family, my mom, and my family joined around the supper table for some good food, some story sharing, some laughter, and some pie and ice cream. It was a supper that would have made Dad so happy. He would have loved to have been here to enjoy it with us, but I know he is happy that we joined together anyway and celebrated. My cousin-in-law took one for the team and sat in Dad’s seat at the table and he did so with class and finesse. It was fitting.

What an act of true friendship-kindness from this couple whom my parents love so much. It was so incredibly thoughtful and so timely of them to have a dinner at our place. The laughter and joy that belongs in that house was brought back and the mood was light and free from the sorrow of the past few months. Fitting too that it was shared with my cousin and family as they are an extra daughter, son, and grandkids to my parents and siblings to us all. More people who needed to share in the joy of the occasion. The happiness moment today.

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The change room. 

I have a love/hate relationship with Dad’s change room. When I walk in there it’s like time has been suspended. All of his things are still there – waiting for him to come use them. Well, except for the fact that some of his ashes are also there. That kind of ruins my fantasy that everything is normal. 

I like to go into his room and talk to him. It makes me feel safe and feel close to him. After I’m done chatting away I always stand and sigh and look around the room. It always seems so strange to me that all his things are still here exactly as they were, but he’s not.  

He wasn’t a man who was all about possessions, but you can’t reach a certain age without collecting a certain amount of stuff. It makes me happy to see his stuff, it breaks my heart to see his stuff. It’s just sitting there waiting for him. 

This morning my mom sent me a poem that described very well how I feel: 

The Sadness of Clothes

 Emily Fragos

When someone dies, the clothes are so sad. They have outlived their usefulness and cannot get warm and full.

You talk to the clothes and explain that he is not coming back as when he showed up immaculately dressed in slacks and plaid jacket and had that beautiful smile on and you’d talk.

You’d go to get something and come back and he’d be gone.

 You explain death to the clothes like that dream.

You tell them how much you miss the spouse and how much you miss the pet with its little winter sweater.

You tell the worn raincoat that if you talk about it, you will finally let grief out. 

The ancients etched the words for battle and victory onto their shields and then they went out and fought to the last breath. 

Words have that kind of power you remind the clothes that remain in the drawer, arms stubbornly folded across the chest, or slung across the backs of chairs,or hanging inside the dark closet.

 Do with us what you will,they faintly sigh, as you close the door on them.

He is gone and no one can tell us where.

 I know they’re just things, but they’re his things and besides memories that’s all we have now. It’s why I love the room and hate that room. So many emotions in there. 
Happiness moment was racing around the yard this afternoon with Jacob watching a tornado drop in and out of the sky. This only ended up being a happiness moment of course because it passed us by. But as soon as we knew we were safe, we had fun watching the storm clouds. This was followed by a trip to town with my cousin for ice cream. Mmmmmm

  

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A little Ayurvedic magic

 
First of all the happiness moment of the day. It was a beautiful, sunny 20 degrees Celsius out today and the kids and I took an early summer break and went to our old favourite, Mackay’s  Ice Cream in Cochrane. It was lovely and delicious. I had a very non Ayurvedic scoop of chocolate fudge chunk and blissfully enjoyed every bite in an Ayurvedic approved manner of mindful eating. OMG it was good!!

This weekend Jenna has been complaining on and off of a sore ear. Yesterday I pulled out my essential oils and tried putting some of them around her ear. While it helped a little nothing was solving the pain. 

This morning she woke up in terrible pain and I actually ended up keeping her home from school. As I was preparing breakfast I remembered where  I had stashed my mustard oil and decided to give a remedy a try that I’d been given by a friend from India a few years ago. 

At one point both Jenna and I had sore ears. I put her on antibiotics and I used the Ayurvedic remedy to see who healed faster. I did at a significant rate. 

So, you get a pot and put some mustard oil in it. Then add a couple of cloves of garlic and heat it until the garlic turns red. Remember it’s oil so hot is hot! I put a clear lid on the pot. 

When it’s done, let it cool and then put some on a cotton ball and place it in the ear. Leave it for as long as possible. 

Jenna wore hers for 3 hours and her ear is completely pain free. She went from not wanting to move to skipping down the road smiling and laughing. 

Magic

I love learning about and healing with Ayurveda 

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Today we eat ice cream!

When I was a kid my parents had their law firm right beside Mackay’s Ice Cream in Cochrane. A dream come true for a kid I promise. I was always happy to have to go wait at their office for them to finish up some work because… well… ice cream. Sometimes Mr. Mackay would pop by the back door by holding a cone for my sister and me. It didn’t happen all the time, but it happened often enough that it was always worth taking the chance and going to the office.

Mrs. Mackay hit the mother lode for us one summer day. I was maybe 9 or 10 and we were driving somewhere when I got sick. Like run to the bathroom and hurl sick. We were near their office so Mom drove there and she and my sister waited outside while I was inside slowly dying from my guts. When I came back out there was a very excited Mrs. Mackay talking to my Mom. Apparently there were people there from Maclean’s magazine and they wanted to take a picture of some kids eating ice cream. Mom was saying no we couldn’t do it, I was sick. But then Mrs Mackay told us the most exciting part of all (for me anyway). We were to be pictured eating  triple scoop ice cream cones!!! Never in my life had I been allowed one of those. We were allowed a single scoop and that was it. So a triple was like winning the jackpot.

I don’t remember how it came to be, but the next thing I remember was standing out in a field holding my triple scoop, licking away, having my picture taken. I do remember finishing the whole cone later on (I had to get it dumped into a bowl because it was melting) so apparently my sickness was cured quite quickly by the temptation of ice cream.

My birthday parties always had their Smartie ice cream. It was a favourite of mine for years. I have wonderful memories of going to Mackay’s with my Grandma, my parents, and in later years with my children. I’m so happy they’re the fourth generation of my family who gets to enjoy the wonderful ritual of sitting out front on a bench enjoying a Mackay’s ice cream cone. In fact, the above picture is from Jacob’s birthday this summer. For the first time in 10 years he celebrated his birthday in Alberta and we finished it off with a Mackay’s Ice Cream pig out (so good).

My first job that was not horse related was at Mackay’s when I was a teenager. By that time she had retired (and Mr. Mackay had passed away) and the store was being run by their daughters. I had so much fun (and ate so much ice cream).

And of course now the third generation of Mackays are running Mackay’s Ice Cream just as the 4th generation of Copithorne/Ramsays are still enjoying eating the ice cream.

Often times through the years when we would stop by for a cone, Mrs. Mackay would be sitting on the bench or at one of the tables visiting and laughing with friends and customers. She was a small lady but she shone so brightly. She beamed happiness out of the core of her soul.

Today I honour the memory of a wonderful person who brought happiness to so many people over the years. She shared her joy with people with whom she was close and with thousands of those whom she never met, but whose lives she made happier because of their famous ice cream. Today they are celebrating her life while they mourn her death in Cochrane. I’m sure there will be many many people sharing happy and joyful memories of a beautiful spirit. So, my 6th day of happiness in my 44 days is because of her.

Do what you love, laugh, live, eat ice cream!

The kids and I figured the best way to honour her was to go out for ice cream. Because Mackay’s is 2,000 miles away from us we went to our local ice cream spot (that sells locally made ice cream) and laughed and played connect4 and really enjoyed each other.

Ice Cream Bliss

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