October 12, 2025
Canada Celebrates Today!
I am thankful today for friends and family both near and far.
For harvests that have been brought in from the fields
The sun that is shining, and the leaves that are changing
Beauty is all around.
Open your eyes and take a deep breath
Despite the turmoil of this world,
I am thankful to be Canadian.
To celebrate and be thankful
For the random little things that make up this big beautiful life
Bumps and all I AM THANKFUL
💗 Di
October 11, 2025
Day 11 Ultimate Blog Challenge
From Breast Cancer Awareness to another awareness that is near and dear to my heart.
International Day of The Girl - This year's theme
The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the front-lines of crisis
A timely and powerful statement in light of all the things going on around the world today.
On December 19,2011 The United Nations declared October 11 to be International Day of the Girl Child, a.k.a.Day of the Girl, or Girls day is a date set aside annually to recognizing the rights & unique challenges of girls based on gender.
International Day of the Girl is both a celebration and a call to action. It’s a moment to pause and reflect, to recognize how far we have come, and how far we still have to go to create a world where every girl can learn, lead, and live freely.
This day shines a light on the barriers that still stand in the way:
It’s about rewinding the tired old stories that tell girls what they can’t do, recording and amplifying new stories focusing on what they can do!
It’s about claiming space, ceilings, and changing the story for the next generation of strong girls and confident leaders.
It is about giving them the tools and knowledge to be able to achieve their dreams. Or simply be able to dream them in the first place.
International Day of the girl is near and dear to me personally, firstly because I am a mom of 3 daughters. Each of them unique, each of them strong, each of them grown and thriving, each of them a huge blessing in my life.
However it is through an opportunity I had in the fall of 2011 that changed my life. It was when I travelled to Niger, West Africa and walked the orange sands of the Sahel region that my eyes were opened and my heart was changed.
I was part of a team from western Canada,to work with a group of young women at a local girls school, and teach them to sew. These bright girls taught me more about determination, creativity, willingness to learn, patients - (I had 0 language skills) and true JOY - than I taught them about sewing I am certain.
Their sewing machines were hand turned - NO electricity, NO treadle like grandma. The girls fed fabric under the needle with their left hands while skillfully turning the wheel with their right that moved the needle up and down.It was much harder than it sounds, I tried and failed. Despite the communication challenges we managed to learn from each other. We laughed a lot, we gestured wildly, we danced, we sang, and I loved every minute of it and each one of those girls has a special place in my heart.
I came home feeling conflicted, asking myself questions that truly have no answers, such as why me, why I was I born to life of privilege in North America? Why does my corner of the world have it so easy by comparison? Weather wise, life options, food availability - Honestly coming home was a bit of culture shock. Eventually the question I started asking was what's next? What can I do from home, that will continue to benefit the girls? What do I need to learn?
Life can truly be random sometimes, I stumbled upon a booth at a small state fair -and I stopped to look and asked questions, and I had my answer - Enter Days for Girls into my life. Days for Girls was educating women on the fact that the number one reason girls struggle to stay in school to get a decent education in many parts of the world is because every month they miss up to 4 days of school. 4 days x 12 months = 48 days of missed school approximately 1.5 months. It is impossible to catch up when you miss that much. Add to that their help was needed at home, cooking, cleaning, collecting water or fire wood, and that was seen as more important for the girls than school.
Why do they miss that many days? It is because they lack proper feminine hygiene products, meaning that during their periods they have to stay home until their period passes. From my North American POV that was hard to fathom, I could walk into my local walmart or grocery store and have 142 options... YES I COUNTED... wings, without wings, Jr, heavy, regular, overnight, long, extra long, cardboard applicators, no applicators... you get the picture. We had an over abundance of options, while often cardboard was the best option for our sisters in other countries.
Days for girls was providing solutions. Sustainable cloth pads, that were being sewn by volunteers in the US & Canada then being sent to countries where they were needed through church mission trips, humanitarian aid trips, or NGO requests. With the eventual goal of having 1 Million Days for girls kits sent out world wide, with chapters in locations around the world providing education on female health, sanitation, as well as sewing lessons so that they provide sustainable cloth pads to their local communities. Empowering women, building each other up and allowing girls to stay in school.
When I learned all of this I was hooked. I learned how to put the DFG kits together, sew the pads - connected with a volunteer chapter in Canada and eventually became a founding member of the Days for Girls Canada Board of Directors. 1000's of kits sent meant that 1000's of girls lives were changed, doors were opened, all because they were able to stay in school.
I no longer work with Days for Girls, but I will forever share the story of the work that they continue to do because it matters. Education matters, life skills matter, personal health matters, having choices matters, each girl matters, It is more than just a few days of school that has been reclaimed, it is living example of the African proverb,
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
International Day of the Girl is a reminder that if we work hard together we can go far and truly change the world. One story at a time. One person can make a difference, I know that first hand, I came back changed because I went.
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October 9,2025
OCTOBER is PINK MONTH
For those of us who ever heard the words 'You have breast cancer' there is no escaping the awareness. Whether a person has just heard those dreaded words or you are weeks, years or decades past treatment and in remission, there are scars. Physical, mental & emotional scars. They are seen and felt everyday, and therefore have a love hate relationship with pink month.
I do, very much, understand and appreciate the need for pinpointed focused awareness - for research, for the community building that happens through walks, and gatherings that celebrate and remember. It is vitally important to find others who understand and are compassionate, to join the journey towards understanding & better health.
Here are a few things PINK OCTOBER should make you aware of:
Your own body!
If you notice any of the above, please make an appointment with your Doctor. Early detection is key.
The best way to detect breast cancer early is to get regular mammograms. Use PINK OCTOBER as your reminder to book your mammogram. A mammogram can detect a lump as small as 2mm - about the size of a head of a pin vs 22mm - the size of a small grape. The average size lump you might find doing a self exam.
No one will advocate for you better than you!
October 8, 2025
Day 8
Surprised by time....
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Just last week I was watching late night TV - Jimmy Kimmel was doing a bit mocking the local news stations, 47 different variations of, "Wow, can you believe it is October" or "I can not believe it is October already" one clip after another. I sat there chuckling, then sobered quickly when I thought, this is me. Oh Boy!
October snuck up on me too, I had places to go, people to see, parties to plan and writing to do - things that I had not given much thought to:
As a first time blog challenge participant,Iwas anticipating my participation, I had plotted a plan and was ready to jump in day 1.
I thought I was ready to go...
Then the emails began to arrive.
I got into my head & started over thinking the whole process and froze. Writers block set in, publishing block set in, I lost my focus and froze. Mostly, my brain was in overstimulated each email had suggestions of what or how to post and my brain created 5 to 10 additional ideas, I was drowning in creative thought. It was time for some creative expression.
I stepped back and took a deep breath,& had a bit of an epiphany
I asked myself what it would take to reign in my brain and refocus
The answer was simple:
So moving forward, that is exactly what I am going to do.
I have had the privilege of hearing many stories of others, I consider it an honor to be trusted with them. In my 60 years of life I have a lot of my own stories, sharing them freely is not something I have done much of. It is time to change that.
I am a cancer survivor - but have never shared my story
I like to talk to random people and that always nets a good story or two.
Travel adventures
WHERE WERE WAS I WHEN?
Thinking about moments in history that have had an impact on me throughout my life, how they may have changed me, my thought pattern
A question I have been pondering while reading both memoirs and historical fiction, what was I doing, how old was I when...?
Do I have any memories associated with...?
My original plan was to step out of my comfort zone and share the stories that have given me my great big life. Those stories, musings and moments that make make up the Little bits and pieces of my random life.
Buckle up, and come along for the ride.
I'm so glad you're here
Di
Day 6
Thank you Paul for a great prompt for today's UBC, and because my blog is called Little-Bits-Of-Random, and my A.D.D. brain fires on random cylinders here is my oh, so random take.
The Reno connection...
I am a sucker for a good story, I collect them. My personal library is full of them, people share theirs with me, I listen in crowds, I read obituaries, and I write random bits. Through the years I have learned that it is stories that connect us. It is stories that connect us, that make us realize we are more the same than different. When we take the time to hear another person's story our lives can be changed.
One thing I know for sure is that history rarely disappoints, add moving trains, robbery and Reno and I am engaged. It also sounds like puzzle pieces of my family history.
My paternal great great grandfather that hopped a train train in Quebec and headed west, leaving his wife and family in Quebec (He did later send for them all) This same adventurous family member is said to have been an expert axe marksman – something that has always intrigued me.
A distant uncle on my mom's side delivered mail with the pony express along the Oregon trail. I can only imagine the adventurous life that would have been.
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And then there is my Uncle Bob, from Golf Pro in the Bahamas to dealing blackjack in Reno. My uncle (is the short guy), with Jackie Robinson & Sidney Poitier/ He was the cool uncle.
I am not going to lie, Uncle Bob was my favourite,it was always exciting when he came home for a visit. You always knew when Bob was at Grandma's, because he could be heard before walking in the door. His loud voice & laughter filled the air. To say he was charismatic was an understatement. His first words were always, 'how about a little sugar' code for come and give me a hug.
He was a story teller, crazy and wild were his specialty. True? False? Who really knew - but we were thoroughly entertained. Tales of the characters who sat at his blackjack table, famous people he had met we were captivated. Then there were questions about mob connections, like the real MOB, which he would never answer one way or the other, but there was always a twinkle in his eye. Our imaginations ran wild after he left and the stories would take on lives of their own much like he told them.
We used to joke that he moved back to Canada because he was running from the mob. True? False? Who knows... these are the stories that take on lives of their own and provide entertainment and questions for generations to come. I will forever be thankful for these stories, the true, the false the unanswered,the ones that hang in the air and keep us talking. These are the stories that draw families together.
What are the stories that live on in your family? Have they taken on lives of their own and evolved?
This day in history
P.S. On this day in history, circa 1988. I was losing sleep and running through the mental check list of what felt like a million little things that had to fall into place the next day. Bridesmaids, photos, food, seating plans, flowers.... thinking that if it had not been done by now it was too late. I would be walking down the isle the next day. Tonight I had to ask how many years it had been..... 37 and I would choose the same guy, but I think I'd choose to elope.
October 1, 2025
Here I am, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
A friend, knowing I love to write, challenged me to start blogging. Aware that once upon a time a long, long time ago I used to blog, she directed me to join 'The Ultimate Blog Challenge' - Yikes! The challenge blog once a day for the month of October. double yikes!
Did I put off deciding – Indeed
Am I currently writing at the last minute – Sigh, old high school habits die hard.
Will I second guess myself along the way – You bet
Do I have more ideas than days to write - For sure
Here I am:
