God's Miracles of Grace in our Lives

Photo Scavenger

2012-02-11T12:17:00.001-05:00

The Photo Scavenger returns!

The clues for this week are:
1) a blue building
2) something fishy
3) something that starts with the letter 'N'

Here are my submissions.

1) A blue building. I had a blue building all picked out, and plans to photograph it. Then I saw this building. It was bluer and prettier. So it wins a spot on the blog.

2) Something fishy. This involved me taking the camera into a grocery store and pretending I didn't notice people staring at me as I took a picture of some wild Pacific salmon. Actually, I'm not sure anyone actually noticed. Is fish fishy enough?

3) Something that starts with the letter 'N'. That would be the necklace I received when I retired from BBH

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Getaway

2012-02-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

Rob and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a little over a week ago, and this past weekend we had a short little getaway. We didn't go too far - just to Port Dover. We stayed at a B&B, a house built in the 1840's and we were also promised a four course breakfast!

Our mini-holiday started Friday after Rob came home. We finished packing and off we went. We stopped for dinner and then headed to the B&B. Russ was our host and he took great care of us. The house is lovely and decorated in to match the period in which it was built, but with all the modern amenities. Except the stove - that was from the 1950's. But the fridge and dishwasher were hidden behind cabinetry so it just looked like a lot of cupboard space.

The room we stayed in was the master bedroom of the house - it had a lovely king size bed!

The above picture was our first impression when we walked into the room - the wall paper was a little busy, but still nice. And then we turned around...

and turned around a little further!

I really do find the decor from the 1840's a bit much. It just hurt to look at it. But I think that really is how they decorated their homes then, and I think it is awesome when home owners do what they can to maintain the era in which the house was built.

We had our own private bath, there was a toilet behind the half-wall and a shower immediately to the right (not shown). Obvioulsy this is much updated from the 1840's, but this room was originally a bathroom of sorts, with whatever they had available at the time.

In the morning, we had breakfast! I love breakfast. The first course was what Russ called "breakfast soup". No picture, but it was fruit in a yogurt + lemon juice + ?? mixture.

I'm not quite sure of the delineation between courses two and three, as we were then served fresh biscuits, toast with melted cheddar and fresh rosemary, and a variety of muffins. Between all that, that must have been courses two and three.

All that was just the appetizers for the main course! I can't remember what Russ called it (a french name) but it was rye bread, with ham, swiss cheese and spinach layers, toasted, then topped with a poached egg. It was really good!

Of course, there was coffee, tea, and juice, as well as OJ mixed with a blackcurrant liqueur. I think that's the first time I've had an alcoholic beverage and spinach for breakfast!

After we checked out, we spent a bit of time wandering round the property. The house was on a lake/river, so the front of the house actually faced the river, and the back of the house faced the road. The road was not really in existence when the house was built.

This is the view from the road - so the back of the house.

A water pump - this would have been well used when the house was built!

We spent some time wandering around Port Dover before heading home. It was a lovely day (especially for February).

It was fun to get away for a short time, and to celebrate our anniversary! Here's to the next seven years (Lord willing)!

Photo Scavenger

2012-01-31T21:47:00.000-05:00

Good evening all! (Or morning/afternoon depending on when you're reading this). I'm back with this week's Photo Scavenger Hunt. The clues for this week are:

1) Something smaller than my thumb
2) Something borrowed
3) The 92nd page of any book

Here are my entries.

Something smaller than my thumb - breakfast! Well, a small part of breakfast, anyways. By the way, photographing one's own thumb is easier said than done (at least for me). Said digit looked quite frightening on some of the pictures!

2) Something borrowed - the DVD set of Season One of Sue Thomas F.B.I Eye. My friend Geraldine lent these to me, I've been watching them during my endeavours to get more exercise into my life. I've been quite enjoying the shows, AND spending some time on a somewhat regular basis on the elliptical. I'm almost done this set of DVD's though - does anyone have any recommendations? It is a lot easier to put in 20 or 30 minutes on an exercise machine when I'm not bored out of my tree!

3) The 92nd page of any book. The book I chose was the devotional I'm using for 2012: Holiness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges. Thirty-one days into the year, I highly recommend the book. Seeing as page 92 is from Week 15, I haven't read that particular devotion yet.

Photo Scavenger

2012-01-13T16:11:00.003-05:00

I'm ready with this week's Photo Scavenger post on Friday afternoon this week. The clues Thelma gave this time were:
- a silhouette
- something soft
- reflections in water

I had a hard time with the silhouette, and I was almost going to skip that clue. Earlier in the week I had looked up the definition of silhouette and pondered over the difference between a shadow and a silhouette. Eventually I came to the conclusion that for the purposes of this game, I needed a picture of an outline of a shape. This morning I suddenly remembered Roger Tory Peterson's book on Birds. One of my Dad's favourite books, we saw it frequently when we were growing up as Dad identified the birds he saw around. In that book, my friends, are silhouettes of birds. And, Rob and I have a copy of that book. So, I flipped through it, and found this diagram:

It even calls the pictures silhouettes!

The next clue I found a lot easier - something soft. As soon as I saw that clue I knew it would have to be a picture of the Mindy-Kitty. She is soft. Soft and furry. And she purrs. She doesn't purr softly though - she has a good rumbler!

The last clue - reflections on water - this was fun. I knew Rob and I had some good water reflection pictures from some of our holidays, so I browsed through those pictures to find a good one. It is fun to go through the pictures again. Here's the one I chose. This was from our vacation to Alberta and British Columbia in 2008. I do not recall exactly where this picture was taken, but it was a man-made lake.

Those are my submissions for this week - hop on over here if you want to play along!

New Light Fixtures

2012-01-11T08:53:00.000-05:00

A month or two ago, Home Depot had many of their light fixtures on sale. Since I'm on a mission to replace several light fixtures in our home, Rob and I chose new fixtures for our kitchen and dinette. Last week my Dad came over and installed them for us. Now I'm loving our new lights!

Here are some BEFORE and AFTER pictures.

Whoever roughed in the light fixture for the dinette area was not thinking too straight, as the light was in a most obscure place. There was no way we could center the table under it if we wanted any sort of reasonable traffic patterns in the kitchen/dinette. Rob and I both noticed the odd location of this light when we first came through this house before we bought it. It is about 22 1/2 months since that day (and about 19 1/2 months since we moved in), but that oddity is FINALLY fixed. It is so nice to have a light OVER the kitchen table. In our old house, the light was in a reasonable location, but it was really an ugly fixture. Now, I have a light I like AND it is centered over the table!

So, thank you very much Dad - we really like the new lights!

Christmas Festivities A. Family Part 2

2012-01-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we had our A. family Christmas. Cher, Laura, Corin & Yvetta had arrived from Winnipeg earlier in the week - it was so good to see them again. We sure missed Rich, Luke & Caleb though!
Our group for the day numbered 19, and I think a good time was had by all. With the possible exception of the Mindy-Kitty - I don't think she was very impressed.

We spent time talking, some people played some games, and of course, there was food. We also had a gift exchange - Rob and I might just enjoy our chocolate letters for a late dessert tonight! It was a very enjoyable day!

Here's just a few pictures - we didn't get too many.

Photo Scavenger

2012-01-07T08:05:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping to squeak in under the wire with this week's Photo Scavenger hunt...hopefully Thelma is sleeping in really late this morning!

The clues for the week are:
1) An old book
2) Something that begins with 'R'
3) Something in my favourite colour.

Here are my submissions.

1) An old book - this is a new copy of the book but it is a very old book. Praise God for this gift to us!

2) Something (or someone!) that begins with the letter 'R' - my dear Rob.
This picture comes out of the archives. I'm kind of glad we don't live in this era but Rob would have fit in well, eh?

3) Something in my favourite colour. My favourite colour changes regularly, but usually is one of blue, pink, yellow, brown - they are all my favourites. Blue is probably my all-time favourite so then my blue lunch bag wins today!

D. Family Christmas

2012-01-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

We had the family get-together with my family last Friday. Lisa and Jon were only here for a week, and that's the date that worked the best for us all. Rob was working that day so I went over to Mom and Dad's in the afternoon. Jon was looking through some of Lisa's old year books.

Arian and Karin & kiddos arrived a bit later - Esther was a very happy girl!

Once Rob arrived, Erik didn't have much trouble convincing him to play "cowboy". :)

We had supper first and then it was time for presents!

It was bedtime for Esther so we did all her presents first.

By then, Erik and Alex were quite ready for their turn to open some presents! Erik loving on his new Tigger...

And Alex had a very oddly shaped present...any guesses?

A bicycle! This was from Lisa & Jon, and Rob & I. Gramma & Grampa contributed a helmet, so Alex is ready to go!

It was a fun night and I do like having my sister close by for a week! Lisa and Jon arrived Tuesday (very early) and then flew out again 6 days later on the 2nd, but I think I saw them every day except Monday before they left, but that was also quite early. But she's hoping to be in Ontario again in April, when she will be on her way to Australia!!

We're so thankful for our families and the good times we can have together. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the A. family festivities, which are planned for this Saturday!

Bowling

2012-01-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

It has been a tradition in our family for many years to go bowling on New Year's Day. I don't know the exact origins of this tradition, but I remember going bowling as a kid, with my Mom's family - all my cousins and aunts and uncles. Often we would go out for supper afterwards, and in later years, back to Oma's for pizza. However, as the family grew, this tradition changed, and in the last few years it has just been Rob and I with my parents and siblings.. Although we did meet some of our cousins at the bowling alley last year or the year before!

This year, New Years Day was on Sunday, so we didn't go bowling. Lisa and Jon departed for points west early yesterday morning, so we couldn't go yesterday either. Or at least, not with them. So Arian organized a bowling expedition for last Thursday afternoon, although our whole family still wasn't there. It was Arian & Karin with the kids, Lisa & Jon, and myself. Turns out that Thursday afternoons are glow in the dark bowling. It was fun!

My oh-so-cool shoes! :)

Esther seemed to enjoy the trip to the bowling alley too!

After every ball that Alex threw, he would stand there with his hands on his head, watching the ball. Unless it was a gutter ball, then he'd just forget about it.

No pictures of the scoreboard, but that is just as well - most of us are not very good bowlers. Arian was the champion for the day!

W. Family Christmas Dinner

2012-01-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday was our W. family dinner. Over 60 people were there, ranging in age from a few months to over 96! A number of people were away or sick, but if everybody had come, there would have been 69 people altogether.

Thank you to my father for these pictures - we did bring our camera but for whatever reason we never took any pictures. (Except one or two below which I took on Dad's camera too).

This event is held in the school gym, so there's lots of room for the littles to run around. Here is Erik contemplating a jump.

Alex and Jon are playing a riveting game of checkers - I think checkers is Alex's new favourite game.

Uncle John and I - we're back to just being uncle and niece - we're not fellow employees anymore. :)

Time to eat! Lots and lots of yummy food - thank you everyone! Especially to Aunt Trudy this year, for organizing it all.

Cleanup - many hands truly do make light work. Besides, it is kind of fun in such a big group.

Esther is quite enamoured with Uncle Rob, or is that that other way around?

Some of the girls relaxing on the big pillow mat - fun to see Oma talking to everyone!

Andrea and Joel arm-wrestling...

...apparently being an anesthesiologist is not good for one's arm-wrestling strength and technique...or else Joel was going easy on his niece! :)

Next up was Uncle Rick, at which point Andrea must have also bribed the camera-man because I'm quite sure Uncle Rick won but there's no photographic evidence - haha!

It was an enjoyable time, and we're so thankful that Oma is still here and able to join in the festivities.

Christmas Festivities - A. Family Part 1

2011-12-31T14:43:00.001-05:00

We are having two family gatherings with the A. family this year. Our original plan was to get together on Christmas Eve, with everyone who lives in Ontario. But then we heard the glad tidings that Cher is planning a visit in January with Laura, Corin & Yvetta. So we decided to postpone our main party until then, but some of us still got together on Christmas Eve Day. Mom & Dad and Shana & Patrick came over for the day. We sat around and talked, and we went for a walk to check out some more of the houses being built behind us. One of the men from our church (Nathan S.) is doing the framing on one of the houses, so we went to have a look. I love going through the houses as they are being built and figuring out which room is which.
We also played a long game of Settlers of Catan - it was Patrick's first time playing but I'm told he's quite hooked!
We had a great dinner too. Courtesy of Kellog's, our chicken was very festive - haha!

And a group shot - looking good, Dad & Shana! :)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:05:00.000-05:00

Tree Fall Down. Bad Tree!

2011-12-21T20:25:00.005-05:00

A tree cracked and fell over at my parent's place, on a very windy day. A few weekends ago we went to visit, with the guys planning to cut down the remainder of the tree.

At some point during the morning, I went outside with Erik and Alex, so we could observe the proceedings.

Here they are, hard at work. Looking mighty fine too! :) That hat Dad is wearing is something that we got free from a gas station, years ago. I think we had several of them at one point. And that is still the hat Dad wears!

One small boy watching.

Two small boys watching.

Rob and I had arrived before Arian & Karin, so Mom and I started making muffins. The last batch came out of the oven while I was outside with the boys, so Mom prepared a snack for the hard-working men.

For lunch we had BBQ'd hamburgers - a delicious treat in December when there is even a bit of snow on the ground!
Here's a picture of Esther - the best I managed on that day, but there's not many pictures of her on this blog!

P.S. Erik stays over at my parents often, and everytime he visited, he would comment about the tree saying "Tree fall down. Bad tree". I haven't heard what his comments are now that the tree is gone! :)

Photo Scavenger

2011-11-25T17:04:00.001-05:00

I'm participating in the Photo Scavenger hunt again this week. The clues for this time around are:
- something handmade
- a unique collectible
- something I've kept from childhood.

Something handmade - this is an apron I made for myself a couple months ago - I really do like the occasional sewing project - just don't examine it too closely!

A unique collectible - this vase is one of the things I inherited from my grandmother. I don't know if there's any special history to it, but I'm glad to have a few things from my grandparents.

Something I've kept from childhood - this little yellow stuffed dog. This little guy has always been special to me, because my cousin Alan gave him to me when I was a baby. Alan died, at the age of 11 from leukemia, when I was only 6 months old, so I don't remember him at all, but this yellow dog has always reminded me of a cousin that I never knew. Cute little fellow, eh?

Photo Scavenger

2011-11-11T23:07:00.001-05:00

It is week 8 in the Photo Scavenger game, and I have a submission again this week. This can be fun - I'm not such a great photographer so I try to think of unique things to photograph. Last week, I seemed to manage both! According to Thelma I earned some "serious points" for my "something blue" picture. Here I thought I was bringing the blog to new lows by featuring recycle bins, only to learn that on that picture "the perspective and depth is lovely".

Of course, such praise went straight to my head, so, I thought that this week maybe I would try to take a picture of a creative object AND apply some photographic skill to the pictures being taken. The success of this is yet to be determined, but it would serve me quite right to have none of my pictures featured this week! :) And honestly, I'd be okay with that!

The clues for the week are:

Your favourite footwear
An open door
Something that changes shape

Here's my submissions.

Favourite footwear: This clue really deserves some photographic creativity, but I didn't give it any. But I do like my lined crocs - these are my slippers -and they are nice and warm!

An open door - I tried, I really did try to get the lighting to do some neat things. I wanted to take this picture in the morning with the sunlight streaming in through the windows. But it was much easier said than done; I took and deleted a great many pictures as I was preparing to wind the clock this morning. In the end, I chose this picture since there is a reflection of a lamp in the open door of the clock.

Something that changes shape - a cake! I always think it is fascinating how you put a pan of thick batter in the oven and some amount of time later you take out something larger, fluffier, and usually yummier! (Though batter can be very good sometimes!) The bottom picture in the collage is after icing the cake.

Thanks for hosting Thelma - it's fun!

Photo Scavenger

2011-11-04T18:35:00.001-04:00

I have another installment in the Saturday Photo Scavenger series. The clues for this week are:

A restaurant napkin
Something seasonal
Something blue that is bigger than your hand

Here are my submissions.

1) A restaurant napkin. I didn't actually go to this fast food joint, but I found this napkin at the bookstore where I work. (In the back room, don't worry, it is not part of our store decor. :) ).

2) Something seasonal. Our mantel. I managed to get these fall/thanksgiving decorations up in time for Thanksgiving and then I like to leave it up through American Thanksgiving - we can always be thankful!

3) Something blue that is bigger than my hand. We're stooping to new lows on this blog, folks. Pictures of our recycle bins. But hey, they are blue, they're bigger than my hand, and with the red-leaved oak tree on a sunny day, it is not all bad!

Thanks for hosting Thelma!

A Definition of Lecture

2011-10-20T21:59:00.002-04:00

I am an e-packrat. I just found this quote, which I first heard during my university days. It still tickles my funny bone. :)

The Definition of a Lecture

"The process by which the notes of the professor become the notes of the student without ever passing through the mind of either".

Anonymous

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2011-10-19T18:43:00.002-04:00

I've missed a couple installments of the Photo Scavenger Hunt but I made it this week!

Our clues for this week are:

Something black that fits in the palm of your hand
An electronic device
Something that rolls

Without further ado, I present!

1) A car key

2) An electronic device...or is this an appliance? Regardless, it is my submission. We don't have a lot of the gadetry that might typically fall under the "electronic device" umbrella. Besides, this poor iron has been much neglected as late (as the growing pile beside the ironing board can attest), perhaps if I feature it on the blog, it will forgive me for the neglect? Or am I imputing too much personality to an inanimate object?

3) Something that rolls - a tire from Rob's truck.

If you'd like to play too, you have about 5 hours and twenty minutes so run over to Life As Two and link up!

A Visit with Mr. W

2011-10-06T20:53:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago, on a Wednesday morning, I had the privilege of of accompanying my Dad on a visit to Mr. W. He was the principal of the Christian school that I attended for grades 1 - 10. Mr. W had to resign from his work at the school as he was diagnosed with ALS earlier this year. For the first time since the school opened its doors in 1978, he is not a staff member.

Our visit was early in the morning, and brief. Dad and I arrived before Mr. W returned home from driving his wife to work (He has since given up driving, at the recommendation of his doctor). Once he arrived, we were warmly welcomed and invited in. Already the disease has progressed so that walking is difficult, although he could still manage stairs. But gone was the ever-present bounce from his step and the former hearty handshake. The disease is taking a toll on his physical body. But the brightness of our Saviour's work in him shines brightly - and it was so beautiful to see! God truly does give what his people need to endure, no, triumph through the path of life.

I don't trust my memory for how readily Mr W. shared his love for his Saviour from my highschool days. At that time I preferred to tune out such talk, but I know that he. has loved and served our Saviour for many years. By his own admission, this chapter of his life, the final chapter, is what he calls the most important. "I don't have time for naps", he said, "I have to tell people about Jesus!"

Mr. W. taught at the school for over 30 years. He estimated that he's taught over 1100 students. That's 1100 lives he's touched. And now? God is still enabling him to touch many lives, just in a different way. One way is through a blog; the hit count is steadily rising I'm told. One isn't a teacher and principle of a local Christian school for over 30 years without becoming very well known in the broader Christian community. I know for myself that my appreciation for Mr. W. is much closer now to what it should be than in my grade school/high school days (thanks be to God for that!) and I have no doubt I'm not the only one who feels this way.

God gave Mr. W. those 30 plus years as a foundation for now - a time when his body is failing, but his faith shines brightly - faith that is a gift from God. A shining faith that testifies of God's goodness to him, and glorifies the Saviour. Read his blog - there are many moving and powerful posts. I know that it is the prayer of the W. family that through this disease God would be praised and many would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Mr. W. and his family have travelled a rough road this year and it isn't going to get any smoother. But our great God has been faithful until now and He is the same forever - He will contine to provide - and be - the strength that they all need.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to visit and I'm even more thankful to see, to watch what God is doing and how God is providing, even as this horrid disease continues to progress. The visit, the blog, make me ache - ache for Mr. W himself, and for his family. But, there is God. Mr. W, you and your family are in my prayers. May He continue to provide, to strengthen, to bless, to comfort and sustain - for our God is faithful.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2011-09-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

For this week, we've been challenged to chase down the following, with our cameras:

Something green
Something that opens and closes
The number 5
Here's my submissions.

Something green: We went to the demolition derby at local fair on Saturday! This green car didn't win overall, but it did place high enough in the first heat to come back to play again in the Feature Heat. This picture was at the end of its first heat.

Something that opens and closes: My laptop. Which the Mindy-Kitty often likes to sit on...

The number 5: Tiny tomatoes, fresh from our garden!

A Stowaway Kitten

2011-09-26T22:16:00.003-04:00

Last night had a lovely visit with a dear sister in Christ, after a time of singing at a local retirement home. When we arrived at her home, a couple kittens appeared, but my attempts to befriend them were unsuccessful. Skittish little creatures, they were.

When the time came to go home, we hopped into the vehicle and off we went. Our ride home was uneventful, aside from some noises, which we couldn't identify. Once home, we soon found ourselves tucked into bed. The Mindy-Kitty wasn't the least bit sleepy though - she seemed quite concerned about some visiting cats suddenly appearing on both the front and back porch, and she was busy keeping an eye on them. Including attempting to fight them through the windows. Rob went to check to try see exactly what the cat was up to, and as he walked by door to the garage, he heard some pitiful meowing from what was most definitely a kitten.

That pique my interest and Rob was quite sure that we had had a hitchhiker on the ride home. We had only visited for an hour, so the kitten had climbed up into the warm areas of the car for a little nap. Poor critter had the ride of his (or her) life as a result! Thankfully the kitten could hang tight and arrived safely at our house. We then realized the noises we'd heard on the way home were the kitten attempting to tell us about his existence and presence!

Since we were not sure how adventurous the cat would be, nor if it was injured, we opted to go into the garage from outside rather than through the house. We didn't want to risk the kitten coming into our house. When we opened the garage door, no kitten came running, so we locked ourselves into the garage with the kitten, and found him perched under the pickup. Poor little thing! Unharmed, but rather frightened!

The kitten was not any more eager to get close to us than he had been at his home, so there was no danger of him running into the house. So we ventured indoors to get some cat food and the cat carrier. Since the kitten was so timid, I did not think I would be able to catch the kitten by myself in the morning, so we wanted to put him in the carrier over night.

First, we let him eat, and he ate voraciously. Unless I tried to touch him, then he scurried out of reach, but came back very quickly when the danger appeared over.

Of course, taking time for a quick bath mid-meal too!

Since the kitten was so interested in the food, I thought I would try to encourage him to walk into the carrier without having to catch him. Silly kitty, this was only too easy! I put the food in, and he walked straight in! He didn't know about such things as confined spaces. We added some water and a little litter box and left him for the night.

Then, this morning, I brought him home. Of course, Rob had to bid the kitten a fond farewell!

Set free at his home!

Mama cat came to greet the kitten. She sniffed him over, than snarled at him and whacked him upside the head. Discipline I guess!

His sibling was a little kinder with the reunion!

And that, my friends, is the tale of the stowaway kitten. I'm thankful the critter survived the ride home. And it sure is a cute kitten!

Labour Day

2011-09-22T22:44:00.001-04:00

I just found this post in my drafts...I'm not sure why it didn't get published earlier in the month, but here it is anyways.

On the holiday Monday we went for a walk with the D. family. The weather was not very warm, especially compared to Saturday, but it was dry, and we all had fun. It had been a long time since we had done something like this with my family. It is too bad Lisa couldn't come!

There were a number of swans swimming in the lake, and we saw one at the edge of the path. Clearly it had been fed before and it came up to us - Alex got very close to it and was almost attacked when he didn't give it any food!

Alex had a lot of fun - he barely stopped for an instant - except for a 3 second "sleep" on every park bench we encountered. And a brief rest on the ground, although I think that was more of a collapse after attempting to hop like a frog, complete with many "ribbits".

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2011-09-20T23:24:00.000-04:00

I love my friend Thelma over at Life as Two. You should too! There's many reasons to love Thelma, but the reason of the day is that she's given me inspiration for a blog post...and...said inspiration may just ocurr on a weekly basis!

Thelma is hosting a weekly photo scavenger hunt. The quest for this week?
1) Something new
2) A group of three
3) The best place to eat in town.

So, here are my submissions.

1) Something new - can you guess what it is?

2) A group of three

3) The best place to eat in town...at least so far. We haven't tried all the restaurants in town yet - there are quite a few even in our small town - but this one has achieved multiple-visit status.

Here's another picture of #1, in case you are really wondering what it is...a new dehumidifier. Works marvelously well. It can fill its water bucket in about 10 hours. The previous dehumidifier took about a week to fill the water bucket, and the buckets are about the same size. Our basement is much happier. Or maybe I'm much happier. Or both. Whatever!

So, I will be linking up with the inaugural Photo Scavenger Hunt here. If you want to play along this week, you have about 24 hours left to do so. Or you can join in the fun next week!

Rock Lake Lodge 2011

2011-09-06T19:45:00.000-04:00

The third week of August we had the privilege of spending a few days at Rock Lake Lodge with the A. family! Rob and I left home very early Wednesday morning and arrived at the lodge in time for morning coffee. And a nap. We had a wonderful few days, and it was great to be together again with everyone. Mom & Dad, Rich & Cher , Jo and all Mom & Dad's grandkids were at the lodge of the whole week. We came Wednesday and Steve came Wednesday night. Then on Thursday night Shana and Patrick came so on Friday we numbered twenty-one people!

We played a lot more games than previous years - in the evenings after the younger kids were in bed, and also during the day there was some volleyball and soccer. This is the first time we've been to the Lodge in the summer (all the other years it was September) so it was a bit warmer weather. Every day a large group went swimming after supper - after a rousing treasure hunt or soccer game. Of course there was swimming during the day too.
We did not get a lot of pictures...but I think Jo & Cher did, so check their blogs soon for their Rock Lake Lodge posts.

Matthew liked this game of ripping all the dead leaves of this broken branch, one by one, and laughing with Uncle Rob when each would break off.

This is a group of us during our Wednesday night post-treasure hunt swim.

Rob picked me a lily from Lily Lake. When he gave it to me he told me it had a "$100 stem" and it did...the stem was about a foot and a half long! Like any grateful wife, I just chopped the stem off. :)
The lily did very well floating in water - the flower closed each evening but opened again in the morning.

Those are some of the highlights of our time at Rock Lake Lodge. It was great to spend time with the whole family, to see Rich & Cher, Luke, Laura, Caleb, Corin & Yvetta again. They'll be back in Winnipeg soon and we probably won't see them again until next summer. At least we have blogs! :)

Cake

2011-09-02T22:01:00.000-04:00

I went to visit Aunt Joyce today and we made these!

Now I can make them myself, but apparently first I need a "good" pan, an icing bag & tips and an icing spatula. Plus some cakes to practice my decorating skills on!

I do love these cakes though!

Held: Joy in Him

2011-08-31T08:30:00.000-04:00

There is a relatively new blog that I’m appreciating. It is called Held and can be found here. It officially launched in April.

Held is a new blogging arm of Hannah’s Prayer Ministries. Hannah’s Prayer is a forum offering support to married Christian women who are dealing with infertility, pregnancy loss or adoption loss. I’ve not joined any of the forums/groups on Hannah’s Prayer but I do read the blogs of some people who are part of it, and they report they’ve been greatly blessed and encouraged by it, and I’m sure they have been. Some of the authors for Held include women whose blogs I already follow, and I’m thankful for the encouragement, support, tears and laughter that are to be found on this new site. Held also wants to be a resource for those who have loved ones dealing with infertility, so even if infertility is not a burden our heavenly Father has seen fit to give you, please feel free visit once in a while anyways!

There's more! Today, I am honoured to have a guest-post up on the Held blog. The Held team and I would love it if you pop on over to read it - you can find it here. Thank you!

Peaches

2011-08-30T21:19:00.001-04:00

Mom and I canned peaches today, so now I know how to do that. I love peeling peaches when they peel so easy after a short boiling-water bath!

Here's my half of the goods. Mom has just as much too, but I forgot my camera when I went to Mom & Dad's this morning.

There's something very satisfying about jars of fruit or whatever else results from a day of food prep in the kitchen! Soon we're going to do meat pies...beef and chicken.

Now, time to eat a slice of that pie!

Winnipeg - Part 3 and the Trip Home

2011-08-05T22:06:00.001-04:00

Wednesday was our last day with Rich and Cher. We spent part of the day unloading the trailer, cleaning the trailer, and cramming everything into the vehicle. Our plan was to drop the trailer off at Rob's parents on our way home, so we wanted it ready for that.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out with the family. For supper we went to a nearby park and had campfire.

Then it was back to the house, and at bedtime, it was time to say goodbye. But we are planning to spend a week at Rock Lake Lodge yet this summer, so we knew we'd see each other again quite soon.

Thursday morning we awoke very early and were on the road shortly after 4:30, and hopefully everyone was still sleeping when we left. We had a long day of driving planned, including a time change that would make us lose an hour, so we had wanted to leave early. We hit our first road block just after 6:00, when we arrived at the border. The border was closed! I panicked for a minute, wondering if I was so out of touch with current events that we could no longer cross into the States. Then we noticed the fine print on the sign - open from 8am - 10pm. Well, at least we could go through the USA. Since it was just after 6:00 and there was another border crossing not that far away, we decided to try it. It was on a more major roadway and more likely to be open. It was and we were on our way. This detour cost us about an hour, but that was still less time than if we'd sat and waited until 8:00.

The rest of the drive went smoothly, and we stopped only for gas and bathroom breaks. We arrived at our hotel at about 7:30 pm, and promptly turned our clocks ahead, so now it was 8:30. We went out for dinner, almost too tired to eat but we did need to eat. The next morning we were on the road again around 7:30 and reached Rob's parent's home mid afternoon. A quick visit, unhooked the trailer and we were back on the road, and home by 6:00. We had a wonderful holiday, but it was so good to be home!

Our trip home took about 23 hours, including gas and bathroom stops (but not the stop at Mom & Dad's). We drove 4907.9 km on the entire trip. I didn't add up the driving time on our journey out to Winnipeg so I don't know how many hours of driving that was.

All in all, it was a great vacation and we're thankful we had the opportunity to do so. Thankful that we could see more of this great province/country we live in, thankful for the time we had together as husband and wife, thankful for the time we could spend with Rich & Cher, Luke, Laura, Caleb, Corin & Yvetta, thankful for sparing mercies on the road, and there's so much more.

Thanks for following along!

Winnipeg - Part 2

2011-08-03T09:26:00.000-04:00

On the Tuesday, Rob and I went out for the day, to see some of the sights in Winnipeg. We went downtown to The Forks, where the Red River and Assiniboine River meet. The water levels were still very high, after the flooding throughout other parts of Manitoba earlier in the year.

There are some riverside walkways but they were flooded.

We liked the signage indicating the walkways were closed. Just a little sign, not a barricade in sight. In Ontario, there would be barricade upon barricade in a situation like this.

Although the red tape is very easy to cross, it seemed like they had more security around a hole dug for construction than for the flooded areas.

Later in the day, we went to the Royal Canadian Mint. We weren't allowed to take pictures on the tour though. The Mint in Winnipeg produces all the coinage used in regular circulation. The Mint in Ottawa makes special coins and other special things, such as the medals for the Olympics, for example.

That evening we went out for dinner with Rich & Cher and had a thoroughly enjoyable time!

Winnipeg - Part 1

2011-08-02T10:12:00.000-04:00

On Monday, we went to Tinkertown, a nearby amusement park, with Yvetta, Corin, Caleb, Laura, Cher & Rich. It was Luke's first day of work so he couldn't join us. The trip to Tinkertown was to celebrate Laura's graduation from Grade 8, and we had a fun afternoon! Tinkertown is a pretty low-key amusement park, and definitely geared towards kids but Rob and I went on quite a few rides. I liked the ferris wheel and the jumping pillow best. And of course, the bumper cars. I love bumper cars!

Cher has a couple of blog posts about our visit here and here, so check them out, and here's a few pictures that Rob and I snapped that day.

That night we had pizza for supper which I am guessing is a favourite of Laura's and she also received some gifts from her family. Laura, congratulations on finishing grade 8! Thanks be to God for His gifts to you in enabling you to do so and we pray that He will continue to bless and sustain you as you begin highschool in the fall. We glad that we were visiting when you went to Tinkertown to celebrate and could join you in this.

Road Trip to Winnipeg Part 5

2011-08-01T09:40:00.000-04:00

On Friday, we finally crossed time zones! The sun had been setting later and later, but Friday morning we crossed into the Central time zone. But we still didn't leave Ontario...

Friday was another day of just driving, and we went further than initially planned. We had originally planned to stay at Sandbar Lake Provincial Park, but in looking at the map again on Thursday, we realized that wasn't very far from Kakabeka Falls and we could easily go further. So we did!

Along the way we saw more lakes and trees, and still some rock, but not quite as much.

We arrived at Rushing River Provincial Park mid-afternoon. Again we didn't have reservations, but we ended up with a beautiful site. Since this was a Friday and there was a line-up, we opted not to go drive around, but used the map to chose a site. If we disliked it enough, we could brave the line-up to go change it. But our site was awesome!

By the time we had set up, we were quite warm so we went for a swim off the rock on our site. There was a beach but we didn't go there being only there for one night.

Our last camping campfire...we burned up the last of our wood.

Friday night we went to bed with plans of getting up early and renting a canoe/kayak for a couple of hours. But when the alarm went off, we also heard the pitter-patter of rain on the roof of the trailer, so we opted to roll over and sleep for another hour or two. It was still raining off and on when we did get up, so we had to dodge the raindrops a bit as we prepared for the day and packed up. It was after lunch before we left - our latest departure of any day. But we were only about three hours away from Winnipeg!

Once we hit the road, it didn't take too long before we FINALLY left Ontario....and were welcomed into Manitoba!

The landscape changed then - it went flat. Very flat. And very green. We could see the skyline of Winnipeg long before we got there!

We found Rich and Cher's home without difficulty and arrived there late afternoon. We were warmly welcomed by everyone - it was so good to see them again! That night we just spent time with them all, visiting, chatting, catching up. On Sunday we had the privilege of worshipping with the Providence URC of Winnipeg. It was good to meet some of the people from that congregation, to see Rich & Cher and the kids in their church family and to hear the gospel message once again.

Thus, the first part of our vacation ended. We really enjoyed that week together, the driving, the camping. If we were to do something like this again, we would probably have more longer days of driving and stay two nights in each place instead of moving every day. However, it all worked out really well, and we were glad to arrive safe and sound in Winnipeg!

Next up, the second part of our vacation - time with the A. family, Winnipeg division.

Road Trip to Winnipeg Part 4

2011-07-30T21:24:00.000-04:00

On Thursday we continued our journey. We were passing through Thunder Bay that day, so we had a couple of stops planned.
These next two pictures were taken along the road - the dirt became very red.

This is the remains of the Dorion Inn. It is particularly memorable in my family because Mom, Dad and Lisa stayed here when we had a family vacation to the west coast eleven years ago. At that time it was reportedly a reasonable hotel, except for the fact that there was a train track about 10 feet away from the rear wall of the building. As the story is told, no one got much sleep that night as trains went by quite frequently through the entire night.
Anyways, about 2 years ago when Lisa moved to Vancouver, they drove past the inn again and were surprised to see it had burned down sometime in the intervening years. There's been no improvements since.

We continued our journey and met this roadblock!

We had no idea why the road was closed, no idea how long it would be closed and there simply are no alternate routes. So we waited. We only waited about 15 minutes and then we were allowed to continue. We saw later that the road had been closed because an oversized load had to make a turn.

Our first stop was at Ouiment Canyon Provincial Park. It was raining so we debated whether or not to make the trek out to the canyon, but in the end we did, and it was worth it. We had a big umbrella and it was not windy so we stayed quite dry.

The literature at the canyon advertises it as being 1000 km deep. This is quite clearly not true - it is only about 1 km deep. I think the signage is trying to say that the vegetation at the bottom of the canyon is the same as vegetation 1000km north from the location of the canyon. But it is very confusing and probably has many visitors scratching their heads.

We did not make any stops in Thunder Bay itself, but we drove around the city on the freeways. We did go to the Thunder Oaks Cheese Factory. They weren't making cheese, but we could see that they did. But we stocked up on droppies and some stroop waffles. :)

The cheese farm was in the country so we took some more country roads to get to Kakabeka Falls, where we planned to stay that night. We had not seen farmland for a number of days.

At Kakebeka Falls, we could again pick our campsite and we chose the nicest site in the whole park! At least that's what the clerk at the desk said, and we were inclined to agree. It was a very private site, the only site on a little road. Not only that, in the entire loop of about 30 sites, there were only one or two other sites occupied. It was a very quiet night. The falls are also beautiful (pictures below) but the showers were simply dreadful. First, I was greeted by a mouldy shower curtain. Then, when I turned the water on (a push button) it only stayed on for about 10 seconds. I thought that couldn't possibly be right, so I tried again, and made sure I pushed the button good and hard. Nope, 10 seconds later it stopped again. 10 seconds! Oh, and the water was cold too!

As an aside, apparently there is another shower building at Kakabeka with nicer showers. I was glad to learn that, because one of my thoughts during the 10 seconds intervals was about Rich & Cher & kids preparing for church when Rich had an exchange with them recently! :)

Kakabeka Falls is called Niagara of the North, and it is indeed very beautiful. There is not nearly the volume of water as at Niagara but the water drops several levels and it was gorgeous. We have seen other pictures with more water going over, so perhaps that is during the Spring.

We took a lot of pictures at Kakabeka Falls, I'm hoping to get one blown up onto canvas to hang in our home. The hard part will be chosing which one!

Road Trip to Winnipeg Part 3

2011-07-23T13:57:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday we continued our journey, heading west to Sault Ste. Marie and then north along Lake Superior. We drove through some rain that day, but it cleared up later in the day.

It's hard to see, but in this picture, there are some men working on the cliff. We were stopped in traffic on 17, the only highway through, and needed to wait for some workmen to finish their work above on the cliff face. Perhaps there would be falling rock, so thanks to the workers for stopping us!

Our first view of Lake Superior.

On Tuesday night we stayed in Lake Superior Provincial Park, in the Rabbit Blanket campground.

Our campsite was on the water, although not Lake Superior, but a small lake. We couldn't really see the water from our campsite, but there was a small trail going down to the water's edge and enough room there for a couple of lawnchairs. These pictures below were taken the following morning as we were preparing to break up camp.

On Wednesday, we continued our journey, this time going north and then swinging west. We had been told about the Magpie High Falls, so we went off the beaten path in search of them. We did find them, but we were a little disappointed. I think at times the waterfall would be very beautiful, but the waterflow was very minimal when were were there. The amount of water was controlled by a dam somewhere in the vicinity.

So, this is what we saw at Magpie High Falls:

As we travelled on Wednesday, we saw a lot of rocks, lakes, and trees. And is Ontario ever huge!

We also travelled alongside a railroad track nearly all the time, much to Rob's delight. Much to Rob's chagrin, we saw very few trains.

We stayed that night in the Rossport campground of Rainbow Falls Provincial Park. This park has two campgrounds a fair distance from each other. Rossport is on Lake Superior, and the other is on a smaller lake. At first glance, the campground was not much to write home about, with many sites and very few trees. But towards the back there were some more private sites, and we found an awesome site right on the water.

It still wasn't as private as we normally would like but the campground wasn't very full, so then it was okay. We kept hoping that the site right next to us would remain empty, but alas, it did not. A couple, who we learned were residents of Guelph, set up camp. However, for reasons unknown, they later moved to the campsite on the other side of us, which was nicer for us. We don't know why they moved - perhaps the campers on the other side of them were too noisy (although we couldn't hear them).

This picture is looking back onto the side from the pier of rocks.

There was a loon swimming on the lake.

Sunset. This picture was taken at 9:43 and it was still very bright. The sun had not yet set.

That was Tuesday and Wednesday. We had now made it to the north side of Lake Superior.

Road Trip to Winnipeg Part 2

2011-07-21T16:56:00.000-04:00

On Monday morning (July 4), we packed up and left Restoule. On our agenda for the day was a visit to the Nickel Mine in Sudbury.

Overlooking Sudbury, from the the Nickel Mine.

We went on the tour of the mine, meaning we had to don hardhats.

The mine used for tours is 65 feet deep. Mining is still a big industry in Sudbury, but the mines used in Sudbury today are much deeper.

While we were deep in the mine, we set our laundry out to dry! This is the first time I've brought a drying rack camping, but I'm so glad I did. When packing up each morning, we would put the rack, clothes and all, in the back of the car, so it was ready to set up when we stopped. Since we moved every day, hanging clotheslines would not have been very feasible. Besides, doesn't everyone want to dry their bath towels in a random parking lot?

After touring the Nickel Mine, we drove a little further west and stayed at Chutes Provinical Park. We didn't have a reservation, but we could go in and choose a site we liked and then come back to register. The park was not very full at all, as expected, so there were lots of sites to choose from.

However, Chutes was where the mosquitoes launched their attack! We stepped out of the car and were just bombarded. It. was. not. fun. The bugspray? Buried in the trailer. Thankfully, once we found and applied the bug spray, the mosquites left us alone. That was the most intense bug attack on the whole trip, so we really can't complain.

There is a waterfall (the chutes) at the park, so we went to have a look. It was quite pretty!

At Chutes we started noticing the days getting longer. Every day the sun set a little bit later.

And that was the end of Monday.

Heat Wave

2011-07-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

We are having quite the heat wave here!

On Tuesday, this was the forecast:

A mere 38 degrees for today (Thursday)!

I don't ever remember seeing a forecast for 38 degrees before.

Now that it is Thursday, the forecast has been updated and it is only going to be 36 degrees today!

But at 8:00am, it was already 28 degrees, and 40 degrees with the humidex. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is a warm day today. Hope you all can keep cool...

Road Trip to Winnipeg Part 1

2011-07-20T21:48:00.000-04:00

We've been home for 5 days now so I suppose it is time to start the blog posts on our vacation, eh?

Rob and I went on a road trip for the first two weeks of July. We went as far west as Winnipeg, where we had the privilege of spending some time with Rich & Cher and our nieces and nephews. I like to think of our vacation as having three parts. The first part was the 8 days we spent getting to Winnipeg. The second part was the 4 days we spent with our family in Winnipeg and the third part was the trip home. I'm not sure how many blog posts this will end up being, but this one is just about the first couple of days.

We left on Canada Day, and I think we left around 7:30. We can't quite remember. Our first stop was Algonquin Park. Neither Rob or I had ever been to the park so we decided to spend one night there, mostly so we can say were were there. :) We had a reservation for a campsite and it is a good thing we did because the park was full.

Rob's parents very generously allowed us to borrow their trailer and it was just perfect for this trip. It allowed us to setup and take down camp quickly and was a cozy little home for about a week. Thank you so much, Dad & Mom!

We stayed in the Canisbay Lake campground at Algonquin, so this is a picture of Canisbay Lake.

On Saturday, July 2, we left Algonquin and drove a couple hours to Restoule Provincial Park. This park was also full, so we were glad we had a reservation here too. We stayed there until Monday morning. On Sunday, we worshipped with the FRC preaching station in Powassan. They have a potluck lunch every Sunday so we joined them for that and enjoyed fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ who were worshipping there that day as well.

That was the first couple days of our trip. We both felt that the real travels started on Monday morning, but that will be the next blog post!

Ball Game

2011-06-30T23:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to a Blue Jays game - we were given awesome free tickets! Our seats were behind the Jays' third base dugout, and only 3 rows behind the dugout (and 10 rows up from the field). Best seats I've ever had and it was Rob's first time going to a Jays' game.

A big thank you to Harvey for offering us the tickets!

Here's a few pictures. The Blue Jays were playing the Pittsburg Pirates. I don't follow the Blue Jays much so I'm not that familiar with the players. But baseball still is my favourite sport and it was so fun being there, with such great seats! The Jays won too - 2 to 1!

Harvey had 4 tickets to give away so we went with Mark and Rachael - good times!

Seeing as the Rogers Centre sits at the base of the CN Tower, it is only fitting to include a picture of that too!

Although the game was on a weeknight, we did manage to leave in time to make the 7:00 start time. But we didn't arrive on time, courtesy of a few traffic jams. However, we certainly were there for the bulk of the ball game, and all the innings that had runs.

Coming home was almost worse than going though, this time due to construction. No less than four times did we have to merge down to one lane of traffic, and two of those four times it was a 4-to-1 lane merge. Brutal. Needless to say, it was very late when we got home. Still worth it though! I love baseball.

Esther

2011-06-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

We have a new niece! Early Sunday morning, Esther Catherine was born.

Congratulations to Arian & Karin, and big brothers Alex & Erik!

The End of An Era

2011-06-22T22:41:00.000-04:00

Today was my last day of work at BBH. It is a day that has been about three years in coming, when the whole story is told. Today I left the office with my hands full, but none of the bags included a laptop nor my trusty notebook. No, today I took home the pictures, calendars and other items that decorated my cubicle.

I have no regrets, no second thoughts about my/our decision for me to leave BBH, and I'm so thankful for that. It is the right decision for us now, and I'm glad we/I have finally moved ahead with the decision. But today was still a sad day. I took all the papers off my wall. I sent out some farewell emails. I was treated to lunch, and given a lovely gift.

See?

It is a jade pendant, although the colouring doesn't show well on the picture.

And then I made the rounds through the office, talking to each of my co-workers. Twenty-six people, other than myself, work in that office. Five of them were part of the Intellitech team when I started working there after graduation, and the other 21 joined over the years, and today I said farewell to 17 of them (four of them out of the office today). I shared a few words, sometimes a hug and even tears with each of them. Then I collected my bags and left before I lost it completely. And that's it. An afternoon of goodbyes and it is over. Oh, I'll go back to visit now and then, but it won't be the same.

Some of these people I have worked with for over 10 years. I know them so well. We've shared different life events together at certain level, for those of my co-workers who have kids I've watched (from a distance) as the kids grow and change via the changing pictures on the wall. I will miss these people, they've been a big part of my life for such a long time, and you don't just cut it off.

But the corner has been turned. And I'm glad of that. I'm looking forward to what God is going to provide, and my prayer now is that He will open doors, show me doors that are open and show me how I shoud be serving Him at this stage of my life. Let me know if you know of any opportunities that might be a good fit!

Fruit

2011-06-18T21:01:00.000-04:00

A pretty fruit tray...

despite the somewhat blurry picture.

A Good Wife

2011-06-13T11:54:00.000-04:00

Well, it took me 6 1/2 years, but I think I've arrived - I'm finally a good wife! :)

Rob is sick today so I actually made him some chicken soup.

This is a vast improvement from our first year of marriage. When Rob was sick then, all I did was find the can opener and a can of Campbell's chicken noodle, and leave them on the counter, for Rob to heat up at his leisure. T'is the truth! :)

New Vehicle!

2011-06-04T11:38:00.001-04:00

I realize that Saturday is not "tomorrow" from Wednesday, but here finally are pictures of my new vehicle.
A 2007 Hyundai Tucson and so far I quite like it! :)

It is a teal colour, 56000km and a host of options.

Thank you to John at Grand River Auto!

Goodbye Little Car

2011-06-01T23:30:00.002-04:00

Today, I said farewell to an old friend. My little green car is mine no longer. It has gone to a new home and I've no doubt a good home. :) I will likely even get to see the car from time to time. And I did tell it to behave for its new owners.

I had my little Mazda Protege for two weeks short of 10 years. June 14, 2001 I drove that car home, brand new, off the dealers lot. It had 61 km on it. Now, today, almost 10 years later, I've delivered it to its new home, and it has 243770 km on it. Oh yes, we've been places, my little car and I!

Now, you may or may not know, but I like numbers. A long time ago, I got into the habit of recording my mileage whenever I bought gas, just because. My dad did it (I'm not sure he does anymore) so I did too. I never did much with those numbers, but I quite faithfully (with a few exceptions) wrote them down. Well, awhile ago I devoted an hour or two of my life to putting those numbers into a spreadsheet. You get some interesting facts when you do that.

For starters, here's how the 243770 km are split over the 10 years I had the car.

I purchased the car in June so I only did about 6 months of driving in 2001. In 2002 and 2003 Rob and I were dating so there were frequent trips to W. Our courtship continued into 2004 but Rob's parents moved to D. that year, so that dropped the mileage somewhat. In 2005 we were married and started using Rob's car for most of the driving we did together. My driving is way down for 2011, but I have only been going to work one day a week and that really cuts down on my driving.

A few other interesting numbers. I bought gas at least 498 times (I did miss recording a few entries). These trips to the gas pumps gave me over 20 000 litres of fuel, and cost me over $16 700!!! The average price per litre over these 10 years was 83.8cents per litre. I'd take that price again, no questions asked!

So little car, goodbye. You've been a good car. I'd miss you, except I have a new vehicle. So callous, eh? But it was dark when we brought it home, so a post on that will have to wait until tomorrow when I can get some pictures. Until then, dear readers, you will have to remain curious!

How to remove an ugly front garden planted by a previous home-owner. (Part 2)

2011-05-28T16:40:00.008-04:00

6. Ask Mark and Jason and Arian to help move the unnecessarily-oversized decorative stone to the front garden since the "Free Stone!" Kijiji posting didn't work... yet.

"I think it's still on Kijiji." :-)

(In the picture above, you can see a fraction of the large stone on the left point of the garden. Many thanks for Mark and Jason and Arian!!!)

7. Since the project requires sod anyway, rip out the boulevard's dead grass, weeds, gravel, stones, twitch, grubs, worms -- anything but live grass.

8. Buy sod, now that the boulevard is cleared and the garden and boulevard can be finished. Load up 55 soaking-wet roles of sod into the pickup so that the bumper almost is touching the ground.

"What!

"You don't think we'd take a second trip, do you?! This is money were talking about!" :-)

9. Install sod where the old garden was, providing an after picture to satisfy Denise's curiousity as to what the carried out plan was. The point is, all, who puts a garden dead-centre in the middle of their yard!! :-)

10. Water.

11. Water.

12. Water.

How to remove an ugly front garden planted by a previous home-owner.

2011-05-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

(Since Karen has writer's block, I'll fill in.)

1. Get the back of the pick-up nicely lined up for tossing the attackable fragments in.

2. Attack with hedge trimmers, spades, hatchets, or whatever tools happen to owned at the time.

3. Toss the attacked into the pick-up and transplant a very small handful of wanted plants.

4. Take down and put away the Christmas-season lights because they are embarrassing to still have up during the first dry Saturday for garden work.

5. Wonder how on earth to move out that unnecessarily-oversized decorative stone.

Anybody want it. :-) Free to a good... no... free to any home.

Gratitude Friday

2011-04-08T16:18:00.000-04:00

The snow is gone.

I am glad,

But Rob is sad.

(I'm glad the snow is gone, that is. Not that Rob is sad. But I'm glad also, that Rob isn't too sad! :) )

Maybe next week I can post a picture like the one below but with a "1" to the left of the "9". Wouldn't that be nice? :)

Hope you're all having a great Friday!

Gratitude Friday - Rob's Edition

2011-04-01T12:38:00.004-04:00

Snow.

...In April.

...

Hooray! Long live Winter!

Gratitude Friday

2011-03-25T22:53:00.000-04:00

Good evening everyone! Hope you had a great Friday.

Just look at this - our storage room!

Last Saturday Rob and I spent most of the day this room, and let me just say, it looked quite different when we started. But now it is neat and tidy and organized and wonderful. We're so glad this is finally done, and that the shelves were already there, just ready to be used.

Isn't this just the sweetest little kitty? She spends a fair bit of time sitting there on my laptop, just keeping me company. Sometimes she purrs, sometimes she doesn't. And that's my dear husband in the background. He's great company too, but he doesn't purr very well. :) Love you Rob!

For you Ontario readers, did you all get a piece of mail like this one?

Most shocking indeed, that Bell would actually SEND us money!

Pantry

2011-03-16T22:21:00.001-04:00

A week ago Friday, Josh came to install our new pantry and we are really happy with it. It matches the existing cabinets very well, and adds a nice finishing touch to the kitchen. Plus, it affords me quite a bit more cupboard space, which was why we wanted a pantry in the first place!

This pantry is not as deep as the one in our old house - there wasn't space for a deeper pantry here, so I couldn't fit everything in that I had hoped, but I'm still a lot happier with how things are organized in the kitchen now. Now I (and Rob) just have to remember where everything is all over again!

I had also been waiting for the pantry to come to re-organize the linen closet. This is a marvelously large closet. Its original intent was for the a stacked washer/dry set to be kept in here, with some shelving on the side. However, the previous owners opted to make a laundry room downstairs, so this is just now a very large closet. It is just awesome having such a big closet, and I prefer my laundry area downstairs where there is some room to sort the clothes, keep a drying rack, etc.

I had been keeping some foodstuffs in the linen closet, and everything in it was just put somewhere without any thought. It wasn't a terrible mess but at the same time it had never been put in neatly either. So earlier this week I spent some time re-organizing. Some things move to the kitchen, some things move down stairs, some things from downstairs move to the linen closet, and now it is all done. Not much linen in it though!

And now, because there's nothing as exciting as the contents of one's linen closet, I present.....

In the 'before' picture (left) I had already removed the food, so that's why there's some empty spots.

Next up, cleaning up our storage room downstairs. Rob and I plan to tackle that one together.

Gratitude Friday

2011-03-11T20:00:00.002-05:00

Let me tell you, I am mighty thankful for our sump pump this week. Yes, I even have a picture of it for you. I just know how thrilled you all will be with that :).

I may or may not have removed some of the dust bunnies on/around it before snapping the picture.

This little thing has been working very hard over the last few days. Every few minutes it throws some water outside. Which is of course, much preferrable to have it bubble up out of that hole and across the basement. It is a rather noisy little device though, so we are well aware of all its exertions. The benefit to that is that we know it is working!

In other good news, I found my gloves! I misplaced them about a month ago - just some black fuzzy gloves, but I couldn't figure out how I could have lost them. However, last night I found them amid my sweaters in the closet. Seeing as snow is still falling these days, I am glad to use them again (although I had found other pairs to use in the meantime).

Now, that was just utterly fascinating for you all, wasn't it? A sump pump and lost-but-now-found gloves...

Hope y'all had a great Friday!

Gratitude Friday

2011-03-04T11:57:00.001-05:00

Good morning! It is Friday again and I'm in a great mood!

Today is haircut day - that's always a good thing.

Even more exciting, we are getting our new pantry in the kitchen today. We had planned to get this since we moved to this house, but it took us quite awhile before we contacted Josh to have it built. However, today is the day that Josh is coming - rather here! - to install it. Then, I can reorganize the kitchen cupboards, which will clear some space in our linen closet, so then I can reorganize the linen closet, and that will lead to us organizing (not reorganizing!) the storage room downstairs. That ain't all gonna happen today but today is the starting point. The transformation of the storage room will definitely warrant a blog post with some before and after pictures!

Last Friday I was away in Toronto with my Mom at the National Home Show. We had a good day. No great epiphanies on things to do in our home, but it was a fun day out. Then Rob's parents came down that night and stayed over until Saturday. We hadn't seen them since Christmas! Can someone please tell me what happened to January? Or February, for that matter, since my calendar now tells me it is March? Aye-yi-yi, where does the time go!

Tonight we're going to visit Mark & Rachael and Lucas. So thankful for the friendship we have with them.

Have a great Friday!

Lake Mariot

2011-03-02T23:11:00.001-05:00

Hey, Spring can wait!

Old phone

2011-03-01T20:19:00.004-05:00

I got another old phone! You can't buy these anymore. It is fully equipped with an electric bell, and touch-tone buttons of all things. It says "Made in Canada" on the bottom.

Bathroom Makeover - The Great Reveal :)

2011-02-19T10:01:00.001-05:00

I painted the bathroom this week (with help from Rob, of course). Rob did the ceiling edge on Monday night, but that was all the painting he did in this room (whereas in the main living areas he did almost all the painting). Then on Tuesday I painted the rest...and watched the room shrink as I went around it. It grew a little again when we put the mirror back in.

Now, all that is left is to hang some decor on the walls, and possibly find something to display on the counter, as I don't have any counter-top decor to match yet. I'm still debating what to do about wall decor too. I'm never in a hurry to poke holes in my freshly patched and painted walls anyways. However, I'm sure you're all anxiously awaiting pictures, so here you go! :)

Here's some before and after pictures. The old shower curtain came from our old house, I had bought it when I moved into that house. I still do like it, but I was ready for a change (it is nearly 8 years since I moved into our old house.)

The paint colour I chose was 'Swedish Berry'....which was not the most popular one in the survey results, but in person it seemed to me to be the best match. It does match quite well, although the paint doesn't match the paint chip very well.

That's our new red bathroom!

Gratitude Friday

2011-02-18T09:05:00.001-05:00

Short, and a little on the boring side this week...

I'm thankful for this cream...I've been having a terrible time with eczema on my thumbs this winter. Just my thumbs, and my right thumb in particular. To the point that I could barely do normal food preparation, although I used regular lotion regularly, and always wore gloves outside. A trip to the local drugstore, and a recommendation from the pharmacist put this tube into my hot little hands, and now my thumbs are much better. Not all better, but much improved. My right thumb kind of blew up again this week - too much paint brush cleaning!

And no, I'm not being paid or awarded anything for promoting this product. :) It would be fine if they did though... :)

Furniture Arrangement

2011-02-14T19:05:00.000-05:00

Thelma requested pictures, so here's a 'before' and an 'after' picture. The 'before' picture is before we hung anything on the walls too!

Now, off to go prime the patches I made to the bathroom walls!

Gratitude Friday

2011-02-11T16:08:00.002-05:00

It is Friday again, and it has been a busy week! We enjoyed lots of visiting this week. Our new friends, Tim & Carola, joined us for dinner Sunday night. On Monday night, my parents came for dinner, and Dad installed a new light fixture in the bathroom for me. Thank you Dad!!

Here's another sneak preview (old vs new). :)

Oh, and the paint colour survey results so far:

I am tentatively planning to buy paint on Monday, although the survey results are in no way binding on my decision. :) If I don't chose the colour you voted for, chalk it up to lighting differences since it is a picture!

Yesterday, Pastor Greg, Charity and kiddos came for dinner - good fun. I also rather impulsively decided to rearrange the living room furniture yesterday. I'm not one to move furniture around a lot (much to Rob's relief) but I've never been completely satisfied with how we had it arranged. Certain seating combinations meant you could not see some people. So, yesterday I decided to just try something different. When I was done, I had to do this.

I was expecting Rob to arrive after the B's, and I didn't want him to be too shocked, especially if he didn't like it!

Turns out Rob does like it! We might do a bit more tweaking (particularly lighting) but on the whole we are both happier with it. Yay for impulsive furniture moving!

Lastly, tonight is the annual Valentine's Dinner at church, hosted by the Young People. They always do a great job and we're really looking forward to it!

The Bathroom Makeover

2011-02-08T16:22:00.007-05:00

...has begun! I'm very excited.

I bought a new shower curtain quite some time ago. Last night my Dad installed a new light fixture.

There's no natural light in this room, so now that the new light fixture is in place, I can choose a paint colour. What's your vote? (Click on the picture to see it in a bigger window.)

What's your vote? Click the button below to vote. (I'll post the results another day.)

(Yes, yes, I have "before" pictures, and when it is all done I'll blog about it all. Consider this your sneak preview! :) )

As an aside, what site/tool do you use/recommend for polls in a blog post? This is polldaddy.com, which I found on a Word.Press blog, but it doesn't embed here quite the way I wanted it too...)

My Favourite Things: Monday

2011-02-07T08:41:00.001-05:00

I've missed a few installments of My Favourite Things: Monday, but a few Monday's back the theme of the week was a favourite gift. I've been waiting for a category for this post's feature to fit into, and I just realized last week that it was a gift, so I could go back and use this theme.

So, without further ado, I present to you our rice buckets!

These were a wedding gift from Arian and Karin, and Arian brought them home from Korea, when he was there for some months the year before Rob and I were married. These ones are painted to be decorative items, but in real life, buckets such as these are used by the Koreans, for storing and measuring the rice. Or, at least they were in days gone by. :)

Gratitude Friday

2011-02-04T08:31:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago I noticed in the grocery flyers and in the stores that all the spring flowers were on sale - tulips and daffodils. I do like snow storms, but I also start hankering for spring pretty early. Although I didn't add a bright yellow daffodil to my grocery cart the other week, I do have a lovely spring flower in our home!

Last week we had the post-Christmas-program meeting with Martin & Alice and Alice brought me this plant. A lovely surprise, especially as this week it has opened up into a beautiful pink flower and it smells so good!

The blizzard of this week did seem to be a little over-hyped, as I expected, although we did get quite a bit of snow. My estimate is about 8 inches, but it is really hard to tell as there was a fair bit of drifting too. Now that we've had a big winter storm, welcome spring!

Blizzard Warning?

2011-02-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

There is, apparently, a large snowstorm on the way. So often the hype is far greater than the storm itself. I believe they are calling for anywhere between 20 and 40 centimeters of snow, depending on who you listen to or where you read. I don't doubt we'll get some snow, and I'd love to get 30 or 40 centimeters, but it seems that so often they hype up a big storm and we end up with 5 to 7 centimeters.

So, 5 to 7 centimeters was my prediction...until they published a Blizzard Warning!

I'll increase my snow prediction a little bit now...10 to 12 centimeters!

I'll still welcome more...let it snow, let it snow! Rob and I are both working from home tomorrow, so let it snow, let it snow!

Gratitude Friday

2011-01-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

I've been in a bit of a funk of late, and this poor blog has been quite the victim of that. However, I thought, what a better way to try to step out of a funk than to focus on thankfulness? So, I hope to resurrect the Gratitude Friday posts with some higher degree of frequency.

For this week, I am just so thankful for our Ladies Bible Study. What a blessed time of fellowship, sharing and encouragement we had this past Tuesday. We are studying 'Lies Women Believe' by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. For me, this week, it perhaps wasn't even so much the topic at hand, but simply the 'communion of the saints', as we shared, marvelling in God's goodness, amazing grace, in saving sinners like us.

As an aside, I am very much enjoying the study of this book, and it truly has been a blessing to me this season.

What are you thankful for this week?

A Day of Surprises

2011-01-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well, hello everyone! I had really dropped off the face of the blogosphere, eh? I'm back today, though, with a post, and I have no plans to abandon the blog permanently.

A week ago Wednesday was a very good day for Rob and I. It was my first day back to work, in 2011. Although I can't say that in itself made the day good, it did provide opportunity for one of the surprises.

As I was working, Rob MSN'd me and asked me to call home. Of course, this made me very curious so immediately I did so. Rob had just received a letter from his employer, a very nice letter, and then another piece of paper was also included. (We took that other piece of paper to the bank. :) ) It was a wonderful surprise, and Rob is really thankful (me too) that his efforts are valued, and we're thankful for this job that God has provided. A rewarding job, and enjoyable for Rob - both are such a blessing!

But the main reason why (this is Rob writing now, just this paragraph) I am eager to share this, and ask you to join us with thankfulness for God's provision, is because of the intangible value and significance of the first letter towers high above the tangibility of the second piece of paper. I worked hard over the first five of seven years since 2004, but went through some difficult, frustrating years. But with my current employer in the last few years, things have been going well, and I was thankful to receive a letter officially acknowledging my efforts.

As the same day went on, I (this is Karen again) realized that it had been about two weeks since I had chosen my Service Award for 10 years of service at BBH. Rob and I talked about that on MSN too, and then a little while later he told me that a huge box had just been dropped off on the front porch! Then, just after that, I was given the certificate for my Years of Service award, by my manager.

When I came home, I could unpackage my big box. It was a very large box. All unpackaged, here's the gift and the certificates.

For the service award, there were quite a few things I could choose from, but nothing really jumped out at me. So, in the end I chose this serving set. The bowls and platter are genuine china from Germany. The little stand is not so genuine, and is made in China. There was a receipt in the box, and although the price had been blacked out, I could still read it - it was worth over $150!

Hard to believe that I've been working at BBH for 10 years! Well, I guess about 3.75 years were with Intellitech, before the BBH acquisition, but that time is counted towards my 10 years of service at BBH. It was a good start to our working year!

A Christmas Celebration

2010-12-15T17:44:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the A. family Christmas celebration. While we did all the same things as other years, it was really different with out Rich & Cher, Luke, Laura, Caleb, Corin & Yvetta! We sure missed you. We thought about you a lot though, especially as that was your moving day. Sure glad that you're in a house of your own again.

Dad & Mom hosted the festivities this year - it has also been awhile since they did, and the first time in their current home. It actually snowed a fair bit that afternoon - thought nothing like what they've been getting this week! Just enough to make the drive home a bit messy for the first while. Rob and I saw 3 cars in the ditch in the first 10 km.

A good time was had by all. We ate, we talked, we ate, we opened presents, we ate. Here's a few pictures from the day. Patrick, a friend of Shana's, also joined us for the day, but I don't have any pictures.

The top right picture in this collage - the three girls were having fun pulling this crazy face!

Allison, Faith, Mary-Beth & Kate each received a pair of nice warm slippers from Grandma & Grandpa - they modelled them for me :)

Aunt Cora had asked for some new cutlery - didn't she get a beautiful new set?

We're so thankful for our family!

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-12-13T09:53:00.002-05:00

Good Monday morning to y'all! The theme for this week is your favourite spices/herbs. I hope you haven't been holding your breath waiting for this one. I am not an overly adventuresome cook, I tend to use a smaller number of recipes more frequently, rather than lots of different things. In all seriousness, the most frequently used bottle is probably this one.

Sad, I know, but true.

I don't really even stock that many spices - most of the ones I have I use regularly. I still love my spicec cupboard though.

The lazy susan I inherited from Oma when she moved out of her apartment - I had been wanting one for my spices. I love all the labelled bottles, and yes, I do keep them in alphabetical order. :) Or perhaps I should say mostly alphabetical order. I did have to switch a couple before I took the picture.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Psalm 61

2010-12-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

Hear my cry, O God;

Attend to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I will cry to You,

When my heart is overwhelmed;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:1-2

The Psalms are beautiful. They give us words to praise God, they give us words of comfort. One thing I really like about these two verses is they are a cry for help, and comfort, without reference to enemies (although that is later in the Psalm). David penned many of the psalms and he had many enemies. Earthly enemies, that is. I don't have earthly enemies, and sometimes I struggle to see how parts of some psalms relate to me. But I do have spiritual enemies, and David did too, and that does make the psalms applicable. Very likely I need to give more credit to spiritual enemies, and have more awareness about them.

However, these two verses do not refer to enemies, but simply an "overwhelmed heart", which we can have for lots of different reasons. And in times like that, there is a Rock, who is the Triune God. He is unmoveable, unshakeable, not surprised, in full control, sovereign, loving, and only does good.

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,

That I may daily perform my vows.

Psalm 61:8

A View Into Our Life

2010-12-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

I don’t write much about our infertility on this blog. There’s lots of reasons for that. A couple of the reasons are that, first of all, there’s a lot about this struggle that we prefer to keep private. Secondly, when I do write about it, it seems to me that the posts are me/us looking for a pity party. That is not the case. True, infertility is hard. But this is the path God has chosen for us, and we strive to press on, trusting in His sovereignty.

On the flip side, in not writing about it often, I wonder if I am presenting a skewed view into our lives, in not sharing much about this very large (and not easy) part of our lives.

All that to say, that Thelma wrote a beautiful post earlier this week, that I really would like to share with you. As Thelma so eloquently wrote, it is not just those dealing with infertility who have hurts, but many people have many different hurts. Click here to read her post.

A blessed Christmas to you all!

Cheeseburger Pie

2010-12-02T21:39:00.004-05:00

Time to share another recipe with you all. This time, we are featuring...Cheeseburger Pie! I clipped this recipe out of a newspaper a few years ago, and I make it regularly. One of our favourites, and usually falls into the "30-minute meal" category.

What you will need:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup (175ml) tomato juice
2 tbsp barbecue sauce or chili sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3 tbsp (45 ml) butter or margarine, softened
1/3 to ½ cup milk

(The yellow pail is my flour pail - I love it!)

First, brown the ground beef, with the onion and garlic. I rarely stock real garlic, so garlic powder is my substitute.

Once the meat is browned, drain fat. Add barbeque sauce, tomato juice, salt and pepper. I often add a squirt of steak sauce too. (For the tomato juice I use a 156mL can of V8 vegetable cocktail. This is less than the called for amount but it is not too dry.)

Mix well, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes so the flavours can blend.

Meanwhile, prepare the biscuit topping. Add flour, salt, baking powder and butter to a small bowl.

Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms coarse crumbs. (I never find mine looks terribly coarse, but it has always turned out.)

Add milk and stir, until entire mixture is moistened and holds together. Set aside briefly.

The meat mixture needs our attention again. Add the big pile of cheese. Stir it in until it melts. Don't worry if you can't see it anymore. You know it is there!

Pour the meat mixture into a pie plate.

Drop the biscuit mixtures by the spoonful on top of the meat mixture. (That's what the original recipe said. I find the mixture far to sticky for a spoon to be of any use, so I just use my fingers.)

Top with remaining grated cheese.

Pop into a pre-heated 400 F oven for 12-14 minutes, until biscuits are golden.

Serve with a salad and a side vegetable. That's what I always do....

Did you believe that last statement? ;) It really isn't true! I think today was the first time I had canned beans AND a salad. All for the blog, of course! More often than not, there is neither beans nor salad, although I have been stocking up on Del Monte canned beans when they go on sale as they are our favourite. Favourite though they may be, as you can probably tell from the 5 beans on my plate, I'm not still overly fond of beans. But I make myself eat a tiny helping! Rob likes beans though, even canned beans now that he's tried DelMonte!

And that, was dinner tonight!

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-11-29T21:24:00.000-05:00

The theme for me this week is Favourite accessory. I chose my handbag.

It is reversible - depending on the mood I am in. :)

I got this bag on one of my cross-border shopping trips with the girls - fun times. It is just the right size for my Bible and Bible study books, so I use it for that mostly, but depending on the events of the day, it just may be my purse for the day.

Hope you all had a great Monday!

Gratitude Friday

2010-11-26T13:43:00.006-05:00

I'm subscribed to Mikey's Funnies (www.mikeysFunnies.com ) and this email came this week, as part of his Thanksgiving series. I thought I'd share it as a Gratitude Friday post.

Happy Thanksgiving to any American readers!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

THE BLESSING OF THORNS

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze. Then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole her ease.

During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose annual holiday visit she coveted, called saying she could not come.

What's worse, Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder.

"Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered aloud. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The shop clerk's approach startled her.

"I...I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra, "for Thanksgiving?"

"Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving Special?" asked the shop clerk. "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Thanksgiving?

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. " Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Then the door's small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, "Hi Barbara...let me get your order." She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses.

Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped...there were no flowers.

"Want this in a box?" asked the clerk.

Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers!?! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.

"Yes, please." Barbara replied with an appreciative smile.

"You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said as she gently tapped her chest.

"Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh... she just left with no flowers!"

"Right...I cut off the flowers. That's the Special... I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet.

"Oh, come on, you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that?" exclaimed Sandra.

"Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling very much like you feel today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery."

"That same year I had lost my husband, "continued the clerk," and for the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel.

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for good things in life and never thought to ask Him why those good things happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask! It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I always enjoyed the 'flowers' of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."

Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop.

"Hey, Phil!" shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man.

"My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement... twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?

"No...I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from "thorny" times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks to Him for what that problem taught us."

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too... fresh."

"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.

"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?" asked Sandra.

"Nothing." said the clerk. "Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you'd like to read it first."

It read: "Dear God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant."

Talking to Alex on MSN

2010-11-18T10:37:00.007-05:00

It is always so stimulating to read my MSN window when Alex gets onto Karin's MSN account. ;)

Karin says:

ggdtdggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggffbgjh jftnktjgjjhjb
vhn vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv bghgghfdfyfh
fvjgvhn
ghjg

Karin just sent you a nudge.

Karin winks:
Play "Knock"

Karin says:

ygcxfg
cxgfufg
gvfhvcn
vcn n
cvm
c c
chn c
dhgb
cfbnhb
g
yhhfh hhhg
h,b
gvvnb
chnhb
bnbfvbhv
cnb
fvbn
g

Alex is three. When I was three, I didn't even know what a computer was! (I know, I'm dating myself :)). Alex is very good on the computer actually...he even plays solitaire!

A Funny Phone Call

2010-11-17T17:04:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Pete and Ian stopped by, to examine our furnace. The furnace fan is very noisy and Pete thought this could be rectified by changing some internal settings. It turns out this furnace doesn't have these internal settings, so we are stuck with a noisy furnace fan. They also put in a new programmable thermostat for us. As they were wrapping up their work, suddenly the furnace fan stopped - unexpectedly. Pete and Ian both went to examine the thermostat, while I attempted to turn on a light for them. That's when I realized the power was out, and the furnace was fine. Since it had been working, Pete and Ian could leave. However, as they were packing up, the phone rang.

Me: Hello, Karen speaking
Caller: Hi, this is Jane Doe from 50 Easy Street. Is there a power outage?
Me: Yes, it just went out about 2 minutes ago.
Caller: Oh, good, I just wanted to make sure it was a power outage, and my power hadn't been cut off since I haven't paid my bill.
Me: No, it's a power outage. Where did you say you were calling from, again?
Caller: 50 My Street.
Me: Okay, have a good day!

I shared the story with Rob, Pete & Ian - we all found it quite amusing that some random resident of our town called here to inquire whether the power was out or whether she had been cut off. But then the phone rang again. It was another resident of our town, and she thought she had called the utility company. Um, no, this is a residential number. However, her call shed a lot more light on my first caller! It seems that Bell Canada's system wasn't dealing with the power outage well, and some how we were getting the calls for the utility company! In fact, there was one more call that came through. I was beginning to think I was going to have a long afternoon of saying "No, I'm sorry this is not ABC County Power, the telephone system isn't working properly." However, there were only the three calls and then 10 or 15 minutes later the power came back on.

At least, it came back on at our house. Hopefully, for the occupants of 50 Easy Street, the power came back on there too!

How Do Cats Drink?

2010-11-16T12:03:00.001-05:00

We went to visit my parents on Sunday night, and Mom had clipped an article out of the paper about how cats drink. The conclusion? Very fast and elegantly! Note that it took 4 highly qualified engineers to figure this out!

Click here for the article.

A slightly longer edition is in the New York Times.

Interesting, eh? Isn't our Creator-God marvelous?

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-11-15T06:50:00.001-05:00

The category for this week is: favourite four-legged animal. Thelma's cat threatened all kinds of trouble if that wasn't the chosen category this past Monday, so of course, Thelma obeyed. That's what cat-people do! :)

My favourite four-legged animal is the Mindy-Kitty - how could I choose another? I think she's probably my favourite cat of all time, although Grumpy would be a close second. However, Mindy is alive, so that's extra points in her favour.

Since my blog posts have been rather sporadic of late, I had an idea to make this one a little longer. I'm going to share the history of the cats in my life. I've had a cat in the house almost my entire life. In fact, my parents had a cat when I was born, although she apparently didn't last long with a baby in the house. The first cat I really remember is Pepper, who was an all-black cat. I don't have any pictures of her.
Pepper left our family when she became an escapee at the vet one day. We were not a cat-carrier kind of family, but rather a "hold your cat tightly" kind of family, and she escaped at the vet. We think she may have found her way back to our house eventually, as we did see a black cat around the house after a time, but she was wild by then, and never re-joined our family.

When I was about 10, we got another cat. A very tiny kitten, just barely old enough to leave her mother. We named her Sasha.

Sasha aka Grumpy

Sasha lived with our family until she was about 15. She really is the cat that I grew up with. She used to sleep in my room at night, and if she wanted out, she would use her claws to pick at the top of my head until I woke up to let her out. If she was in Arian's room, she'd scratch at the carpet until I woke up to let her out. There was no sense scratching Arian's head; he'd sleep through that! Why she couldn't just scratch the carpet in my room, instead of my head, I do not know!

Sasha also started snoring as she got older, so I'd have to regularly give her a nudge to make her stop snoring, if that was keeping me awake. Then she would start purring a lullaby.

Our experience with Pepper escaping at the vet taught us a thing or two - we began using an old gym bag as a cat carrier for trips to the vet. Sasha learned to recognize the bag on sight, and would run and hide. We learned to keep the bag out of sight until the cat was firmly grasped in glove-encased hands, when it would be a two person job to get her zipped into the bag.

However, despite using a bag for carrying the cat for her yearly vet trip, Sasha also became an escapee at the vet. (Terrible pet owners, weren't we?) Thankfully, she didn't go far, and about two weeks later, someone near the vet found her and we brought her home. She was about 13 at the time, I think. However, in Sasha's absense, another cat had adopted us. We noticed a stray cat hanging around, and started feeding it. This cat was clearly an abandoned cat - the first time we let her in the house, she went straight to the master bedroom for a nice nap - she knew about houses! We named this cat Annie, and she still lives at Mom and Dad's now.

Annie

So, Sasha came home to find this new-comer, and she wasn't too happy about. Annie had not yet been named, so for awhile, Sasha became Big-Kitty and Annie was Little-Kitty, since Annie was just a big kitten when she came. (Although we always gave our cats names, we usually just called them 'Kitty'.) However, Annie kept growing and growing, and soon Annie was bigger than Sasha, so the Big-Kitty, Little-Kitty wasn't working so well. Calling both cats "Kitty" would clearly lead to great confusion, so some name changes were in order. By then, Sasha had become most definitely grumpy about Annie's very existence, so we renamed Sasha to Grumpy, and Annie became Annie. I'm not sure why we didn't just start using the name Sasha, but to this day, we refer to that cat as Grumpy. We had both cats for a year or two, until Grumpy became quite old and sick, and had to be put down.

It was fun having two cats. We would always let our cats clean off chicken bones, if chicken had been on the menu. One time, both cats were around after dinner, so we gave them each their own pile. What was so funny was they both sat there, gnawing on their bones, but also growling away! Each wanted to make it very clear that the chicken bones were NOT to be shared!

When I moved out, to my house, about five months later, I got a cat. I went to the local SPCA and picked out a pussy-cat. I named her Madeline, and I still love that name for a cat! (My apologies to any readers who are named Madeline or know someone named Madeline!) Madeline only lived with me for about a year, until she developed some kidney troubles and had to be put down. I don't have many pictures of her, three of the four below I took the night before she died - I knew she was going to be put down the following day. Madeline was a nice cat, but there was nothing really unique or special about her. Not like Grumpy, who purred loudly and did or so memorable things like picking at the top of my head to wake me up.

Madeline

When Madeline died, I went a couple days later to get another cat. I just loved having a cat in the house - another living creature. This time I wanted a de-clawed cat, and the Mindy-Kitty fit the bill. So I brought her home. She hid behind the washing machine for 4 days, then emerged to explore her surroundings, and take up her position as resident queen.

Mindy has a lot of personality, and a wonderful high-volume purrer that she uses a lot! There's no way you can miss the fact that there is a cat in the house. She comes to the bed almost every morning for some pettings, if she hadn't already spent the night on the bed. She'll certainly spend the night on the bed if we've left her home alone for a few days. She's a talkative little beast, meowing all the time. In fact, she has this dreadful yowl that she does after she eats - it sounds like she's in agony, but she does it every day! She's a very typical cat, sleeps a lot, but goes 'crazy' at least once a day, and bounces all over the house. She has a real penchant for Rob's hockey equipment. When he brings it out, she loves to do the hideout thing inside the hockey pants. If I'm at my computer, she'll come regularly for some attention. Always with a meow or two. She came at least once while I was writing this post. I've had Mindy for 6 years now, and I hope she lives to a good old age. I still love having a cat in the house, especially such a friendly one, who almost always comes to say 'hi' when we get home from being out. I'm thankful for this little furball! Even if she does try to sneak outside all the time!

Oh, and y'all be happy to know that I am also the owner of a real cat carrier - no more escapees!

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Blessed

2010-11-09T21:17:00.000-05:00

What a great blessing it is to have Pastor B. as our pastor at LW! God has given him great gifts in preaching the Word. Sermons like this one or this one. Or this one. Or this one.   Actually, just go here for the whole list!

Why are we so blessed? Good question. Certainly not deserved. A few of us were discussing this on Sunday, after another gospel-filled, Christ-centered sermon. So blessed. Yet we talked about how with these great blessings comes great responsibility. Responsibility to not take this for granted. Responsibility to learn, and to grow from what we hear.   Responsibility to share the marvelous news of the gospel. Responsibility to keep our dear Pastor in prayer. Responsibility to remember he is a man, in need of Saviour like everyone else, and not to be set on a pedestal.   Responsibility to be thankful to God. Responsibility to remember that all the glory and honour is to the great Triune God.

Yes, to God be the honour, to God be the glory!   For many reasons, but I have three today. First of all, because He is God. Secondly, because He sent His son, so that there IS a gospel message that can be preached. Thirdly, because He has given Pastor B great gifts in expounding that precious gospel.

Praise You, oh Lord I will praise You!

My voice will join the chorus

That all creation sings

Praise You, oh Lord I will praise You!

My Master, my Redeemer, my Savior and King

Words by Gloria Gaither

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-11-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

My Favourite Things: Monday is going to the ~~dogs~~ cats...

Guess who else has taken a real liking to our fire place?

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-11-01T12:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday, y'all! Time for another installment of My Favourite Things: Monday. Today it is something that I'm loving about our house right now. That would be our fire place!

As the weather has been cooling, Rob and I have started turning on the fire sometimes, and it is so cozy - it really warms up the house! Yesterday, we didn't even turn up the heat between services, I just turned the fire on for a little while.

Enjoy the rest of your Monday!

"Man talking on the phone" (Rob's Favourite Things Friday)

2010-10-28T23:51:00.020-04:00

It's Friday night, and I'm not following the Monday Theme that Karen does. I finally got my birthday present 2 1/2 months late today! Yay!

I was looking at an old phone while in the server room at EFS Listowel one day, which was exactly like the one above, and it sparked my interest as to how much phones have changed, and how the old ones feel so solid and real. This phone said "Made in Canada" on the bottom. I like traditional and basic telephones. They're simple. They work. And, anyone can setup and operate one. They're, in effect, completely "plug and play", unlike most technology. As long as you have a basic phone that you don't have to plug into a DC adapter and perhaps use a rechargable battery, such as a portable, they work forever until they're dropped on the floor too may times.

My family will tell you, and rightly so, how they've annoyingly heard me say it before, that when the power's out, like during the Northeast Blackout on August 14, 2003, your simple cord phone will work. Everything else is out. All internet based talk, such as Skype and VoIP, and all cellular (cell-site tower are powered by the grid), and, also your portable home phone.

"Keep at least one simple corded phone in the house." I remember telling this story 10,000 times to customers while working post-grad at RadioShack.

With my interest in the old fashoned phone, including the old rotary one from the 80s my parents had on 505 Erie, which apparently you have to rent or pay for if you still have one, I decided to start looking back into the 1910s, and the first phones, homing in my interest in the upright or candlestick phone.

Looking at pictures on the internet of candlestick phones, I came across statements, like, "Woman using a telephone", or "Man talking on phone", which during the first years of the telephone, were new, incredible, and expensive!

The boring caption to a picture "Man talking on phone" would have at the time been not a boring statument during the 1910s. The telephone was more rare at first. Perhaps you may remember the schene in the "Anne of Green of Gables" sequel, when Catherine Brooks proudly educates Anne that Kingsport Ladies College was one of the only few to have been equiped with a telephone. This was before WWI.

This is me with my new phone:

Today, it's hard to buy any original candlesticks, let alone ones that work, and since I'm saving my money for music and other hobbies, I decided to settle for a brand new "retro-looking" one above, that still gives me the feel of the old fashoned upright or candlestick telephone. But it was still hard to find! You can only buy them online. It not like you can stop in at the mall to pick one up. The Crosley CR64 Black, below, which is the one I have now, was not available in Canada all summer near my birthday.

I tried to buy it from the States directly in August, but they ended up refunding it and told me to try again in October -- now I've got it, when it finally became available on Sears.ca, and available via catalog purchase.

Oh, by the way. I finally understand where we get the expression, "the phone is off the hook".

The Weekend That Was

2010-10-19T21:31:00.000-04:00

Rob and I have had a very busy, long but very enjoyable weekend!

It all started on Thursday evening, when we went to Mom and Dad's to see Lisa - who had just arrived from Vancouver! She was in Ontario over a six day period, and I saw her 5 of those 6 days.

Friday was actually a quiet day, Rob and I were home for the evening. Our Friday's have been pretty busy of late, so it was really nice to have a quiet evening at home.

Saturday was Adrian and Heather's wedding. Congratulations, Adrian & Heather! Marriage is a gift from God, we thank Him and praise Him for bringing you together. We pray that you will have much joy in your life together, under God's blessing hand.

Sunday was Mom's birthday so after our evening service we went to visit Mom and Dad again. This time, not only was Lisa there, but also Arian & Karin, Alex & Erik and Oma and Aunt Marina. While the camera did attend that party, the pictures were very few in number and did not turn out well, I'm afraid.

Finally, on Monday night we concluded our festivities with dinner out at Tucker's Marketplace. This was to celebrate several things. Mom's birthday, Lisa being around for the weekend, and rather belatedly, a family dinner for Mom & Dad's 35th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated in May. Several of us ate too much....I do love going to that restaurant! Arian & Karin had secured the services of a baby-sitter for Thing One and Thing Two, so eight of us dined in style as Lisa Jane joined the fun. Glad you could come Lisa Jane!

Rob and I:

Mom & Dad:

Lisa Marie and Lisa Jane:

Me and my sister!

Karin & Arian:

Now, as I write this, Lisa is on an airplane some 40000 feet above earth, travelling at 470 mph, (thank you Flytecomm) heading backing to Vancouver. :( However, she has already booked her flights for a trip back to Ontario at Christmas!)

And now, to finish off this post, a couple recent pictures of my adorable nephews. (Photo credits to Karin for the picture of Erik and Joni for the picture of Alex). Without further ado, Alex (Thing One) and Erik (Thing Two)!

My Favourite Things Monday

2010-10-18T09:41:00.001-04:00

Today it is all about My Favourite Thanksgiving things! Thelma wrote about stuffing last week - I do love stuffing. I remember as a kid I would never eat stuffing, I thought it looked terrible. Then one year, I think I was in my teens, I finally tried it. And LOVED it. I still regret all those years where I refused to try it!

This year I cooked a turkey for the first time. Steve & Jo & kids, Shana and Rob's parents came over, and we had a wonderful afternoon. So wonderful in fact, that we only have one picture.

The turkey, just out of the oven, complete with stuffing that was indeed very yummy. (Made from scratch. I have NEVER used so much butter when frying vegetables before. I guess that is one of the reasons why stuffing is so good!)

Mom A, Jo and Shana contributed veggies, salads, desserts to the meal, so all in all it was a wonderful meal and the work shared between us. The bonus for me, having cooked the turkey, was I also was able to make a big pot of turkey soup on the following day!

I do think that the stuffing is also my favourite part of the Thanksgiving meal. But I also appreciate time with family, and although we did not this year, we often go for a walk to enjoy the weather and beautiful fall colours!

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Have a great Monday, y'all!

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-10-04T20:07:00.000-04:00

T’is Monday again and the theme for today (for me) is favourite houseplants. Thelma is also looking for suggestions for kill-proof plants that are cat-friendly, so hop on over to her blog if you have any ideas.

At the moment, our house is adorned by exactly two plants, and to say they are ‘adorning’ is really stretching it. Considering I’ve opted not to put photos of the poor things on the blog speaks much for their current state of health. The two plants are both African violets, which I buy upon occasion when they are on sale for $2-3 each. These current plants did very well for quite awhile, getting new leaves and flowers. Then one day they decided to stop flowering, and now they are just greenery. One’s greenery is a lot healthier looking than the other. In fact, there are even two plants squished into the tiny pot. I did go so far as to buy some African Violet plant fertilizer, but it seems that a bottle of fertilizer in the cupboard is not so helpful in nurturing the plants. Apparently I’m supposed to actually fertilize the plants?

Part of the problem is we do not have any location in our house particularly conducive to plants. I’m told that African violets are partial to northern exposure, so I’ve put them by the appropriate window. However, that means they are behind my computer monitor, so I can barely see them, and the blind is closed 90% of the time, so the despite being on the northern side of the house, it really isn’t that helpful for them. I’m thinking that the next time I go on a cleaning rampage, the end will come for these little plants, and our home will then be devoid of plant life. Until perhaps, African violets go on sale at a local grocery store again, and I bring a couple home, to see how hardy they are, and how long they can put up with my loving (or lack thereof) plant care. Or maybe my thumb will feel green on my next cleaning rampage, and I will instead re-pot the two healthy looking plants and see if that makes them any happier!

After today, My Favourite Things: Monday will be changing to a bi-weekly frequency for an indefinite period of time - I'm following Thelma's lead here. Hopefully I'll think of other things to write about during the "off" week.

Hope y’all had a great Monday!

Gratitude Friday

2010-10-01T09:53:00.004-04:00

It has been a long long time since I've written a Gratitude Friday post - shame on me!

I have several areas of thanksgiving to share with you all this week though.

1) Last Friday Oma celebrated her 95th birthday. Yes, 95th. It is hard to imagine living that long - Oma is almost 3 times my age! I'm so thankful for the years that God has blessed Oma with, and the health, strength and joy in life that she continues to enjoy. Oma's children, and most of her grand-children and great-grandchildren visited her on Friday night, to celebrate this milestone with her. It is my prayer that our dear heavenly Father will continue to sustain Oma through the days He has yet appointed for her, until He calls her to her eternal home. We love you Oma!

Here's a picture from the party last week. It is my great-aunt Grace sitting beside Oma, she just celebrated her 90th birthday a few days before Oma's birthday!

2) This week I was working at my other part-time job, at Andrew & Karen's, and around 4:00 Karen said "time to get back to my supper" which set me to pondering about what I would make for supper that night. I often tend to do such ponderings aloud, which gave Andrew the idea to see if his wife had prepared extra, and could she send some home with me. Karen had plenty, so Rob and I enjoyed a delicious supper - turkey, potatoes, vegetables, with absolutely no effort on my part! THANK YOU to Andrew and Karen for your kindness! We felt so very spoiled. Interestingly, we had originally had plans to visit others that same evening, for dinner, but those plans had to be postponed. So I still didn't have to make a meal that night! There was also lots of turkey leftovers, so we had another yummy meal of hot turkey sandwiches last night.

3) This past Tuesday, the Lord called my Uncle Bob home to glory. While death is always hard, and a solemn reminder to us all, we can have great thankfulness that in the last number of years Uncle Bob could testify of God's faithfulness to him, and a knowledge of His saving grace. It was only a few years ago that Uncle Bob was baptized, having not received that precious sign and seal of the covenant as a child. We pray for Aunt Corrie and the rest of the family, that God will be their comfort, and we give thanks that Uncle Bob's sufferings are over, and he is now giving thanks to his Saviour.

Backyard Airshow

2010-09-29T21:26:00.000-04:00

In early September there was an airshow at the local airport. It was on a weekday, so Rob and I could not go. However, just as we were sitting down for supper, we heard some planes fly over. Rob ran outside, and we quickly decided to eat out doors - it was a lovely warm evening.

From our back porch we could see some of the airshow's 'grand finale' - the Snowbirds! It is hard to take pictures - difficult to find the aircraft in the camera's viewer, but I did manage a couple reasonable pictures.

Quite the treat to see the Snowbirds from our back porch - right over our house, really!

Tree

2010-09-28T21:18:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, we planted a tree. We always wanted to plant a tree at our old house, but there wasn't a lot of room. Now that we have more space at our new home, we've added a tree to our backyard.

Here's our backyard before we added the tree:

Our new tree, ready to be planted.

The very beginning of the hole for the tree.

The planted tree, with some temporary supports. It was a rather windy day, when Rob planted it, and we did not dare leave it without some support. So we rigged up a support until Rob could procure something more permanent.

The after picture, our backyard with our new tree!

It'll be many years before we get a goodly amount of shade, but we're sure going to enjoy having a nice big tree in our backyard!

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-09-27T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it is Monday again, and it has been a Monday or three since I've done a My Favourite Things: Monday post. During the my blogging hiatus, I've been thinking about this series. It is a lot of fun, and I'm going to keep playing. But I'm going to play a week behind Thelma. That gives me a week to ponder what I want to write about, and do what I need to do (wash my car, make a certain recipe, etc) to make the posts just fabulous. ha!

Thelma took a week off last week as she was globe-trotting, so that bought me an extra week this time. Which is excellent, since the theme is our favourite things about autumn, and I really wanted to wait another week or two to prepare for this blog post :) . One of the things I like about autumn is decorating. I usually only decorate our home for fall and Christmas, so it is always exciting to get out the decorations each fall.

Even more exciting this fall is we are living in a new house, so I can experiment with the decor items! We have a fireplace complete with a mantel, so that's where I started.

I bought these 'Give Thanks' blocks last year, and I love them. Throw in some more fall colours and voila! An autumn mantel. Since American Thanksgiving isn't until the end of November, I figure I can leave my fall decor out until then, and then move right into the Christmas decorations!

It seems that fall is a favourite season for many people. I do like fall - the glorious sunny days and the lovely colours, but spring is still my favourite season.

Happy Monday y'all!

Local Fair

2010-09-08T23:43:00.009-04:00

In the new town where we live, there is a country fair held on Labour Day weekend, complete with a Demolition Derby! I love demolition derbies, and Rob can at least tolerate them, so off we went!

The problem with fairs these days is you have to pay a small fortune in admission, so we resolved not to spend anything once we were in. We came home smelling like a greasy french fry, but having brown-bagged our supper, stayed true to our resolution. :)

We arrived late afternoon on Monday, in time to catch a few shows, with plenty of time to claim a seat in the grandstands before the demolition derby began.

The first show we watched was called the "World Renowned Flying Fools High Dive Act". It started with 4 people doing some neat dives. Then they put on some of those wacky old-fashioned swimsuits and joked around for a while, but still did some neat dives/tricks. Lastly, one of the divers did the truly-crazy, and dove from a platform 80ft up into a pool only 10ft deep!

It was a fun show to watch - Rob might have liked it better than the demolition derby!

After that we watched a show on reptiles, saw some iguanas, snakes and other reptiles. We also learned that all snakes are not snakes - there are snake-like creatures that are not snakes, but rather "legless lizards". Snakes do not have ears, legless lizards do, and snakes do not have eye lids, which legless lizards do.

Finally, it was time for the demolition derby! First there was a contest for the best decorated demolition derby car. This car won:

And this is what it looked like half an hour later:

The first heat was called a "mini demolition derby" and was for small cars. It was the first time I'd watched front-wheel-drive cars play smash-up derby - fun!

The last two heats were for the larger cars. The first for "straight stock" cars; cars that were not enhanced/modified/reinforced in any fashion, save for the required safety modifications. The final heat was for cars which had been modified in hopes of prolonging their life in the demolition derby ring.

I'm not sure why I love demolition derbies so much - must be my destructive streak. :) I don't have any real desire to participate in a demolition derby ("Well, I sure hope not!" says Rob), but I sure love to watch them!

Here's the resulting carnage from all the heats:

I'm also excited already for next June - there's going to a be a demolition derby weekend at the fair grounds! This event was held this year too, but we didn't make it out, being elbow deep in paint at the time. So hopefully next year! If you want to come with us, let me know and I'll send you the details when I start seeing signs around town next spring!

My Favourite Things: Monday (Tuesday Edition)

2010-09-07T13:20:00.002-04:00

Good afternoon y'all, it is time for the next installment of My Favourite Things: Monday. Except it is Tuesday today, as I'm a day late. Yesterday was the Labour Day holiday, and while a My Favourite Things: Monday blog post was on the To Do list, it didn't get done. However, I did want to put up a post on this week's theme, so here it is.

The theme for this week is favourite hymns, and more particularly favourite stanzas. I think for the hymns I've chosen favourite refrains might be more accurate. (I've already broken the Monday rule, so I may as well keep up with the liberties, eh?)

"Like a River Glorious" is one of my favourites. No matter the circumstances of life, there is peace, perfect peace in God, and we can trust Him for time and eternity.

Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

"O, to See the Dawn (The Power of the Cross)" by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend, is a new favourite of mine. This song was added to the small supplementary hymnbook at church awhile ago, and I love it. The words are simple but so true and how the music fits with the lyrics is just beautiful. Oh, the power of the cross, and the marvelous love seen and given, the forgiveness found, in the cross of Christ!

O, to see the dawn of the darkest day;
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten,
Then nailed to a cross of wood.

This the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.

O, to see the pain written on Your face,
bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought, ev'ry evil deed
crowning Your blood-stained brow.

This the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Now the daylight flees; Now the ground beneath
quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain towrn in two, dead are raised to life
"Finished!" the victory cry.

This the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath;
We stand forgiven at the cross.

O, to see my name written in the wounds,
for through Your suff'ring I am free.
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live,
won through Your selfless love!

This the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God slain for us.
What a love, what a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

What are some of your favourite hymns?

Shed

2010-08-31T18:23:00.003-04:00

This is my back yard:

This is a shed:

Well. It's actually the pick-up. But what's in it is a shed-in-a-package. It's just the most practical and cost-effective way to build a wooden shed without having to go though the design phase. They dropped it into the back with a forklift, and I couldn't close the tailgate even though it would have fit. Since I could not push it forward, I had to keep it in with a ratchet strap. In the picture far above, Dad and I had begun to create the base for the floating slab on an end-of-July Saturday. It had rained in the morning, but by the end of the afternoon, we had purchased the stones, dug the hole, filled in the gravel, and were leveling. Then we went to D's for supper. On the following Monday, I put in the patio stones after some leveling which I wasn't too picky about. With the patio laid out, I could begin to build. Wow! I was (pretending to be) a framer again!

The evenings progress.

The days get shorter.

No top plates? Hmm. Right. No problem! It's just a simple shed. Not a house! But the floor was an actual floor, with miniature 2x4 "joists".

The rains force the odd clean-up-the-tools-in-the-rain.

The plans are confusing.

But eventually, it all comes together. It was even level.

Marvelous.

There is a beautiful wife behind the camara.

Karen had to hold the roof supports because I couldn't for the life of me nail them in alone. It just looked so wrong to have the feminine vessel holding them! But, they had to build that way in Little House on the Prairie book, Pa all by himself, and I wasn't about to call someone to drive all the way to Paris -- that evening!

Trim:

Stainless-steel roof:

Cool picture below. Nice job, Karen!

Karen covers all the angles:

It's time to hang the doors! I think I was running that evening.

Recognize any of the tools, all ye bachelor-party poopers?

It's actually a shed. Amazing.

Karen took pictures of the final project today. Yesterday, I replaced the lock for the third time. They sent me the second one, the replacement for the first, which was also defective. I said, "Forget it, I'm cutting my loss and putting on a pad-lock!" I had the idea to put the on the original too to serve as wind-resistant "latches", and the second one was sent to me as a replacement, so it will have to make do, and it's all good in the end.

Favourite Things: Monday

2010-08-30T20:50:00.000-04:00

The topic for today is your favourite thing about your car. T'is an interesting thought. I like my little car, I really do. Nine years of faithful service from this car. I wish I could remember what I named my car. It would be oh-so-fitting to use my car's name in a post about it. Sadly, I can't. Lisa, my dear sister, perhaps you remember?

Anyways, I digress. My car's name is clearly not my favourite thing about it, seeing as I can't even remember the name. My little car doesn't have cruise control like Thelma's car, although there have been times when I've wished for cruise control, particularly back in Rob and my courtship days, when I was making 2 hour-on-the-400-series-highway-trips to see Rob every other weekend. Yes, I've been driving this car for a long time. About 9 years and 2 months, to be precise. To be honest, I think regularly about what my next car might be. Shhh. Don't tell my little green car, since I think sometimes cars are sensitive about those kinds of things.

However, one of the reasons I chose the Protege in the first place, one of my favourite things about it, was that I really liked how it looked, particularly the back of the car. I still like the appearance of the car, and it still cleans up very nicely.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more/better pictures. I missed Thelma's telepathic messages on Saturday that I should have washed and photographed my car. (Actually the real question is, even if I had caught Thelma's telepathic messages, would I have washed my car just so I could blog about it?)

I bought this car when I finished university. A graduation present to myself, you might say. I had a couple requirements for the car. A/C. That was number one. Four doors. I must have subconciously decided I wanted a smallish car, as I don't recall considering other types of vehicles. As I observed all the other cars on the road, I decided I liked the looks of the Protege best. So I went and bought one. Believe it or not, that was my rationale. I did visit a couple dealerships and test drove a couple different proteges. I still remember when I drove this one, I came back to the lot and thought to myself "I just drove my new car!". I was right!

So, I still like how it looks. I also like the fact that my odometer reads this:

I think the car had about 60 or 70 kilometers on it when I picked it up. So in the last 9+ years, the car has been driven over 230 000 km. Of those 230 000km, I would estimate that I've been the driver for at least 220 000 of them. Rob doesn't drive my car that often, and although we've traded cars with family for various reasons at various times, I don't think that very many kilometers would have been put on during those times.

So, that's my little green car. And yes, little green car, I will get you an oil change very soon, and have that rattling noise you're making (again) examined (again)...

God Be with You Till We Meet Again

2010-08-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

God be with you till we meet again,
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again,
'Neath His wings protecting hide you,
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
When life's perils thick confound you,
Put His arms unfailing 'round you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet agian,
Keep love's banner floating o'er you,
Smite death's threatening wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.
(Jeremiah E. Rankin, 1880)

Today we said goodbye to Rich & Cher, Luke, Laura, Caleb, Corin and Yvetta. One week from Monday they begin their journey to the soon-to-be-frosty Manitoba, and today was our last opportunity to see them.

We love you guys, and we'll miss you all - we're glad for phones and blogs!

We pray that the text from the farewell sermon will be your encouragement too..."Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor 15:58

and now... Till we meet, till we meet at Jesus' feet, God be with you till we meet again.

My Favourite Things: Monday

2010-08-16T21:13:00.001-04:00

Thelma, Thelma, must you choose food so that I am writing my fourth consecutive post about food? :) Although, perhaps my blog was your inspiration this week so I have no one but myself to blame ?!?

The theme for this week is favourite seasonal fruits or vegetables. My favourite fruits are fresh strawberries, peaches, and pears. Seeing as I only have pictures of peaches, I must limit my musings to the delectableness of peaches.

After all, with peaches, you can take these lovely things...

and slice them into these, from which, ...

if you don't eat all the slices, you can get one of these!

(The above pie was made in honour of Rob & Dad's birthday last week).

Or, you get a package such as this, and, ...

come next February, when fresh peaches like these ...

are but a fond memory, you can have another one of these!

What are your favourite fresh fruit and veggies?

Best Ever Bruschetta...if I say so myself :)

2010-08-13T21:16:00.000-04:00

Some number of years ago, I went on a Tomato-Liking Campaign, and it was not wholly unsuccessful. I still prefer my pizza and my burgers without tomatoes, but I do like a good bruschetta! I think it was about a year ago that I had an abundance of ripe tomatoes in the house, and needed a recipe to use a lot of them. I thought of bruschetta, but I had never made bruschetta before. Off to AllRecipes.com. No shortage of bruschetta recipes there, so I read through many of them, and then made up my own version. It was yummy then, and still yummy today. Rob and I both love this, and I make it a lot!

What you need:

Bread - I prefer a breadstick, especially if I find it on the day-old 50% off rack
mayo
parsley
paprika
garlic powder
green onion
tomatoes
cheese

1) Toast the bread pieces - on both sides. I tried it once, only toasting one side, and it was just not the same. If time permits, allow the toast to cool.

2) Prepare the dressing. Dice the green onion very finely, and add in a couple spoonfuls of mayo. (I usually use 2 soup spoons, quite heaping. I've never run out of dressing. :) ) Season with parsley, garlic powder and paprika, to taste, and until it looks pretty.

3) Spread the dressing on the toast - be generous, you probably have too much dressing anyways!

4) Dice the tomatoes and divide evenly between each piece.

5) Grate some cheese and top each bruschetta piece.

6) Broil for a few minutes, until the cheese is melted, and the mayo mixture is bubbling on the edges.

7) Serve and enjoy!!

Yummy!

P.S. Should I be concerned that this is my third consecutive blog post about food ?!?

Date Night

2010-08-07T22:42:00.000-04:00

Rob and I had a wonderful dinner out last night, at Bronsons Steak House. Rob had received a gift certificate from Neil and Beth this past Christmas, and we finally had a free Friday evening to enjoy it, so enjoy it we did! Courtesy of the gift certificate, we could go all out - drinks, appetizers, steak, coffee and dessert! It was SO good, and the atmosphere at Bronsons is really nice too. Afterwards, we had a short walk around the downtown area, and then headed home. Thanks Neil & Beth - we much enjoyed our evening out!

Fresh Fruit

2010-07-22T13:01:00.001-04:00

Lisa, this post is for you! I wanted to get out of the office at lunch today, so I went to the local farmer's market. T'is the season for farmer's markets! So many vendors, all selling the same produce, for usually the same price - how do you choose? I bought cherries, peaches, and some new potatoes - they'll be for dinner tonight.

As I already had strawberries (local berries still) in my lunch, I thought I could make a pretty plate by adding cherries and peaches. It turned out so pretty I had to go in search of a camera! Thanks to Denise, who has a camera in her cell phone.

As for me, I'm enjoying the additions to my lunch!