Friday, May 24, 2013
Great News From One of Our Friends Who Has Been Ill
One of our parishioners who had cancer surgery a few weeks ago contacted us tonight. The pathology report is in. All the cancer was removed at the time of surgery. There will be no more treatments required. Thank you Lord!!! Thank you to those of you who have been praying for our various ill parishioners. So that is one on the road to recovery and one more who needs a bit more prayer and help to break up blood clots in his lungs as he slowly heals. Today was a good news day on the health front in our parish. We are so grateful.
Japanese Cookies
One thing that has consistently brightened up our rather plain existence here is the arrival every few months of care packages from Japanese friends. Although we have not been to Japan in the past 12 years, the gifts keep on coming. It is wonderful!!
In the lastest package there was a pack of Japanese cookies. Japanese cookies are not like North American cookies. They are not sweet. They are not filled with sugar and chocolate and sprinkles. Many Japanese cookies, other than teeny super sweet packed sugar cookies used for the tea ceremony, are simply a larger version of the round puffed rice crackers with interesting additions.
Today we decided to try the onion cookies....nope, not a mistake. Actual onion cookies is what they were. Even if we had not been able to read the Japanese script on the package, the cartoon drawing of the two onions on the front of the package was a dead giveaway.
We opened up the pack and split one of the cookies between us, not expecting to enjoy one mouthful of such a thing....to us it would not be the treat it is advertised to be.
What a surprise we got. The cookies are delicious!! The rice crackers are somewhat sweetened and with a bit less soy sauce than on a regular cracker. The top of the cookie had bits of baked onion held in place by a slightly sweet glaze. On the underside of the cookie was a layer of glazed black sesame seeds.
To the Canadian eye the so-called cookies look ridiculous. They look like a satire of a Canadian cookie, or maybe a practical joke to play on an unsuspecting friend when you invite them over to have dessert with you.
In actual fact they are fantastic....a toothsome combination of onion and sesame and rice but with just a hint of sweetness that somehow binds the other 3 flavours together delightfully.
We have learned over the years to never make fun of any sort of non-Canadian food until we have tried it, no matter how odd or strange it may seem. Once again it is a good thing we held our suspicion of these cookies in check. They would be tasty any time of day, before, after or even during a meal. It seems so Japanese to us that even a cookie treat must be created using some sorts of healthy foods.
Yay, Japanese snack makers.........another huge hit to arrive in our pantry. Thank you Mrs. Watanabe for your amazing gift.
In the lastest package there was a pack of Japanese cookies. Japanese cookies are not like North American cookies. They are not sweet. They are not filled with sugar and chocolate and sprinkles. Many Japanese cookies, other than teeny super sweet packed sugar cookies used for the tea ceremony, are simply a larger version of the round puffed rice crackers with interesting additions.
Today we decided to try the onion cookies....nope, not a mistake. Actual onion cookies is what they were. Even if we had not been able to read the Japanese script on the package, the cartoon drawing of the two onions on the front of the package was a dead giveaway.
We opened up the pack and split one of the cookies between us, not expecting to enjoy one mouthful of such a thing....to us it would not be the treat it is advertised to be.
What a surprise we got. The cookies are delicious!! The rice crackers are somewhat sweetened and with a bit less soy sauce than on a regular cracker. The top of the cookie had bits of baked onion held in place by a slightly sweet glaze. On the underside of the cookie was a layer of glazed black sesame seeds.
To the Canadian eye the so-called cookies look ridiculous. They look like a satire of a Canadian cookie, or maybe a practical joke to play on an unsuspecting friend when you invite them over to have dessert with you.
In actual fact they are fantastic....a toothsome combination of onion and sesame and rice but with just a hint of sweetness that somehow binds the other 3 flavours together delightfully.
We have learned over the years to never make fun of any sort of non-Canadian food until we have tried it, no matter how odd or strange it may seem. Once again it is a good thing we held our suspicion of these cookies in check. They would be tasty any time of day, before, after or even during a meal. It seems so Japanese to us that even a cookie treat must be created using some sorts of healthy foods.
Yay, Japanese snack makers.........another huge hit to arrive in our pantry. Thank you Mrs. Watanabe for your amazing gift.
New Birds in the Side Yard.....Yippee!!
There has been a lull in our bird population at the house for the past couple of weeks. Things have been pretty dull since the departure of the red polls, finches and nut hatches for points north. The larger mourning doves, robins and blue jays have hung around but we have missed the song birds.
Today marked the arrival of the bright yellow warblers and, wonder of wonders, a pair of Baltimore Orioles! We have not seen them before in the now 4 springs that we have lived here. They are absolutely gorgeous! The deep orange yellow is brilliant next to the dark black feathers on their heads. The white bands on their wings are SO white they look almost blue.....like when my grandma would use old fashioned bluing in the wash water for her white linens and lingerie.
The songs of both birds are glorious to hear. Other than the screeching of the jays and the soft cooing of the doves it has been pretty quiet around here the past couple of weeks.
The uber bright colours in the birds' feathers really stand out against the plain prairie landscape. While it is lovely that leaf green has been added into the standard brown of this area, the colours of the bird feathers are downright tropical....it is for colours like this that the word "plumage" was invented!
Welcome spring songbirds! So glad you are gracing our yard with your presence.
Today marked the arrival of the bright yellow warblers and, wonder of wonders, a pair of Baltimore Orioles! We have not seen them before in the now 4 springs that we have lived here. They are absolutely gorgeous! The deep orange yellow is brilliant next to the dark black feathers on their heads. The white bands on their wings are SO white they look almost blue.....like when my grandma would use old fashioned bluing in the wash water for her white linens and lingerie.
The songs of both birds are glorious to hear. Other than the screeching of the jays and the soft cooing of the doves it has been pretty quiet around here the past couple of weeks.
The uber bright colours in the birds' feathers really stand out against the plain prairie landscape. While it is lovely that leaf green has been added into the standard brown of this area, the colours of the bird feathers are downright tropical....it is for colours like this that the word "plumage" was invented!
Welcome spring songbirds! So glad you are gracing our yard with your presence.
My Buddy Carleton
My good "friend" Carleton is a 12 year old, large, fuzzy, moody, bird and mouse catching feline. His people are good friends from another town where we used to live.
I was chatting the other day with one of his people and remembered how much fun he is. Carleton is indeed the king of all he surveys, indoors and out. At home he does enjoy having company. He particularly enjoys sprawling out full length on his back or tummy, legs splayed in all directions, right in the middle of the kitchen floor, causing all of us to have to step over and around him as we wander about between kitchen, dining and living room areas. He is completely calm. He knows none of us would have the gall to actually step on him or otherwise inconvenience him in any way. King Carleton rules his dominion with an iron paw.
Should I happen to sit on his favourite, of the moment, chair or sofa he will sit at my feet for a minute, eyeing me balefully. If I don't get the hint to move out of the way he will leap gracefully into my lap, stare fully into my face with his nose touching mine and assume I realize I am to vacate for a different seat. If I miss my cue he will plop down most ungracefully and stare at me some more as if to say, "Hey lady, I tried to tell you to move. You didn't, so you are stuck with me." Then he turns his back on me and stares sadly at the other people in the room, giving impatient shakes of his head as if to day, "Do you believe this woman??? She is STILL in my chair!"
Carleton had to be kept indoors a great deal last summer to protect the song birds near his home. His bird hunting skills are legendary in his neighbourhood, bringing down the wrath of the neighbours upon his and his peoples' heads many a summer. Carleton was angry and frustrated and confused of course. Eventually he developed such a serious case of depression that his people took pity on him and purchased a top of the line collar that is supposed to be the best available for warning birds of his approach and to be a guard around his neck to prevent him from actually catching them. He didn't like it, but was unable to remove it on his own so he had to deal with it and outside he went after many unhappy weeks indoors. It wasn't long before he returned, collar intact, bird in mouth as he sauntered into the house. The cool calculated look on his face was a direct challenge to his people about the collar he had been forced to wear: "Yeah, so, what else ya' got? Is this the best you can do?" He was allowed one more attempt to be outside with the collar a few days later but returned after several hours, the collar gone completely. Back indoors went poor Carleton for the rest of the summer.
This summer Carleton has done himself a big favour. He has finally realized after all these years that catching mice brings him equal pleasure to catching birds, plus it raises his quotient of praise from his people and from the neighbours who, apart from his bird kills, idolize and dote on Carleton.
Hats off to you Carleton. It is never too late to teach an old cat new tricks....well, okay, yes you did teach yourself with no help from anyone else. Naturally......
All Hail King Carleton!
I was chatting the other day with one of his people and remembered how much fun he is. Carleton is indeed the king of all he surveys, indoors and out. At home he does enjoy having company. He particularly enjoys sprawling out full length on his back or tummy, legs splayed in all directions, right in the middle of the kitchen floor, causing all of us to have to step over and around him as we wander about between kitchen, dining and living room areas. He is completely calm. He knows none of us would have the gall to actually step on him or otherwise inconvenience him in any way. King Carleton rules his dominion with an iron paw.
Should I happen to sit on his favourite, of the moment, chair or sofa he will sit at my feet for a minute, eyeing me balefully. If I don't get the hint to move out of the way he will leap gracefully into my lap, stare fully into my face with his nose touching mine and assume I realize I am to vacate for a different seat. If I miss my cue he will plop down most ungracefully and stare at me some more as if to say, "Hey lady, I tried to tell you to move. You didn't, so you are stuck with me." Then he turns his back on me and stares sadly at the other people in the room, giving impatient shakes of his head as if to day, "Do you believe this woman??? She is STILL in my chair!"
Carleton had to be kept indoors a great deal last summer to protect the song birds near his home. His bird hunting skills are legendary in his neighbourhood, bringing down the wrath of the neighbours upon his and his peoples' heads many a summer. Carleton was angry and frustrated and confused of course. Eventually he developed such a serious case of depression that his people took pity on him and purchased a top of the line collar that is supposed to be the best available for warning birds of his approach and to be a guard around his neck to prevent him from actually catching them. He didn't like it, but was unable to remove it on his own so he had to deal with it and outside he went after many unhappy weeks indoors. It wasn't long before he returned, collar intact, bird in mouth as he sauntered into the house. The cool calculated look on his face was a direct challenge to his people about the collar he had been forced to wear: "Yeah, so, what else ya' got? Is this the best you can do?" He was allowed one more attempt to be outside with the collar a few days later but returned after several hours, the collar gone completely. Back indoors went poor Carleton for the rest of the summer.
This summer Carleton has done himself a big favour. He has finally realized after all these years that catching mice brings him equal pleasure to catching birds, plus it raises his quotient of praise from his people and from the neighbours who, apart from his bird kills, idolize and dote on Carleton.
Hats off to you Carleton. It is never too late to teach an old cat new tricks....well, okay, yes you did teach yourself with no help from anyone else. Naturally......
All Hail King Carleton!
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Annual Monitor Update
It seems every spring, for one reason or another I end up with a bigger and better computer monitor than the spring before. It has become a pleasant tradition for me.
This year I didn't think it would happen. The one my husband bought for my birthday last year has held up well and I have had no complaints with it whatsoever. It isn't the largest available monitor but it has that cool feature where you can rotate it, a wonderful feature if you are reading books or long articles online. It reduces the amount of scrolling up and down the reader has to do on each page.
I never used this feature; not once in the past year. My husband however has several books downloaded temporarily from the library where he recently did his study leave research. While his computer screen is larger than mine, it doesn't rotate so he has been frustrated trying to read books with it.
Today he exchanged monitors with me. I now have the much larger and newer monitor and he is very happy with my older rotating screen. Happy "Annual Change in Computer Monitor" to me....and to him....and it didn't cost us a cent!
BONUS!
This year I didn't think it would happen. The one my husband bought for my birthday last year has held up well and I have had no complaints with it whatsoever. It isn't the largest available monitor but it has that cool feature where you can rotate it, a wonderful feature if you are reading books or long articles online. It reduces the amount of scrolling up and down the reader has to do on each page.
I never used this feature; not once in the past year. My husband however has several books downloaded temporarily from the library where he recently did his study leave research. While his computer screen is larger than mine, it doesn't rotate so he has been frustrated trying to read books with it.
Today he exchanged monitors with me. I now have the much larger and newer monitor and he is very happy with my older rotating screen. Happy "Annual Change in Computer Monitor" to me....and to him....and it didn't cost us a cent!
BONUS!
What Am I Missing Here?
The local online news site I take a gander at each morning has a huge headline today. Apparently in one of our neighbouring towns, now that the dirt alleyways have dried up after the snow melt and the local garbage trucks can once again navigate them without fear of being mired, front curbside garbage pick up will change to back alley garbage pick up.
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat yet? You aren't?? Well, then read on and be amazed!
The report states that the reason for returning to back alley pick up is that residents will no longer have the worry that animals will raid the garbage bins and leave the contents strewn all over the residents' front yards.
So.........um.........now the animals will be able to raid the garbage bins and leave the contents strewn all over their back yards? Or over their back alleyways? And this is so much better? How so?
I read the article 3 times looking for a hint as to some other logic in making the change, but no other reason was given. I am bamboozled. No doubt there are other, better, reasons for this return to the "old ways", but the only reason given in the article made little sense to me.
My sense of humour though is on overdrive with this one. In my head there is a picture of various town folk screaming and running amok because there is garbage here and there on their front lawns. The next picture is of an equally disgusting mess all over their back lawns and alleyways, but the residents are sitting out in the midst of it, in hammock chairs and sun hats, basking in the heat, martinis in hand and sighing, "Ooooh, there, that's better!"
There is a reason I haunt news sites.......so much inadvertent humour.
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat yet? You aren't?? Well, then read on and be amazed!
The report states that the reason for returning to back alley pick up is that residents will no longer have the worry that animals will raid the garbage bins and leave the contents strewn all over the residents' front yards.
So.........um.........now the animals will be able to raid the garbage bins and leave the contents strewn all over their back yards? Or over their back alleyways? And this is so much better? How so?
I read the article 3 times looking for a hint as to some other logic in making the change, but no other reason was given. I am bamboozled. No doubt there are other, better, reasons for this return to the "old ways", but the only reason given in the article made little sense to me.
My sense of humour though is on overdrive with this one. In my head there is a picture of various town folk screaming and running amok because there is garbage here and there on their front lawns. The next picture is of an equally disgusting mess all over their back lawns and alleyways, but the residents are sitting out in the midst of it, in hammock chairs and sun hats, basking in the heat, martinis in hand and sighing, "Ooooh, there, that's better!"
There is a reason I haunt news sites.......so much inadvertent humour.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Yup, the Comedy Never Stops Around Here
I have to say that life is never boring around here simply because of the sheer ridiculousness of the things my husband and I do every day. Today was no exception.
This morning my husband had a little sleep in and then decided he needed to visit a couple of older parishioners in the hospital, as I mentioned in my last post. It was quite a lovely morning, warm, no wind (yet), the perfect morning for a 7 block walk to do his visits. While he was there he ran into another parishioner, as well as his wife who was having tests done. They suggested perhaps he could stop in to visit them on his way home, which he did.
Apparently when he rang the buzzer to gain entrance to their building, their visiting daughter tried to answer the buzzer and let him in. Unfortunately she didn't stand close enough to the intercom and my husband didn't hear her welcoming him. She also didn't press the button for the door opener strongly enough so when my husband tried the door anyway and it didn't budge, he decided they must have gone elsewhere after the hospital tests and headed for home, only 3 blocks away.
I didn't know any of this was going on. I only knew he was at the hospital with no particular return time. My phone rang about 90 minutes after he left. It was the fellow and his wife my husband had attempted to visit. They asked me where he was. I told them he was visiting at the hospital and they said he wasn't, he had been to their house and a mix up had occurred so he was on his way home. I thought perhaps he had gone into his office at the church on his way so I wandered down the breezeway to the office door, still chatting to our friends. No, he wasn't there. They assured me he must at that very moment be coming in our front door at the rectory, but he wasn't. I walked down to the end of the sidewalk and looked up the street toward their building. No sign of him. Where on earth was he?? This is a small town. He has lived here for over 3 years. He wasn't lost.
Our friends really wanted him to collect me and bring me over right away so they could still have their visit, but I had no idea where he could be. I told them I would have him call them as soon as he arrived home. I hung up the phone and decided to go back over to the office and leave him a note in case he stopped in there before coming to the house. When I got there, my dear husband was sitting there at his work computer, typing away, completely oblivious that I was about to send out a search party to find him.
What had happened was that about the time I closed the office door and went back through the rectory and out to the street to see if I could see him, he was going into the church. We missed each other by seconds. Duh!! It is so unlike him not to tell me he was back, so I truly was concerned something had happened in that 3 blocks from our friends' place.
We went right away to visit our friends. They both have a most wicked sense of humour. We will never live down the day I lost my husband 3 blocks away from home....never, never, never!! By Sunday service we will be getting teased by several others in the parish who just love to make a good joke out of such things. hohoho The joke's on us!
This morning my husband had a little sleep in and then decided he needed to visit a couple of older parishioners in the hospital, as I mentioned in my last post. It was quite a lovely morning, warm, no wind (yet), the perfect morning for a 7 block walk to do his visits. While he was there he ran into another parishioner, as well as his wife who was having tests done. They suggested perhaps he could stop in to visit them on his way home, which he did.
Apparently when he rang the buzzer to gain entrance to their building, their visiting daughter tried to answer the buzzer and let him in. Unfortunately she didn't stand close enough to the intercom and my husband didn't hear her welcoming him. She also didn't press the button for the door opener strongly enough so when my husband tried the door anyway and it didn't budge, he decided they must have gone elsewhere after the hospital tests and headed for home, only 3 blocks away.
I didn't know any of this was going on. I only knew he was at the hospital with no particular return time. My phone rang about 90 minutes after he left. It was the fellow and his wife my husband had attempted to visit. They asked me where he was. I told them he was visiting at the hospital and they said he wasn't, he had been to their house and a mix up had occurred so he was on his way home. I thought perhaps he had gone into his office at the church on his way so I wandered down the breezeway to the office door, still chatting to our friends. No, he wasn't there. They assured me he must at that very moment be coming in our front door at the rectory, but he wasn't. I walked down to the end of the sidewalk and looked up the street toward their building. No sign of him. Where on earth was he?? This is a small town. He has lived here for over 3 years. He wasn't lost.
Our friends really wanted him to collect me and bring me over right away so they could still have their visit, but I had no idea where he could be. I told them I would have him call them as soon as he arrived home. I hung up the phone and decided to go back over to the office and leave him a note in case he stopped in there before coming to the house. When I got there, my dear husband was sitting there at his work computer, typing away, completely oblivious that I was about to send out a search party to find him.
What had happened was that about the time I closed the office door and went back through the rectory and out to the street to see if I could see him, he was going into the church. We missed each other by seconds. Duh!! It is so unlike him not to tell me he was back, so I truly was concerned something had happened in that 3 blocks from our friends' place.
We went right away to visit our friends. They both have a most wicked sense of humour. We will never live down the day I lost my husband 3 blocks away from home....never, never, never!! By Sunday service we will be getting teased by several others in the parish who just love to make a good joke out of such things. hohoho The joke's on us!
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