Happiness......

The Canada Day fireworks were a GO tonight! This year's display was the most spectacular we have seen here in some time.  LOVE those gorgeous colours and sparklies and flashes and the earth shaking BOOM every time a new batch of fireworks is set off.  YAY!! The early morning rain cleared up shortly after breakfast and while it continued to be chilly and overcast throughout the day, with some threatening rain clouds, it stayed dry and most Canada Day events were able to go on as planned.  Other tenants and their families, as well as visitors from other parts of the city, are still scattered across our front lawns a half hour after the display ended and will likely be there talking and laughing, kids screaming and racing about until at least 1am.  Most of the traffic jam of cars trying to leave the park tonight has cleared, but the people sitting on the lawns will be there and there and still there long after the rest of the residents here have been in bed trying to sleep for some time, haha.  Fortunately all I have to do in the morning is get up in time to welcome my coffee buddy for our weekly visit and that is not until mid morning, so I will have time to get some sleep tonight.

A most satisfying Canada Day seems to have been had in our neighbourhood again this year. 

Gimme That Bumpy Thumpy Music!! Happy Canada Day!!

The rain has let up sufficiently over the past two or thee hours to allow the Canada Day bands to play their sets in the park near us.  Even though when the direction of the breeze sends the bass vibrations coursing through our apartment to drive me kinda nuts for about 12 consecutive hours, I don't begrudge the participants in the park events their once a year fun celebration of all that remains right in our country.  We went out for a very late lunch to get a break from the bass line and then drove through part of the park on our way home. From what we could see many of event participants are immigrants from other countries and it always makes me happy to see them celebrating their new country despite all the upsets and fears and stresses of coming to a place so different from many of their homelands.  God bless them all!!

We received hot, nutritious, home made meals from both our Syrian neighbours next door and the Nigerians across the parking lot in honour of the day, so it was fun for us to be able to reciprocate with some Canadian food.  I haven't yet had a Middle Eastern or Nigerian meal I have not enjoyed fully. Yum, yum, yum!!!  We will have a grand feast for dinner this evening.  As delicious as our meal was at the restaurant to which we made a spontaneous lunch visit, it cannot compare to the ethnic foods currently sitting in our refrigerator.  

The sun is VERY close to breaking through the clouds late this afternoon, but more rain and possible thunderstorms are in the forecast for this evening, so I suspect our beloved and long awaited firework display isn't going to happen. Oh well, there is always next Canada Day....or perhaps they will take place on the August Family Day long weekend instead?  Since the little island in the lake from which they are fired into the air is presently booked by our church for their annual summer picnic that same day, it is looking doubtful. Oh well....I just miss very much the fireworks we used to see fairly often in larger cities where we have lived in times past.

Anyway, I hope you are having a very good day today, wherever you may be and for those of you in Canada we hope you are rejoicing in what we have here still for freedoms; that those of you who are so inclined are praying for God in his mercy to help us preserve those freedoms and to protect us all going into the future.  May we as a nation be worthy of his divine help. 

Poems From The The Big Veda c. 1500-1200 B.C.

 MAY THE WIND BLOW SWEETNESS

 

May the wind blow sweetness,

the rivers flow sweetness, the herbs grow sweetness,

for the Man of Truth!

 

Sweet be the night,

sweet the dawn,

sweet be the earth's fragrance, 

sweet Father Heaven!

 

May the tree afford us sweetness,

the sun shine sweetness,

our cows yield sweetness--

milk in plenty!

(translated by Raimundo Panikkar) 

 

HYMN TO NIGHT

So vast, our Goddess Night, she rises,

star-eyes gazing everywhere;

all her finery of dress displayed.

Space high and low she fills, Eternal Night,

her beauty driving out the dark.

Close on the heels of sister Day

she treads.  Let darkness run...

As you draw near, we turn for home

like birds that wing to nest.

Life everywhere retreats: man, beast

and bird. Even the soaring hawk

returns to seek out rest.

Night, shield us from the world and thief.

Throughout your hours let there be calm.

Pitch dark has brought a shroud for me.

Dawn, drive it, like my debts, away.

Child of Day, to you, as to a calf,

my hymn is offered. Receive it now

as paean to a conqueror.

(translated by Edwin Gerow and Peter Dent) 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Clothes.....Starting Over!

This morning I put on the dress I purchased for my son's and daughter in law's wedding reception and had another long look in the mirror.  My response to the apparition staring back at me from the mirror was somewhere between meh and blah.  Okay, so the feelings I have been having about that dress over the past couple of weeks since I purchased it do have some merit after all.  I will start the search again later this week or early next.  The dress is nice enough that I will wear it lots this summer....assuming we eventually get some actual summer weather at some point.....but it just isn't at all what I had in mind for the event.  I thought I could make it work, but no, I can't. My son told me the other day that it doesn't matter what anyone wears as long as they are comfortable in their clothes and I know I won't be comfortable in this dress at that celebration. The search continues......maybe a skirt and top??  When I start searching again I will add that possibility to my list.

My husband had a bit of a tummy reaction after eating some very tough green pepper skins as part of his salad last night at dinner.  I found myself unable to chew the skins properly and ended up spitting them out, but my husband gamely swallowed his and paid the price.  He is fine now after a couple of short naps today to get over the tummy stresses, but neither of us seems to have much energy on this overcast, chilly, rainy day.  

I know I am a bit tired after doing most all the housekeeping yesterday, but I am starting to rally mid afternoon. There is still time to wash down those bathroom fixtures after I finish this post....I engineered a small flood in there this morning when I was showering, (dropped the shower head and it went behind the shower curtains out into the centre of the room before I managed to corral it and reel it back inside the tub....duh), so the floor got a second washing today while I mopped the water up.  hahaha  Only I......hahaha.

I am reading the scriptures at church this coming Sunday, so that is always fun. Nice to have something to be responsible for at the service. I think the worst part of my husband's retirement for myself is that I feel so useless sitting in the church so many Sundays with nothing to contribute other than my ample butt in a pew.

Speaking of church services, we got kind of a shock yesterday.  A friend who attends the out of town church where my husband is sometimes asked to take a service in the absence of their priest contacted us yesterday to say she had a copy of their bulletin for a couple of Sundays from now because she will be the Scripture reader that week. She was so delighted to read that my husband is taking that service. Wha??? He IS?????  He was shocked to find that out as there was nothing noted on any of our calendars, but he did a deep dive into old emails and sure enough.  That particular date had been offered to him a couple of months ago and he had accepted it. hahaha  He has been so busy concentrating on two other services he is doing hither and yon over the next couple of months that he had completely forgotten about the one our friend reminded us of. hahaha  So, at this very minute he is polishing off his first sermon draft and getting the Readings for the day firmly established in his memory.  Thankful for our dear friend who is excited we are going to be coming to her church again and is responsible for him now remembering that. hahaha I hadn't remembered either. What a pair we are, eh?  

Tomorrow is Canada Day....it is going to be July 1st already.  June disappeared in a cloud of....I don't know what.  Where did it go? Did we do anything at all of significance?  The only things I remember about the entire month are my husband's trip to the mountains, my birthday weekend and seeing the surgeon for my one year hip surgery checkup.  Good grief....2026 is flying past me completely out of control!!  We rarely take in any of the Canada Day events here in our city as they are all so crowded with people. Tomorrow there is a good chance it will be raining for at least part of the day, so we are hoping the fireworks display that begins each Canada Day at sundown, will not be rained out!!!  So Happy Birthday once again Canada....just in case I don't get around to wishing you greetings tomorrow.  At this rate, should the grey skies and rain continue, I may not have the energy!!

Thankful For All The Energy We Both Seem To Have Today!

 I woke up after a very good sleep last night, feeling pretty healthy, but also feeling somewhat at loose ends.  I had no plans for today.  My husband had his weekly Zoom meeting with his scientist/philosopher/theologian friends early in the morning, but I just sat around reading a book wondering if I was motivated enough to so much as get dressed.  Just about 11am something finally clicked in my brain, I got cleaned up and dressed and before my 1pm lunch got all the dusting accomplished!  My husband was inspired to finally do a proper cleaning on his little library and his office, after finding no end of excuses not to over the past couple of weeks, YAY!! DONE!  After lunch HE inspired ME to keep working so now the kitchen, bathroom and entryway floors are washed. YES...a productive HOME day.  Tomorrow it will be time to vacuum...I may even do the bedroom and upstairs hallway this afternoon....and then the house cleaning is done for the week and I can move on to other chores like taking in the recycling and thrift store items.  My husband also sent an email to the kids today with some ideas for the spiritual component of their wedding reception they asked him to attend to, so he is waiting to hear back from them about those details.  

It feels good to have a productive day after waking up feeling so totally MEH!!! 

The weather has been very nice today thus far, but we are now gearing up for the next set of showers and/or thunderstorms between dinner and overnight.  The sun was shining in a bright blue sky until just after 3pm when the clouds once again began to form in all their depressing greyness.  We have been blessed though that even with last evening's teeming deluge of rain continuing over night, only a gallon of water was found in the collection system my husband invented for our leaking basement.  That water was poured into the plant pots on our deck so at least it will have some actual  use! Yay! 

Happy, Happy Weekend!

 It has been a fulfilling weekend despite the never ending rain and thunderstorms!  In the next seven days we have one day of forecast sunshine midway into the week, but more storms are forecast for that evening and then onward to another few days of rainfall.  At this rate, if this is the result of global warming, either our area will end up becoming a permanent icy wasteland or turn into a jungle habitat....rain, rain, rain, rain, rain and more rain!  What a miserable summer weatherwise.  Our weekly rainfall forecasts are very similar to those on the west coast, but our temperatures are a bit cooler and slightly less humid..so far anyway. I am already wondering what next summer will bring!

Yesterday was a wonderful day despite the weather:  we attended the diaconal ordination of two people my husband has been helping to mentor along their pathway to eventual fully ordained priesthood.  There was a good turnout of people at the service from the church that was sponsoring them, also quite a number of clergy from other parishes were robed up and in attendance, the Bishop gave an inspiring talk to both ordinands that the rest of us were fortunate enough to be able to hear. It was thrilling to receive the Eucharist Cup for the first time from one of the two new Reverends. The delicious snacks in the visiting room afterwards kept me from going into a coma after eating my breakfast far too late after sleeping in accidentally, then not having a proper lunch for, as it turned out, 8 hours!!  I so enjoy returning to this church to see old friends and get caught up.  We spent a long time visiting and snacking and enjoying the beaming faces of the two new deacons in our diocese.  What an edifying and encouraging time for us in our little diocese who have seen so many large drops in church congregational sizes, a dearth of acceptable clergy, financial restraints etc.  Now not only do we have these two very capable new ministers who will spend one year as deacons and then be fully priested, but there are several new hires coming into the diocese who are very capable and experienced priests already. AND they are younger with young families...YES!  As far as clergy hires go we are set up well for the future.

A small piece of cake and a couple of crackers and cheese doth not a late lunch make, so just after 4pm my husband and I found ourselves ensconced in a booth at a restaurant around the corner from the church munching ourselves silly on chicken wings, fries and mounds of cole slaw.  As soon as our massive meals arrived we took out our take out boxes we brought from home and put half of our meals into them for lunch today.  Getting two full meals out of the deal made the price even more reasonable than it already was.  The service was excellent yesterday and our waiter got into a philosophical discussion with my husband before we left to drive home, hahaha.  There is something about my husband's clergy collar that starts up theological and philosophical discussions with many of the restaurant servers we meet around here. hahaha What fun! There are some very bright minds out there "slinging hash" and attempting to create fulfilling futures for themselves.

My husband and I both slept badly last night due to our brains fixating on a few issues we are dealing with and those thoughts kept going around and around and around.  I managed a little more than 4 hours of sleep and my husband got closer to six hours....4 too few for him as a rule....so I was the only one that toughed it out and went to church this morning. I figured perhaps being out and about might perk me up, and it did temporarily as I was able to sit with my coffee buddy who was also sans husband this morning, but as soon as I finished my lunch at home after church I was asleep in my recliner chair, tv blaring away for no reason at all, while my husband had a nap in his office. hahaha What a pair!  The thunder woke me up after an hour of sleep, so I staggered into the kitchen to wash some dishes and do a few more small chores.  As soon as I finish this post I am going to do a bit of reading but I am not sure I am going to get more than a few pages read before I doze out once again.  

We have few plans thus far for the coming week.  Not that we don't have plenty to do right here at home, so hopefully the lack of social commitments will make room for lots more downsizing around here. We have another load of "goodies" to take to the thrift stores and to recycling so once we get those things loaded into the car there will be that much more space for my husband to work in the basement as he continues his sorting and tossing out project.  He had also hoped to build the hangers necessary to attach our canoe and our friend's canoe to the side of her house at some point this week, but so far it looks like the ongoing rain is going to scotch that idea.  Maybe the week after???? 

I Hadn't Realized How Many Years It Has Been Since......

 ....we last lived and worked and ministered in a downtown core situation surrounded by people in desperate situations of mental illness, addiction, poverty and ongoing unemployment., until today at lunch time.

We spent the morning removing a large wooden work bench and table from the shed of a friend whose house is going up for sale next week and she has been good enough to store that table for us for the past several years.  After we dropped it off at its new home we decided we should take a short break and eat a bite of lunch before returning to remove our canoe and rehouse that as well.  

The closest place for two grubby, dusty "haulers" was a fast food joint, so we opted for a quick burger.  The restaurant is right on the edge of the neighbourhood known here as The  Hood and it is populated by many down and out people who are suffering from lack of emergency medical services and addictions counselling etc. etc. etc. and it is, quite frankly, a bit of a daunting area not that far from where we live.  Today while we were eating our burgers a fight over a drug deal gone sour erupted right at the entry door. Voices were raised, epithets filled the air and after a couple of minutes a physical fight ensued.  The restaurant has a security guard who is highly visible but the fight was too much for him to handle on his own. When it became evident that one of the participants was armed with what looked to me like a home made shiv, the police were called in.  Thankfully the situation was solved before we had to exit the restaurant because the scuffle was happening right in front of the borrowed car we had with us for hauling the table and canoe.  Whew!  It would have been very difficult to explain to the owners of the car what had happened to their vehicle if it had become part of the argument happening around it.  I have to confess that for the first time in as long as I can remember, I felt a little twinge of fear about the situation.  It has been decades since I have had that response while in a section of the city that suffers such problems. It was embarrassing to be honest.  When I remember the folks in Calgary and area we were privileged to deal with for so much of our married life, I realize how far away we have been from having that lifestyle surrounding us.  I hadn't really understood how much our lives have changed since those days.  Kind of rocked me back on my heels to be honest.  I need to monitor my responses more carefully when I am now faced with that sort of culture.  Man oh man......I shocked myself today and not in a good way.  

When it was time to return for the canoe, my husband decided to ask our Syrian neighbour Saleem to help him move it instead of having me trying to assist and dropping my end of the heavy old thing, as is my wont, when my husband is trying to get it up on top of the vehicle to tie it down.  Saleem was a wonderful helper....he and his wife Hafav are both younger than our son!  So, Saleem was very quick with his part of the loading process and before I knew it the men had delivered the canoe to its new home and returned the borrowed vehicle to its owners, so I got a text to come and pick them up much sooner than expected.  When they got back Saleem and Hafav had time to come over for tea and snacks, so we spent a wonderful hour with our translators on phones and iPads learning more about how they ended up here as refugees. Their tale brought big soppy tears to my eyes. They have suffered even more than we understood before.  Oh dear Lord, deliver them all from the trauma of wars in their home countries. Amen!  We so admire them for all they are doing to learn about Canadian life and culture and their fledgling attempts to speak English.  May they find their way as happily as is possible in such circumstances.  Some Canadians have never suffered the tragedy of war and we truly have no idea what that kind of suffering and fear is like. May the Lord preserve us from ever having to find out.....

So, everything is now removed from our friend's house before it is listed for sale. Those items have found new homes for the present and our friends have their vehicle back.  It has been a very productive day on several fronts.  I am realizing if our next door neighbours are forced to move to less expensive accommodation this summer how much we are going to miss having them living right beside us. 

And: now we are waiting for the next four days of rain to begin after having a mostly overcast, but at least a dry day today.