Where else in this town could I open my front door at sunset, put my camp chair on my front stoop and sit comfortably to watch the fireworks being set off in the park across the street? FANTASTIC!
Tonight was the opening parade, fair ground exhibits, midway rides and yes, firework display for the annual Queen City Exhibition. I love fireworks more than any kid in this city and tonight’s show was a booming, sparkling, sizzling, big budget marvel of colours and shapes.
FANTASTIC I say! Worth every moment of the leaking basement, goose poop on the lawns and mice in the attic. Nights like this I wouldn’t trade them for the world! Bring on the fireworks and all else is forgotten.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Wow, We See People So Differently Sometimes....
I was talking to someone recently who knows some old aquaintances of ours from many, MANY, years ago. It was so interesting to hear what my friend said about these mutual aquaintances. hahaha
My friend remembers these aquaintances are the most wonderful, loving, helpful folk on the planet. My husband and I remember these same aquaintances as angry, nasty and that they went out of their way to slander us throughout our community. Wow....talk about a difference in perceptions! hahaha It was amazing to me.
HOWEVER, it was truly fanastic to hear about the many good things these aquaintances had done to and for my friend. We forgave the individuals in question decades ago all ready as we came to understand better what motivated them against us, so of course did not share our own experiences with them. We haven't thought about them in years. What they did for my friend, around the same time they were attacking us, was truly wonderful and worthy of praise.
I think when someone seems to be "out to get you", it is easy to ignore the possible good aspects of their character and actions. It is easy to ignore possible reasons for their bad behaviour. It is easy to assume they aren't capable of having either the ability or the desire to show care and kindness to others. It is easy to pack them into a "nasty box" and leave them there forever, particularly when an opportunity to get together with them to discuss and solve issues is never presented, or never accepted on their part.
It is quite lovely for us to have something positive and genuinely good to attach to our memories of these folk. It will aid us in maintaining forgiveness toward them should we ever meet up with them again.
We are grateful to know these good things about people who tormented us for many years. Wow....it all seems so long ago now, so many life changes have happened for us in the interim.
The power of forgiveness is shocking really. To be unexpectedly brought, unasked for, memories of bad times and miserable people, but to be able to feel, down to the deepest depth of the emotions, that none of them matter any more, when at the time you thought you would never get over it...wow...it never ceases to amaze me. This isn't the first time I have had to face memories of people, or even the people themselves, after a deep wounding and discovered that over time God has removed that hurt. Some of the happiest conversations I have enjoyed over the past decade have been with people who seemed to want to destroy me or my husband or our reputation, but God worked in all our hearts in the years we were not around each other and we have all moved on. I no longer feel hurt by their presence and they seem to have forgiven me/us for whatever it was that offended them so badly in the past. Amazing, amazing, amazing!
One more thing to be exceedingly grateful for, and I AM!!
My friend remembers these aquaintances are the most wonderful, loving, helpful folk on the planet. My husband and I remember these same aquaintances as angry, nasty and that they went out of their way to slander us throughout our community. Wow....talk about a difference in perceptions! hahaha It was amazing to me.
HOWEVER, it was truly fanastic to hear about the many good things these aquaintances had done to and for my friend. We forgave the individuals in question decades ago all ready as we came to understand better what motivated them against us, so of course did not share our own experiences with them. We haven't thought about them in years. What they did for my friend, around the same time they were attacking us, was truly wonderful and worthy of praise.
I think when someone seems to be "out to get you", it is easy to ignore the possible good aspects of their character and actions. It is easy to ignore possible reasons for their bad behaviour. It is easy to assume they aren't capable of having either the ability or the desire to show care and kindness to others. It is easy to pack them into a "nasty box" and leave them there forever, particularly when an opportunity to get together with them to discuss and solve issues is never presented, or never accepted on their part.
It is quite lovely for us to have something positive and genuinely good to attach to our memories of these folk. It will aid us in maintaining forgiveness toward them should we ever meet up with them again.
We are grateful to know these good things about people who tormented us for many years. Wow....it all seems so long ago now, so many life changes have happened for us in the interim.
The power of forgiveness is shocking really. To be unexpectedly brought, unasked for, memories of bad times and miserable people, but to be able to feel, down to the deepest depth of the emotions, that none of them matter any more, when at the time you thought you would never get over it...wow...it never ceases to amaze me. This isn't the first time I have had to face memories of people, or even the people themselves, after a deep wounding and discovered that over time God has removed that hurt. Some of the happiest conversations I have enjoyed over the past decade have been with people who seemed to want to destroy me or my husband or our reputation, but God worked in all our hearts in the years we were not around each other and we have all moved on. I no longer feel hurt by their presence and they seem to have forgiven me/us for whatever it was that offended them so badly in the past. Amazing, amazing, amazing!
One more thing to be exceedingly grateful for, and I AM!!
Lots Going On For Which To Be Grateful!!
Next week is supposed to be uncomfortably hot all week with temperatures averaging in the mid +30C's each day and not much cooling down happening overnight. I am so grateful for weather forecast technology despite the number of inaccuracies. It means that when my husband returns to the office tomorrow I will spend the next four mornings thoroughly cleaning this suite so I can limit my housework to manageable hot weather tasks next week.
I am grateful for the fun and the new aquaintances made at Sunday evening's patio party. The number of connections between some of those people and old friends and aquaintances of ours is phenomenal. What a small country we are living in when it comes to mutual friend connections. Discovering those connections gave many inroads into deeper conversations and certainly "broke the ice" for us as newcomers to the group.
I am grateful that my husband has been able to pool his last two weeks of days off and have four consecutive days more or less, apart from a few emails and phone calls here and there. He has had enough rest time to harness his latest cold symptoms and to feel like he has had sufficient time to mentally regroup before wading back into the deep waters of his job. He is sitting at his computer right now getting some writing done he has wanted to feel well enough to tackle for some days now. My own cold symptoms seem to be completely gone. Whatever started to develop, didn't. Thank you Lord and prayer warriors!
I am grateful that tonight the Old Testament reading and discussion group is meeting again. We are a week behind on the discussions of the last readings and if we don't get to those soon my inability to retain what I read is going to create problems for me. Very thankful there is another regular attendee who will be there tonight who is as lacking in formal theological education as I am. She has been in the group quite happily for a whole year, so obviously they are not particularly judgemental types. Hallelujah!
I am grateful for restaurant coupons and Daily Menu Specials that allowed us to return yesterday for lunch at Jameson's Pub on Grant. We thoroughly enjoyed the 8oz. steak sandwich special. Although our steaks were cooked more medium than the medium rare we requested, it was excellent beef, very little excess fat and SO tender and delicious. My husband was able to request no salt be added to his meat and potato crisps and I was able to get sweet potato fries that were crispy and good. I gave my husband the bread from under my steak so I could eat more sweet potatoes. The Montreal steak spice on my steak was just the right amount. I could taste the meat and not just salt.
I am grateful for friends made through my last church congregation. I am grateful for the one who walks with me and for the one who asks me to join her for dinner on occasion...which we are doing tomorrow evening. Far more important than the walking and the food, are the chances to talk, to learn more about each other's lives and hopes and dreams and even stresses. I am grateful that whatever other ministry opportunities I am presently unable to participate in, I can still listen and pray for friends and family. I am grateful for the others from the church who are so open to take time to stand around and talk when we run across each other around the city and who are so kind hearted.
I am grateful that my sore tooth has settled down again while I juggle finances and time committments around before making dental and eye appointments for both my husband and myself. I am grateful our inexpensive frames on our glasses have lasted so well and endured all manner of disaster from dropping them here there and everywhere around the house. All 4 pair seem to have survived our clumsiness of the past few years rather well, but it is time to replace a couple of them.
Despite a lot of ongoing pressure in some areas of life, there is a lot of GOOD STUFF going on and I am grateful, grateful, grateful for that!
I am grateful for the fun and the new aquaintances made at Sunday evening's patio party. The number of connections between some of those people and old friends and aquaintances of ours is phenomenal. What a small country we are living in when it comes to mutual friend connections. Discovering those connections gave many inroads into deeper conversations and certainly "broke the ice" for us as newcomers to the group.
I am grateful that my husband has been able to pool his last two weeks of days off and have four consecutive days more or less, apart from a few emails and phone calls here and there. He has had enough rest time to harness his latest cold symptoms and to feel like he has had sufficient time to mentally regroup before wading back into the deep waters of his job. He is sitting at his computer right now getting some writing done he has wanted to feel well enough to tackle for some days now. My own cold symptoms seem to be completely gone. Whatever started to develop, didn't. Thank you Lord and prayer warriors!
I am grateful that tonight the Old Testament reading and discussion group is meeting again. We are a week behind on the discussions of the last readings and if we don't get to those soon my inability to retain what I read is going to create problems for me. Very thankful there is another regular attendee who will be there tonight who is as lacking in formal theological education as I am. She has been in the group quite happily for a whole year, so obviously they are not particularly judgemental types. Hallelujah!
I am grateful for restaurant coupons and Daily Menu Specials that allowed us to return yesterday for lunch at Jameson's Pub on Grant. We thoroughly enjoyed the 8oz. steak sandwich special. Although our steaks were cooked more medium than the medium rare we requested, it was excellent beef, very little excess fat and SO tender and delicious. My husband was able to request no salt be added to his meat and potato crisps and I was able to get sweet potato fries that were crispy and good. I gave my husband the bread from under my steak so I could eat more sweet potatoes. The Montreal steak spice on my steak was just the right amount. I could taste the meat and not just salt.
I am grateful for friends made through my last church congregation. I am grateful for the one who walks with me and for the one who asks me to join her for dinner on occasion...which we are doing tomorrow evening. Far more important than the walking and the food, are the chances to talk, to learn more about each other's lives and hopes and dreams and even stresses. I am grateful that whatever other ministry opportunities I am presently unable to participate in, I can still listen and pray for friends and family. I am grateful for the others from the church who are so open to take time to stand around and talk when we run across each other around the city and who are so kind hearted.
I am grateful that my sore tooth has settled down again while I juggle finances and time committments around before making dental and eye appointments for both my husband and myself. I am grateful our inexpensive frames on our glasses have lasted so well and endured all manner of disaster from dropping them here there and everywhere around the house. All 4 pair seem to have survived our clumsiness of the past few years rather well, but it is time to replace a couple of them.
Despite a lot of ongoing pressure in some areas of life, there is a lot of GOOD STUFF going on and I am grateful, grateful, grateful for that!
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Showing Yourself Friendly
We have moved so many times to so many different communities over the past twenty years that I have been forced to change my approach to the people in new groups and situations I end up in, in order to stave off the constant loneliness I would experience if I wasn't willing to show myself friendly.
I have learned that it really isn't completely up to the regular attenders of many years in church congregations, secular service groups, dance groups, book clubs, community choirs and what have you, to do all the reaching out to include newcomers. I suspect that often when we accuse various groups we are trying to include ourselves in as newcomers of being unfriendly or unwelcoming, we are not always completely correct....not always.
I have learned that it isn't always fair to accuse established members of public groups of being 100% responsible for a lack of inclusion. Sometimes people become too ingrown or cliquish in these groups because they simply lack the social skills, or maybe the motivation to use what they do have, for one or another reason. Sometimes we ourselves are simply too afraid of rejection to communicate clearly what level of group involvement and personal relationships we are hoping for.
I have learned as the constant newcomer that it is just as much up to me as it is to them to try and make a fit happen within an existing community. Stepping up to the friendship plate myself has made a vast difference to my level of acceptance in many (although certainly not all) circumstances.
I have learned that if I contually sit back and wait upon others to include me, invite me, reach out to me, contact me, etc. it isn't likely going to happen very often. People aren't necessarily ignorant of what needs to be done to include someone new although a surprising number of people in my age group definitely are, but often they have either become lazy in doing it, or haven't had to exercise those skills in so long that it doesn't occur to them to use them.
I have learned that there is a fine line between showing myself to be friendly and inclusive and overwhelming a new group with my presence, but there is a certain level of my own involvement in meeting members of an existing group that can work in my favour if I take a bit of time to figure out THEIR level of social comfort around newcomers and go from there. I am learning when to speak and share my own life and when to just be quiet and listen first...sometimes the "listening only" is for a long period of time prior to me feeling like I can open my own mouth and that is okay.
Most recently I have had to practise my own growing social skills within the context of my new church congregation. I have one new friend that I meet with for coffee now at least once a month. Did that happen because she sought me out, took my personal and contacted me? Now it didn't. We met when we were seated beside each other at the seasonal choir rehearsal dinner and got talking quite comfortably together. I truly enjoyed talking to her and asked if she would ever have time or interest in getting together for tea some time. She said she would and we exchanged contact information. I had a suspicion it was going to be up to me to initiate a tea "date", based on previous experiences with new groups and sure enough, when I hadn't heard from her three weeks later, I sent her an email and we set up a time to get together. It isn't that she wasn't interested, but she is even more shy than I am and was uncertain if I was serious in my interest in getting to know her better.
I will not be singing in the church choir in September because the director fell at my feet and begged me to join in. Instead, I attended the spring services to hear them sing and then asked the director a few weeks ago if it would be possible for me to participate when rehearsals start in the fall. I was completely prepared to be told that my participation was not necessary, but instead I received a heartfelt welcome. Remember that members of an established group may be afraid of chasing newcomers away if they feel THEY are coming on too strong by asking for help/friendship from the newcomers. Remember that established group members may be as afraid of scaring you away by over inclusion as you are of feeling rejected by under inclusion. Seeking the balance is part of the challenge.
My husband and my participation in the Old Testment discussion group came about because when we read about the group in the monthly church newspaper and realized the woman leading it is the woman we often sit in front of in church, I picked up the phone to contact her and to ask her if it would possible for us to join the group, even though it had started several weeks earlier. She gave us a hearty "YES!" and so we are starting to build a bit of a relationship with her and her husband. She could have just as easily said no, that the group was all ready large enough or had met too many times for us to catch up. That is the type of chance a newcome has to be willing to take when reaching out.
We began getting to know the couple at whose home we were invited to for tonight's patio party because of mutual reaching out between us and them at coffee hour after church one Sunday in June. We got to chatting in the pews after church that Sunday and found out we had both come from various other denominational backgrounds and that she and I have some similar health issues. How did we find out these things in enough detail to warrant them wanting to have coffee with us and then asking us out for lunch last Sunday? It happened because as soon as we started chatting over top of those church pews, we immediately shared with them what my husband's job is and what I had been doing in their church denomination for the past few weeks. Then we asked them if they had been long time attenders of the church and what they do in their daily lives that they enjoy sharing with others. When a relative of hers passed away unexpectedly recently, we sent a sympathy card to her home to let her know we cared. She appreciated it and things are developing slowly but surely into some kind of friendship between the four of us. It may or may not deepen and strengthen over time, but it is worth some effort on our part to find out.
Sometimes people in well established groups can be rather insular. They don't remember what it is like to be the new person in a group, or perhaps they tend to be shy and to assume that others will not be interested in them. They are as tickled as anyone else when someone new reaches out and shows an obvious interest in what they are doing in their lives. Sometimes that is enough to get past the social barriers and sometimes it isn't, but it is a place to start. With any luck they will also be interested in us and our lives and again, sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't, but it is always worth a try. Sometimes people are just so content with the status quo that no amount of reaching out on our part will cause them to be interested in including us in their group, so if we find that is the case then we withdraw and try elsewhere with other people.
Being emotionally prepared to be ignored or rejected despite trying to relate can help in accepting the fact that this particular group may not be the one for us after all. Rarely is the lack of inclusion directed personally at me/us. If we actively participate in attempting to fit into a group of people who are new to us and it doesn't work out, then we know we have tried our level best. Sometimes people have their own reasons for not reaching back to us that we will never know about and that are entirely valid to their way of thinking. That is life.
I have learned over the years not to jump to conclusions too quickly about the friendliness of groups of folk to who I am the newby. Knowing in advance that I may not be accepted despite my best efforts to be friendly, interested and helpful without overwhelming the rest of the group, takes the hurt out of being slighted. I don't need to take time to torment myself over whether or not the seeming rejection is intentional. When I realize the connection likely isn't going to happen after doing my best to try, it is simply time to move on and find a different group of people who I fit in with on a deeper level. Sometimes it takes a LONG time, but it can and does happen when I am prepared to expend a fair amount of effort and not leave it all up to the others.
I have learned that it really isn't completely up to the regular attenders of many years in church congregations, secular service groups, dance groups, book clubs, community choirs and what have you, to do all the reaching out to include newcomers. I suspect that often when we accuse various groups we are trying to include ourselves in as newcomers of being unfriendly or unwelcoming, we are not always completely correct....not always.
I have learned that it isn't always fair to accuse established members of public groups of being 100% responsible for a lack of inclusion. Sometimes people become too ingrown or cliquish in these groups because they simply lack the social skills, or maybe the motivation to use what they do have, for one or another reason. Sometimes we ourselves are simply too afraid of rejection to communicate clearly what level of group involvement and personal relationships we are hoping for.
I have learned as the constant newcomer that it is just as much up to me as it is to them to try and make a fit happen within an existing community. Stepping up to the friendship plate myself has made a vast difference to my level of acceptance in many (although certainly not all) circumstances.
I have learned that if I contually sit back and wait upon others to include me, invite me, reach out to me, contact me, etc. it isn't likely going to happen very often. People aren't necessarily ignorant of what needs to be done to include someone new although a surprising number of people in my age group definitely are, but often they have either become lazy in doing it, or haven't had to exercise those skills in so long that it doesn't occur to them to use them.
I have learned that there is a fine line between showing myself to be friendly and inclusive and overwhelming a new group with my presence, but there is a certain level of my own involvement in meeting members of an existing group that can work in my favour if I take a bit of time to figure out THEIR level of social comfort around newcomers and go from there. I am learning when to speak and share my own life and when to just be quiet and listen first...sometimes the "listening only" is for a long period of time prior to me feeling like I can open my own mouth and that is okay.
Most recently I have had to practise my own growing social skills within the context of my new church congregation. I have one new friend that I meet with for coffee now at least once a month. Did that happen because she sought me out, took my personal and contacted me? Now it didn't. We met when we were seated beside each other at the seasonal choir rehearsal dinner and got talking quite comfortably together. I truly enjoyed talking to her and asked if she would ever have time or interest in getting together for tea some time. She said she would and we exchanged contact information. I had a suspicion it was going to be up to me to initiate a tea "date", based on previous experiences with new groups and sure enough, when I hadn't heard from her three weeks later, I sent her an email and we set up a time to get together. It isn't that she wasn't interested, but she is even more shy than I am and was uncertain if I was serious in my interest in getting to know her better.
I will not be singing in the church choir in September because the director fell at my feet and begged me to join in. Instead, I attended the spring services to hear them sing and then asked the director a few weeks ago if it would be possible for me to participate when rehearsals start in the fall. I was completely prepared to be told that my participation was not necessary, but instead I received a heartfelt welcome. Remember that members of an established group may be afraid of chasing newcomers away if they feel THEY are coming on too strong by asking for help/friendship from the newcomers. Remember that established group members may be as afraid of scaring you away by over inclusion as you are of feeling rejected by under inclusion. Seeking the balance is part of the challenge.
My husband and my participation in the Old Testment discussion group came about because when we read about the group in the monthly church newspaper and realized the woman leading it is the woman we often sit in front of in church, I picked up the phone to contact her and to ask her if it would possible for us to join the group, even though it had started several weeks earlier. She gave us a hearty "YES!" and so we are starting to build a bit of a relationship with her and her husband. She could have just as easily said no, that the group was all ready large enough or had met too many times for us to catch up. That is the type of chance a newcome has to be willing to take when reaching out.
We began getting to know the couple at whose home we were invited to for tonight's patio party because of mutual reaching out between us and them at coffee hour after church one Sunday in June. We got to chatting in the pews after church that Sunday and found out we had both come from various other denominational backgrounds and that she and I have some similar health issues. How did we find out these things in enough detail to warrant them wanting to have coffee with us and then asking us out for lunch last Sunday? It happened because as soon as we started chatting over top of those church pews, we immediately shared with them what my husband's job is and what I had been doing in their church denomination for the past few weeks. Then we asked them if they had been long time attenders of the church and what they do in their daily lives that they enjoy sharing with others. When a relative of hers passed away unexpectedly recently, we sent a sympathy card to her home to let her know we cared. She appreciated it and things are developing slowly but surely into some kind of friendship between the four of us. It may or may not deepen and strengthen over time, but it is worth some effort on our part to find out.
Sometimes people in well established groups can be rather insular. They don't remember what it is like to be the new person in a group, or perhaps they tend to be shy and to assume that others will not be interested in them. They are as tickled as anyone else when someone new reaches out and shows an obvious interest in what they are doing in their lives. Sometimes that is enough to get past the social barriers and sometimes it isn't, but it is a place to start. With any luck they will also be interested in us and our lives and again, sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't, but it is always worth a try. Sometimes people are just so content with the status quo that no amount of reaching out on our part will cause them to be interested in including us in their group, so if we find that is the case then we withdraw and try elsewhere with other people.
Being emotionally prepared to be ignored or rejected despite trying to relate can help in accepting the fact that this particular group may not be the one for us after all. Rarely is the lack of inclusion directed personally at me/us. If we actively participate in attempting to fit into a group of people who are new to us and it doesn't work out, then we know we have tried our level best. Sometimes people have their own reasons for not reaching back to us that we will never know about and that are entirely valid to their way of thinking. That is life.
I have learned over the years not to jump to conclusions too quickly about the friendliness of groups of folk to who I am the newby. Knowing in advance that I may not be accepted despite my best efforts to be friendly, interested and helpful without overwhelming the rest of the group, takes the hurt out of being slighted. I don't need to take time to torment myself over whether or not the seeming rejection is intentional. When I realize the connection likely isn't going to happen after doing my best to try, it is simply time to move on and find a different group of people who I fit in with on a deeper level. Sometimes it takes a LONG time, but it can and does happen when I am prepared to expend a fair amount of effort and not leave it all up to the others.
Well...How Do Ya' LIke Them Apples????
Weird, weird, weird.....I don't know what is going on with these "colds" of ours. My husband has typical cold onset symptoms to an extent, but if he doesn't end up very ill with a cold by tomorrow we will both be wondering what else is going on. I woke up just very fine this morning, despite a less than reasonable night's sleep and had no more hassle with sore throat or sinuses. I am thanking God for the praying friends and family who contacted me last evening to offer their prayer support and also for those who didn't, but who I know prayed as well. My husband has been gargling with the antimicrobial Perio Plus extra strength mouth wash I had left from my last couple of rounds at the dentist. It is amazing "stuff"! His throat is all ready over the soreness after only 2 days of use, just like what happened to me several weeks ago when I had my first attack of whatever this is we have been fighting. My husband, once again, seems to be the one with the real cold symptoms, but they are not nearly as bad today as we thought they would be. We have errands that must be run tomorrow so will see if he is up to it or not by then. I have my own theory as to why he is fighting another respiratory infection so soon after the last one, but that will have to wait for another post.
Church was so good today. The music director there was heavily involved with the old CBC Hymn Sing tv programme that was televised from Winnipeg for 30 straight years from 1965 to 1995, with fairly regular viewship of 3 million people in Canada and the USA. This fellow sang in their choir for several years and today he played some of the old audio recordings as our "special music". It was REALLY fun to hear them! hahaha My goodness how things have changed in the wonderful world of evangelical church music. hahaha (thank the Lord?? hahaha) He also gave a cracker jack sermon from the book of Revelation 19: 1-16. He has never preached from the book of Revelation before, but is continuing on in the series the lead pastor began before leaving on holidays. What a great job he did. Like the lead pastor, he was able to share how the book of Revelation is the revelation of Christ and his second coming, not a puzzle we have been given to try to decipher "end time" events and time lines. We tend to concetrate so much on the first advent of the baby Jesus and don't spend all that much time talking about, or maybe even thinking about, his second arrival in the future and what it will mean to us, his church. I was so happy my husband was able to come today as it will be some weeks before he will be free again to do so.
After two days of nearly complete slothfulness, we both enjoyed the half hour walk to church this morning. The weather is so perfect as it builds toward a very warm week once again, starting tomorrow at a high of +32C. Hopefully the forecast rain for Tuesday and Thursday will come about and at least cool things down overnight so we can sleep comfortably. On the way home we walked a few extra blocks to the Synod office to pick up some items my husband needs over the next couple of days. It gave us a chance to miss out on the part of our usual route that has no tree cover and would have been blazing hot after church. What a great feeling to be active again today....yikes, I hate being too sleep deprived to be able to muster up the energy 2 days in a row for even short walks. Thank you Lord for today's energy and that I am feeling well and that my husband is not as ill as he was expecting to be!
We didn't feel like cooking up lunch today, so we decided to try a little neighbourhood pub over on Grant Road, in a little strip mall that looks like the last place/neighbourhood you would expect to see a pub. There is a SARCAN recycling business in there and a convenience store, a small pharmacy, a gym and sandwiched in there is this rather amazing little pub. It is dark and cool, clean and well appointed and the name of it is Jameson's Pub on Grant. What a nice lunch we had there. They have only been open about 18 months and they do know their clientele. There are no local craft beers, just the dreadful Coors, Pilsner, Stella etc., but they do have Kilkenny,one other Irish beer and another couple of imports; a rather poor selection, but my husband found one he likes. I didn't ask about the wine list as I assume it is as poor as the beer selection. hahaha
However, we did enjoy our reasonably priced meals and will likely return for a second adventure one day soon....perhaps even tomorrow for the Monday steak sandwich special. (one day the special is 1 pound of chicken wings for $3.95, one day all the burgers are $10, another day app's are half price and on it goes every day of the week) My husband had a delicious burger with mushrooms and bacon. It comes with a special sauce he didn't personally enjoy, so he scraped it off, but the meat and the veggies on the burger were very good. He chose a Greek salad as his side and it was a good size with LOTS of feta cheese and kalamata olives. I ordered the taco salad, my first go-to at any new restaurant that has it on the menu, and it was most enjoyable. It lacked the sophistication of the taco salads at Leopolds Tavern (no black beans or niblets corn) and Bushwaakers (just regular ground beef rather than Bushwaakers' amazing skewered beef chunks), but there were two kinds of black olives in the delicious and very fresh salad, just the right amount of taco chips for this diabetic, a reasonable amount of cheese instead of so much I can't justify eating that much to my cholesterol, twice as much salsa and sour cream in their little side containers as is usual at other restaurants, AND the side of guacamole was included in the price....no extra charge for what is simply mashed avocado with lemon juice and a bit of mayo or whatever. THAT I LOVE!! I never had to ask for refills on my soda as the server just kept them coming. The food is fairly simple but very tasty and the prices are reasonable. When we got the bill I didn't feel like we had been ripped off for the cost of our pub grub. The entree menu isn't extensive, but there is a great selection of salads and burgers and appetizers. The server was cheerful and efficient...just the right personality to work in a bar. We enjoyed her. If you want elegance and sophistication on a plate and a large, specialized alcohol selection, head elsewhere, but if you enjoy somewhat elevated pub food and are willing to drink from what is on the bar menu there, it is worth a visit or two. The ambience of the place is far better than we imagined it would be. It is rather unprepossessing to look at from the outside, but inside it is clean and well looked after. We assume it has more of a bar atmosphere after 8pm, but for lunch it is a wonderful place to eat.
It is time to get more creative once again with our restaurant meals and start trying out more places we have only seen from a distance instead of continuing to eat in the same old, same old places.
And now for some ironing and a short nap before dinner here and tonight's patio party. Looking forward to a very pleasant evening of meeting some more folk from the church.
Church was so good today. The music director there was heavily involved with the old CBC Hymn Sing tv programme that was televised from Winnipeg for 30 straight years from 1965 to 1995, with fairly regular viewship of 3 million people in Canada and the USA. This fellow sang in their choir for several years and today he played some of the old audio recordings as our "special music". It was REALLY fun to hear them! hahaha My goodness how things have changed in the wonderful world of evangelical church music. hahaha (thank the Lord?? hahaha) He also gave a cracker jack sermon from the book of Revelation 19: 1-16. He has never preached from the book of Revelation before, but is continuing on in the series the lead pastor began before leaving on holidays. What a great job he did. Like the lead pastor, he was able to share how the book of Revelation is the revelation of Christ and his second coming, not a puzzle we have been given to try to decipher "end time" events and time lines. We tend to concetrate so much on the first advent of the baby Jesus and don't spend all that much time talking about, or maybe even thinking about, his second arrival in the future and what it will mean to us, his church. I was so happy my husband was able to come today as it will be some weeks before he will be free again to do so.
After two days of nearly complete slothfulness, we both enjoyed the half hour walk to church this morning. The weather is so perfect as it builds toward a very warm week once again, starting tomorrow at a high of +32C. Hopefully the forecast rain for Tuesday and Thursday will come about and at least cool things down overnight so we can sleep comfortably. On the way home we walked a few extra blocks to the Synod office to pick up some items my husband needs over the next couple of days. It gave us a chance to miss out on the part of our usual route that has no tree cover and would have been blazing hot after church. What a great feeling to be active again today....yikes, I hate being too sleep deprived to be able to muster up the energy 2 days in a row for even short walks. Thank you Lord for today's energy and that I am feeling well and that my husband is not as ill as he was expecting to be!
We didn't feel like cooking up lunch today, so we decided to try a little neighbourhood pub over on Grant Road, in a little strip mall that looks like the last place/neighbourhood you would expect to see a pub. There is a SARCAN recycling business in there and a convenience store, a small pharmacy, a gym and sandwiched in there is this rather amazing little pub. It is dark and cool, clean and well appointed and the name of it is Jameson's Pub on Grant. What a nice lunch we had there. They have only been open about 18 months and they do know their clientele. There are no local craft beers, just the dreadful Coors, Pilsner, Stella etc., but they do have Kilkenny,one other Irish beer and another couple of imports; a rather poor selection, but my husband found one he likes. I didn't ask about the wine list as I assume it is as poor as the beer selection. hahaha
However, we did enjoy our reasonably priced meals and will likely return for a second adventure one day soon....perhaps even tomorrow for the Monday steak sandwich special. (one day the special is 1 pound of chicken wings for $3.95, one day all the burgers are $10, another day app's are half price and on it goes every day of the week) My husband had a delicious burger with mushrooms and bacon. It comes with a special sauce he didn't personally enjoy, so he scraped it off, but the meat and the veggies on the burger were very good. He chose a Greek salad as his side and it was a good size with LOTS of feta cheese and kalamata olives. I ordered the taco salad, my first go-to at any new restaurant that has it on the menu, and it was most enjoyable. It lacked the sophistication of the taco salads at Leopolds Tavern (no black beans or niblets corn) and Bushwaakers (just regular ground beef rather than Bushwaakers' amazing skewered beef chunks), but there were two kinds of black olives in the delicious and very fresh salad, just the right amount of taco chips for this diabetic, a reasonable amount of cheese instead of so much I can't justify eating that much to my cholesterol, twice as much salsa and sour cream in their little side containers as is usual at other restaurants, AND the side of guacamole was included in the price....no extra charge for what is simply mashed avocado with lemon juice and a bit of mayo or whatever. THAT I LOVE!! I never had to ask for refills on my soda as the server just kept them coming. The food is fairly simple but very tasty and the prices are reasonable. When we got the bill I didn't feel like we had been ripped off for the cost of our pub grub. The entree menu isn't extensive, but there is a great selection of salads and burgers and appetizers. The server was cheerful and efficient...just the right personality to work in a bar. We enjoyed her. If you want elegance and sophistication on a plate and a large, specialized alcohol selection, head elsewhere, but if you enjoy somewhat elevated pub food and are willing to drink from what is on the bar menu there, it is worth a visit or two. The ambience of the place is far better than we imagined it would be. It is rather unprepossessing to look at from the outside, but inside it is clean and well looked after. We assume it has more of a bar atmosphere after 8pm, but for lunch it is a wonderful place to eat.
It is time to get more creative once again with our restaurant meals and start trying out more places we have only seen from a distance instead of continuing to eat in the same old, same old places.
And now for some ironing and a short nap before dinner here and tonight's patio party. Looking forward to a very pleasant evening of meeting some more folk from the church.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Aaaaand....I May Not Be Exempt From the Cold This Time Around...(Waaaaahhh!)
.....SO, I decided to go to the grocery store instead of waiting until Monday, and get what we need for next week. Thankfully our little neighbourhood store had everything on my list.
Over the past 3 hours since I ate lunch, my throat has been scratchy and phlegmy (TMI?) and I am guessing I will not be as fortunate this time as to escape my husband's cold germs. If I am ill then it would not be good to wait until Monday for groceries in case we both feel too yucky to go to the store.
Yes, this is a shameful plea for healing prayers for us, should you be of a mind to do so.
Thank you......
Over the past 3 hours since I ate lunch, my throat has been scratchy and phlegmy (TMI?) and I am guessing I will not be as fortunate this time as to escape my husband's cold germs. If I am ill then it would not be good to wait until Monday for groceries in case we both feel too yucky to go to the store.
Yes, this is a shameful plea for healing prayers for us, should you be of a mind to do so.
Thank you......
Another Perfect Summer Day
What a perfect day it is today. The sun is shining but there are a few puffy white clouds in the sky. There is only the slightest breeze, but that is fine since it isn't too hot outside. I love these sorts of days. They inspire me to get moving and get out there to enjoy the summer.
Yesterday I took my one day a week enforced rest day. Well, more like it foisted itself upon me because I was SO tired after three nights in a row of less than five hours of sleep. I admit I did absolutely nothing of value yesterday. Not. One. Thing!! My husband was able to come home from the office at noon and, other than complete a few work emails from his home office, he also spent some time vegging and watching tv. It was good for us. We were in bed with the lights turned out at 8:55pm and I don't think it took more than 30 seconds for either of us to fall asleep.
I woke up at 6:30am. WOW! I slept for over 9 straight hours!! No wonder I feel wonderful today. That kind of rest was badly needed. My husband didn't wake up until nearly 7:30am and I am glad of that. He is fighting another cold, so I know how he will be spending his two days off next week: resting, resting and more resting!! I can only pray I don't get his cold and take whatever dietary and resting precautions that I can, and wait to call the dentist until next week after I figure out if I will be healthy enough to go to get this problem repaired. My own throat is a bit touchy at the moment, but we'll see how it goes.
After breakfast I decided it was time to get out of this suite for a couple of hours and pick up a couple of grocery items, stop at the bank to make sure the pensions were in and then drive into Harbour Landing to look at the clothing sales. I still had a few dollars left in my personal "savings for clothes and other fun things" fund. They got spent at Laura's (2 pair of lovely winter pants), Suzanne's (a rare pair of Simon Chang highwaisted pants and a sleevless hoodie...bunny hug for you locals), and at Ricki's (a top and sweater). O how I LOVE mid summer clothing sales that so often include the last few pieces of the previous autumn's and winter's stock. Those items are always on the 60%-70% or more off racks and take some looking about to find, but it has been worth the effort. Some of the previous season's stock are rather sad looking: frayed or faded or else just plain ugly, but if you have the time to look, there are deals to be had buried in amidst these disasters. It was a great time and I came home feeling cheery about my deals.
I made myself one of my favourite lunches today: tuna salad and guacamole on a pretzel bun. Yum! I lucked out at SaveOn foods this morning. There were two forlorn bags of pretzel buns stashed in behind the hot dog buns, so I seized them and ran for the cash register, hoping no other customer had been hiding them there to be picked up later. Well, if that was the case I guess it was "you snooze, you lose" on the pretzel buns. hahaha At the cash register, the one apple I was trying to purchase would not show up on the till screen, no matter how many times the cashier scanned the sticker on the apple or punched the sku number into the computer. Result: one free apple! YAY! That will make up for the mango slices I purchased there a couple of months ago that turned out to be so under ripe as to be inedible! haha That poor cashier: after the apple fiasco, he had the same problem with a bag of BC small potatoes. He was SO frustrated. However, as he was trying everything under the sun to scan or otherwise show a price, I had a better look at the potatoes in that bag and decided they were not fresh enough to be purchased. I told the cashier to forget it, I wouldn't take them and we parted friends; me with a free apple and minus a bag of potatoes that may have gone pretty moldy if left for a couple of more days without cooking.
My husband just now received the great news that he has tomorrow off work after all. He was slated, has been for several months actually, to take a service a couple of hours away from here, but became rather less excited about the trip when he realized yesterday he is getting this cold. Fortunately he contacted the regional archdeacon a few minutes ago to check the service time and she texted him back that she had no memory and nothing in her date book calendar that any such arrangements had been made, so she has scheduled a lay led service for tomorrow. She said he could come some other time. He is DELIGHTED!! After talking to her, just for his own satisfaction, he checked back through his emails and found her invitation from back in March to come tomorrow and his own emailed confirmation, but she hasn't any record of them, so he is off the hook. YAY!! He can sleep in. He can come to church with me if he wants to and we can go together to the church patio party in the evening at the home of a couple who are fast becoming good friends. It means he can take his usual Monday off, but return to the office on Tuesday instead of having to take Tuesday off when things in the office are so very busy right now. I am thrilled for him. Thank you Lord for the mix up and being able to straighten it out before he made an over two hour drive out there only to discover he wasn't needed. YIPPEE! and HALLELUJAH!!
The day is getting better and better! I am so grateful!
Yesterday I took my one day a week enforced rest day. Well, more like it foisted itself upon me because I was SO tired after three nights in a row of less than five hours of sleep. I admit I did absolutely nothing of value yesterday. Not. One. Thing!! My husband was able to come home from the office at noon and, other than complete a few work emails from his home office, he also spent some time vegging and watching tv. It was good for us. We were in bed with the lights turned out at 8:55pm and I don't think it took more than 30 seconds for either of us to fall asleep.
I woke up at 6:30am. WOW! I slept for over 9 straight hours!! No wonder I feel wonderful today. That kind of rest was badly needed. My husband didn't wake up until nearly 7:30am and I am glad of that. He is fighting another cold, so I know how he will be spending his two days off next week: resting, resting and more resting!! I can only pray I don't get his cold and take whatever dietary and resting precautions that I can, and wait to call the dentist until next week after I figure out if I will be healthy enough to go to get this problem repaired. My own throat is a bit touchy at the moment, but we'll see how it goes.
After breakfast I decided it was time to get out of this suite for a couple of hours and pick up a couple of grocery items, stop at the bank to make sure the pensions were in and then drive into Harbour Landing to look at the clothing sales. I still had a few dollars left in my personal "savings for clothes and other fun things" fund. They got spent at Laura's (2 pair of lovely winter pants), Suzanne's (a rare pair of Simon Chang highwaisted pants and a sleevless hoodie...bunny hug for you locals), and at Ricki's (a top and sweater). O how I LOVE mid summer clothing sales that so often include the last few pieces of the previous autumn's and winter's stock. Those items are always on the 60%-70% or more off racks and take some looking about to find, but it has been worth the effort. Some of the previous season's stock are rather sad looking: frayed or faded or else just plain ugly, but if you have the time to look, there are deals to be had buried in amidst these disasters. It was a great time and I came home feeling cheery about my deals.
I made myself one of my favourite lunches today: tuna salad and guacamole on a pretzel bun. Yum! I lucked out at SaveOn foods this morning. There were two forlorn bags of pretzel buns stashed in behind the hot dog buns, so I seized them and ran for the cash register, hoping no other customer had been hiding them there to be picked up later. Well, if that was the case I guess it was "you snooze, you lose" on the pretzel buns. hahaha At the cash register, the one apple I was trying to purchase would not show up on the till screen, no matter how many times the cashier scanned the sticker on the apple or punched the sku number into the computer. Result: one free apple! YAY! That will make up for the mango slices I purchased there a couple of months ago that turned out to be so under ripe as to be inedible! haha That poor cashier: after the apple fiasco, he had the same problem with a bag of BC small potatoes. He was SO frustrated. However, as he was trying everything under the sun to scan or otherwise show a price, I had a better look at the potatoes in that bag and decided they were not fresh enough to be purchased. I told the cashier to forget it, I wouldn't take them and we parted friends; me with a free apple and minus a bag of potatoes that may have gone pretty moldy if left for a couple of more days without cooking.
My husband just now received the great news that he has tomorrow off work after all. He was slated, has been for several months actually, to take a service a couple of hours away from here, but became rather less excited about the trip when he realized yesterday he is getting this cold. Fortunately he contacted the regional archdeacon a few minutes ago to check the service time and she texted him back that she had no memory and nothing in her date book calendar that any such arrangements had been made, so she has scheduled a lay led service for tomorrow. She said he could come some other time. He is DELIGHTED!! After talking to her, just for his own satisfaction, he checked back through his emails and found her invitation from back in March to come tomorrow and his own emailed confirmation, but she hasn't any record of them, so he is off the hook. YAY!! He can sleep in. He can come to church with me if he wants to and we can go together to the church patio party in the evening at the home of a couple who are fast becoming good friends. It means he can take his usual Monday off, but return to the office on Tuesday instead of having to take Tuesday off when things in the office are so very busy right now. I am thrilled for him. Thank you Lord for the mix up and being able to straighten it out before he made an over two hour drive out there only to discover he wasn't needed. YIPPEE! and HALLELUJAH!!
The day is getting better and better! I am so grateful!
Friday, July 27, 2018
Correction For Bishop Rob’s Final Ride
He will actually complete his ride in St. John’s Newfoundland on July 31st.
Sorry for the incorrect info on the previous post.
Sorry for the incorrect info on the previous post.
We Bid You a Fond Adieu Bishop P./Welcome Back Soon Bishop Rob
My husband is presently delivering Bishop P. to the airport for his return flight to Burundi. What a fantastic week they have had together. I think my husband could quite easily walk away from his present ministries and jobs to tour international visitors around southern Saskatchewan for the rest of his life. hahaha I am rather glad though that his time with Bishop P. is coming to an end, for the sake of their dietary health!! They both love to eat and one of them has to only set forth the barest hint of any sort of food dialogue and they are stopping in their tracks to find something to munch on!! If the bishop was here much longer it would take an industrial winch to remove each of them from the vehicle each evening after their travels. Last night at 10:30pm, on their way back from a great day in Whitewood, they stopped at the Milky Way here in Regina for iced cream and hot dogs!! The only answer to the question, "Should we stop and get something to nibble on?", is "YES!!!!!!" hahaha
What a full and fun day the people in Whitewood provided for the guys. There was a huge BBQ luncheon in Bishop P's honour thrown by the local auction mart, of all places! One of the employees there speaks fluent French so our French speaking visitor was in his glory visiting in his native tongue. Tours of the livestock market, the local museum and a grain farm filled the afternoon hours and both men arrived home at 11pm proudly wearing their Whitewood Livestock ball caps, hahaha. (My husband isn't really yer ball cap kinda guy to be honest, but he was pleased to have this new hat with a wide brim to keep the sun out of his eyes when he is driving.) The evening pot luck meal and church service were well attended and included not only the sponsoring Anglican church folk, but some of the Roman Catholic parish congregation and some of the auction mart employees. A LOT of money was raised to help complete the building of the medical hospital and clinic our Anglican diocese is building in Muyinga. Bishop P. was thrilled and touched at the generosity of all the rural parishes he visited. When they arrived back at his hotel last night there was a contingent of local Burundian refugees sitting in the lobby waiting to spend time with him. Lord only knows what time he got to bed last night.
We didn't get our own lights out until close to 1am as Dell had an old cell phone to wipe and a new one to set up. Bishop P. lost his cell phone when he was in the Paris airport on the way to Canada and hasn't had a way to contact home since. God bless the front desk night staff at the Fairfield Inn here in Regina who allowed him to use one of the hotel computers to SKYPE with his wife and family one evening. Anyway, my husband just received notice that his own office cell was due for an upgrade, so early in the morning yesterday, he and the bishop went to the nearest SaskTel sales store and got my husband's new phone. The clerk there wiped my husband's old cell phone clean and then unlocked it with a new phone number so the bishop can use it to make arrangements on his way home today. My husband also gave him an older digital camera he used to use prior to getting such a good one on his cell phone. Bishop P. left with his suitcase filled with digial camera equipment and batteries and digital sticks, so he can take copies of the photos my husband took during the trip, to show back home.
Bishop P. was fascinated with the beef cattle and the grain crops he saw yesterday. I didn't know before that there are no cattle or other large animals in Burundi, apart from a dairy cow here and there. There are no horses either. Chickens are a big commodity for the Burundian people because if a hen lays two eggs, you can eat one and sell the other one. There is also a terrible shortage of arable land. If a family has a garden plot, it is planted and harvested by a different family member each year. For instance: if you find yourself in a position of having your own garden plot, but you have seven brothers/sisters, then after you plant your garden one year, you have to wait seven more years to have your next chance because in between, as each of your siblings and their families get their turn to plant for one year each. Quite a few of the Anglicans in Bishop P.'s diocese have fled to Tanzania and Rwanda in order to escape tribal persecution. It means that Bishop P. spends a lot of time crossing those borders to care for them and encourage them spiritually, because they don't have a bishop in their area or because they have to meet in secret to avoid religious persecution. Each border crossing is life endangering due to the wars and "rumours of wars" in the area. His extended family and his friends couldn't figure out why he would want to leave his most lucrative position as a judge and give up the small fortune in bribes that would come to him from the family members and associates of the criminals he was trying. He said that morally it was an easy choice for him. Now, when he receives payment for any of his ministry services he joins his priests in putting all their monthly earnings together and dividing it evenly among themselves. Although the church is growing in leaps and bounds, it isn't translating into monies to run the diocese or pay the priests due to the degree of extreme poverty throughout the country. Although the bishop has a car, it isn't for his exclusive use. He shares it among his priests so that they can travel to the outlying parishes of their diocese.
I am trying to imagine living as the people there do, but I admit I have zero concept of the terrors they face daily for one reason or another...tribal warfare, civil war, poverty, starvation, persecution, lack of medical facilities, inability to pay bribes...the list of disasters goes on and on. Coming to Canada has been quite an eye opener to Bishop P. He is completely overwhelmed by the obvious affluence and also by the willingness of Canadians to work extremely hard to try to attain that affluence. He cannot believe how easily he has come into possession of another cell phone, a digital camera, cash for the hospital project, the provision of plane fares, hotel accommodations and meals. By last night he seemed to be somewhat in shock by the difference in culture. I pray he can process all that he saw and did and learned as he heads home to pick up his daily cross of being a bishop in a struggling country.
Despite the poor timing of the visit for my husband and the office manager, this week has been a huge blessing to my husband. It has re-opened his focus from the tiny world of our local diocese and churches, to the international church. It is giving him hope of ministry for his retirement years. He has made a new friend in Bishop P. I suspect he isn't terribly disappointed that our own bishop was away all week because if he had been here to do the touring, my husband would have missed out on a wonderful experience.
Speaking of our Bishop Rob, he will be arriving at his most eastern destination point in Labrador to dip his bike tires in the Atlantic, by tomorrow afternoon. He is physically exhausted, mentally worn out, but spiritually buoyed high by the incredible response of the national Anglican churches and others as well to his goal of raising money for Indigenous ministries, unity, healing and reconciliation. He has had rural as well as city congregational turnouts that put our own city Anglican churches to shame. God bless all those people who actually care about what he is doing and want to participate in the process through prayer and giving. He has done all manner of interviews across Canada for both the religious and secular media and received nothing but encouragement and support. We are so proud of what he has accomplished. Praying now that he will soon be able to take a couple of weeks to not only rest, but to deal with the flooded basement in his own house that happened a few weeks after he left home. We suspect there will not be much happening in the way of true rest before he returns to work in September. This was NOT a true sabbatical! But it was an effective time of ministry and getting more focus across Canada toward indigenious issues. God bless you Bishop Rob!
We pray for the safe return home of both our bishop friends!
What a full and fun day the people in Whitewood provided for the guys. There was a huge BBQ luncheon in Bishop P's honour thrown by the local auction mart, of all places! One of the employees there speaks fluent French so our French speaking visitor was in his glory visiting in his native tongue. Tours of the livestock market, the local museum and a grain farm filled the afternoon hours and both men arrived home at 11pm proudly wearing their Whitewood Livestock ball caps, hahaha. (My husband isn't really yer ball cap kinda guy to be honest, but he was pleased to have this new hat with a wide brim to keep the sun out of his eyes when he is driving.) The evening pot luck meal and church service were well attended and included not only the sponsoring Anglican church folk, but some of the Roman Catholic parish congregation and some of the auction mart employees. A LOT of money was raised to help complete the building of the medical hospital and clinic our Anglican diocese is building in Muyinga. Bishop P. was thrilled and touched at the generosity of all the rural parishes he visited. When they arrived back at his hotel last night there was a contingent of local Burundian refugees sitting in the lobby waiting to spend time with him. Lord only knows what time he got to bed last night.
We didn't get our own lights out until close to 1am as Dell had an old cell phone to wipe and a new one to set up. Bishop P. lost his cell phone when he was in the Paris airport on the way to Canada and hasn't had a way to contact home since. God bless the front desk night staff at the Fairfield Inn here in Regina who allowed him to use one of the hotel computers to SKYPE with his wife and family one evening. Anyway, my husband just received notice that his own office cell was due for an upgrade, so early in the morning yesterday, he and the bishop went to the nearest SaskTel sales store and got my husband's new phone. The clerk there wiped my husband's old cell phone clean and then unlocked it with a new phone number so the bishop can use it to make arrangements on his way home today. My husband also gave him an older digital camera he used to use prior to getting such a good one on his cell phone. Bishop P. left with his suitcase filled with digial camera equipment and batteries and digital sticks, so he can take copies of the photos my husband took during the trip, to show back home.
Bishop P. was fascinated with the beef cattle and the grain crops he saw yesterday. I didn't know before that there are no cattle or other large animals in Burundi, apart from a dairy cow here and there. There are no horses either. Chickens are a big commodity for the Burundian people because if a hen lays two eggs, you can eat one and sell the other one. There is also a terrible shortage of arable land. If a family has a garden plot, it is planted and harvested by a different family member each year. For instance: if you find yourself in a position of having your own garden plot, but you have seven brothers/sisters, then after you plant your garden one year, you have to wait seven more years to have your next chance because in between, as each of your siblings and their families get their turn to plant for one year each. Quite a few of the Anglicans in Bishop P.'s diocese have fled to Tanzania and Rwanda in order to escape tribal persecution. It means that Bishop P. spends a lot of time crossing those borders to care for them and encourage them spiritually, because they don't have a bishop in their area or because they have to meet in secret to avoid religious persecution. Each border crossing is life endangering due to the wars and "rumours of wars" in the area. His extended family and his friends couldn't figure out why he would want to leave his most lucrative position as a judge and give up the small fortune in bribes that would come to him from the family members and associates of the criminals he was trying. He said that morally it was an easy choice for him. Now, when he receives payment for any of his ministry services he joins his priests in putting all their monthly earnings together and dividing it evenly among themselves. Although the church is growing in leaps and bounds, it isn't translating into monies to run the diocese or pay the priests due to the degree of extreme poverty throughout the country. Although the bishop has a car, it isn't for his exclusive use. He shares it among his priests so that they can travel to the outlying parishes of their diocese.
I am trying to imagine living as the people there do, but I admit I have zero concept of the terrors they face daily for one reason or another...tribal warfare, civil war, poverty, starvation, persecution, lack of medical facilities, inability to pay bribes...the list of disasters goes on and on. Coming to Canada has been quite an eye opener to Bishop P. He is completely overwhelmed by the obvious affluence and also by the willingness of Canadians to work extremely hard to try to attain that affluence. He cannot believe how easily he has come into possession of another cell phone, a digital camera, cash for the hospital project, the provision of plane fares, hotel accommodations and meals. By last night he seemed to be somewhat in shock by the difference in culture. I pray he can process all that he saw and did and learned as he heads home to pick up his daily cross of being a bishop in a struggling country.
Despite the poor timing of the visit for my husband and the office manager, this week has been a huge blessing to my husband. It has re-opened his focus from the tiny world of our local diocese and churches, to the international church. It is giving him hope of ministry for his retirement years. He has made a new friend in Bishop P. I suspect he isn't terribly disappointed that our own bishop was away all week because if he had been here to do the touring, my husband would have missed out on a wonderful experience.
Speaking of our Bishop Rob, he will be arriving at his most eastern destination point in Labrador to dip his bike tires in the Atlantic, by tomorrow afternoon. He is physically exhausted, mentally worn out, but spiritually buoyed high by the incredible response of the national Anglican churches and others as well to his goal of raising money for Indigenous ministries, unity, healing and reconciliation. He has had rural as well as city congregational turnouts that put our own city Anglican churches to shame. God bless all those people who actually care about what he is doing and want to participate in the process through prayer and giving. He has done all manner of interviews across Canada for both the religious and secular media and received nothing but encouragement and support. We are so proud of what he has accomplished. Praying now that he will soon be able to take a couple of weeks to not only rest, but to deal with the flooded basement in his own house that happened a few weeks after he left home. We suspect there will not be much happening in the way of true rest before he returns to work in September. This was NOT a true sabbatical! But it was an effective time of ministry and getting more focus across Canada toward indigenious issues. God bless you Bishop Rob!
We pray for the safe return home of both our bishop friends!
Finally Some Flavour!
I have never been a big fan of flavoured carbonated water. The fruity flavours are so mild as to be nearly non-existent to my particular tastebuds. When I try to drink them, I am only aware of some kind of annoying taste buried in an otherwise refreshing drink. American flavoured seltzer waters seem to have more flavour to me, but it is very difficult to get them here outside of the occasional over priced can from health food outlets.
Yesterday I discovered a small bottle of PC Blue Menu watermelon flavoured sparkling water and decided to try it, knowing my husband would enjoy it even if I didn’t, but I really like it! The aroma and the taste are quite distinctive and I can get real flavour from it. Yes, the watermelon flavour is about as close to the flavour of real watermelons as strawberry flavoured candies are to real strawberries, but at least I can finally taste lots of flavour in a fruity carbonated water. Yay!
Nice to have another type of enjoyable hot weather day drink in the refrigerator!
Yesterday I discovered a small bottle of PC Blue Menu watermelon flavoured sparkling water and decided to try it, knowing my husband would enjoy it even if I didn’t, but I really like it! The aroma and the taste are quite distinctive and I can get real flavour from it. Yes, the watermelon flavour is about as close to the flavour of real watermelons as strawberry flavoured candies are to real strawberries, but at least I can finally taste lots of flavour in a fruity carbonated water. Yay!
Nice to have another type of enjoyable hot weather day drink in the refrigerator!
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Good Words of Reminder
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.
I will tell of thy wonders.
I will be glad and exult in thee.
I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.....
--from Psalm 9
For months I have felt constricted in my praise and worship of God. Lately I feel like I have come out from under a dark cloud. In church I am able once again to worship from my heart. Once again I feel free to tell of his wonders without feeling condemned by other Christians around me for being some kind of fanatic when the conversation turns to remembering things God has done in the lives of his people in this day and age. I feel free to talk about him and all he has done for me/us once again.
I am so grateful, because as life goes on I know I am going to need to be able to remind at least my own self of the past glories of walking with the Lord and when I am able to share the details with others at least occasionally, it strengthens me too. After having to trust him in times past for even daily food, I am realizing once again that having a regular paycheque in no way diminishes the fact of his daily provision. When the day comes that retirement hits and the monthly provision drops to below the poverty line once again, he will still be there making sure we survive from one day to the next. When the need to pray for daily provision is lessened, it is easy to forget what God is capable of. However, I am being reminded again and again of his care and love and mercy. It is emotionally freeing.
It feels GOOD!!!
I will tell of thy wonders.
I will be glad and exult in thee.
I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.....
--from Psalm 9
For months I have felt constricted in my praise and worship of God. Lately I feel like I have come out from under a dark cloud. In church I am able once again to worship from my heart. Once again I feel free to tell of his wonders without feeling condemned by other Christians around me for being some kind of fanatic when the conversation turns to remembering things God has done in the lives of his people in this day and age. I feel free to talk about him and all he has done for me/us once again.
I am so grateful, because as life goes on I know I am going to need to be able to remind at least my own self of the past glories of walking with the Lord and when I am able to share the details with others at least occasionally, it strengthens me too. After having to trust him in times past for even daily food, I am realizing once again that having a regular paycheque in no way diminishes the fact of his daily provision. When the day comes that retirement hits and the monthly provision drops to below the poverty line once again, he will still be there making sure we survive from one day to the next. When the need to pray for daily provision is lessened, it is easy to forget what God is capable of. However, I am being reminded again and again of his care and love and mercy. It is emotionally freeing.
It feels GOOD!!!
Time Flies When I Am Having Fun!
Today has been another excellent day. I am blessed...as always!
My walking buddy arrived right on time this morning and away we went for a good 45 minute walk. I need to find more interesting routes again to give us some variety. This morning we ended up walking for part of the time down a back alley that was actually extremely pretty with all the trees right beside us. I am most grateful to have had someone to go walking with twice this week!
After a bit of a rest and a big drink of water, I headed downtown to Cornwall Centre. Today I had no pain or discomfort from my hip hardware....go figure. I walked about three times farther than any of the days it has bothered me. Whatever..... I got a bunch of month end banking done and had the usual delicious caesar salad at Famoso's afterward. Unfortunately, despite my trying to get in and out of the restaurant well before the lunch rush, it seems half of downtown Regina wanted to eat in the same restaurant at the same early time of 11:20am! Go figure....sitting alone at a table for two when there were groups of two awaiting my exit was not a great situation. The server pretty much ignored me other than to ask for my order 30 seconds after I was seated and then whisk my salad plate away quickly when I was barely done the last mouthful. I was not offered a refill on my soda, which consisted mostly of ice in the glass and took me less than 20 seconds to completely finish drinking, there was that little soda. The server appeared again, shortly after my plate was taken, to finally ask me if I needed a refill on my drink, but with the tone of voice that indicated it was a duty request and of course I wouldn't be interested now that my meal was over. Sigh..... Well, the teesy tip I gave the server may get the hint across, but I doubt it. You never know how much pressure the servers are under from management to get single customers in and out of the place as quickly as possible when there are groups of two or more standing in line to get in. Cornwall Centre seemed busier than usual as well, even for a lunch hour. There were actually people in the retail outlets making purchases, so I hope it was an encouraging day for those folk. Anyway, despite feeling as welcome as a flea on a dog at Famoso's, my chicken caesar salad with prosciutto chips was delicious as always. I will just avoid the place anywhere near lunchtime if I am alone.
In Cornwall Centre I located a replacement top for the one I ruined during the other night's washing fiasco. It was on sale for the same price as the ruined one, so I am sure not out much money in this transaction. The combined sale cost of both tops is still far less than the original price of either of them! Bonus: the colour of this top is the exact same colour as the pants I was wearing the first top with. It looks far better than the top with the variation in colour. I really like it and am so happy I found it. I wasn't actually looking for a replacement, just spotted it out of the corner of my eye as I was window shopping. It was the only one in my size...meant to be, right? hahahaha
I stopped in at Naked Bean on the way back and purchased a matcha latte to enjoy on the rest of the walk home. Fantastic!
Shortly after returning home a friend called who I haven't talked to in weeks and she had many holiday adventures to share with me.
My husband is doing his final day of touring Bishop P. around the diocese. He should be home by about 10pm once again and tomorrow morning he only has to get Bishop P. to the airport for a midmorning flight home to Burundi. Despite everything that was difficult about this visiting scenario, my husband just loves Bishop P. and is happy to have had the chance to spend time with him. The feeling is mutual apparently and if the civil war calms down there just a bit more, my husband is invited to travel to Bishop P.'s diocese there to do some teaching. I can't help hoping against hope that it could be possible as my husband wants to return to Africa so badly. Apparently things have settled down a little bit since the Anglican bishops there went to the government official so many are unhappy with, also an Anglican, and pleaded with him not to run for office in the next election. He has agreed to their request and once that news became public, some of the warring factions stood down. Problems between the hutus and the tutsis continue to flare and refugees from another African country are now pouring into Burundi for reasons of their own....Bishop P. has one entire congregation made up of refugees from there. Hey, can you imagine if a bunch of Canadian Anglican bishops went to OUR Prime Minister and pleaded with him not to run in the next election? hahaha I am quite certain they would not get the positive response that the fellow from Burundi gave his Bishops! hahaha Bishop P. was both a lawyer and a judge before becoming a Bishop, so he has a very good idea of how the legal and justice systems work in his country.
I really am enjoying the lower temperatures today. We have reached a high, barely, of +23C and the breeze is rather cool. The sky is overcast with dark grey clouds. Perhaps we will get some rain out of them. They are the same colour as the winter snow clouds....NO, did I just use the "w" word???? Shame on me!
I did some more work on the wooden spheres today. My son continues to encourage me not to give up. It is certainly a grand way to work on restoring some of my fine motor skills. This morning I was able to get a couple of patterns on without smudging the ink and without messing up the pattern due to my clumsiness in attempting to draw on a rounded surface. They are still not wonderful patterns, but at least they are improving. If I spend a few hundred dollars in the process (not going to happen) I may just get a half dozen spheres worth keeping. hahaha
The past couple of days I have developed a very bad pain in a tooth that was crowned last year. I cannot chew anything at all with it. Sigh.....SO, will call the dental office tomorrow and see if I can get in next week. If I am going to be on the hook for another few hundred dollars to get whatever this is dealt with, might as well get to it before the problem gets a lot worse and is more difficult and expensive to fix. Drat! I am hoping, praying, I won't need to have the crown removed for a root canal. Is the pain actually originating with that tooth or the one beside it that was filled a couple of years ago? O please God, let it just be ONE tooth that is a problem. The tooth doesn't hurt at all until I try to chew something with it. It hurts so much I don't think I could chew water, so to speak, without it paining. O well.....that's life. I'll just have to check it out and see what is going on.
Other than my tooth issue, it has been a grand day. Walking, shopping, eating out, perfect weather for me, the end of my husband's absences for this week....yup, a grand day!
My walking buddy arrived right on time this morning and away we went for a good 45 minute walk. I need to find more interesting routes again to give us some variety. This morning we ended up walking for part of the time down a back alley that was actually extremely pretty with all the trees right beside us. I am most grateful to have had someone to go walking with twice this week!
After a bit of a rest and a big drink of water, I headed downtown to Cornwall Centre. Today I had no pain or discomfort from my hip hardware....go figure. I walked about three times farther than any of the days it has bothered me. Whatever..... I got a bunch of month end banking done and had the usual delicious caesar salad at Famoso's afterward. Unfortunately, despite my trying to get in and out of the restaurant well before the lunch rush, it seems half of downtown Regina wanted to eat in the same restaurant at the same early time of 11:20am! Go figure....sitting alone at a table for two when there were groups of two awaiting my exit was not a great situation. The server pretty much ignored me other than to ask for my order 30 seconds after I was seated and then whisk my salad plate away quickly when I was barely done the last mouthful. I was not offered a refill on my soda, which consisted mostly of ice in the glass and took me less than 20 seconds to completely finish drinking, there was that little soda. The server appeared again, shortly after my plate was taken, to finally ask me if I needed a refill on my drink, but with the tone of voice that indicated it was a duty request and of course I wouldn't be interested now that my meal was over. Sigh..... Well, the teesy tip I gave the server may get the hint across, but I doubt it. You never know how much pressure the servers are under from management to get single customers in and out of the place as quickly as possible when there are groups of two or more standing in line to get in. Cornwall Centre seemed busier than usual as well, even for a lunch hour. There were actually people in the retail outlets making purchases, so I hope it was an encouraging day for those folk. Anyway, despite feeling as welcome as a flea on a dog at Famoso's, my chicken caesar salad with prosciutto chips was delicious as always. I will just avoid the place anywhere near lunchtime if I am alone.
In Cornwall Centre I located a replacement top for the one I ruined during the other night's washing fiasco. It was on sale for the same price as the ruined one, so I am sure not out much money in this transaction. The combined sale cost of both tops is still far less than the original price of either of them! Bonus: the colour of this top is the exact same colour as the pants I was wearing the first top with. It looks far better than the top with the variation in colour. I really like it and am so happy I found it. I wasn't actually looking for a replacement, just spotted it out of the corner of my eye as I was window shopping. It was the only one in my size...meant to be, right? hahahaha
I stopped in at Naked Bean on the way back and purchased a matcha latte to enjoy on the rest of the walk home. Fantastic!
Shortly after returning home a friend called who I haven't talked to in weeks and she had many holiday adventures to share with me.
My husband is doing his final day of touring Bishop P. around the diocese. He should be home by about 10pm once again and tomorrow morning he only has to get Bishop P. to the airport for a midmorning flight home to Burundi. Despite everything that was difficult about this visiting scenario, my husband just loves Bishop P. and is happy to have had the chance to spend time with him. The feeling is mutual apparently and if the civil war calms down there just a bit more, my husband is invited to travel to Bishop P.'s diocese there to do some teaching. I can't help hoping against hope that it could be possible as my husband wants to return to Africa so badly. Apparently things have settled down a little bit since the Anglican bishops there went to the government official so many are unhappy with, also an Anglican, and pleaded with him not to run for office in the next election. He has agreed to their request and once that news became public, some of the warring factions stood down. Problems between the hutus and the tutsis continue to flare and refugees from another African country are now pouring into Burundi for reasons of their own....Bishop P. has one entire congregation made up of refugees from there. Hey, can you imagine if a bunch of Canadian Anglican bishops went to OUR Prime Minister and pleaded with him not to run in the next election? hahaha I am quite certain they would not get the positive response that the fellow from Burundi gave his Bishops! hahaha Bishop P. was both a lawyer and a judge before becoming a Bishop, so he has a very good idea of how the legal and justice systems work in his country.
I really am enjoying the lower temperatures today. We have reached a high, barely, of +23C and the breeze is rather cool. The sky is overcast with dark grey clouds. Perhaps we will get some rain out of them. They are the same colour as the winter snow clouds....NO, did I just use the "w" word???? Shame on me!
I did some more work on the wooden spheres today. My son continues to encourage me not to give up. It is certainly a grand way to work on restoring some of my fine motor skills. This morning I was able to get a couple of patterns on without smudging the ink and without messing up the pattern due to my clumsiness in attempting to draw on a rounded surface. They are still not wonderful patterns, but at least they are improving. If I spend a few hundred dollars in the process (not going to happen) I may just get a half dozen spheres worth keeping. hahaha
The past couple of days I have developed a very bad pain in a tooth that was crowned last year. I cannot chew anything at all with it. Sigh.....SO, will call the dental office tomorrow and see if I can get in next week. If I am going to be on the hook for another few hundred dollars to get whatever this is dealt with, might as well get to it before the problem gets a lot worse and is more difficult and expensive to fix. Drat! I am hoping, praying, I won't need to have the crown removed for a root canal. Is the pain actually originating with that tooth or the one beside it that was filled a couple of years ago? O please God, let it just be ONE tooth that is a problem. The tooth doesn't hurt at all until I try to chew something with it. It hurts so much I don't think I could chew water, so to speak, without it paining. O well.....that's life. I'll just have to check it out and see what is going on.
Other than my tooth issue, it has been a grand day. Walking, shopping, eating out, perfect weather for me, the end of my husband's absences for this week....yup, a grand day!
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
So, Yay, I'm Only Losing Two Out Of Three =)
As it turns out I will only lose the shirt and the dining room set after last night's laundry fiasco! The pants are just fine and are now hanging back in my clothes closet. YAY! The weird thing with the shirt is that it isn't the bleach water that ruined it. When I pulled it out of the dryer, my orangish shirt was covered in small brownish spots nowhere near where the bleach water hit it. I got the magnifying glass out and gave it a good going over and what I think happened is that the dye lot on that shirt was flawed. The colour seems to have separated where those spots are. There is a bit of dark yellow as well in the same areas, so that is what is making me think it was poorly dyed in the first place. That colour separation would have happened at first washing regardless.
It is funny how when something happens unexpectedly to damage a piece of furniture, you suddenly see it with fresh eyes. Looking at both that old table and the chairs, which are a few years newer but equally cheaply made, I can clearly see the marks and dings and peeling off of colour or bits of wood on the legs and feel the slight sagging of the seats; things I haven't been conscious of because I simply haven't been looking for such things. I see the other marks on the tabletop, other scarring; yeah...as soon as we get our dental and optical issues solved between now and the end of the autumn, it will be time for a change of dining room furniture. I may even just leave it until the end of February when our next lease runs out, to see if my husband has an eye to moving somewhere without a leaking basement and mice in the attic and goose crap everywhere outside. (Yes, after a good month's break, a huge flock of geese passed through our complex twice yesterday, leaving me with a full two scoop shovels of poop to remove...uck!) Everthing in our lives is in such limbo at the moment that I don't want to buy furniture to fit this place unless I have assurance we will be signing another lease. On one hand we would like to stay longer after putting so much work into re-landscaping under the front window and taking care of the mice in the attic ourselves, sans exterminator, as well as re-sealing the basement walls. On the other hand, what new structural and "next door neighbour" issues are going to arise between now and next March? I doubt the young family on the other side of the wall will be here much past the end of their own lease next April/May. We are looking at what sort of people are moving into the rest of our part of the complex and suspecting it may be time for us to move on at the end of our current lease.
I am SO glad that God knows and has all the answers to these little hassles that crop up every so often. Hallelujah!!
It is funny how when something happens unexpectedly to damage a piece of furniture, you suddenly see it with fresh eyes. Looking at both that old table and the chairs, which are a few years newer but equally cheaply made, I can clearly see the marks and dings and peeling off of colour or bits of wood on the legs and feel the slight sagging of the seats; things I haven't been conscious of because I simply haven't been looking for such things. I see the other marks on the tabletop, other scarring; yeah...as soon as we get our dental and optical issues solved between now and the end of the autumn, it will be time for a change of dining room furniture. I may even just leave it until the end of February when our next lease runs out, to see if my husband has an eye to moving somewhere without a leaking basement and mice in the attic and goose crap everywhere outside. (Yes, after a good month's break, a huge flock of geese passed through our complex twice yesterday, leaving me with a full two scoop shovels of poop to remove...uck!) Everthing in our lives is in such limbo at the moment that I don't want to buy furniture to fit this place unless I have assurance we will be signing another lease. On one hand we would like to stay longer after putting so much work into re-landscaping under the front window and taking care of the mice in the attic ourselves, sans exterminator, as well as re-sealing the basement walls. On the other hand, what new structural and "next door neighbour" issues are going to arise between now and next March? I doubt the young family on the other side of the wall will be here much past the end of their own lease next April/May. We are looking at what sort of people are moving into the rest of our part of the complex and suspecting it may be time for us to move on at the end of our current lease.
I am SO glad that God knows and has all the answers to these little hassles that crop up every so often. Hallelujah!!
Why I Love Talking To My Son
My son has been attempting to encourage me about continuing on with putting patterns on the wooden spheres, no matter how amateurish and dreadful my attempts have been. He wants me to stay focused and not give up just because the project started out so badly. To honour his attempts I am going to get working on them again, reworking the ones all ready done and then moving on to another set when I am feeling more confident about the patterns and colours, less shaky with my hands.
What I love when we get texting back and forth is how we can change and intertwine subject matters in the space of a few texts. Right now my son is reading one of Josef Pieper's books about stoicism that his dad sent him recently. We moved into that part of the conversation after starting off with my question as to whether or not he was successful at removing the old toilet seat in his bathroom!
Here is the fun conversation we had, so typical of our text exchanges. hahaha
Me: How goes the toilet seat project?
Him: I'll send you the You Tube video that inspired my eventual success.
Me: Cool! Success is good and I love videos.
Him: It took 2 hours! lol
Me: But it was successful. What else matters?
Him: Hope you are enjoying your time alone. How are the spheres?
Me: Having a good time relaxing and seeing friends. I am working on the spheres with the narrow nib pens and refusing now to give up!
Him: Good! My server at this restaurant is talking to me about stoicism. I was reading the book Dad gave me . Second person to strike up a conversation with me because of it. I like your sphere drawings. Dad's book suggests that to make the drawings great , one would have to be inspired by irrational Divine influence. But how to go about that is not clear. It's intuitive and abstract.
Me: Part of my problem in my many attempts in life to create something artistic has been the inability to grasp or sense any Divine influence, irrational or otherwise! I see the divine inspiration in so many of your works, but it has always escaped me for some reason.
Him: I'm flattered you would say that Mom, but doubt any of us will know in this lifetime. Contemporary aesthetic taste seems confused at best. Thankfully God will sort it out later. haha
Me: I think you are right. Perhaps the confusion can actually work in my own artistic favour! haha Anyway, I will try to keep modifying the spheres and show you again when I get some "finished".
O how I am missing sharing the fun and laughter and ideas face to face. BUT, I know it is unlikely the son is ever going to return to Canada for any length of time in the future, so I am grateful for texting and SKYPE!
What I love when we get texting back and forth is how we can change and intertwine subject matters in the space of a few texts. Right now my son is reading one of Josef Pieper's books about stoicism that his dad sent him recently. We moved into that part of the conversation after starting off with my question as to whether or not he was successful at removing the old toilet seat in his bathroom!
Here is the fun conversation we had, so typical of our text exchanges. hahaha
Me: How goes the toilet seat project?
Him: I'll send you the You Tube video that inspired my eventual success.
Me: Cool! Success is good and I love videos.
Him: It took 2 hours! lol
Me: But it was successful. What else matters?
Him: Hope you are enjoying your time alone. How are the spheres?
Me: Having a good time relaxing and seeing friends. I am working on the spheres with the narrow nib pens and refusing now to give up!
Him: Good! My server at this restaurant is talking to me about stoicism. I was reading the book Dad gave me . Second person to strike up a conversation with me because of it. I like your sphere drawings. Dad's book suggests that to make the drawings great , one would have to be inspired by irrational Divine influence. But how to go about that is not clear. It's intuitive and abstract.
Me: Part of my problem in my many attempts in life to create something artistic has been the inability to grasp or sense any Divine influence, irrational or otherwise! I see the divine inspiration in so many of your works, but it has always escaped me for some reason.
Him: I'm flattered you would say that Mom, but doubt any of us will know in this lifetime. Contemporary aesthetic taste seems confused at best. Thankfully God will sort it out later. haha
Me: I think you are right. Perhaps the confusion can actually work in my own artistic favour! haha Anyway, I will try to keep modifying the spheres and show you again when I get some "finished".
O how I am missing sharing the fun and laughter and ideas face to face. BUT, I know it is unlikely the son is ever going to return to Canada for any length of time in the future, so I am grateful for texting and SKYPE!
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!! At Least None of Mine Seem To!
Last evening was an absolute comedy of errors around here! I call it that because I am actually praying that today I will look back at last night's activities and find them at least somewhat amusing, if not knee slappingly funny.
My husband called me from the road to let me know that he would be home at 10:30pm, but that instead of dropping Bishop P. at his hotel, would it be okay if both of them came over to drop off a load of laundry as Bishop P. was in dire need of clean clothing. Would I be willing to help with that? Well, of course I would. It isn't the bishop's fault that his arrival has created such a hassle for the diocesan workers here and I did want to meet him. It isn't every day I get to meet a visitor from Burundi, about the poorest country in the entire world and with one of the fastest growing population of Anglicans world wide.
Bishop P. came smiling through our back door and greeted me heartily. His gratitude that I would agree to do some laundry for him was very sweet and as he swung his huge suitcase onto our dining room table he told me about how badly he was missing his family back home, particularly his five children between the ages of 12 years old and 6 months old. He got quite teary actually. He has never been out of Africa until this trip and the culture shock is rather extreme for him. I can only imagine.........
And thus began the comedy of errors. After Bishop P. finished removing his dirty clothes from his suitcase he pulled it off the table rather awkwardly. Somehow one of the wheels, which hadn't even been touching the table top, ended up twisting itself up onto the tabletop and as neither the bishop nor I noticed what was going on with the wheel, as he pulled the suitcase the wheel pushed itself into the top of the table. Long story short, the marks it left went right into and through the finish on the wood....long, thick, completely ruining half of the entire table top. Sigh..... No, it can't be fixed or covered over with stain and sealer. We don't have the right colours in our supply and my husband has no time to completely strip and refinish a table that was so inexpensive, so cheaply made and that has been able to be used for the past 11 years without incident. We have called it our miracle table, but as of last evening the miracle of using such a piece of (literally) junk that I picked up half price clearance ($150) all that time ago at a grocery store (!), came to an end. Guess it will be good to have to get a new dining set now, before my husband finds himself retired at some point in the "nearer than we want to think about" future!
And the little disasters continued on until after 1am. Once I got the laundry from the suitcase my husband returned Bishop P. to his hotel. Somehow in the comprehension mixup between the bishop's French and my lack thereof, I had the idea that I was to do the laundry immediately so that he could have it back in time for his 9am touring pick up today. Oh, how I WISH I had not misunderstood him and he me. Sigh..... So, I picked up the bundle of clothing and headed to the basement just before 11pm to start the load of washing.
The whitest of his white shirts had some kind of horrific stain on it that I knew was going to be difficult to get out, but I hoped that treating it with stain remover and putting into a long wash cycle would solve the problem. I tossed the load into the washer, along with the white shirt, because I was using cold water so the other shirts wouldn't bleed colour into the white one. And they didn't....mostly..... Instead, the bluest of blue shirt bled blue into two pair of bright white Calvin Klein undershorts that were tucked away inside said shirt and that, at that time of night, I didn't even notice when I shook out the shirts and socks to put into the washing machine. Sigh.....
When I pulled the clothes out of the washer I found the shorts...covered in bright blue coloured stains. NOOOOOO!!!!! I located the white shirt to discover that not only had the stain remover been completely useless on the massive stains all ready on the shirt, but the armpits of the shirt were the same bright blue as the two pair of undershorts. NOOOOO!!! NOOOOO!! A thousand times NO!! By this time it was 11:45pm, but out came my soaking bowl and a bottle of bleach, which I poured liberally into the bowl of water and folded the shorts and white shirt into it.
My husband finally made it home from Bishop P.'s hotel drop off to find his wife crying and angry and feeling no end of a fool. The man simply asked me to do one load of laundry for him and I blew it big time. My husband was shocked to find me doing the washing at that time of night and asked me why I hadn't waited until morning, when I would be awake and thinking more clearly, to wash clothes. That is when I realized the communication mix up. Well, by then it was too late to leave things until the morning, so I had to complete the task. My husband felt so badly for me that he decided to stay up with me, even though he was so tired himself he could barely keep his eyes open. We watched a boxing match on tv while the first load of clothes was in the dryer and the rest were soaking in the bleach. At midnight, after the dry clothes were checked and discovered to be gloriously clean, dry and ready for ironing this morning, we checked the shirt and shorts to see if bleaching was helping anything. YES! The shirt was ready to go back into the machine, but the shorts needed further bleaching. So, into the washing machine went the shirt. As I was carrying the shirt downstairs, in another bowl so I wouldn't accidentally spill bleachy water on my own clothes, my toe caught on the bottom step, I lost my balance and, in a successful effort to remain upright, managed to flip said bleachy water all over both my new shirt and new pants. NOOOOO!!! Into the wash they immediately went with the white shirt. Load two underway! I checked each item as it went into the dryer afterward, (where everything is still sitting), but it is difficult to see permanent bleach stains on wet items under the dingy yellow of our basement lights. O well, here's hoping...this morning I will have to be brave enough to actually remove the clothes from the dryer and inspect them in the daylight, but at least the white shirt was looking good. Onward to those danged undershorts! Just before 1am I checked them and finally they looked white again! Into the washing machine they went. Load 3!
By then we were both so tired, we left the machines running and fell into bed at about 1:30am. Now it is 7am and fortunately my husband is still asleep. At least I got five consecutive hours of sleep, so I know I will be able to drag myself through today okay. I am praying no one from the office calls my husband before he gets up and going this morning. He has the right to go into the office VERY late this morning after two days of non-stop driving, church meeting after church meeting late into both evenings and having to start it all up again after a "meet and greet" lunch today for our clergy and Bishop P. He is busy driving until Friday morning when he returns Bishop P. to the airport for the next leg of the man's journey. Hopefully he will wake up in time for me to drag out the iron and take care of the last of my laundry duties before he goes into the office so I can just send everything with him and not have to walk the clothes over there at noon. I admit that I am afraid to walk the clothes to the office in case I drop them somehow in a muddy curbside gutter and have to run home to start this process all over again! Paranoid? Moi? After last evening's fun and games? Moi? NEVER!
So, we shall see what today brings! I am not sure I want to know what all that is after last evening's laundry debacle. Until those clothes are pressed, bagged and safely returned to Bishop P. I am not going to be able to relax. How could such a simple task go so horribly wrong???? In a brief span of time I managed to ruin everything from my own clothes and Bishop P.'s whites to the dining room table!! WHO DOES THAT!!!???? I do...I do that....sigh........
Here's hoping for a less frantic, stressful, uneventful day today! AMEN!!!!
My husband called me from the road to let me know that he would be home at 10:30pm, but that instead of dropping Bishop P. at his hotel, would it be okay if both of them came over to drop off a load of laundry as Bishop P. was in dire need of clean clothing. Would I be willing to help with that? Well, of course I would. It isn't the bishop's fault that his arrival has created such a hassle for the diocesan workers here and I did want to meet him. It isn't every day I get to meet a visitor from Burundi, about the poorest country in the entire world and with one of the fastest growing population of Anglicans world wide.
Bishop P. came smiling through our back door and greeted me heartily. His gratitude that I would agree to do some laundry for him was very sweet and as he swung his huge suitcase onto our dining room table he told me about how badly he was missing his family back home, particularly his five children between the ages of 12 years old and 6 months old. He got quite teary actually. He has never been out of Africa until this trip and the culture shock is rather extreme for him. I can only imagine.........
And thus began the comedy of errors. After Bishop P. finished removing his dirty clothes from his suitcase he pulled it off the table rather awkwardly. Somehow one of the wheels, which hadn't even been touching the table top, ended up twisting itself up onto the tabletop and as neither the bishop nor I noticed what was going on with the wheel, as he pulled the suitcase the wheel pushed itself into the top of the table. Long story short, the marks it left went right into and through the finish on the wood....long, thick, completely ruining half of the entire table top. Sigh..... No, it can't be fixed or covered over with stain and sealer. We don't have the right colours in our supply and my husband has no time to completely strip and refinish a table that was so inexpensive, so cheaply made and that has been able to be used for the past 11 years without incident. We have called it our miracle table, but as of last evening the miracle of using such a piece of (literally) junk that I picked up half price clearance ($150) all that time ago at a grocery store (!), came to an end. Guess it will be good to have to get a new dining set now, before my husband finds himself retired at some point in the "nearer than we want to think about" future!
And the little disasters continued on until after 1am. Once I got the laundry from the suitcase my husband returned Bishop P. to his hotel. Somehow in the comprehension mixup between the bishop's French and my lack thereof, I had the idea that I was to do the laundry immediately so that he could have it back in time for his 9am touring pick up today. Oh, how I WISH I had not misunderstood him and he me. Sigh..... So, I picked up the bundle of clothing and headed to the basement just before 11pm to start the load of washing.
The whitest of his white shirts had some kind of horrific stain on it that I knew was going to be difficult to get out, but I hoped that treating it with stain remover and putting into a long wash cycle would solve the problem. I tossed the load into the washer, along with the white shirt, because I was using cold water so the other shirts wouldn't bleed colour into the white one. And they didn't....mostly..... Instead, the bluest of blue shirt bled blue into two pair of bright white Calvin Klein undershorts that were tucked away inside said shirt and that, at that time of night, I didn't even notice when I shook out the shirts and socks to put into the washing machine. Sigh.....
When I pulled the clothes out of the washer I found the shorts...covered in bright blue coloured stains. NOOOOOO!!!!! I located the white shirt to discover that not only had the stain remover been completely useless on the massive stains all ready on the shirt, but the armpits of the shirt were the same bright blue as the two pair of undershorts. NOOOOO!!! NOOOOO!! A thousand times NO!! By this time it was 11:45pm, but out came my soaking bowl and a bottle of bleach, which I poured liberally into the bowl of water and folded the shorts and white shirt into it.
My husband finally made it home from Bishop P.'s hotel drop off to find his wife crying and angry and feeling no end of a fool. The man simply asked me to do one load of laundry for him and I blew it big time. My husband was shocked to find me doing the washing at that time of night and asked me why I hadn't waited until morning, when I would be awake and thinking more clearly, to wash clothes. That is when I realized the communication mix up. Well, by then it was too late to leave things until the morning, so I had to complete the task. My husband felt so badly for me that he decided to stay up with me, even though he was so tired himself he could barely keep his eyes open. We watched a boxing match on tv while the first load of clothes was in the dryer and the rest were soaking in the bleach. At midnight, after the dry clothes were checked and discovered to be gloriously clean, dry and ready for ironing this morning, we checked the shirt and shorts to see if bleaching was helping anything. YES! The shirt was ready to go back into the machine, but the shorts needed further bleaching. So, into the washing machine went the shirt. As I was carrying the shirt downstairs, in another bowl so I wouldn't accidentally spill bleachy water on my own clothes, my toe caught on the bottom step, I lost my balance and, in a successful effort to remain upright, managed to flip said bleachy water all over both my new shirt and new pants. NOOOOO!!! Into the wash they immediately went with the white shirt. Load two underway! I checked each item as it went into the dryer afterward, (where everything is still sitting), but it is difficult to see permanent bleach stains on wet items under the dingy yellow of our basement lights. O well, here's hoping...this morning I will have to be brave enough to actually remove the clothes from the dryer and inspect them in the daylight, but at least the white shirt was looking good. Onward to those danged undershorts! Just before 1am I checked them and finally they looked white again! Into the washing machine they went. Load 3!
By then we were both so tired, we left the machines running and fell into bed at about 1:30am. Now it is 7am and fortunately my husband is still asleep. At least I got five consecutive hours of sleep, so I know I will be able to drag myself through today okay. I am praying no one from the office calls my husband before he gets up and going this morning. He has the right to go into the office VERY late this morning after two days of non-stop driving, church meeting after church meeting late into both evenings and having to start it all up again after a "meet and greet" lunch today for our clergy and Bishop P. He is busy driving until Friday morning when he returns Bishop P. to the airport for the next leg of the man's journey. Hopefully he will wake up in time for me to drag out the iron and take care of the last of my laundry duties before he goes into the office so I can just send everything with him and not have to walk the clothes over there at noon. I admit that I am afraid to walk the clothes to the office in case I drop them somehow in a muddy curbside gutter and have to run home to start this process all over again! Paranoid? Moi? After last evening's fun and games? Moi? NEVER!
So, we shall see what today brings! I am not sure I want to know what all that is after last evening's laundry debacle. Until those clothes are pressed, bagged and safely returned to Bishop P. I am not going to be able to relax. How could such a simple task go so horribly wrong???? In a brief span of time I managed to ruin everything from my own clothes and Bishop P.'s whites to the dining room table!! WHO DOES THAT!!!???? I do...I do that....sigh........
Here's hoping for a less frantic, stressful, uneventful day today! AMEN!!!!
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Cancellations Happy and Sad
Walking with my friend this morning went well, but my hip started to irritate me half way through the walk and so I had to cut it a bit short. Here's to a better route when we meet again in a couple of days. The hardware is starting to bother me for some reason....maybe I need to have it x-rayed? Will see how the next couple of weeks go and then decide.
My parents called me late this afternoon. Today was their day to travel to Kananaskis Ranch. They sounded so happy when I answered the phone, and dad's first words (saying hello is not how he ever starts the conversations any more, haha) were, "We've had the MOST MARVELLOUS 65th anniversary!!", so I assumed they had made it out there and that the weather had been better than was forecast.
Not so!
On the way out there, they were fighting disappointment that the mountain view ahead of them was completely obscured in cloud, even though it wasn't actually raining. How disappointing for my dad, in particular. However, they hadn't made it very far west of Calgary before they ended up stuck in a miles long line of traffic, unable to move forward because of a terrible accident that had just happened a few minutes before they arrived. The main highway was completely blocked in both directions and as they sat there, three ambulances and numerous police cars passed them, sirens screaming. My parents and their friends sat in that lineup for over 2 hours!! 20 seniors and their driver sat there all that time and there is no washroom on that bus. Some of the smaller vehicles in the line were able to make use of a small muddy track through the median to get turned around and head back to Calgary. About the time the traffic started moving again, the driver asked for a show if hands as to whether or not the passengers wanted to continue on to the ranch for a very late lunch. It was still a good hour's drive to the ranch with no place else to stop for a washroom break. They all said they wanted to return to Calgary. He managed to contact the ranch to cancel and they completely understood. They had heard about the accident and were not surprised to get the cancellation call. Not far up the highway was a safe place to cross the median and head back. By this time not only did all the passengers desperately need a bathroom, but they were extremely hungry!
I was so sad for my parents when they told me they had missed their trip to the mountains, but I knew something good must have happened in its place because of how excited they were. The driver contacted a nice restaurant not too far from where my parents live, one that none of the passengers had been to before, the Phoenix Grill in the Signal Hill shopping complex. According to Mom and Dad it was the best anniversary celebration they have had in years. As soon as they got to the restaurant, they had to use the washroom and when they came out again, the other passengers from their facility started to sing "Happy Anniversary To YOU!!" over and over until they were seated at the table. The social convenor from the facility had arranged for 3 huge helium balloons to be placed at the table by my parents' seats, all covered with anniversary wishes. A lovely card was presented that all the other passengers had signed and inside the card were free coupons for Happy Hour drinks at the facilty and another coupon for a free meal at Phoenix Grill. My parents were thrilled to pieces. At the end of the meal....HUGE steaks with sweet potato fries and corn chowder soup, the waitress announced that mom and dad were to receive the dessert of their choice gratis, in honour of the occasion. My parents were so full they hadn't had any intention of ordering dessert, but of course, if it was going to be FREE (the magic word for them, haha)....they ordered a coffee toffee mudslide pie, a giant mound of ice creams and whipping cream, chocolate and caramel sauces, sprinkles and almonds. Between them, they ate the entire plate full on top of the huge entrees. hahahahaha GOOD FOR THEM!! Since the cost of their meal was less than what I sent them for the meal at Kananaskis Ranch, mom is delighted that they will be able to go out again for lunch one day somewhere for FREE! hahaha
It was such fun to hear them bubbling over with joy that they hadn't had to celebrate alone and that there had been so many surprises...they both LOVE surprises and never fail to make the providers of those surprises exceedingly glad that they took the time to prepare them. Their excitement on the weekend when they opened the box of surprises I sent them was just hilarious to listen to. So, the forced and unexpected cancellation of the trip to the ranch turned into a wonderful day after all, likely even more wonderful for my parents than sitting in the clouds wishing they could see the mountain peaks.
I am a little bit sad tonight because, five minute before I was leaving to catch the bus to the OT discussion group, our hostess called to cancel until next week. Apparently only two of us could make it this evening and our hostess is completely exhausted from a project she is working on for Scripture Press UK. She sounded like she needs to sleep for about a month, so I am grateful she felt free to cancel, but it was disappointing as I was so looking forward to it. O well, there is always next week. AND I am so grateful she hadn't waited another few minutes to call, or I would have been on my way to the bus stop, completely unaware the group was cancelled!
My husband will be home between 10-11pm tonight after his first two days away with the visiting bishop. He will have had to do ALL the driving and will be completely exhausted. I all ready know he will be close to collapse by the time he staggers in the back door after hours and hours of driving over the past two days. I have a snack ready for him and a short tv show recorded so he can wind down before he has to crawl into bed to do it all over again for two more days. I am so sorry that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to accompany the guys as a spare driver on this particular journey. Too many confidential work events going on for me to be in attendence. I just feel so sorry for my husband having to be on the road so much with no help driving.
I cancelled my plans to start cleaning house this afternoon. By the time I walked over to the grocery store to get what I needed for my husband's late night snack, completed my OT readings for tonight's session, got some banking issues dealt with and talked (listened, actually) to my parents for the better part of an hour, there was no time or energy remaining to get going on cleaning. Maybe tomorrow? We'll see.....
My parents called me late this afternoon. Today was their day to travel to Kananaskis Ranch. They sounded so happy when I answered the phone, and dad's first words (saying hello is not how he ever starts the conversations any more, haha) were, "We've had the MOST MARVELLOUS 65th anniversary!!", so I assumed they had made it out there and that the weather had been better than was forecast.
Not so!
On the way out there, they were fighting disappointment that the mountain view ahead of them was completely obscured in cloud, even though it wasn't actually raining. How disappointing for my dad, in particular. However, they hadn't made it very far west of Calgary before they ended up stuck in a miles long line of traffic, unable to move forward because of a terrible accident that had just happened a few minutes before they arrived. The main highway was completely blocked in both directions and as they sat there, three ambulances and numerous police cars passed them, sirens screaming. My parents and their friends sat in that lineup for over 2 hours!! 20 seniors and their driver sat there all that time and there is no washroom on that bus. Some of the smaller vehicles in the line were able to make use of a small muddy track through the median to get turned around and head back to Calgary. About the time the traffic started moving again, the driver asked for a show if hands as to whether or not the passengers wanted to continue on to the ranch for a very late lunch. It was still a good hour's drive to the ranch with no place else to stop for a washroom break. They all said they wanted to return to Calgary. He managed to contact the ranch to cancel and they completely understood. They had heard about the accident and were not surprised to get the cancellation call. Not far up the highway was a safe place to cross the median and head back. By this time not only did all the passengers desperately need a bathroom, but they were extremely hungry!
I was so sad for my parents when they told me they had missed their trip to the mountains, but I knew something good must have happened in its place because of how excited they were. The driver contacted a nice restaurant not too far from where my parents live, one that none of the passengers had been to before, the Phoenix Grill in the Signal Hill shopping complex. According to Mom and Dad it was the best anniversary celebration they have had in years. As soon as they got to the restaurant, they had to use the washroom and when they came out again, the other passengers from their facility started to sing "Happy Anniversary To YOU!!" over and over until they were seated at the table. The social convenor from the facility had arranged for 3 huge helium balloons to be placed at the table by my parents' seats, all covered with anniversary wishes. A lovely card was presented that all the other passengers had signed and inside the card were free coupons for Happy Hour drinks at the facilty and another coupon for a free meal at Phoenix Grill. My parents were thrilled to pieces. At the end of the meal....HUGE steaks with sweet potato fries and corn chowder soup, the waitress announced that mom and dad were to receive the dessert of their choice gratis, in honour of the occasion. My parents were so full they hadn't had any intention of ordering dessert, but of course, if it was going to be FREE (the magic word for them, haha)....they ordered a coffee toffee mudslide pie, a giant mound of ice creams and whipping cream, chocolate and caramel sauces, sprinkles and almonds. Between them, they ate the entire plate full on top of the huge entrees. hahahahaha GOOD FOR THEM!! Since the cost of their meal was less than what I sent them for the meal at Kananaskis Ranch, mom is delighted that they will be able to go out again for lunch one day somewhere for FREE! hahaha
It was such fun to hear them bubbling over with joy that they hadn't had to celebrate alone and that there had been so many surprises...they both LOVE surprises and never fail to make the providers of those surprises exceedingly glad that they took the time to prepare them. Their excitement on the weekend when they opened the box of surprises I sent them was just hilarious to listen to. So, the forced and unexpected cancellation of the trip to the ranch turned into a wonderful day after all, likely even more wonderful for my parents than sitting in the clouds wishing they could see the mountain peaks.
I am a little bit sad tonight because, five minute before I was leaving to catch the bus to the OT discussion group, our hostess called to cancel until next week. Apparently only two of us could make it this evening and our hostess is completely exhausted from a project she is working on for Scripture Press UK. She sounded like she needs to sleep for about a month, so I am grateful she felt free to cancel, but it was disappointing as I was so looking forward to it. O well, there is always next week. AND I am so grateful she hadn't waited another few minutes to call, or I would have been on my way to the bus stop, completely unaware the group was cancelled!
My husband will be home between 10-11pm tonight after his first two days away with the visiting bishop. He will have had to do ALL the driving and will be completely exhausted. I all ready know he will be close to collapse by the time he staggers in the back door after hours and hours of driving over the past two days. I have a snack ready for him and a short tv show recorded so he can wind down before he has to crawl into bed to do it all over again for two more days. I am so sorry that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to accompany the guys as a spare driver on this particular journey. Too many confidential work events going on for me to be in attendence. I just feel so sorry for my husband having to be on the road so much with no help driving.
I cancelled my plans to start cleaning house this afternoon. By the time I walked over to the grocery store to get what I needed for my husband's late night snack, completed my OT readings for tonight's session, got some banking issues dealt with and talked (listened, actually) to my parents for the better part of an hour, there was no time or energy remaining to get going on cleaning. Maybe tomorrow? We'll see.....
Please God, Let Mom & Dad Have Fun Today!
In honour of their 65th wedding anniversary, my parents are supposed to be going with other residents of their facility to Kananaskis Ranch for lunch. The weather has been so miserable: more rain forecast for today, after an horrendous hail storm yesterday brought highway traffic to a complete halt along the route my parents are supposed to be on today. Sigh.... I feel terrible for them. This was supposed to be dad’s last trip to the mountains before his vision is completely gone and mom has been beside herself with excitement to finally be getting out somewhere interesting! I can only pray that the trip does not get cancelled due to either today’s weather or yesterday’s possible hail damage at the ranch. Merely postponing the trip until a more suitable day will not likely happen because the ranch restaurant is fully booked in advance. Anyway, here’s hoping for the best possible outcome.
Yesterday evening I checked out the bus route for attending the Old Testament study on my own sans car. It appears it will work perfectly for my purposes. I will just have to watch the time carefully for leaving when the group is over because the bus only runs once per hour after 6pm. Yay! I have transportation!
My son called last night to ask how to best remove the ancient toilet seat in his bathroom. The bolts are rusted in place and he is afraid of cracking the toilet bowl in the process. So we had a brief discussion about rust dissolving products and he will let me know tonight if he was successful.
There....it is 7:30am and I think I am awake enough now for breakfast so I better get going on my day. Looking forward to it! My husband should be home very late tonight. So happy he gets a night at home between trips with the bishop!
Yesterday evening I checked out the bus route for attending the Old Testament study on my own sans car. It appears it will work perfectly for my purposes. I will just have to watch the time carefully for leaving when the group is over because the bus only runs once per hour after 6pm. Yay! I have transportation!
My son called last night to ask how to best remove the ancient toilet seat in his bathroom. The bolts are rusted in place and he is afraid of cracking the toilet bowl in the process. So we had a brief discussion about rust dissolving products and he will let me know tonight if he was successful.
There....it is 7:30am and I think I am awake enough now for breakfast so I better get going on my day. Looking forward to it! My husband should be home very late tonight. So happy he gets a night at home between trips with the bishop!
Monday, July 23, 2018
A Good Start To the Week! =)
My husband was up early and all ready to pick up Bishop Paisible this morning for their journey to Maple Creek and Swift Current over the next couple of days. He even survived eating a "second dinner" last night at India Palace, where he took the newly arrived Bishop for a meal, only 90 minutes after his own home cooked meal. I "knew" he was going to end up doing that, wouldn't be able to help himself from eating at the buffet after his own dinner at home, so deliberately, secretly, gave him a very light dinner here. teehee Do I know this man and Indian food buffets, or what?
I too was up and at 'em early. I walked up to the pharmacy where, as I was assured it would be, my osteoporosis injection meds were awaiting me. They had just arrived....whew! Had they been any later I would have had to rebook my appointment at the clinic next door for a different day. Grateful to God it all worked out just fine. My doctor was so cheery this morning. She told me about her upcoming holidays and is very excited to be able to go travelling for a few weeks with her husband. I am so delighted to have such a good rapport with her. I have been blessed beyond belief by most of the doctors I have been a patient to in my life. Wow!
This afternoon I am going to read the book of Judges for the Old Testament discussion group tomorrow evening. Then, after dinner this evening I am going to hop on the bus that takes me up to the home where our discussion group will meet, so I can learn that route and find out what time I should take it tomorrow night. It only runs once per hour after 6pm on week nights, so timing will be everything. This is a route that runs only three blocks from my place and that I should have checked out all ready three years ago as it goes out to the east side shopping area I frequent. Sigh....it seems I have become lazy since we moved here because I have had access to our car just often enough to avoid having to learn bus routes. I HAVE to change that now. My husband is going to need the car a LOT in August and what better month to be riding transit buses than that one? The weather will still be good, I can take a whole morning or afternoon to check out a route to get to the places I go most often. I am so far behind the times on public transportation here and I need to fix that!
Tomorrow morning is a walk with a friend and then reading the Book of Ruth for the same study group in the evening. Hm....I am supposed to be cleaning house thoroughly this week...guess that is going to have to wait until Wednesday!
The weather is perfect for me this week: sunshine and a breeze,with highs predicted in the mid +20C's range. The trees across the street are huge and bushy with dark green leaves, the lawns are green, the flowers are blooming all over the city. It is a pretty time of year to live in Regina.
I too was up and at 'em early. I walked up to the pharmacy where, as I was assured it would be, my osteoporosis injection meds were awaiting me. They had just arrived....whew! Had they been any later I would have had to rebook my appointment at the clinic next door for a different day. Grateful to God it all worked out just fine. My doctor was so cheery this morning. She told me about her upcoming holidays and is very excited to be able to go travelling for a few weeks with her husband. I am so delighted to have such a good rapport with her. I have been blessed beyond belief by most of the doctors I have been a patient to in my life. Wow!
This afternoon I am going to read the book of Judges for the Old Testament discussion group tomorrow evening. Then, after dinner this evening I am going to hop on the bus that takes me up to the home where our discussion group will meet, so I can learn that route and find out what time I should take it tomorrow night. It only runs once per hour after 6pm on week nights, so timing will be everything. This is a route that runs only three blocks from my place and that I should have checked out all ready three years ago as it goes out to the east side shopping area I frequent. Sigh....it seems I have become lazy since we moved here because I have had access to our car just often enough to avoid having to learn bus routes. I HAVE to change that now. My husband is going to need the car a LOT in August and what better month to be riding transit buses than that one? The weather will still be good, I can take a whole morning or afternoon to check out a route to get to the places I go most often. I am so far behind the times on public transportation here and I need to fix that!
Tomorrow morning is a walk with a friend and then reading the Book of Ruth for the same study group in the evening. Hm....I am supposed to be cleaning house thoroughly this week...guess that is going to have to wait until Wednesday!
The weather is perfect for me this week: sunshine and a breeze,with highs predicted in the mid +20C's range. The trees across the street are huge and bushy with dark green leaves, the lawns are green, the flowers are blooming all over the city. It is a pretty time of year to live in Regina.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
The Demise of 1-2-3
We have just finished SKYPE'ing with our son and hearing his sad news that 1-2-3 has died. 1-2-3 was the most pampered fish in the known universe and lived to the ripe old age of four and a half years old. He was well travelled for a teeny fish, having been around the Canadian prairies before relocating to NYC just over a year ago. hahaha
Our son is very grateful to have had this tiny pet for the past few years. 1-2-3 provided him with the opportunity to have some discipline in his daily and weekly schedules for feeding and aquarium cleaning. Our son has needed someone or something to care for while seeking a life partner who has so far proved to be elusive. (although there is hope at the moment...a jewellery designer who seems to have her head on straight and is making a good life for herself...here's hoping....)
At the moment, 1-2-3's body is in our son's freezer awaiting the chance for a small ceremony of burial and farewell. He is all ready thinking about getting another fish in order to utilize the expensive aquarium equipment and to have that daily discipline of caring for another creature. Sad as he is to lose 1-2-3, at the same time he is very grateful the wee fellow lived as long as he did. 1-2-3 went into fishy hospice care about three weeks ago, meaning our son only put about 3 inches of water in the tank so that 1-2-3 wouldn't have to expend too much energy swimming to the top for his food. Our son didn't want his death to be the result of starvation because of not having the energy to swim far enough to get to the food, but he said the last week of 1-2-3's life was one where the little fish had lost all interest in eating. Once the pellets were in his mouth it seemed to take more energy than he had to swallow them. But, he kept trying right up to the last day when he slipped away quietly.
I never knew that having a fish for a pet could be as much fun as our son experienced with 1-2-3. His dad and I are grateful that he found a pet that could be in his suite without needing to be exercised, or hidden from a landlord, or could create noise and havoc for the neighbours...a pet that could travel easily! haha We are happy that we had a last visit with 1-2-3 in June. This crazy little fish has been one huge blessing!
Be at peace in the presence of the Lord, 1-2-3. Thank you for the joy you brought into our son's life at a time when he was hurting pretty badly.
Our son is very grateful to have had this tiny pet for the past few years. 1-2-3 provided him with the opportunity to have some discipline in his daily and weekly schedules for feeding and aquarium cleaning. Our son has needed someone or something to care for while seeking a life partner who has so far proved to be elusive. (although there is hope at the moment...a jewellery designer who seems to have her head on straight and is making a good life for herself...here's hoping....)
At the moment, 1-2-3's body is in our son's freezer awaiting the chance for a small ceremony of burial and farewell. He is all ready thinking about getting another fish in order to utilize the expensive aquarium equipment and to have that daily discipline of caring for another creature. Sad as he is to lose 1-2-3, at the same time he is very grateful the wee fellow lived as long as he did. 1-2-3 went into fishy hospice care about three weeks ago, meaning our son only put about 3 inches of water in the tank so that 1-2-3 wouldn't have to expend too much energy swimming to the top for his food. Our son didn't want his death to be the result of starvation because of not having the energy to swim far enough to get to the food, but he said the last week of 1-2-3's life was one where the little fish had lost all interest in eating. Once the pellets were in his mouth it seemed to take more energy than he had to swallow them. But, he kept trying right up to the last day when he slipped away quietly.
I never knew that having a fish for a pet could be as much fun as our son experienced with 1-2-3. His dad and I are grateful that he found a pet that could be in his suite without needing to be exercised, or hidden from a landlord, or could create noise and havoc for the neighbours...a pet that could travel easily! haha We are happy that we had a last visit with 1-2-3 in June. This crazy little fish has been one huge blessing!
Be at peace in the presence of the Lord, 1-2-3. Thank you for the joy you brought into our son's life at a time when he was hurting pretty badly.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
A Fulfilling End to an Otherwise Monotonous Day
According to plan, I did discipline myself to relax and take it easy today; no exercise per se, no weight lifting of any kind, no long walks....blaaaaaaah!! BUT I did it! I watched tv and doodled and watched some more tv and did some more doodling, I read a book, I arranged my Old Testament reading schedule for the rest of the year, I wrote a list of bus routes I want to travel on next week to see where else I can get to in this city when I don't have the car, I created some more pen drawings on the wooden balls I picked up the other day, then decided I have neither the skill nor the patience to develop the skill to follow in my son's footsteps of creating fantasy worlds to look at on those little wooden balls. (Tomorrow I am packing up the ones I have drawn on and giving them to the 7 year old who lives next door. HE thinks they are "the coolest" and would like to have them. He can also have the rest of the balls and pens so he can create his own drawings and playthings!)
In other words I was bored stiff all day!! BUT I DID IT! I RESTED FOR AN ENTIRE SATURDAY!!!! My husband took today off to make up for losing his days next week, but he was busy all morning with a work related project anyway from here at home, then spent the rest of the day working on some personal writings.
BUT at 4:30pm he decided he wanted to take a break for awhile. We decided that since it wasn't so hot outside today and a big rain is forecast for overnight, we would tackle a project outside that has been pending for some time. Although we hadn't intended to do it all at once, we ended up digging out ALL the gravel in what used to be a big flower bed under the large set of living room windows. That is where the building foundation is cracked so badly that our basement has been flooding too often for our ability to keep up with it. After digging it all out, we swept up the rest from the plastic sheeting that had been put down under it....the plastic sheeting that whoever put it there had rolled under TOWARD the leaking foundation instead of away from it. The gravel all went onto two tarps we spread beside the bed on the front lawn. (Hopefully none of the staff from here drove past as we were doing this huge production that involved 3 kinds of shovels, a broom, a hammer, a ballpeen hammer, two trowels and a crowbar to accomplish!) I swept off the clumps of gravel dust that were stuck to the plastic from the last rain and we pulled the whole sheet up. Underneath we could see how the ground below it had never been levelled before it was put down. The border for this gravel bed consists of 4 pieces of 4x4 treated planking and 3 huge spikes had been driven through the pieces to hold them down on the ground. The pieces were attached to each other not by nails, but by huge screws! My husband had a dickens of a time taking them out so we could move the pieces out of place. Once we had all the gravel up, the plastic pulled out and the border taken off, we levelled out the ground, replaced the original plastic sheets, but rolled away from the foundation to funnel the water back toward the lawn. Then we put down 2 more layers of our own plastic sheeting that we have been hauling around for years and never used for anything. My husband rolled the edges up under the siding on the building, up tight against the foundation where the water won't easily be able to get behind it. He dug a deeper trench for the border to go back into. Previously the border had been higher than both the gravel bed and the lawn, effectively trapping water in the gravel bed, where it pooled and made its way into the foundation crack due to the incorrectly rolled plastic sheeting. We got the border replaced properly, then shovelled all that gravel back. We resloped the gravel bed away from the building as well and levelled the ground under the plastic to drain the water away better. Due to the way my husband sloped everything and levelled it all out, we had a fair amount of gravel left over, so our neighbour helped us put it into some low spots in his own gravel bed. I hauled about 20 shovels of black dirt from the gigantic pile of it sitting in our parking lot, awaiting use for various landscaping projects in the complex, and filled in between the border's new position and the lawn. It looks fantastic out there and now we pray that it helps stop the flooding in our basement.
The whole project took us less than 2.5 hours. I am so proud of us! Thank you Lord for our good neighbour who helped us and thank you for that gigantic pile of black dirt, from which my few scoops will not be missed. Thank you for the end of the day exercise. After resting all day that shovelling doesn't seem to be bothering my back.
What a great way to end my day of rest....REAL exercise!!
In other words I was bored stiff all day!! BUT I DID IT! I RESTED FOR AN ENTIRE SATURDAY!!!! My husband took today off to make up for losing his days next week, but he was busy all morning with a work related project anyway from here at home, then spent the rest of the day working on some personal writings.
BUT at 4:30pm he decided he wanted to take a break for awhile. We decided that since it wasn't so hot outside today and a big rain is forecast for overnight, we would tackle a project outside that has been pending for some time. Although we hadn't intended to do it all at once, we ended up digging out ALL the gravel in what used to be a big flower bed under the large set of living room windows. That is where the building foundation is cracked so badly that our basement has been flooding too often for our ability to keep up with it. After digging it all out, we swept up the rest from the plastic sheeting that had been put down under it....the plastic sheeting that whoever put it there had rolled under TOWARD the leaking foundation instead of away from it. The gravel all went onto two tarps we spread beside the bed on the front lawn. (Hopefully none of the staff from here drove past as we were doing this huge production that involved 3 kinds of shovels, a broom, a hammer, a ballpeen hammer, two trowels and a crowbar to accomplish!) I swept off the clumps of gravel dust that were stuck to the plastic from the last rain and we pulled the whole sheet up. Underneath we could see how the ground below it had never been levelled before it was put down. The border for this gravel bed consists of 4 pieces of 4x4 treated planking and 3 huge spikes had been driven through the pieces to hold them down on the ground. The pieces were attached to each other not by nails, but by huge screws! My husband had a dickens of a time taking them out so we could move the pieces out of place. Once we had all the gravel up, the plastic pulled out and the border taken off, we levelled out the ground, replaced the original plastic sheets, but rolled away from the foundation to funnel the water back toward the lawn. Then we put down 2 more layers of our own plastic sheeting that we have been hauling around for years and never used for anything. My husband rolled the edges up under the siding on the building, up tight against the foundation where the water won't easily be able to get behind it. He dug a deeper trench for the border to go back into. Previously the border had been higher than both the gravel bed and the lawn, effectively trapping water in the gravel bed, where it pooled and made its way into the foundation crack due to the incorrectly rolled plastic sheeting. We got the border replaced properly, then shovelled all that gravel back. We resloped the gravel bed away from the building as well and levelled the ground under the plastic to drain the water away better. Due to the way my husband sloped everything and levelled it all out, we had a fair amount of gravel left over, so our neighbour helped us put it into some low spots in his own gravel bed. I hauled about 20 shovels of black dirt from the gigantic pile of it sitting in our parking lot, awaiting use for various landscaping projects in the complex, and filled in between the border's new position and the lawn. It looks fantastic out there and now we pray that it helps stop the flooding in our basement.
The whole project took us less than 2.5 hours. I am so proud of us! Thank you Lord for our good neighbour who helped us and thank you for that gigantic pile of black dirt, from which my few scoops will not be missed. Thank you for the end of the day exercise. After resting all day that shovelling doesn't seem to be bothering my back.
What a great way to end my day of rest....REAL exercise!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)