I Do Enjoy Sundays A Lot More Than Saturdays!

Another happy Sunday is underway!  Our church choir did a fairly decent job of our simple hymn anthem and the sermon on the first chapter of the Book of Ruth was interesting...it seems every minister I hear talking about that little book gives me new ideas about its importance and about what it says to us about God.

My husband was too exhausted to come with me this morning, after having a very busy week and, as I suspected would happen, having to work for several hours after all yesterday.  I think he is fighting a cold or a mild case of influenza as he has terrible muscle aches and pains, can't stay awake and his stomach is kind of queasy.  Hopefully he will feel better by tomorrow as we have some errands to run, a bank appointment and other household "stuff" that he needs to participate in.  We are both hoping that Tuesday will be free of work invasions and any other committments apart from the very enjoyable OT discussion group in the evening.  He needs one morning to sleep in and not have to think about anything at all once he wakes up.  Today he woke up planning tomorrow's errands when really he needed to just relax.

He decided I need a break from the inside of this suite after a typical Saturday at home yesterday.  Considering how miserable he is feeling today, it was incredibly sweet of him to want to take me out for lunch.  We went to Original Joe's where the food was wonderful as always, but the service was extremely sub par...at least at our table.  O well, that is the first time in many visits there that we have been so ignored by the wait staff.  There could be a lot of reasons for it.  Since I waited such a long time to eat lunch today because of staying way too long at coffee hour after church, I suspect I noticed the less than stellar service more than I would have otherwise.  I arrived at the restaurant very hungry and was so glad I ate a peanut butter cooking at the coffee hour fellowship, or I would have passed out from low blood sugar by the time lunch arrived at the table.

Now it is late afternoon and my husband is asleep on the sofa in the living room.  The good  breakfast style meal settled well in his stomach and he is sleeping soundly with the tv on mute. hahaha  If I shut it off, the beeping sound it makes will wake him so I will just let it play.

My walk to church this morning was the chilliest thus far in the autumn, so I walked quickly and took every possible shortcut!  My nearly 35 minute walk to church took only 20 minutes, so I must have been moving quickly and efficiently. haha  I wore my faux-sheepskin lined, tan coloured jacket that I picked up last week at the new Salvation Army thrift store on the east side.  It is a lovely store, larger and brighter than the one at their northside location.  My winter coat is knee length and navy blue and certainly looks odd with my casual brown jeans and pants. Nice to have a choice of longer coat or jacket now.  I was grateful for it during my cold walk to the service. Coming home the temperature had warmed suffiently to lower the zipper half way, but it was still breezy and cool.  So thankful for my $19 special!  Bless you Salvation Army.  We decided that if unemployment is staring us in the face it is time to return to our old "times of poverty" habit of shopping for clothes in the thrift stores first, before checking out the new items in the retail stores...not that we need much right now, but it seems only responsible to make the switch for necessities.  Not looking forward to a return to that way of thinking and purchasing, but wow, it really is a savings if you can manage multiple trips to the thrift shop in order to wait for just the right item in the right condition.   Time will tell if this is going to have to our mode of shopping once again, but at least we are mentally prepared for it.

Our son returns from Italy in three days' time.  We haven't heard from him since he landed in Rome, but likely it is because the friend whose computer he was borrowing to send us photos and brief information did not accompany the rest of the group on this final leg of the journey.   Hopefully his own phone will be filled with photos to share with us.  What a shock it may be to return home to his usual life after such an amazing trip abroad. Happy landings son!!

Looking forward to a good week.  Although there is no choir practise or choir at the Thanksgiving Sunday service due to the many absences that weekend, there is book club mid-week.  I am looking forward to that. Hopefully the books we ordered will have arrived by then and we can start the novel component of our gathering.  If not, we will have another short Bible study and prayer time.  What a nice group of ladies I find myself in.

It is setting up to be a good week, despite the forecast for snow in a couple of days' time.   

The Old and the New!

 Since getting new glasses was such a circus I thought I would bow to the requests and show you the new specs!  Aiiiii yiiiii...I hate taking photos of myself, but here goes:


BEFORE: 

AFTER:

VANITY, VANITY, ALL IS VANITY!!  hahahahaha

Everything Changes With the Seasons It Seems

Summer was warm, downright hot even, and lovely most of the time.

Then suddenly the autumn arrived with little warning.  In less than a week all the mosquitoes and spiders disappeared. The wasps have vanished. The sun has spent most of the past two weeks hiding behind the grey, heavy clouds. There have been several days of chilling rain and freezing winds. The harvest dust has been dampened down. Lawns are turning brown as the grass dies and turns crispy under foot. The green leaves have pretty much all turned now to yellows, reds and browns and they are falling off the branches onto the ground rather rapidly.  Every day there are more bare tree limbs looking like the arms of elderly arthritic folk, all bent and twisted and knobby as they reach skyward.   

The summer wardrobe has been put away and the winter clothes are ironed and hanging on the clothes racks. Summer sandals have been replaced with shoes and hiking boots. The winter boots are polished and ready for the oncoming snow.

The snowtires are in the back of the car in preparation for being installed next week.

I have worn a coat outdoors every day for the past ten. Even my thin wind proof mittens have been called into service all ready for early morning walks.

And just like that, summer is gone again.........

Sigh..........

The Best Kind of Tired

I am happily exhausted. I spent the entire day completing some long standing house chores that have been in desperate need of being done for some time. It feels GOOD to get that work done.  YAY!

I was so tired that after dinner tonight I sat in front of the tv for THREE HOURS after I finished eating!  Unreal! hahaha I never do that.  My husband had a dinner meeting and another meeting after that and has just arrived home at 9:30pm, so I had the entire evening to relax and do absolutely nothing!  I watched an HBO special about "Jane Fonda in Five Acts" and it was much more interesting than I was expecting it to be.  I even stayed awake for the entire programme, hahaha.

Today we received a couple of invitations out, one for Thanksgiving Dinner and one for a night of comedy that is happening next month.  I think we are going to accept both of them.  It is always a treat to have plans!

It has been a good day and I have a few chores to do tomorrow to keep me occupied away from home for part of the day.  Yay!!

Well Hey, It's Sunny Here Today Too!!

And that sunshine feels GOOD!!!!!!  Wow, what a treat after the better part of a week spent under dark grey clouds and several drizzly days in the howling gale!

I SO enjoyed my walk downtown this morning.  I had my new glasses adjusted as one lug was biting into the top of my ear and now all is well AT LAST! hahaha  Only 6 weeks to have an eye appointment and get the right prescription and lenses completed. hahaha

I was so happy I took myself out for a chicken shawarma salad for lunch!  Delish as always!  Thank you Zam Zam Wraps Cornwall Centre!

It was difficult to come home afterward and have to be back indoors when it is so incredibly lovely outside. This morning before I walked downtown I drove to a couple of banks to "celebrate" pay day and it was still rather chilly and windy.  This afternoon, even the wind seemed warmer than it has been of late.  

After a long search for the kind of warm winter nightgown I need, I finally  found exactly what I require for the coldest of cold winter nights at The Bay.  It was more expensive than I usually like to pay, but over the past couple of years it seems the lower priced nightgowns at other stores have had a severe dip in the quality and thickness of the cotton material.  The two I purchased last year, rather el cheapo for cost, I had to give up on after a few wearings. They had zero warmth in them, even though I purchased two of the same brand name at the same store the previous year and found them to be quite warm enough. When I compared the difference in the quality between those 2 years, wow, what a difference. So, this year I decided the price is not as important as how warm the new nightgown will keep me in this freezing little condo that seems to have lost most of the insulation in the walls at this point in time.   Brrrrrr......

I spent the rest of the afternoon making spaghetti sauce and cooking up a spaghetti squash to eat it with.  It is 5:30pm at the moment and choir practise is at 7pm, so although my husband hasn't returned yet from work I need to eat and get ready for my fun evening out.

Movin' On From Montestrutto To Florence

                                    The Florence Cathedral...amazing architecture!

                                   Eli kickin' back in Florence's beautiful sunshine

                                But I'm not jealous............yeah, right..........hahahaha

The Provision Hath All Ready Begun!!

We have a fair number of friends now who did not know us nor walk with us during our prolonged times of illness and subsequent unemployment back in the late 1980's and early 1990's.  To those of you who fall into that category and have let us know you are tempted to panic about my husband submitting a letter of resignation for his present position without a clear direction/path to what comes next, all we can say is please, don't worry.  Seriously...don't....worry!  You can pray for us, but don't worry.  God is good. He has not changed.  He is still in charge of caring for us each day, whether or not we have secure employment.  

For us, the provision for our material needs has all ready started, even before my husband is finished this job.  I have received a number of discounts on groceries, my new glasses and other bills this week that were most unexpected. Today my husband came home with his monthly pay stub and there was a substantial bonus included in his pay for the time that he served as Commissary while the Bishop was on sabbatical. 

He also told me that due to a very unexpected situation in the diocese, there won't be any funding for his position next year anyway. Either way he would not be staying on much past the end of this year.  We feel that God has all ready protected us by having him ready to leave even before this somewhat shocking development. See? By impressing upon my husband a few weeks ago that he needed to resign now, God was all ready looking after us and our future before we even knew we would need looking after!

So don't worry about us dear friends. God's got this.  There may be some financially tight and emotionally tense times in our future, but direction and provision will come when and as they are required. It will be our own impatience and our human tendency to doubt our God that will be the reasons for most of those times.  We have walked down this road before and survived...survived well, financially and spiritually intact.  Insecurity about the future can only drive us to our knees in prayer and that is a GOOD thing!!  Keeping our tithing and other giving up is also wisdom, we have learned in times past.

So....I finally picked up my new glasses yesterday and it would appear the lenses are properly ground this time and the prescription is correct.  YAY!!  I will return to the store one more time tomorrow or the next day just to have the lugs adjusted as one side is too tight and is digging into the soft skin behind my ear.  Ouch!! I usually have to go back a time or two in the process of getting new frames comfortably settled on my face. I am just so thankful to finally have the new package!!

Thank you Lord for the provision yesterday of a meal at Star Anise after we picked up the glasses.  We settled for the buffet and it was very good, as Indian buffets go, but next time we are going to order from the menu. We saw some amazing looking (and smelling) dishes being served at the tables whose customers did not indulge in the buffet.  Yummy meal though...a nice surprise. The masala tea actually had enough pepper and other spices to taste. I have found most of the chai at the local restaurants to be extemely bland, depending mostly on the milk for flavour. I hope this means that the rogan josh and other more hot 'n' spicy dishes will be exactly that.  Next time we have an opportunity to eat there I am going to give one a try.

Old Testament discussion group was a lot of fun last night.  We read through an awful lot of the Psalms and had a chance to have a good discussion on the 176 verses of Psalm 119.  We got started on 1Kings, so am looking forward to following the life of King Solomon with all its political intrigue.  I want to re-read a few pages from the Paul Johnson Jewish history book to clarify once again what was going on politically at that time and why the sometimes wise Solomon ended up going more toward political stability than serving Yahweh as exactly as he was apparently supposed to do.  Fascinating time period culturally, times of the enemies of Israel being subdued for awhile, incredible family dysfunction amongst the royal house....so very real these people!!

My husband has just returned to work for an evening meeting.  Originally he had four evening meetings this week, but now it has been reduced to two.  YAY!  He supposedly has four days off in a row this weekend to make up for losing days off this month, but I suspect he will go into the office on Saturday when the rest of the staff are gone, so he can get caught up on his emails without being interrupted.  Well, three days in a row will be better than none!!

Our son's art project in Montestrutto is nearly over.  In a day or two he will be on his way to Florence and Rome for a brief stay before flying home via Paris next week. I hope the time hasn't felt like it is flying past for him. It seems that way to us, but hopefully time has had a chance to "stand still" for him and he can return home feeling like he had a good chance to see a few interesting sights in Italy in the midst of the work he was doing.

Tomorrow evening is church choir practise.  I am so happy that my autumn allergies seem to finally be under control.  I will be able to enjoy singing again.

Update on Dee Dee: for those of you who have been praying for her, she had her tumour removed yesterday and emailed me at 7am today to say she had a great night's sleep and is feeling very little pain, other than just under the arm where the surgery occurred.  She is keen to go for a "coffee morning" as soon as she is feeling better.  I will miss her at choir this week. So thrilled this surgery is over after her being so worried (understandably) about it.  She will get her results and a discussion with the oncologist as to the necessary treatment plan in about 4 weeks.

Tonight after dinner I finally caved to the autumn coolness and dug my Mark's Comfy Robe back out of the bins.  Ooooh, it feels so warm and cozy!  I think I will keep my eyes peeled next time I go shopping to see if I can locate a similar product somewhere, now that Mark's doesn't seem to have them any more.  It would be nice to have more than one for the very coldest weather. The more the merrier!!

I have a sink filled with dishes after making dinner tonight.  Never have chicken burgers and veggies required so many pans and pots and utensils.  Not sure why....anyway, what a mess!!  I am going to go and clean everything, then sit back and relax with the season opener of "The Goldbergs".  I relate to those wierd characters on far too many levels!!!! Aiiii yiiiii.......      

 

More Photos From the Edge of the Alps at Montestrutto

Hoping our son is able to get out and enjoy the rock climbing for a few hours before he leaves for Florence!  My husband is drooling with jealousy at his nearness to such climb-able cliffs!

These Are The Days of Relaxing

My husband has ended up with two days off in a row after all...in a way....he was feeling rather unwell by late yesterday afternoon from being too tired and eating too many fatty meals over the previous two weeks out of town, so when he discovered that his duties at both his meetings last night could be delegated to others, he stayed home to rest.  Today was a scheduled day off, so that makes two in a row!! Hallelujah!   

He received good news from his doctor yesterday.  His cholesterol is up only very slightly since his test three months previously, still not at the point where statins must be prescribed, so he has another three months to work harder at bringing it down through diet and exercise.  Considering his complete lack of exercise and his falling off the diet wagon as much as he has over the past few months, we are both shocked and delighted with his test results.  He is newly encouraged to get back on track.  Good man!

We putzed around after his appointment, running a few errands and checking out the location of some health food style restaurants to try in future when we want a treat meal.  It was relaxing and fun.

We spent our afternoon getting caught up on boxing matches I have been recording over the past couple of weeks and apart from total frustration over some ringside judging disasters, it was a relaxing way to rest.  The evening wrapped up pretty quickly as we went to bed pretty early.

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from the eyewear venue and the lady there told me that my new glasses are in because "we finally got it right this time."  Hmmmm....guess I will be the judge of that when I pick them up today. hahahaha  My husband and I are going to walk downtown in a little while here to pick them up and to try out the Star Anise Grill.  As long as the excellent reviews online for this restaurant were not written by the same reviewers who so glowingly recommended the dud of a Chinese food restaurant where we last ate downtown, it may just be okay.  Indian food is a great way to get a good fill of tasty vegetables.  We'll see........hohoho....

Old Testament discussion group is at our place this evening.  Hope a few folk are able to come to it tonight.  I feel more secure about having it here when my OT knowledgeable husband will be in attendance.  We will all be relieved when the actual leader of the group returns from her travels!

I think I will do some grocery shopping tomorrow, maybe iron some clothes and then start a serious house cleaning.  Only another week until we are preparing for the Thanksgiving weekend and my husband's study leave. 

I got excited to see bright sunshine this morning after three or four days of very little sun and with only depressing grey cloud cover, falling rain and chilly temperatures. However, it is only coming up to 10:30am and the sun is all ready disappearing behind another heavy cloud cover.  No rain is forecast (yet) for today, so hopefully we will still be able to take our half hour walk downtown to get my glasses. Soon there will be too much ice and snow for walking out of doors. I want to take advantage of every possible chance to be out there!

And He Is Staying IN the Castle, Not ON the Castle...Fumble Fingers Me...

And he is nowhere near the Croation border, he is on the opposite side of northern Italy closer to the border with Switzerland! Aaaaaaaargh!

Well, at least he, and therefore we, had him in the right country......sigh......at least he had that straight...

So That’s Where He Is!

Turns out our son is actually in the village of Montestrutto, just outside Turin! hahahaha
Stereotypical artist mentality: “Yeah I’m in Italy. Uh, where am I you ask? Um, somewhere kinda north....I think. Where exactly? Um...hey, I’ll get back to ya’ on that.”

Pretty much used to these sorts of communiques from our travelling son.

So, back to my map of Italy to locate this village. Oh, and he isn’t staying in one of the castle buildings. He is staying on their actual little local castle proper. Cute!

Well, I Am Not In Italy With My Son, But I Am Having Fun Right Here At Home

Today has been another excellent day!  My tired husband decided at the last minute that he wanted to come with me to church and spend some fellowship time with his new friends there.  My voice was strong enough and sufficiently allergy-free to sing in the choir.  O my...we are not a strong group after the combination of retirees and move-aways that left us over the summer. The minister made an impassioned pitch for more members and we can only hope.........  Our anthem this morning was not particularly memorable, according to my husband, but it wasn't bad either, so that is a relief. hohoho!

As always when my husband is with me at church, we are almost the last to leave the coffee hour afterward.  He is delighting in meeting so many other men he can visit with and that he has so much in common with.  I am grateful his circle of friends here is finally expanding.  He even wore a suit jacket and tie to the service instead of caving in to the relaxing flannel shirts and jeans he tends toward when he doesn't have to wear his own clergy gear.  It warmed my heart to see him all dressed up and so happy to go to the coffee hour instead of heading home for a nap.

One of the couples we are getting to know asked us to come out for lunch with them.  We finally got to the restaurant after 1:30pm sometime and were not finished lunch until over an hour later, then we continued to talk until after 4pm. It was wonderful.  The two men can talk for hours about all manner of things and we ladies are not lacking in topics of conversation.  It was an uplifting day.

I called my parents when we finally got home, to see how they are doing and they were gleeful after being taken out a couple of days ago to a very expensive and classy steak house by a long time friend.  They ate properly cooked steaks and perfectly prepared creme caramel, so life is good indeed. Then this morning they both felt well enough to attend church with a friend.  Mom hasn't been there for weeks as she generally feels too tough to get up and going that early in the morning.  Since her hospital visit last weekend and the resulting change of meds, she has felt extremely well all week and had no problem going to service today.

Tonight my husband and I watched 3 boxing matches. I still have a couple of bouts I recorded last weekend, so we need to get caught up.  I am wondering when Saturday night's Canelo-GGG fight is going to be broadcast on public tv.  It could be in a few weeks, or a few months!  Unfortunately I discovered the winner when I was looking for something else online this evening, so the suspense is ruined, but it will still be interesting to see how the judges ringside arrived at their conclusion.

Tomorrow is my husband's appointment with his doctor for test results.  I suspect we will be stopping on the way home at the pharmacy so he can have his first cholesterol medication prescription filled.  How I would like to be completely wrong about that.  He would like it if I was completely wrong as well!!  haha  Hopefully he will have the rest of the morning to relax at home before he spends the afternoon preparing for an important meeting in the evening.  Supposedly he gets the entire day off on Tuesday...well....we will see about that.  Here's hoping.....

The weather has been rather miserable all week.  The past three days have been nothing but dark clouds and rain and chilly temperatures, BUT we have not had any snow yet.  BONUS!!  That will come in a few days.  One of our church choir members was literally stranded in Manitoba this weekend. She drove out on Friday to Winnipeg area, started driving home through the snow on Saturday late afternoon and was unable to navigate the ice and snow buildup on the highway.  The RCMP stopped her and sent her back to Winnipeg. She will try again tomorrow to get back to Regina.  Yikes....what a driving hassle and it is only September!!

Here's hoping for the miracle of Indian Summer in October when my husband and I have to make our travels out of town.

Photos of the Castle and Area

Hey Jo, this one's for you! hahaha

Our son sent us a photo of the old castle building he and the other artists are staying in in Italy.  It has been turned into an artists' centre and has a spectacular view. I believe it is closer to Limone than Milan as it is farther north toward the Croatian border. So, here is the beautiful area this art project is happening in:  

                                                    Castella di Montestrutto

 
                                               View from the Castilla

                  
                                                Another view from the castle

Happy Days for the Son in Milan

It is great to see photos of our son surrounded by the amazing old architecture and beautiful flora in Italy.  He is sparse with words, prefers to send photos and then tell us the stories when he returns from trips, but the photos tell us he is happy and what is better to know than that?  

Joke For Today

Know  how to prevent sagging?
Just eat until the wrinkles fill out!

hohoho......

Overwhelmed by Reading Assignments!

After purchasing 52 books at the Big Book Sale at the end of August, I thought I would have a most leisurely year reading through them.  hohoho!

So far I have read exactly one of the books I purchased at that sale. Shortly after my buying spree I had a most interesting biography recommended to me, "Educated", by Tara Westover.  It sounded so interesting that I went out and bought my own copy.  I enjoyed reading it very much, but was so enthralled by the story that I cheated on my reading times and got behind on my weekly Old Testament assignment, finishing up this week's selections just in time for the discussion group meeting last Tuesday. hahaha  

Then on Wednesday evening I went to my first book club meeting.  At the end of the meeting the group decided to order copies of Brennan Manning's "Ragamuffin Gospel" as our term reading project.  My thought was that it was a relief that I won't have that book in my hands for a week or so because it will give me time to stay up to date with the OT readings and start another of the Big Book Sale novels as my before bed relax time. Yeah....not so much, as it turns out.

When my husband returned the other night from clergy conference, he brought me an over 600 page book to supplement my understanding of the Old Testament scripture passages.  Sigh....  Once again my novels have been scrapped and replaced by the reading of this wonderful book from my husband, "A History of the Jews", by Paul Johnson.  While it is an older book, published first in 1985, it is an easy read, interesting and follows along exactly with our OT reading plan.  I have been reading it in the afternoons, before bed, and in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.

What a hoot!  A swack load of novels are stacked around my bedside table, my Bible is carried around the suite with me so I can sit down between tasks and read one of the assigned passages, now I am also engrossed in the history book and our book club selection will soon be in my hands as well.  Aiiii yiiiii.....

I am just waiting for the nighttime dreams to begin where all the story lines of the various books turn into an intertwined mumbo jumbo in my exhausted brain. hahahaha

A Lovely Surprise For Mom

My mom called me last evening, bubbling over with joy.  I told her she must be feeling quite a bit better after her bout on Sunday at the hospital and she told me she was feeling better than better, that she was feeling GREAT!!!!  I asked her why that was and she replied that she had just hung up from another phone call: from her grandson, calling from Paris.  His friend let him use her phone to call Canada, so he could check and see how his grandma was feeling.  She was thrilled.  hahaha  Dad was too because his grandson told him all about the day he spent in the Louvre the day before. Dad has been a frustrated artist most of his life, wanting to paint and accomplishing a few decent water colour canvases, but never having the time to take proper lessons.  He had such fun hearing about the exhibits of medieval and ancient Christian art that my son loves so much.

This morning we received an email from our son telling us what a great week he has had in Paris, that today he is heading out with a friend for tea at The Grand Mosque of Paris. He is fascinated by Islamic architecture and tile art.  

Tomorrow he takes the 7 hour train trip to Milan with the sponsor who arranged this whole gig for him.  After a week there they will travel to Florence and Rome to complete the art project before flying back to Paris for a day or two as they return to their homes in USA and Canada.  Right now our son is flying so high I don't think he needs a plane to cross the ocean! hahahaha  This whole trip has been good for him, after slaving away at his three part time jobs for the past year.

We are to have our first show showers here in Regina tomorrow.  The sky is appropriately covered in deep grey clouds...there is a certain shade or two of grey that indicates snow is forming in those clouds and both shades are apparent in abundance this morning.

In complete disregard for my health and as a sign of open rebellion against the oncoming winter weather, I will be wearing my summer sandals for the grocery run I will be making in a few minutes.  All my other summer clothes have been "binned" and put away in the basement storage, but the sandals are always the "last hurrah".  Once I have done the shopping they will go away in the bins with the rest of the summer wear until late next spring.  I missed choir last night because of this cold and allergy, so should be wearing proper autumn footwear today, but it is a short drive to the grocery store, all my walking will be indoors and it makes me feel like I have had the "last laugh" at the changing weather.  A person likes to feel she has SOME control over the externals of her life, right?  hahaha

Have a blessed day wherever you are and whatever you are up to. 

 

Truth Be Told

So, here is what has been going on around here over the past few months that I have alluded to a number of times in requests for our future.

At the end of August, after several months of prayer and seeking what God would have him do, my husband gave our Bishop his letter of resignation from his present position as Executive ArchDeacon.  There are several reasons, not the least of which is the state of the diocesan finances and whether or not this position will be able to continue much past the first part of next year anyway.  Trying to do three full time jobs has been exhausting to say the least and trying to do any of them well has proven to be a source of ongoing frustration for my perfectionist husband.   The real crux of the matter however, is that my husband's calling is to preaching and teaching, things he has had very little time for in the past couple of years.  While he can do the administrative tasks, his heart is still in the pulpit.  We have prayed and fasted and waited on the Lord and feel the right action has been taken.  Please pray for our diocese as they attempt to restructure so that this massive amount of work can still be done despite financial constraints.  Thank you.

Since three months notice of resignation is required, technically my husband's end date at work is the end of November, but it is very fluid, depending on what plans he, the bishop and finance committee are able to come up with and what sorts of changes my husband could stay and help get put into place.  Please pray for wisdom for all concerned.  Depending on what other work or ministry my husband may find, (or NOT find...eeek!!), he may be able to stay on for a month or two into the new year.  The Bishop is all ready thinking of ways to keep my husband employed in other ways so that he doesn't lose him from the diocese. Bless his heart that he is so sad to receive the resignation. They get along well together.

So, his CV has been updated, the letter of good standing from the Bishop that allows my husband to look for work elsewhere is in process and now, this culmination of all these weeks of seeking direction about my husband's position has become VERY REAL INDEED!  A time of possible unemployment is staring us in the face at an age where my husband's options to be hired are going to be limited.

This is about the third of fourth time in our life together that my husband has been led to leave a position well prior to him finding a different one to provide us with income.  Here we go again.....

However, there is a difference this time.  Since this is not our first time to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God, trusting in him alone for daily provision, our sense of peace has not been disrupted...at least not yet, haha.  (We are only human, so no doubt there will be days when our faith will waver as we wait for the next step.)  We both have joy that the Lord has made our direction to this point so very clear.  We are in total agreement between the two of us that this is the right step at this time.

So, is this a retirement from Anglican church ministry, or is it a time of transition that lands my husband in another Anglican position here or elsewhere?  Is it time for a new career selling hardware at the lumber yard to generate income?  Only time will tell......

(And yes, your prayers for our future are desired and muchly appreciated! Thank you!!) 

It feels good to be able to let our friends and family know more about what has been happening around here and what we are facing over the coming months.  Thanks everyone for your love and concern.  God is faithful and we admit we are rather excited to see what he comes up with next for us.

My New Glasses....The Continuing Saga

I woke up this morning with full on autumn onset allergies.  My throat was full and scratchy, my sinuses were aching and my ancient face was swollen all over. I finally learned, after years of suffering and having those fall allergies weaken my system sufficiently to morph into an actual cold, to start popping Claritin immediately and continue the treatment for  a couple of weeks.  Day One's Claritin has therefore been "popped"!

Walking downtown for my haircut was relaxing.  It was only +5C outside, but there was only a slight breeze and it felt somewhat warmer than the still air temperature, so we should easily hit our predicted high of +12C.

Scuffing along the residential streets through the hundreds of fallen leaves is always kind of fun.  The yellows are SO bright this year.  Wow, the ground looks like a neon yellow carpet where the leaves have piled up under some of the huge overhanging branches of the trees.  I so enjoyed the walk in both directions.  

I checked the bus stops between home and my new church as I walked along to see if there is any closer stop I could get off at on Sunday mornings when it is bitterly cold and my husband needs the car for his own ministry.  Didn't find any stops closer to the one where I all ready get off the bus, so will have to bundle up warmly on the coldest days and enjoy/endure the four block walk from the nearest stop.  At least leaving home the bus stops right outside my front door so I won't be overly chilled before the ride downtown. What a blessing that stop is.

After my haircut....thank you Danielle at Chatters Cornwall Centre for your excellent work every time I come in for an appointment.....I wandered a couple of blocks over the FYI Doctors to see if there was any chance the glasses I had to re-order nearly three weeks ago had come in and I just hadn't heard about it yet.  Well.........hahahahahaha.  Is God testing MY patience or the patience of the FYI Doctors' staff and outside lab techs? hahahahahahaha  Yes, my glasses had arrived back last Thursday.  When the technicians at FYI Doctors took them out of the package they discovered a deep scratch in one of the lenses, so back to the lab my glasses went for a THIRD attempt to get them right.  hahahahaha  The poor harried girl I talked to assured me it won't be more than a week more before they are finished, returned and ready for pick up.  All I could do was leave and have a good laugh over this ludicrous situation.  As my husband is fond of saying, "Only to you does this sort of thing happen, over and over and over again!"  I don't know now whether to enforce my usual "Three strikes, you're out!" policy if these is yet another screw up next week.  Would it be worth the hassle of not only having to get a refund for myself plus reimbursing our insurance company so I could get a copy of the prescription and start this ordering process at another vendor...in which case it could be a month before the insurance company received their reimbursement and then at least one involved phone call between myself and their representative explaining what happened and asking that their newly reimbursed money be sent now to the new vendor......OR should I just continue to send this phantom pair of new glasses back and forth until everyone involved in their creation gets it right?  In light of what all else is going on with these poor turkeys, I have not bothered to mention that the colour of the frames they sent me originally is not the colour I ordered!  hahahahahahaha  Although I am feeling somewhat annoyed, on the other hand it is kind of a hoot waiting to see what happens next.  This whole process has definitely reached "ludicrous speed"!!! hahahaha

Thankfully interest rates at the banks are still so low that having to pay in advance a month ago or more now for my new glasses is not really costing me much in terms of the minimal interest I would have received had this few hundred dollars been sitting in the savings account for the past month.  hahaha

Some friends from Alberta who have just completed about a four month trip across Canada and posted the most fabulous blogs about their adventures, are now home and I have to admit I am selfishly happy they are back and we can be in closer contact with each other once again.  They are such good friends and we miss them.  She was a huge support to me for the last couple of years that we lived in Alberta, prior to moving to Tokyo, when life was extremely tough and I was in such desperate need of a good friend.  He is one of my husband's favourite hiking buddies and he missed their usual spring trip to the mountains this year. Welcome home friends....we loved the blogs, but we sure missed knowing you were right across the provincial border from us all those months. 

Now I need to go and dig out one of my husband's good commentaries on 1 and 2 Chronicles so I can have at least some information at my fingertips for OT discussion group this evening. I still have a bit of reading to complete for this week's chat and I want to familiarize myself with what is in the commentary.  We will be missing both our OT experts this week! Thank goodness my husband will be back for the next couple of weeks' meetings.  And then our fearless leader will be back from her trip to Norway and things will get back to normal.

Have a great day everyone.

The Son in Paris

My son sent a photo to me today of a pretty little park in central Paris where he was waiting to meet the other Vancouver artist who was invited to participate in the Italian art project. They were going to have lunch together, then try to get some rest and start getting over the jet lag. My son’s flight left NYC on time yesterday and arrived earlier than scheduled in Paris. Despite the exhaustion his excitement cane through in his brief email. I am so happy for him. Lord, let this trip be a wonderful blessing to him.

Not That Any of You Are Interested, But....

.....I finished the winter clothes ironing project this evening. Hallelujah!

Goin' With the Flow....Not Quite the Day I Planned!

Last night when I went to bed I knew exactly how I was going to spend my day today.  O, how well organized I was! hahaha  But......

I started off okay.  Got my breakfast and shower right on time, dealt with a couple of emails and then headed out to mail a letter and pick up two grocery items.  The afternoon would be spent completing my ironing.

Yeah.....not so much. Before I left the house I realized I had quite a large bag of books I have all ready read and it has been taking up space on my bedroom floor. Time for it to go.  I decided to take those books to a community library box only a couple of blocks away and along my route to the bank.  Well.......I finally managed to cram those books into the box that was almost completely filled and then only because I pulled two of the books all ready in there to bring home to read.  No, I didn't need to take them for purposes of reading because I still have 51 of 52 books left to read from my cache following the Giant Book Sale in August.  However, by taking them I didn't have to drive around to any more library boxes to get rid of the rest of mine.  haha  


Finally got all the books into the box without tearing any corners or bending any pages or covers and away I went to the bank, (after discovering that the post box I usually post in has been removed from its former location near the library box , so I had to drive in the opposite direction I wanted to go in order to find the next closest one.  At least I also discovered a new bin for putting used clothing into, which was good since along with the bag of used books I hauled from the bedroom, I also toted along a bag of used clothing for binning).   A simple deposit and withdrawal process turned into a huge fiasco requiring one of the bank employees to shut down the ATM and disappear into the bowels of the bank to figure out why the machine refused to function, refused to take the cheque, give me money, or even return my card.  Eventually everything got sorted out, but it took awhile.  (What is it with me and automatic machines these days?  Last Friday night I ended up with a malfunctioning automatic payment machine for the airport parking lot and to make a long story short my $4 parking fee cost me $9...and no, the security officer was NOT able to access the box there my loonies and toonies had gone, so I didn't get my money back.  O well....support your local airport, right?  As my husband reminded me, had we been at the Calgary airport I could have spent that much easily even without a malfunctioning machine.   But honey, we aren't at the Calgary airport, we are here in usually much cheaper Regina......and, and....o never mind....it's only money....)

My next stop was the SouthGate mall to get a new kitchen cooking timer.  The one we have had for the past few years finally stopped working the other day and since I use it regularly to remind me when to shut off the dishwasher before it begins the expensive dry cycle, I did need a new one right away.  I checked in Safeway, just in case they had some in their cooking utensils aisle, but no such luck.  So, I traipsed down to the other end of the mall to Canadian Tire.  I can always find what I need there....but not this time. There wasn't a timer anywhere in the store. Boo.........quite a surprise.  Off I went back through Safeway to get to the parking lot where my car was sitting happily in the almost sunshine after two days of driving through rain and mud.  As I went back through the grocery store I spotted a new brand, to me anyway, of low cholesterol iced cream, so I stopped and purchased a tiny and wickedly expensive carton for my husband to try when he gets home later this week.  He LOVES iced cream and has been so willing to give it up to save his soaring cholesterol from going any higher.

As I drove away from Safeway I remembered there is a relatively new Dollar Store on the other side of the mall building. There I did find a battery operated touch timer.  Considering I paid $1.11 for it, I have low expectations of how long it may last, or if it will work at all, but if it works at least long enough for me to find a better quality timer, I will be happy.  The Dollar Store is beside the Chapters Indigo bookstore and I remembered a book I have been wanting to read for some time.  I prayed the iced cream wouldn't melt all over the car and headed in to peer at the Biographies section and there was my book.  Unfortunately there was only one cashier on duty and the man ahead of me was attempting to return a book for no good reason other than it was the wrong size to fit into his book case....wha?????  Yeah, okay, whatever.  The refund transaction took forever and then he proceded to harangue the clerk over the size of the book, as, according to him, all hard cover books are the same height as a rule and if one is smaller than "normal" then in his opinion the company website should have said so.  It was one of the most bizarre conversations I have ever overheard!!  The harrassed cashier handled the situation just perfectly and eventually I did get to the till to pay.  

By the time I got home the morning was completely over and it was time for lunch.  No ironing was done yet, but o well, I still had all afternoon, right?  Wrong!

After lunch I called my mom to see how she was doing. She and Dad both sounded like they have the energy and motivation of wet dishrags today. Neither of them slept last night because they kept replaying the morning's medical disaster in their minds.  Poor things.......they were supposed to be going with some other residents to the Olive Garden for lunch tomorrow, but they cancelled as they are pretty certain they will still be too exhausted.  I felt so badly about that as they were really looking forward to the outing. Hopefully they will still be able to go to the brand new restaurant they signed up for next week.

I finally finished lunch at 1:15pm and was about to make a beeline for the remainder of the pile of ironing to be done, when I opened the refrigerator to get a bottle of water and realized there was a package of thawed chicken breasts sitting in there.  I thawed them on Saturday before I knew we would be going out for dinner that night.  O dear....better get them cooked.  Oh, and while I was at it I decided I should use up some left over bits of salad type veggies in the crisper that had seen better days: celery sticks, red pepper, a carrot and some green beans.  I chopped them up and as the chicken was cooking I sauteed the veggies...now what to do with them.  O yes, if I made spaghetti sauce and put them into it along with some of the chicken, that would be delicious.  Well, if I am going to eat the sauce and am not eating pasta these days, why not cook up the spaghetti squash that was also in the crisper?  Sigh......by the time I got the sauce made and the squash removed from the rind and all the dishes done, it was 2:30pm and I was very tired out.  

So, now I am taking a break by blogging for awhile.  If I rest another 15 minutes I can still get most of the ironing project done, but I will have to do all the housework tomorrow........after the morning hair appointment I made when I washed my hair this morning and realized it has grown to the point of being completely unmanageable.  I made the appointment before I got my day to day underway, but I am not going to change it. Maybe my guests tomorrow night will be sitting more in the dark than planned to cover up whatever dust and lint I am guessing I magically won't end up having time to clean up tomorrow either! hahahahaha  

PS I watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbings Missouri last evening.  It was better than I thought it would be, but I suspect the present audience addiction to super hero movies is effecting the way roles in "regular" movies are being written and acted.  A police station gets firebombed into non-existence by a woman who is kind of a caricature similar to the super hero characters, severely injuring a civilian and there isn't an immediate huge investigation?  Are you kidding me????  hahaha  Crazy...yet the story and the characters drew me in at least somewhat.  It beat The Shape of Water all to heck, not that it would take much to do that....hahahaha.

Okay, rest period is over.  Time to heat up the iron and get back to work.  If this post is a bit jumbled it is because my day has been jumbled and my head is too!!  O hey, here comes the sun after two or three great days....the perfect light conditions to iron in the living room and enjoy the big windows!

Left Behind

Yesterday left me with the strangest feeling of being abandoned.  My son left for Paris, my husband left for Saskatoon and for awhile it appeared my mom was going to leave this earth permanently.  I found myself wanting to shout out, "Wait for me, everybody, wait for me!"  

It was the most odd feeling I have ever experienced.  It was one of those days where if we had a pet, it probably would have picked yesterday to run away.  I am not sure why everyone heading off here and there bothered me so much, but it certainly did.

The feeling grew bit by bit throughout the day.  Not being able to stay for coffee after church didn't help.  Usually that provides a friendly completion to my Sunday morning, but I had to get home immediately after service to get some things ready for my husband to head off to clergy conference.

Then in the evening I received a phone call from my husband's sister.  She was still in her own home in her own city, not going anywhere. hahaha  We had such a good talk and afterward I felt less alone, less abandoned.  She is a very nurturing person to my husband and I and I felt far more secure after our conversation.  Her husband has similar reflux issues to my mom's and it was nice to be able to explain what happened to mom yesterday to someone who has seen those sorts of extreme symptoms and understands the fright dad and I got.

Shortly afterward my husband started texting me and we spent a delightful hour exchanging messages. Recently my husband finally discovered texting for personal and not just work reasons and he has become and texting maniac. hahaha

I could hardly believe what happened to him in Saskatoon at dinner.  He and his colleagues went out for Chinese food and had a similar experience to the one he and I had the other night here.  He was shocked.  So God, what is going on?  What are we to learn and utilize from these two experiences of racial profiling? Or prejudice?  What the heck?  On the one hand it is good to experience that so we better understand what some other people experience every day of their lives, on the other it is somewhat daunting to be treated that way in our own country and if this sort of thing is becoming common, I have a tad more empathy for people who want to restrict immigration.  Perhaps they have been treated by some immigrants the way my husband and I have been treated over the past couple of days. After the way Canadians have treated our aboriginal and immigrant populations in generations past, perhaps our country is finally going to pay for our sins. Scary thought!

Last evening I watched a tv show about how Canada's indigenous community has struggled with racial profiling.  It was interesting watching the reactions of my fellow white people to questions being asked of them about the aboriginal community.  Then I heard the answers to the same questions from members of the native community.  The difference in outlook was apparent. The struggles on both sides to understand each other weighed me down as I realized just how far we all have to go when it comes to developing an acceptance and understanding of each others' people groups.

So suddenly my husband and I are being bombarded by racial and intercultural issues.  What does it mean Lord?  Is it just coincidence or is there something you are trying to show us?  Is there something in our future ministry that is going to need us to be more aware of racial and cultural differences?  Are we just in need of checking our own attitudes and making sure we are not guilty of treating others in some kind of nasty or condescending way?  Food for thought and prayer I think. 

Yesterday afternoon I ironed my winter pants and jeans.  The day before I ironed blouses and shirts and sweaters. Today I will touch up some suit jackets and then that will bring me to the end of the giant pile of clothes in need of sprucing up for winter wear.  Then I can get a few groceries and do some banking.  Tomorrow will be a  house cleaning extravaganza in case the Old Testament discussion group is able to come over for our weekly session.  There is illness and some overtime work issues happening this week for many of our members. 

I slept well last night after tracking my son's flight overseas.  Once it landed safely I was able to relax and sleep deeply, waking up early, but feeling quite refreshed.  How I love being able to track the safety of my family travellers.

After all the rain the previous night and into the morning, our leaky basement showed only one teeny circle of dampness on the wall and floor in the corner that has leaked the most right from the start.  There has been more rain overnight so I will check again, but o my...it appears all my husband's hard work to patch the walls has paid off.  The wind was blowing the heaviest rainfall into the leakiest wall, but no water appeared on the wall or on the floor beneath. I am so grateful for that.

I will be glad when this week is over.  I don't have a lot of plans made and feel too mentally scattered to think more than a couple of hours ahead.  Hopefully things will come together as the week goes on.  Oh..hey, I just remembered that the church ladies' book club starts up this week. Oh, that will be a lot of fun!  That makes three evenings of activity in a row this week.  Okay then...it will be a grand week after all! hahaha

 

Mom Got Her Diagnosis

Thanks ever so much for the prayers for mom. The verdict is in: a severe acid reflux attack! She is home this evening after spending most of the day having heart, lung and digestive system tests. Her heart problems have not worsened. She is in no danger of requiring a pacemaker. The whole eyes rolling back in her head, gurgling collapse was the stomach issue. Dad, thinking it was a heart attack, forced her to take a puff from his nitro inhaler while waiting for the ambulance and apparently that drug also helps relieve some acid reflux symptoms. Mom said it did help her to come to enough to describe her symptoms to the EMTs before passing out again.

So she now has a list of foods and drinks she is never to consume ever again. She has no problem with the idea of giving up any of them....except for chocolate. That one hurts! As a diabetic I understand the pain of going chocolate free!

When she called Dad about coming home in her nightgown, he put some clothes in a bag and took a taxi to the hospital to collect her. The trip and his walk through the hospital to find her room was too much for him physically on top of a day of fear and emotional upheaval. So, the complex staff brought their dinners to their suite a few minutes ago. After they eat it will be time for a good long sleep.

Whew! And thank you God! And thank you prayer warriors!

PS once again when I tried to update a previous post it disappeared from the blog. I need to get my husband to figure out the issue when he gets back from clergy conference. The update is, for those of you who read the post and know what I am referring to, that I am making an appointment with the management if the restaurant where we and others seemed to be racially victimized by the staff. I want to tell them how we felt and why and see what the response is. I can forget the terrible food, but the other upset kept both of us awake last night. Okay Lord, help us sort this out. Amen!

Please Pray For My Mom (and Dad)

Came home from another excellent church service to a phone message from dad.  Mom collapsed in the kitchen this morning and at 9:30am was on her way to hospital by ambulance.  Dad thought for certain she had died.  

Fortunately the EMS folk did not permit my elderly, somewhat disabled Dad to accompany them and mom to the hospital. They told him to stay at home and wait for a call once mom had seen a specialist and had some test results.  Poor dad...he was pretty shaken up when I called him after church.

It has been 6 hours now and the hospital hasn't called, but wonderful friends of my parents went over to the hospital about an hour ago to see what is going on.  Mom is in a bed in emergency and is conscious and sitting up.  She is groggy and has exceptionally high blood pressure, but was able to talk coherently to her company.  Once the test results come in and the doctors decide if she has had a heart attack, (there was some atrial fibrillation going on when the paramedics came with the ambulance), they will call dad.  I am SO grateful for those friends who took it upon themselves to find out if Mom was even still alive and let Dad know she is conscious and now just waiting for proper help.  I am also very grateful for another of Dad's church friends who came over as soon as she heard the news and helped Dad get some tea and lunch.  I don't know when I have ever heard the poor man so shaken.

In the middle of all this my unsuspecting husband arrived home from his two rural church services.  He rushed in rather stressed because he'd had to stop in Regina at a car wash first and wash the incredibly thick, quick hardening mud off our car after a night of rain turned the country roads into slippery muck!  I hope he doesn't get indigestion from the lunch he crammed down in between trying to help me get more information about my mom, packing the rest of his clothes etc. for his clergy retreat in Saskatoon and helping me plan how and where I could come to pick him up in S'toon if my mom should pass away while he is gone.  He was riding up there with the bishop to leave the car for me and we ran about five different scenarios as to what the best way would be for both of us to get to Calgary if the worst happens.

Poor Dad, poor husband, and especially poor Mom.  Her biggest upset, if she is okay and comes home in a few days, will be that the rest of us are so worried about her.  

So, I hope and pray she will be okay and that whatever caused this will be diagnosed and dealt with.  I am used to living crisis to crisis with Dad after over 40 years of it, but adding Mom into that mix is going to be very difficult to cope with, especially for Dad.  I am going to see them in October and I can only pray my presence will not be required before then, that Mom will be okay.

Thank you for your prayers. At the ages of 90 and 91, the loss of either or both of my parents will not be a huge surprise I suppose.  Doesn't make it any easier in some ways.  If Mom dies first my Dad will be at a complete loss. Aiiii yiii...really having to trust God for the outworking of the rest of their lives.

Travelling by Air in Canada is No Darned Fun Anymore!

The best laid plans for this evening have been ruined by what have become typical airline schedule delays on Air Canada routes.  Sigh...I am feeling very sorry for my exhausted husband who will finally land back home two hours late, with no dinner in his tummy. By the time he arrives it will be far too late and he will be far too exhausted to go to the restaurant for a welcome home dinner date like we planned, so I have some veggie sticks, plus two pizza pitas made and waiting for a quick heating up once we get home from the airport.  Not quite the romantic welcome home celebration we planned.  

This kind of nonsense is becoming so typical nowadays it seems.  Either there are unexpected weather delays, connecting flight delays for one reason or another or, as in my husband's case this evening, mechanical issues.  His plane lost a headlamp and so until either a new one was found or another plane sent for him and his fellow passengers, the plane would be unable to fly at night.  My husband was pretty torqued through our 90 consecutive minues of texting back and forth about the situation.  He decided it might be just as easy for the plane to keep flying until dark, then land in an Eastern Saskatchewan farmer's field and release the passengers to get home the rest of the way on their own reconnaissance.  He figured he could hitchhike at night more easily and more quickly than waiting for his plane to leave Toronto!!

As I have no way of reaching the other friend I was to pick up originally at the airport the same time as my husband, to help her avoid paying for a cab ride home and her flight was on time, I decided I would just go and get her, take her home and still be able to get back in plenty of time to pick up my husband back at the airport.  Nope...of course not!  Now HER Air Canada plane has been delayed by some sort of mechanical failure. She will now be arriving here about an hour before my husband's flight is now due.  By the time we wait for her baggage at the carousel and I get her unloaded again at her house, I will be late meeting my husband.  

I learned about her change of arrival time from my husband because she texted him from Vancouver to let him know. Had his plane been in the air on time she wouldn't have been able to reach him and for some reason her cell phone and mine are not connecting.  Fortunately he was able to let her know about his own change of scheduled landing time so she wouldn't be waiting at the airport wondering why neither of us was there to meet her.  

What a total pain!  Hopefully she got his texted response because as he was completing his text to her, his plane was finally starting to taxi and he had to shut off his phone.   His plane was a half hour late boarding and then all the passengers had to sit on the plane for about two hours waiting to take off.  I  can only pray he had some snacks with him in his carry on luggage or he will be a wreck when he lands!  

Well, I can only hope our other friend gets home safely.  Finally her flight delay is showing on the airport website here.  There is no way I can expect her to wait for nearly 90 minutes at the airport until my husband arrives.  It is difficult not to feel like I will owe her taxi fare.  I hate telling someone I am going to do something for her and then not be able to do it, even when it isn't my fault.  (How silly is that, right?)

The COOL part:  as I was driving home from my fabulous lunch with my friend, my husband texted to say that in the Toronto airport he met up with our Egyptian friends!!  They are on the same flight home that he is.  They are returning from 5 weeks in Cairo visiting family.  It was great for him to have friends to visit with while he waited (and waited) to board the plane. The youngest boy was tired and hyper after the long flight from Cairo to Munich and the 5 hour wait there for the flight to Canada. So, my husband raced him up and down one of the escalators until the poor kid was so tired he fell asleep as soon as they boarded the plane. hahaha  I wish my husband could have done the same, but he was too ticked off.  I can understand his anxiety.  He has to be in good enough shape tomorrow to complete his sermons and other prep for Sunday services!  He also has to get packed up to leave for Saskatoon immediately afterward, so I will be doing what was to be tonight's laundry for him tomorrow morning early instead.  Aiii yiii....stupid airplanes!! hahaha 

Well, I guess I will just sit here and wait and keep checking the flight arrivals for the rest of the evening.  

My lunch at the Magpie Kitchen today was delicious and the visit sweet.  My friend obviously had as good a time as I did.  It was great! What a nice break on a cool, cloudy, otherwise miserable day!  I have heard a lot of complaints about the prices there, but really, it is only the hot drinks that are overpriced... badly, actually, but perhaps not that much more so than at other coffee bars.  Our sandwiches were reasonably priced.  For our $9 each we had the most delicious roast beef sandwich on FRESH (for a change) ciabatta bread and loaded with proper roast beef (as in NOT plastic deli meat), Monterey Jack cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce and horse radish cream.  Absolutely delicious!!!!  I would far rather pay $9 for just the sandwich than $12 or more for the same sandwich plus fries or potato salad I can't eat anyway due to the carb count.  I had a small vanilla steamer, we both had London fogs for "dessert" and the only real price rip off, in my opinion, was for my friend's berry cider.  For well over $4, she was drinking a packet of mix dumped into hot water and stirred with a spoon; really a disaster as the mix hadn't even been properly stirred before it was delivered to our table.

HOWEVER, the service was well organized and very quick, especially considering the place was completely full of customers.  I was impressed by that.  When I found out the customers have to line up at the till and order from the posted chalk board menu, I was not happy, but our order was taken as we waited in line and shortly after we snaked our way to the till and paid our money, our food arrived at our table.  We didn't have to stand around waiting for pick up, then try to balance plates and cups and cutlery and napkins while searching for a free table.  If ALL such food and drink "bars" were that organized and well staffed I would be far happier to frequent them.  It was quite delightful.

After we were finished feasting, we stepped into the attached Crocus and Ivy gift shop. Of course everything in there is severely overpriced, as is the want of gift shops, but what fun we had looking at the amazing selection of this and that and the other thing. In stock was everything from candles, to napkins, to bakewear, to tableware, to dish towels, to bath towels, to candies,  to greeting cards, to ladies' wear, to shoes and boots, to baby clothes and accoutrements, to wrapping paper and ribbons, to fancy decorative bowls, to Le Creuset cookware and dishes, to Sophie Conran specialty tableware to............We had the time of our lives bopping around in that store!  My friend purchased some bathtowels and a new creamer jug.  I found at LONG last the exact size fancy food serving bowl I have been missing since I broke my former similar bowl in our move here.  Now that we are having company in for dinners once again I realize how badly I am going to need a bowl like that. So happy to find this one.  I also found some sacking tea towels to replace a few of my older, torn ones and they were reasonably priced.  It was rather nice to be able to come home and put three old towels under the kitchen sink for wiping up spills on the floor!

After taking my friend home, I headed over to my husband's cousin's place with a bag of requested food items for a family in need that said cousin has taken upon himself to help.  It was a lot of fun putting the bag of food items together and so easy, because the family's special dietary needs are similar to my own.  I had lots of things in the cupboard to give away.  What fun!  I also got in a good visit with cousin's husband who happened to be home when I arrived. I haven't seen him in ages, so that was special.

Today, despite the cold, grey skies, the forecast rain didn't materialize.  We will get a good dowsing tomorrow and for the two days after that, but o well, it is September, winter appears to be coming earlier than usual and that is just how it goes. We are not battling Hurricane Florence like our friends down south are....terrifying situation with deaths all ready occurring from winds and flooding less than a day after landfall.

For me, a great day. For my husband an exhausting and frustrating one, but I know he will feel better after some dinner, a chance to share with me his wonderful time away and a good night's sleep. 

Another Day of Blessings

I caved in this morning and put the furnace on for awhile to warm the suite up.  O my, it was SO COLD in here when I woke up I could hardly believe it.  Only about a month or so ago, it was +41C and now we are barely cracking the double digits for day time highs.  I am not complaining....too many places in Alberta saw several inches of snow today.  Unbelieveable weather for prior to mid-September!  My husband's sister is in the middle of a huge lawn and garden project at her home in central Alberta and this weather could not have hit on a worse day as she has equipment rented and a crew set to complete the project tomorrow.  Good grief!!  Hoping the snow hasn't scotched the entire effort!

This morning a friend came over for tea and some veggie snacks.  We shared such a happy conversation.  Slowly I am ferreting out some of the most lovely people in this city.  It is quite a treat!  Glad I finally got to it!!

I was hoping I would get a call this afternoon that my new glasses are finally ready, but counting the Labour Day Monday closure, it is really only two weeks since the order was sent in.  If I hear nothing by this Monday I am going to call and ensure the order was actually placed. After the last screw up I am feeling a bit leery about this whole situation!

Several happy text messages arrived for me today from my husband and also from my son.  My husband is getting good comments from the clergy he is responsible to teach Bible lessons to this week and that is boosting his flagging energies considerably.  Teaching the Bible is his best and most apparent calling in life and he has had to compromise that calling for too long now.  What a blessing that he has been so buoyed up by doing the daily Bible study with these amazing clergy at their clericus.  I am excited that he is coming home tomorrow for about a day and a half before heading out once again.  At least we will have a few hours together in between getting his laundry done for next week's trip and getting his Sunday sermon prepared for the two parishes he is officiating at this weekend.  Then Sunday afternoon he is barely home after the services before he leaves again for another week.  I am so grateful I have choir and book club and Old Testament discussion group this coming week to fill the lonely evening hours.

A good friend has exchanged one music committment for another.  It was such fun to read today how well she did with her new music group and how excited she is to return for next week's rehearsal.  Her enthusiasm boosted my own for my choir practise on this chilly, dreary evening.

Choir was SUCH fun tonight.  Wow, we worked for awhile on our Sunday anthem and then we moved on to other music before I was ready! hahaha  I will REALLY need that pre-service practise on Sunday morning to secure in my head the proper notes!  The music is pretty easy, but I am SO terribly rusty it isn't funny.  I am losing my ability to hear the notes ahead of singing them.  The ability to automatically hear thirds and fifths as I am sight reading the notes is deserting me, but I think continued practise will restore that old ability once again...hopefully at least! haha  There is another new gal and she had fun as well.  We have many common life experiences, likes and dislikes, so despite our huge age difference we had a good conversation. We both hated going to Sunday School as kids, we both struggled to figure out what we wanted to do when we grew up and like me, she still isn't sure after 15 years in the Wonderful World of Work after university.  She has even been to Japan teaching English, just like me! hahaha 

I saw and talked to DeeDee today.  She had a positive session with her surgeon and oncologist this afternoon.  She will have one more consultation with the surgeon on Monday and then the surgical removal of her tumour will be scheduled.  Apparently she has caught this symptom very, very early and so has the option of a lumpectomy, or a mastectomy if she would prefer to cut her risk of recurrence by another 10%.  She is opting for the lumpectomy because she feels that at her age she is willing to take the risk for less pain and problems in the here and now. So, thank you from her to all of you who are praying as you read this report. 

Tonight, just before our choir rehearsal started, pastor Joel stopped in to say hello to us all and let us know he is on the road to recovery.  It was so good to see him looking healthier than he has in several months.  No wonder he has been so pale and lacking in energy leading up to his hospital stay: pulmonary embolism..horrors.  We are all grateful he is still with us and getting medical help.  Again, he is very, very grateful for all the prayers on his behalf.

My son is getting down to the wire with packing for his overseas trip. He leaves on Sunday and will be gone for two and half weeks, arriving back in NYC a few days before Canadian Thanksgiving.  His dad and I will definitely be giving thanks that weekend for his safe return.  He is working hard to figure out how to pack and carry the art supplies he needs to do the project in Milan in ways that will be acceptable to the security laws for airline travel.  So, we are praying he gets it right and has no problems getting his art supplies all the way to Paris and then on to Milan.  He sent us his flight schedules tonight and we do appreciate that very much.  Hopefully all flights will be on time.  Praying he and all the others in his group remain healthy for the duration of the trip.

Tomorrow is lunch with another friend. Prior to and after that, I am going to try to balance myself on a stool securely enough to take down the clothing storage bins with my winter clothes from way up at the top of our shelving units in the basement.  The hassle is that they are large and heavy and I am not that steady with my balance....not sure if it is wise or not, but if I make an attempt and it appears foolish, I will have to find something else to fill my day with tomorrow other than unpacking winter clothes and packing up summer outfits.

I finished this evening the novel my tomorrow's lunch pal lent me nearly two weeks ago.  There is a ton of description in it and it was heavy ploughing, but I did enjoy it.  The book is "The Stone Diaries" by Carol Shields.  I remember mentioning to my friend that I enjoy Margaret Atwood, so I suspect her ability to get lost in descriptive passages similarly to Shields, but even more so, is why my friend lent me this book.  Fun to have a book friend again! 

Another colleague of my husband's is arriving at the airport tomorrow night from BC about the same time my husband is arriving from Toronto, so I am going to drive her home as well.  I haven't seen her in over a month, so it will be great fun to find out how her trip to the west coast went.  Hopefully neither of their flights will be too delayed.  My husband will be ravenous for dinner as soon as his plane lands so I hope he doesn't have to wait for her flight to arrive or he will be buying a sub at Subway and then regretting it later, hahaha.

I think I may just have another decent sleep tonight despite still having only summer nightwear.  I have a very warm sweater on and my Japanese tabi socks, so I should be warm enough to rest properly.  haha  I look like a bag lady in this getup, but it works.

Nighty night.....