Finally Getting Braver Once Again! YAY!

While there were some benefits to my COVID isolation in 2020 and 2021, the downside is that I became a bit of a hermit socially so it has been a struggle to put myself out there again and be brave enough to see if any new friendships in my own age group of retired women could possibly develop.  While I have a significantly younger walking partner, most of the rest of my women friends here are considerably older than myself and most of them are now struggling with mobility issues.  I have found myself turning into more and more of a caregiver when I get together with those more senior friends. As much as I enjoy that and find it to be a great ministry to my friends, I need some other input into my life. My other two friends who are much younger than I am work full time and are busy like crazy during their off hours and weekends, so while our times together are wonderful, we can't get together very often.

So, to that end, I am picking up a relatively new friend for coffee later this week and taking a chance on picking a place she will enjoy going. For someone who has lived in this city for over 8 years now, my knowledge of and experience with "coffee places" has been severely limited.  For this friend I will take her to Le Macaron because it has lots of seating space and a good selection of coffees to choose from.  

Last week I met another person new to me at the birthday breakfast party for one of my mid 80's year old friends.  This woman and I have quite a bit in common in terms of our church and spiritual lives, lots of Anglican, Evangelical crossover and we are aquainted with a lot of the same people in both camps.  I thought we hit it off quite well, so a few days ago I sent her an email inviting her to meet me for coffee sometime if she is interested in doing so. This morning she sent a positive response, so we are meeting tomorrow at a place that is new to me, but is very easy to walk to.  

I am hoping that at least one of these women can relate to me well enough that we can become friends.  My husband is delighted with my bravery restoration.

The timing of the positive response today to my reaching out seems quite significant in view of a prayer meeting we attended last evening with some of the more charismatic Anglicans in the area.  They are a most wonderful and happy group of people, lots of spiritual gifts on display last evening, but again, most of them are significantly older and I found myself stashing walkers, offering arm assists, helping to gather up walking canes and filling plates from the Serve Yourself food counter.  It was fun and I love helping where I can in these small ways, but it emphasized to me and to my husband that we both have to work harder at getting together with people who still enjoy our own level of mobility...soon, sooner than we want I am sure, we too will be walking with canes and walkers and having younger people fill our plates at buffet tables.  At the moment we desperately, me especially, need to get going on reaching out to other possible friends.  

Perhaps there will be no more lasting friendships coming out of my two coffee clatches than the initial get together, but if not at least I know I am trying my best again....at last!

Joy! Joy! JOY!! JOY!!!

 I am so happy!!  Just now the African immigrant family from church I was hoping could use my piano were just here to look at it.  I was able to play a song for them so they could hear the tone and they are all very excited about it. As soon as my husband returns home from his building project we will load the piano on the dolly and wheel it down the street to their place since they live in a different court in our same complex.  Thank you Lord that my beloved piano is going to a good home!

Now I am going to research some possible piano teachers for their children to start with in the autumn.  What fun!

Surely Cuteness and Mercy Will Follow Me All The Days Of My Life!

 Pentecost Sunday service at my church today was quite marvellous!  The kids did most of the service and it was an absolute hoot!!  As the pastor said when he got up to preach the sermon, "Animals and kids....the preacher can't compete!"  How very true.

The prelude music was provided by our senior pastor's very musically accomplished 12 year old daughter.  It was lovely and she was thrilled that the congregation broke the unspoken rule and actually applauded her excellent efforts.  Then the Sunday School kids processed down both aisles carrying the Bible, candle and snuffer and all waving long poles with red, orange and yellow streamers on the ends.  Oh how those kids, particularly the wee ones, enjoyed waving those streamers!  So much did one teensy 18 month old girl enjoy it that when the children's pastor tried to have her put it down so that the next part of the service could start, she whacked said pastor in the face and announced her intention to retain it with a loud and emphatic "NO!!"  Unfortunately for her the pastor was not fazed by the whacking, removed the pole from wee one's hands and convinced her quite quickly to take her next assigned spot with the other children so they could share the presentation of the Call  To Worship...complete with giggles, lisps, shyness and some crystal clear readings.

Many of the kids were wearing some article of clothing that was red in honour of the Pentecost celebration, but one preteen stood out. He is a sweet kid with a speech impediment who manfully delivered a reading he had obviously worked hard to prepare. His hair stuck out in all directions, his glasses were crooked on his face and falling down his nose and his bright orange tee shirt had Los Angeles County Jail printed on the front. hahahaha  He is also autistic and wow, he really overcame a lot of fear and shyness to make his excellent presentation. So proud of him!

A most articulate three year old boy was included in saying some of the Prayers of the People.  Each of the children, the youngest in the Sunday School, were asked to pray and thank Jesus for something.  Accute Audience Awareness kicked in for some of them and suddenly they had nothing to say, but the children's pastor gave each of them several chances. We had thank yous to Jesus for homework completed, for bicycles, for Mommy, for sunshine and of course there were a few who never could get beyond, "Ummm.....". hahaha Then they were asked to pray for something they wanted Jesus to do for them and the articulate three year old paused, thought, and waited for a minute without saying anything, so when the pastor asked him again what he wanted to pray for, he indignantly told her, "I'm THINKING about it!!!" hahahahahaha One girl who is about ten wanted to ask Jesus that love would spread around the world. How sweet. She was so very sincere in her request.  The choir came downstairs out of the choir loft and joined the kids in a joyful song about the Holy Spirit, with the congregation joining in part way through.  That was so much fun for everybody.  Then it was time for the sermon and instead of the kids heading downstairs for Sunday School, they were given papers to draw on, pencils and crayons and as a group they sat on the carpeted floor on one side of the sanctuary.  There were about 20 of the smaller kids and then a couple of the older kids and associate pastor sat with them. That large group of children, tucked into a fairly tiny space for the rest of the service, did not let a peep escape them as they worked diligently on their drawing projects. The little fellow with the bright orange prison tee shirt stopped working part way through and sat listening to the rest of the sermon, completely entranced, engaged by what the pastor was saying.  The service ended with one of the older teens doing the postlude: Mozart's Sonata in C Major. My, he did a beautiful job of it.  He is an excellent pianist, very relaxed, a great performer.

The first batch of my music was delivered today to the family of the Mozart pianist. They are all musical and will enjoy a little trip through the decades from the 1960's to the present time as they go through my old church music books. hahaha  I think they will all have fun with it.

Person #1 is apparently not interested in my piano after all, so this afternoon Person #2 will be approached by  one of the pastoral staff about taking it for his daughter's piano lessons. I do hope he will agree to take it.  It is a real piano, proper keyboard, even though it is electric.  Praying it will work out for him as I don't really want to just drop it at a thrift store.  I really want to get it out of here so I am not tempted to become emotionally upset about losing it, but also because I want to rearrange the furniture properly and purchase a small loveseat I have my eye on and a new floor lamp to fill that space the piano was in.  We are in desperate need of more seating, especially when both our fellowship groups are here.

Well, we have also been the recipients of great mercy in the past 15 hours or so!  Our city received quite a bit of flooding after a huge thunder storm last evening and another one overnight.  Rain deluging everywhere and everything, hail, wind....there was an actual tornado that touched down not too far from the city...minimal damage it seems.  I watched a video last last evening taken of an intersection only a few blocks from our place: there was water so deep that only the 3/4 ton trucks were able to drive through it without sparking out their motors!  

After church today we tried to stop at our nearby pharmacy/convenience store and a big sign on the door announced it is closed due to flooding and so was the adjoining building that houses a medical clinic...there will be no clinic today. They are flooded right out!  So, to get what we needed to purchase we had to go to a different grocery store only three blocks from our home.  It was open and busy, but as we were standing in line a fellow came up to the cashier and said he was there with his crew to assess the water damage in the basement and try to suck all the water out.  Wow...another flooded store!

And the mercy for us is this:  our basement, by rights and by history, should be absolutely filled with water!  Instead, there is a quarter of a pail full in the one corner that leaks if a mouse spits on the ground. The siphon system my husband created was working perfectly to keep it off the floor.  There is NO WATER anywhere else down there and believe me, we looked. We looked before bed, we looked in the middle of the night, we looked when we woke up this morning and we looked again after being out this morning....everything is dry!  THANK YOU JESUS!  I don't know why we were spared when so many others were not, but we are grateful, grateful, grateful!!!

Received a happy email from our son today. He is out at the summer house on Long Island enjoying the ocean and beach, working on his computer and getting a bit of a relaxing weekend for a change.  He had much good news to share: a gallery owner he knows is going to ship some of his paintings to a well known Miami art fair at the end of this year and next year is offering my son his first solo exhibition at his now quite well known gallery.  It is just what my son and the Department of Homeland Securities need to have happen to help ensure a visa renewal a couple of years from now.  Again, THANK YOU JESUS!  We are almost as excited and grateful as our son is.

My husband is able to work at his friend's house this afternoon. All the boards he needs to paint for that outdoor project were moved into his friend's garage yesterday so they stayed dry during the storm. YAY! 

So much cuteness today...so many mercies...wow!!

Mid Storm Cuteness!!

 We had a pretty heavy storm tonight!  Teeming rain attacked us for over an hour, the wind gusts became ferocious and there was a bit of hail, that fortunately didn't do much damage at our place as my husband braved the stones to haul our herbs and tomatoes into the kitchen so they wouldn't be pummeled into bits and pieces. Wow....we have been praying for rain for some time...guess we got  a resounding YES from God tonight!  A friend from AB just contacted me because there is flooding in this city and a tornado that touched down in the area and it all made the national news tonight.  I had better get onto my newsfeeds and find out what has been going on right around us all evening.

After the worst of the storm was over, we happened to look out the window just in time to see a teensy gosling emerge from underneath a mommy goose sitting on our front lawn.  What a sweetie!!!  He was flapping around, pulling at the grass, paddling around on the puddle that formed in the lawn in front of our window.  He was having a wonderful time.  Daddy goose put the run on another pair of adult geese that dared to come too close to the gosling and shortly after they moved off a second, equally adorable gosling popped out from underneath its mom. hahahaha  What an incredible wee pair.  We so rarely have any goslings over here at our place. Usually the family groups remain in the park across the street. There were some events going on in the park today, so perhaps this family of geese felt unsafe and came over here. Now of course I am panicking in case the goslings aren't safe from traffic as their parents lead them back to the park in the darkness of night.  Aiiii yiiiii....you see why having pets in years gone by stressed me right out....yikes! Worry, worry, worry....it was as bad as the worrying I did about my own young son's safety. Sigh.

Well, it was fun watching the goslings for a long time during the lull in the storm, before another brief deluge of rain arrived.  Thus far our basement is fairly dry and we have our flood towels spread out in the areas most likely to cause problems from having so much rain fall on the dry, cracking ground  around our building.  By morning we may be mopping up, but for now I think we will just not worry about and get some sleep.  I need to get up REALLY early in the morning, get my breakfast and get dressed by 8am so I have time to watch the Canadian National Diving event.  The granddaughter of a dear friend here in Regina is competing....her first national event and she is only 14!!!!  She recently moved to Montreal to have access to better training.  She wasn't expected to do well as she was competing against experienced Olympic team divers and trainees and she still managed to make it to the finals, in the one meter springboard event.  I thought she would likely come last in the results, but she didn't.  She finished a position or two up from the bottom. In the morning she will be competing on the 3 meter platform, so I really want to see it. I so enjoy watching diving anyway, but having someone I actually know competing makes it even more exciting!

It will be raining again in the morning, so it is a good thing I got my walk in today. Tomorrow there won't be much chance for one.

Thus Endeth A Good Week!

 The past couple or three days have gone well.  My husband was able to work around the rain to get quite a bit accomplished on his second set of flower bed/retaining wall projects.  He wasn't content to come home for dinner last night, even though I had stew nearly ready for him; he wanted to celebrate being alive and eat at Bonzzini's so that we did....I had a salad for the first time since I became ill after the salad disaster in Calgary, but this one went down well and stayed with me. YAY!  My husband is doing far better with his diet now that spring has sprung and he only ate half his meal, finishing it off at lunch time today.  

My diet is also going well and has for the entire week.   I was especially proud of myself at a birthday breakfast celebration for a friend yesteray at Breakfast Bistro.  I ordered only a tiny breakfast sandwich, (one egg, a strip of bacon, some soft cheese on an English muffin), and discovered it to be quite sufficient to get me through to a later than usual lunch.  YAY!

As I get more walking done my energy is coming up again....no surprise, so why am i, right?  hahaha  I had a lovely walk to the church this morning where I enjoyed the ladies' breakfast: food, fellowship and the wonderfully encouraging addiction resources presentation I wrote about in my last post.  Coming home the clouds spit a few raindrops on me, but very few and no real rain developed.

This afternoon my husband went to pick up some plant pots from relatives who are moving this summer and wanted to get rid of them. They are filled with fresh, useable soil, so we won't need to buy any to plant our herbs.  My husband is getting his gardening tools together and getting started on repotting the tiny seedlings of dill, coriander, mint, rosemary, sage and other herbs he was fortunate to find still available at one of the local greenhouses.  He was SO late getting going on the deck garden this year.  Bad weather delayed everyone here this spring.  Hopefully it won't be cold and wintery again before the Golden Sun tomato plant produces its harvest.  It is very far behind in its growth this year. Usually it is standing three feet tall by now and this year it is only about six inches in height, but it is healthy with gorgeous dark green leaves.

As much as we would like to walk to church services tomorrow, we have to take the car so we can deliver a large cardboard box filled with chorus books from myriad decades to the family who is taking them all off my hands. God bless them all!!!

The first person who claimed to be interested in the piano has not contacted me and phone calls from me to him have gone unresponded to, so in the morning I am going to offer it to another person from the church who has expressed a great interest in it and who I know cannot afford an instrument for his daughter to learn piano on. There is a teacher who will take her, but of course the girl needs a piano at home to practise on.   I feel very happy about this development!  Of course if I unexpectedly hear from person number one tonight, the scenario changes, but I am hopeful that person number two will be able to have my piano.

I set up a coffee date for the end of next week with a new friend from the church who I sat with this morning at the breakfast.  I think I will take her to Le Macaron...there is lots of seating, good coffee and yummy treats should we decide to indulge ourselves with them.  

I can rejoin my elderly ladies' prayer group this week as well and on the weekend our fellowship group are meeting together to have a BBQ, so that should be okay. I am taking potato salad for the 12 of us or so who will be there and I think my husband is taking a bag of freshly popped popcorn for extra snacking.  Since I can't eat bbq grilled meat, we will likely take a small sandwich for ourselves and enjoy those along with the other salads and fruit and desserts the others are bringing.  

I am scheduled for a hair cut this week and wow, do I ever need one. The humidity that has taken hold here has turned my hair into sheeps' wool!  Gaaaaakkk!!!!  It is too thick and curly when it gets wet now, but if I can get it thinned a bit my flat iron will take care of what is left.

Pensions come in this week so I have our rent and charitable cheques written out, ready to be disbursed midweek. I always feel a sense of relief once that rent cheque is delivered to the office....safe for another month! hahaha!

More rain is predicted for this coming week and I hope that most of it actually arrives as predicted.  We do still need much moisture here.  

Car repairs early in the week mean a couple of good long walks back from and back to the dealership with perhaps a bit of bacon and egg breakfast along the way home in the morning, or coffee out in the afternoon on the way back to pick the car up again.

My husband had a pleasant surprise today. He went over to the university library to renew his library card and found out that the non-student community no longer has to pay a fee to have a card.  Bonus!!  

It is Pentecost Sunday tomorrow at church. The kids and youth from the church are doing 3/4 of the service and that is always a wonderful time!  Our minister, despite what will likely be another good sermon, will be hard pressed to compete with the cuteness and amazing talents of those young people.  We are so looking forward to the service.

I have a few more mornings to fill with activities this coming week.  Yes, there is always housework, but I mean FUN!!!! activities with friends!  hohoho!  Looks like a good week ahead.  

Enough blithering and blathering for now.  Hope all of you readers are well and enjoying life as much as possible, particularly those of you who are struggling with health and other issues. I pray that the burden can be lifted this week, at least for long enough that you can regroup and get back on top of your emotions and fears and worries. The Lord Be With You In Mercy and in Hope! Amen!

Alternatives For Recovery!

This morning at my church's women's breakfast, one of our church members gave a talk on her line of work: providing programmes and counselling for addicts of all kinds.  I know from our own family experiences that while A.A. and N.A. are lifesaving programmes for many people and have a pretty good track record, 12 step programmes do not work for everyone.  The first time I attended an A.A. meeting I knew that constantly talking about the past and starting every meeting with "My name is So and So and I am an alcoholic." was not something I could ever have done. For me, it would keep me too focused on the addiction.  Other family members with addictions needing help struggled mightily and not always successfully with that type of programme.

Today I learned about another programme based on cognitive and behavioural therapies that for me, seems more positive and more directly involved with changing thinking and emotional responses that can trap us in addictions.  It is called Smart Recovery and is more the sort of programme that I could see our family relating to.  I was really impressed with it.  Apparently every other province in Canada, most of the states in the USA and many European countries have been using this programme successfully for some time.  Why am I not surprised that MY province is ridiculously slow to want to offer an alternative therapy for recovery from addictions?  I won't get into my problems with the culture and attitudes in this place right now, but I am VERY proud of my friend who has spent two years or more coming up against that culture and interesting the provincial ministries here in incorporating this programme into addictions centres of all kinds.  It has been endorsed at a federal level for some time now.  

My friend is working tirelessly and pretty much on her own to be the face of Smart Recovery in this province and this morning asked for our prayers that she would be able to interest the universities and schools to look at the programme as another useful resource to be added along with A.A. and N.A.

Oh my friend, that I am doing!

More Wonderful Warmth Today

 The forecast showers never did materialize here yesterday, at least not in our part of the city...most disappointing!  There MAY be a few scattered showers or a bit of a thunderstorm here later this afternoon or early evening....or not.  We are in desperate need of moisture, so we continue to pray for the blessed rain to fall.

My husband is grateful that it is dry this afternoon because he is busy working hard on his second gardening/planter building project.  The lack of rain thus far this week has certainly been a help to him and he is hoping against hope that he can be done with it by the end of this coming weekend.  I will believe that when I see it, but at least he is feeling well enough now to be putting in several hours of constructive work each day this week.  Happy for him.

I had what is hopefully my second last laser treatment today.  The technician is working on the fine hairs now, so we are nearly done.  The worst part for me is remembering not to expose my face to the sun for a good week prior to the appointment...not easy to do in May and June.  However, the joy of keeping my COVID masks in my purse is that I can cover up my chin with it if I do need to go outside during that time. The tech was giving away teeny tiny succulent plants for some reason today.  I love the one I got. It looks like it should go into the flower beds outside a small doll house.  It is so teensy and cute!  Since the succulent I got for my birthday some years ago now is dying out, this one can replace it. I have enough soil left from my last transplanting venture to get it into a decent sized pot.

The smoke in the upper altitudes is keeping the sky rather grey, no blue sky peeping through anywhere in my line of sight today, but the temperature is warm and lovely in the mid +20C's, which is perfect for me. I wish this was as hot as it would ever get in the summer. There isn't much of a breeze today either so I had a happy walk to and from the laser appointment, stopping in at the area grocery store for a few things.

We are eating properly today after a crazy dinner last night.  For some reason I cannot fathom, we were both craving A&W burgers, fries and onion rings yesterday, so my husband picked up an order, along with some chicken fingers, on his way home from work. Talk about unhealthy amounts of sodium, fats and carbs for an equally unhealthy price....it was a TOTAL TREAT!  hahahahaha  I was so relieved not to have to make dinner last night after a very strenuous afternoon of household chores, that I would have eaten just about anything for dinner that I didn't have to cook myself, so that is why I enjoyed the truly horrible meal as much as I did! hahahahahahaha  Slept like a top last night, waking up for about a minute at most during my 8 hours of overnight rest.  It was wonderful!

My husband is setting up an appointment at the car dealership for next week. We HAVE to take time to get the studded winter tires off our car!!!!  We have not had a whole business day free to do that since before we went to Alberta in April, so it is past time.  We have to heed the recall notice as well to check the undercarriage bracing.  Once those chores are done, we will make an arrangement later on to have the car completely assessed in regard to refurbishing the whole vehicle vs buying a new(er) one toward the end of this year once Mom's estate duties are complete.  Lots of decisions to make.  We like the vehicle we have so very much, have no need whatsoever for all the fancy geegaws on the new cars....other than the back up camera, which could be a very useful safety feature, there is nothing else we want to have to deal with in new cars. I LIKE starting my car with a key. I LIKE having the gears on a stick between the front seats.  I LIKE NOT having the dashboard covered with little pushbuttons that do all manner of things I don't need or want to have to do while I am driving.  My husband and I are minimalists when it comes to vehicles and do not want or need all the special extra electronic features. They are just more items to have to fix when they break down.  Give me a radio for long distance travelling. That is the only thing I need or want.  What a Scrooge, eh?? hahaha

I am going to cook a huge pot of farm fresh asparagus tonight.  We got it from a friend a couple of days ago and I want to get it used up before it loses its freshness.  Oh YUM!  I also have some beef cubes and carrots and potatoes and onions that I want to put into my One Pot tomorrow and make a quick stew.  We didn't have it that often this winter for some reason, so we have been craving stew lately. It is a healthier craving than burgers and fries too!  BONUS!!!!

Our Goddaughter Is Graduating Today!

 It is hard to believe that our American goddaughter is graduating from Grade 12 this very day.  Congratulations sweetie!  We are so very proud of you!!  May the Lord plant your feet firmly along the best path for your future.

Photos From One of the Ubiquitous Prairie Lakes

Kat send me a few photos from her long weekend trip. The birds make me miss our back yard summer birds in the town where we had our first parish, the flowers make me miss the greenhouse my father used to have and the bear makes me miss the mountains of Alberta and British Columbia.

CcKat2023

CcKat2023

CcKat2023

CcKat2023

Yup!!

”Maturity is realising how many things don’t require your opinion.”

—Anonymous 

Friend Spider!

We have been inundated with mosquitoes in the past couple of weeks, since our one day of minimal rainfall.  Wow....every child we see playing in the back lawn areas of our complex are covered in little red welts and obviously scratched patches of skin on arms and legs and faces.

At this time of year the bazillion spiders around here are actually our friends!!  every evening after dinner I take an old dust rag, put it on a stick and wipe off all the spider webs around our doors and windows, window wells and porches. Those webs are filled with hundreds of mosquitoes trapped by the gossamer strands of webbing.  Every morning I look outside and there are the brand new webs spun overnight by more spiders, all filling up again with mosquitoes who will never again get the chance to bite any of us!!  YES!

As much as I still get freaked out when I Open the inside back door and find spiders hanging down between the doors on single threads of webbing, ready to drop on my head, I have to admit I do appreciate all they are doing out of doors to catch and eat the mosquitoes that torment us.

Thank you God for (some) spiders...but could we have a few less spiders around here, just for a couple of years? They do tend to find their way into the house far too often and I react badly to their bites....could we? Huh? Huh? Could we??? Could we???

Our goose population has increased from three to seven with the arrival of two new mated pair we have not seen before. They are not banded so don't know where they have come from.  I suspect they laid eggs that either did not hatch or were raided by other animals or destroyed by humans.  Since our lawns have not yet been cut this year the long grass and myriad dandelion flowers are sorely tempting to them as a food source. Add in the puddles that tend to form in the dips in our parking lot when the lawns have been watered, or someone has hosed off their car, or it has rained and it is a perfect environment for them.  There are no leashless dogs or cats running about to hurt them either and the humans are friendly enough, so it is quite a safe place for them to hang out.  I wonder how many more gosling-less geese we will have here in the coming few weeks.  I have only had to shovel out the path to my car twice thus far this spring, but since all of the present crowd seem to enjoy hunkering down right below our deck for most of the day, I expect I will be doing far more poop scooping for the rest of the spring and summer and early fall.  Wow, it has been wonderful having a good long break from that miserable chore.

Although he got off to a bit of a slow start this morning, my husband was able to finally head out to get closer to finished on the raised garden bed boxes he is building for one set of friends. He is still feeling a bit vacant from his cold, but at least he is no longer sneezing and achy.  So relieved it turned out NOT to be COVID.  So far I am still well, but we shall see how the rest of this week goes.  Later this afternoon he will be checking in on job number two.

House chores for me this afternoon.  I have a laser appointment this week, along with a fellowship group meeting and a breakfast/birthday celebration with a friend who is turning 84!  What fun that will be. There are a couple of ladies invited who I don't really know, so am really looking forward to our time together, feasting and visiting and celebrating our mutual friend.  My husband  has graciously set things up on his own work schedule to accommdate my needs to have the vehicle for my own plans.  He is so great about that, always. 

Speaking of our vehicle, my husband is finally able to make appointments for it at the dealership next week.  It is STILL sporting studded winter tires and is also under a recall notice regarding possible rusting on bracing under the car.  We haven't had the oomph to take it to the dealership for the tire change and also we have been rather busy since returning from AB and also my husband has been rather incapacitated with his cold for a week.  (As his biologist sister told him, it takes about a week to incubate a cold, a week to suffer the symptoms and another week to completely recover.  We have always found her time line to be quite accurate.)

I am happy that now all my music is spoken for.  Over the next week or so I will get it all delivered to its new owners.  YAY!  I have some feelers out about the electric piano, but am not expecting to generate any interest in it.  I could sell it on Kijji I suppose as I have a friend who would happily post it for me, but I don't want to sell it. I want to give it away.  My father gave it to me and I want to give it to someone else. If that doesn't work out then someone will be able to buy it for a reasonable price from the thrift store.

The sky is very overcast from the high altitude forest fire smoke, but the temperature is very pleasant in the mid +20C's and later this afternoon we MAY get a bit of rain and lightning/thunder.  I do hope and pray there is enough rain up north to put out the fires.  Everything is tinder dry in the west this spring.  The town of Valleyview Alberta is evacuating today...that is getting way too far south, WAY TOO FAR SOUTH!  Fort MacMurray is under threat again, Grande Prairie....those places have suffered major damage from fires not that many years ago, so please God, help them not to have to go through that hell again already. Amen! Southern B.C. is under flood watch while the north is still covered in fires...enough already!

Fun With Furniture!

Oh my gosh, I had fun this afternoon! I pulled my electric piano out of its space, hauled it out of the living room and started rearranging living room furniture. I love rearranging things! As soon as we get rid of my piano I will be be able to suss out another sofa or a couple of chairs because there will be room to put in enough seating for company!! With the number of group meetings starting to happen at our house we are in need of more seating in the living room. Shopping for furniture is SO much fun, even with the ongoing supply issues and long waits for deliveries. I can’t wait to get started!

My music is all boxed, bagged and tagged, ready for distribution to various friends and second hand stores. Now that I have completed that project and see what can be done with the furniture, I just want it all gone yesterday!! Time to move on to new adventures with hobbies! In the last few days I have received much encouragement that there are interesting new things coming along for me.

What A Nice Long Weekend For Us!

Victoria Weekend Monday!  Has a whole year passed since the last one?  REALLY??  I don't know where the time has gone, particularly since so many months over the winter seemed to drag on at the time. Weatherwise this has been one of the best May long weekend holidays in years.  So thankful that the forest fire smoke here is still in the upper atmosphere, very little is obvious at ground level in the city. 

Last night we went to dinner at the home of one of our associate church ministers.  Three precious children and lots of wonderful veggies (and the introduction to us of fabulously delicious dill pickle sauerkraut) and great visiting as we all got to know each other better....so wonderful and my husband's bit of residual cold was not a problem.

However, we did decide it would be wisdom to cancel the visit with the cousins today.  BIG disappointment for us, but my husband  is not 100% better and felt wrong about taking the risk of exposing the cancer patient cousin back home to his germs!  Thankfully we will get to see them again this summer when we travel out west again.  

We did go out for breakfast this morning with our other visiting AB friend.  Our reconnection last August after more than 20 years of not being in touch has now resulted in reconnection for us with most of our friend's family members and other old friends from as long as forty years ago. This morning at the restaurant she was able to phone a very special old friend that my husband led to Jesus about 40 years ago now and hadn't seen much since.  My husband took the phone and stepped outside the restaurant for a long talk and plans have been made for a visit when we next head to AB.  God, what on earth are you doing now in our lives????  Are all these reconnections leading to something new and exciting for us in our ministries or are we just being allowed some happy reconnections that will go no further than that?  With the upcoming move next year we are checking out every possibility, even the most seemingly remote, for the immediate future.

Yesterday at church I discovered one of our young people is quite happy to receive some of my music, so I am sorting through it today to pick out what he said he would like to have.  Found an ancient book of old Jesus People songs, so will toss that into the box. He should get quite a chuckle from some of those lyrics. hahahaha  Some of them are more like anti-established church protest songs. hahaha  Praise God so many things have changed since those days in both the established churches and in the attitudes of some of the Jesus People of the time. God is good.

I was feeling kind of upset at the idea of having to give up my Anglican Common Praise hymnal, partly because I love so many of the songs (which I can no longer play properly anway) and partly because I spent a small fortune to get the flip binder edition for musicians.  I wanted to give it to another Anglican who appreciates the hymns in it and suddenly the lights went on: my walking partner Anglican  musician friend just might like to have it. I emailed her and she responded positively, so have it she shall.  Thank you Lord.

So at least some of my music will be gifted to others who will use it happily. That makes me feel better about not having it any more.

What turned the tide for me as far as any remaining upset or misgivings about getting rid of the keyboard etc., was when our minister was preaching yesterday.  One of the comments that stood out to me was about saying "YES" to God when he asks us to make life changes or to go in a different direction than desired.  I was still thinking about my Common Praise hymnal and having difficulty with the idea of not having it any more, but my ears perked up at the minister's comments and I felt my need to grasp onto something I can't really use any more falling away. By the time I got home from church I was completely ready to let go. My friend wanting to have it was icing on the cake!

So, my husband is feeling at least a bit better again today.  He slept more deeply last night without waking up to sneeze at various times, he was able to eat a proper breakfast for the first time in several days and that can only improve his healing.

I am going to iron some clothes this afternoon and do some more music sorting.  It is kind of fun getting the sheet music and chorus books and classical music sorted into piles for distribution.  It is a good day....a good long weekend!  My walk to and from church yesterday energized me and was so very good for stretching out the muscles around my leg hardware.  What a lazy sot I was this past winter, reneging too often on my indoor exercise out of pure sloth!!

Ha Ha Ha!

Cute meme of the day is a photo of the inside of a train tunnel:

The pessimist sees a dark tunnel.

The optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

The realist sees an oncoming train.

The engineer sees three idiots on the tracks!

*(for me personally it is a tossup as to whether in the course of daily life I am more often the realist or the engineer, but too often the engineer wins out....sigh.....I admit it.....)

Decision Made!

Well, after a few weeks of reflection, prayer and facing the realities of arthritis, recurring carpal tunnel symptoms, plus the knowledge that I will never again be able to play well enough to enjoy my music any more anyway, I will be getting rid of my keyboard in the coming weeks. My wrists and fingers can handle a three to five minute practise session once every two or three weeks. That means I cannot play any more. Time to face facts.

I thought once the decision was made I would feel sad, deprived, disappointed, but all I actually feel is relieved to be honest. Once the keyboard is gone it won’t be a daily reminder of something I only partly enjoyed in the first place and have been enjoying less and less with every passing year. I truly have lost all interest in music, particularly since my voice went three years ago. 

So, next week I will sort out my music books and sheet music. I have some young musicians in mind to give some of it to and the rest can accompany the keyboard to the thrift store. 

I feel as if the weight of the world is lifting from my shoulders as I have started to understand how I have held onto that keyboard for so many years longer than I should have, out of some sense of obligation....to who I am not certain. 

Our move next year is looking to become easier and easier as we get rid of things far in advance. Yay!!

Clear Skies, Sunshine, A Breeze and Just Enough Warmth Today!

Happy Friday on the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada!  I could stand a bit less of a breeze, but at least it is sunny and there is almost no forest fire haze in the sky.  I walked for over a half hour outside after lunch and had no breathing issues or nausea.  YAY!!  It is a good day filled with laundry and walking and posting letters in the mailbox and finishing watching the last of the recorded tv programmes that I saved while we were away at the first of this month.

My husband's head cold seems to have peaked today. His symptoms are no worse than yesterday and he has a bit more energy. So, I think he is on the mend.  I am happy for him.

I just received a phone call from a good friend who has been struggling with blood clots in her lungs and who recently received what could be rather scary test results from the lab.  Her GP has not been very accommodating since those results came in, but after a big fight with him on the phone the other day he agreed to send her results to a number of specialists.  Today she received a call from the thoracic surgeon who is concerned enough about her condition to triage her to the top of his appointment schedule!  Yes, that is a bit frightening on one hand, but on the other hand, someone is seeing the possible seriousness of the test results and moving immediately into action on her behalf. Thank you Lord for this doctor's response.  Soon she will have a closer examination in person with this doctor. Perhaps she will have a quick response as well from the other two specialists her results were sent to....here's hoping. If you are in a praying frame of mind these days, would you mind asking the Lord for mercy and grace for Vee? Thanks ever so much!

My last load of laundry has just completed its cycle in the dryer, so I will go and fold clothes. Tomorrow should be a perfect sort of day here at home for doing the ironing!  I am feeling well again and feeling at least somewhat in harmony with the Universe today! hahaha

Lake Front Property...Complete With Fresh Snowfall!

This morning we received a report from friends that the area around Clear Lake Manitoba had snowfall overnight last night!  We are about 4 hours west of there and it was brutally cold today after the past few days of nearly +30C weather, so it isn't difficult to believe that somewhere not too far from here got snow in the past 24 hours!  Fortunately we didn't have any, but we didn't have any rain either, so our land remains parched and the forest fires up north continue to burn.  Some rain is predicted tomorrow as a "possibility" for our area, but that won't help the fire stricken areas.  Friends in Japan emailed us this morning to let us know they are praying for Canada as our forest fire situation made it into their national newscasts last evening.  Japan is being hit with unusual weather too: boiling hot one day and freezing cold the next.  They will enter the annual rainy season in a couple of weeks, so I pray things will straighten out for them by then.

It was a pretty good day for us here, despite the bitter wind and cold air.  My husband had a bit of a sleep in this morning, waking up just in time to join his political group meeting on Zoom.  So he was very happy.  This afternoon he went with our friend to a series of industrial outdoor gardening supply stores he had never been to before and they discovered a number of new products that will make his two garden/flower bed building projects much easier and faster to do.  He has a bit of a head cold this week that is still developing, but no sign of COVID. Our home test kits are nowhere near expiration yet, so it has been nice having them.  Always good to know when an illness is NOT the dreaded pandemic virus!

I am pleased that the almond cake I made fresh this morning was a big hit for the ladies at fellowship and prayer meeting this afternoon.  They ate all but one small slice that I was able to retrieve for my husband.  I only bake two or three things well, so once they have had all three things, someone else will have to take over providing the snacks. hahahaha  Actually, I think I will go up to Le Macaron next time it is my turn to provide edibles and pick them up something very fancy and delicious!  They deserve it. They are a grand group of seniors!

Tomorrow I have no plans other than to whisk the duster over some of the furniture and vacuum a bit in the living room.  There hasn't been as much dust blowing in as there will be once the farmers are able to at last get into the fields just outside the city and prepare their land for seeding. So late this year due to the long, long winter. I hope their crops have time (and rainfall) to be able to head out properly before autumn gives way once again to winter.  Ooooh, just talking about the short summers and long winters here makes me feel a tad nauseous!  Lord, isn't there SOMEWHERE we could move to next spring with less extreme ends of the weather spectrum????  Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeee?  Mind you, with all the world wide weather changes due to our ever changing climate patterns, it is difficult to predict where the safest places to live actually are there days.

I have developed a nervous tic in my left eyelid!!  Oh how very annoying.  All of a sudden my eyelid will drop drop down part way over my eyeball and do some twitching before I can get it to raise itself again.  I haven't had this particular tic for DECADES!!!!  Long term stress is a nasty thing. Hopefully by the end of this year, both ongoing stressful situations, (the ones I am aware of, although no doubt there are more I have successfully pushed down to avoid facing them), will be dealt with and this stupid tic will disappear once again.  My son had facial stress tics when he was a kid and thus has great sympathy for me with this new silliness I am dealing with.  Aiii yiiiii.....Well, things could be a LOT worse as far as symptoms of stress, that is for sure.

Have a joyous Victoria Day long weekend, all of you Canadian friends and family!

Very Grateful For A Break In The Smokiness!

 It is about 11am and the sunshine and blue sky are showing again at last as the density of the smoke here lessens. I am extremely grateful!

I am very happy to have my leftover COVID N95 masks to wear when necessary. Today, after only 4 1/2 hours of sleep due to smoke inhalation, I was able to get myself out the door just after 6:30am to go grocery shopping.  The mask stayed on my face the entire time.  Our vehicle, after sitting all night in the smoky haze, smelled so strongly of it that I couldn't take my mask off even to drive to the store.

Fortunately only one item on my list was unavailable and it is something I can live without.  I raced around the store as quickly as I could in order to get home in time for breakfast and before my upset stomach could heave its contents in an inappropriate place!  Wood smoke plus whatever chemicals are part of the fuel for the fires equals incredible nausea pour moi.  Fortunately no such accident occurred and my breakfast went a long way to settling my poor tummy back down. While I still feel a bit odd, I was able to deal with the groceries and then tackle a huge paper shredding project I have been procrastinating about doing for weeks. YES! An accomplishment that is part of our downsizing project!  My husband contributed quite a few paper items to that project...things like our hotel receipt from a trip to Kalispell Montana in 1995 when our son was 15 years old.  hahaha  Seeing it did evoke some long forgotten memories, so it was fun seeing it. HOWEVER, there are too many things like that muddling up his file cabinet drawers, so I am really proud of him for getting into this project  a year in advance of the move. Good on him!

A Thick Blanket Of Smoke!

It is just after 5am and I woke up a few minutes ago, turned on the bedside light and saw smoke wafting through the room. My eyes are irritated and one sinus cavity is threatening to be quite painful. Despite the menthol in my nose I was instantly conscious of a horrible smoky odour, so I decided I had better shut the one window I left open all night to try to cool the suite. I looked out that window into smoke so thick the buildings across the street were barely visible. Aiiii yiiiii yiiiii! Every year at some point in the spring or summer we get a few days of forest fire smoke drifting in from northern fires, but I have never seen anything like this!!!!! It is horrendous! Oh dear Lord, please please clear the smoke from the city and please put the fires out. Amen! 

Cough, Choke, Splutter, Gasp!!

The thick smoke from the many forest fires burning in Northern B.C, Alberta and Saskatchewan finally blew into our fair city late this evening. Oh wow! I am so grateful that we haven’t suffered this aromatic disaster before now! It is just after midnight, my nose is packed with menthol and I have meds beside my bed to use if I wake up in the night unable to breathe. It is beastly hot in our suite after a day of +29C, so I am contemplating opening one window in the spare room in hopes the smoke will start to clear with the dying down of the wind overnight....she says hopefully. It is worth a try just in case it helps my exhausted husband to sleep well. Yes....one open window in a room we are not sleeping in, with the floor fan running, just may be the compromise we both can handle. Dear God, help the thousands of people who are being evacuated to be safe and to be able to return home soon! Please put out the fires. Amen.

So Far "Summer" Is GREAT!!

Althouth I am a tad concerned that having such hot summer weather early in the spring may bode a far too hot summer come July and August, I have to admit how much I am enjoying our present sunny, very hot, NON-windy weather this week.

Yesterday morning I had my first walk around the lake with my walking partner, only stopping once for a short break to give my hip hardware some relief, but taking only an hour to do our first walk together of the season.  Last year my first trip around the lake took an hour and fifteen minutes, so while I am still moving pretty slowly, it is encouraging to have shaved off that fifteen minutes over my slowest time last year.  My walking partner deserves an award for taking her sweet time with me as we walk: she is MUCH younger than I am, but so patient with her aging friend.  What a mensch!!  So very patient and such a good friend!!

After lunch I got a call from a friend who spent over two weeks in hospital recently and was looking for some company now that she is home.  I should have walked to her place as well, but it was already after 3pm when she called, so I opted to drive.  We had a wonderful visit.  I have been taking meals to her and her husband quite regularly, but for a Mothers' Day gift from her children, she was given a 6 months subscription to a meal delivery service.  I have seen some of the meals from this service and I think she and her husband will be pleased with the quality.  All I have to do now in regard to food for her is to bring cookies to our afternoon prayer meeting occasionally. 

My husband had a very successful day, yesterday, his first day of building large raised garden beds for our friend.  He got the first of the three frames constructed and cut a jig so that he could do all the cutting of the rest of the wood pieces yesterday as well.   He is really enjoying this job as things are going so well. He is working there in the mornings, then coming home in the heat of the afternoons to eat and rest, before returning to the job in the cooler evening hours.  I am quite certain he will complete this job by the end of the week and be prepared to do the project outstanding for another friend next week.  Two weeks out of doors will be healthy for him, he is pacing himself this year on these "help a friend" projects, it gives him that two weeks away from the monotony of our home downsizing projects, plus I expect the physical activity will improve his mental and his physical health.  He will get some balance this weekend as well when we have company from Alberta.

My husband surprised me today when he came home close to the noon hour and said since he had to go and buy more supplies for his job and there is a plethora of restaurants between here and the lumber yard, he might as well take me along and we could stop for lunch at the Knotted Thistle. hahaha  I was all prepared to make a decent lunch, but he wanted to go out, so we did.  I enjoyed the Guiness Burger with yam fries and he had his favorite Irish Pot Pie.  So, a nice meal once again that I didn't have to prepare or clean up afterward.  Thank you dear husband!

I am not really missing using the car as much as I thought I would miss it this week.  I do need to pick up a few groceries tomorrow sometime....or the following morning. Other than that I am content to be at home, going for walks, catching up on some paper shredding, watching a few shows on tv and reading.   While my husband was gone with the car this morning, our management company sent in the painters to repaint all the lines in the lot. Tomorrow morning they will come in with the big blowers and clean up the winter's gravel and new spring dust that have accummulated around the perimeter of the lot. Yay!  New bright yellow paint is so cheery out there on the boring grey pavement.

A Touch Of Seasonal Shock!

When we left for Alberta three or so weeks ago, we packed our car and drove off though the remains of a foot of snow that had fallen the previous week. We returned to see most of the snow melted, but there was still no green grass or other spring-like greenery to be found here. The day after we arrived back the temperatures started soaring, then a couple of days ago we received badly needed rain and suddenly trees are budding, bushes are leafing out, perennials are beginning to poke through the earth in some of the flowerbeds in our neighbourhood....mentally I feel like I am in shock! What is with the mid +20C’s during the day and temperatures well above zero overnight???? Isn’t it ALWAYS winter in Regina???? Inside, I feel like I can hardly believe that winter is actually over!! A full six month winter season has given me PTSD or something!! After such a long winter, which only ended a couple of weeks ago, I seem to be in denial looking at this week’s forecast highs of +27C, +28C, and even a day of +29C!!!!!!  WHA??? I stand corrected about the arrival of spring: apparently the overly long winter frightened it away and we have gone straight to the summer season.....oh my.....climate change may be creating interesting weather conditions here on the prairies!

A Tad More "Mothers' Day" Than Required!

 Church went well today.  The visiting organist, who we hope and pray will be able to be hired as our full time organist now that our former amazing organist has retired, played exceptionally well on our poor old organ that is having so many "issues" these days.  I pray that we will be able to afford to replace it very soon with something worthy of the talents of this new man.  My goodness, we did enjoy the music in today's service.

I was a bit disappointed that, despite an amazing sermon by one of our associate ministers, there was so much talk about Mothers' Day; it is the most I have heard from the pulpit of our church in the nearly 5 years I have been attending.  Sigh....for me it doesn't make much difference. I have a child and we are in a good space in our relationship, but there were others there today who were much less impressed even than than I was for personal reasons of their own.  Oh well, we all survived and things will be back to normal next Sunday.  At least we didn't sing "Faith of our Mothers"!!!!!  I have had that unfortunate experience at a number of past churches and I am sure that on Fathers' Day those same congregations will faithfully return to the original lyrics and sing "Faith of our Fathers".....most predictable and I am sure there are people who do enjoy singing that hymn each year in both its incarnations.  I am just sorry I haven't ever been able to convince myself to be one of them.

My husband surprised me by taking me out for Mothers' Day lunch at the Copper Kettle.  It was busy in there, but was not the noisy, overcrowded environment we were expecting on this particular day.  So, we had delicious avgolemono soup with our mains.  Oh how I enjoyed that soup. I haven't had it for years and am very happy to discover that the Copper Kettle makes it properly.  It had just enough "sour" to it, lots of chicken....oh my I enjoyed it.  Due to the amount of carby orzo in the soup I had my chicken and avocado wrap sans the wrap!  It was delicious!!  There were three large chicken strips, plenty of avocado and three thick slices of very ripe and delicious tomato with a sprinkling of shredded cheese and a bit of white mustard.  The wrap was replaced by two very fresh, large inner leaves of romaine lettuce.  I really enjoyed it.  My husband had a Belfast Burger with sharp cheddar cheese, sour dill pickles and more of the same fresh lettuce and thickly sliced ripe tomatoes.  He asked for no salt to be added to his fries and there were just the right amount of them.  Sometimes restaurants here serve so many fries with their burgers you are literally trying to locate the burger under the giant mound of fries....far too many of them.  This was a smaller, more manageable amount.  He also enjoyed his meal. The prices were most reasonable as well, so that was a bonus.

We had a nice walk to and from the church/restaurant this morning. The sun was shining, there was only a slight breeze instead of Regina's typical "hair standing on end" gales.  What a lovely day wandering past the trees and bushes that are finally beginning to either develop leaf and flower buds, or are finally starting to leaf out and bloom.  It has been a gorgeous day here in the city.

My son phoned me today.  His girlfriend is out at the house in Long Island with her aunt and they are getting the house open and ready for the summer season.  Soon that is where our son will be spending his weekends, relaxing and enjoying the ocean.  June and July will be filled with travels for them both: a wedding in Massachusetts, a trip to Washington DC as a late birthday gift to my son, a trip to Halifax for a conference on mathematics and art and then the trip to Avignon Performing Arts Festival in the  south of France, followed by ten days of holiday in Berlin.  I am grateful they are flying out of NYC for all their travels and only have the possibility of Canadian airport/airline hell for their one trip north of the border. I am very excited for them to be able to have so many adventures this year.

All in all it has been a wonderful day thus far!  Thank you Lord for happy, positive days like this one in the midst of so much other confusion, illness, worry, loss and fear that dominate so much of life as people age.

I Am SO Proud Of My Husband!

 My husband has become very serious about being better prepared for our move a year from now than he has been for any of our previous moves!  For the past couple of weeks he has been slowly but surely going through all the files in our main file cabinet up in his office, as well as boxes of assorted "stuff" he has been storing in the basement for years, both here and elsewhere that we have lived.  He has boxes and boxes of papers and old magazines etc. ready for either recycling or shredding, he has all but the last 100 or so photos and slides in our family collection scanned and printed onto computer files and the ones already done boxed and ready to be taken out for burning.  He has over half of our record albums put onto computer files.  He spends part of each day in the basement and part of each day in his office working doggedly through everything he wants to accomplish this time around.  For every other move we have ever had, he has been working right up until the last few days prior to our move, thus has been unable to do much preparation until the last month, when he turns into a frantic, driven, confused, upset, angry stranger who can't make a decision about what to throw away to save his life.  There has been no time and even less energy available to him prior to this particular move to truly be prepared.  When I told him a few months ago that I couldn't go through that again, he agreed with me and was already making plans in his mind for being prepared early....so far, so good.  I am so proud of him.  Even over the next two weeks when he will be busy building flower and garden beds for friends, he has some hours set aside for "clearance" of his belongings.  I think the last two days of going with his friends to purchase building supplies has energized him.  He is looking forward to much to being able to do a couple of more "rough" carpentry projects, where the focus is making sure the job is done properly, but without the extreme attention to cosmetics that his old job as a finishing carpenter required. As a perfectionist in his work, it is no wonder he struggled so much to complete his finishing projects on time.  I am really pleased by his behaviour, but even more by his attitude about getting rid of things long treasured....or at least long forgotten about for years, hahaha.  He is inspiring me to do more clearing out of some of my own items right away.  I have another bag of things to go to the thrift store next week.

While my husband was out with his friend buying supplies this morning, I loaded up our water jugs and drove all around the road construction crippling traffic downtown and northward until I finally found a route to the water refill supply store.  I found a slightly less circuitous route to get back home, then went for a walk to the post office to mail a graduation gift to our goddaughter in Florida.  The sun was shining, the wind was tolerable and I enjoyed the walk.  My hip hardware is getting used to the change to summer footwear and I am having less problem with pain after each walk that I take.  I am hoping to be ready to take my first walk around "the lake" in a couple of days with my walking partner.  I also received my first insect bite of the season on my way home from the post office.  The day of rain yesterday must have hatched our first batch of late spring mosquitoes because the bite wasn't too huge, didn't itch too much and has not bothered me since it happened.  If it was a spider bite it would have been much more swollen and sore by now. Dumb mosquitoes!

Our two pair of mated geese who disappeared from our lawn during egg laying/gosling hatching season, have returned as of this afternoon, no goslings, no evidence of having had any eggs that hatched this year.  The single goose seems delighted to have them all back as he has been very alone for the past couple of weeks.  I wonder what happened to their eggs/babies....probably my soft heart doesn't want to know.  

I got my Scriptures printed off for reading at church tomorrow.  They are pretty understandable passages and quite straightforward to read, so all should go well.  If you are looking for some Scriptures to read, our church is using I Peter 3: 8-22, Acts 17: 22-31, and John 16: 1-15.  The psalm reading is a jumble of selected verses and I am not sure how it relates to the other readings, but all should become clear tomorrow. I would dearly love to walk to church in the morning, but I am not sure my husband is going to be up for leaving home at 8:50am.  

Kat and Val dropped by this evening to drop off a bag of  fresh basil that has been growing merrily away in their basement while they wait for the overnight temperatures to be warm enough to set the herb pots outside.  Oh yum....it smells fabulous!  We need to pick up some fresh pitas to make pizzas with.  While we were standing outside on the sidewalk chatting, a very young university student ran past us to catch the bus that was pulling into the bus stop near our place.  For some reason the driver, who had stopped to let another passenger off, pulled away from the stop and buzzed off at breakneck speed, completely ignoring the young man.  Kat and Val decided that since it would be another hour until the next bus, they would offer to drive him to his destination, an offer he gratefully accepted.  Turns out he has only been in Canada from Nigeria for one month, researched universities on his own, has come to Canada on his own, happy to find an English speaking university to attend.  If you feel so moved, please send up a prayer for Devine as he tries to find his way through a new culture and school system with no family support here.  He is a lovely young man, and very capable, in a programme that should net him a very good job once he graduates.  So glad we were all standing outside when he missed the bus, so a ride could be offered.

Next week will be a week of vehicle juggling!  My husband will be all over the city most days next week and I have plans to have coffee with a couple of people who will need rides from me in order to get together.....aaaah, it has been so lovely since we came here because my husband's various diocesan positions here left him able to often walk to and from work, leaving me with the car most days. Now that he is retired it has been even better...BUT now he has the equivalent of nearly full time work for his friends for the next couple of weeks.  Hmmmmm....I am going to have to remember to ask him when I can have the car before I confirm my own out of the house commitments!

My big thrill for the day was walking past a thick stand of bushes near the park that are covered in flower and leaf buds!  Soon we will start seeing a bit of actual greenery around here.  The late spring has delayed leaves and flowers even longer than usual.  I am encouraged to see the blooms preparing to open and the leaf buds to unfurl! It appears that spring has finally sprung!!

We Didn't Start The Fire!!

 Someone certainly started it though, in the cardboard recycling bin out in our parking lot, just yesterday.  Looks like the neighbours whose parking space is right beside that bin were able to save their car from being damaged by the flames and smoke.

Last night as we arrived home from a lovely dinner at Ginger Garlic, we couldn't get past the entry way into our court's parking lot because there was a big old fire truck blocking our progress.   Fortunately the fire was in the smaller of the two bins and although it was hot enough to completely melt the thick rubber bin cover, it was smothered and put out quickly and easily enough with thick foam.

Aaaah, this place where we live is becoming more "exciting" with every passing day....and not in a good way!  The fires in our garbage and recycling bins are becoming more frequent, so that is a bit of a concern.  No one is ever seen or caught so........the other garbage bins in this massive complex have not been the victims of any fires since we moved in here years ago, all the fires have been in this court.  

Today it has been raining lightly all day long.  I hope it continues right into tomorrow because we are in such desperate need of moisture.  I was so thrilled to see it this morning that I didn't even put on my raincoat to go to our bank appointment, (where I THINK the mess our FA made of things is finally straightened out).  The feel of the raindrops on my arms and face and hair was so refreshing and it isn't all that cold outside anyway.

I hope and pray that northern SK , central and northern AB are getting rain today to help put out the massive fires burning weeks and weeks ahead of the usual annual forest fire season.  Southern SK may receive enough rain to cause some flooding and I hope that doesn't happen!  

My friend arrived home from hospital yesterday after spending 17 days there being treated for various issues.  I am delighted that Home Care will now be coming to her home regularly to assist her with some things she has needed proper help with for a long time.  Thank you Lord!

On Sunday I am reading the Scriptures at church.  I seem to have been pigeonholed into that part.  I don't remember the last time I was asked to do the Prayers or any other sort of public service on Sunday mornings. Once people discovered I know how to read properly from the pulpit my fate was sealed! hahahaha  I am not complaining. I am happy to help out with whatever I am asked to do in any of the services.  When my husband and I are asked to both assist in a service he is always the one asked to pray....understandably because he is the ordained minister in the family....and I do the readings.  I am glad we have been there long enough to be asked to do things occasionally.  It adds to a sense of belonging.

This afternoon my husband is driving around the city with his friend, helping him pick out lumber and other products to build flower beds in the friend's back yard.  They have been doing some gardening together for the past couple of years and the friend's sons are even more into it than their dad is.  My husband is thrilled to be able to help the younger generation develop an interest in growing vegetables and flowers.

Tomorrow morning he is going with another friend to pick up supplies for building raised garden beds in her yard.  She is able to borrow a truck to bring home all the wood and other supplies so that my husband can start building next week.  

I am enjoying my afternoon alone quite a lot.  I have time to blog and answer a few emails, catch up on some recorded television programmes and plan a decent meal for dinner tonight.  Tomorrow I will run a few errands in the morning and relax again in the afternoon.  This coming week is free of pretty much any committments for myself, husband thus far has only two meetings scheduled so he will have lots of time to enjoy building flower beds and raised garden beds for our friends.

Next weekend is the Victoria Day long weekend and some relatives and a friend from AB are coming to Regina for various reasons, all hoping to see us. I just hope we can work it out so that their free visiting times do not overlap. I don't want to have to choose who to see....we need to see them all. The one friend we saw last summer for the first time in over twenty years, so we REALLY want to connect with her on this rare trip she is making out this way.  I will have a clean house and groceries in the refrigerator, prepared for whatever happens!  Should be a really fun weekend! We are looking forward to it very much.

Yesterday was a fabulous day!  I got cookies made in the morning for our fellowship group meeting in the afteroon and the cookies turned out really well...BONUS!!  I baked cookies and they were edible!!  BONUS!!!!  That so rarely happens.  The group listened to a short Beth Moore video and had a lively discussion about what she shared so that was fun.  We were going to be short two chairs for the group, but as it turned out two people weren't able to come so it all worked out well for seating. Whew!!

Before the group arrived I had a phone call to let me know that a fellow my husband led to the Lord thirty years ago and who we lost touch with a couple of years later, is still thriving in his faith and has written a testimony book where he has included his encounters with my husband and others we know who were instrumental in his coming to Christ.  He also has a vido posted on You Tube: an interview with a podcaster about his life and faith. This fellow was still a full patch member of a well known motorcycle club at the time of his meeting with Jesus, newly released from a federal penitentiary after serving his second stint for multiple charges of attempted murder and armed robbery, so for him to end up at small town church meeting three provinces away from home, with no intent to find God, then to be so touched by what he heard that night that he turned his life over the the Lord....well, it was a fantastic life change for him and a wonderful experience for my husband to be sitting right beside him when the Lord touched this deeply wounded, very violent fellow.  It was amazing for all involved and to know he is still serving God all these decades later....wow....my husband's faith has been most encouraged by this news.  The fact that the fellow remembers him is awesome.  The friend that is coming here from AB next weekend was also involved in the aftermath of that event, so we have a lot to talk about. God has done some pretty incredible things in all our lives since we last got together.  I can't wait to catch up on all those years we have missed visiting.

So, lots to look forward to.  I am hoping to see a few friends next week instead of having to spend the entire week doing "chores" like I had to do this week.

Time for a bit of catchup on my recorded tv programmes, aka NAPPING ON THE SOFA!

Pick Up Thy Hip Hardware And Walk!

What a productive couple of days! I spent most of yesterday and all morning today cleaning and picking up baking supplies for Thursday afternoon’s company. Since I was able to complete my work before noon today I decided to take my throbbing hip and make another round trip walk to the hospital and grocery store and back. With every walk I take the muscles and tendons around my hip and ankle hardware are slowly adjusting to the change from winter boots to summer walking shoes and sandals. Last night I was alternating sitting and standing and jogging on the spot in a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to minimize the pain. I was kind of dreading walking today because I was afraid the pain might be even worse tonight, but it wasn’t! It was there all evening, but not excruciating like last night and the night before that. I was able to sit comfortably for a couple of hours for a nice visit with Kat. I didn’t have to get up and move around to alleviate pain. Perhaps the adjustment to summer shoes and sandals will take less time this year!! Oooooh, that would be lovely!!

My husband had a nice afternoon with his friend, planning out a how to complete a gardening project they started together last year. Tonight he helped Kat plan how to set up raised garden beds in her yard. So, once the supplies are picked up on the weekend, he will have a happily busy week building frames for both his friends. He is very happy about that. 

He arrived home with an announcement that he was taking me out for dinner....how sweet! We went to an inexpensive “only in SK” chain restaurant and had an adequately tasty meal for $34! Seeing the amount of the bill definitely improved a somewhat mediocre dinner!!!? hahahahaha 

Bank appointment on Friday to straighten out a mess our so called financial adviser made a couple of months ago but has only recently come to light. Sigh.....our branch is a training branch and I suspect our poor young FA requires a tad more training!!  

Friday afternoon my husband will be gone, working on one of the gardening projects. I think I will be tired by then and will likely waste a couple of hours watching tv!

Happy Update On Cee

Hello prayer warriors and other concerned folk! Good news today! Prayers were definitely answered with a big YES for Cee last night! Despite some residual pain he fell asleep last night and didn’t wake up for hours and hours! Today he has no pain! 

Thank you for interceding on his behalf, (please don’t stop). Cee and Nan thank you too with great joy.

Lord, grant Cee some pain free days to encourage him and keep his and Nan’s spirits up. Amen!

Urgent Prayer Request for Cee!

 Hello prayer warriors:  i have an urgent and heart breaking email from nan to inform me that cee has been been experiencing agonizing neuropathic pain since last night!  despite taking the maxiumum amount of all the pain killers he is allowed to have he is no better. There is nowhere nan can take him for more medical help and his suffering is intense.  nan's emotional suffering watching cee go through this is equally intense and my heart is breaking for them. their faith in god is strong, but it is being tested every second right now. thank you for praying for them.  the pain situation has become desperate today after a few blessed weeks of minor, occasional neuropathy.  they covet your prayers.

Update a few hours Later: Cee is experiencing far less pain, but the episode is not over yet. He went almost a month with only a few Minor episodes of pain, but the one we have all been praying for today has been the worst one to date. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

The Things A Person Remembers!

We are currently taking a class at church on Sunday mornings on the Theology of Food. The  class brought back a memory for me from when I was 14 or 15 years old and Dad was teaching music and directing the choir at our denominational school..MANY years ago! More than half a century in fact.

It was nearly the end of the spring term so Mom and Dad were hosting an open house for the staff and students as a farewell as Dad wouldn't be back at the school that September. 

Mom and Dad and I made 400 tiny "cocktail" sandwiches for the large student body. These sandwiches were very popular in the 1950's through the mid 1970's for such large gatherings and consisted of slices of white bread, crusts trimmed off, then slathered with combinations of cream cheese and walnuts, cream cheese and raisins, cream cheese and vanilla flavouring, cream cheese and green olives, cream cheese and whatever else was in vogue at the time.  The cream cheese was initially divided into bowls and then coloured with various food colourings, mostly red and green and yellow before adding in the other foods.  The white bread slices were cut into triangles or small squares, or rolled into pinwheels before being displayed on the most fancy serving plates and trays available. Mom also baked up about a dozen kinds of squares and cookies and loaves. 

The open house was to last from 2pm until 5pm and we rushed around all the day before cleaning and making all the sandwiches and baked goods with much anticipation.  2pm arrived, then 3pm and not one student or staff had arrived at our house.  Dad checked our calendar over and over again, sure he had the correct date and he did. Finally in desperation at about 3:30pm he called the school in hopes someone was there, but no such luck.  Shortly afterward a few carloads of our expected guests finally arrived, looking rather embarrassed and completely stuffed already with food from some sort of banquet that had been thrown for them at someone else's house, no one remembering that the original plan for the open  house at my parents' was supposed to include some kind of food.  It was a bit of a communications disaster all the way around.

The students were not at all interested in cocktail sandwiches and other goodies at that point, having just come from a huge banquet and even then arriving mostly out of guilt that it would be rude not to respond to the music professor's invitation that the school had accepted on their behalf.  They were so apologetic when they saw the spread my parents had laid out for them, and most of them valiantly downed a sandwich and cookie or square in an attempt to make my mom feel better about the whole affair.  The staff was horrified when they realized what had happened and were so very apologetic that it upset my poor mom even more than them not eating her food.  She cried and cried after they left because she was also embarrassed to have tried to feed them when they were so obviously not hungry. Oh my...

What I mostly remember is that for the next two weeks every meal except breakfast was composed mostly of left over, frozen and then thawed cream cheese sandwiches!  I actually became quite ill for a couple of days from consuming so much of the rich, fatty cheese spread. By the time we had eaten them all, (no food wasting in our home and no one else would take the things off our hands), none of us could face cream cheese in any form. To this day I cannot force myself to eat anything with cream cheese.  Ugh!!  (Have you ever eaten cream cheese with rum flavouring? Don't!  Just don't!  Dad grabbed the rum flavouring for one batch of sandwich spread thinking it was vanilla...a mistake he never made again!)

Isn't it interesting the memories that can be evoked years after the fact!