This iPad…..

 …..likes to change font sizes mid way through my posts sometimes, but those changes do not appear on my screen until I have already posted. Sorry about that….

If An Election Was Called Today…..And I Had To Vote…..

 ….I honestly don’t have any idea who I would choose! At the moment I seem to have a choice between an ineffectual mealy mouth, a woke cultural terrorist and a dangerous buffoon. Who would I choose? Who? Who? Who?

I will let you, the reader, decide who I am assigning each of these “monikers” to and whether I  am referring to civic, provincial or federal politics, since in my case they apply to all three. Since I don’t believe in public name calling of identified government officials/candidates and I do believe in secret ballots for voters at all levels of government elections, I will never say who is who in my mind nor who I will vote for next time an election is called, but after spending time watching, hearing and reading about the antics of politicians at all three levels of government, federal, provincial and civic, I am rather concerned about how I am going to exercise my voting rights with the privilege and responsibility involved when next I get the chance! 

Trying To Think Farther Ahead!!

The sun has come out this afternoon...about 5pm at present....after a chilly, overcast day with a few drops of rain falling at intervals this afternoon.  My mood is always cheerier when the sun shines!  Poor old Calgary, Banff and other places in Alberta are forecast for about 40cm of wet snow over the next few days....a residual system stemming from the system in the USA that has brought so many storms and tornadoes to the mid western and southern states.  My husband has already given up any ideas he had of getting out into the mountains for a quick hike in June now that even more snow is coming down.  We can only pray that the directional swing on this system will continue to be northward to give more moisture to the northern forests as our early forest fire season has already begun.  

It seems that when we have a stressful committment around here, like my husband's medical appointment this morning to get his most recent test results, I can't seem to think or see past that committment to make any plans for the remainder of the day.  Today was no exception.  He was done at the doctor's office and I was finished my bit of shopping in the store next door to it by 11am and we came directly home.  We discussed a possible issue that has arisen from his test results, I made lunch and then....then what??  I couldn't seem to pull anything together once I made lunch and washed the dishes. We did spend a few minutes reading the next chapter in our book together. The rest of this afternoon passed in a blur of nothingness.  I watched a tv programme and spent an hour scheduling recordings for the next two weeks. Then I meandered around our suite and spent some time looking out the window at the street on one side, where some road construction is happening, then looked out the window on the other side of the suite to watch one of the cute little dogs that lives in our building cavorting about with one of its young owners.  I must have been daydreaming because suddenly it is after 5pm and the evening is stretching out before me.  Perhaps after dinner tonight I will go through a few more items that could be packed this early before our move and get another box ready to go.  Perhaps...maybe.....I don't know.  My husband is happily working away on his sermon for this coming Sunday after spending the afternoon kind of spaced out before having a nap.  He already lost two nights of sleep because he was stressed about today's medical appointment and learning he has to have another test soon wiped him right out.  At least it is a TEST, not a definitive diagnosis at this point.  YAY!  Everything may be A-OK!!  You know how it is when all has been more or less well with your health and then something comes up that needs more testing, so your mind goes to the worst case scenarios first.  After a worrisome morning I think we are past that point of over-concern at this time of the day, thankfully.

We decided that since I forgot to take meat out of the freezer to make some decent dinner tonight, and since we have been enjoying eating porkchops with whipped potatoes, gravy and several veggies for meals for the last couple of days, we would just order pizza from Red Swan for tonight.  It is so nice to have a place that will deliver the smaller 8 inch and 10 inch pizzas so we don't have to consume salty, fatty pizza for days on end.  Only one problem:  we both forgot that we are going out with friends for Chinese food TOMORROW evening!  hahaha  There won't be any leftovers for us from that meal either as our hosts who are taking us will be able to take leftovers home instead.  Hahahaha....how could we BOTH forget we are being taken out for dinner tomorrow????  Our host is Chinese, so he will do the ordering at his favourite restauant and we will just sit there enjoying ourselves with no stress about ordering anything on our own!  Love it! Thank you Lord! Please bless our generous friends!

The sun is disappearing behind very dark clouds again, but that is okay. Just that brief sunny interlude was enough to defuzz my brain and get me motivated enough to order the pizzas and start figuring out what else I can pack tonight!  Should be a good night....AND I have a visit with my walking partner tomorrow morning to look forward to!

Happy, Antsy, Bored, Busy, Confused, Certain....One Of THOSE Days!!

 It started last evening when we realized that two of our friends from Moose Jaw were being confirmed at the Anglican church service there this morning.  To go, or not to go.....???  We couldn't decide, but it was getting late in the evening and we decided we were too tired to make up our minds.  Off to bed at a decent time, because wherever we went to church in the morning we had to drive out of here at about the same time.

We slept well, but my husband woke up feeling exhausted and miserable and undecided about what to do.  It was soon obvious he was in no condition to drive to Moose Jaw, so we decided to get ready and to go to our own church's pre-service adult educations classes.  Both of our classes were great, mine on Galations as we have such an experienced pastor/teacher leading the study and the other class my husband attends on Faith and Fiction, where the group was led this morning by a 13 year old girl talking about the cartoon Bluey and how it presents Christian morality but falls short on the big picture of particularly Christian spirituality. Heavy stuff for a 13 year old, but my husband said she did very well.

When I met my husband afterward, I assumed we would be attending the church service, but I found him slumped over in a chair in the narthex, looking beaten up and exhausted. He opted to walk home in the raging wind because he hoped it would wake him up and sufficiently clear his brain that he could watch the church service on Zoom while I stayed at church for the service.  The service was great, lots of good preaching about the Holy Spirit moving in our lives, good old songs and some excellent fellowship afterward before I drove home.  I found my husband making a bit of a snack for himself, having just awakened from a nap, having missed the Zoom service completely.  We couldn't figure out why he was struggling so hard to stay awake and defuzz his thought process, but then the lightbulb moment happend, we checked the calendar and realized he is past due for his Vitamin B12 injection. He will take it before bed tonight.  We should have clued in a couple of days ago when this over tired despite a long sleep business started.  Thankfully now we know what the problem is, it can be rectified quickly.

The sun came out late in the morning and, despite the chilly wind, I really wanted to get out for a walk this afternoon.  I started out, but decided the strong wind was going to make for a miserable experience, so I came home and washed the lunch dishes, then watched the first couple of hours of "Dancing with Wolves".....LOVE the first improbable half, don't enjoy the sadness that descends in the second half.  My own reality these days is difficult enough that I don't feel entertained by previous generations' sadness.  But that's just me......

What to do?  First I brought up one of the last packing boxes we still have left over from previous moves and packed up most of the rest of the second china cabinet. One more medium sized box will take care of the rest of it, but those items can wait until we are actually leaving, as we will need some of those things before then.  That was the one productive thing I managed to do this afternoon. A few dishes and glasses still to be used pre-move are sitting on the open top shelving and I have packed boxes sitting on the floor against the bottom part of the cabinets as those shelves are now completely empty.

Then I decided to take another try at solving the very last level of a computer game I have been enjoying for the past couple of months....I finished the first adventure at the end of January, only to discover a second adventure option, so of course I had to try that one.  It is an older game, takes forever to play, but for me that is okay. I am patient.  However, this last level turned out to be too difficult for me to complete before I ran out of  tools and lives and time....oh well, it is time for my husband to import some new games for me to play on days like this when I can't figure out what to do with myself for an afternoon.  

While the afternoon seemed to drag on, it is suddenly after 5pm and in another less than an hour it will be time to eat dinner!  YAY!  The day didn't drag on as slowly and boringly as I have been thinking it was!   

The cloud cover is back and the tree branches across the street are still swaying madly in the wind, so any idea I had of trying for another walk today has been squelched.  Soon it will be evening and my husband is feeling better now, so we will likely spend some time reading the next chapter in the Loren Wilkinson book we are sharing together.  There will be a couple of home renovation programmes on tv tonight I can watch after that and then I can read myself to sleep in anticipation of a more organized and eventful day tomorrow!

I can't say I care for days like this where I can't seem to settle on what to do next, hour after hour.....and yet the time still passes...yay!

Update On Anne

For those of you who have shared that you are praying for Anne: she has had many tests and a CT Scan. Monday she will start using a heart monitor. The first of the lab results are in and she has a few very abnormal results. Hopefully once the CT results come back, as well as the results from wearing the heart monitor, those can be viewed together with all the lab results for a more definitive diagnosis. In the meantime there are still pain issues and the confusion as to what pains and vision problems are due to whatever her medical issue is and which are a direct result of her blackout fall last weekend when she hit her head on the bedstead. Thank you all again for your prayers for her. She was supposed to be coming here to visit later in May as part of a longer trip, but I don’t know if that will be possible now. I want to be able to see her, that she is coping and doing better by then. Sigh…..I hate it when my friends are suffering like this and unfortunately in our age group, such things are just the norm these days. 

Still Looking.....This Is Going To Take Awhile!

I mentioned at the end of my last post that I was going to go and do some ironing, but instead I went back to the internet to start looking again, more seriously, for available rentals.

Hmmmmmm....I have always sort of known that it was going to be up to God to find us the "right place", but we can't sit around waiting for something to drop into our laps. We need to participate in the process, of course.  Every couple of days we get busy seeking out the new rental possiblities. Since posting the last entry this afternoon, that is once again what I have been doing.  Today I discovered several more listings that are appropriate for us that are newly posted within the past 24 hours.  All had phone numbers available for their rental offices, so that is my preference to sending emails/texts back and forth....you can't always access these phone numbers, so BONUS, or so I thought. hahaha  I had very brief calls with each office and heard very quickly that either, "Oh, sorry, we just rented it and no, we aren't taking any more names on our waiting lists right now", or else, even more frustrating, "That unit is actually on hold for someone else and no we don't want your contact information if those clients change their minds. There are too many in line ahead of you for this unit."  

So we continue to wait and seek and wait some more.  Eventually the answer will present itself one way or another. In the meantime we continue in faith packing what we can and downsizing what we know we have to.  It will all work out. Been down this particular road more than once in the past. God has been faithful to provide. 

Thanks to those of you who are praying for us about this move.  Prayers are helping us maintain our peace of mind and heart and spirit as we wait to see what happens next. 

I remember when we desperately needed a rental in Calgary the year my husband began seminary.  There were group showings of the scant available apartments and at the end of each showing there was a bidding war between those in the group wanting to rent each one.  The apartments were renting for hundreds of dollars over the advertised rent as desperate renters fought tooth and nail to find places to  live.  After our third session of this craziness, we withdrew from the entire process and took a precious week off from the time sensitive  search to simply pray.  Through a series of odd events we ended up talking to a realtor who also screened clients for his friends' many rental properties. Since he thought we were a safe bet to be good tenants, he found us a place in less than two days and all the stress was taken care of for us.  We didn't have to participate in any kind of bidding war and the nastiness that accompanies such things when people are fighting face to face.  Thank you Lord...I am keeping that situation in mind as we seek accommodation in a tight rental market once again. Amen!

Revelling in the Spring At Last!

What a glorious day it is today....really springlike!  The sun has been shining all day, there is warmth in the air, the April gusty winds are not quite as chilly as they have been....BUT the spring smell in the air is not yet obvious.  It will come......

When I walked over to the office to pay our rent this morning I stopped and chatted with the neighbour, played with her dog for a few minutes, looked graciously (for a change) upon the lone goose in the back yard who is very frightened of the vineyard ball hanging from the bedroom window and rarely crosses our walking path as a result, YAY!  I was glad my husband wanted to run two errands this morning and took me along for the ride. Such a lovely day to be out and about....I look forward to the many more such days that are forecast over the coming week.

Unfortunately we decided to stop for a quick lunch at a popular Greek diner of long standing along our route....sigh....we KNOW BETTER than to order anything other than bacon and eggs there...we KNOW NOT TO, BUT WE DID ANYWAY!! Duh...that'll "larn" us!  My husband's steak sandwich wasn't wonderful, but at least it was edible and came with a tasty Greek salad and lemon roasted potatoes that were okay.  I, thinking about the wonderful eggs benedict my friend had eaten at Breakfast Bistro yesterday, stupidly ordered a benedict, assuming that if it wasn't as good as hers had been, at least there is a standard presentation of a bennie....WRONG, wrong, a thousand times wrong!  The server brought me a huge lasagna plate/bowl on a wooden tray base and there was a giant, hulking steak knife protruding from the serving dish....a steak knife for a bennie?  As I looked down at the contents of the dish my heart sank and my stomach kind of clenched.  Inside the dish was my bennie, so covered in "soup" that was supposed to be the Hollandaise sauce that I couldn't see the English muffin base, nor either of the eggs, nor any of the mushrooms or chicken slices that were supposed to be included.  Adding to the slop was the fact that I had ordered the eggs to be soft poached, so once I slid the knife under the soupy top layer and hit the egg yolk, its contenst swam immediately into the rest of the sauce.  The Hollandaise "soup" had so much lemon in it I almost gagged on the acidic hit to my taste buds and tongue.  Oooooh, ICK and DOUBLE ICK(ick)!!  I understood why a steak knife was necessary when I finally located the English muffin slices on the bottom of the dish. They were soggy all the way around, but kind of tough in the still dry centre.  It was so ghastly I was tempted to send it back, but figured I wouldn't get anything any better anyway, so I choked down what I could of the so called bennie and padded the meal out with some non-crispy, tasteless hash browned potato chunks, cut to all manner of sizes and shapes that I discovered on the serving tray, hiding under the lip of the dish the bennie was swimming in.  

It galled me to pay for such a mess, but watching the rest of the people around me in the very crowded restaurant where most everyone other than ourselves is obviously a "regular", I noticed many other bennies, all swimming in the same lemon water slough as my own and they were being consumed with great glee by the patrons who had ordered them.  The restaurant manager knows his clientele....bonus to him!  He is getting away with serving slop and making lots of money doing it.  His staff are getting great tips apparently for agreeing to serve meals like ours, so since WE are the customers who didn't fit the profile, it wasn't up to us to be complaining.  We bit the bullet (was it actually tastier than my bennie???) and paid the bill, swearing to each other that we would never again let extreme hunger blind us to what we know has never been a good restaurant experience for us, then drive elsewhere if we want to eat out.  Live and LEARN....hopefully the emphasis is on LEARN this time around! Kudos to the regular clientele for learning to enjoy the food there and I sincerely wish the owner and staff continued success in their business, but I won't be contributing any more money of my own to it.

Time to do some ironing and finish preparing for our Group Bible Study on Hebrews tonight.  We have been doing it in chunks, once a month and tonight we are finishing the last three chapters, which combined are likely going to take longer than just tonight's session to delve into with any success.  Should be fun!

Our Spider Kingdom Is On The Move! Ick!!

 Since we began moving packing boxes from our last move of over 9 years ago out of the basement to the upstairs to be packed once again, we have disrupted the quiet, "secret" life of our Spider Kingdom that has lived and thrived among the carboard boxes, behind the laundry appliances and under various tables and storage shelving units down there.  We are grateful for their presence, even though I can't stand them, because there are many places in the gaps between the top of the foundation and the actual subflooring that have been stuffed with insulation over the years, but have been regularly disturbed, pushed aside in spots, by digging moles and gophers, creating spaces for bugs to crawl in. There are a few places where bugs that belong out of doors, have decided it is more comfortable for them to live indoors, hence the need for spiders that also crawl into the basement to use those other creepy crawlers as a food source.  At least spiders usually have the good grace to remain out of sight upon my entrances to the basement; moi the screaming, shoe waving, spider destroying freak out artist who is going to deal with them immediately in devastating ways, rather than obeying my husband's edict to capture the spiders and toss them outside.  Sorry Spiders of our basement Kingdom, I just can't do it, as much as I may want to for moral and environmental reasons. Fear of the Ukkies overcomes my better, more appropriate, calm sensibilities every time.

These disrupted spiders are making their way upstairs almost daily now....at least 3 per day have been discovered on the main floor and/or the upstairs bathroom this week and only the few my husband has been home to rescue have survived.  Sadly.....or not, depending on your level of freak-outa-bility.  They are hiding in the cracks and crannies of the well used cardboard boxes, remaining out of sight until the quiet times on the main floor....like overnight or when we have both been out for an afternoon. Then they emerge to try to make a break for it. We get up in the mornings and return home from committments away to find them crawling around the kitchen floor, or on the ceilings trying to hide in plain sight.  

To say I am not happy with this latest development is an understatement, but it is partly because I have been the recipient of more spider bites since we moved to Regina than I was in the over four decades I lived in Alberta. Spiders bother me terribly and I feel so badly that I have such a visceral reaction to them, but these past few years of dealing with them more regularly than before have unfortunately not resulted in a better ability to accept their presence.  The experience of having a giant garden spider crawl out of the kitchen sink drain at my father-in-law's place out on Vancouver Island in 2001, the day we were moving in to care for the property after his death, traumatized me so badly that I don't think I have gotten over it! Aiii yiiii.....do these phobias ever get to a point where a person can get a grip and not freak out over the presence of the much smaller spiders that frequent our suite???

How many more spiders are we going to find now, crawling around in our living space?  The one in the bathroom garbage can yesterday really upset me by its presence, as I am sort of used to seeing them in the kitchen now, but they weren't supposed to be making it to the second floor.....where I sleep at night.....NOOOOOOO!

Oh help.......

As The Song Goes: I’m Walkin’, Yes Indeed!

 A very busy laundry and housework day today: up and down two flights of stairs countless times and that is wonderful exercise for muscle recovery in my leg! My husband took the longest route to walk to and from his prayer meeting this morning, so we are each happy the other is taking seriously our decision to improve our fitness. My walking partner has been in touch and we will soon plan a decent walk together. Tomorrow I am having an early lunch out with a friend, so I  should be home in time to walk to my afternoon coffee time with another friend. The weather is so warm and sunshiny that walking outside, even in the wind, is a delight after being cooped up all winter.

Update from Anne today: she saw her GP today and myriad tests have been ordered, her heart monitor will be in her possession on Monday and while she continues to have hot spells and stabbing pains in her face sometimes, she has not fainted or seizure’d again. Praying so hard for a diagnosis very soon. Thank you all for praying too! 

Mobility Success! Hallelujah!

This has been a good day for testing out how my leg muscles are healing! I was up early this morning and got to the grocery store before 7:30am, so the day started off well. Home by 8:30am to unpack and get myself some breakfast. I did the shopping without using my cane and parked as far away from the store as possible in the big lot so I could get a bit of a stretch in. No pain at all. Various house chores completed my morning.  At noon I asked my husband if he would like to walk the couple of kilometres to the church for a meeting there this afternoon. He said we could try it IF I used my cane and walked slowly. I did do both. The twenty minute walk took me over 30 minutes and I did have to put a bit of weight on the cane…..but…..I did it, and repeated the route home after the meeting. No pain, just the usual discomfort I have in one muscle group every spring when I first start longer walks after an inactive winter. I am delighted…thrilled, but mostly just grateful. I was flying so high that after making dinner and post meal cleanup and dishes I tossed a load of laundry in the washer to get a head start on tomorrow’s laundry day. Yes!!  

It is now apparent that the arthritis in my hip has not worsened over the past year. Any discomfort when walking is muscular and in the same muscle group that has bothered me for the past nearly 9 years since the hardware was first installed. Yes!! 

Update: I received a brief note from Anne tonight, very grateful for your prayers. She hasn’t had any more blackouts today and only a few relatively short bouts with the stabbing pains on her head. As soon as her doctor can locate an available heart monitor in her health region she will do a 24 hour strap on heart monitor test. Right now May 1 is the first day her doctor can have one delivered from the regional hospital, but we pray she can get one sooner. The miserable state of health care in this country is hitting closer to home all the time for me. I am so upset for my friend. She suddenly has a condition where, for now at least, she can’t be left alone, she can’t drive. Her husband is being just wonderful about upending his own life to care for her until she can get more medical help. Thanks again for praying for her/them.

Should sleep well tonight. I put the winter weight duvet away and replaced it with my lighter summer duvet. Good weather now for awhile. Yay!!

Please Pray For My Friend Anne….Thanks!🙏🏻

My friend Anne is experiencing some terrifying symptoms of what appears may be Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is painful at various points around the head and face, can cause seizures and, while there are a number of heavy drug therapies to assist in coping with pain, there is no cure. She is understandably very frightened and has already been suffering injuries from a late night seizure. Please pray for her. Thank you ever so much!

Not Sure I Was That Much Help At Church Today!

 Hohoho!!!  What a morning for me at church. hahaha  Reading the scriptures is usually a breeze; having had a ton of experience doing something so simple, it shouldn't even be worth a mention here after the fact, BUT I didn't sleep last night.....SO.....heehee....

I began my illustrious reading by trying to introduce the New Testament portion from The Acts of the Apostles. What came out of my mouth was The Gospel of Acts....WHA????  Did I really say that? Out loud?  In front of the entire congregation??  My pastor looked flummoxed and began immediately searching the service bulletin, obviously wondering what on earth I was up to this time!  I followed up that faux pas by telling the congregation that they could find the page in their pew bible so they could follow along with said passage, but what came out of my mouth was that they could find the page number in their pew bulletin.  This time it was the congregation members who looked flummoxed and began searching their service bulletin, trying to discover what on earth I was talking about.  Big embarrassed sigh......aiii yiii yiiii....

So, I learned a huge lesson or two from this "joyous" experience.   I learned that if I ever attend church in that state of exhaustion again and have a duty to perform, I will simply turn it over to my husband to do instead.  I also learned that our congregation is most forgiving....and/or have exceptionally short memories as so many thanked me for reading and told me I had done a good job.....okay, okay, Pity Compliments, but after such a fiasco at the pulpit I will take what I can get.  Oh my, oh my.....our church is what my husband and I call a group of Liturgical Amateurs, so they forgive my booboos much more quickly than the strictly liturgical congregations...although, come to think of it, I have been treated quite understandingly in those churches as well after my many instances of messing up one task or another. (Messing up easy tasks....it's my spiritual gift.....because it allows other people to learn about forgiveness.....................right??)

To add to both my own and the pastor's embarrassment later in the service, as the final verse of the closing hymn was coming to an end, he sidled up to me in my pew seat and whispered, "Are you feeling well enough to go to the front after the benediction and carry the Bible out of the sanctuary as usual?" (Oh relief, he thinks I screwed up because I am unwell, yay!)  "Oh certainly I am pastor.  I will even carry out The Gospel of Acts!"  Since the pastor had forgotten to turn off his microphone pac before he spoke to me, our  loudly whispered exchange and the tittering of laughter we shared after my comment were dutifully picked up by his mic and also "shared" for the entire congregation to hear and " enjoy" during the dead silence that followed the final line of the hymn.  Groan.....he didn't realize it until after we reached the back of the church, where I deposited the Bible in its designated spot AND after we had a little chat together about how tired I was this morning, AND after we discussed his sermon at some length....aaaaaargh!!!!  Fortunately the organ postlude was a crashingly loud piece of music that covered our conversation sufficiently for most of the congregation to experience only a slight annoyance that there was some kind of minor audio interference during the first half of the postlude.

I think perhaps I will just stay home next Sunday and lick my wounds?  Naaaaa.....I will go because I know not one person will remember what an idiot I made of myself today.  YAY!! Love these people.

Friends from church asked us if we could go out for dinner tonight to the Fancy Fork. They have never been there and have been quite anxious to go, so of course we said we would.  (Yet another chance to eat out?  At a quality restaurant? Twist our other rubber arms, right???)  Should be fun.  We are very close friends with these two gals and every time we get together it is a treat.  It is a lovely day for a drive out of town.

The sun, at least until a few minutes ago, has been shining brilliantly and at the moment the outside temperature is +19C!!  Unfortunately the new build up of heavy grey clouds likely means that the 50% chance of rain tomorrow is correct....moisture may arrive before we even get home from the restaurant tonight, but that is okay.  We are in such desperate need of rain. Praying the far north of the province gets a real dowsing of the wet stuff this spring to help control the forest fires, some of which smoldered all winter under the snowy piles of downed trees and leaves and are gradually breaking out again as the snow melts off the piles. Oh Lord protect the forests from any more fires and all of us humans from the ensuing smoke as the rest of last years' fires are (hopefully) soon extinguished. Thank you Lord, Amen.

 

It's A Relief To Know Already That The Lord Is Trustworthy, Or I Would Be Pretty Discouraged Today!

It has been quite a day...a good day of activity....but this evening I felt kind of sucker punched after talking to our "neighbour from Heaven" on the other side of the wall.  She called me over after dinner to let me know that she found a new place to live and so she IS moving at the end of May....the same time as our own lease expires, but we likely will not be ready to go then as we haven't found a place yet.  After talking to our neighbour it is starting to make sense WHY we continue to either get no call backs at all from landlords and property management companies, or else get terse e-mails and texts letting us know that despite recent ads of places being available, there actually isn't anything right now.  In the course of our neighbour's much longer journey to find new rental accommodation, she discovered that for every place that comes available, there are already between 200 and 300 people vying to rent the space.  NOW the lack of response to our own enquiries is starting to make sense.  The only reason she got her new place is because the landlords are friends of her daughter, so they accepted her application immediately, skipping over the other nearly 300 applications.  Many landlords no longer bother with waiting lists as there are so many applicants and are going to a First Come, First Served scenario.

Once I got over the intial shot of fear that surged through my stomach and brain as she shared her experiences in seeking rentals with me, I started immediately remembering all the other seemingly impossible situations we have been in over the past 25 years when it comes to accommodations, both rental and purchased.    Every time, just at the time when we honestly thought we would have to put our belongings in storage and live in our car again for awhile, some incredible event has occurred and we have been able to move into a most suitable accommodation.

So, Lord, we are trusting you once again for a place to live in the next few months.  Amen!  

I spent this afternoon, packing up most of the rest of the dining room items, in faith that our prayer to get out of this present suite is going to be answered, now that it has become clear our health is being compromised by this crumbling building.  So....it will be most interesting to see how the Lord provides for us this time. In the meantime we continue the search and assume we will recognize the answer to our prayers when it shows up.

This morning I went for another short walk, but I have progressed from my bruised leg being only able to manage 2 blocks to today's 6 blocks. Slowly, slowly those damaged muscles are healing. Tomorrow afternoon I will go out again and see if I can do 8 blocks.  I have to pay attention to make certain I am walking with a normal gait, not favouring the hurt leg, so that I can keep stretching those muscles and tendons.  Although it was still very windy today, the temperatures during the day are on the rise and I enjoyed my walk to one of the neighbourhood community library boxes to make some exchanges.

My husband got another walk in today, after nearly wearing himself out yesterday going back and forth to the car dealership in the howling, biting wind. He had a decently long walk to attend the funeral of an old friend and that ensured he kept up his walking energies.  We will make a concerted effort next week, both of us, to get going again on walking outside for longer and longer distances.  I want to be able to do the lake walk with my walking partner before too much longer.

Access to my posting page for this blog disappeared for the entire afternoon today; some glitch occurred somewhere outside my computer itself.  I am so grateful things seem to have returned to normal this evening.

Tomorrow I will read the Scriptures at church. I always enjoy that.  Having to give up music a few years ago made me feel pretty useless at church, so it is good to know that at least I can still read aloud somewhat decently.  By next Sunday I hope to be able to walk back and forth again.  That is what I love most about having to get going early on Sunday mornings in the warmer weather: that beautiful walk to the church, surrounded trees on the old residential streets along the way.

 

My Husband's Words To Live By: You Don't Know If You Don't Ask

 I admire my husband's determination to go after things he wants and not letting the first "NO" that he receives stop him.  Even in the little things he is braver, less willing to settle with the first attempt, more open, more "something" than I am.

Tonight is a prime example, a small thing, but still an example of his ability to work at getting what he wants.  He wanted to go to Agave for dinner tonight after a very long day of taking the car to the dealership to remove the winter tires and change them out for the summers.  It involved getting up extremely early to deliver the car and, although he was able to get the shuttle car home, he had to walk the 4km back to the dealership this afternoon in strong, cold winds to pick it up again.  While it was in the shop he was very busy in the basement getting boxes of items ready for the thrift stores and shuffling out to the outdoor garbage bin to dispose of several boxes of junk.  By the time he picked up the car and got home, he was very tired. So he wanted to go out for dinner just to get away from all the projects here in the house.  When we arrived at Agave it was to find a large sign on the door announcing that there was no regular evening menu available because of a sold out private event happening this evening.  As he peered in through the door he did see quite a few "regular" customers already eating, obviously being fed the regular menu despite the sign.  Now me, I would have just accepted the situation at face value and left to find another restaurant. My husband though, he opened the door to the restaurant, walked boldly inside and asked if the sign meant the restaurant was already closed to the public or was it possible for us to be allowed in with the other seated customers.  As a result of his willingness to enter the premises and ask the question, the manager decided they could accommodate us as the very last evening menu customers before the doors closed for the private event.  So, we had exactly the dinner we both wanted simply because my husband wasn't afraid to JUST ASK!  Why can't I be more like that?  I am so accepting, without asking any questions, thus I suspect I miss out on a lot of things, even small things like tonight's yummy meal, because I don't bother to step forward and ask, ask, ask.  I need to get over that.

A Wonderful Book by Loren Wilkinson!!

 My husband and I are reading a most fascinating book together.  Tonight we reached the half way point in Loren Wilkinson's book "Circles and the Cross: Cosmos, Consciousness, Christ, and the Human Place in Creation".  (Forward by Peter Harris; Cascade Books, Eugene Oregon, 2023)

To quote the summary printed on the back cover of the book, "Circles and the Cross in an invitation to explore two mysteries. One is the miracle of the cosmos: why is there something and not nothing?  The other is the miracle of consciousness: why should this collection of stardust be an I and not just an it?  Our basic response to those mysteries is wonder, and from wonder have grown the three great trees of human culture: Religion, art and science. This exploration is undertaken in the light of a third mystery: the cross of Christ is the clearest picture we have of the triune Creator of both cosmos and consciousness.  That self-emptying of the Creator out of love for the creation helps us understand the pleasures, paradoxes, and pains of science; it helps us understand how 'evolution' can be another name for creation; it casts light on the Enlightenment and Romanticism. In particular, it illuminates the environmental movement: an ethic in search of a religion.  Loren Wilkinson, drawing on fifty years of teaching and writing about our relationship to creation, invites you to join this journey into understanding how the cross of Christ sheds light on the mysteries that surround us-and gives us hope in a difficult age."

One of the things we have most enjoyed about Wilkinson's writing, as he traces the history of science and environmentalism is the way he can so succinctly summarize the basic philosophies and outcomes of the various religious, philosophical and scientific ideals that have brought us into this time of the environmental movement. He gives us an overview of the philosophies and teachings of people like Plato and Aristotle, St. Francis of Assisi, E.O. Wilson, Duns Scotus, Johannes Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and many others who have been influential in the thinking of the scientific and religious movements throughout history, who have led us to today's move from the recent conservationist movement into the even more recent environmental movement and into what the Cross of Christ has to do with any of it.  Reading the book is bringing our God expected requirement of stewarding the earth/all of creation properly to the forefront of my mind again after a long time of simply not having the energy to do much about it in the most stressful times of my life over the past couple of decades.  If you have an interest in the history of how science and religion went from being considered "roommates" of philosophy and practise to being considered by many in recent decades to be on opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways, even sometimes enemies of each other, how we can respect all of God's creation because of Christ's cross, I think you will really enjoy this book.  Certainly it presents a lot to consider as we look at climate change, world wide pollution issues, the disappearance of so many flora and fauna and what the end result of these disasters could be if we don't get a grip on how to stop the destruction.

I am pleased that this return to a kind of mini-winter will be coming to an end over the next couple of days.  We didn't get the bad snowfall here that the towns and cities in central Saskatchewan experienced and I am grateful for that, but we did get about an inch with drifting and it is so cold here tonight, after all the warm days preceding, that I am sitting here in a flannel nightgown and flannel tabi socks, a full length cotton summer tee dress over the nightgown, an overly large cardigan sweater over that and my summer bathrobe over the whole works. BRRRRRRRR!!!!  Going out for coffee this morning and managing not to fall down the icy back stairs was a confidence booster; coffee with my friend this morning and going out to other friends' with my husband this afternoon for cheery times of visiting, combined to restore my cheerfulness.  I think my misery over this kind of slow introduction to spring is because of my fear of falling on the ice and into icy snowbanks. Falling down and injuring myself right here in my own house kind of set me back on feeling secure when I am walking anywhere in less than optimum outdoor conditions.  Good to know......

Pop….Fizzle…..

I went out onto the back porch at 6:45am to see how much ice and snow we have after a freeze overnight. My bare toes detected a thin layer of bubbled ice under the 2cm of fresh snow. I noted the glistening sheen of ice on my car windshield out in the parking lot and the build up of blown in snow at the base of the windshield wipers. In the few seconds it took my brain to register the wintery conditions, my, “Yippee Kaiyay, it’s spring!!”, joyous mood dissipated like air escaping a punctured balloon. Sigh….. 

My fickle emotions……..they entrap me constantly. 

The snow is falling once again as I sit here torturing myself by gazing out the living room window watching the flakes coming down. The lawn is covered with another white blanket. The soil is in desperate need of this moisture, so I can’t be terribly upset to see it, but I can’t help feeling unimpressed this morning. Would a good rainfall not be even more helpful to the land?? 

Even though I am less than thrilled about once again having to skate out the back door and down the icy steps to get to my car an hour from now, imperiling my brittle bones once again, I am grateful for my friend who gets me up and moving early in the morning once a week for our coffee time. She is a blessing to me, forcing me to get out to face whatever miserable weather conditions present themselves over the winter, boosting my confidence about walking on the ice and through the snowdrifts to get to my car. 

In a few days the weather will be warm again, the snow and ice will melt and my emotions will be buoyant once again….until the annual May blizzard! hohoho

G#*^rrrrrr, Ra*^tzin F#@&rat%##zin.....

 Aiiiii yiiiii....I had a great day until I started started washing some dishes after my husband's late lunch!  First I dropped a heavy china sumo mug on top of one of his most beloved heavy glass mugs when the soapy water combined with my latex gloves to assist me in losing my grip as I was putting the mugs into the sink full of water.  The glass mug shattered into several huge craggy chunks and I put a slight chip into the side of his favourite sumo mug. Sigh....my husband is such a good sport about such things, but I felt horrible because the mugs I ruined were his, not mine.

Putting my dinner together was another Festival of Drop, as I first sent 50 grams of tortilla chips hurtling to the kitchen floor when I knocked over the weigh scale basket that they were sitting in.  The chips shattered into small bits that flew all over the kitchen floor.  It took me a long time to sweep and vaccum up all those teensy weensy pieces, but eventually I got another handful of chips into the scale's basket and onto my plate.  I made some guacamole to dip them in before covering the fresh chips with dabs of tomato sauce and diced green olives....AFTER I wiped up half a jar of salty water from the olive bottle that I knocked over, spilling oily "juice" all over the kitchen counter AND of course, onto the floor as well.  By the time I got that wiped and mopped up I was losing my appetite.  

BUT however clumsy I was during the late afternoon today, I managed NOT to spill the tomato sauce anywhere at all!!  NO permanent tomato sauce stains on any of the kitchen towels or appliances, none to mop up from the floor....way to go, dopey doo.  Ya' got ONE thing right!  Oh...that is until I dropped the still open bag of shredded cheese onto the floor and spilled half the bag, most of it landing underneath my, fortunately portable, kitchen island.  Being able to move that island made the cleanup somewhat easy....although picking up every last itsy bitsy shred of cheese was rather time consuming.

Eventually I did get my dinner prepared and heated. I sank onto a chair to enjoy it, but I sat on something sharp, eeeee owwww....a jagged and previously unnoticed piece of now dried out oatmeal bar that had fallen onto the chair earlier on when I was eating it for breakfast.....sigh....

Soon this day will come to an end....hopefully before I have any more food and kitchen related accidents!!! Good grief......

It's Raining, It's Snowing, It's Sunshining, It's Blowing...SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Wow, what a crazy day!!  The morning started off with sleet and a bit of a breeze, then larger snowflakes mixed in mid morning, then the sun came out for awhile as the wind started howling and drying up the water on the ground, followed by a few more hours of sleet blowing horizontally over the streets from the strong, northwest winds.  It is such a typical early spring day.  I saw kids heading off to the school bus this morning wearing winter coats and heavy shoes, carrying snowpants in their backpacks just in case we get a big dump of snow by the time school lets out this afternoon. hahaha 

Got a few more small home chores done this morning before heading out for a smattering of grocery items...and it nearly was a "smatter" as I came very close to dropping brand new jars of mayonnaise and pasta sauce on the concrete parking pad outside the store, but caught the bag they were in just in time! Then got a wonderful haircut! Had the best chat with my  hairdresser today. I have not seen her for over 8 weeks between her being away and me being away at different times since January.  Fortunately my hair grows quite slowly during the winter months, so it was only a little bit too long and difficult for me to manage over the past couple of weeks.  Surely does feel wonderful to have it much shorter once again.  

Now I am sitting here watching the sleet blowing past the window outside and seeing larger flakes of snow starting to come down in the midst of it. The streets are still warm enough to keep the moisture from turning to ice, but it is going to be below zero overnight so could be very icy when I go out to collect my friend in the morning for our once a week coffee and chatter.  Oh well....in a few days there is a wonderful warming trend on the way.  I am pretty sure there will be at least one major snowstorm/blizzard in May and then that will be the end of it....hopefully.  Two days from now the snow tires are scheduled to be replaced on our car with summer tires, so I do hope there is no ice on the streets that particular day! hohoho!

Got some great news the other day that friends from Alberta will be passing through in late May on their way to Ontario.  YIPPEE!!!!  Can't wait to see them.  We are already planning which restaurant to take them to for dinner, hahaha.  US?  Excited to see Alberta friends?  US?  Nope, not us, not at all.......(yeah right....). hahaha

Tea and snacks and fellowship tomorrow afternoon with friends from church, so that will be fun.  Thursdays seem to be a very socially busy day for me with coffee out weekly, sometimes lunch out, sometimes other afternoon visiting....I am growing to love Thursdays. My husband loves them too.  This week he meets with his world issues problem solving group while I am out having coffee then will join me for the afternoon of visiting.

We enjoyed our Chinese food dinner last night at Thai Garden.  What it lacks in ambience, it makes up for in hearty portion sizes.  We have not found a really good Chinese restaurant here in Regina, but this one is as good as any of the others we have tried and quite close to home, so it is easy to whip over there at the last minute for a half decent meal.  I couldn't face a plate of chicken and mixed vegetables AGAIN this time, so I ordered a combo plate and as soon as it arrived at the table, filled take out boxes with what I wouldn't be able to safely eat right away.  I had a wonderful leftovers lunch today and there was still fried rice from my leftovers left for my husband to enjoy with his own leftovers.  $35 total including tax:  can't beat the prices, that's for sure. So tonight it will be grilled cheese sandwiches here at home! Great big leftover lunch, itty bitty dinner!

Ominous Skies!

It is nearly 4pm and at the moment the sun is peeping out from behind the clouds for the first time since yesterday.  I woke up to thick black clouds that have been here all day, lightening only recently to a lighter bullet grey. The sky behind those clouds, what little I can see of it, is not as much blue as light yellow-grey.The wind is blowing as usual but not nearly as strongly as yesterday. Guess time will tell if we end up getting spring snow tomorrow or the next day.  Originally we were to receive about 10cm of snow, but now no precipitation is forecast....spin that wheel and see what actually happens!!  hahaha

My husband made another trip to some thrift stores and other industrial venues to deliver more second hand "stuff" that has been collecting in our basement over the past couple of months.  Through one sports store he found a ski history buff who is also a collector of old skis, so he was delighted to receive both pair of my husband's antique ski sets manufactured in the USSR.  He may also want the pair of skis manufactured in Yugoslavia, but they are newer and may still serve my husband well for another winter or two on the local cross country ski trails.  Lots of dishes, pots and pans and clothes are now in the second hand store warehouse waiting to be put on the shelves. YAY, it is FINALLY HAPPENING!  We are honestly downsizing.  I bit the bullet myself today as I was cleaning in my office and relinquished my Japanese two drawer black laquered jewellery box with purple flowers and green leaves hand painted onto it.  I don't need it.  I have a more practical box that is sitting mostly empty that my husband made his first year in trade school that I want to keep instead. I don't need two boxes that hold jewellery because I have so little of it.  I kept my small Egyptian jewellery box because I just like it and it is a small decoration that could be used for something in the future.  As much as I love the Japanese box, it is too big so I will sacrifice it for the smaller one from Egypt.  Now I need to decide what to do with the papyrus wall hangings from Egypt as well. They were gifts from friends, but since I have had no wall space available to hang them up in this large suite, I can't imagine having space to hang them in a smaller place.  It is going to be painful enough to have to relinquish some of my favourite photographs for this move.  Well, it is still good to be on the Downsizing Trail as we wait for direction about where to move to.

Moving....hmmmm....the new "thing" here in the suburbs on the farthest ends of the city, is to charge extra for parking spaces at the newer apartments.  Some of the ones we have been looking at want as much as $35 a month per space for an electrified outdoor spot or anywhere from $100 to $175 a month for an inside spot.  Yikes....particularly for those outdoor spaces when the car only needs to be plugged in for a total of 6 weeks or less most winters.  So, higher rent is what we are facing, but when we have to add in so much extra for parking, at simple apartments with nothing particularly special apart from their newness to recommend them...well, it is going to take absolute desperation on our part to agree to that.  Of course these places "have you over a barrel" with the parking because none of them are within walking distance of anything at all. They are Driving Only Suburban Areas. "DOSA"!  Hmmmm....Dosa.....that reminds me we still have two coupons for lunch at Dosa Garden Indian Restaurant we need to use up....yup, it all comes back to food, doesn't it, with me??!! hahaha

Speaking of which: my husband has decided I have worked too hard today to be worrying about cooking dinner tonight! So he wants to go out for Chinese food....really about the worst kind of restaurant meal for a diabetic, but that is okay.  He has been waiting a long time to go for Chinese food with me, so I will order stir fried chicken and mixed vegetables with no sauce....blecch...pretty tasteless, BUT more healthy in the long run.  It is his turn to choose and I can't say "no" to Chinese food AGAIN.  Bless his heart for wanting to take me out. He is concerned about how much my leg muscles are still bothering me and after all the vaccuming I did today, he is very worried. Nice guy but he worries far too much. Trust me family (and friends) I am still healing and am just fine!!

 

 

Hang On To Yer Hats Ladies And Gentleman! It’s April!

The spring winds were so strong overnight that the whole building was shaking and my husband found himself outside at 3am bringing things inside from the back porch. Welcome to the arrival of prairie spring!! We were originally hoping to go for at least a short walk today so I could start re-stretching the muscles I damaged when I fell, but somehow the sheets of dirt blowing down the street, detritus left along the roadside curbs from fallen autumn leaves that were buried all winter under snow and ice, is not inviting. Whenever I have lived on the prairies in previous lives, walking outside on winds strong enough to create dust devils on residential streets never caught my fancy for some reason. Yukko! 

Yesterday’s church service was a lot of fun: excellent music, a powerful sermon, tons of littler kids, a failed science experiment during the children’s story that embarrassed the pastor trying to do it, but gave the rest of us a great deal of hilarity and showed us all how forgiving small children can be, a yummy soup and sandwich lunch followed by a well organized and respectful General Annual Meeting. It was a wonderful morning for our congregation.

My husband and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching Series 4 of Inspector Lynley. It was such a happy, calm way to spend the rest of the day. 

Today we are back to the usual weekly tasks. I am doing some housework over the next couple of days, I have a haircut scheduled, our fellowship group is meeting this week, my husband is working on a sermon and a seminar both coming up in the next few weeks and preparing for his political discussion group. This morning we sorted through all our wine and liqueur glasses and antique teacups, so now I have another box of glassware and china ready for the thrift store. It isn’t yet noon, but we are getting a lot done today. Yay!! There is a large carton of my husband’s baked beans thawing in the kitchen so no cooking required today! More time available for other chores. 

Although the April winds are howling and we have three very cold days forecast this week, I am so grateful that winter is pretty much over now. 

Groovin' To The Music Of My Youth!

My husband and I had the most wonderful evening of (televised) music tonight than we have had in a very long time!  We watched the musical team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin receive the 2024 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  What an amazing concert!  It was two and a half hours of listening to an eclectic group of other artists sharing their interpretations of John/Taupin songs; everyone from Joni Mitchell to Charlie Puth to Garth Brooks to Jacob Lusk to annie lennox to metallica to brandi carlile to Maren Morris. What an array of singers and musicians singing songs that I still know all the lyrics to even after not hearing them very often over the past twenty years or more.  

Just as much fun as listening to these amazing performers singing incredible songs was watching the camera pans of the audience: hundreds of people in their 60's to 80's mostly, just a rockin' and boppin' to some of the most influential songs of their generation!  The majority of the performers fell into that age category with a few notable exceptions, so it was truly "our" night for musical memories.  When Metallica started playing "Funeral for a friend/love Lies bleeding in the sand" the whole crowd went crazy, jumping to their feet and waving their arms in the air.....it was like an elderly hippie event only with dress up clothes.  OUR PEOPLE!! haha

When Elton John himself sang some of the songs near the end of the programme it was great to hear how well his voice has stood up at his age....77 I think....loved seeing the aging band members who can still rock out on their axes and drums as well as they did 50 years ago.  

The two and a half hours flew past...no commercial breaks, thank goodness.  We could hardly believe it was over when the final speeches were given and the credits began to roll onto the screen.  What a fun Saturday night and we didn't even have to leave home for the concert!

 

 

So Lovely To Be Busy These Days!

 It has been a wonderful week for me, even though my twisted leg muscles are not completely healed yet.  Seeing friends, traveling short distances out of town, having some nice meals both at home and in restaurants, getting some house chores done, catching up on some purchases that have been outstanding for a long time....yup, a very good few days!

Went out for lunch with my morning coffee buddy one day.  We went to Le Macaron and had some very tasty crepes, sandwiches and desserts and some of the best jasmine tea I have had in a restaurant in a very long time.  Later that afternoon my husband and I picked up some other friends and drove out to Emerald Park to Fancy Fork where we had a most delicious meal.  The friends we took there are quite particular about what they eat and it was a thrill for US to have them so enamoured of the catfish steamed in banana leaves and the pickerel with vegetables.  My husband enjoyed his chicken penne with broccoli and a side of grilled asparagus, while I feasted on the grilled mediterranean salad with prawns and bruschetta.  The restaurant wasn't crowded this time, so that was an extra treat, along with the subtle piped dinner music.  Driving home STILL IN THE DAYLIGHT was also a wonderful thing.  Dusk was just setting in as we reached the city limits.  

Yesterday we drove to Moose Jaw where my dear husband unloaded over 70 books at the second hand bookstore, Post Horizons.  What a relief.  He is now so inspired that he is working on culling quite a few more books, with a new goal to move only about 200 of his remaining books to wherever our new home eventually turns out to be. I am so proud of him!

We had a good long visit with the proprietor of the store, an old friend from Alberta days, then enjoyed coffee with a friend from our former church there, ran into some Regina friends who were also in Moose Jaw for the day....and I was able to rescue her purse that she left behind in the restaurant accidentally....thank you Lord!  Off to visit Cee and Nan for part of the afternoon....they are very tired, but Cee was having a fairly decent day healthwise, so it was a most pleasant visit. His mind has not lost its sharp edge in the midst of so much physical suffering, so that is a mercy!  A late lunch at a chicken 'n' dip specialty restaurant, Deja Vu, followed and that was so much fun....giant chicken strips with Caribbean Jerk and grated parmesan dips, huge mounds of fries and very tasty cole slaw.  There was so much food that we brought over half our food home and will get two more meals each out of it.  Not bad for a lunch bill of under $50!!  My husband really really enjoyed his mango and peach milkshake there: thick and flavourful like we remember milkshakes being back in the 1960's before they became icky, drippy, thin, runny, overly sweet I don't know what's.... not MILKSHAKES, that is for sure!  This one was so thick it barely made it up the straw....now THAT is a proper milkshake!  I took one sip of it, just had to try it out.

It was such a lovely day for a drive yesterday.  It was rather overcast outside, so the sun wasn't shining directly into our eyes as we drove. The air temperature was fairly warm and while the winds were gusty....well....this is the SK prairies in spring, so they just are!  No problem. The car stayed on the road coming home in the worst of the wind, it didn't blow off the road into the median, so what more could we ask for, right? hahaha  About four days from now we are scheduled for a possible 10cm of snow and three cold days surrounding that....possibly our spring blizzard already? Naaaaa...there has to be at least one more major blizzard sometime in early May.  Alberta is supposed to get slammed with snow mid week and it looks like we will get the edge of that storm system here.  So thankful we made our trip to Moose Jaw THIS week!

Today has also been a good day!  I got going at a decently early time this morning and drove out east to the dry cleaner to pick up my winter coat. They did an excellent job of it, so it is all ready for next year's snowy onslaught.  Then I did a bit of shopping to replace some clothing items that are so old they are falling apart. That was fun.  I came home to get lunch ready for my husband and myself...easy peasy with all the leftovers we have in our refrigerator right now...and we ate our meal while watching another installment of Inspector Lynley Series 4.  I am hoping we can find Series' 5 and 6 somewhere at the library.   These first 4 series are available on their video downloads, but perhaps they have the other two series on disk at one of the provincial library branches that can be ordered in.  Here's hoping.

Off to church once again tomorrow....has a whole week REALLY gone past since the last Sunday service????  Incredible.  The AGM will be after the service, lunch provided, but I think we will wait and see how we are feeling in the morning to decide whether or not we attend the AGM.  We aren't members, so although we are always warmly welcomed when we attend, we do have the option of not going if we aren't up to it at the time.  Perhaps just getting a copy of the annual report will tell us anything we need to know that we don't already.

Looking forward to another busy week to come!

 

 

My Kinda Gardening Store

 A friend sent this to me the other day because she and I share the same type of gardening “skills”. It was seen on a sign at a plant and gardening retail store. 

The sign said:

“I don’t know what it is…..but it has green leaves. Now In Stock!”

Yup….

You Know YOU Are Old When Your KIDS Hit Middle Age!

 Our son had a birthday yesterday. He turned 44 years of age....gleep!!!!!  If HE is 44, that makes ME.....NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  That means this year I will be 70 years of age.  Aiii yiiiii!!  Wow....talk about a humbling thought.  No wonder younger people are offering me assistance in public venues these days.  I am wearing "old person" all over me.  But, you know what?  It is all okay.  I was chatting with a friend the other day who has the same attitude about aging that I do: we are both grateful for the lives we have lived; the joys and trials over the past 70 years have taught us how God cares for us even in the midst of situations that are so upsetting it feels like our prayers are hitting the ceiling and God has gone on vacation just when it seems we need his help the most.  To have the vantage point of looking back and retracing where we have come from and what has happened in life to get us to this point in time is incredibly encouraging. To have lived long enough to see our children grown and living good lives is amazing and wonderful.  To have thus far survived the times of poverty and homelessness, confusion, illness.......wow...having the luxury of having a rich and fascinating life to look back on is quite a blessing!

As my leg continues to slowly heal and my mobility is returning, I am getting out and about more, accomplishing more at home and it feels great!  I was gone this morning by 7:15am to drop off dry cleaning, purchase a huge load of groceries....this one hurt my wallet as I used up the last few dollars left on my gift card and had to PAY for the rest, hahaha....head off to the pharmacy, fill the car with gasoline...it was a great morning and I was home before 9:30am.  Now the groceries are put away, a late breafast eaten and I am resting my now throbbing leg muscles while I blog and do some reading.  This afternoon I will iron.  Two afternoons will likely complete my spring/summer wardrobe ironing task.  All but a few winter items are now in the bins in storage until HOPEFULLY at least the middle of October??  Yes???

Wow, it is great going out in the mornings now without having to wear coats and boots and hats and gloves, to not have to scrape frost and ice off the car windshield.  Feeling that spring warmth early in the morning as I cross the lawn to the car is an intense kind of treat.  The air is slowly taking on a more spring-like odor, the maintenance department here is riding about on the lawnmowers this morning with their large bags on the back of the machines filling with dead grass and leaves, twigs and the remains of the winter's bunny droppings.  

Tomorrow I will wash the car so we can pick up some friends to take for dinner out in Emerald Park.  We have had some hilarious restaurant disasters with this same couple and I can only pray tomorrow evening is NOT another one of those!!! Praying, praying, praying......oooh, Lord, please!

They’re All Shook Up!

New York City, yesterday morning, was part of a broad expanse in the north eastern United States to experience tremors from a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centred about fifty miles away in New Jersey.  Our son contacted us to let us know he was okay, just a tad frightened from the shaking that threatened to tip over all the shelving in his studio where he was working. Not having experienced tremors before, despite living in tremor prone Vancouver BC for a number of years, the shaking and deep rumbling noise accompanying the tremor were a tad scary. His girlfriend was at home propping up the shelving there as she also experienced her first earthquake tremors. The sound, like a jackhammer is coming up through the floor, can be daunting! My husband and I were most fortunate when we lived in Tokyo because the tremors we experienced there were of the swaying side to side variety and far less noisy than the slamming up and down variety.

We are all grateful that there seems to be no significant damage in NYC from the quake and we pray there are no large aftershocks. I am grateful my son let us know all was well. He knows his mother tends to panic over such news! 

Other than the usual gusty April winds, nothing else unusual like a quake is happening here. Yay!! It is warming up for spring now with daytime highs in the low teens and overnight lows just barely below zero. The dust is already whipping through the air in the wind, due to the dryness of the winter, so we are already praying for rain in Saskatchewan and across the northern Canadian forests. 

My husband went to the basement and hauled up my spring/summer wardrobe bins for me yesterday. Having to use storage bins means a ton of ironing each change of season, so I thought I would try to get a head start on the task this year. It felt soooooo good to pack away the heaviest winter sweaters and pants once again. One pair of summer pants needs to be replaced so that is the sum total of summer clothes shopping I need to do this year, yay!!! I reduced the amount of spring/summer clothes last year and did the same with my winter clothes this year. Another two bags of winter clothes will be included on our next trip to Salvation Armani. 

My husband continues to whittle down the binders of old sermons, essays, seminary notes and papers, cards, letters and original CFS research and related trial diets that fill our basement shelves. He is filling more cartons with books he has become willing to part with and is just waiting to hear from his second hand book dealer friend as to when he can make a trip to drop the books off at the shop. I have resolved to give him the extra months he needs to downsize for our move, without getting frustrated about the delay it will cause for getting out of here and the double rent we may have to pay for a month or two for him to continue sifting and sorting at his own pace. If his slow deliberation and snail’s pace at relinquishing start to cost him that kind of money, he may be able to speed up the laborious process. Ooooh, we are so different from each other…..aiiii yiiiii….however, I am determined to lean on the Lord for patience this time around instead of nagging at him, showing my frustration and upsetting him like I have in past moves. All that does is upset him, makes him feel guilty and stupid for being slow and indecisive and generally causes him to just move all the excess with us in hopes he will have time to do the sorting and tossing after the move instead of before. You can guess how well that idea has worked over the past 14 moves, right? hahaha 

We have a couple of short errands to run this morning, then are off to the home of friends this afternoon for board games and dinner, so it should be a fun day. Now that I am mostly mobile again we’ll be able to get back to church tomorrow. Then comes another week of appointments of one kind and another. The weeks fly past so quickly…..

Another Week Closer To Spring!

It has been a good learning sort of week for me!

I have learned to "adult" this week:  I learned that if i have a question regarding church and/or business policies that are not clear, all I need to do is ask the question and not feel stupid for asking, for not knowing, for not wanting to chatter about whatever issue is going on without having any facts at my disposal while listening to griping by other people with the same issue who also have no facts at their disposal.  

I have learned that i need to more accurately assess my abilities to help others these days.  more ministries and other opportunities to assist the church and friends and family are proving to be more than I can handle these days. I am not 20 years old any more. It is time to change direction on a few of my "helper" activities, reset and revamp so that i can still do things but fewer things and in different ways......and that is actually okay. 

I have learned how to return to my authentic self when it comes to group sharing at fellowship groups and bible studies and discussion groups.  Slowly my ability to relax in a group is returning to me after a long absence and it is okay for me to be quiet for long periods of time, rather than feel obligated to participate f ully in every aspect of the discussions.  It is just fine to stop feeling like I have to be "out there" with the rest of the folk and just mind my own peace more of the time.

I have learned that it is quite enjoyable to just say okay to invitations from people I don't know very well and have no expectations for the time we spend together; yes, the negative expectations as well.  My assumptions that the meeting will be socially awkward and painful and embarrassing...as I am so NOT good with new aquaintances.....have been wrong twice this week and what a blessing!  Things have gone extremely well and I wasn't uncomfortable in the presence of near strangers after all.  Lots of fun is what happened and I am grateful.

My leg is continuing to heal, slowly but very surely. Today I did most of my walking without using the cane at all: out for coffee in the morning with a friend and again this afternoon for fellowship group.  The STOPAIN I got from a friend really helps my muscles relax and the old physio exercises are so helpful.  

We have been running a few errands most every day this week and tomorrow have only one, that can be done at our leisure.  I am noticing this evening that both my husband and myself are quite slow preparing to get to sleep tonight, likely from the relaxation that comes when you know you don't have to get up to go anywhere at any particular time the next day.  My husband says just knowing he has no committments of any import tomorrow makes him feel very peaceful.  

There is a strong sense of peace surrounding us in regard to our new accommodation search, which is very slow getting off the ground.  As we procrastinate though, I see my husband getting more and more frustrated by the sheer amount of "stuff" he has been hanging onto for so many years and he is closer than ever, with the encouragement of some of his pastor buddies, to just pitching a whole pile of things he knows he won't use again but is having trouble relinquishing. God bless those dear friends!

Watching God at work recently in the life of another couple we know has been a real hoot for us!  they are in a position with their business that is similar to our own situation many years ago....bankrupt....and they have been discouraged to the point of physical illness, but they have been invited for an all expenses paid trip to Switzerland by dear friends there who love them and want to do something wonderful for them.  In our case we ended up in Japan.  They are having this and several other similar experiences to our own.  God is doing wonderful things for them in the midst of their heartbreak and confusion. So happy for them!

A week from today is moving day for our son and his girlfriend.  The suite they are moving into has been completely renovated now and our son is preparing to build some bookcases and an extra kitchen cabinet/counter affair as soon as his art exhibition opens next month. They are so excited. It is great to hear the joy in their voices and emails as they approach the big day.

The only downside to my week has been watching the dust and carpet lint build up because my leg injury has prevented me from cleaning.  I worked on cleaning the bathroom yesterday and mostly just got a lot of pain for my efforts, but at least I got that much done this week!  I am grateful for that small accomplishement.  Next week the rest of the cleaning....next week, next week!

Southern Alberta is forecast to receive about 30cm of snow between today and tomorrow.  They need that snow pretty badly and although I dread spring storms here, we also are in dire need of water for the parched land.  Now, if the most northern sections of all the provinces can also receive huge dumps of spring snow and some heavy rains, perhaps the forest fires will be less devastating this summer...."O Lord hear my prayer.  When I call answer me......"

well, it is nearly 11:30pm.  My husband is happily watching a science programme on tv and I am going to crawl into bed with a good book to read for awhile.  We have done better this week at getting to bed earlier as we had so many morning committments, so it is kind of fun to stay up late guilt free!!! HOHOHO!!😀 

My Husband's Reflections On Holy Saturday...Better Late Than Never?

 

My reflection for today ... that some refer to as "Holy Saturday"  is to think of some emotional parallels between my life (and our lives generally) and that of Jesus first disciples the day after his crucifixion.
I think this is the day which resonates much with our own common human predicament.
They had been with Jesus for at least 3 years, and they had seen the power of His words, to heal, to cast out evil, to calm storms, and interpret Scriptures.
But not even He could stand against the might of Rome. And in the end, for after all his powerful words, He couldn't even save himself.
We, like them, are disoriented by the actual empirical condition of our world.

Indeed, for most of the followers of Jesus ever since, our disappointments and our fears and our regrets contribute to a sort of ongoing or recurring Holy-Saturday-like experience.
We may remember times in the past when we felt close to God and that all was well.
But now in the midst of whatever tragedy of grief or nostalgia we are experiencing, our memories tend to remind us more of what we have lost rather than the happiness that we are now afraid to even hope for. 

We, like them, are standing between (hopeful) words that were spoken and the reality of physical death, made all the more stark because in spite of our longing, apparently death pays no attention to words. 
We, like they, have heard predictions of death. (His and ours)
And although we may have heard of resurrection, like them, we aren't sure how to understand it.
Figuratively? Metaphorical? Literal? Biological? Spiritual? Pertaining to an as yet to arrive "messianic age"? or to a "Natural/inevitable evolution into some future Utopia? or just the "power of positive thinking" to keep us thinking positively even though everything is most likely essentially meaningless? 

When our personal, and vocational and social and political and ideological hopes, (for ourselves and our world), have been dashed simultaneously with the loss of a close friend, we are apt to feel somewhat numb.
We are aware that we have awakened to this day, but as we awaken, we remember what has happened ...the death of our friend, and the death of our hopes  ("We had hoped that He might be the one..." Luke 24:21, to bring about a better world).

It is not just that a friend has succumbed to death.
Or that our personal hopes and plans and yearnings have been dashed, 
But there seems to be such an injustice behind it. 
Not only humanly achieved inhumanity and cruelty,
but apparently the abandonment of justice by divinity as well. 
(it does not seem logical to ascribe a world so full of cruelty to a loving creator)

We have been warned about this, but when the loss of hope comes, the earlier warning which we hoped we might ignore without disappointment, now seems trivial in light of our disconsolate emotions.
If we recall it at all, it seems more like a taunt ... "I told you so!"    ... than any sort of comfort for our discouragement and despair.

Can any hope remain?, or revive?, that does not seem silly in the light of hopes so achingly crushed ?
Shall we dismiss the meaning of Love in order to reduce our sense of loss and grief?
Perhaps the safest way out of suffering is to abandon all attachment. 
Is it not the yearning of affection and love that keeps us trapped in the pain of loss and disappointment?
Surely, developing indifference could set us free from grief. 

But today, as in all times that we cope (again) with a sense of hopes dashed, we try to be content to remain in our numbness, tending to our daily chores without consciously thinking too much of our losses. 
We are disoriented enough to know that reason and reasons are not apt to help much.
So as we go through our daily tasks we let the mystery of grief reside in our subconscious, for another day... until another day ...

Perhaps it is all just too mysterious to ever be fully comprehended ...
But possibly, just possibly, it is all just intelligible enough, just barely intelligible enough, to justify our instinct -our sense, that we really are part of a story much larger than our grief.
A story in which our senses of beauty, love, compassion, poignancy and joy in creation are not mere illusions, but ultimately that which is most real.
It remains debatable whether such a sense is foolishness or faithfulness.  
But since existence and consciousness seem to be continuing, perhaps tomorrow might tell more, and so at least that hope is not unreasonable. 

Shalom,
Dell

Rev. Dell Bornowsky

From Snow Season to Mud Season! First Sign Of Prairie Spring!

 It is Mud Season here in Regina and across the prairies!  This is the crucial season of the year because it leads us from winter's snow and ice to spring's "unexpected" short lived blizzards and early rains.  As much as I detest Mud Season because everything in sight is so filthy, it is far less dangerous for me to navigate on foot than Snow (Ice) Season and it does give hope that despite any upcoming spring blizzards, spring is actually on the way.  The temperatures are rising slowly but surely, the sun is shining more regularly and contains more warmth now, the sky is turning a deeper shade of blue and the prairie winds are getting stronger and more consistent.  Happiness!!!! 😉

Being able to get out a bit with my husband to run a few errands again today has encouraged me as well that my leg is healing. I can walk around in the house now without a cane, albeit slowly, and the amount of walking we did in various parking lots and stores today was three times the distance I walked yesterday. I am less tired today too.  YIPPEE!👩

My husband decided he couldn't wait to return home to eat lunch....that man simply has to eat more at breakfast time each day....so we stopped into a restaurant on our way home that we have not gone to before.  I think it was a Brewster's Pub when we first moved here nearly 10 years ago, but with the closing of Brewster's the space has seen a couple of transitional eating establishments that didn't last long. Right now it is a Cravings and Stat Cocktail Bar and Restaurant on Victoria East.  We decided to give it a try. The food is okay, diner style, and we had breakfast meals, (served until 3pm each day). They were tasty. My husband had the breakfast bun with ham and shredded hashbrowns...standard fare, but the hashbrowns were not smothered in salt. Neither were my cubed hashbrowns.  All the hashbrowns were cooked evenly and the lack of salt meant we could both thoroughly enjoy eating them.  I had the Light Breakfast: the hashbrowns, one piece of lightly buttered whole wheat toast, two strips of perfectly cooked bacon....not crispy but well rendered....and a scrambled egg.  I MUST remember to stop ordering scrambled eggs nowadays in diner type places. The cooks have no idea any more how to prepare them properly and I am tired of having slightly puffy looking sliced up strips of egg, tasty as they were today. No worries, next time I will go for over-easy. The prices were marvellous, so that is a bonus for us. We ate well enough, the portion sizes were reasonable, the lower salt is perfect for us and the interior of the restaurant is fresh and clean with lots of space.  I think next time we are looking for an inexpensive meal we will try it again.  The service was excellent. 😋

It was so nice to get outside again today. My husband had to pick me up and drop me off at the front door again today as our back lawn is a muddy, wet swamp, but if we can avoid getting snow for a few more days it will dry up fairly quickly in the wind .☀🌅☉

Now we have house chores to do....a lovely, relaxed day of small but necessary accomplishments....like mailing our income tax forms to the CRA! Done and done!  YES!!!! Maybe we can start our housechores with a midafternoon nap! 🕒