"Our" New York Church

My husband got onto my computer today and was able to restore a few of the fonts that went missing some months ago thanks to a link in one of the posts that overrode something or other. Don't ask me what happened, I just know he figured out how to restore at least some of my former "funner" fonts.

Somehow we missed getting a photo of the exterior of the old Gothic building housing the Church of the Incarnation that we attended in New York, but my husband did get a couple of photos of the lovely interior. Just gorgeous in all the ornateness.

 

A Cool Old Church Building

In the course of our travels last evening we came across St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in the Bowery. It is the second oldest church in Manhattan with a history of being the longest site of continuous worship in NYC. In 1660 Peter Stuyvesant built a chapel on his farmland (bouwerij) there. The fieldstone walls are a giveaway as to the age of this present iteration of the church building. (1795) The church angles across the corner of the intersection so the little park we sat in before dinner looks right at the front doors of the church. The church has a history of supporting the performing arts and our son has attended a number of concerts and poetry readings there in the past couple of years. Last night an interesting looking group of dreadlocked, Jamaican garbed young men carrying interesting looking guitars and instruments unknown to us were setting up to play in the lovely iron gated side yard of the church. Didn’t get to hear them play, but wish we had. 

A Lovely Episcopal Service Yesterday!

We are waiting for the cleaning staff to arrive this morning so we can request they not use the carpet deodorizer that has been making me so asthmatic since we arrived. Then we will go out for a late breakfast at a diner a few blocks away.  

Our son was supposed to meet us for dinner last evening but is afraid he may be coming down with a cold, so we have rescheduled for this evening in hopes he will be feeling better. He is scheduled to move into his new art studio tomorrow and my husband will assist, so I will have a day to toddle off on my own. Our son gave me several dozen quarters this weekend so I will try to do laundry in the morning before taking myself out for a fabulous lunch of some kind. 

Yesterday morning we attended a lovely service at the Church of the Incarnation, only a few blocks away. One of the founding families was the Morgans so it is well appointed, neo-Gothic in style and oh so welcoming. The highlights were:

-the enthusiastic greeting we received from the very talented organist….so well trained and experienced in classical music! 

-the beautiful baritone voice of the tattoo’d, man-bunned soloist who performed a piece from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Ave Maria, and he sang Go Down Moses the way it is meant to be sung…richly, deeply emotional….  Then after the service, since the church printed up a short memorial to Dolly Parton, he went to the piano and sang 9 To 5, which got the congregation clapping and bopping along before walking out if the church with big smiles on everyones’ faces.

-the rector, who was the cheeriest woman ever and who gave a marvellous sermon on Moses and the burning bush, how it transformed Moses and how our own personal encounters with Christ should transform us. It was inspiring!

-returning to the Book Of Common Prayer Eucharist service. There is a depth to the older English used in it that, I’m sorry but, the Book Of Alternative Services lacks. It was fun trying to remember the old wording of the responses and Creeds without looking at the prayer book, haha.

Assuming we are available next Sunday morning and the following Sunday I think we will return for the services. It was a treat to find such a vibrant church so close to “home”. If you are interested in what the church looks like check out their website. We watched parts of the service again last night and it was odd seeing the backs of our heads as we went forward for the Eucharist. Hahaha….don’t you just hate seeing yourself on video? I do!

Sufficiently Suffonsified!!!

 We went out for lunch at DarBar after church today....somehow lunch out with friends, laughing and visiting and enjoying some sustenance together seemed a particularly fitting way to celebrate Pentecost Sunday!  The restaurant was packed out and as the only Caucasians among the the patrons we got the hint that their Indian food is indeed as delicious as we always have thought it to be. What a great time we had.

The church was all decorated this morning with red banners depicting the flaming tongues that came upon the disciples on the very first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was released to dwell in God's followers, the sermon was about how miracles like of speaking in tongues, healings etc., all depend on being properly utilized in a spirit of love toward others, that heaven and earth are likely not so separated as we have sometimes been led to believe and that apparently inexplicable miracles are actually just "WOW" moments when the veil of heaven is pulled back temporarily for us to see what God is capable of...or words to that effect.  It was a very good, encouraging sermon. All the teaching today has give me hope for the presently upsetting circumstances our son finds himself in over his immigration status in the country where he lives....prayer request, should you be so inclined. (I don't want to go into details here or have any political discussions in the Comments, but you are welcome to contact me directly, friends and family, for more details if you want them.  Thanks.)  We are also rejoicing today in the news that one of our former churches of attendance while my husband was doing his Anglican postulancy has, after about a 2 year wait, hired a new priest....presently in the USA, but apparently happy to return with his young family to Canada. Congratulations to that parish!!

My husband is presently down in the cool of the basement chatting on the phone with our son.  We are just under +30C at the moment, after having a skiff of snow on the ground only a week ago, so I expect we may have some significant thunder storm activity either tonight or later in this week of predicted highs between +31C and +34C.  Yup....just checked the local weather report and we are under a thunderstorm watch...so far only at the initial Yellow Level, meaning likely only minimal damage if the storm develops at all and hopefully we will not progress for the next few hours from yellow level to orange level, (storm more likely and with minor damage possible), to the more frightening red level with almost a surety that there will be a storm and a very real possibility of significant damage with hail and high winds.  Red level we prefer to avoid!!

It was lovely to get out today for fellowship, friends, fun and food.  The hot air as we exited the restaurant after our meal was kind of shocking to experience after such a long, cold start to spring. Here it is nearly the first of June, technically summer, and our spring is finally arriving.  If next week's temperatures are anything to go by, it is possible we pretty much will bypass the spring altogether and head immediately into summer as of today. Such an interesting climate around here!

Life Is Finally Getting Back To Normal Again!! YAY!!

It has been a busy and productive couple of days around here.  My husband is nearly back to fully functional, no more issues with his tummy and even the CFS exhaustion seems to be dissipating rapidly.  He hasn't had to nap in either morning or afternoon for most of this week and this morning he was able to go to the lab for some fasting blood work after not eating for over twelve hours, with just a few sips of water to keep his tummy feeling full.  I am so grateful to God for helping him get back on his feet again.  He is teaching tomorrow for the Anglicans and has no stress at all about it, is looking forward to it and did not crash and burn today as he was completing some notes for his talk.  Thank you Lord and prayer warriors!!  What a blessing.

Enjoyed my weekly visit with my coffee buddy yesterday as planned and we had a very nice time this week at Creme drinking London Fogs.  In the afternoon we attended a Bible study that was so good. It has taken us since last September to get about half way through the Sermon On The Mount and will continue on this coming September after the summer break. 

Today was very positive. My husband picked up a camping refrigerator at Princess Auto that he ordered about a week ago.  After it sits for the required number of hours he will test it out both here in the house and, when the rain finally stops tonight and the parking lot is dry tomorrow, using the plug in attachment in the rear compartment of our car.  He splurged big time to ensure he could get a unit with a super duper cold compartment with sufficient voltage to keep things cold for over 24 hours.  When he goes camping next month he and his friend will be able to get pretty much anything needing to be refrigerated into this unit.  It is really easy to move. Not only does it have handles on the sides for picking it up, it also has a retractable handle and is on wheels for rolling along.  I don't know how much use he will actually get out of it over the next couple of years, but I am happy he felt free to buy something expensive for himself for a change!!!  YAY HUSBAND! You too deserve a real treat occasionally!! 

We spent the afternoon at the bank where the mess up happened in regard to the monthly credit limit for our American credit card.  We got some other things straightened out and taken care of for our upcoming vacation AND the woman we deal with there told us that just  yesterday she finally got a response to the email she sent nearly three weeks ago now when we first applied for the card and everything went south.  Apparently there is still a CHANCE that sometime in the next two to three weeks we will get the final answer on our request to have the credit limit changed to what was automatically approved in the first place before the screw up.  So, there is hope.  In the meantime we have come up with another plan that will help us pay for the larger expenses down south that will work if absolutely necessary but does require a lot of fiddling about with finances in the meantime. For now we are content to wait to see what happens.  Either way I think we will be covered now. Hallelujah!

Did a bit of grocery shopping after the bank appointment at SaveOn and discovered some 0 sugar snacks for me to try that aren't so high in fat as some of the other snacks I have seen.  We'll see if the flavour is worth the price. 

After a nice morning the rain appeared once again in the late afternoon and only about 35 minutes from here a tornado touched down in a farmer's field.  Still waiting to find out if it did any damage but looking at the photo the farmer took of it from a couple of fields away it had a substantially sized funnel. Hopefully it disappeared soon after it touched down before it could damage any of his newly planted crop or outbuildings.  This tornado season we may actually have some real tornadoes in the area.  Since our temperature highs next week are going to climb suddenly from the plus mid teens Centigrade to the mid plus 30's in less than 48 hours, I expect we are in for some good storms as a result.  Hopefully no one will be hurt or have any damage from strong winds next week. And please Lord, let there be no hail...please, please, please.....

Tomorrow morning there is a special church ladies' breakfast at the home of Carol!!  We are going to share that time and a meal together in her building's party room.  I am taking a selection of cheeses.  It will be a large group who gathers to celebrate her miraculous recovery.  She is still weak and outside the home uses a walker to support herself, but around home she walks very well on her own.  She has been at the church service for the past three Sundays looking, apart from the walker, as if nothing ever happened to her. Amazing...how grateful to God we all are.

We are praying for Bret again as he is falling into deep depression once again after seeing a lot of improvement for a couple of months.  Please, should the Lord so remind you, pray that he will stop resisting the offered supports and medical help. He is paranoid about going for treatment after a not great experience YEARS ago, but without that medical intervention he isn't likely to improve much.  Praying very much for him and for his worried extended family.  So far he has not been talking about suicide again, but you never know what a person is really thinking when so distressed and afraid.  

Looking forward to church on Sunday. Our pastor and another fellow are going to be talking about heaven and hell over the next two weeks. Looking forward to it. Since I will be out of town for the second talk I am grateful for ZOOM recordings so I can watch and hear the class when I get home.

I have discovered that when I carry a heavy bag of groceries in the hand that is on the same side as my operated hip, I barely limp at all. Why the heck is that???  No bag, super limp; bag, hardly any limp.  I have to figure out why that is and try to adjust my foot and leg placement once again so I can do as well without the bag as with. Always learning new things this old woman....now if I could just learn as many new things about technology I would be SO MUCH better off!! hahahaha  BUT, I have no real interest in putting my entire life on my mobile phone....just can't quite get into it, even though I do envy people who pay for their groceries by holding their phones up to the debit machines.  Maybe one day......sigh......

We Are Sorry Local Friends And Family If It Does Indeed Rain Tonight! Our Bad.......

 My husband washed the car yesterday when he had a sudden burst of energy late in the morning. Sigh....so OF COURSE our 30% chance of rain tonight appears to be turning into a 100% certainty. Dang it...he did such a marvellous job washing the outside and painstakingly detailing the inside.  It wore him right out so after lunch he slept for 6 hours. Good old CFS, but at least he had the joy of knowing he accomplished something between naps yesterday. Oh gosh, it was fun for me to drive it to church this morning. It looked great.  He can be proud of the work he did on it.

Church went well today.  Our adult class was led by the associate minister and she went through many Scriptures in the Bible that talk about peace and how deeply meaningful the word Shalom actually is.  My husband stayed home to sleep but woke up just in time to take in the class on Zoom. YAY!  He accidentally activated his translator, so the words being spoken appeared at the bottom of the computer screen. hahaha  There were some real lulus, thanks in part to a bit of fuzz coming through the mic being used in the classroom. When the minister told us that we cannot force peace upon other people the words that appeared onscreen were, "We cannot force pizza upon other people." hahaha That one was a true gem of a mistake. Love it.

In the sermon the minister told us how much it bothers him when people, himself included, use the word "Just" so much in spontaneous prayers.  So often we say things like "If you could Just heal so and so....", or "If you could Just make this or that happen....".  To our minister it sounds like God's own children think they are bothering him or are afraid of being presumptuous with their requests; either that or trying to manipulate the Lord by sounding insincerely humble.  One of the examples he gave of how much God wants us to interact with him, how we are not bothering him, was how Jesus, when John the Baptist was beheaded and he was grieving, still issued the invitation to his followers to come to be with him.  He didn't just walk away to grieve alone for some long period of time.  Out of that time frame came the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  I have some thinking to do about my own prayer life.  I couldn't resist after that sermon: when I went forward during the communion to receive the elements from the minister I whispered, "I Just thank you for these elements." hahaha  He nearly lost it right then and there, trying to keep a straight face while his shoulders were heaving with laughter. Bad me....teehee.

A friend and I went out to DarBar for yummy lunch after church.  We had a deeply personal talk, one of those types of conversations I rarely have a chance to participate in because of course it isn't always appropriate with everyone a person knows. It was very meaningful and I think we were able to help each other at least a little bit with some personal issues we both struggle with.  It was an unexpected and incredible blessing. 

I came home to find my husband having a much better day today.  He woke up at 5am but realized he didn't need to eat or drink anything and went back to sleep until just before 8am.  By 8:45am he was back asleep, but he slept less than 45 minutes and has been awake ever since.  Yes, he is very tired and that exhaustion is going to take at least a couple of weeks to be back under control if things go the way they usually go for him with this miserable disease, but to see his face a normal colour after five or six weeks of ashy grey is most encouraging.  The graph line rarely goes in a straight line during recovery from such a heavy and long episode of CFS symptoms, but even one or two days of improvement in a row usually signals that he is starting to recover to some extent.  I am encouraged AND still praying constantly for relief for him.

Tomorrow morning I have to call my surgeon to set up my one year checkup in June.  Oh how I pray that the surgeon won't be too terribly shocked and disappointed that I am still limping around, still trying to strengthen the muscles in my thigh. I think at this point I have to accept the fact that the tendon is too damaged to fully recover, but I am okay with that. Them's the breaks kid.  (Or, should I say the RESULT of the breaks? hahaha)   

It is going to be a busy week, just the kind I enjoy most and I am grateful for that!   

From The Sublime To The Ridiculous To The Sublimely Ridiculous!

This has been a most memorable Good Friday!

We began our day at an Anglican church with a dear friend and her parents who are visiting from the Northwest Territories. It was an excellent Good Friday service at the church:  the reading of the Passion of Christ scriptures from John 18 and 19, two solemn hymns, the stripped altar, a reminder in the priest's sermon as to why Jesus had to be sacrificed for the sake of all of us, and a tribute to the black draped cross at the front of the church.  It was very spiritually moving and we enjoyed it very much...the spiritual and emotional weight of what happened to our Lord on our behalf sat heavily upon us as we made our way silently out of the church afterwards.  

My husband and I travelled in our car in near silence as we went to the designated restaurant to meet the same friends there along with the rest of their family.  The restaurant was Fuddruckers, a place my husband and I have never been to before.  It was jarring, in a happy sort of way, to walk into the restaurant bubbling over with people and noise and music and the smell of yummy food wafting through the air.  We lined up and placed our order, (my husband and I had salads that were most delicious, huge and with a good variety of ingredients), obediently carried to our table the flashing alarm beepers that would let us know when our order was ready to be picked up at the counter, lined up to get our cold drinks while we waited and began animated conversations with our friends around the table.  To me it was like walking from a graveyard into a bustling market and I enjoyed that sensation.  It was like walking into the hope of the coming resurrection which we will celebrate with our own church congregation on Sunday morning....although I kind of doubt we will make it to the 6:30am sunrise service....for some odd reason. hahaha

After a restful afternoon of napping and physiotherapy my husband went online to find us some kind of interesting movie to watch this evening. He picked The Annihilation of Fisher, starring James Earl Jones, Margot Robbie and Lynn Redgrave, released back in 1999.  For any of you older adults reading this blog, do check it out if you are not aware of it. It is funny, quirky and an amazingly accurate commentary on what happens to people whose hopes and dreams and sense of purpose are taken away from them, particularly as they age.  It isn't a kids' movie, it is for adults who will be able to look through and past the oddness of the characters to understand what can happen to us in light of loss of ideals in our lives. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The script is so well written and the acting is marvellous.  Lynn Redgrave was such a good actress and she excels in her role here.

Tomorrow is a day of no commitments away from home...at least not thus far and I do hope it may remain that way as my husband is still struggling with exhaustion and resulting tummy issues.  We do have to come up with a dessert or two for Easter Dinner on Sunday evening, but that can be done at any time of the day. I will do physio again and then take Sunday off.  The weather should be very fine tomorrow so that will add to the joy (hopefully) of the day. Although the start of the week is considerably chillier than tomorrow will be, there is no snow or freezing rain forecast until mid week. YAY! 

A Sky Covered In Wool Batting!

The pale blue sky is peeking out between cloud formations that look like rows of wool batting: curvy fluffy puffy sorts of clouds in neat rows.  Makes me want to pull all that cloud cover down and wrap myself up in it to stay warm on another cold day.  At least there is also a bit of sun shining through the gaps in the woolly loveliness.

It has been a happy weekend.  I kept up with my physiotherapy so I could take my Sunday off as usual, I had a great time yesterday ironing, playing a silly old video game that has brightly coloured graphics which amuse me greatly, making decent meals and just enjoying my day.  Today I had a good time at church. We started our adult class on meditative poetry with a short selection each from George Herbert (The Windows), John Donne (Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God) and John Milton (When I Consider How My Light Is Spent).  I confess I have not spent a lot of time on any of these three poets as I tend to go in for the more obscure types of poems, BUT really did enjoy the class today. I learned more about the spiritual and circumstantial state of each of those three poets at the time when they wrote these poems.  The one I identified with most was John Donne's.  The very real struggle so many of us go through, knowing there is a better way to believe and live that only God can give to us, but knowing we are completely and not that unhappily trapped in the endemic evil of the world we live in.....so much truth in that brief French sonnet. The author wants and even feels a need for God to violently wrench him away from the world that has taken over his life, yet he is dealing with a god who doesn't force change, only knocks quietly at the door of our hearts.  The sonnet is from about 1633.  Love how the definitions of some of the words in these poems  have changed in our day...for example our "gladly" appears at the word "fain".  The word "fondly" in Milton's poem, circa 1652, actually meant "foolishly".   It was a fun class and I learned quite a bit about how these men struggled with their faith.  Looking forward very much to next week's class! Next week we will be tackling Gerard Manley Hopkins "Pied Beauty", T.S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi", and Robert Frost's "The Silken Tent".

Coffee hour was fun after the service today: I had a chance to visit with an 85 year old friend who discovered competitive swim meets when she was 65 and is still competing.  She was at the local pool this morning before church where she swam her daily 150 laps. I feel like I am 100 years old compared to her and her incredible energy.  I think I am doing well to complete 90 minutes of physio a few mornings a week without collapsing. hahaha  Wow....she is an incredible inspiration!  NOT sure though just how inspired I myself will end up being in terms of my own fitness once the physio finally comes to an end! hahaha  

We decided to go to Fancy Fork for lunch after church.  We each decided to order the Forest Feast crepes stuffed with chicken and mushroom and onions and covered in a delicious arugula pesto sauce.  There was also an over easy egg on each plate and we were supposed to order two sides. My husband ordered the Greek herbed cubed potatoes and bacon for his sides and I chose the fruit selection and bacon with mine.  WEEEEEELLLLLL....my fruit selection was wonderful: a slice of jack fruit, a quarter of an orange, a large slice of pineapple, 4 black grapes, a strawberry, a small slice of watermelon....yummy!!  What we didn't understand from the menu and never considered possible was that we would each receive three of the crepes...THREE!!!  Okay, the crepes were not gigantic, but they weren't pint sized either.  Oh my goodness....all this yummyness for only twenty dollars a plate!!  Yes, they were gigantic plates. They had to be to hold all the food!  How on earth could we bring home pesto covered crepes? They would never last. So we just ate them and brought home the fruit and the bacon. My husband managed to eat all three of his crepes plus his potatoes.  I was very grateful for the giant sized glass of soda to wash all those crepes down.  Fortunately we had to take a little walk after lunch to get back to our car and then after a short drive I had an errand to run that used up a few steps.  Slurp, urp, burp....wow, we are both still full four hours later and will be eating dinner very late this evening....a teeny tiny dinner after the huge luncheon.  

We received word this morning that my walking partner's father in law passed away very unexpectedly last evening.  We are praying for her husband as he is in shock and for all of the family.  I know that shock. It is not good.  If you feel so led, could you offer up a prayer that all the family can come together to support the surviving spouse and assist in making arrangements to assist her in the future? Thank you so much.

I am kind of happy that the televised Olympic coverage is over for another couple of years because most of my favourite TV shows take a hiatus during that two weeks. Since I only watch the occasional bit of Olympic coverage, (I am not the biggest supporter of those games due to the doping issues, the politicized voting, the lack of good sportsmanship among the various world teams, the cheating scandals), it has been kind of a dry week for televised entertainment.  Fortunately I don't have that many programmes each week that I truly enjoy, but still I have missed that handful of shows.  In the meantime I tried to get into "The Copenhagen Test" as much as my husband is, but when I watched episode seven, thinking it was the last one, only to discover there is one more that Crave has not yet put out for public viewing and I have no idea if it will ever show up or not, my last bit of interest departed.  There were some pretty wierd gaps in logic that suddenly cropped up in episode seven...yes even more so than in the other six episodes....so even if the last episode appears I don't know if I will bother seeing how the season ends.  Meh.....

Tomorrow will be another good day I think: physio in the morning while my husband attends a couple of meetings, one on Zoom and then before it quite ends, racing off across the city for an in person meeting.  After lunch we are going to visit a cousin of my husband's that we only see once every couple of years. Even though we all live here in the city, she is gone to Arizona most winters for about 5 months and has a lakeside cabin for the summer months that is many miles away.  Occasionally there is a cousins' reunion for the handful of cousins who all live here but never seem to cross paths in the routine of regular daily events.  We have  visitors coming a couple of times this week, my husband is out for breakfast with a friend one morning, we are going out of town for part of a day weather permitting....yes, after being stuck at home so much last week due to snowfall and cold temperatures, it feels wonderful to have a few things to look forward to!

Update On Middy

For those of you who have started praying for Middy! An appointment has already been scheduled with the specialist in Saskatoon tomorrow! 

Now we are asking for dry roads for the several hours long drive for Middy and his mom to get to that hospital. Right now there may be freezing drizzle on those highways. We have it here where we live and I pray it stays away from their connecting roads to the city.

We are pleased that our football team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, won the Grey Cup tonight. Way to go guys! The party we went to was fun….a small group, but a great group of friends.

We had a most delicious lunch with other friends after church this morning at the Cafe Francais. The menu was more extensive than we thought it would be and the food was delicious! Perfect egg dishes and bacon fried to almost crispy but not over done deliciousness, French Toast that was outside slightly crispy and inside soft ‘n’ melty, a small yogurt and fruit parfait, delicate croissants stuffed and heated with a variety of fillings….it was a very nice meal, made all the more special by sharing it with friends. 

The kids and younger teens did a lot of the church service today. Between 15 and 20 kids took part in the greetings, prayers, music and scripture readings. My goodness we have a great number of excellent readers and from many different cultures whose first languages are not English. They did a great job. Even the youngest ones in kindergarten and pre-school said their parts perfectly. It was awesome.

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up an antihistamine and before leaving the building the Lord gave me the presence of mind to ask the pharmacist if the prescription I ordered yesterday for Monday pickup might just be filled already and it was! It means that when tomorrow comes with tonight’s foggy drizzle turned to a coating of ice all over everything by morning, I will be able to stay home and not have to endanger myself by having to go out. Yay and amen! 

A Favourite Funeral Hymn

 At today's funeral we sang one of my favourite funeral appropriate hymns:  Hymn of Promise, words and music by Natalie Sleeth (1930 - 1992)  This particular hymn was published by Hope Publishing Company in 1986.  When I was involved in my son's high school music programme the senior high choir performed  her Prayer, a lovely arrangement of the Lord's Prayer, that still brings a tear to my eye just remembering it.

The Hymn of Promise captures well the idea that death is simply a transition from one part of life to another.  I am glad we sang it today as I haven't heard it for awhile. Sorry you will have to cut and paste the link below if you would like to hear it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDpByzZqeQ4&list=RDsDpByzZqeQ4&start_radio=1 

Little Glitches Are The Most Annoying, Aren't They?

 Happy "Almost The End Of The Work Week"!

First of all I want to pass on our cardiac patient's family's gratefulness for your prayers for him.  A procedure that was used to stop extreme bleeding was successful and that is a wonderful mercy, but he is not out of the woods yet.  This man must be made of strong stuff because despite ongoing delusions, pain and immobility, he is fighting on.  When he first arrived back at home after his cardiac and lung surgeries, he was at a point where he could walk around the block and at the moment it is taking him nearly a half hour to sit up in his hospital bed, get his feet over the edge and onto the floor, stand up, sit down and get back into bed. Thankfully some of the medical staff were able to get him up for a short walk in the ward yesterday.  I remember my own father going through similar disasters post heart attack surgery and how recovery seemed to drag on for such a horrifically long time, so I am praying our friend does not have to further endure this series of setbacks and can get back into full recovery mode.  Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers for him.

Around our house there has been one disappointing little glitch that is actually a disappointment for our whole family.  Our son and daughter in law were so excited to be able to hear my husband's sermon from last Sunday and have been waiting all week for the recorded version to appear online.  It hasn't appeared day after day and tonight on the church website there is a notice that the service was not recorded due to a technical glitch. Sigh....we were so excited that our "kids" have been so enthusiastic about listening to a sermon together and now their and our chance of that spiritual input happening is kaput. God has his reasons and really I suppose it is not a big deal, it isn't like they won't have other chances in the future, but the topic was a special one that my husband put a lot of work into and presented so well.  We thought it would speak to their hearts in a good way. Well, apparently not actually meant to be.  hahaha  Yup, it is the little glitches that rub!

Went to Anglican evening prayer and healing again last evening at my friend's church.  Once again it was incredibly helpful and calming.  It is my friend's father who is struggling with the cardiac issues and it seemed that every prayer, every Taize song and even the homily were aimed directly at her to help give her peace and assurance that God is with her and her family. So, it was one of those special times with the Lord in the presence of others in the Christian community.  Thank you Jesus. 

Physiotherapy is still very slow for me, yet I do see some small progress that I am intensely grateful for.  I have honed in on the three exercises that remain the most difficult for me and they all involve the same set of muscles that have been so slow to respond.  However, there has been at least a bit of response. When I am tempted to be discouraged I remember back to when I shattered my ankle in 2011 and required nearly 18 months of physio therapy.  In that case I couldn't fully weight bear on that ankle until less than 2 weeks prior to being discharged from physio and my thigh and calf muscles atrophied to the point where they never fully returned to the same size as those on the other leg.  They have atrophied once again substantially, but I know they will rebuild sufficiently to hold me up when I stand and walk!!  Eventually!!! 

I am realizing how much I look forward to my weekly Thursday morning visitor.  The time together calms me, encourages me and gives me a purpose to get up and moving at least one morning every week.  I have an "embarrassment of riches" when it comes to people I know where the friendship is mutual, and I am well aware that not everyone is as blessed as I am. 

One of those friends is swinging by here on the weekend with a crate of peaches we ordered through her church fundraiser and our two families are sharing it. FRESH BC PEACHES!  I can't wait!!!  Peach pfannkuchen....my husband's specialty!  YUMMY!

Got myself a haircut this afternoon and for once had the presence of mind to book the next appointment 5 weeks in advance.  I usually forget to do that and as my hair grows longer and more unmanageable over the weeks, I am constantly flipping back through the calendar to discover when the last haircut took place.  Yay me for remembering this time!

After being stuck at home for a couple of days it was wonderful to get out for that haircut. My husband decided he was going to prolong my time away from the house by taking me to London Belle for my favourite of their dinner menu items: Cottage Pie and a Caesar Salad.  In our house when I was growing up it was called Shepherd's Pie and I once again enjoyed the tasty "stew" with just the right amount of potatoes to keep my carb count in line.  It is a very small portion all around, but so tasty and just right for me.  I appreciated his thoughtfulness as he has had several fun commitments away from home this week while I only had the short Wednesday evening church service. 

Waiting for some phone callbacks tomorrow from lawyers and doctors so we can get some appointments made over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, since we are home all day tomorrow as far as we know, those calls will all come in.  

This weekend is the annual "Shake the Lake" outdoor music extravaganza taking place only a few blocks from our place.  I am mentally prepared this year for getting no sleep whatsoever prior to about 1am on both Friday and Saturday nights and having a constant Boom Boom Boom Oooooohhhhhh Yeaaaaaahhhhh, going on from noon onward as the rock musicians crank it out.  The actual level of decibels reaching us will depend on wind speed and direction, but the screeching vocals and incessant drum beats will still be  constants no matter how softly or loudly they arrive through our windows. Then we get one weekend of freedom before the annual Queen City Marathon run the weekend after the September long weekend.  The circuitous route we will need to get to church, the incredibly difficult parking situation around the church with so many streets in that area closed for the marathon is a puzzle that becomes more difficult to solve with every passing year and the route changes year to year.  At least this year our complex residents are not completely trapped. There is one street that will take us out of the area if we are prepared to head in the opposite direction of the church, circle way north of it and attempt to find parking within two blocks so that I can manage to walk the rest of the way to the service.  Always a "fun" time for residents in our area who are not involved in the marathon and just want to be able to get out of their homes to fulfill other plans.  This year the route for the annual Pride Parade was more easy to skirt than usual and we all appreciated those changes very much indeed.  

After three hot days the temperatures are cooling down for a bit. I think the weather is going to be bearable again until next Tuesday and Wednesday. My husband had to cancel his canoe trip on Wednesday due to the heat and now it appears that their plan to go next Wednesday MAY be scuttled for the same reason. My poor husband. All he wants is to get out in the canoe for a short couple of hours of paddling with his friend. Is that really too much to ask for?  

Time for bed.  I have just finished a somewhat disappointing novel by a Canadian author. I had higher expectations than I should have had about the story, so I won't bother naming the book and author. I am sure there are many people who will enjoy the book, it just wasn't what I expected after reading some reviews before I read it.  So, I will sort now through the rest of the pile of unread books I collected from my husband's taking me on that surprise visit to all the local library pop up book sale tables.  So far I have only struck out on two of the six books I have read thus far.  Pretty good I think. 

 

A Delightful Little Eretrian Store Right Here In Our City!

My husband presented a wonderful sermon this morning on the paradox of the fear of God and perfect love casting out fear.  Some of what he presented was new to some of the congregants, but he could see on their faces the workings of their brains to connect the dots and figure out what exactly he was saying. There was a great deal of positive feedback afterward so I am happy for him.  

After church we decided to have lunch at DarBar, but they hadn't quite opened yet for the day, so we walked part way up the street to the little Hiya Confectionery Store.   It has been open for awhile but we have never had reason to go in before. What fun we had in there!  The dried food items, dishes, shoes and jewellery are in the small front area, crammed in all over the place but wow....so many things to check out. I found a serving tray with bright African patterns on it for a reasonable price. Since I have been looking to replace my old Japanese serving tray with a broken handle and have had little success in finding what I want, today's find was perfect: small, light and lovely.  In the upper back area of the store are several racks packed with Eretrian style dresses and men's shirts.  The owner was quite talkative once he saw my husband's clergy collar.  He is a Roman Catholic who attends mass at two different RC churches here in the city, he attended seminary in Africa, his first residence in Canada was in Manitoba and now he has been here in Regina with his new business for the past year or so.  We are definitely going back in September to look more closely at the clothing and perhaps do some shopping there for new outfits.  What a little gem tucked away among some other types of businesses, just east of DarBar on Victoria Avenue.  He has a few bottles of cold drinks the likes we haven't seen anywhere else in town.  I had no idea that Crush had flavours like watermelon and fruit punch!  All I ever see are the orange, grape and occasionally cream soda flavours of that particular soft drink brand.  SOOOO FUN looking in a store that is new to us.  It still shocks my husband, even after being ordained for so many years now, when other people call him "Father", but he was very accepting of the moniker from this kindly store owner.

DarBar has attractive new menus, much smaller, book style and so much easier to handle than the large plasticized sheet menus they had previously.  The prices have gone up like everywhere else, finally...but only ONE  WHOLE DOLLAR per dish! hahaha  Wow....compared to other places that serve far less delicious food, they certainly could have raised their unit price more than that. God bless them for keeping prices reasonable!  I brought home a large carton of leftover coconut pepper chicken, rice and chick peas. Can barely wait for my leftovers dinner tonight! 

So, time for physio since there was no opportunity to do it prior to church today.  While it is going to take time to be able to increase how long I can put full weight on my operated leg, I was very encouraged today that as I was walking outside the house with my cane, I was able to walk almost upright without putting much weight at all on the cane....progress....I will take any little bit I can manage to get! haha Even my husband commented that I am listing to the side far less than I have been. YAY!

I Refuse To Be Discouraged!

This weekend I knuckled down and started seriously attempting the exercises in the final phase of the physiotherapy recovery programme. I am delighted to report that I can do three of those final five exercises very well. The other two are still impossible to execute because they involve the same under developed muscle group involved in preventing me from putting full weight on my operated leg for more than a few seconds. I see the physiotherapist in a couple of days so I am hoping for more suggestions on improving the development of those muscles. Discovering it is only the one muscle group that is lagging behind is encouraging as I can now concentrate my recovery efforts there.

Sunday’s sermon at church was helpful, as it was about the wisdom given in Proverbs in regard to the necessity of controlling anger. Even after all these years I still struggle with taking my anger to God first, before I react. I am encouraged that there has been a certain amount of transformation from my formerly anger driven life over the years, but I don’t mind admitting I still need God’s help sometimes. Our pastor was honest about some of his own anger issues so he certainly did not have a “holier than thou” presentation.

My husband and I went to Caraway Grill for lunch afterward. We haven’t been there in quite some time. Our chicken vindaloo and lamb curry lunch specials were very tasty, but we are certain all the sauces, as is the case in many restaurants are prepared ahead of time and the meat added at the time of meal service. While we are sure DarBar likely has to do the same thing, somehow their meats seem to be better infused with the sauces for a more complex flavour. The food at Caraway Grill was very good, we just seem to be maintaining our preference for the flavours at DarBar. Also their naan is far better than what we had yesterday. Maybe we are just old and stuck in our ways……

Last night my husband attended our pastor and his family’s annual summer block party bbq. He had a great time. I stayed home as there is no way I can sit in our fold up lawn chairs. My husband was also concerned about wasps hovering about the plates of food. He got a good walk there and back, about five kilometres so that was a bonus for him. 

Laundry day today. I seem to have an horrendous amount of it once again. While my husband is having a meeting this morning, I will concentrate on physio, then get started on the washing as soon as he is free again to assist me in getting all the clothes to the basement. I am so relieved not to have to worry about any more wasps invading the laundry space! Whew! I want to take advantage of a cooler day today and tomorrow before a brutally warm forecast midweek.

A Full Day Of Joy!!!!

This morning's worship service at the Mt. Sinai Nigerian Anglican Church was the most exuberant and joy filled service I have attended in the past few years.  So much singing and dancing and loudly expressed love of the Lord is something I have been missing for awhile and didn't realize it until today.  Turns out our neighbour who invited us is one of the main worship leaders so he sang and danced for about an hour of the worship time. The service lasted nearly 3 hours but the time passed quickly. The sermon was all about the unity of God's people in Christ and how it is time to lay aside all tribal and racial discrimination, acknowledge our diversities but not let them get in the way of behaving as a unified church body.  Our being there was a boon to the preacher who found it wonderful and interesting that "this old white couple chose this morning to join us". hahaha  My husband was able to join the rest of the congregation at the back of the church during the offering time and dance our offering up to the front to put in the basket.  I have to say that for an old white guy with no sense of rhythm to speak of, he did okay boogying down the aisles. We were most warmly welcomed, greeted by half the congregation who were obviously sincere in their joy that visitors had come.  The music was so loud my husband had to put his earplugs in, but when our neighbour said it would be just like worshipping at a church in Nigeria today, he was right.  I remember well the descriptions of church my long time missionary to Nigeria auntie shared with me.  The joy was so palpable I found myself shedding a few tears of relief that such profound and outwardly expressed joy still exists in the world.  Nothing against our own Anglican churches in the way they worship or our present Baptist congregational worship, but occasionally I think I am going to go visiting elsewhere for that little Joy Jolt to keep the sadness about other things in life at bay.  I am so grateful to our neighbour for his invitation. His beautiful wife and two adorable children added to our enjoyment of the congregants. She is a bit of a character and the kids are so sweet.  They were filming a video and taking photos to put on their website to show their cultural days celebration and unless we are edited out afterward, our shiny white faces will be in there at some point when everything is posted.  I will not be offended if we are not there, but it was really fun being included at the time.  

After the service we went for a rather late lunch at a restaurant that is new to us, although it has been operating for nearly a year already.  The restaurant is Little Nepal and I have to say that after walking in and seeing the rather poorly painted over decor from whatever restaurant iteration preceded it, I had low expectations of the meal we were about to eat.  Wow, so thrilled I was wrong. The food was very very tasty indeed.  They have quite a selection of lunchbox specials that consist of a main dish, rice, naan and a canned soda for between $14.99 and $17.99.  There are several types of lunches featuring chicken, beef, lamb, seafood and vegetarian mains My husband chose the chicken madras curry and I had the chicken spinach palak curry. The little spring roll with pepper sauce was a nice treat to start with.  We found the rice to be moist and freshly cooked, the flavours of the mains very good, the naan puffy and yummy...not at all what we were expecting...so much better.  While we were there a table of nearly 20 Nepalese family members arrived and they are apparently regulars there, so that was also a good endorsement.  We will definitely to there again.

We filled the car with gasoline on the way home at the reserve station on north Albert.  The price per litre there is only $1.18 compared to the other stations not on reserve land that have to charge the tax the reserve station doesn't. Their price per litre is $1.31. 

Now it is time to put the online service from our own church up on my iPad and listen to this morning's sermon. A dear friend and retired pastor did the preaching and he is always very good, down to earth, practical, realistic. He and his wife have true pastors' hearts that my husband and I so appreciate. Such gentle souls with strong theology that we relate to well.

Today has been an especially blessed day thus far and I am most grateful.  Getting out into the sunshine, sans forest fire smoke, was a balm to my soul before we even got to the church service! 

Glorious Cleansing Rainfall!

 While the province of Alberta is being deluged in some areas with too much rain and the northwest central portion of our own province is under a heavy rainfall warning this weekend, we are happy to receive some significant rain here as well. It would appear we are not in the area specified to receive an overabundance of rain, but the moisture is most welcome and the drop in temperature is a relief to my husband and myself.  Looks like we have four or five days before the heat makes its way back to us. Whew!

The never ending saga of how to get some sleep at night is kind of getting to me.  I tried for three hours last night to get comfortable enough in bed to drop off, but then gave it up and returned to the recliner in the living room where I was able to get three rounds of two consecutive hours of sleep with only a slight awakening between rounds.  So although I am still tired, I do feel much better today and am ready to do some more dusting around this suite.  I realize that as my mental acuity restores itself I am becoming impatient about how long it takes me to accomplish the simplest task while balancing walkers and crutches and dishes and dusters etc. The impatience is a good sign. It means I am getting well and preparing for more mobility to return. Physio exercises have been most encouraging the past few sessions.  Although I am still behind where I want to be, I am catching up fairly quickly and feel I will be well prepared for my initial meeting with the physiotherapist in two weeks' time.  YAY!

My husband is preaching and presiding at a church out of town a week from tomorrow, so he is busy preparing a sermon and familiarizing himself with the liturgy of the church we will be attending.  It will be my first time back in church since a couple of weeks prior to the surgery, AND it will be among old friends in the congregation so I am very much looking forward to it. We will be arriving at the church far enough ahead of the service time for me to snag one of the beautifully padded chairs and not be stuck suffering on one of the old, harder than a rock pews....they are actually quite comfortable pews, but right now any seat that is not padded properly is difficult for me to sit on for more than 30 minutes at a stretch.  Coffee time afterwards will be the problem...chairs with insufficient padding.  I am going to have to drag along my office chair cushion I suppose. BUT it will be worth it to get out of here and enjoy a really good Anglican service once again.  I love my church here in town, but I still miss the Anglican liturgy I fell in love with years ago.  

Next week my husband and I are going to try to make plans to go and visit a couple of friends. I need to get out here more now that my staples are out and energy is coming back. A change of scene is on the list of needs for me and it won't hurt my husband to see some friends either.  

I have been reading "All the Little Monsters: How I Learned To Live With Anxiety" by David A. Robertson.  It is interesting for me, a fellow anxiety sufferer over the course of my younger years in particular and while seeing my son also struggle with inherited family anxiety traits, to read about the struggles particular to the author because of his indigenous background and the subsequent social persecution he has suffered.  It adds a whole new level of consideration for me to the whole issue of anxiety in other contexts than my own; what causes it, what triggers it and other ways to deal with it.  Glad I picked it up at a library sale recently.

Okay, onward to the dusting project! 

 

Perfect Weather For Tax Completion Day!!

We woke up to about 3cm of fresh snow this morning and it has continued to fall ever since, with a current buildup of closer to 5cm and counting!  Friends from AB sent us a photo of their back deck and acreage grounds this morning and they have twice as much snow today as we do thus far.  This weather is no surprise as spring weather from the BC mountains through to the eastern edge of the prairies in Manitoba is always unstable and unpredictable and crazy and frustrating and interesting.  For myself it means putting on a light parka and winter boots when I take our tax forms to the mail later this afternoon, hahaha.  

I had the most odd "deja Vu" experience at church on Sunday morning.  My husband is always amazed by how lacking in nostalgic recall I am, how I so rarely think of experiences in the past....to the point that when friends from other places we have lived get in touch with me I have to dredge my memory sometimes to its depth to recall what it was like living in that particular town or city.  Looking forward makes me much happier than looking backward for whatever reason.

Anyway, before church began on Sunday morning one of the more senior members of the church asked me if I could go to the choir room and request a piece of music for her so that she could participate in the "flash mob" Hallelujah Chorus event that closes out the Easter service each year.  Away I went, up a long flight of stairs to the choir loft, through the doors into the choir rehearsal halls and rooms to locate the choir and the requested music.  As I stepped into the rehearsal room to ask for the music a flood of happy memories and emotions, from my own years of being able to accompany, direct and sing in choirs, assailed me. As I returned down that same long flight of steps to give the music to my friend, I could envision myself heading to the sanctuary piano instead and starting to play the prelude music.  It was so odd, so overwhelming, so deeply meaningful in a way that is difficult to explain.  The best I can do is that the experience served to remind and encourage me that I actually did have a professional life at one point, was able to make some sort of contribution to the musical education of my students and enjoyed the camaraderie particular to musical groups....it was a happy experience to have that flashback to some of the old and positive events in my past.  The feeling has remained with me, although of course it is far less intense now, a couple of days later.  I am glad it happened for whatever reason.

We had some spectacular Easter dinners this past weekend!  We enjoyed a giant chicken and all the stuffing, potatoes, veggies and salad we could manage to eat on Sunday evening.  My husband loaded his plate with cranberry sauce and I enjoyed my dietary cheat with a slice of lemon Easter cake covered in frosting and coconut sprinkles and teensy candy coated chocolate eggs.  (I admit I had two of the eggs AND one that was the same size my husband snagged for me during the children's Easter egg hunt after church in the morning! Bless him!) We met our friend's son and his wife and delightful 16 month old daughter. That is one bright little girl and I had a blast after dinner teaching her how to say "watch" after she spotted the one I wear on my wrist. It is shiny and she was fascinated by it. Once she had the "W" sound down, she sat and ran and played and kept saying the word "watch" over and over so she would remember it.  Cutie pie!  Her parents of course do not wear watches because they are young Digital Age'ers with smartphones. haha

After church earlier that morning, assuming we were going home because one of the reasons my husband insisted the previous evening that we go out for burgers was because he didn't want to have to go out for lunch after church, I was shocked when my husband drove us directly to Darbar for Indian food! hahahaha  What the heck??  Well, although I reminded him that it had been his own idea for us NOT to go out for lunch after church, he was not to be dissuaded, so we enjoyed yet another wonderful meal there. What can I say??  Other than YUMMY! HAPPY SURPRISE!!

Later that same evening we received an invitation from other friends to go to their house for dinner last night!  Wow...another great visit and wonderful, wonderful food...more chicken, which we love, a different type of stuffing and veggies and salad, more cranberry sauce for my husband and a home made blueberry pie for dessert....HOW BLESSED WERE WE THIS EASTER WEEKEND????  Amazing. We feel completely spoiled and can't wait to have all these people back over to our house in the next few weeks before my surgery! So, how can we not be foodies when we continue to be presented with these amazing meals prepared by our friends?? Right??

Well, my husband is ready now for us to complete the government copies of our income tax forms and then I will get them mailed away.  SO thrilled they are finally completed for another year!

 

A Weather-Appropriate Day!

Good Friday….a day of remembrance of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross for our sake and salvation. Today the weather has been appropriately gloomy and miserable with below zero temperatures, freezing gales of wind and periods of scattered snow flurries. Brrrrr and yuck! The weather certainly matches the feelings associated with today’s spiritual significance for Christians! Dark, dark, dark….although we do also know that the celebration of the resurrection will happen in a couple of days! Back to rejoicing!

We attended a more traditional Anglican Church service this morning and it was very well done. At last night’s Maundy Thursday service the altar guild and clergy performed the stripping of the altar, the wrapping of the large wooden cross standing at the front of the room in black fabric and also wrapping the cross at the top of the crucifer in black fabric before the deacon carried it in during the clerical processional. Traditional prayers of the day were said and sung, the story of the crucifixion from John’s gospel was read in scripture form by various clergy and congregation members. It was a moving service and as much as I don’t like to admit it, I am grateful we did not attend a joint service our own church was participating on this morning….not because there would have been anything wrong with it, but because in the past we have discovered a lack of the meditative solemnity we have come to associate with and enjoy about the Anglican Good Friday services. For me personally I found in previous experiences with the joint service that it seems like a well intended dog’s breakfast of worship styles and I find having a choir at what I view as a solemn, quiet, reflective service, kind of off putting. 

Don’t be offended if there are differing opinions between me and thee. I am stating a personal preference rather than a criticism of the people participating in the joint service. They are handling Good Friday in the way that works best for and appeals most to them. God bless them! I just have a different type of worship need on Good Friday, that’s all. 

We were able to sit at the service with my walking partner and to greet many of my husband’s former parishioners there. Some of them we have not seen in a number of years. It was great to exchange quiet greetings and big hugs before entering into the solemn service. My husband received an invitation to preach there one Sunday this summer during the priest’s vacation time, so that is exciting for him. Bonus! 

Tomorrow I will make some kind of veggie dish for the Sunday Easter dinner we are invited to and if my husband is feeling well enough he will make some Easter bread for some of our neighbours. He is exhausted and still recovering from over three months of having too many commitments.

Since receiving my surgery date I have found it mentally much easier to do my pre-op physiotherapy with joy! One more set of reps tonight before taking the weekend off for my muscles and hip joint to recover so I can get back into it again next week. It is all good.

Getting Over The Winter Induced Agoraphobia

 For most of my adult life I have struggled with mild agoraphobia.  It was horrendous after our nearly 18 consecutive months of lock down in 2020-2021 during the Covid disaster and ever since then I have struggled with it a bit at the beginning of each spring as the ice melts away and it is possible to get outside for more than a short walk around the block.  If driving and shopping are involved I have to give myself a stern talking to in order to convince myself I should get out and get moving.  Today has been one of those days.

There are several personal items I have been putting off going shopping for, putting off the trip for several weeks now, so I decided last evening that this morning was the morning to GET OUT AND GET BACK TO LIFE!!!!  I was out the door just before 10am and spent a long time going to various stores.  It is wonderful to report that I was able to find all but two of the things on my list and I have come up with a few other stores to check out later this week to continue looking for them.  YES!!  I had such a great time wandering about on my own that I was actually reluctant to return home, so as soon as I parked the car in our lot and opened the door to our suite I hollered at my husband to ask if he wanted to go out for lunch!  His answer was affirmative and less than thirty seconds later we were both in the car and on our way to The Cottage for their lasagna lunch special!  I LOVE that special because the hot dish of lasagna is not only lunch sized, it is senior citizen lunch sized!  I can eat it all AND it comes with a green salad, garlic toast and a bowl of soup!  It is worth every penny and the price is quite reasonable for the variety of food I received. Yum, yum!  After lunch my husband thought of two errands he should probably undertake for himself, so we had a nice drive around the city.  The drop in gasoline prices since the axing of the carbon tax is quite amazing.  We went to our favourite discount station and paid only a dollar and twenty-nine cents a litre and the main stations were only a dollar and thirty-nine cents a litre...about a forty-five to fifty cent a litre drop.  I suspect that between my going alone for a big grocery shopping trip last week and today's shopping and lunch extravaganza it will be less of a chore mentally to convince myself to get in the car and head off once again next time I need to. 

Tomorrow is the day for the annual Blessing of the Oils for my husband and his colleagues over at the Cathedral, so he will be busy all day. I will head off to our church around lunch time for the monthly seniors' fellowship.  One of our church artists and newly retired museum curator will be talking about  art related to Christ and his Passion, which is particularly appropriate for this season of the church calendar.  I am looking forward to it very much.  

Since it is Holy Week we have Monday, Thursday and Good Friday services to attend, the Easter Sunday sunrise service at the lake we will probably skip as it is at 6:30am, but we do look forward to the Easter Sunday morning church service.  We will share Holy Week services between the Anglican and Baptist churches this year as the Anglicans have other types of Holy Week services that the Baptists don't. It is always a super busy and spiritually encouraging week. Somewhere in there we need desperately to get our income taxes done, but no doubt we will manage as it is also a necessity to get them filed on time.  

Looks like it is shaping up to be a happy and busy week around here and I am beyond grateful to have enough energy to do these things.

 

 

A Simply Gorgeous Day In The Neighbourhood!!

Warming temperatures, brilliant sunshine, a bit more warmth to the breeze than we have had; it is adding up to a wonderful weather day as spring appears to be budding at last!!  YIPPEE!  My husband's class on Forgiveness went well this morning, the choir sang a wonderfully simple anthem that touched my heart deeply, the prayer I led was well received, we had lunch at DarBar and were gifted by the owners with two delicious platter meals at no cost....WOW!!!  We are blessed indeed today and we are both incredibly grateful for all of these things. As spring weather draws even closer I feel my spirit lifting after a dark and depressing winter season.  It seems the past few years winter has become progressively more difficult for me to deal with joyfully.  Not sure why but I hope that next winter will not be even worse than this past one has been.  Hopefully the lake that is forming across the back yard, as the deep snow piles melt, will be gone by next weekend. It is time to start parking the car out on the street so we don't have to put on swim suits and flippers to access it!!

Today's prayer time was difficult as I had to pray for a young father who was in a serious car accident yesterday and finds himself in a coma, on a ventilator, after his heart stopped at the accident site and the man may have permanent brain damage....I cannot begin to imagine what his wife and two small children are going through.  Another congregant has passed away, so we are left with more grief for our church folk to share together and hopefully we can be a good support to his wife.  Another friend tripped over her dog and broke her hip and is struggling with pain and depression.  Another friend has been in a physio rehab facility for months and with a dearth of physiotherapists to work with her has fallen behind in her recovery to the point where we are all wondering if she will ever get out of there.  The middle aged son of another friend has been in hospital for several months after a bout with cancer and other issues. Now the cancer has returned and he has only a few months left to live out his life within the walls of the hospital....I can only be grateful that his mother passed away herself some time ago so she will not have to witness his sufferng.  Oh my gosh....and I know there are many other requests among our congregation that have not been shared.  It has been a difficult season among our church friends and family.

Our son called us last evening and of course that cheered me considerably as well.  He has been very busy, has some wickedly difficult decisions to make in regard to a cross border art exhibition he is participating in closer to year end....or now maybe not for another year after that depending on border crossing changes, visa requirements and a host of other ever changing rules and regulation about these things.  He is very happy his fiancee is returning today from her recent work on the west coast and that she has opted not to go overseas with the rest of her theatre company this week just in case of issues upon her return.  While it may be unlikely she would have an issue and none of us want to live in fear of what "might" happen, the risk to reward ratio is presently too big.  It was such a difficult decision for her and we applaud her maturity in giving up something wonderful in order to maintain her status in her country of choice.  Our son has a birthday this week and he is tickled that his fiancee will be able to celebrate with him after all.  Tonight they are attending a public performance of a play that she wrote and our prayer for her is that some good contacts from the wonderful world of performance companies will see it and be impressed enough to produce it somewhere else as well.  Aaaah, life is very topsy turvy these days, but we pray that out of the chaos some good things can still happen.

Tomorrow is MY NEW COMPUTER DAY!  My husband has everything installed and tested for me, so I will begin learning the wonders of Windows 11 at last tomorrow.  Hopefully I won't remain frustrated by the changes from my elderly Windows 7 for too many days.  If I just stay calm, not panic, and not be afraid to try various things while I am learning its particular quirks and processes all will be well.  As he has been getting my computer ready for use, my husband has decided that perhaps it is time to replace his own aging computer with a new one just like mine! Hopefully he can do that in the next couple of weeks.

My husband has only one more class for the Forgiveness course and then hopefully he can have a bit of a break from teaching and preaching. The extended break from downsizing has been very good for him as he is feeling motivated to tackle it more seriously and a bit more quickly once his course is completed. YAY!!  From his mouth to God's ear???  hahaha

Enjoy your upcoming week everyone!

A Wonderful Day For Travelling A Short Distance!

We had an excellent drive today out of town so my husband could preach and reside at an Anglican service this morning.  The overnight icy build up on the highway had almost melted away entirely and by half way to our destination the bits of icy slush had disappeared entirely.  However....OH the sights we did see along the way:  we passed a 3 semi-truck accident on the other side of the highway that had a nearly 2km long line of stopped semi's waiting to get passed the mess.  There were crushed cabs, ripped open trailers and when we returned home over seven hours later the contents of one of the trailers was still being unloaded onto a new semi trailer.  Looked like a wicked crash and we do hope and pray the drivers were all okay afterward.  We also passed a very large dead animal in the ditch.  At first we assumed it must be a moose, but it was the wrong shape and the hair on the carcass was too coarse and black, so now we are wondering if a young bison escaped from one of the area bison ranches and got itself hit by a vehicle.  If it was a bison, we are wondering what condition the vehicle that hit it is in!!  Our gratitude for safety in our own travels there and back is huge right now!

My husband aced his church work today and his sermon about the Prodigal Son, the family tension between the father and his two sons and which of the sons, or the father, we most identify with when there is sibling ( or other interpersonal) rivalry, how we can properly become weak to demonstrate our heavenly Father's strength....it was all really helpful to me and apparently to some of the congregation members as well.  My husband can't seem to write a sermon without creating an entire weekend seminar on whatever the subject is, but the amount of work he puts into preparation is obvious even in the much shorter sermon extraction.  I am proud of him...hahaha............no kiddin'! hahaha

After the service we joined some church folk for lunch at a restaurant called Mitsu that billed itself as serving food based on a "Japanese style".  We didn't have high hopes as that could mean anything at all, we were assured by our friends that the food was excellent and it certainly was.  Delicious bento boxes with teriyaki chicken....a generous amount on a small bed of rice, seaweed salad, sushi rolls, a spring roll and a gyoza along with the appropriate types of soys, miso soup and edemame.  Yum, yum and quite reasonably priced.  We also splurged on crepe desserts.  My husband was able to get a crepe with red bean paste and mochi and I had a crepe stuffed with small chunks of brownie with both a chocolate and an orange-yuzu drizzle over the top, plus some crunchy bits as well.  I loved that iced cream was an extra added cost and that it was quite acceptable to NOT have the iced cream!  I don't like it, can't eat it anyway, and to have melting iced cream all over my crepe would have ruined the nice texture.  There was a strawberry nutella crepe as well that one of our friends wisely ordered to take home....such restraint....and I hope she enjoys her dessert as much as we two little piglets enjoyed ours!!  It has been awhile since we were able to use chopsticks to eat our meals with....good practise as it is a skill I don't want to become rusty at.  

After an overcast drive out of town this morning it was a great treat to be able to drive home in the sunshine!  The air is still chilly and the breeze a bit chillier yet, but we are looking at a wonderful warmup to plus single digit daytime highs later this week. So grateful that perhaps spring is actually about to arrive!!