promptings

a january dream come true (#829-840 of 1000 gifts)

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

"Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?" - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

It's been a while since I've done a 1000 gifts update. Of course the blessings haven't stopped. Here's a quick overview of my thankfulnesses since my last 1000 gifts posting (a month ago!).

829. An honest evaluation of my novel from a trusted writer/editor/friend who knows about such things. There is much work to do before I submit the final draft!

830. I found two books to help me with the edit (James Scott Bell's Conflict and Suspense, and Revision & Self-Editing). Both excellent!

831. A Kindle e-reader on which to download them in mere seconds.

832. A fabulous, dream-come-true, 15-day winter vacation on Maui (I'll be blogging some of the highlights in the days ahead).

833. Safe trans-Pacific flights to and from Kahului with luggage to meet us both away and home again.

834. Good health for the duration.

835. We found our car on the huge Vancouver long-term parking lot when we got back. Don't laugh. We've lost it in much smaller places.

836. All was safe and sound at home when we got back.

837. A dependable washer and dryer to wash the summer togs, which now need to go back into storage (*sigh*).

838. The comforts of our familiar home.

839. A "Yes" from qarrtsiluni (for the "Imitation" issue).

840. My review of A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider was pub'd in the January/February issue of Faith Today.

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

book review: Shadowed in Silk by Christian Lindsay

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Abby Fraser has one dream and that is to return to India and make a home for her British soldier husband Nick and their 3-year-old son Cam. But when Nick doesn’t answer her telegrams and isn’t there to meet her at the Bombay dock, she begins to have forebodings.

Thanks to fellow passenger Major Geoff Richards, who is also part of the 1918 British force in India, she is delivered safely to Nick’s home in Amritsar — the home she dreamed he was preparing just for her. But there, more cruel surprises await. Nick doesn’t seem a bit pleased to see her. He is preoccupied and distracted. And at night the servants take her, not to the master bedroom (that smells mysteriously of jasmine) but to a side room with a single bed.

Shadowed in Silk, a debut novel by Christine Lindsay, follows Abby and Nick’s stumbling relationship against the backdrop of restless times as the Indian people chafe under British rule. We witness the lavish lifestyle of the occupiers and cringe at their haughty treatment of the natives.

There is an element of intrigue as one of the British soldiers is a double agent—a Russian spy. Suspense mounts as we see his ruthless Russian side and try to figure out which of the Brits is the imposter. Through Geoff’s Indian friends Miriam and Eshana and their Christian mission, Abby finds meaningful work and the support she so badly needs to carry on in the charade of her marriage in front of the other officers and their wives.

The characters are interesting, complex and well-drawn. Main character Abby is likeable with just enough strength of personality to make her convincing as the daughter of a general, yet not too much to make her modernly independent. Nick is mysterious and unsafe. Geoff is strong, silent, secretive, and hurt.

The exotic Indian setting was a highlight of the book for me. Here, for example, is Lindsay’s description of Abby’s introduction to India:

“As soon as the liner stopped, it was as though an oven door dropped open, and hot air rushed in. On the quay, a kaleidoscope of color and humanity dazzled Abby’s eyes — Hindu women in saris of every hue, hot pinks, ochre yellows, lime greens. Parsee women wore their skirts of equally brilliant shades, their black hair ornamented with lace and gold. People balanced immense bundles on their heads. Bengali clerks rushed here and there, wearing yards of white muslin and Hindu caps, while other men wore turbans or solar topis. On the dock, uniformed soldiers joined the throng. So many people. She had forgotten that claustrophobic feeling, the teeming press of millions. But she loved it” – Kindle location 220.

The Indian words for food, clothing, religious practices, etc., that pepper the text (and for which there is a glossary) add authenticity. Though I am not familiar with the historical setting, other reviewers praise the book for its accuracy.

The Christian angle of the book is prominent, yet handled with a deft touch. Miriam, Eshana and, Geoff live their faith more than talk about it, demonstrating compassion, charity, service and forgiveness in some truly testy circumstances.

For an authentic experience of an interesting time in British history lived through believable, sympathetic characters, Shadowed in Silk is an excellent choice.

View the book trailer.

Read Chapter One of Shadowed in Silk.

Title: Shadowed in Silk
Author: Christine Lindsay
Publisher: WhiteFire Publishing, September 2011, paperback, 276 pages
ISBN-10: 0976544490
ISBN-13: 978-0976544494

(Review first posted on Blogcritics.)

This post is linked at Semicolon Saturday Review of Books, January 28th where you will find links to many more book reviews.

book review: Light Under the House by Aaron L. and Donna Dawson

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Light under the House by Aaron L. and Donna Dawson is a family saga in which we follow several generations of the Levi/Quince clan. We see how the decisions and choices of one era impact the next, and witness how the results of bad choices expand to impact many beyond the family circle.

The story starts out simply, almost like a fable or parable (the opening scenes reminded me of the story of the Prodigal Son from the Bible). However, it soon becomes much more complicated and unpredictable as fantasy and paranormal elements enter the plot. In some places the writing reminded me of apocalyptic passages from the Old Testament prophets and Revelation. Other scenes took me back to Pilgrim’s Progress. In still other places I saw similarities to modern tales where characters go in search of religious artifacts (e.g. The Ark by Boyd Morrison).

The book is labeled Christian suspense, but overt Christian content is practically non-existent until the last few chapters. Though there are references to biblical imagery in various places (the biblical character Jezebel figures prominently in the book; in one vision John Quince sees a lamb; in another a stone crashes into and topples an idol; and in still another he experiences an ever-rising flood of water), the meaning of these story elements is never explained.

I wasn’t sure if the authors were attempting to evoke the Bible themes they suggested or were using these scenes as a simple link to the Bible, as in causing us to ask: Where have I seen that before? Ah, the Bible. By the end we discover that the Jezebel theme is meant to convey all that that character conveyed in the Bible. Similarly, the theme of light and dark — note the title — runs true to biblical form.

In trying to understand my reaction to the book, something writer Sol Stein says about reading and writing came to mind: “…the reader most wants an experience different from and richer than what he daily abides in life …. Good writing is supposed to evoke the sensation in the reader, not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon” – Stein on Writing, p. 8.

In that last sense this book has lots of good writing. The description is detailed. The interactions between people are believable. The conversations are realistic. The conflicts are intense. The fights are brutal. The taste of blood is metallic...

The trouble is, I didn’t enjoy the amount of time I had to spend submerged in this story’s dark places, amplified because they are portrayed with graphic realism. This story contains a lot of violence, abuse, mayhem, and murder. There are many sexually suggestive scenes. None of the characters is in a good place emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. Up till two thirds of the way through the book I had to force myself to read on. The story does end on a positive note, though.

According to author Aaron L.'s recent Blogcritics interview, the book is somewhat autobiographical in that it deals with a lot of his personal issues. For someone wrestling with the same demons, the book will no doubt come across differently than it did to me, and may well provide a sense of companionship and hope.

The anything-goes setting was also a problem for me. So many things just happened out of the blue. For example, two characters were in the supposedly secure compound of an estate, but then were assaulted by a host of intruders with not even any puzzlement on the part of the victim as to how they got in. People appeared and disappeared willy nilly. Half the time I didn’t know whether the main character was having a vision or experiencing "reality" — and sometimes neither did he. The journey through the random setting the authors created— a universe in which there seemed to be no rules and anything the writers dreamed up could happen — left me disoriented.

As you can see, this book is not my preferred genre. However, if suspense/fantasy/paranormal is yours, and you like it served up by flawed, edgy characters via a plot that is completely unpredictable, Light under the House may be your cup of tea.

Aaron L. is a newcomer to writing fiction. He was recently interviewed for a Blogcritics article. Donna Dawson is an award-winning Canadian writer and the author of numerous books.

(I received this book as a gift for the purpose of writing a review.)

Title: Light Under the House
Author: Aaron L. and Donna Dawson
Publisher: Ravensbrook Press, October 2011, paperback, 362 pages
ISBN-10: 0615556035
ISBN-13: 978-0615556031

book review: Behind the Veils of Yemen by Audra Grace Shelby

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

If you’ve wondered what life is like for the veiled women of the Middle East, this book is a revelation. Author Audra Grace Shelby, along with her husband Kevin, were Baptist missionaries to Yemen for nine years. In Behind the Veils of Yemen, Shelby tells the story of that time. She describes in detail the friendship with her language tutor Fatima. She also tells about incidents that stretched her faith like the sickness of her husband and her daughter, and the birth of her fourth child.

I love Shelby’s creative non-fiction style. A skilled storyteller, she helps us experience Yemen and her Yemeni friends, their homes, celebrations, and customs through color, touch, sound, and smell. Using specific detail she recreates incidents in settings as varied as a hospital room, a beach-side vacation cottage, and the home of Fatima. Here we see a Yemeni market:

“We arrived at the suq, an open-air Yemeni market. On one side of the entrance women sat on the ground with round stacks of pancake-like bread. They wrapped them in newspapers and waved as we approached.

On the other side of the entrance four men displayed aluminum trolleys with mounds of glossy dates, pressed together in sticky cubes. They flicked swarming flies with rags tied to sticks and called to us to sample a date.” – p. 75.

Her recall of events and details is quite amazing (she must have kept detailed journals), as is her ability to analyze people and situations. Of Fatima she says:

“She had a manner that was both transparent and secretive, faltering and arrogant, all at the same time” – p. 50.

When she attends a women’s wedding celebration and is coaxed to dance with the women, she reluctantly complies. After she makes her clumsy way across the floor, the reaction of the onlookers surprises her:

“Applause thundered from the crowd of women around me …. They were beaming at me. I realized they were pleased more by my willingness to dance with them than they were by my skills in dancing.” – p. 68.

I enjoyed the book for a variety of reasons.

I loved the glimpse Shelby gave me into the world of veiled women. Never had I imagined that under their black burqas may be vivid caftans, bejeweled silk scarves, even the odd mini-skirt. She introduced me to a vibrant and cohesive female community which is devoutly religious and has its own colorful wedding and funeral rituals.

Despite the exotic setting, Shelby’s story showed me that mothers everywhere struggle with the same things. I ached for Fatima as she tried to find reasons why her almost year-old baby was still not holding up his head or sitting unsupported. One of Shelby’s own mothering crises resolved when she faced the question: “Do you trust Me (God) without having to know why?” It is a question Christian mothers are bound to face wherever they live.

Finally, I found Shelby herself inspirational. I admired the way she parented her kids, stifling her own anxieties in order to keep them feeling safe and distracting them with made-up stories instead of sweeping them into the vortex of her own tensions. Her sensitivity to her women friends’ customs and feelings along with her generosity, kindness, and passion to introduce them to Jesus were beautiful to witness.

I have one little beef with the book. It has no table of contents; thus it’s hard to locate passages one has read without using a bookmark or dog-earing the pages.

The end-matter alerts us to the fact that the name of the author and her family members have been changed to protect friends whose work goes on in the Middle East. You can find out more about the book, the author’s experiences in the Middle East, and her current speaking schedule from her website and Facebook page.

(I received this book as a gift for the purpose of writing a review.)

Title: Behind the Veils of Yemen
Author: Audra Grace Shelby
Publisher: Chosen - reprinted edition September 1, 2011, paperback, 238 pages.
ISBN-10: 0800795180
ISBN-13: 978-0800795184

best of 2011 - part 2

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

The theme for Thursday Challenge is Best of 2011 (again). One of my favorite photographic subjects is the little people in my life. As the grandkids grow older it's so much fun to watch them grow and develop--through play, which is really their work. Here are two collections of my favorite little boys.

Kids at work

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TOYS (Stuffed Animals, Sports Equipment, Dolls, Video Games, Board Games, Lego,...)

book review: The Third Grace by Deb Elkink

2012-01-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Aglaia Klassen’s jaunt to Paris has been a long time in coming. But now it’s three days away — a business trip for which the main character in Deb Elkink’s debut novel, The Third Grace, has significant plans of her own. On the evening we make her acquaintance she is trying to inveigle from her worldly friend Lou, how one would go about finding someone in that vast city.

When Tina, her country bumpkin mother, bursts upon their little soirée with the embarrassing request that Aglaia take the Bible that Francois left at the farm 15 years ago and return it, Aglaia is beyond humiliated. But the Bible does find its way into her luggage and becomes a magnet once she discovers the notes the French exchange student scribbled in its margins all those years ago.

As she reads them, she is transported back to that summer of young love when she was 17 and sure that Francois’ heart was all hers. She recalls the Greek myths of which the Bible stories they read in youth group reminded him, and finds tucked inside a photo postcard of the Three Graces. The Third Grace, Aglaia, is what Francois called her. That’s why she has not been Mary Grace — the name her parents gave her — for many years.

Much has happened since that crossroads summer at the farm in Nebraska. She has made an impression on the cultural scene in Denver where she works as an up-and-coming costume designer. As far as she’s concerned, her Mennonite past is history despite the longing in her parents’ eyes and their thinly disguised pleas for her help with the farm.

Aglaia’s friend Lou has her own agenda. Their paths get crazily entangled in this story that explores young love, faith, identity, and loyalty to family and friends.

The well-realized characters make The Third Grace a delight. Lou is a devious college prof who we don’t trust from the minute we meet her — though Aglaia wants to and tries to, to our dismay.

Eb, Aglaia’s boss at the costume shop, is an eccentric, wise, father-figure and my personal favorite. His love for the Bible and the Christian classics creates a fine foil for Aglaia's fascination with Greek mythology.

Francois, the charming, lascivious student from the past plays a large role through Aglaia’s memories.

Aglaia’s Mennonite parents ring true, with their homespun sensibilities, their ethnic cuisine, and their Plautdietsch-inflected pronunciations: “trock” and “tanse” for “truck” and “tense,” and Germanisms like “Na jo,” En betje.”

Finally there’s Aglaia herself — talented and ambitious, yet idealistic, wistful, and conflicted in the way she continues to carry the torch for her teenage sweetheart.

Elkink’s writing is a tailored garment of sensuous description, trimmed with just the right words to signal deeper meanings. Note this bit from the opening scene where Aglaia is entertaining Lou in her apartment:

“Aglaia angled her glass and looked into its blood-red interior. Wine was a symbol of communion, she thought, and she was using it with carnal deliberation to seal this relationship that had so much to offer her” p. 12.

Or this snippet describing Aglaia’s relationship with her craft:

“From the time she was a child…she’d hankered to sew. She learned the smell of the flax beneath the linen, savored the variance between silk and wool. She had a habit still of chewing a strand each time she laid out a length of yard goods ready for the shears. She made a sacrament of touching and sniffing and tasting—a sensual adulation” – p. 42.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Eklink is herself a seamstress and has designed costumes.

I enjoyed this tale for its writing style and literary forays as much as its finely crafted characters. Elkink seems as comfortable recounting Aglaia’s fall from faith and attraction to the occult world of Greek myth as she is describing a scene of teenage infatuation, a Paris bistro, or a child-squirmy kitchen. The story is enriched with quotes from the Bible and Christian luminaries like Saint Augustine, Dante and others through Eb.

For a reading experience as layered and sumptuous as Aglaia’s period costumes, The Third Grace by Deb Elkink won’t disappoint. Could we please have some more?

(I received this book as a gift for the purpose of writing a review.)

Title: The Third Grace
Author: Deb Elkink
Publisher: Greenbrier Book Company, December 2011, paperback, 306 pages
ISBN-10: 1937573001

ISBN-13: 978-1937573003

This review is linked to Saturday Review of Books: January 7, 2012 at Semicolon Blog.

best of 2011 - part 1

2012-01-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

The theme for the Thursday Challenge for this week and next is "Best of 2011."

I'm going to cheat and present two series of photos. This week I'm offering three collages from our visit to the Vancouver Aquarium last February. What a fun place for my camera!

Vancouver Aquarium - February 25, 2011

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: Best of 2011 (part 2)

promptings' potpourri: 'start the year off right' edition

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

In my blog reading over the last few days I've come across a wealth of interesting articles. Some of them might interest you too.

Justin Taylor summarizes and links to a multitude of "Bible Reading plans for 2012."

Apparently the puritan minister Jonathan Edwards had 73 resolutions for life which he reviewed once a week. Blogger Matt Perman has not only listed them but put them in categories (such as Overall Life Mission, Good Works, Time Management etc.) in "The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards in Categories."

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner muses on the process of making resolutions. This discovery of hers resonated with me: "Last year ... I identified that for me to be successful with my goals, I needed to first identify the underlying emotional reason for the goal." Read all of "Goals, Resolutions, Words."

Ilya Pozin's "7 Things Highly Productive People Do" contains Tony Wong's common sense advice like "Be Militant about eliminating distractions" and "schedule your email" as well as anti-intuitive suggestions like "Stop multi-tasking." Read all of "7 Things Highly Productive People Do

Finally, Janet Martin gives her thoughtful and poetic take on the changing of the calendar in "Year."

Enjoy!

christmas holiday (#816-828 of 1000 gifts)

2011-12-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

"A holiday gives one a chance to look backward and forward to reset oneself by an inner compass." - May Sarton

Our Christmas weekend was fabulous with a crowded house and lots of activity. Monday after everyone left, it was eerily quiet except for the chug, chug of the washing machine and soon the whine of the vacuum cleaner. Inside my head it was quiet too, with the muffling fog of fatigue.

That fog has slowly lifted as I've caught up on my sleep. I'm ever so grateful for this quiet little hallway between Christmas and the beginning of 2012—a time to lounge about, tie up loose ends, read, watch TV, visit friends, dream a little.

Here are my gifts from the last week or so...

816. Safe Christmas travels.

817. Baby smiles

818. Little boys being little boys.

819. Big boys playing with little boys.

820. A full table.

821. A birthday cake for Jesus.

822. A bookful of exploring to look forward to (the book: An Introduction to Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem—just what I asked for!)

823. A no-stairs laundry area.

824. Cozy new PJs.

825. Leftovers.

826. Thoughts turning to new beginnings.

827. The knowledge that losing all those Christmas treats around my middle is as simple (and hard) as not eating.

828. Just back from our daily morning walk, I'm loving the unseasonable warmth (10.5 C = 50.9 F).

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

light

2011-12-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas music box

I wish you could see this charming little decoration in action. It's cute as a still diorama. But flick the switch at the back and music starts to play, the lamp glows, light shines through the window, and the tree pulsates, morphing from red to blue to green back to red. Then place the magnet-bottomed bear onto the skating rink and watch him twirl across its surface.

Thursday Challenge

Next week: Light - 2nd Week (Candle, Street, Business, Fireplace, Glitter, Sparkle,...)

anticipation (#805 - 815 of 1000 gifts)

2011-12-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

"Hustle and bustle, hurry and haste,

Never a moment that we might waste;

Shopping and wrapping, ribbons and bows,

Christmas is coming as everyone knows..."

A stanza from "Christmas is Coming" by Garnett Ann Schultz (Christmas Ideals)

I rarely sleep through the night. In fact I wake up several times each night to toss, and turn, and look to see what time it is. Our large-number, glow-in-the-dark digital clock which sits across the bed from me on hubby's bedside table is perfect for that. I can actually read the numbers without my glasses.

Lately when I look at the time, I can't tell you how often I happen to see it when the numbers are three-of-a-kind, four-of-a-kind or a run: 11:11, 1:11, 2:22, 3:33. Saturday night to Sunday it was 4:44, last night it was 2:34. I've played enough cards to know that such repeating numbers often signify a good hand. We call such hands lucky. However, I've been interpreting these "clock-hands" not as lucky, but as little reminders that God sees me, loves me, and, even in the middle of the night, is up to give me a little wink and a smile. Am I crazy? That's my gift 805 this week.

And...

806. The Christmas passions of others. The lady who coordinates our church's funeral teas invited all the volunteers to her house for a Christmas tea this week. The one game we played was to find all the manger scenes she had placed in the various rooms of her house. Would you believe the grand total was 32 (and I thought I had an abundance with eight)!

807. Getting Christmas cards and letters and emails from friends and family. It's so nice to catch up!

808. A delightful tree decorated in unusual turquoise and pink (not mine).

809. Doing Christmas baking. I love baking but really shouldn't be eating sweets. However, when the kids are coming, I can afford to get carried away!

810. A medical scare close to home. I'm so thankful for a nearby hospital, attention within the day, and reassurance.

811. An old/new CD by Kim Hill bought from the bargain bin at our local Christian bookstore. (Love her voice, a combination of Rita Springer and Connie Kaldor.)

812. Permission from son and hubby (as if one needs permission, but anyway...) to have ham instead of turkey for Christmas dinner. Suddenly Christmas dinner prep is a whole lot easier.

813. A car mural.

814. Seeing cover designs for my novel. Suddenly it feels real.

815. I'm very close to being ready for Christmas!

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

music (#792 - 804 of 1000 gifts)

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

There shall be music, sweet and clear,

Calling the reverent worshipers near,

Telling the story in notes and in rhyme

Of the Child who was born at Christmastime.

There shall be music, soft and light,

A lullaby sung on a crisp winter night,

Sweetly angelic like the voices that told

Of the birth of a king to the shepherds of old.

There shall be music, deep and strong,

Filling the air with melodious song,

Resonant sounds of gladness that tend

To lift every heart to a grateful amen!

- Alice Leedy Mason (Christmas Ideals - 1978)

As I always do at this time of year, I've hauled out the Christmas albums and am giving them some play time. Some of my favorites are the 2003 Michael W. Smith Christmas album and some CDs released by Our Daily Bread that contain beautiful classical songs. I have yet to play two golden oldies that we have only as records—a Nana Mouskouri Christmas album and one by Roger Whittaker. There's nothing nicer than a house filled with the warmth of a fireplace, the twinkle of lights, and the gorgeous songs of Christmas. That's number 792 on my list of 1000 gifts.

And ...

793. A hawk sighting.

794. Much shopping and other Christmas preparation done this week.

795. The way frost transforms, outlining ...

796. ... sugar-frosting ...

797. ... glazing ...

798. ... and exposing.

799. Discovering a new worship album. The Journey by Stuart Townend has a lively Celtic flavour. Love it! (From some notes on Mr. Townend's website: "This album may signal that it’s time to turn the guitar amps down from 11, time to dust off the violin and flute, get out the accordion and the banjo, and lead God’s people in worship along slightly different musical paths to the ones we’ve got use to in recent years – and, in my humble opinion, that’s no bad thing…" - I'd say AMEN to that!)

800. A visit with my sis.

801. An inspiring church Christmas production.

802. A Christmas party with one of those wild gift exchanges where you get to steal someone else's gift. I came home with some Starbucks!

803. Plans for Christmas Day finalized. They'll be home!

804. A beautiful Sunday walk in the fog.

Fort Langley Bridge over the Bedford Channel

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communication

2011-12-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes words aren't necessary

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: SHOES (Boots, Sandals, Dress Shoes, Wooden Shoes, Stiletto heals, Horse Shoes,...)

christmas is knocking (#776-791 of 1000 gifts)

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas comes in softly

Soon you see it there,

In fancy foods and children's eyes,

Holly wreaths and angel hair ...

... Christmas comes in softly

As a feeling in the air;

Keep your heart alive and listen:

See and hear it everywhere!"

- D. R. Barnes (From Christmas Ideals 1978)

The second advent candle signifying preparation was certainly appropriate for the week that was. I decorated my house this week, something I've started doing in stages, which makes the job much more fun than doing it in one marathon day. And the Christmas activities have began. Both of these seasonal traditions figure into my gift list this week...

776. The special guest at our women's Christmas event was Sarah Schieber. (She popularized the song "Christmas in Heaven.") We were touched by her story and so enjoyed her music.

777. An added gift was spending the evening with my sister.

778. Getting a couple of first drafts done—early! (Now for a little spit-and-polish, and they'll be ready to send off to their respective editors.)

779. A Christmas banquet with hubby.

780. There Johnny Forrest (of Don Messer fame—yes we are old-timers) entertained us with songs from bonny Scotland.

781. Some gorgeous winter days where the colours are subtle, but still present. Now we depend on twigs to tint the scene.

782. Meeting with cousins. Though the occasion was sad (a funeral) the time was rich.

783. Reflecting on a life well lived.

784. Happening to sit beside the lady who bought my mom's suite (you could call that a sweet serendipity).

785. We're lighting advent candles at church. (We are not of the liturgical persuasion and this is something new. I love it!)

786. A wonderful Sunday with first a service at our favourite church, followed by one of our favourite walks, then lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, and finally home to watch curling, my favourite sport!

Mud Bay Park - Surrey, B.C.

787. Critters—we saw several on our Sunday walk. A heron was fishing in a tidepool.

788. A racoon was up in a tree. Why?

789. Perhaps he was in a standoff with these eagles, perched nearby?

790. Tansy, still smiling its cheery yellow smile even though it's December.

791. Now that the house is decorated, I love the long sparkly evenings of December. This is my favourite decoration.

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

one step closer to a once-distant goal (#767-775 of 1000 gifts)

2011-11-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." ~ Zig Ziglar

My first research for Destiny's Hands (a biblical fiction about the life of the artisan Bezalel) is dated 2001. In the ten years between then and now, completing that project was on many of my New Year's Resolution and long-range plan lists. Thus you will understand my excitement when last week, I signed a contract with Word Alive Press to publish this story.

It followed the story's inclusion in the list of finalists of the 2011 Word Alive Publishing Contest. Till the contest judge read it, no one but I had laid eyes on it. I had no idea how it would do and was thrilled when it got a mention. Finishing the project to this point and actually signing a contract to get it published makes me hugely grateful and is #767 on this week's list of 1000 gifts.

768. On Wednesday I taught my last class of the fall Women By Design session. I so enjoyed the ladies and the book we studied (Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer).

769. After class Wednesday some of us went for lunch. The words of encouragement (plus someone buying my lunch) were icing on the teaching cake.

770. We're still enjoying the last bits of fall. Here leaves, blown by the wind, are caught in a hedge-top, standing up like brush bristles.

771. A cozy house to keep us warm and dry through the rainy windy November storms.

772. Our first Christmas event of the season—a potluck with the poets. There was lots of yummy food and, for dessert, Christmas memories and poetry.

773. Yesterday's exciting football game—and the home team won!

774. Watching that game with my two favourite football fans (hubby and son).

775. My old sandwich maker. Brought it out of retirement yesterday to make some fine cheese paninis.

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

soft

2011-11-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

Couldn't you just sleep on these?

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: DOOR (House, Barn, Gate, Entrance, Cellar, Car,...)

kindnesses (#756 − 766 of 1000 gifts)

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." - Mother Teresa

"Always be a little kinder than necessary" - James M. Barrie

Though the weather is cold, the last two weeks have been made warmer by kindness. It was a great treat to spend last Monday celebrating my brother and his wife's wedding anniversary. They treated us to dinner and coffee later (something's wrong with that picture!). When we went to visit uncle in the Abbotsford Menno Hospital, Auntie served us tea in her nearby assisted living suite. Kindness, tea or coffee, and food—what a great combination!

Here is my list of kindnesses, ultimately from our gracious Heavenly Father, collected over the last two weeks.

756. The beauty of green, growing on gnarled branches.

757. Our friend is making a recovery following his near-death experience. Thank You Lord!

758. A new, fun mural on the backside of MacMurchie's Coffee House in Langley, replacing the faded old buggy that was starting to show its age.

759. Last weekend's powerful church conference, with much to think about (and some new tunes to sing).

760. Hosting a billet and making a new friend.

761. A magical day in Vancouver with my bro and his wife. (This is the view outside the window of their hotel room where we had tea and played Phase 10 for several hours.)

762. Magenta berries—by the thousands.

763. Pounding surf.

764. Making the acquaintance of the charming Sylvia hotel and its once-upon-a-time mascot Got to Go. (These are the muscled arms of Virginia creeper. It covers the hotel's facade in summer.)

765. Cold beauty.

766. Having tea with a dear auntie.

book review: Oxygen by John B. Olson and Randy Ingermanson

2011-11-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

I recently took advantage of a cheap Kindle download of John B. Olson and Randy Ingermanson's 2001 novel Oxygen. though I'm not a fan of its genre (near-future scientific thriller), I wanted to see if Snowflake guru Ingermanson could actually write fiction and was attracted by the "Bonus Goodies For Aspiring Authors" included in this edition.

The story is about a space mission to Mars. We meet the main characters—the astronauts—when they are in training before the mission launches. The main male character, Bob is outwardly self-assured but inwardly fearful that he will be axed from the mission. The main female character, scientist, medical doctor, and resourceful woman extraordinaire Valkerie joins the crew late, bumping Josh to the consternation of some. Kennedy and Lex, the other male and female astronauts are mysterious and sometimes appear sinister—all the more because they are not point-of-view characters and we don't know their motivations. Characters are well-developed, believable and to varying degrees sympathetic.

On launch day we experience the bone-shaking liftoff through Valkerie's consciousness and the various mishaps that follow through Valkerie's and Bob's. One of the crisis points of the plot occurs when the ground crew realizes that the bruised space craft hurtling toward Mars doesn't have enough oxygen to get the crew of four safely landed on the red planet. This shortage combined with the hostile setting makes for a fascinating exploration of the psychology of people under pressure, as the astronauts together with mission control decide how to handle their dilemma.

The authors' probing of the themes of trust, loyalty, love, and faith make the story more than just a scientific thrill ride.

I enjoyed it. The authors in their back matter, explain how they did their best to make it a page-turner (John Olson: "I was obsessed with giving the reader the most extreme ride possible. I wanted the tension to be maxed out at every point in every scene of the book..." - Kindle Location 7579) and it certainly was that. In fact, I could have used a little more down-time amidst all the high angst.

The authors also talk about selling their idea to an agent, explain how they researched and wrote the book, then quote parts of their submission (with comments of what they would do differently if they were submitting that proposal today). It was enlightening. This ten-year-old award-winning book stands up well though its now-nearly-upon-us dates (mission launch January 2014) feel a bit spooky.

books

2011-11-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

Art on the wall of the Sylvia Hotel.

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How is this photo related to a book, you ask? Well, it's a reproduction of one of the illustrations from the book Mr. Got to Go: The Cat that wouldn't leave by Lois Simmie, Illustrated by Cynthia Nugent

Mr. Got to Go is a charming children's story about a stray cat that wandered into the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver's West End.

We had lunch in the Sylvia Hotel on Monday and enjoyed the old-fashioned ambiance which included more illustrations from the book as well as an actual photo of the real stray cat, Got to Go.

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: SOFT (Pillow, Blanket, Feather, Animals, Clothes,...)

hard

2011-11-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

There's something about those points

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: BOOKS (Very Old Books, Library, Electronic Books, Piles of Books,...)

courage (#749-755 of 1000 gifts)

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

"Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you." Mary Tyler Moore

Life often goes along in ordinary ways, until something happens to jar you out of your rut of ordinariness to an appreciation of what you have. Such an event took place this week. Wednesday night we got an email from our friends, parents of our son's best boyhood friend. Their son was playing basketball when, without warning, he collapsed. His heart had stopped beating! Fortunately he was at a gym with state-of-the-art first-aid equipment. They got his heart going again with shocks, and he was transported (unconscious) to a hospital in the city where he lives.

He was slowly brought out of his coma (which by that time was medication induced) on Friday. He is able to move, talk, think and is beginning to make a recovery, though not without many questions and some fears: Why did this happen? Will it happen again? What will the impact be on his schooling and his young family (wife and toddler)? We are all immensely grateful that he lived, and praying that all this works out for good. (Courage, dear friends, courage!) This is my gratitude item 749. for this week.

750. I love the fall decorations—like these cute scarecrows.

751. I've made a good start to my November writing project. My goal is to write one poem a day. It's my way of tipping my hat to NaNoWriMo and all the novel writers slaving away at their novels this month.

752. The last harvest from my garden—prunings from the currant bush that we enjoyed for another few days as a table decoration.

753. Seeing a dear writing friend at her book signing on Saturday morning.

754. Ricky's Brekkie Bowls. Yumm!

755. The beautiful carpet of fall.

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book review: Fit for Faith by Kimberly Payne

2011-11-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Kimberly Payne’s book Fit for Faith describes a program that develops both physical and spiritual fitness. This holistic program has much to recommend it.

The how-to section that begins the book is divided into three main parts. “Part I: Exercise your body + Exercise your spirit” includes chapters on types of physical exercise (cardio and strength) and spiritual exercise (prayer) with chapters on strategies and goal planning for each. “Part II: Feed your body + Feed your spirit” shares advice on physical and spiritual food (Bible study) with, again, chapters on strategies and goal planning. “Part III: Stretch your body + Stretch your spirit” explores flexibility exercises for the physical body, and journaling as stretches for the spirit.

A 49-page (seven-week) workbook section follows. Each page includes a written prayer, a question that becomes a journal prompt, places to record what exercises were done and food choices made, a “Fit tip” or fact that dispels a common health or fitness myth, and a concluding Bible truth. There is a sample filled-in journal page so the reader has a model to follow.

The book ends with a chapter on maintenance, followed by a list of resources and several appendices, including a list of the 49 fit tips from the daily workbook pages, a home fitness test and several workout programs.

Payne is a seasoned physical trainer and her regimen reflects her expertise and experience. The how-to section is easy to understand, encouraging, and motivational. As mentioned, the combination of both physical and spiritual fitness addresses the whole person. The repetition and accountability that are built into the workbook can’t help but bring about permanent lifestyle changes in the person who follows this program for seven weeks. I loved the little fit tips.

The Kindle copy I read would need the participant to use a scribbler or separate journal for the workbook section. (I assume the paper book has a physical page for each workbook page, which might make it a better choice for some.)

The only thing I can think of that would make a book like this more useful to an exercise illiterate like me would be pictures or line drawings of the exercises. My copy didn’t have those, though Payne does describe each exercise in detail.

I think this would be a great book for men or women to use on their own or as a textbook for a seven-week fitness program in connection with a Bible study.

creative

2011-11-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Iconic sculptures (I call this "The one that got away")

We sighted these line drawing metal sculptures on a walkway near Lonsdale Quay Market in North Vancouver.

Here are some more from that collection.

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: HARD (Rock, Ice, Brick, Steel, Cement,...)

october - where did you go? (#740-748 of 1000 gifts)

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Arrange whatever pieces come your way." Virginia Woolf

"How you live your life is also art." Feodor Dostoevsky

It's hard to believe today is already the last day of October....it was just summer! But pictures of the snowstorm on the east side of the continent assure us there's no turning back. I remind myself not to feel smug. In a few weeks that will probably be us making snow angels and shoveling the driveway.

Until then, I'm quite content to enjoy the pleasures of fall such as it is. Here are some of the gifts I've enjoyed in the past week:

740. Misty morning walks.

741. When the battery light started coming on in the car during drives I must admit I was nervous. Last week it came on during my drive to and from Vancouver, and again to and from Surrey. During that last one, it stayed on about half of the way there and all the way back home. I still made it with no sinister car symptoms. Now our car has a new alternator—and that nagging little dash icon hasn't made an appearance since. So thankful it all worked out.

742. Orange everywhere.

743. A fun World Series, especially game 6.

744. We're already halfway through our semester of Women By Design, and I think I'm beginning to get my teaching legs.

745. Juniper berries.

746. A beautiful Saturday afternoon to put my garden to bed.

747. Boulevard trees in flame.

748. Passages like James 1:5-8 that assure me of wisdom when I need it, which is right about now.

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orange

2011-10-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Mushroom

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: CREATIVE (Fine Arts, Crafts, Engineering, Music, Clothing,...)

thankful on the treadmill (#727-739 of 1000 gifts)

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi

I prefer to live life with a certain leisureliness. But that hasn't been the way it has unfolded in the last few weeks. When my calendar is too full, I easily get distracted from gratitude—absorbed in just staying on the treadmill. I am trying to learn to be more elastic. To take deep breaths and inhale the joy, even if the interlude is brief and I need to get on to the next thing.

I missed posting my gratitude list last week. The time got away on me. But I'm determined not to slump into the habit of procrastination. Instead I want to make a habit of giving myself fully to each task, to doing what's necessary, then what's possible. Perhaps I will discover, with St. Francis, that that's how the impossible items also eventually get crossed off my to-do list.

Some gifts from the last two weeks...

727. A ticket to a ukulele concert—a gift from my sister.

(This is the kind of music they play.)

728. A colour swatch of autumn.

729. Mt. Baker, saying goodbye to the day.

730. It's time for flannelette sheets.

731. Nature's order.

732. Popcorn bushes.

733. Cheery orange pumpkins everywhere.

734. A fascinating few hours spent listening to Joel Rosenberg.

735. My friend's artful corner.

736. A Sunday walk on the White Rock Promenade.

737. Pampas grass.

738. Autumn roses.

739. Sunday lunch at a favourite Greek eatery.

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writing and writing tools

2011-10-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

Chalkboard in my daughter's kitchen

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: ORANGE (Vegetables, Fruit, Flowers, Leaves, Clothing,...)

book review: Lion of Babylon by Davis Bunn

2011-10-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

Marc Royce returns to Iraq with no hesitation in Lion of Babylon, Davis Bunn’s novel about post-Saddam Iraq. How could he not go to help find his kidnapped friend Alex Baird? Rather, the danger and risk excite him.

In Baghdad he links up with Sameh, a lawyer and member of the Syrian Christian Church. Marc soon endears himself to Sameh, his wife Miriam, his widowed niece Layla, and her daughter Bisan (the latter three female characters soften the edge of this male-dominated tale).

The resistance to Marc's mission from the most surprising quarters, along with sinister warnings and outright threats, signal this is more than a simple kidnapping for money. Any fears that he won’t be at the top of his former intelligence agent game after several years behind a desk soon dissipate as intuition and old reflexes kick in. The story is a cat-and-mouse match that involves abductions, bombings, a clandestine church gathering, and a nighttime trip across the desert, all played out against the hot, dusty, colorful, and lively streets and environs of Baghdad.

Bunn’s writing is wonderful as usual—taut, yet picturesque, as in this description of his old boss Ambassador Walton from early in the book:

“Ambassador Walton had shrunk to where he wore his skin like a partially deflated balloon. The flesh draped about his collar shook slightly as he growled, ‘You got precisely what you deserved’” p. 11.

Character-wise, between the mains I preferred the more human Sameh to the almost too-good-to- be-true (in a superhero kind of way) Marc. I also wished there had been a character glossary, as all the generic-named Arab characters, how they were related to each other, and which faction or society strata they belonged to were confusing, and I had to keep checking back to see who was who.

Talking theme, there was a definite patriotic American undertone, especially in the way Bunn depicts Marc. I appreciated the tolerance of Sameh who purposely employs both Shia and Sunni workers in his office to signal his objectivity. Bunn handles the topic of religious faith (subtly woven throughout the story) most directly when he pictures people of various factions and religions worshiping in unity during a covert service that both Sameh and Marc attend:

“The priest asked everyone to join hands for the Lord’s Prayer. Sameh took Marc’s hand, then grasped the man’s hand on his other side. He glanced around the room, and saw a miracle. Sunni holding hands with Shia, Christian with Muslim. Praying aloud the words. As one.

Sameh wept for himself, for his family, for his nation They had all endured so much …. They hid so much, even from themselves, for to speak of these things only invited despair and futile rage

And yet here and now, in this place, the impossible was happening…” p. 241.

For readers who enjoy fast-paced stories of political intrigue, delivered with generous amounts of Middle Eastern realism and a dollop of faith, Lion of Babylon is a good choice.

Book trailer and first chapter available here.

Title: Lion of Babylon
Author: Davis Bunn
Publisher: Bethany House, July 2011, Paperback, 378 pages (also available in hardcover, Kindle, and audio).

ISBN-10: 0764209051
ISBN-13: 978-0764209055

(I received this book as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review. Article first published as Book Review: Lion of Babylon by Davis Bunn on Blogcritics.)

This post is linked at Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books for Oct. 15, where you will find dozens of more book reviews.

more daily gathering (#717-726 of 1000 gifts)

2011-10-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

"The important things in life cannot be gotten in advance. They must be gathered every day."

- George Regas

It's been a busy week of urgent things and important things that all got done somehow. This gathering of gratitude gifts has made every week feel like Thanksgiving. This year the celebration of the actual day was not a shock to my mindset one little bit. Maybe that's the way life should be all the time.

Here are some of the many gifts of the week that was.

717. The ivy necklace that bejewels the tree beside our house.

718. Frozen blueberries with yogurt.

719. A singing hubby.

720. Beds made and the house tidied for guests.

721. Another lavender harvest. Stripping the twigs and sifting is the second step in the process (the first was cutting, tying and hanging the plants in the barn to dry back in August). Our women's group will then be assembling or manufacturing and then selling lavender products (sachet, soap, body scrub, foot scrub) to raise money for plastic surgery for Ugandan women and girls who have suffered facial mutilation during days of civil war in Northern Uganda.

(Do you see that lifeless bee in the midst of the blossoms? She reminds me of a line from an old song: "Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease..." [from "Am I A Soldier of the Cross"]).

722. Renewing acquaintance with my wooden toy collection. I got them out to show the grandkids.

723. Enjoying our newest little one...

724. ...and the three of them.

725. Flowers from my sis, who also brought fresh blackberries and corn on the cob. Thank you Bea!

726. So thankful for our bountiful Thanksgiving table!

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Fit for Faith - launch day is coming

2011-10-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

My friend and fellow member of The Word Guild, Kimberley Payne, is launching her book Fit for Faith - 7 weeks to improved spiritual and physical health on Tuesday, October 11th at Amazon.com.

About the book:

This book unites physical health and spiritual health through a 7-week program to lose weight and develop a deeper relationship with God. It is a reference on cardiovascular exercise, strength training, prayer, healthy eating, Bible study, flexibility exercise and journal writing.

About the Author:

Kimberley Payne is a motivational speaker and author. Her writings relate raising a family, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, and everyday experiences to building a relationship with God. Through her work, Kimberley hopes to inspire women to live happier, healthier lives that glorify God. Kimberley is a former personal trainer and has worked in the designing and counselling fields of weight control, stress management, self esteem improvement and wellness programs. She enjoys recreational activities with her husband and two children near Peterborough, Ontario. You can visit her website at www.kimberleypayne.com

We can help Kim achieve "best-seller" status by purchasing the book at Amazon.com on October 11th.

Bonus!

Buy Fit for Faith – 7 weeks to improved spiritual & physical health on Tuesday, October 11th and receive loads of FREE gifts from many generous supporters.

Sample chapters, Bible studies, short stories, and children’s books from acclaimed, best selling and debut Christian authors.

All if you buy your copy of Fit for Faith – 7 weeks to improved spiritual & physical health at Amazon.com on October 11th 2011!

These free gifts are valid on Tuesday, October 11th only.

To get your free gift:

1. On Tuesday, October 11th place your order for Fit for Faith through Amazon.com

2. Retrieve the Amazon Order Confirmation Number from your order.

3. Visit http://kimberleypayne.wordpress.com to discover all the gifts that can be yours.

4. Email your name & Amazon Order Confirmation Number to kimberleypayne [at] nexicom [dot] net

5. After submitting your information, an email will be sent to you containing the information to access the Bonus Gifts. Choose all the free gifts you like.

Note: Gifts and prizes are available only on October 11th

Disclaimer:
This Best Seller book launch has been coordinated with the help of the John 3:16 Marketing Network and many other generous supporters. The free gifts are deliverable electronically over the Internet or by email by individual authors and supporters. They are not in any way associated with, nor deliverable by, Amazon.com

thankful

2011-10-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

"Yikes, Mom, what do we do with her?"

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I'm thankful for many, many things. But my family sits at the top of the list. Here are my grandsons, a few weeks ago, seeing a puzzling side of their new baby sister.

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: WRITING & WRITING TOOLS (Pens, Pencils, Notebooks, Journals, Calligraphy, Graffiti,...)

just start (710-716 of 1000 gifts)

2011-10-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Saint Francies of Assisi

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13 NKJV

I am about to embark on one of those weeks when everything comes due all at once! Besides the usual Monday laundry routine and preparing pastor's sermon notes for our church's life groups, I now teach a class every Wednesday morning for which I must prepare. It's our class's week to bring goodies for coffee time this Wednesday. Also on Wednesday I'm hosting the Christian Carnival on my Devotional blog.

On Thursday morning the class I'm teaching is scheduled to work at the barn, shucking and sifting lavender for a fundraising project. It's also my turn to post on the Inscribe blog. Later that day, or Friday (not sure when yet) friends from out of province are coming to visit. On the weekend, the kids are coming. Monday is Thanksgiving, so there's a dinner to shop for and prepare!

All of the above is why I chose the motivational quote and Bible verse above—to give me some traction as I enter this crazy week. Hopefully seven days from today I'll be amazed at how all the necessary stuff got done, even though at the moment it seems a bit overwhelming!

Looking back on the week that was, again I have much for which to be grateful...

710. Affirmation for a writing project I submitted to a contest.

711. Driving into the sunrise.

712. Playlists and podcasts on my ipod. Listening to them made the driving hours go by ever so quickly.

713. More time with family.

714. Trees in autumn bloom.

715. A Sunday walk along Bedford Channel (Fort Langley).

716. The wardrobe switcheroo is done. I love getting reacquainted with my winter clothes. It's like getting back together with old friends.

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This post is also linked at today's "In, On and Around Mondays" post on Seedlings in Stone.

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golden

2011-09-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

The harvest and the harvester

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: THANKFUL (Things I am thankful for)

rooted in life (#697-709 of 1000 gifts)

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Warm, eager, living life—to be rooted in life—to learn, to desire to know, to feel, to think, to act. That is what I want." - Katherine Mansfield

I've just come back from experiencing such a slice of life. A week ago today (Monday, the 19th) daughter gave birth to number three, a beautiful baby girl. She had planned to have a home birth but it didn't work out (probably just as well). Mom and babe were discharged from the hospital within hours, though. I was there to watch the little boys meet their sister and enjoy baby Myelle's first five days of life. What a blessing!

697. The miracle of new life—our new baby at eight hours old.

698. Little boys falling in love with their baby sister.

699. The imagination of kids. That is not a kiddy bath towel on Liam's head, but a Batman cape. He is looking down to watch how Batmanish it looks as its shadow waves out behind him as he swings. And on the other swing, little Davey is flying.

700. I took one walk beside the Thompson River while I was in Kamloops and enjoyed fall's loveliness in shape....

701. ...texture and line...

702. ... and color.

703. The rest of the time, I was run off my feet with the busy-ness of family—making meals, washing dishes, folding laundry, finding snacks, soothing a newborn... I loved every minute of it!

704. One day I took the boys out to the Little Farmers Petting Zoo (within walking distance of where they live). We hadn't brought any money to buy food for the goats but little Davey, who knows the drill, popped open the hatch of the food dispenser and found a few pellets someone else had left behind. The goats came right up to the fence and ate out of the kids' hands. Later we found some crabapples on the ground, gathered a few of those and had some more goat time.

705. We loved the exotic hens. "Take a picture, Granma!" (You don't have to ask me twice!)

706. Later in the week, son came up to meet his little niece. Take a look at this uncle love.

707. So enjoyed being with my daughter, the lovely mom, and her husband—who is a wonderful dad, shopper, baby changer, dishwasher, etc. Just wish I could have stayed longer, but duty beckons at home.

708. It was treat to have son ride back with me—as the driver no less! (I'm not a fan of long-distance driving.)

709. Hubby made it back from his Ottawa trip on Saturday too, safe, sound and full of his own adventures. We had a great debrief Saturday night.

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family

2011-09-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Brand new!

Welcome baby Myelle, my first granddaughter (at two days old, born Monday, September 19, 2011)

Thursday Challenge

Next week: GOLDEN (Fields, Sun, Flowers, Hair, Gold,...)

waiting... (#684-696 of 1000 gifts)

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." - Arnold H. Glasow

This week has been characterized by waiting. Daughter's due date was a week ago. And with that "gift" I carry on with my count-up to 1000 gifts:

684. The faith-stretching experience of waiting...
(P.S. The baby arrived this morning - Monday- at 8:a.m. after about 7.5 hours of labour. Praise the Lord for a beautiful baby girl - our first granddaughter!:)

685. Beautiful foretaste of things to come.

686. An evening spent listening to and reading poetry with my poet peeps.

687. B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver. We had occasion to visit someone there last week. What a sad / happy place with the nicest nurses.

Wired to the trellis sections of the dividers on an outside patio, are these wood cutouts—little pastel rays of hopefulness and reasons to keep fighting.

688. Fall roses.

689. Green hydrangeas. (In Surrey I had my own hydrangea bush. It grew purple/blue/wine flowers. I used to dry them and display them solo or in arrangements with other everlastings. One year I lucked out when I found green hydrangeas at the home of my daughter's friend. Her mom didn't do anything with them so she gave me armloads!)

690. Hubby's opportunity to go to Ottawa with a prayer team, stay at the National House of Prayer, and visit parliament (new session starts today).

691. Caraganas.

692. Nature's designs.

693. A golden-yellow freebie (picked from a basket marked "Free - Help Yourself" just outside the gate of one of the houses on our walk).

694. The rains have returned and it feels kind of good. Maybe one does develop a certain affection for dull weather over time. Last night's rain chatter on the roof and chortle through the drain pipes was a happy sound.

695. The knowledge that I have a wise God who is lovingly in charge of directing my steps.

696. Busy critters.

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book review The Watcher by Sara Davison

2011-09-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Watcher, Ontario native Sara Davison’s debut novel, is not for the faint of heart. Set in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, this offering of contemporary romantic suspense is riveting in more ways than one.

The story is rife with foreboding and danger. Twenty years after the crime which wrecks all of Kathryn Ellison’s youthful plans, she is almost ready to let a new man into her life. But first she must cut ties to the past and deal with her 19-year-old daughter’s quest to find her father.

As Kathryn sorts through an old shoebox of memorabilia she remembers, and we are dropped into a soup of issues. We see that God doesn’t stop bad things from happening to His children. Truth will always come out. Consequences are inevitable. Forgiveness is key. Good things can come from evil situations. Above all, grace is tenacious.

Davison’s action scenes are dynamite. She knows how to ratchet up the tension (of which there is plenty) and how to relax us and put us off our guard. The story comes out in a puzzle-piece manner, giving the reader lots of opportunity for discovery and participation.

Davison tells the story through a celestial being (the watcher). What a great perspective this quirky narrator provides with the ability to sense human thoughts, feel emotions, move effortlessly from one location to another, recognize cohorts (like Faith, Grace, Courage, Fear etc. and in this way explore another spiritual layer), and provide welcome comic relief: “Of all things human, coffee is the thing I crave the most. I’ve never tasted it, of course, but the smell alone is enough to curl my toes in equal parts delight and envy” (Kindle Location 1212).

Canadian fiction has a fresh new voice in Sara Davison. (The Watcher won the 2010 Word Alive Publishing Contest – fiction category.)

Title: THE WATCHER
Author: Sara Davison
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Word Alive Press (February 22, 2011), Paperback, 352 pages (Kindle version also available)

ISBN-10: 1770691456
ISBN-13: 978-1770691452

(Review first published in the September/October issue of Faith Today.)

learning

2011-09-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

A work of art

(and it's this little guy's birthday today. Happy Birthday D!)

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: FAMILY (Grandparents, Parents, Children, Family Occasions, Moms with Babies, Animals,...)

more little things (#670-683 of 1000 gifts)

2011-09-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

"I know well that happiness is in little things." - John Ruskin

Yes, indeed, Mr. Ruskin, as is gratitude. And so I continue on with my list of little things that make me happy and grateful...

670. A week of summer! If I complain about the weather in the days ahead, remind me of the week just past.

671. Breakfast on the deck, soaking up the morning sun.

672. Our placid river in the morning.

Lots of fall beauties...

673. Spotted Jeweled Touch-me-nots blooming beside the creek.

674. Butter-and-eggs I think these are, though they are not spiky, as my wildflower book suggests, so maybe they're something else.

675. A fun Saturday morning at the Good Times Cruise-In with streets and streets of old cars.

676. A Sunday walk at Mud Bay Park.

677. Late summer asters.

678. Even loosestrife and thistle have their beauty.

679. An assignment finished and delivered early.

680. Another published book review.

681. Reading a fascinating book about heaven.

682. A bumper crop of blackberries...

683. ...with more on the way.

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a chick at the antique car show

2011-09-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the day of the Langley Cruise-In—my city's antique car show. It's an annual event, though for some reason it didn't happen last year. Well, this year it's back stronger than ever!

We sauntered into it at the end of our morning walk, just before 9 a.m. Already the place was buzzing with shiny vehicles set up all through Douglas Park, down Douglas, Fraser Highway, 56th Ave., lining little streets (like Salt Lane) between Fraser and 56th, and more.

I love this show, not so much as an appreciator of cars but for its eye candy. Everything is so colourful, bright, and shiny with funky surprises wherever you look.

As usual, my camera and I had fun. Here's my very own chick-take on the 2011 Langley Cruise-In.

Shiny hood ornaments, insignia, fancy wheel spokes, even houndstooth upholstery abound.

Bling

Because this is a show of retro cars, there were lots of furry dice...

Dice

and flames.

Flames

Warning signs hover near the polished surfaces. There were also some surprises.

Cute

Curious about that sign on the bottom left? It belonged to this show-stopper—a Beverley Hillbillies-type camper, straight out of the 60s/70s, obviously not taking itself as seriously as most of the vehicles there.

Hippie RV

How about those homemade accessories?

Grease-monkeys

Finally, a collection of my favourites. It appears I'm a late '20s to mid '30s girl. I even know what some of them are called.

Favourites

Left to right Row 1: ?, 1935 Duesenberg, 1928 Model A Ford
Row 2: ?, 1930 Packard,
Row 3: 1926 Chrysler, ?, 1920s something Plymouth
Row 4: 1926 Dodge Sedan, 1968 Dodge Dart (picked for its color), Model A Ford Double Idler, Super-snowbird (for when we get snow).

If you live in the Langley area, there's still time to come down. There's live music, lots of eats and a span of vintage cars guaranteed to whisk you back to your youth.

are we really that scary (book review: The Armageddon Factor by Marci McDonald)

2011-09-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

At the end of this month my husband is going to visit the National House of Prayer in Ottawa with other members of a prayer group from our church. As a preparation for that trip, one of the organizers suggested members of the group read Marci McDonald's The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism In Canada. Hubby borrowed it from the library and that's how the book happens to be in our house (a book I intentionally avoided reading when it first came out last year, suspecting it would be a downer).

After hubby finished it and we discussed it, I decided to read it for myself. I was right to avoid it in the first place. It is probably the most disheartening, yet heartening, book I've ever read.

In it McDonald seeks to show how the Christian religious right (she calls them "theo-cons") is making inroads into public life in practically every department. She depicts this as a sinister thing, especially where it appears they are following in the vanguard of the religious right in the US (as in Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, activist Washington lobbyists etc.). The motivation behind this new activism, she explains, is based on Bible prophecy with Christians attempting to establish a type of theocracy in Canada and thus hasten the second coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon.

She discusses the gamut:
Ch. 1: The history of the Conservative Party, their coming to power, and courtship of theocons (Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day)

Ch. 2: The rallying of Christians across the country in organizations such as the EFC, CFAC, IMFC and others (Brian Stiller, Charles McVety, Brian Rushfeldt etc.)

Ch. 3: The Manning Centre and its role in training conservatives for political life (Preston Manning).

Ch. 4: The National House of Prayer and its roots in the early 1970s revival in St. Margaret's Church, Vancouver (David Demian, Rob & Fran Parker etc.).

Ch. 5: The young hip movers and shakers who have gained influence in Ottawa (Ron Luce, Faytene Kryskow etc.)

Ch. 6: Creationism and Intelligent Design, Drumheller's Tyrell Museum vs. the Big Valley Creation Science Museum (Harry Nibourg, Denyse O'Leary etc.)

Ch. 7: Battles in education, especially parents versus homosexual-advancing curriculum, homeschooling, TWU, The Laurentian Leadership Centre (Heather Stilwell and the Surrey banned books controversy and much more).

Ch. 8: The media, the CRTC, 100 Huntley Street, The Miracle Channel (David Mainse, Dick Dewert, Willard Thiessen).

Ch. 9: The legal profession and human rights commissions (Ezra Levant).

Ch. 10: Foreign policy—McDonald is highly critical of the PMs support of Israel.

This is not an objective book. McDonald does't credit Christians with making any positive contributions to Canadian society (with the exception, of course, of socialist heroes like Tommy Douglas, who was also a minister). Rather, she's a conspiracy bloodhound, detecting power-seeking motives in everything Christians do. Here, for example is her account of a meeting with Dave Quist, at the Institute of Marriage and Family Centre (IMFC), an initiative of Focus on the Family, Canada:

"What was unexpected, during my quick tour of the institute's Ottawa offices, was a telling omission in its decor: no photos of the avuncular Dobson stared down from its walls and his countless books and publications were nowhere in sight. So eager is the IMFC to distance itself from Dobson's controversial political role in the U.S. that, shortly after its opening, Quist made a point of telling me that he had never met the Focus founder nor had he visited his Colorado Springs lair where nearly a thousand employees dispense Dobson's wares..." p. 86.

Of course if Quist's office had been decorated with Focus stuff, no doubt she would have seen something equally sinister in that.

The entire book is dyed with a similar sarcastic, disparaging tone. McDonald seems to especially rejoice in making jibes, through her choice of language, at the people involved (people who gave her interviews in good faith, it would seem....one wonders how she represented her project to them).

Describing a pastor's interest in creation science: "Creationism, it turns out, is Pastor Mike's shtick" - p. 190.

Dr. Margaret Helder, head of the Creation Science Association of Alberta is described as: "...an Edmonton grandmother with a Ph.D. in biology" - p. 191.

Author Denyse O'Leary is "...a birdlike wordsmith known for her omnipresent hats and prolific output" - p. 198.

MP Vic Toews "...spent years railing against 'these radical liberal judges...'" - p. 282.

Ezra Lavant is "...a relentless noise machine..." p. 300.

Of course sky-is-falling alarmism is never far from the surface and comes out full-force in the final chapter. Here is her incendiary salvo of warning:

"Waving their bright flags on the lawns of the Parliament Buildings, extolling the country's Christian roots to a compelling soft-rock beat, they might seem to offer a refreshing recipe for morality and national pride, but their agenda—while outwardly inclusive and multi-racial—is ultimately exclusionary. In their idealized Christian nation, non-believers—and those in violation of biblical law, notably homosexuals and adulterers, would merit severe punishment and the sort of shunning that once characterized a society where suspected witches were burned. Theirs is a dark and dangerous vision, one that brooks no dissent and requires the dismantling of key democratic institutions. A preview is on display south of the border, where decades of religious-right triumphs have left a nation bitterly splintered along lines of faith and ideology, trapped in the hysteria of overcharged rhetoric and resentment" - p. 359,360.

We want to burn witches and shun homosexuals and adulterers? I've never heard of such a thing! Thankfully McDonald restrained herself from sic 'eming the white-masked, pointy-headed lynch mobs on us. As I said, this book is disheartening in that it is negative and hate-filled.

But it's also heartening in that Christians in Canada are making a difference. Who knew that the evangelical church was awake and active on so many fronts in our nation?

Reading this book has made me see again that this is a spiritual battle. It will be won with spiritual weapons. One of them is prayer.

People in the many organizations working on the political front need our prayers: the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers, organizations like the EFC, CFAC, IMFC, educators and parents, Christian media outlets and personalities, lawyers, judges and the list could goes on. Let's join them in the trenches—on our knees.

Regent College professor and historian John Stackhouse provides more insights on the book's reliability and the issues it discusses. His three-part review is here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

For more book reviews, visit Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books (where this review is linked, along with dozens of others)

back to work (#659-669 of 1000 gifts)

2011-09-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

"The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration" - Ernest Newman (from Onwards and Upwards, a collection of quotes edited by Julian Ross p. 68).

The quote above, from the British music critic Ernest Newman seems perfect for Labor Day, this last hurrah of the summer holidays. A Happy Labor Day to you!

...and the list of gifts continues:

659. Whoever landscaped the grounds of our townhouse complex did a lovely job of filling the beds with beauties. In this season we are greeted by these hardy sedum...

and drifts of coneflowers.

660. My poetry benches, where I park for a while during my afternoon leg-stretch, and let my thoughts settle in my notebook.

661. And then nibble on a few blackberries before heading back home.

662. Have you discovered Tim Challies' monthly wallpapers? I downloaded five of September's onto the laptop and have set them to change every 30 minutes. It's such an inspiration to open my computer to a decorative rendering of Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 23:5, or Romans 8:26.

663. Every day on our morning walk we pass an exotic-looking castor bean plant. The other day I noticed some action in its upper regions.

664. On Saturday we went to buy more blueberries at Krause Berry Farms. Of course we let ourselves be lured by the fresh pastries in the restaurant, treating ourselves to peach-blackberry pie, ice-cream and coffee. Yum! (Does this bring back memories, Chris & Jane?)

665. I am making steady progress on my fall assignment.

666. When the news is mostly bad, God's word has reassurance

667. I'm thankful for a book I'm reading that's educating me on who's who in the "sinister" world of Christian right-wing political activists in Canada, delivered in the voice of a conspiracy theorist. (To M. McDonald Christians are scary...very scary!!)

668. The long weekend weather has been stellar so far. Yesterday we took a walk at Derby's Reach park (here we're looking at Maple Ridge across the Fraser River).

669. This bunny either had a love for the camera or thought he was invisible under all the dapple. He let me get incredibly close before slipping into the grasses and blackberry canes.

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book review: Don't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler

2011-09-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler have done a good job of taking the belief pulse of today’s teens. Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door: Know What You Believe and Why is their book for this age group. It identifies and refutes 42 commonly held beliefs about Christianity in an attempt to “…discuss common myths, many of which people accept without thinking, and evaluate them in the light of the Bible.” (Introduction - Kindle Location 184.)

The book is broadly divided into six subject sections: Myths about God, Jesus, the Bible, the Resurrection, Religion and Christianity, and Life and Happiness. Each chapter within those sections deals with one myth.

The short chapters have colorful titles with descriptive subtitles, making it easy to locate chapters by subject (e.g. “The Luke Skywalker God — the Impersonal Force Myth"; "Lily-White Jesus–The Racist Myth” etc.). Each begins with a captivating anecdote or example. The writing style is snappy and the authors come to their signature conclusion, “But that’s a myth” efficiently and without beating around the bush. Each chapter ends with a “Brain Food” section—a deeper look at what the Bible says about the chapter’s subject.

Don't Check Your Brains at the Door has a lot going for it. It does a good job of tapping into common perceptions and beliefs about Christianity. The anecdotes and examples that begin each chapter are interesting and pull the reader in. The authors cite a variety of supporting sources and illustrations, from the quotes of famous theologians to illustrations from sports and entertainment. The “Brain Food” section makes excellent use of the Bible, employing a variety of assignment types (reading, fill in the blanks, checking the right response, character analysis, story analysis etc.).

However, there were a few things I didn’t get. For example, I wondered why the authors chose the order they did for handling these myths. They began with myths about God and Jesus, which they debunked using, among other things, lots of passages from the Bible—and this before they established the credibility and reliability of the Bible, which wasn’t addressed till Chapter 9. It seemed that a more logical order would have been to deal first with the Relativity Myth (Chapter 18) to establish the possibility of the existence of objective truth, then the myths about the Bible to lay the foundation of the Bible as a possible purveyor of that truth, and then the other subjects.

I also wondered why McDowell and Hostetler used so many dated illustrations and examples. They cited lyrics of a song from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” a popular musical from 1971, took life lessons from Elmer Gantry, a character in a book written in 1927, and sports heroes from the ‘50s to ‘70s, and more. Though the illustrations were well explained, I wondered how modern kids would relate. Those old-fashioned illustrations, along with the often dogmatic tone, made the book seem a little like the attempt of a couple of boomers to set their grankids' generation straight.

Finally, I was disappointed with the superficial way in which some of these myths were supposedly debunked. The relativity myth was one. In our time of prevailing postmodernism—a philosophy foundationed on the absence of objective truth—the quoted witty words of C. S. Lewis were what the authors used to make their case:

"Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining ‘It’s not fair’ before you can say Jack Robinson.

It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table” – C. S. Lewis, Kindle Location 1174.

Of course they went on to buttress their conclusion with quotes about truth from the Bible, which is all well and good if the reader accepts the Bible as true; not so compelling if he or she doesn’t.

Those things aside, I can see Don't Check Your Brains at the Door being a helpful personal read for teens seeking to make the Christian faith their own, as well as a discussion instigator for parents and church youth leaders.

Title: Don't Check Your Brains at the Door: Know What You Believe and Why
Authors: Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler
Publisher: Thomas Nelson - revised updated edition August 2, 2011, paperback, 208 pages, August 2011
ISBN-10: 1400317207
ISBN-13: 978-1400317202

(I received this book from Thomas Nelson Publishing as a free gift for the purpose of writing a review. This review was first published at Blogcritics.org )

This post is linked at Semicolon - Saturday Review of Books: September 3.

Follow the link to find 64 (so far) more reviews of the books people are reading.

fire

2011-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

It must be time for S'mores

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: LEARNING (School, Books, Pens, Computers, Libraries,...)

remembering moments (#646-658 of 1000 gifts)

2011-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

"We do not remember days, we remember moments." - Cesare Pavese

Let me share with you a few memorable moments from this last week as I carry on naming 1000 gifts.

646. I returned from Kamloops last Monday to find the two hibiscus in my very own garden in bloom.

647. Also in bloom, the mimosa that grows just outside the library...

648. ...which I visited to pick up Bleak House (the BBC dramatization for TV) which was finally in after I requested it several weeks ago. It's so good!

649. My own warm bed under a roof (especially when we passed her on our walk one morning. Poor thing. And I wondered, all morning, What is her story? How could I help?).

650. Short hair in the summer (one of these days I'll update my profile pic!).

651. Corn on the cob.

652. Bert's Bees stuff (I've probably ingested at least a cupful of Bert's Bees lip products in my lifetime).

653. A Saturday lunch with family from out of town.

654. Hydrangeas. The camera doesn't do justice to the depth of their blue.

655. Yesterday's inspiring sermon about my favourite book—the Bible.

656. Sunday lunch with son, then a walk along False Creek.

657. A gloriously strange flower seen on our walk. It looked like a thistle blooming on top of an artichoke. (Indeed, it is an artichoke in blossom.)

658. This whimsical stair ornament captured during yesterday's travels.

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book review: The Fine Art of Insincerity by Angela Hunt

2011-08-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

In The Fine Art of Insincerity, author Angela Hunt takes us through one grueling weekend in the lives of three sisters. They meet on St. Simons Island (Georgia U.S.A.) to empty out their deceased grandmother’s beach house, but end up going through a lot more stuff than just what their grandmother left behind.

Hunt gives each sister – oldest Ginger, middle Pennyroyal, and youngest Rose — a voice of her own to the extent of setting each speaker’s chapters in its own font. Each woman speaks in first person, present tense, giving the story a feel of immediacy. Chapters are titled with the name of the speaker so there’s never any doubt as to whose head we’re in.

In this way Hunt explores the impact of a childhood that was colored by trauma and parental abandonment, the parenting of a loving grandmother, that grandmother’s own series of husbands, and the birth-order roles that each of the girls has played and continues to play.

I enjoyed the way Hunt brought out the issues between the sisters by putting them in singular situations or together to let us watch them be bossy, argue, weep, avoid, sneak around, flirt etc., allowing us as readers to draw our own conclusions about each character.

As the title suggests, there are people with honesty issues in this story. Other themes that get top billing are sibling roles, the fact that things are often not as they appear, the importance of communication, and an exploration of what love really looks like – in families and in marriage. Religious faith, though present (an epigraph quoting 1 Corinthians 13 opens the book) plays a minor role in this story.

This character-driven book is not fast-moving or particularly exciting. But it does give us a chance to get to know these three women and their grandmother in a way that leads us to probe our own selves and look at our own relationships with sisters, spouses, and other family members.

As an oldest girl child, I saw a lot of myself in Ginger, unarguably the most irritating of the three sisters. Though I often felt like giving flirty Penny a shake, there were times I applauded her for her perception. I saw bits of my own younger sisters in soft, dreamy, yet relationship savvy Rose. And of course Grandma Lillian, who doesn’t make an appearance but casts a long shadow via memories and memorabilia, is someone I, and probably many readers, wouldn’t mind being like – sans all the husbands of course.

The paperback edition of The Fine Art of Insincerity ends with discussion questions and an interview of the author, making this an excellent choice for reading clubs.

Title: The Fine Art of Insincerity
Author: Angela Hunt
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Howard Books; Original edition (May 3, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1439182035
ISBN-13: 978-1439182031

Watch a video trailer of the book.

Angela Hunt's website.

Thank you to Angela Hunt for picking my name in her Share it with a Sister contest and sending me the book – for free.

This review was first published on Blogcritics.

blue

2011-08-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Kayaks on the Nicomekl

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: FIRE (Flame, Burning, Hot Things, Matches, Lighters,...)

family--the colour of love (#635-645 of 1000 gifts)

2011-08-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

"In our life there is a single colour, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the colour of love." Marc Chagall

I am late posting the update on my 1000 gifts this week because I've been so busy enjoying them! We got back yesterday from visiting the kids in the interior, but other things needed to be done. However, I'm finally back on track and ready to share the wonderful gifts of family from the week just past.

635. Finishing the baby afghan on time.

636. The kids' basement reno. They did an amazing job!

637. Watching little people play.

638. Exploring "scawy" spiders and sharks on YouTube.

639. Finger paints and a mommy who doesn't freak out when kids get a little dirty.

640. A wonderful dad who enjoys the beach as much as his sons do.

641. Anticipating No. 3 (due in just three weeks).

642. An uneventful drive to and from...

643. ...with all safe and sound on the home front.

644. Kitchen bliss making focaccia bread and muffins for my Volta friends.

645. Our own little beach—the Nicomekl River as we see it on our morning walks.

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friends

2011-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

John Diefenbaker and P.M. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, ca. 1910

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A young John Diefenbaker meets Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier while peddling newspapers as a university student in Saskatoon. (Sculptor: Bill Epp)

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: BLUE (Water, Sky, Vehicles, Houses, Flowers,...)

thinking ahead (#623-634 of 1000 gifts)

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

"If you don't know where you're going, you will wind up somewhere else." Yogi Berra

We're already well into the double digits of August. How does this happen? In the little corner where I live it's been a week of slow but steady productivity. I'm making notes for the class I'll be teaching this fall at Women By Design, eating lots of blueberries and brooding on ways I can wrestle my bloated photo collection (the bane of digital photography) into some sort of order. I worked at that most of Saturday and I think I have a system.

I'm also thinking of sitting down and making some goals for the upcoming fall season. I need to know where I'm heading to give my life some starch. I'll probably be referring to Michael Hyatt's excellent free ebook Creating Your Personal Life Plan for guidance and some templates.

Here are some gifts that I enjoyed this week:

623. Summer colour against white stucco.

624. Discovering the "Next" button on my Firefox toolbar (whisks me from one blog to the next in my Google subscriptions).

625. Two little birds who know a good place when they find one.

626. The way our city decorates its sidewalk kiosks.

627. Little mysteries to ponder, like why is one of these power-pole anchor bolts corroded and cracked? (It looks a lot like the pole of a deteriorating car battery.)

628. Blue and green.

629. The grey lace of Dusty Miller.

630. The oversized leaves of these plants in a city garden.

631. Peter Rabbit and his sister playing tag on the path in front of us as we walked.

632. Feasting on blueberries.

633. Time to spend archiving and transferring my photo collection (8,000+ photos is waaaay too many to be storing in iPhoto).

634. Manna every morning — without fail something. Thank You Lord!

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book review: Promises to Keep by Ann Tatlock

2011-08-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Not even a week after 11-year-old Roz and her family move from Minneapolis into their new home in Mills River, Illinois, do they find Tillie Monroe, the property’s former owner, comfortably enthroned in a lawn chair on their front porch, reading their morning paper. The feisty 70-year-old is determined she will die in the house she helped her husband build despite the protest of her sons.

Tillie soon inveigles her way into the family, which proves to be a good thing since she is there to provide the adult supervision and house-help that Mom needs so that she can go back to work now that Dad of the drunken sprees and scary driving is no longer with them.

A new friend, Mara, gives Roz just the outlet she needs to express her confused feelings about leaving behind the father whom she loves despite his faults. The appearance in her school desk of the Sugar Daddies he always bought for her puts her on high alert. Maybe the man she has momentarily glimpsed here and there, the one wearing the fishing hat just like her dad’s, is her dad.

In Promises to Keep, Ann Tatlock’s latest novel, we have a tale of a child’s longing for family. Tatlock spins out this Vietnam war-era story in a plot that is riddled with questions, dreams, schemes, secrets, and lies – all evidences of a little girl’s yearning and determination. Will she get her daddy back? Or did Mom know what she was doing when she tore them apart?

Roz (the first-person narrator), Mara and Tillie are the characters we come to know the best. They are easy to like and be with. I especially enjoyed senior Tillie’s homespun wisdom, motherly heart, and spunk. Roz’s dad Allan is the most mysterious of the characters. His dark, unpredictable personality overshadows the entire tale giving it the flavor of danger.

Tatlock explores family relationships of various kinds as her characters respond to issues of alcoholism, spousal battering, dealing with lost or missing fathers, grappling with the question what is the role of a father anyway, and responding to a new male “friend” in Mom’s life. Faith in God and prayer are themes that character Millie most often takes up. Though the Christian worldview foundations the whole story, the book is not preachy.

The story’s vocabulary is simple – the point of view teller is an 11-year-old, after all – but the storytelling is strong with events unfolding in ways that build suspense. Though the book is categorized as Contemporary Fiction, it may also be suitable for some younger readers (a few of Roz and Mara’s escapades reminded me of Anne and Diana’s shenanigans in Anne of Green Gables). The paperback edition I read also contained discussion questions following the story, which would make it a good choice for book clubs.

I frankly found the book a bit slow at the beginning. And there were times I felt impatient with being in the head of a rather unexceptional 11-year-old. However, midway through, the book got stickier for me, and by the last quarter it was hard to put down.

All in all, Promises to Keep is an entertaining and heart-rending story of a little girl and her family under stress. The happy ending sends a note of hope to other families struggling with betrayals, questions, secrets, lies, and broken promises.

Book facts:

Title: Promises to Keep
Author: Ann Tatlock
Publisher: Bethany House, February 2011, Paperback, 348 pages
ISBN-10: 0764208098
ISBN-13: 978-0764208096

I received this book as a gift from the publisher for the purpose of writing a review.

This review was first published on Blogcritics.

empty

2011-08-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

The old barn

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week:FRIENDS (Gatherings, Parties, Time Together, Sharing,...)

summer joy (#606 - 622 of 1000 gifts)

2011-08-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

"He who bends to himself a Joy

Doth the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the Joy as it flies

Lives in Eternity's sunrise" — William Blake

We have had some joy-filled weeks — and flying was part of them. A vacation trip and a lot of little blessings along the way have been gifts I've enjoyed during the last two weeks.

606. On July 29th flew from B.C. to Saskatchewan for a family reunion of hubby's side of the family. We got back last Wednesday. I't's always a gift to have an enjoyable, safe trip, and then arrive home to find everything intact and just as we left it.

607. The wonderful family I belong to, courtesy hubby.

608. Aunt Helen's home-baked cinnamon buns for breakfast, pies for dessert.

609. Old things like this barn...

610. hubby's boyhood farm home...

611. vintage lino...

612. and potato-printed (?) floors.

613. Earrings that match my birthday necklace, found at the Bay while I was waiting to get a new watch battery (all thanks to the watch repair person at Sears who would not be back till 2:00, so we went somewhere else).

614. Homemade plum wine - oh my!

615. Caragana pods. They bring back so many childhood memories -- like how they were the salad, main course and dessert of many a playhouse meal.

616. A silk tree (clematis).

617. My hanging baskets survived, even thrived during my five days away thanks to my watering improvisation. Before I left, I watered them well, then set them in the shade in containers with a couple of inches of water.

618. How free I feel after a few days away from my internet tether. (I'm going to try and prolong that freedom.)

619. A room freshener straight from my garden.

620. A summer Sunday walk at Crescent Beach.

621. Cool summer evenings.

622. Blueberries. They are plump and tasty this year. We bought 25 lbs. yesterday. What do you think I'll be doing today?

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garden

2011-08-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

(click on any photo to enlarge)

Scenes from the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.

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I first visited the Butchart Gardens many years ago when I was a little girl. I remember they were pretty and that my mom, a consummate gardener, enjoyed them a lot. We returned two years ago, in the summer of 2009 at about this time of year. My memories had not done these beautiful gardens justice. This time I took away visual proof in my own digital camera -- which got a proper workout!

Thursday challenge

Next week: EMPTY (House, Room, Playground, Glass, Container, Chair,...)

construction

2011-07-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

Will it fly?

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Thursday challenge

Next week: GARDEN (Flower, Vegetable, Herb, Container, Window Box, Rock,...)

the luxury of sunshine (#590-605 of 1000 gifts)

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Hold out your hands and feel the luxury of sunshine." - Helen Keller

Oddly, sunshine does feel like a luxury this summer here on the 'wet coast.' A few days ago the weatherman reported that the number of hours we had had temperatures above 25 C. so far this summer was two (that's hours, not days)! After today that's no longer the case, though. This day (I'm writing on Sunday) has been untypically hot and sunny (32!) — and I am digging the luxury of it for sure. That's my gift #590 to start this week's list. And I continue...

591. Pink - hot enough to hurt the eyes.

592. Red poppies blooming in the city boulevard.

593. Yellow sunshine for our cloudy summer.

594. Playful critters.

595. A birthday lunch with friends I haven't seen since April.

596. Burns Bog fungi...

597. ...and lushness!

598. Look at the size of these skunk cabbage leaves.

599. Pasta salad, savoury bread, and rhubread pudding, served with love and wonderful conversation. Thank you Mel & Jill!

600. Our new blanket. We've needed a new light summer quilt for several summers since the one we got from my aunties for our wedding wore out. We picked one up at Sears the other day and though I didn't consciously choose it for the design (of course I liked it), looking around our bedroom the other day, I realized what a perfect match it was.

601. The other day on our walk through the park, we came across these two grannies, sitting on their walkers, sketching the foliage. I love to see people pursue their passion!

602. A bald eagle sighting (I think these are juveniles).

603. Bargain Kindle downloads like this and this.

604. Spirea flowers that look soft as plush.

605. Interesting discussion of Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones at High Calling Culture. My little blurb about Chapters 3-4 is here.

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yellow

2011-07-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yellowlegs

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: CONSTRUCTION (Business, Residential, Street, Bridge, Sidewalk, Lego Bricks,...)

keeping my nose to the joy trail (#579 − 589 of 1000 gifts)

2011-07-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

"You have to sniff out joy. Keep your nose to the joy trail"- Buffy Sainte-Marie

It's been a summer week of getting a few things done, and waiting for the sun...

579. Historic sight on the river — a canoe full of coureurs de bois? It was definitely French we heard, drifting across the water.

580. A secret garden (not mine; I wish it were).

581. Quiet days for getting stuff done.

582. Lots of rain. No need to water the garden.

583. These are out. Does anyone know what they're called? They bloom in abundance along the river flood plain and smell of fresh laundry.

584. Platz - made for lunch with friends on Saturday (the recipe is here in case you're interested in making this dessert that uses almost any fruit you have on hand). For this one I sprinkled a layer of frozen cranberries over thawed peaches and nectarines to give the filling a wonderfully tangy edge. It's so good with ice-cream.

585. Coffee with friends in the charming atrium of a square of shops in Fort Langley. Saturday was a rainy day so we had the place to ourselves.

586. Frogs. These cuties seem to be loving the weather.

587. A birdhouse that gives new meaning to the verse:

"Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;

They will still be praising You" - Psalm 84:4.

588. Vivid lilies seen at Driediger Farrms, to which we found our way quite by accident on our rainy day drive. Besides these photos, we went home with flats of fresh strawberries and raspberries!

589. Inscribe Christian Writers' Fellowship. It's a Canadian writing group I'm so pleased to be a part of. I blogged about them today at Line upon line. If you're a Canadian Christian writer and not a member, come on over to see what you're missing.

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vehicle

2011-07-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

White Rock, BC - mural

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: YELLOW (Flowers, Vegetables, Sun, Clothing, Vehicle, Toys, Blanket,...)

reunions etc. (#564-578 of 1000 gifts)

2011-07-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been away — did you miss me? We flew to Saskatchewan over the Canada Day long weekend to attend my high school reunion, returning on Tuesday (5th) to lots of catch-up and house guests. It's been a busy start to the summer. Here are some of the gifts I've counted in the last two weeks.

564. A safe trip to and from Saskatchewan.

565. Driftwood surrounded by blooming flax.

566. My brother's creatively decorated house. It's like visiting a family museum.

567. Critters seen from a distance.

568. A wonderful high school reunion.

569. A house to "sit" while away from home (thanks so much Gilbert & Anne!).

570. Golden canola under gorgeously big prairie skies.

571. Finding myself beside a cousin in church last Sunday — leading to lunch and a great catch-up visit.

572. Lovely walks over rivers and along banks.

573. Discovering a sculpture cemetery (along the river just west of the U of S campus in Saskatoon).

574. Rhubarb and strawberry pie with ice-cream.

575. Getting reacquainted with old friends and meeting the handsome Skipper.

576. Going on a walk with some real birders who alerted us to a Cooper's hawk, mourning dove, and many lovely goldfinches.

577. Living in a place where there are relatively few mosquitoes.

578. The Bible — such a storehouse of Other Food (with something new to share every morning).

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If you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts, please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

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roads

2011-07-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

High water on the South Saskatchewan River - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (July 4/11)

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: VEHICLES (Trucks, Motorcycles, Cards, Buses, Bicycles,...)

Happy Canada Day!

2011-07-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Canada Day. It's a day I've celebrated as far back as I can remember. My mom was a Canadian patriot through and through. She made sure Canada Day always held something special when we were kids — even if it meant just a picnic at the Log Cabin Bush on the farm, which it did the year Daddy was in hospital with a broken leg and she was heavily pregnant with her seventh child.

Perhaps it's appropriate that five years ago, she departed this life on June 30th, the eve of Canada Day. We had fun fantasizing how she would bring a distinctly Canadian flavour to heaven on her first day there.

In honour of the day, I've made a collage of some of my recent memorable Canada Days.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

curved

2011-06-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Curvy caps

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: ROADS (Highways, Streets, Freeways, Traffic, Country Roads, Trails,...)

peonies, roses etc (#550-563 of 1000 gifts)

2011-06-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

"Everything has its astonishing, wondrous aspect, if you bring a mind to it that's really your own." - Robertson Davies

Last week I was moaning about the cool weather. No more.

550. We have sun, warmth and Peonies, Sweet William, and Roses (all in my very own garden)!

551. The smell of fresh-baked bread.

552. An evening out with son, who takes time to smell the blossoms (whatever these lovelies are called).

553. Pretty Vancouver streetscapes.

554. Bible promises for some personal discouragements.

555. A summer off from a volunteer job I do for church.

556. Hours spent Saturday on a photo album for an upcoming reunion. Here is my high school grad photo. Can you find me in it?

557. A deeply moving Canada Day service at church yesterday. The focus on aboriginal issues included Rev. Bruce Brown (pastor of the Vancouver Native Pentecostal Church and a member of the Aboriginal Ministries Council of the EFC) telling his own disturbing story and reading Prime Minister Harper's apology from the Canadian government to the aboriginal people (delivered June 11, 2008) specifically asking forgiveness for their mistreatment in residential schools.

558. Poetry in all kinds of places, even the bird-beach.

559. Sunday lunch at Pelagos (Crescent Beach, South Surrey) - one of our favourite places to eat fabulous Greek food!

560. Porridge flowers — at least that's what we used to call them (they're actually yarrow).

561. Loveliness in mauve...

562. ...mottled gray...

563. ... and red to blue.

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wooden

2011-06-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

"Let's Face It" - in the round

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: CURVED (Bent, Rippled, Coiled, Spiraling, Twisted,...)

still trying (#535 - 549 of 1000 gifts)

2011-06-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." - Beverly Sills

I think we are experiencing the longest spring ever! The peonies that were tight little balls over a week ago are still clenched and waiting for the sun. We're all waiting for the sun which, of course, makes it much easier to tidy up writing loose ends in preparation for summer...

535. In that vein, I finished a big project, first begun almost two years ago and sent it on its first outing. It has anchored me in duty for so long I now feel like my balloon has finally filled with helium and I'm taking off!

536. A little poem I wrote got featured in TS Poetry Press's daily newsletter. So honoured.

537. Drifts of wildflowers.

538. A Word Guild Writing award for a book review I wrote. Most very grateful and honoured. And a big congratulations to all other winners!

539. Two dozen roses to celebrate the week of our anniversary.

540. A fun book launch. The Violet Flash by Mike Mason is second in the series following The Blue Umbrella. Here is Mrs. Mike in her little book shop.

541. I met Luci Shaw!! Here she is talking with Mike Mason and Ron Reed (they are all in the same writer's group — a modern version of the Inklings I'm sure!).

542. Here is Mike under his magical blue umbrella.

543. Hubby and me, 30 years ago yesterday.

544. To celebrate our anniversary yesterday we went for a walk along the White Rock promenade and then for a Greek lunch. As you can see, the UV index was very tolerable.

545. Enjoyed a little drama between some crows hassling a bald eagle.

546. I love all the flower boxes along the walk. Every restaurant has different flowers presented in different ways. I was so charmed by these delicate pansies.

547. And how about these black and yellow petunias!

548. Have been reading heavy-ish non-fiction lately, so yesterday dipped into something lighter. I am enjoying Angela Hunt's The Fine Art of Insincerity (a free gift from her sister's contest - thanks so much, Angela!).

549. For my husband and father of our kids - a true man of God. Hubby - you're the best!!

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liquid

2011-06-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Belugas viewed from underwater at the Vancouver Aquarium

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: WOODEN (Ship, House, Furniture, Carpentry Tools, Trees,...)