rich

Queen of Diamonds

Moored in False Creek (beside the Granville Island Market),  February 2010

Thursday Challenge

Next week: SPRING (Mud, Puddles, Spring, Sun,...)

life's gifts don't stop at 1000 (1003-1015 of gifts unending)

"Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it." - John Hughes

Believe it or not, I've been missing the weekly ritual of reviewing my gratitude list and posting updates of my life! I was thrilled to reach my goal of 1000 a few weeks ago, but now ...  what? So I've decided like some others, to carry on past 1000. May finding things to be grateful for become my lifestyle!

Since I put up my last 1000 gifts post (almost a month ago) here are some blessings I've recorded:


1003. Dr. Charles Price visited our church on his publicity tour for Living Truth. Another couple joined us and we found seats in the second row. Dr.Price ended up sitting right in front of me. (I felt like reaching out and touching the hem of his garment—just kidding!)

1004. I took courage and set up a Facebook page to help me publicize my soon-to-release novel. The process was smooth. It's here, if you care to visit it. I'll be posting book events on it plus other writing-related stuff.


1005. On the subject of the book, I got the proof copy of Destiny's Hands last week, checked it over closely and found no typos, weird spacings, pages missing etc. Whew! So it's on to the print phase.

1006. I love spring's continuing flower show. My camera wants to own! Here are a few mementoes.

1007. We celebrated a couple of milestones. A sad one was my cousin's funeral. He died suddenly in his sleep one Saturday to Sunday in May. I didn't know him well so his memorial service was like getting to know him. What an incredible man who made a huge impact on many people. Memorials always get me thinking too... What will people remember about me?

1008. A happy milestone was a friend's 60th birthday party. He's taken to running triathlons, reflected in his beautifully decorated birthday cake.

1010. We've been enjoying spring scents on our walk—the sweet perfume of wild roses and the spicy scent  of Dame's Rocket.

1011. We pass a favourite dogwood every day on our walk. I've been documenting it in all its phases.

1012. The salmonberries are ripe. Here is one, photographed just before I ate it.

1013. And how about this curious bloom on a shrub (also seen on a recent walk)?

1014. Father's Day in Vancouver. Son lives just off Main Street where they were celebrating Car-Free Day. The street was a big party / stroll. We had a delicious Greek food at The Main. Happy Father's Day to the man in my life.

1015. This very handsome flicker posed for me this morning.

To discover who had the idea to start listing 1000 and more gratitudes, and to find links to many more such lists, go here.

discover something new in a familiar place

On Sunday after lunch with B. at Sophie's  we went for a walk to Granville Island. It's a place we've walked around dozens of times. Yet on Sunday we discovered something new. For the first time we came across the houseboats. I'd seen them from the waterfront when on a harbor cruise way back in 2007. But this was the first time we stumbled onto the row of them via land.

It made me wonder how many other things I've missed. And it got me thinking of how to put new zest and enjoyment into familiar walks. Here are six things I thought of:

1. Walk a different way than you usually walk. That's how we came across these houseboats yesterday—by following hubby's suggestion to walk around the island instead of diagonally across to the market like we usually do. Whether your walk is a line or a loop, taking it in a different way than you usually do is bound to yield some new discoveries.

Granville Island houseboats

2. Carry a camera with a charged battery and set yourself the goal of coming away with at least a dozen photos. Your attention will be sharpened as you scout for scenes to capture and take home with you (from panoramas to macros).

Downtown Vancouver from the False Creek sea walk

Oriental poppy - close and personal

3. Be alert with more than just your eyes. Listen (to the seagulls, the horns of the water taxis, the ching of the bike bells...), smell (flowers, kelp, fish'n chips, coffee...) touch (couldn't keep my hands off those displays of lovely silk scarves) and taste (we found a cozy new-to-us gelato place that we liked better than the one we usually go to, judging by scoops of cappuccino, chocolate almond and maple walnut).

B. and me, smelling the posies

4. If you have time, take it. Relax and enjoy people-watching, the scenery, the ambiance of the pan flute, French folk-singer and the bagpipe buskers. As you can see, that's what this crowd believes in too.

5. Take into account what the people you're with like and don 't like to do. The three of us don't enjoy thick crowds so even though the Granville Island Market is one of the island's must-sees, we skipped it entirely yesterday, knowing that it would be stall-to-stall people.

6. Park away from the congestion if you can. When we go to Granville Island, our favorite parking spot is off site at a cheap little-frequented lot near the Granville Island school. It's a short walk to the seawall, but  it's much less stressful than easing our car through the throngs of pedestrians looking for those rare parking spots in the middle of the island's action.

Back to you: What are some of your favorite walks and haunts? Why do you keep going back to them?  Have you discovered something new in a familiar place? How did it happen? 

best of 2011 - part 1

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)

kindnesses (#756 − 766 of 1000 gifts)

"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 McBurney'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.

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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.

books

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,...)

liquid

Belugas viewed from underwater at the Vancouver Aquarium

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Thursday Challenge

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

"...everything which is yes" (#487-503 of 1000 gifts)

"I thank You God for this most amazing day; for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes." - e.e. cumings

Here is my gratitude photo essay for the week that just was...

487. A wonderful Victoria Day with son, walking the False Creek paths and having ice-cream at Granville Market.

488. A bit of wayside encouragement.

489. Continuing rains and cool weather which means everything is very green and very lush.

490. A lone frog singing his froggy song.

491. Exquisite yellow wildflowers.

492. A lady passerby's peppery perfume.

493. Blossoms everywhere — these on a tree along our walk.

494. Bells.

495. Pink freckles.

496. Currant blossoms from my own back yard. Look at the sassy red tips (anthers, I think they're called) on their stamens.

497. My own little flower garden with all the babies I put to bed on Saturday.

498. The perfect conjunction of some mail needing to go to my nephew Africa and someone to take it.

499. Yesterday a walk along the dyke at the Nico Wynd Golf Course.

Drum roll please — we're halfway to 1000!!!

500. The eagle nest is still there and obviously active with one of the parents standing guard.

501. Broom is in bloom. Can you find the bee?

502. Even grasses are beautiful.

503. A flotilla of five families!

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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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