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? 

this was one fine day

What a fabulicious day! For starters, the sun was shining and it was warm - as in over 20!

We started off by taking a trip to the Angel Christian Supplies store in South Surrey to spend some gift certificates. It's not often hubby and I are let loose in a bookstore with $90 spend! Here's what we bought:

- The Call by Os Guinness (this is a copy to replace the one I borrowed from my s.i.l., and then began highlighting - bad bad. I will send her this new clean copy).

- Desiring God by John Piper.

- A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson.

- Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee (hubby's choice for his reading)

- The Best of Stuart Townend Live...(a double CD which we're both going to love! S.T. has written new-hymn favorites like "In Christ Alone.")

Next we went to the White Rock beach for a walk. It was clear, warm, bright and we had lots of company!


Our third stop was the Ocean Park Hall, where my nephew's wife had a craft table at the "Celebrating Grace" Artisan Show. She has begun this business of sewing baby blankets, bibs, burp cloths and baby clothes. Most of her things are bold 100% cotton print on one side, lined with the softest fuzzy fleece, called 'minky.' She gave Sonia a blanket for the new baby, so I know her things are beautiful. How about this absolutely sentimental-journey bib I bought for someone special! She calls her business Superfly Lullabies and sells lots of stuff online at her Etsy story, which you can visit here (nice stuff!).


Then it was home for lunch, and watch the rest of the men's curling game from the Ford World's between Canada and Norway. Canada won - so they're in the final tomorrow.

And last, I indulged in my first gardening jag. I spent over two hours weeding all the places there wasn't grass. Now it looks tidy and ever so springy, with the daffodils, hyacinths and anemones in bloom, and very soon, the tulips to pop. There are also lilies coming up as well as the red shoots of my very own peony plant. How sweet is that!

mixed up flower

We treated ourselves on Sunday to a walk on one of our favorite Surrey walking paths - Mud Bay Park.

The birds (ducks mostly) are back in full force. They summer further north but many spend the winter here - or at least spend time on their way through to even warmer places. This lot is mostly widgeons, green-winged teals, a few pin tails, plus the every plentiful mallards.


I also spied a mixed-up flower. This lupin was in bloom. The beauty is either way late or way early. I guess that's one way to get all the attention!

another blog holiday

It seems like I just took one. But it's time for another.

We are taking some time off, even though summer is over (as we never did get a decent summer holiday in this year). Next weekend I'm giving two workshops at the Inscribe Fall Conference in Edmonton. We're combining that with some family time. Should be fun. (We're just praying the snow doesn't fly on some of those mountain passes.)

And if you think of it, you can pray for me on Saturday the 29th. I'm a tad nervous.

Photo: Canoeing on the Nicomekl, Surrey BC.

our new river

A new home means new walks. We haven't found many to replace our favorites from the past years. There is one, though, that we are beginning to take regularly. It's near Fort Langley, called the Fort to Fort Trail and is longish, divided into sections one can access from various places. Several times we've gone to Derby Reach Provincial Park and started our walk there, walking to the Heritage house.

This walk goes along the Fraser River which has a different feel entirely to the rivers we've walked before (the Nicomekl and Serpentine). For one thing, it's way bigger and wider. And it feels no-nonsense. It's a working river. I'm sure ducks dabble on the edges. But one's attention is mostly drawn to the important things that are happening in the middle where tugboats are king...

going

and coming

and working in teams, shepherding the log booms.

This little sparrow knows a good thing. It hangs out at Starbucks.

love that mud soup

Green-winged Teals feeding at Blackie's Spit, Surrey, BC.

Crescent Beach Sunday

beach beauties

Despite the uncommon heat, we got in a walk today. The breeze coming off the ocean was just brisk enough to keep us comfortable. Along the way we passed this natural arrangement of Tansy (yellow), Pearly Everlasting (white) and Steeplebrush (pink). I don’t think even a florist could have arranged these beauties better.

a week ago today

A week ago today, after the sad formalities of the weekend had been attended to, we partied on the farm – where it all began.

(Out of a possible 58 people in our immediate family, 49 gathered in Saskatchewan for at least part of the weekend.)

Cousins got reacquainted.

Grandmas

and Grandpas

kibitized with grandkids.

Aunties

and Mommies shared the babies.

Some kids drove big machines


while others went along for the ride.

There was eating

and celebrating

And of course there was our family’s traditional schmalzing tournament.


Schmalzing is running beside a metal tire rim with a stick to help guide it over a course. It’s a ‘sport’ my younger siblings made up after I left home - so I never learned how to do it.

We partied until dark!

pushing up daisies

Rest In Peace - cultivator in the orchard at the Stewart Farmhouse, Surrey, B.C.

no condition is permanent

It feels like we are in a holding pattern right now – circling, circling but not given permission to land just yet. Or like a boat in dry dock – up on blocks instead of in our natural element, directing our days of puttering around in the water.

Mom has been in hospital a week today. Her condition remains unstable. She is on oxygen and getting some medication by mask. These seem to help her breathing. The doctor stopped by while we were visiting on Sunday. When I quizzed her about what is next and do we need to see about getting other arrangements in place, she hemmed and hawed, then beckoned me outside and told me the cold hard fact - Mom may never leave the hospital.

Of course Mom, as mentally chipper as she is, demanded, as soon as I reentered the room: “What did she way?”

I told her. And she knew. Somewhere in her gut she has known for a while.

Of course a miracle could happen. We pray that it does. But until then, it’s one day at a time, waiting, and handling whatever comes at us.

We will be giving notice on the assisted living apartment. Then E. and I need to clear it out. We’ll put things in storage.

In my ‘work life’ - man am I ever glad I don’t have transcription to worry about! But I do have a few writing-related things to get in order. That’s where it’s so important to listen. To get my assignments from God each day and do them. To act on those urges even though the calendar says I have lots of time.

In that vein, I look back and see that it was so a God-thing to get my kids’ devotional book proposal out when I did - in that little window of opportunity the few weeks when Mom was feeling better. I have also finished writing and nearly done tweaking my next FellowScript article, due July 1st. And yesterday I started putting together (that is, choosing, putting in order and doing edits on) my next book of poems (related to something I haven’t mentioned on here: in April I was appointed International Christian Poet Laureate by Utmost Christian Writers. One of the perks of that appointment is the publication of a book of poems, hopefully by Christmas 2006).

Yesterday this verse grabbed my attention:

“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. A refuge in times of trouble.” Psalm 9:9

(times = a particular time or season)

I feel like I am in one of those times or seasons at the moment. When such a time is on me, it feels like circumstances will never change, that such a time will never end. It’s in times like this I recall one of the sayings of a former pastor: “Just remember, no condition is permanent.”

In the meantime, I need to continually defer to God as my boss, my schedule and agenda-maker, my refuge. In that way, I know that someday I’ll look back on these days, weeks, even months and recognize them as a good time.

Photo: The boat hospital - Ward's Marina (at the Stewart Farmhouse), Surrey, B.C.

Sometimes you've just got to get away from it all.