i'm in a book trailer! (Share It With a Sister Video)

I'm in a book trailer with my sisters! Angie Hunt invited sisters to send in their photos to be entered in a draw for her new book, The Fine Art of Insincerity (sounds like fun!). She's made multiple book trailers with the many sister photos people have sent in. Can you spot me with my three beautiful sisters? We make our brief appearance at about the 1:05 mark. More sister vids here.



Find out more about The Fine Art of Insincerity here. It releases in May 2011.

my placid life (#156-163 of 1000 gifts)

Things seem to be piling up in my life. It's one of those seasons when all the things I'm involved in seem to come due at once. I was feeling a little overwhelmed until, on Saturday, I met the woman who is leaving today to visit her son in Uganda and has agreed to take some documents to my nephew's family, thus we drove them over.

She was in the middle of packing, still had a couple of papers to finish for a course she was taking at her church, and had had to take charge at a church woman's event when the speaker failed to show the night before. She and her husband are responsible for their church's Christmas shoeboxes, so donations and unassembled boxes were in piles near the door. She was making plans for people to look in on her husband while she was away as he recently had a heart attack. One of her daughters was in labour as we met Saturday morning. And in everyday life when she's not traveling, she works full-time. By comparison, my situation is a placid bore, and I love it! That's my #156 of 1000 gifts this week.

157. My son took me out for a date last week. We grabbed a coffee at Wendell's, went for a walk along the river and then browsed a Fort Langley antique shop. Sweet!

Those were different times!

158. Meeting with old friends. On Thursday was the funeral of a friend from our former church. It was quite overwhelmingly wonderful to see so many old friends and connect again over those few hours.

159. My bic pens. They're cheap and reliable and I love it that they run out! Indeed, it gives me a good feeling to actually throw a used-up pen in the garbage because I've written out all the ink. (I'm hopelessly old fashioned, but with some kinds of writing I have to do the first drafts by hand before I enlist the computer.)

160. Naps. Short midday naps are highly underrated and grossly under-used.

161. The fireplace. Ours is gas, but it still creates a cozy ambiance.

162. Quesadillas at a local eatery. The Chicken Q's on Saturday at ABC were particularly tasty!

163. This song by Andrew Peterson. Awww...





Hat-tip: Sonia (thanks!)

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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. 

another side of Bambi's mom

Cranbrook B.C. has a problem with exceedingly tame mule deer. Here's what happens when a doe senses Rover (actually the dog's name is Star) may have less than pure motives. (Funny how she didn't go after River the cat.)

Cranbrook Deer




The deer in Cranbrook have even started going after people. There's something wrong with this picture...

new release: Crossing Oceans

Gina Holmes' blogmeister of the Novel Journey blog can now blog about a novel of her own. Her debut novel Crossing Oceans has released this month. I haven't read it, but it sure looks good.







Crossing Oceans trailer :




Gina talks about her book

amazing communicator

Ukrainian artist Kseniya Simonova won the 2009 Ukraine's Got Talent award.

Explanation of her drawing: "Kseniya uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and 'sand painting' skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII." (from Fark)

Incredible artist - moving presentation!

Shoefoot's story on film

About 10 months ago I read a fascinating book called Spirit of the Rainforest. It's the story of how the Yanomamo people of South America were introduced to the Gospel. I discovered yesterday that someone has made a movie (called "The Enemy God") of Shoefoot's story. Here's the trailer:


"Guide You" Trailer from Caleb Resources on Vimeo.

More videos about "The Enemy God" movie here. (I think I just discovered one thing that will be on my Christmas wish list!)

the newest Beatle

Prime Minister Harper performs at the National Arts Centre Gala on Saturday. Here's CTV's take on it. What do you think?

spy on the hummingbirds

Watch a mother hummingbird incubate eggs, hatch then feed her young and eventually persuade them to leave the nest. The video quality is good and the peaceful classical music background (Mozart) makes for a lovely almost-nine-minute interlude.



I found discovered this via twitter and the very informative blog of New England Birdhouse (Bill Askenberg).

toronto vacation

After the Writers Conference, hubby and I spent a few days holidaying in the Toronto area. From our motel in Mississauga we were within easy motoring distance of Lakeshore Drive and the Waterfront Trail. We took many walks along the waterfront. This is the wrecked boat seen from Port Credit.



During our time there the weather was hot and muggy and the sweet smell of roses and clover hung heavy in the air.



This family of swans was out almost every day.


On Monday we met with nephew T. That's our rented PT Cruiser. I always wanted to drive around in one of those!


We also drove to Newmarket where cousin J. served us dinner in her pretty back yard.


Tuesday we drove to Niagra Falls. Wow!


I'd seen the falls one other time - on our honeymoon - but had forgotten the raw power of this natural phenomenon. This is a short video I took.

Wednesday saw us in hot and garbage-plagued Toronto (garbage-workers on strike). Along the way, we stopped at another park for a walk.We crossed the Humber River on this pedestrian and cycling bridge.



On the other side a very nice woman volunteered to take our photo. We chatted for a bit and discovered she was a teacher on her first day of holidays with summer plans to take a trip to Israel with her kids (lucky kids!).


Thursday it was back home after a long day killing time in the gigantic Sherway Gardens mall and then in the the airport lounge, waiting for our evening flight home.

catching up

Well, I've taken a week off from serious work - most of it intentional, the last 24 hours not so much.

We went away on the weekend, first to Kelowna to visit E.'s dad, then to Kamloops to see the kids.


What a great time with these three. Munchkin is getting so big - a bona fide toddler, only he toddles on his knees. He can walk on his feet around furniture just fine, but when it comes to serious traveling, he prefers his knees, which are actually getting callused.

On the first morning there, after breakfast he made a beeline for his books and was quite happy to cuddle for a few minutes (as long as 14-month-old's attention span lasts) for a story. Then, I followed him upstairs, where we spent about an hour, with him showing me his huge collection of birthday toys (though I had to insist we put away the contents of one drawer before emptying another). Kids these days sure don't lack for stimuli.


Back home on Monday, I prepared for my Enhanced Drivers License appointment on Tuesday and generally got caught up from being away. However, I woke yesterday with the mother of all headaches - the kind which confines me to couch or bed with a bucket close at hand...nasty nasty day. I was forced to cancel my license appointment at ICBC.

It's hard to understand the purpose of such a day, though I did get to watch a potentially life-changing 100 Huntley Street. Moira Brown interviewed Carole Lewis who told of God's dealings with her in the past few years. It was inspirational, especially the challenge God gave her one morning: "Give me your life for a year and see what I will do."

(Ironically, the program is dated April 28th, though it aired May 5th, and I've just spent a good half hour trying to find it because I never caught the woman's name. I found it by googling 'Christian diet books').


Part 1


Part 2

frivolous friday

When I was little, I thought the people who sang on the radio lived inside it. Turns out I was right!

life-changing stories wednesday - Miracle Macaroni

Our pastor has just returned from a week in Ethiopia. There he worked alongside PAOC missionaries Brian and Val Rutten, taught in the Bible College, visited the Child Care Plus facility and the school for kids. His message on Sunday morning included some incredible stories. Here is one, told in his words:

Miracle Macaroni

I met a man and we sat and talked. He told me his story. This man had been born and raised in a Muslim family. He had become a teacher of Islam, was a teacher in a mosque and an authority in the Koran. He was hostile to Christianity and was not interested. He’d met a Christian but had no interest whatsoever. That’s the background.

The circumstance was that both he and his wife lost their jobs and they had run out of food. They were down to one small bowl of macaroni and physically that’s all they had left in their place. He said there were so few macaroni inside he could count them. And so he and his wife sat down at the table with this small bowl of macaroni, to eat.

As they were sitting down to eat, there was a knock at the door and a guest arrived – a friend of his wife. The custom is that you invite the guest in and you share whatever you have with them. So they invited this woman in to sit with them and share their food. Now there are three of them sitting around this little bowl of macaroni.

They began to eat and continued to eat. “My wife thought I was doing something sneaky, and I thought she was doing something sneaky, but we were able to continue to eat – the three of us,” the man said. “We ate until we were satisfied from this one bowl. And at the end there was still the same amount of macaroni in the bowl.”

“So,” he said, “I was confused by this. But there was nothing more to do so I left them talking and went to bed. While I was sleeping, I had a dream. And in my dream Jesus Christ appeared to me and said, ‘If you give me your life and follow me, I will multiply your life the way I have multiplied the macaroni in your bowl.’”

The next day he got up, found the Christians and became a believer in Jesus Christ. He was discipled for a period of two years. They had baptisms every three months. He postponed his four times because he had troubles balancing the Islamic worldview and the Christian worldview. But he finally came to realize that Jesus was not only a prophet but that he was the Son of God, that He had died and risen again and that He was indeed the Savior of the world. So he was baptized. He then went to Bible college. He is now the leader of ten tribes among Muslim people.

I asked him (and I had to push him to tell me), “Tell me, how many people have come to Christ in those ten tribes that you’re working among?”

He said, “At least ten thousand are now following Jesus. Many, many more.”

Every night they meet to talk and they ask questions. He said what the Muslims do now is they test the power of God. They come and they ask questions. Because the Christians say that God will answer their prayers. So they haven’t believed in Jesus yet but they’ll bring prayer requests to test and see if Jesus will answer prayer.

And so what this man does now is he goes and teaches in the mosques. He starts with Jesus and the Koran and then takes them to John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And the strategy is simply to start, not on the street corners, not in the market place but to actually be in the mosques and teach those who want to hear. It’s the most amazing thing.

They have vision and they have people who are ready to go to any of the Muslim nations of the Middle East that you want to name – the most severe under Sharia law, it doesn’t matter. They’re prepared to go and share Jesus Christ in this manner with those who are hungry. It’s exploding; it’s beyond comprehension. It seems impenetrable, impossible, where your life is on the line. If you convert, you can have your head literally cut off, you’re separated from your family, you lose all economic opportunity, you’re ostracized, you’re treated as dead, and they’re saying it’s growing and expanding every day, every day.

Go here to listen to all of last Sunday’s sermon.

frivolous friday

Here's a classic from the old Carol Burnett Show - starring Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. Even Harvey Korman can't keep a straight face.

Tim Conway & Harvey Korman - Dentist Skit

christmas in one month!

I probably don't need to tell you, but today is one month from Christmas. Yikes!

I probably feel more geared up for Christmas than many. By now we've been working on Christmas music for months in choir. What a wonderful way to get ready for the festive season! The dates of our series of productions (six in all) are fast approaching and my calendar is packed with rehearsals.

Last night I spent about an hour working on my 'ding dongs' in "Carol of the Bells". Though the choir part is very small, the song is fast and we need to come in at the exact right time and on the right note. Add to that the fact that each 'ding-dong' segment is slightly different and it's all a bit of a challenge. Thankfully we have practice CDs.

Here's the Celtic arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" that we're doing... (turn off the automatic player by clicking on the II button - jukebox in right sidebar.)




How are you getting ready for Christmas?

in the year of elections...

this interview with a politician has a familiar ring to it.

breast cancer resource

Another friend of mine has recently been diagnosed with cancer -- breast cancer this time. I know how frightened she is, especially after getting a call after her initial surgery (probably a lumpectomy) saying they needed to go in again and do a mastectomy (removal of the entire breast).

Tonight on the news at Global they had a guest talking about a new web site developed by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society. The site was designed to help women like my friend understand what to expect at each stage of the journey from diagnosis to surgery to adjuvant treatment to beyond in terms of time lines, treatments etc. There are also video clips by breast cancer survivors, giving tips for handling each leg of the journey. I just checked it out and it's excellent.

The site is called the Breast Cancer Navigation Map and helpful for breast cancer patients, although I think their friends and family would benefit from viewing it too. Give it a look here.

(Of course, we know that on a trip through any illness, God is there with us. I believe He can heal, miraculously and instantly or over time through medical treatments and doctors.

In one of the videos on the web site, a woman talks about the importance of finding a place of peace as a refuge during illness. If you are suffering through cancer, let that place be with Jesus. I am reminded of the words of Psalm 23 - "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your road and Your staff, they comfort me.")

voice of a cherub

Check out this sweetie - who might just be the one chosen to sing for the queen. (If you're not saying 'awwww' by the end of this, you're made of different stuff than I am. To turn off the Sonific player - right sidebar - click on the two bars l l left side of player)

christmas du jour

"Twelve Days of Christmas" - chowder version...

If you want to read something, I blogged here today.