autumn can never outstay her welcome (#103-115 of 1000 gifts)

My list of 1000 gifts continues. This week's edition:

103. Summery fall weather in the week just past with day after day of warm sunshine. (I totally forgive you, Spring, for taking so long to come. Your sister Autumn has made up for your malingering by staying on and on. Autumn, please hang around as long as you can!).

104. Nature's macrame

(double-click on any photo to enlarge)

105. The taste of new carrots.

106. Podcasts. I've been listening to the talks from the Desiring God Conference last weekend in Minneapolis. If you have time for just one, listen to Francis Chan on the topic: "Think Hard, Stay Humble: The Life of the Mind and the Peril of Pride" (audio version, about 1 hr. 8 min.)

107. Automatic laundry, with my washer and dryer on the bedroom floor; love the no-stairs thing.

108. My hanging planter which, now that it's October, has decided to give it up for me in the fuchsia department.

109. Hubby's sciatic back is getting better (he's getting old and creaky).

110. Naps (because I'm getting old and sleepy).

111. Tea with a dear, dear friend who looks fabulous despite her "C" diagnosis.

112. Chestnuts. They have a grain and look like polished wood!

113. B.C. Lions won on Saturday night — in the last seconds no less. (I'm not an avid fan, but someone in the house is, so our home is a happier place when they win.)

114. Thanksgiving weekend — coming up!!

115. This morning, a tiny wonder of creation. (Yes, that is a Canadian penny.)

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

book review: Flight to Heaven: A Pilot's True Story by Captain Dale Black

Title: Flight to Heaven
Author: Captain Dale Black, with Ken Gire
Publisher: Bethany House, May 2010 
ISBN-10: 0764207946 
ISBN-13: 978-0764207945



The title and book blurb attracted me to this true story by Captain Dale Black. In it he tells of the airplane accident that almost took his life at age 19.

At first his memory of the accident and its aftermath were almost nonexistent. But as his battered body healed, so did his head and brain. With that healing, recall of the terrifying moments just before impact were soon joined by the memory of an out-of-body experience.

Though he had no actual recall of that experience until much later, when he woke from a three-day coma, he did know he was changed in a deep way. This is how he tells it:

"The nurse looked at me, studying the reactions in my good eye. "Hello, Dale," she said. "How do you feel? Can you hear me?"

This is hard to explain, but I felt an immediate and overwhelming love for this woman. It wasn't romantic. Nothing like that. It was deeper than that, purer. I wanted to talk with her, to thank her for helping me, but I couldn't. Most of all, I wanted to encourage her by telling her just how much God loved her...

That's how I was seeing this nurse. I had never met her, didn't even know her name. It was not a human love, I was sure of that. It was God's love. I felt as if I were a vessel through which His love was flowing. Does she know Jesus?..." p. 38

What sets Black's heavenly encounter story apart from many others is the fact that he decided (after telling his grandfather and on his grandfather's advice) to never speak of it until he felt sure God wanted him to.  Thus he lived for years telling no one, not even his wife, what he had seen.

However, when he did finally know that the time was right to go public, his wife of almost forty years was not that shocked. In many ways it explained why he was the way he was.  She says in a chapter near the end of the book:

"Dale's values and priorities completely changed after the airplane crash... He is sensitive toward and strongly drawn to relationships where there is unity and love at the core.... He studies the Bible from his heart rather than his head and knows it intimately.... He has a quest to understand order in science, but only to understand more about God. He is fascinated with light and the properties of light as well as space and astronomy....Without question Dale has been profoundly and permanently affected by his visit to heaven." p. 184.

Black begins the book with a tense incident from his adult life but then goes back in time and tells the story chronologically. I was struck by this young man's determination to achieve his dream, and his faith that he would recover physically in all the ways necessary for him to become a pilot.  A few black and white photos anchor the narrative in time and give faces to the characters.

Black's account of heaven is uncannily similar to biblical accounts. The way his encounter with the divine impacted his life even before he could recall it and continues to exert its influence, testifies to its authenticity.

I found the book  a quick and compelling read. Black says in the introduction that it took years to write and went through many drafts and edits. Perhaps that's why it slips down so effortlessly — because it's been combed and re-combed until every tangle and snag has been smoothed out.

Black's story made me aware of how much I live in a world of superficialities, and wonder how I would change if I experienced what Black did. I took from it not only the sense that Dale Black is an incredible man but that God is good, faithful, loving, and about His business. In Black's case that involved a preview of eternity. I'm so glad he felt at liberty to tell us about it.

Article first published as Book Review: Flight to Heaven: A Pilot's True Story by Captain Dale Black with Ken Gire on Blogcritics.

technology

Robot puppet/cirque performance, part of the entertainment during the Vancouver Convention Centre open-house - April 2009.

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Thursday Challenge

Next week:  MUSIC (Singing, Dancing, Playing, Instruments, iPods, Concerts,...)

grandkids and music (# 94 − 102 of 1000 gifts)

I have been neglecting to write down these gifts as I receive them, so end up reflecting back over the week Monday morning. There's always one or two things that jump out "Pick me! pick me!" This week I was sure I'd fall short of my goal of seven things (at least one for each day of the week). But as I think of it, I can easily count seven gifts from the past week and a few more ...

94.Two doses of the grandbabies were highlights as the kids stayed the night Wednesday before catching a ferry for a few days of vacation in Tofino. Wouldn't you know, they were there for the rainiest stretch of weather so far this fall. Fortunately they got back yesterday without any road washouts or floods. Many on the Island were not so fortunate.

95. Saturday night my sis took me to "On a Night Like This — James Hill and Friends." We heard Exit 58, Chalmers Doane and of course, James Hill (a ukulele virtuoso). The concert was a blend of bluegrass, old tunes, jazz, even techno (though some might call it torture). What an unlikely but totally delightful treat. As James would say — "It was so ukulele!!"

James Hill's Ukuleles

In case you're curious, here's what a ukulele virtuoso sounds like.

Nature's many lovely surprises, like these three finds from the last week.

96. Mushrooms

97. Dogwood fruit (Kousa Dogwood, I think)

98. Spotted Touch-me-nots

99. Alpha starts tomorrow. My responsibilities of overseeing the setup and cleanup of the meal make it a bit of a stressful time. But so far, things have fallen into place beautifully.

100. I get to go to Turkey's today or tomorrow to buy the tablecloths and napkins for our Alpha session. I love going to Turkey's. Browsing through all their stuff makes me feel like throwing a party.

101. The Experiencing God course is so good. There's lots of homework in the accompanying workbook, but the underlining and highlighting in my book so far attest to how much I'm getting from it.

102. I heard from a mag I've written for before, on a query I sent them last week. The answer is "Yes. We want to see it" (Woot!! — Now to get a 'yes' from the interviewee, do the interview and write the piece...)

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

book review: Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites ... and Other Lies You've Been Told by Bradley R. E. Wright, PhD

Title: Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...and Other Lies You've Been Told
Author: Bradley R. E. Wright, PhD
Publisher:  Bethany House, July 2010

ISBN-10: 0764207466 
ISBN-13: 978-0764207464


"Many of the statistics currently bandied about regarding the Christian faith in the United States are incomplete, inaccurate and otherwise prone to emphasize the negative," says sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright in the first chapter of his book Christians are Hate-filled Hypocrites... and Other Lies You've Been Told. "Christians are exposed to many inaccurate statistics about our faith," asserts Wright. "To understand why that happens we should look at how these statistics are produced and how they spread through the public." p. 18

Wright proceeds to remedy that situation in the eight chapters that follow. Using what he describes as "the best available data" he examines how Christians are doing in six areas: church growth; what we believe; our participation in church activities; family and sexual issues; how we treat others; and how others see us.

Chapters two to eight each begin with examples of what Wright considers myths. These are grandiose statements about the dire state of the church and Christianity. Some examples: "It is clear that we have all but lost our young people to a godless culture" — Josh McDowell (Chapter 3); "Only 9% of born-again Christians have a biblical worldview" — George Barna (Chapter 5); "I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians" — Shane Claiborne, Esquire Magazine (Chapter 8).

Wright delves into the origin of these and other statements, showing how the data on which they are based are faulty. Some common problems he unearths: survey size too small, words and terms not clearly defined, and data misinterpreted when the technical language of the statisticians is not understood by lay people. He explains how such myths gain traction when they get spread around by people who select data that emphasize the severity of the problem in order to underline the urgency of their message.

In chapter nine Wright assigns letter grades to Christianity, especially Evangelicalism, on a variety of issues in report card fashion. He then gives conclusions about his findings. Throughout the book he illustrates his points with graphs. End-matter includes four appendices, end-notes and a list of references.

Wright's prose is readable but dense. It required my close attention, but I admit that reading about statistics and their analysis isn't something of which I do a lot. Although the graphs no doubt clarify issues for the savvy reader, to me they made the text look intimidating and technical.

Wright comes to some interesting conclusions. His analyses shows how a survey can be manipulated to serve a purpose. He makes it clear that not all data are equal and not all surveys, polls etc. carry the same weight. He comes down especially hard on the Barna Group, picking apart their work and conclusions in at least four places (p.104, 126, 181, and 225).

He concludes that the church is doing better than one would expect from the tone of some Christian leaders and researchers. He further encourages readers to go against instincts to view statistics as sacrosanct and instead to question their accuracy and the writers' motives for writing. He assures readers there is nothing wrong with disagreeing when conclusions go against their experience.

Focused as it is on America, I'm not sure how relevant the conclusions of this book are to the evangelical Christian culture of other countries. However, if you want to get some encouragement to think for yourself and a more optimistic picture (than the usual sky-is-falling depiction) of how Evangelical Christianity is doing in the U.S., Bradley Wright's Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites is a book you'll want to check out.

(Read pages 1-28.)

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Article first published as Book Review: Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites ... and Other Lies You've Been Told by Bradley R. E. Wright, PhD on Blogcritics.

fun

Vertigo

 

 

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TECHNOLOGY (Machines, Gears, Engines, Mobile Phones, Laptops, Wires, Toy Robots,...)

accelerating (#88-93 of 1000 gifts)

I can't believe we're already into the 20s of September. It's a good thing the fall routine doesn't kick in all at once, or I'd be overwhelmed. So far, it's a good new season, made better by attentiveness to the gifts that weave through my life:

(88) Soft fall days... everything seems mellower in autumn.

(89) The colour orange.

(90) A digital bathroom scale (Not so much! But it is keeping me on the straight and narrow — sort of).

(91) Love the almond taste of apple seeds. (Does anyone else do that — eat the centres of apple seeds?)

(92) Last week at the women's weekly program at my church, I signed up for "Experiencing God," a course taught by DVD with accompanying workbook by Henry Blackaby. I think I'm in for a growth spurt!

(93) The testimony of mature saints. Maybe that sounds weird, but I'm not sure how else to say it. On Saturday our church had a leadership training meeting and they played a DVD of a conversation between some Christian leaders that have been around for a long time (Jack Hayford, Loren Cunningham, Winkie Pratney, Lloyd Ogilvie, John Perkins, Henry Blackaby, moderated by Dave Buehring).

It was beautiful, and sweet, and made me look forward to conversations we'll have in heaven. I even found a sampler for you. Watch the clip below and be blessed! (14 minutes)


Fathers of the Faith Sampler from Fathers of the Faith on Vimeo.

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

book review: Here, on the Ground by Marianne Jones

Title: Here, on the Ground
Author: Marianne Jones
Publisher: Friesen Press, May 2010 
ISBN-10: 1770670319 
ISBN-13: 978-1770670310


If you are aware of the tension between what is and what could be, the contrast between the real and the ideal, the distance between earth and heaven, the poems in Here, on the Ground will resonate with you. This collection of 58 poems is Canadian award-winning poet Marianne Jones' second (her first book Highway 17 was published in 1997).

Through her poems Jones addresses a variety of subjects: relationships, women's issues, the allure of a simple life, personal pain and growth, Bible characters, writing, and what it feels like to live through a Canadian winter. I thoroughly enjoyed the variety. But no matter what the subject, Jones always manages to twist the knife of new awareness in some way.

Sometimes she does it through allusion. That is the effect of the word "alabaster" in these opening lines of "The Jar" that takes us back to the story of the woman who broke her jar of perfume to anoint Jesus:

"You split my heart open
that was calm and contained as alabaster..." — "The Jar" p. 32.

Sometimes she does it with images, as in this poem that speaks of leaving a toxic relationship:

"You were always uneasy about having me around anyway
like an old grenade in your house." — "grenade" p. 33.

At other times her intertwining of old and new captures our attention. A poem that's titled "sleep disorder" speaks of modern Christianity's lethargy in language that reminds us of the sleepy disciples in Gethsemane:

"We mean well;
it's our eyes that are heavy..." "sleep disorder" p. 41.

At still others she uses extended metaphor with a telling and humorous effect, as in the poem titled "Canadian Tire":

"At the temple of function over form
navy clad worshippers in sober boots and parkas
file through sliding jaws
of Entrance and Exit, leaving offerings..." — "Canadian Tire" p. 63.

Whatever the subject or device, we sense the tension between the ideal and the real. It comes out in her poems about the environment:

"One drop of beauty shames a library of tomes.
One loon's call speaks better things
than all their interviews" — "noise pollution" p. 6.

We hear it in the tone of voice as she speaks through the persona of a Bible character:

"before god walked away
and this long night began
i felt grass under my feet;
i saw sky blue and everlasting


i have almost forgotten how blue" — "job speaks" p. 25.

Most of all this dichotomy comes out in her poems about relationships. Of these a poem about forgiveness speaks with candid power:

"Forgiving is being forced to squeeze through a dark tunnel,
I panic, thinking I will stop breathing
or be unable to endure the knife cuts
But then I come to the openness and light at the end
and laugh, or weep for sheer relief..." — "upon opening my prison door" p. 36.

Of course there are fun poems in the collection as well. The section titled "red shoes" contains several whimsical poems that speak from the viewpoints of fairy tale characters. The book ends with a tongue-in-cheek section titled "How Canadians Survive Winter" (Jones, who lives in Thunder Bay Ontario, knows whereof she speaks).

Though some of Jones' poems touch on the subject of her Christian faith, they never confront the reader in a preachy way. Throughout we feel like we are in the company of someone idealistic, who, when she takes a close look at her inner self often finds she doesn't quite measure up. Her honesty helps us identify the issues she grapples with in ourselves, empathize with her disappointments, and celebrate her insights.

This is a rich and accessible collection that will reward readers in many ways.

...from the back cover

Read snippets from Google Books.

Article first published as Book review: Here, on the Ground by Marianne Jones on Blogcritics.

school

Mural on the wall of a local secondary school. 
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: FUN (Festival, Fair, Carnival, Party, Playground, Dancing, Laughing,...)

back in the harness (#79-87 of 1000 gifts)

Mill Lake, Abbotsford, BC

My calendar is mysteriously filling up — another proof that fall is indeed here. But busy or not, reasons for gratefulness keep appearing...

(79) I redid the website for my poetry group. It worked out, even to the custom domain mapping stuff. Whew!

(80) Ever had contact dermatitis? That's apparently what caused the extreme itchiness of my eyelids and the skin just below my eyebrows early in the week. Not nice! It's better now. I'm so thankful for the absence of itchiness.

(81) Every person who is willing to help with our church's Alpha setup and cleanup.

(82) An editor who, with contributor's copies, wrote in a note: "I very much enjoy your work. So please keep writing!"

(83) Spinach salad with balsamic dressing.

(84) Hubby, who is around (talked to my girlfriend whose spouse is away for weeks on end... it's hard). (85)  Furthermore, he wants us to sign up for ballroom dancing lessons — how sweetly romantic.

(86) Had a fun lunch with old friends on Saturday followed by (87) a beautiful walk around Mill Lake. 

Walking on water?

no 9-11 tit for tat

Nine years ago today I sat in front of the television stunned, hardly able to take in what I was seeing. Though time has dulled the shock of the images I saw that day, to me 9-11 will always be the day on which North America lost its innocence.

So, when I heard that some pastor was planning to commemorate this day (and register his protest of the Islamic Community Centre planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City) by publicly burning the Koran, I shuddered. We don't need to take more steps down that tit for tat path!

Sarah Cunningham, author of Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life's Weeds, feels the same way. Though she was In New York after the tragedy and lived through the horror, she is encouraging Christians to foster peace and good will in the name of Christ. Part 4 of her book retells her account of being at Ground Zero following the attacks, when she served as a disaster relief team leader. Here us an excerpt from the book...

"I don’t know who among us had faith before we arrived, but it seemed as if nearly everyone found it or recovered it somewhere in the crevices of Ground Zero.


The relief workers on site were stretched to exhaustion as we forced our eyes awake at night—days after the last survivor had been found, but still days before all the searching would end. Regardless of your prior beliefs, when you find the end of your own energy supply, it is at least tempting to look for some source of renewal outside yourself.


This is why I often found myself praying furiously—as I had in childhood—for things like the safety of the firefighters who refused to stop searching for fallen comrades even as rain poured down on the wreckage….Even my prayers were sometimes interrupted by the unidyllic blasts of of a bullhorn warning that parts of the tower might crumble further, in which case we were told simply to run in the opposite direction.


While the tower lay in pieces, shreds of people’s lives lay exposed in Union Square as stunned family members frantically searched for news of their loved ones. …Talk about God was as common as talk about the weather. Questions like, “Why did this happen?” and “How will we go on?” became the standard replacement for the usual “How are you?” and “Nice day we’re having” greetings.


…I’m convinced God was there somewhere too, browsing about the tents and the conversations, reuniting with people he had not talked to in ages and lapping up quality time with others before the moment passed and our to-do lists invited us back into oblivion, to routine tasks like picking up dry cleaning or washing our cars.” ~Excerpt from Part IV of Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds

In this time of heated rhetoric, I'd like to join Sarah and others in toning down the shrill. One way you can do that is read a book — Sarah's book. Sarah will be giving away free paperback copies of her book today. Details here.

She will also be giving away unlimited downloads of her book for free on Amazon.com during the week of September 11th Free downloads begin on September 13th.

Read her response to the Ground Zero Mosque.

music

Langley Ukulele Ensemble 

(Community Parade - June 2010)

Trailer from the movie The Mighty Uke

LUE in action at the Ukulele Ceilidh: Astor Theatre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia on October 24, 2009

More Langley Ukulele videos here.

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: SCHOOL (Buildings, Children, Uniforms, Buses, Bicycles, Books, Pens and Pencils,..)

last week of summer (#72-78 of 1000 gifts)

The days are shorter, the air is cooler, but mostly the calendar page has turned again. Summer is over. But the last week of summer was so fine.

72. We had a whole seven days with daughter and the grandkids. It was wonderful!

73. A girl's outing with my daughter. We went to Toy Traders, then Costco where I picked up my 2011 Polestar Family Calendar, after which we had swirl ice-cream and waffle cones.

74. The start-of-fall smell in the air. It's the sweet composty fragrance of decaying leaves together with ripe grass.

75. The house, all tranquil and airy after Saturday cleaning.

76. Wild blackberries.

77. A Sunday nap.

78. New beginnings. September always feels like the New Year to me.

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

has he learned anything?

It's just a year since our son had his fall from a roof. Today's Vancouver Sun has a short feature on him in the "life" section: Ben Nesdoly

He happened to spend last night here, so we read the piece together online this morning. He needed to do a little explaining when it came to this section:

"And yes, he can still be found swinging a hammer on Metro Vancouver rooftops, still not harnessed in unless certain death awaits at the bottom -- something he feels he can gauge pretty well after seven years in the business..."

What!?!

He assures us he does wear fall protection (and that he asked the reporter to change the wording; it didn't get changed).

Let's hope so! We're so grateful for his good recovery and sure don't want to live through something like that again anytime soon.

technology

Gizmo

This mysterious bit of technology is located on the Pier on North Vancouver's historic Wallace / Versatile Shipyards site.

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: MUSIC (Singing, Dancing, Playing, Instruments, iPods, Concerts,...)

a day at the fair (#66-71 of 1000 gifts)

How quickly the week flies by. It's Monday again and time for a review of the past week's gifts.

66. A special Thursday-night dinner with hubby at the Bedford House Restaurant in Fort Langley. We topped off the evening with a walk.

67. Cool end-of-summer weather made a perfect day at the fair on Saturday.

68. We were joined by little people. You see the fair from a whole new angle when you're pushing a stroller.

• The first item on the agenda was to find the "animal experience" (the new name for petting zoo).

He wasn't so sure about the squealing, squirming piglet.

But the placid brown cow was one of his favorites of the day.

• We got great seats for the logger show. But "seat" took on a whole new meaning when one of our party (daughter Sonia) got picked to be part of the show. For being such a game participant (plus winning the round with her professional logger partner) she got to take home the little wooden chair that he had carved with his chain saw in the first act.

• We caught a glimpse of the next Olympic bobsled team.

• We ate the great PNE food.

• And as you can see, the Superdogs were a great hit with these two.

69. We now get to play grandma and grandpa for the whole week!

70. Playdough (I'm planning to make some later tonight. I know it's going to save the day when mommy goes out tomorrow to get new glasses and I get to babysit the two-year-old.

71. Am loving my laptop more all the time and getting to know it really well,  especially since my office has now become the nursery.

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

wise words from a writing mentor

I recently received a rare gift — the book The Voice of a Writer: Honoring the Life of Katie Funk Wiebe. I took a course from Ms. Wiebe many years ago, when a writing life for myself was only a daydream. Thus I read this book about and by her with great interest.

It is a collection of essays on Wiebe's contribution (to especially the Mennonite Brethren denomination) as a writer, teacher, and person. Pieces by writing and teaching colleagues, Mennonite historians as well as one of her children give us a multi-faceted picture of this woman, teacher, writer, and thinker. Between the essays of others are her own writings, picked from the multitude of articles she wrote over her 30 years as a columnist for Christian Leader and Mennonite Brethren Herald.

The book gave me valuable insights on what it meant to be a writer when that career choice was one Christian women, especially Mennonite women, rarely made.  But not that much has changed. For many of the issues Wiebe struggled with in the 60s, 70s and 80s are still ones we grapple with today -- even though the medium of delivery is changing. As I read her columns I think what a great blogger she would have made. Here from the book are a few snippets of her writerly wisdom:

"...writing is often an exercise in self-revelation...the more personal the writing, the more universal." p. 10


"Writing is a form of giving oneself away, of standing in the public square without clothes." p. 70


"As I clarified an issue for myself, I helped the fog to lift in others. That column became a journal of my life and concerns. In it I can trace my interests, ups and downs, periods of growth and stagnation. Grappling with a problem in my own life by putting it into words helped me find myself. I am grateful I had the opportunity to write this column for thirty years. It taught me the discipline of the deadline, the joy of creating with words, and especially the stewardship of ideas and words." p. 124


"Write, keep on writing, write about what you know. Write and the inspiration will come." p. 185

Title: The Voice of a Writer: Honoring the Life of Katie Funk Wiebe
Author: Doug Heidebrecht and Valerie G. Rempel, Editors
Publisher: Kindred Productions, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-894791-22-9






(This post first appeared on the Inscribe Writers Online blog August 11, 2010.)

fun

The Red Hat Society's Float - Langley Parade, 2010

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TECHNOLOGY (Machines, Gears, Engines, Mobile Phones, Laptops, Wires, Toy, Robots,...)

ant edition (1000 gifts #55-65)

Today I was the ant, preparing for winter. I have just finished finding room in the freezer for close to 20 lbs. each of peaches and nectarines. And with that little item I resume my list of 1000 gifts:

55. I love the summer fruit!

56. I love spending a day in the kitchen, especially when I have a tidy row of boxed ready-to-freeze items to show for it.

57. A few days ago it was blueberries. They were on the ripe side so I decided as well as freezing them whole, to make a little jam. When I discovered I was out of Certo, I googled "blueberry jam no pectin" and came across the simplest recipe (6 cups blueberries, 3 cups sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice).  It took a bit of boiling and stirring but my jam set nicely.

58. On Saturday I went to a writer's event in Vancouver sponsored by The Word Guild. From it I have some helpful handouts to help me evaluate my career direction for the future.

59. I felt especially pleased when my plans to go and return by public transit worked without a hitch!

60. Yesterday we spent a beautiful afternoon with friends at Lonsdale Quay

61. ...where we found some fun public art.

62. ...and I discovered a wonderful place for an outing with our grand-babies at some future date (imagine a Thomas fan getting his hair cut here!)

63. French onion soup.

64. Hubby found a replacement carafe for our coffeemaker.

65. ...and a new dryer knob (bye-bye pliers).

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