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. 

creativity

"The Birds" by Myfanwy MacLeod

These two 18 foot tall sparrows (male and female) were installed after the Olympics at the Southeast False Creek Olympic Plaza in the Olympic Village, Vancouver, BC. The exhibit is part of the City’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program. Read more about them here. 

As this piece explains, the size of the birds in relation to their surroundings speaks of the danger of introducing species of wildlife into areas where they aren't native.

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Thursday Challenge

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

home again (1000 gifts #44-54)!

44. We're home! We arrived yesterday afternoon. I love home, even though our townhouse was sauna-hot in yesterday's 30+C temps.

45. I didn't gain any weight — to speak of. That is a miracle, considering all the feasts I've faced and ingested in the last almost three weeks.

46. As a result of vacation events, hubby and I saw all of our siblings and their spouses in the last two weeks.

47. Okanagan fruit. The cherries and peaches we bought at the little West Kelowna roadside stand were incredible. And we came home with a couple of bags of new-crop Sunrise apples!

48. Fans (the ones that move air). When you're in a heat wave with no AC, you fall in love with fans.

49. Our beautiful babies. They're getting cuter with each visit.

50. Raisin bran cereal. I've been eating it practically every morning, with peaches, blueberries, extra raisins. Donald Miller likes it too:

"The cereal. Being the best thing to eat right now. I could go for a a big bowl of Raisin Bran and cold milk...."


"You know," Paul begins, "it's funny. Two weeks ago when we talked about things we wanted or our aspirations, we would have talked about houses or boats or cars. Now that we've been on the road for a while, everything is reduced to a bowl of cereal.... Isn't that beautiful? Cereal. There are people in this world who are killing themselves because they want more and more of nothing. And the only thing you and I want in this world is a bowl of cereal. That just shows you how the things we think are important really aren't important" — Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, page 123

 51. Automatic washers and dryers.

52. The sanctuary of my office.

53. God, who faithfully gave me "Other Food" every morning of my vacation, and provided the solitude and time to get these devo's typed before I started my day.

54. I think we are witnessing a miracle. My brother — the one in palliative care — his system is beginning to work again. Keep praying folks!

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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. 

interrupted holiday (1000 gifts #34-43)

The blog has been quiet for several reasons. For one, I'm not at my own desk. For another, there is much to say and I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Our family is in a place we've never been before. My dear bro, whose fight with cancer began three years ago was recently admitted to the Palliative Care Ward of a hospital near his home. (Thus we changed our holiday plans and bypassed a family reunion to be with him.) Daily visits with this beautiful man and his family are both satisfying and wrenching. In the context of this, here are some of the gifts I've received in the past weeks:

34. An impromptu family reunion two weekends ago. When nine siblings manage to find their way to each other on one weekend, it's beyond special.

Family feast cooked up by Anne

35. The peaceful spirit of my ill brother and his family. Their settled faith is an inspiration.

36. The wonderful prairie smells I drink in as we go for walks. (When you've grown up in Saskatchewan, I guess it's no wonder that re-experiencing the sights and smells of a large chunk of your life resonate.)

37. A picnic in the park followed by a golden evening of mini-golf (no matter that I scored lowest of the low. My only hope for jock status is at Scrabble —if that).

38. Mocha fudge ice-cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone.

Saskatoon - City of Bridges

39. Beautiful riverside walks in the city of my youth.

40. Mosquito repellent.

41. Getting together with old friends.

42. Safe travel over hundreds of miles.

Word came on Sunday night, just hours after I had composed the above that hubby's father had died. My father-in-law was nearing 90 years and had already left us in many ways.

43. Dad's peaceful passing in his sleep is another gift.

And so now we are with our other family, preparing for Dad's memorial service. I know many gifts will flow from that too. Stay tuned.

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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. 

blue

Pacific Blue - BC Ferry trip from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, BC

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: OUTDOORS (Park, Beach, Campground, Picnic, Mountains,...)

promptings 1000 gifts (#23-33)

 #32 - Victoria's Inner Harbor on a sunny day

It's been a sweet week of getting ready for holidays, some holidays, and more to look forward to. Having the laptop along is fabulous (as I knew it would be... no catching up needed when I get home; I'm writing this on Sunday night in a hotel room in Victoria!). Here with no further delay, are some of the gifts I've enjoyed up this week:

23. A loaded veggie burger.

24. A DQ hot fudge sundae — I had forgotten how good that is.

25. Hanging out for the evening with our son on Main Street in his Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

26. Oldies 650. Love working with the old songs playing in the background.

27. Oldies Christian songs. Caught some of those tunes at my hairdresser's. Remember the Maranatha singers? Here they are singing "Make Me a Servant":



28. Hearing my lovely Persian hairdresser talking to the man whose hair she's cutting about her faith in God.

29. The smell of rich black soil. The city workers dumped a load of it then raked it into spots in the park as we walked by. The smell caught in my throat and made my heart do a little ta-dum (all it takes to get the peasant in me all excited).

30. Ice-cream in presentation in the Quay Market at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal: Okay, maybe I don't get out a lot, but I've never seen ice-cream dolled up like this before. 

31. The quirky prose of Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts.

32. Victoria's Inner Harbor on a sunny day.

33. Soft ice-cream in a fresh waffle cone (that tasted like it was just baked it was that good).

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. 

hot

"On the Beach"

Delightful bronze sunbather statues by Gert Maas catch some rays on the beach of Waterfront Park, Okanagan Lake, Kelowna. B.C.

Thursday Challenge

Next Week: BLUE (Sky, Water, Clothing, Flowers, Blue Berries, Drinks, Cars,...)

promptings 1000 gifts (#13-22)

Finding these gifts is like being on a treasure hunt. It's amazing what you find when you thinking of looking behind doors, under leaves and into quiet moments. Here are the gifts I gathered this week.

13. The fresh-laundry smell of this wildflower that grows thick along the path we walk (I'm not sure of the name -- but it has a square stem so is probably a member of the mint family).

14. A good night's sleep that makes my body strong again and gives my thoughts and emotions the courage to stare down the discouragements of yesterday.

15. Family visitors — so easy, so relaxing, so filling.

16. The fragrance and beauty of lavender.

17. The optimism of a sunny morning and a cloudless sky.

18. Applications like Read it, Tweetdeck and Bloglines which help me sync my life across two computers.

19. The handsome look of our strata's freshly painted fences.

20. How Christians of different denominations can feel like family.

21. Immanuel - God with us.

22. The beautiful, outdated-but-mostly-unused Taschen Diary where I am collecting my gifts. 

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. 

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...

weather

Breathless Morning

(a lake between Gibson's and Earl's Cove on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast)

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: HOT (High Temperature, Campfire, Stove, Oven, Sun, Hot Air Balloon,...)

promtpings 1000 gifts (#5-12)

I thought the hanging basket looked a little droopy one evening last week in the middle of our heat wave. I left it till the next morning when, in the full light of day I saw my glorious impatiens was definitely in distress.  All it took, though, was water and a little time to get it back to normal. Which got me thinking about water. What an amazing substance!

- Not only does it revive plants, but it revives us — in its pure form or as part of another beverage. (Gift 5: water the sustainer of life)

- We can add it to food during cooking to make things the right consistency, blend flavours, keep the food tender and from getting too dry. (Gift 6: Water: to the cook's rescue!)

- It's a versatile cleanser. (Gift 7: Water: to clean up the mess).

- Large bodies of it are a necessary part of our planet's weather. (Gift 8: Water: in the form of clouds, rain, the genesis of wind, storms)

- We can have a lot of fun in and with it: swimming, boating, skating, in a sauna (if you're a steam bath kind of person) etc. (Gift 9: Water: great for recreation)

- The sound of running water adds to the ambience of a park or home (I'd like a 'water feature' in my back yard-- wouldn't you?). (Gift 10: Water: the aesthetic of its music)

That just begins to touch on the importance of water, which, in my home I can get from eight locations at the touch of a lever or knob. It's clean water that's safe, healthy,  and tasty. On top of that, it's soft — not the kind that leaves a rusty stain in the toilet or sink. (Gift 11: Water: so readily available to me).

Today I'm counting water as my gifts 5 to 11. Oh yes, and there's one more that just occurred to me. Without water, we wouldn't have rainbows! (Gift 12)

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

12-week online photography course

How cool is this - a 12-week online photography course. Each lesson is a pdf file.

The Mom Creative: Blog of Jessica Turner: Photography Resources

HT: Ann Voskamp (Holy Experience via del.icio.us update)

sports

Cyclists in Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada (May 8/10)

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: WEATHER (Sunny, Calm, Rainy, Snowy, Icy, Fog, Clouds, Thunderstorm, Lightening, Hail, Windy,...)

a dose of thankfulness (#1-4)

I have detected in myself lately a snakiness about small stuff. I've been complaining about the weather, of all things! This is not good.

As a result, I've decided to take my mind off the negative by training it to look for the positive. One way is by practicing thankfulness.

There are many online initiatives to help us focus on thankfulness. I've decided to join the Gratitude Community begun some time ago by Anne Voskamp at her Holy Experience blog. She explains how it began here.

The object of the exercise: to, over time, make a list of One Thousand Gifts for which she is grateful. (I believe she is well on her way to 2000, however, and is now calling them "endless gifts".)

I will collect my items and post a few every week.

And I begin...

1. It is a gift that my family is intact. I helped out at a funeral tea yesterday, for a 27-year-old man. When I saw the year of his birth on the memorial bulletin, my stomach lurched: 1983. That's the year my daughter was born. He died, suddenly and they don't know the cause. My family is still intact. I hug them close for I know there are no assurances.

2. Summer has arrived! (I am allowed to be thankful for the weather, right?) It's 23C as I write this at 6:45 p.m. Yummm!

3. Today I got a laptop. I'm going to love it — no longer chained to my office!

4. And I'm thankful for hubby, who said why didn't I get the new machine instead of the reconditioned one that would have saved some hundreds (but was several years old, didn't qualify for Apple Care and had about half the numbers in the specifications department). Of course I'm sharing it with him; he's browsing on it right now.

If you'd like to climb on the Thousand Gifts wagon, please do. Some post their gifts on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on how to join are here.

fleuvog - shoe artist extraordinaire

Not being a shoe person (yes, I do wear shoes, but don't have a closet-full and am not particularly fond of collecting them) I had never heard of John Fleuvog until I read the latest edition of B. C. Christian News. If you are a shoe person, you probably know that Mr. Fleuvog is a shoe artist -- a shoe designer and entrepreneur whose footwear creations are worn by Madonna, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams.

A few other interesting things about John Fleuvog:

• He opened his business in Gastown (Vancouver) in 1970. It's still going strong.

• His website welcomes visitors with this little rap:

"Shoes to vie for, shoes to die for,
Go on, buy one, buy two, buy four!
Cool shoes, cool boots, drool shoes, fool boots,
Men's shoes, Women's shoes, zen shoes, swimmin' shoes,
Sexy shoes, flexy shoes, shoe spray to protec' ze shoes,
Funky shoes, funky boots, spunky shoes for hunky fruits,
Platform shoes to tower above 'em, platform boot
(we know you love 'em),
Crazy boots, crazy shoes, blacks, reds, greens, blues,
Women's boots and men's boots, too
and, babe, those sexy boots are YOU!
Fluevogers, man, they're everywhere -
they're over here, they're under there!
John Fluevog knows his flock is vast,
a truly original cast,
For Womens footwear, lo, they flock;
for Mens footwear, they're into hock."

....and it goes on

• He is an outspoken Christian.

• His shoes carry spiritual messages. His Angels shoes read "Resists alkali, water, acid, fatigue, Satan. Walk in peace." Another message is: "Miracles are the surprise of the soul."

His philosophy about this (from his website):

"Moses used tablets, Picasso used paints, God used Moses, Alex G Bell used the telephone and John Fluevog uses shoes. Great minds of the past have used a variety of mediums to communicate their messages – since the beginning of time (or at least John) John has been using the soles and foot socks of his shoes to communicate with the world."

Also at this page, click on the hubcap and you can read shoe messages from the past.

• A memorable quote of his comes from an interviewer he did with Glenn Boettger, for The Christian Entrepreneur (reported in the CC article).

CE: How do you integrate your business expertise with your Christian calling?

JF: I don't see a difference . . . I've listened to a few lectures about Christians in the marketplace, and I don't understand the fundamental idea of why you'd need to have a course on being a Christian in the marketplace. I just think it's a funny concept.

As Christians, we need to integrate our lives with our faith -- and we are called to do that. It isn't like, "Okay, now I'm a Christian entrepreneur and I need to behave in a Christian way -- so let me check and see what that is."

No matter who you are, we are all called to integrate our faith. And the cool thing about our society and the century we're in right now is that a small person can have influence. Basically, an entrepreneur, for me, means having influence

(Read the entire Canadian Christianity article about John Fleuvog)

On his website you'll find pages women's shoes, men's shoes, enviro shoes, vegan shoes, speciality shoes, replacement parts, shoe families and much much more.

But I'd better stop browsing because if I don't, I just might become a shoe person. Already I find myself lusting after some Bellevues ("Keep pushing west and beyond your imagination") or  Adrians which bear the message:

Don't you just love it!

Happy Canada Day!

Today we celebrate Canada and her 143rd birthday. There will be festivities in cities and towns around the country. Our town has an all-day event at McLeod Park with ongoing entertainment, monster truck rides, a Lego demonstration and of course it will end with a bang (fireworks). Check it out.

We're relatively new to the community of Langley (moved here only three years ago). A couple of weeks ago (June 19th), we took in our first Langley City parade. The many colourful floats are an indication of what a vibrant community this is… one of the many that make up this great country of ours!

However you celebrate it, Happy Canada Day to you too!

(Hover mouse over the bottom of photos to see captions.)

home

Our back deck - one of my favorite spots on a hot day. 

(Unfortunately, I haven't spent much time there yet this summer)

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: SPORTS (Chess, Baseball, Cycling, Golf, Football, Soccer, Mountain Climbing, Skiing,...)