Green...

It's been a good trip south so far. So enjoyable travelling when it's all turning that beautifully breathtaking green.....everywhere.

The browns and greys and whites have given way to their new spring duds.

And down here I enjoyed my first great thunderstorm of the 2009 season complete with super lightening bolts and a vibrant double rainbow to finish it all off....kind of like dessert after a rack of ribs supper! The smell of the fresh rain and the wind blowing the fragrance of a nearby apple tree into my starved nostrils changed my countenance from the dry coldness of a long winter to the awakening of a new and exhilarating one....at last!

It's nice to feel the +30 degree temperatures again too...for one day at least.

So, tomorrow we'll watch granddaughter at her yearly dance recital and go to brunch at a fancy hotel. The new digs here are lovely and the kids have much more room now in their new space to live. All have jobs and God has been good to them in his provision.

We're anxiously waiting to hear from son when he comes out from the bush in his tree planting expedition. It was good to hear from him last week though...just to know that even though he's out of phone range, he's safe and healthy.:-)

Ta ta for now....oh, and if anyone out there knows how we did at the Relay for Life, I'd sure like to find out.

Well, that was some "meeting"!

These were spectators to the antics below...


Folks relaxing after a hard day at the "office"...

Let the meetings begin....

"Doc" and some of his crew...

Don't you bid any higher than me!!!

Dave hosted Ethnic Night.

Xilin and Xianhua cooking REAL Chinese food.

Rod and our new Assistant Deputy Minister, Lin.

Peking Duck

The Trout Pond (named after Brenda's dad)

We scared up a pair of geese.

Referees Carole and April

Summer Students - Dave and Christine

Bob and Gigi...(fill in the caption)

Melissa and Rod (fill in the caption)

The old and the new - John and David

Michael - the ball toss....

Sure we had meetings....Twila......

An eagle flew by...

Deb (another 'fill in the caption')

Roske and Rod duo....it helps to hang on to belt loops....

Jess the "Pro"

Bob R. (bye to you too, Bob):-)

The Ski Tournament

The Meeting Place

Touring around....

Late nights & early mornings.....

And that gives you a picture of my last three days.

'nite.......

Enjoy the simple pleasures...

And this is one of those simple pleasures. A flower in bloom.

Yes, it's going to be a full week coming up.

Our Branch Meeting will be out of town this week for three days. Then Friday is Relay for Life and that weekend will be a trip to watch Brittney's dance recital.

One day seems to run into the next, until we find that a whole week has passed.

That's life.

So perhaps it's time to sit and enjoy our surroundings, wherever we might be. If we could only find joy in life's simplest things.......like a flower. I think my camera will come with me to Candle Lake this week.

Beer....

Back Yard....2008.

Summertime....and the livin' is easy......after you rake your fingers to the bone and sweat like a hog and stick your shins on long pointy branches.

Husband and I took to the yard this afternoon like two people possessed.

He had taken Roundup or some such equivalent to most of the front "flower beds" last fall, hoping nothing would grow there but the lovely young lowbush trees. So, we raked the deadfall. Should anything grow there this year, it will only be by a miracle of God.

Oh, I shall have some flower pots and such but no more "Snow on the Mountain" ravaging the front and taking everything in its path hostage. NO MORE!!! When I went by the little "Scotts Pine" he thanked me for his ability to breathe this spring being that he wasn't surrounded and over-run by the snowy beast.

So, all of that pulling and raking and sweating and skinning took it's toll on both of us.

We sat down, rested our oversized, weary bodies, listened to the birds and shared a "Rikards White".....beer that is....Molson's. Brewed with honey and coriander. Goooood......after a hard days' work.

Perhaps in the very near future the yard will look once again like it did last year.....green. I'm countin' on it!

A near tradgedy....

Watching the eagle's nest this evening, I notice that a tradgedy has been averted. Some type of baling twine or nylon string was brought to the nest by one of the parents inadvertently with some grass. "Tiny", the third and last eaglet to hatch, for by what sounds like most of the day, had that twine wrapped around his right leg and was unable to move much and therefore wasn't able to get to the food source much.

But as of this night, eaglet #2 grabbed the twine and pulled and pulled and somehow must have loosened it enough and "Tiny" pulled it the rest of the way off. By the sounds of the computer chat room that goes on at the site, many people were very anxious, and rightly so. When you get to watch these little beings hatch and grow to where they are now, it is very distressing to see any of them in trouble.

The twine remains in the nest. Perhaps one of the parents will toss it out at some point. It's a real danger to all of them.

People are careless and thoughtless. My co-worker who lives just east of town says that people come out to their grid road on a regular basis and just toss their garbage bags into the ditch or along side the trees right by their place.

WHAT KIND OF PERSON WHOULD DO THAT?????.....I ask you.

Ya, I thought you'd agree with me on that one. Lazy. Ignorant. Thoughtless. Foolish. Selfish.

All those words add up to "forest garbage dumpers", whose names need to be made public. They are a disgrace to the environment and to the human race.

I think, since God made all the forests for us to enjoy, he would agree with my assessment.

Meetings.

I really enjoy congregational meetings. But tonight's meeting was very different for me, as I actually sat in the congregation and not at the front with the Chair, taking notes. A first after several years of note taking.

It was good....very good.

(As an aside, don't you hate it when people take advantage of other people. Ya, me too. Kind of like wolves in sheep's clothing......Jesus said we should be watchful of those kinds of people.)

Anyway, we have excellent leadership at Gateway. They listen to God and each other as well as the congregation, so as to make wise decisions. We are led well and I offer much praise to Mrs. L. for her abilities and wisdom. It's just good to work together with a common goal.

Looks like Gateway has it's work cut out for it. We have a great deal to think about and we continue to pray for God's vision of what our next steps should be.....to do "kingdom" work.

'Nite.....

Up and away...

Bald Eagle - summer -08 at Sandy Lake

Gull taking off from Waskesiu Lake

"We'll be landing shortly, please fasten your seat belt..."

Birds are marvelous animals. I've dreamed more than once that I could fly. Arms outstretched. Gliding over the city at sunrise. It felt so freeing and I could see up and beyond my little sphere of 5'4".

There is a web site called zaplive.tv of a Bald Eagle's nest 60 feet up with a web cam inside the nest. Just google it and it will take you to the web cam where three eaglets are learning what their life will all be about. It could become a hobby, watching those three grow up, or an obsession, I suppose. The oldest one has his feathers now, and being a windy day on the west coast, he has his wings flapping like a maniac. I think by now he knows there is something to those large apendages on either side of him, but he's not too sure yet how they're supposed to work. He's watching mom and dad very closely though, so one day, he'll get the hang of it and just take off. Hopefully, if neither of the other two get booted out of the nest before their time, they too, will learn the ropes of being a bald eagle.

It would be nice to soar like an eagle but, as the saying goes, "You can't soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys." I'm just saying........

Unusual things....

The top picture is fungi on a stump at Waskesiu Lake.

The other pictures were taken at the "Pavilion" in Winnipeg - tropical trees. The second last one is a close-up of the last picture. Kind of looks like an elephant's eye.

Not sure what all of these trees are called but they were certainly an oddity to me.

We tend to get used to our surroundings don't we. Whether they are lush or barren, positive or negative, good or bad...until we see something different from what we usually see, we have nothing to compare our surroundings with.

It is good to see some "unusual things" now and again. It keeps reminding me of the creativity of a marvelous God.

Fred Flintstone...

Virginia & Loretta

Shannon & Brittney

The top two gals and their husbands graced our table today.

My husband cooked tender, juicy ribs with BBQ sauce on the old barby.

We all commented in the midst of the friendly feast that we all felt like Fred Flintstone when he ordered his rack of ribs from the diner and the "car hop" came out and placed them on his "car tray" whilst the car toppled over from the shear weight of the ribs.

That was the six of us. The baked spuds, salads and veggies were certainly no match for those meaty, beefy morsels of protein. He surely can cook, that man of mine!! Unfortunately, it shows.....on both of us!!!

It was a great visit, a time to share a bottle or so of wine, a great meal, a cup o'tea/coffee and laugh at Roger's wit and humor regarding various items of "knowledge-based" trivia. And Bob was close behind with his very own brand of humor!!! Actually, the gals are pretty funny too!

The day began though, with church. Marc preached today. He said some very profound things to us, things that I trust we will mull over and really think about, things that could change the face of Gateway forever. Exciting stuff.

So, it's been a full weekend, so far.

Granddaughter just called to let me know of her great marks at school. She then went on to describe her rowing classes and all the physical work that it entails. Makes me tired hearing about it. Following that, it was regarding her "work" trauma...spilling the jug of water that sat precariously on top of the ice cream counter....right into the bucket of ice cream. I, of course, had to remind her that she certainly wasn't the only person in history to embarrass themselves at their work site!!!:-)

And to top it off a phone call from daughter. Son is still bush-whacked in Manitoba, planting trees and is not in cell phone range for another few weeks.

Tomorrow we shall celebrate our late Queen Victoria's birthday - May 24th!!...and recall her dear husband, Albert...from whence we get our fine city's name, "Prince Albert".

I wonder what tomorrow will bring, besides eating birthday cake?

Just what I needed....

A day with my man at our most favorite spot....Waskesiu Lake.

Seems like every time we go, God gives us new and exciting scenery and wildlife.

Well, there was some pretty wild life alright when I went to take a jaunt down to the "scenic spot" where several young fellows had gathered, obviously not totally sober and some took to "peeing into the wind" as it were. But hey, these guys were foul mouthed, totally crude, rude and stewed so I simply walked past the brawny lot and took my pictures anyway. What hasn't a mother seen in her motherly role, I say!

So, me and my man just strolled the beach, watched the geese, gulls and odd magpie. They were all being quite cooperative today. Must be the nesting season where all are absorbed in the role of parent, not bothering quite yet about weird "people types" with cameras.

The lake was ice-free for many, many metres from shore but out in the middle, it made it's last stand, hoping the wind wouldn't come and crush it into the far shore. I'm trusting the wind to have it's way before we arrive in late June!!!

We found a camp site at "Birch Bay". I walked around with Mr. Olympus, while husband read the paper in the car. Good times. I sat in the sun on the steps heading down to the lake and soaked up the sights and sounds. The waves lapping on shore, gulls screeching their greetings and warnings, ducks quacking off in the distance, ants working hard beneath my feet and the wind for an hour or so came howling in off the ice and into our little camp site. Just a reminder that summer is NOT here quite yet.

Husband got the fire going and I got out the cooler with hot dogs, beans and brownies for dessert.

I asked him if he'd take a picture of me by the fire and he graciously complied. He doesn't much take to these new fangled digital cameras but he held it and.......click.......shoot....nothing. Well, that's not quite true. It was actually something!!! He had by total accident clicked the switch that allows you to automatically time your shot, which I had never bothered to find out how to do or where the confounded thing was. So, now we both know....and we got a shot of us "together". How cool was that!!! I thanked him for his incredibly good mistake.

A sweet day.

Now for company tomorrow. Should be fun if the weather holds.

'nite.....and I thank God for the day.

Did I miss something????...

Just thought I'd ask....

I haven't seen any signs of the weather turning into summer kinds of days....you know, above 10 degreesC.

There is snow forecast all around us.

What on earth is going on.

I know I've been tired and all, but have I perhaps slept through summer altogether? I suppose it is possible. I think husband would have mentioned something though....if I had.

I want....no, I NEED warm weather....HOT weather with mornings like the picture above where it's perfectly still and calm and hot by 8 a.m.

If I missed it (summer), I shall be perfectly ticked off.

As I say, anything is possible when one is tired.

'nite.....

White with green & yellow....

Those "colors" epitomize spring, in my humble opinion.

Crisp. Fresh. New. Alive.

Whether it's a bird, a flower or a little girls new outfit, white with green and yellow just seem to go together.

Daily, I continue to be amazed by all that God has created for our pleasure and enjoyment. I think he liked that color combo too, because I see an awful lot of it in nature...and in every season.

Then there are birch trees with their stark white bark and green leaves. We can't forget our "Saskatchewan Tree"!

As an aside, I've been taking First Aid training today, so figured I should think on lovely things like trees and birds and flowers, instead of blood spurting and legs breaking and trying to resuscitate an inanimate doll. And I now feel like a teenager because I actually forgot my homework book at the office. I'll most likely have to stay in after class.

AND tomorrow is "Pie Day" at work. Got my 6 pies done. As a matter of fact, I made lemon with white merangue on top, banana cream and coconut cream (to go with the yellow/white theme I've got going on here).

Enjoy the rest of your evening....and if you don't see me soon, I may be in detention....bummer.