Just thinkin'....

and remembering......................ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........sigh..........

The steamy days of summer and goin' fishin'.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Well, it's -45C out there with the wind chill. What better thing to think about than hot, very hot boiling summer days on beach and water......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Think I'll just stay there just a wee big longer.......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.

'nite..........

Of all days....

Last evening the youth were over to our place to do "stuff" and see our guest "Hillary". I initiated them also to the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life"...the old black and white Christmas movie. Some of them hadn't seen it, so hey, what better place to watch their very first "I.A.W.L." than our place. I'm sure it will be one of their memorable moments of their youthful teen years.

But today was St. Lucia Day at the Anderson home....AND I FORGOT MY CAMERA. That was not good. So many artistic possibilities with the saffron buns, the peppercocka (sp?), various cheeses plus hot apple cider and Swedish coffee....and I missed them all.

Anna, the granddaughter, once again adorned the headdress of holly and flaming candles while she sang "Santa Lucia"....with Mom and Grandma standing closely by in case of emergency. She's quite an old hand at it now at 15 and looked very natural in her white gown with red sash.

I can't believe I forgot my camera!!!!

The rest of the day, between visiting with our guest, was spent doing a bit more baking Christmas shortbread, lemon squares and another batch of fruit croissants in the fridge ready for rolling out tomorrow.

Third Sunday in Advent tomorrow will see us lighting the candle of Joy. I look forward to it.

Oh God, let Joy come to your people. Help us to find reasons to be joyful when we are sad and depressed and alone.

Help us to look beyond ourselves, to the bigger picture..... of angels singing and proclaiming to a bunch of sheep herders in a field, of a young mother giving birth to her first born son and wrapping him in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger.....because there was no room for them in the inn.

Help us find joy in the story of your birth.

Another good-bye.......

Another funeral today. At the beginning of October there were three ladies in our church who were 92 years of age. Only one remains.



Today was a great tribute to Edna McLennan. She was one strong-willed, feisty lady, who refused to live in a Care Home. Now she doesn't have to concern herself with those kinds of decisions. She has reached her final destination....heaven.



I love to hear the stories at funerals of people whom I thought I knew. It always turns out to be a time of getting to know another side of them, it seems.



I hope I am transparent enough in this world though, so people will know all sides of me, the good, the bad and all that other stuff in between. That is important to me. I don't want people to say about me when I'm gone, that they wished they had known this or that about me. I want friendships to be true and honest enough so that they know who I really am....and I in turn, know who they are. Good friendships can do that. I want to be able to appreciate others lives while they are here.....not only after they are gone.



To me, friendship with God is very similar. I want to get to know him now, here, while I am able, so that when I see him again when I leave this earth, he won't have to say to me that he never knew me....



The church youth are over tonight. I'm going to watch them play some games. I want to get to know them also.......and if I join them and make a stupid move, they can get to know the real me!

How to really celebrate being 61...

This is how I ended 61 years of living, with tomorrow the beginning of my 62nd year:

It began with a phone call from daughter and granddaughter on their speaker phone singing the "Happy Birthday" song while I unwrapped their birthday gifts that had been sent to me earlier in the week.

Then I was serenaded by our illustrious duo,

Andrea and Val in two part harmony with said Birthday song....

with a surprise visit from Santa Kim.

There were emails and verbal good wishes all day long!

I even received some cards with more kind words...

Then an E-card from son with some very funny mooing cows and such
followed by some loving and very kind words to his mother.


And more kind and loving words on a card
from daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter...

Gifts....some lovely tree ornaments, some Body Shop stuff and
this beautiful Christmas treat calendar from daughter and family.

And God saw to it that I had a special gift of snow!

Then supper at a fine dining restaurant "Chandeliers"...

with some Filet Mignon.......oh man.....was that scrumptious.....

A lovely birthday shared with the wonderful love of my life.

A moment ago son called and he and his girlfriend and her friends all sang "The Birthday Song" once more. What a lovely ending to a perfect day. I am blessed indeed.

Iwould be remiss if I did not say "thanks" to my dear mother who bore me on this day in 1947, and my wonderful father who shared his genes with me. They fit quite well..........:-)

Did you know that my favorite Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart, came out in 1947? Ya.....I'm that old!

Visiting....

Hillary, the ravishing young lovely on the right, will be gracing our home tomorrow night. She's the second child of former pastor Randall and wife, Lauralea Friesen. She's coming 'home' for a few days from Bible college for a visit. It will be wonderful to have her in our home.:-)

She hasn't had opportunity yet to make "The Field" in Alberta her real home yet as she has either been working away or in school, but her mom and dad seem to be doing pretty well in that area, I think. I thank God for that...it's tough moving.

But before Hillary arrives, husband has to clean up "his bathroom" downstairs so she will not have to go "eeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwww" when she goes to shower. All in due time, he says.

I'm off now to have coffee with a dear friend. We have some discussing to do.

And then tomorrow I'll be having two more parties. My friend Phil and I share the same birthday...different years, of course.:-) I suppose you could call us the 'Forest Service Twins' (we kind of look alike.....we both wear glasses). He's getting to be a year older tomorrow....and I'm NOT, so he may just catch up.

PLUS, the folks who own our building are putting on a nice get together for all of us at the Forest Centre tomorrow too....so, need I say more.....food...it's all about food.

Lord, help me to choose the most delicious, delectable food with the least amount of calories......or not.

TaDaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

She's a lovely, isn't she!

A little "3 yr. old Brittney" ornament

An ornament Christmas gift
from an 8 yr. old son to his mommy:-)

Old Saint Nicholas adorning our tree.

The day is done.

The tree is done.

And I'm done.

'nite................

Silver and my son.....

As a tradition in our home, my dad used to sit at the kitchen table before every special occasion and clean the tarnished silverware. It gave him great satisfaction to see something dull and sometimes even black become a gleaming presence at the table.

Well, dear dad is no longer with us but his grandson has taken on the task over these past years. I'm sure he does it just so I don't have to, but nevertheless, it is a job I have appreciated him doing.

Matt is a very practical son. One year as a Christmas gift, he bought us "special" silver cleaner. It cleans it well and the silver doesn't tarnish near as quickly. I figured he may have been thinking ahead somewhat, knowing that it would be me doing the silver cleaning when he wouldn't be around to do the job. It was very good thinking, I must say.

Tonight, in my pre-Christmas cleaning frenzy, I covered our (now-black) silver cream and sugar set and our (now-black) silver candle sticks with the marvelous product. In a few minutes they will be gleaming again and fit for the presence of "kings" and "queens" that will dine with us in a few short weeks. How exciting.

Then husband and I got our tree in the stand and sitting upright.

Husband sat down and looked at the tree and said to me, "I love you."

I said, "Ya, you love me now but wait until we start with the lights!!!":-)