July 1st is CANADA DAY!

images of the land i love ...



from the maple leaf ...

to the mounties ...



from the serenity of lake louise ...



to a peaceful prairie scene ...

July 1st is CANADA DAY ... a day to celebrate "home" ... and to this immigrant child, Canada has been home for most of my life ... i love this country that has given me so much ...

i feel so blessed and proud to say ... i am a Canadian ...

quotes on prayer

artwork by C. Michael Dudash

Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God.
--Andrew Murray

Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan
--John Bunyan

Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare and feeble thing.
--E. M. Bounds

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.
--Brother Lawrence

warbling company

can you see the 3 small finches sitting on the railing? our fearless feline sure could!

we have a little footstool set up for him by the screen door ... last night he could barely keep still on it as he listened to these tiny feathered creatures, warbling to him! this went on for quite a while ... until i took a few pictures and they flew away ... they must have been camera shy!

these tiny birds reminded me of Jesus words in Matthew 10: 29-31: Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.

i love the way Jesus always used common examples to teach the multitudes that followed Him ... words that still give comfort 2000 years later ...

well it is my first day off, i'm having my first cup of coffee ... and soon i must go tackle my "to do" list ... blessings on your monday ...

plans and purposes

our coffee room ...

a glimpse into my day at the salt mines in the park ...

we had stopped for the traditional 3 o'clock coffee break ... our lunchroom looks out toward the lake ... the large lawn slopes down to meet the water, framed by forest on each side ... as we chatted about work (we stop from doing work, only to talk about work? silly people, eh!) we noticed a shy deer start to make her way across the yard ... she sniffed the air as she cautiously crossed from one forested side, to make her way to the other wooded area ... she had a slight limp - though she was healthy otherwise ... the serene scene played out like a disney movie ...

my work bud and i agreed - we definitely had the best seat in the house!

it's all about the flowers ...

as i sat on the couch praying this morning ... i hate to admit this - but my prayers were selfish ones - AGAIN ... re, a place for us to buy ... then i happened to lift my eyes up and gaze out the front window ... i saw bright red dots by the tree line ... i hadn’t noticed any flowers blooming there before, yet today the red was vibrant and in full glory ...

i put on some runners, turned on the digi and went to investigate ...

low and behold - there again were some glorious flowers (peonies this time) ... coming up without any assistance or fuss or bother - for me alone to breath in the fragrance and enjoy their beauty ... flowers that i hadn’t planted or tended ... flowers that none the less were in full bloom and healthy ...

so i hummed "my" song of this season ...

Consider the lilies, they toil not nor spin,
they bask in God’s sunshine, they drink in God’s rain
...if God cares for them in such marvelous ways ...
how much more? how much more? how much more?
will He care for you and supply all your needs every day

... sigh ... ain't that the truth! ... i need to be firmly planted in it ... resting in the knowledge that God has set all things in place ... i just need to enjoy the beauty around me ...

"Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now."
I Corinthians 13:12

p.s. yes, i have blogged about this "waiting time" before! ... what can i say - i'm a slow, impatient learner!

pain pain go away ...

i had my dental check-up 2 weeks ago ... no cavities … but there was a problem with an old injury …

as a kid i chipped my front tooth … it happened with a lot of help from a boy, wildly swinging a yo/yo in my direction … those darn boys!

… that of course meant a cap … imagine a silver cap, on the front tooth of a young, developing girl … things like that were not stylish in the 60s! … needless to say i never smiled widely ... i always tried to hide this glaring metal object in the middle of my mouth … i had it for 3 long years …

later the tooth died … so that particular tooth was a grayish colour for years …

a decade ago, i even had surgery on it – which was an annoyance plus discomfort!

… now it is acting up again … so today i saw the specialist ... he poked and prodded ... and now i'm to see yet another specialist ... blah!

this whole lifetime problem with that tooth has been a thorn in my side … it affected my self-image as a gawky adolescent … it even bothered me all through my teen years …

in relation to other problems in my world … this has been minor … yet minor can still be annoying! and it can affect other areas in our lives ... though we may think them of no consequence … before we know it, our whole outlook looks different when magnified through the glass of tiny problems … it can change something as simple as a smile (or lack of one) ... even domino into someone else’s life … “ why is that person not smiling at me?” “ why are they ducking their head down and not looking at me?” “ what did i do?” …

just a reminder to myself … everything is of consequence … yet everything also needs to be kept in the proper perspective ... even the most annoying everyday problems ...

Happy Father's Day!

here's a pic of leo and his dad ... both leo's folks are still alive ... they live a good 3 day's drive from our place ... with leo's health and the health of his parents being poor - well the visiting is all done via telephone these days ...

it's a blessing to still have a dad to wish "happy father's day" too ... my dad died in 2001, so of course i think of him even more on these types of occasions ... click here for last year's post if you want to see a pic of him & me ...

but tomorrow it will all be about the dad's that are still here ... the sweet dads, the grouchy dads, the funny dads and the sad dads too ... each man will have impacted his family in a HUGE way ... what a responsibility! and i hope that each dad will feel love from those around him ... after all, if a man does the best he knows how, with the abilities that God gave him - what more could a family want?

so give dear old dad a BIG BIG HUG ... i wish i could give my own dad just one more gentle caress ...

the Way ...

zap those pests away!

this is called a mosquito zapper ... ever hear of them? they are great!

i bought leo one for the summer ... they take two, double A batteries and you zap the annoying pests into oblivion ... what is cool about this gadget, is that you just swing in the general area and the "zap" noise will let you know that you found your target!

just be careful not to hit someone (or yourself!) with it ... last year i kinda got a racket mark on my arm when i accidentally on purpose swatted myself with one at work! oops! and owie too!

this year i thought leo needed one ... but so far the mosquito population has stayed very very scarce! do you think they heard about the zapper i bought? *grin*

checking out homes ...

we went looking at houses today ... poor leo is totally pooped out from going in and out of the real estate agent's van (total of 4 houses) ... he was already sweating profusely by the second house ... *shakes head, with sad look* ... it would have been easier if there was something to look at locally ... but we drove 40 minutes to a larger neighbouring town, to see what they had ... poor guy, eh ...

did we find our new home? i don't know yet ...

the one older type bungalow, that i liked, had this large, park-like yard ... and for us - that's a bad thing ... the exterior was maintenance free and the interior was nice - that was the good thing ...

hmmmm ...

this mornings devotions once again reminded me how God cares for the birds of the air ... and the flowers that bloom so beautifully ... about HOW MUCH MORE God cares for us ... the Word reminded me not to worry ...

i did find comfort in reading that passage from Matthew's gospel ... i always find comfort there ...

so i'm not worried ... but i must admit to being an impatient homemaker ... just looking for that "home" to make over! *silly smile* ...

spoiled cats and sunday evenings ...

picture our sunday evening ... leo was resting in the bedroom ... i thought i would read ... so i sat in his big boy recliner, opened it up and found a comfy position ... our fearless feline (who misses me when i am at work), jumped on my lap and fell asleep ... an hour goes by ... it's getting too dark to read comfortably ... what to do? soooo, instead of disturbing the spoiled fur ball, i call out to leo to come put the light on for me ... my poor gimpy husband makes his way into the living room ... s-l-o-w-l-y ... and turns the reading light on, plus positions it for me ... all for a cat who is blissfully snoozing on his mistresses lap ... silly cat people, eh!

sunday devotional reading ...

this was my morning reading ... thought i'd share before i head off to the salt mines in the park! blessings on your day!

Why He’s So Special

READ: John 1:1-14
I and My Father are one. —John 10:30

Some pretty good people have founded religions over the centuries. One religious leader spent a good portion of his life trying to find truth—an admirable quest.

Another religious leader was a teacher and a civil servant who drew up an honor code for his people—a respectable venture.

No matter how good any originators of world religions may have been, they cannot in any way compare with the founder of Christianity. The major reason is simply this: They are all in the category of “good men,” while Jesus is in a category by Himself—the God-man.

Jesus alone is Immanuel (God with us; Matthew 1:23), the Living Word (John 1:14), the Savior (Luke 2:11), and the Messiah (John 1:41). Only Jesus could truthfully assert His equality with His heavenly Father. “I and my Father are one,” He said (John 10:30). Only Jesus’ words are divine. His life was the only perfect one. Only Jesus’ death and resurrection provide life everlasting.

Jesus is unique in all the world. He alone is worthy of our worship, adoration, and awe. He alone is the perfect Man. The divine One. The provider of salvation. Don’t settle for anything—or anyone—less.

—Dave Branon—

Not all roads lead to God,
As many people claim;
There’s only one true way
—Christ Jesus is His name.
—Sper

Only Jesus can erase mankind’s guilt.

finding fun . . .

Finding fun in simple ways makes the happiest days.

A happy heart makes a cheerful face.

Proverbs 15:13

someone plants, someone waters, God makes things grow ...

it has been such fun to see what the flower beds are bringing forth! i went a little snap-happy this afternoon ... thought i'd share the beauties i'm enjoying!


my contribution to these blooms has been to weed the flower beds ....

then water as needed ...

and enjoy to my heart's content!

the flowers here at our rental place remind me of this passage:
"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
1 Corinthians 3:7-9 ...

when i look at the delightful flowers blooming all around this place ... i will remember that we each have a unique task to do ... we are all connected to one another ... and it is God that "makes things grow" ...

just a thought ...

calmness ... this is what it looked like at work last thursday ... only one small cloud in the sky ... with it's mirror image reflecting back up from the water ...

tomorrow, after work - i head for the city ... the hustle and bustle ... busy people scurrying everywhere, kind of like ants ... which isn't a bad thing ... just different from my day to day ...

Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). He also said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

you know - sometimes my work and it's physical location, are restful to me ... there are blessings to be counted in the every day, if we only look for them ... sometimes they are as close as a walk outside the door ...

touring the petroforms

today was one of those days that made my job FUN! i got to go on a tour of the petroforms ... i was never really enthusiastic about seeing them, i thought of them as a bunch of rocks out on the Canadian Shield ...

but those "rocks" have a story behind them ... and the area itself was neat to walk on ... i love the pre-cambrian shield ...
it's amazing how this huge, sturdy rock formation is just within a stone's throw of the highway ... we followed a narrow path through the woods and voilá, within 2 minutes we stepped into another time and space ...

the petroforms would be of interest to history buffs - but the shield itself was what awed me the most ... God's handiwork was displayed in such raw grandeur ...

after much sun and walking, i shall make it an early evening!

tomorrow is another day in the salt mines in the park!