canada day pics

today we are 145 years old as a nation ... happy canada day to us!!!  here are a few pics of life over the past few days!!!    and happy upcoming 4th of july to my american buds ...

here's my cousin's puppy ... we were trying to get her to go swimming, but it seems she just didn't want to - no matter how we enticed her!

my lilies ... there are 6 different varieties of them in my garden ... they are something that the previous owners planted, and i've enjoyed ... thank you Lord!!!

this is my front deck hanging plant, the one i see as i sit here typing ... i love these colours ... they make me smile ...

last night leo and i enjoyed the town fireworks ... we can see them very well from our deck ... the town is just hopping with summer people and visitors from all over ...

today the canada day parade walked by our door ... i love small towns for the simple sweetness of occasions like this!!

I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  That every man may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God.

 ~ Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

home ...

i'm home ... safe and sound with my sweetie - who i missed ... the trip was really good - except during the 2 weeks that i was away, one of our good friends was dieing ... i didn't know this until day two in AZ ... he passed away yesterday ... needless to say, that added a meloncholy tinge to everything ...

and my goodness, what travail in our world these days!!

did you know that the bible tells us not to be afraid 365 times - once for every day of the year ... for folks outside of Jesus, what a scary place planet earth must be ... thankfully we know that all ends well for those found in Christ ... i'm so glad to be sheltered in His everlasting arms ...

another amazing AZ sunset

blizzards and plans

i'm not in arizona - yet ... Lord willing this time next week i will be ... *smile* ...

but before the vacation - there was a bit of a mini-blizzard that blew in, just before my birthday - it found me shovelling on the day of my birthday ... which was fine, it was a good opportunity to thank the Lord for strength to lift that shovel and clear our deck!!!  

thank you blog buds for the birthday greetings ... also thank you "annah" for your kind words - which encouraged me ...

i am starting to get butterflies in my stomach re the travel ... i get this nervous energy and tension before trips ... especially when leo stays behind ... we used to be good travelling companions ... he would drive and i would be the map reader and planner ... but that was a very long time ago already, time truly does go by quickly ... yet it seems that our lives can change in the blink of an eye ... one day - soon? - it will be in the "twinkling of an eye" that lasting, forever change will occur ... and the term 'saved' will mean something everlastingly wonderful ...

just wanted to post a little note here ... in case life gets hectic before i leave home on wednesday ... thank you for your prayers on my behalf - 'cause i know i have great praying buds who i've met through blogging!

laundry

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young
woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said.
"She doesn't know how to wash correctly.

Perhaps she needs better laundry soap"

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the
young woman would make the same comments.


About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.

I wonder who taught her this?"

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and
cleaned our windows."


And so it is with life.. What we see when watching others
depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

when is enough ... enough?

back in the 70's, as a newlywed, i started my first full-time job ... it was for a huge conglomerate, yet located within a small town ... i was a dewey eyed young thing, and my coffee time chatter involved our domestic plans and how after a few years in the work force i would "retire" ...

leo had set a budget for us, one that we stuck to religiously ... we wanted to always be able to live off of leo's salary and have mine go into savings or extras ...

i still remember the response from one of my colleagues ... i thought she was ancient at the time (maybe in her 50's ... *grin* ...) ... she sat at her desk, which was always piled high with paperwork ... a chain-smoker, her ashtray overflowed with butts ... her yellowed fingers held a cigarette, while the other hand stamped invoices and shuffled paper ... in between drags, she looked at me with world weary eyes and said "when is enough ... enough?" ... she said there will ALWAYS be something a person wants and will continue working for ..."just one more thing and it'll be enough"... apparently she'd had plans to quit for years, but she continued on for a boat - then a bigger boat - then a new car - then a fancy trip ...

the thirst for things was never quenched ...

i still think of her now and again ... and wonder if she ever retired or just died there in her little corner of the accounting department ... wanting one more thing ...

today - for me - my enough IS enough ... i handed in my notice at the salt mines in the park ... a new chapter begins ...

of course it is a bit scary ... but the Lord has always faithfully supplied our needs and blessed our lives with the desires of our hearts as well

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

back to work ...

the morning was serene and lovely ... i woke up before the alarm ... and i was rewarded by this sunrise that the digi captured so well ... i don't know how i got the sun to jump across the horizon like that - but that is what it did ... no playing with the images!

today was my first day back to work ... for the season ...

the drive was peaceful and my day was filled with activity ...

poor leo's day was much longer ... he really misses our faithful feline's company ...

"Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands." Psalm 149:5-6

shopping is fun? yes, shopping was fun!

i must be one of the world's worst shoppers! unless it involves bookstores, i really prefer to leave the store hopping to professionals!

but today was one of those rare days when i "sort of" felt like going into the city and willingly entered a number of stores ...

i went by myself ... that way when the mood struck to head for home - well, i could just head home!

i had a most excellent time ... and i was amazed ... *grin*

with my little list in hand, i must have hit 8 or 9 stores! WOW!!! and it didn't kill me either!! another WOW!! i actually found things that were needed ... and maybe some things that weren't ... it was just a fun day ... *huge grin* ...

2007 has brought unexpected joy into my life ... especially in areas that needed some lightening up ... and for that ... i am grateful!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17

fun with pictures

aww inspiration ... sometimes it can be fun!

we have so many "old faithful" wall hangings - i thought i could display most of them here at the condo ... but? well, some just didn't seem to suit the mood of the place ...

and ... i don't like bare walls ... yet ... i was at a loss as to how to fill the space ...

then inspiration hit ... and God smiled ...

i thought why not put some of my own pictures ... plus some postcards from my collection ... in frames ... see what happens ...

the arrangements i've posted were the result ... i know - they are amateur floral pictures and hokey caricatures - but they make me smile when i look at them ... they seem playful ... drawing joy out of the air ... with touches of simplicity ...

*grin* ...

if i can find the right frames (these were a bargain at $4.00 each) ... i might try other types of scenerios ...

yup - there is definitely something wonderful about being at an age when it doesn't matter if things are trés chic ... as long as they are trés fun!

Pictures must not be too picturesque. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

blogabilities

2007 has been all about settling into our new home ... and trying to get caught up on life in general ... getting into a routine ... unfortunately, my blogging has been haphazard at best ...

tho' there have been things on my mind to share ... moments when God's personal touch is so real ...

examples ....

i cashed a rebate cheque from canon last week ... since i was near a Christian bookstore, i thought why not spend it on literature that i could give as gifts? i found a number of items ... would you believe, the amount i spent came to the exact amount of the refund cheque! i wasn't even counting or trying to get it right on ... a smile making moment ...

then, i had been thinking of inviting a work friend over for coffee ... i left it and left it ... and just didn't get to it ... so what happened? i bumped into that friend at the grocery store! i invited her over and we had a lovely visit ...

2 little examples of the sweetness of life ... when even the very ordinary seems extra-ordinary, when God is in it ...