Today in Ottawa ...

Today in Ottawa, for the 30th time, they paused to remember by name the 738 men and women whose names are etched on the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial ...

738 names of men and women who have fallen in the service to our country attempting to preserve the Law, Order and Good Government we have so easily taken for granted ...

Today across Canada, we should have all paused to give thanks for the sacrifice paid by 738 men and women whose families continue to mourn their passing and miss them ...

738 men and women who had families, friends, and communities that have no easily forgotten them ...

I know in our house we remember one name ...

Constable Samuel Ankenmann

of the Ontario Provincial Police,

who on June 29th 1968

gave his life protecting and serving

the people of this country.

My Dad like 737 others, remains

A Hero in Life, Not Death.

Sounds of Fall ...

Aldo Leopold wrote that a field greeted by the honk of a lone goose is no longer drab ... this morning, as I hung the laundry on the line in the back yard I could hear the honk of a flock of geese passing to the south ...

After a few moments it came in to view ... it was a magnificent site ... The undulating lines of geese loosely resembling a V ... the sound of dozens of geese honking as they fly ... the blue sky behind them ... and the brilliant sunshine ... this is one of Fall's special gifts ... and it was beautiful!

And best of all - there was nothing drab about it ...

Overheard at the Scrabble Board ...

Grandma: "This is a word isn't it?" as she spelled out L-A-B-I-A on the scrabble board.

M (the nurse): "Yup, that's a good word!!"

Ms H. "What is it?"

M: "It's part of the female anatomy," taking the dictionary out of Beetle's hands she then read the entire definition.

Beetle: "Eeeeeewwwwwww!!!! YOU can't use that word!!! That's DISGUSTING!!!"

M: "Why is it disgusting? YOU have one !!"

Ms H: "MOM !!!! I don't want to hear it !!"

(OH where is Meg Hickling when you need her ???)

M: "It's true ..."

Beetle & Ms H.:"SHUT UP !!! WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY MORE !!!"

A delightful surprise ...

It's funny ... some friends come into your life quietly, and one day you realize how important they are to you ... other friends come into your life suddenly with great drama and fanfare and in time you realize that they are full of bluff and blunder, but have little significance in your life and pass as quickly as they arrived ... while still other friends come into your life and as the tides ebb and flow, you may lose touch, but they are never far away ... and in the moment when you need them most, whether you are aware of that need or not, they are there ...

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I have just such a friend ... I remember the first day we met ... he was invited to dinner at our house with his wife and three sons ... we were gathering a group of us who lived in Bella Coola and had no where else to be on that holiday ... so, we opened the doors of our house and said - "Come on in ..."

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We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into ...

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He strolled in the door of the kitchen, picked up a magazine sitting on the flour bin with an article about Matthew Fox's theology of The Cosmic Christ. He took one look at the magazine, tossed it back and looked me in the eye and began without so much as a hello or a greeting by asking, "SO, what do you think about the Cosmic Christ?"

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The only thought I had was - "who is this GUY ?? and WHY is he in my house???"

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Thankfully, I came to appreciate his eccentricities, his passions, his wisdom and his humour ... In the 15 years since we've first me Ger has become like a brother to me ... we've talked, we've argued, we've drank together, we laughed at each other and with each other ... we've maintained a friendship that may have stretches when we don't talk ... but through some cosmic quirk, we've always managed to be in touch precisely when we've needed each other ...

.

And tonight when the phone rang and I heard his voice ... I knew it was one of those moments ... we didn't talk about anything earth shattering ... but it reminded me that I am not alone ... something that in the precise moment the phone rang I was feeling ...

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So ... I can only say - thanks to Ger for a friendship of 15 years of life's ups and downs ... and thanks to the Cosmic Christ for making it all possible ... One day I really need to read some of Fox's work so I can finally offer an answer to Ger's question ...

.

And one day I'll tell the stories of Ger and food ...

From Oh Oh !?! to Oh YES !!!

I can't adequately describe the plumbing that lurks in the basement of the house we occupy ... even our plumber has shook his head at the overlapping pipes, dead end fittings, unattached pipes and all manner of other things that hang overhead and along the various walls in the basement ... 106 years of history are displayed up there !! (The picture above is NOT of our basement ... this is way TOO simple to be our basement !!!)

And dear God, don't even ask about the WIRING !!! That's a WHOLE other nightmare ...

But yesterday as I stood in the basement watching the plumbers deal with the plugged sewer line, I noticed that there were some drain pipes that could be consolidated and simplified ... a cut here, a joint there, another cut there and another joint here and we could eliminate a whole line that drains into the floor drain rather than being tied into the sewer system itself ...

So this morning Ms H and I ventured back into the basement and began planning our plumbing project ... Then it was off to the Hardware store for the first of several trips ... If I've learned one thing about me and plumbing, it is that when I start I'm making no less than five trips to the hardware store before I'm done ... (today was NO exception) ...

We got the fittings we thought we needed (they turned out to be too big and needed to be exchanged on a later trip), and the glue to hold it all together ... Then we got ready to cut the pipe ... but first we needed to get the right allen key to change the saw blade (another trip to the hardware store) ...

We then had everything in place to cut the pipe were I THOUGHT (take note of this - 'where I thought') it needed to be cut ... I was off by ... oh about 30 centimetres or more (that's in excess of a foot for my American friends) ... Drat !!! Another trip to the Hardware store went on the list for a joint to fix my Ooops !!!???

But before we went, we moved farther up the pipe and cut it where it needed to be cut in the first place ... you can always add new pieces ... and began assembling the bits ... "Oh drat !!" ... the bits were too big, so we had to head back to the hardware store for an exchange ... forgot to get the OTHER joint ... so yet ANOTHER trip was neccessitated ...

The rest of the project went fairly well ... we glued and secured the lines we needed ... we cut the line from the washing machine in the RIGHT place and set the elbow joint at the right angle ... then cut a piece of piping the right length to reach and fit in the Y joint on the main line ... then we dealt with the "oops" cut by heading to the hardware store, yet again for the connector joint we needed ...

By three o'clock we had the pipes secured, glued and everything was working tiddly boo !!! The only down side is ... now I have about 18 feet of pvc piping that is cut off at both ends and lingers on the wall like so many other pipes from previous renovations, repairs and so on ...

If I decide not to remove it, it just means that some day in the future someone will look at the disconnected piping and like me, utter the phrase - "what the H!&* were THEY thinking??"

Oh well ... in the world of old house, few things are predictable ... and seldom do you discover something wholly new ... what goes around comes around ... many times !!

The Perfect way to spend an ideal day ...

The sun was shining ... the air was incredibly warm ... it was a perfect day to go biking !!

So, with my MP3 player charged up and ready to go, I hopped on my bike and spent almost two hours out and about in town ... four trips to Mohawk ... five crossings of the dam ... one trip out past the grain terminal and back , then a number of jaunts up and down a variety of Minnedosa's streets, back alleys and pathways ... By my calculations I covered in excess of 40 kms in my pedalling today ...

And it felt great ... it is taking me longer and longer to reach that point when my knees begin to throb ... and when it starts it is seldom as bad as it was earlier in the summer ... But when my knees start to ache and my thigh muscles tighten, I push past it ... pedalling harder to move through the mild pain ...

There is something incredibly freeing to be out on a bike in the fall sunshine ... listening to The Who, Van Morris, Great Big Sea, and a little Bob Marley as I pedal through town ... it was a good way to spend some time on an absolutely beautiful autumn afternoon!!!

The Day Mr. Murphy came calling ...

It started last night when Noahkila noticed water on the floor in the basement ... OH, were it to be so ... if ONLY it was water ...

The backed up Floor Drain shifted our water usage to "minimal" ... the mess on the floor transcended the description "disgusting" ... thanks be to God that the basement is largely unfinished and the way it was created when the house was built in 1901 ...

A phone call first thing this morning put in motion a visit from our friendly neighbourhood Plumber who knows this house very, very well ...

In the middle of the afternoon the plumbers arrived with the tools of their trade ... somewhere along the way Mr Murphy snuck in with them and made his presence known immediately ...

At first glance it was a simple plug somewhere just below the floor drain ... WRONG !!!

The first plunge of the light duty router, or snake, did nothing ... The second plunge was equally ineffective ...

Next came the shop vac and the floor drain was cleaned ... along the way came an assortment of plastic, a few pieces of wood !!!, and some other unrecognizable debris that was hindering the drain ... BUT ... the plug remained ...

Next came the heavy duty industrial snake ... but first the access port on the pipe needed to be removed - no small feat - It wasn't going down without a fight ... and it was quite the fight, but when the reciprocating saw was hauled out the access port gave up the ghost (in several pieces) and the port was opened for business ...

The plumber started feeding in the line ... inch by inch it went ... not change ... then at the 75' mark the end of the line had been reached and there was no change to the plugged line ... on went another 25' of line ... at the 80' mark the motor started to labour, then at about the 90' mark the water suddenly cleared and the plug was GONE ...

But Mr. Murphy wasn't done with us yet ... another three or four feet was fed down the drain:

And suddenly EVERYTHING JAMMED up tight ...

The snake was stuck and it wasn't going forward nor back ... after a half an hour of trying everything he could think of, the Plumber called both his Boss and the Town ... 90' of line was fed out and it wasn't budging !!!

It was thought a backhoe might be needed to unjam the line and see what the problem was ... (insert scream of terror here!!) ... The town guy arrived, surveyed the situation, and discussed with the plumber where exactly the sewer line ran out of the house ... they couldn't agree - one said front, one said back ...

The town guy left to find a map and see what it said, and the plumber's boss arrived to survey the situation ... He decided to try and pull the snake out ... Eventually it worked ... there was some swearing, a few loud bangs, a twist in the snake, a kink in the snake and eventually all 100' feet of snake line was pulled back out of the tiny 3" hole it had been shoved down ...

The call to the backhoe had been averted (for now) and our water line is once again clear ... leaving a mess in the basement to be cleaned up ... and when the town guy came back, after consulting the map there was still a debate on where the sewer leaves the house ...

So, right now Mr. Murphy has been shown the door and everything is okay ... I can't wait to have a shower tonight ... had to forgo it last night ... and right now, I have NOTHING but praise and adulation for our plumber ... they've NEVER failed us !!!! And today stands as a testimony to that!!!

Annie ... a chip off the (not so) old block perhaps???

I have never met this young woman ... but I have heard enough stories about her to know that she is a bright, intelligent, witty, outrageously funny, outgoing, and incredibly caring young woman who has inherited much from both her father and her mother ... If you are even an occasional reader of At The Half Note, you will know some of the adventures that Ms Annie K has lead her parents on ...

This week her mom posted a piece on the blog that caused me to howl with laughter ... I have to say I'm with Annie on this one though, ... she's right in her query of - "what kind of a parent gives their kid a Bible??"

But Annie and I would differ in the why ...

I personally think we should be careful with how and where we pass out Bibles ... it's dangerous and subversive stuff ... it shouldn't be dropped in the hands of children ... they might get crazy ideas about love, respect, caring for each other and creation ... they may even begin to believe that they can do something like change the world ...

We should put that book under lock and key and keep it away from the tender eyes, ears, souls and hearts of our children ... it's TOO DANGEROUS to let just anyone read ... sheesh, people have died because of taking that book too seriously ... it really should have a warning label !!

For now though - thanks to Annie for being Annie, and thanks to Katie for sharing these moments from Annie with the rest of us !!! You both rock !!!

Message to Journey:

JUST TO BE CLEAR:
"YOU ARE A DOG !!"

You are NOT a small, cute

four legged human being !!!

You ARE a Dog !!

and to Beetle:

"STOP encouraging her to think otherwise !!!"

SHEESH !!!

OH my gawd !!!! This is TOO True !!!

Every once in awhile, something on the net catches my attention and makes me want to share it with others ... Last night over at I Can Fly, Just Not Up, CandyGirlFlies posted a video that is an absolute SCREAM !!! It is a video well worth sharing ...

Called "The Basics of Motherhood (could apply to some fathers too!!) in under three minutes" it is a hoot ... Click here to check it out ... YOU WON'T be disappointed!!!

Count and see how many of her statements have escaped your own lips ...

Pausing to consider ...

I feel like today was a lost cause ... that I didn't accomplish much ... but then I sat down and thought my way through the day and did an inventory of all I did ... kids lunches first thing, trip to the library and post office, load of laundry, Rotary meeting, trip to bank, stop at newspaper office, short bike ride, kids to swimming lessons in Brandon, Ms. H home from Brandon for B-day party, longer bike ride, rewire two lamps, fix VCR, deal with backed up floor drain in basement ... and now I'm sitting at the computer ... along the way I also squeezed in a half dozen of so emails back and forth with the Laughing Pastor ... he and I may actually achieve this book idea ... and I got reaquainted with my digital camera ...

It's been a pretty full day ... but over and over I've been reflecting on bread for some reason ... maybe I'm pining for my bread maker that has sat forlorn on the counter for too long ... the two batches of fresh Challah bread this past week being an exception ... but whatever it is, bread is foremost in my thinking of late ...

It may be connected to centrality Bread has had in my life's journey ... there are many stories of bread to share ... today The Laughing Pastor and I spoke of some ... perhaps in facing the uncertainty of what lies ahead, I am finding both comfort and inspiration in what lies behind ... revisiting the past to better prepare for the future ... taking time to let the transformation of the Resurrection take hold ...

Whatever the motivation, today I went back and revisited another blog I have dabbled with and decided to borrow from myself for a posting here ... It's piece I wrote for Worldwide Communion Sunday in the fall of 2005 - before the fire ... It was a beautiful morning, spent with the kids in the kitchen getting bread ready to carry upstairs for communion ... if I close my eyes I can still smell the fresh bread baking ... and hear the excited giggle of the wee ones waiting for the bisquits and bread they'd made to be done ...

It was a moment of time that still stands out for me ... it's what is really important. The posting that remembered it was called Breakin' Bread Jesus Style ... It's not plagarism if you borrow from yourself, even with out permission is it ???? :

Today we, like many other Congregations celebrated Communion for World Wide Communion Sunday. For us here in Minnedosa, what made the service different was what happened downstairs before we began the worship service.

For the last few months I have found myself leading the Sunday School from 10 am to 10:45 each Sunday. Lack of teachers has lead to this, but creativity has made it a workable solution.
Today we (that is the kids and I) spent the time in the kitchen. We put five loaves of dough into the ovens, rolled up our sleeves and made a big batch of biscuits, and had a lot of fun talking about what communion is.

Cookies and milk. Milky tea with Grandma. Kool aid under the tree in the back yard. Hot chocolate after sledding on a frosty winter afternoon. These were all moments of communion for my under 9 year old crowd ...

Then after 30 minutes, we carried two beautiful piping hot loaves of bread upstairs with a handful of fresh, steaming biscuits. With the juice, the chalices, a coffee mug and a water glass, the table was complete. We had six different varieties of bread (not an easy feat in a prairie town), and a assortment of symbols of "communion." All made ready by our children ...
When the big people broke bread (lovingly baked by the kids) and shared the cup, they were reminded that together WE are the Children of God - the WHOLE family of God ... all this surrounded by the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread !!!

In the midst of frustration and loneliness arising from feelings of alienation within this United Church of ours, I was blessed today to prepare, bake, and break bread with this precious community of faith ... for the moment, the caring and commitment to JUSTICE prevails, and the anger and silence and complacency of the greater church is held at bay, as we break bread, share the cup and remember that we are the Kingdom of God simply waiting to be ...

Today for a moment it seemed a step closer ...

May it be so ...

Bread takes time to prepare, and patience as it rises ... Butterflies emerge from a time of darkness in a cocoon ... Maybe there is a lesson in there for all of us ... in time transformation and change are not only possible - THEY ARE INEVITABLE !!!

That my friends is the power of the Resurrection !!

Today around Minnedosa ...

Took my newly returned camera on a brief tour and snapped some pics at the Octagonal Building, some graffiti on grain cars and the CPR station that is undergoing a restoration project beginning with a new cedar roof ... Stay tuned ... I'll have more pictures in the coming days ...

It's BBBBAAAACCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!

Yesterday after a long seperation,

my digital camera FINALLY returned ...

... the card is installed, the batteries are fresh,

and I'm ready to start "snapping" pictures!!

I think I'll be much more careful with it now ...

I don't want to go through this withdrawal again!!

Let Peace Prevail ...

This is NOTHING short of OUTRAGEOUS ...

The military beating up, shooting and tear-gassing

Buddhist Monks !!!

There are simply no words that can describe this ...

Yet, there are THOUSANDS of online articles

offering updates ... this is a story that we dare not ignore.

The words, the images, the events are

UNBELIEVABLE !!!!

This is what can happen when our faith is lived ...

Prayers for peace ... a just and lasting peace

for the people of Burma and their COURAGEOUS Religious Leaders!

May it be so!!!

A picture is worth a THOUSAND words ...

After cleaning up the dining room, I've crafted a place to do some writing ... Pictured above is the shelf that lies to my right when I'm "working" ... on it sits a variety of important items to me ... From the left:

- a green Oscar the Grouch puppet given to me when I was about 6 - it was one of my favourite toys when I was little ... it started my love of puppets ... right now Oscar is standing guard over my stack of library books I'm working my way through ...

- one of the infamous Bobble-headed Jesus doll from the Wonder Cafe adverts sitting atop a very cool, very tiny Play-mobile set of Noah's Ark ...

- behind Jesus and the Noah's Ark set, sit two of my Bibles ... the bottom one is my large print NRSV and atop it is my dad's Bible and tucked on top of that is one of the Al-Anon daily reading books I've found invaluable in recent months ...

- standing guard over the books, both literally and figuratively is Sponge Bob Square Pants ... I just love Sponge Bob ...

- beside the Bibles is my 64 box of crayolas ... a purchase this past year regular readers may recall ...

- in front of the crayolas stands my sand cast picture of a dancing Ganesh ... Ganesh dancing is a sign of good luck and joy ...

- in front of Ganesh is a lit Votivo candle ... it's fragrance and light buoy both body and soul ...

- and to the right of Ganesh is a basket given to me when I was a student at Elginburg/Odessa Pastoral Charge back in the early 90's ... it was given to me as I started out in ministry filled with the love, care and best wishes of the folks in Odessa ... It has been an important part of my life and ministry since ... I've used it for countless services, and since the fire, it has been the carry-all for my worship wares between the office and the Church ... I had thought I lost it in the fire ... but was relieved to find it later on the floor of the dining room safe and sound ...

These items are some of the touchstones I need near by ... and right now they are ...

Lately ...

Over the last couple of night Callie, our collie has taken to "talking" to the coyotes south of town in what has become like the Twilight Bark from 101 Dalmations ...

She yips, and moments later in reply you hear the coyotes yip and howl back ... It has gone on for quite awhile some nights, and Callie seems to be quite enjoying herself ...

Currently, the coyotes are unavailable for comment ...

I couldn't have said it better ...

I'm a firm believer that when it is time, God, your higher power, the cosmos (whatever term is comfortable to you) will offer you the guidance and the wisdom you need to move through the place you find yourself ...

Over the last couple of years I have been on a gut wrenching journey that has been marked by revelation after revelation ... There have been moments when I thought I had learned all there was to know about myself, only to discover that I hadn't plunged deep enough, nor peeled back the appropriate layers ... The last few weeks have been among the best and worst of times in my life ...

I've been confronted with many things that have been far from comfortable and have often been down right uncomfortable, but along the way, I have also discovered things about myself that will help me in my journey to find a new way in both life and ministry. The hardest part for me right now though, is the knowledge that for some it doesn't matter what I learn about myself, or what I discover ... they've made their minds up and there is no room for grace, forgiveness or second chances in their world view ... Ultimately that is their loss ... particularly when they operate in a place of faith where these concepts are so central to all we do and all we are ... if we can't live grace, forgiveness and second chances with others, how can we even make the claim that we are people of faith???

At the end of the day though, the wisdom of others has spoken to me ... I have found many in the blog-world that I lurk within, who have become friends who counsel, challenge and comfort me in the transformative journey I have been on ... My learnings lately have come thick and fast because thanks to my time at South Down I've begun to get to the bottom of what's happening within me ... I have finally gotten to the heart of what has bedevilled me for far too long ...

To that end, as a way of saying thanks, and offering a nod to the wisdom of others, I offer two wonderful quotations that have spoken to the heart of what I'm struggling with right now ... Both were offered by friends I've met online and who have touched my heart and my soul ... My life is richer for their presence ... I've been offered a pathway to a higher and better place in my life and my soul ... and for that I'm very grateful!!

The first quotation comes from email I've received from the creator of the Laughing Pastor, who like me, has found Friedman's Book "Generation to Generation" an invaluable tome for ministry ... The second comes from an entry posted by Katie over at "At the Half Note." Both come from very different places, but both speak to my soul and offer wisdom and guidance I NEED to hear ... Thanks my friends - I'm blessed to have you in my life ...

Quotation ONE:

"We can only change a relationship to which we belong. Therefore, the way to bring change to the relationship of two others is to try to maintain a well-defined relationship with each, and to avoid the responsibility for their relationship with one another. To the extent we can maintain a "nonanxious presence" in a triangle, such a stance has the potential to modify anxiety in others. The problem is to be both non anxious and present. Anyone can keep his or her own anxiety down by distancing, but that usually preserves the triangle."

(page 39 - Generation to Generation)

Quotation TWO:

"... Letting someone "off the hook" on a promise or commitment made to you may look like it will hurt you in the short run, but it will never damage you in the long run, because when you give the other person their freedom, you give yourself freedom as well. And so now you are free of the agonies and sorrows, the attacks on your dignity and your self-worth that inevitably follow when you force another person to keep a promise to you that he or she does not want to keep. The longer damage will far outweigh the shorter-- as nearly everyone who has tried to hold another person to their word has discovered."

(From "Conversations With God.")

With friends offering wisdom like this ... life is good !!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A number that I REALLY, REALLY like !!!!

I went for a bike ride this morning under cool overcast skies ... with tunes blasting on the MP3 player I did my 30 kms route in and around town ... then came home for a shower ... it's surprising how hot and sweaty you can get even in shorts on a coolish autumn morning ...

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After my shower I stepped on the scale and was ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED to read the number that twirled into view ...

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Now, to digress for a moment ... I was HUGELY disappointed when I got to South Down back in August to be told in my check in exam that my weight was THEN at 225 ...

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"Huh??" I said with shock, "but I've gone down two inches in my waist size, my clothes are looser and I've watched my body change ... how can I STILL be 225 ????"

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"Check your scale," came the reply ...

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At Mom's I stepped on her scale and saw 223 spin into view ... "DAMNED!!!" ... something is wrong ... I COULDN'T have regained 15 pounds in my driving ... I didn't eat enough to REGAIN weight in the van ...

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The bad news is that when I returned home and I checked the scale I discovered - to my horror - that is was about 15 pounds out of whack !!!! I adjusted it and got it to a more accurate reading ...

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The Good News is - I DIDN'T know I was actually closer to 24 or 245 when this whole thing started ...

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BUT, the best news of all is this: Today when I stepped on my scale after my shower the number that spun into view was an VERY ACCURATE 205 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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My time frame has been a bit longer than planned ... BUT ... the goal of getting UNDER 200 pounds is very much within the realm of possibility!!!! (It helps to explain why my 40" shorts are way too big on me right now !!!)

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How Bad Does it HAVE to Be???

The social activist in me is simply in awe at the actions of the Buddhist Monks and Nuns of Mynamar ... their commitment to justice and peace is simply breath-taking.

And now thier ranks are being joined and swelled by ordinary folks joining their protest.

I hope leaders of Relgious groups around the world are taking notes ... THIS is what faith really is about - commitment, action, and risk all in the name of CHANGE ... I can't help but think that it's like Ms Frizzle from The Magic School bus telling her kids - "take chances, make mistakes and get messy !!!"

The monks of Mynamar are showing us the way ... they're taking an enormous chance, ... can't honestly say they're making a mistake ... and beyond being outside the confines of their monasteries, they aren't really getting all that messy ... but the lesson they are teaching is UNIVERSAL ... Faith demands action otherwise it's meaningless and empty ... and that is perhaps the most bitter pill for we of the West to swallow ...

How many of us would stand on the streets and cheer these brave men of faith on ??

How many of us would instead sit sipping our coffee in front of our flat screen tvs and
scoff and seeth at their actions ??

How many of US (that's you and I) would dare to join them and take the chance of changing our world for the better ??

(I know where I would be ...)

The one question I have though is - HOW BAD DO THINGS HAVE TO BE to tick off Buddhist monk THIS badly????

Today it becomes 71 ...

And in Afghanistan,

the count climbs to

71

Lest We Forget

Worth Revisiting ...

I JUST LOVED THIS FILM !!!!!

I can't say enough what a sweet, wonderful

and utterly enchanting film it is.

Mr Bean's Holiday is great.

Pssst !!! ... "I've still got it !!!"

Today after re-reading my previous post on the "touch" and baking, I realized that I haven't made a batch of baking soda biscuits in quite awhile ... So while the inspiration was fresh, I started supper early in the day ... I browned a batch of stewing beef and started pulling together a stew of fall veggies and left overs that were crowding out the fridge ...

At 5:30, to the delight of all, dinner was served: a beef-veggie stew, mashed potatoes, mexican jumping bean salad (thanks to Farm Girl Fare), and fresh biscuits right out of the oven !!! (I will confess that they weren't up to snuff for me ... I had to substitute margarine for shortening...)

We also didn't eat in the dining room (sorry, LP !!??) ... but there were NO COMPLAINTS as we ate in the kitchen !!!! The only comment was from a narrow eyed Ms H, who asked in her conspiratorial tone: "Did you use MY recipe for the bisquits??"

"NO," I answered truthfully, "I used MINE!!"

I'm just relieved I still have the touch!!
Thanks Grandma !!!

A VERY Good Problem To Have ...

Today when I walked to the Grocery store and on to the school to pick up the kids, the shorts I had gotten back in June for the summer - the shorts that were a bit snug when I bought them - were LITERALLY falling off me !!!!

I EVEN had my belt pulled to the tightest notch ... and still I needed to keep one hand on the belt to keep my pants from sliding down and off me as I walked !!!

YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've gone from a snug 40" waist to a loose 36" waist !!!!!

I guess I have to punch a couple new holes in the belt tonight ...

Gee ... it's such a terrible thing isn't it ????

Hmmm ... I wonder ????

In getting caught up on my Blog reading this morning I came across a posting over at Alma's Soulfood, that noted yesterday was John Coltrane's Birthday ... How I missed THAT eludes me ... I'll blame the cleaning frenzy, and leave it at that ... I was even listening to Coltrane CDs as I was furiously cleaning and tidying !!??!!??

Reading that post which reminded me that Ms H shares her birthday with St. John, struck me as nothing short of cool, and in turn inspired me to find out who else shares a birthday on September 23rd ...

It turns out that in addition to Coltrane, September 23rd is ALSO the birth date of Julio Iglesias, Bruce Springsteen AND Ray Charles ... makes me wonder if there is something musical in this particular date on the calendar!!??!!??

As Ms H. begins her band programme at school and will soon chose an instrument (she's leaning to the French Horn ... Noahkila is on the Tenor Sax), perhaps the magical mystery tour that IS the 23rd of September will offer her some cosmic connection to the art of music that will carry her forward in her life ...

One can always hope !!!???

It's all in the touch ...

Sometimes the cosmos brings into a being a moment where things intersect and leave you in a place where nostalgia and remembrance puts a broad smile of recollection on your face ... Yesterday was one of those moments in my life ...

The day began with a posting at the Blog "I Can Fly, Just Not Up" about CandyGirlFlies' mother's pastry (Click here to read the posting) ... then, as I was busily cleaning the dining room Ms H set out to begin baking her OWN birthday cake ... (I'll post a picture of it later - but it was a thing of beauty - a tri-level gem with yellow, pink and green iced layers of rainbow & chocolate cake!!!).

As I read CGF's reflections on her mother's pastry, and the process not just of creating the pastry, but of learning HOW to make the pastry, it took me back to the time in my life when I realized how important my Grandmother's recipes were to me ... I asked her for the recipes, but more than that, I asked her 'HOW do you do that??'

One of my favourite recipes from Grandma was a cookie recipe that had 'a handful of this" and a 'pinch of that' and 'a dash of that'. When I got the handwritten version I went to her the next time I was home and said - "Okay, Grandma, let's make this and I'm going to figure out 'how much' a handful of this and a pinch of that is!!" She agreed and we had fun that afternoon ... the process was by far more fun than the outcome ...

But one of Grandma's gifts was her 'touch'. If you ever had her baking powder biscuits, or her bread or her pastry, you know what I mean ... CGF dances around it in her blog entry ... you can have the best, easiest recipe in the world, but if you lack the 'touch' you are flirting with disaster ... Grandma had the touch when it came to baking ... it may have been from years and years of experience, but I think it is more likely a gift from the cosmos that allows a mundane baked creation become something simply divine. I challenge anyone who lifted a biscuit out of the pyrex bowl on Grandma's counter, to disagree!!!???

I know when I first started baking and cooking, I often wished I had the 'touch' like Grandma ... then one day in Bella Coola, I entered my baking powder biscuits in the Fall Fair Baking competition ... I had been disappointed by the outcome, and wasn't happy with the biscuits I entered ... they were lopsided, they weren't as high as usual, and they weren't up to my normal standards ... But time prevented another batch, so they were taking and entered and I left feeling frustrated and disappointed in myself ...

The next morning we hit the fair and wandered around (it wasn't a BIG fair - I've mused about it elsewhere) and eventually made it to the gardening and baking exhibition area ... M won ribbons for our dahlias and sweet peas and some other flowers, and for her mint jelly ... we wandered over to the baking table and I noticed for the first time how flat and tiny the other baking powder biscuits were ... mine simply towered over them ... and sitting with the remaining five biscuits (one was sacrificed for the judging) sat a beautiful blue 'First Place' ribbon !!!!

I was shocked ... and delighted ... and awestruck !!!

When I wrote Grandma and told her her reply a week or two later affirmed that somehow I had inherited the 'touch' when it came to pastry and baking !!!!

Yesterday, reading CGF's entry I thought about Grandma's baking, the 'touch', and my own culinary experiences ... and as I listened to Ms H thumping around in the kitchen baking her b-day cake I awaited the outcome knowing that right now she has already inherited the 'touch' ... in time her baking powder biscuits WILL give mine a run for their money!!! I look forward to that day when I can say with pride that she, like her Terrific Grandma truly has the 'touch' and I pass the blue ribbon to her!!!

Happily, I don't think that day is far off ...

The best recipes require an intangible that can't be recorded in any ingredient list ... but when it's there the outcome is sublime !!!! CGF knows that ... and in my family, we've lived it!!

Worth the effort ...

It took three days, four blue bags of recycling, twelve small bags of trash, two full vaccuum bags and hours and hours of work ... but after a final push that began at 10 am and ended at 5pm with a half hour break for a cuppa'tea ... I finally managed to tame the mess that was the dining room ...

And tonight we had Ms H's 11th Birthday celebrations at the "fancy eatin' table" !!!!

It was a nice way to end the weekend - Happy Birthday Ms. H !!!!!

Found Fragments ...

I've been cleaning the dining room ... it's been adrift, or perhaps a DRIFT, in and of clutter to the point of no return ... the room had become unusable and more than slightly embarassing ... So, this week I set out with the mission of taming the mess ... I'm on day three of the effort ... and I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel ...

Today though, as I've tackled the stuff that has been put on the table as I cleaned and tided the floor and the corners, I began to find some lost snippets and fragments that seem worth sharing ... Truths that speak a wisdom worth heeding:

1) Poverty IS a weapon of mass destruction

2) The most violent element in society is ignorance.

3) In life, as people of faith, when we find ourselves enveloped in darkness,

we must move forward.

With each footstep we can be certain of only two things:

That we will find something firm to step on,

OR

we will learn how to fly !!

Adieu Dear Bip ...

I can't say, one of entertainment's great voices has been silenced, because ... well because Marcel Marceau took silence to a whole new level of artistic brilliance ...

Today the final curtain has fallen on the great Pantomime artist Marcel Marceau at the age of 84.

I remember seeing him in performance one night at Hamilton Place many years ago ... he was remarkable ...

Thankfully his legacy will not simply fade away ... like Bip walking against the wind, he struggled and succeeded in reviving what was once an almost lost art ... he tended a flickering flame and through skill and ability left as his strongest memorial an art form he almost single-handedly brought back into being ...

Not bad for a man who survived the Holocaust, lost his father to the flames of Auschwitz, and who worked tirelessly in silence.

Rest in Peace Marceau ... you WILL be missed.

A special day, for a special girl ...

The party has already happened,

most of the presents have already been opened,

but the official

BIRTHDAY

is

TODAY!!!

September 23rd 1996

her journey began ...

it's been astounding, aggravating,

and a whole lot of fun !!

Happy Birthday Ms. H !!!

A nice place to have dinner ...

Grandma Beach arrived from BC today,

the kids wanted to have a FAMILY dinner out,

so we went to the restaurant on

The Esplanade Riel pedestrian bridge over the Red River.

I have to say, it was a good choice !!

Bookstore Find of the DAY !!!

At McNally-Robinson, one of my FAVOURITE book stores,

I found this Post Secret Book,

IN THE CLEARANCE SECTION !!!!

I was delighted!!!

When I'm done here, I'll be reading it ...

visit PostSecret

A new set of post cards has JUST gone up!!!

Able to ...

Just feel like hopping into a phone booth and wearing the cape again ...
Yesterday:
5:30 - 3 extra 11 year olds arrive for the sleep over part ...
6:30 - 4 11 year olds, and one 13 year old brother leave for a movie in Brandon
7:10 - arrive at the movie theatre for Mr Bean's Holiday
8:50 - movie ends, round up group from snack bar, washroom, video games ... head home
9:35 - arrive home for Ice Cream Cake
10:00 - leave to have a coffee anywhere BUT here ...
11:00 - return home to find 3 11 year olds in one room, and b-day girl locked in bathroom
11:10 - finish conversation with b-day girl
11:11 - 4 11 year olds head down stairs to watch movie
1:30 AM - send 4 11 year old BACK upstairs to bed
2:20 AM - give 4 11 year olds final warning to be quiet, or parents WILL be called ...

Today:
6:19 AM - OH MY GOD !!! 4 11 year olds thump down the stairs ...
7:45 am - B-day girl asks for pancakes for breakfast
8:00 am - go to store for whipped cream ... don't even ask !!!!!?????
8:15 am - return home with whipped cream ... check emails ... damned !!
8:40 am - finish answering emails, start on pancakes ...
9:00 am - serve first pancakes
9:20 am - head into front yard for Pinata ...
9:40 am - send first 11 years olds home with parents
9:41 am - start trying to tidy up and get ready to go to Winnipeg
10:20 am - have shower
10:30 am - showered, shaved and dressed
10:35 am - start looking for second set of keys for van ...
10:50 am - give up search for keys, use first set and head to Winnipeg ...
1:10 pm - arrive in Winnipeg ... head to Mountain Equipment Co-op !!!
8:00 pm - after full day in Winnipeg, head back to Dosa ...

I think I've earned the cape today and yesterday just keeping up !!!

And Now For Something Completely Different ...

Just got back from taking four 11 year old girls,

and one 13 year old boy (the big brother),

to see Mr Bean's Holiday in Brandon.

Only one word:

BRILLIANT !!!!!

I've seen it twice and loved it both times.

I can't remember the last time I went to a movie

TWICE

while it was still in the theatre.

I'm glad I did!!!

Atkinson is an utter genius!!

Why Blog ???

Over the last couple of days I've had several people ask me the question - "why do you blog?" One asked with the addendum: "Afterall, so many people read your blog to find out the latest things you said that THEY can pounce on and feed their dislike of you ..."

I have sat down three distinct times to compose an answer to that question ... But each time my words don't reflect the why that lies in my soul ... I can't adequately put into words why it is I Blog at all ... much less continue to Blog when my own words have been used against me so many times ...

But then last night as I was getting ready for sleep, a scene from the movie The Shawshank Redemption popped into my mind ... It is when Andy locks himself in the Office and begins to play a recording of an Opera over the Prison's loud speaker ... The narrator of the film Red speaks words that touch some of the "WHY" it is that I Blog:

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about.

Truth is, I don't want to know.

Some things are better left unsaid.

I'd like to think they were singing about something

so beautiful it can't expressed in words,

and it makes your heart ache because of it.

I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther

than anybody in a grey place dares to dream.

It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage

and made these walls dissolve away,

and for the briefest of moments,

every last man in Shawshank felt free.

Blogging is my beautiful little bird that makes the grey walls dissolve and sets me free ... it is the very heart of why I write ...

Reflections ...

Last night reading Elie Wiesel's book "The Town Beyond the Wall" I encountered the following prayer: "Oh God, be with me when I have need of you, but above all do not leave me when I deny you..."

It struck me as a remarkably apt prayer ... Too often we forget, or even deny God in the very moments when we need God's Grace and Presence and Strength the most ...

As I read the prayer I began to think about the Biblical character of Job, not as a religious figure, but as an ordinary person who too many of us can relate to personally ...

Job, sitting outside the city gates in sackcloth and ashes, scratching his skin disorder with the shard of a broken pot, was being encouraged by his friends and family to roll over and die, to give up, to move on, to abandon the lest vestiges of his faith, and to curse God and DIE ... Beyond being the quintessential model for ministry in the modern church, Job offers us a touch of reality in the midst of our life's journey ...

Things had gone bad - very very very bad for Job. His loses kept mounting, he felt abandoned and alone, his friends came not to comfort him, but to encourage him to just give up once and for all ... but the book ends with God breaking through and saying "Job ... this is the way the world is ..." and Like Lord Krishna appearing before Arjuna in the midst of the Battle field in the Hindu Holy Text ... God spells it ALL out for his awestruck follower ...

Today as I considered Job, I realized that over the last two year over and over I have counted loss after loss after loss ... people I thought friends have turned ... people I respected have abandoned me ... and my life slowly began a downward spiral ... conflicts got out of hand ... I over reacted ... cries for help went unheeded ... and the spiral intensified and continued ...

Unlike Job, I am not simply a passive and blameless observer of the events unfolding around me ... I am too often my own worst enemy. (I won't blame ADD, but understanding ADD better has helped me understand the elusive WHY? in many cases ...I'm still to blame for MY mistakes and mis-steps, but I better understand how to avoid them in the future ...)

But like Job, I have found myself in a place where I have felt abandoned, alone, and abused ... some of it has been the hypersensitivity of ADD and the inability to see what was really happening around me ... but some of it has been the simple reality of the journey I've walked ... I've heard many of the things people have said ... I've read too many hate-filled comments left anonymously on my blog ... I know what has been spread about me in town ... BUT, even in that ... even when things were at their darkest ... the glimmer of faith guided me forward ...

The funny thing for me, in a sad way, is simply this ... many people believe I am arrogant, that I believe that I am always right, that I have a 'I don't give a damned' approach to things, and that nothing they say ever bothers me ... the truth is THEY ARE WRONG ON ALL COUNTS!!!

I am far from arrogant ... I seldom believe I am right, but I do reflect on things rapidly and offer my thoughts in a way that is too often viewed as aggressive ... I may carry a facade of not giving a damned, but deep down, down where very few people have been allowed to glimpse, I am left devestated and wrecked ... and to say that nothing ever bothers me is a complete and utter fallacy ... One of the traits of ADD is hypersensitivity ... I've got it in a big way ... my facade has been effective ...

Far from crafting a pity party here, I instead have come in recent weeks, to realize the places in my life that required, and even demanded change ... It hasn't been easy, but it has been a rewarding journey ...

Job stands as an example to me, and to all of us who are in places of struggle, transition, uncertainty and even pain ... in this moment when it may seem bleak - we are firmly in the hands of God ... and the glimmer of faith will see us through ...

It's all about patience ... time ... and caring for and about ourselves, because at the end of the day the ONLY sanctuary we possess is the one we live within ... Job taught us that much ... the question is whether we're willing to take the time to enter fully that sanctuary and spend time there on our way to wholeness ??

Thankfully, where ever we go God will NOT abandon us ... Job reminds us of that if we have the courage to listen ...