It's a bird....it's a plane...

Our community looks forward each year to an airshow held to raise funds for the United Way. It's well attended in part because the Canadian forces Snowbirds are featured. Friends of ours live on farmland within sight of our small airport, so they kindly host a BBQ each year for friends and family to gather for a wonderful view of the planes as they perform their precision aerobatics overhead. This year I attended the BBQ and once the action began, I moved to the edge of the property to attempt some digital shots....you know....take 75 shots to get 3 good ones.





I snapped away and marvelled at the skill of these pilots. For nine pilots to fly wing-tip-to-wing-tip and be so precise in their manoevres...it always astounds me. My favourite move is when the planes fly towards each other at high speed, and though you are sure they will collide, they of course never do. I wonder just how much time and effort is involved in the mechanical work on the planes to ensure their safe operation, and the training of the pilots to learn their stuff so well.














As I leaned on the fence, the crew flew off into the blue, out of sight for many minutes as they regrouped. Something else caught my eye in the field and I turned to watch it. I had to smile. Because it was something that could boast far more flying precision and skill than the planes and their pilots....far more flexibility, agility, and ability, and didn't require refueling....didn't require a pilot.




A lowly dragonfly. It dived and swooped with great speed, then hovered before careening out of sight. Everyone's eyes were on the skies, searching for the airplanes....but here in a farmer's field was an aerobatic wonder that no one paid any attention to. And yet if truth were told....it was upstaging the entertainment by a longshot.












Hummingbirds are another tiny creature whose antics and abilities amaze me. No creation of a *man's hand can ever match these insects and birds that we often give no thought to.


How is it that we recognize the work of a *man's hand....we marvel at the awesomeness of his creations; his amazing abilities and skills and knowledge. We peer into the clouds, shielding our eyes from the sun as we strain to see men and women's skills displayed in the air. But did we miss seeing those clouds.....that sun....the trees....the breeze......the grass brimming with life above and below the soil, as countless insects, birds and animals far more complex than anything a man could ever create, fulfill their role in the chain of life? Why don't they amaze and astound us? Worse yet, could we believe that there is no intelligence, thought, or design behind their creation? Do the planets randomly align themselves in perfect, continuous order? Is it coincidence that the sun stays exactly where it needs to for this earth to survive? Could I believe that an airplane needs intelligence behind it to be created and function as planned... but an insect, bird, animal, human or universe does not....they just.....happened?







I'll never forget the Toronto Airshow we attended several years ago. The announcer excitedly shouted, "And now folks....here are......your CANADIAN SNOWBIRDS!!!!!" With no word of a lie, at that very moment, a flock of Canadian geese flew in formation across the waterfront in front of the thousands of spectators who erupted in applause at these true Canadian birds who gracefully displayed their elegance. No airplane can ever duplicate the natural ability and complexity of a bird.



For those who believe there is no God, I give them credit for their strength of belief. I could just never summon enough faith to become an atheist. I'm a stargazer and a birdwatcher.




*man (mankind...includes women :-) )

Not a-peeling at all

This past week won't go down as one of my greatest holidays - memorable yes, but not exactly brimming with excitement. I took the week off work to remove paint and wallpaper from my bathroom. I will admit though that it's amazing what spiritual applications you can learn on a stepladder in the bathtub while your head is stuck up in the recesses of the ceiling.

The mildew in the shower has been so hard to keep a handle on and everytime I cleaned, more paint would peel from the walls and ceiling above a marble tub surround. The tool rental place said a heat gun, paint stripper thingy could not be used on the plaster as the paint would melt into it. So last week from Monday to Thursday I scraped, and scraped, and scraped, and scraped...sometimes making only a few inches progress per hour it seemed. My arms ached from holding them above my head for so long and my back and legs groaned from standing on the ladder (poor me!). Often (about every 30 minutes) I just wanted to forget it, clean it as best I could and paint over top of the mess. But I know that preparation is far more important than slapping the paint on....otherwise, without a good base beneath the paint, I will be right back here again in a year or two.

Preparation. Without the endless hours of preparation, everything on the surface may look good for a bit...but eventually, the dirt and the ugliness seeps through and it is seen for what it really is. As I chipped away at the paint, I ridiculously wanted to ask God to please just make the paint all come off easily for me. After all, this was my 'holiday' and it was taking all week just to get this far! Instead though, I found myself asking God if He ever found me this terribly difficult to get through to.... to 'scrape' and get to the 'real' me (kinda like the 'layers of the onion' to use Shrek terms...). I wasn't sure I wanted to hear His answer. As He tries to shape my character to be more like Him and attempts to peel away the worst parts of me, I wonder if I stubbornly cling to the familiar, not allowing Him to prepare me for results that He already knows are beautiful. Stupid thing is...if I try to conceal the crappier parts of me, I fool only myself. God can clearly see me. And others will eventually see me for who I am, when God chips away the exterior shell. So why fight it?

Ever noticed that the cool guys in the Bible....the ones we view as heroes....all went through preparation times in their lives before the excitement began? Joseph, Mr. Technicolour Coat guy, was the dreamer. Ended up in a pit...and in jail for what must have seemed forever. But it was preparation for being the leader of the country....and he passed preparation classes with flying (techni)colours. Same with David...shepherd boy on hills....considered nobody by everybody but God. God saw a giant slayer and a king in the little guy. So he prepared him through events over time out there on the hills.

Preparation seems like a lifetime...and in some cases....I guess it really is. At one point last week I had been scraping off wallpaper behind the toilet and I had just had enough...I was literally ready to cry. I was carefully working to preserve the wallpaper border that I've had for a few years because I really like it, so I was planning to 'frame' it with chair rail and wainscotting. My son walked in the bathroom to ask me something, and thinking he was helping me, he took a corner of my beloved border and in a fraction of a second ripped a big strip of it off the wall! He obviously saw a look of extreme horror on my face as I shrieked 'DON'T!!!!' He vanished quickly, especially when the nature of his question to me involved my credit card. Isn't life like that? We get to a point of just having had enough...wanting to throw in the towel....and someone comes and rips a strip off us - the only good thing we had left. Even so, it is our reaction to this stuff that is more important than the circumstances of our life. Two people experiencing the same painful event in their lives can have two completely different outlooks....one may be gracious, peaceful, and radiate humility....the other may be miserable, self absorbed, and seek pity from others. Who would you rather be around? Who is more like Jesus?

I wish I could show you a picture of my finished bathroom. But it's not done yet. Thankfully the messiest part is over and it is useable, but I have a ways to go yet. That phrase comes to mind...."Please be patient with me. God's not finished with me yet." Life would be too boring if God was finished with us. As long as we're living in an imperfect world around people, there will be many more moments of scraping, sanding, smoothing, and cleaning. Preparation is unavoidable. Our reaction to it is our choice. God says He sees something beautiful in me. I choose to believe Him and choose to let Him change me where He sees problems....and maybe I'll avoid a few unnecessary messes in my life!

Take me OUT OF the ballgame....please

'Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks....' lalala lalalalalala.............

I think that was a ballgame we went to today. The Toronto BlueJays put on a lacklustre performance, but at least they won. We missed the one and only run of the game...through a series of unfortunate events we didn't make it to the Roger's Centre until the top of the 4th inning! In less than 2 hours, we were leaving again. But nothing tops the ballgame we went to when our kids were much younger....

It started with a police officer pulling us over for speeding when we'd detoured to a suburb to get some gas. The nice officer let us off with a warning. We only missed the top of the first inning...but believe it or not the Jays were already losing by 13-0! They hadn't even been up to bat yet!!! Other late comers around us were incredulous at the score. It was a premonition for the rest of the day I think.

Our kids had each brought a friend. My son's friend ate an entire large bag of popcorn slathered in butter. Suddenly.... he ejected his stomach's contents all over a spectator who sat directly in front of him! I will spare you a descriptive picture of that scene. You've never seen people clear a section of seating so quickly! Staff at the (then named) Skydome were kind enough to present the poor recipient of the 'chunky' (sorry) shower with a free T-shirt as he went to the washroom to change. He was thankfully very patient with the whole thing. It was good for my son to see the cleanup crew in action at the Dome so he won't pursue that as a full-time career. No one sat anywhere near us after that. We left soon after. There was obviously no hope for the Jays...I have forgotten the final score. The ride home was not much better. Our poor sick little friend threw up into a bag all the loooong way home....while my daughter and her friend (and us!) thought that trip would never end!

So hey, today was not so bad at all! It was a beautiful day and we took advantage after the game by visiting a park we've come to love in Toronto. Here's some snaps. Enjoy. And a little advice? Never eat popcorn at a ballgame. It don't look too good if you see it again.

Dishwasher of Death

I've never met a dishwasher I didn't like....until I met my aunt's dishwasher. It all began with a visit to the Capital city of Canada during Christmas holidays one year. If you love having your eyelashes freeze shut as your breath turns to icicles, and the cold air is so bitter it hurts to breathe...then you'd love Ottawa in the winter. (But bring a block heater for your vehicle!) We had a wonderful visit with relatives and stayed at my generous aunt's vacant house....she's the smart one in the family who lives in Florida for the duration of the winter.

On the last evening of our visit, I decided to wash the towels we had used so no one else would have to. I put the towels in the washing machine in the basement and went back to the kitchen to load the dishwasher. When I came down again to check on the towels, water was pouring out of the laundry tub all over the floor! I called to my husband who quickly figured out that you have to flip a switch by the tub to start the sump pump. It thankfully sucked the water away and as we mopped up the floor we were relieved the basement is unfinished and the valuable stuff was at the other side of the room. No harm done. Floor would be dry by morning. (Choke!)

NOTE!!

For best cleaning results, place dishes
on floor before operating.

It was very late by this time. I turned on the dishwasher and we all went to bed. I tossed and turned for quite a while, and finally asked my husband if he would go down to the family room and turn down or turn off the TV that my son and nephew had left on. I couldn't sleep with the noise. He was gone for several minutes. Then he popped his head in the bedroom and exclaimed...'the dishwasher's overflowing!'...and he disappeared. I really thought he was kidding because we'd already had the laundry tub overflow. Cute joke. He's probably getting something to eat.

But he didn't come back.

I went to the kitchen to find the floor quickly filling with water and edging towards the rugs in the adjoining rooms! The obvious thing to do would be to turn off the dishwasher. I thought my husband was losing it. I mean, you just open the door and it will automatically shut off. Anyone knows that. I quickly found that with this dishwasher it didn't matter what you did! You turn it off.....you open the door....it mattered not. The water flowed continuously, spewing out all over the floor.

Dishwasher may be run with or without door open.

Next course of action....shut off the water under the kitchen sink. Nope. Turning the valve under there did nothing! By now I was rolling up my pyjamas, wading through water and getting very panicky. My husband ran down to the basement to find the main water shutoff. He couldn't find it anywhere! I phoned my cousin but got an answering machine. She had left me the phone number of the neighbour in case of emergency (could she have known????) ...so at 1:30 a.m. I am waking a poor neighbour to ask her where the water shutoff valve might be in this house. "Oh, yes, she was having problems with that dishwasher.....". But no, she didn't know where the shutoff was.

More panic. It was now looking like Niagara Falls in the basement as the water from that devilish appliance was showering through the floor boards above... and we still couldn't find the shutoff! We eyed the computer sitting on a desk not too far from Niagara and wondered how long before it would be on a Maid of the Mist voyage - hopefully near and not under the Falls. My cousin finally returned our frantic phone call and she was hysterically laughing on the other end. I tried to explain that we would need a wet-vac to suck up all this water that had now reached the rugs and showed no sign of stopping. She said we could just throw down some towels. Well, this would not only take every towel in the house, but every blanket, bedsheet, and maybe the drapes too! My husband triumphantly proclaimed he had found the shutoff valve and to our profound relief the water flow stopped.

This appliance washes both dishes
and floors simultaneously.

We spent the next hour or two mopping and mopping to prevent damage to the rugs. Later when we got up after a few hours sleep, we held our breath as we turned on the main water supply again. Thankfully the dishwasher had finished its rant and did not start up again on its own. More hours were spent mopping in the basement with my cousin helping....and still laughing. Apparently the basement of this house she'd grown up in had seen its share of floods and this was just another.

I have tried not to imagine the horrible damage that would have incurred had I not been bothered by the TV and we had slept through the flooding of the house. It has taken a long time for me before I could really laugh about it. This story has become a recurring joke in the family and even my aunt thought the whole thing was very funny. We recommend people wear lifejackets if they sleep at her house.

This past weekend we went back to the scene of the crime to that very house for a surprise birthday party for my aunt. I didn't go near the kitchen. We presented my aunt with a gift of water wings, dishwasher soap, sponges, and towels. In her card we enclosed magnets with the various illustrations you see in this blog. I'm glad she thought the whole incident was hilarious...I can laugh now....but I won't get anywhere near that dishwasher! It's possessed!

CAUTION!! Use only while lifeguard on duty! Keep lifesaver nearby!

Saturate me

Being a gardener, I was giddy like a kid when it started pouring rain yesterday. The ground has been so dry and dusty. Plants were wilting from the humidity. Our rain barrels were almost empty. I'd been watching the dark clouds pass us by for days now.

But now I stood on the front porch watching the glorious rain saturate the earth. What a wonderful sound and smell! The child in me wanted to just run out into the warm downpour and dance....but the adult in me had great respect for the lightning bolts!

...Living Water
Spirit of God in me....

Saturate my soul
Closest friend...

Here in Your presence
Is fullness of joy overflowing

Welcome in This Place - Hillsong United

Lacking direction in your life?

Then git yerself a GPS........Global Positioning System for those of you not up on somewhat recent technology. My husband took a trip to Montreal with a co-worker who had a GPS in his van, and he came home from the trip 'needing' a GPS of his own because it was so cool and useful. Not only will it guide you to your destination, it knows where you are and will tell you where the nearest coffee shops, restaurants, malls, businesses, etc. are!

My mouth dropped open when he told me what he paid for this top of the line device which he reasoned since he never spends money on himself (true)...and father's day was imminent...and he was getting a bonus from work....he could afford this one luxury that would assist us on trips, of which we seem to be taking a lot since getting the new car. Well, we got a lot of laughs out of this device when we first used it - mainly because we jumped right into using it without learning about all of its features first. Having Ginny GPS in your car telling you where to go is a little weird. We wondered if she would start giving us orders and making decisions for us.

Our first real excursion with portable Ginny was in a caravan of our daughter's friends going to her 'out of town' birthday party to join other friends for the celebration. Since her friend's car had broken down, we were driving some of her friends in a rented van with Ginny GPS, while our daughter drove our car behind us with more of her buddies. My husband very proudly entered into the GPS the address of the girl we needed to pick up on the way. We knew the way to her city... just not how to get to her house.

Well, Ginny tried to direct us off every single ramp there is off of the main highway, when we were nowhere near the city of destination. We finally had to turn the GPS off altogether until we got to the city our way, then Ginny helped us get to the friend's house. When we left there, we should have listened to our senses rather than Ginny's directions. We went the opposite way to what logic told us, and got farther and farther from our final destination. After many kilometers out of the way, we realized Ginny was trying to get us to the toll highway which we were trying to avoid! I didn't know how much longer I could endure Ginny's electronic voice... "re-cal-cu-la-ting"! Then Ginny told us to turn left, but my husband ended up being in the left turning lane to a Wal-Mart! As I suspected would happen, the cell phone rang. My poor daughter following behind us as we drove into oblivion, was phoning wondering why we were driving through a Wal-Mart parking lot, when we were going to be anywhere near our city of destination, and informed us she had to go to the bathroom!!! My husband was close to losing it by that point, while I stifled giggles. Normally we have no problem at all driving to this city.

The folks in our van were laughing and joking that we were carrying all the food for the party... so perhaps we should just give up, let Ginny guide us to the nearest restaurant, and maybe the chefs would cook our food for us and we'd party there! Well the evening was still young when we did finally get to the amazing 'party' house with wonderful bathrooms for my daughter, a huge deck for entertaining, beautiful weather and fabulous friends. Ginny has settled down for us now that we've gotten to know her better, although she has led us to a couple of phantom restaurants!

Here's my advice if you buy a GPS. Be sure you program it to find the shortest route, to ignore toll roads and dirt roads, etc. Don't follow the GPS blindly - know where you're going first (does that make any sense to you?) And don't ignore the warning you find everytime you turn it on to use it. It's a very distracting device. Keep your eyes on the road....even if it's the wrong one!

This road

A million miles away from anything familiar

a thousand places I would rather be

so I choke back the tears and try to find the bright side

though I find it hard to see beyond my suffering

in my heart I know your plan is so much bigger

but this small part is all that I can see

and I believe you haven't left me here to wander

still I can't help but ponder where you're leading me

(chorus)

and I ask why this road

why this way and this load

tell me how far must I go till I see

till I know why this road

A million miles away from anything familiar

what was it like to be so far from home

though you came in love

the world misunderstood you

there must have been some days when you felt so alone

but you endured, cause there was joy before you

joy that came because you sacrificed

Since you gave yourself just to spend forever with me

surely I can trust you'll lead me through my darkest times

when I ask why....

(chorus)

From here I can not see

why you'd choose this path for me

but I don't have to understand to believe

that you know why

You know why this road

why this way and this load

you know how far I must go till I see

till I know why this road

'This Road' by Ginny Owens

Happy Canada Day!

I live in the greatest country on the face of the earth.

Long live peace and freedom!

Happy 140th Canada! We love you!

I'm a spring chickee!!

I know I complained a little when I turned f-f-f-fifty. It was a difficult time for me to step 'over the line', which apparently is on the 'other side of the hill'. Last week I filled out an on-line application and had to check the box '50-65'. You have no idea how much that hurt! I mean three months ago I was in the '35-49' group. That group I can tolerate. But to shift over to the 'senior' category is just unfair! They should just have groups up to 48, and then the last group should be '49+'. Think how gratifying that would be for those in their 80's! Perhaps I'm doing all this ranting because my body many days feels more like it's 80! I'm now exercising and drinking a Greens drink every day to build up my bones and get my menopausal joints feeling younger. If you don't shake the drink product good enough it's kinda like drinking green sludge, but hey, it's the antioxidant equivalent of 6 servings of organic salads, along with tons of other wonderful things!

Lately, I've been visiting with older neighbours across the street. They all raised their children on this street, and now their grown offspring visit with kids of their own. I remember when my children were young, watching these parents gather together on warm summer evenings on their lawns and chat...and thinking how 'old' they looked. I had a flashback to that image last week as I visited outside with the now widowed woman across the road and her elderly neighbour shuffled over and joined us. There we all sat - the old ladies.

Last week I made good on a promise to do some weeding for this widowed lady who has been having back problems and can hardly get around. She adores beautiful gardens and hates looking at the weeds she isn't able to pull. As I began labouring in her garden, she eventually came out of her house and was joined by the neighbour ladies from either side of her home. Two women would be in their early 80's, the other, late 70's. They watched me as I crouched over, crawled under bushes, pulling weeds and laying down mulch. My joints were aching. I could hear their conversation about how nice it was of me to be doing this. Then the oldest one in her shaky voice said, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be young like her and be able to do all that?!' I stifled a choke. I chuckled into the mulch. Young!! I am just a 'youngin'!! A spring chicken!!

I realized later that I had actually been put in my place for all my ranting. Age is a relative thing. To my kids, I'm old. To these ladies, I'm young. But we are all alive and breathing. The 20 year old is not guaranteed one more day to live than the 80 year old is. In this moment, we all have something we can do for someone, or something we can say to encourage another, even if all our body parts aren't functioning as we'd like! I can wish to be younger all I want, but it ain't happening. I must be thankful for who I am, where I'm at, and be content with what I have. And today, I can truly say that I am. (and I'm a youngin!!!)

P.S. I have no idea how to spell 'youngin'. It's an old word, and Spellcheck won't assist me. :-)

Good ol' summertime

There is nothing....and I mean nothing in the food category that I love more than freshly picked Ontario strawberries. Yesterday was the first day of summer and today I decided to celebrate the new season. I have a favorite farm I will drive a few miles to several times each summer just because I enjoy wandering around looking at their wares. They have two dollar perennials and three dollar lilies and beautiful hanging pots and garden stuff and bird things and water features and pies and eggs and STRAWBERRIES!!! I have not tasted better than at this farm...and they top up the flat for you with juicy, luscious, mouth watering, heavenly berries. (Not those crunchy, sour berries we put up with through the winter!) I purchase one flat initially for 'freezing'. Of course they never quite get to the freezer. I will admit my gluttonous tendencies....I eat as many of these berries as I possibly can while they are fresh. I mean the strawberry season is usually only about 3-4 weeks out of the whole year. And they're loaded with vitamin C...and fiber, so it's important to eat a lot, right? I will go back for another flat (or two) within the next week or so.


Having the day off work on this perfect summer afternoon, I popped my newly purchased bumbleberry pie in the oven, filled the bird feeders, then brought my tea, reading material, and camera, and plopped my tummy full of strawberries onto the porch swing cushions to sit by my garden and listen to the water splash into the pond. As I lounged, my eyes kept leaving the printed page to watch chipmunks darting behind my swing, birds bathing and eating, baby bunny munching, squirrels scampering, fish swimming, and toad basking.

Yes, this to me is summer. I have no yearning for a visit to a cottage or a vacation away from home. Give me a day off work with some shade on a warm sunny day, an iced tea, a good book (which might never get read for the distractions), my camera, my swing on the front porch, and a large bowl of STRAWBERRIES...and as far as I'm concerned....I'm on summer holidays!!
"All God's creatures got a place in the choir,
Some sing low, some sing higher;
Some sing loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, their paws or anything they got now!"

A Place In The Choir, by Bill Staines

Top Ten Things I Love About My Daughter

In celebration of my daughter's 21st birthday, I list below the Top Ten Things I Love About My Daughter. What thrills me to no end is that I'm not just making this stuff up to say something nice about her. They rolled off my keyboard with little effort and every single one of them is absolutely true and visible in her life. I cannot believe how blessed we have been to watch these qualities maturing within her from a young age to the ripe old age of 21.

10. She laughs. She giggles. She smiles a lot. She's almost always cheerful. If there are moments of uncheerfulness, there is a reason and she will quickly determine not to let it get her down.... even if she hasn't had her morning coffee yet or is not feeling well.

9. She loves kids...especially ones who struggle with difficulties that are no fault of their own. She sees potential in them and is thrilled with any small breakthroughs in their lives and in her relationships with them.

8. She's a peacemaker. Her brother (unfortunately?) almost always got his way because she would rather have peace, than what they were fighting over.

7. She perseveres. She doesn't allow sickness, tiredness, or disappointment to keep her down for long. She'll have a good cry (like a good female should), then picks herself up with determination to carry on.

6. She uses her failures, disappointments, and heartaches as stepping stones leading her to a much better place, and considers them wisdom for the journey.

5. She does not envy others. She has come to dislike the masks people wear, but admits her own shortcomings. She wants to be 'real' and is becoming confident in who God made her to be. She has specific goals and she recognizes that dreams don't just drop into your lap. They require prayer, decision making, action, and discipline. She sees the bigger picture, beyond her own desires for the moment. She knows she needs to work hard to reach the goal...and if that means not being careless with money, and sometimes setting aside social times (gasp!)....so be it.

4. She is kind and has a heart of compassion. Her heart tugs at her when she sees the 'down and out' around the big city. She's been known to give away her last 5 dollar bill to the homeless, only to receive it back again the same day.

3. She is grateful. Even in the smallest things we have done for her or given her, she has always responded with sincere thanks. She doesn't take her blessings for granted.

2. She has a sensitive conscience. If she heads down a wrong path or makes a wrong decision, she knows it almost immediately and cannot be peaceful until she gets turned back in the direction she needs to go. There is a risk of being misunderstood by others, but she is determined to avoid that which drags her down or takes her focus away from the peace and contentment in her relationship with God.

1. She wants to grow and learn and thrive with excellence, and is not content with mediocre. It is her number one concern to love her God with all of her heart, all of her soul, all of her mind, and all of her strength. She knows when she focuses on that, there's no room left to be wrapped up in herself. When my daughter had to 'preach' in class, she chose the sermon title, "It's Not All About Me". I think she's on to something here.

Wish I'd penned these words, but Steven Curtis Chapman beat me to it for his daughter!:

Aren't you the little one That hid in my arms afraid of the thunder?

Are these the little hands That held so tight to mine

Didn't we both agree you'd never grow up

And now here we are And here you go

Of all the things I want to say The thing you really need to know is...

I believe in you Yeah, I believe in you

Everything you are Everything you are becoming

And I believe in youYeah, I believe in you

So spread your wings and fly On the winds of knowing

I Always believe in you

So many prayers we've prayed So many dreams to get to this moment

Now this is where we stay While you go change the world

But I'll be where I have always been

Up in the stands cheering you on and

Singing this song A song the very God who made you Has been singing all along

I believe in you Yeah, I believe in you

So spread your wings and fly On the winds of knowing

I Will always believe in you

And when you rise and when you fall I'll still believe in you

Just close your eyes and hear me calling

I believe in you Oh, I believe in you

(I Believe in You, written by Steven Curtis Chapman to his daughter)

Homeless??

What is it with these chipmunks? They live in everyone else's home but their own!! LOL!




This is Chip....not to be confused with Chips who lived in our house for a while. The two of them have chipmunk races outside because Chip does not like his territory invaded. That suits me just fine....one is quite enough! Wish I could harness their energy!

Subway Sandwiches

My daughter phoned me last night to relate her adventures that evening on the subway train. Living in a city of over 2 million...you meet a few 'interesting' people while taking public transit. Yes, she met a couple of 'choice' ones last night! Speaking of weird people who ride in public...

I remember when I first rode the subway train. We've grown up in a relatively small city. Before my (baby) daughter moved to the big city, I wanted to ensure she could find her way around and know what to expect on her first day of college (not to put my mind at ease or anything...). So we rode the subway together a week or so before college began (you know...so I could help her). She was quite confident in where she was going, and always had to redirect her mother who would automatically go west if she should be going east. After I flustered a subway cashier insisting I wanted a transfer even though we didn’t need it (but what IF we did???), we found our way to the boarding platform to wait for the next train. I observed how quickly you have to bound onto the train before the doors automatically shut, and of course there’s a rush of people coming out when you want to go in. It’s great fun. Especially when you’re trying not to lose someone you’re with. We boarded the train and I immediately learned that men no longer give up their seats for women. It was standing room only. So I stood hovering over a young ablebodied man as I dug in my feet and clung to a pole, acting as though I had a good sense of balance as the ‘red rocket’ shot down the tracks. I erased all thoughts of falling headfirst into his lap each time the train jolted. Another thing I observed is the silent rule--- you do not look into people’s faces or smile at anyone. That rule in itself could send me into fits of laughter - it doesn't take much. (My daughter now sometimes rides with a friend who breaks that rule - he takes snapshots with his camera phone of passengers in humorous positions who are falling asleep, while another friend makes interesting poses beside the unsuspecting dreamer. At least it gets a few laughs out of strangers!)

Anyways, on this day, my daughter (holding to another pole) and I chatted about the route map that was posted near the ceiling and took note of how many stops we had left before we would 'detrain'. I continued to attempt to not fall into the lap of the young man who was definitely ignoring me. I noticed again how quickly the doors opened and shut. I had a mental picture of myself being the one whose purse would get caught in the door, and I would be flattened against the train like ‘Coyote’ of Roadrunner fame.... and the train would speed away with my body plastered to the outside of it.

Finally, our stop was next. I turned away from the young man, who was still ignoring me, and I readied myself directly in front of the door which was beside him. With the ‘Coyote’ image seared in my brain, I determined to pounce off the train as quickly as possible. I suddenly had that feeling you get when someone is staring at you. I glanced at the young man and turned away quickly as he was staring intently up into my face. It was rather unnerving. Why now would he suddenly choose to stare? I began to get uncomfortable as he wasn’t turning away his glare. The train stopped, and there was a flood of passengers to the doors as they rushed off…..away from me in the opposite direction to what I was facing. The door before me remained tightly closed. I peered through the window of the door at a brick wall as the young man continued to look up into my face. Ohhhhhh. Another lesson learned. The side of the train you enter, may not always be the same side you disembark. I hugged my purse and turned with an ‘I MEANT to do that’ facade, and exited the train on the opposite side, hoping to never see that man again. The roar of the train speeding off drowned out our peals of laughter.

As we made our way to the college, I realized why the young man had been staring at my face. He had been peering at the word ‘Dork’ written on my forehead! It's why I faithfully wash my face everyday!