HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

SNOW DAY! :)

... shovelling aside ...

I'm not sure why they are still smiling ...

not sure i would be buried up to my neck in snow!

If you look very, very closely ...
you may be able to see Mr. Tumnus in the shadows

ONE GOLDEN RING

psssst ...












i'm engaged!

no date set ...
looking at a year and a bit time frame ...
it will be small ...
it will be simple ...

it may involve running away :)

40 YEARS AGO ...

Jackie was hangin' in Cambodia the week before my birth.

Some of the songs people were groovin' to:

I'm A Believer - Monkees

To Sir With Love - Lulu

Ode To Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

Groovin' - Young Rascals

Light My Fire - The Doors

Happy Together - The Turtles

Respect - Aretha

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

Penny Lane - The Beatles

I Heard It Through the Grape Vine - Gladys Knight & The Pipps

Georgy Girl - Seekers

Reflections - The Supremes

Baby I Need Your Lovin' - Johnny Rivers

Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

I Say A Little Prayer - Dionne Warwick

There's A Kind of Hush - Herman's Hermits

Don't Sleep In the Subway - Petula Clark

The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher

I Dig Rock & Roll Music - Peter, Paul & Mary

You know you were singin' along to most of them!
You can click on the titles for the original artist's rendition!
I love the music of that decade!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

MY HELP

Mt. Hood, reflecting on Trillium Lake in Oregon

I was thinking of this photo last night during choir practice.

It's one I snapped a few years ago

while on a west coast road trip with my brother.

Thought about it because of a song we're singing.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's MY HELP
.

I will lift up mine eyes to the hills

From whence cometh my help

My help cometh from the Lord

The Lord Which made heaven and earth

He said, He will not suffer thy foot;

thy foot to be moved

The Lord Which keepeth thee

He will not slumber nor sleep

For the Lord is thy keeper

The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand

Upon thy right hand

For the sun shall not smite thee by day

Nor the moon by night

He shall preserve thy soul

Even forever more

My help, My help My help, All of my help Cometh from the Lord

It's one of my favourites from BTC.

Simple

Scriptural

Comforting

Encouraging

Faithful-building

Powerful

Enjoy the audio version HERE

MY HELP - Jackie Gouche Farris, 1997 Iriving Music, Inc. / J Gouche Publishing

ARE WE THERE YET?

I've been told it's been a whole month (and a day) since I've done anything here. The question is .... does that mean i've seen nothing and learned nothing? That would be sad indeed. I have seen things ... there's a few pics posted below. I've learned a few things too (whew!)

Yesterday walking with Glyn and the kids to and through Battlefield Park. ARE WE THERE YET? I'm not quite sure how many times that phrase was uttered ... but it was greater than 15 and less than a million.

It's a phrase I've uttered on numerous occasions when in conversation with God. I sometimes get impatient with the journey. I'd like to arrive at the various destination spots along the way a little more quickly. I've learned though ... sometimes if I'm all impatient to "get there" I can miss some pretty impressive stuff along the way. I wonder if He gets tired of hearing the question?

SOME PICS FROM RECENT RAMBLINGS

Tyana, Glyn Jr & James @ Battlefield

Milkweed

Woodpecker @ RBG Arboretum

Dundas Rail Trail

Pelee & Long Point

I think I LOVE my new camera!

Fun times were had with the family.

Lots of food was consumed.

Smores were created over and eaten 'round the campfire.

Beautiful weather and lots of big waves on the Lake.

All in all two thumbs up!

Monarchs hangin' at Long Point

Monarch soaking up sun at Point Pelee

Part of the Point Pelee Marsh Trail

Part of the Point Pelee Marsh Trail

The Calvinator - lovin' this whole off the leash thing!

GLEE

There are a couple of reasons for the GLEEFULNESS:

My brother KEN is home for about 3.3 days.

He's been on a work contract in Qatar for 2 years.

He had to go to the home office in Calgary for a bit,

and a few days with family here for a bit.

The family is running to my aunt & uncle's cottage at Long Point.

I am the proud owner of a NIKON D40

I'll be playing with it a fair bit over the cottage days.
We're going to make a run to Point Pelee.
Hopefully the Monarchs will cooperate
and already be gathering for their migration to Mexico.

HAPPY THINGS

Because Patti is a little weary of all the unhappiness
being spread about out there!

Here are some shots from BGT's annual

McQuesten Park Festival.
It's the PARTY we throw for our community.

'Cause you really can't go wrong with face painting,

jumpers & bunnies to pet!

SQUARE ONE

"Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me." (Mark 18:2 – 5 MSG)

We had the annual Potma Family Reunion this past Saturday. Fun times … if you’re a kid that likes mud, like Justin. From the top of his head … to the tips of his toes … MUD! While the adults huddled under the protection of the picnic area roofs … hands wrapped around styrofoam cups of java … wishing the clouds would break and the sun would come out … Justin went about … having fun. Can ya hear his “vroom vroom” ? Nothing fazed him. Now the adults still managed to have their laughs and have their fun … but we didn’t embrace it in the same way some of the little ones did.

I need to learn to be more like Justin in the spiritual realm too. Sometimes the clouds come, open up and rain on my parade … the question is how do I respond to the rain? I need to go out and find some bright yellow rubber boots and matching rain slicker … I think that would help!

MY BACK YARD FRIENDS

a little while later his mate showed up

for her turn at the sunflower seeds

EVERY BREATH

Lord I give You my heart,
Lord I give You my soul,
I live for You alone.
Every breath that I take,
Every moment I'm awake,
Lord have Your way in me
1995, Reuben Morgan, Hillsongs


They are powerful words
I watched a man live that
To his very last breath

Diagnosed in April with brain & lung cancer. Through the past three months there was no raging. There was peace, there was assurance that every day of his life was in God's hands. There was hope that in the midst of it all, the estranged relationship with his brothers would be restored. And there was joy in the realization of that hope this past week.

On Monday, Dwaine Veysey closed his eyes.
On Tuesday, he took his last breath ...
opened his eyes and saw Jesus.

It was a privelege to be there.
It was an honour to know him.
I'm going to miss him.

It's Show Off Your Pet Week

"He is not dead ... he is only sleeping."

It's one of my favourite pics of Calvin.
This is usually what he looks like at about 10 pm.
And it's usually at the end of the couch I'm laying on.

CHOIR FINALE

I'm on summer vacation from choir.
It's a nice thing.
I LOVE choir, don't get me wrong ...
but summer break is nice too!
We had our finale last night.
Everything from Kids up through Seniors' Choir.
A FANTASTIC evening of worship & praise.

We wrapped it up

with one of my favourite songs of the season

from Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

honestly ...

I get shivers when we sing it ...

not because we're THAT great

(although we're not bad!) :)

but because it's become so real to us as a choir.

give a listen ...

BTC's Myspace has the song there for you to listen to

THOU O LORD

8 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

Apparently a game of tag is being played and I'm "IT". Hmmmm ... there are many times I receive these types of things as an email and I ignore. Perhaps that could be random thing #1 ... but that wouldn't be in the true spirit of the game would it?

I am to post the rules ... and here they are as they were given to me ... "Each person starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their eight things and post the rules. At the end of your blog, tag eight people and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog." I am declaring now ... I probably won't tag anyone else ... because frankly ... I don't know 8 bloggers that haven't already been tagged ... and I don't think strangers would want me doing that. Can you tell that I'm procrastinating?

1. I AM ... highly phlegmatic ... and well procrastination comes with the territory! You all should consider yourselves blessed that I'm responding to this as quickly as I am! :)

2. I HAVE ... rafted the Nile ... and nearly died ... I have pictoral evidence! At least of the rafting not of the nearly dying ... thankfully the guides were guiding at that point and not snapping pics with the waterproof camera from a distance!

3. I MUST ... have a nibble of really good chocolate almost every day! I can skip a day but I get the shakes and can be a little irritable.

4. I CAN ... quote almost verbatim the entire movie "The Sound of Music" ... and a life long dream is to go to Austria and twirl about as Maria did on that side of the mountain while singing "the hills are alive with the sound of music."

5. I AM ... the youngest of 4 children and the only girl ... and I am not / was not spoiled. HONEST ... well maybe a little, but not nearly as much as my three big bro's would claim! ;)

6. I OCCASIONALLY ... (well ok ... fairly often) snort in the midst of laughter ... I come by it honestly ... it's genetic on my mother's side.

7. I ABSOLUTELY ... love Calvin and Hobbes ... I can still laugh out loud while reading old strips.

8. SOMEONE ... I would love to have dinner with ... (you know the whole anybody living or dead question) ... would be Corrie ten Boom. One of my heroes of the faith ... I would love to be able to pick her brain.

VACATIONS ...

are glorious things ... even if you stick close to home. I've spent a fair bit of time sitting in the lounge chair on the back deck reading. Some of it mindless (Grisham's "The Chamber") and some of it stuff that makes you think (Erwin Raphael McManus' "Uprising")

Have also been out and about along some local trails. The trillium's are in full force. And this weekend I even spotted the rarely found burgundy trillium.

And made it to the RBG for the tulips in the Rock Garden ... camera's battery frustratingly dying about an hour after arrival ... the one frustration of digital camera's! But I managed to get some nice shots ... both flora & fauna ... was startled by a rather larger Garter Snake sunning itself on one of the rocks ... it was at least 18" long and a good 1" thick! It slithered away quick enough.

And tomorrow it's the first MAJOR bike ride of the season ... Dundas Rail Trail here I come ... I'll probably be lounging again on Thursday to recoup! :)

SIGNS SIGNS EVERYWHERE ARE SIGNS

To get to work I drive up Hwy 20 to get to the LINC.

Each spring I drive very carefully

(well I drive carefully year round but that's not my point)

while craning my neck and squinting my eyes

looking for splashes of white on the escarpment.

I saw some early this week and I got my SIGN

I am no long NEARLY GIDDY ... it's full-fledged now.

So today at lunch I hit the wooded area behind the church.

Trilliums spread out far and wide.

I HEART SPRING!

JUST BECAUSE

One of the left-over flowers

from a women's meeting this week.

Lilies are a favourite of mine

UN

One of the choir songs for this season is one that I would call an "ouch song". Not the triumphant ... woohoo God songs ... but man is it powerful ...

For all the times I’ve been unfaithful
For every time I’ve been untrue
For every time I’ve been ungrateful
For all You’ve done and all You do

For when my pride has been unbroken
For when my soul has been unmoved
For all the praise I’ve left unspoken
When I owe everything to You

For when my heart has been unyielding
When my devotion went unproved
For all the days I’ve been unwilling
To take my cross and follow You

Please forgive me

Oi ... sometimes ... i can do all the "right" things when it comes to visible things and blow it so bad on the unseen things ...

Please Forgive Me (Travis Cottrell, David Moffitt & Sue C. Smith.) c. 2003 New Spring.

NEARLY GIDDY

It's true. I am ... nearly giddy ... but not quite really giddy. SPRING is here. Now I'm a good Canadian. I can enjoy snow. If it doesn't come in a wave of storms that need to be constantly shovelled out of my driveway ... but SPRING ... I love it....


.... stuff is coming up ... bits of bright in amongst the dull vestiges of winter. That's why I'm only just "nearly" giddy ... the REALLY giddy will come when there is more bright than dull.


"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush" (Doug Larson, Olympic Runner)


While there may not be slush in my shoes ... there's still some brisk winds blowing ... but I won't wear the winter coat anymore ... I'd rather be cold than admit I still need it. It's spring ... I shouldn't need it anymore ... right?

MY FUZZY TEACHER

You will probably see a fair number of pics of Calvin on this blog because:

A) he's as cute as the dickens, and

2) I actually learn stuff from him

When I take him for walks, he will often walk and look backward at the same time ... kinda like this pic (although my calling his name from behind with a camera in hand didn't really help him in his looking forward). I'm sure the fact that Calvin's a 15 lb ball of fluff who's been attacked on 3 occasions by a 60 lb evil German Shepherd plays a role in his walking habits. But, it can be rather frustrating for me the walker. It makes forward motion kinda tough some times.

I can pull a Calvin on occasion. Keep looking back ... sometimes it's at the rough stuff of life -- the regrets ... the coulda, shoulda's of life, but sometimes it can be at the good stuff too. And while reflection is a good thing from time to time ... it can also really hinder forward movement.

I suppose the lesson to be learned is the balance of when to reflect and when to push forward.

One ... Two ... Three ...

JUMP!

And with that I enter the blogging world. Hmmm ... seems to be alright. I'll have to poke around the rooms, peek in the cupboards ... and see if I can make this a comfortable little cyber world.

The title of the blog ... probably a good summation of what this will become. I'm a bit of a photo freak. I love what a great image can do for the heart, mind and soul. So some of what will be put on here will be things I see as I'm out and about with a camera ... or browsing the net. Some of this will be things I learn along this road. Because really ... what's the point of the journey if we don't learn anything?

I have a hard time believing this will be a daily thing ... good grief ... that would require A LOT of learning ... and rambling. :) But I'll try and be semi-faithful.