WARNINGS

My cough is still hanging on so I decided not to attend church, which I hate to miss.  Sunday just does not seem the same.

It just seemed natural for us all to arrive at Sandra and Randy's new home for lunch.  Carol and Panteli had not seen their place and neither had Kim.We were the only ones in the family to have seen their new home.  Gradually they are working hard to get everything unpacked and in the right place.  Everything must be ready for Thanksgiving when Mary and Simone arrive and also Shandel and Cameron.

Babies and young children add spice to life!  Just think this all started 57 years ago and now this wonderful amazing family has grown and grown!

These big bushes will be trimmed back to let in more light.  The garden will be undergoing lots of changes in the spring,  This is a warning for her bushes.

There were two warnings on the radio on Sunday.  One was not to drive around Surrey as the musical marathon was blocking many of the roads and there would be slow travelling in many areas.  Dad and I did fine just happened to pick the right roads.


Not so Carol and Panteli who had to detour to an alternate route.  They arrived just in time for lunch.

There were also storm warnings of rain and wind.  Carol checks out the back yard. 
All is calm for a while.  The ferries were being cancelled so we knew the wind would be strong.


Time to check out the new chesterfield.  After having a visit on skype with Mary and Simone.  Both of them looking happy and healthy.  I still find it amazing to be able not only to talk but to see each other on the computer.

We are looking forward to a even bigger gathering at Thanksgiving.  Being together, telling tall tails ( whoops I think that should be tales} and give me a sense of comfort and enjoyment.  I love just being together.






Kim puts on her soccer uniform to head out to play for her new team
She is a busy girl with school, work and soccer and enjoying  a few nights out on the town!

Dad remembers the good old days when they use to deliver free bottles of coke to your door.  Hard to believe as this never happened in our neighborhood.

HAPPY ANIVERSARY DEAREST!

Yes, it is our anniversary.  57 years!


Dad and I went out into the pouring rain to do a little shopping for this and that.  We went to different stores but it is so funny we picked out the same card for each other,
Yes, we were married Sept. 29, 1956,  I think,  back in Regina,  Saskatchewan.  It was an exciting day for me, my heart  full of romantic  and joyous  thoughts as we began wonderful adventure as flying high above home across the mountains to Vancouver.  It was raining very hard when we arrived here.  Both happy and thrilled knowing we had crossed a new threshold in our lives.  Out of all the people we had known we had chosen each other!

We would both have to learn our way around in this new city, which would mean learning all about the buses etc.  Dad wanted a car right away but we had very little money so the car dad purchased broke down in a few weeks.

You learn a lot when you get married.  It is not all wine and roses but turns into hard work, bills, child rearing, as the enormity of it all soon settles in.  One has to make an effort to keep the romance in your lives that are joined together.  Yes being married young and having our children so quickly was a challenge.

Now a days they do not say in sickness and in health nor do the say in poverty or riches but if you are together long enough these things usually come knocking at the door.  At one time or another sacrifice is called for and it takes courage and strength of character to over come the disasters.
It was a Saturday night and dad would start work on Monday.  We had found a small motel on Kingsway which was near family friends of dad’s parents.  They had us over for supper on the Sunday.

Wonderful memories!  Now we see our family growing and new little ones arriving and all our hopes and dreams have come true.  Lots of love that is still keeping us young at heart. 
Knowing that we can be secure in the knowledge that there will always be someone special who supports me and cares for me. 

Lots of laughter and a few Tears!  And now we get to share growing old together! !!

A quiet day with visit from Kim and a visit to Sandra and Randy's!

ORDINARY

                                           Very wet day that turned out to be very ordinary.


Waited until the rain was a light drizzle and walked around by the park.  Very deserted.  I remember when we went with Jasmine and Matthew and the fun time we had then.  Good to remember all the good fun times!

Still able to get a few pictures.
Later dad and I drove to White Rock to get my favorite cookies and to look for a warm sweater for me.  Everything seemed so expensive even with 50% off.  The mall in White Rock certainly has changed but the White Spot is still there.  Came home in time for the football game and for Ken's phone call on the way to work.  Walking from his car to the bus he nearly got blown away it was so windy.  80 k.  The weather here for Saturday is suppose to be very windy with more rain.  I would like to go to Ben's soccer game in Walnut Grove but I know what dad will say.  Are you nuts !

We are very pleased and proud of Theresa getting hired to be a teaching assistant.  Good job Theresa!

They were having a Cross Cultural Dialogue at the church in the evening with a speaker from the Suzuki Foundation which I think would have been interesting but nobody wants to be around some one who is coughing.  I am not sick enough to go sit at a clinic with a bunch of sick people.  I might catching some germs and dad worries too much.

Now it is Saturday morning and I had a much better sleep with lots of healing thoughts for myself.

Kim is coming over to our house on Sunday at noon and wants to go visit Sandra and Randy`s new home.  I have a pink teddy bear to drop off.

``There is so much in the world for us all
if we have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it,
and the hand to gather it to ourselves.``
--Lucy M. Montgomery

SHELTERED

I know that  have lived a sheltered life in many ways.  My parents were good people who provided a good home and taught me good behavior, especially  to obey your parents and to be polite and clean!

I lived in a middle class neighborhood in a middle class house which I loved.  Especially the sun porch off the living room facing the front of the yard. I think I remember we had a stuffed owl who would looked at me with those staring knowing eyes!
 
"In a healthy family there is a shared understanding that we are all of us better than the worst thing we have ever done."

Yes, there were times of misunderstandings and I felt hurt.   It has taken a lifetime for me to realize that within me is a loving self that helps me resist expressions of self doubt.

In the morning as I pray for our family I try to breath in the love that is unconditional and sees the goodness in each one of us.
Jesus said the kingdom of Heaven is within you", so why do we look for affirmation from those around us


I had a short walk in the morning but am feeling extremely tired.  Even thinking about supper is exhausting.  Dad and I went to a short trip to winners but actually he wants to go to a man's store and get a suit.  We should do these things earlier in the day so maybe to-morrow.

After supper there was this beautiful light with dark clouds racing along behind it.  And then came a brilliant rainbow.  I took a picture but my camera does not capture the beauty of it.  The rainbow always lifts my mood and helps me to feel hopeful.

I I am glad that each new day offers its own possibilities.

"The best thing about the future it comes only one day at a time".   Abraham Lin
And Thanks giving comes on the 12 and 13 Rick.  Are you coming?

“When we allow the energy of compassion to flow into us and then out to others-particularly those whose behavior may be hurtful to us- we have entered the kingdom experience”.

"To read, to think, to love, to hope and to pray
these are things that make people happy."   -John Ruskin

OFF LIMITS

Yes there are now areas of our home that our off-limits to my tidying ways.  This is hard for me because I am use to wandering around tidying here and there as I go.

I much appreciate dad washing the windows out to the back yard as all of a sudden they seemed to be very hard to see through.  Actually I had never even noticed but he did.

Yes it feels like fall and the leaves are starting to cover the ground.  I had a good walk and dad walked in the water-shed park and met two Chinese ladies.  There were also a group of school children running around and enjoying the open area.  I managed to get the grass cut because it is suppose to rain.



I went off to the Senors home and had a visit with Jim and two other ladies.  One was very confused and kept wondering who I was again and again.  She knew she knew me but just could not remember where we had met before.
She really did enjoy our visit so that was the main thing,

“The habit of compassion is deeper than any religion.
although most religions in their original form were founded on it.  The theological reasoning behind the belief in the goodness of every human being is pretty simple.  In the beginning was the power of love.  Each of us was made by and through that power"  Ed Bacon

I think it is easier if we do not have a picture in our mind of either Jesus or God but think instead of it as simply the loving spirit that dwells inside of each of us.  The challenge is to over come the negative and fear based self that also lives within us.  Of course this is easier with some people than with others.  Nor does it mean that people are not accountable for the wrongs they have committed.
Jesus calls us to love our enemies and to continue to pray for them.

All of us need compassion and affirmation so that the goodness within will shine through.

"It is easy to love those who are similar to you, to love those you already love.  To be holy to be God carriers, is to love those you don't like, even those you hate--to find the spark of holiness, the spark of God, in every person in every human being."  Rabbi Levine-Grater.

I know for me that I have experienced a happy spiritual experience when my heart has felt strangely warmed.

Yes, it is raining lightly this morning.  My cough has gotten worse so trying to decode about my walk.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION.

This was an important event that took place in Vancouver supported by many of the churches that had committed the heinous transgressions against the native people.  Many stories were told and a speech was given by Bernice King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King Jr.   She reminded us all that it will take years and years to heal the abuse and pain caused by the separation from their families and the sexual abuse.

It would have been hard to hear their stories and realize how deeply damaged their souls had been,  but in doing so it releases the deep pain within and hopefully healing will continue.

Every generation has there freedom struggle according to Loretta King.
I know many philosophies and religions want to educate people to become their best and highest self.    Freedom without violence was a dream of her father’s but I also believe that it was the main teaching of Jesus.
If we have a genuine wish both for ourselves and for others to become whole there must be continual forgiveness.  The goal is to destroy the power of hate and fear that separates us.  There are times when injustices are committed that we cannot understand.

Everyone has their own journey and will see life from different prospectives.  Forgiveness sets the one forgiving free and allows the past to be put behind us once and for all.  I believe that Jesus did say "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,"  Luke 23:34 

If some one would ask me why I wear a cross one reason is because I believe in the power of forgiveness.

The teddy bears agreed with me that we needy to warm the chilly morning a little by turning on the fireplace.







It starts getting dark so much earlier now and lighter so much later.

Yesterday on my walk I saw a little boy about 5 run out on the road to wave furiously at an airplane passing over head, so cute.  I should have run over and joined him.  Waving is fun.

Later I had to jump out of the way of an out- of -control skate boarder,  but he was gracious and said thank you and have a nice day.

"Jesus does not call men to a  new religion, but to life!  -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"We are; we act; we know.
Belonging, behaving and believing.
This is the shape of awakened Christianity, a faith that is a deeply spiritual religion."

"Spiritual awakening is not ultimately the work of invisible cultural forces.
Instead it is the work of learning to see differently, of prayer and of conversion.
Beyond chaos toward a new harmony with God and with others."
-Diana Butler Bass        "Christianity After Region."

For me the fun part is to be always learning and making good friends!  The fun and the laughter and the good times and bad we help each other through.  It gives life purpose and meaning for me.

Carol and Panteli dropped by.  Carol still very pale and weak from her nasty cold.  Panteli is definitely going to depart for China on Oct. 5.  An exciting new challenge I would think.  And today is milkshake day so soon again.

PREOCCUPATION

It is so easy for me to become preoccupied with the things to be done.  Yes, we need to live in the present moment, to enjoy the good , all the good things in our lives.  I can easily decide I should get busy cleaning up messes here and there and decide I do not have time for a walk or other things.

First thing in the morning , with my coffee I need to pray for myself.  Forgive me Lord for being critical.  Lord fill me with your grace.  Thank you for this new day  so fresh after the rain.  Thank you for each one in my family as I name them one by one.  Then I pray for those on our church list, so many have such serious problems.  Be with them Lord, may they feel the prayers of all those who are thinking and caring about them. 

Then I put out a bag of groceries as a church in our neighborhood is collecting for the food bank and then it is off for my walk.  A dull gray morning but still nice to enjoy the fresh air. 

I have several books that are waiting to be read.  Two are for our study group.  One is Revelations for my JETLAG Group and the other is for our book group that is meeting at our house called CHRISTIANITY AFTER RELIGION.  The other one from the library is the 8 HABITS OF LOVE.

This is based up the thought that "the only way we could become who we are is through the flow of divine energy into our lives that flows from the BELOVED and also from others.  We cut off this flow with negativity, fear, stinginess, sadness and withdrawal from others.

First habit was generosity, then stillness and now truth.
"The truth must dazzle gradually or every man be blind"
-Emily Dickinson

"To be religious in the twenty-first century is to be inter religious" aware that no religion owns the truth.  I like the thought that religion can mean "to re-connect."  Truth has the power and authority to transform our lives knowing that it is also not static and does not follow a script that we have written.  Truth does not use fear as a weapon nor the threat of punishment; but has the potential to awaken our conscience.

"Truth telling can be risky, sometimes painful and uncomfortable.  It is a perspective rather than a fact."  - Ed Bacon

"Because the Beloved is also gracious, love does not give us only one chance to perceive the truth and then we have missed it forever. "   Everyday presents new opportunities.




                               Each small task can be transformed by the attitude with which I do it.

HOPELESSLY (confession no. 2)

Dad’s pictures from the pond.


The ducks

and the dogs come for a visit to the bench where dad is resting before riding home.







This is the street Sandra and Randy live on
I love all the trees.t





They have a pond near by also

My confession today is that I am happily hopeless.  I get up  too early.  I move things around and do not know why.  Dad will just have to keep things in a safe place instead of saying to me “Oh I  knew you would move it after months of something that needed to be moved in my opinion."  He is just kidding of course.

We carry on both to the dentist. I had one filling which was not too bad and dad has two small ones he has to make an appointment for.

Dad went  off to visit Howard again at four after having a good bike ride.  I hope both of them have a nap.

We have to enjoy every bit of sunshine we can.  Summer days are getting all too short and it feels very chilly.

CONFESSIONS

                                                Didn’t you know you should phone first.
                                            At least there was someone there to greet us.





My hope is that the heart of our relationships with all our children will remain strong even as dad and I go through the aging process.  Dad and I are so very thankful that we are alert enough to enjoy meeting our two newest great grandchildren. 

The future may call for engaging in difficult truths.  Aging is not only about your age but about the stress and anxieties and illness that one has had earlier  in their lives.  We know what it was like seeing our own parents grow old and also now going through sad and difficult times with friends.

 

I had a short walk this morning before the heavier rain and dad actually had two bike rides.  The first was short as it rained on him.  Later the sun came out and he had a farther ride which was almost too far.  I had several trips to the store and when I went to get dad's prescription filled had to confess I had been taking it too.  We both take the same prescription but I have not renewed it for awhile.  The druggist noticed the pills had been used up too quickly so I thought if I confessed he would refill it.  He will at the full price.  I will get it straightened out to-morrow.  Getting in to see the doctor is extremely difficult and then there is all the waiting when you get there.

I think I hear some one sighing.

Confessions means a open heart and a generous spirit in all our relationships. It is not about power of one person over another but an equal freedom to express how you feel.  The most important thing is to keep a sense of humor with our failing memory and loss of bladder control, to mention a few.  Every time a new person asks me at the Seniors home asks me how I like living there I just laugh  and say well I do not actually live here just yet.

All weekend I have been looking for a book that I was sure I owned but just now realized it was one I had borrowed from the library.  I was fortunate I could go and take it out again.

Dear God, I know that I have done wrong , forgive me and will do my best to correct my error.
Help me to strengthen things out.
I give to you Lord my mind, my spirit, my love, my pain and sorrows, my joys and my questions, my fears and my hopes and ask for a clearer vision for this day.
I pray for myself and for my family and for others.

"Our concern must be to live while we are alive. . . .to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conformed to eternal definitions of who and what we are."   -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

 

Maybe this quote is better; "Be happy like a child for no reason

because if you are happy for a reason it can be taken from you."  -D. Chopra

Dad and I are off to the dentist this morning.  Dr. Patterson phoned he wants to talk to me and I do not like the sound of that.  Dad is getting his teeth cleaned.  I will go get dad's pills.

Dad has written on his blog and is taking pictures I will put the pictures on later.

MEETINGS

My early morning walk.

Down past Coyote Creek.

I see  an older Asian lady dressed very poorly,  walking towards me looking for cans and bottles. I give her the one  I have picked up and she gives me a big smile and says a lot I do not understand but I understand she appreciates this simple gift.

I also meet an old friend Vera,  She is cleaning up by the townhouses.  I stop for a visit.  She wakes up early like I do about 4:30 or 5.  She laughs and says if she sleeps in to 6 she checks her pulse to see if she is still alive.  Even staying up later makes no difference she still wakes up early just like me

Next I hear a voice talking to me from under a bush.  Looking down I see a man sitting on a blanket which was his bed I presumed.  The funny thing was he was talking on his cell phone.  I do not know who was more surprised him or me!

When I arrive back home the black cat is sitting on the driveway waiting patiently.

The meeting at church was stimulating especially trying to puzzle out the reading from Luke 16. A rich man had a manager who was running up huge personal expenses. Sound familiar?  The manager in order to gain friends went to the people who were in debt to his master and lowered the amount that they owed.

Now here is the surprise the master praised the manager!  He used his adversity to prepare for his future.  Shocking! 

Jesus is telling this parable to convey a message. I think that we can learn from the example of other people in our lives, whether they are good people or not so good.  There is always the problem how do we love the unlovable?

In those days one was regarded as righteous if you were wealthy and healthy.  One message is that the manager was called to account for his cheating. The other message is that he was concerned about his future. 

One of the more difficult passages to understand.

We started discussing the meaning of this reading with Pat and Bob and ended up going out for lunch with them.  We have not done this for a long time.  We got into a discussion about the meaning of the story and I think that was what Jesus would wanted his hears to do was to have them discuss and find what the story meant to them.

Dad and I drove over to see the progress Sandra and Randy are making on their new home.  The dogs are happy there but the cats are very upset as cats always are with a move.  Maybe they need Jasmine to carry them around and make them happy.  A good neighborhood for walking.

So an interesting day of meetings!

"So if you're honest in small things
You will be honest in big things."   -The Message by Eugene H. Peterson

Monday the library and Tuesday the dentist!

DAD’S PICTURES

Congratulations Ben! ! !

SUNSHINE IN THE MORNING

A beautiful sunny morning for our drive to Chilliwack not to see the soccer game as before but to the musical talent performance at the church near Ben and Morgan’s School. 
It was a karaoke event and Ben was going to sing a Beatles’s song "Help".  We got there in good time but missed the first singer,  (spell checker went on strike.)  She was the first prize winner but I think Ben was tops!

Ben and Theresa arrive,

He looks very confident in a nice way. And does well.  A good round of applause.  Yes he came in second and we were all very proud and happy for him.  He won singing lessons as a prize and a karaoke machine


Kim made it just in time after taking Morgan from her soccer games, where she was goalie and got hit with the ball in the face, to a wild and crazy birthday party. 

Dad and I went back to Theresa’s place where the girls made an excellent lunch.  Good and healthy.  We both enjoyed the day.  Carol joined us and then Mikie came later.  Carol has been working in Chilliwack on Fridays and Saturdays and fortunately can stay at Theresa and Mikie's.


We drove into the sun and the drive home was relaxed.   Both tired out when we arrived home but so happy to  see everyone even Haiti the dog, who was  so excited to see us.

 The time went so quickly. Too tired to read when I got home but like
 Borges said "I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books".  So   I did have my pile of books!

We miss seeing the soccer but dad’s feet are just getting more painful so walking and standing is too painful. 

Light rain on my walk; half as far and twice as slow but I did it.
Heavy rain later.  Hope Sandra got her gardening done.  Off to church after a short walk.

VICTIM OR HERO

Victim or Hero?

The answer is at times we have all felt like one or the other,  either a victim or a hero.    Sometimes victim of our circumstances.

I can feel like a victim when there is just too much to do.  Well, at least I got everything done that I was try to do on Thursday.  Shopped at the dollar store for little things to send to our child in Sri Lanka, cut the grass, mailed my letters and cleaned off the dining room table and watered the garden before the rain came!

What a hero!

Now just to catch up on the work of the day.  Dad went for his bike ride and I for my walk. 

Then we went to visit with  Howard's to allow time  for his wife to go out with her son. It was good we could have a visit with Howard.  Very tough situation when there is failing health and it is difficult for both the one who is failing and also the care giver.  Certainly not the golden years. But both are real hero's.

Crisis come unbidden into each one of our lives and I am reminded again and again not to let the little stuff grow out of proportion and remember instead   what is truly important in life.  As long as we can hug and hold hands and talk to each others then we can get through difficult times together.  Tiredness and stress make life a challenge.

In the stillness of prayer I realize I need to  receive grace that helps me change.  Prayer helps me to let go of fear that would keep me thinking as a victim and transform me into a learner, in the process of becoming a hero!  ha ha



I do love the fall colors and the cool mornings and evenings.  There is a message in nature and especially in the seasons that continually change.

I know that I am one of those people who enjoy quiet, like quiet walks and quiet rests on the park bench,  I enjoy people but I need significant quantities of solitude.    We are all unique and have to learn to pay attention to what feels right within our own heart.
I

UNDONE

Even if something if left undone,  take a moment to enjoy the changing color of the leaves.  It happens so quickly and then a big wind will come along and blow them all done.  I love the colors of autumn.

""Let us live each day abundantly and beautifully while it is here.
Eleanor Baldwin York


Mushrooms grow in all colors shapes and sizes.



Human beings are so varied that some fare better with religion or spiritual paths, while others don’t.  If we simply live in a way that nurtures us and allows us to express our creativity, letting us see our own goodness  that is the best we can do.

To live with the limitation that there is a doctrine or option as being the one true way limits us from whom being what we are here to achieve and what we are here to become.

For example prayer can be a comfort to some in times of need and also help us discover more about what is important to hang on to and what is important to let go.

Yesterday there were things I left undone but also a surprise of going out for lunch.  I did do my visiting but was a little late.  I met a new man who I will try to spend more time with next week.  He is very unhappy there.

"The act of kindness in recognizing my limitations goes much further in creating a joyful life than pretending to feel optimistic."

I know that getting everything done I had planned is not as important as enjoying life moment by moment.