Have Dog Will Travel

Doesn't this look like something from the 70's?
I think that when I went on my honeymoon,
I had something very similar.

This is one Dog Story.
I love to babysit my grandkids.
But last week I was asked by my daughter
if would consider keeping her dog, Drift for two weeks.

Well, how can you say NO!
"BUT NOT IN THE HOUSE!" I exclaimed.
"We have big open spaces for this dog to run around."

She not only brought the dog,
but a suitcase filled with his snacks,
registration papers, daytimer giving strict instructions,
manicure scissors, and black plastic baggies.

No dog of mine has ever had a suitcase filled with toys.
They got left over scraps from the table.

Even a Teddy Bear?
Every morning I need to line up his toys in his food dish.
And make sure he has his teddy at night time.....

But then she suggested I could take him on little outings.
Like maybe to the Dog Park, Tea Pot Mountain,
Jade Bay swimming...
I don't think so....He has one big outing at my house.

These are the kind of dogs I like, as I tempt little Silas to craw.
When our dog passed away one and half years ago,
my husband found the best replacement.
Three Wonderful Huskies.
They don't dirty my outside windows.
They don't slobber food and water all over the place.
They don't shed hair and jump up on everyone.
And they don't mess!

Yes, he is finding a heart in all of us....
Yea Drift!
I'm beginning to think that maybe we could have joint custody.

Grown Daughters

We've made a trail.

There are those times when I thought,
"Will they ever move out?"
And now I sit and think,
"I can't wait till they come home again."

These girls were basically born in the forests.
They were infants and we were taking them camping
to Manning Park, a beautiful provincial park in BC.
I dragged them around the trails.
Guess who's dragging me now?

Last weekend I felt so excited when they invited me
to hike up Mount Frosty, in Manning Park.
Unfortunately I could not participate because
I ate something that was ripping me apart.

Those youthful legs carried these young gals
up to the steepest point at 7900 feet.
The hike is 22km round trip and takes about 7 hours.
The view as you can see is breath taking.

Of course there best travelling friend,
Drift also posed at the peak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks ago,
we spent some time at Whistler with two girls.
They were off hiking
while I enjoyed the cycling paths with J.

We had made arrangements to eat at the Mongolian Grill.
So I'm sitting there and waiting.
Punctuality is important.

I looked across the restaurant out the window
and guess who's sitting next door
sipping on their drinks?

Candid Camera, I caught you both!
Is that a smile of guilt or confidence?

The sky's the limit Girls!
This week they are off to Colorado and Arizona
with friends, climbing the Grand Canyon.
I can't wait to post those pictures.

Last week, one of them commented and said,
"It's time you hike, Mom, so you have
something fresh on your blog."
(Not just the grandkids.)

I'm thankful to my grown daughters for their
love, compassion, and ability to reach out.
I would never of known that
through our different generational influences,
we could continue to share dreams
of finding ourselves through connections to each other.

Have a wonderful trip.

Monday Morning Musings

Can you smell the freshly ground coffee?
It's Monday morning,
and I'm sitting by my open window, reflecting about my weekend,
and taking in the warm rays.

Reach out in the early morning mist,
As the day's sun
Breaks the calmness of night,
And rise to the new day,
A new awareness of being.

Shake hands with the world,
And smile.

It's great to be alive.
jonivan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little bit of food poisoning disrupted a planned hike
up to Mount Frosty on Saturday with my daughters.
Not so good.
Ugh!

Meanwhile I made the most delicious ice-cream pie,
with fresh raspberries from Judy's recipe.

Sunday, again, brought the family home for a BBQ
Steak and Prawns,
Freshly dug potatoes.
First Corn of the Season
Raspberry Ice-Cream Cake.

Learning to Spin.
What does spinning mean to you?
Some of you will think of knitting or weaving,
others will think of spinning a Top,
others will still think about how their world spins daily.

Well, I taught my Levi how to spin.
He was estactic to learn a new skill.
So out we trapzed out to our garden to pick some fresh lettuce.
We washed the lettuce, and out came my spinner.
No, it's not electric and it does not have a motor.
In fact no one in my family knew what about my Spinner.

Just a simple technique of holding the bowl and spinning the top.
Yes, this is a process to draw the moisture out of the lettuce.
Did he have fun...

As you can see, he's right into this.
And, of course he's taking home freshly spun lettuce.

But the fun only begins,
because now we're spinning everything in sight.
From swim shorts, to socks, to keys...
You name it...
Somethings aways spinning at our house.

I wonder what this week will bring?

MAJESTY

MAJESTY
For your listening
Here I am humbled by Your Majesty,

Covered by Your grace oh friend.
Here I am knowing I'm a sinful man,
Covered by the blood of the Lamb.
Now I've found the greatest love of all is mine,
Since You laid down Your life,
The greatest sacrifice.

Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
Empty handed but alive in Your hands.

Here I am humbled by the love that You give,
Forgiven so that I can forgive.
So here I stand,
Knowing that I am Your desire,
Sanctified by glory and fire.
And now I've found the greatest love of all is mine,
Since You laid down Your life,
The greatest sacrifice.

Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
Empty handed but alive in your hands.
Singing Majesty, Majesty.
Forever I am changed by Your love,
In the presence of Your Majesty.
Majesty.

We're singing Majesty, Majesty.
Your grace has found me just as I am,
And I'm nothing but alive in Your hands.
We're singing Majesty, Majesty.
Forever I am changed by Your love,
In the beauty of Your Majesty.
Majesty.
Written by Stu Garrard/Martin Smith

Take time to worship your Majesty today!

Raspberry Cake

Never say Never!
It was about 50 years ago, when my hubby had to pick berries,
as a small child and he vowed he would
never plant or grow berries for agriculture.
So he stayed with the animal sector and really enjoyed his occupation.

But seeing that I have been at home over the past two years,
I asked him if we could plant a few ever bearing raspberries.
Well he took that to heart.
Looks who's down on his knees planting berries.

My walking partner phoned this morning
and said she needed a day to catch up.
Fair Enough!
I totally agreed and while we were quickly talking about our days,
I told her I needed something quick for coffee.
"Do I run to town or make something?"
She responded, "Do you have raspberries?"
"I sure do."
(These raspberries are not from our new cuttings. I bought them locally.)

This is one girl that needs to be adding recipe's to our
Mennonite Girls Can Cook.
I scrawled down the recipe and whipped it up.
Saved myself a trip to town,
plus there is nothing like serving something home-made.

Raspberry Cake

1/3 C margarine
1 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp.vanilla
2 C flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C Milk

You know how this works.
Heat oven to 375.
Cream your margarine, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Add your flour baking powder, salt and finally your milk.
Throw into 9x13 greased pan.
Add about 3 Cups of fresh raspberries on top of the cake.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes.

Drizzle a basic icing over the cake and BINGO! It's ready to go.
It' so YUMMY and is definitely a keeper in our home.

Obviously this man could taste the results.
Isn't that what men want?
Fast Results?

Time for Refreshment!

The warm waters are inviting me to chill out today.

A good book, shades, suntan lotion, lawn chair and a hot dog.

This place draws me back again and again.

This patio setting has been driving me crazy.
Maybe I'll attempt to swim up to this patio
later and have some nice ice cafe'?

Anyone else up to a refreshing dip?

The Nu Look

The project continues.
The morning starts early and out come those electronic lasers.
Again, I'm the type that would eyeball everything,
but now I know why my husband has hired this crew to build all our barns.
They are all perfectionists like himself.

Oh No!
Owen, do you think you can reach on your tippy toes?
Everybody is painting!
360 boards in total (2x6) need painting, both sides
and not only once, but twice.
And not only the flat sides but the edges.

The crew had only one more day to work on this project.
How would we ever get this completed?

Monday night saw us eating Pizza for supper at 5:30.
By 7:00 pm, I totally lost it.
Guess what, I'm not 29 any more, like I was way... back.

Somebody obviously grabbed my camera.
Yes, I'm on my knees at 8:30pm, still painting, trying to finish up.
My project boss is finally inspecting my work as you can see.
"You can't stop now, Marg"

It's funny when you loose it, and someone catches you on
your knees and snatches the church in the background.
I needed more than prayer by now......

Drum roll!
The boards are all on!
And look who's standing with his level.
I started calling him names like John German..

But Oh, these cute family cousins.
They just keep making me laugh.
They were having fun, catching field mouses and scaring me.

There will be memories stored in the lives of young and old!
Drive by, have a look, check it out.
Bring your levels.

The coffee is on!!
I'm beginning to think that I need a NU Look
in order to keep up with the demands of this whole crew.
Project Finished!!! Yea!

Monday Morning Musings

Sunday evening has been quiet.
It's so beautiful to walk outside and water the flowers
and feel the warmth of the summer evening.
Who knows what Monday Morning will bring?

My body seems stiff and tired.



The story of the fence continues.
No one imagined the work involved.
These wonderful friends not only repair fences,
but landscaping is close to their hearts.
Men and their tractors!
As you can see they tore out all my rhodo's, cut down trees,
pulled out those old snarly shrubs under my oak tree.

Guess what I was watering last night?
New Rhodo's that they replaced.

Meanwhile the children are enjoying the sprays of the pressure washer.
We all have different reminders of hot summer days.
This week many memories were made.

Coffee time is always a highlight for all.
Friday afternoon, someone placed a bug in my ear
that someone was turning 50!
Off to town I trotted to get the largest DQ ice-cream cake.

One tired little boy at the end of the week.
He did not want to go home.
Am I ready for this morning?
It will be quieter.
No children.

Maybe I can actually get some painting done,
rather than playing the role of Project Manager.
Have a great day!

The Week to End Breast Cancer

It was exactly 3 years ago when a group of us decided to make a difference.
The Weekend to End Breast Cancer 2005.
We would train to walk 60km in two days.
The training started early in March.
We had a great accountability team.
We spent hours walking together on the weekends

Most of us know people who are survivors of breast cancer.
Some of us also know people that did not survive.

We each had to raise $2000 to enter the walk.

Hours were spent fund raising, finding support, and training.

This has been the most emotional experience for me.
We could not run, but only walk.
This was about celebrating life.
We walked with all kinds of people.
Those that had pink lanyards were survivors
and those with blue lanyards were participants raising support.

It was a time of meeting many people.
Your heart just ached when someone
passed you wearing a pink lanyard.
We always said a prayer for them.

But the optimism in their lives was so inspirational.

I didn't expect my husband to be in the crowd as he reached
out to congratulate me for enduring this challenge.
I cried and cried and cried.
I don't sob very often, but this was the kind of experience
that hit home, because we truly need to celebrate life.

Here is our wonderful team from our local community.
Some of us are moms and daughters.
But together we made a difference.
Some of us are friends.
We bonded as a team.
We grew blisters together.
We cried as a team.
We massaged each others feet.
We supported a worthwhile cause
and felt like we could give back to our community.

We all believe that with every dollar we raise,
every person will get a second chance to life.

Be a part of changing your world.
With every step we take,
We are on the Road to Victory.

The Weekend to End Breast Cancer 2008

What Happens When you Leave Home

This is how I left it!
We had visited with our good friends a few weeks ago.
We mentioned the need of a new fence around the yard.
The current fence is rotting and needs to be replaced.
"Oh Yea, We'll give you a hand, No Problem!"
Now, I'm thinking that this project will be for fall.

We were gone for a few days and when we drove on the yard,
my fence was totally broken and torn apart.
First of all, I thought "Vandalism"
But it didn't take long and
And I realized our friends
meant business,
Right Now!

The new posts had been ordered and delivered.
Too little did I know that a fence
can give real character
to your home.
I just reviewed my July 2 post.
You will see how our fence outlines our yard.

It's so bare and messy looking.
No borders. No Shape.
No Perimeters.
Suck it up Marg!

So I will be busy in the kitchen in the next few days
cooking up a storm for these wonderful friends and their kids.
It will be like old times.

Oh Yea, I might as well pick up
Levi so he can play with his cousins,
while they all jump on the tramp with water.

Twenty years ago a few young Dutch boys
dropped by on our farm and needed work.

Not only did they become employees,
but some married into our family
and we still love hanging out together.

It's like someone said,
"And you are still friends after 20 years?"

Let the good times roll.

Can You Name the City?

Let me take you on a tour.
One of our favorite outings is to take our bikes
and explore the country sides or the cities.

Where do you think I'm taking you today?
This is a perfect give away!

Just swing up and over the bridge and what a view.

Cruise down through the board walk.

Seeing is believing.

Another give away.
What a beautiful port among the high rises.

LIVE SHOP DINE

What's this?
Are they tearing it down or reconstructing a building?
Will they ever be ready for the 2010 Olympics?
With less than 589 days left?
I think I need to check out this site, next.

Oh, my favorite spot.
ROMANCE
This is where he proposed, May 11 1973.

You can see this park by foot, bike or horse drawn carriage.

An early morning ride keeps the heat away.
I love the scents and smells of the ocean.

Meanwhile someone else is scouting out a dining place
on the water to end a perfect day.
What part of the world could be nicer?