Running on the Beach!!

The waves are welcoming me on my morning run!!
What better way to start my day?

Once again, as I take you along a shoreline walk,
it's not only the waves you catch, strong or hard,
but it's the warm wind in your hair and hearing the ocean's song.
I could sit by the shoreline and watch the translucent colors all day.

Crash bang, surfers are just loving the waves.
Which one next and they wait and wait and wait
for the perfect wave.
Are waves God’s ways of showing us
that in spite of us not knowing
his plans we can still trust that it will work out right?

I wonder where that wave started?
Was it from an ocean's floor?

Have you ever sailed on the vast ocean?

Standing, waiting for the right wave to crash, getting all soaked
with the warm, brimy, salty tasting water smacking against my lips.

As I returned from my walk, we both met once more
to take a dip into the deep blue sea.
Do you remember that EP?

Dancing back and forth.
As I think about the ocean I feel a cool wind in my hair,
and as a child running on the beach.
I begin to take flight and sail through the sky
looking down at the ocean.
The waves crest and relax.
I fall tired as I think of these waves.
Oh, the beach to be my home one day.

Linda Mary Rachel Huangs

Recharging our Batteries

Every morning was a highlight for me.
First to sit out on the patio and yes, watch the whales,
drink a fresh cup of Kona coffee, eat some fresh fruit
and read, read, and read some more.
Then before it's too warm,
we're on our walk, taking along
our new camera with a lithium battery.
All I had to do was recharge it every night.
Oh yes, our pedometers came along.
We each had our own and if you know me,
I do have a competitive edge.
Most times I won!!

But one day on my trail, I saw this enormous bud.
It was tightly wound.

Every day I began to observe it's changes.
It opened slowly and by the third day,
there were countless sprouts just waiting to burst..

By the fourth day it gradually opened more..

Full bloom.
Absolutely a part of God's creation.
I really enjoyed checking it out each day and unfortunately
I avoided the dried up stage.
Right next to it was another bud growing.

The thoughts that came to my mind were how
these flowers, too, have their stages of life.
I love my stage of life, right now and hopefully
I can continue to bloom where God has planted me.
I need to continue to focus on the circumstances
of life in which I find myself.

Walking became a daily highlight.
BJ's a great walking partner and loves to
scout out all the coffee shops and bakeries along the way.
We'll work on our nutrition when we're home again...
It's so good to get away, dream again
and recharge those batteries.


"I have never been a millionaire.
But I have enjoyed a crackling fire,
a glorious sunset,
a walk with my best friend,
and a hug from a small child.
There are plenty of life's delights for all of us."
Jack Anthony

The Sun is Shining!!

Spring is in the Air and it's wonderful to see the sun shining and the buds bursting from their seams. Makes my fingers itchy for gardening.
The events of Easter are always a reminder of activities we used to do with our own children.











Painting Easter Eggs is always a big event.
Somehow my big helpers told me they didn't need to paint eggs anymore, so I had the wonderful time of calling up my small grandsons and Oh yea, they were more than eager to hide all the eggs and look for them the next day.








Of course, I needed some extra help with decorating the pasta buns. Interesting how eager these little fingers are to help when there is food involved.
Of course the big ones eat it, but to be involved??









I wonder who licked the icing off this bun?
So I continued putting more icing on layer after layer while he licked it off. So Fun!!

While others were diligently working on preparing
for the activities in the house,
still others were working in barns, genetically modifying
the colors of the newly born chicks.
What a surprise for all!!

Activities of Easter are almost over
but some things last in our hearts forever.

At The Foot of The Cross

All week I was trying to visualize Easter once again.
Having been born and raised in a Christian family,
one, sometimes wonders,
"How does the Cross really impact me?"
We've heard the story and songs for so long and
sometimes it's easy to go through the mechanics of the Season.

But this morning when I woke up,
in front of my spacious window stood 4 police cruisers and two
pick-up trucks with young offenders.


I watched and vividly I saw one police member
grab this fellow and check him for weapons,
and before I knew it there was a scuffle.
(meanwhile I'm trying to grab a few pictures,
sneaking around the house.)
Then all of a sudden, the officer needed to add force
and the offender collapsed face-down into the hard pavement.
I was just feeling the excruciating pain...


Immediately my thoughts were focused on Jesus,
thinking about the heavy cross he had to carry,
meanwhile being treated ruthlessly.
Yes, it was at the Cross that Jesus relentlessly gave up,
only to give us hope and life for the future.
He was betrayed and beaten,
but he was obedient to his Father, God.

My prayer went out immediately to those young offenders,
that somewhere in their life, they too,
would have the opportunity to understand
the meaning of the Cross,
and that they will have felt pardoned and forgiven.

We then got ready to attend a local church service in town.
It was such a blessing to be greeted with a
warm face like Judy and her husband,
and better yet we were privileged
to share communion together.

"Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross"

May you all find true meaning at the Foot of the Cross.

Canadians make Headlines in Hawaii

Can you believe this? We left for a vacation to get away from hectic lifestyles, and to enjoy some R&R only to be followed by newspaper reporters upon our arrival at the Honolulu Airport.

We were waiting in line for our luggage and of course we were all excited about coming back to our favorite vacation spot. Hawaii guarantees us warmth and sun all year round. As we were standing and waiting for our luggage, a couple reporters started taking pictures. We spun around to inquire who they were and what they were looking for.

They began probing us for the purpose of our trip. As soon as they asked for our names, we answered quite quickly with false identities like Mr.& Mrs. Lilydale and Mr.& Mrs. Kentucky, hoping they would leave us alone. But nevertheless they were quite humored by our arrival.

They persisted and reluctantly we cooperated and answered a few questions about our perspectives about Canadian tourism in Hawaii. They wondered whether we carried soup tins or cash in our suitcases.

Sure enough a few days later we found our picture in the Star Bulletin . Scroll down to find our picture .

Never did we believe that they would choose this obnoxious picture of one member biting his wife’s shoulder? I’m not sure what he was doing, but we were overwhelmed by the paparazzi, and could not stop laughing. You can never trust a newspaper reporter.

So in all due respect to one member, I have tried to brush up and edit the following picture, to give you a better impression of our traveling mates. Learning to live with a sense of humor and laughter is one of the blessings of life. It's highly important no matter what age, that we cover up for each other and become more accountable on our actions eh Frank?
Ralph Emerson says, "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." Thanks for your friendship.

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." ~Samuel Ullman

Have a great Day

Sew, Now What?

Guess who's Home Again?

I thought that I would be able to come
home and show off my new project!!
Not Sew.
I packaged my wool and placed it neatly in my suitcase.
I thought that when you opened a ball of wool,
you always looked for the yarn in the middle,
so I pulled and pulled and pulled
till the wool started shredding on me.
Now What?

I'm hoping someone out there knows what to do....
I just reread the description and it says it's a 6-strand wool yarn.
It's hand dyed by Handmaiden: Nz aran 200g. S twist.
Anyways I finally found a lone thick strand
with 6 strands intertwined.
This could be tricky for a beginner.
Thanks Corinne for sharing your woolly stories.
I will need to be in touch with you shortly.

But, I did accomplish to read three books
which is totally amazing for me.

This book has taught me to reflect on my own past and
continue to value the strong roots that have been
passed down from my parents and grandparents generation.
Kathy talked about this book on her blog recently.
It's the story of the Nickel Mine shootings where
10 young girls were shot and 5 died.
AMISH GRACE explores the many questions
this story raises about the religious beliefs
and habits that led the Amish to forgive so quickly.

Can a parent love too much or is too much never enough?
This is a provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues.
"My Sister's Keeper" is the story of one family's struggle
for survival at all human costs
and a stunning moral parable for all time.
How often we as moms/caregivers/females think we are totally right
and yet how often we second-guess every step of the way.
It's full of insight, inspiration and heartbreak.

Braestrup's husband, a Maine state trooper,
died in a car crash, leaving her with four young children
and a powerful burden of grief.
She responded to the tragedy by taking up
an unexpected new career as a chaplain in the Maine Warden Service.
When a child goes missing in the woods,
or a swimmer disappears, or a snowmobiler crashes through the ice,
she's the one on-hand to counsel worried parents
and grieving survivors.
She's seen it all, and her memoir,
though it's full of horror stories, is surprisingly funny and redemptive.
I take my hat off to all chaplains. It's a challenging world.

These words are posted in our family room
and sew whether it's knitting or reading,
all of these emotions were relived in my life in the past week.
Again, we lived, we loved and we laughed.

Stay tuned for more pictures.

The Wool Barn

On our drive into the city last week, I saw this little wool store. I looked at my husband and said, "I think we're 30 minutes early for our appointment. Could we stop just for a minute?" As I stepped into the store, I new that I couldn't go home with out a purchase.

There were skeins and skeins of wool rolled nicely in baskets.
I have never seen such beautifully dyed colors.
Then I picked up this skein of multi-colored wool
which I thought could make some beautiful scarves.
The clerk looked at me and said,
"Do you know how to knit
or do you know how to to roll the skein into a ball?
I looked at her and said,
"I have no clue what you're talking about, but please help me."
So she guided me to this tool.

I still have no clue what it's called but she put me to work
and I spun this handle round and round
until the skein was nicely woven into a round ball.
This is the end result.
I wanted to start knitting immediately.
Meanwhile, once you get home,
there's so many other things that take priority.
I had both my little grandsons today and enjoyed the day outside
showing them the new born lambs.
Meanwhile I made some fresh Paska, using Laurie's recipe.
They are Oh.. so yummy!
I will be out of blogland for the next week and will
be working on some new projects overseas.
The ocean is calling my name.
I'll show you the results later.
I've packed two pedometers along just keeping check.
Have a great week and enjoy the sun.

Glorious!

No, this is not the Easter Message.
This is live theater that we enjoyed in the city this weekend.
This is the true story of Florence Jenkins who lived from 1868 - 1944
She is an American soprano who became famous for her lack of musical abilities.
She is known as the worst singer in the world.
She can't sing a note. She screeches and squawks.
But she has a love for music and
no one in the world will drive her passion away.

She was a women who knew how to be full of joy and
incredibly happy and hugely popular.
It's an old fashion play written in the style of the 1940's/1950's
How could a woman with so little talent be so full of joy?
This play is somewhat old fashioned, but in the best possible way.
It is not political, or modern, nor does it carry with it any great social message.
It is designed purely to amuse and to delight.
She is a rather admirable figure who teaches us
that we should all try and live our dreams.

Check her out on You Tube.
(I'm keeping my finger crossed that the link will open for you.)
She is well known for the "Laughing Song,
From "Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss Jr.
If you are looking for a good laugh, you will love Florence
and she will laugh and live in your heart for ever.

Have a Glorious Day!!