If we are peaceful,
if we are happy,
we can smile,
and everyone in our family,
our entire society,
will benefit from our peace.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I am incredibly grateful to live in a country, like Canada, where it is easy to feel peaceful, to be happy, to smile. O how I wish the same for everyone in this precious world of ours...

Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Let us not be afraid to walk the arduous path of peace...

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
~ Mother Teresa

Let us be living reminders that we all belong to each other...

Let us join our voices and hearts and prayers together...Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear OLDER sister,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!
With love from your YOUNGER sister ♥
Muahahahahahahahaha...

The Happy Happy Birthday Song by the Arrogant Worms

As I wrote yesterday, we bought ourselves a Boler. I'm sure we will tour around with it a bit, but we're also getting a seasonal site at the campground where our friends have their camper, and I expect we'll mostly just camp there. It's far enough from our house that it has the "getting away from the real world" feeling, but still less than half an hour's drive away - is perfect really!

The campground is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Nova Scotia, on a small lake which is suitable for swimming early in the summer season (before the geese mess it up too much) and for canoeing (although it would help if we actually had a canoe or kayak!) I also hear they shoot off some amazing Canada Day fireworks from a platform out in the middle of the lake, so hoping to check that out next summer.

So my hubby, Dave, has been wanting one of those little fibreglass Boler trailers for years, decades even. They are not easy to come by, at least not ones that are in good condition AND a decent price. (Not to mention that over the years I've mostly just laughed and said yeah right, I'm not going camping in something that's barely bigger than a breadbox.) But, after all these years, the universe has finally smiled upon him. A guy in a neighbouring community was selling his 1972 Boler, and we happened along just at the right time to buy it.

Now you might wonder how Dave convinced me to go along with this purchase...well, he started threatening to build some kind of camper himself. Suddenly a factory made Boler, no matter how small, seemed like an attractive option! Therefore...

I am grateful that we now own a real camper, albeit tiny, and not a homemade contraption.

I think we'll enjoy camping in our new (old) Boler. It's actually pretty cute, although it would be nice to paint it something more exciting than off white (something less egg-like perhaps?) And if it turns out I hate it, we can always sell it in a year or two for the same or higher price - they are just that much in demand. Seriously, it's like some kind of cult or something...and now we're part it, oh dear!

These campers seem often to be referred to as an "egg on wheels" (you'll understand why after you check out the following photos.) I was just reading an article on the history of the Boler, and it said the creator Ray Olecko "was looking for an unusual name for the trailer, and thinking that it looked a little like a bowler hat, he decided on Boler!" (So Valerie, there is a connection to the hat after all!)

Here are some photos:

"Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality - not as we expect it to be but as it is - is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love."
~ F. Buechner

I don't know how one would truly capture such a thought visually, but I was browsing through my photos and stopped at this one, which I took in Newfoundland this past summer, of my friend Valerie and her sister Juanita (aka "J" in my vacation stories):

And I was reminded of something Valerie wrote in one of her recent Thursday Thoughts emails to our congregation:

"...we walk a road that is filled with twists and turns and sometimes difficult blows as well as the moments of joy and celebration. Faith is about not making that walk alone. God comes to us in many ways – the quiet of moment; a beautiful sunset; the changing colours of the fall; a raging storm; or a gentle wind. But more often than not, God comes to us in the presence of another who stands beside us- holding, challenging, loving, listening.

Today I give thanks for those in my life who have revealed to me, again and again, the presence and power of God..."

I remember that when I read her words, I imagined she was speaking of those in her life like her sister J. So I thought what better portrays Buechner's sense of lives that "flow into each other as wave flows into wave" and "where there really is, in just this sense, love" than this beautiful photo? ♥

A friend posted this video on facebook recently, I hadn't seen it before but think it delivers a powerful message.

I am grateful for rainbows...

This morning, in particular, I am incredibly grateful for the rainbow that arched across the sky above my backyard. The graceful curve and brilliant colours brightened my cloudy heart.

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
~ Genesis 9:13 (NIV)

Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.
~ Rita Mae Brown

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
~ Lord Byron

What a privilege to be here on the planet to contribute your unique donation to humankind. Each face in the rainbow of colors that populate our world is precious and special.
~ Morris Dees

Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail.
~ Navajo song

As always, each Friday I invite you to click over to Diana Strinati Baur's blog and check out the other Gratitude Friday Club blogs...

Where the Wild Things Are...is in the original book.

Plot summary from wikipedia:
The text consists of only ten sentences. It tells the story of Max, who one evening plays around his home, "making mischief" in a wolf costume. As punishment, his mother sends him to bed without supper. In his room, a mysterious, wild forest and sea grows out of his imagination, and Max sails to the land of the Wild Things. The Wild Things are fearsome-looking monsters, but Max conquers them "by staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once", and he is made "the King of all Wild Things", dancing with the monsters in a "wild rumpus". However, he soon finds himself lonely and homesick, and he returns home to his bedroom, where he finds his supper waiting for him, still hot.

This was one of my favourite books when I was a little girl. I could totally relate to the whole inner wild thing concept. Feeling overwhelmed with emotion, not knowing why or what to do with it, but needing some way to release the pent up energy of it. I delighted in the imagery of the wild rumpus and the roaring beasts who gnashed their terrible teeth, and sighed their terrible sighs. And it made perfect sense that young Max's interlude with the wild things was just a temporary one after which, with no explanation needed, life returns to normal.

I listened to Simon and Garfunkle's The Sound of Silence this morning, and am inspired to write a second gratitude entry this week!

I think there is much truth in the lyrics to this song...the metaphoric words of the prophets are most often written in places where we forget to look, and whispered in the silences we don't take time to listen to.

This song about the sound of silence kind of ties in with my previous entry, although a different way of listening to the silence. Not listening for your own sake, but listening for others. Listening for the voices of those who have grown silent, weary of having their words fall on deaf ears. Those of us living lives of wealth and privilege do too often bow and pray as lip service only. We go to church on Sunday morning, we hear the words about what we are called to do, but we do not always listen, and certainly we do not always act. In fact, we often simply return to our comfy lives and think no more about the ways in which we might help others, or the ways in which we might change the world. In fairness, it is hard to sustain a belief that one person can make a difference, so we get disheartened and feel helpless and overwhelmed at the size of the problems facing our world.

I am grateful for an employer who is engaged in charitable efforts, who offers us opportunities to respond with action. One such opportunity arose last week, when volunteers were requested to participate in the United Way Day of Caring. I, and several others from my department (I work for the provincial government) were allowed time off to volunteer and were assigned to a work team that would be painting sections of a men's shelter owned by the Metropolitan Immigration Settlement Association (MISA). A small act of helping, but every small act is a step in the right direction. Here is the story, and a couple photos of our team.

This week's entry wrote itself...and a day early at that!

It all began with my friend Valerie's weekly email to her church family. (For those who don't already know this, Valerie is the minister at my church, which is how we came to know each other and then grew into being best friends.)

Anyway, her email went like this (with the reminders of upcoming events edited out):

"Good morning

Blessings
Valerie

Saw this on a friend's facebook...thought it sounded kind of fun, so am stealing it from him!

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

1. Dirty Dancing
2. Princess Bride
3. Mamma Mia
4. Sound of Music
5. Under the Tuscan Sun
6. Highlander
7. An Officer and a Gentleman
8. The Way We Were
9. Fried Green Tomatoes
10. Philadelphia
11. Rocky Horror Picture Show
12. La Bella e Vita (Life is Beautiful)
13. Guys and Dolls
14. Jesus Christ Superstar
15. Brokeback Mountain

Oh just thought of one more movie that will forever stick with me, but not in a good way! I'll leave you with this hint: I hear banjos...

What are YOUR 15 memorable movies?

A short and sweet note of gratitude today...I am grateful for cats.

The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.
~French Proverb

These wonderful little creatures bring such joy and comfort into our lives (along with furballs and clawed up furniture and constant demands to be let in-and-out and in-and-out!) There is something inexplicably soothing about the presence of a cat. Their individual personalities are a source of amusement (or should I say bemusement?!), wonder and delight.

Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience.
~Pam Brown

Here is our regal Winston, who has laid claim to my pretty butterfly rug:

And when our feline friends lean into our arms and grace us with purring...ah, whose heart is not flooded with warmth and love?

Are we really sure the purring is coming from the kitty and not from our very own hearts?
~Emme Woodhull-Bäche, translated

If purring could be encapsulated, it'd be the most powerful anti-depressant on the pharmaceutical market.
~Alexis F. Hope

If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favorite cat, they, too, would purr.
~Martin Buxbaum

If there were to be a universal sound depicting peace, I would surely vote for the purr.
~Barbara L. Diamond

M and our tiny Polly, doing her best impersonation of a scarf:

I read this quotation on my friend Barb's blog earlier in the week, and it inspired today's entry:

Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things.
~ Saki

Well I'm not going to tell you hundreds of things, but I will tell you one story. The story of how my favourite tea came to be called "crappy tea"...

Once upon a time...I was picking up some produce at Avery's Farm Market and I noticed that they carried a few types of Just Us! tea. One in particular, called Organic Lemon & Honey, sounded very tasty, so I picked up a box to try. It was indeed tasty, so the next time I was at Avery's, I picked up a box for my friend Valerie, too.

Sometime later...I was at her house chatting with her husband Mark. (We have a running joke that he's my "real" friend, because of all the times I've ended up visiting him in her absence when she's been called away for some pastoral emergency or another. Valerie once said it was really a friendship test...if I could put up with her goofy husband, I must be a true friend! In truth, I enjoy his company very much and have grown enormously fond of him, especially after we all spent so much time together in Newfoundland.) Anyway this particular day, Mark asked if I wanted coffee or tea or anything. I said a cup of tea would be lovely, and followed him into the kitchen. He said, "do you want regular tea, or [picking up a box from the counter] this crappy tea?" It was, of course, the box of lemon & honey tea that I'd left at their house on a previous visit. I laughed and replied, "Hey, I brought that crappy tea! And yes, I will have a cup of that crappy tea, thank you very much!" So I had a lovely cup of crappy tea, and we carried on with our visit.

Naturally I had to share this story with Valerie when next I saw her and, as I knew she would, she found it just as funny as I did. And so Just Us! Lemon & Honey tea is now, and will forevermore be, referred to as "crappy tea" in our little world. The incident hadn't stuck in Mark's head at all though because a few months later, Valerie and I were talking about having crappy tea and he asked why do we always call it that. "Well (snicker, snicker), you started it", we replied...and reminded him of the story.

Just the other day, I read the back of the box...

...and discovered that, lo these past many months, I've been using an improper technique - gasp - henceforth, I shall stop swishing the teabag about and instead patiently wait for the flavours to unfold as it steeps.

Today, I am grateful for the relaxing warmth of tea, for the many stories shared over cups of tea, (for inside jokes!), and for the wonderful metaphor tea provides for living: that it is best enjoyed when all its delicious flavours and aromas are allowed to unfold and mingle as they will...

As always, each Friday I invite you to click over to Diana Strinati Baur's blog, where you will find links to the other Gratitude Friday Club. Let your heart be warmed and lifted as their stories of gratitude unfold...

Saw this on Jill's blog, got a kick out of her responses, so am doing it too. Just because.

The ABCs of me:

Available or single?

Sorry to break your heart but neither - I'm already taken ;)

Best Friend?

Well if you have to ask...welcome to my blog, stranger!
(Feel free to poke around, you won't have to look back very far to find the answer.)

Cake or Pie?

Pie, methinks...in fact, I might put in an order for birthday pie this year (although the past cakish creations of my sister have been divine, for sure!!)

Drink of choice?

Crappy tea!! (Ok I confess, my first choice is really boring old water, but crappy tea's good too.)

Essential item for every day use?

My glasses...or maybe my toothbrush, 'cause who wants to go around with morning breath all day?

Favorite color?

Yellow.

Google?

...is a search engine? Not sure what else to say about it...

Hometown?

...has changed several times over the years. Currently it is where I now live.

Indulgences?

Oh where to start...wine, ice cream, chocolate, spending too much time on my blog ;)

January or February?

February, because both my daughters, Sara and M, were born in February, and so was my best friend.

Kids and their names?

Two daughters. Yes, they both have names...real ones too, not just "whatchamacaller" and "youthere"

Life is incomplete without…?

Love...and chocolate

Marriage date?

August 8

Number of siblings?

One older sister with whom I grew up, plus three much younger brothers and one younger sister from my father's second marriage.

Oranges or apples?

...are not the same. Oh was I supposed to choose which I prefer? Apples, I guess, but both are tasty.

Phobias and fears?

Maggots...shudder.

Quote for the day?

"Little children, headache; big children, heartache"
~ Italian Proverb (so the internet tells me, which means it must be true.)

Reason to smile?

Because my heart is full of joy ♥

Season?

They're all wonderful for different reasons, although my relationship with winter is a bit strained bytimes.

Tag 3 people?

Nah, I'll pass...if anyone else wants to make up their own responses, go for it!

Unknown fact about me?

Unknown to you, and fairly new to me: I have ADD/ADHD, according to Sara's psychiatrist. (This explains many things!)

Vegetable you hate?

I honestly cannot think of one (yes, I even like brussel sprouts and turnip)

Worst habit?

Whatever do you mean? I have no bad habits, clearly you must have me confused with someone else...

Xrays you’ve had?

Hmm, do mammograms count? If so, half a dozen or thereabouts...if not, just one that I recall.

Your fave food?

Is ice cream considered a *food*??

Zodiac sign?

Aries

I am infinitely grateful for that small but mighty act of love called HUG. What a rush of comfort, strength, and belonging floods through us when we are wrapped in the embrace of someone we love. I honestly can't say which is more wonderful, getting a hug or giving a hug! In moments when words just can't be found, what a blessing that our body language can come to the rescue with a hug. ♥

Millions and millions of years would still not give me half enough time to describe that tiny instant of all eternity when you put your arms around me and I put my arms around you.
~ Jacques Prévert

Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism.
~ Leo Buscaglia