Midweek Random Ramble016

1.  Did you notice the snowflakes here at Buddy Breathing? Wait for them… wait… there they are!  Aren’t they cool? I even managed to upload a photo as a backdrop to the snow… real Canadian Rockie Mountains… for your viewing pleasure. Yes, it’s winter here. For my friends down under, I will be thinking of you basking in sunshine while we are shoveling out again and again. It’s supposed to be a very snowy winter… La Nina and all that!

2.  #1 Son and I joined the choir at Trinity, our home church. This was to some degree ‘Carpe Diem’ inspired, plus being with #1 Son inspired (he graduates from High School this year), plus watching the choir and saying, ‘Boy, I’d love to sing in the Choir’ for 17 years inspired. Getting to participate in the Christmas Eve Services… definitely inspiring!

3. What is it about renovating and decorating that’s so on steroids? Back in the day I have no recollection of my parents upgrading our family home, other than to paint it from time to time. In their home now, they’ve done a few things, like new flooring, painting kitchen cabinets, even adding ‘wallpaper’, but the trend or the mindset or whatever you want to call it these days, is complete do-overs. Anytime around the 10 year mark of being in a home it’s ‘time to upgrade’. And that usually means ripping things out and starting over. I wonder why? I could easily be swept up into this mindset, consider how my tired kitchen could be completely replaced. But is that really a good and honourable and needed use of our dollars… I mean in light of all the other needs around us in our world. Just saying…

4. My Christmas (Holy-Day) Top Ten Favourite Things;

1.  Picking up a special coffee drink, and meeting a good friend at the local garden centre. Admiring all the lavish decor.

2.  Baking my Scottish Grandmother’s shortbread cookie recipe, dipping them partly in chocolate for something extra special. Eating them with family and friends. Baking other family recipes. Eating them. Ignoring calories.

3.  Planning our family Caroling Party. Thinking up party games that we haven’t played yet. Walking around in the darkness and cold, trying to read the words off the song sheets by candle light. Being greeted by surprised neighbours who sometimes join in the singing. Coming back home to warm drinks and conversations.

4.  Adding Irish cream to our Christmas morning coffee. Having a second cup! (Bob and I, not the kids!)

5.  Setting the table for dinner each Sunday night in December, lighting the Advent candles one by one… then lighting the Christ Candle in celebration of his arrival, so many years ago, and his presence with us, today.

6.  Opening Christmas cards from far away places, like Northern Ireland. Considering how good it feels to hold snail mail in your hand.

7.   Staying up late on Christmas Eve with Bob, wrapping gifts in the quiet of the house. Looking out the window for snow. Listening to  Messiah. Putting the gifts under the tree. Standing back in relief and gratitude that we pulled it together again. Anticipating the kids happiness in the morning. Falling into flannel sheet coziness for a long short winter’s nap.

8.  The smell of the tree (yes, real).

9.  Taking out all the decorations the kids have made over the years and hanging them on the family style tree (nope, no designer tree for us!) Trying hard not to cry.

10.  Listening to Handel‘s Messiah over and over again, at high volume, and singing along wherever possible!

Well that’s all for today, folks. I must complete some out of town gift wrapping and packaging and get myself to the Post Office before the morning is over.

Have fun with your own Christmas favourite things, and why not share them here with the rest of us.

Really, what are your Christmas Top Ten Favourite Things??

Sol deo gloria,

Lesley-Anne

Mid-week random ramble 005

Image by b1ubb via Flickr

1.  It’s smokey again… yesterday afternoon the sun took on an orange haze and the light levels dropped drastically… there’s this eery quiet that comes with that. Reminds me of 2003 Firestorm… remember those days… sounds of water bombers directly overhead our house, swooping low for another load of lake water. Sirens, always sirens. And then the night the knock came on the door and we had to leave. We returned to our home 5 days later, others were not so fortunate.

2. Sleeping in is becoming over-rated. I’m looking forward to the early mornings and scheduled days again. While summer is fun and laid back, it can also become aimless. That’s when I know I need to take on a task or think outside of my own needs and desires. Have someone over to the house, do a deed of service, plan something bigger.

3. When people go to the beach they bring towels. When people come to swim at our pool, more times than not, they forget their towels. I keep a lovely basket on our porch filled with towels most of the time. And they are available for everyone to use. So I’m not begrudging the use of the towels… just noticing an interesting phenomenon. I’m also noticing that I have a couple of towels that didn’t originate with our family. A poolside perk for us!

4. Emmy (our GSP puppy) chewed on played with my little 4 year old friend… just a little bit… and she cried, and then I felt terrible. The little girl’s mother, a dear friend, didn’t freak out… and there being no physical evidence of the encounter playdate, we dried her daughters little tears, got her a drink of juice and carried on. That’s true friendship… grace under fire!

5. Going through some bins in the basement I came across my high school report cards. Embarrassed to admit that my marks are slightly less than I remember them being. Malcolm suggested we post them on the fridge to establish a baseline for their report cards. Funny guy!!!

6. Enjoyed a lovely Tuesday evening (Aug. 17) at the Caravan Farm Theatre with Claire. We arrived early… she was the very first one at the box office when it opened. We spread out a blanket on the ground (carefully staying clear of evidence of large horses in close proximity) and enjoyed some sushi while we waited. We played a board game, ate some chocolate, laughed until we peed our pants cried, chatted to the other theatre goers that had also arrived early, and that was the first two hours. What followed was another two hours of magic! If you live in the Interior of B.C. and have never taken in one of the Caravan Farm Theatre productions near Armstrong, you really should. Their summer production, ‘EVERYBODY’ is a modern morality play in 7 acts… each one written by a different theatrical company from the Lower Mainland. The audience sits in a rustic wooden amphitheatre, and each one of the acts incorporates horse (large work horses!!!) drawn wagons of actors and stage sets which come and go in front of the audience. Dusk falls, temperatures become more moderate, lights and music and audience participation ensues… and it’s just magic.

Our only disappointment was the lack of conclusion after the miriad of virtuous and vice-like decisions were presented… but that’s postmodernism at it’s very best. Nothing definite, nothing tied up in a neat little bow… draw your own conclusions… don’t want to have any moral absolutes, do we? But, we Evan’s girls had a great time anyway… a teaching moment on how one can enjoy without having to agree on everything!

Keep your eyes open for their Christmas production… in which the audience is borne on horse drawn sleighs (complete with jingle bells, hot cocoa, and cold noses) through the night-time countryside to each of several stage sets. It might become a tradition if you try it.

As Porky Pig so eloquently says… “That’s all folks!!!”

Lesley-Anne

Related Articles

• Down on the farm, a play is sprouting (theglobeandmail.com)
• A long experiment that carries on (theglobeandmail.com)