Tonight's Dinner

Tonight, Medardo, Heida, and Rudy are cooking an authentic Mexican meal for us today. Medardo has been living with us since September and is attending high school here. His brother Rudy has been here all year too. Heida, their sister is visiting for a while. They asked if I would like it if they cooked a meal for us.

Of course!

It's neat listening to them. Heida is obviously in charge. She's the oldest after all and every now and then I hear some spirited discussion happening where the boys think they have a better idea than Heida. She usually wins.




They are a neat family and I think their mom would be so proud of them!

The Itinerary

Leave Winnipeg Sunday September 9

Arrival in Rome Monday September 10. Spend a few days in Rome

Saturday September 15-18 we'll spend a few days touring around Siena

Bike tour begins on Tuesday September 18 at 9:30

• DAYS 1+2: Castellina in Chianti. Meet in Siena and cycle north through fields and vineyards. After lunch in a tiny village, we’ll visit Radda on our way to Castellina. Exclusive wine tastings at a wine enoteca and dinner at a local trattoria. On our 2nd day enjoy a scenic ride with a visit to the Castle of Meleto, which has marked the history of one of the most important families of the Chianti area. For those who would like a more challenging ride, San Gimignano's medieval towers beckon from distant hills. The village, surrounded by stone walls boasts some of the best-preserved monuments in the region. Our hotel in Castellina is a charming 3-star hotel, close to cafes and restaurants.
  
• DAY 3: Sovicille Our route takes us to Monterrigioni; with its perfectly preserved walls and cobbled streets you will find the charm immediate. Our hotel is located in the country-side with a pool and surrounded by an extensive park. For those interested in cooking lessons prior to dinner, the chef here will gladly demonstrate.
  
• DAY 4: Asciano For some, this will be a favorite day of riding as we pedal through gently rolling countryside lined with cypress trees. Asciano is full of museums and monuments, and is also a perfect base to reach the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, where monks still produce wine, honey, olive oil and a cure-all herb liquor. Art lovers will not want to miss the frescoes painted by Sodoma and Signorelli that have been preserved here since the 15th century. Our 3-star hotel in Asciano is brand new with all amenities.
  
• DAYS 5+6: Pienza We save the most spectacular riding for last as we visit the tiny villages of Petroio and Castelmuzio on our way to Pienza, full of Renaissance monuments; our hotel here is quietly situated 150 meters from the central plaza and has large comfortable rooms and a casualness that you will enjoy. On our final day of riding, we’ll ride to Montepulciano and Monticchiello riding through a ‘photographers’s paradise’. We’ll complement our final evening meal with bottles of the local wines and toast our time together in Tuscany. Viva dolce!
  

Monday September 24 to Wednesday September 26-Firenze

Wednesday September 26-Milan (see if I can pick up a few designer fashions-cheap)

Milan to Edinburgh

September 27-October 1- Carlisle GB. We'll be spending a few days with my mom's youngest sister and her husband.

Leave Edinburgh to London Gatwick Monday October 1 at 11:35

Monday October 1 at 18:15-Home again

Thursday Thirteen

This is my first Thursday Thirteen. I've never been able to get all the way to 13 but today, I will.

1. I was at Costco today. And Superstore. And Sobeys. Yuck. I was looking for the best deal on bone-in chicken breasts for a catering job that we are doing on the weekend.


2. Prices on bone-in chicken breasts do not vary much between grocery stores here in Winnpeg.


3. I think I didn't save any money by driving to all three places and then ending up at the first place I went.


4. Reusable grocery bags are great. I use them all the time. But when "chicken juice" gets spilled in one and is not cleaned out, it can make your whole car smell like a dead mouse. Yuk.


5. Jed came over to play with Dixie today while Michele and I practised together.


6. Dogs are like toddlers. They always want to play right where you are. They knocked Michele's music down a few times.


7. Dixie finds my foot going up and down on the damper pedal on the piano fascinating. To her it is another thing to play with.


8. I will have to cover my plants tonight. I knew I was taking a chance when I planted in early May that there could be frost so I'm not surprised.


9. Our itinerary for our amazing trip to Tuscany in the fall is finished. I'll post that one of these days soon.


10. We haven't been biking as much as we'd like because it's been so wet and nasty. I'm expecting perfect weather in Tuscany so I think I should practise biking only in perfect weather.


11. We do need to find some hills in Manitoba to bike on before our trip. I understand that Tuscany is quite hilly and this prairie girl is only used to flat land.


12. CBC Radio 1 has moved over to the FM dial. I am so happy because now, the really bad songs they play sound just a little better.


13. I am posting this on Friday because I just finished it today. The story of my life. Start something one day and finish it just a little later than the deadline.

The Novice Gardener

I love the look of pretty flowers in containers but when I look at them at the nurseries, they seem a little too expensive for me.

I thought that I could create my own container gardens, seeing as I have been doing this gardening thing for a whole year and a half.

Here is one of my first creations:

If you think that the large plants look like romaine lettuce-you're right. I thought it was calendula when I planted it but now I'm pretty sure that it's lettuce.

Sigh.

I think I have a lot to learn.

Election 2007

Yesterday was election day in Manitoba. The incumbent in my area won, as was predicted even though I did my best to keep that from happening.

Kristen voted in her first provincial election. She didn't know who to vote for so I told her. Even with our 2 votes, our man did not win.

Sigh.

We live in a very strong NDP riding. Provincially and federally, the NDP always wins here. It's a little discouraging because, my vote really doesn't make much of a difference. But vote I do. It is the one time that true democracy reigns and I never want to take that for granted.

Besides, if my dad found out I didn't vote, he'd disown me.

creation calls

-brian doerksen

i have felt the wind blow
whispering your name
i have seen your tears fall
when I watch the rain

how could I say there is no god
when all around creation calls
a singing bird a mighty tree
the vast expanse of open sea

gazing at a bird in flight
soaring through the air
lying down beneath the stars
i feel your presence there

i love to stand at ocean's shore
and feel the thund'ring breakers roar
to walk through golden fields of grain
'neath endless blue horizon's frame

listening to a river run
watering the earth
the fragrance of a rose in bloom
a newborn's cry at birth

how could i say there is no god
when all around creation calls
a singing bird a mighty tree

the vast expanse of open sea

It is hard for me, after watching my beautiful perennial garden grow, to imagine that there is not some higher power at work in this world. I happen to call this higher power God and in the spring, I find that the creation and new life all around me is a witness to God's creative genius.

This blog's gone international.

I'd like to welcome the "Dutch" connection. My parents are on a 3 week trip to the Netherlands to visit their respective families and I just received an email telling me that they arrived safely, had a glass of wine and some herring and are raring to start their vacation.

I'm jealous. I've been there 3 times in total and I loved every minute. Our family in the Netherlands is fun, interesting and extremely hospitable. They know how to have a good time and to show someone a good time.

My mother is the second oldest of 8 children and for the first time in "forever" they will all be together for a siblings event. I'm looking forward to the pictures. For now, here's one from 2 years ago at mom and dad's 50th Anniversary celebration.

Happy Birthday Dad

My dad is 78 today. That sounds old but when you see him and talk to him, you realize that it isn't very old. His hearing might be going, just a wee bit (although he claims everyone mumbles) and his eyes are still pretty good. One of his hips has been replaced and is standing up to his active lifestyle just fine.

The brain is also as sharp as it was years ago as is his sense of humour.

Michele has written some great memories of dad already. I'd like to add a few more.

The renovations were such a blast for me. There were always people around helping dad and mom, Yvonne and I would make sure there was coffee made and fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies. Nobody could make them like we could. One of my most vivid remembrances is of dad, upstairs, feeding John, downstairs, some wire or something and the two of them hollering back and forth.

Dad: "DO YOU SEE IT?"
John: "NO. WAIT. I THINK I SEE IT!
Dad: "START PULLING!"
John: "I CAN'T REACH IT! OH. NOW I'VE GOT IT!"
Dad: STOOOOOP! YOU JUST PULLED IT OUT OF MY HANDS!"
John: "HEY DAD! IT'S REALLY EASY TO PULL NOW!

Or something like that anyway. Whenever Wes needs to do something like that with someone here, I am immediately brought back to Saturdays, when I was young.

As he renovated our home room by room, dad insulated everything he could, long before other people recognized the importance of a well insulated house. Usually it was pink fibreglass insulation but one day I remember him coming home with bags of something called vermiculite. Dad thought it would be a great way to insulate one of the outside walls that would have been hard to do with the batts. He poured bags of the stuff into an opening in the wall on the second floor and at one point commented that he was using more than he he had estimated. It wasn't much later that we discovered a huge pile of vermiculite on the basement floor. He had poured it right through the wall.

When I was in Grade 2, we had to tell our teacher what our dad did for a living. I didn't know so my teacher asked me what he could do. My response, "He fixes things."
The teacher asked me what kinds of things he fixed and I answered, as proud as a little girl could, "He fixes EVERYTHING!"

Dad could fix everything- from car engines, washers and dryers to slinky toys. He made us beds when we were small with a little half railing to keep us from falling out of bed in the night. I was so proud of those beds!

Dad never did a lot of cooking but on ocassion, maybe once a year, he would treat us to deep fried onion rings. We loved them! He has his specialties now-bean salad, succulent chicken on the spit and some other grilled foods. Had he been born in a different time, he would have spent alot more time in the kitchen. It is neat to see a man of his age experimenting with foods and cooking when most men his age are happy to remain out of the kitchen.

Dad owned his own business with a partner for many years. One day, he was talking about some guy who took 10% off the invoice that dad submitted. I was shocked that someone would do that and I asked dad what he was going to do about it. He simply said, "I'll just charge him 15% extra next time. I was impressed with the incredible wisdom of my dad.

He owned a business, worked very hard, but never got rich. One year he commented how one of his employees actually made more than he did that year. But I never sensed any bitterness from dad about that. When you spend 2 hours in an afternoon fixing an lonely old woman's toaster, you won't make much money. I think dad always recognized that there was more to life than money.

There's lots more I could say but for now, I'll leave you with a few "dadisms."

Ha Ha! It's the cat's meow!
I'm stiff as a doornail. (Actually, he only said this once but we have never let him forget it.)
It'll put hair on your chest.
Mama mia!
Well you're quite the Speedy Gonsales.

Finally, here is a picture of dad and Michele. Isn't it lovely?

Happy birthday dad!

Memories of a Weekend

Frequently I find myself on a Friday afternoon wondering about the upcoming weekend. This weekend, as happens often, we had little planned but by the time I crawled into bed yesterday, I was happy, tired and satisfied.

I should have known the weekend was off to a good start when Carolyn offered us free tickets to a wine tasting event at the Convention Centre. There were at least 120 booths there with no fewer than 4 different selections at each booth. There were spit buckets (there's probably a much more sophisticated word for those but I don't know what it is) for those tasters who preferred to spit. They did not fill up very fast. I find it a little hard to spit in a lady-like manner without dribbling so I tend to taste and swallow. Sometimes I wonder if I might lean towards a tendency to be an alcoholic but I was pleased to discover that after having what I estimated to be a half litre of wine (well, maybe three quarters of a litre), I was quite happy to quit. Everything started tasting the same to me anyway.


Saturday, Wes and I worked around the house and got the winter cover for the pool cleaned off. That's not one of our favourite jobs so it felt good to put it away. Then, after dinner, a lovely little walk to our favourite ice cream shop, Sub-Zero.


Sunday was great as usual. I never tire attending church. That's a good thing. This Sunday, I was the person in charge of music. That means I got to pick the songs and then lead the band in practise and on Sunday morning. This time around, I spent a lot of time choosing the songs and learning a few new ones and I must say, the band did a bang-up job. We had a blast.


Got a great watering can for mother's day from Wes and "the kids." It's a beauty. Do you see how nicely the water sprays out from from the end of the can?

Sunday night we went to one of Manitoba's most interesing places, the "Half Moon." It's a nifty 50's style restaurant in Lockport. We went with some of my favourite people for ice cream.

I must confess that I've lived in Winnipeg for almost 28 years and this is the first time I've been there. We'll be going again soon. The hard ice cream's delicious and the home cooked fries are the best. It's on the banks of the Red River and is a great place for both humans and dogs to hang out on a lovely evening.

And a final great shot (I think Joey took this one) of George and Chelsea.

Our Home

I live in one of the most beautiful houses in this city. It is about 100 years old and as solid as the day it was built. It withstood the flood of 1950, while nearly all of the city was under water. It has also withstood fire, renovations, and the comings and goings of numerous people and various pets including a rabbit, 2 cats, a few fish, and 2 dogs.

This old house has a turret, a 3rd floor with windows and dormers, 10 foot ceilings, hardwood floors, a front porch and a screened-in back porch. It has lots of good sized closets and a huge eat-in kitchen. It has a dining room and a big living room that houses a gorgeous piano.

Today, there are 7 people living here. Until last fall, we had a guest bedroom that was used exclusively for guests (and insomniacs). I love the fact that we've always had enough room for family and friends to stay with us.

Even though this is the best place to live, we know that our days in this home are numbered. Tim is hoping to move out before too long and while Kristen will be living here while she goes to university, it won't be long before we won't need the space we have. That time will be coming sooner rather than later and we are considering putting up the sign in the spring of 2008.

I will be sad to leave this home. It has been big enough to have lots of people here. We've had pool parties and other gatherings that many other people couldn't have because their houses aren't as big as ours.

The next house will be smaller and my common sense tells me that it will be easier for us to move now, or at least within the next few years, before Wes retires. It will require less time and effort to clean and maintain. We'd like to do some serious travelling and it will be easier to leave for a couple of months with a house that is smaller. It will be good to downsize. I know that.

But in my heart I know that it will be hard to leave this place. There are so many memories here and when I consider my list of things I want in a house, this one has almost all of them. My kids "grew up" in this house. This is our "family home." No home we buy or build will have the touches that make this house so beautiful and comfortable.

I didn't think that I would feel quite so attached to this place mostly because I have never held a great attachment to possessions. But I suppose there is something different about a house. I have never felt that I owned it; I have just had the luxury of living here, of making sure that it remains comfortable and ensuring that it remains solid and strong. I feel that we are preserving a part of history by using this place for the purpose it was built, as a family home.

So for now, I will continue to care for it until a new family comes here and calls it their own. And I will leave blessings for them and pray that they will enjoy life here as much as I did.

It's the right thing to do. I know it.

Yup.

Gotta do it sometime.

Living Simply

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.”~ Sarah Ban Breathnach - author of Simple Abundance

Friday Five

Once again, only have time for 5.

1. I've been out in the garden a lot lately. It is a wonderful place to be because every day, things look a little different and I find new growth popping up all the time.


2. Wednesday, we did a catering job for about 60 people. I was exhausted at the end of the day but we had a good time. A very good time. Please check out the Prairie Bounty website and tell me what you think.


3. Coffee house tonight and Tim's doing a set with his friend Sarah. I never tire of seeing my children doing things that they love to do and that they do well.


4. Not much time for blogging. The weather's too nice, my garden awaits, the new bike is always ready and waiting for me, the dog loves to walk and I have books to read. Lots and lots of books.

Plus

Plus

Equals...
A new vegetable garden

Right Now...

At the end of a busy day that included too much driving around, a very satisfying time in the garden and a walk with the dog to the local ice cream parlour.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Happy Birthday Tim!

April 26, 1987,
10 lbs, 4 oz., 23 inches
Sweet, precious and happy
Could drive mother to distraction due to colic.

April 26, 2007
180 lbs (guesstimate, no scale available)
76 inches (guesstimate)
Feet are probably closer to 23 inches than head to toe measurement.
Still sweet, precious and happy.
Still can drive mother to distraction. However, colic is not the problem.

Music

I love Classical music. I enjoy listening to it and when nobody's home, I enjoy playing some of the pieces I know from years ago, on the piano. I think that Baroque has to be my favourite period. When Michele asked me to accompany her for a Vivaldi piece she is playing on the flute, I said yes right away. Yesterday, we practised and then we went to her lesson where I accompanied her.

Something happens when we play together. Maybe it's because we're sisters and we have a unique connection. Part of it must be the way Vivaldi put his notes and chord progressions together. But whatever it is, when we play together, nothing matters anymore but making beautiful music. It is one of those times when I feel like I'm "in the moment." One of those times when I feel like this is what I was created to do. I am firing on all 8 cylinders.

On one hand it's exhausting because we're focussing and concentrating so hard. But the result is beautiful music. While we have to practise some more, there were moments of pure joy and beauty last night.

Sometimes, I wish that I had focussed on a different instrument. I was talking with my nephew Joey once and he said something like, "piano's your favourite instrument." He assumed that was the case because I can play piano. The piano just happened to be the easiest one at the time and I hadn't even considered playing another instrument. And I really do enjoy playing it.

I think my favourite instrument is the oboe and I would have loved to learn how to play that when I was young. I am definitely too old for that instrument now. Oboe players literally have to blow their brains out to get a good sound. I am trying to conserve as many brain cells as possible now so playing an instrument like the oboe is out of the question.

But last night, piano was my instrument of choice. Playing along with a gifted, talented flautist (that's you Michele) was a wonderful moment. I hope to do it lots more.

When do we practise again?

Anna Nicole Smith's Baby

Okay, so now we know. Can we finally give it a rest?

Random

Random. I love that word. That is how my brain works. Randomly. It's a word that people are using a lot these days. If something doesn't make sense, is weird or doesn't fit, all you need to say is, "That was random." It doesn't have to be explained because it was random.

This is a post of random things that I thought of or happened to me today.

1. Dixie's doing pretty well in the pooping/peeing department. She is also willing to stand on the driveway and look at the traffic. She is becoming more brave and courageous.
2. Tim's been unemployed for TOO LONG now. So, today we started a list of things he can do around the house until he can start working. There is a job but it just has not started yet. Michele calls him my man-servant. Anyone want to use him?
3. While it drives me to distraction to have a healthy, intelligent, able person hanging around the house when he should be working, I also like having him around. Aside from doing the dirty work (he took down the Christmas lights today. We like to be on top of those kinds of things) he is a pretty interesting person to have around. And I like it when he plays his guitar.
4. Kristen had her day off today. And Alisha came for a quick visit. She said it was to get a recipe from me but I know she came because she wanted to say hi to Dixie.
5. Tim, Kristen, Alisha and I were sitting around the kitchen table today, just talking. I like that.
6. Wes and I are going to the World Women's Hockey Final at the MTS Centre tonight. I am not a huge hockey fan but I love watching these women. They inspire me. Although I think they should burn the pink jerseys.
7. I hope Canada wins. They are playing the US.
8. As I'm sitting here typing, I hear the casserole in the oven overflowing. Yuck.
9. It finally seems that spring will really come. It is cool today but the sun is melting the last of the snow and there is growth in my garden.
10. I planted seeds last Friday and some of them were already up on Monday. Amazing.
11. This morning I went to see my spiritual advisor. We have a great time when we meet.
12. Kristen's going out for dinner with CJ tonight. I don't think she should but what can I say?
13. Wes just got home from work. I think I'll get my man-servant to set the table.

Happy Good Friday

On the evening news I saw highlights of how today, this most holy day for Christians, was celebrated around the world. We saw images of the Vatican, Israel, and even our own town of Winnipeg.

In the Philippines, there are some people who actually volunteer to be crucified. Every year we have seen images of these men who allow themselves to be attached to a cross and then raised up to hang for a period of time. Others will slap chords on their backs until they bleed.

Every year I wonder why they do it.

Are they trying to share in the suffering of Jesus Christ? Maybe they're trying to prove to God that they are willing to be crucified, to suffer for the sake of the gospel. Or perhaps they feel some need to suffer so that God will love them more. I really don't know. But I do find it repulsive. How can these guys even begin to understand the suffering of Jesus? The physical pain he endured on the cross was the least of his pain. While on the cross he carried the sins of the world on his shoulders and worse, was abandoned by God.

When reading the gospels in the New Testament, it is obvious that Jesus spent a lot of time with God. Often he would go someplace, away from his friends and the crowds to pray and meditate. Jesus and God were tight. And then, on Good Friday, he was abandoned by his Father, in his greatest time of need.

That's pain.

The Filipino guys have no idea, nor do any of us. I think that what they do makes a mockery of what Jesus did. And they do not understand the whole story. Jesus died, once and for all. He doesn't have to do it ever again. All of us have had our sins forgiven because of what happened on Good Friday. And because of what Jesus did, we don't have to prove to God that we love him. He loves us and that is that.

I was a young girl when I saw this spectacle for the first time. And like a good Christian girl, I felt guilty because I knew I could never do such a thing. I wasn't strong enough and I didn't love God enough.

I am grateful today because I know that there is nothing I have to do to earn the love of God. He showed that he loves me by allowing his Son to die a horrible death. All I need to do is accept this love.

On many levels I do not understand this story. I still wonder why God chose to carry out his plan for the world in this way. I could think of a number of ways this story could play out that aren't nearly as gruesome. But I always come back to it because it is a story about unconditional, incredible and amazing love. And that is something I can live with.

Poor Dixie

Something fell on Dixie's toe last weekend. She was limping but it seemed to be getting better until yesterday. She hurt it again and this morning was favouring it quite a lot. So, off we went to the vet.

She broke her toe. Here is Dr. Mike with Dixie.

She seems to be handling the cast quite well although everyone feels sorry for her. I already gave her a new toy. After 3 weeks I'm worried that she will be fat and spoiled.

"Home"

We just returned from a trip "back home." Home for me is Beamsville, Ontario, the heart of the fruit belt (although it seems that the orchards are disappearing as quickly as the new subdivisions are springing up).




The wedding of my niece was the main reason we went but it is always good for us to go back to visit my brothers and their families, my parents as well as Wes's parents, brother, sisters and their families. There are lots of people to see!



I'd say that this was one of the best trips we've had. We were able to see everybody and also have some good times of connecting. The families are growing, with boyfriends, girlfriends and spouses and I've gotta say that the second generation definitely knows how to choose them. James, Larissa's new husband is a great guy and I really liked his mom and sisters. Nicole, Carolyn and Frank have fit in quite nicely. And the others, who have started coming around are great people too.



I love to see my kids developing relationships with their Ontario cousins. Growing up in Winnipeg, they have not seen a lot of their relatives but now as adults, it's so great to see them having fun together. Here is Kristen with cousin Dan and Nicole.
Chelsea is no longer an Ontario cousin but I like this picture.


Being with my family helps me know that there is a place where I belong. I am loved and accepted as I am and even though we may not always agree on many things, I know that there is a pretty large group of people who will do almost anything for me.

I'll post this picture because it's one of the few of Wes and I that I like.

A great weekend, but sleep was in short supply. Here's Wes at the wedding, after most of the guests had gone home.