Guessing Game

Last Sunday night our church did its annual "Guess Who's Coming For Supper" event. This year we were guests instead of hosts. In the morning at church we received the address of our hosts and in the evening we showed up at their door, along with three other guests. Our hosts prepared supper for six people but they didn't know who those guests would be until we arrived. We were delighted to be sent to the home of my niece and her husband. It was my guess that Colin & Trish would be excellent cooks and hosts. I guessed right!

In Awesome Wonder

When the preacher tells the story of Noah in his Sunday morning message and goes on a dinosaur trail instead of a bunny trail, everyone's interest is piqued. And, if you're little and uninhibited enough, you can go right up to the pulpit after church and continue the wonder.

Coldest Night

Last night these two pals joined some of their youth group in Team Trinity on a 12-km walk on the streets of Kitchener-Waterloo to help raise funds for homeless people. This year the event did not live up to its name as in falling on the actual coldest night of the year. The outside temperature decreased considerably, though, from last week's mildness and a very brisk wind even whipped up some snow, making the walk environment more seasonable. It's good to remember that anyone can help the homeless anytime of the year, in any weather.

End of the Tunnel

At the end of the winter tunnel (do the rings mark the days?) there will be an orchard coming alive, God willing. We're still in February, but I can already see the light!

Maple Memories

A stroll through the woods in the mild weather of this week brought back "sappy" memories for me. The matted mess of fallen leaves on the ground, the stand of maples all around, the tittering of  chickadees overhead, the smell of wintered air hung out to dry... One thing was missing, though. I didn't hear the drip, drip of the sap hitting the bottom of the plastic ice cream buckets like I did in my childhood making-maple-syrup experience. Still, the trip back memory trail was sweet.

Springing Forth

These little lovelies in Mom Martin's flowerbed are called snowdrops, likely because of their ability to push right up through the snow in their eagerness to show their blooms. After the record-breaking warm temperatures in our region this week, there aren't any more drops of snow for the snowdrops to pop through.  

Sew and Tell

I really enjoyed seeing my Mom-in-law's latest project when I was at her house for tea this morning. She is piecing a Twenty-five Patch quilt, using fabric scraps left over from sewing dresses for her daughters and herself. She's good with her hands, my mom-in-law is. (And can she make a mean lemon muffin!)

Floral Butterfly

One of the orchid blooms dropped onto the coffee table and seemed to pose there as a butterfly at rest in the morning light.

Family Day Sisters

It's Family Day in Ontario and our immediate household is down to two, since Ken is way out west at an apple conference. So some of the ladies from our Grace Family came to share lunch and the afternoon with Kerra and me. We kept our hands (and tongues) busy, like I suppose is typical for ladies in a sisterhood. It was a good day. 

At Their Table

The teacup says "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful". When I'm surrounded by family, though, and eating DIL Jasmine's chocolate cake with that luscious icing and joining in fun conversation, I would lean hard toward the belief that beautiful is also a perfect Saturday evening.

Welcoming the Day

On a frosty morning this week, the orchard to the east of our house was splendorous in sunlight and soft, snowy shadows.

European Breakfast

Ever since we were introduced to the deli meat and cheese with sliced raw veggies type of breakfast sandwiches offered in Europe, we've taken to making our own occasionally back here in Canada. This is what our table looks like on a European Breakfast morning. The sandwich idea is Europe's; the smile is mine.

Out Of Place

It must have been the day for finding incongruity while shopping. Not only did I see a loaf of bread among the birdfeeders and dog squeak toys in the pet accessories aisle, but also these containers of muffins and doughnuts were nestled in among the crazy and incredible (gorilla-strong, mind you) glues on shelves in the hardware section. I tried to figure out how this kind of thing might happen, but I couldn't come up with anything that fit.

Sweet Little Somethings

My family and I don't need chocolates, love notes, flowers and a special meal on Valentine's Day to prove our love for each other, but I'll admit that it does seem to put an exclamation mark after it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yep, that pretty much covers it. May your day be full of splendor in all shapes and sizes and surprises!

Lotsa Beauty and Fun

Some of Kayleen's friends from Faith Builders were able to come for the weekend before they all returned to PA to start second semester. What a marvelous way to get to know these beautiful young ladies better: having them in (and about) our home for a few days. Much laughter, wisdom, art and good food resulted from this gathering of our daughter and her classmates.

Snowswept Post

I guess this post will be pretty ordinary, seeing how old and unadorned - almost drab - it is. Still, the effects of the wind sweeping the snow over and around it adds some character lines, wouldn't you agree?

Anticipating the Season

It's almost as if this flower is a red trumpet heralding the time of year: Valentine's Day is drawing near! At any rate, it's a spot of cheer in a corner of my kitchen.

I Love Creativi-Tea

My sort-of cousin Heidi, a competent piano teacher and mom, showcased some of her students' musical talent at a fundraiser concert for Jamaica Music Camp last evening. They did a piano ensemble - the common duet called "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea". I could add a verse: "I love children's energy, Love their personality, Don't you see? Don't you see? I love creativity!"

Passing It On

I went to Countryside Christian School's open house (shouldn't that be open school?) this week and I got to sit in a number of classrooms and observe the interesting and capable teachers do their work therein. In Mr. Rolin's science review session, one of the students thumped his books down on his desk and Mr. Rolin reminded the thumper of a recent conversation they'd had on how to treat books with respect. "In fact," Mr. Rolin said, "The person who taught me that books are our friends is sitting right in this room." And inwardly, this mom shouted, "Score!" 

Long Raindrops

We had a mini ice storm yesterday. The roads didn't get extremely treacherous, for which we were grateful, but the deck and other places were dripping with little icicles. I quite enjoyed the unique effect.

Wrap-up Session

It was Kayleen's suggestion to make grilled chicken wraps for our lunch today. Only we didn't have chicken to grill. So we used chicken nuggets and baked them in the oven. They lined up quite nicely in the tortilla. With leftover BLT-and-cheese salad on top, they tasted quite nicely, too. I mean, we did the tasting and the taste was nice. And that about wraps up the description of our lunch session.

Worldwide Nostalgia

These three wanted to relive some fun cousins-and-games times, so they got down on the living room floor to play Wide World. The unique feature of the game, the unpredictability of the plastic "wind" moving player pieces when a 6 is rolled, still has the ability to invoke great gales of laughter from the trio.

A Change of Face

Wait! What? Those were my thoughts exactly when I saw a young man produce this bill from his wallet yesterday. How did Washington become Santa Claus on a US $1? I didn't get the whole story, but I heard something about a sticker and a vending machine in Florida. The youth claimed that the note is perfectly-legal tender, but you won't catch him spending it. It's too much of a conversation piece and novelty in his pocket for him to part with it.

Team FB

Kayleen and her teammates - all students from Faith Builders - played some great volleyball in a tournament (fundraiser for a Guatemala mission) today. They made it to the finals, and although they didn't quite win the third game, Ken & I thought they were a champion team to watch.

Drifting In

 

Snowdrifts always intrigue me, especially "shelf-y" ones like these.

The Little Things

Just some tiny mementos hanging on my bulletin board...some of them have been there for so long I can't rightly recall where they came from...except I know the corsage on the right was worn by a family member at Second Son's wedding...and the mitts on the left were from Mom-Eva but I don't remember where she got them...they're way too small for anyone's hands...even if someone was knittin' kitten mittens, they had to be for a very newborn feline...anyway, the dainty little keepsakes make me smile...and that counts for something.  

Happy Heart Month

In town today, I saw many pink and red heart-y displays in various stores. With all those clues, it would have been hard for any shopper to miss the fact that this is Valentine's season. There are heart-y reminders in our home, too. This verse from my Proverbs card set gets to the heart of the matter with its reminder for any person, any month of the year.