Week #27 Theme: Signs

This sign was seen on a thrift shop in Collingwood, ON. I was grateful for that beautiful, sunny Fall day (as reflected in the window glass) when I was with my girls on a Ken Martin Ladies' outing a few years ago, and I am thankful for this present day, as well. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

Workers Theme: Pic #7

Something about this shot makes me think of a Humans of New York subject. Instead, it is a Member of the Kenite Tribe fixing to take a group selfie (isn't that an oxymoron?) when our family was in Niagara one weekend last winter. It was a rather damp and chilly setting, but hey, a photographer/videographer - a good one like Ricky, anyway - will cheerfully brave the elements in his line of work.

Workers Theme: Pic #6

All over there are people like this sweet teacher who are gearing up for (or have already started) another year of work in the classroom. My hat is off and my applause is on for these competent, brave souls. Our world is a better place for their efforts. All the best in the 2017-2018 school year, all you instructors!

Workers Theme: Pic #5

Although this pic was taken last year, it depicts a common sight in the orchards now and in the coming months. Our offshore laborers are an integral part of a successful harvest time. The men are diligent, dependable workers. The picking buckets shown mid-chore in this photo illustrate their commitment to both quantity and quality of apples. 

Workers Theme: Pic #4

This is Yours Truly dressing up some cupcakes for Kerra's high school graduation back in June. I don't really qualify to get in on the workers theme this week, because decorating cakes is more of a hobby for me than a job, unless you count the times I teach a short cake decorating course to girls in Home Ec class. 

                                                                                    (Photo credit: Mary Meyers)

Workers Theme: Pic #3

One morning when I went to town, I saw these blacktop workers patching cracks in the Wal-Mart parking lot - and making long, skinny shadows in the spring sunshine.

Workers Theme: Pic #2

Service with a smile: My Sister's Kitchen employee scooping ice cream for a customer or daughter selling a refreshing treat to her father on a warm summer evening. Kayleen is no longer a worker in this café since returning to Faith Builders as a student last week. I miss that girl!

Week #26 Theme: Workers

Last weekend Ken & I attended an NYP (Northern Youth Programs) reunion/50th Anniversary Celebration. Included in the line-up of events was opportunity for a short airplane ride in the Caravan, a big "small plane" that NYP has purchased in recent months. Dennis Stauffer, former NYP aviation worker, was the pilot for the day. Here he is, performing the "circle check" routine before taking us up for the first ride of the day. His love of flying seemed to ooze out of his pores!

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #7

After we left Nolan's place on our trip out West, we traveled out to the Oregon Coast. We spent parts of two days at Seaside, and never saw the sunshine while we were right by the ocean. This is not to say that we didn't enjoy it! The grey skies and waves added to the beauty and mist-ery of the sea. I love this pic of my loved ones on the foggy beach.

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #6

 

Back to the Oregon relatives... our girls hadn't been out to visit their aunt & uncle and cousins for eleven years. It was about time! During the visit this summer, we talked about re-enacting a cousins scene from 2006 (top photo) but it never happened. Unless you count the cousins moment in the bottom photo. It shows three girls in a row but one is a Jana-cousin instead of a Heidi-cousin, the girls are working instead of playing and the garden produce is beans instead of zucchini. The enjoyment of being together is the same, though.

 

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #5

My youngest daughter was the only one of my relatives around at the time of the solar eclipse's peak performance this afternoon. I loved experiencing the phenomenon with Kerra. She made a safe eclipse-viewing instrument for herself and one for me, too. Through a pinprick hole on the top of the apparatus, the light came through and made a tiny reflection of the sun on the bottom of the cardboard cereal box. By the time the eclipse reached its height (sun coverage was 72.65% here in Waterloo County), the small circle of light in our viewer had changed from a perfectly round sun into a fat crescent moon shape. Fascinating! "O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made...then sings my soul, 'How great Thou art'!"

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #4

Ladies' Time...yay! We spent some wonderful memory-making moments with these fine relatives while we were in Oregon. Annette (aka Aunt Anni) and her daughters Nolita, Joelle, Heidi and Jana, along with my two K's and me, enjoyed a soup and sandwich lunch together in a country store on our shopping day.

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #3

This is my twin sister's family standing high on a mountain during a hike we took with them on a brilliant August day. The Bechtel Bunch stands tall in our estimation too - they get high marks in hospitality, generosity and creativity. They sure know how to give their relatives a good time!

Relative-ly Speaking Theme: Pic #2

The rest of the pics this week will probably be ones that involve relatives having to do with our recent trip out West. (Too bad I didn't get a photo of the border official in the astonishing moment we discovered he is my first cousin's son when we crossed into Washington from BC!) Here are two of my closest relatives - my beautiful daughters - posing in the archway of roses at Butchart Gardens.

Week #25 Theme: Relative-ly Speaking

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending Kirk and Janita's beautiful wedding. Kirk is Ruben & Chris Guevara's second son, and since Ruben is Ken's "adopted" brother, we had uncle and aunt status at the wedding. (I really enjoy this stage of going to weddings!) Both the bride and groom are definitely sociable people; there was lots of guest-mingling and laughter going on at the reception. If you look closely at the pic, you can see that something greatly amused Janita even during the bridal party photo op at the end of the day. 

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #7

The edible fungi in this sandwich was one of the ingredients that helped to give it the name: The Waterloo County, although the ham, summer sausage and fried onions probably have more identification leanings. Altogether, the sandwich and minestrone soup made a perfect - and tasty - lunch for me on the day that Ken, Kerra and I decided to eat at My Sister's Kitchen in St. Clements. It's where Kayleen had a part-time summer job. She took our orders that day, prepared our food and served it to us. Her boss said Kayleen could sit down and eat with us, so she did. That helped to make our lunchtime a beautiful thing, indeed.

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #6

While the lobelia blooms profusely in the window box on the garden shed, another plant-like creation "blooms" (perhaps in competition?) nearby. The patchy yellow stuff is something in the lichen family, hence it is part fungi. Someone by the name of Trevor Goward described lichens as "fungi that have discovered agriculture".

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #5

As near as I can figure out, this is a coral tooth fungus. I think it should be called waterfall fungi, because it reminds me of a series of yellow falls over rocks. I found this cluster on a stump in our woods last Fall.

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #4

This isn't the most outstanding picture I've ever posted, but it was a unique part of the scenes along the mountain trail as we climbed Tom, Dick & Harry Mt. in Oregon. I took the picture for the mass amount of lichens and moss on one tree. I guess all the moisture that Oregon gets at some times throughout the year (certainly not when we were there!) is conducive to all the growth. Lichens technically aren't fungi - but they require fungi to exist. They are the result of fungi and algae living in a symbiotic relationship - if you are interested in the scientifics.

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #3

The more I look into the mushroom (fungi) topic this week, the more astounded I become at all the shapes, sizes and colors that abound in the field. (or forest, or garden or plate!)

Fun Fungi Theme: Pic #2

Shelf or bracket fungi is very common in our neck of the woods, as it was in Wisconsin where I grew up. As a child, I remember being so impressed by an artist using a large "shelf" for his canvas on which to etch a wildlife scene. The green fungi pictured above has a beauty of its own; the unique green coloring stands out to me.

Week #24 Theme: Fun Fungi

Is this an Ascomycota (sac fungi) nestled in a leafy carpet in the woods or a ruddy face with its mouth wide open from doing a roll-on-the-forest-floor belly laugh?

Found Out West Theme: Pic #7

We saw so many evidences of God's handiwork on our trip out West - from the mountains to the waters to the flowers to the animals. We had a great time watching this creature's antics on a heap of sun-bathed rocks. The chipmunk was stuffing his cheeks with pieces of a Clif bar he took right out of my niece's hand.

Found Out West Theme: Pic #6

What's a visit to the Oregon Coast without wandering into a candy store and buying some salt water taffy? Typically, there are many flavors to choose from. In a store that offered 170 different kinds of taffy, we almost got dizzy trying to decide which ones to try. Just before we reached the till with our bag of sweets to purchase, Ken estimated the weight of the taffy lot. He was so close to the correct number that one of the store workers burst out, "That's awesome!" and then as we were leaving, he encouraged us to stay awesome. :) 

Found Out West Theme: Pic #5

"Ooh, that water's freezing cold!" Well, not really that icy, but still... It's that cool Pacific phenomenon: you have to stick your feet in it and then its bone-jarring chill makes you shriek even while it lures you back in for more.
                                                                             (Photo Credit: Ken Martin)

Found Out West Theme: Pic #4

We had such a beautiful day and had such fine company (twin sis & family) to enjoy it with when we hiked up the Oregon mountain called Tom Dick & Harry. Here are us four trippers on the mountaintop, with Mt. Hood in the background.                                                                                                  - Photo credit: one of the Bechtels 

Found Out West Theme: Pic #3

When the welcome is even warmer than expected upon arriving at your sister's place in Oregon (108*F!), you rearrange plans a bit. Hiking in the mountains is postponed in favor of hanging out in a cool museum. Here my bro-in-law and a few of his children construct a tower that will withstand an "earthquake" at the push of a button. This was in a hands-on section of the OMSI in Portland.

Found Out West Theme: Pic #2

If you ever get to Vancouver Island, be sure to visit Butchart Gardens near Victoria. And prepare to be enthralled. We strolled through the various gardens in awe. I overheard a woman's commentary as she videoed the rose garden, something about there has to be a Creator God because she certainly couldn't come up with something like this, and if we see this kind of beauty here, what's heaven going to be like? My thoughts exactly, lady!

Week #23 Theme: Found Out West

We spent a most enjoyable afternoon with our Kuepfer friends in Vancouver, biking around Stanley Park on a glorious July day.

Summer Happenings Theme: Pic #7

Family gatherings are such enjoyable summer events. The Martin family congregated for Sunday lunch and fellowship in the weekend of Trent & Amber's wedding. I thought the dessert for the meal looked so delightfully summerish. (And the bare feet add to the summer theme, too!)

Summer Happenings Theme: Pic #6

Story time under the tree - an unplanned but much appreciated activity for the children - was a part of Grace Church's annual camping weekend this year.