Getting Out On the Water.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, Ray and carried the canoe and gear to the Sydenham river.  It's two blocks away down the street.   I love that!  This last photo is the Mill Pond.   The water hasn't been this high in years!   We were able to get to places that we've never seen because we could cross flood plain areas.   There's been quite a bit of work done to the Strathroy Water Trail over the past two years or so and you can tell...from the water.   It was a nice little outing!   So good to get back on the water and glimpse a different angle of creation...God's fingerprints everywhere.   Occasionally one needs to step away from civilization and just soak in it. 

I love my new lens!!!

PS I'm linking up with Fingerprint Friday at The Rusted Chain....

Reaping and Sewing

LOVE this color combo.



...and this one!

 The other day I was able to attend a quilt show featuring quilts from the Netherlands.   The trip was spurred by a bookmark, a card, a photo, friends who are like family, and the joy of living in proximity.   I spotted bookmarks announcing the show at my local library.   I passed it along to a quilting friend and thought no more about it until I received a card in the mail from a close friend of our family, actually closer to us than most of our family :)  The card also held a photo of a quilt and mentioned the show that was coming to a town near me.   Today I reread the card.   I thought  might see this quilt at the show but that was not to be.   Instead, I need to help find this quilt a home.....something I had failed to realize on first reading.   I still ended up at the show, this little connection across the miles.  And I took some photos.





All along I knew I wanted to write something about this trip.   And a picture always tells a tale of its own.   I almost got into trouble taking this fabric photo.   I loved seeing the baskets and tubs of fabric laying around and wanted to capture those piles.  Little visual treats that I enjoy almost as much as the actual finished quilts.    The color and the way patterns are put together into bundles generates and inspires ideas in a way that a finished product can't.  It's part and parcel of being a details person.   I almost got my knuckles rapped by one vendor but apparently they had a bad copyright experience and so I asked for their card so that I could give credit to their business.    But the ladies from one booth thought it was the neatest thing that someone would love the bundles just for their colors that they gave me free reign to take photos.  Thanks ladies!!!   This is also the booth where I spotted my favorite line of scrapbook paper turned into a line of fabric.  It was only a matter of time!

Inspired by Iceland....lots of different sewing techniques

Some of the pieces was pure fabric art.  Extremely creative.   Probably not the way I would approach quilting but definitely a way in which I approach creating.   Card making is really just quilting with paper....no??  I think I might just be really limited by the sewing machine I have, it could never pull this off this type of feat.   But....it makes you think outside your technique box.    :):)
 




Batik.

  



I LOVE...there's that word again...   I love batik.   There's so much subtle detail yet the fabric is so brilliant, and the craftsmanship on this particular quilt was exquisite.   Everything lined up perfectly.  You'd need quite a stash to accomplish this work of art.  I could aspire to have a stash of that magnitude....but I probably don't have room to keep it under this roof.   Still fun to daydream :)


I loved the neutral pieces as well.   And this one made my think of my friend PK who loves all things musical, especially sacred music.   The little sheer tufts are birds on a wire, strategically seated in the pattern of  selection of music from Handel's Messiah.  And so, each artist adds subtle little details about who they are and what is meaningful to them to each item they create.     

  



Great ideas for fans of texture....card idea??

It was such fun going to Ailsa Craig the other day.   I went with a sister friend and her mom.  I love going places with other people's moms! We all agreed that some quilts we loved and some we absolutely did not.  Some had unique styles that we either liked or didn't and some had colors that we would never, in a million years, put together.   Different likes, styles, colors, fabrics, shapes, subtleties....   It just reinforced how we are created differently....uniquely.



And then I went home and gardened.  I put things into the ground and that too was so enjoyable.  For several days I have wandered around garden centers slowly building a little collection of flats of flowers in the garage.  I have been good to my eyes this week!    It was neat to feel creative about gardening after I had laid eyes on creativity all moring.    It was warm and dry and I planted: yellow and green peppers, a few kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, squash and cucumbers, red onions, lettuce and herbs....I can't wait for some fresh basil!    There were several little lurkers who accompanied this outdoor adventure.    I love this little painted turtle, it watched every move I made and beat a hasty retreat once it ventured its arms and legs outside its shell.    Blixie.....wasn't sure if this was something that should be tasted but she did try it....glad it wasn't a snapper like last year!    Good bye little turtle, I know you can't stay in our garden...I'm just not sure how you're going to make it back to the creek throught the gauntlet of dog guarded yards!! 

And a little toadie....having lived with boys for many moons now has softened my horror reflex.  At one time, I would run away screaming at the sight of these warty things, which gave way to slow retreat to fetch a boy who was totally enamored with living things, and today I move toads to the other side of our fences because Blixie likes to mouthe them, and they leave a bitter taste in her mouth and make her froth rabidly....blech....   I love all these little critters.   Time does that to you.



Spring flowers after all those showers...

I never did get around to posting photos of tulips, crocuses and other spring things.   But yesterday, just before sunset it felt like summer.  A warm day ending with a warm night.   Perfect night for a campfire, after a nice day out and about.    I was able to be outside helping at the school golf tournament...a whole day of sitting at the end of a hedge row at the edge of the 16th green, listening to the birds and having the odd golf ball drop nearby.   I guess that's just as nice as a day of sitting at a soccer tournament.  Maybe I just like sitting.

Without further ado....It has been a wet summer so far.  Nice days for ducks...and these two wouldn't even set up in a row!!! 

The lilacs smelled so lovely when we set up the fire pit and the boys eventually ventured outside and joined us.  It was so nice.

























See my bleeding hearts?  They're crazy this year!!!!   Last year they didn't do so well...or was that the year before.

Hen...without chicks :(













And some spurge...it has such lovely lime green flowers when it blooms, it should really have a lovelier name! :)

Two of Us...

...might be going to see Switchfoot tonight!!!   I'm so excited!!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This....

Particularly Poignant

I found this on the kitchen table this morning.   Last night my eldest came home from his soccer game and said "I scored, Mom!"   This morning his name was in the Free Press, printed alongside the outcome of boys high school soccer games in London yesterday.   I was going to save it....   but he beat me to it.

I wonder what he did with it, where it ended up, who he showed it to.... the high fives.

It reminds me of words and conversations of another time.  They echo.   All these things a mother ponders in her heart. 

Life is good.

Taking a Stroll (The Experiment: Part III)

I don't know what your life looks like but mine is sometimes a bit crazy.   I'm kind of fond of colouring outside the lines and adding little flourishes to the final design.  Occasionally the road gets too bumpy and your markers can't even connect with the paper.  Life has peaks and valleys.  Bursts of intense busyness and slow steady progress.    Beginnings and endings.   We walk along with throngs of people but occasionally we need to sort out our thoughts, clasp our hands behind our backs, head down and just look at the ground and contemplate.    To take the mind off "auto pilot" and contemplate.

Walk with the people, be with people, but also taking time to be alone...solitude.  Not to be confused with being lonely. 

So I decided to turn off the radio. Moving to a monastery is not an option (You have to be male to be a monk.) but I wanted to make more of my solo time.  When I drive alone, I listen music.  Preferably loud-ish and preferably familiar-ish.  I've been know to sing along at the top of my lungs....I love music.   When I work, I try to be considerate of my colleagues and keep the volume at a considerate level.

And then....it was quiet.  The first thing I noticed in the quiet was that my days seemed longer.  Don't we all want a little more time in a day!?!  Time did not seem to slip by unnoticed, I didn't seem to "lose track of it".

In the quiet...I began to talk more with God.  Get in the car and instead of worshiping or singing about Him, I could "step right into His Presence" and just "be still and know"...   It made me wonder about the role of music in my life.  If I am struggling or feel under siege of negative thoughts I will choose a CD that helps redirect those thoughts.  It is almost like putting the mind on "auto pilot".   Could that happen with worship too?  ...that I put my mind on auto pilot and that it becomes automatic..mindless worship?  Something in which I engage but at the same time I am not fully present?   It is good to contemplate that in the silence.

Certain music or a favourite song can make us "feel good" which is how the power of emotion affects the human heart, soul and spirit.  I guess I hope that music does not have a component of idolatry associated with it.  I suppose it's good to have that thought cross my mind and make sure that a "means" doesn't become an end in itself.

God is everywhere. We don't step into or out of His Presence.  He is in the car whether there is music or not, but I realized that I don't always take every opportunity to "walk with Him and talk with Him".

A Sparrow or a Chicken?(The Pace of the Journey: Part II)

Friday, for the first time in a while, I was able to do my job the way I want to be able to do it instead of just getting it done.  There's a difference when you are able to approach your work as a sparrow, who is worth more than many pennies, or a chicken, who is running around with her head cut off.  (Yes...DO take a moment to visualize....)

Friday, I got a hug from a bride to be because I took care of two details: setting up tables, and setting up chairs for a little "after party" in our fellowship hall (Yes...we are that kind of church.)   And I suggested that round table cloths are available in many colours at Dollarama.  I had time to listen that day.   I was at church washing the windows because it mattered to me that they should be clean.

And instead of putting the usual little grass pots on the table, I got the bright pink geraniums out of the sanctuary instead.   I made a little substitution....and it was such fun to add that little surprise.  Taking time and adding little somethings felt like I was singing "my song" the way I was created to sing it. 

I'm surprised, delighted and grateful that I am feeling more like a sparrow again.  

Semantics

Gardening. 

Why do people call it that!

Personally, I believe that pulling green things out of the earth is weeding.  Yesterday I was literally sitting IN the garden wearing my new gardening gloves... but I was weeding.   Not gardening. 

:)

The Journey: An Experiment in Solitude During Lent...

It's a good thing to try something new once in a while.  I'm not sure how to write about this thing because I've always felt funny when people, who give something up for Lent, announce it to the whole world.   But as I sit to write I realize that you are not the whole world.  You are the select few privy to these inner thoughts.  It's not about me, but inevitably when you write from your own perspective....it is.  I just need to wrestle with this.  

I'll let you in on how the journey has been going without a "sound track".  I "gave up" music during Lent.  I was interested to see if I would hear the Song without the music.  It's such a huge part of my "everyday".

Earlier this year I heard a speaker, Brett Ullman, speak on "Youth and Culture".  He encouraged parents to "practice" their faith and be visible about how we cultivate, nourish and nurture our personal relationship with God.  It's a relationship.  You have to invest in it, and you should let your kids see you pray, read your Bible and practice "quiet" time...the spiritual discipline of solitude.   If they don't see you engage in those activities, you're probably not really modelling those behaviours...that was food for my thoughts. 

On Ash Wednesday, I attended an ecumenical service during which the pastor explained the practice of fasting, (aka "giving something up for Lent").  The purpose of fasting is to focus on your relationship with God in the absence of this practice.

Music is a very big part of who I am.  I listen to music almost all the time and almost all of it CCM.  (...but not your momma's CCM...)  It encourages me daily in my walk with God and gives words to my worship.  It gives words to what my heart and my soul cannot express.   And so fasting from this practice would be a real departure.   An adventure.  A new way to walk.    I was eager to try this "new" thing not as a novelty but with a desire to grow.  

Walk with me.

I discovered a few things about my God, my song, my people and myself...

Nothing Much...

I am  just sitting here with my favourite pen in hand and a lovely new notebook.  

There is nothing quite like a blank page in front of you.   You are either thrilled with the prospect because you are delighted by the possibilities, and wonder where the process will take you.   Or...you dread the feeling that the material you need to prepare may not flow out of your brain or your pen.  

Today I have a whole day to spend on writing.   Reports, letters, a column.   I'm excited to have a whole day.   I have one letter, an announcement, and a report finished and should crank out another report and another letter.  

Today....I'm going with the flow.