Berni, still pondering but a lot further South

Saying bye at least for now

2011-11-24T13:00:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted for a long long time and I think this blog is probably dead anyway. I am going to let the domain name die now and it will revert to www.caribooponderer.blogspot.com. Mainly I like to go back and see what I have written about Memories when we were doing Skittles meme.

I barely keep up with Facebook either now except to keep tabs on my sons. I don't know when the writing bug will hit me again if ever and should that happen I think I would start completely fresh. So thank you to all those who befriended me via this blog, some of you I see on Facebook and keep up with your doings that way. So God bless and have a happy Christmas season and a prosperous New Year.

Big disappointment

2011-04-02T18:56:00.001-07:00

We left early today from Merrit to Vancouver as my middle son had flown to Vancouver from Calgary to visit his brothers and we said we would come down for the day. This morning the shortest route the Coquihalla Hwy was socked in with snow so we opted to go the other way and got halfway there and an avalanche came down over the road and they turned us back. No visiting for me. Oh well at least we weren't under the avalanche.

Washing blowing in the wind

2011-03-30T11:17:00.001-07:00

Such a nice warm breezy day I have my washing out on the line, the first load of the year. I have been able to cut my electricity bill quite a bit since being here. I have been washing in cold water for years, but since moving I used the washing line from April to October to dry clothes and all winter I used a clothes horse in the spare bedroom just finishing them off in the dryer to soften. We have brought our bill down so I should see a $120 savings over the year. Not much you might think but combined with the 2 degrees lower on our thermostat our gas heating bill has dropped from what they predicted we would use by $144 so that amounts to $264 a year which is almost one month pad rent of found money.

Save the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves is a maximum often quoted in the UK and it is true everywhere. With vehicle gas and food going up in leaps and bounds I like to look at ways to save here and there. I would rather put a sweater on indoors than go without some of the other little things we like to do, such as eat out once in a while.

I am feeling guilty

2011-03-25T20:09:00.001-07:00

I have just spent a few moments going over past posts and I see I have faithful friends coming to visit and leave a comment and I so used to look forward to that. I so appreciate you ladies and a few gentlemen. Special mention to Jeni, Danielle, Cicero, Crazed Nitwit, Joy, Karen, JMB, Liz, Tossing Pebbles, Barb, Anna, Misty, Terry and many more.

I just can't seem to get the blogging enthusiasm again but I will keep it available in case any great insight occurs to me in the future. I do have your blogs on my reader and I have some of you as friends on Facebook and I enjoy your comments.

Life is generally good, I am doing some volunteering at church. Walking and visiting so getting out a lot more now.

I just finished canning many jars of spaghetti sauce, chili, and now plan to can steak and kidney. When it get very hot here in summer and we don't want to BBQ it will be handy to pull these out and zap them in the microwave and serve with salad, rather than heat up the place using the oven. We went through last summer without air conditioning and it was OK although most people have it here but I don't think it can be good for you coming in from the very hot outside to a cool room. By careful manipulation of venetions and windows I was able to keep it quite comfortable inside and it only grew a little warm between 6 - 9pm, and then because we are in a desert area it cools down at night so sleeping is not a problem.

So wishing you all a lovely spring.

Spring has sprung

2011-03-17T16:45:00.001-07:00

Lovely and warm today and snow all gone. definite feel of spring here, that is 2 months earlier than where we lived before. I have been very remiss in blogging these last few months and don't know if I will keep it up. I see one or two of the blogs I used to read have petered out too.

Have gained a couple of pounds over winter to have started back walking and cutting back portions a little. Just came back from visiting an elderly couple, both 86, smart as whips and lots of stories to tell. I have been trying to call every Thursday afternoon for about an hour as they don't have many visitors. Home group tonight and that is always fun.

Right now I am fighting the urge for a nap on the living room couch in the sunshine, if I go sit there and try to read it will be game over.

Nothing more to report or say right now.

My goodness it is ages since I posted

2011-02-08T12:30:00.001-08:00

I checked my blog yesterday and found I hadn't posted since the end of December. I had paid for my domain name for another year but have failed to use it. Life is good and fuller than when I was up north. We had company over Christmas which was lovely and have kept busy since. Dave has gutted the bathroom and now I have everything new from tub to potty. Looks nice and clean, we kept with my favourite tones of old gold and pale yellow which we had up north. We will put a skylight in there in summer. Now he is building a large mirrored cabinet to go in there. Next is new counter tops for the kitchen. The dishwasher was broken so we decided to go back to washing dishes by hand since most of the time it is only the two of us. There will be days I will wish I had a dishwasher but as long as I keep on top of the dirty dishes it is not too bad and Dave does his share when he is not busy.

We put some hyacinths in pots just before Christmas and now four of them have bloomed and we have a lovely spring fragrance throughout the place. We also put in tulips and they have poked up already. They were meant to be put out in spring but they beat us to it. The weather here is much better than where we last lived, although we have snow and cold days it doesn't last as long and the road is kept well. We are only 8 minutes from town anyway so we go out often instead of only once every two weeks.

We attend church every Sunday now and also a home group on Thursdays. Also I have been visiting an elderly couple once a week. They are both 86 and I was told they fell in love nine years ago and got married. They both were widowers. They are so cute. I guess it is never to late for love.

I have been asked to contribute in our home group on spiritual gifts for the next few weeks. Unfortunately my printer packed in so will have to think about a new one soon, I want a wireless one so I can keep it in the spare room rather than on my desk and I can have it usable from both desktop and laptop computers.

I signed up for Netflix movies at the end of December. You get one free month and then it is only $7.99 a month after that to view as often as you like. So I have been knitting and viewing. I started with Pride and Prejudice and others I have long wanted to see but we were not anywhere near a video rental place or a movie theatre .Then I found the TV series Heroes and I have been hooked and have been watching each one in turn. It is weird there is no denying but I like weird, and there is quite a bit of violence but it is part of the story. I finished the sweater last night and now have to block it and piece together. It would never have got done but for Netflix, it has been over two years in the making.

So that is all for now.

My end of year rant

2010-12-30T18:52:00.003-08:00

As a senior and one day possibly living alone on a low income and needing assistance there is a lot of truth to the following.

Let's put the seniors in jail and the criminals in nursing homes.
This would correct two things in one motion:

Seniors would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.
They would receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs, etc.
They would receive money instead of having to pay it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they would be helped instantly if they fell or needed assistance.
Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them..
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes.
All meals and snacks would be brought to them.
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight/fitness room, spiritual counseling, a pool and education...and free admission to in-house concerts by nationally recognized entertainment artists.
Simple clothing - i.e., shoes, slippers, pj's - and legal aid would be free, upon request.
There would be private, secure rooms provided for all with an outdoor exercise yard complete with gardens.
Each senior would have a P.C., T.V., phone and radio in their room at no cost.
They would receive daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors to hear any complaints and the ACLU would fight for their rights and protection.
The guards would have a code of conduct to be strictly adhered to, with attorneys available, at no charge to protect the seniors and their families from abuse or neglect.

As for the criminals:

They would receive cold food or a can of dog food the same as many seniors who have to stretch out their pensions.
They would be left alone and unsupervised as many seniours who can't afford help
They would receive showers once a week unlike many seniors who can't manage the bath by themselves.
They would live in tiny rooms, for which they would have to pay by working
They would have no hope of ever getting out.
"Sounds like justice to me!"

Maybe our governments should change their emphasis on the criminal who undermines society and look to their elderly who have raised citizens, obeyed the laws and worked for a living. But our society is youth oriented and when you are old you are not longer considered useful. Something we could learn from aboriginal societies and the Orient is respect for the elders in our communities.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T10:09:00.004-08:00

and a very Happy New Year

Starting the season on the right note

2010-12-04T13:24:00.002-08:00

Chickpea success

2010-11-27T18:07:00.001-08:00

At one time I made crepes quite often as they were a great way to dress up leftovers with perhaps a cheese sauce over the top but since being diagnosed with diabetes I have had to avoid flour as it raises the blood sugar too much. Some time ago I started experimenting with chickpea flour. I found it in our local grocery store in the ethnic foods section. It has very little taste so substitutes quite well for white flour. I have been using it to thicken gravies with success and adding it to the flatbreads I make for myself. So tonight’s supper was crepes wrapping spinach and shrimp and topped with melted cheese. Dave said they were okay so they have passed the acid test. Chickpea flour has about half the impact on blood sugars that white flour has and contains no gluten for the celiacs out there. Also it has vitamins and minerals in it which white flour does not, even weevils can’t survive in white flour. Here is the recipe. I had to add an egg as my first crepe stuck but it could have been not enough olive oil or not quite the right temperature.

1 cup chickpea flour (also called garbanzo flour, gram flour or besan)
1 1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon baking powder, optional
Oil for cooking crepes

Heat a non-stick pan. Pour a ladle of batter on the hot pan. Using the ladle or back of a spoon, spread the batter around to form a thin crepe. Drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon oil over the crepe. Cook on medium heat for about 1 minutes or till the bottom side is golden and sides start to crisp. Using a spatula, flip the crepe over and cook the other side till golden. Serve hot.

I think I will try it in place of wheat flour in a Wacky Cake and see what happens.

Almond meal cookies

2010-11-20T13:23:00.001-08:00

Almond meal is a good alternative to grains for celiacs or diabetics who should dramatically cut out their grains. In fact the only grains that do not raise blood sugars are rolled oats and pot or pearl barley and only a 1/3 of a cup at a meal. Hardly worth it but I do eat these once in a while. I have messed around with this recipe quite a bit adding ginger and cinnamon, a chip of dark chocolate the 90% cocoa kind on top. I added oatmeal and 1 raisin per cookie and so on.

Dense, delicate, and delicious, these almond cookies come highly recommended.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 cup Splenda or other sweetner or for non diabetics use half sugar and half stevia
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir together almond meal, baking soda and your choice of sweetner, then blend in the butter, egg, and vanilla. Refrigerate dough for half an hour. Spoon out one-inch balls onto a greased or non-stick cookie sheet and flatten with a fork. Bake for eight minutes or until set. Be careful not to let your cookies brown, because that means they’re too well done. Allow them to cool for 2 minutes on the sheet before moving them.

These are high in good fats low in carbs but don’t indulge too freely because they are higher in calories than a grain products but if you keep your carbs in the low range the odd cookie now and then won’t harm.

Sounds like a load of cucumber to me

2010-11-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

I doubt this is true, maybe some of it is. Does anyone know.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ru ining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5 Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!

6.. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed an d headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Pita bread, laptops and other stuff

2010-11-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Dave has been buying pita bread lately and commented on how much he enjoyed them so I thought I should have a go at making some since I have been given a 50lb bag of organic whole grain wheat and I don't have room in my freezer for it, so I need to use it up. I found a recipe in Laural's Kitchen an old hippy style vegetarian cookbook I have had since before my first son was born over 32 years ago. The pita bread turned out pretty good so now I guess I have a job every week or so.

A couple of our new friends in the park have recently purchased laptops and I am on call pretty much to help out but that's okay as I rather enjoy helping people with their computers, the only trouble is it makes me a bit envious as I want a nice new laptop since I am still using my desktop XP and Dave has our laptop which has Vista. Now I want the new Windows 7 and a faster better computer. I will never be satisfied though as soon as a new gadget comes out I want it.

It was a fabulous day today, cool but sunny and we walking ladies, now there are four, took our 6km (3 & 3/4 miles) walk. We work up quite a sweat by the time we get back home. I haven't lost any weight by the scales but I am a little slimmer and I am hoping when I go and get my blood work results from the doctor it will reflect in the cholesterol reading since I have been doing it now for six months. Three of us drove up to Kamloops on Wednesday because myself and a friend had booked a mammogram, so that is another health responsibility taken care of. We had a great ladies day out and a lot of laughs. This move has been so good for me.

Dave has just had a friend over to play cribbage for a couple of hours and they have arranged to go fishing on Sunday afternoon. He is enjoying the new place too and when I looked back at some pictures of Granisle at this time last year there was 8 inches of snow. The heavy winter cloud which does not leave Granisle until about February when it gets to -30C was already hanging over the village. We don't have any snow, here in Merritt yet, and it is almost always sunny in this part of BC so much easier to handle and I don't think Dave will have to deal with SAD this year although I hate to see the evening draw in so much earlier but only five weeks until the shortest day and the days get longer again.

I have done all my Christmas shopping I did it online and it is winging its way to me as I type. So relaxing. We have bought a tree and lights and stuff until later, I have two turkeys and two hams in the freezer and some baking done so I am pretty organized for Christmas.

So that is it for now with catch you later. BTW I do read your posts and comment once in a while but much much less time on the computer than before.

For Remembrance Day ~ The Box

2010-11-10T18:31:00.003-08:00

For Remembrance Day The Box (Words by Lascelles, recited by John Denver on the album Poems, Prayers & Promises)

Once upon a time in the land of hushaby

Around about the wondrous days of yore

They came across this sort of box, bound up with chains and locked with locks

And labeled "Kindly do not touch, its war."

Decree was issued round about, all with a flourish and a shout

And a gaily coloured mascot tripping lightly on before

"Don't fiddle with this deadly box or break the chains or pick the locks

And please, don't ever play about with war!"

Well, the children understood, children happen to be good

And they were just as good around the time of yore

They didn't try to pick the locks, or break into that deadly box

They never tried to play about with war

Mommies didn't either, sisters, aunts, and grannies neither

For they were quiet, sweet and pretty in those wondrous days of yore

They're very much the same as now, not the ones to blame somehow

For opening up that deadly box of war

But someone did, someone battered in the lid

And spilled the insides out across the floor

A sort of bouncy, bumpy ball made up of guns and flags and all the tears and horror and the death that goes with war.

It bounced right out, and went bashing all about

And bumping into everything in store

And what was sad and most unfair is that it didn't seem to care

Much who it bumped or why, or what, or for

It bumped the children mainly and I'll tell you this quite plainly

It bumps them every day, and more and more.

And leaves them dead and burned and dying, thousands of them sick and crying

For when it bumps, its really very sore

Now there's a way to stop the ball, it isn't difficult at all -

All it takes is wisdom, I'm absolutely sure that we could get it in the box,

And bind the chains and lock the locks

No one seems to want to save the children any more

No? Well, that's the way it all appears

'Cause it's been bouncing round for years and years

In spite of all the wisdom wizzed since those wondrous days of yore

Since the time they came across the box

Bound up with chains and locked with locks

And labeled "Kindly do not touch, its war.

Signs of a stroke plus a new one to look for

2010-11-01T15:40:00.002-07:00

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKe

Remember the '3' steps, STR. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently - i.e. It is sunny out today.)

R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

plus this new sign of a stroke. Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

What’s new

2010-10-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well I am an Avon lady now. I didn’t really intend to become one I just wanted a few products but outside the supermarket a woman had a stall set up and we started chatting and she said that if I wanted she would come over and explain it all to me. In the course of that she told me I could get 40% of the products I wanted just for signing up, who could resist. So I got my brochures a couple of weeks ago and gave them out to five women in the park and yesterday a large box was delivered. Not only did I get 40% of my purchases but they sent me a whole lot of free stuff. Today I dropped off my customers purchases. I don’t intend and don’t expect to get really into it but I do like looking through their brochures and they do sell themselves. I was meant to hand out more brochures but I couldn’t pluck up courage to knock on doors so I put them on the covered porches I could find. No one contacted me from that probably because I didn’t make myself known. I would make a terrible Jehovah’s Witness.

Today I made almond milk for the first time. It was so easy and so much less carbohydrates than regular milk. I was told milk increases mucus and since I have allergies it would be a good idea to substitute. So first I tried soy milk which I don’t mind but I changed from soy milk as I discovered it was giving me hot flashes, something I haven’t had in a very long time. Apparently soy milk is high in estrogens and as little as two cups a day can cause problems. By making my own almond milk I save about $1.50 on a litre of bought stuff and it doesn’t have the cane sugar in it which I would rather be without. I sweetened with stevia. The left over almond meal I used to make oatmeal raisin cookies and almond meal is a good substitute for wheat flour another thing that I eat in limited quantities.
I bought some chickpea flour the other day and am having a go at making socco which is a flat bread which is very popular in the Mediterranean countries.

We have been going to a home group every Thursday evening and our group is going through ‘Christian Life and Witness’ put out by the Billy Graham Association. I thought it would be a bit dull but it is very good.
My family are coming for Christmas although not actually on Christmas day, we will celebrate on the 27th. Hopefully this will be the start of a new tradition. So many good things since we moved.

An update on my youngest son who moved from Calgary to take the animation job in Vancouver. He has been promoted to lead animator so he said his name will be on the box when the game comes out. Lots more responsibility but valuable experience. Not bad after two months and from something that was just a hobby.

Not been blogging much as you know but have renewed my domain address so you probably will hear from me now and then. I still read your blogs but my life now is not revolving around the computer which is so much healthier so only comment once in a while. I am walking with three other women six days a week and we do 6 1/2 kilometres (4 miles) every day so that takes an hour and a quarter of what used to be computer time.

Can’t think of anything else right now. Catch you later

Fresh look at an old story - do you recognize it

2010-10-06T21:44:00.001-07:00

In my mail today, clever

Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow

forced his fond father to fork over his farthings. He flew

far to foreign fields and frittered his fortune, feasting

fabulously with faithless friends.

Finally facing famine and fleeced by his fellows-in-folly,

he found himself a feed flinger in a filthy farmyard.

Fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame with

foraged food from the fodder fragments.

"Fooey, my father's flunkies fare far fancier," the

frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, frankly facing facts.

Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, he fled

forthwith to his family. Falling at his father's feet, he

floundered forlornly, "Father, I have flunked and

fruitlessly forfeited family favor."

But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching,

frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest

fatling and fix a feast.

The fugitive's fraternal faultfinder frowned on the fickle

forgiveness of former failure. His fury flashed, but

fussing was futile.

The farsighted father figured, "Such filial fidelity is

fine, but what forbids fervent festivity for the fugitive

is found. Unfurl the flags with flaring, let fun and

frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten, folly

forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future

fortune."

Mind mapping

2010-10-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

I have been checking different mind mapping software and eventually found one I like that is free called Freeplane. A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas. Mind mapping helps clarify your thinking in pretty much anything, in many different contexts: personal, family, educational or business. Planning your day or planning your life, summarizing a book, launching a project, planning and creating presentations, writing blog posts -well, you get the idea – anything, really.
In a mind map, as opposed to traditional note taking or a linear text, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. Since it is an activity that is both analytical and artistic, it engages your brain in a much, much richer way, helping in all its cognitive functions.

What can we use mind maps for?
Note taking
Brainstorming (individually or in groups)
Problem solving
Studying and memorization
Planning
Researching and consolidating information from multiple sources
Presenting information
Gaining insight on complex subjects
Jogging your creativity

This is my first mind map. Starting from a course I am taking and moving into a course I will be teaching in April. Each separate heading has notes and webpages attached. One can add pictures as well. There are quite a few mind mapping tools out there but I can’t resist the free. It is not too difficult to learn, it has taken me about an hour.
Freeplane download

I am a prayer

2010-10-03T20:03:00.001-07:00

I have been looking up articles on mind mapping and in my travels came across this, thought it was worth sharing.

I am a Prayer.

In haste I was put together at approximately 10:03 yesterday morning.

There is nothing in my appearance that would attract you to me. I'm not like Beckham - more like Rooney.

I've got no rhythm and no rhyme, no punctuation, no onomatopoeia, no cutting edge, no mojo. I'm half baked: Each word held together simply by the string of a sincere heart of the One who prayed me into existence.

As I look around I can see that I'm not alone. Other prayers just like me gather in little clusters across the room while others shoot up like disappearing rockets into the air. Some linger, some evaporate, some fall, yet many move swiftly to a destination we all know to be real and magnificent. I am a Prayer of Hope. My mission is to arrive safely at the Throne of God, and ask if I can be granted a favour from the King.

No one knows, neither my Sender nor my associates, if I'll be answered completely or not at all. Yet, as a prisoner of hope, I have an obligation to attend the hearing and wait for Heaven's reply.

Within me, somewhere within me, is a feeling of de ja vu - a feeling that I've been prayed about many times before. Apart from a similar string of words lying motionless on the bedroom floor, I'm convincied that, clumsy as I am, I am in fact a living expression of a Word of Faith originating from God Himself.

I am, what they call, a Prayer Request. The heart that bore me is what they call a Believing Heart. Sometime prior to my birth, this ordinary yet believing heart had received through the post some important documentation regarding the Will of God. It was during a time of trial and it contained no specific details about me, but it did contain a Promise about God's ability to provide, when all other rivers of provision have completely run dry. It was that Promise that instantly created Faith in the Heart of my Sender.

Between 10:01 and 10:23 I was one of many prayers prayed by the One who created me. I watched as some just dropped to the ground like dead weights in water. Those were the Prayers of Self - self pity, self satisfaction and self centeredness reflecting the raw emotions of my Sender's soul. They were, however, only the minority.

One by one other prayer requests came over to join with me - each one as hastily and speedily put together as the one before, yet together we hovered, gently rising and gently falling in the atmosphere of faith and fury that surrounded us.

Suddenly a jolt came from underneath us, and we were thrust upwards and forward towards our destiny - The Throne of Grace and Mercy in our time of need. We were being lifted by what could only be described as a multitude of wings, flapping there way higher and closer towards the Throne. I was soon to discover that these wings were also prayers - the prayers of Praise and Thankfulness, and the Prayers of Worship. There were also known as the 'Hallowed be your Name' Prayers, sent to big up the character of God and all of His activity over the earth in recent times.

It became clear that my sender was following a pattern of prayer set in Philippians 4: 6 -7.

"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanks giving, present your requests to God"

Suddenly, we all became aware of a tangible Wind of Peace that transcended past us resting deep within both the heart and mind of the One who sent us. It was obvious to us all that this Wind of Peace must have contained an assurance not so much of all prayers being answered, but all prayers being heard and listened to by The Father above.

The Heart that bore me was happy to send me even if God's ways proved a little higher and God's thought's a little wiser than His own.

Upon arrival at the Throne of Grace we were broken into two groups - the Prayers of Hope and the Prayers of Faith. The Prayers of Faith went straight to the head of the line to receive precisely what they requested. They knew that if they asked they would receive, what they sought after they would find and if they knocked, the door would be opened.

I noticed that even before the request was given in at the Throne of Grace by the Prayer of Faith, the answers were already waiting - all boxed up, wrapped up and locked up just waiting for the request to be received. For every prayer, there was already an answer!

Yet, within the queue, the Prayer of Hope of which I was a representative far out numbered the Prayers of Faith. It was obvious that while they had been sent with a direct promise that they would get exactly what they asked, we had not. We'd all come from a Heart of Faith, both sent to the Fathers Throne, yet our destinies were divided.

Amongst us all were Prayers of Transformation - requests that God would break habits, change our ways and release the victory of Christ into our hearts and minds. Queuing up were Prayers of Influence - requests for greater influence upon the lives of others at work, in college, in the city, in church and in the community.

There was also a huge number of Prayers of Blessing - requests for finance, friends, abundance, health and prosperity. Some of these were Prayers of Faith, some Prayers of Hope - but all rising from real belief and real conviction.

Some of us were just four or five words irregularly stuck together. Others were like the game of Jenga - words stacked messily and awkwardly together. Yet all of us would have a hearing before God.

Suddenly, as we waited, we felt like we were being stormed by an invasion of paratroopers landing all around us. Emblazened on half of their parachutes were the words 'Thy Kingdom Come', and on the other half were the words 'Thy Will be Done' . They possessed a boldness and a stubbornness that I'd never seen before. Each claimed their right for the Kingdom of their Earth to be replaced by the Kingdom of their God. These were the Prayers of Declaration that stood alongside the Prayers of Petition.

Even though these Declaration Prayers were at times loud and menacing, they were dwarfed by the sheer size and magnitude of the Throne of God. Every one of Heaven's windows, doors, pallets and crates reduced even the strongest of these prayers to mere mortal endeavours.

As the Prayers of Hope gathered at the throne, we saw some get instantly exchanged for almost all that they requested. In my case, it wasn't to be.

As I stood, before the Throne of Grace about to take my place immediately before the Father of Lights, I felt a Presence surround me that seemed to know something far beyond what my sender could even have known. Even though Faith had sent me, I could feel myself being read, adjusted and changed by the Presence that accompanied me.

I was born in haste, yet this Presence, this Holy Spirit was not. It hadn't just arrived - it had been sent - sent to re-adjust every prayer prayed in sincerity; to conform every prayer to the Will and Purposes of God.

My Sender knew that this would happen. It was all apart of the greater plans of God. The Spirit would help us in our weaknesses. Rom 8:26-27 says so.

"We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the Saints in accordance with Gods Will."

This was all part of the plan. I would be launched in hope and gazumped by Heaven. The Holy Spirit would alloy the tin of my prayer with the platinum of His Will. He would become my Intercessor, my Go Between, the Great Interpreter, my Editor in Chief, my Ghost Writer.

I looked around me to see the Wing-like Prayers of Praise and Worship, the Paratroopers of Declaration and the common workers of the Prayers of Petition and Request. I looked behind me to see the Intercessor, the Holy Spirit - His Presence towering over all of us, guiding us into all truth and godliness.

I was, before the Holy Spirit came along, a prayer for shoes. Not any pair of shoes but walking boots. I was to submit the request form at the Throne of Grace to enable my Sender to go walking across the dales with two old school friends who'd recently been in touch. Financial difficulties called me to active duty. The shoes would create a bridge of friendship upon which the Love of God could easily be shared.

But to no avail. The shoes never showed. The plans to go walking never succeeded, the connection was never made. Within a week the financial situation was made even worse by my Sender's car failing its MOT leaving him to catch the bus to work for an entire month.

On the last day his eyes glanced across at the paper the woman next to him was reading. The Instructor's job immediately caught his attention and he scribbled down the number before the page had turned. He got the job. Within a month, two staff members had made his church their home and both of them began to assist in the Church's Mercy Home for young woman brought low by life's misfortunes. It was there that they both led two woman in great need to Jesus Christ.

I prayed for shoes. The Holy Spirit turned me around and I became a prayer for a new job and a change of career.

If it wasn't for me, even though misguided and misdirected, there would have been no change - no new job, no extra help for the Mercy Home and no one won to Jesus.

I may be half baked, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, I am the key to your future.

If you pray God will answer.

http://www.themindmap.tv/video/i-am-a-prayer/

Happy 12th Birthday, Google

2010-09-27T02:40:00.000-07:00

Happy 12th Birthday, Google

It is hard to believe it is only 12 years since Google hit our screens and now we commonly use the verb to google, although not officially in the dictionary it probably will be soon. Think of all the other Google applications we use every day such as Blogger, Docs, Calendar, just to name a few that some of us think we can't do without. What will another twelve years bring?

Shall I shan't I? and other activities

2010-09-22T14:28:00.002-07:00

My domain name has to be renewed in December, if I don't renew it will no longer be caribooponderer.com but caribooponderer.blogspot.com and I will have saved a few dollars. I have not blogged much for a long time. I guess I could see what this winter brings but blogging was a hobby when I had absolutely nothing else to do up north but now my life is a bit fuller I am not that inspired. I still read others blogs and comment occasionally but the blogging fever has left me so I am not sure really if I will drop the blog altogether, but I am somewhat attached to it and the friends I have made since September 2006 when I started it. I probably will let the domain name lapse and revert to blogspot and see if I can be inspired to write anything. I generally like to be informative rather than relate the details of my everyday life although I do do that sometimes. I love to research and would be inspired if somebody asked me something that I could find out details for them.

For example I was talking to a friend from up north today who shared that the church there has dropped down to 15 people and no pastor and where could she get some help with sermons and so on. So I was able to send her links to audio sermons, text sermons on any topic and helps for house churches. Most of you would know how to find such stuff but my friend barely knows how to send email so she was happy to have the help. Plus she was sent an attachment she didn't know how to download so I had her forward the email to me I downloaded it and copied and pasted into an email and sent it back.

I have been busy with my computer recently though and have created a web page for a friend who is going into her own consulting business. I am pleased with the outcome Chris Drummond Counselling Services and it appears to be working well on several browsers.

In April the church we are going to now is going to do a course on spritual gifts and since I wrote a manual on that many many years ago, although I don't have it anymore, I offered to put something together. So that will keep me busy. I am also working my way through a book by Graham Cooke called Approaching the Heart of Prophecy which is very in-depth and has assignments which are a challenge. I have been involved in prophetic ministry for almost 30 years but feel that now is another time of growth for me. We have been visiting a friend of ours in Kamloops who has a home group where prophetic people meet to learn and practice and that has been rewarding especially as I have been able to encourage others in what God is saying to them. Christian prophetic ministry is not foretelling the future but to bring encouragement and comfort to the listener. When we came to this church, a Pentecostal, I told the pastor that I would not prophecy until he knew me for some time and only when he gave the go ahead. A few Sundays ago I wrote down what I felt I had received and showed him just before the service and he said that he would make time for me to share it which I did and later on he got up to preach and it was on the same subject and similar words. The two following weeks that happened also, although a different preacher, so I was blessed in that God has confirmed my credentials with this church. Sometimes I write down something in my journal and don't know who it is for or when to give it and have to wait until impressed to share it. So I thought I would share one because it ministered to me and there may be someone out there who needs to hear something encouraging today.

Firstly let me tell you how I go about receiving a word, or at least this one, I choose something to think about and ask God to speak through it. In this case I was sitting at my computer with my small stack of vitamins to take with a cup of tea and this is what came to mind and I wrote it down in my journal, I hope it blesses someone.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that and you think it makes you well, strong and resistant. Maybe in the natural world it does but in the world of the spirit it takes total immersion, total submission and total rest. It is not in the length of your prayers or the amount of time you spend reading your Bible, although good pursuits it is not these that bring you into a deep relationship with me. Resting in my love, knowing that I know all about you, your triumphs and your failings, your good days and your bad. When you feel unlovable I love you more for it is in your unloveliness that I can show you my love. So beloved rest and know that you are safe in my love and nothing can separate you from me. I knew everything you would do on the day I died for you and I loved you then.

This song I can listen to over and over

2010-09-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

Bears having fun

2010-08-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

These are pictures taken at a Work Site in the northern part of Alberta at one of the oil fields. These were taken on a Monday morning when they arrived at work at 6:45 a.m. It's not at all unusual to have bears, elk, deer, moose wondering around the site, but this was really neat catching these characters having fun ... I guess they think this is their own playground and just have fun. All the guys and the bosses watched for over an hour until they all left... and kinda got shooed away.

Bear trouble again

2010-08-26T20:10:00.001-07:00

We have bears again they are coming down for the fish and fruit. Not as bad as where we used to live but I still don't like it. Mamma bear and three cubs on the road this morning outside our park, the police were trying to get them to go back off the road. A big old male wandered through yesterday and a couple of yearlings sighted across the road.

I went walking a couple of evenings ago with one of my new walking buddies and we saw a bear up an apple tree a bit too close for me although she laughed at my fears, I wish I was more confident around them but they are so unpredictable. Taken to carrying my bear banger, it sounds like a shotgun but doesn't hurt them.

Off to Calgary early tomorrow morning, doing a round trip run and then on to Vancouver on Sunday, helping move son #3.

Divine love

2010-08-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Quotes from Steve McVey's blog

“I want to share great, great news. The gospel is not understood by most but the message of the gospel is our sins are already forgiven and I can tell each one here, your sins are forgiven. You don’t need to be forgiven, you already are. The gospel is not to make us ashamed and guilty but to take those things away. All you have to do is acknowledge that, believe it because it is true.”

"This gospel we declare is big! Our Triune God has wrapped His arms around the universe and He invites us to simply believe that we are loved; that we share in His divine life; that we are all included in what He has done..."

"Divine love makes no sense to the natural mind. It so drastically transcends the pallid experience that man calls love that it almost seems a violation of the word for humans to use it. His love outpaces human love to the point of absurdity when judged by common man using common sense."

"I want to allow the greatness of His love to engulf me. I don’t want to resist it. I want the finite experiences of my life be swallowed up by infinite love. I want to take my eyes off my circumstances and look at Him. I want to stop worrying about tomorrow and look at Him. I want to turn away from regrets about the past and look at Him. Those things that distract me, disturb me, dilute me . . . I want to turn away from it all and look at Him."

He's overjoyed

2010-08-07T19:39:00.002-07:00

The previous post I wrote was about my younger sons desire to quit drywalling and get into the games industry as an animator. He has been applying himself this last year, learning on a game (Primal Carnage - the video below this post, due to come out later this year), working for nothing just the experience. It has paid off, he sent his demo reel to several companies. One in Vancouver responded (IronClad Games) and they flew him down from Calgary on Thursday for an interview and offered him a job. I will be going soon to Calgary to help him move. He is over the moon, he has done this in spite of not being able to afford to go to animation school and in his spare time. This is the demo that got him hired Jess's Demo . So now I have two sons in the same industry just different aspects of it. Steve does the artwork and the other makes it move. Maybe down the road they will get together.

Look for this you gamers

2010-07-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

The game my youngest son Jesse is working on. He is the animator. It should be out later this year and is called Primal Carnage it will be available on the Internet for $20US. He is doing this in his spare time from his 'real' job but he hopes to be able to do animation full time. The game allows one to be a hunter or a dinosaur.

An article I liked about losing your religion

2010-07-28T21:25:00.002-07:00

I really enjoy the articles and messages from Steve McVey and thought this was worth sharing Steve McVey: Losing Your Religion It is worth reading the whole article.
Here are a few quotes to wet your interest.
"I lost my religion years ago and I’m doing so much better now. ""
Religion ties people up tight, obligating them to a particular set of standards and behavior."
"Authentic Christianity is different from religion in many ways.""
"Religion will tie you down."
GraceWalk Ministries

Unusual tree we have on our new property

2010-07-26T21:01:00.001-07:00

We are told this is a Tamarac tree. It looks a bit like an evergreen tree close up but it looses its leaves in winter. Today it was humming with bees, the flowers are tiny but it is very pretty.

It is very hot today so we have been enjoying our deck but this afternoon it was 49C (121F) in the sun so we took an afternoon siesta indoors.

Company twice this week

2010-07-21T19:04:00.001-07:00

When we were in Granisle no one came to visit but this week an old friend of mine from the coast came up for the weekend and today visitors popped in unexpectedly on their way through to Kamloops.

The weather is glorious and hot but the nights are cool so what more can you want. There was a small forest fire not far from us but it was soon put out. I bought some climber roses for the patio and Dave is going to build a lattice for them to climb up. Our patio is very private but this will make it even more so and smell great too. We have a smaller deck in the front also where I have pots of geraniums and a small rose. It looks inviting I hope.

Dave has finished his new shed and a pathway to it from the back of the large deck which looks quite good. Next he is pulling up the carpet in the family room and the hallway and then we are putting laminate floor from the family room which is off the deck through the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom and bedrooms. We will keep the carpet in the living room/dining room and main bedroom.

We are talking about putting a skylight in the kitchen roof as it is a bit dull in there but that will be next year, also a complete redo of the bathroom but that also will be next year.

So we are keeping busy and spending time outside. I have been walking for at least an hour each day sometimes more but I find the walk in the evening too hot so have dropped that but walk with my new friends in the morning about 7:45 am and it is wonderful out then. I am the oldest of the lot but am keeping up quite well.

We have a family of small hawks nesting in our Ponderosa pine tree. What a noisy bunch they are, unfortunately they are too high up in the tree to take any photos but they are practicing their hunting and flying skills right now and I expect they will be gone in a week or so.

So the computer is rather neglected right now but I think that is a good thing and much more healthy for me but it served in Granisle as a link to the outside and I have made friends on the Internet. I am getting nicely toasted taking care not to burn but getting my Vitamin D something I am sure I was severely depleted up north. So I will love you and leave you for now I am still reading your posts and popping in once in a while but must admit the sunshine is luring me outside.

School was pretty dull back then

2010-07-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures online today. My old school. I had found this site before but did not see the actual school and classrooms on it. I found school awfully dull and think the children today have much better schooling and facilities.

This was St. Augustine's Aglican School

I think it was the 5th form.

An older post about this time in my life and schooldays

The Best Free Software of 2010

2010-07-05T15:49:00.003-07:00

Just browsing today thought some of you might find this interesting. The Best Free Software of 2010 | PCMag.com.

Software is mainly for Windows but there is some for Mac as well. I haven't bought software for years there is so much wonderful free stuff online.

Making friends

2010-07-02T19:59:00.001-07:00

I have made two new friends to go walking with who live in the same Mobile Home Park. We walked this morning and again this evening. This is really good for me as I can't talk myself out of it. They came and knocked on the door this evening and wouldn't let me make any excuses. One is a Christian and a newly diagnosed diabetic so I can help her and the other is neither.

Also there is a woman across the way who they are going to introduce me to who does beading. It will be nice to get together and check out each others ideas. I have started another bracelet on my loom. I seem to have lost my beading book in the move and I have gone through everything trying to find it so I went to the library to look for books but they didn't have much at all. I remember how to do the loom beading but have forgotten some of the beading stitches for doing off loom projects however there is lots of info on the internet I can get.

I also pulled out some knitting. I had finished the two fronts of a sweater last year and it was cabled in different colors to the body of the sweater so I decided to finish the back which was half done anyway. I found the back and wool but can't find the rest which is really frustrating. Guess I will have to start something else until they turn up. I can't believe they got lost in the move.

So I am keeping myself busy while Dave is away. I talked to him last night and the job is going well so he may not be as long as he thought.

Overcoming the thing my own way

2010-06-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

Dave is heading back to Granisle for anything from two weeks to a month. He has two apartment buildings to paint in the resort and possibly some other work too which will extend his time. So we are going out for supper tonight. I like a Chinese buffet as I can pick and choose what I can eat leaving out or only having a little sugary thing. On the whole eating out can be a bit difficult for a diet controlled diabetic but I have found most restaurants will oblige me when I chop around with their menus.
While he is away I will have to look after the yard so it won’t be too wild when he returns. The problem being is that we have a gas lawnmower that needs a lot of pull to start it and I don’t have the reach. I have it beat though I tied the start handle down and put two large stones behind the back wheels, that is so I can let go of it and stand further back for a longer pulling reach, and with considerable huffing and puffing, get the thing started but when I take the bag off to dump the grass I have to keep the start handle still tied and leave it running otherwise I can't start it again. Hence I am not saving the environment but the grass is getting cut. He makes it look so easy and he was howling with laughter at my attempts to overcome the darn thing. Next lawnmower will be electric.

Some of my new neighbours

2010-06-22T21:07:00.001-07:00

Although we are really close to town we are also in a rural area and surrounded with countryside and lots of horses. This is a major ranching area and there are a lot of cowboys and their equine companions around. I regularly see horses on my way into town, some with foals. The other day I walked in the opposite direction towards the little village of Lower Nicola and stopped and was greeted by these new neighbours. I am not familiar with horses so hesitated to pat them and didn't have anything to give them so settled with a photo.

Of course there are lots of cows too and it is lovely to see the little ones with their moms. One of our neighbours in the mobile home park is a cowboy and he introduced us to his cow dog called Jasmine. When he goes up into the bush on horseback she rounds up the cattle and herds them so they can be counted and branded. This dog is so intelligent and so friendly, it is a Collie/Akita cross. He has five horses of his own and said we could go riding anytime. I think these muscles and bones might not like it too well but it has always been a dream of my husband to ride so maybe he will take him up on it.

We live relatively close to Canada's largest working cattle ranch of more than half a million acres. The current cattle herd is approximately 20,000 and approximately 300 horses. Douglas Lake Ranch has been in existence since 1872.

It is commonly thought that the United States is home of the biggest cattle drives but that is not so, Canada ran a cattle drive from this area to Alaska, about 1600 miles, over some of the roughest terrain to get to the Klondike gold miners. To celebrate the cowboy legacy of the area there are rodeos going on all summer and people come here from as far away as Arizona to compete. It is very different from where were living up north, even the clothes, lots of the men wear cowboy hats and boots seem quite bow legged to me, I guess from sitting on a horse so much. They say the First Nations people are the best cowboys and many of them work on the Douglas Lake Ranch. We just had a rodeo exclusively for First Nations and Native American peoples and there were lots wearing their regalia in town. About 600 contestants came and since this was the first one it is hoped it will grow to be a big success.

Everything counts

2010-06-21T18:59:00.001-07:00

Remember that you don't always know the good you do. During the 19th century, political figure and diplomat Charles Francis Adams kept a diary. One day he entered:

"Went fishing with my son today - a day wasted." His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: "Went fishing with my father--the most wonderful day of my life!" The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time.

Don't underestimate the ways that the ordinary actions of your life may be used to touch others.

Just sharing one of my favourite pieces of music

2010-06-07T19:09:00.001-07:00

Found one of my favourite pieces of music on You Tube. I just love Carmena Baruna, just thought I would share it with you. It has a bit of a long lead in and I find it is best listened to LOUD but then I like my music loud.

Hubby has gone out to play cribbage at the local pub with a group so I have the evening to myself so can crank up the sound.

Want to print a selected text not the whole page?

2010-06-03T13:53:00.001-07:00

Quite often I want to print just a portion of text on a webpage and rather than copying the text and pasting it in a Word or text file, I use a simple trick to print selected text from a webpage.

To print selected text on webpages, first select the text you want to print on a webpage and hit "Ctrl + P" to bring up the print dialog.

In the printer dialog, select the radio button (the little circle) next to "Selection" if it is not already selected and hit the print button. That's it, only the selected content will now be printed.

This trick works Firefox, Opera and IE8 but Google Chrome does not appar to support this feature.

A place for everything

2010-05-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

We have been making some changes in the new place, one was turning the smallest bedroom into a storage room. It is just off the kitchen so an ideal place to store dry goods and kitchen gadgets, plus canning and wine. We have enough room for cookbooks and extra bedding, just about everything will fit in there. I tried my hand at making a video with the camera. Not very interesting but you get the idea.

We have been here just over a month now and we are settling in nicely. It is so convenient to just nip out to the stores, town is only a few minutes away although we are quite rural. I don't think a day has gone by when we haven't popped in for something. It is still a novelty as where we came from there was nowhere to go and nothing to do. We are able to attend a local church every Sunday and they have a home group on Wednesday's which we have been going to. Also we have a little neighborhood pub just up the road which sells chicken wings for .25 each and they are quite large so we have treated ourselves a couple of times. The people in the mobile home park are very pleasant and everyone keeps their place looking spic and span. A lot of older folk but there are some younger families with children but they seem very quiet and well behaved.

We brought the bad weather with us though. The locals say they have never had such a wet cold May in memory. However we have had a few nice days and it can only get better. Neither of us regret the decision to move. When I can remember to take the camera I will try and get some pictures. I have to find a new photo for my header as the countryside around here is quite different from where we were. This is real cowboy country and there are so many horses everywhere. They had a big rodeo here on the weekend and different rodeos go on all summer. Country music is the order of the day here and that is all new to me. Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton where the only singers I knew so I have to get with the program.

My video card had died

2010-05-28T13:00:00.001-07:00

All is well again. I called a mobile tech service and they came straight away. My video card had died but apprently it was an extra card in the system so she used the one that was on the motherboard did some download of drivers and generally tweaked the system and my desktop is brand new again. Since everything was wiped off I have to download everything again but a small price to pay. The whole thing cost $157 with labour so I am pleased maybe this desktop will last another few years.

Now we are closer to town its easier to spend!!

2010-05-12T20:25:00.001-07:00

We went out this evening and bought a barbeque and a patio set. We have never had one before because the flies where we lived before just didn’t allow for sitting outside. We will put it up tomorrow. It is Dave’s 72 birthday coming up next month and our anniversary shortly after so we justified the expense. Actually it wasn’t as expensive as I had thought it would be. I will have to go to the library to pick up books on barbecuing.

It was such a nice day today I sat out on our deck for quite a while reading and it seemed a shame to come in to cook and eat, especially as cooking will raise the temperature inside. I am hoping to spend many pleasant hours outside. We have a fairly sizeable deck at the back and a small one at the front so we have quite a bit of outside living space.

We started cleaning up our little yard today, it is little compared to what we had before but it is just the right size now we are slowing down a bit. It is about 100 feet long by about 48 feet wide. The mobile and extension obviously takes some space but it still leaves plenty of room for trees and shrubs or a place for the grandkids to play. I had toyed with putting in a garden but have changed my mind. There is a Farmer’s Market close by every Saturday and that seems a better option than going to the trouble of doing it myself.

The haircut looked really good when I left the hair stylist, somewhat different when I tried it myself this morning but it will serve, it is a lot neater and if I stop trying to dry it the way I have always done and let the cut take over it will be fine. She took an hour and a half to cut it. She said I had probably the most difficult hair she had cut as it is full of cowlicks and so fine that she practically had to cut it strand by strand. So now it is short and stacked at the back most of the hair forward into bangs and sides so my hair isn’t slipping back off my head anymore and seemed to survive the wind without looking like needed a broom to get home on.

New haircut tomorrow

2010-05-10T20:05:00.001-07:00

In the last year I have been growing my hair into a shoulder length bob and in Mexico it got nicely sun streaked and looked quite good but one draw back in our new home is that it is very windy on many days and therefore my bob looks more like a mop and I have had to clip it back with pins which doesn’t do me any favours in the looks department. So after all that effort to grow it I have made the decision to cut. I hope I can manage it as I have the most difficult hair, it is very fine, thin and dark blonde, really I wish I could wear a wig as it is so difficult to look after. A wig would be great in winter but I imagine most uncomfortable in summer. It is also starting to go gray, not that I mind gray hair when it is all one color but on my hair color it just looks horrid when there is just a bit showing at the temples it makes me look as if my hair slipped backwards.

Oh vanity thy name is woman!

We have waterfront property

2010-05-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago someone further up the valley diverted a creek in the hopes of watering his fields but it has caused a small flood across the highway and into the mobile home park. We are surrounded with water, lapping almost up to the front step and around the back, but we are not as bad as some of the places, however except for one home it is not major and steps are being taken to stop the creek water coming our way.

We are almost unpacked, there remains a few boxes that my back is reluctant to bend over and unpack but on the whole we are settled although we both have moments of forgetfulness as to where we have put something. We have decided the smallest bedroom near the kitchen is going to be our main storage room, so Dave put up some shelves for all my kitchen stuff that is overflowing from the kitchen cabinets and he will put in more for his wine and my canning plus whatever else we can get in there. It can also double up as a bedroom by putting a blow up bed and sleeping bag in there.

The middle sized bedroom has my desk and desktop computer in it (no internet yet) plus bookshelves and also will double up as a bedroom if needed and I have stored all the heavy winter coats and extra blankets and linens in the closet. We found the closet in our bedroom is so huge that we don't have to use the middle bedroom as a dressing room after all.

We moved around the furniture again today in the living room and I think we have found a workable arrangement but we need to get floor lamps. The family room off the kitchen is still a mess but we plan to get a bed chesterfield in there so it can double up as a bedroom as well if necessary. Our kids have indicated they might come visit over Christmas so that is why I have been thinking bedrooms but I don't want to have rooms only used once or twice a year, I want them to have other uses as well. I would prefer to have my computer in the family room rather than tucked away but it might not work out that way as the room lacks a large corner spot for the desk so unless I get another desk I am relegated to my own home office in the bedroom.

The main revamping we plan to do is the bathroom, it needs a new bathtub and a coat of paint. We plan to put laminate floor in the family room instead of carpet, plus open up the entrance from the kitchen into the family room so it is a wide walkway rather than just a doorway. I also suggested putting a door from the mudroom into the kitchen rather than having it open, as it is now, and heating it all the time as it is only the entrance way and will have just boots and shoes and coats in it. I thought it was a waste of heat as it is a fair size room. Dave is going to put closets all round for additional storage.

We have a large purple lilac bush in the garden, a Tamarack tree which I am told is very pretty, a honeysuckle and a bush that apparently is quite unusual, it has green and white leaves, but no one knows what it is called. We also have a large Ponderosa pine and several ornamental cedars around both front and back patios. I plan to get some flower boxes for the patios but it may have to wait until next year and we have been pricing barbecues which we hope to get by June. Dave plans to build a 10 x 10 shed in the back yard for all his tools and garden stuff, the one there now is too small. I also have a round washing line and since it is warm a lot of the time and quite windy I will dry my clothes on it as often as I can.

So we have lots to do and big plans, now we just need the get up and go to do it all. The new owners of our old place in Granisle took over yesterday. I hope they enjoy it, it was a lovely little home and Dave worked hard to make it so, but he enjoys doing that sort of thing so he doesn't mind doing some more renovations and at least he doesn't have to get wood any more and generally there isn't much snow here and it doesn't stay for long.

So that is my news for now. We became members of the library the other day so I can go down there and use the Internet for now rather than coffee shops. They said I could stay all day on the laptop for nothing if I choose but I will be looking into hooking up to the Internet in the not too distant future.

We are moved in

2010-04-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Moving is so tiring. I have been unpacking and trying to find new homes for everything, probably I will put stuff away and never find them again. We need shelving and a dresser. Dave is already wanting to revamp things and do some renovations but I will have to hold him back a bit. He plans to go ahead and build himself a shed for all his tools which is fine but I am not into him ripping walls out just yet.

We live about a five minute drive from town. On my way to get a few groceries today I counted twenty-two horses in the surrounding fields. This is cattle country and the little calves are everywhere. It is lovely to have the countryside around us but only minutes from town. The fruit trees are coming into bloom and the new leaves are bright green on the trees. When we left our old place there was still about six inches on snow on the ground and no new life yet on the trees.

I sat on the deck for a while this afternoon in the sun and above my head in the Ponderosa pine there was a couple of hawks mating and noisy about it they were. She kept screeching, I am not sure if she was encouraging him or telling him to get lost. He got his way with her anyway and then flew off, maybe they will nest there.

When I unearth my camera, who knows where it is, I will take some photos.

Bye for now

2010-04-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I am off the Internet now for a while until I get hooked up again in Merritt. I will be using hotspots but will probably hook up earlier than planned as I have my youngest son coming for a short 'working' vacation. He is doing some animation for an independent group with people from all over the world involved. They develop video games, and he is working for free, but it is an area he hopes to break into with the big hope that some company will pick up the game from a demo and finance it. Apparently it is done all the time. He is sent artwork from all over the world and he makes it move. This game is about dinosaurs.

Don't confuse him with my oldest son who is a cartoonist and animator. The middle boy is completely different, and is very much into music.

Don't know where they got all this talent from I don't have a musical bone in my body and can't draw, must have been from the dark side I guess.

So we are off at dawn Friday so bye for now.

It’s sold

2010-04-09T18:15:00.001-07:00

The fellow who was interested in our place came by today and he loved it and the sale is confirmed. He might buy our furniture as well, plus some of Dave’s stuff. He also brought the date forward for closing so we will get our money earlier. Everything is working out fabulously. A lot of prayer went into this move. We did not pray to move, rather that God’s will be done, but if we were to stay He would show us why. We only arrived home from Mexico a month ago and since then we have bought and sold and everything has gone so smoothly in spite of my pacing the floor a little.

We still have about 18 inches (46 cm) of snow here and it was hailing and snowing all day so I am glad he likes the place in spite of the weather. At our new place there is no snow and the lilac’s are budding and the spring flowers are pushing up, not to mention the stores I can browse in. I can’t wait. Just fourteen more sleeps and we are gone.

Since it has sold I expect I will be able to get on the Internet a lot sooner and then I will have photos and stuff to show you. Did I mention that where we are going is ranching country, real cowboyville. It is the host to Merritt Mountain Music Festival which is the largest country music festival in Canada, up to a 148,000 people have been known to show up for it. Big country music stars come for the six days, names like Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, and a host of others I don’t know but then I have never followed country music up to now so I have lots to learn. Although it was cancelled this year due to funding it is planned again for next so I will enjoy going to that.

They have rodeos all summer too so I will look forward to taking my grandson to that, I will have to get him a cowboy hat as he is a city slicker. I have a fancy for a pair of cowboy boots for myself too!

That’s my news for today and its all good.

We bought a place

2010-03-20T19:36:00.001-07:00

We just got a call from the realtor in Merritt and our offer has been accepted so we leave tomorrow to do the necessary paperwork. Possession date is end of April. It will be a miracle if the place in here is sold quickly but in the meantime we have a couple interested in renting it until it sells. We are offering them very cheap rent (just enough to cover our taxes and utilities so we don't have any costs) in return they are to keep up the place. It is a bit more than we wanted to spend but when we visited Merritt a week ago we realized we would have to spend more.

Unfortunately the internet will have to go for a while as we have to see if we can afford it although we are sure we will get it back on by Fall and in the meantime when we move we will be checking mail once or twice a week at a local coffee shop so keep in touch. We will also not be putting in a landline at least for a while so we can be found with the cell and then we will investigate if we should get the number changed to a Merrit number.

Everything is coming together really fast as we only got home from Mexico last Saturday and now we have a bank loan approved (just a small one), the Granisle place listed and a new place in the process of being bought. It has a living room, family room and 3 bedrooms so plenty of room. We will want to paint it and do a bit of remodelling but on the whole nothing much.

As you can see it is a mobile home and it is in a very nice rural park, but only 5 minutes away from town which has all the stores but it is only a 1/2 hour from a major city which has lots of malls. I will be all of a tizz not knowing what to do first.

Its listed

2010-03-15T20:55:00.001-07:00

We got back Saturday afternoon and have already had a phone conversation with the bank and the realtor was here this afternoon and we listed the place. I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I had to clean three and half months of dust and grime this afternoon, actually more because I got a bit lax with the housework before we left for Mexico. We will be calling back on one of the properties we saw in a couple of days as the owner had to go out of town so it begins to look fairly positive that we will be out of here by fall. We have found someone who is interested in renting until it sells. We offered a really low rent, just enough to cover our taxes and in return he has to keep the place in good condition. So things are looking up. One of the decisions we had to make was probably give up the internet for a while until we are settled and see how our funds are. We will keep it until we move whenever that is, and when we do move I will go down to a local internet coffee shop and use the laptop so I might do the odd post but mainly it will be Facebook think. I haven’t been blogging much and not visiting at all but I have been too busy. So that is my latest news. I would love to keep in touch via Facebook so if you want look for Berni Wright in British Columbia.

Just an update

2010-02-28T15:42:00.001-08:00

Not into blogging much these days just checking Facebook once in a while. I am also sharing the lapotop with Dave and we have a lot of internet down time so my enthusiasm has left, maybe it will return sometime in the future.

We have two more weeks in Mexico and then the drive home via Calgary to see family. Then comes the big search for a new home. We are putting our place up for sale and moving whether it sells or not. We want to be out before next winter. I am happy that Dave is as excited about the idea as I am. I have not wanted to push as he loves the fishing where we are but he is ready to move too and realizes that living in the bush as we get older may not be such a good idea.

We will look for a small piece of land first which we could have a mobile moved onto but in reality we probably will move to a mobile home park hopefully in Merritt, BC. That is about as far south as we can afford and it is part of the Sonoran desert which I can see looking out of my window here in Mexico, it is the very northern tip and winters are shorter, although they can be cold, and summers warm and longer than our miserly summer. So I am really looking forward to the new adventure. I will be so relieved not to worry about the bears in the backyard or the black flies either. Not that there won't be bugs but not to the extent we have them and bears won't be too often around. There shouldn't be anymore bear break-ins, at least I don't think so.

When we first moved to the bush the idea of wildlife all around was interesting but when they try and move in or choose to accompany one on a walk it is a bit unnerving. How would you feel about a moose giving birth just outside the living room window with a grizzly in hot pursuit to kill the new calf, or the wolf pack that runs across the back of the property. Chicken that I am I have become nervous to put my head out of doors, but it is the black flies that scare me the most as they flock around the door waitng for me and any amout of Deet doesn't seem to stop them. Dave says if I come along he doesn't need insect repellant on his skin as I am it. I am just a magnet for bugs.

There is so much more to do there than where we live, and opportunities to meet people and perhaps volunteer for something, plus a good size church. Kamloops is relatively close where there are malls, Hooray!! As some of you know there are no stores where we currently live and it takes a hour and half one way just to get groceries and we can only attend church every other week, less in winter.

Merritt is our first choice but we will check out the whole of the Okanagan area in pursuit of a new home. If I am not blogging that much I am still reading your posts when I get them.

Heads or Tails - Light or Dark

2010-02-17T11:12:00.001-08:00

Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails quite a while ago. Today the theme is Heads Light or Tails Dark.

I am a bit late with mine but a picture is worth a thousand words so they say

Heads or Tails - Chain

2010-02-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

Skittles started the meme Heads or Tails a while ago, today the topic is chain. This story came to my mail box today and one could call it about a chain reaction at a stretch.

HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville , waiting to board the plane, I
had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a
marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is
a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you.

You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life
in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons, not the least of
which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over
in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously
fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his
trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his
shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.

The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung
well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were
long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As
I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering
if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was
dead. So this man in the airport... an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on
us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from
being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served up on a wheelchair
only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more
overwhelmed with a feeling for him.

Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and
suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.

I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've
learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to
my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be
embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit
and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please, no.' I
looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven
and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now.
Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up
here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience.. Please,
Lord!'

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, 'Please don't make
me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I heard
it...'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.'

The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun
like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer. I looked
straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and breathe, I
want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm
your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life.
What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I
am going to witness to this man.'

Again, as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write
this statement across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth. I
don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.'

I looked up at God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my
suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a
hairbrush?'

God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as
these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will thoroughly furnish you
unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I
retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I
knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, 'Sir, may
I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

He looked back at me and said, 'What did you say?'

'May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to hear
you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'

At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, 'SIR, MAY I HAVE THE
PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?' At which point every eye in the place
darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar
than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat,
I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, 'If
you really want to.'

Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to.. But God didn't seem interested
in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I
could utter the words, 'Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little
problem. I don't have a hairbrush.'

'I have one in my bag,' he responded.

I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and
knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was
doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly
clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must
admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two
little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a
condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering
to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to me as I started
brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There
was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed
and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this
sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in
my entire life.. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes -
felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a
little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a
short while.

The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's.
His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I
got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knee and said, 'Sir, do you
know my Jesus?'

He said, 'Yes, I do'

Well, that figures, I thought.

He explained, 'I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry
me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I
haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been
too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I
must be for my bride.'

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when
we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was
one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only
He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it.

Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply
ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have
accompanied him on that aircraft.

I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline
hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She
said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that?
What made you do that?'

I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'

And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,
you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on
but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling
rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or
He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual.
Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many
opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way... all because I
didn't want people to think I was strange.

God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

Reality check

2010-01-21T20:27:00.002-08:00

We have decided that although we are enjoying our visit to Mexico we would rather find somewhere in BC to settle than make the trip down here each winter. So to that end I contacted a friend who is a mortgage broker to see how much we are good for. The reality is that we don't get enough pention to be a good risk even though we have an excellent credit rating. The next suggestion was put 35% of our savings down and we still found the monthly payments a bit much. We weren't looking for anything fancy just a lot further south. Dave thought he might like to build a small house on a lot or put a mobile on it but it seems that is not possible without totally overextending ourselves. Not an option.

So we have decided that a mobile home in a park is the answer to getting out of Granisle. We have chosen Merritt, BC to be the focus of our search. Merritt is in the only desert area of Canada, in fact the same Sonoran desert that is surrounding us now here in San Carlos extends to Merritt. Merritt is a lot warmer than Granisle and has significantly shorter winters. I don't think I will have to worry about bears and there are probably a lot fewer flies. What is more there is a choice of churches, a museum, hospital and stuff to do.

When we leave Mexico at the end of April we are going to have a quick visit with sons 2 and 3 in Calgary and then on home. We will then put the place there with a realtor and head down to Merritt to see what we can find. I have already been checking out the MLS listings and it looks qiuite feasible. Fortunately we can afford to buy a place without a mortgage or waiting until the place in Granisle is sold, so we hope we can work it out to be out of Granisle before winter this year even if the place we own there is not sold.

I have been realizing the last year or two that I am lonely and a bit depressed. Dave has his good bachelor buddy Sid close by, Sid is also planning to move, probably close to wherever we go. Dave and Sid go fishing a lot and do odd fix-it jobs together around Granisle so I do spend a lot of time by myself and I have not found another woman to hang out with, plus there is absolutely nothing to do or go in Granisle. Although I am quite comfortable with my own company for long periods it would be nice to have a friend close by and maybe volunteer for something. I think I would like to hold the babies that need holding or help in an animal shelter. So that is the latest thoughts.

Meanwhile here in San Carlos it is incredibly windy, I think we are getting the tail end of the storm that has been beating up Southern California. We went out to some view points today to see the big waves rolling in and I could hardly stand up. In the little village Dave has been working to help build small homes for the Mexicans who lost everything in the tropical storm last September they get very frightened when the weather is like this as they fear it happening again. Otherwise life is much the same as usual except it is warmer. Sid arrived last week so I have two 71 year old deliquents to keep in order same as at home.

Heads or Tail - Sweet or Sour

2010-01-12T14:28:00.001-08:00

Barb started a meme called Heads or Tails and the topic today is Heads Sweet or Tails Sour.

When we go shopping in the the large grocery store in Guayams they have wonderful desserts and baking on display and in covered containers have samples to try. Since I am not able to eat sweets I take a few crumbs from each just to taste. As tiny as that is that satisfies my sweet urge.

Mind you I get a bit sour when Dave takes his varied selection to the checkout and then demolishes them after supper. Somehow plain yogurt isn't the same.

Heads or Tails - Square

2010-01-04T19:42:00.001-08:00

Barb started a meme called Heads or Tails and the topic today is Square.

Google Squared allows your search results can appear on a spreadsheet, you can remove content, add suggested columns of your own, and even save your squares. Google Squared is really just your normal search results in column and row form, so it is best to use if searching for groups of items. TV shows, dog breeds, planets, and so on. You can save your Squares, which is useful for for research. Probably a useful tool for school students.

Cactus for breakfast

2010-01-02T19:30:00.003-08:00

We went shopping yesterday in Guyamas and in the store a man was slicing off the sharp spines from prickly pear cactus, called Nopales, and then chopping the cactus up and putting it into little bags. I decided to try some against Dave's better judgement. He is so suspicious of anything not usually on an Englishman's plate. I sauted some with my scrambled eggs this morning and they taste like a cross between green beans and asparagus, not bad at all. Apparently the Mexicans use them for salads, steam them, grill them and stew them and they grow everywhere. The Mexicans use Nopales to poultice bruises and dress wounds. They also boil and crush the pads, then add the sticky juice to mortar or whitewash to increase adhesiveness. Nopales have been a food source in Mexico for hundreds of years. Recently, they have gained popularity in the United States as well. So on tomorrow's menu we will be having ground beef a la cactus. I will throw in a few hot peppers as well. I like hot and spicy food but some of the peppers here could peel your skin off so I have to be careful with them.

Dave is making a pig of himself with the Mexican baked goods which are very good. He has been buying two and three cakes at a time for his dessert. I have been sticking to my small serving of papaya with plain yogurt. We are both making pigs of ourselves with the avocados though, something I just love. Dave was given a great big bag of oranges which he juiced. I don't like oranges so he has it all for himself. There are oranges and lemons on trees in the neighbourhood around us and our neighbour has a papaya tree which he said would have ripe fruit on it fairly soon. This is a picture of a papaya tree.

We were invited to dinner last night with our neighbour and met his Mexican half of the family. He is an American from Michigan and she is Mexican. He speaks hardly any Spanish and she doesn't speak much English. She has never been to school and doesn't read or write and he is a retired business man who owns several properties here and in the US. An unlikely couple one would think but they seem very happy. He is very involved with the reconstruction of the little village I told you about that was destroyed by the tropical storm in September.

I have not been visiting much since my connection is off and on all the time. I can write this and my emails while offline and then send them winging on their way when I get online. Sometimes they all don't make it until next time, but when the connection is on it is faster than my satellite dish at home. Fireworks still going on tonight even though New Year has been and gone. Hoping everyone has a prosperous and happy new year.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-21T10:21:00.003-08:00

We are having a good time in the sun. When you come for this long it isn't really a vacation in that we don't go rushing around playing tourist. I go for a walk in the morning between 7 and 8 when it is still cool and then I just do whatever needs doing much as I would in Granisle.

Dave has volunteered his time three days a week to work with a group helping Mexicans build themselves homes in a village nearby, San Jose de Guaymas. Their homes were destroyed in September when a tropical storm blew through and at least one old lady of 80 is still living under a tree although a tent has been offered to her now. Nearly six foot of water deluged the village and there are still huge puddles there as the ground cannot absorb any more. Amazingly only one person lost his life and that is because he refused to leave his home. A lot of money has come in from different groups to buy the supplies and the Mexicans are building their own homes with help from the volunteers. Last week the Vice-Mayor of Guaymas visited the site and asked what they needed most and he was told cement so he arranged for 400 bags to be delivered, the men were very excited about that as it meant they could really get going. Mostly Dave is putting in doors and windows and some roofing or things the locals don't know how to do. It is very basic a one room brick hut with two windows and a door but it is better than nothing. Then as they can afford it the owner can build onto it. There is electricity but no plumbing so a communal bathroom has been set up for now. You can see a few tents in the pictures which were supplied by the Rotary and when each home is built the tents will be returned so they can be used again in some other emergency.

At the other extreme we toured a house that is being built in San Carlos it is huge and right on the beach. This is the palapa an outdoor room with BBQ and cooler for drinks.

That's me in the hat talking to Julio the friend we made last time we were here. We brought Spanish bibles down for his church. He said people were too poor to buy their own. He also lost some of his things during the storm but is recovering. His computer was damaged and it sounded pretty old anyway. I had brought him down a bible study program with a Spanish version which he admired on my laptop earlier this year but unfortunately he is now unable to use it. He said he makes about $28 a day and really has to work for that and he is pretty well paid as he can turn his hand to most things, speaks fluent English and is well known amongst the English speaking community. That ugly thing now on view on the beach is where a lot of the water came up. It is a water purification unit but is not working properly right now and sure spoils the view from this house but no doubt the fellow who owns the house will get it looking okay soon and working again.

Anyway I hope you have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hardly realize it is Christmas here as no hype, no glitter and no Santa Claus. It is wonderful.

Heads or Tails - Gone Fishing

2009-12-15T19:58:00.003-08:00

Barb started a meme a while ago called Heads or Tails this week her theme is 'Gone Fishing"

Fishermen putting out their nets to catch mackerel in San Carlos, Sonora Mexico.

Pelicans were a lot of fun to watch

2009-12-13T17:19:00.002-08:00

This afternoon we walked around the marina, a favourite spot with us. Fishermen had come in and were cleaning their catch. There were Mackerel and what looked like a small Grouper. The pelicans where everywhere and they were a lot of fun to watch as they caught the pieces the fishermen didn't want. One pelican was really aggressive and took another pelican in a head hold for at least 20 minutes trying to get it to give up its fish. Even seagulls were pecking at one of the pelican's pouch under its bill as it was sticking out with so much food in it. We had a real chuckle at some of their antics.

Lovely warm day 26C/79F so it is amusing to us to see some people with padded coats, scarves and hats on. We are in Tshirts and shorts. Of course it gets about 35 - 40 degrees hotter in summer so I guess they do feel it cold. We are certainly not missing our weather at home which is having a really cold spell right now -33C/-27.4F overnight. I am ever so slowly toasting to a pale gold just by walking, so I should be making lots of the good Vitamin D which I have been sadly lacking up north. My cold is very much better but Dave has it now. I made him eat extra amounts of garlic in his dinner tonight, not that he minds, as it is a natural anti-biotic, but I might be sleeping on the couch tonight. LOL

San Jose

2009-12-11T20:13:00.002-08:00

Dave went out with some other men today to see what is being done in a small village near here called San Jose. It experienced a lot of damage when a tropical storm came through in September. Many people were left homeless. There are people from many varied walks of life helping out. Dave was working with a lawyer from Arizona who comes down for the winter each year and likes to help with various projects. Another American is married to a Mexican woman and lives here full time giving a lot of his time to these causes. We are living across from him and he always has building materials being delivered for various projects. Apparently over $190,000 has been donated towards rebuilding the area. In San Carlos itself there is ongoing work to the roads that were damaged but it is happening slow but surely, also on the main highway where it was washed away there has been a lot of road work. Dave said he saw huge swathes of blacktop that had been swept away on the sides of the road.

We went into Guaymas today to do some shopping. Guaymas is about a 15 minute drive from San Carlos where we are staying. We tried a new store that we were told about. It was fantastic. It sold everything from vehicle tires to baby clothes. It has a large food department, restaurant, pharmacy and electronics. I did not think the fridges,stoves and other appliances where that expensive at all, cheaper than Canada and looked good. The only disappointment were the bathrooms they still were not up to our standards. We were told a Walmart store will be built by next August and that the town is growing very fast.

Cactus forest and other news

2009-12-08T18:26:00.003-08:00

Took a short drive on the way we saw this cactus forest. We noticed on the drive down through Arizona that many of the cactus were propped up, I have heard that some are endangered.

We came to a fishing village which was badly affected by the tropical storm that came through here in September. People are slowly getting their lives back together but there is a great deal of poverty.

We were told that many little creatures like geckos and other insect eating animals where swept out to sea and many pools of water are still drying out so the mosquitoes maybe bad this year. Also during the storm birds where dropping out of trees as their feathers where sodden. People were collecting them and putting them where they could possibly dry out.

We also located a Mexican friend we had made last year, Julio. We had asked him what he would like us to bring him from Canada and he wanted Spanish Bibles for his church as lots of folk could not afford a bible so we brought twenty down with us. He had also taken a shine to the bible program Dave had shown him on the laptop last time we were here so I got him a copy with a Spanish edition also. It is freeware so it was no cost to me. It is a very good one called e-sword. He also wanted a special fishing hook he couldn't find here, so today we dropped them off and he was so appreciative.

Julio is going to help Dave find a place to put in his boat. The places that Dave had thought to put in the boat were destroyed in the storm and are in the process of being fixed so we have been hunting for another but Julio says we can use the one near the house he is working at as he has the key to the ramp.

Internet still iffy but I am typing offline and when it does come on briefly I am sending emails. So this post is sent to my blog via email also. I have to see if Facebook has that capability I am sure it does.

Internet connection

2009-12-08T07:50:00.001-08:00

Connection is on and off all the time so we are very frustrated. So not sure how much posting I will be doing until solved.

Heads or Tails - One

2009-12-07T14:59:00.001-08:00

Barb started a meme called Heads or Tails and the topic today is Won or One.

Today is week one in Mexico although we had one week traveling and one here already.

This is how it was the morning we left. We are happy to have left that weather behind.

Here is one character that I hope not to see again.

No internet as yet

2009-12-03T08:09:00.001-08:00

Our landlord lost his router password so I have been unable to get online
from the apartment and today I am sending emails from a local coffee shop
so have to be quick because of laptop battery. Hopefully will be solved
soon and I can check out my feeds etc.

Trip was excellent and weather is sublime. Mexican people are very
gracious and everyone friendly. Wish you were here.

A Day in the Life – November 17, 2009

2009-11-17T20:08:00.004-08:00

The weather at my place:

Is very grey and overcast and has been like that for days and we have about 8” of snow although it is not cold only just below freezing. According to the weather reports it is going to stay like that for the rest of the week. Of course Dave has packed away his ATV with the snow blade so it is bound to snow. He will have to shove the stuff onto the road. Hopefully we won’t get a lot at once, just dribs and drabs.

A simple pleasure:

Packing is all done for Mexico. At least mine is. Everything but the dishwasher is in boxes and that wouldn’t fit! LOL. Dave has yet to do his packing he is only concerned about his boat going into the back of the truck, clothes and toiletries are the least of his concerns. We have five rubber bins with lids containing clothes, kitchen stuff and odds and ends plus an overnight bag each. It all should fit in according to Dave. I am sure I have taken ‘just in case’ stuff that I won’t use but just in case I might I have brought it along, I really don’t want to have to go and buy duplicates.

I did take the iron. We will have to dry stuff on the line and things get so wrinkled that way and I don’t mind a few wrinkles but I don’t want to look a complete mess. I know our landlord will have a iron but I don’t want to have to ask to borrow it and I don’t like ironing everything at once just as it is needed, Dave will probably do the ironing anyway he is much better at it than I am. He learned in the army so why should I disappoint him when he likes to show me how it is done! He like to show me how to do dishes as well and as yet I just haven’t got the knack of it. We have been married 11 years I wonder if I can keep up the dumb blonde act another 11, not so dumb eh. I am just joking of course he is a wonderfully emancipated male and helps a lot around the house.

I am thankful:

That we are able to leave here as winter is closing in now and the evenings are getting long and Dave doesn’t have enough to do so he is having fun bugging me, he says it will pass the time if he does that and I have to fight him off.

From the kitchen:

Trying to finish up the food, some of the meals will get a bit odd as we get closer to leaving date on Monday.

I am working on:

Nothing. Finishing up my library books mostly.

I am reading:

Reading Winter Study by Nevada Barr. Dave read it first and he said it was not the sort of book one wanted to be alone on a winters night to read. It is about wolves.

We leave Monday morning as soon as the water is turned off, the hot water tank drained and anti-freeze put down the sinks and toilets. The electricity will be turned off and away we go. We are stopping briefly in Prince George and will overnight somewhere en route to the border, where we will overnight before crossing into the US first thing on the 25th. I hope they don’t make us unpack everything but we know they have to do their job so we will aim for a good attitude.

We plan to drive down the I5 to Redding California and then turn east travelling via Reno and on to Las Vegas on our way to Phoenix and then down south to Nogales. We have allowed a couple of extra days than we originally planned so we can take our time. It is a very long way to travel but we are so looking forward to getting on the road. We will cross into Mexico on December 1st. It is a four hour drive down to San Carlos from the border. This picture is of the San Carlos marina and where I will be hanging out the following morning having coffee.

No practical value

2009-11-10T20:15:00.002-08:00

"Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value." - Editorial in the Boston Post (1865)

Of course this was said about the telephone but one could apply this statement to prayer and how sometimes we wonder if it is doing any good at all.

Many years ago when attending Bible School we heard a story from a visiting speaker about his mother, who would pray in the evenings after dinner while washing dishes. He said it was the one time, in her big family, when she could guarantee some time alone. During her prayer time she found she often spoke the same word over and over as well as other words. She was speaking in tongues, a method of prayer spoken about in the New Testament, and she did not know what she was saying but asked God to show her someday what she was praying for.

A long time later she and her husband invited a visiting missionary to dinner and in the course of conversation she related this time of praying and repeating this same word many times. The missionary immediately said that he knew that word, because it was the name of a woman, who had become a Christian and because of that was dragged outside her village and stoned and left for dead. However she did not die, she got up and walked back into the village with no visible wounds. Thereafter most people in that village became Christians.

It took a lot of faith for Alexander Graham Bell to persist in order that today we have the telephone, despite the disparagement of society, and it took faith to persist in prayer for something she did not comprehend. There are many marvellous things in the world which we do not understand, but do we need to understand everything in order to believe in them?

Sixty Uses Of Baking Soda

2009-11-09T13:44:00.001-08:00

Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda has many different uses in the household. Although much more expensive products have been developed over the years to do the same jobs, baking soda can work for you just as well, if not better. Use it in the following ways:

1. To make your own baking powder, stir and sift together 2 parts of Cream of Tartar to 1 part baking soda and 1 part cornstarch.

2. Be sure to keep an extra box of baking soda by your stove in case of grease or electrical fire. Scatter the powder by the handful to safely put it out.

3. Keep a container of baking soda in your garage as well as in your car to put out a fire. It won't damage anything it touches.

4. Baking soda will also put out fires in clothing, fuel, wood, upholstery and rugs.

5. Clean vegetables and fruit with baking soda. Sprinkle in water, soak and rise the produce.

6. Wash garbage cans with baking soda.

7. Soak and wash diapers with baking soda.

8. Oil and grease - stained clothing washes out better with soda added to the washing water.

9. Clean your fridge and freezer with dry soda sprinkled on a damp cloth. rinse with clear water.

10. Deodorize your fridge and freezer by putting in an open container of baking soda to absorb odors. Stir and turn over the soda from time to time. Replace every 2 months.

11. Soda absorbs kitty litter odors. Cover the bottom of the kitty box with 1 part soda; then add a layer of 3 parts kitty litter on top.

12. Always add 1/2 cup soda to your washing machine load.

13. Clean combs and brushes in a soda solution.

14. Wash food and drink containers with soda and water.

15. Wash marble-topped furniture with a solution of 3 tablespoons of soda in 1 quart of warm water. Let stand awhile, then rinse.

16. Clean formica counter tops with baking soda on a damp sponge.

17. Wash out thermos bottles and cooling containers with soda and water to get rid of stale smells.

18. To remove stubborn stains from marble, formica or plastic surfaces, scour with a paste of soda and water.

19. Wash glass or stainless steel coffee pots (but not aluminum) in a soda solution ( 3 tbsp. soda to 1 quart water).

20. Run you coffee maker through its cycle with a soda solution. Rinse.

21. Give baby bottles a good cleaning with soda and hot water.

22. Sprinkle soda on barbecue grills, let soak, then rinse off.

23. Sprinkle soda on greasy garage floor. Let stand, scrub and rinse.

24. Polish silverware with dry soda on a damp cloth. Rub, rinse and dry.

25. For silver pieces without raised patterns or cemented-on handles: place the silver on aluminum foil in an enamel pot. Add boiling water and 4 tbsp. baking soda. Let stand, rinse and dry.

26. Reduce odor build-up in your dishwasher by sprinkling some soda on the bottom.

27. Run your dishwasher through its cycle with soda in it instead of soap to give it a good cleaning.

28. To remove burned-on food from a pan: let the pan soak in soda and water for 10 minutes before washing. Or scrub the pot with dry soda and a moist scouring pad.

29. For a badly-burned pan with a thick layer of burned-on food: pour a thick layer of soda directly onto the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle on just enough water so as to moisten the soda. Leave the pot overnight, then scrub it clean next day.

30. Rub stainless steel and chrome with a moist cloth and dry baking soda to shine it up. Rinse and dry. On stainless steel, scrub in the direction of the grain.

31. Clean plastic, porcelain and glass with dry soda on a damp cloth. Rinse and dry.

32. Remove that bad smell from ashtrays with soda and water.

33. Sprinkle a bit of dry soda in your ashtrays to prevent smoldering and reduce odor.

34. Clean your bathroom with dry soda on a moist sponge - sink, tub, tiles, shower stall, etc.

35. Keep your drains clean and free-flowing by putting 4 tablespoons of soda in them each week. Flush the soda down with hot water.

36. Soak your shower curtains in water and soda to clean them.

37. To remove strong odors from your hands, wet your hands and rub them hard with soda, then rinse.

38. Sprinkle baking soda on your wet toothbrush and brush your teeth and dentures with it.

39. Sprinkle soda in tennis shoes, socks, boots and slippers to eliminate odor.

40. Add 1/2 cups or more of baking soda to your bath water to soften your skin.

41. Putting 2 tbsp. of baking soda in your baby's bath water will help relieve diaper rash irritations.

42. Apply soda directly to insect bites, rashes and poison ivy to relieve discomfort. Make a paste with water.

43. Take a soda bath to relieve general skin irritations such as measles and chicken pox.

44. Take 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water to relieve acid indigestion or heartburn.

45. Gargle with 1/2 tsp. baking soda in 1/2 glass of water. Freshens and cleans your mouth.

46. Used as a mouthwash, baking soda will also relieve canker sore pain.

47. To relieve sunburn: use a paste of baking soda and water.

48. Bug bites: use a poultice of baking soda and vinegar.

49. Bee sting: use a poultice of baking soda and water.

50. Windburns: moisten some baking soda and apply directly.

51. Making Play Clay with baking soda: combine 1 1/4 cups water, 2 cups soda, 1 cup cornstarch.

52. Use soda as an underarm deodorant.

53. If your baby spits up on his shirt after feeding, moisten a cloth, dip it in baking soda and dab at the dribbled shirt. The odor will go away.

54. When scalding a chicken, add 1 tsp. of soda to the boiling water. The feathers will come off easier and flesh will be clean and white.

55. Repel rain from windshield. Put gobs of baking soda on a dampened cloth and wipe windows inside and out.

56. Add to water to soak dried beans to make them more digestible.

57. Add to water to remove the "gamey" taste from wild game.

58. Use to sweeten sour dishcloths.

59. Use dry with a small brush to rub canvas handbags clean.

60. Use to remove melted plastic bread wrapper from toaster. Dampen cloth and make a mild abrasive with baking soda.

Author: Harry Godwin
Date: 1/15/1999

Dark and dismal at the crazy lady’s house.

2009-10-31T20:47:00.002-07:00

When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said...'Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.'
Daylight saving time, the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin was not readily accepted in his day but was instigated during World War I due to fuel rationing. Germany realized that the fuel could better be used to serve the war effort, and instituted the first daylight saving laws in 1915. England followed suit in 1916, and, finally, Canada and the USA, in 1918. So I suppose the theory is that we will continue to save fuel because of daylight savings.
To me it just means the lights will be on an hour less in the morning and an hour longer in the evening no real benefit as it is dark when I get up anyway so the lights are generally on for two to three hours at least and it is dark again at around 5:30 at night although we will have to put the lights on around 4pm on a clear day and if cloudy it would be about 3pm so we only have about 5 hours a day without lights and all night of course so daytime can be pretty dark and dismal up here in the frozen north.
Tonight it is –7C/19.4F with a brisk 50km/31mph wind. Enough to freeze your socks off but there are Halloween celebrations going on in the village put on by the hardy souls of the volunteer Fire Department for the few spectators brave enough to venture out.
Hearing those fire crackers going off makes me think of our dog Annie, now gone to her duties at the alpaca farm. She hated anything that banged and it was hours until we could persuade her to come out of her hidey hole. I have never done Halloween and my kids didn’t either. I wouldn’t want to give children candy anyway. Fortunately no one comes up here to the crazy lady’s house so I don’t have to send them away empty handed.

News overload

2009-10-30T16:43:00.001-07:00

Every morning we have coffee and watch the morning news, mostly for the weather report but lately all we hear is H1N1 and Olympics. I am so fed up with both I could spit. Is there nothing else happening on the planet? Again in the evening at six we watch our local news which is again mostly for weather and to see if the mine has gone any further forward.

I am a news junkie and I know I could turn the TV off but then I would check it out on the Internet anyway. I follow everything from environmental news to the latest technical news.

As far as H1N1 is concerned I think there is far too much fear mongering, people die of the flu every year. Maternal mortality is horrendous throughout the world even in North America the numbers are high, per 100,000 young women there are 6 deaths in Canada, 17 deaths in USA and 83 in Mexico, worldwide 17,553 women die every year due to pregnancy, but we don’t hear too much about that. Swine flu will come and go but child birth will continue, what are we doing about that.

As far as the Olympics in Vancouver, this January 22 to March 21, I think it was a mistake and I would not have voted for it in the first place. With the drugs and the enormous expense of security, which no city hosting the Olympics can go without these days, the whole spirit of the things is long gone. I imagine this is going to cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. Does anyone know if any city that has hosted the Olympics actually made money from doing so? Montreal hosted them in 1976 and finally paid for them in 2006 having lost money in the process.

So that is my opinion on it for what it is worth.

Binging, thoughts on cholesterol, Vitamin D and doctors.

2009-10-28T16:09:00.002-07:00

As many of you know I am a diet controlled diabetic, which means there are many things I don’t eat and I am pretty strict with myself about keeping my blood glucose numbers in really good shape. I was mad that I finally succumbed to diabetes as I had always been quite careful with my diet, never eating junk foods but my Father had diabetes so I guess I inherited it, but it came a lot later because of the care I had taken with my diet, still I was depressed for a while.

Sometimes I just have to binge and today is one of them. I binged on stuff that wouldn’t upset my blood glucose but may add an ounce or two to my weight but all healthy, if too much of a good thing.

I am a lover of wasabi peas so down the hatch they went, also some dark chocolate almonds that I made myself with stevia to sweeten, peanut butter cookies sweetened with stevia and made without flour, using flax meal instead. Finally I whipped up some extra hot and spicy soybeans which have just come out of the oven now, hot and crispy and ready to burn my taste buds right off my tongue. I think I am slowing down a bit now and have settled with a cup of tea. All of the above foods are actually very healthy foods so I have not indulged in junk but I have indulged myself a bit.

I don’t feel guilty although my scale is still hanging 10lbs over what the doctor would like, but I literally have to go hungry to get rid of it so I am just hoping all the additional exercise I plan to get in Mexico will help. I always figure a little extra poundage as you get older is more becoming than the scrawny look anyway. The only thing I can’t seem to budge is my cholesterol and I tend to think this is all hogwash anyway. I believe it is possible the medical profession has been brainwashed by the big pharmaceutical companies that we all need pills to bring cholesterol down. Just as many people die of heart attacks with low LDL (bad) cholesterol as high HDL (good) cholesterol plus our brains need cholesterol. However, I don’t feel I know enough to argue with my doctor on this issue so faithfully take my pills. Since we have purchased Health Insurance for the trip I have to do as my doctor suggests or the insurance is null and void.

I am very grateful for our Canadian health system and before that the British system, and although not perfect it has always met my needs. However, having almost lost my life and the life of my eldest son twice due to two different doctors’ errors, I decided to keep up with the latest medical research myself and not totally leave all the decisions to the doctors. That is not to disparage them, I think they are great but they are human, they make mistakes, they are over worked, stressed and don’t have the time to keep up with all the research that is out there, regardless what country they are working in. So I feel I should do it for myself.

When the doctor made a mistake in regard to my care while I was pregnant with my oldest son I was asked by the medical association if I wanted to sue as we both could had died. I chose not to sue, I think that would have been morally wrong in that situation. It was an error of judgement on his part not a deliberate act. I survived because of another doctor’s intervention and I am sure the first doctor learned a valuable lesson.

I try and stay fit and eat properly but don’t make a religion of it but one of the things I am realizing now is that I don’t get enough Vitamin D, most people in the northern hemisphere don’t and the latest research says without enough Vitamin D we can’t process cholesterol properly and also we can’t make serotonin which can lead to depression and sleeplessness. The Vitamin D one gets in milk is hardly enough and there are very few foods one can obtain it from but fatty fish like sardines and salmon contain it along with egg yolks, although a supplement is a good idea, Cod Liver Oil being one of the best. Also getting out in the sun for a least ten minutes without sun block, until your skin turns a little pink which means your body is manufacturing the Vitamin D it needs. That is almost impossible here as it never gets hot enough or rarely, and if I was outside the flies would be biting anyway.

So much to learn, so much we are not told, so much the doctors don’t know, no good worrying about it but taking some steps to greater health certainly pays off.

A Day in the Life – October 25, 2009

2009-10-25T17:03:00.001-07:00

Weather in my part of the world:

Snowed starting this morning until noon, cut off internet reception and TV. The snow is probably here to stay now.

A simple pleasure:

Watching my husband paint the entrance way, it has been needing it. The whole place is in muted golds, browns and creamy yellows. I like fall colors. He is working his way through from one end to the other. Probably finish it when we come back from Mexico.

From the kitchen:

I made chicken soup today for supper. Lots of veggies and some barley.

Made my own dark chocolates. Added almonds to a sugarless dark chocolate bar plus stevia to sweeten and a little vanilla and put in fridge to harden.

Made peanut butter cookies using flax meal instead of flour and stevia to sweeten.

Since no internet this morning I had to do something.

What am I working on:

Lists for packing

I am reading:

Shanghai by David Rotenberg.

Thinking about:

Often I seem to make my Christian life about what I do for God. You know, so many points for reading my bible and throwing a prayer heavenward, and so on, but it's not about what I do for God, but about what He does in and through me. If only I would let Him get on with it! He promises that He has begun a good work in me and He is faithful to complete it! I figure I may have 30 years left on the outside, bringing me to 92, I guess I must trust it will be completed on time.

Needing stovetop recipe assistance

2009-10-23T16:51:00.002-07:00

While we are Mexico in our rental apartment there is a propane stove top, a very small microwave and a tiny toaster oven. I guess many homes in Mexico don't have ovens because they heat the place up too much.It is well supplied with cups, plates and cutlery but a bit short on actual cooking tools. The American owner who lives upstairs is a bachelor and I don't think he cooks much so he hasn't outfitted the kitchen very well. One large frying pan and one pot. So I have to take a few things down to make my job easier.

I have an electric wok which I was thinking of taking down and possible my slow cooker plus good cutting knife, cutting board, spatula, mixing bowl, and whatever else I can think of. Hubby is scared I am going to take too much but five months is a long time to camp.

I don't cook many things on my stove top here and I am wondering if any one has a favourite easy skillet/frying pan recipe that they would like to share.

I don't want to be inside especially when it is hot messing about over a stove so I want quick meals. I am used to adapting recipes for myself (a diabetic) or simply giving hubby the stuff I can't eat out of a recipe.

When we were down earlier this year I found garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and peppers of all shapes and sizes available easily but the green vegetables that we like are not so readily available so I will be doing some learning and adjusting in the kitchen. That in itself will be a change.

I made my flaxmeal bread recipe today but put 1/4 cup measures of the mix in my frying pan and slow cooked them into little flat breads so I can at least have some bread. Low carb bread I imagine is almost impossible to buy there.

We are in countdown mode now, about one month until we pull out of here, the weather hasn't been bad so far and any snow we have had quickly disappeared, too much to hope for though, I suppose, to beat it altogether.

Want a brain boost

2009-10-21T22:30:00.001-07:00

No need to feel guilty for all the time you poke around the Internet you are boosting your brain power.

Research has determined that for older folks, those aged 55 to 78, searching on the internet causes enhanced neural stimulation leading to better reasoning and decision-making.

In a presentation at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, scientists stated, "The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults." Defying folk wisdom that claims one cannot teach old dogs new tricks.

One of the authors of the study, UCLA psych professor Dr. Gary Small, said, "We found that for older people with minimal web experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function." In other words, it takes just a matter of days for older first-time Internet users to catch up to their more experienced counterparts in terms of brain activity.

Small also wrote iBrain, a book all about how technology use impacts brain functions.

Twenty-four people aged 55 to 78 whose brains functioned normally, half of whom were daily Internet users, and half not,volunteered for this research.

First, they searched the web in a lab setting while the scientists took FMRI scans of their brains, looking at changes in blood flow in the brain.

Next, the test subjects were sent home and asked to search the Internet on assigned topics for an hour a day for seven days over the course of two weeks.

Finally, the participants returned to the lab for more scans while they searched for more information on different topics.

What researchers found was that the those new to the Internet displayed activity in areas of the brain that govern language, reading, memory, and visual ability during both the "before" and "after" scans. However, their brains showed new and increased activity in the parts of the brain that control working memory and decision-making. The patterns were, in fact, similar to those found in the brains of the long time daily Internet users.

Notes taken from Get Granny to Google: How the Internet Helps Older Brains

Heads or Tails – Stop or Go

2009-10-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

Skittles has a meme called Heads or Tails this week it is Stop or Go

One wonders where technology will GO to in the next few years but since I love anything techy I hope it won’t STOP.

A lot has changed over the last 10 years. What computer technology of today will become redundant over the next decade?
1. Keyboard and mouse
The keyboard and mouse you use every day will not exist in 10 years, replaced by highly-detailed touch interfaces -- multi-touch systems that support highly complex gestures, such as circling a group of photos, tossing them around, and clicking to remove smudges.
2. Public Wi-Fi
WiMax networks that run in major cities will negate the need for a local hotspot. And as cities develop smart grids that allow citizens to see their power usage in real-time, electric cars report mileage and traffic info over wireless, and streaming video systems replace telephone networks, a widespread wireless network won't just be an emerging tech idea -- it will be a requirement.
3. Landline phone
In 10 years they won't exist anymore, mostly because smartphones will finally take over. Companies have already switched almost entirely to IP-based telephony.
4. Optical discs
In the future, more ubiquitous fiber networks will make broadband faster. Software video distribution networks will finally negate the need for optical discs.
5. Standard game controllers
Game controllers will morph into something more radical, a combination of the Nintendo Wiimote with accelerometer sensors, video systems that scan your body movements and various hardware add-ons.
6. Desktop PCs
Desktops will still be useful for engineers, developers, and video production artists for some time to come. But for most computer users, the desktop already is dead -- netbook and notebook sales are rising fast. Processors and graphics chipsets in notebooks can now compete with desktop equivalents. And portability is no longer just a market segment; every computer user has realized the benefits.
7. Operating systems
An OS will have to exist to manage memory and core functions. But the bloatware of today will be replaced by an extremely thin OS that may not even have a name.
8. Blogging
One reason blogging has become so popular has to do with the one-way nature of web communications. You post your thoughts, and people read them. In 10 years, the web will become much more interactive, leading to better overall information sharing.

Source: Tech Radar September 30, 2009

A day in the life – October 17

2009-10-17T20:33:00.001-07:00

The weather in my neck of the woods:

Today..Cloudy with sunny periods. 40 percent chance of showers. High
5C/41F
Tonight..Cloudy. 30 percent chance of rain showers or flurries
overnight. Low –3C/26.6F

A simple pleasure:

My look after myself day. Shaved my legs, conditioned my hair, stuff like that. Sorted out my makeup, lotions and potions into Mexico and leave here piles. I like makeup and not a day goes by without me putting a bit of a face on and doing my hair even though I probably won’t see anyone but Dave. I do it even if he is away. I like myself better that way I do it for myself because he doesn’t notice anyway.

I am thankful:

Was able to get a pneumonia shot for free. Doctor advised it although I am not having H1N1 shot. I do have certain medical conditions like COPD and asthma as well as diabetes. None of which bother me or make me ill just are there.

From the kitchen:

Cooked black beans then tossed in garlic and olive oil with onions and tomatoes.

Put a pork roast in slow cooker with onions and sage.

Made orange lemon marmalade.

I am working on:

Doing all the boring stuff like organising bill payments etc. for while we are in Mexico and checking health insurance rates.

I am reading:

School Days by Robert Parker (just finished)

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji

Thinking about:

Contrary to being about man's morality and righteous deeds, the gospel is a revelation of God's righteousness, which can only be received by man as a gift. It's not something man does. It's something he receives and walks in freely. To be ashamed of the gospel is to be ashamed of the gift that God gives and instead to try to attain it by your own deeds.

Heads or Tails - Cause

2009-10-13T16:53:00.001-07:00

Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails this week the theme is Cause.

When we are in Mexico this winter we will be connecting with Castaway Kids which is a charitable organization working in San Carlos and area, in the state of Sonora where we will be spending the winter.

Castaway Kids has taken on the task of helping those rebuild who lost everything to Jimena in September. Their immediate goal is to make sure that the wiped out communities of Santa Clara, Salvacion, and San Jose will be provided with tent homes while they attempt to rebuild their homes.

Dave is planning to help with some of the rebuilding and no doubt there will be something I can do, but I am not sure what as yet.

What a little sunshine can do for you.

2009-10-12T20:52:00.001-07:00

After years of telling us to keep out of the sun, we are now being told that sunshine plays an important role in our health. Getting sunlight on your skin it has been discovered to be extremely important for preventing and possibly reversing chronic diseases: prostate cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, mental depression, osteoporosis. Scientist claim that sunlight can actually reverse osteoporosis.

You probably know the importance of calcium for your health. If you don't have enough calcium you are going to have cardiovascular problems and you will probably end up with heart disease. Calcium is also crucial for healthy nervous system. However without vitamin D your body cannot absorb calcium even if you take supplements. So if you are not getting sunlight or ultraviolet radiation on your skin, then you are probably not absorbing the calcium. Your skin generates vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure.

In fact, vitamin D is a key compound in the regulation of cancer cell growth. Researchers are just now figuring out that people who are chronically deficient in vitamin D, which includes most North Americans, are at far greater risk of a variety of different cancers. Vitamin D has been shown to be the single most powerful chemical compound known to medical science for preventing hormone-related cancers such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.

What can you do if you live in the north. One choice is using a tanning booth or to find a source of vitamin D. One of the best ways to do that is to drink cod liver oil on a daily basis. A tablespoonful of cod liver oil would go a long way toward boosting your vitamin D count and protecting you from chronic disease. Cod liver oil is close to tasteless, although you can purchase flavoured varieties. Although milk has the addition of Vitamin D it will not give you enough. Most of the vitamin D in milk has been destroyed by exposure to light. The most efficient vitamin D supplement is still fish oil, and cod liver oil is the best way to go.

Vitamin D will give you healthier bones, tissues and blood. You'll help prevent cancer, depression and gum disease. You'll heal more quickly from injury, and your mood will markedly improve. Just ten minutes a day without sunscreen in sunlight can do this for you.

Although I take Calcium tablets with Vitamin D I must admit I hate taking them and often forget or even deliberately don’t take them. Also I don’t go out in the sunshine enough so I am sure I do not get enough of this vitamin. Now I know, this is something I must make myself do every day regardless of bears, flies or cold, as long as the sun is out I can walk up and down in the sunshine on our own property. Dave is out all the time so he doesn’t want to go for a walk with me, and anyway he is 6’3” and I am 5’3” and I can’t walk fast enough and it frustrates him to toddle along. I can’t wait to get to Mexico and start soaking it up, I plan to do a lot of walking there.

Notes from Vitamins on Line

Elderhood. What is that?

2009-10-10T14:58:00.001-07:00

For Jeni on her 65th birthday. I have known her via the internet since 2006 and although we have never met I consider her a dear friend. So dear friend you have lots before you. It was because of your birthday I started researching aging and I am only three years behind you anyway. I found this inspiring I hope you and others will too.

Many of the books about life after age 60 emphasize how to hold on to youth as aging is viewed as a decline, a series of losses - until you reach the ultimate loss - the loss of life itself. This view of life after age 50 is embedded in much of the current Western literature. In western culture we do not honour the elderly as many other cultures do, especially since our culture rewards economic contribution and youth, and considers that the aging have nothing to offer. The affects of aging may be inevitable, but these do not lessen a person’s value. In contemporary Western culture, the young are considered more valuable than the elderly .

This is at best a false view of human development after age 60 and at worst it is degrading to those in the last third of their lives

There is an alternative to this view that holds that there are at least three stages of human development: Childhood, adulthood and elderhood and that the goal of human existence is progressive growth though these three stages in order that at the end of life one is ready to move on because life has been lived fully and completely as child, adult and elder.

It is not considered a loss for a child to move into adulthood but only the losses that an adult faces when moving into elderhood are mourned. Do not allow yourself to believe that aging is any more about losses than was the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Childhood and adulthood have been researched and written about at length but elderhood the third major stage of human development has almost nothing written about it.

In the developed world most people are so focused on adulthood, that is, adult tasks, powers and responsibilities that they give little thought to the next stage of human development. Some researchers believe that one of the reasons why many adults fear aging is because they have no idea that there is a another developmental stage beyond adulthood. Freedom is one of the most important aspects of the third stage of human development. Adulthood may be characterized by accomplishment and responsibility but we are taught there is little positive about growing old.

Psychologists have said that there are more individuals in a room full of eighty year olds than in a room full of 50 year olds. Perhaps the main use of this new freedom in our older years is to become who we truly are - the person that we were made to be. In fact this becoming who you 'truly are' could be one of the great tasks at this stage of your life.

Notes taken extensively from Anti Aging Articles

Proverbs 16:31: Gray hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained by a righteous life.
Leviticus 19:32: Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.
Job 12:12: Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
Psalm 92:15: They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright.
2 Corinthians 4:16: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Ruth 4:15: He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

A day in the life – October 8

2009-10-08T13:34:00.002-07:00

This is an idea I stole from Danielle's Day Book. Often I don’t know what to write but as I think about my day I realize there may be some interesting items. Well at least to me.
The weather in my neck of the woods:
Today..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 7C/42F
Tonight..Cloudy with 60 percent chance of snow flurries or rain showers.
Wind becoming southeast 20 km/hr. this evening. Low -3C/26F.
I am thankful:
To have lots of wood in store so I can be as warm as I want to be and no reason to go out if I don’t want to. Hubby has stocked the wood shed completely full we probably have enough for the next three years.
From the kitchen:
I had a scrawny old stewing hen which I boiled up yesterday. Today the poor little thing will turn into a sumptuous curry. Have been trying out buckwheat and its effect on my blood sugar. It has no effect so I can incorporate some of that into my diet. Buckwheat is not a cereal it is actually a fruit related to rhubarb and sorrel. It contains ingredients purported to lower bad HDL cholesterol and lower blood glucose too. I have been looking up recipes other than buckwheat pancakes.
I am working on:
Finishing a blouse that I started in May. I lost interest in it but there is just a hem to do now. Also I am working on another bracelet on my loom. I have done a few now hopefully I will sell some at the Christmas bazaar.
I am reading:
Pilgrim by Timothy Findley is a review of the book, it is a bit different but I think it could be quite interesting. I have only just started it. I also got out several other books last night, I read so quickly I have to have at least five at a time. That lasts me about a week. I will read just about anything.
What I am thinking about:
The gospel was never meant to be used as a means of protesting the sins that are committed in the world. That's not what the gospel is about. The gospel is a declaration of God's love and grace toward people and it's the power that defeated sin - not protested it! Grace Roots
Did I exercise:
I walked up and down for 20 minutes and did some stretching. I may do more later.

Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and Others Also Hit by Phishing Attack

2009-10-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's attack, the list of comprised Hotmail accounts were limited to those where the usernames started with the letter "A" or "B." The most recent list of compromised accounts includes login credentials for Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink, and Comcast users, so regardless of whether or not you think your account was compromised, today would be a good day to change the password on whichever webmail service you currently use. Better safe than sorry!

Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and Others Also Hit by Phishing Attack

What is phishing?

Shared via AddThis

I love saving money

2009-09-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

Image by nDevilTV via Flickr

The virus protection on my laptop computer is due to elapse on October 16 and I was preparing to download an update which would have cost me about $80. Also while I am away in Mexico the virus protector on the desktop would expire and I was planning to download a free one like AVG to be available when I first went on the internet when I come back. AVG is good especially for a free program but does not handle malware as well as it could. I had AVG on my last desktop and when I took it into be repaired it had a few nasties on it although they hadn’t hindered me in any way.

Anyway Microsoft came tearing to the rescue today with Microsoft Security Essentials , just released, which will provide real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free (as long as you have not a pirated copy of Windows) download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology.

So I downloaded onto the laptop and away we go. I just saved myself about $160. Thanks Microsoft, don’t like your browser but you have lots of experience with viruses don’t you.

Heads or Tails - Photograph

2009-09-29T14:07:00.001-07:00

Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails this week the theme is Photograph

This is where we will be staying for 5 months in Mexico, December 1 until April 30. We have rented the apartment in the bottom part of the house. Only $550 a month how could we not. It is owned by an American man from Seattle, he lives on top in the winter months. It is in San Carlos in the State of Sonora. Sonora is the only state that does not have any drug cartels. San Carlos did sustain some damage from hurricane Jimena earlier this month but not enough to stop us going. The owner promised to have internet access by the time we got there so I should be able to keep in touch.

It snowed!

2009-09-28T20:15:00.002-07:00

We are hardly out of summer and there was snow on the ground and sticking to the trees today as I drove out to Houston. It probably won’t stay around but it is the beginning of the winter season, for me anyway. Dave is planning to put the snow plough on the ATV tomorrow just in case. We saw the last of the snow leave in June. I really must get used to a monochromatic world.

This is the last day for my little yellow car to be on the road. There wasn’t really any point insuring it for 8 weeks. We will be leaving for Mexico on November 25 and driving down in the truck so we will be using that in the meantime.

Very little happening here, Dave has been sick with a bad cold so has been home coughing, snorting and dozing for the last week, but he is back to his usual energetic self today. Fortunately I did not catch it. We almost never get colds, in fact when he dug the Sudafed out from the medicine cabinet it had an expiry date of 2003 so that must have been the last time we bought cold medicine. I can’t remember when I last had a cold and I have never had flu. I don’t think either of us is going to have the flu vaccine. We haven’t up to now and I don’t want to mess with what must be good immune systems. I take two Omega 3 capsules and about 3/4 cup of plain home made yogurt every day, both of which are purported to enhance the immune system.

My biggest problem is year round allergies. They seem worse right now probably because of all the mushroom spores and the wood stove is going full blast. However since we get all our wood free and we run the wood stove for about 8 months a year (except of course if we go to Mexico) heating by electricity is not economically sound for us. So what are a few allergies in light of fiscal responsibility.

What you can do about Cancer or other sicknesses

2009-09-25T17:00:00.001-07:00

We have just learned that a dear friend has been diagnosed with cancer and we have been asked to pray. I expect many of those reading this blog know someone who has cancer or some other sickness and we often feel helpless and don’t know what to do or how to pray. Perhaps these ideas will help.

As Christians we pray in Jesus' name. Jesus gave us His authority, so it is not about you or what level of faith you may have, or the sick person's faith, or your ability to pray well -- it is about what He has already accomplished on Calvary.

Order the cancer to leave and symptoms to abate and that the effected body parts return to normal.
Curse the cancer cells and forbid them to multiply.
Bless the healthy cells.
Command fear to leave.
Ask the Holy Spirit to come fill and encourage the person and to minister to them.
Ask the Lord to come with His healing presence and complete the work in the sick person's body.

You don't even have to be a believer to pray. In fact, studies suggest that non-believers pray almost as often as believers. When we need help, we look for it wherever we think we might find it. How many times have you seen people calling on God when tragedy hits, but who claim not to believe under normal circumstances. Even a confirmed agnostic senses that there's some great power or energy or eternal force behind the universe.

Is there proof that prayer works

Scientific Evidence for Answered Prayer and the Existence of God

Clues that Fall is here

2009-09-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Officially Fall is meant to be here in just under an hour. It is like a summer’s day here though 23C/73F, but Fall has left a few clues around, that it is on the way.

I still have this lingering fear of bears, although we haven't seen any around the property for a while. So I plucked up courage and wandered around picking mushrooms, but I am always scanning the area and get alarmed at any rustle I hear.

These are shaggy manes and they are amongst many varieties of mushroom that pop up this time of year on our property, but these are the only ones I feel safe in harvesting and eating. I plan to make salmon cakes this evening and I will serve them with the shaggy manes.

The other clue is the trees are starting to turn golden and a few leaves have fallen already. I had to clean out a couple of boxes of petunias from the deck as they were quite dead however my other boxes look like they will last a few more days. Although we are experiencing Indian Summer the nights are getting cold only 4C/39F last night.

Heads or Tails - Book

2009-09-21T19:47:00.003-07:00

Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails this week we have to write a post mentioning the word Book.

There are two books that comes to mind that have made me stop and think in the last few years.

The first is called God at War by Gregory A. Boyd.

Gregory Boyd is professor of theology at Bethel College, in this book he undertakes to reframe the central issues of Christian belief. He argues that theologians draw too heavily on Augustine’s response to the problem of evil, which is to attribute pain and suffering to the mysterious “good” purposes of God. Through a close study of both Old and New Testaments Boyd argues that God has been in an age-long, (but not eternal), battle against Satan and this conflict is essential to an understanding of the biblical narrative.

This book has been one of the most thought provoking books I have come across and I have referred to it many times.

The second is The Language of God by Francis S. Collins.

Dr. Francis Collins is head of the Human Genome Project, and is one of the world’s leading scientists. He works at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and Scripture.

Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science are compatible. In the book he takes his readers on an amazing journey into the realms of modern science to show that physics, chemistry, and biology can all fit together with belief in God and the Bible.

I think this would be good reading for any high school student before entering university, it may answer lingering questions regarding their faith.

Neither of these books are light reading but certainly fascinating.

Pray the News

2009-09-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

An excerpt from Margaret Silf’s book 'Close to the Heart'

“A particular form of intercessory prayer, and one that can frequently flow most powerfully out of our own experience of pain, involves praying the news. This means taking complete strangers, or whole groups of people or other situations from the national or international news, into your prayer.

If it is true that we are 'all one below the tide line' then whatever happens in other, troubled, parts of the world is part of our being in the world. A virus that affects our lungs will sooner or later lower the resistance and strength of every other part of the body.

And if it is meaningful to pray in such a way, how might we approach this kind of prayer? We might reflect on the special power such prayer has when it flows from the heart of someone who has a real bond of empathy with the situation or person for which we are praying.

It is very easy to become overwhelmed by the international news and to be sucked into an abyss of despair when we become aware of our apparent helplessness to change things or even to alleviate the world's suffering in any significant way. A common and understandable reaction in these circumstances is to switch off inwardly- to insulate ourselves against an encroachment of grief and pain that we cannot bear. It follows, all too easily, that we become insensitive to some of the horrors we see on our television screens. We can grow dangerously apathetic and detached. If your reactions are anything like mine, you start to feel bad about yourself for not feeling more acutely what is happening to others in the world. Guilt kicks in and undermines any possibility of releasing positive energy into the troubled situation.

When I react like this, I find that it helps to take advantage of what the news editors call the human interest factor. In practice, this means paying attention to the specific situation of a person or family caught up in the trouble. Every night there is a report from somewhere around the world of a natural disaster or a political crisis or a major atrocity or a ferocious crime. Before you shut off emotionally because of your own powerlessness, try to notice the face of someone caught in the middle or it. Notice the expression in his/her eyes. Imagine experiencing the cold sweat of his/her fear. See for yourself where this person is living. Notice the things he/she says. Enter into his/her domestic space for a while and let it become your prayer, just as you might pray for a friend. Let that person's story, that one person's need, form your prayer for intercession. This will shrink the unmanageable down to a size that is unavoidable. It will hurt, but maybe real prayer such as this has to hurt, just as Christ's prayer for us from the cross was a hurting prayer.

Even a small gesture, expressed from the reaches of our hearts, can do more than we hope for or imagine, when it is made in the power of God.It le ads me to believe that when we pray the news our smallness can count, and, like the widow's mite ,it can become the drop that causes the ocean to overflow.”

Garbage day again!

2009-09-16T13:18:00.001-07:00

It seems I am starting to measure my life by the garbage bin. Every Thursday morning about 7am we have to put out the garbage for collection. We are prohibited by a village by law from doing it the night before because of bears. It is Thursday is tomorrow and I have to collect up all the stuff ready for pick up as I can’t think too straight at 7am and might throw something at the garbage guy, rather than throw it into the garbage truck.

“It was just Thursday, darn it!” I exclaimed out loud to myself. I talk a lot to myself. I remember doing this same routine last week. It comes to something when that is all you can remember from week to week.

For posterity I will relate my doings this morning.

Made the bed and got rid of some dirty dishes
I emailed my Avon lady and checked my email and feeds
Went and took a look at Facebook
Made Irish soda bread with caraway and raisins for hubby
Made flax meal, buckwheat, bean flour, coconut flour, oat bran bread for me.
Experimented with yogurt and made a small batch with added stevia and whey powder.
Made up some chicken salad with left overs
Collected the garbage

It is just past 1pm, maybe I will try another looming project. So far I have made 5 woven bracelets. It is quite time consuming on a loom but so far I am enjoying it. I have a watch that belonged to my mother and must be about 70 years old, but keeps time faithfully. It is badly in need of a strap I might see if I can create something for it.

I still have to get some wood in and make supper, we probably will have fish. “Oh what a surprise” I say to myself.

Hubby is off painting a building with his pal. He has been leaving around 8am and returning about 4pm. Then he sets to and chops wood or he might go off in the truck and get more gravel for the driveway. I don’t know where the man gets his energy.

Love and Sorrow

2009-09-14T11:53:00.001-07:00

	Here a female mate is injured and the condition is soon fatal. She was hit by a car as she swooped low across the road.
	He brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion.
	He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead.
	He tried to move her ... a rarely-seen effort for swallows!
	Aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again, He cries with adoring love.
	He stood beside her, saddened at her death. Finally aware she would never return to him, he stood beside her body with sadness and sorrow.

Millions of people cried after seeing these photos in America, Europe, Australia, and even India .
The photographer sold these pictures for a nominal fee to the most famous newspaper in France.

All copies of that edition were sold out on the day these pictures were published.

And many people think animals don't have brains or feelings? You have just witnessed Love and Sorrow
felt by all God's creatures. The Bible says God knows when a sparrow falls.

It has been that sort of day

2009-09-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

I had these photos sent to me today amongst a lot of others but these are my favorites. I can so relate. I can't find anywhere to give credit for them though.

This has to be my favourite though.

Simple ways to give your brain a workout

2009-09-07T15:44:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Here is a simple exercise that we can all do which will strengthen neural connections and even create new ones.

Switch the hand you are using to control the computer mouse. Use the hand you normally do NOT use. Is it harder to be precise and accurate with your motions? If you are feeling uncomfortable and awkward don’t worry, your brain is learning a new skill.

Try other neural building and strengthening exercises with everyday movements. Use your opposite hand to brush your teeth, dial the phone or operate the TV remote.

Try to include one or more of your senses in an everyday task. Get dressed or wash your hair with your eyes closed.

Break your routine. Go to work on a new route, eat with your opposite hand. Shop at new grocery store.

Walking is especially good for your brain, because it increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reach your brain. Walking is not strenuous, so your leg muscles don't take up extra oxygen and glucose like they do during other forms of exercise. As you walk, you effectively oxygenate your brain. Maybe this is why walking can "clear your head" and help you to think better. Studies show that in response to exercise, cerebral blood vessels can grow, even in middle-aged sedentary animals.

Studies of senior citizens who walk regularly showed significant improvement in memory skills compared to sedentary elderly people. Walking also improved their learning ability, concentration, and abstract reasoning. Stroke risk was cut by 57% in people who walked as little as 20 minutes a day.

When the cognitive abilities of elderly women were compared, those who walked regularly were less likely to experience age-related memory loss and other declines in mental function.

Information taken from http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html

Keyboard dilemma

2009-09-06T19:11:00.001-07:00

Something weird. My keyboard is not working with the internet. It jams and then runs a whole bunch of letters. I am typing this on Live Writer which is computer based not internet based (it then uploads to internet) and it works fine, but as soon as I get on the internet I have problems. I can’t think how to fix it. I have unplugged everything and re-plugged it, changed the batteries, switched everything off. I will keep worrying at it. I suppose I might need a new keyboard. I

A couple of useful applications for business or students

2009-09-03T21:00:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of applications which I think could be useful.

Backpack primarily designed for business but since it allows you to share information between several members in a group it would seem a good tool for sports teams or family groups. Backpack keeps your documents, discussions, and schedules etc. in one place all the time. There is a cost however but if you have up to six using it is only $24 a month.

The other is Notely a new online tool for students of all ages looking for help to get better grades. Notely has all the tools a student could need, schedule, calendar, note-taking, homework planner, to-do list, task list and an upload area and more and appears to be free.

I love organizers, I just wish I could get one for my closets but they have yet to invent a computer program that does that. LOL

Update and singing the praises of Opera 10

2009-09-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Made two lots of bread this morning and Dave has gone off into the forest to get more wood. We have lots of it now but he wants to get the wood shed completely full. I think he finds great satisfaction in seeing it all neatly stacked. He has, on occasion, given wood to those not able to get it, but it is hard work pulling trees out of the bush with a winch, sawing it up and then splitting it when he gets home. We had a terrific storm last night, the lightening lit up the whole sky like daylight and the thunder went on for some time. I sat out in the solarium and watched the display, I have always loved a good storm. Then the power went out so I got out the lamps but by 10pm our eyes were getting strained reading so we went to bed.

I downloaded Opera 10 and have moved over to it completely. It has a Turbo setting which can speed up my connection when it gets slow which happens every evening. Plus you can personalize it to your hearts content. It also synchronizes all my settings with the laptop. I have set it up as my main mail client, having my gmail accounts download into it, and they can be read offline if necessary as well as my feeds. There are a lot of features I like about this browser. Opera isn't as well know in North America as in Europe but it is a very good browser. Takes some time to get it all set up the way you want it, but worth it.

I have been a faithful fan of Firefox since it came out but it seems to have got very slow lately, at least for me. Flock is a faster alternative to Firefox, uses same code and you can use all the Firefox extensions with it and great if you are really into social networks etc. and I moved over there for a while. I tried Safari 4 but not that impressed it is faster than Firefox but you can't personalize it at all. Chrome is good but has not come up with ways to personalize it as yet. I won't even use Internet Exlporer.

Productive or not

2009-09-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

The future doesn't look that friendly in BC what with the new HST tax, budget cuts to programs and services and the overall rise in the cost of things. I can't help thinking that if the provincial government had not given themselves that huge pay raise there would be a bit more money going around. Admittedly not billions but if we all have to tighten our belts I would like to see the politicians do it too. It is dreadful that the minimum wage has, yet again, not been raised. How do they expect people to live? Not everyone living on the streets is into drugs etc. they can't afford to rent let alone buy a home. It isn't just students that take minimum wage jobs, sometimes that is the only job one can find. Now we have a federal election looming, the fourth in six years. Voters have not been turning out, probably because the choices are not great. I think my philosophy at voting time will be 'better the devil you know that the devil you don't'. Anyway enough politics, boy it makes me angry though! I can't say the politicians are particularly productive, at least to my mind, except to line their own pockets.

Washed my car this afternoon and then finished another bracelet. I want to make a whole bunch for the Christmas bazaar that is held just before we go to Mexico. I sold a few pieces of jewelry this summer at the Crafter's Hut in the village so I guess I should keep on keeping on with it. At least I can wear what doesn't sell.

Canned all the salmon today, it took most of the day but it is all in my pantry now. I have two turkey carcasses tumbling off the top shelf of my upright freezer every time I open it. I keep promising them I am going to make them into soup and then can it. Then the raspberries need to be made into jam and hubby is gently reminding me that he is all out of marmalade and store bought is not as good as mine. I will have to make his bread tomorrow and I am all out of my flax meal bread. I want to try making my own chocolate bars. I bought unsweetened dark chocolate and I am going to try sweetening it with stevia and put nuts in it.

I had a go at making low carb pie crust this evening. It tasted alright but I couldn't roll it out so had to pat it on top, but next time if I let it get cold, which I should have done I know, it will work. Hubby said it was a good substitute and tasted and looked a lot like pastry. I used whey powder, coconut flour and a little bit of soy flour, butter and water.

I don't know how I found the time to work a full time job, with a part time job on the weekends plus doing typing for a local business man and homeschooling three boys. I must be slowing down but at least I am productive.

My first effort on my new loom

2009-08-30T19:04:00.001-07:00

The loom is quite small only 12.5” wide x 13” long x 3.5” high but can be used for tapestry or bead weaving. I did some tapestry weaving and tablet weaving when my kids were little but have never done bead weaving before. Usually I find something new to do and once I have conquered it I loose interest.

I have always liked weaving except I am finding it a bit hard on the back now so have to figure a way to avoid bending over.

The picture is from the box of the loom and an example of what you can make. My first effort was a friendship bracelet which came from the book my friend from the lower mainland gave me when she was visiting.

Up at dawn and away

2009-08-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Company has gone now so I am off to the lower mainland tomorrow at dawn. Will do the first lap to Cache Creek, which is about 10 hours, or so Google Earth says, if I drive the speed limit.. Then overnight in a motel which I have already booked as there are forest fires in the area and I might not get a room if I waited until I arrived as they are on evacuation alert in the Clinton area which is on the highway I will be traveling, apparently there is quite a bit of smoke. Also there are a lot of road works so it may take me longer than 10 hrs, I hope not. So hopefully I will be well rested to drive the final 4 hours to reach my son's place late morning or early afternoon.

Google Map

Grains can safely be eliminated from your diet

2009-08-21T15:16:00.002-07:00

I personally eat very few grains and then only oats or barley about 1/3 cup per day but many days I don't eat any at all.

Wheat, corn etc are not essential to a healthy diet although they are featured on the bottom of the food groups pyramid as essential foods. A lot of pressure has been applied from different agricultural groups to make this so. Grains are relatively inexpensive due to government subsidies. However they don't provide any nutrients you can't get from other foods. There are many researchers that argue that it is grains not saturated fat that contribute to disease. The latest research claiming that wheat may contribute to diabetes. Refined carbohydrates probably do a lot more harm that saturated fat and being overweight is more harmful than both. Maintaining a healthy body weight is ultimately more important than what percentage of the diet is protein, fat, or carbohydrate.

Information from The Nutrition Data Blog

2009-08-17T09:35:00.001-07:00

We have old friends arriving today staying until Saturday, so in the interests of courtesy I will not be on the computer that much.

Next Sunday early I am driving down to the coast to see Son #1 and family for a short visit because I have to be back here on Friday 28th to do my last stint at the Info Centre.

I went out on the big lake yesterday with Dave and he caught a salmon. We were only out about three hours all told so that I was able to handle. It was lovely out there. First time out for me this year.

So got to rush and tidy up the place and do all the little things that I have left to the last minute.

Coconut oil is great skin cream

2009-08-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

I had read that coconut oil is really good for skin and thought I would try it. I had Virgin Coconut Oil on hand for frying and baking so gave it a go. I thought it would make my skin greasy but not a bit of it. It sinks right in and even the T-Zone which normally is a bit shiny with my regular skin cream stayed soft but not shiny or greasy and my skin is really soft. I run my hands under hot water and then take a tiny smidgen of the coconut oil which is actually hard at room temperature and rub it gently into my face and throat. Apparently it is good for acne and other skin complaints as well as many other health issues. It has antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal abilities and although a saturated fat is not one of the bad ones but it is interesting to read how coconut oil got such a bad rap. It was all about big business and politics not about your health at all.

Coconut oil for the skin
Coconut Research Centre
Wikepedia - Coconut oil

Nice to get a pat on the back from our neighbour for a change

2009-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

The expected new U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson has positive things to say about Canada and that is good to hear for a change.

Jacobson gave a long list of areas of critical importance to the U.S., noting that contrary to the beliefs of many Americans, Canada is the country's biggest energy supplier. He also praised Canada's efforts in Afghanistan, calling the deaths of 127 Canadian soldiers in the war "an amazing commitment."

Jacobson also spoke about the ability of Canada's banks to weather the global economic crisis better than their American counterparts because of more conservative lending practices, adding "perhaps it's something we can learn from.