vacation highlights

So I found out that California (the Bay area) is not warm in February.

Did you know that?

And did you know that a gazillion sealions hang out on floating docks at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco? And they are VERY FUNNY to watch!

Also...a tip here...when you're sleeping on an air mattress in someone's living room, make sure you plug the end, so the air doesn't leak out. Otherwise, you will cling to the edge of the mattress all night, to avoid rolling into the bottomless, smothering centre, and then...when your spouse gets up without warning...you will be launched right off the edge of the bed. Which wakes up the guy sleeping on the non-leaking air mattress, also in the same living room.

Many thanks to Joe M. who hosted Blissed and wives last week.

When I get some pictures, I'll post them for you!

zzzzzzzz

I'm on vacation! Yay!

Chat at will - what's your best...worst...funniest...most memorable vacation story?

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Did you enjoy your snow day(s) this week?? I did! I went to work on Tuesday, but we all left at noon to avoid the storm. I popped in on Tuesday night, just to grab some work to take home, because I had a hunch I wouldn't be going anywhere on Wednesday. And I was right!

I love a good snow storm, and the shovelling afterwards! It's the best way to talk with your neighbours. I started at 8:30 AM and went almost 2 hours (we have a long driveway...the landlady helped out too, so we chatted as we worked.) I talked to the lady next door, who shovelled out her sidewalk, and then got out her skis and happily disappeared up the street.

Then there's the guy across the street. He was out shovelling at 5:30 AM yesterday, I guess so he could go to work. (Jeff was just getting home from work then, so he helped him out.) This guy is a thorough shoveller, like me. Porch, steps, sidewalk, entire driveway, and brush off every inch of the cars.

Then there are the new people that just moved in beside the first guy. They are NOT thorough shovellers. They didn't even venture out the door until around 2 in the afternoon - not even any footprints in their driveway. Then they came out, shovelled a little circle around each of their cars, and retreated back inside.

The students renting down the street are entirely oblivious, and a little amusing. They were parked right in front of our house. They came outside around 3 PM - one had a broom, and the other had a spade. They appeared bewildered by the whole thing. They stared at their car from different angles, did a half-hearted shovel-full here, and another there. One of them used the broom to push the snow off the roof, thereby burying the tires a little further. They finally shovelled all the snow directly onto the sidewalk I had already cleared two or three times, and drove away.

Oh yeah, and the kid across the street was hilarious! Her mom must have gone to visit the people beside me, with instructions for the kid to practice her trumpet on her snow day. Every now and then, the girl wanted to summon her mom - she just opened the front door and blasted her trumpet! It seemed to work. LOL!

Let it snow!

Hey, has anyone checked out our new webpage? We're very proud of it, and we welcome any and all compliments!!!!!!!! If you don't know the address, it's www.(ourchurchname).org. You just gotta fill in the church name - the whole thing. Enjoy!

introducing...

A few scattered introductions for you...all at new links to your left, in no specific order.

Blissed - you already know them, so this really isn't an introduction. But they're off to California soon, in their new-to-them van, and thanks to someone's lavish airmiles generosity, I get to see them in California for a few days too!!! Woohoo!

OK, Jade in Africa - the link is to her blog. She's from around here, and she's doing a year of Bible College in Kenya, before coming back home and THEN...I'm very excited...are you ready for this?...she's coming to CF! That's right, part of her education involves being part of a local church, and she picked us! Jade is one awesome woman, as you will see by her blog. She'll be here around August or September...thought you'd like to get to know her a little before she arrives.

The Refugee Highway - a friend passed this along to me. It's at Missionfest in Toronto, in March, and I heard it's AWESOME. Check out the link - it's a very cool idea, and I wish I had thought of it.

And Relevant Magazine - another friend just ordered it, so I went to the website, and it looks kind of interesting. It's 20-something Christians, writing about God at work. You might enjoy it.

And may I just say...the groundhog was wrong. IT'S FREEZING OUT THERE!!!!

What stay-warm tricks do you have? Come on, 'fess up!! I've been wearing my slipper socks to bed, for starters.

OH!!! And how did you enjoy Sunday night's pudding event? I LOVED IT!!!!!

it's GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!

That's right, my friends, and I almost missed it. Today is Groundhog Day!

Here are a few snippets of important info from the CBC webpage...

"The original Wiarton Willie died during hibernation during the winter of 1998-99. They discovered this, to their horror, just before Groundhog Day 1999. Willie's death made headlines around the world.

On Groundhog Day, they put Wiarton Willie face-up in a small pine casket, bright pennies over his eyes, paws clutching a raw carrot. But it was a fake! Turns out the real Wiarton Willie was so disgustingly decomposed he couldn't be put on display.

Why fake it?

'People needed closure,' someone explained."

Hmmm.

Just a bit more, again from the CBC webpage...

"The people of Wiarton insist their Willie was accurate 90 percent of the time, but what do you expect them to say when the Groundhog Festival attracts 20,000 free-spending tourists to the town every February? Scientific studies show groundhogs are accurate only 37 percent of the time, which means you'd do better flipping one of the pennies that covered ol' Wiarton Willie's eyes."

Let me just ask some questions, if I may.

WHO ARE THESE 20,000 PEOPLE THAT GATHER IN THE COLD TO WATCH A RODENT COME OUT OF HIS HOLE?

PEOPLE NEEDED CLOSURE???!!! SERIOUSLY????!!!

DID ANYONE WATCH THE MOVIE "GROUNDHOG DAY"?

(I fell asleep in the middle, and you couldn't pay me enough to sit through it a second time.) More importantly...

HOW DID THAT MOVIE MAKE IT INTO THE MOVIE HALL OF FAME, PRESERVED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND WHO WE WERE? IS THIS REALLY WHO WE ARE???!!!

And one last question...what did the groundhog say this year? Early or late spring? Seriously, I need to know, but I tried to get on the website, and clearly the rest of the world is there, so I can't access it.