history class

I can hear it now. The junior high Canadian History teacher in about 40 years.

Kids will be sitting there, taking in as little information as possible. Girls will be dutifully copying down notes from the blackboard, while secretly wondering if the boy across the room has noticed they exist. Boys will be mostly oblivious. Someone will burp anonymously, and everyone will giggle.

And through it all, the teacher will be explaining this sad chapter in Canadian history.

When grown men and women, elected to serve the nation, acted like children.

When they refused, either out of stubborness or sheer inability, to work together for the good of the country.

When lay-offs were rampant, the economy was teetering, the stock market was plunging - and the federal parties bickered back and forth, threatening to take one another down.

One party refused to cooperate with others, although their mandate to lead depended on it. One party didn't even pretend to like Canada. Another party had no leader, but was certain they could run the country without one. Heroes were conspicuously absent. Stability was sacrificed over and over again for political posturing. And a former PM who lovingly fostered a corrupt "culture of entitlement" during his too-long reign, was brought in to be the voice of reason.

A sad chapter indeed. Grrrr.

coughing, snorting, wheezing

Couldn't go.

I promised you a review of 2000 Candles, and I just couldn't do it. I tried. I really did. And then I said, "Hey, if I was sitting in front of someone like me, and they coughed and sneezed all over me during a theatre production, I'd be blogging about that."

I didn't want to be blogged about in such a negative way. I'm a lovely, charming person, and I don't need that reputation sullied because I sneezed boogers on the back of someone's neck.

Is there someone else that went? Someone that could review the show? It's still running for a few more days, anyway. I did see it a few years ago, and I can tell you with great confidence that it's a good show! You will like it.

Meanwhile....I am feeling better, mostly. Thank you. Thank you for all of your non-pashmina suggestions. It's good I have people like you to stop me from doing low-class things in high-class places.

And thanks to the friend who brought me turkey soup, and also brought Spike a big chocolate birthday cake. Both have been exceptionally yummy!

Hey - do you have your Christmas shopping done yet?

high-class evening

Tonight, my friends, I am going to the theater.

No, not the movies.

The theater. Live theater.

In the big city down the road from me. Downtown in the big city down the road from me.

Because I'm an urban girl, who owns (and even wore once or twice) a pashmina, and grinds her own coffee, and goes to live theater with her artsy musician husband.

(I am also a girl who wants breakfast potatoes that aren't burnt, but that's beside the point. Last week, I went for breakfast 3 times, and by the end of the week, even if the potatoes had been gently drizzled with chocolate, I wouldn't have been interested.)

So, as I said, I'm going to the theater tonight. And I need some help from any other classy urbanites like me out there - what kind of tissue says, "My nose is delicate, and in need of loving pampering from time to time"?

Because right now, I am carrying a roll of TP everywhere with me, I smell like Vicks, and when I sneeze, herds of rhinos in another part of the world begin wildly stampeding. I am also slightly medicated, which of course adds to the charm of my already lovely personality.

So I need to bring a bushel or so of tissues (or my pashmina...hmmm, there's a thought) with me tonight. Because I am GOING to the theater, and you can't stop me. But I promise, I won't breathe on you.

And...tomorrow (or the next day) I will tell you about the play we are going to see. I will tell you how great it is, and that you should go and see it for yourselves. But I can't tell you that until I see it, because I want to be objective and professional in my theater-critic role.

So until then, feel free to check out the website, right here. And I will go blow my nose.

a winter morning

ancient pine trees,

stark against the morning sky

last summer's garden

now lightly dusted with snow

peaceful silence

crispy air

if i were an artist,

i would paint this picture

the camera won't do it justice

so i simply enjoy the moment

drink it in

undisturbed

breakfast standards

I woke up ravenously hungry on Monday. This is not entirely unusual, but once I realized I had only eaten a bagel early Sunday morning, and four scrambled eggs late Sunday night, and a few squares in-between ... well, a girl's gotta eat, and she's gotta eat NOW.

I bounced gently on the bed until Spike just happened to wake up. I leaned into his half-awake face and said slowly and clearly, "I'M ... STARVING."

He's a good man. He took me for breakfast. On our way to a place we've been before, we saw a place we haven't. It looked like a dive, but all good breakfast places look like dives. (The tricky thing is that not all dives are good breakfast places. One has to be careful.) There were lots of cars in the parking lot, always a good sign. So we went in.

It ... was ... wonderful.

In between mouthfuls of home fries and rye toast, Spike blissfully pronounced his verdict. "Look at these potatoes! They're not burnt, and they don't taste like crap!"

That's right, my friends. We have very high standards for our breakfast places. We want potatoes that aren't burnt and don't taste like crap.

On a related note, I'm on a way to a breakfast meeting this morning at a breakfast place that is the most well-known and popular one in my city. Their homefries aren't nearly as good.

with thanks

You know, I get so frustrated on days like this. I just can't find a way to express my thanks.

We've just finished our Grand Opening weekend, and I find I have so many friends.

Friends I knew of, and already highly value, and then they go even MORE above and beyond, and bam - I'm out of words.

Friends I didn't really know of, and then there they are, showing up at a moment that matters so much to me and bam - I'm out of words again.

Friends that are new, that I have gotten to know over the last few months, that suddenly are more than just people that worked on the project, they are actual friends, and bam - I'm out of words once more.

I try to find the words to express what's inside, and I can't. Which really frustrates a words-oriented person like me. How do I say - your gift of friendship, of time, of support, of encouragement, your gift to me means much, much more than I can find the words to say? How do I say that?

My comfort - I can't find the words, but as I look into some of the faces, struggling to find the words, I find a silent "you're welcome" in the eyes smiling back at me, and in the quick hug in the middle of a crowd.

When you can't find the words - the heart speaks.

my book

One of the items on my List of Things I Want to Accomplish, is to write a book. Spike always tells me I should. I tell him that when I have something to say, I will.

I may have something!

In the process of renovating the building that our congregation has just moved into, my B-I-L found several boxes of old slides. Unknown faces from another time, but the same place. I took them in, to get them put on a CD, and just picked it up yesterday.

The manager pulled me to one side. "I need to explain," he said. "Some of these are not slides. They are plate glass negatives. They are very old."

I smiled and nodded. He sized up my response, and tried again.

"Did you ever see the movie, Lady and the Tramp?" he asked. I nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Do you remember when they took a picture, and the guy set up a camera on a stand, and then put the curtain over his head, to take the picture?" Again, I nodded.

"That's the kind of camera that was used for these plate glass negatives. They are at least 130 years old. A museum could well be interested in them." He paused, trying to figure out how to say this politely. "You should be very careful with them!"

(Maybe he had seen me drop that one container in the food court.)

He carefully bubble-wrapped my package, and I headed out. I had just a few free minutes yesterday to skim a few of the stories that the former members had told us, and match a couple of pictures to the events. As someone who loves historical fiction, I thought, "Wow. Someone could write a great book with all of this material!"

Someone indeed!

pro-thoughtfulness

(warning: i'm in a serious mood today - if you need a laugh, click here. For a feel-good moment, click here.)

Weird TV theme last night, that I'm still thinking about this morning. And I'm hoping I don't stir up all kinds of enmity, or indignation, or moralizing. (remember - we play nice on this blog!)

So, I was flipping through channels last night, after I got home. It was a long day, and I wanted to unwind for an hour before going to bed.

I flipped by a sitcom, where one of the characters was celebrating "not-a-father day", and other characters were deciding do-we-or-don't-we have a baby right now. Mildly interesting, but not really. (Been in that discussion. Decided not to. Believe me, it's not the kind of thing to be resolved in a half-hour sitcom.)

Flipped by a talk show, whose host I tend to share some values with. Despite the similarity in beliefs, I never watch this show, because I really dislike the host, who often seems arrogant and snide. Paused in my flipping, as one of his guests announced that all pro-lifers were aggressive and violent. Mean. Apparently that's not what the topic of the day was, but it went there, and so the host challenged her on that, especially the "all" word. She squirmed, was uncomfortable, but held to her position (for the 10 seconds I watched it). You could see in her facial expression, that in her experience - this was a true statement.

As someone who fits under the pro-life label - I found that very sad. If you didn't - go back and read that sentence again. It wasn't scripted. She was a real person, and that was her experience. Ugh.

I flipped. To Boston Legal, whose episode last week should receive a receipt for campaign donations, with its amusingly blatant promotion of Sen. Obama the night before the election. (But I digress - not being American, I didn't care much, no offense to my American readers.)

The intro this week showed a 15-year-old girl who wanted to terminate her pregnancy, and needed a lawyer. And Denny Crane said, "A show about abortion....I can hear people changing the channel already." And he was right. I did. I didn't really feel like watching a show where people who hold some of the same values I do, would be shown as bumbling idiots, full of religious hatred, unreasonable and archaic in their thinking.

But Denny's reverse psychology worked, and I flipped back. Watched most of it. Watched different characters on the show who believe firmly in the right to choose, talk about their own pain when they did. Watched them question what motives are acceptable for which choice, and then watched the 15-year-old tell them clearly that her motives were not their business. Watched them wrestle with that thought, because she was right - and that bothered them.

Anyway. I was surprised. It's an issue that polarizes, because it's one that ignites passions. How can you not be passionate, when the consequences are huge and irreversible, from either side of the table? I appreciated the lack of name-calling, the thoughtful soul-searching, the safety to look at it from the "other side's" point of view.

Yes, I believe in the sanctity of human life. I believe in a lot of things that are very important to me. But for most people, life has some very difficult, very painful, very complicated moments in it. I hope that as I interact with various people in these moments - I can do it in a way that will be characterized as helpful, empathetic, thoughtful, kind. As opposed to aggressive, violent and mean.

(And hopefully any comments on this post will be written in that same way.)

with apologies

As some of you know, we've started posting video updates on YouTube throughout the renovation process of our new (old) church building. And I don't often write work-related blog posts, but I thought this deserved attention.

In essence, it is a sincere and heart-felt apology to ... well, I'll let you see it for yourself.

for my US friends

I'm not American. I don't vote today. I voted a few weeks ago, for what it's worth.

That being said - this video has some cute entertainment value, so I'm posting it.

Enjoy!

time change questions

Time change is this weekend, you know.

Did you know?

And do you change your smoke alarm batteries at this time of year?

If you read this before the time change.... would you have remembered if I hadn't told you? Are you thanking your lucky stars you have a bloggy friend like me? I mean, of course you are, but specifically because of the time change reminder?

If you read this after the time change.... did you remember? Are you wishing you had checked in to see if I had any wisdom that would change your life?

And what do you do with your extra hour? Sleep? Party? Wander aimlessly through the streets? Thoughtfully consider the next six months of your life? Exercise? Drool?

I need to know these things. Please respond. Thanks.