it happened ... life IS good

It happened. 
Frost. Five nights ago the first frost of the season settled on our property, making the deck slippery for when I went out for my early morning walk. The chill is in the air. Autumn winds blow. Colourful leaves let go and fall to the ground where they are pushed and tossed carelessly in the breeze.
I don't particularly like the cold, but ... life is good.

It happened.
My first online customer! Four days ago an item was ordered. A sale was made. 
Still a few things need to be tweaked, but it shouldn't take much longer before everything is working as it should. I consider this to be the testing period, the time to learn what needs further adjusting.
I get frustrated over things that I cannot figure out, but ... life is good.

It happened.
I did not get out to Sunday fellowship today. Things did not go as I had hoped.
But, we had dinner with our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson before they all go to Alberta on Tuesday ... son-in-law to stay until coming home for Christmas, his wife and son to come back in ten days. They will visit with the two youngest sisters while out there.
I miss my daughters, but ... life is good.

It is all in how we look at life, the attitude we have, that determines for each of us what life is.  I choose to see that ... life is good.

It happened. Again.
Someone on the radio interviewed another someone who says there cannot be an all- powerful and all-loving God.  How sad.  How deceived.  How pathetic. 
He had reasons that fit his small view.
So many people fail to see that it is not about us at all, it is all about HIM. We fall short.
HE is Holy. HE never changes. HE is always Good and Loving.
HE is there for us to seek and to find. We are not left alone but we fail to look into His Face.
HE has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
HE cannot be contained, as much as mankind tries to explain Him and limit Him and make excuses for their own sin and failures, judging God by the same narrow determinations.

Don't give up! Don't despair! Underneath all the rubble, all the facade, all the shame and disappointment .. life IS good. 

And you ARE loved.

Thanks for reading, and .. Blessings on your day.  :)

to 'tweet' or not to 'tweet'?

October already! .. and with this month comes Canadian Thanksgiving in one week's time. I will celebrate with family by gathering together on Sunday for a 'feast'.  More about that in a later post.

Tonight I am thinking about communication. Time was, a few years ago, that it was my regular practice to chat in online chat rooms where I met a lot of people.  All sorts of people. I haven't done that for some time and I miss it.  I do have a few friends I 'Yahoo' with periodically, and occasionally I use MSN, but I have no chat room to visit.  No place to call 'home' on the Internet.  It is nice having this blog which has its own dynamic, but it's not a chat room where I can 'hang out' and meet a few people at a time to talk and share, or just listen and enjoy others' company.

So, this week I am thinking about Twitter. What about it? Have you tried it?  And what do you think of it -- pros and cons?  I know it is not a chat room, but ... what can you tell me of your experience with it?

As I said in an earlier post, I chose to start a blog here rather than to use Facebook.  I think they (FB) are working on their privacy issues now, though.

What I would like is to find a safe, friendly, chatty place - but not overly populated.  :)  Just a semi-quiet and respectful chat room.  Any ideas?  Or, is that too hard to find these days? 

My preference is Christian rooms or even craft rooms, or quilting rooms.  Know of any good ones to try?

Please let me know.

Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day.  :)

change can be beautiful

I realized today that it has been a whole year since I started blogging, having begun in September 2008!

Already it is the end of the first week into another Autumn, and - after rain this morning - today is warm and beautiful. The leaves have been changing colour, as I was pointing out to my little grandson yesterday to draw his attention to the beauty that God has made. He is so teachable at this age, being all of four years old as of June.

Sammy is four as well, born in September. Last week I took him to a professional groomer for the first time. Sam is a Maltese x miniature wire-haired Dachshund. That means he has a medium long coat, long body, longish ears, and short legs. Cute. His 'mama' (my daughter) kept his coat trimmed to a more manageable length, but with her currently being in AB I decided the grooming part of his care is not for me. The groomer had her problems with him, and it took 3 1/2 hours instead of 3 for his first time. I had her shave his coat right down short and I guess he was not happy about this stranger being so intimate! Oh well, he seems to feel a lot better now ... and he looks much more like a dachshund. And still cute, although the images below do not capture that very well.                                                       

                                                                                              
<-- Before              After   -->


     Yes, it's the same dog!
                                           (doesn't like the camera flash)

I have added a few titles to my "Other Blogs I'm Following" list, some of the blogs that I decided I am interested in enough to follow. It would be nice to have more followers of my own, but maybe that will increase once I get things going with my website.

If you 'happened upon' my blog I would love it if you would sign up as a follower and/or leave comments. It is nice to know someone is reading what I write. Comments would make it even better. Thanks!

Thanks for reading, and ... Blessings on your day! :)

canoes and eagles

Today is the first full day of Autumn. How I hate to see Summer go!
Don't you love the outdoors? I don't consider myself to be an "outdoorsy person" but I do love this time of year. Well, actually I enjoy - in fact, favour - any season during which I will not freeze. The sunshine and flowers and singing birds rejuvenate me. I am always amazed at the beauty God created.

Do you canoe? On the weekend my husband and I made the long trip to Amherst - a three hour drive for us - which gave us many pleasant hours together - a rare event since he works in the city and I at home. Usually we only have parts of evenings and weekends together. It was a wonderful day. Our purpose was to purchase a canoe at Cumberland Canoes and Kayaks, which we did - a bright orange one. It was a longer drive home with that strapped on the top of our car, but we certainly could not get lost in the crowd. :) This canoe is very similarly made to the yellow one we lost in the cottage fire (caused by a neighbour's carelessness) two and a half years ago. Now we need to find time on a good weather day to enjoy a "test drive."

On another note -- have you ever watched the eagle as it floats on air currents? It is an amazing bird. I enjoy watching one or more nearly every day from my house or yard. There are many bald eagles around here, and one particularly large one that glides majestically on high.

One day a few weeks ago I was on one of my walks when I was dismayed to find an eagle corpse in the ditch. When I told my husband, he said that when he was driving out that way several days before he had seen one trying to lift off the road with a dead raccoon in its talons. When an eagle gets a grip like that it has a hard time letting go, so we don't know if another vehicle carelessly hit it, or if the eagle accidentally rose up under the power lines and got electrocuted. Either way, it was a sad find.

I got thinking about how people would probably like to have eagle feathers for crafting or something, but then there was something about it that didn't feel right. It seemed I had heard some legal aspect to that, so I did some research. It is illegal (with huge fines levied) to own any part of that honoured bird since it is very special to the First Nations people, so I contacted the Department of Natural Resources about it. I was told that there is a long waiting list of Mi'kmaq wanting even just a feather, and even that item has to be approved by their Band leader. Well, that got me excited! If I could bless some of these people through my find that would be fabulous, so later that day I went out and carefully gathered the remains. Not long after I placed another phone call a man from the department came out and collected the eagle from me. It would be handled appropriately and given to the right persons. That makes my heart feel glad. :)

Of course, this means you will not find eagle feathers on my website, but you will find authentic wild turkey feathers once I get them posted on there.

Thanks for reading, and Blessings on your day!