Category Archives: Day to Day

August 23, 2008 · 3:03 pm

Around Here

Drove to Saskatoon yesterday to meet Patrick and Amanda – returning from their trip to Africa and Europe.  I guess Amanda was very sick while in France, so that part of the trip was not terribly good.  Africa was not good for them either.  Two very tired people now.

They have some recovering to do.  From a lot of different things.  And I feel at a loss of where to begin to help.  I can, however provide Patrick with a quiet place to sleep and recover from jet lag.  So that is where I am starting. 

Sorting out the stories will come in due time.  For that I am going to need love, patience and lots and lots of wisdom. 

And Patrick just asked if he could turn up the heat.  He’s going to have to re-acclimatize too.  Of course it was only 2 C out here this morning.

Around the house today it will be quiet.  Leo is down south watching birds with Eric and Michelle and Kimia and visiting Paul.  Sara is down in Saskatoon watching her boyfriend play in the Provincial soccer game.  Everyone else is off in their spaces doing their own things.  I will take advantage of the quiet to read and stuff.  And maybe it is time to pick up my bass again.  I am also beginning to think about writing and painting. 

I  also need to upgrade this site and make some of the a things at the top of the page work like they should – or at least as I had envisioned them working.  I wish I could learn how to do some of that more on my own because I don’t get things done very well when I have to think ahead and make arrangements for someone to help me.  Partly that is because I hate to bother people already busy with their own lives but mostly because I don’t plan ahead very well.  Then I end up with some extra time when I could do stuff like this but ….  well, you see the problem.

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August 22, 2008 · 2:33 pm

Last Friday Off

It is great to have a day off – like today.  The sad thing is that this is probably my last Friday off for several months.  In two weeks time, school will have started and I will be back to doing dental check-ups for the kids at school enrolled in the school dental program.  I enjoy that when I’m doing it but it leaves me little time off from dentistry.

So, today, I had better do some things I enjoy.  I have errands to run and I wonder if there will be much time for anything else.  I also plan to run down to Saskatoon to welcome Patrick and Amanda home after their visit to Africa.  And there are some errands to do while I’m down there too.

This week has been full.  We did have a good meeting with our potential buyer for the dental practice.  I think he would like to buy the practice but maybe not for what we have evaluated it as being worth.  We know we have a great practice but the cost of buying any practice, let alone ours, for a new grad is bound to be pretty intimidating.  So, we are exchanging thoughts on the value of the practice and the value of the building.  Then we wait. 

We are sort of in the waiting phase for a lot of things.

Then, there are concerns for people, some ill and not wanting to be, so being stubborn about that.  I think that Christians should not ignore the normal physical warning signs that our bodies give us, preferring that God speaks to us or writes signs across the sky before we can accept illness as a fact and start taking the steps doctors advise.  It is frustrating to see a friend doing this.  I would like her around for a few more years to learn from her how to listen to God in my life.  But this kind of stubbornness with regards to her own health is not anything I want to imitate.

On the other hand, I think I have managed to go for a good long bike ride everyday this week.  It is good to just get out and ride.  It becomes a time to talk to God and I like the kind of communication that we carry on during my time outdoors.  There is something about this prairie sky that I ride under in the evenings that displays God’s creative power in unique ways.

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Filed under Day to Day, Reflections

August 16, 2008 · 10:36 pm

30 Degrees

Its a scorcher out there. 

The air conditioners we invested in are paying off today. 

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August 14, 2008 · 8:43 pm

Weirdness

It is a bit weird around here these days.  I’m back at work so my days are busy.  Then I come home and the house is pretty much empty.  Sara comes home at 5:30 and informs me she is going to her boyfriend’s mother’s birthday supper so won’t be eating.  Leo comes home a bit later and by that time our supper is ready.   

Of course I’ve cooked at least twice as much as I needed to.  My fridge is quickly filling up with leftovers.

Obviously, I am going to have to learn to cook differently. 

Then the evening settles in. I had errands to run last night so was kept busy till about 9.  Then, there seemed as if there was a sort of vacuum in my schedule.  I had no papers to write, no books that I had to read.  No grandchildren dropped by.  I was sort of lost.

Time to rethink that rule of life I worked on a year or so ago.  I don’t want to just drift along through life aimlessly from now on.  And I am not sure that I am quite ready for more serious studies, although there is an itch in there that may drive me to that.

I seem to still find myself in some sort of an in between time – a time of waiting and unsettledness.  Stuff is brewing but it is hard for me to put a name to it – I think I may be afraid to.  I seems that something I feel pushed towards, I am feeling too old to start.  And yet, what does it mean to be too old?  I likely have another 20 years or so of pretty good quality life – although that is never certain. 

So, this stuff is stewing around in my head and heart and I am not sure why.  Weird.  I must be patient and see what comes.

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Filed under Day to Day, Dealing with stuff, Reflections

August 12, 2008 · 5:30 am

Frost family reunion

DSCN1492 I arrived back at home by about 4pm local time.  Zaka traveled so well.  Seven and a half hours of traveling is long for an adult, let alone an almost 3 year old.  The DVD player sure did help make his trip easier.  I think he must have the cars movie pretty well memorized by now!  Its his favourite and the fact that he received a gift of two little cars from the movie while he was at the reunion made his day – made his whole weekend, I think. 

The reunion was fantastic.DSCN1500 

It was very relaxing.  Nobody got too stressed over the glitches in the schedule – although the cinnamon buns which were a couple of hours late – well.  If they hadn’t been ssooo good when they arrived we might have been upset.  Instead they simply became brunch and we didn’t eat lunch.

DSCN1490

 

 

 

 

There was no hectic schedule.  The only event that has a time attached to it that had to be respected was the golf game.  I hear that everyone that golfed had a good time.  I enjoyed babysitting so that Michelle could golf and Kimia was a perfect angel for me – really. 

I think Zaka’s favourite activity was blowing bubbles and he made some great ones.  We all had fun with that.  He met a couple young cousins that he had great fun with. DSCN1516 And Trent was so good with him and the other little kids!  And then there was Glen – he has grand fathering in his blood!  

 

 

 

I think I am blessed to have this kind of family in my heritage. 

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Filed under Day to Day, Photos, Reflections, Travels

August 6, 2008 · 9:00 pm

Photos

In defiance of this nasty cold I caught somewhere on the way back from Chicago, I managed to get my photos from my camera to the computer.  I’ve uploaded the best to a Flikr set titled Chicago 2008. 

And I did a few of the ones Leo and I stopped and took on the way back from a couple of art shows on Sunday – these are found in my set of Water Birds

And finally Saying Goodbye has some recent photos of Rachelle and Ronin just before they left for Toronto.

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August 4, 2008 · 6:33 pm

Ambition – the lack of it

Since yesterday afternoon I have been struggling with tiredness, a scratchy throat, runny nose and sore head.  Seems as if I picked up a bug of some sort on my travels. 

Nice of them to call a provincial holiday so I can recuperate!

There are all sorts of things waiting for some action on my part – raspberries to pick, weeds to pull, talk to prepare for church in a couple of weeks, supper to prepare for guests – that I have very little energy for. 

 

And I slept a good 12 hours last night.  A medicated sleep – thanks to cold and sinus pills.  Still it is easier to sit here wasting time on the computer than to move and do something else. 

 

Ambition, where have you gone?

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August 1, 2008 · 4:38 am

So this is crazy

This is coming to you from Winnipeg – where we are stranded tonight.  A storm delayed the departure of our flight out of Chicago on United Airlines by three hours.  We had a two hour layover in Winnipeg so, needless to say, we did not make it. 

And the airlines have a great little policy that of course no one is aware of – except the airlines, that if the delay is caused by weather, they are not responsible for the delay and do NOT provide accommodation to make up for the fact that we missed the only flight to Saskatoon this evening. 

Oh, yeah, they don’t even give a voucher for food.

Of course, that is maybe more expected since they don’t exactly feed you on their flight anyway.

At least we have seats on tomorrow morning’s flight.  So, barring any more "acts of God" we should be home tomorrow. 

So, please God, no more acts!  Leo needs to get home.  I can’t deal with another day of having an uptight workaholic getting stressed out! 

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Filed under Day to Day, Travels

July 26, 2008 · 2:32 pm

Preparing for the end

It seems too close to the end.  I was sharing with a classmate that I am not very good at endings – at good-byes.  I’ve had to say good-bye too many times in my life and so I have let myself become steeled to the process.  I pack my feelings up tightly inside and dismiss them.  But they are not really dismissed – they are smothered but hang on to a bit of my insides – down there where hurt rises when it is least expected.  Maybe smothering the deep sense of loss that comes with good-byes, especially of people that I may never see again, cuts me off from them too early.  As I said, I’m already preparing for the good-byes and we’ll be together all day and part of tomorrow.

I wonder who I would be if I could let the sorrow of separation show.

This morning the feeling of sorrow sits on my chest like a heavy weight.  Maybe I have grown up enough that I don’t have to be strong for anyone and hide what I really feel.  It will hurt to say good-bye and none of the platitudes about “it’s only for a season” or “we’ll try to keep in contact”  will make it easier.  This is something I have to go through.

And I am just thinking as I reread this – “What a crappy post!”

I am glad Leo will be here tonight.  I need a hug and a real big shoulder to lean on.

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Filed under Day to Day, Dealing with stuff

July 25, 2008 · 5:27 pm

In Chicago

So here I am in Chicago writing a post which I will put on my memory stick and then transfer to a computer at school tomorrow.  Technology is sometimes cumbersome.  I think if I were here long enough I’d figure out how to access the wifi at the seminary – but it hardly seems worth it for the few days I have left when the computer room is open to us whenever.  It just seems there hasn’t been much time or energy for anything but class. Now, I think all my presentations are done.  I did my devotional today.  Things have gone well as far as that goes. Then I got back to where I am staying and there is a message that one of my daughters has chipped a tooth.  So I have to find out what is going on with her.  These things would have to happen when I am out of town!!!  See how things fall apart when I am not around? At least the weather here has been great.  No hot humid unbearable days yet. 

And Leo gets here in two days.  That will be nice.

You know, I haven’t actually taken a single picture yet.  My head must be too full.  Neil asked me in one of our peer group sessions what image came to mind and there were none up there in my brain.  Maybe listening to lectures and stuff puts in more words than images!

I need to get back to appreciating images.

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