I've a busy weekend. Moments of peace, moments of chaois, moments of tension and excitement. All because of cats, dance and strawberries!
Let's start with the cats. I had to take Frodo and Claire in for the annual check-up and shots. Now Frodo is 10 and beginning to slow down. He was not happy about the vet visit and I knew it. He hunkered down, flattened his ears and gave me a look that said "I hate you right now." But he did not make a fuss, just put up with the prodding and poking. Claire, on the other hand, is 17 years old but she acted more like a feisty, feral wildcat. She hissed and slashed and growled and carried on like a banshee. It took 3 of us, some gloves, and a towel to complete the shots. I thought for sure, this whole chaotic process was going to kill her....but no....she lives on, and on, and on....
On to the strawberries! It's strawberry season here and they are ready for the picking. So a friend and I went out to a farm and sat in this beautiful, peaceful field with ruby red berries peeking out under every green leaf. The beauty of just sitting there, barely having to move, the scent of the berries and fresh country air was enough to put any anxious soul at ease. We came home laden with baskets full and a froze a bunch for a cold winter morning when I need to remember the peace, warmth and beauty of a strawberry patch.
Finally the tension and excitement of the dance show! I've finally culminated this dance process with the big show at a local theatre. There was chaos backstage with little kids, some barely 3 crying and wanting their mommies or having to pee. One of the girls came upstairs from the change rooms stating "don't go down there, there are a lot of angry little tutus!" People running around trying to change for their next number, or waiting excitedly, warming up for their turn to go on. My group had to perform 3 times, one at each show and believe me the excitement and physicallity of the whole thing wore me right out!
Yup - I've lived a lifetime all in one weekend.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Community
It's a good feeling when you are a part of a team, part of a family or in the thick of community.
We all want to feel we belong.
As a teenager I spent most of my evenings hanging around downtown with the riff-raff. And we were a community - it was us against them (them being cops or authority figures). It was a terribly dysfunctional community but one you felt a part of nonetheless.
Presently I'm part of a dance class and this is a unique community of it's own. We speak the same language (or at least I try!) and we have a goal - to make this creative process work and flow.
The other day I was sitting on my front steps. They are your basic 70s cement poured that get all nice and warm in the sun which explains why the cats are always laying on them. On the top of the steps there was this ant struggling with the dead carcass of a spider (I'm NOT good with spiders but this one was dead so I was OK). It was attempting to maneuvre it down the steps which were like crawling down mountains for this ant. It was very determined and I watched it's progress with interest. Eventually the ant caught a good breeze which blew it down all the steps to the pavement. The ant continued to drag this thing along and I thought well, you've succeeded in getting it down the steps....now what. There was more trouble ahead! Once the ant arrived in the grass getting that dead spider through this jungle was even more difficult as it kept getting hung up in the blades of grass. But the ant carried on....on it's own. Finally, it must have been getting closer to home for soon there was a bevy of ants (more like uncles and aunts) there to help out. Community had arrived and they were soon making steady progress with their prize.
The Body of Christ is a Community - we have our Head (Christ) and we are all parts of the body, ideally working together and functioning as a healthy unit. There is so much we can get done when we work together! And everyone plays a part, everyone belongs, everyone is needed. It is always a sad thing when someone feels they don't belong and are not necessary or vital and eventually they slip away.
Let's do our best to encourage our family, spiritual or otherwise. Let them know they are loved and wanted, because they are!
We all want to feel we belong.
As a teenager I spent most of my evenings hanging around downtown with the riff-raff. And we were a community - it was us against them (them being cops or authority figures). It was a terribly dysfunctional community but one you felt a part of nonetheless.
Presently I'm part of a dance class and this is a unique community of it's own. We speak the same language (or at least I try!) and we have a goal - to make this creative process work and flow.
The other day I was sitting on my front steps. They are your basic 70s cement poured that get all nice and warm in the sun which explains why the cats are always laying on them. On the top of the steps there was this ant struggling with the dead carcass of a spider (I'm NOT good with spiders but this one was dead so I was OK). It was attempting to maneuvre it down the steps which were like crawling down mountains for this ant. It was very determined and I watched it's progress with interest. Eventually the ant caught a good breeze which blew it down all the steps to the pavement. The ant continued to drag this thing along and I thought well, you've succeeded in getting it down the steps....now what. There was more trouble ahead! Once the ant arrived in the grass getting that dead spider through this jungle was even more difficult as it kept getting hung up in the blades of grass. But the ant carried on....on it's own. Finally, it must have been getting closer to home for soon there was a bevy of ants (more like uncles and aunts) there to help out. Community had arrived and they were soon making steady progress with their prize.
The Body of Christ is a Community - we have our Head (Christ) and we are all parts of the body, ideally working together and functioning as a healthy unit. There is so much we can get done when we work together! And everyone plays a part, everyone belongs, everyone is needed. It is always a sad thing when someone feels they don't belong and are not necessary or vital and eventually they slip away.
Let's do our best to encourage our family, spiritual or otherwise. Let them know they are loved and wanted, because they are!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Decisions, Decisions
Summer has arrived early in Ontario....hopefully this isn't a big trick like she's only stopped in for a quick visit with plans to leave in less than a month visiting some other tropical location. Hey....it happens here.
So even though it is only the end of May we have enjoyed remarkable, July-like temperatures. My flowers are waaaay ahead blooming and socializing like crazy and my tan is pretty admirable.
Such lazy warm days make me think of summer reading. As you know, I love to read. But in the summer, I especially love to read lots of care-free, take-me-away-calgon, fiction. I just finished Jane Eyre (again) and I'm working my way through the first Harry Potter. Harry Potter made a big splash and still is. It definitely ruffled feathers in the Christian camp. I even came across a book written specifically on why you shouldn't read Harry Potter....please....is there nothing else you can put to paper?? Having never read it and as I appreciate a well-written fiction, I thought I would give it a go. It obviously stands the test of time. In my opinion, it's cleverly written - not by J.R. Tolkien standards but clever nonetheless.
However.....there still is a few heavy, indepth, winter/spring, educational reads I need to finish.....
They are sitting on my bedside table, tapping their fingers as a gentle reminder that this is NOT summer yet and I should continue to work towards wisdom and understanding via good solid reads.
Decisions, decisions.....I promise, once I finish Harry Potter (which won't be long) to finish that really good book on The Spirit of Sonship. Then there is that autiobiography on Fanny Crosby.
By then, summer, should it tarry, will offically be here and I can read all about faraway, mystical lands, faeries and other flying creatures, maybe a good mystery or two....so many decisions.
So even though it is only the end of May we have enjoyed remarkable, July-like temperatures. My flowers are waaaay ahead blooming and socializing like crazy and my tan is pretty admirable.
Such lazy warm days make me think of summer reading. As you know, I love to read. But in the summer, I especially love to read lots of care-free, take-me-away-calgon, fiction. I just finished Jane Eyre (again) and I'm working my way through the first Harry Potter. Harry Potter made a big splash and still is. It definitely ruffled feathers in the Christian camp. I even came across a book written specifically on why you shouldn't read Harry Potter....please....is there nothing else you can put to paper?? Having never read it and as I appreciate a well-written fiction, I thought I would give it a go. It obviously stands the test of time. In my opinion, it's cleverly written - not by J.R. Tolkien standards but clever nonetheless.
However.....there still is a few heavy, indepth, winter/spring, educational reads I need to finish.....
They are sitting on my bedside table, tapping their fingers as a gentle reminder that this is NOT summer yet and I should continue to work towards wisdom and understanding via good solid reads.
Decisions, decisions.....I promise, once I finish Harry Potter (which won't be long) to finish that really good book on The Spirit of Sonship. Then there is that autiobiography on Fanny Crosby.
By then, summer, should it tarry, will offically be here and I can read all about faraway, mystical lands, faeries and other flying creatures, maybe a good mystery or two....so many decisions.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Nature is Winning
It's gardening time! We are all in the throes of it. And that includes me. I'm planting, moving, raking and especially pulling.
I've pulled up so many mini trees that I'm starting to feel bad about it. Perfectly good maples, poplars and birches are being dug up and tossed. Seems rather odd when I know my daughter is on the other side of Canada planting trees as fast (faster) than I'm removing them from my yard.
It's not only trees but weeds and even perfectly good plants.
But I'm losing the fight.
Everywhere I look there are more and more. It's something like the Mickey Mouse cartoon where he cuts up the broom and suddenly thousands of little brooms pop up from the splinters. So I can just imagine what would happen if I simply did nothing for a whole summer.
The garden would begin to creep up onto the yard, the grass in the yard would grow probably up to my shoulders, the trees would be popping up everywhere. Now imagine what would happen if I left it for a whole year......I would have a veritable forest on the go!
You see, for all the damage humans do to nature, nature just takes the knock but knows, without too much difficulty, nature can win the fight. Just leave her be for a couple years and our roads, sidewalks, pretty patios and decks, even our houses would soon be engulfed into her green embrace.
Like so many other gardeners out there, I'm trying to assert my authority over a square patch of land I call my own. But really, nature is the boss. She's a I know you told me to sit down but I'm standing on the inside type, much like my son. We would all be smart if we just learned to work with her instead of against her.
I've pulled up so many mini trees that I'm starting to feel bad about it. Perfectly good maples, poplars and birches are being dug up and tossed. Seems rather odd when I know my daughter is on the other side of Canada planting trees as fast (faster) than I'm removing them from my yard.
It's not only trees but weeds and even perfectly good plants.
But I'm losing the fight.
Everywhere I look there are more and more. It's something like the Mickey Mouse cartoon where he cuts up the broom and suddenly thousands of little brooms pop up from the splinters. So I can just imagine what would happen if I simply did nothing for a whole summer.
The garden would begin to creep up onto the yard, the grass in the yard would grow probably up to my shoulders, the trees would be popping up everywhere. Now imagine what would happen if I left it for a whole year......I would have a veritable forest on the go!
You see, for all the damage humans do to nature, nature just takes the knock but knows, without too much difficulty, nature can win the fight. Just leave her be for a couple years and our roads, sidewalks, pretty patios and decks, even our houses would soon be engulfed into her green embrace.
Like so many other gardeners out there, I'm trying to assert my authority over a square patch of land I call my own. But really, nature is the boss. She's a I know you told me to sit down but I'm standing on the inside type, much like my son. We would all be smart if we just learned to work with her instead of against her.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Hide and Seek is Haunting Me
This dance thing is taking over my life. I'm bruised and beaten, stiff and sore, but the big show is coming up in little over a month and with it's mouth wide open is swallowing me whole.
With the gracious help and support of my dance partner Kelly, we are fitting in extra practices, because I'm such a newby at this and in order to avoid looking like a total idiot on stage I need all the practice I can get.
The result being, the song we are dancing to "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap plays nonstop in my mind on a constant basis. I'm running through choreography in my sleep and every waking moment of my day! Point my toes, look up, jump, get ready for that handstand part, crumple to the ground, run.....it goes on and on.
What was life like before this all encroaching process? What did I possibly think about??? I got nothing. Just
"Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines" stuck in my head.
With the gracious help and support of my dance partner Kelly, we are fitting in extra practices, because I'm such a newby at this and in order to avoid looking like a total idiot on stage I need all the practice I can get.
The result being, the song we are dancing to "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap plays nonstop in my mind on a constant basis. I'm running through choreography in my sleep and every waking moment of my day! Point my toes, look up, jump, get ready for that handstand part, crumple to the ground, run.....it goes on and on.
What was life like before this all encroaching process? What did I possibly think about??? I got nothing. Just
"Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines" stuck in my head.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Sometimes, You Just Can't Help It
Warning: This blog may contain some graphic material that is offensive to some readers.
If you are not a pet owner/lover you may be a little grossed out.
In my house, there lives not only humans but two cats and a dog. And they are just part of the family. They hang out with us ALL the time.
Especially, when I'm making dinner. Take this past week, for example. I was cutting up my chicken for a stir fry and suddenly, there is Amelia, right underneath me, looking very hopeful for a slip and spill of a morsel of chicken or maybe I'll just throw her one.
She gives me her biggest, most hopeful, most "you know I'm worth it" smile.
Then there is Frodo. He's a cool cat. He also showed up looking for a score on some chicken but basically ignores me. I try to get his picture but he spends most of his time washing himself and making like he's not interested. He is, but you'd never know it.
Now they both know they are not allowed to help themselves.
But sometimes, you just can't help it.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Party on Sheldon, Party off Cyndi
I don't know if opposites attract; they probably do - the ying and the yang thang. But they certainly balance each other well.
Take my husband and I. Sheldon, he LOVES to party. He LOVES to party with everybody. If there is a party going on somewhere, he hates to miss it. He'll sniff it out and get in the middle and whoop, whoop whoop away.
But me well, it's not that I don't like people and socializing and partying on but I have limits. The party for me is good for about 3 hours and after that, I'm ready for some peace and quiet!
Take last week for example...we had a couple fellas come to minister at the church and speak on Evangelism. They were excellent and I highly recommend Steve Holmstrom's book "Vitamin E." Afterwards we went out for lupper, per se...By 4:00ish I was ready for some R & R on the couch with a good book and an oh-so-refreshing nap. But not Sheldon....from there they headed to a hot tub for some manly hot-tub talk (no idea what that could be - not sure I'd like to know either). And then on into the night. Sheldon wandered home around 11:00 happy and full from a day of partying. I was asleep. I think I partied out at the age of 20.
Party on Sheldon....Party off Cyndi...
Take my husband and I. Sheldon, he LOVES to party. He LOVES to party with everybody. If there is a party going on somewhere, he hates to miss it. He'll sniff it out and get in the middle and whoop, whoop whoop away.
But me well, it's not that I don't like people and socializing and partying on but I have limits. The party for me is good for about 3 hours and after that, I'm ready for some peace and quiet!
Take last week for example...we had a couple fellas come to minister at the church and speak on Evangelism. They were excellent and I highly recommend Steve Holmstrom's book "Vitamin E." Afterwards we went out for lupper, per se...By 4:00ish I was ready for some R & R on the couch with a good book and an oh-so-refreshing nap. But not Sheldon....from there they headed to a hot tub for some manly hot-tub talk (no idea what that could be - not sure I'd like to know either). And then on into the night. Sheldon wandered home around 11:00 happy and full from a day of partying. I was asleep. I think I partied out at the age of 20.
Party on Sheldon....Party off Cyndi...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)