Away

Just a note to say that I am away with Cara, Andy and Sarah for about ten days. I will be baking and caring for them instead of blogging. I love my blog and will be getting back to it in a bit so, dear readers, please don't get lost.

When I get home, I'll be catching up on mine and yours :)

Mother's and Daughters

Two grandma's and a mom enjoyed a delicious pre Mother's Day lunch out at a very nice Japanese restaurant. Sarah is a world champion noodle slurper. Look at her go!

I know, not a good quality shot at all, but I post it for for the joy of the memory.

Today we have sunshine. It's LK's day off and he's working at taking our tipped over apple tree down. I will be gardening some - oh the WEEDS.

Favorite Memory (edit)

Lack of bloggage here usually means memories are being made. One of my favorite memories from Sarah's visit is a special morning we had together while Cara was visiting her friend, Shannon. I'd imagined an outing like this for some time and finally enacted it. It was pretty much magical. I took Sarah to a bead store downtown. She was amazed at all the mobiles and beads hanging everywhere, including the ceiling.

We got a tray and I invited her to pick out beads for a necklace, explaining that the curved groove in the tray was a 'necklace planner'. We pretty much looked at all the beads in the entire store. Sarah was especially attracted to the shiny faceted beads that were pretty big for the necklace and some tiny ones for a bracelet. We settled ourselves down right there to do our bead work - right in the center of all the atmosphere.

Here is my little artist at work making her bracelet.

Stringing the necklace beads onto the aqua cord. We had such a fun and relaxing time. I think we worked about an hour and a bit when I said when we got hungry we would go next door to the restaurant. Sarah smiled and her eyebrows rose.

Next door there is a fancy little tea shop. We ordered chicken soup and veggie sandwiches, with chai tea. We wore our new jewelry too.

I don't have a picture of me, but I can tell you I'm smiling just as big. Doesn't Sarah's expression say she feels special?!

For desert we had cranberry scones and lemon curd. Sarah liked hers with butter best.

This last weekend we were in Tofino for the May long weekend with LK's whole extended family and had a great time. More on that later.

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And now, totally unrelated - it's come to my attention that there is an increase in tetanus cases in BC. Adults are reminded to update their tetanus shots as tetanus is very serious and fatal half of the time. Yikes. Tetanus germs (whatever they are called) are present in dust, dirt and animal droppings and people are infected though cuts in the skin during activities such as gardening. This announcement brought to you compliments of my dad, who taught me to be cautious. I think my last tetanus shot was when I cut my thumb a couple years ago. It's hard to remember these things.

***Edit - Tetanus shots are needed every ten years.

My Visitors - Flowers and People

Our apple tree is full of blossoms. The sad thing is that this summer we will probably need to cut the tree down as it has been tipping over more and more over the last few years and is now nearly parallel to the ground. Still - aren't the flowers lovely - better than the apples.

Wild bleeding hearts from the plant exchange I was invited to last year. They have done AMAZINGLY well and have really spread.
Mental blank on this ones name. Whooops. Aimee?? Coral bells I think.
I have done so little gardening this year and was horrified to see the weeds spreading suddenly like wildfire. Yikes - that got me pulling quickly. Some of the early March gardening I did is still looking good though.

And now for my people visitors. Cara and Sarah getting off the bus to greet me after their long bus ride.

Check out the smiles. You can't see mine - but I'm smiling too.

We've been having a good time. Just being together is a blessing for me.

An update on my church is that the main building has been approved by the inspectors - all the offices and classrooms. The floor of the sanctuary is still being looked at as far as I understand. I don't know if it will be beefed up - I sure hope so. In the news today it was reported that someone is suing the church conference and the concert promoter. I don't know much about suing - I thought it would be handled under the church's liability insurance - that's what insurance is for is it not? I don't know how this works for very long term and life altering injuries.

Three people are pretty seriously injured. The woman with the spinal injury has good movement in her arms and hands and has just today been able to move some toes. A young man has a severely injured hand and another young woman a serious head injury. My heart and prayers continue to go out on behalf of these people.

Puppy Updates

A puppy brings out the boy in the man. It's really fun to see Gracie and Steve playing together. Gracie likes to chase the big ball. LK is coaching her in soccer. Below, Steve is running the soccer practice. Sorry, no pictures of Courtney.

Steve training Gracie to sit, treat in hand. Training is going very well. I am the only one she will do shake-a-paw for with any consistency. That's sort of fun.

Little pink tongue. In the picture books about dogs, Elijah likes the dog's tongues. Gracie's ears are very silky soft.

We're seeing the benefits of exercise. If Gracie doesn't get her exercise, she can get pretty hyper in the house. Outside, I have a cable that she can be on independently that does not allow her to reach any of the not good for her plants such as lilly of the alley. I looked up a list of plants that are toxic to dogs - oh my goodness - my yard is full of them. Ivy, oak, fern, walnut, mushrooms and the list goes on. The last dog we had had the run of the yard and she was OK. I hope this pup catches on. We'll also have to train her to stay out of the gardens in general.

Yesterday I went to the bookstore and joined the staff in labeling a mailing. I enjoyed it very much - all the talking and camaraderie - and Reel Wraps for lunch.

Soon Sarah and Cara may come for a visit. Sarah has not liked dogs very much, although she likes cats very much. They act quite different and dogs are much louder. I'm hoping Sarah and Gracie can become friends. We'll do our best to have Gracie and non Gracie blocks of time so Sarah can relax and have as much fun as usual.