A Day with a Lake in it

This was between 4 and 5 pm. I'd been at the lake with some people I work with then my niece and her family met me there. I haven't seen any of them in over a year and she's had an eighth son born since then so this was the first time I've seen little Daniel. He is, like all her boys a beautiful child. Below you will she her holding him - get this - he's nine months old and eating a HOT chicken wing. What they don't know won't hurt them eh? So maybe kids learn to dislike some foods by parents thinking they don't like it? That is my new vehicle we are standing by. My niece is almost 37 and now the happy mother of eight sons. She has a loving supportive husband who is her best friend.

These are shots from the lake which is a central part of my life here. I get to spend time at this lake almost daily as part of my job taking special needs adults for walks around it.






This particular day it was doubly enjoyable as I was there for work then met my niece and her family there for an impromptu picnic when they came through town on their way to their new home near Houston, Texas. I was overjoyed to see them all as when I moved to this province where they have been living for at least 10 years and where he husband grew up, I had been looking so forward to being able to go up to their place to visit but they moved now so I won't be able to do that.

I do hope some day I can drive down to Texas to visit them. I have a long time pen pal in Van Texas. Her and I have been hoping for a long time to get to meet one another so maybe that will be in the next year or so.

Here's my niece and her gang:

I felt lost and lonely when they left until, I, as I always do when those feelings come, decided to soak in some more of the beauty there by capturing it in my camera lens. Here's a favorite from that late afternoon.

Day of Decision

TODAY'S PRAYER
Lord, I desire to live as one
Who bears a blood-bought name,
As one who fears but grieving Thee,
And knows no other shame.*


Today I resolved something that has taken me a long time to come to a resolution on. I have had so many things pointing me to this decision and in a grievous experience yesterday - one added to many that have confused, depressed, and challenged me lately I saw the light, finally.

I am greedy, I am not walking in faith - I must change the tense there to, was. I was being greedy I was walking in the flesh not in faith. Tonight I found the above prayer on:

http://www.truthforlife.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tls_overview
It was clear - because I had just spoken exactly that sentiment to my new friend - that I am not ashamed not to be well-off economically at my age. I know I am no less blessed than those that are 'well-heeled'.

In fact I know that I am blessed because the book of Matthew says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". By world standards I would not be considered blessed but in the midst of my culture, my associates I qualify as poor. But although it would be a lie to say one is overjoyed when there is a shortage of money to supply the basic needs; while the practical knowledge that you have a shortfall of cash can concern you, that cannot remove the joy of the Lord which is one of the 'fruits of the Spirit'. 

Spiritually I'm rich in that knowledge and experiencing the presence of Jesus.  So, I don't feel poor, I know I'm not but I'm looked upon by many as poor - that's OK. I know in my heart how very rich I am in Christ Jesus. Yet, I have concerns about how to remedy the economics of my life and seek God's guidance to teach me that. 

Although I bear no shame for my economic circumstance I see there are ways that I have been walking in disobedience. There are things I must do to be obedient to the word of God and a couple of those things I have waited long to do just because I fear, because I can't seem to get the word of the world out of my head on those matters but, I know what a tremendous relief I've felt to state verbally to my friend that I do know how to have peace and joy even in a climate where there are many who will call me 'fool' for what I propose to do.

So in quotation marks below you will find the portion of the devotional on that same web page as the above prayer. Reading it was like that proverbial light going on in the semi-darkness - I had a little light from the window of realizing where my problem was coming from, but I read these words, I knew that section of the devotional was speaking directly to my situation and was the bright light I needed shed on the matter to confirm that my decision to truly begin to walk by faith is the right decision. I want to be in God's will about ALL that I do ALL the time.

" Have you given up trusting in earthly things? Are you seeking each day to live above worldliness, the pride of life, and the ensnaring grip of greed? Remember, it is in order that you might know such victory that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If you are really the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not allow all this lavish treasure of grace to be wasted on you. Pursue holiness; it is the Christian's crown and glory. An unholy church is useless to the world and of no esteem among men. It is an abomination, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils that have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God's servant: Act as such. You are God's king: Reign over your lusts. You are God's chosen: Do not associate with Satan. Heaven is your portion: Live like a heavenly spirit, and in this way you will prove that you have true faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there is holiness in the life."*





* Please note: Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003, Good News Publishers and used by Truth for Life with written permission. Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright (c) 2001, Good News Publishers.

The Hurdles along the Trail

A broken car door, a large, agressive black bear, a rude insult, a near-the-front-0f-the-mouth broken tooth, a bout of neuralgia (the umpteenth one) and $1.50 ltr. gas price. Life on this long and winding road is throwing some curve balls.



On the plus side - found a good hair cutter but when I asked for her card she said "Sorry I'm moving back to Montreal" I said "I'm coming too." She laughed. Seriously, I would like to drive down east this summer. Stop in Quebec at least a month and see about working there as an English teacher while I sharpened my conversational French. When I drove two 21 year old Quebecois girls, who had spent one night at the campground, into Vancouver in the pouring rain (because they had hitchhiked all the way across Canada, had huge backpacks and I'm a soft touch), they told me that in the smaller towns of Quebec it would be easy to get work teaching English.



My tentative plan is - after I had worked a while teaching I'd like to continue on my drive across Canada to Fredricton where my son and his fiance will be finishing their last year at UNB. I have dreamed since childhood of seeing the Canadian Maritime Provinces.



Daydreams aside to continue enumerating things onthe plus side of my life, I have been adopted as a friend by a lovely, generous Christian couple whom I met my first time at a church in this community where I'm thinking I could happily live. Sunday night a very large, dangerously hungry black bear awoke us - one other camping party, the caretaker and me - three times that night dumping over the garbage cans. The last visit into camp after it finished with the cans which are a good distance from my tent, as I watched through my screened roof, it began to head down the road towards me then was about to walk across the little wooden bridge that comes out just feet from my tent. John, the caretaker had given me a aerosol horn which scares away bears. I had tried it once and used it twice before so when that big scary thing kept coming my way I let off a blast, it contined and so I pressed the panic button again only to find that their was no more air and it made only a patheticly inaudible toot. Just then it stopped and I couldn't see it behind a cedar bough; it must have smelled Joe - John's muscular, brave pit bull. What a relief to see John and the dog beside my tent. He had heard the bear horn and come to for the third time in one night drive it off. So when this nice couple befriended me at church and graciously invited me to stay it didn't take more than 1/2 a day for me to accept the offer.

The town I'm in is a very crowded bedroom community to our biggest city but . . . the redeeming quailty is that it's very close to beautiful, bountiful wilderness and unlike my last community for the 5 years up to 2006, it does not have the 401 freeway running through it with all the polluting diesel trucks traversing it day and night. I've been here over a week and have found my eyes ( I suffer from chronic, severe dry eye syndrome) are about 60 - 70% better than they were in the semi-arid region I lived in from July 2007 until June 2008.

I went to look at some rentals today with a property management rep. guy. They were brand new and I really liked the most expensive one - of course - the other two had relatively ugly views and little privacy. The one I like is 2.5 times more than I should pay by myself but I am going to see about having 2 students room and board with me.



If I'm going to do that I should buy so I can build up some equity in a home, but I would like to try it before I buy a place with that in mind. Otherwise I could buy a house with a suite and have tenants to pay part of the mtge.



My tooth is coming out tomorrow - I'm glad as it is very uncomfortable, probably abcessed and split right in half vertically - it's a bicuspid and will give me an even more unattractive smile - I've been grinding my teeth for years and they are short now. When I was young I had perfect teeth so I can't complain as at least I've had nice teeth at one time. I wish they weren't going but in the whole scheme of things this is not earth shattering - just disappointing. Kind of like how I felt about having someone I love attempt to insult me - I don't get insulted anymore - partly because I don't seem to need anyone's approval in my old age and partly because I know who I am in my Father's eyes and how OK I am for His purposes - I guess those two are related but like loosing an old favorite tooth having someone you care about try to make you feel bad is not pleasant.



I get my car fixed in the morning - good on the fixing bad on the bill. I'll look at more listings while I wait for it, then travel for 3/4 of an hour to my old dentist for the extraction. On Friday I go to my grandson's year end concert at his Montessori school then get a massage therapy treatment. Sat. and Sunday I hope to look at many housing options and find one for the first of July. Or arrange for my cross-Canada road trip. Whichever option it is I look forward to it.

I make my coffee in a cast iron pan . . .

and I eat the grinds - cowgirl style - hoping this behaviour doesn' t grow hair on the chest.

Granny is still holding her own in the west coast rain forest. No more bear visits lately. Just sweet little robins in various sizes and colours; also seeing squirrels and even a darling little pair of racoons - photos to follow of those little ones.

I finally had my favorite camp breakfast this morning - bacon eggs and cowgirl coffee - even had to make the coffee in the cast iron frypan because I had berry compote in the only other pan I've taken along. I have only a part of my camping gear with me as this trip to the West Coast was impromptu.

The sun has finally graced this green land. It is a mixed bag, 'though, with still too many clouds for my Okanagan loving temperament.

I have many bureacratic things to accomplish today and hope to connect up with my two darling grandchildren who live nearby. Maybe ELP can come to camp with me for the weekend. He's six but his adorable little sister is only two, so I doubt she - still toilet training - will be ready for camping for at least another year.

I have a whole new bag of tricks for rainy camping now - I learned the ones for cold windy camping last fall in the OK Valley. When I get all the tricks of the trade learned I think I'll start a seniors camping network or a service to get the oldies out into the wilderness before they croak. Could be a hoot.

Bye for now - who will read this I have no idea, as a brand new blogger. Over and out - Gypsy Grandmother

Silverlocks and the Three Bears

. . . or maybe only two. The way I see it there must have been three to pick up and remove the rocks which I had so carefully placed on top of the tarp covering my camp table. At 3 a.m. I heard a commotion, noticed the office motion sensor light had gone on and heard the tarp being removed from my table. I stopped getting out of my cozy bed to listen carefully for wind - how could my tarp have come off without a frightfully strong wind to remove the very large stones I had placed on all corners and sides?



Well it turns out, according to the camp caretaker, that the bears had visited at 3:00 a.m. they'd overturned the garbage can near the washrooms and then decided that being the only camper they had to check out my dining table. I had not though to put my 3 coolers in my vehicle and one was a cheap styrofoam cooler, one a soft-sided cooler. There were apples in my little drink cooler and ground coffee on the table but the only thing I'm missing is the plastic water bag out of my Platypus backpack.



Minor loss compared to having had them visit me in my tent - mind you I might have liked to cuddle up to a big black teddy bear that night - it was as cold as my last night of tenting at Illahie beach Sept. 19th 2007.



Last night I must have slept very soundly although I remember laying wide awake after getting up to go to the washroom, because it was again so cold I had to shiver myself warm for a while.

But, mishap has visited my little west coast rain forest abode. When I left for the leisure center this morning I noticed a drunk or sleeping driver had ploughed right through the campground sign and sheered it off. I didn't hear a thing.



This morning as I was getting my little Woods burner going to make coffee the only other camper here, a man from Oregon, who was sleeping in his sport utlity vehicle began to make conversation over the bear visit - that was a time consumming conversation as he is a disgruntled American who had done a great deal of research regarding the history of wars, unions, the growth of corporate power and how Hitler was enabled to rise to power and cause the Holocaust - he feels that once again there is a propoganda machine driven by corporate greed that is driving the American war machine that is as dangerous as the hate propoganda against the Jews in the early to mid twentieth century.

An interesting fellow who gave me many websites to read on to learn of his agenda - I have to admit that he left me somewhat unsettled about his intensity and some of his ideas for solutions - they sounded very Marxist. And yet I have to say, as a passivist I don't disagree with the seriousness of the mess the world, USA and Canada are in today.

At the moment, I'm at Starbucks (using wireless) and must head to the laundromat and be back in camp before dark to re-arrange my tarps while they're dry, for once. The tent is going back to Superstore as it is a lousy, ridiculous piece of chinese made garbage and was way too expensive for the qualityof it. I have two smaller tents in my storage space which is back at my last stop in my long and winding trail. Too bad it is a lousy tent otherwise because I can stand up in it instead of stooping like an old woman - but then that is what I am - I feel very old in this damp climate as all my joints ache from the cold and damp.

Tomorrow I'm going to Sylvan Learning Centre to see about working there in the coming weeks. There is also a large Korean Academy here - at least one if not several.

This is where you will find the wandering gypsy grandma in coming weeks as I determine where and when I will settle . . . or at the very least perch for a time.