Road Trip!

So we're getting ready for our annual trek to northern Québec ...I thought I'd invite you to come along! The drive will take about 8-10 hours from Québec City. It will be a long day, but the scenery is spectacular all along the way. So here are a few samples of what we'll be seeing...

Québec City...a very romantic city!

One of the endlessly spectacular views from the highway

Tadoussac , where we catch the ferry

I've never seen one yet, but maybe this time?

More views from the highway...we have to go way beyond the horizon.

Port-Cartier...only 60k (39mi) to go!

We'll see lots of waterfalls along the way!

Sept-Îles! Look back at all those hills that we just drove through!

Finally here! Along the boardwalk in Sept-Îles

Further along the boardwalk...lots of people walk here in the evenings.

The beach near Sept-Îles...I hope it will be warm enough to go!!

 I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we will! Since we'll be visiting family and friends and taking long walks all along that boardwalk and beach, I won't have much time to blog. So, take care all, stay healthy, and see you when we get back!!

Where The Heart Is

I found this quote the other day and it's been nagging at me ever since. While it's set on a pretty background and, at first, seems like one of those possible "aha" messages, I'm no longer sure it's actually true, at least for me. Or am I missing something? (entirely possible)



So I thought I'd do one of my favourite things and make a list of where my mind goes when it wanders...I've been making up this list over the past few days, just to find out once and for all where my heart really lives...

So these are the places my mind goes when it wanders:

- to the next time I can eat, because these days I'm always hungry;
-  to my blog and wondering what I can write about next;
 - Edinburgh, Scotland, where my friend Kerry lives (I've never been there, and we've never met in person, but my mind still goes there to visit Kerry);
 - Facebook, when I haven't been able to get online for awhile...I wonder who's there, what they're doing, what they're saying, what I'm missing, and if I have more energy for my favourite games (they all require "energy");
- back in time, I go there to visit my family a lot these days;
- my grandchildren's house - I often wonder what they're doing, if they're missing us;
- Quin-Mo-Lac, where I spent 8 summers as a camp counsellor in my teen years; QML often comes to mind at this time of year;
- the beach in Maivellette in Nova Scotia, one of my mind's "go-to" places when it needs one;
- my mind wanders through my various lists, wondering what I've forgotten to write down, what I can do, pack, buy or tick off next;
- to a game I've been playing on Facebook, trying to mentally figure out how to move on to the next level (I've been stuck in Madagascar in one game for almost a year now!)
- to my closet, wandering what's the least amount of clothes I can take on our trip to China;
- and as soon as my mind wanders to China, it worries about the squat toilets;
- to my knees and what I can be doing to strengthen them - for those squat toilets!
- to the fridge, wondering what I can eat that won't put my sugar way up again.

Hmmm, that's quite the busy mind, isn't it! And I didn't even capture all of the wanderings...it's impossible to keep it grounded long enough to write it all down. And it's impossible to say with any certainty or conviction  that my heart lives in any or all of those places. But after keeping track over the past few days, I did notice the one "place" that my mind wanders to the most...to God, often, throughout the day, without warning, my mind constantly wanders off to His side, holds His hand, leans against His strong shoulder, sighs and then flits back to earth. Most times we never say a word, but it's enough. I just love the feel of His quiet Presence and calm reassurance...and I love knowing that He knows what (and who) is in my heart. Yes, there's a high possibility that my heart could want to live there in His Presence forever.

But after making these lists and pondering it over, as lovely as that picture and quote are, and as beautiful as many of those mind-treks are, I prefer to believe that my heart lives right here with me, wherever I am at any given moment. Yes, my mind likes to wander off and visit people and places and memories - the skies (and lovely beaches) of the imagination are endless!!

But ultimately, the place where my heart most wants to be is right here with me...home is where the heart is, and for me and my heart, I am home.

A Forgotten Birthday

It's early in the morning here. For all the effort I make to create a positive environment for hubby and myself, focusing on gratitude and the blessings in our lives (which are immeasurable!), I have to admit that I'm very very sad this morning. For once it's not because I've been wallowing in self-pity or allowed my mind to stray back to ancient sad memories. No, this morning I'm very sad because everybody forgot the birthday of our 90-year-old neighbour.

He's not technically our neighbour anymore. He and his wife had to move suddenly to a senior's residence just before Christmas. (It's his house that we've been cleaning out for the past 6 months.) But we were neighbours for twelve years, and every year many of the neighbours on our townhouse row made sure that their birthdays were remembered and celebrated. We always brought over a small gift and card. Another neighbour baked (or bought) a little birthday cake and we would all traipse over there after supper, light candles and sing happy birthday to whichever one of them was celebrating. It was always fun for all, but it was especially appreciated by these two very elderly and ofttimes lonely people.

Yesterday we all forgot. I've never written it on our calendar, never thought to, because we never had to, we all just remembered. I don't know what jogged his memory, but hubby remembered after supper last night and immediately phoned R. to wish him a happy birthday. Even hubby was almost in tears when he hung up after hearing that we were the only ones who remembered. As of early evening last night, nobody else - none of his children, grandchildren or great grandchildren had remembered or called. We called one of his grandsons and left a message to remind him to call his grandfather but we don't think he read the message until long after his grandfather would have gone to bed.

We're going to try and get over there today to bring him a card and a little gift, and we'll find out if the word spread and if anyone else phoned. But all last evening, and now this morning, it has been weighing heavily on my heart. We had the whole day free yesterday. If I had remembered, we would have been over there with a cake and maybe a few other neighbours in tow to celebrate like we have for the past 12 years.

To make it worse, it was his 90th...a major milestone!! I'm just so sad that we weren't there for Ross yesterday. How very very sad.

I know I can't dwell on it...I can't wallow in the sadness, I have to pick myself up and forgive myself (and yes, I wrote it on the calendar so we won't forget again next year). But for now, I just wish we could turn the clock back 24 hours and know then what we know now.

It's an Alleluia Day

I've been writing quite a bit about words lately, including a few of my all-time faves. But I saved my very favourite word for today...Alleluia...Hallelujah...oh how I love this word. The mere thought of it rolling around in my head sends my soul soaring through the universe and dancing across the mountains and Milky Way...softly spoken, it evokes majesty and tenderness; sung together with many other voices, it lifts my heart right to heaven itself and lays me gently at the feet of Jesus. I love this word, I love to speak it, I love to sing it, I love to hear it sung - I love to fill my entire being with the sound and feel and glory of it.

Alleluia

To celebrate my favourite word, I pulled together a few of my favourite Alleluia/Hallelujah songs from YouTube. There are others which I haven't been able to find yet, but some of these have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and I wanted to post them today for anyone who might want to have a listen. I hope the links work, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.


Sing Hallelujah to the Lord (Maranatha Singers)

Sometimes Alleluia (Chuck Girard)

A New Hallelujah  (by Michael W. Smith, with the African Children's Choir)

Agnus Dei (Amy Grant)

Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus (Mormon Tabernacle Choir)

Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus (Opera Company of Philadelphia's Food Court Flash Mob version)


And how can I do a blog on the word without including Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (sung here by KD Lang) [everyone has their favourite version of this song, this is one of mine] and here's some background of the song- and I agree with the author, that it's been a bit overdone lately. But I couldn't not include it here.


Finding the links to these songs listed here led me on a wonderful journey through some beautiful music! Now I'm off to go listen to a few of the gems I found while not even looking for them! Alleluia!!!

Not So Comfy Clutter

I've spoken in other posts here about how clutter can be comforting, when it speaks light and love or has special memories attached.

But I'm realizing now that there's a limit to just how comforting clutter can be...there's a fine line between "enough" and "too much". And we've crossed that line in this house!

It wasn't so bad before we started cleaning out our elderly neighbour's house 6 months ago. But now, 6 months later, we're stuffed to the rafters! As the children and grandchildren sorted through the belongings, we packed up the stuff that had been designated to give away. We were allowed to - and did - put aside things that we thought would be useful for our friends in Cuba...those are all stored away in bins in the 3rd spare bedroom (officially designated as our Cuba room). And then we started putting aside various things for other neighbours who had let us know what they were hoping for. And hubby is a bit of a pack-rat, so I'm pretty sure that those big bulges showing up on the sides of our little garden shed might be a clue as to where a lot of the stuff has been shuffled off to.

I've also been putting a few little knick-knacks aside, just in case anyone in our neighbour's family comes back later looking for some of those treasures...like any of the Ottawa Senators' (our local hockey team) paraphernalia. (And sure enough, someone DID come back looking for it and luckily we had pulled it out of the charity box and saved it for them!). I've been through this so many times in recent years, that I know how it is...at first the task seems too monumental and all you want to do is get rid of everything. So we do. But then, a few months or even years down the road, all of sudden one of those old family knick-knacks comes to mind, or a memory gets tweaked, or Christmas arrives and we remember old family treasures and realize that we really did want to hold onto them, if only for a little while...but once they're gone, they're gone.

So I did pull what looked like old family treasures aside and they're now packed in boxes in our basement....just in case. I'm not sure how long they'll be there...at some point, we'll have to take them to the charity store as the family originally designated. For now, we're willing to hold on to them, simply because we've been there, done that and regretted it....I remember in particular one tiny ornamental knick-knack that my Mom had put in my stocking one year. It had followed me around from apartment to apartment for many many years. When we did a major clean-out, I tossed it into the give-away box. Then months later, started crying because I missed it. I felt silly, it was such a simple little ornament, but hey, I was really sad to have lost it. Then the next time we visited hubby's family, my heart stood still when I looked up and saw that little thing sitting on the top shelf of their display cabinet...I was flabbergasted! But unbeknownst to me, hubby had taken that particular box to his brother to sell in his flea market store and this little ornament had ended up on that shelf instead of the store shelf. Well, when my sister-in-law found out, she lovingly wrapped that little treasure up and presented it to me with such joy in her eyes...I cried like a baby, silly me. But that taught me that not all junk is junk...sometimes we're simply not ready to toss those memory-laden treasures away just yet.

However, as I look around me, I realize we may have overextended our definition of "treasures"! Our house is stuffed full, floor to ceiling, wall to wall, with little pathways to get from one room to the other. Some of the stuff will be gone next week...neighbours will come and take what we put aside for them. Family members will be coming to take those few last-minute boxes that we pulled out just minutes before the real estate agent came to put the "for sale" sign up.

Still, it's no longer comforting, this clutter. It's in fact rather, well, discombobulating!! (Yes I love being able to use the word, but no, I don't like the feeling.) But we're stuck with it for awhile, so I guess I have to make peace with it for now...unless we decide to buy that new house we've been looking at. Sigh, in which case we will have to do this all over again, not only going through THEIR stuff all over again, but all of our own clutter as well. Not a comforting thought at all!

Except that it will be a great opportunity to downsize...right now, looking around at the mountains of stuff piled all around me, downsizing is very appealing.

Yes, clutter in its rightful place and sparseness can be comforting. And then, all of a sudden, it isn't. Watch that line, it's invisible, but when you've crossed it, you'll know it. Very discombobulating!

The Wonderful World of Words

 I love words. I've always loved words. Words and me go way back to my early childhood days of sitting in the rocking chair reading Bible stories with my babysitter and learning how to say "Nebuchadnezzar". (pronounced "Neb-a-ka-nee-zer" - he's one of the kings from The Book of Daniel). I've always loved how that name rolls right off my tongue. And I've always loved my babysitter (Mrs. Brownridge) for so patiently teaching me how to say it. What a wise old woman she was!!

I love the feel and texture of words as they tickle down my tongue. Some words babble, some slip and slide. Some have a harsh feel to them, some caress like a soft comforter. Some paint pictures by articulating exactly what wants to be said, others are blah and merely utilitarian...but I still love how they bridge me from one word to another.

Words evoke emotions in me. Some words have memories attached to them. Some come with tears. Other words can make me giggle just by being spoken out loud...like, well, "giggle".

I listen to words. I listen to the words underneath and behind the words. It sometimes takes every effort not to finish people's sentences for them because I can just feel the words dancing in excited eagerness to be spoken.

My love for words and my joy in stringing words together has remained intact through every change and evolution. But even after all of these years, my three most favourite words are still ones I learned in childhood.

My all-time favourite word is "discombobulated"...oh, what a treat to feel that word bobbing down my tongue! While I don't enjoy the feeling of BEING discombobulated (disconcerted and frustrated) it always makes me feel better just being able to say "I'm so discombobulated". Wonderful articulation!!! Try it sometime!!

Another favourite word, and my Mom's too, is "titivate". Now imagine, growing up in a household of 3 boys, how much fun was had whenever Mom called us into the living room with: "Let's just do a bit of titivating here before unexpected guests drop in." I can still hear the gales of laughter and feel my own blushing 13-year-old cheeks. We thought Mom had just made the word up, but it really does exist, and really does mean to tidy up. It's one of those words that can still make me laugh whenever I hear it, simply because of the fun memories attached to it.

The last word I'll mention here (oh, but I could write a whole book of them!) is "scrumptious". Mmmmm. Now doesn't that just make your mouth water?! Another one of my Mom's favourite words, it evokes memories of dinner tables laden with Thanksgiving turkeys, Easter hams, Christmas carrots, fresh asparagus, mile-high strawberry shortcakes and Dad's world-famous BBQ hamburgers. This is a word that just has to fill your mouth before you actually speak it...start with the "scru-u-u-mmmmp" part and elongate it as much as socially acceptable (and pout out that "p" with as much fullness of lip as possible), then ooze out the "shousssss" part. So that when you're finished and the word is out, you can taste it, and you make everyone around you hungry for whatever it is that made you utter the word in the first place. Whatever else you bring to the potluck supper, bring your "scrumptious" too and wait for the perfect moment to ooze it out into the party. And watch them stampede to the table to dig into whatever it was that you had on your fork!

Oh, I wish I had space for more...favourite phrases like "eschatological implications" and "babbling brooks"; and what about that word "asparagus"...even if you don't like the vegetable itself, the word alone is delicious!

Words evoke entire worlds alive...words rage, words cradle, words wound, words heal and words candle us through to whole new horizons that might not even have words to describe them yet.

And oh what a scrumptious meal it would be if you were to tell me to eat my words today!!

Exquisite Epiphanies

 Sometimes our hearts are so profoundly immersed and touched and overwhelmed with emotions and epiphanies that seem too impossible to articulate...writers sit for long hours, days, weeks and years, contemplating their attempt to touch with their conscious minds what's going on at the core of their souls, then search through dictionaries to find the right words to paint the most accurate portrait of just how rich and deep and life-changing those emotions and epiphanies (which are responses to events and encounters being experienced) are.

But there is also the temptation to sit and question if it's the right thing to do. Should we even try to uproot them from our innermost being in an attempt to paint a picture for anyone else? Will they travel intact through the myriad of translations and detours (because maybe the right words don't even exist yet) - or do we run the risk of those life-changing emotions being trivialized on their journey to finding expression accurate enough to allow someone else to begin to grasp the magnitude and grandeur at the root of what hungers to be shared?

I suppose that if every writer gave into the temptation of futility whispering that the task is too big and/or impossible, or that nobody could possibly ever "get" what's really trying to be said, how many wonderful life-changing books would lay still unwritten but simmering in the depths of countless timid hearts?!

I envy the writer who has a vision at the core of his or her being, epiphanies that won't stay silent and entire worlds that won't stay hidden. They HAVE to find expression, and there is no such thing as "can't" or "impossible" or even "why"...they just spill out of the writer's pen and keyboard and find their rightful home in simply being written.

I want that. I too hunger to write about things that matter. About things that bring hope, like the Light and Joy and Companionship that has candled me out of some very dark places and filled my deepest gaping wounds with Mercy and Love.

But most of all, I want to find the words to help others understand how tenderly Someone understood my most haunting hungers and led me to places and people who have made such a life-changing difference in my life. I am constantly awed by the beauty of the people He has put into my life, by the richness of their wisdom, by the joy they bring into my little corner of the world through their laughter and caring presence. How did He know? How did He know how profoundly my heart and soul would be touched and graced by each one and the unique gift of wisdom and light that each one radiates from within their own collection of emotions and epiphanies?

Perhaps not all heart expressions need - or even want - to find their way into a book. Perhaps they write themselves on our hearts one exquisite word at a time...a witty joke yesterday, a word of encouragement today, a wise epiphany tomorrow.

My heart is full. I am profoundly immersed, touched and overwhelmed with emotions and epiphanies that would have seemed impossible not so long ago. I know with absolute certainty and exultant joy that I have been blessed and enriched (beyond adequate articulation) by others who have not allowed their epiphanies and worlds to stay silent and hidden. I am so much more than who I used to be before these people came into my life and brought with them their words, worlds, wisdoms and light.

To all of you who have allowed me to be a part of your life and epiphanies, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. (Anais Nin)