The tendency is to isolate which I have, thankfully pretty much avoided so far.
Had a big birthday party for a little man who turned 5 on Saturday night.
Balloons and presents and guests galore!
I believe I counted up to 22 at some point and was happy that the food stretched so far! Sirloin pork steaks, roast potatoes, caesar salad, nachos, potato salad, watermelon and iced tea. Just thinking about that spread makes me want to enjoy the whole meal again! Unfortunately the weather was COOL so only a few of us braved the outdoors during supper and eagerly brought our frozen bodies indoors to thaw for dessert. This has been a crazy, cool spring!
Dessert was truly an adventure as a cake was brought by the birthday mother and it was announced that it contained no flour, no sugar, but was full of black beans! FOR REAL!! It was ugly too, with waxed paper covering most of it but we were able to perk it up by releasing it from the pan and sprinkling it with icing sugar. I found it extremely amusing that such a cake would be created for a child's celebration, but hey, it's a very healthy family. And thankfully my dear little auntie also brought most of a delicious rum cake she had at her house from the previous day so there was plenty of cake and ice cream to go around.
The black bean cake ended up being a real hit. Delicious, chocolaty and very light!! Amazing!! So everyone was asking for the recipe and my mocking laughter was silenced.
Once again there was a lovely combination of old friends, new friends, family and international students to round out our numbers.
Sunday I finally made it to church an hour late. I had listened to so many sermons on my computer and lounged a little too long before rising to shower. I am listening to a series on Romans and am loving the whole justification by faith thing again.
Of course I came home from church alone, which is happening too often as I am not intentionally pursuing people but it makes the days so long and lonely. So I thought about a family that I love to visit with but rarely see and before I knew it we had combined ingredients and were enjoying a stirfry together and laughing uproariously around their kitchen table.
This family has suffered much and they continue to pull together, trust God and laugh a lot despite the setbacks. My life feels pretty normal alongside theirs. In fact, they almost have me beat when it comes to strange life circumstances.
When I drove up my driveway in the dark of the night I realized that the sprinkler on my half dead lawn really needed to be moved. This may sound simple but it requires some risky acrobatics for me to actually reach the faucet by popping down a curb, wheeling through bark mulch, jumping over a large flat stone and stretching to reach the handle. Then I must reverse the process without tipping over and balance my body while jumping back up the little curb without flipping over backwards. Dragging the sprinkler and heavy hose across the barren wastelands in a wheelchair has got to count for a lot of burned calories so that is a distinct bonus as well. The thought of seeing my lawn turn even the palest shade of green is a thrill as it has been a frightful, almost neon yellow due to irrigation problems. The prospect of green pushes me to test my limits. Today was the first time in the many years that I've lived here that I ever reached that elusive faucet. I am proud and now I know that it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks. And you can also lead a horse to water and get him to turn on the tap.
Another bonus of the evening was the owl hooting at me from the top of our telephone pole. I sat below him and hooted back wishing I could see him more clearly. Of course I pulled out my little camera to try and capture his majestic awesomeness, but the flash just couldn't impact the dark night and height of the hooter. These kind of nights are just so amazing. The starlight and moonlight and clouds lit up combined with the wonderful orchestra of croaking frogs and hooting owls is just magical. The dogs were so happy to be released to play and race around the yard and I was loving the adventure. It's about as far into the camping scene as I go and then I'm happy to enter my little palace where I am now settled comfortably in my beautiful new king size bed with ladybug. The window is open allowing breezes and night sounds in so it really is very close to actual camping! Ladybug is stretched out on the other half of the bed as if she owns the place.
Royalty abounds in this palace.
The black bean cake ended up being a real hit. Delicious, chocolaty and very light!! Amazing!! So everyone was asking for the recipe and my mocking laughter was silenced.
Once again there was a lovely combination of old friends, new friends, family and international students to round out our numbers.
Sunday I finally made it to church an hour late. I had listened to so many sermons on my computer and lounged a little too long before rising to shower. I am listening to a series on Romans and am loving the whole justification by faith thing again.
Of course I came home from church alone, which is happening too often as I am not intentionally pursuing people but it makes the days so long and lonely. So I thought about a family that I love to visit with but rarely see and before I knew it we had combined ingredients and were enjoying a stirfry together and laughing uproariously around their kitchen table.
This family has suffered much and they continue to pull together, trust God and laugh a lot despite the setbacks. My life feels pretty normal alongside theirs. In fact, they almost have me beat when it comes to strange life circumstances.
When I drove up my driveway in the dark of the night I realized that the sprinkler on my half dead lawn really needed to be moved. This may sound simple but it requires some risky acrobatics for me to actually reach the faucet by popping down a curb, wheeling through bark mulch, jumping over a large flat stone and stretching to reach the handle. Then I must reverse the process without tipping over and balance my body while jumping back up the little curb without flipping over backwards. Dragging the sprinkler and heavy hose across the barren wastelands in a wheelchair has got to count for a lot of burned calories so that is a distinct bonus as well. The thought of seeing my lawn turn even the palest shade of green is a thrill as it has been a frightful, almost neon yellow due to irrigation problems. The prospect of green pushes me to test my limits. Today was the first time in the many years that I've lived here that I ever reached that elusive faucet. I am proud and now I know that it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks. And you can also lead a horse to water and get him to turn on the tap.
Another bonus of the evening was the owl hooting at me from the top of our telephone pole. I sat below him and hooted back wishing I could see him more clearly. Of course I pulled out my little camera to try and capture his majestic awesomeness, but the flash just couldn't impact the dark night and height of the hooter. These kind of nights are just so amazing. The starlight and moonlight and clouds lit up combined with the wonderful orchestra of croaking frogs and hooting owls is just magical. The dogs were so happy to be released to play and race around the yard and I was loving the adventure. It's about as far into the camping scene as I go and then I'm happy to enter my little palace where I am now settled comfortably in my beautiful new king size bed with ladybug. The window is open allowing breezes and night sounds in so it really is very close to actual camping! Ladybug is stretched out on the other half of the bed as if she owns the place.
Royalty abounds in this palace.
1 comment:
Happy Victoria Day! I love reading your Blog. Keep it up. You are a gifted writer. Thank you for all the packages of gummy bears last week. The kids descended upon them as though they were underfed! Thank you for our impromptu chat. Talk to you soon, Love Joanne
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