Living Among Nature

One of the reasons why I am so very happy to be living where we are now is that I have the time and the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors, right at my own backyard so to speak.  The other day I talked my husband into taking time on his day off to put down his "to do" list and come with me on a bike ride.  

Everyone around here knows the bridge is closed at the end of our road.  You can still cross the road on foot but no cars are allowed to pass on it.  It has been this way for over four years the locals say.  I have no problem with that because it is a beautiful nature trail to the river that runs out to the bay of Lake Erie near Long Point.  

Just to give you a little bit of insight to the area we live in, it is known as the Carolinian region where native trees (Sassafras, Cucumber Magnolia, Tulip-tree, Black Walnut, Pawpa) a distinctly southern character and has one-third of Canada’s rare and endangered plants and animals living here. It is hot and humid, on some days I've thought to myself how much it reminds me of the tropics but then again I've never been to South or North Carolina so I have nothing to compare it to.


Here are some of the photos and a video I took that day.  It was just as muggy and humid as it might look but the river was so peaceful and so many birds were singing everywhere.  It was like something out of a movie. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqrkb4iW5-Q

In my backyard along my garden path, I found this little creature helping control the insect population, in which there is plenty around here.

We are currently experiencing an invasion of Midges, which happens annually about this time of the year. We are dealing with them as best we can.  They have said this has been the worst year so far.  Wouldn't you know it and its our first year here.

Midges resemble mosquitoes with fuzzy antennae but aren't suppose to bite or transmit any diseases. The black, shifting swarms in the sky looked like a Biblical plaque!  I'm not kidding you! It is very eerie near Lake Erie (pun intended).  They disappear within a couple of weeks or so because the life cycle of the adults only last a few weeks.  When they are swarming in the skies, they are actually mating. After mating in the air, the females drop back down to lakes and waterways to lay eggs just so we can be annoyed by them again next spring.   

What I hate about it is how they coat the side of your house, doors, screens, vehicles and are all over the yard and in the bushes...you get swarmed by them every time you go outside and they try to get inside where your lights are on.  They are just an annoyance but they won't hurt you. 

Tip: Since I swallowed a few the other day when I was running around like a wild woman flailing my hands in the air to shoo them away, I recommend keeping your head down with your mouth and eyes shut if you can make it through the insect gauntlet to or from your vehicle.

What's next?  We already know...mosquitoes are on their way so at least the Midges have gotten us to be prepared. ...ah, the joys of summer!  

Daughters, Mothers, Fathers

I struggled a bit as to whether I should post the following on this particular blog and have decided to do so anyway.  The following post discusses many topics but seems appropriate as we near Mother's Day.  I hope you are blessed by it and in someway encouraged and enlightened.

“Daughters of God”  By Charlotte Langlois    May 5, 2011

Have you ever walked up to a total stranger on the street and asked them to do a favour for you?  I’ll bet not but I have seen people do it.  It is usually either out of total desperation or from an attitude of entitlement but for most of us that is not how we live.  One is a situation that brings forth a desperate measure of pleading or begging for help from a total stranger.   The other is an act resulting from an attitude problem that needs to be adjusted.  You really can’t ask a favour from those you don’t have a relationship with but you can ask for help from anyone if you need it.

I believe I taught my children that it is better to give than to receive.  I hope that I also taught them that if it ever came to a time of need that they wouldn’t hesitate to ask for help.  After my husband and I divorced I was left with two kids to take care of on my own.  I don’t want to paint a bad picture of this man – he paid child support, saw them on weekends and eventually they lived with him for awhile.  However, during the time I was raising them I got myself into a tough financial crisis that caused me to ask for help from others.  Asking for help from my church family didn’t seem as hard as asking for help from my own family, especially my earthly father.  I had given help to a lot of other people, some I knew and some were strangers, and when I needed help I didn’t feel ashamed to ask.  I know I never asked with a sense of entitlement.  The people I asked always had the power to say “no”.  I didn’t try to manipulate them or to guilt them into it.  I simply asked.  

That was a very humbling time for me.  Things got pretty bad during that time in my life and I was forced to call my dad to ask for help in paying a couple of mortgage payments I had fallen behind on.  It was a huge amount and my dad was not rich by any means.  I’ll always remember the long silence on the phone when I had finally gotten the courage to ask my dad for the money.  I thought he didn’t want to, didn’t love me or I wasn’t worth the cost.  Was he ashamed of me for asking?  Was he disappointed in my predicament I had gotten myself into?  Did he love the money more than he loved me?  I didn’t know.  Now, 20 plus years later, I am wise enough to realize that he probably wasn’t thinking any of those thoughts at all.  He was probably asking himself is this the best thing for my daughter.  He may have, in that split second, been thinking about where his money was invested and what it would take to come up with the money -- or maybe not.  Maybe he truly was thinking that if he gave it to me it would only teach me to continue being irresponsible.  Who knows really?  I have forgiven him for that moment of hesitation, after all he did give me the money the first time but I always remembered that long silence and the hesitation in his voice was never discussed after that.  The silence for me that day was the most confusing and hurtful.  I know he had his reasons and I always know he loved me more than he could ever express.  To this day I don’t know the reason and now he’s gone so I can’t talk to him about it.  I ended up getting behind again on the house payment but would not ask for help again and so eventually I lost the house.  It was at a time in my life that I pulled away from God and was being rebellious and stupid.

Too many people have too much pride to ask for help when they need it.  There is a song made popular by The Temptations in 1966, “Ain't Too Proud to Beg”, its not what the song is about but the title that comes to mind right now.  We don't have to "beg" from our heavenly Father as he is always rich in mercy and cares for us. He is completely, totally self-sufficient and with that has the ability to meet our needs.   

Psalm 50: 9-12 (NIV)  "I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it."  

In other words, God is saying, I don't need your possessions that I gave you because it all belongs to me already, from that which I gave to you, to the birds, insects and wild beasts.  I don't need anything that I ask you to give as a sacrifice because it is mine in the first place.

He owns all the cattle on a thousand hills so when I need something from my spiritual daddy I often remind him of our relationship, I’m his daughter so I have the right (through His Son Jesus Christ who made me an heir) that I can just ask my spiritual daddy to provide whatever I need. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider.  Because of my relationship with my heavenly father, I ask him for favour, “Daddy, please help me even if you have to sell some of those cattle on some of your thousand hills.”  I know He will provide whatever I need.  In our relationship, we talk – I talk to him and he answers me, sometimes God starts the conversation.  He instructs, He comforts, He listens, He disciplines me.  He has promised never to leave me or forsake me.  I believe I can trust him to meet my needs and if my desires are what He has put into my heart anyway then He has said he will give me the desires of my heart if my delight is all in Him. 

Psalms 37:11 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

I acknowledge praise and thanksgiving to him for his immeasurable, everlasting love.  We can never become too dependent upon God.  He wants us to depend upon him.  In fact, he commands that we trust him and we bring our petitions before him.  The key is casting our cares onto him, like a fisherman casts his line, and leaving them with him to take up the burden and meet our needs in the way that He sees best for us.  This has been a truth that I am continually learning throughout my life.  Given our human tendency to worry, especially as women, it can be an ongoing struggle to get this truth deeply planted and to take root in our hearts. 

Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

I Peter 5:7 Casting all your care (worries and anxieties) upon him; for he careth for you.

Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:33 But let your first care be for his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these other things will be given to you in addition.

Philippians 4:4-7  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

God knows the motives of the heart.  Are we acting like a spoiled brats, are we asking for frivolous things, are we being selfish?  I don’t want to be like that and because of my covenant relationship through Jesus Christ, I am trusting that my heavenly Father will correct me if I need an attitude adjustment.

  

Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."  (Abba is Aramaic for Father)  So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.   

Romans 8:15-17 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Some people, especially women, cannot trust their earthly fathers. I won’t get into the reasons here but those reasons are usually valid.  I was very blessed to have an outstanding relationship with my earthly daddy.  I could ask him for anything and if he had the power to help me he would.  I do remember one time when it was very, very hard for me to ask him for a huge financial favour.  My dad was always tight with money when I was growing up because he grew up during the depression era; however, he showered his financial blessings upon me but not to the point of spoiling me.  I was highly favoured as his daughter where my brothers did not have the same treatment.  One, because when they were young my folks didn’t have the money and two, because I was still a young girl living at home when my brothers were grown and raising their own families.  My dad and I loved each other very much and had a close bond.  My mother was more of the disciplinarian but my dad always stepped in with the final say if I was giving her a hard time.  I certainly didn’t want to disappoint my dad or make him angry because I loved and respected him but also because he had a short fuse and didn’t tolerate stupidity.  He worked as a store manager most of his life and so he dealt with customers that use to irritate him.  He had a lot of great qualities and I always respected him.  That’s what children need to have – respect for their fathers. 

I’m reminded of another song.  This one by John Mayer is called “Daughters”. 

I know a girl,

She puts the color inside of my world

But she's just like a maze

Where all of the walls all continually change

And I've done all I can

To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands

Now I'm starting to see

Maybe it's got nothing to do with me

CHORUS

Fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Oh, you see that skin?

It's the same she's been standing in

Since the day she saw him walking away

Now she's left, cleaning up the mess he made

CHORUS

Fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break

You'll find out how much they can take

Boys will be strong and boys soldier on

But boys would be gone without warmth from

A woman's good, good heart

On behalf of every man

Looking out for every girl

You are the god and the weight of her world

CHORUS

Fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do

Girls become lovers who turn into mothers

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

So mothers, be good to your daughters too

As the song says, Father’s be good to your daughters.  This is because it will affect how they see the men in their life, especially in selecting a husband. My heart aches for girls who long for a relationship with their fathers but can’t get his time.  Girls learn how to be a wife and a mother from their mothers but they learn a deeper sense of love from their fathers.  It sets the tone for them to understand the relationship with their heavenly Father.  We learn to adore our fathers, rely on our fathers, respect our fathers, trust our fathers and if any of that is missing or broken, then we hurt deep inside in a way that affects us more than emotional and physical, it can affect us spiritually.

We also need to respect our mothers too.  My mother and I had a different kind of relationship.  It wasn’t until I was much older that I came to value it.  We developed a stronger bond in my adult years.  She was a person who did everything and anything on her own strength and determination so she didn’t ask often for help.  As a child I was oblivious to how hard her life had been and how hard she worked to make a home for our family.  I just wanted to have fun and play more than I ever wanted to help my mother with the chores.  My mom and I never seemed to have time to spend together just playing like I did with my dad.  I believe I may have resented her for that.  I didn’t understand her responsibilities at the time and how much she really could have used my help – that is a sad regret now.  I also didn’t know that she was venting her frustrations to her own mother about me, which gave my grandmother a negative perspective on me so much so that she wrote an awful poem about me (she often wrote poetry).  It broke my heart when I read it but by this time I was married and raising my own family.  Looking back I now understand why my grandmother had a view of me as lazy and hurtful to my mother.  I know there were times that I said awful things to my mother that I also regret.  Mom and I cleared that up later in life when I was a mother myself.  As I said we had a fantastic relationship in my adult years.  I would call her for advice and sometimes she would offer help but mostly she just listened and reassured me that it would all work out.  I had no idea how unhappy she was many times in her relationship with my father.  My mother and I became the best of friends and when I told her I was moving to Canada to be with the man I finally found as my soul mate, her heart was broken open.  She was happy for me but sad to lose me once and for all because I had grown up and would be leaving her finally.  I had no idea that within a little over a year she would be dead.  You can imagine the pain, guilt and regret that caused.  I wish I had more time and would give anything to have her back for one more day.  I have peace because I believe that when I get to heaven one of the things I will get to do is walk the streets of gold with my mother, play in the river of life and just “be” with her to laugh and enjoy each other’s company.  Now that we are separated by the spiritual and natural realm, I miss her and think of her nearly every day. 

So if you have the opportunity, seek out those you love while they are still with you and tell them how much they mean to you.  If you see that something in the foundation of your relationship has pieces missing then pray to God for restoration in your soul.  Pray and act on mending any relationships you have right now – relationship with your earthy father or mother, relationship between you and your husband, relationship between you and your children or step-children because these are extremely important in your life.  These relationships affect your spiritual health and relationship with your heavenly Father.  God wants total restoration and healing for your soul.  He is the only one who can truly mend a broken heart but first he has to reveal to you the heartbreak in your soul’s foundation and where the rift or tare began.  Ask him to show you.  Ask him to heal you.  Ask him to help you be a whole and restored daughter or son of the Most High God.  He is your heavenly Father and He loves you just that much.

Springtime at Grandma and Poppa's

 time to slide through

 time to pickup a stick or two

 time for exploring with you

 time to learn a thing or two

 there's lots of work yet to do

 flowers starting just a few

sticks, old grass and weeds that grew

 helping hands with a wheelbarrow of blue

 don't step on the bird's egg so few

 building a fire pit thats new

a gold finch bird's eye view

 fun with me and you

more fun swinging....zoom

hard work clearing the garden its true

 what will we plant, haven't got a clue

 reading time with grandpa's crew

 mischief makers one and two

 going for a walk after the wind blew

love it here I surely do

Childhood Memories of Summer

My summer memories growing up in Kansas in the 60′s was playing outside all day and into the night. I rode my bike all over town from one side to the other without a worry or care in the world (back then my mom and dad didn’t have to worry much either in those days). I use to pack a sack lunch and ride to the park to explore or ride to the swimming pool. Once in a while a friend would ride bikes with me but most of the time I was off on an adventure in solitude. I played outside with my neighbourhood friends catching lightning bugs (fireflies) and collecting locust shells.

I always looked forward to visiting my grandparents on their farm where I would chase the chickens, play in the hay mow, watch grandpa milking the cows, building a tree house and pretty much anything that could be explored and imagined outside.

One time we visited my other grandparents who lived in the country also but they didn’t have running water or electricity. I remember one summer it was so hot and I was very young probably 5 or 6 years old. My mom and I had to stay with the grandparents for awhile to take care of my grandmother. We slept upstairs of a 2 story house without electricity. I remember crying myself to sleep listening to the coyotes howling while my mother leaned over me in bed fanning me for a long time till I fell asleep because it was so hot. I hated using the outhouse and at night upstairs we had a pee pot and longing for the comforts at our own home but still, I found something to explore even there on that farm. I was fascinated by cowpies in the pasture. l

Today, a woman of 55, I finally have my own country home and my grandkids are visiting me.  I love gardening and puttering outside in the yard, taking long walks along the country road and…..I’m still exploring the countryside on my bike.

I'm convinced that seniors revert back to children as they age

My mother-in-law is staying with us for a few days.  She is a generous woman who shows her love through doing things for others.

Gary Chapman's book, "The 5 Love Languages" helped me to understand my husband -- and in this case, his mother as well.  Their personal love language is Acts of Service, however mine is not.  My love language is Quality Time, tied with Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation.   Gary says in his book that people who love showing Acts of Service will do anything to ease the burden of responsibilities for others.  Anything you do for them speaks volumes.  The words they most want to hear is "Let me do that for you".  If you are lazy, break commitments or make more work for them that tells them that their feelings don't matter.


Knowing how my mother-in-law shows me she loves me and the aging challenges that one day I know I'll face, helps me to be more tolerant.  I know she just wants to be helpful.  She asks if she can help do something like set the table, help prepare dinner, tend the fire in the wood stove, dry the dishes.  Though that sounds nice, and it is, she asks for help when she is helping.  I know it comes from a desire to help us younger folk and a bit of independence but when I have to stop what I'm doing to tell her how to do something like stirring up the fire to get it going again, well -- I'd rather just do it myself than have to explain everything.  It reminds me of having a child staying with us.  It feels like I have to entertain her, talk to her, answer questions and then I feel so bad because although I do it, my heart attitude is not right.

This morning, we took a very s-l-o-w walk because she is, after all 83.  I've answered tons of questions in one day, waiting for the time when my husband gets home from work.  This afternoon, mom and I watched two movies together (with the volume up).  While I had seen them both, I slipped away to the kitchen during the second movie to do start some baking. Mom brought things with her to do like hemming a pair of pants but didn't bring scissors or straight pins.  I had some sewing things tucked away in my mother's old sewing machine table.  I opened one of the drawers and carefully dug through it.  I specifically said to my mother-in-law, "I have to be careful not to move anything much because I can't get it back in the drawer. These were my mother's sewing things that I've kept even though I don't sew."  When I went into the other room to look for the pins, she took everything out  just like a 10 year old.  I had to make everything fit back in the drawers again.  Later while I was trying to get dinner ready she tried to help tend the fire in the wood stove but only made it worse.

I remembered reading that seniors, as they age, often revert back to childhood.  The more time I spend with my mother-in-law the more I come face to face with my own mortality.  It scares me to think that by the time I become a senior citizen, I will go through this same thing.  The thought of putting my children through that scares the heck out of me.  

I believe when you are faced with difficult people or situations, we have to look inside ourselves to search out our fears and face the real reasons we have conflicts.  We clash with some personalities for various reasons.  Sometimes its because they are too much like ourselves.  Sometimes it is because one personality is extroverted while another is introverted.  People who need to control others often have trouble controlling their own emotions.  So on and so forth....it is a deep subject but trying to understand yourself is the first step.   Why do we let people push our invisible buttons?  

In conclusion, I know that I have grown so much in dealing with my mother-in-law but I don't like taking care of other people unless they are my children or my grandchildren.  Selfishly, I feel I've paid my dues -- raised my children, took care of my aging parents until they died and now I have moved thousands of miles to be closer to my family, including my husband's family.  One of the reasons was to be closer to his mother because I knew that she would someday need us.  Right now, I'm facing the fact that it is going to get worse before it gets better.  Facing mortality in others also makes us look in a mirror to face our own.  Aging is part of life.  Sooner or later we all get old.  

"Dear Lord, help me, give me the strength to deal with my mother-in-law and please, please give my family the patience they need to deal with me now and especially when I get old! Amen."

There is no place like home and home is where the heart is.

A Different Twist This Week

Just when we thought Spring had arrived -- all the snow has finally melted, green grass everywhere, birds singing, and now tonight its snowing again.  


We put an ad on Kijiji to sell our motorhome.  I'll miss the adventures in this traveling home but there is nothing to say that we won't buy another one down the road.  Hmmm, that's a catchy title of a blog...'down the road again'....almost a twist on Willie Nelson's song.  


This week should be very interesting.  We're driving to Isobel's house again to strip the wallpaper from the downstairs walls and bathroom.  Then do a few more repairs then help tidy up the clutter.  Bringing boxes with us to pack up a lot of stuff.  When we come back we are bringing my mother-in-law home with us for five days. This should be very interesting.


...there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

More renovations but not at our house

We will be traveling this weekend to visit my mother-in-law.  We have committed to helping her get her home ready for sale.  This weekend we will look at her home to assess the work that needs to be done.  This means a full calendar for us for the next while.  We're hoping to visit my sister-in-law and her family while we are in the area.  The weather shouldn't be too bad and hopefully when we come back we'll find that a lot of our snow here will have melted down.

UPDATE
My mother-in-law is elderly and has recently decided to sell her house and move to an apartment.  My husband and I drove 3 ½ hours to visit his mother for the weekend.  It was to help determine what needed to be done to make the house ready for resale.  We wanted to find out a time frame and what her expectations were.  We’ve offered our services to her at our own expense and time.   She would only have to pay for the materials.  By the end of the weekend we discovered she is not ready and will need to seriously figure out what she wants.

My mother-in-law, like many seniors, has accumulated a lot of stuff over her lifetime.  Her house is extremely cluttered and she admits she is not a very good housekeeper.  The cleaning and de-cluttering alone will require a lot of preparation to sell the house even if we do not do any upgrades or repairs.  Within the amount of stuff she has collected she also has an enormous supply of very nice hard-covered books from Readers Digest on the subject of gardening, health, redecorating and birds.  She offered them to me, along with a wooden, multi-armed plant holder.  I sat down with great appreciation and began going through all her books to select the ones I would like to take home. So far, we helped declutter her home by bringing it to our home!  I can see where this is heading one item at a time.  In the future, I have to gain more self-control because the last thing I need is more stuff! 

Our Family Christmas 2010

Naturally I have a story to tell about the funny side of our family Christmas in the new house.

Two days before my son and his family arrive, the well runs dry. We have to make a call to some guy who hauls in water to refill the well. In the meantime We have to inform our guests that we have a shower schedule with only 2 showers per day. Dishes were done on a regular basis with limited use of the dishwasher and laundry. Its just when you have a house full of people rural living becomes a slight inconvenience.

The first evening the kids were here, I found a surprise in the pantry. We have mice!!! My husband says, 'you live in the country now, get over it'. So as I take everything out of the pantry I'm worrying about how many we might have, how they got in and how do I get rid of them quick because its unsanitary. I put all the food from the pantry into plastic bins. The next day we pick up Haylie from the airport while Coley goes into town to pick up mousetraps. I set the mousetraps up despite sudden flashbacks of the movie, "Mousetrap".

Haylie's family couldn't make it. She faced the fear of flying and came on her own. It was so incredible to see her for the first time in three years. She looked fantastic. Coming across the border we stopped at the Duty Free. We soon found out why that wasn't a good idea for us. We didn't know that you had to be in one country at least 48 hours to buy something duty free. So we ended up paying an extra $60.00 on top of the items we purchased to get a discount. That was about a 20 minute delay but after six hours round trip, we made it back to celebrate Fawn's birthday after dinner.

We found out the hard way that if you don't put out your garage along the designated side of the road, the garbage truck won't even stop. Not only did we miss the garbage pickup once, but twice. My husband said "The last time they came around 1:00 in the afternoon". No sooner had he said that when the garbage truck zoomed by about 9:00 Monday morning. Now we have 3 weeks of garbage stashed in the workshop/garage. Its even funnier when you think about the mice issue combined with growing garbage. Its like swimming upstream? Trash day is tomorrow and the mousetraps have been keeping busy.

Christmas Eve, with everyone in bed, I slipped on the ice outside while taking out the trash and sprained my right ankle. Ironically that was almost exactly 2 years to the day when I slipped on ice and broke my left ankle. I hobbled up the stairs outside, grabbed some ice and a wrapped my ankle. I managed to get up the stairs to the bedroom. The next day I told everyone what happened and was I ever sore on Christmas day but I had lots of help from my family while I rolled around in an office chair. We had fun in spite of it.

Within a couple of days my ankle was good to walk around at the light festival in Simcoe we all piled into two cars and drove into town. It was really cold and a slight breeze made it feel even cooler. It was memorable for the grandkids especially.

My family really liked the new house. I think they felt right at home. Sage and Teddi got along like best buddies running through the house together. Sierra and Teddi (the dogs) don't get along so we have to follow the changing of the dogs' routine. We only had one near attack but it was diverted.

We did a lot of driving this past week. Brian drove to meet his sister half way so he could pick up his mom and bring her back to our place for a couple of days. Coley, Fawn and the kids left Tuesday morning. On Wednesday Haylie, Brian and I drove Isobel home, about 8 hours round trip. Haylie and I managed to get in some shopping on the way back. We also went shopping in Simcoe right before she left. We drove her back to Detroit to catch her plane on New Years day.

It was the best Christmas ever. Having my family all together is all I wanted. I am so thankful to God for answering my prayers.

There is no place like home and home is where the heart is.

Simcoe, Ontario

Well, another Charlotte story to tell.

Sunday morning Brian and I packed up. My son told us about a fantastic place in Grand Haven to have breakfast, Morning Star Cafe.  So we piled into our individual cars and met at the cafe for breakfast. It was outstanding!!! Then we headed on our way from there. .

We drove to Detroit, Michigan to the airport so we could get familiar with it for when we pick up Haylie, Sean and Chloe flying in from Kansas on Christmas eve morning. We found the airport without any trouble but when we tried to find the bridge or the tunnel to cross over to Windsor, Ontario, we missed them completely. We followed our GPS and it tried to take us back to the Port Huron/Sarnia crossing, which was way out of our way. We lost an hour just getting back on track and finally crossing over to Windsor.

We were heading to Rob & Michelle's house in Brantford for the night but when we hit London, Ontario we called them and cancelled our plans. We drove right into a horrible blizzard with white out conditions and traffic was crawling on the 401 heading East. We could see there were at least 10 cars in the ditch and guard rail plus a semi jack-knifed and there were tons of emergency vehicles on the other side of the highway. They were diverting westward traffic off the 401 to the 402. We finally got off the 401 near Ingersoll, driving to Tillsonburg and took the #3 to Simcoe. It was really scary driving in this awful stuff. London hasn't seen this kind of storm for 30 years the news said shutting down schools and roads with 4 - 5 feet of snow blown in from Lake Huron.

We found a really cheap motel room with a kitchenette just west of Simcoe called "Fairview Motel". They have weekly rates so we booked the room for four nights and are staying here since Monday till Friday morning. I'm looking for a job but this is a difficult time of year to get work.

Brian got hired by Canadian Tire basically before we moved, they just wanted to see him for a face to face interview but with his background they snatched him up and made a place for him. We arranged our cell phones to be changed to local numbers; we're arranging house insurance and have a meeting with the lawyers on Thursday; I found a hair salon today and finally caved -- wiped out the gray roots and got it cut and styled -- I feel like a million bucks right now.....it was just the pep in my step that I needed.

The weather has me a little worried though -- the snow just won't stop coming down. Everyone here is shocked and caught off guard. They haven't seen this much snow in years. Anyone who has ever heard my 'whenever I move' story in the past, may be thinking, 'oh yeah, Char did it again!'.....just when we move here they get a freak snow storm. LOL

A few more days and we'll be in our house. Worrying a bit about how this weather is going to affect delivery of our furniture but all I can do is pray and trust the Lord to handle this. Hoping we get everything taken care of that needs to be done. So excited. The next time you hear from me, we will be IN our new house and hopefully I'll have a job.

Grand Haven, Michigan

So we are in Grand Haven, Michigan and Sage is sitting on my lap while we look at pictures on my laptop. Snuggling with Sage, watching Toy Story together, hiding in a blanket tent, eating fruit loops, read "Curious George", wearing his Spiderman costume we bought him.

Today Grandpa and Sage built a snow-woman. The final touches were a little unusual -- a coconut bra and a grass skirt. We later decided it would be great to put both arms going the same direction like "she" was doing the hula. So funny!

We've been here since Thursday afternoon and will be leaving on Sunday heading to Ontario.

Visiting Brian's Mother - Part 3

Sunday morning we went to church with Isobel. We were not expected to see Brian's uncle and aunt but it was really a nice treat. After church we all went to lunch together at Kelsey's Restaurant.

Before we went home, Brian suggested that we take a "Sunday drive" to see the countryside. The leaves were turning and quite beautiful. Of course there were moments when we stopped for a couple of photo shoots.

Can you believe she is 83?

When we came home, Mom wanted me to help her plant her tulip and daffodil bulbs in the garden that Brian had cleaned out. Teddi enjoyed the backyard with me. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and felt good to be outside.

Isobel asked if we liked Pizza for dinner. She said it would take 50 - 60 minutes. We asked, 'what kind of pizza is it that takes almost an hour...are you sure you read that correctly'? She came back and said, 'Yes, it says 50 - 60 minutes.' Later when dinner was ready, his mother said, 'oh, it wasn't pizza, it was lasagna'. We had a good laugh about that.

We are packing up a few things because we are planning to leave tomorrow and drive to Long Point to camp for a couple of nights. We have a home inspection for our new house coming up soon.