I Inherited My Grandmother's Knitting Needles

Palm Sunday

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, marking the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem before his crucifixion. It is a day of celebration of God's power and glory. As one writer explains, it is a day on which we should "sing with exuberance and wince with foreboding." Interestingly, "Hosanna" the phrase used by the many people celebrating Christ's arrival in Jerusalem, means "Save, I pray."

We went to a Baptist church yesterday where the fact that it was Palm Sunday was mentioned only once--in passing during the beginning worship. No songs celebrating this; no sermon explaining it; no liturgy acknowledging it. This frustrates me. Even if secular society doesn't understand the importance of Easter, churches should. We build up Christmas to huge heights, anticipating it, building worship services around it weeks in advance. But the Sunday before THE most important event in Christian liturgy goes more or less unnoticed? This is the day on which Christ knowingly walked towards his death--for our sake.

May we acknowledge Christ's suffering and triumph in our hearts this week.


Hosanna, Christ Jesus our Savior.

To Vegreville and Back

We love taking the back roads of Alberta, seeing sights and landscape and history that we wouldn't otherwise see. On Sunday we drove up to Vegreville (2.5 hours away) and back, taking slightly different routes for each direction.

We drove through

Ponoka

Hobbema

Wetaskawin

Gwynne

Camrose

Holden

Vegreville

Camrose (yes, a second time)

Ferintosh

Mirror

And these are just the towns we drove through, not by.

 

 

It was a lovely day, and we came home richer by photographs, memories and one second hand double stroller.

Rebuilding Vegreville Alliance Church

Yesterday we went to the dedication service for a church design project B worked on. Very cool to see the finished building for a project B spent many hours on. Specifically, at 2:10 in the video you can see the 3D rendering B did. Cool, hey? I'm very proud of him.

As an aside, we "met" (well, saw up close) Ed Stelmach at the service.

Season for Sunshine and Seeding

I would, in fact

I would, in fact, like to be better about posting regularly.

I would, in fact, like to finish the pair of socks I'm knitting. 

Just the tying off to go on sock #1.

I would, in fact, like my camera back. 

Those silly Canon guys didn't fix it properly, and now I am DSLR-less again.

I would, in fact, like to start working on a tan on my pasty legs. 

As soon as Elspeth wakes up, we're going OUTSIDE.

I would, in fact, like to get some seeds started. 

I just need some more soil. 

Why, you ask, has it been so long since I posted last? Part of the answer stems from the darkness/clouds/snow we had for a week and a half.
Too.
Long.
No.
Sunshine.
My brain shut down. Seasonal Affective Depression is no fun at all.

The lack of camera is a bit of a downer too.

But the sun is SHINING.
I have rubber boots for all my splashing needs.
E's room is done.
And I'm going to start planting seeds tomorrow.

OH: If you come to visit, bring your rubber boots.
You'll need them to get from the sidewalk to the front door.
And I'll knit you a pair of socks if you come wearing rubber boots with smiley faces on the bottom.

Knitting

It's a bit of an ugly snowy day/week here and E and I are a bit cranky. 

To keep herself busy, E decided that perhaps it was a good day to start a knitting project.

However, unfortunately, she discovered that she'd bitten off more than she could chew--happens to the best of us sometimes. 

The project was a little too complicated and required more brainpower and energy than she had.

So she decided to take a nap instead.

Possession

Possession by A.S. Byatt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I can't remember the last time I read a book that both challenged me intellectually AND was a page turner. It's fiction and yet it is not. It is a classic Victorian novel, and yet it is not. It is poetry and prose; detective fiction and romance and history.



Byatt is brilliant. As another reviewer commented, you immediately get a sense of just how smart she is (Cambridge educated). Her grasp and explanation of literary criticism is thorough...it really forced me to call to mind everything I learned way back during my English degree. But she does not shove the various theories (ie. those of Lacan, Derrida etc) down your throat, they simply flow out of the story.



And the characters. I love a story with well-developed characters, and this was no disappointment. While Byatt is good at describing them physically (fashion is sadly stuck in the 80s), she is even better at simply allowing the characters show who they are...their foibles and hang-ups and strengths.



I came across this book after discovering the movie. The movie did well in casting, but covers NONE of the depth of the story. This book should be made into a miniseries rather than attempting to cover it in two hours. And I would love to see that happen.



View all my reviews

Participation in Lent

Traditionally, one gives something up for the forty days of Lent, to sacrifice or go without in recognition of Christ's ultimate sacrifice.
Historically this meant meat, dairy, sugar, or for some days, food altogether. (On a related note, a good movie about a modern practice of Lent is Chocolat).
In years past, I've given up dessert, Facebook and television.

This year, however, as I thought about what I was going to give up, I had a hard time thinking of anything that would be both significant and achievable. My life these days is pretty quiet and simple, with not a lot of extraneous activity.

So I decided that this year, instead of giving something up, I would add something. To pick a quality that Christ exemplified and try to model that better in my day to day life.

You may ask, and what is it that you're going to do? And I will respond that you're going to be disappointed with my answer.
I'm not going to say.
It may seem like that's the easy way out, not telling anyone, because then there is no one to hold me accountable. But I'm accountable only to God and my conscience anyway. And besides that, I'm abiding by Christ's command regarding prayer:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

My Lenten offering is not something "to be seen by men" but meant rather to be a quiet offering to God. (Well, not so quiet, since I'm blathering on about it here...)

Words

Sometimes songs say exactly what you are thinking, especially when you are not able to say it yourself.

When the rain is blowing in your face,

and the whole world is on your case,

I could offer you a warm embrace

to make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,

and there is no one there to dry your tears,

I could hold you for a million years

to make you feel my love.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,

but I would never do you wrong.

I've known it from the moment that we met,

no doubt in my mind where you belong.

I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,

and I'd go crawling down the avenue.

No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do

to make you feel my love.

The storms are raging on the rolling sea

and on the highway of regret.

Though winds of change are throwing wild and free,

you ain't seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.

Nothing that I wouldn't do.

Go to the ends of the Earth for you,

to make you feel my love

to make you feel my love

Lengthen

I have learned that the word Lent comes from the Saxon word for length, 

which specifically denoted springtime. 

So, once again, the church calendar is specifically connected to the seasons in the natural world. 

This connection seems apropos considering the weather we have of late...

It's beginning to feel like--dare I say it--spring?? 

The snow is melting into giant puddles; the sun's strength means heavy winter coats and toques aren't necessary; little E took her afternoon nap outside.

Oatmeal

We thought she didn't like oatmeal...turns out she just wanted to feed herself.

Fat Tuesday and Beyond...

Our 'Fat Tuesday' [International Pancake Day] was a great success again.
The pancakes were delicious; the company was delightful.
We've been doing this tradition of celebrating Pancake Day for three or four years now. It's really rather silly and more of an excuse to eat a big delicious meal of pancakes than anything else. And we love it.

But it also gives me cause to stop and contemplate the day and season afterwards.

Lent. The forty or so days before Easter.

The Catholics count it from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday; excluding Sundays, which equals thirty-eight days.
Some Protestants count from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, equaling forty days.
The Orthodox Church counts from the Sunday seven weeks before Easter and go til Good Friday, also equaling forty days.
Regardless of the exact number of days, or of whether some days are excluded, or of when it starts or ends,
Lent is a time to stop
and quietly take stock of ourselves in relation to, and our response to, the sacrifice Jesus made.

As my devotional says,
"to embrace a spiritual gravity, 
a downward movement of soul, 
a turning from our self-sufficiency, 
and sinfulness."

Much more on this to come.

Through Her Lens

Saturday we picked up our long lost sad broken camera which is all fixed up like new! So now I have my own camera to use, which means I should be able to take many more pictures, and post many more pictures. This makes me very happy.

Many changes coming to our lives in the next month, with a little friend coming to play with E two days a week, and spring ever so slowly creeping up on us, meaning the coming of landscaping work and finishing the house exterior. There are always projects on the go around here.

And tomorrow is the last day before Lent. In other words, Mardi gras, Shrove Tuesday and International Pancake Day. Celebrations will be had. But I'm not sure what to do for Lent this year.

New Jeans

Highlight of last week: Mama and Baby both got new jeans.

Seasons

 If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas bring clouds and rain,
Go winter, and come not again.

In as much as I am following the Church seasons (nearing the end of Epiphany, starting towards Lent), I am again finding it easier to simply pay attention to the seasons of Nature. Several weeks ago was Candlemas. Candlemas coincides with Groundhog Day in secular culture and the Feast of the Presentation, recognizing the presentation of the infant Christ at the temple.

Groundhog Day has never signified anything to me (that is, until I met my husband and was introduced to the movie Groundhog Day). Regardless of what said groundhog "predicts," around here we're going to have many months of winter yet.

I'm learning to appreciate the church calendar and the importance of the presentation of Christ. I heard a really interesting sermon on the topic recently, talking about the earth-shattering significance of Christ's presentation at the temple to two righteous souls, Simeon and Anna, who had been told that they would meet the Savior before their deaths. But more importantly, I'm ongoingly appreciating the character of Christ as it is presented throughout the Gospels. More on this to come.

But in these cold, cold, COLD days of February (-38 with the windchill this morning), the Candlemas occurence at roughly halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox represents a hopeful turning. The days are longer now. The sun shines more, regardless of the cold. And this, we feel..the sun's strength on our cheeks; my plants flourishing in a south-facing window; the hope and delight in planning our garden for spring.

So, just as at Christmas I celebrated both the coming of Christ and the shift of the earth back towards the sun, so also now I celebrate Christ's life and the clearly lengthening days. Thanks be to God.

The Light Grows

I've discovered that it's hard to think critically, constructively, analytically when one is sleep deprived for consecutive nights for months on end. My quest for insight into the life of Christ and my larger project of being aware of the church year continues, but my soggy brain moves as slow as molasses in the weather we're having today (ie COLD, with a wind chill of REALLY COLD).

The Most Excellent news is that we're now officially living in our house. Stove, oven, kitchen sink, clean and dust-free floor space, we've got it all. And as of yesterday, we also have curtains on our front window (so we don't have to worry about walking around naked as all the neighbours drive by slowly to see how the renos progress) and a shower curtain (so baths can again be relegated to E's domain). Baths are great for relaxation, but they're time consuming and not efficient for washing long hair.

Consequently, we can finally develop some daily rhythm of functional living. We can very much feel the sun's earlier rising; it gets easier and easier to get up in the morning. It's a joy to make coffee in our kitchen, and to watch E play on the floor in the morning sunshine flooding into our living room. And now that we're done the biggest bulk of the reno project, and E has a quiet room in which to sleep, hopefully we can settle her into a more comfortable sleeping routine, leaving me more time and energy to study and think and blog.

Tulips in our Window

This weekend past, we finally, finally moved in. We've been camping in the basement since October, sans bathroom, kitchen or, generally, functional space of any kind. But last week, with much hard work and two afternoons off work, our main floor living space reached the point where we could actually use it, and Friday night we slept in our bedroom for the first time.

I can't explain how much joy and relief and gratitude this event brings me. We can BAKE. Elspeth now has room to learn to crawl. We can enjoy the view from our front window and all the lovely sunshine. The drywall dust and sawdust will end. So much to be thankful for.

I also felt so blessed that our family and friends shared in our excitement. Bouquets of tulips were just the thing to adorn our window sill.

More Every Day

Painting...

Baths...

Baby milestones...


 More reno projects...

Tears and smiles and everything in between.

February

It is February all ready...seems like January really flew by. It was a busy month, full of painting and other house projects, weekly library baby times, yoga and walking, visits with friends and plans for summer, in amongst all the normal daily activity.

It's also the Fifth Week of Epiphany and I continue to study the life of Christ. In one devotional I'm working through, the commentator writes "Jesus reveals his glory--his authority and power and love--in the place of worship, yes, but also inside a home, out in a front yard, down by the riverside and in the midst of a wedding. It's in these everday contexts that he invites belief, at least enough to begin following him" (103).

Everyday contexts are mostly all I have these days...the daily rhythm of laundry and diapers and playing blocks and naps, and it's in this everdayness that I seek to discover Jesus and his place in my life. It's this deity that I need, one who dwells in  and cares about the small moments and details of life.