I’m now gone from Ottawa from now until January 3 and I don’t know how often this will be updated in the interim. I can only do my best and even then, you might not find that good enough. Right now, I’m currently enjoying the snow and cold of Kansas City in the winter time. The last time I remember being here, was with my family in 1986. I still have a red and white pendant from that trip of Kansas City, which, ironically enough, is in Missouri. Anyway, this is just a stop on the way out to Los Angeles conference where I hope to be this weekend, followed by sometime spent at Pittsburgh camp. I trust that this holiday season will be better than egg nog, peppermint ice cream, and woodfires … but that’s another story. Hopefully too, I can catch up on the sleep which has slowly been disappearing. I worry sometime that I will become a chronic insomniac, but I’m know this is for a reason and is the hand of my Father, and His way is best. How awesome to know the true meaning of the love, and not just the few weeks of materialism that this world enjoys. Smile.

I happen to know for a fact that at this very moment in Ottawa, we’re getting a blinding blizzard with one foot of snow on the ground, and no end in sight. And here I am, in Austin TX, where the greatest thought on everyone’s mind is what Governor Bush is having for breakfast. I am simply ecstatic at the thought of finally, after a broken leg and wrist, clicking back into the ol’ Santa Cruz and riding this Saturday. I wanna ride!! 🙂 Oh yeah, the monotonouse details: this past weekend I was up in Toronto and made it out to the CN tower for some prime rib and a wonderful time with my sister and brother-in-law. At this rate, I’m gonna gain enough weight that I won’t be able to make it in the elevator for next year. 🙂 Anyway, it was great to make it up there even if the flight was delayed on the way back and sleep is just one of those rare commodities. It was still tonnes of fun. And that’s life … Wait, one minute … a thought on Christmas … the birth of my Saviour was a most wonderful time and certainly an event for rejoicing. But how much more wonderful that He gave his life for me, because He loved me. (Gal 2:20) Certainly this is a reason to be joyous and happy, not just now, but year round.

So it looks like I haven’t really changed anything, right? Wrong. If you could see the backend of this new system, you would know that it has entirely changed. However, for the next week or so I don’t plan to make any radical changes that are’visible’. Perhaps by Christmas, you will know what I mean when I say that I’ve done a lot of work on this in the past little while (just not with the design). I would appreciate knowing however, if you come across any broken links or anything I should know about so that I can fix it immediately. Other than that, nothing new to tell you today.

I believe that the most incredibly powerful and awesome sound which I have ever heard here on this earth, has been the thunder of the ocean smashing itself against the shore. And I also think that the most peaceful and softest sound I’ve ever heard has been the quiet lapping of the ocean waves beside me. How can one reconcile these things? How is it that such contrary positions can stem from one object? And yet it was on the calm and peaceful night when the ocean was like a “millpond” that the Titanic struck an iceberg and 1500 souls passed into eternity. The ocean is more than intriguing, n’est-ce pas?

Has anyone noticed that the pictures have meaning?

Somedays I get discouraged with updating this site on a weekly basis. It’s like I feel I should write something of consequence and meaningful, but sometimes I really don’t want to do that. So instead I write something that isn’t the real me and I ask myself whether there’s a purpose or not in updating the page. Does that make sense? Regardless, last week I was down in both Florida and Texas. One would think that the weather in both these states would be a lot nicer than it is here in Ottawa, but it wasn’t all that much warmer. Granted, it was a beautiful week here in Ottawa, but still … I did get to swim in the Atlantic Ocean though at midnight beneath the stars. Mmmmm … to be home again. To be able to cruise down to the Murb or the Point every night and just lie underneath the stars and smell the ocean. There’s this rock on the end of Black Point, where I could sit and cry … or sit and laugh … just sit and think. Nova Scotia will always be home.

Should I or shouldn’t I? I think not.

I guess I missed a week there. Oops. That was because last weekend I was down at a wedding in Washington, DC and was not back into Ottawa until late Monday night. On the way back, it was the first snow I’ve seen of the year. In fact, there were several times where it was nearly a complete white-out crossing through some of the hills. It really is great to see the snow back again. So with snow on the mind, why am I thinking of swimming? Well mostly because tonight I hope to be swimming in the most wonderful Atlantic ocean with the moon casting it’s silvery reflection between myself and it’s quiet secret in the heavens. I’m flying out tonight for Palm Beach and I’ll be staying right on the ocean. Mmmmmm … to sleep to the sound of the waves. Memories …

Good morning. Here I am, sitting bleary eyed and not-so-wide-awake on Monday morning after spending the weekend down at my grandparents in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. I love both going to my grandparents and also visiting with my sister who lives with them and who turned the ripe old age of 20 years old this last Friday. We didn’t too much exciting when we were there, but I think the best part of it is just the talks over dinner and sitting in the living room, talking and playing marbles. I wouldn’t want to do anything more. We arrived at around 22:00 on Friday night and Grandma and Grandpa were still up so we got to spend a little time visiting while my sister spoke with everyone in my family. Afterwards, my brother, sister and I all went out for milkshakes before hitting the bed around midnight. On Saturday, my sister had to work in the morning, so we sat and talked mostly in the morning. In the afternoon, we all went on a walk along one of the scenic canals. For supper, my brother, sister and I all went out to the Lone Star and just talked about everything and anything. That night, we stayed up and talked again before heading to bed. Then yesterday, we were up and out to meeting bright and early before heading back to a wonderful roast beef dinner. You might think eight hours is a long way to go for a visit like this, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Smile.

Another Monday morning! Another reason to smile … for health, and for strength, and for the fresh air to breathe. On Saturday night, I was down in Montreal for supper and to wander around Old Port Montreal and look at the fascinating paintings and art galleries. There were so many interesting paintings that I would have loved to take home with me, but the cost was outrageous. I find that the most phenominal paintings are the ones which attempt an emulation of nature, but can’t quite do it justice. And of course, this is the way it would be … No one could possibly match the brush strokes which God uses in Creation. The colors and textures can only be copied, never matched. Autumn is the most beautiful time of year, when blankets and goose down duvets are brought out. Time to sit around the fire, sip hot chocolate, go for romps in the woods and out to Black Point. It also sometimes brings painful dreams. Saturday night. But I’m still thankful – and smiling.

This is a bad time to be updating my page. I mean, sure, I’m updating the information on a Monday like I’m supposed to, but I’m doing it at 23:00 and I don’t have any new picture to upload. We’ll see if I can get that done tomorrow morning before you discover that I slipped up. Regardless of new pictures or not, I can tell you that this weekend I was down at my sister’s in Toronto. It was a lot of fun to play with my niece and nephew. We all went downtown to the Old Spaghetti Factory for … guess what …. spaghetti. You can just imagine how much fun it is to eat spaghetti at a restaurant with two little kids and try to keep the noses from running and the faces clean – woo hoo. I love it. I’m not kidding. So what else is new though? I was out on my bike tonight just cruising around. It’s been a while since I did that, and everytime I get back to it, I forget how much fun it is. Maybe one day I can take you so you’ll understand. Smile!!

So I guess you could say that I’m getting a little travelling done. I just got back last night from the Scranton conference in Pennsylvania. I don’t think there’s many people who could be disappearing on weekends quite like myself. Anyway, Teddy, Mats and I all drove down on Friday after work and had a good time, if only for two short days. The reading was on Luke 22:22-30 and how we needed to humble ourselves because of the One who walks among us. In fact, the subject of humility and our failure tended to be the theme of the conference brought out very nicely in contrast with the One who is everything. I also got to see my older brother and his wife who are headed down today to Florida. Although I was just down there, it’s always nice to visit. Oh yes, I’m now moved into the new house (did I mention that before) and most of my things are slowly finding their way out of the boxes. Smile all.