Oh Canada Post

So tonight i was at the post office... trying to see if they would mail my wedding invitation mock-up to see if it would cost more money etc.  I was told yes, they would charge me more money to tie a ribbon around the card...silly people - are they trying to work themselves out of a job?  Already many more people use email than post so you'd think that they would make it easier than harder.  So along with stringent measurements for envelopes for common folk, when i checked their website, there were a number of interesting rules...
You may not mail

any item emitting an offensive odour

gold bullion, gold dust and non-manufactured precious metals unless mailed under an Agreement between Canada Post and the mailer

Live animals cannot be mailed unless the mailer has entered a related Agreement with Canada Post prior to mailing. Bees, day-old chicks, parasites, leeches and some other small cold blooded animals can be mailed under certain conditions (see section 3.2.1 “Suggestions for How to Package and Wrap Items” of “ABCs of Mailing - Personal”).

Dead animals or their parts, including, for example, the whole carcass of a beaver or a mallard duck, the antlers of a deer, hides, pelts, nests or eggs, may be acceptable for mailing, provided all applicable requirements are met.

Waiting in Calgary...nope, in my living room...enjoying the sun

Well, maybe i can make it home today...wouldn't that be fantastic?  I am home, but i mean, home from B.C.  Maybe i'll have to do the edited, point form version since i seem to have a propensity for making my posts waaaay too long and i'm sure too wordy...but it's hard since there are so many fun details that make the trip oh so much more exciting...but since it's my experiences and not someone else's, i should probably do the abridged version. 
So where was i?  I think we were finished with Tuesday...
Wednesday
- Dad and Uncle Brent headed off for a game of golf in Chilliwack - i think neither of them did a spectacular game but it was nice for them to be out together.
- Aunt Yettie and I went to visit my cousin Sally and her son Nicholas who live in White Rock... I met Harvey, who was sleeping most of the time (on baby duty recovery phase) and we went for a great walk to 0 Avenue (i love the street names here in the area - very logical, if slightly uninventive) and that happened to be the border with the U.S.  I had no idea it was like that - i guess i was picturing barbed wire fences and searchlights, but maybe that's more for Korea and the USSR and not so much for supposedly friendly neighbours!  I defiantly tossed a pebble over to the US side and when no guard came charging out of the woods with a machine gun, i felt slightly reassured that this might be safe. 
We walked a bit farther and even crossed our toes across the border line indicated on a stone cairn.. nothing happened... so we walked even farther - and came across the Peace Arch border crossing - there was a beautiful park and we wandered all around there - still no alarms or sirens so we figured we must be in no-man's land.  This was all confirmed when we spoke with a US border patrol guard hanging out in the park - we had found a US passport on the Canadian side just lying on the road and we needed to return it to someone (my aunt kept being all conspiracy theory on me and asking if i had touched it and wasn't i worried that they'd think i killed the guy... i'm pretty non-threatening looking i figured and we returned it to the guard with baby in arms - thanks Nicholas - so we didn't look quite like gangsters was my thought!)
- Oh dear, getting way too long winded again... dinner at home again was a delicious roast - which Uncle Brent couldn't get enough of... i think i'm going to try to attempt a roast again - Aunt Yettie makes delicious roasts! 
Thursday

- our last full day in B.C. started out kinda rainy and overcast - we were in search of a battery charger for my camera and for a printer cartridge for Yettie's printer... successful for the last item, not the first, but then we decided to abandon the pursuit of electronic success and move on to enjoying nature. 

- we headed out to the Golden Ears Provincial Park - it was a rainforest, but not the south american monkey boa kind but rather the west coast mystical, mossy, brooding kind that you'd imagine Tolkein being a fan of; i kept looking for elves and wizards but the closest we got was a movie shoot about a wizard (Seventh Son?? never heard of it).  It was also super hard to take pictures there - but i kept trying anyway!  We hiked up to a waterfall there and enjoyed our lunch beside the freezing cold, rushing mountain stream, memories of Lilypa floating through my brain.  I was also kinda paranoid about bears (though from what i hear in the paper this morning, i can be scared about bears in Burlington area too - the police shot and killed one there yesterday!) but thankfully we didn't meet any up close - doesn't mean they weren't stalking us however!

- we took a long windy drive home past Stave Lake and other interesting little features in the Maple Ridge area - then home for dinner and then a last visit to Langley to Grandma.  It was like a little mini-family reunion since Uncle Brent was there, Aunt Yettie came along and we met Grandma's sister, Tante Ge Gelderman and two of her daughters - we had some good times reminiscing (for Dad) about living in Dryden for the summers and such.  It was a neat evening and good cap to our trip!
Friday
- our last day.  After packing everything up and being all organized, we had one last day trip.  Living in Abbotsford, Aunt Yettie is so close to so many natural beauty sites and this was no exception.  In Chilliwack, there is a Blue Heron Sanctuary right along the Vedder River.  It was totally free to get in, the ladies at the interpretive centre even lent us all binoculars and told us where to go for maximum wildlife spotting possibilities!  We walked along the drainage canal and saw many types of ducks, lots of herons on their nests up in the trees, squawking away and making a huge racket, ospreys (or i maintain that i saw them) and even an otter - that was super cool!  It was the perfect temperature of day, and the perfect way to say goodbye to B.C.  I dearly wish we had something like this at home - we seem to have to pay for a lot of things and we don't have any mountains - i will miss getting up in the morning and not seeing the peaks!   
But it was a good trip and a good flight home, despite my legs getting quite restless and antsy for the last few hours, never fun when you're stuck in a plane seat and can't sleep... And super nice to see Timothy who picked us up at the airport - five minutes later, we're home and that's super nice too! 

So goodbye to all our family out west.  It was good to see you all again....

Waiting in Calgary... oops, sitting in my office (but part 3)

So, here i am back again, my poor readers are on overwhelm - what??  so many posts in such a short time?  But they're long so maybe they make up for the delays between postings?  Anyhow, this is no longer being posted from Calgary where the other two updates were written, but from humble, sunny, hometown Hamilton.  I've been home for a few nights now and my back and I are missing my aunt's queen sized bed.  My bed just ain't cutting it anymore - the mattress is somehow no longer giving me the support i need - so i'm looking forward to purchasing a new bed! 
But nough about beds, that's not what you would like to hear about.  The rest of our trip - well, Tuesday, hmm... Tuesday we were up on time because Dad and I drove to Chilliwack to visit my mom's aunt and uncle, Case and Tita.  I have very fond memories of staying with them when mom and i were out west three years ago and it's nice to see them again as always!  They welcomed us with a lekkere kop coffee and a nice sit-down in the sun-soaked backyard, brimming over with plants and flowers - springtime has indeed sprung here - and Ome Case is very proud of his garden with good reason - it's a lovely sheltered nook for plants to grow.  We spent a few hours catching up with them and then it was back to Abbotsford to change and head back to Chilliwack.  For you see, the odd thing of this trip was this, Dad had expressed that it would be nice to catch up with some cousins on his Mom's side who live in B.C. seeing as it had been probably nearly 45 years since he'd seen some of them, not since he visited them in Dryden on his grandparent's farm.  While we were visiting with Grandma that first Friday,  the director of Manoah came up to Dad (he knew him from previous visits) and expressed his condolences to Dad on the passing away of Ome Henk.  Dad was pretty floored since he didn't know anything about this (the director knew about it since it is a Canadian Reformed home and Ome Henk attended Abbotsford church).  We decided that it would be good for us to attend the memorial and so here we were.  I will admit to feeling kinda nervous since i didn't/wouldn't know anyone and would they even talk to us or remember Dad?  The service was very nice - the singing was good and there was even a fellow who played some old Dutch songs on accordion which got the whole (mostly elderly) audience singing along.  After the service, Dad and I, along with Uncle Brent, Aunt Yettie and Grandma met and talked with quite a few of Dad's cousins - and they had lots of memories and stories to share which was super neat.  I suppose i knew i had more family here but really didn't realize how much (until they filed into church row upon row!).  It was so nice for Dad to see these people and connect a bit... i will admit to feeling a little overwhelmed by it all, but it was good to go to be sure.  Just such a coincidence to happen to be there when the memorial was happening.  I guess that was meant to be...
Supper that night was fairly low-key and we spent the night watching Wheel of Forture and Jeoprody - i was getting pretty good!

Taadaa....it's reveal day (about two weeks late!)

And yes, folks, this is what was lurking in the back of my fridge.  Imagine my surprise when i lifted the lid to find that twisted, spongy, felt-like, greenish-grey mass instead of a welcoming smooth creamy surface... guess i have to check some best-before dates eh???

Waiting in Calgary part two

Ten gallon hat man just walked by again - he must get his fair share of exercise to be sure!  Good for him-  probably keeps him young.  I think maybe someday i'd like a job like that - being a welcomer or such - i do like greeting at church too and greeting customers at the farm. 
Back to the storyline - Sunday morning, we attended the Surrey CRC with my Uncle Brent (Dad's oldest brother) and heard a good message about Esther and sang some good songs and it was good to be in the house of the Lord!  After church, we visited Grandpa's grave - took a little time for the cemetary guy to find it for us but he is buried near two very large beautiful trees and it was good to remember and visit... i do that when i go to Holland as well - i know he is not there but it is a place for memories to percolate and surface.  It has been a lot of years since he passed away and memories can fade so quickly - but i sure remember his smoking on the porch, their visit out to Canada and picking us up from school in his little Datsun pickup truck and his smile.  He passed away in December 1997 so that's quite a while ago...

After the cemetary, we picked Grandma up from Manoah and we drove to my cousin Charlie's place - he lives fairly close and we had a barbeque with a whole group.  Charlie is married to Lana and they together have five kids - nice to meet/see them again.  Shawn is married to Susie and they have two kids who were also there - they sure are getting big!  And Angela came with her husband Ted and their three kids (whom i have never met) so it was a big reunion of sorts.  We talked, ate, Dad played WI golf and we spent a pleasant afternoon.  Then it was home again with a head full of thoughts and memories.

Monday morning, we packed our lunches up and headed north.  Our goal was to see Whistler (when asked what i wanted to see in B.C., i could only think of this - actually i had three things i wanted to do - visit Grandma, visit mountains and dip my toe in the ocean). 
We left after rush hour traffic and were soon on the Sea-to-Sky highway enjoying beautiful vistas that seemed to become more amazing as the curves and bends snaked around and about mountain bases and rivers and lakes.  We had a few stops here and there for lookouts and pictures.  We walked out to Brandywine Falls (love the name!) and enjoyed seeing that.  Back on the road again, with eyes peeled most clearly for bear-sightings, we reached Whistler around 1:00. 

We enjoyed our lunch in the shadow of Whistler mountain, spying on the few skiers and snowboarders who were left negotiating the slush on the slopes.  The only Olympic paraphernalia was the rings in the medal awarding square - none too impressive - i guess i expected Olympic mascots or something gold to be lying around??  We did a quick run-through of Whistler village but since none of us are really shoppers per se, that was a bit of a fruitless exercise.  Far better was getting back in the car and heading up the highway towards Pemberton and enjoying more beautiful mountain views and hiking up to Nairn Falls which was pretty neat (though very difficult to photograph through the rocky crags).  We were pretty tired and warm by the time we reached the falls but it was definitely worth it. 

The drive home was fairly uneventful - taking pictures along the way - and finding our very favorite place of the day, Tantalus Lookout where we saw amazing views of Tantalus Mountain covered in snow and towering above the valley - how small we are and how big the world is and yet how small in the grand scheme of things eh? 
Our search for a bear was nearly fruitless until we were fairly close to leaving the Highway - when all of a sudden all the scanning and searching paid off and there for our view was a bear - we pulled off to the highway edge (kinda illegal) and snapped away with our cameras.  One of the shots should work out right?  And we did get a few in the end when we reviewed all our pics.  That was super exciting and made our day all the more great.  And to top it off, when we pulled away from our stop, there to our amazement on the other side of the road was another bear - super cool!  I was so excited - you'd think i was five! 

We then had fixed our minds on the fact that fish and chips would be the ideal end to this day - and so made our long way across the Valley and city of Vancouver to White Rock, where we were treated to a yummy supper at a place trying to be a pirate hang-out, i can't remember the name but it had something to do with the Jolly Roger...
And yes, as per Danielle's traditions, toes must be dipped in oceans no matter what season of the year we are at - so down to the waterfront i went, and to my disgust, there was so much seaweed along the shore that there was nary a place to be found seaweedless for my poor picky toes... or so it seemed.  Dad eventually managed to find a place for my tender tootsies to taste the temperature of the ocean and that was checked off the list of things to do - along with giving me super warm feet since the water was pretty pretty cold!!! 

Bed sure felt good when we arrived home - it was a super great day however, full of images and scents and smells and experiences!!!

Waiting in Calgary...

And so the venture is nearly over... Dad and I are comfortably installed in some very cozy chairs in the Calgary airport and we are awaiting our flight home to Hamilton.  I just saw an elderly man dressed up with a huge ten-gallon hat walk by - i think he's a customer service helper representative mascot kinda fellow and he's pretty jaunty.  Fun to see typical things in places... kinda like seeing a fisherman in Newfoundland or a dolphin in Florida. 
We have spent the last week/8 days traipsing around southern B.C. visiting various family members and touring this that and the other thing.  I could probably write a very long exhaustive entry here - i do have time after all - and then my poor readers would be frustrated...and it's not good to have frustrated blog readers.  So i'll try to sum up (sounds like Princess Bride when Inigo is trying to brief Westley about the events that have gone on since he died - "Prince Humperdink is gonna marry Buttercup in little less than half an hour so all we have to do is go through the castle gates, kill the six-fingered man, rescue the princess...").

We left Hamilton on a Thursday evening - about an hour late since there was a huge lightning storm cell to be bypassed by our incoming plane and then avoided by our leaving flight.  I have never seen something like that - lightning dancing from cloud to cloud and i kept worrying that it would hit our plane (any ideas on how that would affect a plane?  It must have happened before...).  We flew all the way down around Chicago to avoid the weather and consequently ended up in Calgary about an hour late - leaving us a bit breathless as we ran to reach our connecting flight.  Fortunately, they held it for us and we were on our way.  Aunt Yettie was at the airport to meet us on a cool rainy 8 degree night and bring us to her place where we would be staying for the next week.  She even graciously emptied out a drawer for each of us in her bathroom (that was a very welcoming thing to do i felt!).  She is a very wonderful hostess and i personally think that she would be an excellent bed and breakfast hostess - she loves cooking for people and does a fabulous job ( we are going to be coming down off a bacon and eggs high...) and finding neat places to take guests in her area - and there seem to be an inexhaustible list of things to do in the immediate area. 
Friday morning, Dad and I dropped Yettie off at work and then were off to see Grandma (Dad's mom) in Langley.  She lives at Manoah Home and took a few minutes to remember us when we came around the corner to see her.  We were able to have lunch with her and that was very nice - we also met a friend of hers, Roelien, who visits regularly - it's nice to know that Grandma has regular company - my Dad's cousin Dinie also visits every week to do her hair.  I hate the fact that distance separates us and we only get to see her so infrequently.  It had been nine years for Dad, but three for me.  Grandma is getting older (that's not rocket science, Yell) and quite forgetful - but she knew who i was after a few minutes.  She did however ask me about 30 times if i had a boyfriend so that one was repeated a lot of times.  But she maintains an excellent sense of humour  and makes the nurses laugh so that's good. 

After we left her for her nap time - we meandered home across the Fraser Valley, taking little side roads and going up and down the hill sides with Yettie's little old standard car - so driving was out for me - Dad was the pilot, i got to be chief navigator.  Friday evening, after we wended our way home, we had dinner with Yettie's friends Rob and Karen - and they discussed their plans to head to head to Holland in the summer - i sure hope they have a good trip - there's so much to see and do there that it was fun to recommend stuff. 
Saturday morning, we babysat for Yettie's grandson Nicholas - he's pretty cute and was happy enough until he clued into the fact that his mom was gone and then he wasn't too happy... we took turns trying to calm him down! Yettie's kids Nathan, Mark and John came over for a long leisurely breakfast (which lasted until about 3:00!!) and it was nice to get to know them a bit again - it's so long between visits that it's hard to remember what everyone is up to.  They are very welcoming though and we shared a lot of laughs whilst reminiscing.  Saturday afternoon we got out for a bit to go for a walk along the dyke just north east of Abbotsford... we had a little shower but that didn't deter our walking and it felt great to get out! 

 We also did a bit of super moon chasing - it was fun to try to capture the moon - but we didn't do a great job (i had visions of a great shot, just over the mountains...but i am not an award-winning photographer so my illusions of grandeur were dashed!)
I think i might split this up a bit since this is getting super long and boring mostly likely... pictures will follow... i promise!

You get three guesses

Tuesday morning is brought to you by an unidentified object image...I used to love these in magazines when i was a kid so i invite you to submit your guesses and i'll tell you in a day or two if you managed to get it right... no fair guessing if you've already seen this with commentary...

It's 5:28 pm

It's 5: 28 pm... and i'm sitting in my kitchen, sitting for the first time today since breakfast which seems eons ago.  Breakfast which consisted of finishing yet another cereal box off - i seem to have amassed a large collection of cereal boxes when i was on a cereal fling and then those boxes, mostly half-full, have been lurking in my closet for the last while waiting for me to finally finish them off... so the plan is no more buying any cereal until every single last box is gone... it's gonna take me a few weeks - anyone hungry for breakfast?? 
As i sit here, basking in the sun, noticing how terribly dirty my windows are, how terribly dirty my fingernails are and how terribly dirty my pants are, i'm thinking that possibly i should probably jump in the shower before this dirt becomes a permanently embedded feature of my skin.  And why so dirty, you may ask?  Well, from about 9:30 onwards, i've been outside, taking advantage of  a gorgeous working day - not too hot, a little chilly this morning but definitely a great day to be outside.  Dad came over with a trailer load of triple mix and we proceeded to work our way through all the gardens on the property - turning them over, loosening up the earth and adding in some bonus earthy goodness for the plants.  You could almost hear them saying "thanks, we needed that bit of protein" or "aaah, that feels so good around my roots!"  I don't actually have talking plants, but i do have to say that despite the fact that my hands are cramping beyond belief, my back is nearly seized up and my cheeks are a brilliant shade of cherry red (the bane of my existence), i am SO happy to have this job done.  The grass is also cut and the bare spots are doctored up with triple mix in preparation for some grass seed - hopefully tomorrow.  But at around 5:00 i totally ran out of energy and have crashed... i'm considered the benefits of a nap whilst musing on whether i should actually go out and cut down some rhubarb and make a dessert - super tempting but it would mean getting up... a bit of a challenge at present. 
So if anyone feels like coming over, cutting my rhubarb and washing my dishes, whilst i soak in the tub, i'd welcome you with open arms.. but you'd probably not want a hug at this point since i'm a little... have i mentioned it?  dirty....
I love spring...

Manger...

Bon jour, mesdames en moisieurs... (oh dear, my French definitely leaves something to be desired but bear with me)
Hier, nous mange at la restaurante dans la ville de Toronto.  Nous manger tous les nourriture Francaise et ils sont tres tres delicieux!  Nous manger le pate de foie gras, le canard, le creme brule, les cafes, le pain et des escargot!  Je ne manger pas les escargox mais Timothy et mange ca.  Tres interessante!  Je penser que je n'avez pas manger une repas comme ca - tres delicieux, originale et nouveaux pour moi.  Le atmosphere de la restaurante et tres cosy (i swear, that's what the translator said - i'm not just making this up) et nous avez een fantastique repas avec amis et mon fiance!  Vive le France!

2:45 am

It's 2:45 am and i'm at work (duh, where else would i be likely to be at this time... if not at work, assuredly at this time, i would be sleeping - unlike my dear mother who's probably awake and reading or drinking warm milk at this time).  Everyone is sleeping - ooops, maybe shouldn't say that cause that would inevitably invite the entire population of the ward to commence incessant ringing of call bells, requesting water and blankets and other such things, or wanting to get up out of bed (it's morning right?) or some other such nonsense.  But for now, in this moment, it's relatively under control and i'm thankful for that.  It's nice to know that someone is sleeping, even if i'm not. 
Hmm, what to say about April and the latter part of March.  It's been busy, that's one way to put it.  Wedding plans coming out of my ears, out of the woodwork, out of the blue, you name it.  Wedding plans definitely were the theme of my dreams in the first month; i'd have the oddest dreams about weird and wonderful antics at the wedding and the reception - usually involving big details which for unforeseen reasons, i had forgotten or omitted from my planning schedule. Thankfully that seems to have settled down for now - although i awoke from a doozy this morning - somehow i was quite capably toting around a semi-automatic rifle, knew how to shoot it quite well and managed to shoot my uncle.... no idea why - but kinda odd, disturbing even!
Several big things are off the list - dress is bought (it's purple - or so i tell those curious people who ask what it's like!), date is settled (October 13 of this year), church and reception hall are booked, bridesmaids dresses are ordered, and various other details (photographer, florist) are decided.   Hmm... what does that leave??  Well, we need to find some rings (unless we want to use something from the cracker jack box - might be cheaper!), pick out some ideas for invitations, settle on a meal, find some furniture, and oh so many other little and big things.  It sure has been a process - i am enjoying it, don't be afeared of that, but i am worried that i will miss something big, or will omit some major detail that will change the whole tone of the day... and then i'm put to remember that it will all come together, we will be married at the end of the day and that will be the proper end of all the planning and fussing that we could possibly do.  I will be marrying my friend and my confidant and we are just so happy that we have been brought to this point... and we feel so blessed! 
So, if you ever want to have a cuppa tea, i'd be more than happy to put the kettle on, curl up on the couch and see what you've been up to lately - i am worried at times to become too involved in planning this and that, and forget the other important things around me!  So give me a gentle reminder and/or kick in the pants to remind me that you are out there and i'll be happy to come pull some of your weeds, listen to your stories and share some time together!!!

seven months...

Today marks the day that seven months from now will be our wedding day!  I look forward to the day when we no longer say goodbye at the train station and can share regular meals together and just spend an evening relaxing at home together... I am loving this engagement time to be sure - lots of fun planning and figuring things out... but i miss him when he's gone and that's getting to be no fun... We are so thankful to God for bringing us together and for blessing us so richly and pray that He may also use us to serve Him too even in this time....

Updates from the meadows

Good morning... very early morning for most of you folks out there - my nursing colleagues and friends know about the 3:00 lull/slump/crash (severity depends on the amount of sleep gathered the day before!) and i'm heading towards that fateful time very shortly - so if anyone's up and bored, now's the time to give me a call and have a chat...
Seeing as i have not the courage to dive into the book i brought with me to work - why did i pick the Grapes of Wrath???  Strange choice methinks!  I thought i would give my little blog an update since it's been sadly neglected this month.  To my credit, i have been a mite busy - but as i'm sucking on my first ever Murray Mint (i'm working with two British ladies tonight and they were kind enough to share a candy and the jingle - they're singing it again as we speak), i thought i might ramble on for bit - Mom, if you're up, you can always give me a ring since i know you haven't been sleeping much lately. 
There have indeed been many goings ons in the Meadows lately - or rather, away from the Meadows.  The weeks since our engagement have been filled with many happy smiles after people found out our news - we have been so blessed with a wonderful, loving church community and family!  We are realizing more and more the joys of that and i think my poor jaw muscles were tired out from smiling that first week...
There, now my mint is crunched - it was pretty good - an interesting combination of caramel and peppermint - but refreshing to say the least. 
I don't have lots of neat pics like my dear friend Laura - with her kiddos and other interesting happenings, but i can say that in the last few weeks, i've felt many many emotions - up and down, backward and forwards, smiles and laughter, tears and unknowns. There have even been sleepless/very restless nights - surprising i know to those of you who know me well - that i usually can sleep through a tornado without waking.  The head's been full, the heart overflowing, the mind racing and the dreams (when they do come) working overtime to plan our wedding.  I desparately don't want to turn into some bridezilla who talks of nothing but weddings and plans and colours and flowers and such... oh, it's fun to plan - but please stop me if that's all you hear!  A good friend told me that the first few weeks after you're engaged, there's so much busyness and planning to be done but that it does slow down a bit and that's probably good since my family probably couldn't take too many weeks like this past one!  I want to thank first of all Timothy for being a great listener, willing to help out with planning, having ideas and encouraging me!  Super wonderful to have that support! 
Also my mom and dad... willing to jump in the car with me at the last minute and head out to look at venues and flowers and the like... And my great friends, who have willing hands, listening ears and great ideas for me!  I love you all!
Oh dear, waxing emotional in the early hours of the day....
So the checklist for the last three weeks includes...getting my ring resized, picking out and buying a wedding dress (i keep writing "weeding" - is there some weird thing going on?), researching about 24 million halls and locations for dinner, actually booking one, choosing a florist, church, pastor, photographer, colours and wedding music players.  Phew... the mind spins with the effort - some decisions are easy, others involve considerably more thought and much prayer. 
We are growing closer together as a couple even through this for which i am so thankful.  I am looking forward to the day when the culmination of all this choice and thought comes and we will be married in God's house with His people, our people surrounding us.  Oh happy day! 

Valentine's Day 2012

Valentine's Day.  In the past, not a typically well-regarded holiday in my list of yearly holidays - in fact, usually ranking somewhere at the bottom of the pile - somewhere along with "go to the dentist" Day and "pay your taxes" Day.  Yeah, not so exciting.  Last year was the first year that i had an inkling that it might not be so horrific thanks to the presence of a certain handsome young man who most graciously showered me with flowers and dinner and the joy of his being in my life. 
Well, i guess i will have to after this year, decide that good old St Valentine might have had something going since it turned out to be our ENGAGEMENT day.  Super exciting!  We were going to have dinner together in Toronto on the good old pink and red day - me not really even thinking about the significance of the day - where was my head? 
Timothy greeted me downstairs since I had arrived early and we went to his apartment where we exchanged our valentine's day cards and i gave him some chocolate and home made cookies - and he reached into his pocket, pulled out a little box, got down on one knee and said that he had something for me too!   (i'm thinking that this baking for jewelry exchange thing could be great!).  He then asked if i would marry him - and after being dumbstruck for a few seconds, i came to my senses and said yes of course!  Super fun!  Dinner out was a fun time of thinking, planning, hoping, dreaming and being super thankful for the blessing of each other and for the Lord's guidance thus far!  God is good! 
So that's it in a nutshell - if you need a long and detailed explanation, please let me know and i'll put the kettle on and you'd be most welcome to come on over - you might be put to cutting out invitations or sewing my wedding dress but that's fun too right?

On the road again - Day 6

Yep, still catching up on Florida... but it's getting there... i've only been home a few weeks now - i found scrapbooking stuff in my basement from Curacao - and that was in August 2008... so to get this done within a month is an accomplishment not to be disregarded!
The saga continues.. as the stomach turns... etc...
Friday... our last full day here - well, our last day here period... we would be leaving sunny Florida this evening.  What would our day consist of?  Well, a well deserved sleep in... and then waking up to the warmest day yet - with brilliant sunshine and warm breezes.
And oops, I think i forgot to mention that the previous night, we had made a trip to a store called The Dollar Tree.  When we visited the Ruggis and VanAndels, they all had been very excited about this store, which sold all the regular dollar store stuff, but also groceries and seemingly everything else you could possibly want.  Somehow, idea of purchasing my frozen french fries or fish sticks in a store that reeks of cheap plastic was unappealing to me but there were a couple of good things to be found - Sharpie markers for cheap, cute stickers for my nephews and cheap toothpaste... but all together, nothing too spectacular.
We dropped the girls off at Universal Studios again, a little later in the morning, and were decided on going to play nine holes of golf.  We looked up a few courses in the area, and eventually settled on the Oak Trail course at Disney - this would be our one nod to the popular culture in the area.  We were late for our tee time by the time we got through traffic from Universal and got turned around about 3 times on the Disney property itself (it is huge... if you've never been there, it takes up so much room, goes on for blocks and blocks, has it's own car service station and gas bar, medical centre and road system, talk about a Mighty Mouse!)  but they graciously allowed us to play anyways!  I had only brought along my putter and my five iron, as we had so much stuff in our trunk that we could not fit two sets of golf clubs in - Carina took hers and we were planning on sharing - which apparently isn't officially encouraged since it decreases the speed of play but was allowed here provided i have my own cart to put my two clubs in.  Fine, no problem, we'll go for that - anything to save a few bucks eh?  My cart was definitely not the Rolls Royce of carts, they wanted you to know that you were not the elite here, that you were one of the lowly peons who had no cart of your own, "so here, graciously borrow our very very squeaky rickety one, you will feel right at home annoying all the other golfers who are trying to concentrate on their tee shots and are being distracted by the high pitched "eek, eek, eek" as you trundle along!"

 The golf course...

 my rickety old golf cart with two clubs!

the tee markers...



Aaachhh, it wasn't as bad as all that, but i was a little noisy to be sure.  But it did the trick.  We signed up for nine holes and joined a large line up of people waiting at hole number one.  There was no starter so we just basically assimilated ourselves into the group of people like we belonged there and weren't late at all for our tee time.  I HATE teeing off when lots of people are watching and sure enough, i duffed the first shot badly, just about 30 yards up the fairway from the tee box... but things fortunately improved from there.  We both have not played much at all in the last few years, but somehow, we managed to have quite a few good shots between us.  Nice drives, putts and chips to put us in a good mood and to make our golf game quite a nice experience.  We had to wait for some turkeys to clear the fairway once, were surprised by an alligator lurking in the pond on the 6th hole and saw lots of bird life along the way.  Not too often you're vigilent about large reptiles in southern Ontario eh?  It was a spectacularly gorgeous day and my sleeves were eventually rolled up nice and high and i tried to maximize the amount of sun rays that were hitting my poor pale northern skin.  Gotta soak it up when you can!  Carina and i were so thankful that we had the chance to get out and enjoy a game and not even play too awfully badly.  It was good to spend a morning with her, laughing and joking with each other, and enjoying a nice walk in the park.

Carina directing traffic on the greens - turkeys crossing...

One of the culprits...

Slightly faked but trying to look sporty teeing off

Carina and the alligator on the 6th hole

Cool tree on the course

Being touristy

Action shot...

When we were thoroughly tired, sweaty and had sunk the last ball on the last green, it was time to head home... shower....and try to rest up a bit for the night drive.  I decided to brave the swimming pool for a few minutes just to work out the kinks and stretch some muscles.  I will admit to chickening out of going into the regular pool but made the trek to the heated pool at the main lodge - and that was definitely doable - though having to display my poor pale plump body in a bathing suit wasn't my idea of fun, to be sure!  The hot tub felt good though and it was nice to soak in there for a bit, doing some stretches and trying to wake up my sore not much used golfing muscles!
Eventually that too was done and it was nap time... Carina wasn't able to sleep and eventually went to pick the girls up at Universal by herself.  Poor girl, i was so deeply in dreamland that i was pretty groggy when i woke up!  Then a quick shower, dinner and last minute packing.  How we accumulated so much stuff in so short a time was a mystery, but we did somehow manage to stuff it all in the trunk (don't open it, customs guy, whatever you do!) and after a good room clean up, we checked out and were on our way.  It's one thing to drive for 23 hours and have a vacation destination on the opposite end, but it's an entirely different thing to be heading home.  I was certainly not looking forward to the drive but it went relatively well.  The weather cooperated oh so much better than on the way to Florida and the roads for the most part were dry and clear.  Night time is always a bit of a sketchy time to drive - we left at around 7:30 pm... and took turns driving throughout the night and next day.  Whenever one was too tired, the other would take over for a while... it's nice to have that - but it would have been perhaps a little safer with three drivers in 20/20 hindsight, one to drive, one to be awake with the driver and one to sleep, but that didn't work.  I for one, even though i can usually sleep anywhere and at anytime, had difficulty sleeping especially during the day because there were interesting things to see - Kentucky and Tennessee were especially fascinating - such a different world to be sure! 
I don't have much to say about much of the rest of the drive, there were beautiful mountain vistas, rolling meadows and pasturelands, wooded hills, rivers and much more along the way.  Carina and I invented some car games - our favorite one was "Waffle House".  We even slept in a Waffle House parking lot for an hour!   Especially in the southern states, but really all the way back home, there would be in every town we passed a restaurant called the Waffle House, all spelled out in big block letters on a yellow background and the first one to see that sign in a given town won points.  Carina became very proficient at this game and nearly beat me ( i kinda cheated at the end on a bet to see how long it would take us from the Detroit/Windsor border to home - my guess was closer than Carina's and all the waffle house points were bet on it!) 

City wise i don't remember much - lots of very tall, narrow homes in Cincinnatttttii (no clue how many consonants and vowels of each variety are required!), nice clean, modern looking Atlanta and very very industrial, very dark and polluted looking like something out of the pages of the Lord of the Rings (Mordor) Detroit.  And a thousand other imaginations, thoughts and observances that i can't remember and are hopefully stored in a dusty unused corner of my brain somewhere. 
We crossed the border at Detroit - what a messy, depressed, dirty, potholey city is that, filled with smokestacks belching out yellow and grey smoke.  Aaargh, just awful!  The wait at the border wasn't horrifically long, just a bit annnoying when the border guards decided to change shifts whilst we were waiting and of course we picked the slow line - never fails. 
And then we were back on Canadian soil and searching for a Tim Hortons to fulfill our coffee cravings and to fuel us up for the 3.5 hour plus drive we still had before us... what a demoralising thing to realize that you're home but not really.  Those last few hours were torturous and i nearly cried a few times - but thankfully we persevered and reached home at 7:30 that night.  It felt so good to get out, stretch and unpack, saying our goodbyes and thankful that we were given driving safety and lots of great memories!

on the road again - Day 5

*So, i know that we have been home for a few days (oops, weeks) now, but my schedule is pretty busy so i'm writing this update on our last few days in Florida on my night shift... hopefully it will make some sense!  But i will write like it's that day... just to confuse you all royally!  Okay, maybe way later than when we left - nearly a month but hey, time flies...
This morning we woke up and i was a little excited... this was to be our beach day!   The sun was shining, the frost warnings were no more and the ice was finally thawed off the pool (just kidding, but it would have been a funny thing to see to be sure!)  We still weren't entirely sure where we were going but had a rough idea on heading to the atlantic coast.  We had tossed around the idea of heading across the state west-ward ho but that would have taken over 2 hours and we weren't into long car rides after the long haul to get down here.  So we were heading Cape Canaveral direction, near the NASA grounds.  We had done a little bit of research online the night before and decided that this was probably the most likely place to go... plus there was a neat sounding wildlife preserve nearby that would maybe provide some flora and fauna that we had been dying to see.  In Orlando proper, there are lots of little ponds and mini-lakes, especially near the on and off ramps of the highways and each time we would be careening around an exit or entrance, we would also be looking most avidly for any signs of an alligator.  It's like driving up north and everytime you come across a swampy lake inlet thing, you imagine it is the perfect territory for a moose to be hanging out - even if the moose do not agree and oblige you by appearing in these "perfect spots".  Well, we were alligator hunting and not having much success.  We felt sure that today would be that day!
But first, we had to suffer through a presentation from the time share people.  We were blessed to be here with free accomodations thanks to Carina's John's family... and we were thankful for that... but alas, in order to get the discounted tickets for the girls to Universal Studios, we had to listen to a 90 minute presentation by the "no pressure" sales people.  I'm afraid neither Carina nor i went into this experience with any sort of positive energy.  We were booked to be there at 8:00 and Carina firmly set her timer on her phone to go off at precisely 9:30 and not a minute longer of our precious time would we spend listening to sales pitches for vacations we could not afford,despite all their reassurances.  We were greeted by a friendly lady who showed us where to get our free coffee and breakfast - i must admit that for being stuck in a presentation, they could have sprung for a little better coffee and goodies - the danish was super tiny and the coffee (as usual in the States, it seems) was weak so that wasn't a good first impression. 
Then we were asked a lot of personal questions about vacation, family, our philosophy about vacation and how we spent most of our time... Carina had the lady there - she filled in that she spends most of her vacation doing mission trips and volunteering - not the ideal candidate to pitch a time share to!  Heehee!  We were prettty clear with our saleslady that we would definitely not be purchasing anything, that we were simply here because we had to be to get the discounted tickets.  She was none too amused at first and complained we were wasting her time and ours.... but yeah, them's the breaks and that's what you do to get discounts (we're Dutch after all, not just any ordinary flunkies you're dealing with here!)   But eventually after a bit of giggling about answering the survey questions, we did have a little chat with her, and listened valiantly to her spiel... Then it was on to the 8 minute promotional video featuring many beautiful people all smiling their biggest and best smiles and talking the idea of Diamond Resorts up to the max.  Even the multi media presentation did not sway our minds and we earned our discounted tickets and were finally on our way!

There's the sign for Universal - didn't get too much closer than that

We dropped the girls off at Universal Studios in the morning with the promise that we would return for them that evening.  They had a beautiful day for being on rides and in the park so we hoped they would enjoy that greatly.  Carina and I had no desire to see these totally touristy things, despite many admonitions and encouragements to do so from co-workers and friends "you have to go to Disney when you're there".... nope, nope, not us... we are not into rides and the like so we were more than happy to leave that all behind.
We headed east, stuck on a toll highway at first that seemingly kept increasing toll amounts every couple of kilometres, we didn't think 50 cents was bad but when it started to get into the 2 and 3 dollar range, it was time to find an alternate route to the beach.  Which we certainly did - a nice little two lane road running through the middle of nowhere it seemed.  The one interesting thing that caused us to screech to a  halt on the way were signs advertising "homemade alligator jerky".  Well, if we couldn't see a live one, we'd have to settle for eating one, we thought.  This fellow claimed to have killed and smoked and prepared the jerky himself - we didn't buy his little sandwich baggie offerings but chose rather the prepackaged kinda.  He also sold us some very tasty blood/red oranges... umm, umm... good taste to be sure.  Hopefully there will be more in the stores, despite the frost warnings and need for spraying here in Florida!

 Sorry, i did flip this pic, but it flipped back again - here's our alligator jerky

And here's someone bravely about to take a bite!

And then, we were on the road - which was supposed to take us directly through the grounds of NASA and on to the beach area....alas for us, there were barriers against going across restricted space centre property - who would have thought??!  But we took out one of our forty maps (oddly enough, it was the least detailed map, provided by the hotel, that we tended to default to) and found a way around.  That way took us on some long rather uninhabited and lonely roads, not coming across much.... but all at once, the car was screeching to a halt as we saw our first ALLIGATOR!  We were just a little excited - or at least i was!  We backed the car up on the road, nearly backed into the ditch in our hurry to see this rather slow-moving (or rather not moving at all) reptile.  Seems so strange to see them in the wild, i've only ever seen them in zoos - kinda scary to think that if you would get lost in the woods or swampy areas here in Florida that the possibility that you might run into one of these fellows is quite a bit higher than at home - at home the most scary reptile we have is the garter snake!    But thankfully we are just visitors here and we had our car to protect us! 

 This is NASA property - we will blow you up if you continue!

Look a spaceship...

Filled with enthusiasm, we plowed onwards, seeing within five minutes, alligators, vultures, an eagle and pelicans...quite fun!  We had a quick lunch break at a McDonald's which decorated with all sorts of astronaut paraphernelia and then jumped back on the road - we still had a beach to find and the afternoon was approaching. 
We crossed the bridge onto Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge and were immediately in another world - no commercialism, just a return to nature and getting away from the city.  We stopped at the visitor centre, where Carina (for the first of maybe 20 times that day) scared me into thinking there was an alligator hiding in the bushes - nothing like a little paranoia to make travelling exciting! 
The guide lady sent us on a 9 mile nature viewing drive through some swampy areas - the road was pretty narrow and only went one way so there was no turning back.  We had a guidebook that told us about the area and the habitats there - there were marshes and mudflats, swamps and lakes.  There were massive flocks of waterfowl - ducks, geese, herons, storks, pelicans, ever present vultures and many other wading and dabbling birds.  The brightest were the spoonbills - bright pink feathers and very odd looking beaks.  We were quickly struck by the fact that taking pictures with our little point and shoot cameras was a far cry from National Geographic quality shots.... but it was the thought that counted.  We'll be home and saying to people... yep, that's a rare stork... and that blob, yep, that's a never-before seen duck...and they'll just have to take our word for it.  But seriously, we did very much enjoy our little safari and were happy that the lady had recommended this to us.  The breezes were blowing gently, the air was warm and soft and the sky overhead had not a snowcloud to be seen.  It was a beautiful day!

 one of the many flocks of waterbirds we saw

 here's a heron - don't ask me what kind - i'm no ornithologist

 there's a couple of rosy hued chicks from the north lands...see their pale plumage

 who needs colour - black and white doesn't show the lack of tan quite so much!

 Not a National Geographic shot, but there is a spoonbill in this picture

and our first alligator on this excursion...

After we were done  scouting for birds, we began on the reptile hunt - we found some in a drainage canal leading out of the nature reserve... there we saw two - i even sneaked out of the car for a shot but was completely paranoid thanks to my dear companion who would make scary noises and freak me out oh so quickly!  Argh... if she didn't watch out, she'd be alligator bait! 
Our appetite for seeing alligators still not whetted, we decided to continue a bit farther in the park to a place called Biolab Road - doesn't that make you think of a Richard Adams book? In my mind's eye, it should be a huge, menacing lab building surrounded by high barbed wire fences and vicious guard dogs.  Here follows a description from one of the official touristy websites...
"The dirt road to the north winds around the West Side of Mosquito Lagoon and is used mainly by fisherman and wildlife enthusiasts. A drive or walk along this 6-mile road will give you an opportunity to view shorebirds during migration and "locals" that make their home here year around. We have over 300 species of birds within the park. Hopefully you will see your favorites and catch a glimpse of some new ones. Taking this "road less traveled" is REALLY getting back to nature."

 another big gator... he was pretty huge!

an osprey - sadly, not even one picture of the rotten road!

And it truly was... i think Prunelope was inwardly cringing at the prospect of this road, which in all honesty, had we known how rough and bad and long this road was, we likely would not have persevered as we did....but it sure makes for a good story now.  The road meandered here and there, twisting around trees and totally avoiding any pretenses of being a domesticated road... this was definitely a wild road - potholes aplenty big enough to swallow our poor car.  Since we had to drive so slowly, the car eventually decided to start to overheat... and make squeaking noises worse than normal and I was truly worried that we would break down on this road and would become victims of  the mosquitos, alligators and goodness knows what other creatures lurk in the swampy areas of this part of the world.  The road was once again one lane - sometimes even less than that, and in order to avoid some of the potholes, i nearly drove off into the drainage ditches lining either side of the road, in which we found about 10 alligators along our way.  It sure was neat to see them but kinda scary too!  There were lots and lots of wild birds along the way too... including a plethora of menacing black vultures who seemed to be just waiting for our vehicular demise and subsequent attempted walk to civilization, abruptly being cut short in the jaws of a large reptile and the pieces left over for them to feast on... oh, imagination, slow down and relax! 
But seriously, the sun was a bit lower in the sky and as the road kept on and on, and we kept thinking to ourselves, if this is the pristine natural beach that the tour guide lady had raved about, she's more of a nature lover than we ever will be... (we had been driving along a "coast" line which we believed to be the ocean, and there were nothing but mucky, seaweedy mudflats everywhere - where was the beautiful sand and waves that were ingrained in my heart's desire??   Disappointment was growing in our hearts.... eventually, after 3/4 of an hour, or maybe 6 hours (as it seems), we reached a wider part to the track, found some more cars, since we had been mostly on our own for the last while (even more ominous) and then signs for the beach began appearing and the truth dawned on us as we perused the map - we had been driving along a road that looped along a lagoon, a tidal basin, but this wasn't the coastline itself... hope was renewed! 
We decided since we were this far, we might as well see how the beach looked - and as we pulled the car to a stop, opened our doors and shut off the overheated engine, the sweet sounds of ocean waves, seagulls and beach grasses waving in the breeze hit our ears.  The salty taste of the sea was on our lips and my heart was racing a bit as i headed up the boardwalk... would there be the beach i had been longing for?? 

 leading up to the beach...what would await us?

 This....aaaahhh, bliss!

 Relaxing on the beach!

 trying to be artsy...

 there were lots of shells - i only took one home - such restraint eh?

 footprints in the sand

 feet covered with sand

who is that movie star on the beach?  Just kidding...

YES!!!  The boardwalk led through the dunes and onto a huge, 37 mile long beach of soft white sand, populated with piles of cool shells and just a few people - mostly fishermen and a surfer or two.... but no commercialism, no hot dog vendors, no bikini clad women competing for recognition.  Aah, this is what my soul had been longing for!  I felt happy, free, relaxed and couldn't get the grin off my face... the sand felt warm, the sun glowed overhead, the breezes played in my hair and the waves lapped (or crashed) around my feet.  BLISS!  The waves were far too wild and the undertow too strong to swim, but we put our feet and legs in and the water wasn't even too cold... i was pleasantly surprised.  I was pretty sure we wouldn't be swimming but that didn't matter.  We spent an hour and a half or so, just poking around, collecting shells, eating oranges and just basking in the atmosphere.  I had reached the zenith, the peak of my holiday... and it was good!  Whatever else happened after this would be gravy! 
Eventually, the time came for us to depart and we reluctantly directed our feet back to the car and the city, but inside, i felt renewed and smiley!  The sun set brilliantly as we drove west and eventually headed to Universal  Studios to pick up the girls, who had had a great day but were exhausted from all their adventures.  The evening was spent quietly back at the condo, watching tv, skyping and catching up on emails and phone calls.  Thursday was done but what a day it had been... i'd go to sleep with visions of alligators dancing in my head!