Enjoying dim sum together

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Today it was our privilege to be the guests of several friends at the Spring Villa in Markham.  We enjoyed a wonderful dim sum experience.  Now “dim sum” is hard to define so I am going to direct you to Wikipedia (dim_sum) for a more detailed description.

Basically Wikipedia says that “Dim sum is a Cantonese term for a type of Chinese dish that involves small individual portions of food, usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate. Going for dim sum is usually known in Cantonese as going to “drink tea” (yum cha, 飲茶).”

Our menu included tea, beef, deep-fried pumpkin, squid, octopus, eggplant, tripe (stomach), various vegetables, sticky rice, spring rolls, beef noodles, sponge cake, more tea and more tea, and a whole lot more that I cannot name.  I am going to include a few pictures to help your vision and your appetite.  You will have to figure out which is which.  The one picture of me is to prove that I had some of the tripe.

Our friends want to assure the world that there was no “moo goo gai pan” in sight.   They are firm that “moo goo gai pan” does not exist in real Chinese restaurants.  Only in ones that pretend to be Chinese!

It was fun and we had a great time talking and laughing about all kinds of things.  Thanks to our friends for this happy event.      . . . . TLT

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The end of the double double

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

As our sojourn in Toronto comes to an end, we will miss our visits to Tim Hortons that have “fueled” our experience here.  No matter what the native language, every Torontonian can understand  “double double.”    This is the ideal for Joyce–“a large double double.”  Do you get it now? . . .  That’s local lingo for two creams and two sugars.  See . . . you are speaking Torontonian that quickly!

Tim Hortons, started by and named for a rather famous 1960’s era hockey player, is a place where groups of retired men meet to share their experiences, where school kids stop in and work on their homework, where hard-working people swoop by for a cup of coffee and a doughnut at the drive-thru to give them the energy to make it through the long commute, and where couples enjoy a break and catch up on life.   Tim Hortons is the Canadian equivalent to a sidewalk cafe.

We will miss these escapes and the merging of so many languages and nationalities in one small restaurant.  Tim Hortons will survive without us; but, will we?  A few of them are creeping into Buffalo.  Watch out New York!

If you are interested, you can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons

. . . . TLT

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Easter; death and life; and wonderful friends

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Gift from my friend, Lizzie.

This is the hand-decorated Easter egg I received from my friend, Lizzie, today.  On one side is the faint shadow of the Cross.  It reminds me of Jesus’ death and the price He paid that my sins and the sins of all people might be forgiven.  On the other side of the egg is a butterfly in full flight.  This symbolizes the new life that is available to all who trust in Him.  Death and life.  That’s what Easter is all about.  Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice, your love, and the hope you offer us.

Lizzie gives me this gift at a pivotal time for Timothy and me.  We will soon say good-bye to our life in Toronto and the friends we have made here.  Good-byes carry some symbolism of death.  I will be sad to leave my friends.  They have blessed me and given meaning to my days.  Lizzie has been a very special friend; I very much hope that our paths cross often in days to come!

But this good-bye provides, as well, opportunity for a new life to begin.  We also have wonderful friends waiting for our return to our “new” home in Wilmore!  One such friend wrote to me recently on Facebook, “Come home, long lost sister, come home!”  It doesn’t get much better than that!  So, I’m trying to see beyond the sadness of this moment–to anticipate the new life and renewed friendships that tomorrow promises.

My heart is full of thanks to God for the blessing of wonderful, caring friends.  And, thank you, Lizzie, for your loving present!

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Rainbow Bridge

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Rainbow Bridge

I have always liked bridges.  Although I cannot always say that I like going over them or looking down to the water from a great height.  I do like them not to wobble.

But the concept of a bridge is certainly interesting.

Bridges connect states and provinces, connect people, and connect parts of a city.  And, in the case of the Rainbow Bridge, they connect countries.  Actually this bridge, just down river from Niagara Falls, only connects the U.S. and Canada in a limited mechanical sense.  It is the people who live on both sides that need to be connected.  And since I like the people on both sides, I need a bridge.

In the time we have been living in Canada, we have had to use various bridges to get places–the main ones being the Ambassador, the Peace, the Rainbow, and the Lewiston bridges.  Some of you know these bridges well.

Well, the question for today is, what kind of bridge do you need today?  Or, perhaps instead, what kind of bridge will you be today? Sometimes a bridge is a smile, a word, a look, a note, a handshake, or a “text.”  (I am just starting to think about texting.)

Build a bridge today; be a bridge today!

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Mighty Niagara

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Psalm 93:4 says that “the LORD on high is mighty.”  He is “mightier than the thunder of the great waters . . .”

Well, after standing at the top of Niagara Falls on both sides of the border (not at the same time) this past weekend, I know something of the “mighty waters.”  And, if God is mightier than that, He is pretty awesome.

We also toured a power station in NY where we learned that a lot of water is channeled from above the falls to make hydro-electricity and then back into the gorge below the falls.  Interesting.

We were also able to make a side trip to Fort Niagara.

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Lunch with friends

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Joyce and I were privileged to be guests of Tyndale with several faculty friends for an appreciation/farewell luncheon today.  The food was good and the conversation was fun.  We are thankful for this kindness and we will certainly miss these special colleagues.

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Who are we?

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Last Saturday we attended a birthday party for our 3-year-old neighbour and were expected to wear something creative.  Well, this must be us!  In case you cannot figure it out, we are an Australian “cowboy” and a rich beach lady!  (Our $2 hats were secured at Dollarama, a fun store which we will miss.)

Smile.

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Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

I recently had opportunity to read the commencement speech given in 2005 by Steve Jobs at Stanford University.  I really like stories as a way of presenting a truth and I especially like personal stories because they are often a window into the soul through which we are allowed a real look into what makes a person tick.  I’m not especially a fan of Steve Jobs, but in this case I found his thoughts compelling because they resonate with some of my own.

Jobs gave a mini-biographical sketch of his life.  He dropped out of college . . . but then hung around and took classes just for fun.  One was a calligraphy class that proved to be great preparation for his Apple creations.  By the time he was thirty, hard work had grown Apple into a company worth $4 million that had 4000 employees . . . and Jobs managed to get fired.  But instead of quitting, Jobs used this as a step to move forward.  He says, “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”  He goes on:

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

Timothy and I find ourselves now at a pivotal point in our lives.  Wow!  Who would have known that this time could be so wonderful and at the same time so scary!  What happens now?  Well, I like Steve Jobs’ perspective.  And it’s really great to have the privilege at this point of our lives to choose.  So—after we have a nice rest for awhile—we’re going to look hard and hopefully find the work (or play) that we both love.  I’m thinking, too, that it will be about blessing others, for God has given us much and we want to give a generous measure back.

Jobs concludes his speech by saying, “Stay hungry.  Stay foolish.”  I like this.  It talks about shedding the unnecessary baggage of life and dreaming big.  The challenge, of course, is distinguishing between what is important to hold on to, and what is not.  We pray for God’s wisdom to be ours.

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Gasoline on the pricey side

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

I paid $1.295 Canadian per liter of gasoline this morning at the Petro Canada station.  I spent more than $50 and did not get a full tank.

Since one gallon US equals 3.785 liters, the cost of gasoline computes to $4.90 per US gallon.

And then, there is the dollar exchange which I will ignore for the time being since it floats up and down every day.

I read somewhere recently that Turkey has the most expensive gasoline at $10 per gallon and Venezuela has the cheapest at 8 cents a gallon.  Interesting.

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Deadlines are our friends

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Hillside Laughter

Yes, deadlines are our friends.   The alternative is to see them as enemies which just is not true.  If one were to live in the permanent and continuing stress of the period of time just before a deadline, emotional and physical collapse would result.  The reaching and then the passing of a deadline relieves us of some responsibility and provides us an opportunity to move on to something new.

Greenbo Lake

Having something “perfect” before a deadline is a debilitating dream that mitigates against the quality that we so industriously seek.  Now immediately someone will tell me that I am settling for the shabby old doctrine of “good enough.”  No, I am settling for as “good as the time and circumstances and good planning allow.”  I am presuming appropriate good effort in a timely way before the deadline, and then a willingness to accept the consequences.

Deadlines are not the days to do the job.  They are the days when the job is supposed to have already been completed.  I think the grammar here is called “past perfect.”  Think about that.

Good planning requires anticipation and figuring out what effort and attention has to be delegated to a particular task ahead of the deadline.  Starting to bake a cake at 5 p.m. for a 6 p.m. dinner will probably not work.  Learning how to use the new printer on the day the term paper is due may end up in a botched assignment.

Let us then give attention to planning ahead and welcome the deadlines as our friends and as guides and agents of freedom.

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