River View Lunch

Every now and then this summer I have had enough time to go home from work and have lunch with my daughter.
Not too long ago we decided to go out, but not having much cash on hand we had to be frugal.
We decided to go and see Mike at our favorite chip truck by Giant Tiger.  The girl had her favorite poutine (she says Mike makes the best) and I had an order of fries with stinky malt vinegar and salt.  Mike has foodie fans from as far away as Kansas and they come to him every year!
Having Mike's fries for lunch is a special thing but having a great location to chow down those delectables is even better.  We headed for a nearby park on the edge of the Ottawa River.

This is right in our home town.  Isn't it something?

I often eat my lunch down here when the kids go to school.  It relaxes me, helps me be still so I can listen to what God wants me to hear.  And when I leave I am refreshed. 

Even watching the moored boats rock in the water is soothing.

Walks on the boardwalk are always interesting.

Even after a short lunch I feel like I have been on vacation.

Don't get me wrong.  I like fancy restaurants.  But when my daughter and I can sit back, enjoy the food, the scenery and share what is on our hearts...  this can't be beat.

Race Day

My day has been one of many races against the clock.

Sometimes that happens.
 You get up and it begins, racing through chores and preparations just to get out of the house to speed off to work.  You race to get the work done for a deadline (which happens to be your 30 minute lunch).  Then it is a rush to run an errand and also get a little bit to eat because you only had time to pack half a lunch.  You push it in your mouth because you are due at another client's.  They have put a deadline on some work (for the end of the workday), so of course you kick it up a notch to get it done.  Your head starts to spin.  You know before the work is done that the most-lovable-daughter-in-the-whole-world is waiting to be picked up from day camp.  With her in the van, you speed off to an associate's to pick up some paperwork, head home, start dinner (and do the dishes 'cause you need clean ones to eat off of), finish off some paperwork for the evening's 2 meetings and make sure your most-lovable-son-in-the-whole-world is organized for his first evening of hockey conditioning camp.  As soon as everyone is fed, you drive the 25 minutes to the rink and set up a table to greet the families coming for the camp, meet ever-so-briefly a couple of times with key people in the camp, head off to the meetings, and when the meetings are all finally over 3 hours later you arrive home to find that someone has used the last of the milk and drank the last of the orange juice which were really meant for tomorrow morning.   And your wonderful teenage son wants me to help him make a snack before I drive him to his buddy's home for a sleepover.
Well, I figured at the end of all this I deserved a treat from Tim Horton's... but only after I bought some milk for the morning cereal.
Do you ever have any crazy days like this?  When I have a 'race day' like this (yes, this was not the first and likely not the last), I usually end the day remembering how important it is to have time to slow down and reflect, time to spend chatting with my Maker.  And I feel guilty.  Rightly so.
God, you are awesome.  Without you watching over me and helping me, the day would not have had these accomplished tasks.   And to think I didn't bother to slow down long enough to thank You.  Please forgive me.
Prayer isn't meant to happen once a day, at the end of the day, when we can hardly keep our eyes open.  God wants to have conversations with us all day, throughout the day.  When I remember to do that, those are the sweetest days.
Thank you for your love, Father.

Wow!  What a crazy month!

See this tree?

Well, it was blocking my driveway.  It once was half of a beautiful 60 ft maple tree that helped to shade our back yard.  In the fall our maple trees turn some amazing colours.  

A tv station came to interview me about the tree.  That was a hoot. I didn't get to see how it turned out as our satellite dish for our tv had been moved by the wind in the storm and we weren't getting service.  

The tree came down in the first of two strong storms.  The second storm two days later actually did more damage than the one responsible for this. Roofs were torn off, trees uprooted and some were without hydro for days.   It didn't affect my immediate area like the first did.  We were lucky.  

A wonderful friend came over with a chain saw a couple days later and cut it up enough that we could move it out of the way.  Another friend is willing to take away the maple wood for his outdoor furnace in exchange for some grass fed beef  :)  The city was kind enough to clean up the brush.

The day after this storm, I drove my daughter and niece to a beach not far from here.  They had a great time in the water.  

It had rained a little before we left home.  When we arrived at the beach we were treated to a beautiful rainbow and we could actually see the end of it on an island in front of us.  So pretty.

 We enjoyed ourselves for a long time and then it got dark and we headed home.  This was the same area that was hit hard by the second storm the very next day.  I drove through it a week later and was astounded by the damage.  It looked like a tornado had hit it, but I don't think Environment Canada ever confirmed it.

We've celebrated 2  birthdays including a sleepover with some hyper pre teen girls, my freezer broke, a back screen door fell of the hinges, I made yogurt, learned to steam fresh eggs in the shell, worked for new clients, my son started an off ice conditioning camp and had a professional come in and evaluate my home for an upgrade in insulation (this means exploratory holes in the walls).

There were the usual soccer nights...

.... note another rainbow.

 I kept registrations straight for an AA on ice conditioning camp that starts this week, familiarized myself with the ins and outs of my new position as secretary to two area hockey boards, sang a few times at my church, took my son to the hospital's emergency department (he's ok) and met with some friends to consider a new business venture (more on that to come).  My garden is producing more wax beans than I can keep up with and I can never gather enough snow peas as my daughter eats them right off the plants too fast!

And in the middle of it all I was able to pick up the new computer I ordered and went through a slight learning curve.  Richard Barber at Tenet Computer Group, the new laptop exceeds my expectations!

It has been another busy month.

How is your summer going?