Special Speaker

Yesterday at church, we had the great pleasure of having an old friend as guest speaker. Well, she isn't old, but our relationship is. Eleanor Filyer grew up in Renfrew; she came with her parent when her Dad, Steve Filyer, became our minister back in the 1980's. They left to go and serve at Bothwell/Clachan in the late 90's. Seeing Eleanor today was wonderful in a lot of ways. First of all, she's grown into the lovely, well-mannered and intelligent woman we all figured she would become, and we take a little bit of pride in that, because she started out in our church - though it's her parents who actually deserve the credit. What really got me, though, is how she has inherited her father's ability to paint a picture and then insert you into it, so you get the point of the message. Add to that her mom's sense of humour - Eleanor knows how to laugh at herself - and you have someone who is going to be a good pastor.

Her message was a good one for me to hear right now. I've been discouraged at church, because we can't ever seem to gain ground or momentum. Her advice was to keep looking forward, to continue to run the race - advice I've heard before, but needed to hear again.

Trees

There's been a lot of tree cutting in our area. Last year, two large trees in the lots to the east of us were taken down, one of them a huge weeping willow that Iain particularly liked. The trees looked healthy, and I was quite upset with our neighbours for removing them, but, in retrospect, I must admit that I am not a tree expert, and can't tell whether they were safe to leave up or not. We really miss them though, for their beauty but also for their shade; our house is completely exposed to the sun for much of the day as a result, and we don't have air conditioning.

Which makes the loss of the two huge silver maples on the lawn next door even harder to take. Our neighbour had the tree doctors in, and they advised her to remove them; even though they looked not bad, one of the trees was hollow, they said, and the other failing fast. So, yesterday those trees were cut down, and the space is SO EMPTY. When I look out the window, my breath catches in my throat, every time.

On a practical level, we are now presented with afternoon sun on the north side of the house. Our bedroom is going to cook. I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time in the basement, and I'm tempted to get an inflatable mattress, just in case. I absolutely refuse to have an air conditioner, as long as I can possibly avoid it.

On the bright side, our horse chestnut tree is in full bloom, and I snapped a couple of pics this morning (before the heat really gets to it).The pic on the left shows part of the lovely deck Iain built last year. Below is a closeup of part of a flower cluster.

Baby Turtle

People often wonder why we have a cottage, besides the obvious reason of having been given it by my parents. Cottages are a lot of work - almost like having two homes - and, even with no mortgage, they can be expensive. Well, here's one of the many reasons.

I know, you can hardly see him, but nestled beneath the leaf is a baby painted turtle. His shell was about 1 1/4 inches long, so he must have hatched last year, or possibly the year before. I found him when I was turning one of the kayaks over. He was just sitting there next to it, so I probably interrupted his journey to or from somewhere. Anyway, Iain and I looked at him for a bit, and then put him out of harm's way. He settled himself under this leaf, where he couldn't easily be seen, but where the sun still struck his shell, so he was getting toasty when this shot was taken.

I love this stuff.

Touring the tulips

There's nothing quite like spring to bring out the mellow. If it were just a tad warmer, it'd be even better, but seeing all the green leafy stuff is wonderful!

We had a Mothers Day outing to see the tulips last week. Iain snapped these pics. Most of the flowers were at their best, which I guess is compensation for the cool weather lately.

Honesty

At work, yesterday, I received a package from a supplier which was a duplicate of an order I'd received on Tuesday. It had the same invoice number, so I wasn't billed twice. Naturally, I called the company to report the error and tell them I'd send it back next time we had a parcel going their way. The rep I spoke to said I made her day, and complimented me on my "professionalism and honesty". She was very pleased, like this was an unusual occurrence.

Now, if I'd been in her position, I don't think I'd have reacted in the same way. I'd have thanked the person, of course, and said I appreciated their contacting me; but isn't honesty what you normally expect from people?

It would seem the answer is "no". I had the same reaction last year, when I called our case supplier to tell them we'd been over-shipped but not billed on an item. I can still remember how amazed that fellow seemed, too.

It's really sad that people expect the worst from others, but since the reps I spoke to work with the public all the time, they probably have reason to think that way.

I'm no angel; I've certainly let greed make me do dumb things in my past. I gotta say that doing the right thing feels a whole lot better.

Hey, how about those Sens?

I will readily admit that I went into this year's playoffs with NO expectations. Once you've had your heart broken six or seven times you tend to become a bit jaded. I figured the Senators could beat Pittsburg - but would they? When they accomplished it in such a commanding way, I knew they had a chance against New Jersey, but, again, I didn't really expect them to win. It's nice of them to keep surprising me this way! The team does seem to be on a mission this year; maybe they can go further still. To quote Ringo (from an old Saturday Night Live skit), "I'm just happy to be here".