A Star Lost

Sad to read today about the death of William Hutt. My favourite memory of him is in the part of Sir John A., in The National Dream. I'm always a little fuzzy on details, but I know I've seen him in a lot of shows; he showed up so many times on CBC, always a familiar face, always performing whatever part he was in exceptionally well. I had to run a check on IMDB, because I was SURE he was in some episodes of The Starlost; he was in one only.

Yes, I was a Starlost fan...

Aquilega

This is from my mom-in-law's garden, a columbine which she tells me is called Aquilega. Thought it was lovely and had to snap a pic! Sheila has a way with flowers. I love to sit in her back yard and just enjoy the beauty.

Splitting heartache

At the risk of upsetting any Anglicans reading this: what exactly was decided at the big meeting last week? On the one hand, they're willing to "bless" same-sex marriages; on the other, they aren't allowing their priests to actually perform the marriage. It looks like some fence-sitting is going on, but it may only be temporary, as they continue to explore this issue. Mostly they're trying to avoid a split in the church. That's what we Christians seem to do, mostly - split churches over theological disagreements. It's better than the alternative, however, as anyone who has perused Foxe's Book of Martyrs can attest to.

My church's official position is that homosexuality is a sin. I don't agree, but I don't plan to leave the church over it, if I can help it. I'd rather disagree from within. The nice thing about being a Baptist is the concept of "soul liberty", in which every believer is expected to search the scriptures for their answers, and the "priesthood of all believers" which means no one stands between us and God.

For some people the decision is simple: they point to a number of bible verses that they believe say homosexuality is sin, and that's the end of the discussion. You can't talk to them, because they have closed their minds. Others have given it a great deal of thought, and even have friends who are gay, and yet they still come down on that side of the fence. At least with them you can have a dialogue.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, except to say that I'm sad it has to be this way, and I really hope I don't have to go looking for a different church because of it, someday.

Lots of trouble

Okay, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but why are people rude and inconsiderate when the opportunity to be graceful is so apparent?

The story begins last year, when someone drove into one of my co-workers' van in our work parking lot. Left a HUGE dent in the side. They also left a bit of their paint, though they didn't bother to leave a note or try to find out the van's owner. Through a bit of sleuthing, however, my pal was able to track down the culprit, who, when the police showed up at her door, claimed that she had indeed left a note - but the wind must have blown it away. Right.

Then, about two months ago, somebody - I will never know who, probably - hit my car and left without leaving so much as a "gee, sorry about that" note on the windshield. I know, it serves me right for not walking to work more often, and I was parked in a spot I knew was more likely to be backed into, and I DO drive a car that has a lot of, shall we say, "experience"; so it wasn't that big a deal. Just a little upsetting. My mechanic pounded out the dent without losing too much paint in the process, and the car still runs well, so no biggie, right?

Well, about two weeks ago, one of my co-workers backed into a car parked in our lot. Being the good person that she is, she left a note on the windshield. The recipient of the note proceeded to leave numerous phone messages at her place (even after they had spoken on the phone and my friend had explained that she had to be out of town for the weekend but would contact her insurance when she returned), and the tone of the calls was not pleasant. This continued after the weekend, even though the insurance companies were involved (the offer to settle the matter privately was rejected), and finally my friend had to refuse to take any more calls from her. The funny thing is, if that person hadn't parked illegally in our lot - they weren't a patient - it would never have happened.

So maybe that's why the person who ran into me never left me a note: maybe they'd been treated rudely when they tried to do the right thing, in the past; then again, maybe they were just rude and inconsiderate like these other two jerks.

The moral of this story is obvious: don't park in Dewey & Humphries parking lot.

Pink Lady's Slipper

Here is a (sadly uninspiring) picture of a lady's slipper plant we were pleased to find on the lake last weekend. I feel I must post it, because, as Wendy says, without the picture - it didn't happen! And I was pretty happy about finding it. Not as nice quality as I'd like, though - I grabbed it off a video taken from our swaying boat. There is so much to see in the wild, but you have to be paying close attention; we had drifted by this clump of 3 flowers, when the bright pink caught my eye, and Iain had to double back. I was sure it was some sort of orchid or pitcher plant, but couldn't remember what it was. Myles identified it as soon as he saw the video.

Bugs

Iain had some travelling companions when we were out walking on Sunday. They didn't stay long, but they were welcome company.

He took this shot of an attractive moth as well. We haven't figured out what kind it is, yet.

Storm Video

....uploaded today (the Sens game last night prevented me from finishing it). Had to reduce quality to get it all on, so it will be interesting to see what it's like.

Speaking of the Sens: I hate to say it, because I'm a die-hard fan, but it looks like they are pretty toasty. Not many teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit in the cup round, and the Ducks have been outplaying them much of the time. It looks like they've finally met a superior team.

This is hockey, though - so I'll watch the next game anyway, and cheer hard. It ain't quite over yet. They've been great this year, and given all their fans something to remember, no matter how it goes. I'd still give Alfie the Conn Smythe, though I must admit I haven't been watching the western conference much, so there may be someone as deserving over there.

Being at the cottage in early June means you get to see the dragonflies coming out (not a minute too soon, either - I got munched more than a few times by both blackflies and mosquitos). Iain spied this guy on our front porch - he'd just emerged.

Although our weekend was cut short by one of Ontario Hydro's unplanned power outages, we still had a marvelous time. I'm working on a video of the storm that went through on Thursday, and it will be on youtube later today if all goes well.

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.