Book Swap Opportunity

Since September I have been having a struggle with my health more so than usual. I haven't been able to do much of anything so when I am up to it I've been catching up on some long overdue reading. The books I'm reading are those I've had on my shelves for awhile.

The three books in the photo below are some of my more recent reads:
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton, and
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

Each of these books is well written. I'll try not to give too much away in my brief review of the books.

The Prodigal Summer is a surprisingly satisfactory book all around. I unexpectedly found myself laughing out loud at various points in the book. A welcome relief in a book filled with serious subject matter.

A Map of the World was a tad depressing and had I known of the subject matter, alleged child abuse against a school nurse, I might have saved the book to read another day. As it was, I found the book well written. This carried me through to the end though I really wish there had been more levity in the book to compensate for the grief and anguish felt by several of the book's characters.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter deals with a heavy subject matter. A doctor ends up having to oversee delivery of his wife's twin babies. One of them turns out to be a Down's Syndrome baby. What ensues is a complicated but compelling story. The book is very well written though I do have a minor beef concerning the overuse of one cliche where two people's eyes meet across a room and volumes of unspoken communication and intimacy results between the parties.Use of this cliche may have been forgiveable if only used once, but the writer uses it at least 3 times in the book. Other than that, I did find the book quite satisfying. I was grateful that the author did not write a book with complex characters and plot line and give it a nice, pat, happy ending. In leaving things somewhat unresolved, the author chose instead to reflect what might have happened in reality.

I hope I don't put you off by indicating that all of these books deal with heavy subject matter since they are all well written books that bring some insight into the human character and psyche. I'm interested in a book swap for one or all of these books.

If you are interested in a book swap, let me know what books you have available for a swap! I've added links to each of the book titles (above) so you can read more about the books. You can also click on the photo to enlarge it. I hope to hear from you soon.

Help for Haiti

By now virtually everyone will know of the devastating earthquake and aftershocks that continue to rock the small nation of Haiti in the Caribbean. I've practically been glued to the television set as I watch for signs of life in the rubble and PRAY for any signs of good news in this truly tragic situation. I have been praying for international aid and assistance to reach these dear people as soon as possible.

Today I was deeply moved by the generosity of my Canadian countrymen and the generosity of the many other nations and individuals that have stepped up to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti. There are many organizations on the ground in Haiti to which one can donate funds. You can read about the Canadian aid agencies here. If you are not in Canada, many of these agencies have international counterparts.

[All photos are the property of Mail Online
Click photos to enlarge]

Canadians can donate to charities through text message. The Salvation Army began its "text-to-donate" program on Thursday, whereby Canadians can make a $5 donation by texting HAITI to 45678 from Rogers Wireless or Bell Mobility, and then confirming with a YES reply. World Vision Canada is encouraging people to use social networking sites to challenge others to donate in a campaign called $10 And Pass It On. That is where I gave my donation. I encourage you to do likewise if you are a Canadian reader as every $10 counts toward helping someone.

Americans can donate to the Salvation Army by texting a message with the word 'Haiti' to 52000 for a $10 donation. You can also text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief efforts for Haiti. The amount will be added to your cell phone credit card bill.

For more information about the aid agencies around the world that are providing assistance to Haiti, here is one short summary article disaster and relief aid to Haiti.

Button Bird

There is always something interesting to see when out and about.
Our city has some kind of initiative where artists sculpt animals using a particular theme and when they are done these sculptures are displayed in public outdoor places. After a certain period of time the sculptures are auctioned off. Last summer, cattle were on display. Right now it appears to be eagles sculptures on display.

When I was out recently I came across what I am calling the button bird. I call it that because it is in the style of northwest coast Indian button blankets but the buttons are painted ones rather than real ones. See tons of wonderful images of button blankets here.

This plaque says the eagle sculptures will be auctioned in Spring 2010.

The Bible tells me that God created everything and owns everything including the great animals and birds that bring such beauty to our lands.

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills
I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

Psalm 50: 10-11 (KJV)

God created these things for our enjoyment and His and for these.

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

Isaiah 45: 18 (KJV)

Yet man in his desire to consume and control has destroyed much of what God created for us to enjoy.

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Isaiah 24:5 (KJV)

The destruction of the earth and its inhabitants, people and animals alike, causes me sadness when I really think about. But I am grateful to those men, women and children who do their part to appreciate this wonderful creation. Anything we do, great and small to preserve this great beauty of the earth is a wonderful way we can appreciate and preserve it for the generations to come. It's another new year
and that gives us all another new chance at doing our part for the environment and the animals and people in it. God bless.

Before and Almost After ~ To New Beginnings

A few weeks before Christmas there was a huge fire a few blocks away. It destroyed several old buildings, all of which housed restaurants, funky coffee shops and hip clothing. Read about it here.

It was several more weeks before I could take these photos of what was left behind from the fire.

The photo below is where the Mexican restaurant, Zocalo used to be. I never had a chance to try it.

Just the other side of Zocalo was a funky coffee shop called Lugz. It had a long and loyal following.

The photos below show the remains of two long standing restaurants: Slickity Jim's Chat n Chew and the wonderful, Kishu (Japanese restaurant). The Kishu is a chain of japanese restaurants in the City and this particular one did not have a website of it's own.

Somewhere along the line I did take some photos of food I ate at the Kishu. The food there was always tasty and also good for the budget.


Yesterday, as I was on an errand, I saw these scenes ...

A lot of clearing has gone on since Christmas. I am eager for the rebuilding to take place and I do hope the previous owners are able to continue with business though I see that Slickity Jim's Chat n Chew is now permanently closed.

The hip clothing store was affected by smoke damage but was able to re-open within days at a location just a few doors down. I am not sure what all the others owners and staff have ended up doing but whatever it is, I know it must be trying times and I send out positive thoughts and prayers for their rebuilding efforts in these recessionary times.

I also send out my best wishes and prayers for each of you my blogging friends and your families. May God hold you close in the palm of His great hand in 2010. May He give you a blessed New Year despite whatever raging circumstances there may be around you, as you keep your heart and mind focussed on Him; the great and sovereign Creator God.

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Crooked Paths Made Straight

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight:

Isaiah 45:2

Every year at Christmas when we journey northward into the snow and ice, I ask for prayer for travel mercies and of course, I pray myself. God has never failed us yet.

Look at the first photo. To the left of the snapshot you see the road is being widened. The road widening project goes on for hours and hours of our drive. Unfortunately the road widening is needed because the traffic has increased so much over the past several decades.

The highway is being widened on both sides in some places.

Here we are about an hour and some minutes north into our journey. We are in Chilliwack; farming country.
Several hours into our journey we start our climb into the mountains. You will see how cold it has been by the icicles down the side of the mountain to the left. Even though we are high up in the mountains, the transport trucks are still dwarfed by the mountains above us.

You can see the fresh snow falling in the photo below. Fortunately for us, it stayed off the highway.Here we are at what we call the Summit, the very highest point of the Coquihalla Highway. We are making a pit stop to use the toilet facilities.

I take a photo outside of my window to show how high the snow is piled...

and we carry on with our journey.

Caffeine helps to keep the driver alert.

Arriving into Merritt, just one hour south of our destination.

As we approach Kamloops, our destination, we see the smoke of the local pulp mill. It looks frozen in space.
The city of Kamloops always looks lovely in the night when all the city lights are sparkling.

Have a look at the short video clip below as we drive into the city.

These are a few snapshots of our drive back to home.
The sun was shining for part of our journey. You can see what a lovely afternoon it was!

This is cattle country under a bit of snow.

At one point of our journey I captured what I thought was the moon. It looks very dark in the sky but this was only a small part of the sky to my right. I thought this snapshot was absolutely stunning.
Here we are for another pit stop at the Summit.

Here we are on the highway just past Hope and on our way to Chilliwack.

Watch my short movie as we enter Chilliwack, another hour and some minutes from home.

I end my tour here as I got too tired to take photos of the entry into Vancouver.
I leave you with one photo from our trip at this time last year so you can see just how different and heavy the winter was in 2008. I truly believe in the power of prayer to make the crooked (and hard paths, both literal and figurative) straight in life.