Fun Place

One of the great things about living in Fernie are the fun and unique little shops and restaurants they have here. There are not many major chains here and that leads to a great atmosphere here. Here's a photo of the window display in one of them today. I thought it was very fun and it is certainly eye catching. Every day I do see a reason to be grateful to be serving here and to have been granted this amazing town to live in....even in a great window display. God is Good!

Creative Exercises

I remember hearing a speaker a few of years ago who spoke of using both sides of our brain. He encouraged us to try and be creative, and do things differently...even something as simple as holding our toothbrush with the other hand when brushing our teeth. He told us that even something as simple as that helps us connect the left and right sides of our brains better so that we are more open to creative thinking. I really wish I could remember who the speaker was - I'll have to look in my records.

Now, admittedly at the time I thought "well, I already use either hand to brush my teeth", but that has more to do with the fact that I broke my right arm 3 times then any creativity. What I really took away from the presentation was that creative exercises are good for the brain. For me, they help me think outside the box and keep my mind open to various solutions and angles.

Right now, I have two of those creative exercises on the go. I'm doing a photo challenge for April - one of those deals where they give you a list of things that you need to take pictures of, one for every day. Well, in some ways this can be very easy but it can also be fun to try and find unusual or different angles to shoot from. The other thing I'm doing is the book - Wreck this journal. It's a journal that has pages of instructions that you follow in no specific order or format. These are providing me with a fair amount of entertainment and laughs - good times!

Confidence

There is nothing so confident in appearance as a contented cat surveying their realm. You see, a few weeks ago I got an electric blanket and Little B adores this blanket when it's turned on. She gets on the blanket, stretches out and there is something about the set of her head that states - this is my land and I suffer you to be here with me. Everything about a cat, or at least my cat, in this instance is about confidence, even arrogance.

Cats are known for getting what they want through this confidence and I think that can easily carry over to people as well. Now, I'm not advocating arrogance by any stretch of the imagination, but if we take a cats confidence down a couple of levels to healthy confidence I think a lot can be accomplished.

All people have worth, all are loved by God and in fact he plans our days long before we take our first breath (Psalm 139). This is a reason to hold our heads up high, to remember that we have worth and that yes, we can accomplish what we set our minds to. We can also have confidence in God - confidence that we serve a God who loves us, who desires what is best for us and who will walk with us through all the valleys in life...confidence, not always a bad thing...in moderation of course, and certainly not to the level of my cat. Now, I have to go and try to get some space for me to sleep in.

Following Progress

How do you track your progress in things? I, for example, am a bit of a nester and can be followed around a house or other locations by looking for the little piles of books from place to place...until you find me and the book I'm reading at that moment.

Progress like that is easy to track and in that particular case kind of funny. However, sometimes it is harder to see where the progress lies. There are those who give up on weight loss because it seems to them that they aren't changing in any way. What about people who are trying to give up an addiction and feel the same strength of craving every day? Progress in those situations and many more can seem so very hard to track.

I have never been someone who enjoyed journalling - just not my thing. Yet it was continually suggested to me as a way to work through issues. So I thought I'd try it and ya know it sort of worked. I don't journal regularly, only when the problem is ongoing or weighing particularly heavy on my heart. A benefit to journalling is that I can go back over the previous entries and I can read the progress - how the problems have changed or been resolved and so on. It may seem like there are always challenges, well, okay, there actually are always challenges but it's nice to see the progress too and to know that they are changing and progressing.

Arrested

Well, I know typically you wouldn't expect an officer to be arrested, but, it finally caught up with me...okay actually nothing caught up with me but I did get arrested. We have here in Fernie - Griz Days. Takes place for 3 days over a weekend and there are a whole ton of events for the weekend. One of the events that occurs on the first day is that a variety of people from around town are arrested. We are asked in advance and we are required to raise bail money and so with the help of some great people in town I was able to raise my bail and get out of jail at the end of the day.

Then Saturday it was pretty quiet in the store but around town there was lots going on and of course Saturday night was the parade. Well, actually not of course as my understanding is that in prior years it was on the Friday but this year it was on Saturday. Luckily for me the parade passes right outside the Salvation Army building and so I had a very convenient place to watch from. Unfortunately it was raining and quite cold out but the enthusiasm was still high.

Oh, I should also mention that while I was in jail I was given an opportunity to repent of my ways but then they let me out so... ;) Just kidding of course I repented.

Fernie Winter

So you could ski down my front yard right now...I'm thinking it might be a good place for me to start and see if I can remember how to ski. I can honestly say that I have gone a long time without seeing this much snow. In Winnipeg there is a healthy amount of snow and the big problem there are the drifts...Calgary doesn't generally get very much snow during the winter but it gets the wicked cold of Winnipeg as well. Fernie, well, it hasn't gotten as cold as Calgary and Winnipeg generally do but the snow is out of this world.

I've been trying to learn how to take pictures of the snow falling with my camera and I'm getting there.

It looks like I'll have plenty of opportunities for practice while I'm here.

The picture I have here is looking out onto my front yard and you can see by comparing it to the tree that the snow pile is quite significant.

I am liking the winter here so far. The snow adds an unusual element for me but one I'm sure I can get used to. And so I sit here - looking out at the white snow against a dark sky and thinking just how blessed I am to have a home to sit in.

Travel

I love to travel. To plan out what to pack, and it does not matter to me whether I'm travelling all the way to Australia or to Calgary - it's all fun. I will say there is generally more excitement for the farther away trips though. Here are some of the places I want to go...I've listed them by number but after the first two they aren't in any particular order. It will depend on prices, scheduling and so forth.

1 - New York, New York

2 - UK & Ireland

3- Egypt

4 - Israel

5 - Russia (St. Petersburg & Moscow primarily)

6 - Calcutta, India

7 - Montreal, QC

8 - always to see friends and family wherever they are

9 - mainland Europe (too many countries that I want to see to list out)

10 - Hong Kong

I could go on and on. I mean Dubai, Thailand, Mt. Rushmore, Boston, Hawaii - well you get the idea. I am excited to see the many places and sights that this world has to offer. Where do you want to travel? or where have you traveled? Heck, even the inconveniences can be fun - so long as you don't miss your connection.