Record Players Are Back?!!

I did a double take recently when I was out shopping...

This looks a lot like the record players that I thought were obsolete!

It seems to play regular vinyl records... I didn't know they even sold them anymore!

We still have all of ours - gathering dust in the corner... (A good example of why nothing should ever be thrown out!!)

New (Fancy) Reading Glasses!

After laser eye surgery a few years ago, I no longer need glasses for distance. But I still need them for reading. I'm constantly taking them off and forgetting where I left them, so I have pairs lying all over the house!

Most come from Michael's Craft Store, regular price under $5, but less with a 50% discount coupon!

I don't mind all that much when they break - which they do! Or if I leave them behind. I only stop using them when both arms (or "temples") come off! They still work fine with one!

Recently, (thanks to a very generous "family and friends discount"), I became the recipient of a "real" pair of reading glasses - from a fancy firm called "Cutler and Gross"!

I love them - but I'm afraid I might lose them or break them... so I don't take them out with me.

They've become my glasses for sitting at home and reading (or blogging or quilting or knitting or...whatever!)

The clear plastic on top means I have no colored frame distraction when they perch halfway down my nose and I peer over the top!

(Oh, the things that are important to 70-year-olds!!)

Church Construction Continues...

I've been watching with interest as the church up the street continues to grow...

To my surprise, the roof was built - not on the church building, but beside it!

One morning I noticed a crane lifting the roof up piece by piece.

It was fascinating to watch...

Before long, it was all done!

(That crane operator is pretty amazing!)

Lovely Autumn

Autumn is such a lovely time of year!

The leaves are changing color!

It's all so pretty!

(If only it didn't signal the end of summer and the beginning of our long, cold winter!)

Wandering Around Westboro

Westboro is an old neighborhood in Ottawa. Years ago it was a village near Ottawa, but over time it became absorbed into it.

There are many reminders of the old days - like the old Westboro City Hall...

A lot of small shops are housed in old buildings.

But Westboro is changing. Condos are being built where old houses once stood.

In ten years it will look quite different, I'm sure!

Thanksgiving Challenge: Thanking God for the Good... and the Bad

I have been reading Barbara Brown Taylor's book of sermons entitled Mixed Blessing. In it is a sermon she preached one Thanksgiving - about giving thanks for the good and the bad in life. Here is part of her conclusion:

Our challenge this Thanksgiving morning is to... learn to... say "thank you" [to God] for the whole mess, the things we welcome as well as the things we would risk our souls to escape...

God is God, and our lives are our lives, and we can love them or leave them, give thanks for them or whittle them away with regret. Our dare... is to embrace all that we have ever been and done and haul it up to lay upon the altar, and there to recognize our lives as... outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace. Every single occurrence in our lives is to be understood as an invitation to draw closer to God... and therefore worthy of praise and blessing and thanksgiving...

Convent Weekend

I spent last weekend at a religious retreat at a convent in the east end of town.

I didn't think I needed a break - but I must have!

I slept very well - and felt totally pampered having meals prepared.

The talks - given by two from the German Sisterhood of Mary - were interesting...

By choice, I spent every afternoon alone in my room, reading and reflecting... or napping!

My room was a few doors down from the convent chapel...

The whole weekend was a treat...

From time to time I would head outdoors for a stroll...

An interesting change of pace!