Our friends have left now to look at a bit more of Canada. We loved having them and managed to squeeze in quite a few things while they were here, but didn’t have much time to report on our activities.

What we did:
Two Museums: We spent half a day at the Museum of Nature, where we were able to see the Canadian birds, mammals and the dinosaur sections. A whole day was necessary at the Museum of Civilization, where we walked through the impressive Canada Hall and then split up, our guests choosing to look at the First People’s Hall while we visited the “Unique” exhibit celebrating 30 years of Canadian crafts and then the Children’s museum.

Parliament Hill: Our friends returned to Parliament Hill without us and did the tour and then strolled down Sparks Street Mall.

Byward Market: where we enjoyed a great meal and had our names written on grains of rice.

NAC Theatre: where we listened to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with violinist Leila Josefowicz

Rehearsals: The girls didn’t miss any rehearsals or lessons, but A came along and met our teacher and listened to the girls prepare for the Kiwanis festival.

Swim: We convinced A that a swim would be very good for the knot in her shoulder and she found it was and so swam again and again. The question is will she keep it up without us to encourage force her?

Ate: Chocolate chip cookie dough icecream was the culinary hit of their trip, I believe, although Andrew’s boned and stuffed chicken and his Gorgonzola cream pasta sauce were very stiff competition. On their final night we consumed a decent amount of delicious Vietnamese food.

Celebrated: A had her birthday with us and we were able to rustle up the requested Maple leaf shaped cake complete with candles, also Happy Birthday posters, presents and balloons with her name on them.

Played: Many games of One to a Hundred!

Talked: late and long.

What we didn’t do:
housework, grammar, spelling, convince them to stay longer.

By the way, when I took them to catch their train on Friday morning they were told they couldn’t catch it as there were Mohawk protesters blocking the line hear Kingston. They went by coach instead.

As we have my friend A from Australia visiting for two weeks we have been out and about a bit more than usual. Yesterday we visited Perth, a historic town an hour out of Ottawa. I think the antique shop below was the pick of the day as far as keeping everyone interested was concerned. As you can see there is something for everyone.

We wandered up and down the main street, entering the shops that appealed to us and stopping for coffee when we needed a rest.

Today the weather was perfect for looking around downtown so we headed to the Peace Tower first. The 360° view was excellent. We visited the Memorial Chamber where all the Books of Remembrance are kept containing the names of Canadians who have died in military service in past and present conflicts. Next stop was the Byward Market where we stocked up on maple sugar candy, cheeses and postcards as well as eating an excellent lunch. Having heard that a miniatures shop existed in the market we set out to find it only to be told that it had closed. Remembering that A was interested in visiting my favourite clothing store we headed to Bank St for a little more strolling before going home.

I was intending to end my gift of a day by telling you what I did with it. But I am only getting around to it now, four days later. When I look back on how I had spent my hours alone, there’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it was satisfying all the same. I am very grateful to my thoughtful friend.

To have uninterrupted, open ended time to read my bible and pray was appreciated and valuable. I try to begin every day listening, reading and talking to the Lord but it is a struggle to get going some days and an effort to keep my mind from wandering to the tasks ahead of me that day. It is often the listening to the Lord which I neglect; to read his word and really meditate takes time. My prayers are full of requests, praises and thanks, but I don’t always wait on him to hear his prompting. I was able to take extra time on my gift of a day and was encouraged by this passage from the Message.

Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me–
The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.
…But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.
He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right– everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.

I don’t often read from the Message, I use the ESV, but given the extra time I had, I opened it up. The passage is from Isaiah 30 and the message is clear in either version. I need to have complete dependence on God. He takes the time to do everything right. It was good to focus on and to have that in mind as I prayed for each member of my family.

I spent a little time wandering around the internet, catching up on links and recommendations but then headed out to wander around second hand furniture shops, both the more expensive antique shops and the “that’s more like it” consignment shops. I joined Andrew and his friends for lunch at the chip van and then did a little more gazing at furniture. I was looking for a couple of shelves, one for the music books in the family room, the other for craft supplies in the basement. Of course the one for music needs to be the right colour, fit in the space, look good next to the piano. There were not as many pre-requisites for the craft shelf and so I managed to find it, at a bargain price too.

While strolling down Bank Street I wandered into my favourite clothing store, which I wasn’t planning to do, started looking at spring dresses, which I wasn’t going to do, chose a few to try on, which there was no point in doing, but hey, it was my day wasn’t it?  I found a lovely dress, right size and right colour and it was reversible.  Reversible!  As I said to Andrew later it was two dresses for the price of … ah, two dresses. That’s the problem at this store, I am only willing to spend when things are at least half price, or even better, when they have made their way to a consignment shop.

I finished the afternoon happily pottering at home, Andrew and I ate out and then we picked up the children. As is often the case when they are at my friend’s home we were treated to a choreographed dance/gymnastics number when we arrived. Of course we had to try out the new formula one racing game before we left.

When I woke up on Saturday I was back in the real world.

The postman delivered a couple of gifts from friends lately. Last week we received a box of cocoa sent by a friend on the other side of the world who read of our difficulty in finding some to make chocolate icing, thank you. Yesterday, our former neighbour, who now lives on the other side of the country sent two pages of paper dolls to cut out. The dolls are from eight different countries and have two national costumes each from different time periods. A10 has already cut out quite a few and mounted them on cardboard. Thank you for continuing to think of us just as you did when we were right next door, we miss you.

In a week’s time a friend arrives from the other side of the world to stay for as long as we can keep her here. She and I have known each other since 1975, I can’t wait.

Today I am enjoying a birthday gift from a friend. I know my birthday is long gone, but the gift is today. The gift of a day. She said, “I have a gift for you that I have quite a bit of, but you do not. I will have your children for a day and you can spend the day however you wish.” Yesterday L12 mentioned that she thought her day (today) sounded more appealing than mine. After all, she would be spending the whole day with friends (and math books and violin) whereas I would be spending it alone. B6 was also a little surprised that I wanted to be by myself all day! But I think it is a wonderful gift and now I just need to narrow down the hundreds of possibilities into a few realistic ones and get going.