Leaving at sunup for Vancouver, and murder update

We are driving down to the lower mainland tomorrow leaving as soon as we possibly can. We hope to get just outside Vancouver tomorrow evening and touch base with one of the daughters. Then on Friday morning take the ferry over to Vancouver Island. My oldest son, his wife and two sons and my middle son will join us on the ferry. We are all going to a wedding of an old friend in Qualicum Beach. While on the island we will visit the other daughter. So it will be a real family weekend although a bit rushed. We will leave hopefully after visiting our old church on Sunday and be back here on Monday, but the best plans as you know have a tendency to get sidelined. Unfortunately my youngest son is tied up at work, or maybe it is fortunate that he is because he has been having a hard time of it lately being in the construction industry.

Update on the local murder: it seems the son stabbed his stepfather because he refused to pay for the illegal drugs the son had purchased and had not been able to pay for. The son was being threatened by the people he had bought them from. I don't know if these people live in the village or not. The murderer is in custody but the police are still evident at the house. I wonder if they moved here to get away from drugs, what a terrible tragedy, I feel very sorry for the wife and mother in this situation.

You don't expect murder to happen around the corner

We are such a tiny village only 350 people but today the village is all agog with the news of a murder which took place last night.  It happened to a  relatively new person to the village who bought a house last year although I have never met them and I don't think I have even seen them.  

We don't know the details yet but the police are all over the place and the forensic people are there all dressed in white and people who live nearby are being questioned.

Since I don't have TV and our radio mostly crackles we don't hear too much news and unless I find it online I don't know about it. In some ways that is a blessing but one doesn't expect murder to happen around the corner.

Finished product

This is the skirt I made, a wrap around in  a linen blend. When I went to Smithers on Tuesday I picked up the T-shirt hoping I had bought the right shade and fortunately I had. I whipped up a necklace and earrings to go with it, so now I have a nice casual outfit for Mexico although should it get warm enough I probably will wear it here. 
Generally I have specific clothes for at home and some for going out and I always change back into my home clothes when I return from an outing.  Also ,when I remember, I wear an apron in the kitchen so my clothes usually last a long time.
When I was in Smithers I went to a thrift store and found a skirt in the plus section which I cut down today and re-sewed to  fit me so I now have a new to me skirt that cost $2, much cheaper than buying new fabric although I did go to the fabric store and bought some more stuff on sale although I haven’t quite decided what I am going to do with it.  I don’t usually wear pink or blue but now my hair is starting to turn silver I decided to move away from my usual earthy tones.

Spring is starting to poke through

 

The top of my is rockery poking through today, the snow is receding slowly but as you can see we still have quite a bit.

The rockery covers a really ugly raised man hole cover for the sewer line. So a few years ago we collected a lot of stones from near the lake that have pink and greenish tones and built a rockery around it but we had to leave the very top available in case the village needed access. So hubby made a round box to cover the metal manhole cover and I filled it with plants. The rockery looks really attractive later on in the year and no one would realize it is part of the village sewer line.

Trying to do it all

I have finished the blue wrap around skirt and went and bought more fabric today. I plan to be pretty in pink!. I have been learning new bead weaving stitches and trying them out and the sweater back is slowly growing, plus I am reading Queen by Alex Haley. Fortunately I can read and knit. I am letting blogging take a back seat, somehow since our holiday in Mexico it has not had the draw it had before, no doubt that will change.

Also I have been getting out more, walking down to the village and back, but soon the bears will be out and I am too jumpy to walk around here then. I think I might drive down to the village and walk around a bit down there although there isn't much to see but I am less likely to run into a bear there, although they do come into the village but more often at night. When I first moved here I thought the wildlife at the back door wonderful but now having bears constantly in the area has lost its appeal and it seems they are getting more aggressive each year. I wonder if global warming has something to do with it.

This afternoon I had to go help at the library, again!. I gave up the position over a year ago but they still need me to come down and sort things out, I told them this has to be the last time as I won't be here next winter at all.

Heads or Tails – Once upon a time

Skittles started a meme called Heads or Tails – today it is Tails and we have to start something with Once upon a time, well I am not a creative writer I have never been very good at that so I won’t tell any tales. However…
Once upon a time, this afternoon in fact, I saw an unusual sight, at least I have never seen this before. Every year about this time the Canada geese return and we see flocks winging their way north in a V shape, but today I saw the flocks join up from east, west, south and even turn round from their path north and return to join the others until there had to be about a thousand geese overhead milling about honking, very much like relations at a family reunion greeting each other.  They did not seem to be in a panic, just having a loud discussion, I wondered if  they were communicating about the wind as it was incredibly strong today, blowing everything about, maybe the geese were going to camp for the night and were deciding where they all could go, or they were deciding that they were going to fly high and travel above it. How wonderful it would be to be able to fly. I had dreams all the time as a child in which I could fly, I loved those dreams, I never have them now.

Heads or Tails - Reason

Skittles has been running a meme called Heads or Tails for some time now and this week the theme is Reason.

I haven’t had a shower or bath for three weeks, just coping with two jugs of warm water. We have had to melt snow to flush the toilets as we have been following the maxim “if it’s yellow let it mellow if it is brown flush it down”. I have been boiling water to wash dishes, doing laundry elsewhere etc. and hubby has been hauling water in each day.

But finally today it has been resolved but can you guess the REASON we have not had any water for all this time. No, it was not frozen pipes as he thought. HE FORGOT TO TURN THE TAP ON BY THE WATER HEATER!!

Now I don’t think it would be reasonable to let him forget that do you? He is feeling a little foolish this afternoon I can tell you, but we did have a good laugh about it. So as soon as that water is hot it would be reasonable to assume that I for one will be indulging in a nice long shower.

Why Did Jesus Fold His Napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.

The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin. Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!' Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes! In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished. Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it on the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because... The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!!!

New in Gmail – insert images rather than attach them

Add Photos to a Gmail Message

Gmail's rich-text editor has never been very powerful, especially if you look at other web applications like Google Docs or Zoho. An important missing feature is inserting images in a message: you can attach photos, but they're usually displayed at the bottom of the message and not all mail clients show thumbnails. One workaround was to upload the images to a website, open it in a different window and then drag it to Gmail's editor.
Now you no longer have to do this since Gmail added inserting images as a Labs feature. After enabling the feature, you'll notice a new photo icon when you compose a message using the rich editor. You can insert images from your computer and images published online, by typing their addresses. Unfortunately, Gmail doesn't use the new Flash uploader, so you can't select more than one photo at a time.
"Keep in mind that Gmail doesn't show URL-based images in messages by default to protect you from spammers, so if you're sending mail to other Gmail users, they'll still have to click Display images below or Always display images from ... to see images you embed," mentions the Gmail blog.

To enable the new feature, go to Gmail Labs, search for "inserting images", select the "Enable" radio button and don't forget to click on "Save changes".
Tip: if the uploaded image is too large, click on it and choose from the available sizes (small, medium, large) or resize the image by dragging one of the corners.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/

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I want a green roof too!

Canada's Largest Green Roof

Julia Levitt
April 8, 2009 4:00 PM

You know an innovation has hit its stride when it becomes scalable. When we first started writing about green roofs, they were typically boutique projects -- and convincing city governments and developers to invest in their large scale production seemed like a major challenge. But decision-makers have gotten the message, and green roof design has risen to the occasion. Case in point: the new Vancouver Convention Centre, a major civic project which officially opened this past weekend, boasts the largest non-industrial roof in North America.

The six-acre rooftop garden is crafted as a habitat for the 400,000 native plants and grasses growing there, as well as for birds and bugs (it houses hives for 60,000 bees).

The building, designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects, in collaboration with Vancouver firms MCM and DA, is expected to achieve LEED Gold designation and incorporates significant green building technologies. Among them: natural daylighting, seawater heating and cooling, natural ventilation, and on-site blackwater treatment and desalinization systems that will reduce potable water use by as much as 60-70 percent (compared to similar-sized convention centers).

Another admirable detail: the center was designed to link visually and literally to the existing waterfront, providing usable public space instead of just swallowing it up. It adds 130,000 square feet of new waterfront promenade, and 120,000 square feet of new public plazas that flow (via the Seaside Greenway) into Stanley Park, Vancouver's well-used waterfront gem.

The convention industry is notorious for waste and excess, and for intrusion into the surrounding urban community. With its thoughtful design, the Vancouver Convention Centre (which will be used as the broadcast media center for the 2010 Olympics) sets a precedent for re-imagining convention culture as one that uses land and resources responsibly, and gives back to the immediate community -- in this case, in the form of attractive public outdoor space, and the stormwater management and temperature control power of its massive rooftop garden.

Image credit: LMN Architects

Heads or Tails – List 3

Skittles runs a meme called Heads or Tails this week the theme is List 3.

Three projects plus one that is keeping me from blogging so much.

 

1.    2.

 

 

3.

Have to get stuff ready to put in Info Centre by May 18

+ 1 more

Doing a little bit of everything

I have been quite busy since I got back from Mexico and am trying to do quite a few things each day.

I have been taking a few cupboards apart and cleaning and resorting stuff, and trying to do a small spring cleaning job every day despite the fact that I have to lug water to do it as the pipes are still frozen. We can't just put a heater to them because they are all wrapped in insulation and enclosed in another pipe and whatever else and it becomes a big job, so we more or less have to wait for a thaw unless we want to go to some expense.

I have been studying some Spanish from lessons I found on the Internet and walking a mile down to the village and back, that is because the bears and flies are not here yet, but that will end in about a month as the bears will probably be out and about and I jump at every little sound if I am out walking and that doesn't do my blood pressure any good.

I started working on my cardigan that I put down two years ago, just doing a little bit each day as I don't want the carpel tunnel to return, when I started it I had been knitting and crocheting like crazy for the new grandson and I really hurt my wrist.

I sorted all my bead jewelry out and have been getting them ready for sale in the Info Centre which will open on May 18. I have been teaching myself to bead weave which is far more interesting than plain beading. I might even get myself a beading loom.

We got our taxes done this year, and this year we had a local woman do them and was a great relief to me not to have to agonize over the forms, I just hated it. Although we do not owe the government anything we did not get any relief on our drugs which would have been a great help.

We are both on Lipitor (isn't everyone) and they are so expensive, and there seems to be some controversy as to their real benefit. We have debated going off them altogether as the research indicates they may be doing as much harm as good. Cholesterol is not all bad in that our brains need it and they say just as many people with good cholesterol have heart attacks as those with so called bad cholesterol readings. We are going to talk to the doctor and see if there is a less expensive brand, although I have investigated purchasing a generic brand rather than going to a drug store and that seems quite a bit cheaper.

So blogging is taking a back seat lately, but I think that is as it should be as I think I have been spending far too much time at the computer over the last few years and I needed to develop some new interests and make myself be a bit more active.