Food And Friends

Lunch with James, Paul, and Scott:

Dinner with Sanjit:

Infatuation

The day before Christmas I met up with a few friends - Clau, Mark, Hugh.  Clau had her family there - her mom, brother Manuelito, sister Tati, and Tati's daughter Sarah.

I remember one time a few years ago Clau said of her sister, tiene un cuerazo.  True enough, por Diós!

For a few days afterwards I could not concentrate for more than 5 minutes before she came to mind again.

I think the Latin specimen of women is superior to all others.  Words like femininity still have meaning in that part of the world.

Cypress Selfie

I took Derek and his neighbour-friends tobogganing at Cypress on Christmas Eve.  On my way back I stopped at the lookout and took a selfie.

Chinatown

Went to Melanie and Heinz's today for an evening of food, fun, and games.

Chinatown is still the game of choice for Melanie.  Derek is now at an age where he's getting into it also - great to see!  He loves money.  I wonder where that will take him.

Poor Heinz, he tries to deal fairly with Melanie - but she totally rips him off.

O Majesty! O Lowness!

O child, Creator of all!  How humbly you lie in the manger.  You who rule powerfully in heaven!  There the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; here, however, you are held in the narrowest of manger.  there, in the beginning of the world, you decorated the earth with green grasses that produced seed, with fruit-bearing trees that produced fruit, you ornamented the heavens with the sun, the moon, and the stars, the sky with winged birds, the waters with fish, you filled the land with reptiles, draft animals, and beasts; here, however, in the end of the world, you are wrapped in swaddling clothes!  O majesty!  O lowness!  O sublimity!  O humility!  O immense, eternal, and Ancient of Days!  O small, temporal infant whose life is not yet one day upon the earth!

- Adam of Dryburgh

Meeting The Wittenbergs

I saw James and Paul for lunch today.  My goodness, what a treat to see them and share a meal with them.  How I wish they we lived closer, all of us.

What I appreciate so much about them is our ability to converse on matters of the heart, soul, and intellect.  Relationships.  Providence.  Vocation.  Purpose.  Direction.

We had such a great time together, it reminded me of our university days together.  James and I have had similar times more recently at seminary, but having Paul part of the picture was fantastic.

Paul is a broken man.  Oh Lord, broken to pieces.

But Lord, you're upholding him by the palm of your hand.  Lord have mercy on your servant, have mercy, have mercy on him.  Amen.

West Coast Christmas

I finally arrived in Abbotsford this morning, after more than 14 hours on the road.  Normally it's a short 5 hour ordeal, but due to a mechanical problem with the plane at the Saskatoon airport my flight got delayed, impacting every other aspect of my journey westward.

After a 1 hour delay, we left Saskatoon, but upon arriving in Calgary, my flight to Abbotsford had just left.  It was the last flight of the day.

WestJet - to their credit - put me up at the airport hotel.  A nice enough hotel, except I only had 5 hours to sleep, before having to get up and getting onto the plane bound for Abbotsford.

I arrived in Abbotsford around 8am, totally destroyed.  Destroyed - there's a phrase I've taken up from Marco.  Once at mom and dad's I pretty much collapsed on the bed.  Exhausted.

In the evening I went to Vancouver to see some of my soccerino friends: Benja, Sanjit, Anoush, Marilu, and Sonia.  

A good evening of wine and conversation, but I'm coming down with a killer flu or something because I feel horrible.  Sore throat, totally energy-less, lethargic, congested, runny nose, and sneezing.

Someone suggested I make myself a hot toddy - hot water, lemon, and brandy.  I tried it out tonight, we'll see how it goes.

I'll be on the west coast until January 3rd.  Hopefully this cold will come and go.

Bluegrass

I went to the Bassment tonight with Eric to watch some bluegrass.

I discovered Eliza Doyle last month on my way to Regina, when the CBC did a spotlight on Saskatchewan talent.  Been listening to her ever since...

Never been into bluegrass, but I can see the appeal.  Don't know much about the industry, but it seems to me that it hasn't been corrupted by the incessant commercialism that so poisons mainstream music these days.

Doyle's very talented, with a unique music style.  Her lyrics were mostly about love and loss - but they were down to earth, unpretentious.  And she had a great sense of humour and wit about her.  She seemed real, genuine.  It made the entire evening very pleasant.

Eastbank Trails

I love these pictures.  They give a sort of depiction of how cold it was out today.  I shiver, just looking at them.

It was -21, minus 30 with windchill.  We hiked 10 kms.  And survived.

Below, dinner, after a rigorous day out in the cold.  Judging on the picture, one would think I'm actually a decent cook...

Solos In The Messiah

I like choirs much more than solos.  But in recent weeks I've been paying more attention to solos, and particularly in the Messiah, the solo below struck me immensely as I listened to Handel's Messiah tonight:

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn;

the Lord shall have them in derision.

(Psalm 2:4)

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

(Psalm 2:9)

When I heard it sung tonight at the annual Christmas performance I was struck at the forcefulness and power of a strong tenor.