hellfire and brimstone

Yesterday as I was sitting down to eat my lunch while watching the news there was a knock on my door. I answered it and there was a young couple standing on the other side. I was asked how I was, a natural beginning to a conversation, and I returned the greeting. Then I was asked if I ever thought that all the fighting and war was ever going to end. This young couple was full of doom and gloom and asking me if I knew what was going to happen in God's heavenly government and that the Jehovah's Witnesses do in case I wanted to know. (Chris pointed out later that heaven probably doesn't have a government because government is a human construct)

Most of the time I am quite patient with those that evangelize at my front door, but not that day! I politely tried to say that I was in the middle of eating and that I actually had to go. The young gentleman (maybe I should just say man, because he wasn't very gentle) persisted in grilling me on whether I knew what was going to happen. I then proceeded to say in a pretty snarky tone "I have my own beliefs and I don't want to hear about yours. See you later and have a nice day"

Wow, I've never reacted like that before, but I really wanted nothing to do with this guy's hellfire and brimstone in the middle of my lunch.

Afterwards I thought of all these things that I should have said that would have been good challenging remarks but at the end of the day I just wanted him to go away. I wanted him to take his poor people skills and go away. I think that in the end I despised his approach more than anything. Playing on the fears of people to convert them is, in my opinion, poor form. I had little patience for it. Maybe it would've helped if he had more of a segway between, "Hi how are you" and the end of the world.

sushi on the sea

My apologies for slacking on the blog front but I was travelling the world and having a "west coast experience".
After moving out of our house I suddenly had NOTHING to do and found myself in a state of boredom. Chris came home from work and noticed this and told me I should take a trip to Vancouver. I reluctantly agreed with him and set out last week. Some highlights from my trip include:

1. Sushi on the Sea. A man named Captain Ralph has the most amazing sushi restaurant/B&B on his sailboat that is docked in Sooke. My aunt and uncle took me there and it was a definite highlight of the trip. This man has had quite the life and he and the chef came and had their dinner with us. They have two sittings on the weekends, one at 6:00 and one at 8:00 so you can end up having dinner with a whole group of strangers which I think is fantastic. Here's a picture of the signage to help you find your way and my aunt and uncle inside the boat.





2. Learning how to crochet. I have known how to knit for awhile but I've never crocheted. I'm not sure just yet, but I think it may be superior to knitting for the simple fact that its easier and faster. Maybe I find it easier because I have a knitting background though and its a sidestep. Here's a picture of Lisa's necklaces that she's been making and her drilling the seeds she brought back from Guetamala and Nicaragua.




3. The Butchart Gardens. Now you might be thinking, that's an awfully cheesy tourist destination, but let me explain. The Butchart Gardens used to be a limestone quarry. Think of smoke stacks and decimated landscape. The lady of the Butchart household, Jennie decided to reclaim it and make it beautiful. She succeeded. An example like this makes me hopeful when I walk into forests that have been mowed down or see old mine sites that are a wasteland lacking any life. Even though humans have the ability to completely rape and pillage a landscape, we also have the ability to make it beautiful again.



4. Beachcombing. When I lived on Thetis this was my very favourite activity. I love lifting up rocks when the tide is out and discovering all the creatures underneath. I love that when you look at the landscape when the tide is out it looks wretched until you crouch down and take a closer look.



It was so great to be in a great city like Vancouver and it made me quite excited about the upcoming move to Ottawa. To be in a place that has curbside recycling, a transit system that is superb, organic coffee and oh so many wonderful things that our little city doesn't have made me realize how nice it will be to be in a place that does these things.
To finish, a funny picture of Lisa and Lisa. This was the one I took before they were ready. A classic.

Canada Day, moving and other such stuff

Happy birthday Canada! To celebrate we went and visited the great outdoors. What a beautiful country we live in. Tom's dad has a cabin in the woods and we stayed there for the weekend. Frisbee, tea drinking and campfires were all had. We had an amazing thunderstorm on Sunday night and proceeded to take a hike in a swarm of mosquitoes freshly hatched because of all the rain. This picture shows us somewhat composed but moments after the shot we were swatting like crazy to keep them off of us.



Earlier last week we were preparing to move out of our place for the end of the month. Its amazing how much stuff we accumulate over time.





Chris' favourite moment of the day was strapping our bed to the roof racks of the Volvo. We got some swanky orange ratcheting tie-downs at Home Depot and they worked like a dream. Ah the pleasures in life!