New Vietnamese Restaurant in Brantford

We went to New Orleans Pizza tonight.... to pick up pizza for Taylor and his buddies, who are having a sleep over at Andy's house..... we almost couldn't find a parking spot because of the new Vietnamese restaurant next door .... I thought the name was pretty funny....

I When I got back in the car with the pizza, I said to the kids.... whadda ya spose their specials cost?

Fo Ninety Five??!!

groan!!

Jamaica

Carol and I went to school together in London at London Baptist Bible College ( she was there for 3 years, I was there for 1 ) ..... one of our favourite people that we knew back then.... is Jamaica ..... He is from St Thomas ( south of London ) ..... My memories of laughing with Jamaica are such wonderful memories....I bumped into him today at the soccer tournament...... I love the way he's combatting gray hair!!!

We called Carol at work, to see if we could possibly harrass her a little.... sadly, Carol wasn't there; I'm not sure how impressed her boss was that we were tying up their 800 line to reminisce about the old days!!


.....I DID find out, today, that Jamaica actually has a NAME...... Glenn something er other.......

Naaaaaaa..... I won't remember that..... to me, he's just Jamaica!!!!!

Clouds tonight

I saw these on my way home, driving through Peterborough...
I love clouds.... ( have my head IN them most of the time, so it's a good THING I DO love them!! shut up ! )

anyway.... I thought there were pretty...

Cool Plumbers Truck

saw this truck on my way to my first inspection this morning.... Some guy bought an old ambulance and converted it... kinda cool eh?!

10SNE1

Taylor's gym class in school has been learning tennis the last couple of weeks... He has been using a tennis racquet I bought him when I was in Chicago in 2000 .... it was a Jr racquet, and is likely too small for him at this point, but it's light.. and he loves it ... and when he serves.... WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH...... blows it right past
me....





Sunday afternoon, he and Abby and I went to a tennis court near my place.... we had a blast.... while he was teaching Abby how to play, I went looking through the bushes behind the court, since I am a scavenger at heart..... We brought 3 tennis balls with us, and left with 10 .... whooo ahhhhh!!

A Haven Called Heaven

I heard a new song today.... and have fallen in love with it.... I'm posting the lyrics for my friend Dave Fisher, who's at home sick with Cellulitis, ( I've been there ) .... the lyrics made me think of you Dave ( a pilgrim heading for home )

.... Hope you're recovering !!

*********

A Haven Called Heaven

I’ve journeyed a lifetime, in search of a city
A haven of rest, for my tired soul
By faith I have seen it, just o’er the Horizon
From all I can tell, it sure looks like Home!

Verse 2

The winds of temptation will not blow against me
The rains of defeat, won’t beat on my face
I’ll not run for shelter, I’ll be safe forever
For nothing can harm me, there in that place!

Chorus

There’s a Haven Called Heaven, a place for the weary!
Where those with a burden, can lay down their load;
I will rest from my labor, in the arms of my Savior,
In that Haven Called Heaven, at the end of the road.

I will rest from my labor, in the arms of my Savior,
In that Haven Called Heaven, at the end of the road.

Milestones

The Taurus turned a biggy on Friday..... mileage is a little less this year than last........ my car turned 250,000 on Christmas day... and turned 300,000 on Friday....

so far, though, it's running as good as it did a year ago..... unlike me... I'm sore all over, achy and half the stuff that USED TO, doesn't work any more!

sigh!

Trip Down Memory Lane

my friend Gayle, who grew up just up the road from our house in Quebec.... wrote an incredible post, about my grandparents store that was right next door to our house..... not only was it way neat to live next door to my grandparents... but they had a general store.... They used to sell Peanuts, peppermints and chocolate rosebuds in bulk... by the pound.....

I remember Grampie always going over by the big weigh scales ( where they weighed those things ) and grabbing the little silver scoop... he'd reach in and get one single chocolate rose bud and bring it to me, then he'd get one for himself.... and as we sat there eating it, he'd look at me and say : Know what THAT tastes like?
More!!
and then he'd go get another one....

sigh.....

The house just to the right, with the tent trailer out back, was our house.... if you look in the top right corner, you'll see a tiny little lane going through the meadow, down to the river where we used to go to swim.... and to get Blood Suckers ... ewwwwwwwwww..

See the gas pumps? back then, there was no such thing as unleaded...... the question was : do you want Yellow or Red gas ?? One being regular and the other being Premium Gas, I assume..... We moved from that house a month before I turned 15 ....

sigh....

Thank you Gayle for sharing those memories.... brought back a ton of memories to my mind...

sigh..

Hot Air Balloon

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved hot air balloons.... got to ride in one once.... we went about 100' into the air... straight up and straight down ( NO, it wasn't cause I was too heavy for the balloon.. shut up ) ..... anyway... I saw this one today.... first thing this morning, on my way to work...

talk about cool.....

I cut cross country so I could follow it.... heading West on Lily Lake Road, I spotted the Chase Truck.. trying to get there when he landed....

I thought it was pretty cool!

Plowing Match

Got to go to the plowing match yesterday with ( most of ) the inspectors from Farmers...

saw some way neat things..... 8 zillion elementary school kids for starters.. .there were 99 groups of them there!










This is Steve....thinking about asking Farmers for a new company vehicle!


Saw this row of porta potties ... 62 of them to be exact ( WHAT KIND OF GUY stands there and counts how many porta potties there are??? the kind of guy that didn't have to USE one when the rest of the guys did, thats what kind!!! )















There was a ton of steam engines and antique tractors on display... it was very fascinating to watch the steam engines in operation.... this one was HUGE... ran an entire lumber mill... way cool!





anyway... it was a fun time

THIS IS WHY.....

in some species... mothers EAT THEIR YOUNG....

Click HERE

Croc Jibbits

when the kids bought Crocs this year, one of the "accessories" they saw was JIBBITS... tiny little button like things, like plastic charms, that fit in the holes of the shoes...


They are usually $3 each.... saw some today at the Plowing Match on sale... got these for the kids.....

cute eh?!

Heading Back to Canada

Well after 4 incredible days in Kentucky, we came back yesterday to Ontario..... As much as it was tiring and we were glad to be coming home, there was still a sadness in leaving... It is incredibly Euphoric to be there, the incredible music, the phenomenal spirit there.... It's contagious.... I came home really excited, pumped musically and spiritually.... It was a wonderful trip.

I think the one thing that was most memorable, was not just the music but the fact that I got to spend the time there, with my parents... It was really fun... We laughed a lot, and it is a trip that I will remember for the rest of my life.

We were planning to leave Sunday morning around 8 .... But we all woke up early, and decided we might as well head out .... Which turned out to be a wise idea... We lost more than an hour in Detroit... We were only two kms from our exit, on I-94, and had to exit because they closed the highway, I assume for construction. We were re-routed down Michigan Avenue, WHICH, I might add, was ALSO under construction.... So three Lanes of Interstate were being routed THROUGH town, on a street that was reduced from two lanes to ONE for construction... It was slightly annoying...... In the end, it was so slow, that instead of following the traffic out through the full detour, we stayed on Michigan Avenue and went into downtown ( FREAKY ) and took the Tunnel back to Canada.....

When we arrived back in Canada, Mom said it best : " If my back wasn't so sore, I'd get down and Kiss the GROUND! "

anyway, it was a good trip over all.... We were back in Canada by 3:30 .... I was home in Brantford just after 6:30 .... And glad to be here.

Today, I'm dragging pretty good... Was planning on being IN my car and on the road by 10 .... It is now 10 minutes after 11 and I'm sitting here, wondering where my suit case is.... Sigh... Back to work is a bummer after such a wonderful week ....

will upload photos tonight....***pm

Photos

This is me with Bryan and Laura Dugas ... from His Season.... TRUE friends... I love these guys..




This is Dottie Rambo.... putting make up on while she was being transported around through the booth area....

She's an ICON in Gospel Music...









This is The Mark Trammel Trio... nearly my most favourite group...









This picture was taken outside the Freedom Hall last night, on our way home.... pretty in the night light eh?
( that's Canadian for HUH!! )

Day 3 at the Convention

well.... 3 days of the 4 are over.... sigh... sure goes fast! Yesterday was a pretty good day... Met up with several friends from Ontario ...The Johnson Quartet, the Hylton Family Quartet, His Season, and the Torchmen.... all are groups from Ontario.... it was really fun to see them... missed hearing any of them... but we got to visit...

Daywind ( a big music producing company in Nashville ) had a big sale on Background SoundTracks..... their regular price is $10 each ... the Convention price is $70 for 10 tracks... and their FRIDAY SPECIAL : Fill a bag for $100..... WHOOOO EEEEEEEEEEEE!! so I pushed and shoved and crammed..... and got a few in.....











36 to be exact...... guess I'll have to do some singing then huh? ( that's american for EH )

Abe Lincoln

Look alike... this guy looks FREAKILY like Abraham Lincoln.... he plays Amazing Grace on a saw ( Remember, we ARE in Kentucky ) ... and does school presentations.... it was pretty neat actually..... he talked me into buying one of his cd's ( GOT YOU A SOUVENIR CAROL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) and while he was autographing it, he said.... What number president was I? oh please, .. I'm Canadian..... how would I KNOW?????????

I wanted to say to him... SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW? but for a man his age, you should expect him to forget some stuff!!!!

somebody walking by whispered in my ear : SIXTEENTH ..... tsk......

I have no idea who the FIRST 15 are.... so it wasn't that special a moment for me, to have the correct answer... oh well!

RED NECK BMW

The Ultimate Driving Machine











ONLY in Kentucky!

The Martins

another huge highlite for me was when the Martins sang ... They are a family group that has not been singing, due to some stuff going on in their lives, not the least of which is divorce... anyway, last night, they sang.... it was spine tingling.....

Quartet Convention

well.... I didn't last for the entire night last night.... Thursday night they have the awards for Southern Gospel... favourite song writer, favourite Tenor, etc etc ... that lasted until 8:30 orso.... and the evening concert didn't start until after THAT ..... we left just after 11, and there were still 7 groups still to sing (at 20-24 minutes each ).... can you IMAGINE?? I'm a night hawk, and I couldn't stay up for THAT!! One of the highlites for me was a concert called Mosie's Men..... Mosie Lister, one of the best songwriters in Christian Music, had a male chorus... of almost 50 men from several different groups..... it was really good.... and it was really neat to see and hear Mosie Lister... he wrote Til The Storm Passes By, among others....

Doctor David Jeremiah is speaking this morning at 10:30 ... He's an incredible speaker, so we're gonna go hear him...

have a fun day :)

Listen Live to the Quartet Convention

I HOPE this link works.... it'll re-direct you to a Southern Gospel station online, that is broadcasting a live stream of the convention..

http://www.solidgospel.com/subpage.asp?StationId=SolGos&PageNo=77

Random Photos

If I wasn't so cheap, I'd invest in Flicker so I could just post my photos.... but I'm too cheap.... has something to do with my grandparents name being Scottish!!!

anyway, here are some photos I took yesterday.... random shots here and there.... This one is my suitcase being loaded.... pretty pathetic when I have nothing better to do than sit and watch for my bag to be loaded!!!