Tag Archives: prayer

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Colour, Warmth, Noise, Quiet, Animals, Crafts, Friends, Food… The Thanksgiving List Goes On

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Last weekend I returned home from a research trip to Nova Scotia. I was so tired I collapsed and did almost nothing all weekend. I didn’t get any writing done at all.

This week I’m not quite as exhausted, but it has been a very hectic week in a very different way. The Norfolk County Fair is taking place. It was the first time I attended and I enjoyed all of it. It is one of the more interactive agricultural fairs I’ve attended, and there was so much fun and learning. I am always amazed when I see the animals the various crops, the role of the farmer and the hard work that is done to ensure that there is food for humanity to enjoy. I am so thankful to the Creator and to them all, and I pray that we can find ways to ensure that food is shared equitably.

On Thursday a very dear friend kindly came to visit me for Thanksgiving. Spending Thanksgiving together has been a tradition for us for the past eleven years, although when I was in Toronto, she only had to walk over three blocks. Now we have to make arrangements with her group home workers to figure out how she’s going to get here, but we do it, thanks to the workers’ help. After discussing it we both agree it is worth the struggle. She also thinks she can learn to ride the GO train to the nearest station by herself, and so our learning programme will commence this weekend as I accompany her home on the train.

She and I went to the fair for three days (we volunteered at a booth for a couple of them) and had a great time wandering around the fair, exploring the sights, sounds, crafts and talent on our off time.

We loved watching the sheep get a pedicure and shear. There were times when I’d say she was actually enjoying herself. I thought it was somewhat like a spa day.

We both marvelled at the beauty and delicacy of some of the animals and the beauty and strength of others. We loved the various demonstrations and the patience with which everyone explained things so that we could understand. It was a place of so much kindness blended with a great deal of enthusiasm.

We were in awe of God’s nature and the way that gifted farmers work with that nature. As we learned, we each decided we feel sorry for mother llamas. They’re pregnant for 340 days to have a child. That’s just a bit too long for my liking.

Church this morning had a very warm and loving feeling to it. It was decorated simply but beautifully and it was packed. Our postulant, Janice, preached the sermon and it was absolutely superb. She discussed the beauty and joy of giving to others and told a story that showed when we give what may seem frivolous it can often result in giving complete joy, sometimes for surprising reasons. I was struck by her words. I think of how often funding for various programmes and individuals is dependent on what the funder thinks is important rather than what will give joy, hope, purpose and inspiration to the recipient. That type of funding day is lessening, but is not yet gone. The message, the inspiration and the comfort offered in both the sermon and the service made me forget to take any pictures of the decorating.

Following church, we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with good friends, again at the fair. I don’t know whether we’d wish to do this every year. However, this year, while I’m living in the midst of chaos, with one more week of it to go, it was nice to have dinner prepared. We concluded our last time at the fair with me standing in the rain, watching my friend have one more ride in the Midway. (I can’t do most midway rides since my head injury.)

We had laughter and activity, exploring and learning, wonder and kindness, flavour and calories We also had so much more. We both said that we have lots for which we are Thankful.



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Enjoyng Pilgrimage in a New Way

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After Church, my cousin Heather and I went for a walk on the Cobequit Trail. We were on the Old Barns Section and walked almost as far as the Round Barn Lane. That’s about 5.5 km, my furthest consistent walk since my head injury. My last good trail walk was a year ago with another Heather, who is not my cousin.

Perhaps it was the beauty of the area that made me not realize how far I was walking or all the unique features I was seeing because areas with tides are so much different than those places I go on the Great Lakes of Ontario. Whatever it was, we were almost at the end of our walk before I had even the slightest of balance issues.

We walked and saw other walkers, cyclists, dogs, cows and the wonder of the tidal lands that are marshlands of the mud flats. There are grasses that can survive, if not thrive, on salt water, and they are encroaching on the mudflat areas

There were many plants that are quite different than those to which I am accustomed, including one that looked like an innocent Queen Anne’s Lace but was as toxic as Poison Ivy. It is given the romantic name of Cow Parsnip. There were interesting cuts in the mud that disappear during high tide and, swaths of green trees with sudden bursts of colour in them. And of course, there were also the persistent seagulls.

While walking along I thought of my friends Matthew and Sarah and was telling Heather about Matthew’s recent St. Ninian Walk. I told Heather that when I saw Matthew in the hospital, he and I had talked about Little Doc, Hugh MacPherson. We had each done research on Little Doc, he for his pilgrimage, and I for completely different reasons and we had learned different things about him. I told her how there is so much he is able to see when he is making his pilgrimages, because, for him, walks are pilgrimages. I told her that I try to think of walks in a similar way. For me, today’s walk did seem like a pilgrimage of recovery, and I rejoice.

As Heather and I walked there were quiet places, and there were thin places, and there was wonder. We were only out by the mudflats for only about ninety minutes–but it was enough for nature to have changed her appearance between our walk out and our walk back. It was a good day–and I am very grateful to my cousin.