Out to Pastor - Take 2: February 2007

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Things we take for granted….

Guinness at the beer store…or somewhere in town
Knowing what day to put out the garbage…
Knowing what day to put out the recycling, and what can be recycled…and having an appropriate container to put it out in…
Pine nuts for our favourite recipe, at something less than $4.99 for 2/3 cup…
Knowing where the local post office is, and how to retrieve one’s mail…
Our regular bank, nearby… (2 hours away?)
Hymn books with music in them…
A Canadian Tire Store at the top of the street ;)
A good Greek or vegetarian restaurant…
Hi-speed internet…(yes, we got it eventually: we ARE the end of the wire!)

This little litany was prompted by a trip to town during which we tried to guess, by what we saw along the road, whether today or tomorrow is recycling day…and where we might go to find out what this community recycles… and where might we get one of those great big rolly blue bins that everyone except us seems to have.

Moving rates 20 points on the stress scale: but what about moving twice in two months, to two different provinces? Vehicle licensing, driver’s licensing, home insurance, banking, medicare, phone, internet…the list of changes and peculiarities seems endless. And we are constantly forgetting which town we are in and where the such-and-such is in today’s town! Yeah for staying flexible – it’s all worth it in the end!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

A blessing of time

What a glorious place this is! I continue to be awed by the beauty of sunshine on fresh snow, chickadees who have already found our little feeder, and the frozen bays reaching like white-coated arms into the dark coastline.

And I have discovered another gift of this place. For years I have been feeling guilty that I can’t seem to get out of bed early in the morning for quiet prayer time before the bustle of the day begins. Here I have been waking at 6:30 a.m. feeling quite rested and ready to get up. Why the difference? Well, it finally dawned on me that this place is geographically in the Atlantic Canada time zone, but many years ago the government of Quebec decided that the whole province ought to be on the same time, so they said, “We shall all pretend to be Eastern Canada”. So, when my body (which is very responsive to the light) is ready to get up, usually 7:30, our clocks say it’s only 6:30! That gives me the hour I need to be still and listen before I need to think about shower and breakfast and getting off to work. Amazing.

Feb. 19 Ominous words?

“If ya hear me yelling ‘sam’, don’t think I’m yellin’ at the kids. Sam’s my dog and he always barks when your porch lights are on. Sam doesn’t like any change.”

Feb. 18

My first worship with my new flock and the first time of meeting most of them. What lovely people – some a little shy, hanging back a bit; some coming forward to be helpful; some anxious to talk about themselves and their families. And our first taste of that wonderful country hospitality! After the worship service, they spread out an amazing banquet lunch, on a table in front of the altar: good thick ‘Church Lady Sandwiches’ (no skimpy filling here), 2 kinds of potato salad, coleslaw, and plates and plates of tempting squares and cookies. How does one ever taste them all? – and one really should, in order not to insult anyone! People might be watching: “I think the new minister likes chocolate – I saw her take 2 of Betty’s* chocolate squares.” “She had one of Marge’s squares with the pink icing, but she never even looked at my famous cherry ones.” “I guess she’s a tea drinker.” “That Jim, he always monopolizes people – I never even got a chance to talk to her.” Someday I’ll have to learn each person’s specialty and make sure I spread the praise around.

And then they brought out a cake! They wouldn’t let us cut it cause “everyone’s already full”, but we brought it home to nibble on all week long. For people who only ‘have Communion’ 3 times a year, they certainly know how to break bread together!

* names have been changed to protect the innocent!

Amazing Winter! (Feb 17/07)

How could I have forgotten how beautiful Gaspé is in winter? We had lots of snow over the past few days, and this morning when I left the house at 6:15 a.m. to pick up a colleague at the airport dawn was just breaking. The streetlights were shutting off as I drove along the snow packed country roads. It was –15C and there was just a hint of a sunny day. We had a 2 hour drive up the coast, and before I knew it we were bathed in bright sunshine, sparkling off the lapis lazuli water and the pristine new snow. Around each corner was a new and breathtaking sight: snow drifted like fondant on the fanciest of cakes and shining like a carpet of diamonds, little ice pads floating on the Bay, trees dabbed or dusted with fresh snow…nature at its most pure and heart-stopping.

It is truly wonderful to be back in the country – the silence! Ah, the silence, and the stars. And the contented feeling of coming home after a long day to find a fire burning in the wood stove and the setting sun inviting me to sit on the balcony for a few minutes and relax into the returning warmth that is a sure hope of Spring.

Our new home – by daylight… (Feb 15, 2007)

The storm was fabulous, but much too short! Visibility became shorter and shorter last night, but when we awoke today there wasn’t really much snow on the ground, despite the wind. By mid-morning the wind calmed and the snowflakes grew larger, and we had a wonderful storm. The temperature climbed above 0C and great sheets of snow slid off the steep metal roof. The local snow removal person was here at 8 a.m. to plow us out, and back at noon with his blower: either the new minister is really important or those strangers from out-of-province likely don’t know how to drive in the snow! (We’ll soon find out which it is!)

Comments heard during the day of unpacking and relaxing:
(gazing at the speakers set in the ceiling 26’ above us) “I’ve never heard Ian Tyson singing from heaven before!”
I wonder how those speakers out on the balcony will fare in the snow storm…
This is the first time I’ve had a dining room table that filled the entire dining room: and includes 4 benches – 2x4 seaters, and 2x2 seaters.
For those of you who know how much I love placing furniture akimbo – the ultimate: the toilet occupies a vantage point in the corner of the bathroom, allowing a clear view of both doors, AND Ian Tyson is piped in there too!
Pamela, you thought we had a staircase to die for in Morrisburg. Wait til you see this 15 step wonder – straight up from the front door, with rounded treads and risers! Magnificent!

And, a kitchen designed with Fran in mind…well, the bottom half, at least. The counter top is a full 2” lower than the level of the stove, but the upper cupboards stretch about 12’ up, making the top 2-3 shelves perfect for long-term storage. Everything above the first shelf is perfectly safe from my clawing fingers.

Please don’t take any of this as disparaging – the house is totally charming, cozy as a bug and rustic as a 2007 copy of a 1950s chalet, with the proportions gone somewhat awry. (Perhaps it was that translation from imperial to metric that did it!) At any rate, none of the furniture is in danger of moving, even with a significant jostle on the Richter scale.

On the definite upside of all this is the fact that a call to Telus this morning yielded us an operating telephone line by 3 o’clock this afternoon! How’s that for a record? “Quebec sait faire!”

(Feb 14, 2007) To the finish line!

We did it again! God be praised, and thanked. We arrived at the house in Rose-Bridge just before 5 p.m., groceries on board – got the Grand Tour – unloaded the cars… and the snow began about 9 p.m. The house is cozy with a lovely airtight wood stove in the living area and I’m sure we’ll be toasty warm. The owner was delighted to show us all his handiwork – proportions seem a bit large, but as they say en français, “c’est charmante”! The two bearskins looking down on us from the beams over the front door take a bit of getting used to, but they’re well above my line-of-vision! So we’re going to hunker down for the night and see what the world looks like in the morning…

Storm running… (Feb. 13, 2007)

When we left Calgary on December 27, 2006 at the front edge of a snowstorm, we had no idea that outrunning storms would become a new motif for us! It worked very nicely all across Canada, as each day we listened to the news and discovered that the place we had left the previous day was now having a major snowstorm. When we arrived in Morrisburg the grass was even greener than it had been in October. Of course that didn’t last long and suddenly winter arrived. How excited we were to bundle up and trudge to the post office…we even bought a new shovel and cleared Jill and Bob’s driveway too, cause ours is really short! What happy childhood memories it brought back! (Ain’t it amazing what a thrill it is to experience the power and force of a snowstorm after 3 years of insipid rain and fog?)

Well, here we are on the road again, heading from Quebec City to Gaspé this time, and guess what? We’re trying to outrun another storm! This one is forecast to be the biggest so far this winter in the Province of Quebec. We were going to do some more visiting in Quebec City this aft (and a little shopping at Simon’s) but we gave it all up for a speedy exit after our meeting with the Archbish and news of the storm, due tomorrow morning in Quebec City.

We found a motel in Mont Joli for the night, and tomorrow we’ll race for the finish line: our new abode in Rosebridge, which we expect to call “Home” for the next 3 years. The walkie talkies Peter bought (you guessed it: at CTC) are working fine and it’s a great distraction and comfort to be able to chat back and forth a bit as we drive along in two separate vehicles. It takes the pressure off of trying to read Peter’s mind when I suddenly see his signal light go on, or he makes a dive for the left lane when I anticipated an exit ramp to the right!

Now for a few zzzzz’s before we get back to storm running again tomorrow…J