I live in the wettest province in Canada and we have just endured the wettest 2 seasons since Noah's time and MY GRASS IS DEAD.

Just thought I'd get that off my chest. On Saturday night, after celebrating Maxine's birthday, I came home to a fully lit up house with the TV on, and two computers belting out music I would not choose to listen to. The sliding door was open and the front door was unlocked but no one was home. Clint and his friends had taken Drew to see WallE and they weren't back yet - and Max? He was somewhere.

.

When at midnight, they all straggled in, Clint suggested to me that I go to Northview on Sunday. He had been at the earlier Saturday evening service and thought of me.

.

So, once again, on a Sunday morning, I get up all cheerful-like and wake up Max and Drew. "G'morning guys. Time to get up, we're leaving in half an hour for church..."

And, once again, with a heavy heart, I drive off to church alone.

.

Ron Friesen is preaching. And they're taking a break from the sermon series on 1 Corinthians... and so, this morning? Ron preaches on Luke 15 - the story of the prodigal son. Yessiree Bob. I needed to hear that message.
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I thought of my friends, Jack and Denise, as the message got started, not because they are prodigals or because they may or may not have a prodigal son. No, I thought of them because Ron started his sermon with a Saskatchewan story. A story of him and his dad taking the pick up truck to Uncle Henry's farm to pick up a load of feed. On the way there, they had a flat tire, so they put on the spare but didn't have the right wrench to tighten the lug nuts. "Remind me to borrow a wrench to tighten those nuts before we head home," his dad told him. He forgot. And on the ride home, what with the heavy load they were carrying n all, the tire flew off and the load, as well as the truck, ended up in the ditch. (No, Jack and Denise are not Saskatchewan farmers. And no, they haven't dumped a load of feed in the ditch.)

Ron's sermon was on "The Five Lugnuts That Must Be Kept Tight To The Hub When Our Loads Are Heavy" and the powerpoint slides all had photos of hubcaps on them. (Yes, Jack and Denise have a hubcap store.)

Anyway, it was an applicable sermon that gave me some common sense tools with which to attach another week. Relevant sermons - how refreshing.

On my way home, Sandra called to follow up on an idea I had last week, and that was to go to the Lavender Festival at Full Bloom Farm. She had a few free hours, so we went:





The scent was intoxicating.


Random girl in field, cutting stems:
Random girl on lawn, weaving lavender head thingy's. (Notice the skull purse beside her.)
And then, seeing we still had some time left, we drove over to Erickson's DayLily Farm to check out their Open House:
Oh my goodness, what A Pleasant Surprise. Right here in Langley! An oasis of floral abundance.

Pathways, secret gardens, massive hedges, water gardens, live music in the form of a harpist, trails, wild flowers, not-so-wild flowers ... heaven.

(This was especially ingenious. Behind this hedge, through that little cut-out is the compost.)

(And this deck? To Die For.)
Our next stop was Krause Bros Farms where I (and about 1000 other folks) thought it'd be fun to get some fresh strawberries. I ended up with a gorgeous freshly made fresh-from-the field strawberry and raspberry pie.

Sandra dropped me off and was driving away (in the black van) just as Sue arrived, asking me if I wanted to go fer a ride in her little red time machine. Apparently all occupants of the car magically become 19 years old when they squish into that low-to-the-ground front seat.


We zipped around on the scenic back roads and ended up in Fort Langley.

We were going to have a treat at:

But Traceycakes were closed. So we walked over to the Gelato Place and enjoyed a cold, refreshing snack. SO good.
Sue dropped me off in time for me to drive Drew to his cousin, Allie's place. I dropped him off, then brought my pie over to dad and mom's for a quick visit. The pie? Was spectacular. (I CANNOT believe I didn't take a picture of it.)

And then? As if this day wasn't perfect enough already? Clint called and wanted to go out for a late dinner with me.

So I met him at The Olive Garden at 9.

Some days are just so fine.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Friends and gardens and cool cars and Italian restaraunts and sons and parents and pie.

2. Summer weekends that last 4 days.

3. A God who talks to me through sermons and pastors and church.

Shalom,