The heavens declare the glory of God;the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalm 19:1

It was rather chilly this morning. The leaves are starting to change color. It's not noticeable at all. One or two, here and there. Everything else is still bright green. Fall is a few months away. So today I thought I would echo a post I did about sunset's on my other blog. These were taken from my patio throughout the summer. The colors of the sunset's up here are so different. Then when the Northern lights come out, they just dance so bright in the sky. I am a big fan of sunset's, and sunrises. The best rising photo's are this time of year, so I'll begin collecting those pretty quick. In the meantime, enjoy these one's.

Most of these were taken between 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.The last two (above) were taken around 9:30 - 10:00 p.m. . The sky went a fire color and stayed that way for a long time. We didn't need any lights on because it was so bright.
Take care!!! Blessings to all for a wonderful weekend!!

Much like the Spirit Bear project in Prince George, Vancouvers project was called 'Orcas in the City'.

Orcas in the City - Vancouver PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Local artists, in partnership with sponsoring individuals or organizations, will create a unique design and apply it to the surface of a life size (approx. 8ft with base) custom formed fibreglass Orca calf. The Orca becomes the artist's canvas. Once the work is complete, the Orca will be displayed in prominent public spaces around Vancouver, with the majority being placed in the downtown business core. A 'Walking Guide' will be created and distributed to tour operators, hotels, tourist spots, cruise terminals and popular community distribution points. The Orca was chosen to embody the West Coast and to highlight the fact that British Columbia is one of the best places in the world to view killer whales.

The BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities will be turning the streets of Vancouver and targeted Lower Mainland key points into a WHALE of an event.

Just a quick heartfelt thank you to everyone for your kind words on the passing of my friend. Jo-Anne was to young to go, but her body just could not hold on any longer. She fought the fight as best as she could, but her time was up and she had to leave us. I will miss her so much.

I've known Jo for about 7 years and actually met her through another friend. We would talk so much everytime we got together, nobody else could get in a word LOL !! One night we sat and chatted for about 6 hours straight!!!! Jo had a blood condition that had no cure. Slowly over the past 3 years she had to stop working, and eventually was confined to her home. Breathing was hard for her and was finally put on oxygen 24/7 about 7-9 months ago. She carried around her portable tank inside her black leather Harley Davidson purse. I saw her about 3 months ago while we were watching the finals of a Stanley Cup game at the pub near my house and admired her strength and courage while she would walk around as best she could to say hello to everyone that she knew. It was hard for her to get up and walk around because the blood flow was effecting her bones, her lungs, it was hard to breathe even on oxygen. She tired easily and had to sit down a lot. She was in pain to get up and walk, but she did it. Even through all that, I sat with her for about 3 hours and she still had that sparkling laugh and smile, even through the pain. She always had a smile and comforting words and arms for me when I was upset, she had a laugh that would echo when she heard something funny, or told a story. She was a wonderful woman who we will all miss. Love you Jo !!!!

Spirit Bears in the City - Project Overview - Prince George

What is Spirit Bears In The City?

Found only in British Columbia's northern forests, the rare "Spirit Bear" or "Kermode Bear" is widely recognized for its unique white colouring. A First Nation legend states that the Raven, their creator, made these bears white as a reminder of the time when the world was pure and clean and covered with snowdrifts and ice blue glaciers. Raven promised that these bears would live in peace and harmony forever.
This reclusive bear will congregate on city streets in May 2006 in support of the BC Lions Society's Easter Seal Operations. The project has already taken roots throughout BC with the eight communities committed to joining "The Spirit Bear Trail" – Vancouver, Surrey, Vancouver Island, Prince George, Terrace, Kitimat, Prince Rupert, and Whistler.Here's how it works...
Local artists, in partnership with sponsoring individuals or organizations, will create a unique design and apply it to the surface of a life size (approx. 7ft) custom formed fiberglass Spirit Bear. The Bear becomes the artist's canvas. Once the work is complete, the Spirit Bear will be displayed in prominent public spaces around the participating cities. A 'Spirit Bear Trail Guide' will be created and distributed throughout participating communities.

The goals of 'Spirit Bears In The City' are very simple:
-To create an event that provides maximum exposure to sponsoring organizations, artists and -recipient charities
-To invite tourists from around the world to visit our province and share in our culture
-To produce an event that encourages the 'Arts', local businesses and individuals to come together in a spirit of community fundraising, benefiting the important work of the BC Lions Society's Easter Seal Operations
-To generate artistic creativity and showcase BC artists
-To celebrate the cultural diversity of our province and promote civic pride
-To capture the imagination of children, adults, and tourists alike

Spirit Bears are all over the city. Allmoney raised goes to the BC Lions Society Easter Seals Operation. They are all spectacular!!!
This one's my favorite !!! Hope you enjoyed a peek at some of them. I've got a few more pictures of them I'll load next blog. Take care and have a terrific week !!!

My dear friend Joanne,

You are no longer in pain, your suffering is over. Peace and calm surround you now. God took you home before I was ready, but you had to leave us and we know now you are at peace. I will miss you. I will miss your laugh, your smile, your stories, your comforting words, and your grace.

ESSLINGER - Jo-Anne Marie departed this life on August 9, 2007 at the age of 48.

Monday, August 13, 2007

My arms are so sore !!! Yesterday, I went out back and had to restack 2 piles of wood!! Half of each pile lay scattered around from a bear that decided the arrangement of the wood pile was not to his satisfaction !! LOL !! Actually, my theory is, he tried to climb up the one pile between the trees to try and reach the bird feeder for a little snack. The wood was stacked quite tightly so when his weight on the pile was to much, he came down to the ground and took out half the wood pile next to him as well !! It was a horrific crash that woke me up from a sound sleep around 5:30 a.m., I was not pleased. This was about two weeks ago, so yesterday I put it all back up. Now it's all neat and tidy again. The funny thing is, he never reached the feeder, lol !! It was still hanging up in the trees. There is a lot of seed scattered on the ground from the birds and the squirrels, but they are pretty good at gobbling that up. This is the time of year when the bears are starting to eat up and get ready for winter. Takes a few months and then they are gone. We are going to be smoking some more salmon in the smoker real soon. This is usually done at night. So when the big black creatures are lurking, it's always a surprise if the smoker is up or down by morning, LOL ! So far so good. We don't like to run the smoker during the day, because we are not home. I get a little nervous about leaving that alone with smoke and a running element, good cause for a fire if not watched. Anyways, today is a good day for cleaning house, and then go downstairs and finish up a sign I'm working on. I do painting in my spare time ( when I can find some, lol ! ) . So this next project is being done on an old chunk of wood , with a birch bark frame when I'm done. I'll post a few picks of the things I have made. I like to use barn wood, old fence chunks, plywood ( must be well weathered of course) and turn them into little country signs. This latest project is a piece of plywood that was used as a for sale sign. I turned it around and wanted to paint what I felt would be perfect for the 'feeling' of the wood. I narrowed it down to either scripture, or an old hymn verse. I settled on "It Is Well" by Horatio Spafford. The rest of the wood will be turned into a checker board, or broken in half and made into 'Wash House' for the bathroom downstairs, or "Peach Blossoms"...?... something like that. I hand paint it all, no stencils. It always looks good once I pencil in the main design, after that, if I use a multi color it covers certain script or angles that I have to reproduce from memory of where I put certain lines. It's fun to do because it's all my own. Take care and have a terrific week !!!

Good day everyone!!!! I'm so happy to be back and running again!!! My modem died, probably as a result of a horrific thunderstorm we had a few weeks back. So I had to send the dead one back and have been waiting for almost 2 weeks now for the new one to be sent to me. 3-5 bussiness days I was told. Okay, so I waited.....NOTHING!!!! I phoned the other day to my service provider and lo and behold the new modem never got mailed out!!!!! GRRRRR !! Talk about frusterating. I never realized how much I enjoy reading all your blogs and catching up with everyone. I haven't been ignoring you all, I just haven't had access for awhile now. I could at work, but that only gave a small window to peek in on everyone, and then I would have to log out and use the computer for the car lot, or rentals, contracts, and stuff like that.You know, use the computer for work purposes..?... Like, hello!! Whats up with that, LOL !! Use a work computer for work stuff, how silly is that!! LOL !!! Anyway, I'm back now and promise to visit everyone and say hello to each and everyone of you guy's!!! Now I have to go get ready for work. Take care everyone, and hugs and blessings to you all for a wonderful weekend!! Cheers !!

Wow !! I just realized this is my 100th blogiversary!! Lol, not sure if I spelt that word the right way. This weekend was a rather fun relaxing weekend. We took Ashley and went out to our friends place where they have a bunch of old cars left from one of the races they hold each year. So, Ashley got behind the wheel and drove around the track several times. She had a blast!!! The funny thing about it all, she had such good control flying around the track with a license magnet on the back allowing her to drive, and she's taking driving lessons right now!!! Don't think her instructor would appreciate seeing her racing at high speeds.

Michelle and I got a turn driving with her. I am so sore!!! My back hurts, my butt hurts , my ribs are sore from laughing and bouncing around so much!!! We all had a blast. Then we sat around the fire and yakked away until the wee hours of the night. Ashley did very well on the track. Then Neil got into another car with her and was going to teach her how to drive a standard. They didn't get to far because the car kept stalling. So it was parked out on the field and we moved onto something else.
The above picture was Curtis and I backing into them to try and give the car a push start. We were in the yellow car, Neil and Ash were in the blue one.
Lol, she had to give a few stomps on the roof. Wrong kind of 'jump start' Ash!!! Some of the vehicles needed gas and oil, Neil and M. to the rescue!!!! That picture was a little dark, sorry 'bout that. It did lead up to a beautiful sunset photo.
Then it was off to the house to sit by the fire. The very top photo is of an old tractor that has long been retired. So I took the picture with a Sepia tone to it to try and Antique the photo. Here's a color snap of the tractor growing in the weeds, LOL.
It was a perfect night. Good friends, lots of laughter, I love relaxing casual nights like that.
Lisa, Michelle, and 'moi'. We all sat on an old carriage that's sitting just off the way from the fire pit.
The above picture is me sitting on the carriage, very Sleepy Hollow from the smoke. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, from what you could see,it was a little dark. Take care and have an excellent week everyone!!!

This weekend has gone by far to quickly!!! Neil and Curtis left for a fishing derby on Friday, and won't be home until tomorrow. I had to work on saturday, so once I got off, I came home and packed up the kids and clothes and headed out to Purden Ski lodge to meet Michelle and her kids at a friends cabin. It was soooo nice!! The bugs were horrific being out on the mountain like that. Still the weather was gorgeous!! The sun was hot!!! So hot!! Michelle left with the kids around 1:00 and headed out there, I had to work until 5:00. I borrowed her camera to post some pictures of this trip because Neil took our camera on their fishing trip. The first few are of Purden Lake. I wasn't there, but Michelle took her kids for a swim at the lake and then they headed up to the cabin. Beautiful British Columbia....my province..

I'll have to ask Michelle, but I believe the above shot is Purden Ski Resort, which is where the cabin is at, just near the lodge. Those clearings are the chair lifts. Once we arrived it was just beautiful!!! Way up in the mountain. Bear, Cougar, Wolverine, Wolf, Moose, Deer, Lynx, anything you can think of, yup it lives among those mountains. The next few shots Michelle took around the cabin, and at the resort.....

In the morning, I decided to have some fun with the camera and changed the color tone. So I snapped a few B&W and Sepia tone photos. This is very old skis above the door....Love this shot!!!

Michelle took this one of me...

I will get her permission,( because she may freak lol, ) For me to put her picture here. It is a gorgeous picture of her. She thinks it's very Janice Joplin, I happen to think it's a good pic of her.

So, until then you get to see me in my jammy's and funky wool stockings I borrowed, lol!! Very cabinish!!

UPDATE: JULY 19/07 Lol, it won't be here for long she may have a fit...this is Michelle.

So anyways, I wanted to get a picture of the kids. The bugs were soooo bad, I didn't want them to suffer. So I told them where I wanted them to stand, and it was a one shot deal. Bless there little hearts for cooperating with me. Standing still with millions of bugs attacking and swarming them. It sort of turned out, really good I thought. I would love to have gotten one more, but....to many BUGS!! Even I couldn't stand still to take the photo, lol !!! This is all our kids....
The owners of the ski lodge brings his horses to come up and graze freely on the mountain around the resort. They don't leave each others side. So we had to get a picture of them. It's funny, you just walk along and then you turn around and Bam! there they are following you or just moving somewhere else. He had goats to, but one got eaten on the mountain so he took the other one home. The horses are brought in at night.
We all had a blast!!! I'll leave you with a few more photos of the wagon ,the wood shed, and the cabin.

Oh yes, I took this picture of Ashley, so I thought I would add it. I think its a beautiful picture of her!!! Take care and have a wonderful week everyone!!!

This is a really cute email I recieved this morning, lol !!! Children really are precious jewel's....

6 reasons not to mess with children.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a
human because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him."

A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.
After explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother,
she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"
Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shalt not kill."

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.
"Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up
and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael; he's a doctor".
A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher; she's dead."

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, she sai d, "Now, class, if I stood on my head, the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I would turn red in the face."
"Yes," the class said.
"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position, the blood doesn't run into my feet?"
A little fellow shouted, "Cause your feet ain't empty."

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:
Take only ONE. God is watching."
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was
a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

Have a terrific work week everyone. Hope the jokes made you smile. Take care.....