Lunch in Canada

Murray married me before he realized I wasn’t his type.

 

Murray loves spontaneity, surprises. My picture is next to homebody in the dictionary. I like routines, the comfort of home. Surprises can irritate me.

 

In 2019, we got the driver’s license size passports, just so we could visit Canada sometime. The only time I’d ever been out of the country was in 2000, when we lived in far northern New York, in a town where you could drive across the bridge to Canada. We were moving soon, so we went to Canada for lunch. At that time, we didn’t need a passport.

 

So, we got the cards in 2019, and then Covid came. And we didn’t go much of anywhere for the next few years.

 

Last week, Murray said, “Let’s go to lunch in Windsor. Let’s just do it.”

 

I said, “We’ll see.”

 

“Yeah. We’ll se.” He sounded disappointed.

 

But Murray wasn’t scheduled to work that Friday. The next day after he asked me, I showed why maybe it was okay he married me after all. Even though I’m not his type. I said, “Hey, why don’t we go to Canada for lunch this Friday?”

 

So, Ping-Hwei took Friday off from work, and we were ready.

 

On Thursday night we got out our passports. We found Murray’s and Ping-Hwei’s. Not mine.

 

I thought, well, Murray and Ping-Hwei could still go, and that would be okay. But I was a little sad.

 

Then we found mine.

 

We were going to leave at eight Friday morning. It was only a little after eight-thirty, and we were off.

 

Twice as we drove along the road I said, “I smell pigs.”

 

Murray said, “Well, that’s all you.” He grew up in St. Louis. But he said, “Ninety percent of Ohio is farmland after all.”

 

Instead of listening to a book, we listened to a movie, “A Man Called Otto,” an Americanized version of “A Man Called Ove.” The movie had audio description, and Murray didn’t look at the screen of his phone while driving.

 

The movie was a delight, and when once I asked Murray what was happening, he said, “I don’t know. I experienced it just like you.”

 

Usually when we cross state lines, Murray honks. He did when we drove into Michigan. When we approached the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Ping-Hwei asked if we were in Canada. Murray said he’d honk when we got there, but then we both said, maybe he shouldn’t. We didn’t want to upset the border guards.

 

Murray has kind of a troubling memory of dealing with the border guards from 24 years ago, when he was in Maine for a job interview and went into Canada for the day. The guard last Friday was, as Murray said, “intense and stern,” but we made it through.

 

Murray looked for a sign saying we were in Canada, but didn’t see one. When he saw both the Canadian and the United States flags painted on the wall of the tunnel, he decided we were in Canada.

 

I wanted Canada jokes, and I was afraid Murray wouldn’t make any, so I started making them myself.

 

“Ping-Hwei, a Canadian car just honked at us.”

 

“Hear those Canadian birds tweeting at us? I wonder if they’re tweeting in both English and French.”

 

I couldn’t seem to stop.

 

“Honey, you better slow down, are you might get stopped by a Canadian policeman.”

 

Ping-Hwei and Murray were nice to me. Neither told me to shut up.

 

When we decided to have lunch in Canada, Murray looked up restaurants in Windsor, and the first one that popped up was The Back Road Café. They had an all-day breakfast menu, which is what I’d been hungry for for a long time. The restaurant was crowded—the hostess said she had just one more table for us—but it was delicious.

 

Sarah said, “You guys are lame.” We could have gotten a restaurant breakfast any time we wanted here, but she said we should have tried a specialty dish from another country while we were there.

 

The border guard on the way back into the US said, “You drove five hours just to have lunch in Canada? You’re killing me.”

 

What did we learn about Canada?

 

The drinking straw at breakfast was made of paper, not plastic. Very ecological. When we paid for our meal, Murray asked the lady for change for a five-dollar bill. We wanted to send Canadian dollar bills to people as gifts.

 

She told us they didn’t have dollar bills any more, or two-dollar bills, or even pennies. She said, “I’ll give you five loonies.”

 

We met a nice lady in a souvenir shop who talked to us about Canada and her trips to the United States. She showed us a picture of the bird with the nickname her shop was named after, “Whiskey Jack Boutique.” People were hoping to make it the Canadian national bird.

 

Murray said that now we know our passports worked, we can go to Toronto for a weekend.

 

We’ll see.

Grace and Truth, John 16:16-33, Through Jesus We Can Overcome the World

Verses 19-28 and 31-33: Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.

A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

Jesus, you told us we would have trouble in the world, just like you did. But you overcame the world, and we can, too, because you promised God loves us and will hear our prayers. You promised you will give us your joy. Thank you, Lord. 

Trip Highlights for Our First Wedding

We left last Thursday about 4:00 a.m., and saw two deer in the middle of the city as we were leaving, a not uncommon thing in our city because of the metro park nearby. There were five of us, plus Hammy, Caleb’s guide dog, in the van.

 

We seemed packed more than full, and I wondered how we used to do it with seven people in the van plus everything we had to take for a trip. But we made it okay, even over a thirteen-and-a-half-hour drive, and I thought how it might be the last time so many of us traveled together, as the kids get older and move farther into their own lives.

 

The wedding was Saturday. Sarah was one of the attendants and needed to be at the site early in the morning. Rebecca and Steve each had seven attendants, and she’d arranged for all the ladies to get together and have help with hair and make-up. I came a couple hours later to sit in while Rebecca was getting ready.

 

It was fun, sitting in the room filled with happy music and ladies talking and laughing. Rebecca gave me a gift bag with gifts for the mother of the bride. Smart she is. I think the gifts for the attendants may have included some cosmetics and jewelry, but mine had candy and snacks. She knows me well.

 

It took around an hour to do Rebecca’s hair and make-up, with ladies surrounding her. I thought about my friend Janet W. Ferguson’s most recent book about a lady who was a wedding planner. She said her goal was to help a woman feel like a princess for a day, and I felt like that was what was happening for Rebecca. Then she plopped down on the floor in front of me and asked if I wanted to check out her hair.

 

All week we’d kept checking the weather forecast. For a day at the end of April, we hoped for a nice spring day for an outside wedding. The forecast was for rain Friday, and temperatures in the 50s for Saturday but windy. Rebecca said she didn’t mind clouds, as long as it didn’t rain.

 

Murray said early in the afternoon it rained, but the sun had come out some after that, and it looked like it was going to be okay for four-thirty, the time of the wedding.

 

Our family sat down first, and we kept waiting for more people to sit down behind us. Finally, Murray went back into the building where the dinner was going to be, to see what was happening.

 

It was windy and chilly, and most of the guests had gone inside. Murray said he heard Audrey, Rebecca’s matron of honor call out boldly, “Okay, everyone who is not part of the wedding party, go on out and find your seats.” Sarah said later that she was so glad Audrey was there to help with all the arrangements.

 

Things never go perfectly for a wedding, no matter how hard you work. Rebecca told me they had coolers set up with signs made up for the different drinks. For kids they had a cooler with a sign that said “Milk and Juice,” but when they went shopping Friday for last minute things, they couldn’t find any small bottles of milk. Then, on Saturday morning, at her hotel breakfast, Audrey snagged several cartons of milk, so the sign was not inaccurate.

 

After guests were seated behind us, a few members of the wedding party started to move out to proceed up the aisle. Then it started to rain, and then Murray laughed and said, “It’s hailing.” Someone behind us called, “This is good luck folks.” Mom told me later that she’d always heard if it rains on your wedding day, you’ll have a happy marriage.

 

Rebecca and Steve had written vows to each other, and Sarah told me later that she thought they both sniffled a little. I said I certainly sniffled. When they were done, Murray told me, “Rebecca looked pretty happy.”

 

After dinner, Rebecca and Steve had the first dance, and Murray said it looked amazingly choreographed, starting slow and easy, then quickly moving to more fast and intricate. Ping-Hwei found an old digital camera in his room last week, and caught their dance on video. After the dance, Rebecca asked everyone else to join them on the floor, and I heard Caleb ask Sarah to dance with him.

 

A fun surprise at the wedding. We met the granddaughter of the couple who ran the home in Taiwan where we found Ping-Hwei, Caleb and Benjamin. She introduced herself to us as the wife of Steve’s best man.

 

On Sunday, Murray, Ping-Hwei and I went on to Missouri to visit my mother where she lives in a senior living facility. On Sunday, we played scrabble with her, which is a fun memory I have with Mom when I was a kid.

 

On Monday, we sat with Mom through her activities in the morning and afternoon, which happened to be bingo both times. I told her we were good luck for her, because with us there, she won four games.

 

My brother Rodney came about mid-day. He has a garden, and I’m constantly telling him he should mail me some of his fresh radishes with dry ice. When he walked into Mom’s room, he handed me a small sack full of radishes and said, “I pulled these, cut the stems and cleaned them just this morning.”

 

After we left there, we drove by to visit Murray’s brother Myles, his wife Heather and their daughter Melissa. They had happy little one-year-old dogs, who gifted me by again and again jumping up and putting their paws on my lap and kissing me.

 

With the closeness of our journey, the traveling, time in the hotel, the wedding, and our visit to Mom and the chance to be with family, not everything went smoothly, as it never does. But I thought these verses, one from Rebecca and Steve’s wedding, spoke well. Colossians 3:12-14: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

 

  

Psalm 14, Lord, Make Me Not a Fool

For the director of music. Of David.

The fool says in his heart,

    “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;

    there is no one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven

    on all mankind

to see if there are any who understand,

    any who seek God.

All have turned away, all have become corrupt;

    there is no one who does good,

    not even one.

Do all these evildoers know nothing?

They devour my people as though eating bread;

    they never call on the Lord.

But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,

    for God is present in the company of the righteous.

You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,

    but the Lord is their refuge.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

    When the Lord restores his people,

    let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

 

The footnote in Psalm 14 from Bible Gateway says, “Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.”

 

Lord, I often feel like such a fool. Now, even more. I can so easily fall into what is vile.

 

But I do seek you, Lord. I do call on you. Jesus, through your death, I am counted among the righteous. You are my refuge. 

Acts Chapter 29

At church this week we studied from the book of Acts.

 

Acts 1:7-8: He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

Our pastor, Matt, said Jesus gave a table of contents here for the rest of the book of Acts, through chapter 28. I’m not sure where I heard it, but someone said we are living in Acts chapter 29.

 

Acts 2:42-47: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

 

Matt went on to talk about the church, a community of people who were joined together by belief in Jesus. He said this is talking about us in 2023.

 

The church two thousand years ago and now, are a group who give ourselves to God’s word, to prayer, to meeting the needs of those around us, and to showing why others should want to be a part of God’s family.

 

That is as true now as it was in the first century. God will add people to his church if they see us loving each other and those around us. We may not all be great friends or agree about everything, but we agree on this: Jesus, his word, his ways. 

Guest Author, Sally Carpenter

This book, and series, sound great. Thank you, Sally, for sharing with us.

The family that sleuths together stays together

 

I want to thank Kathy for this opportunity to write a guest post for her blog.

 

My eighth and most recent cozy mystery and clean read, The Highland Havoc Caper, follows the ongoing exploits of Sandy Fairfax (his stage name), a 39-year-old former teen idol and TV star. Over the years, he’s faced numerous challenges: a career that peaked and then crashed, divorce, alcoholism and estrangement from his family.

But now he’s determined to get his life back on track (and solve a few mysteries along the way). Sandy quit drinking, returned to work and is mending broken relationships.

 

Sandy’s only son is called Chip because he resembles his father, with his blue eyes and blond hair, and also that his full name is the unwieldy Stanford Ernest Farmington III. Chip was seven years old when his parents divorced. Now he’s 13 years old and living with his mom, stepdad and younger sister.

 

Until recently Chip seldom spent time with his father and when he did, Sandy was often drunk. Chip more frequently saw his dad in reruns of his TV show. His dad’s fame didn’t endear him with his classmates, who made fun of Sandy’s well-publicized brushes with the law. Like most boys, he longed for a real dad. Chip loves his time with his dad, who is more adventuresome and foot-loose than his staid stepdad and disciplinarian mom.

 

Now that Sandy’s sober, he’s asking his ex, Becka, for more frequent visits to see his kids.   Becka’s dismayed that when they’re with Sandy, something bad happens. In a previous book, The Sinister Sitcom Caper, Chip helped Sandy to catch a murderer. Chip, of course, enjoyed the adventure; his mother was less enthused.

 

In Highland Havoc, a sober Sandy spends a good deal of time with Chip, more so than in the previous books. Sandy must start asserting himself as a father, not as a pal. Chip is yearning for more independence. When Sandy tells him it’s time to stop talking to some girls and come home, Chip replies, “Eat my shorts!” Sandy is not pleased at the rebuttal. He spoiled his kids so they’d want to see him, but that approach may not work anymore.

 

When Chip spends the night at Sandy’s house, Dad is shocked to discover that his son is afraid of the dark and must sleep with a light on. Just how well does Sandy know his kids? Having been absent from their lives during their formative years, Sandy is having a hard time catching up.

 

Chip is fiercely interested in the opposite sex. Sandy attempts to have an awkward talk with him about “the birds and the bees.” Chip is aware of his dad’s wild past with women and his string of girlfriends since the divorce. As a pop star, Sandy was quite the lady’s man in his heyday. Sandy preaches, “Do as I say, not as I did.” He hopes Chip will avoid some of the pitfalls he stumbled into, but do kids listen to their parents? Then a 19-year-old TV star takes a shine to Chip, and Sandy worries that the world-wise actress will take his son down a wrong path.

 

What bonds Sandy and Chip is that they solve a mystery together. In an attempt to expose Chip to culture, Sandy drags him to a guided tour of an old castle. Chip’s bored, so he takes an unauthorized detour into an abandoned wine cellar where he finds a body. Sandy rushes to get help, but when they return, the corpse is gone! How can the killer be found when there’s no body or even a name for the deceased?

 

Sandy and Chip look for clues together and share theories. Chip finds this exciting, but Sandy fears that his son’s involvement will get him in danger. And it does. No spoilers, but Sandy and Chip end up in a dire predicament, and only by working together—and overcoming Chip’s phobia—can they escape. Sandy beams with pride at his son’s accomplishments. Chip has a new appreciation for his dad.

 For more information on my books, purchase links and to download two free short stories, go to my author website sandyfairfaxauthor.com.

 

Good Friday

Isaiah 53:3-6:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 

Lord Jesus, I always want to remember what you suffered for me on this day.

 

And yet, through all your pain, you were still filled with love for us and for those around you.

 

Luke 23:27-29:

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

 

Verses 32-34:

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

 

Verses 39-43:

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

 

I also want to remember your triumph.

 

Matthew 28:1-7:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

 

Thank you, Jesus.