There is a pond 15 km north of us, near Frontenace Road, where swans pause every spring on their northward migration. I saw a dozen there on Thursday, Chris saw 20 yesterday and today the number was up to 30. I was disappointed when I looked on Pixabay for swan photos. They have very few … Continue reading Swan sightings
Canada
Where will the puck be?
“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.” Wayne Gretzky That’s a great quote. One element of Grtzky’s success as a hockey player was his ability to read how the action around him was going to unfold and put himself in position to take control of the … Continue reading Where will the puck be?
But God Can Save Us Yet
[This is an excerpt from a Canadian Classic, Roughing it in the Bush, by Susanna Moodie, first published in 1852. At the climax of the crisis described here, she buries her head in her apron. It was her custom to pull up her apron to cover her head for privacy when praying.] The winter and … Continue reading But God Can Save Us Yet
Winter grumbles
It was -36° when I got up this morning, wind chill -47°. Those numbers are on the Celsius scale, but the Fahrenheit numbers don't look any better: -33° and -52° wind chill. This is the depth of winter, the whole week is supposed to be like this. There can be advantages to days like this. … Continue reading Winter grumbles
Why wait for spring – Do it now!
I first posted this five years ago. Readers enjoyed it, and nothing much has changed. So here it is again. A few days ago my wife and I got to talking about a catchy advertising jingle of fifty years ago that was heard incessantly at this time of year. My wife even remembered all the … Continue reading Why wait for spring – Do it now!
You don’t know the wind
The title comes from a line in an art book published 25 years ago, titled If you’re not from the prairie . . . The art is by Henry Ripplinger and the poetic text by David Bouchard. Together they evoke childhood in rural Saskatchewan just as I remember it. Another line in the book says … Continue reading You don’t know the wind
The second coming – of Karl Marx
Perhaps the best way to describe Karl Marx’s ideology is to call it the atheistic version of John Nelson Darby’s millennial doctrine. Marx foresaw a time of class warfare causing chaos and upheavals (a great tribulation) before a worldwide reign of peace (the millennium). Marxism delivered on the great tribulation, historians estimate the deaths caused … Continue reading The second coming – of Karl Marx
My home and native land
I am Canadian by birth. I am part of this country and its people; this country and its people are part of me. The history and culture of Canada are an integral part of who I am. I have lived and worked in five of Canada’s ten provinces and visited three more; I am at … Continue reading My home and native land
There is no valid baptism without the new birth
The beginning of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite in Western Canada owes much to the spiritual vision of one man. Peter Toews was the Elder of the largest part of the Kleine Gemeinde (Little Church) which had separated from the main body of the Mennonite church on the Molotschna Colony in Ukraine in … Continue reading There is no valid baptism without the new birth
An abundance of geese
I asked my wife this morning if we should take today to go to the city for the things we needed, or if another day would be better. Then we got a message that the electricity would be turned off in our area from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. That was our answer. School was … Continue reading An abundance of geese