Making Jam

Start with these beautiful berries.

Is there anything more alluring than

sweet local strawberries fresh from the field?

Wash and hull, slice and squish with your hands.

Pour into a big pot with some rhubarb and lots of sugar.

Stir and heat til it bubbles furiously, squeeze the pectin from the package and stir some more. Skim the pink froth off the top.

Pour into jars and screw the hot lids on.

Hear them snap as they cool.
Line them up on the windowsill and admire.

Open the jar and spread on fresh bread.

How satisfying is that!

This Strawberry Rhubarb Jam was made following the recipe on the Certo brand package of liquid pectin.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to the two most important men in my life. My wonderful Dad and my terrific husband.

They have both been great dads to their children

and loving and fun grandfathers.

Now my Dad is a great-grandfather and is building relationships and memories with the next generation.

Here are a few pictures, past and present of these two

fathers and grandfathers.
Dad and I - 1951

2008 Harv in 19902009

May God bless you both as you have blessed me.

Weekend fun.

Our kids were up for the weekend and I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

The only thing I don't have a picture of is the announcement made by our youngest son that he and his wife are expecting their first child.

That news made it a pretty near perfect weekend.

Celebrating Friendship

God loves us through our friends, sometimes giving us a taste of His unconditional love for us.

I got to celebrate having girlfriends this week - not once but twice.

My very best friend called me last week. We have known each other since childhood- having been "forced" by our mothers to play with each other as very young children and then becoming very close during our high school years. Back then we spent hours together: picking fruit each summer, walking each other home (endlessly) in the evenings, riding bikes to Avondale Dairy for ice cream, going shopping, sleeping over and talking every opportunity we had.

She lives in Calgary now and she and her husband travel extensively across the country on business so we don't get many opportunities to spend time together.

This past week she was in Richmond , and we spent two wonderful days together. We went shopping, walked in beautiful Minoru Park, had long meals together, traded stories and photos of our grandchildren, and shared our joys and concerns.

I can find no words that adequately express my delight at having her as my friend.

Thank you, Laurena for your friendship and the wonderful days we spent together.

My only regret is that although I carried my camera with me the whole time we were together, I only once remembered to use it. I guess that gives you a good idea of how much ground we covered in those 2 days.

....................................................................................................

When I got home Thursday night, I just had time to unpack and repack before

joining 5 girlfriends on Friday for a weekend at Little Shuswap Lake.

These are also very dear friends - some of us go back at least 35 years while others of us have bonded more recently. We all attend the same church and through ladies events, Bible studies, scrapbooking and shared relationships have become good friends.

It is remarkable to us that though we span some 20 years in age,

we never feel that much talked about "generation gap".

As we laughed, played paper and card games, soaked up the sun and shared the making and eating of fabulous meals,

we celebrated the most important thing that binds us together:

Our love for God and our faith in His Son, Jesus.

I am grateful to each one of you for gracing me with your unconditional friendship.

A special thank you to Jan, who invited us to share their gorgeous lakeside retreat. She always comes up with creative ways to entertain us, is unfailingly generous and keeps us laughing.

The memories made this week will warm my heart for a lifetime.

Clematis - a Week Later

It is now a week later; my "Nellie Moser" Clematis is in full flower and

the double white variety whose name I've forgotten has started to bloom.

As you can see "Nellie" is very showy and has somewhat overwhelmed

the later blooming Clematis.You have to look closely to see the flowers as they bud and then unfold their petals as they have a soft yellow green hue that hides in the floliage. Each flower has a "star" of leaves around it when it begins to bud. Soon the petals begin to unfold into creamy spikes.This one is almost open.And these beauties are in full bloom. There is now only a hint of green which disappears into purest white as the centre petals unfurl.

With a view like this,

it's hard to do anything else but take pictures and exclaim:

O LORD, You are my God.

I will exalt You and Praise Your Name.

For in perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things.

Postscript

I found the tag from the double white Clematis today.

It is called "the Duchess of Edinburgh".