A Lesson from Grandma & Her Lilacs

I have always loved lilacs. I don't know too many women who don't. They smell heavenly and they are so delicate. Even the word "lilac" sounds pretty.

These past few weeks I have been enjoying my lilac bush beside my front patio. If the breeze is blowing just right the fragrance from it wafts in the front door. mmmmm.....

Of course, being the sentimental person that I am, it got me to thinking about my grandma and her wedding day. I had heard the story of Grandma and Grandpa's courtship & wedding day quite a few times during my childhood. I loved how they "met" through their letters and shared photographs. How he travelled to another province to meet her for the first time and how, the day of their wedding, she went out into the garden and made herself a huge bouquet of lilacs.

But it wasn't until I was writing our family's history a few years ago that she told me about something that happened years after their wedding.

Grandpa Klassen decided to surprise Grandma by having their black & white wedding portrait colour tinted and then give it to her as a gift for her birthday. Now apparently Grandpa wasn't much into surprises and definitely not the most sentimental man so Grandma was extremely touched by his gesture. As she opened her present and saw the portrait her heart sank... the colours were wrong! I guess since it was years later and, being a man, (sorry, but it's true) he didn't remember the details of the day all that well. On that day Grandma's dress was blue and the lilacs were white. Grandpa told the artist her dress was white and the lilacs were blue.

You know that Grandma never told him that he got it wrong. I can imagine her, putting on a wonderful performance... thanking him for his thoughtful gift and then proudly hanging the photo back on the wall.

There's such a valuable lesson in that, don't you think? We allow little things to become so major when we could just let them slide. We let one little thing pile on top of the next until it becomes a mountain when not one of them is really important. What is more important? The person we love or the fact that he never puts his dishes in the dishwasher or he missed the fact that you just got your hair done?


Thanks, Grandma, for all the wonderful stories you told me and lessons you taught me. Miss you.

Flowers on the Freeway

Everyone has their herald of Spring. For some it's seeing that first robin, for others it is that first day you can go outside without a jacket. For me it's my flowers on the freeway.

Have you ever noticed them? Bright yellow daffodils growing haphazardly in the median, through the thick dead grass and in between the enormous fir trees. For as long as I can remember they have been growing there but I always wondered why. There is no rhyme or reason, they seem to come up wherever they please. Then one night while we were at a family dinner the subject came up. (I'm sure I was the one who brought it up by the way...) My mom said, "Oh I know why they are there. They were planted for BC's Centennial Celebration."

Are you kidding? Wasn't that like in 1967?

For just over 40 years those daffodils have been coming back year after year. Surviving winter after winter, droughts, weeds and massive mowers. No one has baby-ed them and pampered them. There has been no weeding or watering. As far as I'm concerned they are as beautiful as any flower in Minter Gardens.

There has to be a lesson in there somewhere don't you think? Yes, that's it...

“Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you."

I knew I loved them for a reason, I just didn't know why until now.

(Just in case you were wondering... Yes, I found a way into the middle of the freeway to take these shots. Shhhh...don't tell Tony, OK?)

Did I Tell You I Got a New Camera?

My family is getting so tired of this sentence but it's true. I've been waiting for this for so long so they're just going to have to put up with me for a while - I got a new camera!!

I have always loved taking photographs...there’s just something about capturing a moment in time and preserving it for posterity. I walked the Fort-to-Fort trail this morning (looking for a geo-cache of course) and my beautiful new camera was with me - it has become my constant companion. It seemed that wherever I looked there was another "kodak moment" - a tugboat with an enormous barge, a beautiful trillium, a old, old barn that was built a hundred years ago. They are all now captured on film (ooops...memory card.)

For some reason looking through the lens of my new camera has given me a renewed sense of the beauty around me. I think I have a pretty good appreciation for God’s creation... but lately I have appreciated His artistic ability more and more.

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.