One year ago...

I've just spent some long overdue time playing with Blogger: I upgraded to the new Blogger, changed and customized my template, and added some new links and favourites. In the process, I noticed that it was almost exactly one year ago that I made my first post! Happy Anniversary, two cats and a monky! So I haven't exactly been faithful (or as faithful as some), but it has been fun. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit my blog and to those who have left comments.

Let me take this opportunity to advertise a little software product that I've become excited about (thank you, Claire): Readerware. Anyone who is a bibliophile can appreciate this product - simply enter an ISBN number or use a little barcode scanner, and you can catalogue your entire collection of books, movies, and music. Follow the link in my Destinations sidebar for more details. I'm on my way to order the CD (there's a special offer of a free barcode scanner right now) as soon as I'm finished with this post. Three cheers for being organized! Is there such a thing as being too organized? I haven't found out yet, but maybe I'll get a little bit closer soon.

Birthday Party!

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Originally uploaded by Auntie Kangaroo.

I had a wonderful "first" this year: a surprise birthday party! Ok, so I knew about it ahead of time, but it was kinda necessary as the party was at my place, in my pool. The party was a success, the cake (thanks, Kendra!) was amazing, the theme was lots of fun. I felt so blessed by family and friends, and so loved. Thanks to all of you for coming all the way out here.

Sunshine and whiskers

Saturday morning was one of those that remind the soul, "summer is coming!" There's something about sunshine and cats, each brings out something beautiful in the other.

Losing a battle

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Originally uploaded by Auntie Kangaroo.

Christmas is coming. One of the two most important and wondrous anniversaries of the year. I've passed other anniversaries (a few weeks ago I passed the two year mark of living in my condo), and others are coming up (in March my cats turn 2). But this is the one that we all enjoy, that some of us fight for (happy holidays, indeed) to preserve its name and reason. Some battles are worth fighting.

Other battles obviously are meant to be lost. Like the one that Mr. Knightley is winning here. I gues his watching me from his perch in front of my warm toaster oven is better than his watching me from his perch on my shoulder. Especially when I don't have the benefit of a specially designed reinforced shoulder pad (David Weber fans should catch the reference and my train of thought).

That's all for now, folks. Here's my chance to wish all of you a Happy Christmas, with all the joy that the first Christmas brought to some weary shepherds on a lonely hill.

Home refreshing!

So much has happened this summer! Now it's September, and time to settle down and settle in to work, fiscal responsibility, the new TV season, and the wind-up towards Christmas (yes, choir starts next Sunday). But let's take a look back at all the fun...

It all started with the Agrifair on the July 1st weekend (oh yeah, already posted about that one), a very fun Cousins' Day, then an unforgettable Phantom of the Opera, Bard on the Beach, and the traditional visits to the PNE.

And in the midst of it all, a little project to add some colour to my life. What do cats have to do with painting and new furniture? Everything, if they can get away with it. I couldn't have done it without Kendra's hard work, or had so much fun doing it. There are more pictures here if you want to see the pretty colours I found for my bedrooms.

Mr. Knightley helped us pull the old (ugly) border from the wall of my guest room. Notice the pretty blue baseboards, which thankfully are now a beautiful white!

Sorry, this one is a bit fuzzy, but it's still one of my favourites. Emma loved the new bookshelves, at least until I filled them with books and put the doors on.

Flying High

It's been a busy summer! I was going through my photos from the last couple of months, and was surprised to see how much has happened. Time has flown indeed! And how appropriate to start this summer blog run with pictures from the Abbotsford Agrifair. I went with Milena and Elyssa, and quickly learned a lesson in how the enjoyment of rides changes with age. Elyssa was running from ride to ride to ride to ride, each of which rotated in the same (counter-clockwise) direction. I used to love these rides! What happened to my internal gyroscope, and my ability to recover between rides? It was still a very fun time, with beautiful fireworks to top it all off. Oh yeah, and a wild bumper-car playtime at the end of it all. If you want to see more pictures, go here.

Bouncing kitties and other phenomena

And now, back to our regular programming...

I wish I could catch them at it. 'Tis the season of flies mysteriously finding the dead centre of a room and orbiting around it. 'Tis therefore the season of cats randomly jumping in the air after said flies. One second they are out of sight behind my easy chair, and the next they're leaping in the air and chattering at the flies. It's adorable and insane at the same time. The other day Emma pulled a moth off the wall at least 5 feet from the floor. Crazy stuff! Of course, the minute I pull out my camera, they turn into writhing exhibitionists on the floor, apparently incapable of supporting their weight on their cute little paws.

I regretted that special leaping ability on Saturday. We lived through quite an adventure. Mr. K. got a Starbucks gift bag stuck around his middle (I guess he tried to crawl through the handle), and took off in a great tear to try to outrun the bag that was chasing him. This spooked Emma, who leaped up onto the windowsill in my bedroom. This window sill sits at least an inch above my head, a leap of 5 and a half feet from the floor. On one side, cozy and safe bedroom. On the other side, a four-storey drop to my neighbour's patio. I pulled Emma down, with my heart in my throat, then managed to corner the black blur and remove the offending bag, and we all sat back and let the adrenaline drain out of us. Enough excitement, already. Leaping should be outlawed.

Yes, I Believe

Ok, here's the post that I really wanted to write yesterday. But then I found a different soap box, stepped up onto it, and, well, I gave a little rant. Now that's out of my system (and really, should I be surprised that yet another TV offering is superficial and contrived?), and I can get back to what I was really thinking about.

I was listening to one of the "speakers" in TLC's The Messengers yesterday. A woman was espousing her point of view that we, as a culture, are pressured to "believe" religion, to "believe" in whatever we call true, to "believe" in the facts of our lives, and thus we cheat ourselves out of realizing that what we have right now is perfect. Her solution? To grasp the moment by knowing these same things, not simply believing them.

So I started thinking. What is this distinction between knowledge and belief? Are we as Christians missing something by emphasizing belief? So many songs speak of belief. By definition, we say we are Christians because we believe in Jesus. Is this somehow a lesser expression of trust than to say that we know?

But really, faith is both. It's "being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). I know that God exists, that He sent His Son to live as a man, that Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sins, that He rose from the dead, that He offers eternal life to all who put their trust in Him, that He provides the Holy Spirit as a counsellor and guide in my life. These are all things that I have not directly observed in the past or present, or they are things that I hope for in the future. But I know them all to be true, by historical record as well as personal experience of the effects of these facts in my life and in the lives of others. So, to agree with the contestant on TV, I know these things.

But it's also true that I believe them. If knowing implies a certainty of mind, so that I accept these things as real, there's still something missing. And that is belief. A choice of mind and heart. A choice to trust in the promises made. I believe in Jesus. I believe in salvation by grace, not my works of good. I believe that I will live eternally with Christ in Heaven, and I believe in His working in and through me by the agent of the Holy Spirit.

I know these things to be real, but beyond that I have committed my heart to also believing and trusting them.

That's what was missing. It's great to say "I know" something. But if I know it and don't let it change my life, if I simply stop there and am satisfied with accepting these things as facts, the knowledge stays in my head. I want it to live in my heart, my very being, as well.

Conversely, belief without knowledge is equally incomplete. I don't want to believe in something about which I can't say "I know this to be true". What would be the point? As Paul wrote to the Romans, if I believe in Christ's resurrection, but it didn't really happen, then my faith, my belief, is futile.

So the speaker had one kernel of truth in her argument. It's pointless to simply believe, believe. We must know. And knowing, we must believe.

A different kind of post

Once again I have been disappointed with a new "reality tv" show.

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a TLC junkie (my favourite tlc life lesson is the one about becoming the crazy cat lady - big surprise). So I've seen the promo ads for their new show, The Messengers. From how it was portrayed, I thought it was supposed to be about following some ordinary people as they went out and experienced the hard lives of others, and candidly related to the rest of us what they had learned. Already over-exposed to this sort of thing by tear-jerking WorldVision ads, I thought I would give this a pass, also becuase I imagined it would not really offer any real solutions, unlike the afore-mentioned tear-jerkers.

But tonight I left the TV on while I went out for some last-minute shopping (got to get those windows clean for the screen-installer-guy tomorrow). When I came home, The Messengers was on, and it turns out to be some American Idol rip-off, a competition for "America's next inspirational speaker". I stood there with my jaw hanging open for at least 10 seconds (quite a long time when there are three flies hovering around the centre of my living room). Is this a new low, or has North American culture so watered down sincere presentations and expressions of truth, that it is now open for competition? Have we stooped so low that we're ready to listen to people, completely irrespective of how true their statements are (never mind whether or not the speaker believes what they're saying), as long as their speaking is impassioned and convincing enough? Is morality so relative that we choose to act on what the best (most convincing) speaker is saying?

What about the people that help the competitors arrive at the insights that they then exploit to win the competition?

I could have expected something like this from some other networks, but TLC? I am more inspired by the life-changing experiences of people on What Not To Wear. At least these life changes are real and not made to be voted on.

To top it all off, the final prize of this moralized "Idol" knock-off? A publishing deal! Words fail me. Look out for a new bookstore shelf category: TV Inspired Inspirational. The content of these books? Doesn't really seem to matter, as long as they look and sound like a successful "inspirational" speaker. Parallel thought: sensational criminals get book deals; this competition could fit with politics - "America's Next Top Politician" or "America's Next President" (now there could be a good show!).

I started this post with a different thought, while listening to one of the speakers (maybe I'll get back to that in another post). This was before I realized that it was a competition. When I still thought that the people were actually speaking because they wanted to get a point across, not to get votes from the audience on their presentation.

Dare I wonder what would happen if someone stood up there and presented Truth?

Not my usual kind of post. A bit more cynical and more tongue-in-cheek than usual. But I had to get it out of my head.

Cool kitty

I know we can't complain about a 3-day heat wave, when much of the rest of the continent is suffering worse than we are. But in typical Vancouver fashion, even this weather extreme is much-discussed, analysed, emphasized, and sensationalized. And it does provide some interesting challenges. What do you do with a black cat who insists on sitting as close to a sunbeam as possible, without actually baking? Especially when his sister is smart enough to find the coolest spots in the house? Yesterday during the hottest part of the day she even sprawled herself in front of the fan (about three feet away, mind you) to stay cool. Well, I've discovered something new. My brush-adoring kitty also seems to like a damp cloth to cool his overheated fur. Maybe I'll have to try a wool vest in winter. Or would studded leather suit him better? I'm open to suggestions. Just no bonnets, please.