I was up at 6:50. Breakfast, then saddled up my bike. About fifteen minutes to the gym. Met Granny and friend on the trail. They walk every morning. Granny is very healthy and health-oriented. Good for you, Gran!

Home again on my bike. Taught Laura piano at 11. Tea and laughs. Granny & Jed picked me up at 12:30 and dropped me off over town at Dr. T's office. He checked the bump on my wrist and sent me up to the hospital immediately for an x-ray. Doug had to come down and get me. Don't know what's going on. Appreciate your prayers that it's NOTHING. My wrist, hurts, though, so need to find out why.

Then home to teach til 8 pm. Now trying to cook supper. Oh dear -- what a day. A good day, but round and round. Will stay calm.

Nat & Josh, Aiden & Sarah

They are now on their way to PEI -- picked them up at 6 pm this evening and gave them a vehicle, had supper at McDonald's and off they went. Sarah is 4 months old and looking very healthy, and Aiden is full of energy. Josh is tired from the day, trying to keep Aiden calm. A three-year-old traveling is not an easy thing!

Now I'm traveling on my bike for the next two weeks. I'm looking forward to it. My first trip is Tuesday morning, biking to the gym for an 8 am appointment.

Sleepless on Grand Manan and a Personal Ferry Ride

Friday afternoon we took off to Grand Manan for an overnight trip. We left our vehicle and walked on, two vagabonds, who sat outside in the fog and huddled together under a blanket, eating french fries and reading a book together. How romantic, but cold. The ocean is raw and cold, but we love it.

Stayed at Rhonda & Chris' house with another man from Halifax. We were there for a conference. Friday night found me up and down opening and closing windows and playing with the door latch which kept rattling due to the wind off the ocean in our room. I thought it might be Rhonda's cat trying to come in, but here Rhonda was trying to keep the door from rattling by using a pillow to keep it open. We were playing cat and mouse with each other, but didn't know the other was on the other side of the door. Quite a night of non-sleep for the two of us. Very funny.

All day Saturday was a conference and visiting with Q. Evening conference, and then R & C drove us to the ferry for an 11:30 pm ferry ride across the fog infested waters to Black's Harbour. A lone tractor trailer without a driver and Doug and me, as walk-ons. I went outside a couple of times to get blasted with fog mist, and then we settled down for an 1 1/2 hour rest -- our own cruise, although the fog horn blasted every five minutes, waking us up. Miraculously, at 1:15 on the other side, we were able to drive another two hours to Fredericton, listening to Saint John News Radio about cross border shopping. Arrived home at 3:30 a.m. To bed for me after 4 am. Are we tired yet? Perhaps? Sleepless in Fredericton now.

Woke near noon and got ready to go to Granny's Fredericton Ladies Choir performance. I took Jed with me, and picked up Jessica along the way. A wonderful, relaxing concert -- very soothing to me. I felt like I could go to sleep, but didn't want to fall out of the balcony.

To D & L's for supper, then a long walk on the train bridge and over to the university, where we sat under the Thailandish pagoda and met a unique couple on a bicycle built for two who had biked to Oromocto and bike to buy chicken at KFC. We were having quite the conversation with them, when another women emerged from the UNB hill, and entered our pagoda. I quipped in jest, "Welcome to Thailand." Then she told us that she was one of 6,000 intellectual tourists that have descended on Superior City for the week. Her specialty is in sociology. I urged her to walk back to the train bridge with us and we gave her a walking tour and sent her on her way to the downtown. Angela, from Toronto. Welcome to Fredericton. She thinks Fredericton is beautiful and very friendly. We acted like she was our long lost cousin as we strolled along the walking path. We were thinking we should get some tourist guide t-shirts or something.

We dropped D & L off at their house and went up to Doug's mother's to get my bike, as I'm going to lose my vehicle for the next two weeks. Nat & Josh, Aiden & Sarah are flying in to F'ton tomorrow and driving to PEI for two weeks, so we're lending them our car.

Up at Doug's mother's house, we played hide n seek with a raccoon up the tree who is trying to climb up the bird feeder. The next door neighbour was trying to take a video of the whole process.

Now it is 10:22, and we're trying to make our way towards bed and hopefully sleep. Is anyone tired of me writing? I am tired of my rambling, so good night and good sleep to all!

Ludlow and the High Price of Gas

You know I've always got a story or two to tell of things that happen to me. Listen to this one: Last evening, Maxine and I left Fredericton about 5:30. We rushed out of the house, hopped in my Honda CRV, and took off towards Ludlow, where I was to speak at a women's meeting at the Anglican Church, just outside Boiestown. Phenny and Kim had gone ahead of us in another car. So far, so good. At some point, driving towards Taymouth, I decided it might be an idea to get some gasoline put in the little vehicle and thought we'd stop at the Taymouth service station, right there before you go across the Taymouth bridge. At this point, I had never looked at my gas gauge, just assumed I might need gas (we were talking up a storm, of course, me and Max).

Well, the gas station was no longer -- it was a house. I crossed the Nashwaak Stream, thinking there would be another station further up the road, when all of a sudden I looked at the gas gauge -- on EMPTY!!!! It screamed at me. Oh, oh...."Max, we're not going to make it...we need to pray that we can find gas somewhere." After a few miles, I realized -- NO GAS FOR YOU until Boiestown, girl, and then the EMPTY light came on. Oh, Oh, again -- Max -- we need to pray....We had just been talking about faith and having more of it, so here was the test. I KNEW I would not make it to Boiestown, and tried to reach Phenny on the cell phone -- NO SERVICE where we were. Oh, Oh. OK, what next? Keep driving, I guess. Phenny and Kim were having a grand ol' time dodging moose about fifteen minutes up the road.

We drove along, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a home garage with a half ton or two in front of it. I whipped the li'l rig in the dooryard and got out, all dressed up in my high heeled sandals and good clothes. "You men know where I can get some gas? I'm almost out and my husband used my vehicle last night and ran it dry." (He did do this, of course, not taking care of his little wife to ensure her tank was filled up. I'll blame it on him, anyway).

"No, no gas here," they replied. "Know where I can get any? Lawnmower gas?" "Nope." (even though there were ATVs in the garage and other vehicles, they were adamant no gas was to be found).

I asked if they had a phone -- in the back I traipsed, through grease and wires and dirt, delicately making my way with my high shoes, to find a very dirty phone. Thinking to myself, "How did I get here? The crazy situations I get into -- honestly." Should have just picked up a wrench and started wrenching something, and forget about the meeting. But the show must go on, so, I found the phone amongst a bunch of hanging wires and parts.

Then I couldn't remember Phenny's cell phone number and dialed a number that got me Rick Green, a host at the radio station. "Oh sorry, Rick, it's Deb. I'm almost to Boiestown and have no gas. Sorry." He must have thought, "What???" Go figure. Dialed another number -- help me, Lord, remember Phenny's number?? Brain, work!!! No answer at the number I called. Must not be it. Have a phone book, guys, I yelled. "Yeah, somewhere there in the back."

I root around in the back and find the book; try to see the names and numbers, but no glasses to see with. I think about calling Carolyn who lives in Boiestown, but can't see. Then, the garage phone rings. I pick it up -- it's Phenny. "Deb??" (wondering why I'm calling from a strange place, I'm sure).... "Come get me -- turn around and come back. I'm almost out of gas." "Ok, will do," she laughed, wondering what is going on. They had seen about four moose by this time and she said she didn't really want to turn around and encounter them again, but she did it for me, seeing she likes me and all, and I was the speaker after all, and I was going to be late.

I went back outside where Max was sitting in the car. What to do now but wait for Phenny and Kim? But, something had changed -- a 12 year old boy had a big can of what he said was gas. Gas? Where did that come from? Were they holding out on us? I think so. He was like the loaves and fishes boy in the Bible when Jesus asked if anyone had anything to eat, he appeared out of nowhere with food -- enough to feed the 5,000 people.

He seemed to come out of nowhere, although he was there when we got there, but I didn't pay him no mind. He was our rescue boy. They poured about two gallons of gas into a jerry can and into my tank it went. I went to get my wallet to pay him, as I thought I had change, but alas, I had forgotten my wallet (along with my license!). "Max, got any money?" I whispered.

Max only had a $20., so this precious boy received $20.00 for about two gallons of gas. He was astounded by our 'generosity,' but we couldn't ask for change, could we? $20.00 for two gallons. OK -- what's important is to get us to Boiestown to the gas station. Went back through the garage again to call Phenny and tell them to turn around yet again. She must have thought I was crazy (well, I think she already knows). Thank you very much, guys..."I love men," I quipped and off we went. We're sure they were saying, "Stupid women.." or something like that.

Ten to fifteen minutes later we arrived at the Irving in Boiestown but by that time it was too late to get gas, plus we had no money left. We briefly stopped and asked how long they were open -- 10 pm. Good -- and we have enough gas to get to Ludlow and back. Hit the road again for another ten minutes. Got to the church at 6:55 pm. Grabbed the guitar and went downstairs in the church hall to find about 20 women sitting there waiting for us. Fired up the guitar, then told them how stuff always happens to us when we come to Ludlow. Had them laughing about our gas experience.

Had a great time with them and had a nice lunch afterwards, which was good, since we never had supper either. They gave me an envelope with money in it before I left. Left the church about 8:30 and back to the Irving. I said to Max, I'm going to assume there is at least $20.00 in this envelope and put that much in the car; it will get us back to Fredericton. And since we were talking about faith, I was doing that in faith, too (although we DID have Max's debit card if all else failed to pay for it. Good thing, because I didn't want to stay and work at the gas station to pay for my gas. Too many black flies in Boiestown for me LOL).

I went to pay for the gas, and opened the envelope, and was astounded at the amount of money they had given me -- they must have felt sorry for us. It was over $140.00! We were surprised, but hey, why should we be? God always provides and MORE, right?

Paid a lot of money for a little amount of gas, but ended up with so much more in the end, plus a lot of laughs along the way.

Moral of the story? Check your gas gauge -- or not -- God proves Himself anyway, despite our failures. LIVE LAUGH LOVE

By the way, if you're going to Boiestown -- gas up BEFORE Taymouth. Just a little tip.... And watch out for moose. Or should I say meese?

Our Anniversary Weekend

Well, we escaped to an undisclosed location to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary and to reconnect with each other. It was wonderful to be together, alone, to talk, walk, campfire, sleep, eat, watch movies, etc. Can you guess where we went?

33 Years

Happy Anniversary to us! Deborah Susan MacDonald and John Douglas MacDonald have been officially married for 33 years. Celebrate with us!

I came home this morning after my intense gym workout to find another wild bird seed bra insert hanging from the back door (my supplier dropped it off).

I tried it, but it's still not quite the right shape. We handed it around Bible study tonight (only women and Doug were here when this happened). Everyone had a comment, and I'll pass those on to the designer.

I clipped an article out of the newspaper that talks about a new by-law here in Fredericton: anyone feeding pigeons in Fredericton will get a ticket. Oh dear -- should I wear this 'appliance' or not? Might have some hefty fines chalked up once the pigeons discover I'm wearing their food.

Give Away and Receive

So I gave away my living room rug last week to Ruthie, whom I had just met that evening. And today, the Southshore Sister bought me a beautiful wool rug for the living room for my birthday (a pre-birthday gift, since Aug 22nd is a few months away). A generous rug by a generous sister.

Ruthie is happy with her new rug, and I am very happy with mine.

On another note, now I'm awaiting the bird seed prosthesis to arrive at my door for a trial run. I'll keep you posted how it works out, as long as the birds don't get to it before I do. A. reminded me about the danger of pigeons and posited a possible headline for The Daily Gleaner, but I won't repeat it here. It was very funny.

I really need some serious sleep, but my new mattress didn't cooperate last night. It must have been awake all night.

I'm glad that I can make you laugh. My life is very laughable. The Southshore Sis thought she saw Dow Jones at the Superstore today, but corrected her that it was Dow Johnston. Quite a difference. I asked her if she could spot TSE somewhere in the store, but....Haha

A Rug and a Wild Bird Seed Bra

Ruthie and her new rug from my home. I guess it's exactly what she needed -- matches everything in her living room. I remember a couple of years ago when I gave my microwave to Angie from Norton. You never know what might happen here.

Why, just a few moments ago, a nurse came and showed me a new type of prosthetic, made out of 100% cotton, filled with wild bird seed and essential oils. A 92-year-old woman named Ruby G. has been making them for years, and this young nurse is going to try and market them. So I am a tester -- I like to think of myself as a 'cover girl.' Maybe like Jane Russell and the 24hour bra. Remember that? I'm wondering about something, though. What if the birds of the air take a liking to the bird seed inside my bra? Finches, chickadees, hawks, eagles, ravens, starlings. Oh dear.

The things that happen here in this house. Honestly. You just never know, do you?

A whirlwind

Do you ever feel like you've been in a whirlwind of activity? I know I've said this before about my life, but honestly, this month is crazy! I love it, but really need a little break, which we WILL get next weekend (our 33rd wedding anniversary on May 20).

Thursday night we had a gathering here at the house, and through a series of events, I ended up giving my living room rug away to a young woman for her apartment. Phenny and I rolled it up and placed it on her lap. Very funny. "Roll up the rug to win" or something like that -- sounds familiar. She took it home and her husband looked at her quizzically, since it was about 10:00 pm and here she is carting a 7 foot square rug into the apartment. It matched everything perfectly.

Friday I prepared for a Live Laugh Love retreat in Saint John, and just got back from that this evening. What a great time we had. Lots of laughs, living and loving.

Tomorrow morning I'm at Morning Gate leading music, and tomorrow evening finds me at Nashwaaksis Baptist Church speaking and singing -- LOVE is my theme, with a few laughs thrown in. It's my theme this past year -- LIVING LAUGHING LOVING. I came up with a new seminar which I will begin working on for later this year -- DREAM and BELIEVE or something like that. I also want to have time this summer to work on my upcoming bestseller (why not think positive): "The Book of Deborah: Don't Worry, It's Not Part of the Apocrypha." Want to pre-order a copy?

Oh, I think I'm a bit tired. Must go prepare for tomorrow and prepare for sleepytime.

Doug found out this afternoon that his mother ALSO lost her license (today) -- a letter came in the mail from Service New Brunswick. She called him, of course, very upset.

Oh dear, two parents with Alzheimer's. God help us. We are on a new journey.

Well, we got through the weekend. Traveling to Hartland and back twice, singing and playing the piano til all hours of the night at the healing conference at St. Margaret's church. And mourning the loss of my dear aunt, my mom's sister (17 months older than Mom). Made some connections with cousins I haven't seen for awhile as well, at the reception after the funeral. She was a dear woman, for sure, and she loved people, especially children, teaching so many children to swim over the years that she earned "Woman of the Year" award at the Hartland Potato Festival. She will be surely be missed by everyone who knew her.

Today was a day of being prodded and pulled, both by the doctors and Denis, my trainer at the gym. Felt like I'm making my body my slave kind of thing, like Paul says. Anyway -- Dr. Bryden, my wonderful surgeon, was very pleased with how my scar tissue has been stretched by what I've been doing at the gym. She said it was nice and soft now, but warned me about not going too heavy on the weights at the gym, so that I won't contract lymphedema in my arm. I'll have a little talk with trainer man in the morning.

We also talked about me having a prophylactic mastectomy (yet again), and she told me to wait til October (again) until after my 3rd year mammogram. I walked out of the office with my head held high. Thank you for praying.

Tonight after I teach, Doug and I are going to Doris' to watch a CNN special on Alzheimer's. I'm not really looking forward to it, but need to be informed.

My aunt passed away on Thursday night. Yesterday was the visiting hours at Britton's Funeral Home and today is the funeral at Coldstream Baptist Church (3 o'clock).

This weekend has been a very tiring and difficult one, to say the least. Mom and Dad traveled up river early Saturday morning. I've been leading music at St. Margaret's Anglican Church in Fredericton (with help from my ministry partners) on Friday night, and again on Saturday night. I also drove myself up to Hartland and back in the afternoon to the funeral home (along with a side trip to see the grandchildren for an hour). I had three hours by myself to reflect on life, dying, and remembering my aunt.

This morning I lead music at Morning Gate Church, then we drive up to Coldstream to the funeral. Cousin Wayne is the funeral director for our dear aunt. I can't understand how he can do what he had to do for Aunt Naida -- preparing her body and all. It takes a special type of person to do what he does. Thank you, Wayne. You are a gift from God.

After the funeral, we will travel back to Fredericton and I will lead worship at St. Margaret's healing conference. It's been a whirlwind weekend.

Monday is a long day as well -- I'm praying for strength. Dr. Christie at 9 am for my annual exam, the gym trainer at 1:30, and Dr. Bryden for my 4 month check-up. Once again, I am discussing the possibility of a prophylactic mastectomy with her. Do I have it done or don't I? That is the big question.

For today, however, it is about my aunt and singing to and for my wonderful Lord, who gets me through EVERYTHING.

My aunt Naida in Woodstock is on her death bed. This is Mom's closest in age sister. Mom & Dad went there today in their new vehicle, the first time that Mom has traveled a far distance (usually Dad does the driving, but alas...). I talked to Mom after supper tonight and she said it's just a matter of time now that her sister passes on. Would appreciate your prayers for the family, and for us as we make the trek up river, probably this weekend. So much to deal with in life, isn't there? Always sorrow, then happiness, then sorrow. That's life. Good thing that God is in charge of our lives.

Do you ever feel like you're running in circles and can't focus, whirling and twirling around like a whirling dirvish? (sp?). That's how I feel. This month is busy busy busy. How did I let it happen again? And on top of it all, I've had job offers! What's with that? Do I have time to take on another job? Why me? I'm honored, but really. The person who wanted to hire me told me he wants someone mature, who has life experience. I guess that's me -- lots of life experience, but mature? Not sure about that -- LOL.

Granny & Jed got a new Ford Escape today. I think Granny would like to escape in it somewhere. I'll have to try and keep her contained, or she'll be drivin' all around the country with Jed, perhaps loadin' up the truck and takin' off to Beverly Hills or somewhere.

Aiden and Natalie were at the post office today. Aiden looked at a woman who looked similar to me and cried out to his mother, "Gram Deb!" How sweet. Makes my day.

The last two days we have spent up river traipsing over land and forest -- old farms, woodlots, fields. My legs are tired. Don't know why I need to look for land, but just need to. Just in case we need to build something else. You never know with us.

Found this great quote by Martin Luther that I wrote down -- "Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."