Did someone say Cake?

Today is my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of my kidney transplant on April 24, 2019. 

now you're showing off

My Life is Changed ! 

Last year I tried to explain the change to my life in a post four months after my surgery and recovery,  Click here to read How has my life changed? 

It’s hard to explain how grateful, and blessed I feel daily. – David

 

**********************************************************************

My Susan just took her cake out of the oven, and I can smell it! ♥

 

*****************************************************

I am asking you to do two things today. 

  1.  I am asking you to eat something sweet like cake to celebrate my one year kidney transplant anniversary with me.
  2. Please let me know what you enjoyed, I will celebrate with  you vicariously

*********************************************************************************

Today’s Word of the Day: Vicariously 

Definition: in a way that is experienced in the imagination through the actions of another person.

*************************************************************************************

Big thanks for reading today! – David

kidney

 

 

Posted in family, FAVORITE POSTS - A Few of them ♥, health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 75 Comments

Jour 19 – Day 19: The day Ravi left – Part 1

This story post is a continuation of Jour 18 – Day 18: Spread Your Wings Ravi.  If you missed the first one, pretty please start there to first meet Ravi. – David

In the first post, it was the night before Ravi left home, so we know he moved but I thought it be nice to know what happened the day Ravi left home. 

******************************************************************

white and gray sneakers on top of a briefcase

Photo by Tanya Gorelova on Pexels.com

Hikari on assignment

The angel Hikari watched with curiosity as Ravi loaded his old red car.  It was raining a light drizzle but the house had a carport and Ravi stayed dry as he went back and forth from the car to the house.

Hikari liked watching over Ravi, he was likeable, polite, and kind but he was also young and hadn’t really thought through this move from home.  “That’s what a broken heart does I guess” mused Hikari.

All that fit in the car was clothes Hikari noticed. No iron, no plates, no silverware, just clothes and some things that go in a bathroom like toothbrush, shampoo etc.

Once again Hikari noticed how many things Ravi had decided to “figure out” once he arrived at his new city.  Ravi had a job starting tomorrow, but he had no place to stay, no furniture, no friends or relatives in the new city.

Then it was when Hikari realized he was no longer alone, more angels were arriving. Suddenly they surrounded the house. Wow!

Ravi was leaving and Hikari was not going to be alone watching over Ravi by himself this day.  Hikari knew this was because Ravi had family praying for him.

The day held promise, and Hikari shone.

***************************************************************************

Mt. Ellinor and Skokomish Mountain Goats-4

Ravi drove down the highway in the drizzling rain, it was cold and it would be colder as he drove east into the mountains.  He smiled, he really didn’t know how long the trip would take and he was counting on highway signs to guide him because he didn’t know the way.  He was excited, hopeful and not worried.  He didn’t think about it much, it was like an adventure to him and he had the courage of the oblivious.

Two or so hours later, his car wipers dancing back and forth,  Ravi’s car tires sang on down the road.   He was glad he had snow tires  as there was frost on the road and the mountains already had snow on the peaks.

Tired of singing with the radio, when Ravi saw a cold wet hitchhiker with his thumb out, he pulled over and picked him up.

Climbing out of the ditch and running along when he saw the car, the hitchhiker looked freezing but excited Ravi stopped for him. The hitchhiker was shivering and Ravi turned the heater on as high as it could go so that the hitchhiker would warm up faster.  The hitchhiker rubbed his hands together and huddled by the hot air vent, he was grateful to warm up. Ravi asked him where he was going. The hitchhiker named Ravi’s city and said that was where he lived.  Ravi relaxed inside, he had found a guide to his new home, he wasn’t going to get lost after all.

Hikari, who was the hitchhiker, sat in the front seat with Ravi, now he could give driving directions, and he felt pleased.  Hikari’s hands and heart warmed up further when Ravi silently thanked heaven for his cold, wet guide.

Four hours and hundreds of miles later, Ravi dropped off the hitchhiker,  and his heart was light. Ravi, his car, his clothes, and his heavenly escort had all arrived. “I made it, I have arrived in my new home city. “That was easy” he chuckled to himself.

The angels watching laughed, if he only knew.

Ravi parked his car, and looked around.  He was surprised, his parking spot was less than 30 feet from his new job. What luck!

He decided he would walk down, find his new job location and meet his new boss before he would look for a place to live, after all he was right here. It was meant to be.

Meanwhile, 

In the bookstore that Ravi had parked his car in front of, Marie watched Ravi as climbed from his car and smiled. Marie absently combed her fingers through her long brown hair as she studied Ravi. She had prayed to make a new friend and then this car parked in front of her store.

He looks nice“, and crossed her fingers, hoping that he was going to come in and she would meet him. ” She sighed, “I guess not“, and she watched him walk up the street.

The angels observed everything.

Ravi still needed a place to live for tonight, and he needed friends.

The day was going fast, it was already 4 o’clock, but the best was yet to come.

photo of vehicle on street while raining

Photo by Marta Dzedyshko on Pexels.com

 

**********************************************************************

End of The day Ravi left – Part 1.   See you next time I hope ♥ – David

******************************************************************

 

Posted in blogging assignments, CB and PB super short stories, Just being creative | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

CB and PB (The Beginning) – Spread Your Wings Ravi

2013-03-08 15.26.53

My friends,  today I decided to start a short series of stories – this is my first post in the series. 

P.S. – please excuse the edge of my finger in the picture above. The birds were so close as I stood on the beach I must have been nervous. (smile)

Spread your Wings,

Ravi was walking in his new city, and remembering his father’s words from the night before he left home.   “Spread your Wings” his father had said,  and his father’s eyes could not hide his tears as they hugged. That hug had said so much to him that night.

Ravi had felt so connected to his father that night and that hug had even made him cry a bit after his father left his room.

Ravi was leaving his parent’s home to start a new job. He was moving six hours away, and it felt like a big step.

Now he was realized that saying good-bye was more difficult emotionally on his parents than it was on him. They loved him deeply as parents do, and now he saw that in new eyes.

Ravi’s new job was just six hours from his parents home.  Close enough to visit sometimes but too far away for them to visit very often.

Now his parents would walk past his silent bedroom every day, saying a silent prayer as they looked at his empty bed.

But for Ravi it was different,

Ravi was excited, being far from home, and he was learning the new job and learning how to take care of himself pretty well.

Well, sort of, and he chuckled, because his cooking was much different than at home that’s for certain. He should have cooked more when he lived at home, his skills were definitely limited.

At home his Mom’s cooking was delicious, and ample.  On his own, Ravi made very simple meals.  He sometimes just cooked breakfast after work or just opened a can of food and ate it cold. A meal alone didn’t inspire him to do more than just feed himself.

Ravi had time to contemplate today.

Today it had been a month since he moved, and he sat alone at a table watching people pass by. It was his day off from work, his laundry was done. No other plans, he had time to just have a hot drink.  In his mind, he spoke to his daddy.

I spread my wings Poppa“, thinking to himself, ” and my wings are getting stronger.”

As Ravi sipped his drink, and sighed.

In his mind he saw his parents in the kitchen, his mother stirring something on the stove that smelled delicious, his Poppa at the table reading.

Ravi knew his reunion with them in a few months would be special. Ravi had learned so much in a month.

He was spreading his wings, and just starting to fly. 

******************************************************************

img_1138

******************************************************************

Posted in blogging assignments, CB and PB super short stories, family, Just being creative | Tagged , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Jour 17 – Day 17; Wordless Wednesday

Captions on all photos for you, I hope you enjoy Wordless Wednesday – all photos from the last week, except for one. – David

Posted in blogging assignments, Just being creative, okanagan related | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Jour 16 – Day 16: Gunny Sack of Apples

The time for this post should have been in the past, or maybe this autumn but regardless here it is today.  Opportunities are ahead if stalled temporarily now.

It includes some of my thoughts from a speech I shared.  I hope you like it. – David

IMG_6396

******************************************************************

Life is a Big Gunny Sack of Apples 

My Dad, Gerald,  was born in 1938 and grew up in the Village of Weldon, Saskatchewan. 

Back in the 1940s and early 1950s, there was only one grocery type store in town that sold fruit, But mostly Dad said they didn’t buy fruit, In the summer the family picked wild berries, such as Saskatoon’s, choke-cherries, wild blueberries, and wild strawberries.

When it came to fruit

Dad especially looked forward to the fall because the local Farmer Co-op each fall brought in a Railway boxcar filled with apples from British Columbia’s Okanagan valley. 

 Mostly McIntosh apples Dad remembers although at the time he didn’t much care as long as they were sweet and crisp. The store sold them right at the boxcar for $1.00 per gunny sack full which is a big big bag holding 80 pounds or more. 

My Dad’s parents, my grandparents, always bought at least two gunny sacks as my grandma also canned apple sauce for later eating.

Nothing goes to waste when you have a big family and mouths to feed.

******************************************************************

What I unpacked from this sack of apples story, is that apples were a big treat, apples were something that my Dad looked forward to when he was growing up.

You don’t waste Apples

Apples weren’t wasted then, what apples weren’t eaten were made into sauce and put in jars to enjoyed later.  Apples never were left to rot.

(This is when during my speech I pulled out of a bag and held them up, displayed for the audience

  • a fresh apple and
  • a rotten apple. )

The fresh delicious apple represents opportunities, chances given to enjoy, taste, and experience what life offers.

The brown, soft, rotten apple represents opportunities given, but lost, for some reason allowed to waste.

*****************************************************************

I am excited to share about one fresh delicious apple

I am enjoying every day is the new life I was given when I received a new kidney April 24, 2019. 

 

Exactly like the fresh apple arriving by boxcar in the 1950’s, this was an event I looked forward to, and yes, even prayed about.

I am going to cherish it, enjoy it, and protect it.

If I wasted it, like a rotten apple, I will have wasted my life saving opportunity.

**************************************************************************

yellow train

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

What about apples in your life?

If you wrote your obituary today…………… what would it say?

Will your story be one of apples enjoyed, and happy memories or will it be of regret for apples wasted?

 

This is the question I sometimes ask myself.

Will I wait for life?  Or will I live my life without waiting? Because you know the perfect time will never come.  At some point you bite into the apple, or it will be too late.

Take YOUR big bag of delicious apples home and enjoy biting into them, juicy crisp apples and protect what you can’t eat right away.

But what I don’t want to do, and what I don’t want you to do, is to let that big bag of apples go to waste, only enjoying a few but letting the majority rot.

 

cherry tree buds

The buds are starting to show, soon the tree will be covered.

A Gunnysack of Apples – 

How many apples will I experience and enjoy, perhaps even share.

How many apples will I waste?

How many apples will you enjoy and how many will you waste?

Posted in blogging assignments, family, FAVORITE POSTS - A Few of them ♥, health, Just being creative, Thinking Out loud | Tagged , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Jour 15 – Day 15: Cup Song Challenge !

On our bike ride the other day,

we came across a snake enjoying some spring sunshine. Plus the first cherry tree buds. – Captions on all three to read.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A few days ago

I felt I could walk and chew gum at the same time, but now my confidence has been shaken , I will explain.

You may recall that recently I posted a youtube of the cup song, It’s a cool video, nice music and lyrics.

I’ll think of you
As I go
So when I leave
You’re not alone
And no matter where we are
We will never be that far
Cause I’ll think of you as i go

The neat deal is that this group all sing and do the clapping together in one continuous take.

I decided to try to do the same, slightly different for me as I am doing it solo so I clap onto a table. Fortunately there are tutorials online to learn the cup part and you can print out the lyrics.

I am getting better at doing the clapping part, but so far when I try to sing along I get mixed up on the clap and tapping routine part.  It could be awhile before I can do both at the same time, but I am not giving up.  But I know my readers can do better.

Anyone else up for the challenge? = David

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Sand dollar in ParksvilleQuote;  Mahatma Gandhi

You must not lose faith in humanity.

Humanity is an ocean;

If a few drops of the ocean are dirty,

the ocean does not become dirty

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Some country music is irresistible, because it tugs at our heart strings,  Feed Jake is one of those songs.

I’m standin’ at the crossroads in life
And i don’t know where to go
You know you’ve got my heart, babe
But my music’s got my soul
Let me play it one more time
Tell the truth and make it right
And hope they understand me
Now i lay me down to sleep
And pray the Lord my soul to keep
If i die before i wake, feed Jake
He’s been a good dog
My best friend right through it all
If i die before i wake, feed Jake

Posted in blogging assignments, Just being creative, music related | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments