Learning from Losing, by Doug Schulz, April 13, 2020
My father died of a massive stroke 44 years ago yesterday. I was holding his hand in a Saskatchewan hospital when he passed. It was on Monday of holy week. I recall looking from his face – after his tremendous last gasp – to the window, as if I was experiencing his spirit going to a richer, healthier place.
I was 23 at the time. It was a few months before my wedding. My father‘s death was a loss, all right. But I was not at a loss about it. He had told me earlier that year he thought his time was at hand. I’d asked if he was troubled by the thought. “Not at all,“ he said. “I trust where I’m going. But I do love every day of life.“
His life had been full of a lot of losing, actually. In 1936, at age 36, he’d been run off his land by creditors during the “dirty 30s“. He had nothing. He found work using his one vehicle (a beat-up truck) to haul things – even sewage – for cash. At age 46, he left his church to support his oldest children who’d been expelled because they were holding Bible studies in English, when the church saw German as the divinely sanctioned language. [Well, fact is, as is characteristic of xenophobic folks anywhere and anytime, they simply feared loss more than they trusted change.] When he was 50, not yet fully back on his feet financially, his first wife died, leaving several of his seven children to provide for. He started a small business, but it collapsed because he refused to collect debts from farmers and townsfolk he considered worse off than himself.
I was born to his second wife in late 1952, their only child. I grew up never feeling poor (since my very existence was so endearing) but I was often overhearing the difficult conversations of my parents about “how we’ll have enough“. My father felt that if he had more than a poor neighbor, he had enough… to share.
So, last week, when I, inching into retirement, sat safely cloistered in my home during a horrific world health-hiccup, and had a long and disconcerting phone chat with my investment advisor, I looked at the picture of my father loading his hillbilly style jalopy, and smiled. I suspect my life could get a bit leaner going forward. But we have practised a “live on less” lifestyle for 44 years, trying to let any surplus flow in good measure toward obvious global neighbourhood needs (of refugees, in particular) even as we have hoped to have a little something left for ourselves, perhaps enough to pass on to our children’s families as well.
Of course, the best thing they could get from us when we die – since they likely won’t want a truckload of aged furniture – is a lesson on learning from losing. Everyone, after all, can be resourceful enough to tighten belts and generous enough to see to the needs of neighbours near and far. After all, we’re all refugees in the face of mortality.
Share this:
Quick & Easy Vegan Soup
A friend asked me for an easy go-to recipe for a quick meal, so here you are! I like this because it’s versatile. Whatever vegetables or herbs you have on hand you can throw in, and if you don’t quite like something you can leave it out or change the amount of it next time.
I keep on hand a wee jar of Better Than Boulion. I get the vegan one; you can also get beef or chicken. I also keep on hand a wee jar of dried onion bits. My husband is very fussy about onion; he likes the flavour but not the texture, so adding a tablespoon of dried onion bits to something works for us.
I also usually have some carrots and celery and potatoes. So I start with whatever vegetable needs to be cooked the longest, usually chopped onions if I’m using fresh ones, and celery. I saute them in a spoonful of olive oil in the bottom of the pot, starting on high till they sizzle and then turning down the heat and waiting patiently till they are translucent and soft.
Meanwhile I peel and chop the carrots and potatoes or whatever other root vegetables I have. Maybe a parsnip or turnip or yam. Small yellow potatoes work well, chopped bite-size, because they stay firm. Russets tend to disintegrate if boiled long, so if using them throw them in last.
The trick is to add the vegetables that need the longest cooking time first (usually carrot or maybe beet because they are firm). Add water according to the amount of vegetables you are using and how much broth you want. Here is where you throw in some dried onion if you haven’t used fresh and any herbs. Parsley is always good in soup, either dried or fresh. Oregano if you want a stronger flavour. Maybe thyme or rosemary… Experiment and see what you like. Herbs fight viruses! And so do hot fluids.
Continue adding your vegetables and cook a few minutes to let the flavours blend. You might want to throw in some frozen green beans or a bit of leftover corn. Now taste-test and add boullion, salt and pepper a bit at a time till it’s just right! Cook a little longer to let the flavours blend more. Taste-test a chunk of vegetable to see if it’s done.
A crusty bun or grilled cheese san is nice on the side. If not, your tummy will surely beg you for a second bowl!
Share this:
Out of the Embers, by Amanda Cabot, 2020, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review, and I chose this one because I like historical fiction with some romance to give it spice. Speaking of which, the main character in this novel is a cook, so you can pick up a few cooking tips from her!
Although it is Book One of a series, it reads well as a stand-alone too, as all the strings are tied up at the end. The author tells you what Book Two will be about and includes the first chapter. The focus will shift onto different characters in the same town.
Out of the Embers starts with Evelyn, a young woman who works in an orphanage in 1855, with Polly, a recently orphaned little girl. They are returning to the orphanage with the horse and wagon when they discover that the orphanage has been burned to the ground and there are no survivors.
Fleeing to get away from whoever did this, they end up in a pretty ranch town at the foot of a mountain. A handsome cowboy finds them caught in a thunderstorm and invites them to his home where his mother and sister insist that they stay.
Evelyn and Polly settle in happily to Mesquite Springs but there is always this underlying fear that somebody is after them. Indeed it’s true! More than one person is after them! But I’m not giving away any spoilers, so you’ll just have to read it yourself to find out!
https://amandajoycabot.blogspot.com/2020/04/evelyns-oatmeal-pecan-pie.html?m=1 Check out this link to the recipe for Evelyn’s oatmeal pie.
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-9212800-14380659
Check out this affiliate link to Indigo/Chapters to find this book and more.
Share this:
The Wheatsheaf Pub, Hemer, Canada
perogies and pizza 
The Wheatsheaf Pub
Just a twenty minute drive south of Nanaimo in the small country town of Hemer is one of our favourite places to go for an afternoon outing and early dinner. The Wheatsheaf Pub is quiet in the mid afternoon, cozy inside with a fireplace, or nice outside on the deck when the weather’s warm.
My current favourite is a half order of potato and cheese perogies–four large home made perogies loaded down with fried bacon and onions and served with a side of sour cream and a little salad. $9.75C. Sid likes the meat eater’s pizza ($14.25)–too big for one person to eat but great to take home the rest of for another meal for the two of us. We always get a Grower’s Peach cooler each, which is a nice cool taste of summer all year ($6 X 2).
Appies here are yummy too. They mostly come with carrot and celery sticks on the side. We like the prawns.
We’ve never tried the burgers because they look too huge for our senior appetites but I’ve noticed young working men scarfing them down.
The atmosphere is friendly, the décor is old and homey, there’s a bookcase to borrow from and a pool table to play at. Even live music some evenings. Next time you’re out for a country drive in the vicinity perhaps you’d like to stop in!
Share this:
The Reckoning, by John Grisham, 2019, Dell (Random House)
My son gave me this book for Christmas because I read several John Grisham books in the past which I liked. What makes his books interesting to me is that because he is a lawyer, he includes a lot of insight in his novels about the way the American law system works (or fails!). As a person who grew up in a very safe environment, I was quite naïve and overly trusting of those in authority. Grisham’s novels are really an eye-opener!
This novel is based in 1940s America, as well as in the Philippines where one of the main characters fought in the second world war. It presents a picture of the times and the ways that different types of people were affected by circumstances.
The story revolves around a multigenerational family living on a cotton plantation outside of a small town. They have black people working for them, who live on the farm. Unlike some, they treat their workers comparatively well. However, at the time blacks did not have the same legal rights as white people in the States.
Also many people were very religious. In this town most of the people are members of a few different protestant churches. Grisham brings out some of their differences, similarities and hypocrisies. In general, the people of this town are quite strait-laced and narrow in their views of right and wrong. However the mother of this family is from a big city and is considerably more worldly. Over time she becomes accustomed to the church of the family she married into, mostly because it affords the only social life available to her.
Her husband is drafted into the war and after several months the family receives the news that he is missing and presumed dead. This causes great grief, but they carry on with life. Meanwhile, he has not actually died, and a large section of the book goes into details of the war experiences that he went through. Horrible as it was, he came through a victor and a hero against all odds.
When he shows up suddenly back home, the family is overjoyed, but this doesn’t last long. Inexplicably the mother ends up in a mental institution, and the father goes into town and shoots their pastor in his church office! These things happen while the son and daughter are away at college. The son is studying to become a lawyer and gets involved with the family’s lawyers in the mystery of the case, which is drawn out over several years. You will have to read it yourself to find out the results! In the end it’s not what you think!
Share this:
Shanghai City Restaurant, Nanaimo
This weekend was Chinese New Year, so my son and I celebrated by eating at the Shanghai Restaurant yesterday. Located at the back of Brooks Landing Mall, it is an old favourite.
We missed the lunch and dinner crowds by going mid-afternoon. The dim sum menu ends at 2 pm but at 2:30 we could still order a small dish of those flat rice noodles that we like. We also ordered the mixed meat and tofu hot pot from the regular menu, which is a delicious sizzling stew in a clay pot. There are plenty of fresh-tasting vegetables in it and a flavourful gravy. You eat it by putting a scoop of rice in a small bowl and spooning some hot pot over it so that the gravy goes down into the rice. Mmm, yum!
Hard to stop eating when it’s so good, but the dishes were large enough that we even had a box-full left over to take home. It came to $28.25 including tax and before the tip.
Share this:
Pizza Mia, Nanaimo, mmm, yum!
I gave my son a Vancouver Island coupon book for Christmas. Last week we tried Pizza Mia. We got 2 four-topping pizzas for $25; yummy, not bad! I phoned in the order and they were ready by the time we got there to pick them up. Not busy on a Sunday afternoon. I imagine it would be busy on a school day at the North Nanaimo branch, as it’s right near a High School. It’s a small take-out venue but there are a few little tables if you want to eat in. You can even buy a ready-made slice for $2.50.
My husband and son still prefer their long-time favourite, Pizza Hut, but we will go back to Pizza Mia at least to use the other coupon in the book. It made a pretty good meal for a lazy Sunday afternoon!
Share this:
Still, by Jenny L. Donelly, 2020, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)
I received a copy of this book from Revell in exchange for writing my review. 
The author and her husband are involved in several motivational ministries to Christian leaders and are based in Oregon.
This is a very personal devotional book for women. I think it would appeal most to busy young moms, although it was encouraging to me too, as an older woman.
Jenny starts by telling about some of her own life. She is the mother of five children, the youngest still a toddler and the oldest a teenager. As if this doesn’t make her busy enough, she is also heavily involved in Christian ministry and her own successful business. And she still finds time to meditate, write, exercize on her spin bike, socialize, travel, and drive her kids around! Wonderwoman for sure!
She also tells about her growing up years in which she experienced sadness and loneliness starting with the divorce of her parents when she was still a young child. She struggled her way emotionally into adulthood, trying hard to be a good person and blundering through the pitfalls of bad relationships and drinking. Finally she totally committed herself to Jesus.
The book is about finding rest in the midst of the storm. The cover illustrates this with the word ‘Still’ in the centre of a swirl. Her basic premise is that the kind of spiritual rest or stillness that is found in Jesus is like the calm in the eye of the storm.
Part 2 of the book, entitled Seven Ways to Rest, is Jenny’s recommendations for purposefully getting into this spiritual rest in Jesus. Way 7 even includes how to do that while training on a spin bike! A psychological, spiritual and physical multitask!
In a very short Part 3 she finally explains our spiritual position of resting in Jesus, and then in an appendix she gives the reader a few exercises in spiritual resting.
Jenny makes the book interactive by directly speaking to readers and including blank lines where she asks readers to write their own thoughts and feelings as they meditate on her questions. This is part of what makes this such a personal devotional book.
www.revellbooks.com
Share this:
A Simple Christmas Wish, by Melody Carlson, 2013, Revell (Baker Publishing Group)
Rachel is a city gal, a flight attendant who has traveled the world, and the aunt of a sweet little girl who she is caring for while her brother and his wife are away celebrating their tenth anniversary. Christmas is coming and the two of them have their own fun in their own way while Holly’s parents are away, putting up a Christmas tree that Rachel knows Holly’s mother would not have chosen.
Suddenly there is a phone call with shocking news. A plane has gone down and Holly’s parents have not survived. In that instant their lives are changed forever. But just as Rachel begins to wrap her mind around being Holly’s permanent caregiver, which she is actually truly enjoying, she receives another call informing her that there is another aunt on the mother’s side of the family who is to have custody. Neither Rachel nor Holly have ever met this aunt or any of the other relatives of Holly’s mother, who live in an Amish community. 
What should Rachel do? She seems to have no choice in the matter. She decides to take Holly there herself and meet the people who Holly is supposed to live with.
This book is a nice light read and an interesting way to learn about the Amish way of life from the viewpoints of these two main characters who knew nothing about it before being plunged into Holly’s new family. In some ways they find it quite likeable, this tightly-knit family farming community.
But will Holly really have to stay here permanently, away from everything and everyone she has known up till now? And what about Rachel? Holly is her only family and at 35 years old she fears she may never have children of her own.
There is an element of mystery as to what made Holly’s mother leave the community to begin with and an element of romance when Rachel meets Holly’s uncle. A range of emotions are experienced with all the changes being encountered. How does each character handle their new relationships? What is attributed to the Amish protocol and what is due to personality traits of the people in Holly’s new family? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out.
www.revellbooks.com
What should Rachel do? She seems to have no choice in the matter. She decides to take Holly there herself and meet the people who Holly is supposed to live with.
This book is a nice light read and an interesting way to learn about the Amish way of life from the viewpoints of these two main characters who knew nothing about it before being plunged into Holly’s new family. In some ways they find it quite likeable, this tightly-knit family farming community.
But will Holly really have to stay here permanently, away from everything and everyone she has known up till now? And what about Rachel? Holly is her only family and at 35 years old she fears she may never have children of her own.
There is an element of mystery as to what made Holly’s mother leave the community to begin with and an element of romance when Rachel meets Holly’s uncle. A range of emotions are experienced with all the changes being encountered. How does each character handle their new relationships? What is attributed to the Amish protocol and what is due to personality traits of the people in Holly’s new family? You’ll have to read it yourself to find out.
www.revellbooks.com
Share this:
The Christmas Blessing, by Melody Carlson, 2017, Revell, (Baker Publishing Group)
This is the third Christmas novella by Melody Carlson that I’ve read this season, I’m enjoying them so much! So glad my church library has a good stock of them!
It’s 1944. Amelia Richards and her newborn son are setting out to make an attempt at becoming part of his father’s family in another state. Shortly after little Jimmy was conceived his father’s plane had gone down over the Pacific Ocean. Amelia doesn’t know whether he has even had a chance to tell his family about her, as theirs had been a whirlwind romance.
They had met in San Diego at a New Years Eve dance for the service men where she was a hostess, and had fallen madly in love. Now she is alone in the world with his son. Will his family accept them? She is unprepared for the cold Montana weather and has never actually seen snow. Mixed emotions of hope and trepidation swirl around in her mind as she looks for James’s family.
But then things get worse and Amelia finds herself in dire straits. What will she do? She must take a risk and hope for the best. What will be the outcome?
Amelia is a courageous character. She doesn’t know what to expect in James’s parents. What will they be like? The author has done a good job of bringing out the personalities of each character, which is what really makes this story. They are not perfect people but they do hope in God and have care and kindness in their hearts.
This is an intriguing story and I’m looking forward to reading one more of Melody Carlson’s Christmas novellas this week during the holidays.
Share this:
A Wreath of Snow, by Liz Curtis Higgs, 2012, Waterbrook Press (Random House)
This Christmas novella is set in Stirling, Scotland, in 1894. It’s a romance with a different twist. The main story takes place over a period of only three days, from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, with flashbacks to an incident that occured twelve years previously. The author has done her research and it’s interesting to enter into this time and place through the experiences of the characters. The main protagonist is a young woman in her 20s who lives away from her family, considered quite independant for those days.
There is a train accident because of a heavy snowfall, through which she gets to know a handsome redheaded man with a terrible secret. He wants to be forgiven, but is it possible?
Themes of honesty versus hiding truth, and how holding onto grudges ruins lives emerge. Everyone feels bad for the crippled younger brother, but does he deserve their pity?
Liz Curtis Higgs likes to travel to Scotland to do her research and has posted photos she took in Stirling at www.Facebook.com/MyScottishHeart. 
Share this:
Felice Café, Nanaimo
Today my son and I went to this Korean Fusion Food diner for lunch. I had been wanting to try it for a long time because a couple of my friends keep recommending it on Facebook. So glad we finally got a chance to go there!
In case you aren’t familiar with ‘fusion food’, it’s a crossover of western with asian styles of cooking. Here on the west coast of North America where there are a large population of Asian immigrants, ideas of cooking come together to make delicious new meals!
We both ordered the beef bulgogi, pictured above. It’s a big bowl of Korean rice topped with Korean style shaved BBQ beef, shredded lettuce, carrots and onion gently sautéed in a Korean sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Very satisfying and flavourful but a little salty for me, as I have high blood pressure so I don’t normally cook with much salt.
The café is near a high school, so serves foods that cater to teens, such as bubble tea, breakfast sandwiches, waffles with fruit and whipping cream and all sorts of other yummy treats. The tables are arranged so that people can sit in large or small groups. It wasn’t crowded at lunchtime today. One girl was working on her laptop at a small table. Two women chatted at another one and a few teens came and went. I loved the atmosphere, the soothing contemporary Christmas carols playing, a decorated tree, the friendly service along with a bit of bantering between the cook and the server.
Next time maybe I’ll get the waffle with mangos and whipping cream or a bubble tea. The pictures of them on the wall look scrumptious!
Share this:
The Atonement Child, by Francine Rivers, 1997, Tyndale House Publishers Inc.
The church librarian recommended this book to me because she knew my novel was on a similar topic, of a young unwed woman who finds herself pregnant. Although times have changed since the ’90s, some things have always been the same for women. 
Francine Rivers is an expert at bringing out all the factors around the situation in a way that captivates and draws the reader into the story. Her writing flows smoothly so this 375 page book doesn’t feel like a long read.
The young woman has a genuine faith in God. There are many voices all around her pushing her to make a decision she doesn’t feel right about. She is betrayed by those who she thought loved her the most. Will she go with their advice or bravely make her own decision? It looks like God has betrayed her too. How can she keep trusting in Him when He let this happen to her? Is her life ruined? Surely she would not be expected to bear this child under the circumstances, at least that is what everyone is telling her.
However, the pregnancy reveals the hypocrisy of those she thought she could count on. In an unexpected twist, she finally finds help from the least likely source.
The author exposes the motives of all the people and organizations in the young woman’s life. It brings up the issues that surround illegitimate pregnancy in the realm of Christianity as well as the unfairness between men and women. Thankfully, it seems to me that Christians are less judgmental than 20 years ago, but the book is definitely worth reading! Also, Christianity isn’t the only faith that grapples with these issues. People of other religions or even atheists and humanists could exlore the ways they think of illegitimate pregnancy too through reading this.
Click on the link below to get books and other items from Indigo Canada.
