“The RoseBouquet”

These links, found just yesterday, may be of help to you.

If you’ve got Windows, but would like to get better use of your keyboard, this could be useful; Keyboard

I don’t know how long this link will be correct, but this news story about squads of pastors patrolling the streets in the UK late at night was fascinating!
Pastors’ Patrol

Have you seen any of these “God Speaks” billboards? I had not, but if you have flash media on your computer you can see them here; God Speaks

Friday I finished an eBook with 70 devotionals for Joanne Lowe. She would like my help (and yours) in giving these away. Her book is called, Writings from Jesus. You can download it from here; Writings from Jesus (right-click and hit “Save As..”). Feel free to pass it on to your friends too.

Just this morning I’ve finished converting a chapbook of own poetry from 1996, into an ebook as well. It is called, Heart 2 Heart, and has 20 original poems.

I will be selling it from my site as soon as I have that page made, today or sometime this week. However, I’ll give you the download link for this PDF ebooklet if you’ll write me first and tell me how you first came to subscribe to, or regularly visit the RoseBouquet. Who introduced you to it? Did you discover the link on my site? Did a friend refer you? (Yes, I’m doing a little survey by this).

If you can’t remember because it was so long ago, just tell me what keeps you reading the RoseBouquet.

Another friend and long-time subscriber has a free eBook to offer as well. It is fiction with some Biblical characters in it. You can have Mary’s Diary by clicking on this link; Mary’s Diary.exe (this will only open on Windows computers).

We got back on Sunday evening from a wonderful weekend away to Alberta. (You’ll find my photo story of Kevin and Jena’s wedding in the Ruthes Roses section).

I’d meant to drop off my films as we came through Saskatoon, but the Superstore was closed already, so we made another trip into the city (just half an hour’s drive) yesterday morning, for groceries, and the film developing.

Incidentally, I have a feeling I was the only one at the wedding, aside from the official photographer and videographer, who didn’t have a digital camera. That is moving up higher on my wish list!

It was nearly one by the time we were almost home yesterday, but I felt strongly that I should stop at the church to pick up a bulletin and the Sunday morning tape. I wondered whether Joyce Court had died, and we’d missed the funeral.

She was a sweet lady who had bone cancer for three and a half years. She never said a negative word to a soul. Rather she was sunshine on everyone that met her. The Sunday before we heard that she was doing very poorly, and her husband and sons, and her sister Linda, who was helping with her care knew she couldn’t last much longer.

Well. As I pulled up at the church doors, so did Bryan Funk, our favourite funeral director. In fact, he beat me by seconds to the spot under the loading roof. So I asked him, and learned that yes, Joyce had died and her funeral was at 2 pm.

“Today?” I asked, even as I saw him unloading and starting to set up in the foyer.

So Dad and I hurried home, had a quick lunch, changed and headed back in time.

I know there were many people closer to Joyce, but I appreciated hearing all the lovely things said about her. I discovered things I didn’t know. Her birthday is today, August 24. She was a year and almost a month younger than I. She was an Elvis fan. She had a very articulate sister-in-law and niece, who told interesting stories of her. So did her loving sister, Linda. She’d even had a career as a child figure-skater.

I wonder what kind of birthday party is being thrown for Joyce today in Heaven!

Hallelujah, my Get Acquainted forms are working. Two friends have started answering the questions and I’m learning to know them better. Oh, am I ever glad I got those fixed up.

Getting ready for the weekend, being away Friday through Sunday, and again most of Tuesday, means - I haven’t got much progress to report, or new pages on this site. Hopefully I can buckle down and get a lot done in the next few weeks.

My sister Elsie had planned to come visit us the weekend before this last one, but that fell through. Now she’s back in Qatar where she is teaching at the university in Doha. However, her daughter Jalise is coming to visit us with her one year old daughter from September 15-23, and I’m all agog over that! I look forward to getting reacquainted with Jalise and Elise.

Here’s fair warning, I may take a break from this blog at that time, if we get too busy having fun.

On my immediate agenda is to take fresh, hopefully glare-free, photos of some old fruit jars to sell on eBay, along with my growing list of other things too. I need to write them up for my sales pages, and for the listings, and then forge ahead.

I’m also nearly done with a gift e-book for Joanne Lowe (70 Devotional readings), then I plan to produce some more e-books of my own.

I know I have a number of writers in my RoseBouquet of friends, so this may be of interest to you. I wish I could say I’ve talked to former students and verified that it is all above board and of excellent quality. It’s so new there are no former students. So if you are prepared to use your own discernment, you might want to check out this invitation.

Invest in your writing career! Now is the time to fine tune your skills and start building your future as a professional writer. With the overwhelming cooperation and enthusiasm of its talented and seasoned instructors, Long Story Short School of Writing will open its doors and begin classes October 5, 2005. Class registration has already begun and will continue until September 28 for the first session. Classes will run perpetually and cover every aspect of the craft.

Class size will vary, and students will post, read and critique one another’s assignments on an interactive board while working closely with an instructor. There will also be intensive weekend workshops. Supplemental mentoring will be available with most classes for a nominal fee. Tuitions are moderate, ranging from $25-100 per class, sometimes a bit more depending on the length and curriculum. Long Story Short School of Writing offers a variety of course lengths, from single lessons to ten-week courses, along with some full year, once-a-month classes. The Directors of LSS School of Writing are dedicated to providing only the best in instruction and course content. Visit their new school website at
Long Story Short School of Writing

If you take any courses, let me know how it turns out for you, please.

Two summers ago, as Dad and I stopped in Calgary on our return from my niece’s wedding in B.C., my cousin Kevin and I were observing how happily married his brother Robert and Linda were. Robert had asked for prayer that he find a good wife, and I had prayed too. So I asked Kevin whether we ought to pray that for him too. He was the last of the five brothers not married.

Kevin’s simple, humble answer was, “Yes, please.”

So I did. Every week when I prayed for Uncle Henry and Aunt Frieda’s clan, I prayed for Kevin to find a good wife. I was thrilled when he emailed me last Thanksgiving to say he had proposed to Jena, a young woman he’d met as he tried out various churches, hunting.

It gave me great pleasure to attend this wedding. It was in Calgary, rather than in Victoria where her parents live. This put it into our reach.

Here are a few photos from that exciting day, on August 20, 2005

Outside the church doors, I found Stan (the doctor) helping his brother Robert, (the best man) with his collar.

Inside the doors, Uncle Henry was giving Kevin, the groom, a fatherly word, most likely a blessing!

(Note: The Kroeker men are like pillars in Heaven; Kevin is the tallest at six feet and seven inches!)

We weren’t to take photos until after the ceremony, so my first good close one of the bridal couple was as they walked out as Mr. and Mrs.

Their little attendants followed them out; Kevin’s nieces, Rebecca and Miranda, with little Matthew, the ring-bearer, trailing behind.

We followed the wedding party and clan to the university grounds for the photo-shoot. I got my own candid and group shots, while keeping out of the way of the professional photographer and videographer, who did their work for at least an hour or more.

Here the flower girls were playing Ring-Around-the Rosie.

Stan took one of me with Uncle Henry and Aunt Frieda. I have the highest respect for these relatives, and the fine, godly sons they have raised, and the wonderful Christian homes each one of them has! It is marvellous!

I was the only cousin there, out of 36, on Kevin’s Kroeker side. (There were a few more present from his mother’s side).

[Hey, this is getting to be a v-e-r-y long blog. Why don’t you just click over to my Author’s Arbour/patio for the full page of photos? Thanks!]

We’re gearing up for another weekend away. This is the holiday I’ve been waiting for - for months now!

My Uncle Henry and Aunt Frieda Kroeker, in Alberta, have raised five fine sons. I feel closer to them than most of my cousins because in our childhood years, they always came back here to our grandparents’ home for holiday weekends. Since that was just a short dash from our house, we considered them our visitors too.

Kenneth, their oldest, was nearly the age of my youngest sister, Erma. The other boys; Robert, Stanley, Glen and Kevin, were all younger of course. Now they tower over me, and all are married, with children except for Kevin. He’s getting married this Saturday.

Robert was single longer than the other fellas, and getting concerned, so he had asked me point-blank to pray that he’d find a good wife. He did too! Linda was a missionary school teacher in Portugal when he first started to correspond with her. (His sister-in-law, Carol had known her, growing up in Ontario). Linda is a lovely person, teaching now in a private Christian school in Calgary, and they have just recently adopted two children, a boy (8) and his sister (6).

So about two summers ago when Dad and I were coming back from Jalise’s wedding in B.C., we stopped at Robert and Linda’s, and talking with Kevin, I asked if I should start praying for a good wife for him too. This shy, 6′7″ tall, man, studying to be a nurse simply said, “Yes, please.”

I made it my business to do so, and guess what - last Thanksgiving Kevin emailed me to say he had proposed to Jena Lynn on a mountain hike and she’d agreed to marry him. Naturally, I wanted to be invited to this wedding! I want to meet Jena!

A double-portion will be to meet all the other guys and their wives and their kids as well. I am so much looking forward to this!

God has worked out very wonderfully our accommodations with missionary friends and relatives for the two nights we’ll be away. Maybe more on that next week, okay?

Okay! It gives me great pleasure to announce that my Get Acquainted forms ARE working on the site. YES! You start from
Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/A/Acquainted.shtml. Do not feel obligated to answer all the questions if you think I’m being too nosey. However, I have worked them out from a seminar I once took on the things we need to know from new acquaintances to turn them into friends. I just thought this would be a great way to speed up the getting acquainted process. Every time you fill out a form, you can request my answers by autoresponder.

I’m now working over the other pages in the Arbour section, bringing the coding up to xhtml standards, and fixing errors and generally renovating.

Last week I mentioned Dad’s cross necklaces of horseshoe nails. I took some photos to the city to be developed, and made the mistake of not asking for them on a CD this time. Scanned photos do not have the same quality as the digital form.

However, Monday evening we had Joe and Penny over for supper, and they had a digital camera. So Joe took some shots and emailed them to me yesterday. I’ll put some in right here….

Some friends have been writing to ask what we’re selling these for. Dad wants $7, and I’ve discovered that I can mail one in an envelope for one regular stamp. So for Canadians the price is $7 plus .50 for postage. For Americans, because of the exchange rate - your dollar is worth more here - it’s $7 and we’ll take the .85 postage out of that. You can use my Feedback form or reply by email if you get this in the ezine, to ask for my PayPal email if you would like to use that.

I’m also signing up on Alibaba.com to attract large-quantity wholesale buyers.

A subscriber asked if I were an affiliate of DisciplesCross. Yes, I am. If you’d like to get into this kind of business yourself - that is, you don’t mind working hard with pliers in your hands, you can order their starter kit, and if in the States, sell back all the necklaces you make to them. (Note: only Americans can order the kit. We got ours second-hand as a gift, and thus, have to find our own markets). To check it out, see;
DisciplesCross.

We’ve been enjoying a lot of fruit the last few weeks, and though I’ve been hiding what’s left in the fridge, we have a veritable plague of fruit flies this week! All over the sink and kitchen cabinets.

I’ve been washing things down but good, and setting out apple cider vinegar and honey in a shallow dish, and Dad has sprayed with Raid when I wasn’t looking! All to no avail it seems.

Just now I’ve been checking online and discovered some more methods to try. Hinting strongly that Dad should go to the hardware store and see if they have DEADeasy Fruit fly traps.

I take it that many others run into this problem. Have you? Got any tips for what works for you? I’d be happy to hear them.

I realized after last week’s RoseBouquet that I had the photos, and could have done up a story of Dad and my brother Ernie building that swing in Winnipeg in early July. It slipped my mind. However, I’ll give you the photo story here now.

Dad bringing out the cord to start on the swing.

Dad and Ernie working away at the table saw in the shade in the garage.

A lot of lumber to cut up for this job.

It was so hot and humid! Fortunately Ernie invited us in several times for water breaks. Dad had sweat running down both sides of his glasses!

By Monday at dusk, they had the outline frame assembled.

There was still aways more cutting to do. Sometimes I helped hold and take away the pieces.

In due time however, they could erect the frame and the hangers on which the seats were to be built.

Time for another shade break. Tuesday was scorching hot.

Now it was coming together nicely!

Ernie screwing on the last armrest. (Dad believes in screwing instead of nailing these things, so they last longer).

Dusk, and it is about done! Ernie will have to put in two more screws for each slat in the seats and armrests, and trim back the rebars on which the swings hinge, but then Penny can paint it.

About three or four decades ago, Dad says, he built about twenty such swings out of scrap lumber, and then tipped them onto his truck and delivered them to his buyers. He still knows how - but we found it worked better with Ernie and me as helpers. I’m so very glad Ernie took that Tuesday off to make sure it got done.

We are all hard workers, so getting a project done together gives us a sense of satisfaction!