“The RoseBouquet”

Yes, we DID have a wonderful weekend away, thank you! Cloudless skies for the
most part, and beautiful Indian summer weather and scenery. It was delightful
to get to know Margaret (my Grandpa Friesen’s cousin) and her daughter Kathleen
and her husband Doug at Medicine Hat. Kathleen and I kept discovering more ways
in which we are alike.

At the 40th Anniversary, I spent most of my time beside Dad’s cousin from
Montana, and her husband. (I hadn’t really expected them there!) and made some
other friends. I even remembered to exchange business cards with some of them.

Afterwards at cousin Val and Ken’s place, we discovered that the key musicians
in the clan wanted a “jamming session.” Wayne and Hilda, the anniversary couple
were cleaning up at the hall, so while we waited, Edwin and his sister Rose
jammed with guitar and accordian for an hour. The rest of us sang the gospel
songs and chatted between, but Edwin (the only real working cowboy I know, but
retiring this next weekend), loves to sing and play guitar, so he’d pick it up
and start another song. That despite the fact his wife, Darleen kept hinting
plainly that they had an hour’s drive home yet with a van full of groceries.

Just when we’d had our goodbye hugs, etc., Wayne and Hilda showed up with her
two aunts. Edwin didn’t even need to be asked. He opened his guitar case right
away, and Wayne opened his case full of harmonicas (one for each chord), Rose
picked up her accordian, and off we were for another 45 minute jamming session!
What a treat!

My film is not developed yet, so no photo story yet, but I want to thank those
subscribers who wrote to encourage me to continue these personal sagas. God
bless you, Rosalind, Helen, and Barb!

I suppose I should continue the above saga while it is still fresh, with
another “incident.” We left the Sinclair’s home after breakfast on Sunday and
were only about half an hour away, in Taber, when a police man suddenly waved me
over. For a moment I wasn’t even sure it was a police man.

All weekend I had been so careful to go only the speed limit, and here with his
camera on a tripod on the corner, he’d clocked me going over the speed limit of
50 km/h. I was surprised to say the least. The last one I’d seen said 80. I’d
just come through a traffic light - on green - and it appeared we were nearly
out of this town. The highway was 4 lanes wide cutting through here, so I
assumed it was back up to 80 and shortly up to 100. I must’ve glanced to the
left where that 50 sign was. I felt very badly as I explained this to him, but I
DO KNOW that you can’t plead ignorance. If you have a driver’s license you are
expected to know the laws and obey them.

Fortunately he came back from his car with a ticket written out for just 55+
costing $66 instead of the maximum amount allowed. Still, I’d sold some family
history books, and had meant to put that towards my glasses which will be over
$400. At home Dad, seeing that our gas had not cost as much as he’d braced
for, gave me some towards the ticket, and I only have to add $11 from my
glasses stash to close off this incident.

I see some spiritual lessons in this real-life parable of what happens when we
break God’s moral laws. It’s a bit of comfort that it was not a wilful
infraction. Life can go on.

By the time we reached the cousins Thelma and Glenn in Swift Current I was
about to enjoy a good visit with them, and then head on home. All without a
headache too!

Hey, some folks have troubles many times worse and they didn’t ask for them
either! I don’t normally use articles by others, but today I want to share
with you - and with permission - an article that Cheryl Speir wrote in her
ezine, Write2theHeart. I didn’t realize it but she and her husband were in the
path of Katrina, the hurricane.

I should add that I know there are many other topics I could write about,
including the things I hear on the news. Dad and I don’t watch television but
very rarely. I get the news on the radio when working in the kitchen, so I’m
not in the dark, but we don’t get so emotionally wrapped up in tragedies around
the world. In this case though, I found the way Cheryl and David, and their
neighbours coped with their Katrina aftermath quite inspirational. She has
graciously given permission to share this with you.

See it below in the Ruthe’s Roses section.

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We expected the wind damage. You can’t be hit by a category four hurricane and
not receive some damage. We expected to lose power. Power lines are vulnerable
to the high winds. What took us by surprise was the loss of all communication.

When we were able to go out and look at the damage after hurricane Katrina, it
was overwhelming. Trees and power lines lay together in huge tangled balls.
Roofs were missing, homes were demolished, and concrete sidewalks were ripped
up.

David immediately went and checked on our elderly neighbors. One needed trees
limbs moved so she could get in and out of her house. Another sent half of his
insulin home with David, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep it cool and
asked David to help. Everyone appeared unharmed, but we were all in shock.

Our phone was one of the few in our area that worked. But we couldn’t use it to
make calls out of the area. Friends and relatives from out of state could call
us, but we couldn’t call them. Cell phones were not working; the cell phone
towers were down. Radio stations were gone. Mail service was halted. We felt
isolated. We wondered what was going on in the rest of the world. We worried
that another storm could hit and we would not know of its coming.

My first order of business was to count noses. My oldest son had to ride out the
storm at the air force base located near the beach in Biloxi. We were only able
to hear from him because he and his wife had the walkie-talkie feature on their
cell phones. When all of my sons, their wives, and children were accounted for,
I turned to finding my siblings. All of my brothers came through the storm with
minimal damage.

My sister was a little more difficult. She and her family live in Waveland, too
near the beach and in the path of the storm serge for my peace of mind. When she
was able to get in touch with me, several anxious days had passed. Her home had
been flooded and would need extensive repair. Several miracles had happened in
her area, the flood-waters had picked up her travel camper and floated it. Not a
drop of water had gotten in it, so they were able to have a place to stay after
the storm. Even though most of the buildings were totally destroyed or heavily
damaged, the cross on churches and the statues of Jesus remained standing.

Everything in our freezer needed cooking. I cooked and shared with our
neighborhood. Our elderly neighbors brought their frozen goods and we barbequed,
boiled, and fried most of it. Our patio became a meeting place in the evenings.

As time went on, the heat became unbearable, 103° with 99% humidity. Then the
mosquitoes hatched. They bit and buzzed around our ears continually. The
combination of insects and heat made nights miserable. David came up with a
great idea. He took an old motorcycle radiator fan and hooked it up to an
automobile battery at night. He would charge it during the day. It became our
little piece of heaven! That’s one of the reasons why I married him: he’s a
problem solver.

The day came when David had to venture out for gas. There was only one gas
station opened. You had to wait in line for nearly eight hours to be able to buy
only ten gallons of gas. I was surprised at how people took it in stride and
remained calm. For weeks everything we did required waiting in long lines.
Water, ice, and food, given out by the National Guard and other wonderful groups
that came from other areas to help, were like manna from heaven. Every relief
vehicle, every gas tanker was treated like royalty with a police escort.

I kept a running letter to son Tim in Iraq. It was more like a daily journal
letting him know what was happening. I knew he would be worried but I didn’t
know when the mail would start running again so I could let him know we were all
right. At one point I wrote, I have no power, am living under a curfew with
martial law, enduring high temperatures and eating military MRE’s, how did I get
to Iraq?

The weeks passed in a swift blur. I often wonder what happened to the month of
September. Funny how time flies when you are just trying to survive. I felt like
we had been transported back to the 1700’s. Light was by candle. Food was cooked
on open fire. Clothes were hand washed. News was spread by word of mouth, and so
were rumors. Even the smallest cut or nick had to be cared for or infection
wanted to set in.

The thing I missed most was my air conditioner. The second most missed appliance
was the washing machine. Cleaning up after a storm is dirty work and we wallowed
in it. I discovered if I put dirty clothes in five-gallon buckets with detergent
and allowed them to soak for hours, then took a plunger and plunge them for
several minutes every time I passed them, I could get the clothes reasonably
clean.

I became quite proficient at cooking on our barbeque pit using the downed tree
limbs for fuel. I could also use the butane burner to make coffee, but I never
did acquire the knack to turn the flame down very low without it going out.

One morning I noticed that an electric company from South Carolina kept driving
by looking at the wires on the ground in my neighborhood. Hope bloomed within
me. That evening they came and picked up the wires and began to reattach what
they could and replace what was damaged beyond repair. When the truck parked in
front of my house, David raced out to see if we could offer them ice water. I
was practically dancing out of my front door just in time to hear the crew turn
down the offer of water but ask if we had some sweet tea. David started telling
the young man we didn’t have any; I interrupted and told them I would be happy
to make some for them. I made a gallon for them and they seemed to thoroughly
enjoy it.

I felt like a child at Christmas when I ran to turn the electric breakers on.
Heaven was tuning the air conditioner on. We were surprised at the events that
had transpired while we were without communication. Our Chief Justice had died,
been buried and there were hearings to appoint another. We were able to see
pictures of New Orleans for the first time. We saw the total devastation on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast, and found out just how far inland the wind damage had
gone.

Through it all, we know that God’s hand was upon us. Though we had a tree fall
on our house and slide across the eave causing damage and our fence is down in
many places as well as most of the trees in our backyard, God protected our
lives. He made sure we had food each day. Ice was brought to our front door by
people who found they had too much. Our water never stopped flowing nor did we
ever have a boil notice. Best of all there was a peace in our lives. We woke
each morning with an expectation; we knew without a doubt that the needs of each
day would be met, and they were. He never disappointed us. When we ran out of
insect repellent, the mail started running again and in it was a care package
from relatives that included insect repellent. When we ran low on toilet tissue
and first aid supplies, another care package arrived.

Our neighborhood is different now. The oak trees that were over one hundred
years old are uprooted leaving holes in the ground big enough to create ponds or
water gardens. Some houses will have to be torn down completely. But the
greatest change has been to the neighbors. Before, many of the elderly were
afraid to let unknown others into their lives, especially a family that has a
young adult son who receives lots of visitors. Now this same son and his friends
are among the first they call when they need minor household repairs. We get
friendly waves and smiles every time we walk out of the house. We are the
recipients of many meals because someone cooked too much for their own use. On
the surface, it may look like hurricane Katrina dealt us a blow and scattered
much, but in reality God used the whirlwind to blow away the chaff of
indifference leaving new kernels of friendship.
________________________________________________________________
Cheryl Speir is the editor and moderator@write2theheart.com You my sign up for
her weekly inspirational ezine at http://write2theheart.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

……………………………………………
To read sample chapters of my book online, start at
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/rsr/RSR-index.html

To order the e-book to download and read on your computer;
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/rsr/orderpage.html
(or if you email me, we can make a deal and I’ll send it to you on CD).

To order the softcover paperback from Booklocker use;
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RSR.html

Dad and I are getting our inner motors revved up about going away this coming
weekend. We’re invited to a 40th wedding anniversary in Lethbridge, Alberta,
for my second cousin, Wayne and Hilda Kroeker. It has taken us long enough to
decide whether we can afford the gas, (at least 7 hours each way), and whether
we can risk the possibility of a snow storm. Here in the prairies that can
happen any day now.

We like these cousins and of course, there is the prospect of seeing a bunch
more. But what really egged us on to take the risk, is that I’ve discovered
other relatives I didn’t know about, who live in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
(Lethbridge is only two hours further). We are now invited to spend Friday
afternoon, evening and the night at the home of Dad’s second cousin, Kathleen,
and she will have her mother there from a local nursing home. Her mother,
Margaret (Friesen) Stanfield is Dad’s father’s first cousin!

I knew of another one, and thought she was special, but she died in July of
this year, and as far as I knew the last of that generation. I’ve mainly been
in touch with another daughter and granddaughter of this woman in Ontario. But
it sure seems like we have lots in common with this clan; we’re all long-winded
storytellers, and we all love the Lord. What can we lose by going to make
friends with these people in person?

If you know me, you know I collect friends the way some folks go out of their
way to collect antiques, rare editions, or even salt and pepper shakers. I just
call them roses, and add them to my RoseBouquet.

Sigh)! I would love to rattle off a long string of accomplishments.
Particularly on the Ruthes-SecretRoses.com site. Mainly, I’ve plodded away at
re-touching up all the web pages in the Arbour section. I discovered a little
sub-program called Tidy, in my web design program called Quantra +. Tidy goes
“whist!” and shows me a list of html errors in a web page. Since I’ve been
making them all the same, they all have the same errors. Thus, I’ve spent more
than a week going over pages I thought were done, to correct all those tiny
errors. When I’m finished, I trust those will be about perfect.

I do have another photo story page done - just now - continuing the saga of
Elise and Jalise’s visit in September. More on that below.

If you find all these personal family stories too boring you’ll have to let me
know what you would like to see me write about. I tend to do more of what
readers write about and thank me for. But hey, I can go many directions. I have
a w-i-d-e range of interests. In fact, I’m deliberately holding back on some
area because I fear once I start talking about them, I’ll be hard to shut up.

Like for instance - alternative health remedies. I could talk your ear off!

But then I remember that the RoseBouquet is about my novel, about friendships,
and about getting to know the author - yours truly. I also want to give
encouragement to those who would like to write books, or try to make some
money on the internet.

Since I often wonder too, what’s going to show up in this blog/ezine until
after I’ve written it, parts like this can be rather serendipitous.

It is the fall, and you are either dealing with, or fearing a cold or flu bug.
I’m just moping up from a sore throat myself. So you might find some of these
remedies interesting. I’ll give you links to research if and as you please.

A friend sent me this helpful article - wonderful tips!
Honey and Cinnamon

Then I discovered this excellent site all about honey. Plenty of recipes!
Honey.com

Ah-ha! Found it! I knew if I kept looking I was bound to find a recipe for the
special fennel and honey lozenges I once bought in London, Ontario. You can
make them at home now too, using these recipes!
Slippery Elm Recipes

Well… it’s time to stop exploring there and get on with things.

Another Photo story of my niece, Jalise, and her daughter Elise in September.
Part 2 is ready now that I have the second film developed. I’m afraid it is
rather long, so rather than try to repeat it here, I’ll just give you the
online link. Elise & Jalise

It may seem tame to you, but I got a lot of physical exercise taking Elise to
the school play ground, making supper with her as a helper, and playing games
around and around the wall between the kitchen and living room. I even lost
some weight that weekend!

The next day we took them to visit Jalise’s other grandparents, and then on to
her aunt Phyllis’ in Saskatoon.

We’re rather pleased with how our Thanksgiving weekend turned out. Sharon, a
niece that we seldom hear from, came from Calgary to spend a few days with us
before the weekend. She wanted a quite place to fast and pray. However, I got in
some precious little chats with her, and was thrilled to see how she has
matured over the past five years, and become a lovely, and gracious young lady.

Her mother’s side of the family had their Thanksgiving feast on Saturday in the
city, at her uncle’s place. Sharon came back for the night, but left in the
morning before breakfast. She was going to follow a cousin back to her home in
the country, and from there get back to Calgary in time for work this week.

Dad and I went to church of course, and after lunch I got potatoes on the boil,
and a small picnic ham ready for the oven, and cut up chicken breast and an
assortment of vegetables for a stir-fry, and then we went to the city to pick
up my brother Tom. He was pleased at all the good things we could tell him
about his daughter, Sharon. (They haven’t seen each other for many years).

I’d also invited Dad’s friend, Jona, over for our meal, but he left right after.
So it was just the three of us who went to a concert at church. It was the
Harvest Team visiting from Goshen, Indiana; they’ve been here a number of times
over the years, and we knew we were in for a good treat. We enjoyed them.

Monday afternoon we took Tom back to his apartment in the city, and I buckled
down to work, where I solved my email sending problem!

First off, I ask you to rejoice with me - my email sending problem is solved!
Oh what a relief! My web-mail interfaces have such tiny fonts, they were a
trial to work with, and it involved a lot of extra copy-and-pasting to reply to
emails. Now I can see well, and the spell-checker is working, and I dash off
emails in a fraction of the time.

It turned out that for seven email addresses, I had put “mail.mydomain.com” in
a blank which was suppose to have the account name I’d assigned in Accounts for
each address. When I fixed that, all my test emails went out perfectly.

On top of that, through a tip window when I open my web design program, I
discovered that I can use it to upload my web pages to my sites. No special ftp
program really needed. I’d already discovered I could drag-n-drop in Konquorer,
so I have two ways now that work.

While Tom was here he looked at the mini-digital camera he’d given me at
Christmas and discovered that it just needed a new battery. It works again!

Last week I made a decision to offer a “quote” on a transcription job. It won’t
happen until next spring - if the man gets the grant he is applying for, but if
it works out, that will provide a handsome income stream for me. Which in turn
will allow me to prime the pump on a number of other streams I have set up, but
which wait for advertising dollars.

So you see, lots of things have happened lately to give me cause to give Thanks!
I hope your life is filled with good things too, and that you’re grateful.

What’s new at the site? Fine-tuning in the Arbour section, and my review of the
water cure book is up now at

Your Body’s Many Cries for Water