The kindness of people

Is it just me, or are people nicer around Christmastime? Does Christmas spirit really exist? Is it the fresh fluffy snow, the colorful lights, or is it the *very cheesy* true spirit of Christmas, Jesus and his birthday celebrations?

I'll give you a few examples of awesome kindness people have shown me lately: A few days ago, I went to get something repaired. The guy fixed what I had, a pretty easy job (though replacement parts were needed), and then I reached for my wallet. "No," he said, I didn't have to pay. He said, "It's my Christmas present to you," and then he joked that I should come to that store if I ever have to get windows. He smiled real big.

Another example: Today, I was at the Farmer's Market, Christmas edition, and I was trying to choose what I wanted to get. It was the same thing, but different colors. They were five dollars each and I had used up almost all but five dollars at the market. The lady said that I could have two for the price of one! I'm definitely going back there.

I love when you bubble up with happiness too, like when somebody gives you something awesome or they give you a great big hug just at the right time or when the good guy in the book comes just before the bad guy wins. When, right from the middle of you, you get a shiver and you just start smiling. Your belly feels tense because it's so full of happiness. That's how I feel around Christmas, and by the way people are acting, they feel that way too.

I'm liking this month.

Dec 1

Beautiful life in the world, sitting here at a coffeehouse with wonderful people and it's very warm and Coldplay made a Christmas song, so yeah, amazing.

Everyone's a winner!

This is a very very excited Mary.

I'm done NanoWrimo (well, I'm done my book).

I got my word count, and when you reach your word count, you win.

I win.

Love wins.

Everybody wins.

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/sites/all/themes/nanowrimo_ywp_2/wordcount/nano_ywp_10_winner_300x300.png

More, More, More

The other day Oprah had her "Favourite Things" show. Now, I do not watch much television. In fact, since I have been at university, I have yet to watch any, save a couple episodes of Glee. But, my roommate does have a television, and she does enjoy talk shows, like Oprah. I used to love Oprah's Favourite Things when I was a kid. I guess it had something to do with the way people got stuff, beautiful stuff, for no effort. I have always loved stuff, but it wasn't really the stuff: it was that stuff can give people higher social status. Anyway, this show was crazy. I just watched it for a few minutes, and people were going crazy over the littlest things. The audience was nearly brought to tears when Oprah announced she was giving away her favourite cashmere sweater. They screamed, and it bordered on manic. And I thought "what the flip? It is only a sweater." All the people in the audience already had sweaters, you could tell. Some of them were wearing them. It was sort of disturbing, really.

The thing is, our society is always concerned with MORE, MORE, MORE. But that is not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us something that is, quite frankly revolutionary and counter-culture: "He must become greater, I must become less." (John 3:30). Following Christ has nothing to do with getting more and being more. It means giving more, loving more, being less, being humble. Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us throw off everything that hinders..." So maybe it is our stuff that is hindering our walk with Christ, the stuff we think we need, but what is keeping us from the truth that Jesus is all we need. In a world where people are always trying to get more for themselves: "successful" careers, a nice house, and a comfortable salary, it's time we started thinking of how to get rid of this stuff that hinders us. It's time we stopped hungering for material things and started hungering for more God: more awareness of Him, more time in prayer, serving Him more.
So that's what I am doing this Christmas season. I am forgetting about the stuff and thinking more about loving God and loving people. I am thanking God for what I have, and it truly is more than I need, and I am sharing my resources with others.
One beautiful part of this revolutionary, Christ-following way of life is the way everyone wins. I, the North American person blessed with what could be called riches, can give to people who aere in need. In doing this, I am blessed because giving truly makes me joyful, and because I am acting in God's will, which always is a happy thing to do. And they are blessed, by getting education or clean water or enough food. As Gandhi said something like this:
"There is enough in the world for everybody's need, but not enough for anybody's greed." Let us not be greedy. Let us be grateful. Let us be generous. Let us love.

Nov 20

It's the first snow here.
I reached 50 000 words on NaNoWriMo, but I am still not finished my novel.
I am having a relaxing day.
I am rereading The Irresistible Revolution and, once again, evaluating my life, looking at my life from a distance, to see in what ways I can be a better follower of Jesus. Mother Teresa is quoted in the book as saying "Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then love more."
Another quotable guy is Paul Hawken:
"Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television."
I thought of that quote today during the first snowfall. It's really beautiful here, when it snows, as it turns out. I think it is really beautiful all the time. I could not really going to a university without so much natural beauty- I might go crazy. But the thing about the snow, everyone was excited. People were outside with their tongues out, catching snowflakes. People were having snowball fights outside of their dorms. People were taking pictures, people were writing things in the snow, and I even saw someone with a sled. Couples went for walks in the snow. It was a time here that everyone was happy and excited. And I think that was because we do not see the snow all the time. In February, it snows, and nobody cares. But in November, it is the first real snow, and people are thrilled. Nature is amazing when we appreciate it. Well, it is always amazing, but we miss out on that beauty if we do not appreciate it.

Mmmmmm

I am content.

I just finished a mug of hot chocolate.

I am listening to Coldplay and procrastinating from writing my book.

I'm at a really intense part (don't worry, he doesn't die. That was the plan, but then I liked him too much once I began writing him)

It's so intense.

Like a double rainbow.

This is a picture I took a year ago last month. Can you see the rainbow?

November

November is a busy month for me. I am doing NaNoWriMo, and that added to schoolwork (lots of midterms and papers this month) and my other activities gives me just about ZERO free time. I am very thankful for IB, it gave me really good time management skills, and I think I am doing pretty well to balance all my activities. NaNoWriMo sure adds stress though, and later nights- but I am about 1/4 done, which is pretty good, since it's just the fifth day. If you didn't know, NaNoWriMo is also known as National Novel Writing Month. Basically, people from all over the world participate (more international than national) and try to write a 50000 word novel in the month of November. It is certainly challenging. We are doing it together, as sisters. :)
In other news, there is a hurricane today, or at least that is what it feels like. I am surprised the power hasn't gone out.
In even more other news, there was not a hurricane yesterday so I went for a fun bicycle ride. The leaves have not all fallen off the trees around here and they are very beautiful!
Also, I had my first drink of egg nog the other night. Christmas is coming!
The photo above is of a glass of egg nog!

Delicious lazy day

Today is an inservice day. It's a little bit dreary outside, so I spent the morning in my pajamas, eating and reading. I am drinking citrus infusion tea and I am, after I finish writing this, going to sit in the living room in the chair-and-a-half and read my new book from the library (I'm even the first to get it out!) called Hope Was Here. I'm liking that book. Well, I have some reading to do. -M

Awesome

Today I was listening to WireTap on CBC Radio (this sounds like an ad), and it was, of course, hilarious, and they mentioned two people and their blogs- One, a blog of depressing things, and the other a blog of http://1000awesomethings.com. And I think 1000 awesome things will be my go-to when I'm depressed because, gee, don't you just love that super-hot first chocolate chip cookie from the oven (http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/10/13/397-eating-the-first-freshly-baked-cookie-from-the-oven-even-though-its-way-too-hot/) or when you get home from somewhere far away and you can listen to the "normal" radio stations (http://1000awesomethings.com/2010/09/20/414-driving-home-from-a-long-trip-and-getting-all-your-radio-stations-back/)?

On WireTap the guy was talking about the cold side of the pillow and when you get the perfect cereal-milk ratio in the morning- It's just so AWESOME!

A Rainy Day

It is a rainy day so I feel like writing a bit. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with my family and my friend from Alberta. I think I love my family a bit too much. I guess you can never have too much love, but loving people as much as I love my family makes it REALLY hard when we have to separate again.... Not to say the weekend wasn't amazing, though. Because it was. We fit in so much in three short days (well, four, I guess... only two full days). The day we arrived, we got to go to Youth Group. How refreshing! I smiled real big. Next, we had a relaxing Saturday with a trip to the Farmer's Market and also a nice walk in the park. I got a chance to bake, as well. Yummy banana bread! Sunday was a busy day with church, then dinner at my grandmother's. There is a lighthouse near my grandmother's house, on the shore of the Bay of Fundy. The tide was exceptionally high on this Thanksgiving Sunday- it was terrifying! After the tide went down a bit, we also had a sunset walk on the beach after the enormous supper. We also jumped on hay bales. I think it was a really good day. A day of memories :) Monday was the drive back to university, Right before we left, though, I got a chance to help with the harvest- Monday night was the night of the first frost, so we had to gather all the potatoes. Now I feel as if I helped, at least a little. Now I am back here at university. It's been a busy, short week. Now it is homecoming weekend. I hope the weather clears up for the big football game tomorrow.

Unnecessary

I find it quite funny that 'Necessity is the mother of invention' yet we still have ShamWows and Slapchops and Snuggies, all of which are obviously not things we need to survive (though Snuggies are incredibly comfortable- and relatively useless none the less).

Uni

I am now a university student. What that means to me is moving to a new town, a small university town, and entering into all sorts of new, unknown things. It means being away from my family and also many of my friends. It is like a new life. The first few weeks have been crazy. I have not really established a routine yet. I like routines. But I like this place. I like having only two or three classes a day (only one class on Tuesday!) and exploring this new town, and making new friends, and learning to live with a roommate. I liked the cheering of Frosh Week, and actually, I like the meal hall food. I like the fact that on the first day, upon arriving on campus, I saw a few of my favourite people from camp. This was a delightful surprise for me, amid the charged emotions of the day, and the extreme nervousness I felt, to see the beautiful faces of Kate and Keltie. This was remarkable because they do not even go to the same university as I! In fact, nowhere near. But they happened to be visiting some people. And so that is how my university experience begun. I guess this post is sort of jumbled around. But, basically:

• I feel like God is working so much in my life here! I am becoming connected with many Christians, making wonderful friends, and learning so much about God.
• I miss my family sometimes, but this is life
• The natural beauty here is amazing!
• I have been watching a lot of youtube videos. Here is one.
• 
  
• 
  

Robert Frost's Farm

One of the things we did in the States was visit Robert Frost's farm in Derry, New Hampshire, where he lived from 1900-1911.
It was just really cool to see the places that had inspired him, to walk in his bedroom, to look out the same windows he had looked out. The best part I think was the wall. There was a stone wall all around the property! And according to the tour, every spring he did go out and mend the wall with his neighbour. Although in English class we are taught that the narrator of a poem is not necessarily the poet, I feel sure that "Mending Wall" was written about these spring times with his neighbour. The neighbour's name was Napoleon Guay I think. Although some details were probably fictionalised, it was just incredible to walk along that same wall. The sad thing was that before the Robert Frost farm was bought as a state park, it was an automobile graveyard- a junkyard. It took many years of restoration, with the help of Frost's daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine to make it what it is today.
Besides "Mending Wall", many other poems by Frost were inspired by his time at this Derry farm, including "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "Tree at my Window."

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs.  The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side.  It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors?  Isn't it
Where there are cows?  But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.'  I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself.  I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

Trip Reflections: Differences Between Canada and the US

It is easy to notice things if they are different from your home.
So, here are some things that are different in Nova Scotia than they are in the Northeastern United States.

• Nova Scotia has "construction", while the US has "road work." Something that is the same: It is all over the place!
• Nova Scotia has Tim Hortons, while New England has Dunkin Donuts, and New York has Starbucks. (We had no trouble whatsoever finding a Starbucks in NYC. There were three in Macy's alone, and at least one on each block I'd say)
• Nova Scotia has Esso, while the US has Citgo.
  
• Nova Scotia has one highway toll: the Cobequid Pass. The US have a few on each highway it seems. Often you can't get off the highway without paying a toll.
• Nova Scotia has the highway while the US has a variety of freeways, thruways, parkways, turnpikes and even the "Masspike"

Otherwise, everything was quite similar. Both places have a lot of trees. Except NYC. Unless you were in a park, you would have a hard time finding a tree anywhere in that city of concrete and traffic.

Road Trip

The girls of our family depart on what will surely be an epic road trip tomorrow. We plan to visit our favourite dead poets in New England, visit relatives, and spend a day in New York City. Of course every great Road Trip must have a road trip mix CD or three. So, I thought I would share what was on our mix CDs we have made.

First Mix
The first mix is a variety of a lot of different sorts of music. We plan to put this in around the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (thus the first track). Here's what's on it:
1. Farewell to Nova Scotia
2. Arcade Fire-- Headlights Look Like Diamonds
3. Conor Oberst-- NYC-Gone, Gone
4. Shakira-- Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)
5. Matt & Kim-- Daylight
6. Plain White T's-- Hey There Delilah
7. Chordettes-- Lollipop
8. Regina Spektor-- Dance Anthem of the 80s
9. Daft Punk-- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
10. Bobby McFerrin-- Don't Worry, Be Happy
11. Polly Scattergood-- Please Don't Touch
12. Anne Murray-- Danny's Song
13. James Brown-- Get Up Offa That Thing
14. The Beach Boys-- Surfing USA
15. Barenaked Ladies-- If I Had A Million Dollars
16. Bedouin Soundclash-- Walls Fall Down
17. Chris Rice-- Love Like Crazy
18. Jon Foreman-- The Cure for Pain

Second Mix- The Christian Music Mix
This one is for my Mum
1. David Crowder Band-- Only You
2. Paul Baloche-- Praise Adonai
3. Robin Mark-- When It's All Been Said and Done
4. Delirious?-- Majesty
5. WOW Hymns-- This Is My Father's World
6. Todd Agnew-- Grace Like Rain
7. Chris Rice-- How Great Thou Art
8. Vineyard Music-- Hungry
9. WOW Hymns-- In Christ Alone
10. Tree63-- Blessed Be Your Name
11. Tenth Avenue North-- Times
12. Switchfoot-- You
13. Delirious?-- My Glorious
14. Delirious?-- The Nails In Your Hands
15. Matt Redman & Tim Hughes-- Once Again
16. Jon Foreman-- The Cure for Pain

Third Mix- The Beautiful Mix
1. MGMT-- Kids
2. Joel Plaskett-- Gone, Gone, Gone
3. Angus and Julia Stone-- Big Jet Plane
4. The Beatles- Across The Universe-- Psychedelic
5. Broken Social Scene-- All to All
6. Bon Iver-- Skinny Love
7. Coldplay-- Fix You
8. Regina Spektor-- The Call
9. Feist-- Mushaboom
10. Bright Eyes-- Bowl of Oranges
11. The Weakerthans-- Night Windows
12. Wilco-- Jesus, Etc.
13. Hey Rosetta!-- Psalm
14. Stars-- Don't Be Afraid to Sing
15. Sigur Rós-- Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
16. Jon Foreman-- The Cure for Pain

Happy

Done IB forever
Listening to Sigur Rós
Eating farm cakes
Beautiful sunset
A potted ivy
Raspberries
Home alone with my mum
A walk in the park

My Birthday :)

I feel superappreciated right now.

8 people have wished me happy birthday on facebook before lunch. And 2 people have called me (one of their families- the whole family- sung me happy birthday over the phone. I love you, Babineau's!)

I have received one card, from the very kind cousin of my grandmother.

And there is a huge pink "Happy Birthday" on our chalkboard wall from my lurvely sister.

Acadia, Green Tea, and ?

This is Mary.

Like Hannah said last post, the name of this blog should be changed. To what?

And: WireTap IS amazing. Here are some quotes (though they may not be exact):

"Now, imagine that, but you're MC Hammer"

"If you had a party and invited everybody you ever knew, the biggest gift would be from me and on the tag it would say 'thank you for being a friend'"

"Why would it say that?"

"I spent so many years trying to change you, I spent so many years trying to make you smell better. Just that one issue."

"You have a master's degree in 'Everybody Love Raymond?'" (This is from the first episode of WireTap we ever heard- our introduction into this crazy world of comedic insanity.)

"You don't even know what irony is!"

"You don't even know what ironing is."

:) :) :) :)

I had my last day of high school yesterday!!
I am quite excited for summer to start.
I guess I shall change the name of this blog now...

Oh hey I have been listening to Wiretap, it is amazing.

Brownies and Applesauce

Today I made homemade applesauce. It was yummy. Then I made brownies, which were really strange because I had to replace most of the cocoa with carob powder, some type of ten-year-old cocoa substitute from our freezer. But then again, I must have eaten a fifth of that pan of brownies.

April Fools

Wow I have not written in a long time. That is because I have no time. Now I do though because it is the Easter Weekend. In the past few months I have done many things, such as go to Quebec and done a Biology IA in one day. I do not recommend this. Actually I did it twice. I have had my first IB tears, which is not bad I guess... I made it almost to the end without having a breakdown. However I just could not handle it.
I read the book Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernières which is the best book I have read all year, I would say. It made me want to fall in love, specifically with an Italian. I know only two Italians. Really they are Canadian, with immigrant parents or grandparents. One is my uncle by marriage, and the other is in my French class. Neither of them are anything like the fictional Antonio. Oh and I also watched Life is Beautiful, and that also made me want to fall in love with an Italian.
I went to a missions conference and I bought the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This is what he says about worry and stress: "Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control." I found this applied to my life very well because I am often taken over by worry and stress.
I would upload some photos but my computer is being bad.

Sigur Ros

This is by Mary-
This morning, we drove to my grandmother's house in the country. The sun was shining. The sky was bright blue but got lighter as it neared the horizon, so the bottom of the sky was white like the whispy clouds at the top of the sky. There were snow-covered rolling hills, and I'm not even sure why I found it so beautiful today. The grass was showing through in some places and the trees were grey and lifeless. But I loved it. Mostly because the song Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros was playing. It is, to me, probably the most uplifting song in the world. It makes you want to roll down green hills in the summertime, or laugh, or cry with joy, or twirl in a field or hug somebody or dance or frolic or just do anything happy! And when it ends, you're sad because it's over and you know that the next song couldn't be so terribly joyful as Hoppipolla.

January 26

It's been a long time since I have been able to sit down and reflect on what is going on. It seems as if time is speeding up more and more everyday. My life has become so routined that days go by and I barely notice. I go to school as the sun is rising, and I come home as the sun sets. So, it feels like I am missing the world as I sit in classrooms thinking about things like the Cold War and verb conjugation. Now it is exam time and time passes even faster- I spend hours in my room, trying to remember everything I ever knew about synapses, enzymes, and other things too small to fathom.
I hardly have time to capture beauty with my wonderful new camera, which is sad. I have many sunrise and sunset pictures. This camera is a painful thing to have. I can never be sure if the film has turned out. The first film was ruined, and I am afraid this one may be too. I have not yet had it developed. It is heartbreaking, though, to have all those pictures destroyed.
I also got a season of the Waltons from my local library and watch it often. I am in love with John Boy, basically. But my favourite person is Grandpa.
I am learning a lot about God, too, I think. It was not too long after Christmas, a really wet, stormy, miserable night when my brother said "Let's buy a meal for a poor person." He asked me if I wanted to come. No-one else wanted to, and I knew he couldn't go alone, so I accompanied him. So, here we are, walking around in the slush, freezing cold and wet, so wet, and there is nobody on the streets. I have never seen our town so devoid of pedestrians. We asked some people if we could take them out for a meal (well, he asked), but the three people we saw did not accept. I mean, would you, if a couple of wet teenagers asked you? So, we were walking around town for about an hour, and pretty much given up. We were hungry too, and cold, and, well, finally we saw this guy, and we asked him, and anyway, we ate at Tim Hortons. Also we had brought Tim Tams so we had a Tim Tam Slam. It turned out the guy we were taking out to eat was the same guy who we had once taken to a Franklin Graham crusade. I hope we showed him a different side of Christianity than, well, televangelists.
A sad thing is that today a friend of mine had her last exam. She has enough credits to graduate now, and she will be going to Alberta and I do not know when she will be back. I am not a big fan of goodbyes.
Books I have been reading lately: Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, The Irrestible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller, and The Portable Thoreau.