The Beauties of God's Creation

Yesterday morning Helmut went for his usual run fairly early. when he passed the local lake he saw several pairs of Canada geese with gosslings. Later in the morning he went back with the camera to take their pictures but they had wondered further away onto private property where he couldn't get close enough to take their pictures. However, he saw this muskrat near the water and this female Redwing Black bird so got some good shots (with the camera) of them. Then he saw the Mallard ducks and the Pelicans on the lake.


There was a flock of Cedar Waxwings feasting in our apple trees all day so here are some shots of them.

Time for a change of post. This is a lily from my garden of last summer. They are hardly out of the ground yet this spring. I was looking for a peaceful picture to go with this post and this is what I came up with.

This has been a week of a major crisis in the family and those who know us best have heard about it.

Here are some of the thoughts that the Lord gave me during the initial shock and since then as comfort and encouragement.

Isaiah 26:3 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
With a meditation WORTHY DEVOTIONS from Dec. 19, 2008 called GO DOWN. ( It happened to be posted on a daily bulletin of a Christian school on Mon. May 25). It was about the captain of a submarine who was unaware of the storm on the surface of the ocean because in the deep water it was calm.

"..He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul..." Psalm 23:2 & 3.

"Peace be still" Mark 4:39

"Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding...." Proverbs 3:5

Excursion to Narcisse Snake Dens

The largest natural garter snake dens in the world are located in Manitoba. Believe it or not we the Zimmermanns had never taken the time to go visit them before this week.

Due to some folks having hang-ups about snakes we kept our excursion as a mystery from our guests until we arrived there. T. went along on this outing as well as John, Ruth, Hannah & Joanna.

It was a pleasant warm sunny day so the wild life was active. The best time to view them is in May when they first leave the dens or in Sept./Oct. when they return.

T.'s first contact with a snake was while he was riding Opa's shoulders. After the first touch there was nothing frightening about them for T. Opa and T. went "fishing" down the side of the walkway to get a snake to hold.

Cousin Joanna was brave enough to hold a snake.

There are four principal den areas but we visited only three different ones then went back to the parking area where there were picnic tables and we had our lunch there.

A 4th. Birthday - part 1

Read this post first and then the one underneath.

On Mar. 13 - T. turned 4 years old so he had a special day with Opa and Oma.

Opa went to pick him up at his house before his Mama left for work - he was still sleeping so Opa had to wait for him to get up. Oma was at home making breakfast and wondering why the two guys weren't showing up to eat it. We had pancakes because that is one of T.'s favorites.

After breakfast Oma went grocery shopping while Opa and T. stayed at home and did some interesting things like bathing Abby, cracking walnuts and picking out the good parts to eat. Then they played with Lego for a while and finally with the construction straws. You can see the nice tower that they built.

There was also some time for playing Jenga. They got lots of blocks out of the tower before it collapsed.

Oma made some chocolate cup cakes and T. licked the batter off the beaters - he got a little beard from the batter so Opa made himself a beard to match.

A 4th. Birthday - Part 2

In the afternoon we took T. to the park to do some tobogganing. As you can see we basically had two slides to ourselves most of the time. It was a beautiful day just cold enough for good ice and warm enough that you could stand around and not get cold. ( very important for Oma) Those sliders that were running back and forth all the time didn't have time to get cold, in fact Opa got too warm.

1. - Two guys climbing up to the top of the slide.
2.- All set to go.
3.- On the way down.
4.- T. at the end of the run. His little toboggan slides real well.
5.- Opa has to use his hand to help get to the end of the run.

After about an hour and a half T. was tired and wanted to go back home. Oh, by the way Oma slid down with Opa twice but getting up from the toboggan at the end of the run was super difficult.

6.-Time for a icicle treat after we got back home. Opa is getting one from the front of the house. These are "natural Popsicles" made from melted dripping roof snow.
7.- T. is eyeing up his treasure.
8.- Trying out the icicle for flavor. Sorry about the double take.
9.- After supper of mac and cheese we had chocolate cup cakes. T. helped Oma decorate them .

the Performers

This is my first attempt at uploading a home video or any other kind for that matter. This one harks back to the silent movies because the photographer didn't turn on the sound recorder. These performers make a lot of noise but not much in the way of lovely tunes - they need more practice.

Something Different

I was just looking at my recent posts and decided it was time for a change -

I really don't have any new pictures because at this moment the memory card in the camera is full and I have to figure out how to get it cleaned up so I can take some more pictures.

This shot of Abby is just so you can all see that the dog is still part of our lives - she isn't very active anymore but she lets us know what she wants. She enjoys eating snow - may be she thinks it is "ice cream".