Sylvia's Simple Shots

The second Sunday of Advent and lighting the PEACE candle.

The second Advent candle reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Mary gave birth to Jesus. 

This second candle recalls that after all of the division, destruction, and dispersion of the kingdom in the Old Testament, there might finally be peace on Earth – Jesus is coming, and so is his Kingdom of Peace. 

So fitting for our world today.

On Sunday I attended the Steve Bell concert with my sister and brother-in-law.  They have seen him 2 times before and this was my first time.

The Alliance Church was about 80% full. His concert in Calgary was a sell out.

The music was good, the company was great and it was a wonderful evening.  Driving home late at night was made better by the fact that there was no snow or ice and the temperature hovered just about 0C.

We had supper at Swiss Chalet before the concert which is the first time in nearly 4 years that I have eaten there.  The food was delicious as always.

I bought this book a couple of months ago for .50 cents.  It was after I had started with my Inktober challenge and I recognized that I needed to improve my drawing so I could do better ink and watercolor pieces.

I read the first 5 chapters.  That is the basics, now I will have to read and to exercises so that is no longer bed time reading.

I will have to get a sketch book and work on this.

When I was at the reception for the Christmas Store there was a table which had not been filled when I visited earlier with my friend.

The pieces were glass which is my weakness. There were small glass pieces made by Joe DeWitte.  There was a gorgeous acorn but it was less versatile than this small golden yellow flower.  Check out those tiny perfect water drops in the center of the flower. 

I still have to decide how I will display and use it but it means I can have flowers on my table all year long.

Totally happy!

I decided to revisit Greenland Garden Center this week. What a difference 5 weeks makes.  The shoppe was so empty compared to when I last visited.  They have moved a huge amount of inventory in that time.

I was truly amazed.

There was still a nice collection of Christmas decor to make a few shots possible.

The fresh flowers and plants were really nice.  Check out that Christmas cactus.

On Saturday I went to my aunt's house to make our traditional meat pies called tourtieres.

The meat is a mix of beef and pork with potatoes and onions then slowly cooked with wonderful spices.

She made a double batch of pastry dough and we made 8 small pies. The bit larger ones are for her and the 4 smaller ones for me. They turned out really great.  She froze enough meat to make a large pie when she is ready to host her family.  

We had omelette for lunch with no alcohol white wine and had a great visit.  It was a great day.

I attended the Women's Christmas event at church this week.  It was a small group with a wide age range.

It was a last minute thing.  I just got the details a couple of days earlier. 

There were a few ladies I had visits with which was wonderful.  There was snack food and games.  Minute to win it games went on for a long time and there was drama between a few of the participants which showed some immaturity. Disappointing.

There were wonderful door prizes. I chose this jam set with beautiful small jars, a plate and spoon.  Fig, apricot, orange, raspberry and black cherry are a few of the flavors.