A Lesson for the Wise

We bought our first pellet stove in the fall of last year.  It has been the best purchase that we have ever made.  Throughout the winter we were cozy-warm.  It requires some maintenance, but this did not pose a problem.

We bought our pellets at the local building supply store.  Our transportation costs were minimal.

When I went to buy pellets this week, I was shocked to hear that they had not ordered any more as they did not want to store them over the summer.   Thank you folks!  This is our principal source of heat...and after all, it is mid March and we live in Cananda!!

How about a warning?  There was none.  How about an apology?  None.

So folks...  If you live in Canada, and our lucky enough to own a pellet stove, be fore-warned.  Buy sufficient pellets at the beginning of March to carry you through until heat is no longer needed in your home.  Know your supplier.  If his attitude is "I don't give a damn", shop elsewhere.  We will.  We have found a place that is 1/2 hour north of us....worth the drive to support someone who does give a damn.

Happy St. Patrick's day!

“May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you."

How very sad....

In spite of how difficult the pictures are to look at, I find myself unable to pull myself away from the scenes of destruction.  Japan is on the other side of the world, but television has brought this tragedy home to us.  I cannot imagine the horror that these people must have felt when the earthquake hit, followed then, by the arrival of the Tsunami.  Now these poor souls have the threat of a nuclear meltdown to contend with.

All I can think of is, where will they start?  How do you clean up a mess such as this?  How can they possibly heal after such losses?

I wonder what lessons we will all learn from this event?  What lasting lessons do we learn from any tragedy?

Will the supporters of Nuclear energy rethink the safety of this method of producing power? Will the Gulf Oil Spill be the last?  Will we all learn to live with less so that we never have to endure these sorts of disasters?

Life is fragile.  It is my guess that not one person in Japan expected that they would not have family or homes to return to at the end of their working day.  That is the biggest lesson in all of this ugliness. Homes, cars, businesses, and possessions are replaceable... family and friends are not.  I think that most of us have held our loved ones a little longer over the past several days...

I hope that our Japanese neighbours know that we mourn their losses too, and sending healing prayers and thoughts their way.

Prayers

Our thoughts, prayers, and sympathies are extended to the people of Japan,during this moment of tragedy....and in the days to come.

God bless!

Gratitude

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!  ~Henry Ward Beecher




He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.  ~Epictetus


Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.  ~Henry Ward Beecher
 

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart


 
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William Arthur Ward
 

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert