One More Step Along the Return

 The link to this week's worship service is here.

Raven Baroque concert at SPPC Thursday, August 5 at 7:30 pm. 

This week we took another step in our return to normal Sunday mornings. We had coffee hour after service.

After so many months of "keeping our distance," it was a joy to sit down with church friends and catch up on the little things of life. 

I heard about the first visit with a grandchild.

The turn out in the pews is increasing week by week and more than half those present stayed for a cuppa and a chat. 

Many thanks to Janet and her family for setting up and hosting our first coffee hour since March of 2020.

I think this smile says it all.

Earlier in the month, some of the Friendship Coffee regulars got together in the rose garden by the library in Sidney.

Step four of B.C.'s recovery is supposed to begin on 4 September. I look forward to having Friendship Coffee at the church again, along with other activities like choir and Bible Study. 

And here's one more picture, just to prove you can't keep a good gardener out of the dirt. 

Inez lives in the Extended Care at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, where residents have been encouraged to plant a garden in these waist-high cabinets. You can see how the flowers have rewarded her for all the care she has lavished on her plot. What a way to cheer the soul.

The closing hymn in Sunday's service was "For the Fruit of All Creation, Thanks be to God." A perfect poem for a gardener, but buried in the last verse are words for us all, "For the good we all inherit, Thanks be to God...Most of all that love has found us, Thanks be to God."

Virtual Coffee Hour

 Link for this week's service is here.

Since we can't gather after worship to catch up on each other's doings, here is a sample of what might be said in coffee hour.

Tore and Alice celebrated their anniversary by putting in the vegetable garden. The space reserved for the squash family will be a labour of discovery. I know there are three butternut squash plants because Khim gave them to me. For the others, zucchini, cucumber, etc. who knows. I had started them on the windowsill and then the cat knocked over the seed tray! The seedlings are now in the ground and I wait to see what's what.

Linda planted nasturtiums in the back bed at the church. They will look lovely spreading over the earth and bearing bright flowers. Just so you know, Linda is not exclusive about her gardening at SPPC. There are at least five areas that could do with a hand,

so if your green thumb is itching, call Linda at 250 656-7858 or email her at linda.g.cliff@gmail.com

I hear Irene has a surfeit of rhubarb pies. You might want to arrange a coffee date in the park with her this week.

Our university students have finished exams for this term. Benjamin is taking summer courses. Max is getting ready for his last co-op placement and Rebekah is continuing with her job in the doctor's office. Peter has school for a few more weeks, but is getting in lots and lots of baseball practice. If restrictions loosen, he might even get to play a game against another team.

The entire Smith family is vaccinated, including Abigail. She is finishing up grade three and looking forward to a visit with Felicity this summer.

Thanks to the kindness of the grocery store who supplied chicken manure in small batches and a neighbour who dug a trench, Gladys has a thriving patch of rhubarb. She has had three pickings and looks forward to more. If you go by her place and wonder about her mental state, she is not talking to herself. She's talking to the world's most affectionate cat.

Roy and Dorothy report their teenaged grandchildren are booked for a vaccine this coming week.

Aarol and Ken have forwarded their new address in Calgary. They are happy with their move but sorry not to have had a chance to have one last meal with the "out to lunch bunch."

So there you have it. I've made the rounds of the hall. The kitchen staff is shooing us out so they can do the dishes and put away the extra food. Have a good week, everyone.

No idea what this bush is called but it is blooming in front of SPPC.

. . . not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 NIV

Talent/Craft Show

On Sunday, after service, the Fellowship Committee sponsored a talent/craft show.  Congregants brought their best handiwork to display during the coffee hour.  And what wonderful handiwork we saw.  I've taken pictures, maybe too many but it was all so noteworthy.

 There was needlework, glasswork, and woodwork.

There were tolle pictures, photographs and painted pictures.

There were big works and small works.

Some talents were edible!

And to top it all off, we had a birthday.

There were no prizes, no competition, but what a great way to get to know each other better.  As one person remarked, "I'd rather know this now than find out at a funeral!"

Kudos to the fellowship committee for sponsoring the event and well done to all the participants.