Month: May 2025

Geghard Monastery

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Geghard Monastery, declared a World Heritage Site in 2000, is nestled into the dramatic Azat River Gorge, approximately 35 km (22 miles) east of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. Can you spot it in this photo taken from the open air restaurant where we stopped for a delicious lunch.

Here’s a closer look.

Views of the gorge from the restaurant were absolutely spectacular. We could hear the river in the bottom of the canyon, but lush growth obscured our view of it.

One of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, Geghard is one of the country’s most visited tourist destinations. It is believed to have been founded in the 4th century by Saint Gregory the Illuminator, following Armenia’s adoption of Christianity in 301 AD. Until the 13th century, the monastery consisted of churches, chapels, and chambers cut into the rock. 

The main cathedral was built during the 13th century and is an exceptionally well-preserved example of medieval Armenian architecture. The entire complex blends seamlessly into the surrounding mountainous terrain.  

Geghard Monastery was an important spiritual and cultural hub during the Middle Ages housing numerous monks and scholars. It also became a destination for pilgrimages because it was believed that the spear that pierced the side of Christ during His crucifixion was stored there for a period of time. Geghard means “spear” or “spearhead” in Armenian. 

A unique feature of monastery is a spring flowing from the rock inside the church. Believed to be holy water, it has worn a groove into the rocky floor over many hundreds of years. Outside, a very short walk from the main church takes one to a stream tumbling down the rocky mountainside. 

Tomorrow we depart for an undisclosed location where we will engage in the ministry that is the main reason for this trip. The blog will continue when we complete that work and resume travelling as tourists. 

Khor Virap: The Birthplace of Armenian Christianity

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Although I’m not sleeping particularly well yet, I think I’ve sufficiently recovered from jet lag to begin sharing some of the things we’ve seen since arriving in Armenia.

In 301 AD, Armenia became the first country in the world to officially adopt Christianity and it all started here at Khor Virap, one of the country’s most sacred and visited sites. During the reign of Tiridates III, Saint Gregory the Illuminator (originally known as Grigor Lusavorich) angered the king by refusing to participate in pagan rituals and instead preaching Christianity. The king had him imprisoned in Khor Virap which literally means “deep pit” or “dungeon” in Armenian. There in the depths of the earth, he languished for 13 years, surviving only because of the kindness of a local woman who provided him with food and water. Eventually, when Tiridates fell ill with a form of madness, his sister is said to have had a dream that the imprisoned Gregory could heal him. Pulled from the dark pit, Gregory was washed, dressed and taken to the king where he prayed urgently for his healing. When Tiridates recovered, he became a loyal and dedicated supporter of Christianity and officially declared it the state religion.

A chapel was initially built at Khor Virap in the 5th century and the present St. Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) church was constructed in 1662. The 6 metre (19.7 feet) deep pit where Gregory was held is still present at Khor Virap and tourists can descend into the dungeon on a narrow ladder. While hubby was brave enough to do that, I declined!

Images of Saint Gregory are found both in and outside the church.   

 

Khor Virap is located on the Ararat plain about a 45 minute drive from Yarevan, the capital city of Armenia. While the monastery was well worth the visit, part of the excitement of being there was looking out across the border between Armenia and Turkey at Mount Ararat where Noah’s ark is said to have come to rest! There are actually two volcanic cones, Greater Ararat on the right and Little Ararat on the left. Greater Ararat, known as the “Holy Mountain” of the Armenian people was actually in Armenia until the 1921 Treaty of Moscow and Kars officially made it part of Turkey following the Turkish-Armenian war of 1920. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the fence that marks the border between the two countries.  

All packed and ready to go!

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We’re packed and ready to set off on our next big adventure, but I don’t remember ever having so much trouble deciding what to put in a suitcase! I pondered for a long time and even tried on several different combinations before finally settling on what I would take. Looking back at my packing review from our 2019 trip to Europe helped. Interestingly, a few of the same pieces are going with me again this time! I also thought about what would be culturally appropriate and, of course, I considered the weather. 

Due to the sensitive nature of the area and the ministry that we’ll be involved in, I’ll only be able to share the tourist parts of our trip on the blog, but according to weather forecasts for the various locations that we’ll be travelling to, it looks like daytime temperatures will mostly be in the mid to high 20s C (75 to 85ºF). I suspect that some, but not all, of the facilities that we’ll spend time in will be air conditioned, so we need to be prepared for that as well.  

Although we’re leaving home today, we don’t actually fly out until Monday. Over the weekend, hubby and I will be attending a national neuroendocrine cancer patient conference in Calgary where I’ll be sharing my patient story tomorrow afternoon. That complicated the packing process somewhat because we’ll be wearing things at the conference that we won’t be taking overseas with us. When the conference is over, we’ll spend Sunday night at our daughter’s and then leave our vehicle with her. That meant that I could also pack a separate tote bag to leave there while we’re gone. I just have to make sure that everything is in the right place when we leave for the airport!  

I expect to have internet access most of the time that we’re away and hope to squeeze in time to update the blog from time to time, so come along and travel with us! 

A vintage thrift store find

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Fashion Friday is back today!

Out for a walk one day last week, I decided to stop in at the local thrift store and look what I found!

Although my wardrobe is largely made up of neutrals, the colourful vintage jacket immediately caught my attention and the sleeveless yellow top worked perfectly with it. I didn’t have my Spring colour swatches with me, but I knew immediately that these were Spring colours. Look how many of them are represented on my swatches.

Typically, clothing is considered vintage if it’s at least 20 years old. Three things tell me that my jacket was probably made in the 1980s meaning that it would definitely qualify.

  1. It has shoulder pads which peaked in popularity in the 80s, but since they’re presently making a comeback my jacket might be right in style again soon!
  2. Neon colours were also all the rage in the 80s.
  3. It’s size 12 and I haven’t worn size 12 since, well probably the 80s! The fact that I usually wear size 8 now doesn’t mean that I’ve shrunk though. Over the years, so-called vanity sizing has changed what the numbers on clothing mean. As North American women have grown physically larger, brands have shifted their metrics to make shoppers feel skinnier – so much so that a women’s size 12 in 1958 is now a size 6.

Regardless of what the number on the tag says, the jacket fit perfectly. I particularly like the way that it nips in a bit at the waist giving my boyish body a slightly more feminine shape.

The tag also tells me that the jacket should be dry cleaned, but since it’s made of 97% cotton, I didn’t think that was necessary. I always wash thrifted clothes before I wear them, so I put the jacket in a mesh laundry bag, put it through my washing machine’s hand wash cycle, hung it to dry, and ironed it with a warm iron. It came out looking perfect.

For today’s photos, I’ve styled the yellow top and the jacket with a pair of dark wash jeans, but I can also visualize them with white jeans. With all those bright colours in it, the jacket is very versatile. For a dressier look, I think it would look quite stunning over a column of black. Perhaps I’ll try that next!

The most important things

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I had a different idea in mind for this week’s post, but then I read something that caused me to pause and think about the important things in life. The truly important things.

If I were to ask many people what’s most important in life, their answers would probably include things like family, good health, happiness, financial or job security, and a safe place to live. Depending on their circumstances, they might even say enough to eat or clean drinking water. These are, after all, very important. In fact, it was some of these things that first came to mind when I started asking myself what’s most important in life, but then I thought of something else.

When Jesus was asked which commandment was most important, He replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.'” 

My faith, my personal relationship with God, is the most important thing in my life because it’s the only thing of eternal value, but it was actually Christ’s second statement that I was thinking about when I sat down to write this post. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” The Bible actually has a lot to say about how we treat one another. In fact, the “golden rule” that we were taught as children actually comes directly out of Scripture. Luke 6:31 says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

So why have I been thinking about the importance of how we treat one another? In Canada and the US, at least, and perhaps other parts of the world as well, we have become very polarized people. We are sharply divided along political lines. No sooner had Canadians drawn together in response to threats from our southern neighbour than our own federal election tore us apart again. As I feared would happen, we went from “elbows up” unity to attacking one another for our political views. Nowhere was worse than on social media where people tend to say things they wouldn’t say in person.

Politics is important, but is it the most important thing? Is it worth losing friendships over? Surely each of us is entitled to have our own opinion and to express it without condemnation. Can’t we disagree, but still treat one another with respect or must we vilify those who don’t see eye to eye with us?  After all, while we might not agree on which party is the right one to govern or which leader is the most competent, we all want the same things. We all want what’s best for our country, our families, and ourselves.

Perhaps the most important things in life aren’t things at all. Perhaps our character, who we are and how we treat others, is much more important.

Where in the world are you?

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When it comes to the blog, I’m a bit of a stats junkie. Every 30 minutes WordPress provides updated statistics showing how many readers have visited my site and which posts they’ve read. I especially enjoy looking at the map and the list that tells me where those readers are located. It always amazes me that the words that I type reach such far reaching points on the globe!

 

This map represents the last seven days with the darker shades of blue indicating where the most readers are located. Over time, the majority of my readers have been in the United States and Canada, but the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Germany are also well represented.

While WordPress provides me with lots of interesting information, your identity is protected. It doesn’t tell me who the individuals are who read my posts. Unless you leave a comment either on the blog or on Facebook, I don’t actually know that you’ve been here.

One of the things that I enjoy most about blogging is connecting with people in many different places from different walks of life. I live my life out loud here on the blog. I share everything from my thoughts on fashion to my faith to my life with cancer. Today, I’d like to know more about you. I’d love it if you would tell me where you’re reading this from. It can be as simple as a one word answer, but if you’re comfortable doing so, why not tell me a little more about yourself. If you’re a regular reader, I’d also love to know what kind of posts you enjoy the most, what you’d like to see more of on the blog, and what doesn’t interest you at all.

Today I’m hoping that you’ll step out of that patch of blue on the WordPress map and say hello!

Book of the month – April 2025

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I often pick up books to read at the local thrift stores, so they’re not always recent releases. The book I’ve chosen for this month’s review was published in 2015.

The Hummingbird

Stephen P. Kiernan

This book is really three stories in one, each distinct, but all connected. Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse assigned to care for an embittered and lonely history professor whose career ended in academic scandal. As his life slowly ebbs away, the professor, an expert in the Pacific Theater of World War II, begrudgingly puts his trust in Deborah and begins to share with her an unpublished book that he wrote. As she reads to him from his story about a Japanese fighter pilot who dropped bombs on the coastline of Oregon, he challenges her to decide if it is true or not.

The chapters that Deborah reads to the professor alternate with chapters of the primary story. At first I found that disconcerting. I even wondered if it would be okay to skip those, but I’m very thankful that I didn’t as they are an essential part of the story. Like Deborah, I was soon drawn into the substory and wanted to know if it was factual. I even found myself searching the internet to find out!

At home, Deborah’s husband, Michael, has recently returned from his third tour of duty in Iraq. Suffering from PTSD and haunted by the faces of those he had to kill, he is a changed man. While gently helping the old professor die, Deborah also struggles to help her husband heal and to restore the loving marriage that they once had. It is through the professor’s book that she begins to understand Michael and how to help him conquer his demons.

The author does a masterful job of intertwining the three stories and tying them together. The Hummingbird is a powerful, thought-provoking book that deals very sensitively with human frailty, dignity in dying, the effects of war, and the healing power of love. Ultimately, it is a deeply moving story of forgiveness and redemption.

Often, when I finish reading a second-hand book, I return it to the thrift store for someone else to buy, but this one’s definitely a keeper!