Eleanor Shepherd

Christmas Greetings 2019

2020-01-07T12:05:00.001-05:00

December 19, 2019

Dear Friends:

When we sent our Christmas letter from Paris in 1987, that yearwas our firstChristmas outside of Canada, and we sensed a strong desire to connect with friendsand family, most of whom lived 6 time zones away. Since then, the list of recipients has grown as we have made friends around the world. This letter is a message for our 51st Christmas as a couple. From that you will deduce that the big story of 2019 was our 50th wedding anniversary.

It was a remarkable year of celebration. In June we embarked on a three-week tour of

Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Denmark took us to the fascination of wonderful Copenhagen; Norway wowed us withits breathtaking fjords; Sweden gave the chance to see the homeland of our son-in-law Johan Hultqvist and to visit with his parents, Bengt and Sigurveig. Maybe the highlight was to be in Sweden on June 21, for the mid-summer celebration.This is a major holiday as Swedes celebrate the longest day of the year. We were constantly fascinated by the late daylight as we visited these three wonderful countries. For years we have wanted to go to Australia and Sweden. Our dream to see both hasnow been fulfilled and we are so grateful.

After three weeks in Scandinavia we flew from Stockholm to Paris for a week with our friends Jean-Blaise and Jacqueline Fivaz andenjoyed the chance to connect with friends in Paris who mean so much to us.

Later in the summer John came from Montreal for a vacation and in August we went to Prince Edward Island with Elizabeth, Johan and our granddaughters Sanna and Alma.

Our actual wedding anniversary was on September 13. On Saturday,September 14 John and Elizabeth hosted a surprise get-together at the Montreal Citadel church building where we were able to greet friends.

Apart from celebrating our 50 years, we keep busy with a variety of interests. Eleanor is active on the board of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Glen is vice-chair of the board of Christian Direction (CDI) in Montreal. He chaired the search committee that led to the hiring of Rev. Tim Keener as the new Executive Director of CDI. Tim was the guest speaker at Montreal Citadel’s annual Community Carol Sing held last Saturday. This event celebrated Jesus as the Saviour of the world as we shared Scripture and Christmas music in English, French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese.

Montreal Citadel, the Salvation Army congregation where we met, were married and invested so much of our lives, continues to figure prominently in our lives. Glen continues with his day job at The Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters for Quebec. In his after-work life he relinquished leadership of the band (he now plays trombone in the band) and was replaced by a fine young Christian musician. We are concentrating on a Wednesday Bible study/Leadership training course we are doing with 12 younger potential leaders from our Montreal Citadel congregation. This experience with this fine group of people is so rewarding and exciting. We wait eagerly for the day they will fully take our places in leadership of our church. Also we are both singing in the adult choir that is led by Elizabeth.

John is busy with his Ph.D. studies and research work he is undertaking at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Toronto. He has joined the choir at the Church of the Redeemer, the Anglican Church of which he is a member, and is thoroughly enjoying the musical and worship experience.

Elizabeth and Johan live an hour north of Montreal in Ste. Lucie des Laurentides so we see them regularly at church and at family get-together. Elizabeth leads both the choirs at Montreal Citadel. Sanna is now 8 and Alma is 3. Their stay-overs at Grandma and Grandpa’s place are a highlight of our lives.

Life is good. We are blessed and we wish to remain grateful for the good things we have. There are wrinkles at this stage of life - the requirement for Glen to redo his driver’s test in order to keep his driver’s permit, for example. Age and the effects of successive laser treatments arising from the consequences of 47 years as a diabetic have compromised his eyes and placed him in a re-examinable position. Fortunately he passed the driver’s test, so we breathed a collective sigh of relief.

John is coming to Montreal and we are all going to Elizabeth and Johan’s home for Christmas. Snow, clear air, a blazing fireplace, Christmas carols and the joy of three generations of our family together will be precious.

But beyond the joy of a family gathering is the wonder of EMMANUEL - God with us. The fact that the great God of creation reached out to us in the person of Jesus is the singularly most important feature that separates Christianity as a faith. We see the love of God in the face fo a child. As we watched our grand-children do their part in the Christmas presentation by the Montreal Citadel Sunday School last Sunday we couldn’t help but think of the marvelous trajectory in our family’s story since our grand-father and great-grandfather came to know Jesus. Nothing has been the same since. May the impact of the night when Jesus was born warm your hearts and thoughts this Christmas.

Eleanor and Glen Shepherd

The Laanguage of Love

2018-02-27T07:52:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading The 5 love languages and saved the book on my Goodreads bookshelf as Read. I also blogged about it and you can read that at: https://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2018/02/loves-powerful-languages-by-eleanor.html
Have you read about this? What do you think?

NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP

2017-12-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

From: Google Image

My Reflections:

Perhaps it might be helpful to share with you a little of my own prayer journey, not so that you can compare your story with mine, but simply to offer one example. As I have tried to underline, for each of us our story is unique. Instead, you might find elements that are common in your story that you would like to share, or that you have questions about. Feel free to respond in the comment section of this blog and add your comments and questions. I would love to talk about them with you.

Prayer Scriptures:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2: 42)

My Reflections:

Like many others, I grew up in a Christian home, where prayer was very much a part of our family life. As a little child, I was taught to kneel by my bed at the end of the day repeat, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” It took a few years for me to understand what that was all about. I have noticed now that the usual format for this particular prayer goes something like this. “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May God guard me through the night. And wake me with the morning light.” I think that is much less frightening for a child.

From: Google Image

Prayer Scriptures:

“On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.” (Acts 16: 13)

My Reflections:

The next part of this initial rote prayer that I learned, I liked from quite young. It was the recitation of all the family and friends. “God bless Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher, Grandma and Grandpa Evans, Great-Grandma Evans, all of my aunts and uncles and cousins and friends.” Then, as I grew older and learned the names of all of my aunts and uncles and cousins and new cousins were added to the family, I would add each name and the ever growing list would delay bedtime just a little bit longer.

Prayer Scriptures:

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12: 12)

From: Google Images

My Reflections:

Then I would finish with, “Make me a good girl. For Jesus sake. Amen.”

It is interesting that still today in my intercession, I include the names of all of those in my extended family and I have also added the names of those in my husband, Glen’s family. Those dearest to me are remembered in prayer daily.

Prayer Scriptures:

“May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.” (I Kings 8: 29)

“…then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.” (I Kings 8: 45)

Your Reflections:

What was your early experience with prayer? Did your parents teach you a rote prayer like this? Do you still use it? What elements from your early prayer experiences have you brought into your adult life?

I Knew You Would Come

Word Guild Award
2009

Word Guild Award
2011

Prayer – We Just Keep Walking

2016-09-26T12:51:00.002-04:00

My Reflections:

We need to remember that the journey of prayer is dynamic. We do not just offer our prayer to God and then forget about it. That would be like dropping it in a slot machine and waiting for the answer to drop out, without our engagement in the process.

Our life of prayer is constantly changing. That is why I focus on the journey of prayer. Many of the things that I have learned relate to the gift of prayer or as it is often called the gift of intercession. Even if you do not believe that you have this particular spiritual gift, I believe that every Christian will at some time face the need to intercede for someone. Those who do not have this calling as a spiritual gift, need not feel guilty or inadequate in any way because they are not like those who have been given this gift. Their prayers can be equally effective.

Prayer Scriptures:

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21: 22)

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11: 24)

My Reflections:

I do not know why God chose to give me the gift of prayer, but for a long time I was quite reluctant to talk to others about my life of prayer. I possibly might never have done so, had my husband not begun to refer to it from time to time. The problem was that when people heard about my extended times of prayer others would feel that in order to honour God they also had to include that particular discipline in their lives. This is not necessarily true. The wonderful thing about the life of faith is that each of us has our own unique journey with our own guide, the Holy Spirit who lives within us. He never imposes the same pattern on each of our lives, but with respect for our uniqueness, He leads us in the way that will most effectively enable us to develop into the people He desires us to be.

Prayer Scriptures:

“I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.” (Isaiah 63: 7)

My Reflections:

The most important element in our prayer journey, as in all parts of our development in faith, is what I call the orientation of our hearts. If our hearts are open to what the Spirit wants to teach us and to His guidance in our lives we will appreciate what He is doing and will become effective for His purposes. We will be open to trying new methods to be effective in the development of our spiritual lives that are in tune with the leading of the Spirit. We may learn them from comments from someone else, or something that we read or hear or an idea may come to us seemingly from out of the blue.

Prayer Scriptures:

“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.” (Daniel 9: 17)

Your Reflections:

Do you have any questions or comments about the uniqueness of our prayer journeys or about the concept of the orientation of our hearts? Please feel free to share them.

The Journey of Prayer - Starting Out (What is Prayer?)

2016-09-19T22:58:00.002-04:00

My reflections:

There are two significant differences that we need to take into account in our journey of prayer. First of all prayer is a spiritual discipline that is essential for all Christians to practice in order to grow in their relationship with the Lord.

Prayer is also a gift that is given to some Christians in order to enable them to intercede for others with intentional prayer on specific topics for specific people. As with so many things in the spiritual life, there is not always a clear demarcation between these two things.

When I come into the Lord’s presence in the early morning for my prayer time, I do not say, “Okay during this time I am going to practice the spiritual disipline of prayer,” and then at some time suddenly switch and say, “Now I am going to start my intercession for others.”

Prayer Scriptures:

“Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11: 1)

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,” (John 17: 20)

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1: 14)

My reflections:

By the way, I would be grateful if you would like at any time to post your comments at the bottom of this blog, if you have questions or concerns about anything I am saying. I have lots of material on the subject, but my real desire is that this blog be a practical, learning experience for all of us. So please do not hesitate to speak up in the opportunity that the comments provide for that.

Prayer Scriptures:

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,” (Philippians 1: 9)

Your Reflections:

Does the concept of prayer being both a spiritual discipline and a spiritual gift make sense to you? What are your questions or concernsThe Journey of Prayer

Eleanor Shepherd, a Salvation Army officer has a repertoire of over 90 articles published in several countries. A speaker at conferences, in Canada, the USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, Haiti and Jamaica, her story appeared in Hot Apple Cider. Her book More Questions than Answers, explains her style of evangelism by listening.

What are your thoughts about marriage?

2016-06-06T09:53:00.001-04:00

I discovered this blog today that I had not posted. It might interest you:

Here is a reflection that came as I had occasion to perform a marriage recently.
http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2014/09/what-is-marriage-eleanor-shepherd.html

My Other Blog

2016-06-06T09:48:00.000-04:00

Here is the link to the other blog where I contribute each month. My plan is to regularly update this one with unique posts as well. In the meantime, you may want to read this contribution to The Word Guild blog. Here is the link: http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2016/06/does-anything-really-happen-eleanor.html

What Language Do You Speak?

2015-09-16T23:36:00.002-04:00

It is such a long time since I posted. Now I am back. Keep tuned. As a writer I am fascinated by language so here is a post about it.

Nothing irks me more than religious jargon. I guess since I have been working with a congregation that is made up of twenty-eight different nationalities for the last three years, I have become even more sensitive to the understanding of those whose first language is not English. Now that means that they have trouble understanding the English that is spoken today. If that were not enough of a challenge, to try to communicate spiritual ideas to them in an ancient form of English, just frustrates them as they try to understand another language they have never learned and will not usually hear outside of gatherings of church people. Why would we try to make it more difficult for them? To me, that is not showing love for them.

For example, a longtime believer will speak to them glowingly and sincerely of the bliss of abiding in Christ. The quizzical expression with which they respond is not a mark of their lack of spiritual depth, but rather manifests their confusion about the language we are using. What on earth does it mean to abide in someone? There may be a small chance that they have heard of staying in a particular place as being described as abiding there. But to abide in a person, or in God, what could that mean?

If we were to express to them the joy that we experience as we daily practice putting our trust in Jesus to help us face the challenges we meet, we might just pique their curiosity, rather than confuse them. They might want to raise questions with us about how we could place our trust in Someone who once lived on this earth but according to what they understand the Bible to stay, left here to return to Heaven. What an open invitation to introduce the person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus who lives in us and among us here and now.

Such clear communication might evoke questions about whether God is really interested in the details of our lives enough to be concerned about the challenges we face each day. This opens the door for us to share our unspectacular yet faith-building stories of the activity of God in our daily lives. Not only can we share our stories, we can also ask our friends if they have ever had experiences that have caused them to wonder about the world that is beyond the senses and how it might have some kind of influence upon their lives. We will be amazed at what God is doing in the most unexpected places with the most unlikely people.

There is nothing as exciting as discovering the activity of God in our everyday world and clear communication of spiritual realities in everyday language opens the door. It gives us opportunities to become bilingual. We learn to speak Christianize in ordinary English. I dare you to give it a try. Then tell me about your experience. I can't wait to hear.

About My Summer

2014-08-02T18:05:00.001-04:00

If you are interested in what has been happening in my life this summer, please check out my blog post from Canadian Writers who are Christian. Here is the link:
http://twgauthors.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-next-eleanor-shepherd.html

Feel free to comment. I love to hear from you.

When I Am Not Here

2014-07-05T22:44:00.001-04:00

You can find me at my other blog:
http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2014/07/the-journey-to-intercession-eleanor.html

Now What?

2014-05-05T22:51:00.000-04:00

If you are curious about what I am doing now check out this blog.

http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2014/05/what-am-i-doing-eleanor-shepherd.html

How I Became a Writer

2014-04-08T04:44:00.001-04:00

Here is a link to the blog where you can learn a little about how I came to be a writer. http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2014/04/to-write-or-not-to-write-eleanor.html

My Other Blog

2014-03-02T07:32:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to the other blog that I write every month. a
Enjoy!
http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2014/03/preacher-on-tightrope-eleanor-shepherd.html

Blog Link

2014-01-06T11:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks for stopping by. Welcome to all my new Twitter followers.

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year!

Here is a link to my latest post on The Word Guild blog. You can check it out at: http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2013/12/is-christmas-coming-back-into-vogue.html

My Other Blog

2013-12-07T11:50:00.001-05:00

You can check my latest blog post at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian. Here is the link:
http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2013/12/why-shepherds-eleanor-shepherd.html

Beau Goes to McGill

2013-11-20T21:53:00.001-05:00

In the fall of 1999 Elizabeth began her studies at McGill University’s Faculty of Music. From the outset she loved her studies and all that music had to offer. At the start she was in a general faculty program with a major in classical piano. Later on she connected with her first love and switched to jazz piano.

At this time, Elizabeth was sharing a ram-shackled pad with good friend Kristen. The two spent most of their time at McGill, except for particularly blustery winter days, when the trek seemed just too long and the house a little too warm to leave. Beau never seemed to evince any particular interest in Elizabeth’s musical life – to him a treat or a piece of cheese had much more value than a Bach fugue or the best jazz tune.

December came, and with it exam time at the end of the term. December in Montreal also means snow and cold. It so happened that the two arrived simultaneously that day as Elizabeth made the trek to the music faculty to pick up a take-home exam, with Beau in tow.

She arrived at the faculty and tied Beau up so she could go inside and collect her exam paper. The noble dog, accustomed as he was to the comforts of central heating, ideally, in front of a roaring fireplace was not predisposed to sit outside in a Montreal winter snowstorm. Humans did not study in the snow, so why should he have to wait in snowy conditions. Unfortunately for Beau, and for the ill-prepared Elizabeth, the exam was not a take-home, but a sit-in. So, already arriving late, and having little choice, she sat down and began to write. Somehow the professor became aware of the dilemma Elizabeth faced (no doubt the indignant barking outside the ground level classroom tipped him off). He asked the class if anyone had any problems with Beau coming in while Elizabeth wrote the exam. No dissenters were recorded and Elizabeth went outside to summons the dog.

Beau didn’t say a lot, but it was obvious from the gleam in his eyes that he liked the idea. The heating system worked. The room was quiet. And the ambiance, oh, the ambiance, seemed to connect with his spirit. He thought of the Brott brothers and Oscar Peterson – the giants of the McGill musical tradition. He thought of Wilder Penfield and Sir Ernest Rutherford and their work just across University Street. Elizabeth was a McGill student. Her dad, Glen, was a McGill graduate. His brother, Eric, was a McGill graduate. Was it not only right and proper that he, too, should take his place at McGill to fully develop his skills and knowledge?

The exam passed uneventfully. Elizabeth put on her coat and mitts and she and Beau slipped out into the magic of a Montreal winter.

Interestingly enough, even after his education at McGill, Beau still failed to manifest any particular interest in Bach, or jazz. His love of treats and cheese remained undiminished. Some things just never change.

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

https://www.facebook.com/MoreQuestionsthanAnswers

BACK TO LA FRANCOPHONIE – BEAU MOVES TO MONTREAL

2013-04-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

Beau adapted well to life in Canada. He liked the open space. He missed French cheese and he missed hearing the language of his homeland. No surprise, then, that his heart leapt when he heard we were moving to Montreal. He could live his bicultural dream – home life in English and the occasional sortie into the richness of French life. Our house, in the Montreal suburb of Notre-Dame-de-Grace, offered lots of room and a great fenced in backyard. Just down the street he could go to the Loyola campus of Concordia University to run. Just behind Hingston Hall he found a group of other dogs who brought their owners with them while they attended lodge meeting running all over the expansive grounds.

Beau loved it. He particularly liked the cultural richness. He spoke fondly of the Friday night we were walking through Loyola when he got ahead of his humans and went down the stairs and in through the open doors of a building to attend a concert which was set to begin shortly. Unfortunately, the humans did not seem to share his enthusiasm for the event and ushered him out pronto.

Montreal offered a magnificent life – trips to Franklin Centre to pick apples in the fall. There was one place he particularly liked with a small menagerie of animals that he would chase and try to coax into the herd. He could go out to the Wight’s house in Pointe Claire and look for Fuzzball, the cat he had terrified when we had visited there about six years earlier.

On that occasion Eleanor, Glen and Beau had been sleeping in the spare bedroom in the basement. Fuzzball was upstairs with the Wights. At some juncture during the evening Fuzzball came downstairs. When Beau went out to patrol the basement he discovered the feline interloper and give chase. Fuzzball took off with Beau in hot pursuit. We heard the shrill mewing and the hot barking and stirred from slumber as the cat clambered over our faces, followed a couple of seconds later by the pounding paws of the dog. Over the bed they went and down the other side against the wall. We barely had time to check our bruised faces before they returned – cat on the face followed by the pursuing dog. The cat fled and hid in the furnace room, the dog patrolled restlessly and threateningly as we tried to figure out what had hit us. On those occasions in the future when we visited Pointe Claire, Fuzzball was careful to give Beau a wide berth. At the first opportunity, Fuzzball escaped to the porch across the street, under which she hid until two days after Beau’s departure.

Montreal is a land of fierce winters – any native can testify to that. Beau had not been acclimatized, given his life in France and Toronto, both with their somewhat milder winters. As a result, when he awoke one morning in mid-January to find two and a half feet of freshly fallen snow, he turned around in disgust before setting a paw outside the back porch for his usual morning pee. Glen, being the only one awake enough to function at Beau’s speed, kindly took it upon himself to dig a series of trenches, with the sophistication of a war vet, in order for Beau to proceed with his duties in the yard. It worked out beautifully for the two of them – ensuring Beau kept out floors dry, and providing Glen with a cardio workout (that he wasn’t necessarily seeking). It was, no doubt, one of the longer winters for Glen, given the numerous snowfalls…. Occasionally Beau actually used the paths that had been so carefully carved out for him.

Beau loved junkets to the Salvation Army camp at Lac l’Achigan where he could run and rummage around in the forest, thought he never did develop a flair for swimming in the lake. We think that his fear of water arose as a result of being trained not to bark, by being sprayed with water.

The highlight was a week long vacation in the summer of 2003, spent with Andy, Elizabeth, Beau and Clovis, and shared with neighbours Danny and Sean and their respective dogs, Skip and Esko. The campgrounds were suddenly swarmed with the city boys (les gars d’en ville), marking their territory and seeking opportune begging moments at various pique-nique opportunities. They even made it half way around the lake on one particularly ambitious walk despite Beau’s 14 years.

Unfortunately, our stint in Montreal was all too brief. After only eight months we left for France again. Elizabeth and John would stay in Montreal and Beau went to live with Elizabeth. After eleven years it was time for Eleanor and Glen to bid Beau farewell. Eleanor drove Beau over to stay with the Pearos who were going to look after him until Elizabeth had moved into an apartment that could accommodate the dog. Glen didn’t come, he could not stand to say good-bye to the pooch; such was the dog’s hold on his heart.

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

https://www.facebook.com/MoreQuestionsthanAnswers

Mail Call

2013-04-03T11:33:00.000-04:00

Beau always responded when people came calling. When we came home, he was there, tail wagging and panting, ready to jump up and greet us. When company came, or the Bible study group came around he followed them everywhere, anxious to be part of the proceedings. When the mailman came, the enthusiasm was the same, but the reaction was different.

We first made the discovery one morning when Elizabeth was, unusually, home alone during the day. The mailman came and left our mail in the letterbox at the side of the house. Elizabeth was in the kitchen and opened the door to retrieve the mail. As she reached for the mail Beau was out of the house like a rocket in pursuit of the mailman. The mailman claimed later that Beau attacked and bit him. No evidence of biting was evident, but there could be no denial that Beau had pursued the mailman somewhat aggressively.

The postman filed his complaint and Canada Post sent an official to investigate. Barbara, our neighbour, testified that there was no way that Beau could have attacked the postman – he was too nice a dog to do that. He talked to Elizabeth and went into the backyard to interview the suspect. Beau lay there serene, as the official talked to him and rubbed him. It was the perfect life as far as Beau was concerned. The official observed to Elizabeth that it seemed difficult to believe that Beau could be vicious.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the mailman arrived. Beau was off like a shot – teeth bared and growling. The chain holding him grew taut as he pulled to get loose and show that postman once and for all that he was not welcome on our turf. Needless to say, the Canada Post official was a little bit less certain that Beau was innocent in the case before him.

We never did figure it out. Beau was not by nature vicious or aggressive, but he sure went nuts with postmen. Twice after he moved to Montreal he went after postmen. In fact, Elizabeth finally received a notice from Canada Post that if he were to attack another postman it would be necessary to have him put down.

My theory was that the postman must have threatened the dog to provoke such fear. I could not help but notice a peculiar phenomenon one morning when I was at home. The persistent barking of a dog in the distance interrupted the silence of the usually tranquil neighbourhood. Other dogs joined the chorus progressively and finally Beau also became part of the chorus as the postman arrived outside our door. As the postman continued on his way quiet gradually returned to the neighbourhood as dogs dropped out of the barking chorus. Was there communication in the canine community to warn of the malevolent postman on his rounds?

The facts were never clearly established but we were certain that Beau was innocent. Could the postman’s be at fault? One of life’s unsolved mysteries.

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

Life in Canada

2013-03-12T15:18:00.004-04:00

We settled into our house in Don Mills, Ontario and Beau set out to discover his new world. The house backed onto a park with a lengthy bike path, baseball diamonds and hundreds of trees. The bike path meant Beau could run beside our bikes. The park meant he could go for a prolonged romp at night. The squirrels were there to chase and the trees were for the squirrels to scamper up as the fearless hunting dog gave pursuit. Beau tried them all. He took advantage of all that the neighbourhood offered. Unfortunately, Beau was not the one of the most well disciplined dogs in creation. As we ran around the bike path, Beau could not be counted on to stay on course – he might spy a family barbecuing and choose to run off the path and see what they had to eat. Beau found it fascinating. We found it embarrassing. The folks barbecuing found it annoying.

The Bible student

More than anything else in Canada, Beau’s true self emerged as he responded to the various guests who came to the house. On Wednesday evenings we hosted the College and Careers Bible study group associated with The Salvation Army’s North Toronto community church. Beau longed to join the group of about 12 young adults. He would be willing to lie on the floor and listen to the discussion. Or, he might lick the occasional attendee. Or he might wander around and put his paws on the occasional open Bible. We knew that in his heart he was zealous and loved seeing everybody come. But his style was a bit disruptive, so we had to put him down the basement. The problem, of course, was that we then had to endure 90 minutes of whimpering and scratching at the basement door as Beau indicated his displeasure at being locked out of this gathering.

“I’m going now, Beau”

Further social interaction took place when Eleanor’s parents came to visit – most often for Sunday dinner. Eleanor’s dad took a real shine to Beau and loved to offer him candy when he left. It took Beau about two visits to figure this one out. As soon as Dad said, “I’m going now, Beau”, the pooch was there, kneeling in classical begging position. He knew the candy was coming. If there was not candy offered immediately, Beau would investigate Dad’s jacket pocket with his super-sensitive nose to help in the location of candy. The routine became so predictable that Eleanor would have candies ready to give her father in the event that he was preparing to leave without offering a candy to the attentive dog.

What screen door?

In the fall of 1994 we moved house to Parkview Hill Crescent. It was a beautiful big house, with a sun-room on the back and a sliding screen door that opened into a big backyard. On a nice summer evening we would sit there reading and watching television as Beau eyed the goings-on in the backyard. Periodically a cat would wander through. The dog always rose to, as he saw it, the call of duty to rid the neighbourhood of cats. Off he would go through the screen door to teach the cats once and for all not to trespass in his yard. Over the course of the summer it would be necessary to replace the screen several times. In fact it got to the point we kept a full roll of screening in the garage so that the screen could be replaced without a trip to Home Depot to purchase replacement parts. In this, as in so many areas of life, Beau never adapted to the realities of suburban life. He was willing to adapt to human food, but as far as he was concerned, the rest of the adaptation was up to the human community.

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

http://www.amazon.ca/More-Questions-than-Answers-Listening/dp/1608993612

Flight to Canada – Beau Discovers a New Land

2013-01-30T15:29:00.001-05:00

June 1991 rolled around and the family was almost ready for the return to Canada. Our four-year assignment in France was over. John left in August 1990 to begin studies at Harvard University and was working in Toronto for the summer, so we were excited about the prospect of being together in our own country once again.

Glen called Air Canada to book flights for – Eleanor, Elizabeth and himself. Then he mentioned the dog would be travelling with us. “Will he be traveling in the cabin or down below?” asked the Air Canada agent. We hadn’t really thought about it. We could imagine Beau sitting in seat 21 C, bib tucked in, enjoying his steak and Perrier as we flew over Greenland to Toronto. Since the cost of that was prohibitive we answered that he would travel below – in his cage rather than in seat 21C. Beau was not consulted in the decision – we knew what he would say and we did not want to go there.

The tickets were bought, the farewells were said and we prepared for the trip to Canada. We were heading home. But Beau was heading to Canada as a foreigner. We contacted the Canadian embassy to see what would have to be done to bring the French member of our family into the land of the Maple Leaf. The Canadian embassy spelled out the requirements: he had to be vaccinated within the last year and at least three months before so the vaccinations had a chance to take effect. The vaccination certificate had to be validated by the French government. So off we went with our vaccination certificates from the veterinarian, ratified by the French government’s veterinary service and off to the Canadian embassy to get things set.

Beau had to be prepared for the trip. Elizabeth took on that responsibility, administering tranquilizer pills each day for the week preceding our trip home. On July 1 we headed to Charles de Gaulle airport and put Beau in his cage for check-in at the Air Canada counter. Elizabeth administered the injection of a tranquilizer and Beau headed off for boarding. Beau, not a fan of needles squirmed as she knelt on the airport floor, holding his paw in her hand, as a result spraying a portion of the injection on the Charles de Gaulle floor tiles. As we stood at the gate awaiting our boarding, we watched him as his cage was towed across the tarmac to the plane – with Beau, the only canine still awake, standing up observing the entire adventure. It appeared that the tranquilizer was not having any immediate effect, no doubt due to some spilt drops…

We boarded the plane for the 8-hour flight to Toronto. After clearing customs in Toronto we emerged to meet our family and collect our luggage. From behind we heard a familiar sound – the plaintive bark of Beau in his cage, welcoming us to the new land, asking when he could get out.

We were home. Beau had cleared Canadian immigration. The family was home and Beau was beginning a new life in a new land. It was a land of big parks, open spaces, squirrels to chase. The adventure for our three-year-old rocket was just beginning.

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2009

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Salzburg – Beau visits the land of the Sound of Music

2013-01-23T16:31:00.001-05:00

August 1990 brought a significant transition for the family as John left home to travel to Boston where he commenced his studies at Harvard University. The leave-taking at Charles de Gaulle airport was a sorrowful one. Fortunately for us there was a diversionary plan – a trip to Germany and Austria with our good friends Geoff and Dot Havercroft, who had come from London, England to join us for the trip. Beau, of course, had his seat marked out in the car and waited eagerly for our departure.

The German trip was particularly entertaining in that it was necessary to procure a paper from the German embassy in Paris attesting to Beau’s ownership and his vaccination status. The paperwork was done and Glen went to the embassy, emerging with a duly stamped certificate to allow the noble dog to enter Germany. Despite all the advance preparations, we were not ready for the seriousness of the border guard at Oberndorf in Austria who checked and stamped the humans’ passports and then proceeded to check and stamp Beau’s papers when we came back from Germany. The dog took it all in stride, appreciative of the fact that Austrian customs was doing its best to keep the country a good place for him to visit.

Beau particularly enjoyed the Austrian restaurant circuit. He had barely entered the pizzeria (where we ate on three occasions) before the waiter arrived with “wasser fur das hund.” Beau set to drinking the liquid right away as we perused the menus. He was touched by the attentiveness of the wait staff and perplexed as to why the dog could not enjoy his rightful place in other eating establishments we visited.

Part of the Salzburg visit included a bus tour of the sites of the filming of the movie The Sound of Music in and around Salzburg. The activities for that day divided on gender lines – Eleanor, Elizabeth and Dot Havercroft took in the bus tour; Geoff, Glen and Beau strolled around town, to the local church. After a few hours, the men grew tired of tramping around.

Late in the afternoon we met the bus tour with Eleanor, Elizabeth and Dot. There were a few calls left on the tour and the driver, for some reason, offered to pick us up. He may have taken pity on us because at an earlier stop he nearly drove away without Elizabeth. It was the shouts of Eleanor that her daughter was not on the bus that averted this catastrophe.

In any case, Geoff and Glen got on with Beau. The men proceeded, in a dignified way, to find one of the empty seats remaining. Beau, spying Elizabeth at the back of the bus, raced towards her like a rocket as the other passengers looked on aghast, trying to figure out what this furry projectile hurtling past them was. Once beside Elizabeth he settled down to add to his store of canine knowledge. We never did hear Beau howl out Edelweiss, but the look of the Salzburg Festival and Baron von Trapp was often in his eyes. And all you had to do was mention apfel strudel and he was right there ready to partake.

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Beau Stays at Hotel Ibis

2013-01-09T11:19:00.000-05:00

Beau quickly established himself as a willing and good traveler. It was necessary only to say the word “car” and he was at the door ready to go. Any short hop or long trip did the trick.

He traveled far and wide – to the Mediterranean, to Alsace, to Austria and Germany – complete with border check of his papers to enter Germany. Other day trips included the chateaux of the Loire valley. It was here, on hilly terrain Beau almost met his waterloo tearing down a hill when his front feet were going so fast that they gave out and Beau was sent skidding along the ground, his nose almost ploughing up the turf in front.

Beau’s most notable trip was the annual visit to check out the camps with the family. This particular summer John stayed in Paris to work at the Palais du Peuple, a large social institution in the centre of the city. After a stop at a couple of camps to visit the staff we left Elizabeth near Le Chambon-sur-Lignon so she could join her friends as a camper. Eleanor and Glen continued the trip towards Paris, arriving in the Lyon suburb of Dardilly at the end of the afternoon. It was clearly too late to continue on to Paris, so we stopped and checked into the Hotel IBIS in Dardilly.

The hotel was built on a steep hillside. It was four stories high, with a parking lot and entrance on the third floor level and a smaller lot and entrance at the main floor level. We parked the car at the top level and registered for our room, taking the stairs down to our room on the first floor – note: in France the first is actually the second floor; the first floor is the ground floor or the rez-de-chaussee (pavement level) in French.

We fell asleep with the windows open to enjoy the beautiful summer night. Early in the morning we heard some movement as Beau stirred. Motivated by his need for relief, he went to the window and jumped out to find a place on the hill to do his business. We rolled over, confident that the faithful dog would regain the room.

About twenty minutes later we heard a scratching at the door. We were a bit slow to recognize the signal and respond. As we opened the door the pooch greeted us with a stare as if to ask why it took so long for us to open up the door to him. Unable to come back through the window – the jump up precluded such an entry- he had gone to the entrance, either on the ground or third floor, walked into the hotel and taken the stairs to find our corridor and come to the room.

We were quite flabbergasted by his ingenuity and spoke words of lavish praise to the dog, saluting his intelligence and creativity. Beau looked at us, a mixture of bemusement and disgust. The only thing he wanted to know was when breakfast would be served.

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2011

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2009

Christmas Greetings 2012

2012-12-24T12:55:00.004-05:00

Dear Friends:

The last few weeks have been a scramble in our household and it took the first winter snowstorm of the year yesterday to remind us that our Christmas letter is overdue. Not that the writing of our Christmas letter is a chore; we derive great joy in connecting with friends around the world and in recalling the joys of the past year.

Elizabeth and Johan

Perhaps the highlight of 2012 was when Elizabeth, her husband Johan and their daughter Sanna moved to Montreal in July. It is such a delight to have them nearby – they live about 25 minutes away on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Verdun. Sanna is well established in the Nursery Sunday School at our Montreal Citadel congregation. Elizabeth’s career continues to progress with the signing of some good record contracts, tours to the USA, across Canada, Europe and Japan and a concert in Toronto’s Massey Hall. Sanna’s passport is already well-stamped as she hits the circuit with her parents.

Sanna

John

John lives in Toronto so we see him when we are in Toronto on business. For Glen that is at least once a month. John is active on the board of the Canadian Paraplegic Association and is making good headway in the launch of his work in self-care for persons with spinal cord injuries. If you go to http://blog.sci-u.ca, you will see the web-site that features the work he is doing with his colleagues. He continues to be active at the Church of the Redeemer in downtown Toronto and enjoys the worship and culture of that congregation. John will be in Montreal for Christmas and we are looking forward to that.

The Salvation Army Montreal Citadel band remains one of Glen’s great preoccupations. The band has grown to 22 members and has been very active in community life at Christmas with a number of major Christmas concerts along with other churches and school boards in Montreal. Maybe the thrill of the Christmas run was the band’s interpretation of a magnificent setting of Who is He in yonder stall? before a capacity crowd at the English Montreal School Board’s Christmas concert last Saturday. Glen is also involved as a member of the board of Booth University College (a Salvation Army university college in Winnipeg) and on the board of Christian Direction, a Montreal-based organization involved in creative urban ministry in Montreal and throughout the French-speaking world.

Montreal Citadel Band

Eleanor is working two days a week writing and has had a number

of articles accepted for publication in different magazines. Writing is her passion, a bit like band music is for Glen. Her work as a chaplain at Montclair Residence – a Salvation Army senior citizens’ home - and at The Salvation Army’s divisional headquarters in Montreal fills out her time and brings great satisfaction.

Eleanor at Book Signing

Our church at Montreal Citadel continues to grow. Glen leads the band and plays the piano, Eleanor is on the leadership team and we team teach the College and Careers discovery Group, a delightful experience every Sunday morning. On Sunday evenings (bi-weekly) we are members of a bible study group in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal with an eclectic group of 5 Christian couples. The group is led by Glenn Smith, the Executive Director of Christian Direction. He and his wife Sandy are great friends and the group (which actually meets in French even though half of us are English-speaking) is so stimulating.

Our holidays took us back to Tennessee (a chalet in the Great Smoky Mountains) with a side trip to Charlotte NC and a visit to the Billy Graham Centre. History may have passed the evangelistic crusade by, in a sense, but it was a great experience to see the hand of God in the life and witness of Billy Graham and, most notably, to see the complex web of people over several generations who impacted each other until one of them brought Billy Graham to faith in Christ. The ongoing mosaic of God’s action is a marvel.

In August we were at The Salvation Army’s national Music School where we taught the social justice option. The typical student is a 20-yearold university student and we just love working with that group. In October, we took another week in Chicago as guests at the Territorial Leaders’ retreat of The Salvation Army’s Central USA territory.

Sanna with her class

In a tough economy the work of Health Partners has its challenges, but the mission is strong and opening up on new fronts. Glen is, at one and the same time, excited about the new program developments in the health of mothers and children and concerned about financing. We work, pray and trust. We have been able to tell our story on Parliament Hill, in Fort McMurray, Alberta and before the pharmaceutical industry at its annual meetings.

Last Sunday we did the message at the morning worship service at our Montreal Citadel congregation. We spoke on Galatians 4:4, how in the fullness of time God kept His promise in the birth of Jesus. We reflected on a moment 23 years ago, walking through a Paris train station in our Salvation Army uniforms when we were stopped and asked if we could help a single mother with two children who had nothing. With John and Elizabeth, we went to the crumby hotel room the lady and her two children were living in with some gifts and food. When we knocked at the door of the room, she opened and greeted us with the words: “I knew you would come. My friend said she had spoken to someone from The Salvation Army, and I knew you would come.” Her confidence was not in us, but in The Salvation Army. If people can trust the Army like that, how much more can we trust God who, in the fullness of time, came to our neighbourhood to live among us.

Elizabeth takes Sanna to see Santa

That is why we celebrate Christmas: IMMANUEL -God is with us. May the peace and hope of the season stand guard over you this year and into 2013.

Eleanor and Glen Shepherd

The Hospital Visiting Dog in Beaune

2012-11-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

Our life and duties with The Salvation Army in France necessitated travel – particularly in summer when we oversaw a series of summer camps. There were about eight camps in all operating in a variety of sites around the country. Some of them rented fixed facilities. Some of them rented a property and pitched tents. Each camp was run by a certified director and followed a pedagogical program that was reviewed by the National Office in Paris and approved by the French government. The role of the French government in approving the camp, its program and its staff meant that families could use bons de vacances, or payment coupons, issued by the French Social Services with family allowance cheques to offset the cost of registration.

So it was that we prepared to set off on our tour of France to visit the camps. The plan was to go to the far south-east to visit a scouting camp, work our way back up through the Midi (south) of France near the Mediterranean to visit our centre at Chausses and then up to the area around Le Chambon where a couple of other camps were underway and then continue on to Alsace near the German border where another camp operated. We would stop in to encourage the camp staff to see how things were going. We had no illusions that our visits added much to the program, but they did, we hoped; indicate our support of and interest in the camp program and the investment of time and energy by the staff.

Just north of Lyon, on about the fourth day we stopped for a lunch break in a picnic spot on the Autoroute A6. Beau had been unleashed and was busy rummaging about the campgrounds. Time was of the essence. We had to get going, so Beau had to be reined in. John volunteered to do the trick and reached out his hand as Beau tore by. He nearly grabbed his collar, but the near miss meant that John’s finger was twisted back and, as we later discovered, broken. A detour to the hospital in Beaune, the nearest city, was necessary. Elizabeth had been left behind at a camp to visit some friends, so we set off to the hospital in Beaune, an ancient city with some marvellous medieval architecture.

It was hot – about 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) so we parked the car in the shade, tied Beau up to the back of the car with a dish of water and went into the hospital. John was taken in, the hand x-rayed and the decision made to operate to set the finger. As things inched along in true French bureaucratic fashion, Glen decided that he should go out and make sure that Beau was okay – the sun might have shifted, or his water might be gone. Imagine his horror when he arrived at the car and found Beau gone. The leash was hanging limp from the trailer hitch on the car bumper. Where was he? Was he safe?

Distraught, Glen returned to the hospital, walking up to the doors that opened automatically with an electric eye. He did not look forward to telling me more bad news on top of the difficulties that had befallen John. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the emergency ward – curtains defining the various cubicles where patients waited for care. From behind one curtain he noticed a furry white tail. Then he saw a reddish-brown dog going from bed to bed. As he continued to walk the realization hit him. That was Beau – going from bed to bed looking for John. Once again he dared not speak – this was not the time to call Beau in English.

Beau finished his visit without finding John – he had been moved to an operating room by then – and came out. Glen grabbed him quickly and shepherded him back out to the car – only this time he stayed right with him for a while.

We were amazed and shocked. But the dog seemed to take it naturally in his stride. He was a member of the family and one of the family members was in hospital. It was only appropriate that he assume his duty as a member of the tribe. We were unable to do a customer survey of other patients who had been visited and we got him out of the hospital before any of the staff had an opportunity to speak to us about his creative work.

As it turned out, the noble dog was ahead of the wave. Thirteen years later in Fletcher Allen Health Centre in Burlington, Vermont, John’s first arm motion after the car accident in which he broke his neck was to stroke the dog that came to the Surgical ICU unit to visit the patients there. The hunter-retriever makes a great visitor.

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2011

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2009

Duck Hunting in the Forest of Malmaison

2012-11-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

It took about eighteen minutes by car to get to the Forest of Malmaison, a huge national forest at the southwest end of Rueil-Malmaison. Since the neighbourhood in which we lived was relatively compact we used to like to take Beau there once in a while to have a good sprint. The forest was huge – with walking paths, riding trails for horses, a couple of good-sized ponds and streams. Every time we went there were lots of dogs – evidently we were not the only humans who had discovered the benefits of the Forest for their canine friends. Beau loved lodge meetings where he could run with the other dogs and see who would establish the Alpha position in the pack. Beau, if memory serves us right, did not do too badly in that.

But the real joy of the Forest of Malmaison, we were to discover, lay not in the dogs but in the ducks. The streams flowing through the forest had been dammed up in a couple of places to make decent sized ponds. The quiet natural environment made a natural habitat for ducks that settled into the neighbourhood. On one of his runs through the forest Beau took the path down to the stream and along the pond. It was then that he saw the ducks – a mother with her ducklings.

The pond was about 70 metres long and about 25 metres wide. In jumped Beau, swimming like sixty to reach the ducks. The mother went into defensive mode, gathering her ducklings about her as the dog approached. What followed was a prolonged game of strategy as Beau sought to approach the flock and the mother swam around in a circular form, taking her children with her and squawking at the canine intruder.

The spectacle drew a crowd – there were always lots of people about walking – themselves and their dogs. As the crowd gathered, the Shepherds had an urge to disappear. We wished to get Beau out of the water. The size and depth of the pond – not to mention the fact that the water was a bit murky- precluded going in to get him. We could call him, but he would likely not obey since the pursuit of the ducks was a much more interesting proposition than coming with us. Further, for image reasons, calling him was not a good strategy in this situation. Beau only replied to commands in English. This was not the place to tell the world that the dog in the pond was the dog of foreigners.

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The coup de grace came when a lady arrived very busily and took to defending the ducklings from an undisciplined and unruly dog. More significantly, her disdain focussed on the owners who should have trained their dog in such a way as to avoid this disgraceful display. Innocent birds were threatened by a vicious dog – a vicious dog owned by insensitive Anglo-Saxon foreigners to boot. We quickly discerned that this was not the time to enter into a debate about ducks, dogs or discipline. Fortunately Beau was tiring – swimming, it seemed, was easier for the ducks than for him. Exhausted he came out of the murky waters, came up to us and shook off the water all over my khaki trousers. The look in his eyes was one of satisfied exhaustion – I could tell that he looked forward to his next encounter with the ducks. Quietly we stole away to our Renault station wagon in the parking lot and went home.

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2011

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2009