One Part Inspiration...

I have decided that of all the holidays of the year,  Thanksgiving is one of my very favourites. This year was no exception.  I love the opportunity to pay attention to all the things that I enjoy and to say 'thank you' for them.  Here are a few taken from the pages of my life: *******One day, not too long ago, I was early enough that I decided to stop for a coffee and a muffin on my way to work.  The man in front of me took a little longer to pay for his order. I saw him reach out and give some more change to the lady at the till.  When I reached the window, she said to me "Your order has been paid for by the gentleman ahead of you...Have a nice day".  It certainly was!  Nothing spoiled my mood.  I had to stop for a train after that, but suddenly, it just didn't matter.  The kindness of a stranger coloured my day with a rainbow of goodness. *******I planned a Thanksgiving service for each of the places where I work.  I foun...

Fresh flowers from the garden at work for "Music and Company" Father's Day Celebration One of the ways I have been amusing myself in this season of my life, is with flowers.  I always welcome the opportunity to play.  I can put aside all the cares of life and lose myself in the process of cleaning the flowers, setting them out in groups, preparing the container and then arranging them - trying to keep in mind all that I learned in "Floral Design - Part One".  Sometimes the flowers have been for a special occasion.  Sometimes I have created an excuse to bring them in - "Happy 150th day of the year" ; "Sorry for your loss of a filling"; "You're Retiring already?" ; "My kids are bugging me arrangement"; etc. etc. These two arrangements were done for my boss who was retiring.  We put on a party for her and I signed up to do the arrangements for the head table.  I bought an every day arrangement at Costco, took i...

*A holiday isn't complete without plans to do a whole lot of nothing.  So do it.  Nothing.  That's right, N.O.T.H.I.N.G. *Make sure you have a room with a view.  A nice breeze blowing in the from the lake is a bonus for the evenings - no need for an air conditioner with the fresh air to lull you to sleep. *It's always nice to people watch, and dream about what life would be like if you had a private plane and a boat to take you away to the far island.  This costs next to nothing and there's no need for maintenance or extra insurance. *Take lots of walks along the pier. * Poke your nose into the shops and look at all the things you don't need to buy. *Take a 'walk-back' to pick up one or two things to remind you of your time away - not souvenirs because no one needs another fridge magnet, or spoon with the name of the place on it - but something you will enjoy using and remembering the lazy hazy days you spent pretending you had nothing...

*Agree at pancake breakfast to go garage saleing with mom and sister *Poke around, finding records and such *Help find the different destinations, with my eye out for anything that looks like a garage sale sign. * Land at the mother-lode of garage sales.  It is late in the day, and we have found a complex with four different houses with their wares out. *My eye lands on an electric bike.  Interesting!  I've always wanted an electric bike.  Go  investigate. It looks brand new. The price is 350$.  There is also a brand new bike rack for sale. It is marked $20.00. Talk to my mom, who informs me that she can't help me out with this one.  She needs to pay her mortgage more than spot me the money for a bike. *Engage the owner in a conversation about the bike - how it works, where he purchased it, what kind of use he has made of it.  Ask owner if he is willing to negotiate on the price.  He says "Make me an offer."  I am not sure what ...

My house has been full of flowers lately.  I love it.  I have taken them from one room to another to enjoy them.  At first, I thought I should share the wealth; but as time went on, the more I enjoyed waking up to them, making dinner while they looked on, having dinner with flowers to accompany the food, taking a relaxing bath and letting the flowers add a decadent ambiance. These came from a friend of mine.  Her gift inspired my husband.  He commented that he should bring me flowers more often.  I concurred.  I don't know that he could beat the gift of two dozen roses, but I would be game for him to try.

I haven't had a bath in three years.  I like to say that to people, just to see their reaction.  When we moved to The Pokeaway, we made the decision not to put a bathtub in the upstairs bathroom.  Our reasoning was that most people like to take a shower and we didn't really need one. We planned to put one in the ensuite.  - What I didn't anticipate was that the ensuite would be three years in the making.  Many times during these years, I have bemoaned the fact that I couldn't just hop in the bath when I felt like it. Most of the people who were close to me heard me mumble on more than one occasion "If I had a bathtub, I would be in it right now."  I would dream about it sometimes.  Bubbles.  Candles.  A good book.  Music.  It called to me, but like a butterfly, it eluded me. Friends offered to let me use their bathtubs.  Much as I appreciated it, I could never quite bring myself to call them up and say "Hey, just feel li...

I am so  fortunate.  I have people in my life, who will spontaneously agree to head to the beach for the day, rather than spending the day catching up on chores.  Originally, we thought we would go to the sailboats' beach, but taking into consideration that it was a long weekend Friday, and everyone in town would be trying to get out, we decided to go the road 'less travelled' and ended up here instead.  It was a drop-dead gorgeous day.  The ocean breeze breathed new life into us as we gazed out at the water, taking in the sights.  I said I thought it would be a cool project to choose a spot on the beach and take still shots of the same spot for several hours.  Each one becomes a moving vignette of people coming to enjoy the day, with their buckets and boards and shell-seeking agendas.  It was shortly after our arrival, that we decided to eat. Each mom brought out their provisions and everyone shared in the bounty.  She brought all the he...

I gave my husband the table you see on the right of the picture, for Father's Day.  I felt sure it was what he wanted since we didn't really have a place to put our cups when we were sitting and enjoying the view. He put the table together yesterday, when he finally had a few moments.    This morning when I woke up, the sun was shining - the perfect -'seize the moment'-  day to try the table out.  Apparently, we have had the wettest, coldest spring in 55 years.  Rain, rain, rain - about  25 per cent more overall than the our typical averages.  So any day that is sunny, the rules are that everyone must run out to soak in  as much Vitamin "D" as they can, because like as not, the next day will be bringing more wet weather.  I made myself a bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee, and grabbed a magazine to read, while enjoying the birdsong.  Soon, all my thoughts of having a little 'alone time' di...

A few weeks ago, we got notice that Run for Water was coming by our place.    RUN FOR WATER partners with HOPE International to help Ethiopian villagers acquire the clean drinking they need.  This fundraiser was for people who are crazy enough to enjoy running, to sign up and run 5km. 10km,  a half marathon, or a marathon.  [ 42.195 km ]  This year, the event drew 3,500 runners, about 1,100 more than last year. They raised $203,000 for clean water projects in Ethiopia. Last year, they raised $150,000.  Anything to do with Ethiopia is of special interest to me.  We found out that they were running past our house, so we sat out on the newly minted deck, on our swing bench and hooted and hollered for them as they ran.  It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and it was so exciting to see all these people running past us, in their quest to help a great cause, while accomplishing per...

This year, the farmers put the rainbow in another field.  It is further north than it was last year, but it is still on the same road.  If you drive by very quickly, it gives you a rainbow rush.  I prefer to drive by just a little slower though (provided I am on time for work) because the colours are so good for the soul.  The scene is  a feast for the visual senses.  On a rainy day, it is soothing beauty.  On a sunny day, set against the backdrop of the mountains, it is a show stopper.  Every time I drive by, I almost feel like I should leave a thank you note to the farmer for creating such a lovely diversion in the middle of a road that not many travel.

The table all ready to receive the great food.  YUM! It has been an eventful week. What to talk about? The Royal Wedding? The Election? Taxes? No, I'm going to leave those topics for someone else to tackle. I'm going to tell you about The Birthday Party. For weeks, we'd been planning, scheming, gathering, Finally, on Friday, the day arrived for us to celebrate two gals' 60th birthdays. They weren't twins, but because they share a birth year, we had a joint party. I arrived a little early to help set up the room. We moved furniture, blew up balloons, hung posters [specially made by one of our gals] and pictures  and got the food and drink tables ready. Cupcakes with the theme decor Soon everyone arrived with their additions. Birthday signs, cakes, appetizers, drinks, main courses, and desserts suddenly appeared, as if by magic.  Each person had been invited to dress up according to the theme "Hippie"/"Newfie" party.  One of the ...