window at Daisy the black lab next door, while perched on the top of the cat scratch post. He rarely goes up there, it’s too wobbly for him. But the lure of watching her while staying unseen is tempting him to stay. I grab my camera slowly, and ease back into the kitchen chair he’s camera shy, and doesn’t like to have his picture taken at all, if he knows I am doing this, he will leave, but he is too cute not to try and capture him framed in the window. No time to adjust the settings.
For all the world it looks like he is gazing onto the backyard searching for signs of spring…
Ice falls off the roof with a startling bang, the slight soft rain we had that morning is helping to release the snow back to where it came from. Not soon enough for those of us who love spring the best. But the loud bangs disturb the Boo, and he is woken from his myopic dream, he looks at me, closer likely more in focus then the far away dog, shakes his fur, and jumps down.
Search for spring, interrupted, and forgotten. Until the next time, spring fever hits again.
Mother Natures hotel?” Yes, it’s Jane, I’d like to cancel my 5 am wakeup call please.”… “You know the one with the Male Pheasant trilling loudly as he sails across our front lawn to the bird feeder, and the crows having a fight outside our bedroom window every morning with the ravens.” Yes, that one, the one that starts at 5 am every morning, before it even gets light outside.
"It’s not that we don’t love all of the wildlife here, it’s beautiful, but the brochure definitely stated that the countryside was peaceful and quiet, and it’s not turning out that way.
Ah ha… right I see. “So you are saying that it’s going to take 8 months until it can be cancelled… mmhhh hhhhm. I see, so it will be Fall before it stops.” “May I speak to your supervisor please.”
“Hello, yes I’m speaking to? Oh Mother Nature… I see, the um the big boss. Well Mother Nature, I would like to cancel my 5 am wakeup call, you see we didn’t sign up for this part of country living, and your overly enthusiastic employee is refusing to cancel our wakeup calls until the Fall, and he keeps tapping on the phone.… and… but… um… ” “Yes, I realize that he’s a woodpecker… I hear him pounding on the tree outside all day long, maybe you could consider hiring someone else to do the receptionist job… ”
“No, I realize the eagles didn’t work out very well, yes we noticed the missing dove, and we were very upset about that… I understand that you can’t get good staff now a days… the younger generation and all that is hatched. Too busy flitting about eating all the time.yes I understand.” “Now about our wake up call? Mother Nature? Helloooooo, hello?”
day. I got my feet poked, my husband got his back crunched, and Boo got a two for one get out of jail free card for all you can eat lunch. Oh, and the smelly salmon. That stunk. Heel Toe Hip-hopper He runs 10 k [that’s pretty far] every other day, or at least he did, until his toe started to hurt, and then it moved up to his knee, and of course because it was the weekend, and everything is closed, it went to his hip. He was in excruitiating pain all weekend. Yesterday he saw the Chiro, now he is fine. The toe is connected to the knee, the knee is connected to the hip… simple math. Go figure.
Foot Worn not fancy free I have Planter Fasciitis.in my heels.got a cortisone shots in both heels… think twice if your Doctor tells you that it is going to hurt like crazy… it does. And when she tells you to take a deep breath… do it. Don’t try to be brave, and say it can’t hurt as much as your feet do when you walk on them… it does.
And that wasn’t the bad part… once again I almost fainted… I want to laugh at it, but it wasn’t that funny. I was seeing only black fog, feeling like I was going to fall over, they brought me a tiny dixie cup of water… I stumbled out of there as soon as I could. Sat in the truck with the windows wide open, seat down breathing in, and out until I could drive.
Two for one, and get out of jail free Meanwhile Bootsie is at home, I fed him before I left, my husband comes home, Bootsie ever the opportunist begs and cries like he is a starving homeless kitty. He got two feedings for lunch, the cat has it made.
The Stinky salmon Mom and I did some shopping around town.she needed to return some ground salmon that she had bought that was spoilt. When I got in the truck I thought it smelled a little off, but chalked it up to maybe some old shoes, or something. We drove around town, went to the bank, ran errands… and the smell followed us from store to store. After we got to the grocery store parking lot I asked her if she had remembered to bring the ground salmon… she opens her purse and pulls out a open plastic bag… with the ground salmon in it. No wonder it stunk so much. What a day. These are as close to Salmon related images as I could find… or I could show some feet, toes, hips, but I think you would prefer shells.
intertwined with such mysterious events that sometimes we just have to shake our heads at the wonder of it all. Why on earth does your hair look marvellous the day you get it cut? What’s with that, the weeks before the appointment you struggle, well at least I do… and if your stylist is sick and cancels your appointment, and you’ve left it a lot too long between sessions… I guess that you would deserve to have your hair look like a cross between a rat’s nest, and a flock of birds for the last few weeks.
Why do birds poop on your vehicle in the middle of winter when there isn’t any unfrozen water to clean it off with… is that the gratitude we get for feeding them all winter? And why is it that when you finally manage to make a Doctor’s appointment, the symptoms go away, and you seriously consider cancelling it… but you know if you do they will come back? How many times has that happened to you?
Folk remedies… someone in my Mom’s building swears by celery seed for sore feet. After having Plantar Fasciitis [sore feet] for much too long, I’m willing to try anything. They work, kind of… go figure, well at least they work if you eat lot’s and lot’s of them. I’m experimenting with eating celery to see if it works also. I am trying to replace potato chips with celery… both are crunchy, one is salty, and tastes great, I’ll let you know how that one works out.
Parking spots, why is it when you spy a open spot at the store, someone always comes along and grabs it before you can get closer? Ever had that happen to you? Speaking of parking, with the snow gradually leaving many of the driving population are floored to find out that there are actual lines denoting parking spots in the lots. Shockingly enough, they still park any which way they can. No excuse anymore.
Any of life’s little perplexing mysteries bothering you lately? The Man Cold? Word press, or Blogger? Is it possible to share the TV remote control? And my most perplexing… will we ever agree on a temperature for the house? It’s either too hot, or too cold.
When winter gets me down and when I think it’s all just not going to end any time soon when each snowy day seems to last forever, I search my photography archives to remind myself that winter isn’t going to last all the time. That spring will return, that the gardens will show up again. Blue skies will prevail. In my archives I can find photos that make my heart sing, bring a smile to my face, and great memories.
Days of amazing photo ops.sunny crisp, cold, and feathered friends.
Hot pink mittens, cold frosty breath… and bird seed. True perfect winter memories.
And I know that it won’t last forever it can’t last forever. Spring will have it’s turn.but for now it’s winter’s show.
Reality:In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. re·al·i·ty [ree-al-i-tee] Noun Reality, cold hard facts. Real stuff. Real… hmmmmm right. Well who wants to live in reality when you can live in a not real world where it’s always your favourite season, at least until you look out the window and notice it’s snowing.
Or maybe you would like to live like the Boo, where it’s always meal time.at least in his reality. And despite his doing his best to convince us that it’s always meal time, he does have to wait.
Spring is making me wait, as I look out the window of reality into yet another day of snow falling in my garden, well I think there is a garden under that white mound.
Who can blame me for not wanting to live in reality.it’s cold, some days it’s dark, gloomy, and snowy. Well at least there are birds in reality.feeding frantically because of the snow. Birds, and bills, and phone calls, chores, and laundry, and what’s for dinner?
Now why do I have to live in reality again? If I live in my world, there are only flowers blooming, a gardener’s heart that is overflowing, spring abounding. The perfect garden in a perfect world… no muss, no fuss, no bugs… no water restrictions… I think I have some gardening to do in my not so real world… wish me dirty hands, and a happy heart. And then I will come back to reality and make dinner.
This gardener’s heart yearns for spring, for bulbs, for green tips on brown branches, for growth to start. Instead this gardener’s heart sees snow, and ice cold.but knows it shouldn’t complain because so many others are waiting for spring also. This gardener’s heart is thinking of blues, greens, pinks yellows, petals, and fronds… Wishing, hoping, dreaming of the day when spring returns and replaces the ice and white with green, and fresh.
For now this gardener’s heart must lay dormant… soon it will stir, and start to stretch towards the light again.
Until then this gardener’s heart will learn to be content with what it has, and bide it’s time.
Spring, I can feel it in my bones most likely though, that’s only the cold piercing them. It’s such a tease right now, the other day we were above zero, sunny lovely day, then the last night cold bitter freezing. I honestly thought I could smell spring coming through on the soft breeze when I stood on the walkway in the front garden… We walked the “big block” the country mile as we call it in the sunshine… passing through the houses to the edge of the farmland. Where my special golden firs are standing cold, nearly naked and shivering waiting to grow their summer needles again.
The trees scraped and bowed as the birds flitted, teasing with song, we think they might start to nest soon. Here and there were piles of winter pruning branches cut and discarded, like so many pick up sticks. The fields soggy, dark, and unhappy about it, half snow covered, half dark chocolate pieces showing. Bales of no longer golden hay, lay rolled out like a tin of biscuits that had fallen to the floor.
The sun hid more then it showed that day, another tease, as we walked the road. The cat, and the cows contended, waiting for the true spring. They either have inside knowledge, or they are more patient than I.
The horses breath should have given it away, foggy as they nickered softly eating their winter rations…
Tease us now Mother Nature… but we know one day it will be spring. My gardeners heart is waiting impatiently.
Winter is neither here nor there right now, it’s as if winter is in the middle of a awkward teenaged phase, the kind you have to grow out of to reach your full capacity. Spotty, gangly, gawky… awkward. Confused, does it want to snow, rain, cool down or warm up. There are still patches of snow and ice, but then there are also puddles of water forming, and the sunshine is melting the snow.
One warm day, one cold night and the drama continues.
Who are you asking to the prom? Personally I would choose spring. Goodbye winter, I’ve a hankering for spring fever.
ancient Chinese art of balancing the energies of a space. My friend found the cutest little book in her travels and immediately thought of me Titled Fang Shui, and written by Catfucius it comes with a cute little cat bookmark and some great feline wisdom. I left it on my desk the other day and noticed that it was covered in cat hair when I went back.
Use the energy of the earth to ensure a successful hunt, flatten your body, become one with the dirt. Feel it’s power flowing through you.
Seems like someone furry is checking it out. He has already adopted some of the practices in order to maintain and create the best Ch’i for himself.
Loud noises are disruptive to feng shui. Avoid vacuum cleaners inside the home, and lawnmowers outside the home.
Restore the spirit, when necessary by eating the right thing.Whatever is in the food bowl at a given moment is not the right thing.Sit and stare at the bowl. Eventually someone else will offer you something else.Sniff at that, and walk away. Eat it later when they are not looking.
The cat strives for grace and elegance of movement at all times.Failing this, act as though any inelegant gesture was intentional. It looks like Boo is a master at Fang Shui…
year, living in the Okanagan for 14 months.life settling into place, it’s hard sometimes to believe that we are here. And then a moment, a passing glimpse tells me it’s all real. I truly believe that those moments are there to tell us how fortunate we are. What do you do after the dream you’ve dreamt for so long comes true? You dream another dream, face another challenge. And you live every day full of gratitude that your dream was the one chosen, and that you get to live it.
I know how precious living here is, I see it every morning as I look out my window and watch the birds at the feeder, instead of a new high rise going up across the street.
I hear it in the way the eagles keen to each other, instead of the chirping of a garbage truck in the alley. I know that the dog barking down the street means there are coyotes in the ravine, not a homeless person rummaging through our city dumpster for bottles.
I know that seeing my parents drive by while doing errands is a treasure… and shopping with my sister doesn’t have to be rushed because she is already home. Seeing my family in our small town is a blessing… I’ve missed them for too long. Home is here now, for all of us. And for that I am grateful. Our dream has come true.
chocolate the combination of all three sounded good enough to eat to me. And discovering a great food blog makes it even better. I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest from blogger Julie, at Table for Two… You can click here to get the recipe for yourself. Easy to make chocolate cookies cut into heart shapes, and filled with buttercream icing. The only change I made was to add some raspberry jam to the icing, I love chocolate, and raspberry together don’t you?
My husband devoured a few, almost before I was finished taking photos of them… then you know that they are good.
The rest have been packaged up, to be given as V-Day treats, hope that they enjoy them.
Even though a lot of people don’t like V-Day, I still think it’s what you make it… and it can be as special, or commercial as you choose to make it.
And you know, any reason for chocolate, is a good reason. Happy V-Day.
of dominoes, stacking them up with precision, taking it’s time. Waiting until the last precious moment to push over the first piece. With the turn of the calendar month into February, Winter finally gave that needed first push, and the dominoes are starting to fall. Slowly at first, since they must gather speed, the icicles melt, the snow starts to recede, the ground opens up to the dark earth.
There is movement where before there was only the cloaking stillness of the snow. Bulbs will peek through, skies will gather up a indigo shawl, and mist it with peach colored sunsets.
Birds not seen since last fall will return to roost.
And then winter will turn to spring and say, now it’s your turn.
barn with crows and eagles that hang out to wait for the clean out days. It’s not uncommon for the crows and eagles to fight over the carcasses of the chickens that didn’t make it through the system. A few body parts are occasionally dropped by accident in our yard… unpleasant to clean up, but part of the great circle of life. The eagles are beautiful, majestic and proud, but not so proud that they are above a little opportunistic swooping up of unsuspecting pets from their backyards.
The other morning we watched as first one, then three other eagles gathered in the dead tree across the street from us… I love them watching them. I noticed a new bird calling while I was outside, but thought nothing of it… I let Boo outside in the sunshine for a few minutes and went inside, he came in with me. We got a phone call from our neighbour, “make sure your cat is inside, the eagles have crossed the street and are in the fir trees in our yards.”
Far away as they were, they could spot his little dog running around the backyard through all the trees, and one came swooping half way down the huge fir trees to examine him for lunch. These are full grown bald eagles, and while we doubt that they could carry off the rather rounded Boo, and slightly chunky Rocky the next door dog, I wouldn’t like to find out what damage they could do while trying.
The most disturbing thing is that Rocky was running the yard while his owner tried to catch him… and the birds were not worried about my neighbour at all.
Opportunistic, majestic, and looking for a easy meal, our pets are not going to be Eagle chow, so back off. This diner is not open.
so tempting to say “that it’s going out the door.” But that wouldn’t be true, now would it. Winter isn’t a easy season to live through in our climate, and maybe I am feeling generous because it seems that we might get a early spring. We even have some bare patches under the trees… gotta love them. This winter wasn’t as hard on me as our first one, we have more snow, but warmer temperatures it seems. I do love the way the snow covers up the scenery, equalizing everything into soft marshmallow mounds.
No dark bare patches, all is clean and white, and constantly freshened up by new snowfalls. I love how the winter gives us new photo opportunities if only we open our eyes to them. The details are sharper, the trees have shapes, the birds stand out in winter. Nothing is hidden above the snow, but below it’s all a mystery.
But I will admit that I am looking forward to spring, hoping, wishing, and dreaming of the hidden garden… with it’s surprises, and new shoots. I am already planning to move this, replant that, make this larger…
Spring is only as beautiful as it is because of winter’s wrath… and for that we should be grateful.
We are wrapping up this last week of No winter whining with this post, putting it away with the winter mittens, scarves, and snow shovels, it’s been fun, and thanks to everyone who joined in. Spring will be coming very soon to many bloggers, although Heather, and I will be white for awhile we are looking forward to spring just like everyone else. The Pinterest boards, and Face book pages will stay up for now… drop by and visit them. Please link up on Heather’s blog, she is hosting today, and don’t forget to grab a button. Thanks for joining in.
The phone rings, and it’s my Dad, who asks me right away a question that I know in the front of his mind because it’s the first thing he says when I answer… ”you take pictures, don’t you?” “Well, I have been known to take a few Dad, what do you need?” “I need a passport like photo for a application I have to put in, and I’ve forgotten about it, and it needs to be in before my birthday” he tells me. His B day in in mid spring… he insists we hurry, after all it’s only a few months away. I get the forgetfulness gene naturally.
The adventure continues when both of my parents come over, I line Dad up in front of a white door, for the plain background that is required, and get the camera ready, then my Mom fusses around him, like a bee on birthday cake… buzzing into the photo to straighten a collar, smooth a errant hair, and pluck a imaginary piece of lint. It’s true love, long term lasting love that shows every time she steps in… ”don’t purse your lips” he blows her a raspberry, “stand straight” he does and goes up beyond the frame of the shot, “smile, no don’t show your teeth.” I readjust, crop her out as she darts and pounces on his collar… you can see she cares, and wants him to look his best.
After 20 shots, all of them with him making faces, we finally get the keeper. And then I ask to take a shot of both of them, but my Mom won’t stop adjusting every wrinkle on my Dad… so all of the shots are of her looking up at him… a life time of marriage… in a single click. Priceless. Don’t forget to join in our No Winter Whining on Sunday at Heather’s blog.
The quality of beingfrugal,sparing, thriftyor economicalin the use ofconsumable resourcesandavoiding waste, lavishnessor extravagance. Not cheap, just frugal, it’s fun. Really it is. Trust me… Last summer I used the clothesline instead of the dryer to dry our laundry on, and ended up with a allergic reaction to pollen and dust that caused itchy rashes for weeks.
Then I started to make my own yogurt and if that’s not a scientific experiment ready to go wrong, I am not sure what is. The first time it was nerve racking to pour that much milk into the slow cooker, did I not mention that we make it in the slow cooker? It’s all over Pinterest.
It turned out tasty, and just a little thinner then I liked it, no problem, eat it, and try again. The third time was no charm, unless you like to eat yogurt that tastes like that last night’s Korean beef tacos… which were delish, but not how I wanted my yogurt to taste. What a waste, it was inedible… I learned that no matter how much I cleaned the slow cooker, the condensation that dripped from the lid might taint the mild creamy yogurt… so now I put a piece of wax paper under the lid and no more problems.
Let’s move onto my new homemade “frugal” laundry soap… less expensive then the current organic laundry soaps we are buying. Great ideas abound on Pinterest, so I perused a few recipes and eventually choose a simple 3 ingredient laundry soap. Washing soda, Borax, and castile soap instead of Blue Dawn. Thank goodness I didn’t pour it into a soap container… because it turned out thicker then the yogurt and now we have laundry paste. Thick, mushy, pure, no pour laundry paste, that doesn’t dissolve in cold water. Great… another failure?
No a live and learn, and make do, kind of lesson. After all how do you think they invented stuff if they didn’t make a few mistakes along the way. I saved enough money to pay for the electricity the dryer uses all winter by making my own yogurt… next week we might give up the vehicles, and bike everywhere…… But I think we are going to have to stop experimenting with being our own Chiropractors, no matter what the tutorial on Pinterest tells us… my arm looks really funny sticking out backwards…… I’m kidding! I doubled the recipe, and am wondering if the castile soap has made it gel up… anyone have any experience with making your own laundry soap, or your own yogurt? I’d love some hints, and I am not giving up… yet. Frugally…
looked it up. Do you like words? I love words, but I find that I need to replace a few words that are a little dated in my vocabulary somewhat like those bell bottom jeans you have still have hanging your closet, hoping that the trend will come back, it did, and suddenly it was been there, done that. So here’s one of the words, “cool” there isn’t going to be anything hip and funky about my replacement word for “cool.” Yes, it’s real, I’ll tell you what it is at the end of the post.
I mean, does anyone even use the word “cool” anymore? Do you find yourself still using expressions that you used decades ago, no matter how you try to weed them out? I am almost embarrassed to be dating myself by using the word, but sometimes it slips out… along with a few others that I can’t mention. What word will ever have that kind of amazement, power, and sense of surprise… as “cool” and still sound good coming out of our mouths? I know… I’m drawing a blank too.
Now onto the randomness part, take a look at the images… that’s a dragon fruit. It… actually… tastes… good. Something like a kiwi, without the banana flavour, mild, barely sweet, and the rind is hot hot hot pink! Almost Cerise pink, it doesn’t look real do it, and it has a slight spongy feel to the outside, the inside is crisp, try one. When’s the last time you tried anything new… and unusual? And have you ever had a dragon fruit?
This isn’t actually new to me, I did have one years ago, but that was so long ago that it doesn’t count anymore. The insides always remind me of a Oreo cookie blizzard… ” cool” I ah mean… interesting isn’t it? See it’s just a perfect word. “cool.” Well, there should be more fruit photos, but each time I sliced off a piece I ate it before it made it to the camera… I was hungry, the light was good, and lunch was a memory… life’s like that. It’s a unusual kind of fruit to find in apple country, down on the coast they are common because there are more Asian groceries… but here in big sky land, not so much. “Cool” right?
I’ve been dancing on the edge of creativity lately.playing with felting, making a few little items. After picking up my needle, and embroidering a few roses, doing a bit of the bed stitch, and it’s all coming back to me, which is a great feeling. So I thought of starting a small piece of crazy quilting, I’ve been pinning them like crazy, no pun intended, onto my Pins and Needles, Pinterest board.
And then I thought, I wonder what I can do on Picasa with my photos. So I did a bit of crazy quilting… on my computer.
Fun, easy, and inspiring… can’t wait to start the real thing.
with hearts galore everywhere pink red white, pale pastel colors and bright. We women are busy giving, and creating valentines for so many others that it’s easy to forget to look after our own heart health.
Symptoms of heart attacks in women.
Do you know the symptoms of a heart attack? I’m sure we all know what they are for men, but do we know what they are for women?
A few years ago I had a issue while at work [a very large retail pharmacy] pain in my chest, and arm, sweating, and no one could clearly tell me if I should be calling a ambulance or not. It turned out to be nothing of consequence, but it could be, what I learned was that you have to educate yourself, and know the symptoms. Don’t depend on someone else to know this for you.
This is heart month, the heart you save could be yours, or someone you love.
Here’s a short, funny well made video about a busy Mom, who obviously puts herself last on the list almost to the detriment of both herself, and her family. Don’t be that woman. I’m having some trouble embedding the video, but you should be able toclick on this link to watch it.If it doesn’t work you can Google Go Red for Woman, “just a little heart attack.”Save your heart.
