It Figures, It Was Snowing...

Wednesday Afternoon on the way Home from the City

We are on our way home the city having been there for a doctors appointment. Of course since it was an appointment that couldn't be cancelled or otherwise rescheduled so we have to brave the greasy, slippery roads back from town. I'm glad I'm not driving cause I'd be white knuckling it... but I'm still a nervous passenger.

A long line of brake lights of stop and go slowdown don't look good and turn out to be a tow truck with two cars - someone made a mistake on the slippery roads.

Thursday Afternoon waiting for Christina

Today is the day for a tea party with Christina. We try to get together on a regular basis and manage well through the winter - summer is another story, with camping, her commitments to gardening, and other interferences our summer visits are more sporadic.

Later

Carm worked on the drywall while I was visiting with Christina - I don't know how he did it, but he was able to get the rest of it done without my nattering help. I'm excited to be moving forward with this project! Next on the list - empty the rest of the stuff out of the room, including the 50 gallon barrels of water.

It is a really beautiful day with sun and warmer temperatures. I even got out for an extra tramp around the property and walked down to where the deer was - no sign of it having been back, but I didn't really expect any - after all what deer in its right mind would make a nest where dogs had run it out?

Tomorrow we head into town early (alarm is already set for 6:45! OMG SIX:45...). Sadly we will be going to another visitation and funeral, this time for our sister in-law Sandy's mother who passed away the other day after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. So sad.

In the book I'm reading (Spontaneous Happiness), Dr. Weil talks about the benefits, both mental and physical, of giving thanks or being grateful. I sort of already do this (although not on a regular basis) with my listing of pleasures. Carm has agreed that we will make a habit of saying "gratefulness" as we sit down to eat our supper, it will be a kind of grace but not to any particular deity. Last night I was grateful that the car (and Carm) got us home safely in the winter ice. On a side note: On our trip home the odometer rolled over to 399,000! Just one thousand kilometers until we hit Four Hundred Thousand km - good car.

Some recent pleasures have been: walking on our land - that is always a pleasure no matter what the weather. I love seeing the wide expanse and knowing it is all ours. The land itself is so pretty with rolling hills (okay, hill-lets, large mounds), dotted with trees and bushes and a creek winding through it. Some of it is well eaten down by the neighbour’s cows, but other areas are overgrown with weeds and brush. Both areas have their own beauty.

Another pleasure is the Christmas lights, both inside and out. We will likely leave the outside lights up for a few months - to brighten the winter night for travellers down the country roads. And I enjoy them from the comfort of the warm house.

Many of my day to day pleasures are repetitive day in and day out but I like to not take them for granted but to marvel in their wonderfulness. Simple things like the colour of an orange, the sweet taste of fresh pineapple, the loveliness of a pear, the way the sunlight comes all the way into the room, my transformer which is so great to type on, Grace's musical whistles, the sparkle of the sun on fresh snow, the grey clouds, dogs running in the snow, dogs curled up in a sunspot, my pretty Christmas decorations - I love the new blue balls that we got this year, tasty leftovers in the fridge, a meal simmering away in the crockpot, a warm house that doesn't cost an arm & a leg to heat, family, friends, sleeping till I wake up, happy dogs jumping around cause they are getting bones for supper, the taste of the buckwheat honey that Christina gave me, the sweet maple flavour of the maple syrup Trudie gave us...I guess I could go on and on (and have) but I just like to remind myself every once in a while. Be mindful and you will find a world of beauty and pleasure.