Burps from Bubbles

We ended up picking up a couple of t-bone steaks yesterday so of course as soon as we got home a bottle of bubbles was put in the fridge. I don’t know what it was about this one but it went straight to my head and also gave me lots of burps – oh my. At one point I had the slightly tipsy realization, “Here we are drinking bubbles and tomorrow is a work day” - we both had a good laugh :-)

I’ve been thinking (not very seriously) of getting a new camera. I’m not always happy with the quality of the photos that my current one takes (Cannon Powershot SD940IS), although it is so nice and small that I have it with me almost all the time. The woman who writes Me and My Dog blog just got a new one that seems to take great photos (Nikon Coolpix S9100). She got it at Costco in the states but I don’t see it on the Canadian site. Hers has an 18x zoom, but the closest model at Costco has a 10x zoom, which I guess might be good enough. Here is a review of the S9100 from Steve’s Digicam. Maybe her photos look so much better than mine because she’s in all these great locations?

Try # 2, not any better, maybe even worse. I’ll keep trying though!

Pleasures? Aside from the bubbles - Looking at the big pile of fresh produce on the kitchen counter. Two big bags of peppers ready to be blackened and peeled, two pineapples, one ready to cut up today, lots of tomatoes, two huge butternut squash – I see  a squash risotto in our future, a few pears and oranges, a couple of sweet onions, some hot peppers, bananas (always bananas) and a big bag of white kidney beans – lots of healthy eating. ; getting a bit of clean up done in the basement – I now have a huge pile of magazines and really ancient books for recycle plus two shopping bags of horse magazines for a friend – I’m not finished by any means but even one step forward is a step in the right direction (and I crossed another thing off my task list – maybe it is working!). ; looking at the evening sky as it goes pink and beautiful – the photo is from the gate looking across the road. ;

Happy Trails!

The Big Wind

The howling wind woke us up several times in the night – it seemed that the house might blow down around us! I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be in a tornado or hurricane and hope never to find out. When we looked out this morning we could see things from the deck tossed around the yard as if they were just toys. Even the empty frame for the shade tent was pushed off the deck. There were some branches down from trees, but nothing major. My first thought was for my friend Ruth who’s house was crushed by a large tree last  year – I hope everything is all right with them.

I checked my blog yesterday and saw that I have a new follower – Levonne (her blog is here). She and her husband were full-timing in Sunny California (what a dream!) but are now thinking about putting down roots, at least temporarily. I plan to read past entries in her blog to get a feeling for what California must be like. I envy people who can just up and go…. I’ve found that I am very much a homebody but hope to overcome that soon so that I can shake some of the dust off my heels!

I’ve been having trouble getting things done lately – I either can’t think of what to do, or I just don’t get motivated to get up and do it. So the other day I downloaded a new gadget for my Windows 7 desktop. It’s a task list that sits right on the desktop, easily seen and easily updatable. I’ve only had it a few days so I’m not so sure how much it’s going to actually help, but I do like computer bits and bobs, plus it is so satisfying to cross things off! It has gotten me onto the treadmill a few times so I guess that’s a success eh! And I crossed off 4 things today, sure some were easy but still.

When I’m on the treadmill I come up with all sorts of blog ideas and insights but I never remember them later – I wonder if I could take notes while I’m walking? Oh, here’s one insight, treadmill time is not the best time to practice mindfulness! Instead, if you want the time to fly, fire up the mp3 player and get the brain working on some problem or another.

See below for the result of persistence – day 3 of Sketching (lesson 5, part 1 – pitcher). I’ve made a commitment to myself that no matter how bad I am I’m just going to keep at it. At least people reading the blog can feel superior and laugh at my childish efforts  :-) Don’t worry, my feelings won’t be hurt!

Pleasures? The smell of fallen leaves in the fall, such a sweet smell that evokes pumpkins, turkey and other warm things ; buying beautiful big lemons ; the warm taste of lemony lentil soup – perfect on a cool fall day ; getting one thing done off my checklist ; the frugal feeling I get when I buy something for a really good deal – even something like salad dressing for 0.69 feels like a good deal and makes me feel virtuous – even if I may not have needed the item – dooh ; the golden colour of the vegetation around the pond as the sky to the west clears to let some of the low, late afternoon sun shine through. It almost looks like it’s glowing ; scoring some bits of meat for the dogs out of the discount bin at the grocery store ; checking out a little fabric store in a nearby town that we normally just drive through – I got some cotton  yarn that I’ll use to crochet some dish cloths ; thinking about Tommy Douglas on his birthday – he was instrumental in implementing universal health care in Canada. Because of this I was able to get the treatment that I needed when I was first ill without worrying about how it would get paid for. I saw a doctor once a week for three years without the additional worry of how it would get paid for. I now get regular blood work done and see my dr. on a regular schedule without fearing that my insurance company will drop me. That peace of mind is worth so much and should not be taken for granted. Thank you.

Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.
Tommy Douglas

I've no patience with people who want to sit back and talk about a blueprint for society and do nothing about it.
Tommy Douglas