Our Kitty And Snowfalll

Greetings, dear ones!
Yesterday morning was spent shovelling the driveway clear of 30 - 40 cm of snow, there was so much snow! Today the temperature has dropped and the sun is shining. Grateful not to have more snow to contend with today. Tiberius makes the most of the sunshine during the winter months, he loves soaking up the rays whenever he can. Wanted to share a couple of images of our handsome kitty.
Thoughts of the coming seasons came to mind when I happened upon the following words by Sylvia Plath:
"So come, and slowly we will walk through green gardens and marvel at this strange and sweet world."
Take care and be well.
Enjoy the journey. xo

A Morning Hike

Happy Spring!

Went for a morning hike today. 

Finally checked out a different trail nearby. 

Beautiful view from a lookout about a 1.5 km (25 minute) hike in from the road.

Find more images here.

Hope all is well in your corner of the planet.

Take care and enjoy the journey.

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change." 

— Brené Brown

Autumn 2018

Images above:

• a completed hand knit shawl (pattern link)
• fungi found during a walk in the woods
• our Tiberius enjoying the Autumn sun

A few interesting quotes:
Never trust your fears. They don’t know your strength.
- Athena Singh
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. 
- Winston Churchill
Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating change you do choose. 
- Michelle Rosenthal

Be well, stay curious and look for the wonder every day.
Enjoy the journey.

Hand Knits

A quote by James Joyce: “his soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”

Knitting A Bit

Knitted hat with bobbles yellow yarn - Winter 2014

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.

-Elizabeth Zimmermann

How Are Things?

A rose bloom - Back yard garden - June 2012


The following is something I thought you might enjoy, a wonderful excerpt from a book I have nearly finished reading, Three Views Of Crystal Water by Katherine Govier. It was sent to me by a dear friend and it has been a most enjoyable read.

Bodies of water, we call them. Fresh, salt, dead, alive, still, fast-moving, tidal, land-locked. I know little about those other bodies which span the world, but I can tell you that the sea I plumb is a trickster. Lashing at the black lava rocks, tasting of the mysterious living things, shot with sunbeams or sunk in massive gloom, it is bitter to the nostrils and stinging to the lips. I've seen rock cliffs under water that trail air bubbles out of some crevice as if they were breathing.

Katherine Govier, Three Views Of Crystal Water, pg 3.

What are you reading these days? Any recommendations?
Enjoy the journey.

Loss

A path near the river - Georgetown, TX - January 2012


We received some heart breaking news this week, a dear Aunt died unexpectedly while she was in Virginia visiting family. Auntie Evelyn was an amazing lady, even at eighty-two no one was prepared to hear that she had died.  I am going to miss her.


To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. ― Thomas Campbell 

Wildflower

Wildflower in the back yard - April 2011

The things said and the things not said. In the space in between, a thousand worlds. A thousand worlds.

~ Steven Erikson, The Crippled God, pg 191.

The following is a poem found in a recent read.

South of us Xinan lies under a sickle moon.
Lanterns will soon be bright in the spring night.
Laughter and music and rich wine poured.
Far to the west where all roads end
Cold stars shine on white bones
Beside the stone shores of a lake
Thousands of li stretch empty from there
To east and west and mountains rise
Birds wheel when the sun goes down
And grieving ghosts are heard in the dark.
How may we live a proper life?
Where is the balance the soul must find?

Guy Gavriel Kay, Under Heaven, pg 356-357.

"There are few harsher indictments against architecture than the sadness we feel at the arrival of bulldozers, for our grief is in almost all cases fuelled more by a distaste for what is to be built than by any hatred of the idea of development itself. "
~Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness, pg. 265.

Another sketch

Sketchbook meditation - Austin, Texas - 9 April 2008

I lose all track of time while working on these drawings, I find it so very relaxing and peaceful. Thanks so much for all the wonderful feedback about the last sketch! Wishing each of you a day full of wonder.

While reading Above All, Be Kind by Zoe Weil, I discovered the following quote by Viktor Frankl:

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but the one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

Hello April!!

This image always brings a smile - Austin, Texas - 5 March 2008

Thought a nice bright spot of colour was needed today, a wonderful way to celebrate Marnie's birthday. Happy Birthday Marnie!!!
Enjoy the journey!

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. there is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
~Jawaharal Nehru

A quote by Emily Post

The letter we all love to receive is one that carries so much of the writer’s personality that she seems to be sitting beside us, looking at us directly and talking just as she really would, could she have come on a magic carpet, instead of sending her proxy in ink-made characters on mere paper.

~Emily Post (found via this link).

more words in books

Selection by James Robertson; p. 90-91; Four letter word: Invented correspondence from the edge of modern romance; edited by Joshua Knelman and Rosalind Porter.

Ah, yes, going home. The journey I make into you, mountains of Scotland, is just that: a homeward journey. I go, I disappear for a while, I come back, having climbed or not climbed this hill or those - and I have both been , and am still to go, home... Ten, maybe twelve times a year - enough, but not nearly enough - I will make this journey, and it is indeed a journey of love in both directions. But no matter how often I make it, no matter the quickening beat of my heart as I set off, no matter all these words I have put down here, I know this journey means nothing to you. To me, on the other hand, driving home in the light of a big yellow moon, beneath the emerging stars that you and your stones are one with, back to her with whom I am one, it means everything.

words in books

Selection found in Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson, p. 252:

"Strange how a land untraveled can look so familiar."
Mappo blinked, the memories scattered by the sound of that familiar soft voice. He glanced up at Icarium. "Stranger still how the mind's eye can travel so far and so fast, yet return in an instant."
The Jhag smiled. "With that eye you might explore the entire world."
"With that eye you might escape it."

A favourite from Nigel Slater

December 1:
It's the lights that get me in the end. The candlelight bouncing off the oh-so-carefully polished glasses on the table; the dim, amber glow from the oven that silhouettes the golden skin of the roasting bird; the shimmering string of lanterns I weave through the branches of The Tree. That, and the carols that float from the radio or those I catch as I pass by the open doors of St. Saviour's. The food's good too, of course, especially Boxing Day lunch, the bread sauce, the mince pies and the pudding, but doesn't it all taste so much better when you put a taper to the candles?
(Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries p. 358)

Holiday Snaps

The present never ages. Each moment is like a snowflake, unique, unspoiled, unrepeatable, and can be appreciated in its surprisingness.
~Gail Sheeny

Dedication Ceremony

A few months ago, we made a donation to the Wall-Custance Memorial Forest Program in Dad's name and a tree was planted in honour of his memory. The annual dedication service on the grounds of The Arboretum, part of the University of Guelph, is taking place as I type this post. Find more information here & here.

The University of Guelph is a place that holds many wonderful memories. Dad was with me the first day I moved into residence and both he & Mom were able to attend my graduation ceremony. It is where I met my wonderful husband (a person I love and admire, who has helped me to become the person I am today), as well as meeting two of the greatest friends I could ever ask for. I spent a great deal of time on the grounds of The Arboretum, often looking for and finding the peace and tranquility my soul and mind were desperately craving. I know Dad would appreciate us remembering him in this way.

…In dreams I hear you
Laughing and know
That you are near.
~Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach

P.S. Some of the family were able to attend the service today. My sister called to let me know that it was a very moving ceremony and the weather made for a beautiful day.

good things

Taken this Summer - Austin, Texas

Things that bring a smile to my face:

• picking up new books from the library
• buying my first Pomegranate of the season
• making travel arrangements to visit a dear friend
• catching up with loved ones
• my husband's laughter

Breathe deeply and slowly. And smile.
~Anonymous

Memory

Balancing Act I -Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - September 2005

For me, browsing through photographs we have taken is reminiscent of a walk down memory lane. Remembering the time spent together with a loved one, the sheer delight in discovering a new place, the sense of adventure. I am transported back to that time and place, feeling the excitement and pure joy. Perhaps a bit altered, experience and time tend to do that. The photo above was taken during a holiday spent in British Columbia and it was indeed a memorable vacation. What one might refer to as a keeper, a multitude of cherished memories, revisited often. This entry was inspired by the following post about memories from a wonderful blog entitled simple me. Speaking of memories, read some work by Paul Bowles . Wishing each of you a fantastic final few days of August!

P.S.

I just adore this photo, part of the following catalogue (found via port2port) !!!