Decisions, Decisions

Summer has arrived early in Ontario....hopefully this isn't a big trick like she's only stopped in for a quick visit with plans to leave in less than a month visiting some other tropical location. Hey....it happens here.
So even though it is only the end of May we have enjoyed remarkable, July-like temperatures. My flowers are waaaay ahead blooming and socializing like crazy and my tan is pretty admirable.
Such lazy warm days make me think of summer reading. As you know, I love to read. But in the summer, I especially love to read lots of care-free, take-me-away-calgon, fiction. I just finished Jane Eyre (again) and I'm working my way through the first Harry Potter. Harry Potter made a big splash and still is. It definitely ruffled feathers in the Christian camp. I even came across a book written specifically on why you shouldn't read Harry Potter....please....is there nothing else you can put to paper?? Having never read it and as I appreciate a well-written fiction, I thought I would give it a go. It obviously stands the test of time. In my opinion, it's cleverly written - not by J.R. Tolkien standards but clever nonetheless.
However.....there still is a few heavy, indepth, winter/spring, educational reads I need to finish.....
They are sitting on my bedside table, tapping their fingers as a gentle reminder that this is NOT summer yet and I should continue to work towards wisdom and understanding via good solid reads.
Decisions, decisions.....I promise, once I finish Harry Potter (which won't be long) to finish that really good book on The Spirit of Sonship. Then there is that autiobiography on Fanny Crosby.
By then, summer, should it tarry, will offically be here and I can read all about faraway, mystical lands, faeries and other flying creatures, maybe a good mystery or two....so many decisions.

Nature is Winning

It's gardening time! We are all in the throes of it. And that includes me. I'm planting, moving, raking and especially pulling.
I've pulled up so many mini trees that I'm starting to feel bad about it. Perfectly good maples, poplars and birches are being dug up and tossed. Seems rather odd when I know my daughter is on the other side of Canada planting trees as fast (faster) than I'm removing them from my yard.
It's not only trees but weeds and even perfectly good plants.
But I'm losing the fight.
Everywhere I look there are more and more. It's something like the Mickey Mouse cartoon where he cuts up the broom and suddenly thousands of little brooms pop up from the splinters. So I can just imagine what would happen if I simply did nothing for a whole summer.
The garden would begin to creep up onto the yard, the grass in the yard would grow probably up to my shoulders, the trees would be popping up everywhere. Now imagine what would happen if I left it for a whole year......I would have a veritable forest on the go!
You see, for all the damage humans do to nature, nature just takes the knock but knows, without too much difficulty, nature can win the fight. Just leave her be for a couple years and our roads, sidewalks, pretty patios and decks, even our houses would soon be engulfed into her green embrace.
Like so many other gardeners out there, I'm trying to assert my authority over a square patch of land I call my own. But really, nature is the boss. She's a I know you told me to sit down but I'm standing on the inside type, much like my son. We would all be smart if we just learned to work with her instead of against her.

Hide and Seek is Haunting Me

This dance thing is taking over my life. I'm bruised and beaten, stiff and sore, but the big show is coming up in little over a month and with it's mouth wide open is swallowing me whole.
With the gracious help and support of my dance partner Kelly, we are fitting in extra practices, because I'm such a newby at this and in order to avoid looking like a total idiot on stage I need all the practice I can get.
The result being, the song we are dancing to "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap plays nonstop in my mind on a constant basis. I'm running through choreography in my sleep and every waking moment of my day! Point my toes, look up, jump, get ready for that handstand part, crumple to the ground, run.....it goes on and on.
What was life like before this all encroaching process? What did I possibly think about??? I got nothing. Just
"Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines" stuck in my head.

Sometimes, You Just Can't Help It

Warning: This blog may contain some graphic material that is offensive to some readers.

If you are not a pet owner/lover you may be a little grossed out.

In my house, there lives not only humans but two cats and a dog. And they are just part of the family. They hang out with us ALL the time.

Especially, when I'm making dinner. Take this past week, for example. I was cutting up my chicken for a stir fry and suddenly, there is Amelia, right underneath me, looking very hopeful for a slip and spill of a morsel of chicken or maybe I'll just throw her one.

She gives me her biggest, most hopeful, most "you know I'm worth it" smile.

Then there is Frodo. He's a cool cat. He also showed up looking for a score on some chicken but basically ignores me. I try to get his picture but he spends most of his time washing himself and making like he's not interested. He is, but you'd never know it.

Now they both know they are not allowed to help themselves.

But sometimes, you just can't help it.