WHAT I'VE LEARNED FROM MY GARDEN

I've yet to meet anyone who has it all figured out. We all stumble along;  sometimes with a confident step, sometimes groping like blind men. Just trying to figure out how to live this life we've been given and how to live it well. 

There is a scripture in James 1:5 "if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." It doesn't say, He will give to some, but to ALL. 

The kicker is, you have to: 

a) ask 

and 

     b) listen!

It's seems there is insight all around us. My garden, is full of it. 

For example, things are going to change. 

If your situation is bad, hang in there and if your situation is good, be prepared!

When we first moved into our house we had this lovely pond in the back yard with a little fountain

It was a lovely feature and I loved the sound of the water. But it was a stinker (literally) to clean each year and I can't tell you how many dead little birds or moles I had to fish out that had slipped in to their demise. 

So eventually we filled in the pond and inserted a fountain instead.

The birds can now safely stop in for a quick shower and I still have a water feature. 

You will lose things that you love and you will gain things that you love. 

Last year I had a bumper crop of Bee balm

I only have a few stragglers coming up this year but that gave me room invite some new comers.

This is Chad:

Chad the Cherub sat propped up on the side of my pond faithfully pouring water from his little barrel. But the birds thought Chad had a great head to land on and poor Chad often found himself floating face first in the pond. Eventually he took one too many dives and he was injured beyond repair. I really liked Chad!

There are people who I miss a lot. Like my sister Heidi, or Greg, both who never saw the age of 30. There are people who have moved on or moved away. I miss them too. Loss is a part of life, but so is new Life.

Pruning is necessary! Nature is always pushing, pushing, pushing to take over and I'm always pruning, pruning, pruning to take it back. You will be pruned, and it will hurt but the rewards are worth it.

Life is full of seasons, not just the sunny summer but winter:

And Fall

And in each one there are new moments of joy, growth and insight. 

If you are trying to understand something, like how to raise that strong willed child or to let go or hang on, or whatever, don't be afraid to ask for wisdom. It is there for the taking, probably right in your own back yard. 

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON MY WAY TO GET COFFEE

I want to tell you a story - a true story that happened to me and started when I went on a coffee break. So settle in and read on!

About a month ago I was at work. Morning coffee break was upon me so I rounded up my mate Shirley and as it was a lovely day in May we went for a walk-a-bout to pick up coffee.

As we were coming around the corner of the Mall where I work, there was the car of my dreams!

"Shirley!" I said "I Love this car. This is exactly the kind I've wanted."
"It's pretty nice!" comments Shirley.

As we are coming over for a closer look a fella suddenly jumps out of the car. Unbeknownst to us he had been sitting in said car and had overheard our conversation. 

"Do ya like this car? It's for sale! You want to buy it?"

"Well...."I started to stutter....

"Here! Hop in! I'll hold your coffee!" Next thing I know, I'm sitting in this beautiful Mini Cooper. He gives me all the details: 2012 Countryman Manual (perfect), heated seats (perfect X2), two sunroofs (perfect), comes with snow tires (whaaattt?) etc. etc. He is a born salesman. 

"Want to take it for a drive?"

"No, thanks, I really got to get back to work but it is a beauty!"

"Well let me give you my number and if you want you can take it out later!" 

He scratches out his number on an old receipt I had and off Shirley and I go. 

Later I'm telling my husband about this little surprise meeting. I also mention between my investments I have enough saved to pay for half of the car. This could be a reality!

"We should give him a call and take it for a test drive." says Sheldon. No complaints from me!

Eventually, I fish out the old receipt and call. Turns out the chatty fella in the car is a friend of the owner and he was borrowing it that day. He directs me onto Steve, the actual owner. The Plot thickens.....Steve does not have the Mini for sale, he was considering trading it in, but he's willing to let us take it for a spin. 

Now Steve is the most amiable Canadian you will find on this side of the border. You just want to take him home to meet your Mom. No, scratch that; meet your Grandma! We discuss details and bippity-boppity-boo, along with the complete draining of my investments, I'm now the owner of the car of my dreams.

I decided to call it "MiCi" cause when I hop in I just want to sing "Oh Mickie you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind Hey Mickie!  Hey Mickie!"

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And it just goes to show you, you never know what can happen. You may be going for a Mc-coffee and end up with Mc-MiCi!

IN SEARCH OF THE AMAZING

Do you remember when you under the age of 10, how amazing things were? I mean everything? 
The first time you mastered riding a two wheeler?
Tadpoles?
Snow?
When all the letters on the pages turned into words and suddenly you were reading and you discovered you could read anything?

Sometimes we are reminded of the wonder around us like when we experience something new. But mostly our lives seem mundane.  

So for the last couple of weeks I wanted to jump start my sense of wonder. "Lord, I said as I sipped my coffee (which was amazing, all perfectly frothy and sprinkled with cinnamon, but I have it everyday, so I didn't notice), help me see the amazing things all around me. 

I'm out on a walk during a break at work. A car goes by with two retrievers in it; one with his head hanging out the window and the other with his head popped up out of the sunroof. Their tongues are hanging out and they are the epitome of joy - Amazing.

Every single sunset and every single sunrise is Amazing.

The  technology mankind has come up with like Skype for FaceTime where one can talk to someone else and visually see them. For anyone over 40, that is Amazing.

I came across this tree in my neighbourhood. It's Amazing!

I planted Lupins about two years ago and this decided to show up:

Old man Frodo has the biggest, fluffiest feet ever - Amazing

I ran into this dog with a mohawk at a Macs Milk Store. His name is Brady.

Tomorrow when you get up, try looking with your 8-year-old eyes instead of 48-year-old (or whatever) and you will discover you still live in an amazing world and there are wonders right under your nose. In fact you, yourself, are an incredible creation. 

Enjoy that Amazing Coffee!

EVERYBODY LOVES A CAMPFIRE (AND MARSHMALLOWS)

We are finishing up the long May weekend aka, Victoria Day weekend or 2-4 weekend, or the official kick-off to summer and it was a glorious one! Warm and sunny with a touch of rain. Many crazy Canadians will go camping, but as much as I like camping the black flies up here at this time of the year are big and bad and hungry....very very hungry. 

That doesn't mean I still can't enjoy a good campfire! Thanks to our friends Tom and Jolie we were treated to a good one complete with treats, s'mores and an Elvis Presley karaoke sing-song. 

One of the big bonuses for me are roasted marshmallows...Mmmm...mmmmmm...Mmmm! 

I'm capturing Celeste's technique here and recording for all posterity. 

Had to try it myself. This is an automatic roasting fork that slowly rotates when you push a button. How cool is that! However, I still managed to charcoal them!

Look at those babies browning up

These were coming along nicely!

Want one?? 

Tomorrow it's back to the office and my little windowless pod. But the campfire smell is lingering in my hair and on my pants reminding me of this sticky sweet treats. Here's to a great summer ahead with lots of campfires and perfectly roasted marshmallows. 

LIFE OF A PARTY GIRL

I wake up with the alarm at 5:30 am. This is not unusual; my alarm goes off every morning at 5:30! But today is a busy day and this party girl has lots to do.

You see, I'm not your typical party girl. I'm your behind-the-scenes type. The one making sure the party is planned and fun. So all the REAL Party girls can enjoy it. 

Today I pulled off a Bogo Bridal shower - one for my son's fiancé Carolyn and one for my daughter Randi. I realize Randi has been married nearly two years but we never really threw her a bridal shower so I bogoed her into this one. 

There is always lots of prep and I'm grateful for those who came and helped including my good friend Denise, my kids, my hubby and those who brought flowers and trays of fruit and veggies. 

I started the morning off baking molasses cookies and prepping for mushroom spinach quiche. 

I had prepped the stuffed mushrooms the day before so they were oven ready!

Then it was time to set up the spread!

There was melon and prosciutto

And a good friend brought these beauties

I had made lots of sweets like these luscious lemon squares

And gooey brownies

I set up a Mimosa bar where guests could make their own!

And there was also a "make your own cupcake" set up!

Nice work!

All in all, it was a good time and the girls were blessed with lots of best wishes and gifts. Even Sasha, my Russian Blue, had the time of her life in the tissue paper and bags!

I may not be the life of the party, but I'm the party girl who can make it happen!

PARDON ME, I'M (S)MOTHERING YOU

Happy Mother's Day to all you amazing Moms! I know how hard, how tirelessly and with self sacrifice, you all try to look after all your little chicks, even when they fly the coup. 

So let's start this blog off with a photo of my own amazing Mom!

That's me, with the great hairline, in my Momma's arms, along with my older sisters Heather and Heidi and my Dad. The much coveted son took another 4 years to show up and complete the family. But there's a Mom who devoted a good chunk of her life to raising 4 kids. Thanks Mom!!

I feel like I've been mothering most of my life; looking after, watching over, making sure all were accounted for and safe.

Before I had children of my own, there were pets. Check out this adorable photo:

I call it "Kittens for Everybody!"

But if you look closely you will notice all 3 of us girls (I'm in the middle) are all closely monitoring our little brother. "What are you doing with that kitten Spencer? You should be holding it securely with TWO hands!" Never mind the camera....watch out for that kitten!

We are looking after, watching over, making sure all are accounted for and safe.

We are mothering!

There's a fine line between mothering and smothering and I, unfortunately, often hover on the brink. I'm pretty good, until there's some sort of transition like somebody's leaving, moving, getting married or something silly like that. Then my mother-cling on starts to kick in.

This is my daughter's Grade 12 Graduation. My daughter, Randi is the stunner in the yellow. The other beauty is Elise, the first ballerina we had live with us (I'm working on number 9 right now). Note my inclination to cling....I'm holding close. Elise was moving on and my mothering of her is losing it's grip. 

Here's another:

This is Rachel, another of our Ballerinas. She also has just graduated and about to leave us. I'm now in full-on Cling-on.

Mothering to smothering even happens at work! Here I am desperately clinging to one of my co-workers who is leaving to go back to school.

I'm trying to be brave here. I'm smiling. Sooooo happy for my baby girl! But the claw holding tightly to her arm is kinda giving it away.

I'm a natural at this mothering thing. Been doing it for years in fact. And generally speaking I'm pretty good at it. 

But you will have to pardon me when it comes to those big transitions. I may slip into (s)mothering you.

THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Today I woke up to one of those misty May rains. Those nourishing gentle rains that changes things from brown to green, flowers start to unfurl and shyly show their glorious charms and robins have a smorgasbord on fat juicy worms. The merry month of May is here. 

I've been waiting through the long cold winter for this time of year  - HURRY UP! But, now that's it's here...SLOW DOWN!

It means I will spend a lot of time outside, puttering in the garden, checking out the goods and doing yard maintenance. 

Thanks to the "good rain", these beauties opened up this morning:

I wish I could tell you what these are, but they show up for the party every year

Yesterday, before the "good rain", I mowed the lawn. We picked up this sweet ride about two years ago.

With our old gas one, I would nearly take my arm off trying to pull the cord and start it. Eventually I would acknowledge defeat and find a strong man with the upper body strength to bring it to life. So, we invested in this little electric number. Granted the battery weighs about 40 lbs but once you charge it and drop it in place you are off and running. 

There are only 31 days in May, one of my favourite months. I hope to enjoy all the flowers, the good rains, the yard maintenance and gardening, the sweet, sweet smell of soil and new life. 

Life is in such a hurry, May is a month to remind you to slow down.