Planned and Spontaneous!

September 22, 2014
Qu'Appelle Valley

Well, that was a day! A wiener roast with friends out in the country at a sweet 3 year old's birthday party. Successful and fun! I was a mere passenger on a great drive there and back. We drove past beautiful rust, brown, and gold prairie fields that are just amazing. Then back in the city, shopping for crafts and whatever else took our fancy ~ only partially successful. After all of that it was definitely time for coffee and cake - a day of the visiting that covered that last two weeks and multitudes of family updates, needed a break. We ended the evening at the French Press on Albert Street. Successful, with more visiting and just a darn good day.

“At the end of the day, if I can say I had fun, it was a good day.”

~ Simone Biles

p.s. Too busy talking to take an updated photo, but the colours are the same as in 2014!

Under Water

Distractions are easy to avoid ~ as long as they are outside. At a store, on a book shelf, anything that can be cleaned, a TV on the wall, out to a movie….But inside the mind! 

“Come on! You need a break

 ~ it will help your research ~ you’re just curious - it’ll only take a couple of minutes……” Before the thought is fully formed, hands and feet are already busy with the duster that seldom gets used, 

or rearranging the furniture, 

or maybe taking a walk just because. 

All those distractions can be good things ~ 

letting that too busy mind mull over the 

most recent project and plan a next move, 

or it could be simple avoidance. I choose to 

believe the mulling over theory and keep my 

hands and feet still till I truly listen to myself.

“Most of what we say and do is not essential…

Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’”

~ Marcus Aurelius

Daydreams and Laughter

I was tempted, but I would be lost. Lost in imagined memories of a magic forest, spinning around, kicking up crispy coloured leaves and just playing. My adult self apparently knew better and I walked past and around this leafy oasis behind Regina’s Legislative buildings. My childhood temptation was shared by the friends I met at Bliss Bistro for a Christmas in September evening. Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and crunchy/tender brussell sprouts served to us outside on a little porch by active tennis courts. Our meal was topped off with pie ~ pecan, pumpkin, or apple.  The warmth of an autumn afternoon settled into the crisp chill of an autumn evening as we laughed, we visited and enjoyed a lovely evening together.

“Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age
is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”

~ Margaret Atwood 

An Understanding

I have avoided writing too often about my cat for two reasons. Mainly because talking about 

one's cat all the time is incredibly boring unless the listener is a cat person. But also 

because most of the day 

he sleeps unless he smells food 

or hears a cupboard door open. 

If it’s frozen beefsteak on the counter 

he will be reaching a paw up to said

counter as I prepare it. But I 

give him the ‘I’m the boss’ look and 

he backs down with a look of disgust ~ 

if cats know what a look of disgust is. 

Even if I just walk in the kitchen, he 

may have seemed sound asleep, but 

he must have some kind of feline GPS 

that pings in his head, rousing him long 

enough to stare at me or at least investigate 

the potential. It’s not as though he never gets 

fed although he seems to believe that he is 

entitled to food whether hungry or not. 

Don’t get me wrong, he is a good cat, 

a great companion and, all in all,

we do have an understanding.

“Cats have no guilt and very little shame.”

~ Ursula K. Le Guin,  No time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters

 

Soap Bubbles

Where are the words when I want 

them? If I close my eyes and rest 

my head back, they float through 

my mind like so many soap bubbles. 

Bubbles that pop, splashing my face

with impudence. It could a word, 

maybe two; a whole sentence, 

strung out with no end in sight. It’s 

then I realize I’m trying too hard 

and need to let them rest, or pop, or 

be carried away by a squirrel in need of

a story. It’s like so many other things, 

I don’t always get what I want.

“Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. 

Begin, and inspiration will find you.”

~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Sometimes we’re just 

walking along, minding our own business, while watching the path for stones that would trip us up, a whisper of colour reaches from in the bush. Pretty little flowers, hidden in plain sight, framed by twigs, leaves and branches, toss contrast into the mix.

“Nothing is hidden that will not be made known; 

nothing is secret that will not come to light.”

~ Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol

A Pop-up Village

coprinopsis atramantaria

You can’t hear them

No one knows they’re there

This pop-up village in the grass

after wild rains have passed.

“Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet 

and the vanguard species in habitat restoration.”

~ Paul Stamets, mycologist and entrepreneur