November 21.... of flowers..

I guess it's harder to hold yourself to the task of writing about your gratitude 365 days a year than I thought. But .. let it be known that I ponder on things that I am grateful for daily. Truly. Here are a few examples....

I was raised by a woman who was raised on a farm. Whether her gardening acumen came from there or not I am not sure. Suffice it to say I see a great similarity in how my mother gardened, ergo how I garden, and how many Europeans garden - especially my Italian neighbours. I was always taught to yank out every living thing from the garden before the frost hits. Your plot should be pristine, no leaves or weeds, or left over blossoms. It should be ready come the Spring to receive new plantlings. Well I gotta tell you... these past few weeks have been absolutely lovely (minus yesterday I guess) and walking to and from work has been a total pleasure. And there have been sightings... a rose bush, long neglected, not "pruned" or cared for in the manner befitting a rose to be sure, but its there, in the middle of November, with flowers - roses - on it. Deep red ones. They perhaps have become petrified I'm not sure, but they are beautiful. And I doubt the plant any worse for wear for its lack of attention really.

Not long past the apartment building that shows off this rose bush, I came upon a home down the road... happy pansies still growing, still upright - and we have had a frost!!! and they are there - bobbing in the breeze ... and its' the middle of November! Geraniums, purple flowers, Chrysanthemums ... I noticed tons of flowers - in all the gardens that weren't "prepared" for the Spring.

I think I need to try a new approach. I love the sightings of these flowers. They are happy-making. I'm grateful for the smiles they brought to my face.

May 7 ... Pictures worth the words of gratitude...

I decided I would share some of my gratitude pictorially today. You'll see why in a sec...

I only wish I could share the smell with you. Wonderful... and all the better that these babies are from my own backyard! There are apple blossoms from the Miniature Weeping Crab Apple tree my son got me some Mother's Day ago. And the lilacs are also from a tree he gave me as a birthday gift. It's wonderful to have a son with gardening centre connections!!

Tonight this same young man is taking us out for my yearly Mother's Day/Birthday dinner. Lovely... looking forward to righting the ship, and feeling grateful.

April 14 ... What I did for Princess Day...

Even though my Princess Day had to start at 6:00 am... I am still grateful for how it turned out.

After all the meetings this morning - I was free and went home. I took a nice long bike ride. Oh the wonders there - daffodils, tulips, dogwood, hyacinths, and lovely magnolia trees all in bloom.. amazing.

I then came home and gardened. I suppose that over the course of the rest of this year, I will get my fill of needing to tend to my plants but you know, it's April 14th. And it's already a miracle that I am not shoveling my way out from underneath... but I'm tending to my blooming clematis! I mean what's with that?

So I tended my garden. Took out the plethora of those nasty stinging weed plants, picked up the leaves, noticed that my strawberries have all come back (yay!), and felt content for the smell of the earth and the sound of the wind in the trees.

Much gratitude.

March 25 .. Spring theme continued...

Walking to work today was awesome. +12 degrees, March 25, many, many crocuses blooming.

About two weeks ago, a dear friend of mine gave me feedback on the blog. One of the things I learned is that not every moment about gratitude needs to be about big feelings, big events. Sometimes it's about having eggs for breakfast, or enjoying a favourite sweater; something, at some point of the day makes your face break into a smile.

For me today it was those crocuses. I would love to show a picture but they didn't turn out. All good... I got to stare, and hover, and enjoy all the same. Crocuses, the purple and yellow ones, are just super happy spring things. You can't walk by and not notice (at least I can't) and you can't walk by and not smile. And I think the smile is even broader when it's March (I mean come on folks - March 25th, no snow anywhere) rather than May.

While tomorrow the temperature is supposed to dip, but ever so briefly so it's all good really, I am really grateful for noticing the flowers, for enjoying the walk (twice today!), for the sun on my face and the warmth in the air. I'm loving Spring this year.

March 17 .... Spa & Princess Day

I got a text message from a friend today... we had trouble reaching each other yesterday and agreed we would speak today. In her text this morning she wrote "when should I call you, I realize it's you Spa Day" :-)... I find this funny.

A short while ago, while I was surfing around on the net, young pregnant daughter came on line;

"Hi Mommy"

"Hi Honey, hows you?"

"I'm good. How was P(rincess) Day?" .... see... it's a thing now.

So S & P day ... I went for my first cycle of the year today. It's St. Patrick's Day. There is usually a snow storm on this day, or snow, or some form of winter crap, cause really there is nothing else to call it in the middle of March. But today was again, glorious. Yesterday was the warmest March 16th on record! And today may well have been the warmest March 17th.

So ya, I took out my awesome bike. I bought myself a new bike at the end of last summer. Sadly, I think I bought it because I was fighting about money with you know who. So ok, that was not the greatest reason.. but OH MY GOD I love my bike!!! I really do. Cycling has never been such a pleasure. And today was no exception. I went from home, all the way up and around Mount Royal - awesome ride for the first time out. Awesome ride for the 17th of March. Awesome ride period. And little things happened along the way.... riding through the woods on the mountain, I caught the sound of a woodpecker, it pleased me immensely. I passed a garden full of purple crocuses, beautiful, joyful, lovely.

So another fine Spa/Princess Day thank you very much. I am very full of gratitude.