Photoless Wednesday

Last night I was in a bit of a 'mood'

{and that's all I say about that...}

but

After doing the supper dishes

I went out to my garden to

water my flowers

refill the two bird baths

and reflect on my thoughts

and my mood

It had been a hot day

32C (90F)

I had the water hose set on 'rain shower'

sprayed the water high into the air

letting my plants drink in the coolness

the water sprayed lightly over my two bird baths

the little one about 2 feet from me

the big one about 6 feet

droplets of cold water bouncing lightly

creating a waterfall effect

A robin

who has been enjoying her nightly bird splash

around 7 pm for the last 4 nights

flew into her bath

less then 6 feet away from me

the cool water beneath her

and the fresh water showering down on her

she splashed

she sang

clearly enjoying her nightly routine

This in itself brought a smile to my face

Suddenly

a wee yellow finch

flew down to the little bird bath

an arm's length away

the cool water beneath her

fresh water showering down on her

and following the robin's lead

she splashed

she sang

and clearly enjoyed her refreshing bath

Here were these two creatures of nature

both but a short distance from me

not afraid of me

enjoying the water I was spraying

enjoying the bath I was providing

I think they were both smiling at me

My camera?

Inside the house of course

I could have taken my chances

put down the water hose

ran in to get my camera

risked them still being there when I got back

to capture a photo

But I decided to just stand there

nature putting my world back into perspective

letting the spray of the water

hit me in the face

laughing as both birds

sang and washed

cooled and enjoyed

Sometimes

you just have to live in the moment

with no camera

xo Catherine

Downside of Summer

I think summer is finally here!

3 hot and sunny days in a row ~ how enjoyable!

Downside?

Getting behind on my blog reading!

So ~ it's 4:15 a.m.

I have my mug of tea made.

Now off I go to catch up with you.

Have a lovely Monday!

How do I love thee

Friday...

How do I love thee

Let me count the ways

Today I love you for thy sunshine

that so warmly falls upon my face

I love you for thy flex-time

that lets me leave early from my work place

I love you for thy freedom

to do anything I would like to do

I love you beautiful Friday

I love you for just being you...

I hope you have a most wonderful weekend my friends!

xo Catherine

Window Happiness

My kitchen window sill has lots of little trinkets sitting on it. Mostly because the view of the side of my neighbours house is boring but also because these pretty little things make cleaning up the kitchen sink a little bit more enjoyable.

Fresh cut leaves from the garden, a little bird, pretty green pots, white dandelion vase, clear bubble vase, spring in a tin can (coming along very nicely), and a sprig of cat mint.

Hey Mister!!! Quit eating my window display! My Window Happiness is all of a sudden not so happy!!! GAAAKKK! Too late. It's all gone. Honestly Banjo... did you have to even lick the vase clean???

errr.... perhaps I shouldn't have used cat mint for one of my vases.

Have a Happy Wednesday!

xo Catherine

Random Photos ~ After the Rain

A Sunny Father's Day

Today we had a bit of sun

No rain

We took advantage of it

Out to Saskatchewan Landing for a round of

Father's Day Mini-Golf

Ummm..... would one of you boys get my ball please?

It seems to have landed in a most unfortunate spot.

Does that count as a stroke?

"Hey you land lovers

that's some mighty fine puttin'

yer been doin'!"

Clearly the old sea captain was not

speaking to me... :)

A sweet pup

He had steaks of grey hair

I think he was enjoying the sun as well

I hope you had a lovely Sunday!

xo Catherine

Predictions of Rain

we have had many days of rain

it is raining now

we are to have periods of rain all weekend

with more rain to follow

floods are happening

we have mosquito's by the billions

summer in Saskatchewan is usually

dry

hot

with some thunderstorms

a tornado or two

and billions of grasshoppers

I don't know which is worse....

very warm thoughts out to our neighbours in

Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

who have had to evacuate their homes

due to the floods yesterday

Don't Laugh at Me

I am so glad I do not live in a 'cookie cutter' world...

Growing up I often "marched to the beat of my own drum"

The few times I did go down the wrong path

it was because I started following a different drummer

I was often made fun of when I was younger

I was different

I was not a size 2

{sadly my high school weight is lower then my now 'goal' weight ~ ha!}

I was not 5' 6"

{I like to say I'm 5' 3"...though that's stretching it a bit}

I was not the girl who always had a boyfriend

{I wish I knew back then that Wayne was going to be there for me...

sigh... all those wasted tears...}

I was not one of the pretty girls

{chubby, mousy brown hair, too small of nose, glasses}

I was not one of the fashionable girls

{though as it was the 80's ~ 'fashionable' is a loose term}

I was not one of the party girls

{I often could be found at home reading or listening to music}

I did not take part in any sports

{I was the kid always picked last for the team... honesty... couldn't any of my

teachers have made me 'captain' even once during 12 years of phys. ed.

so that I was able to do the picking of the team?!!}

My family did not have money

{I had an after school job since grade 9 and helped

to pay for my own clothes and school supplies}

I was not one of the 'cool' kids

Something inside me never needed to be 'the same'

I will always be thankful for that

If you are beating your own drum today

dance proudly my friend...

~~~~~~

A Feeling of Bliss

If you could capture small feelings of bliss in a bottle to save for when you are having a sad, grumpy or mad day ~ what would they be?

I would like to capture the feelings of:

~ stepping into a warm bath as your aching body is submerged under the hot water

~ that first bite of chocolate melting in your mouth

~ sitting outside on the first truly warm summer morning

~ laughing so hard you start to cry

~ a kiss from your love in the middle of your back

~ after cleaning your house, having a bath, getting into clean pj's and going to bed in clean sheets

Sometimes we don't think about what we are feeling while we are experiencing something we enjoy. We are so busy, hurrying through life, running to the next thing, worrying about the next day, wondering what to do next, that we lose the total experience of right here ~ right now.

I hope you have feelings of bliss today and are able to take time to savour every moment of it, capture it in your mind and can recall that feeling of bliss when you need to.

~~~~~~~

P.S. Today is my 2nd year blogiversary! 2 years and 677 posts. Hence the new look. It will be a work in progress over the next few days. Thanks for being along on the ride with me!

What does a perfect day look like?

What does a perfect day look like to you?

I had a perfect day on Saturday

We went to Saskatoon for the weekend

Kurtis went to stay with a friend

Wayne and I ~ just the two of us

The weekend to ourselves

The sun was shining

There was no wind

It was a lovely 22C out

(72F for those non-metric people)

A walk along the river

Holding hands as we walked

Following a beautiful bath

Enjoying an Art fair that was taking place

Seeing lovely displays

Including a flying fish

Enjoying the art that is built in to the walkways

Dragonflies, butterflies, birds, flowers

There was art and beauty everywhere

Wayne and I also spent time at the Mendel Art Gallery

Enjoying all the vibrant colors in the Conservatory

Walking around and critiquing the displays

{ummm... some of it we didn't understand as being

classified as 'art'... clearly we both need more 'culture'...}

A wonderful lunch together

{actually...lunch was not as enjoyable ~

bad service ~ mediocre food ~ but we didn't

let that spoil the day...}

A very yummy supper out

with Kurtis and his friend

And then Stanley and I off to

our hotel room...just the two of us

Truly a lovely weekend...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. For all of you concerned commenters below...

as you can see ~ not to worry ~

Stanley gets his share of love too!!! ;)

P.P.S. And if you haven't been following my blog for very long ~

Wayne and Stanley are actually the same person.

I don't want you to think I'm a Polygamist!! Ha!

Let the game begin...

The other day on my post "Love is..." where I showed pictures of my hubby Wayne vacuuming up the dust bunnies, having supper ready when I got home and doing the dishes, I received 14 "enjoyable comments" for that post.

I told him that was pretty sad as a post of Banjo doing nothing could get at least twice that much in the same amount of time (24 hours).

He doesn't believe me....

I leave it up to you my dear blog readers...you have until 8:00 pm Friday night.

Let the game begin...

Does nature have a forgiving heart?

While it's a nice thought:

if you lay among the flowers

and keep an open mind

you may be chosen

to witness something magical

something only those

with imagination

can hear and see

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The reality is:

to all of nature effected by

oil spills

land development

chemicals

human 'advancement'

...please forgive us...

Photo Credit: Frederic Larson via Google Images

Dawn Dish Soap ~ helping humans put back some good karma ~ love this commercial:

No Thoughts Today

I have no thoughts today

No words of wisdom

No funny quips

Nope...nothing...

Have a Happy Day!

Lovely Books & Thank You

I appear to be a very lucky girl lately (perhaps I should go buy a lotto ticket) as I won another prize! Sharon from Random Thoughts, who I only recently found and started following, sent me this sweet book written and signed by the author: My Teacher Dances on the Desk. An adorable book filled with cute poems. Thank you so much Sharon!

Although my boy is no longer little, I do have a couple of adorable wee neighbour boys that like to visit me once in awhile ~ I am going to read it to them. Then, it will get saved with all the other special books that we have kept from when Kurtis was little. Books that perhaps I will read to my grandchild one day. (And let's just clarify that I am still MUCH too young to be a grandmother...no hurry thank you!!!)

Along with the Dr. Seuss, Winnie the Pooh and other cherished books, one of Kurtis and my favourite books to read to him was "Gregory the Terrible Eater". A sweet young goat refuses to eat any of the rubber tires, tin cans and shoe laces that his parents set on the table for him. He likes eating fish, fruit and vegetables instead. Of course, when you read it, one must do a 'goat voice' to really get into the story. One night I had to read it to Kurtis 3 times. My throat was sore from talking like a goat! :)

I've always loved books. Oh the smell and the feel of a new book. mmm..... And I have always taught Kurtis that "books are our friends...be kind to them". His Harry Potter collection, of which we both have read, don't even have the bindings cracked. And that's the way he and I both like it! (So please...do not ask to borrow them...I just can't do it. I know...it's a sickness....)

Kurtis lost the love of reading for awhile when he was in high school. Honestly.... how many Shakespeare books does a kid have to read? Can't the school system update the 'classics' that they have to read? He had to read all the same books I had to over 20 years ago. After all, as long as a kid is reading...it's a good thing...no?

So I send a very big Thank You to Sharon for the lovely book. It will be very well taken care of and cared for and appreciated!

Happy Saturday!

xo Catherine

Weekend Possibilities

When there is predictions for some sunny weather ~ the weekend possibilities are endless aren't they? As I am off at 1:30 pm today, I plan on coming home and spending the afternoon in my garden. Now that my dust bunnies in my house are taken care of thanks to Wayne, I will now tackle the weeds!

When you live in one of the Canadian Provinces that only gets to enjoy 3 months of summer (1/2 month of spring, 1/2 month of fall and 8 months of winter....), I can not explain to you the joy of a perfect summer day!

I hope your weekend possibilities are endless as well!

xo Catherine

Love is...

Love is... your hubby taking the day off work to go golfing and do yard work and coming home to find he has also just finished vacuuming up the dust bunnies and has supper ready!!!!

errr...there was quite a few of those little dust bunnies wasn't there? Kind of embarrassing...

Tacos!!! {And I didn't even have to do the dishes after either!!!!}

Oh Stanley...

Sometimes a gal finds a reason to fall in love with her guy all over again... :)

Hope you have a Happy Thursday!

xo Catherine