Yards

The day started with more fantastic customer service at Telus. I need to send them a letter praising the efforts of Eric and Erica(I know). They weren't able to transfer my contacts but did retrieve and print them for me.

I spent the afternoon spreading mulch. Then I watered the garden from the rain barrel. It's great to see the vegetables growing tall and lush.

Tonight, I helped friends with their new fire pit. My entire yard would fit on their patio. At one point there were five pockets of people gathered in five distinct and separate areas of the yard. The stars and mosquitoes were out in full force. It was fabulous to reconnect with a friend I haven't seen in almost ten years.

Great things

In a day fraught with nightmares, headaches (literal and metaphorical) and sideways solutions, I've managed to stay in a surprisingly good mood.

I'm not sure why other than the fact that I'm able to look around me and see that those nightmares weren't real(no one is trying to kill me accidentally or on purpose), there are drugs for some of the headaches and technical support for the others. Sure, I'll have to make another trip to the store, and I bought coconut water instead of coconut milk for the brownies but those things are fixable. I have several recipes that call for coconut water. It won't go to waste.

Getting back to acknowledging One Good Thing has been a great thing. It's helped me retain some perspective on life. 

Also, someone brought chocolate into work. That helped.

Nature

So many good things today.  I loaded Emile Sande (you might remember this song from the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics).  With her on my playlist I inputted twice what I had planned to accomplish today.

Then I went outside and played in the garden by the pond.  I spent two hours weeding, moving plants around and it doesn't look like I did a thing. At one point, I climbed into the pond and scooped out all the rocks that had slide in over the winter. Ky took that opportunity to wash his ball.  He made me laugh so hard.  I wouldn't throw it for him so he dropped it in various plants.  I tossed it out of my way.  It landed in the composter. He's afraid of that thing.  Eventually he climbed onto the window boxes stacked beside it and gingerly reached down to pluck it out of the black beast.He's quite the problem solver when his ball is part of the equation.

I watched a video today of a man playing Blackbird on his guitar in the backyard. A crow came to land on the neck of the instrument.  Crows fascinate me.  They are so bright, so inquisitive. And they don't require a ball in order to reason out the best course of action.  Most people associate crows with death, a group is called a murder, but I associate them with intelligence and personality.  They're brilliant.

So nature was my wonderful thing today.  No doubt about it.

Good thoughts to understand

We had an Internet problem last night. One good thing about my virus concerns is that I ran a scan, cleaned up some other issues and now that the modem has been fixed, the computer runs better than ever.

Because I was afraid the system was compromised, I didn't write today. Instead, I read while the computer ran the scans. I pet the dog and cat, chatted with the bird and used the elliptical a bit longer than is normal for me.

I also poked around in the garden by the pond and shared overgrowth with a friend. In return, she shared some of her pond plants with me. We had a good visit, some supportive conversations and shared chocolate. I've been eating too much of it.

Another good thing was the realization that I'm not eating as poorly as I think. I'm not happy with the quantity for overall the quality is actually pretty good. So, cutting myself some slack here. Also realizing I'm so tired because I'm taking my medication a bit late in the day was another good thing.

The breeze has been cool today - and lifted the scent of lilacs straight up over the porch and into the office. A very good thing indeed.

Girls

Today was Ride your bike to work Day so I did. While Miss Gulch managed to ride her bicycle in long skirts I managed to tangle mine in the chain on the last turn home. I'm sure I was quite the sight wriggling out of my dress from beneath a caftan. Once we took the guard off we pedaled the dress off the chain.  There was minimal damage to the lovely summer gown.

I shrugged back into and set out for a garden center. Such a delight to traipse around there with my nieces. Their mother wanted to fill planters around the pool, I wanted some vegetables and the girls didn't want snapdragons. They thought I was silly for liking such a strange flower.

All in all,  a good day

Exploration

I've had company this weekend. There was wine, great conversation and a couple of hikes. We've explored rockslides and waterfalls, philosophical and metaphysical topics and talked into the weekend hours. He is as dear to me as my own nephew. His family and mine are as connected as two families can be without being related.

It has been a good weekend. The wine was tasty too.

Fragrant blessings

It was pouring rain this morning as we headed out to the nursery. As we unloaded the wheelchair in the nursery parking lot, the sun came out and dried up the ground.   We tooled around the yard and greenhouses making our choices. Dad hates hostas, Mom loves them. We didn't get any but they bickered all the while. It was good-natured and amusing. In the end,  we packed around the wheelchair and filled the back of the van with flowering fragrant flora.

It was fun. Now our front flowerbeds are weeded and home to our bounty.

Then the rain returned and saved me from watering.

A good day all around.

Rewarding

I'm happy with all the feedback on the horror story.  It's tooling along grossing people out. Now I have a horror writer who is willing to read it with a critical eye. He'll get it next week and I'll go back to writing romance.

I've been researching different phone options for house and mobile. By the end of the summer the landline will be gone so I needed a really good cell plan. The only service provider I've ever had is Telus. Today, they rewarded my loyalty by giving me the plan I wanted within my price range. That is good customer service.

Artistic goodness

One good thing about chauffeuring DNe to a mutual friend was getting to hang out with that friend for an hour or so. Even better,  mutual friend showed us some amazing original art he just inherited. A.Y Jackson, Will Ogilvie and group of Seven contemporary Charles Comfort. Google them. They are incredible Canadian artists and to see original artwork was indescribable.

Holiday Monday

One Good Thing about making today my day to stay home(gotta love long weekends) was the fact that I spent some quality time testing the futon mattress. It's under the window by the mulberry tree. A squirrel and Eliot had a tail twitching contest.  That never fails to make me laugh.  I know it's a lot more serious than it appears but there's a screen between them and Eliot always checks my reaction. Just like he still jumps on the bird cage, hangs then then falls back to the floor even if I don't yell his name immediately. He's posturing. I'm still a cat. You can't take that away from me by keeping me safely indoors.  I wouldn't dream of it Eliot.

Fireworks are stressful for Ky. I wasn't home last night but I dosed him with Rescue Remedy and cinched him into his Thundershirt Thanks, Stashaholic for the info.  Apparently, he tried to burrow beneath my mom.  I stayed home tonight and he lay at my feet(doused in Rescue Remedy and the Thundershirt). I think the squeaky cable of the elliptical helped dim the sound of the fireworks.

Lots of writing this afternoon. I struggled through a good portion of the day but once I put on the music I associate with that section of the story words came to me.

Enjoy.

Bittersweet

It's been a busy few days. I've sorted through some bins in the attic, picked up the futon and paired some fabrics to make new covers. I'll keep the current cover but like to have backup for wash day.  Eliot was hilarious while I put the wooden frame back together. He lay beneath it with his legs wrapped around the bottom rungs. As I spun the bolts one way, he tried to spin them the other.

Yoda had a bad case of Tourettes tonight. He kept screaming out various phrases. His "I love you" was guttural and grudging. Something set him off. He kept repeating "it's okay". He didn't sound convinced.

Tonight we had the final bonfire on the property that has hosted a good portion of my adult life. There were fireworks in the distance and an owl hunting close by. There was laughter and the bittersweet sharing of memories. There was a strong sense of peace as well as the certainty that it was time to move on to the next adventure.

Dance in the rain

Another rainy day - another three hours spent hacking at weeds and stuffing branches into brown paper bags. We're having a bonfire this weekend and I want to take all of that with me.

For some odd reason - not that I'm complaining - the dogs and I were quite silly today.  We played ball outside in the mud.  I scooped either thousands of tadpoles or millions of mosquito larvae (I suspect a combination unless it was just different ages) out of the pond. I should go see what my good fried Goo-gell has to say about which it was. Casey likes to chew on the rose bush branches, unmindful of thorns. Ky just wants to play ball.  Why not?  It's just mud and water.  I was going to have to wipe their paws anyway.

A friend poked me repeatedly on Facebook. She poked. I poked and so it went until one of us called Uncle.  Clearly, neither one of us had anything better to do.  Still, it made me laugh.

Garden lesson

Good things have happened but so have storms that made me disconnect everything that plugged in, including the router.

One good thing about the rain is that I haven't had to water the plants. It's also made it easier to weed the beds. That said, I did break the hoe this afternoon. Apparently dirt had migrated to the stone border so I hit a rock, ot three.

I dug up the rose bush that has been dead for three years. I noticed the roots weren't pulling out of the ground, or off the wood, easily. They were still alive. And just at the base, a couple of leaves the size of my fingernail had sprouted. I cleared away the weeds, dug a deeper hole and gave it a few encouraging pats.

Later I told my cousin who is recovering from a horrible accident in the winter. I suggested she be like the rose, lie dormant and allow her body to heal. Then I smacked myself for not taking my own advice. In the time since I was told to put my elbow back in a sling and stop using it,  I have weeded two garden beds, pruned three rose bushes, the mulberry tree, cleaned the pond, baked a carrot cake, oatmeal cookies and turtle brownies. I have not worn the sling, nor have I rested the elbow. I'm afraid of being dug up and thrown in the compost bin.

That didn't happen to the rose bush. It won't happen to me.

Mothers

There's a lot more to mothering than giving birth. Society tends to ignore that and place emphasis on the physical. There have been a lot of years when I felt like I was lacking in my contribution to the world because I'm not a mother. I did not bear children.

Now that I'm at the age where my friends are becoming grandparents, it's easier to ignore that attitude,
and the false sympathy,from other people. One good thing about aging is the ability to stop caring what other people think about you and your choices.

I wrote a really long blog in my head about mothers and the various forms they take, about love being a vital component but common sense shouldn't be forgotten either. It was witty and wise, full of profound observations. I'm ditching it to say this -

Happy Mother's Day to everyone who has ever shared fully of themselves, their hearts and homes to give shelter, protection and life lessons to a vulnerable being who needed safety and acceptance. Who cares if you gave them life? You've helped them live.

Quiet

One good thing about being sick all day is that baking the carrot cake for dessert tomorrow night didn't tempt me in the least. It's iced and in the fridge.

It's been a quiet day settling my stomach. Ky has stood guard over me all day. He's a good dog.

Eureka

My green yellow confusion was clarified tonight when I was talking about cucumbers and lemons. I need less citrus and more soothing cukes.

We went to the homemade market. So many pretties.  We left just in time to avoid the intense rain storm. The clouds moved quickly and dumped tons of water. It was exhilarating. I love a good storm provided everyone stays safe.

Contrast

I just spent an hour brushing out the side of Ky that faced me. He hates it but sat fairly still while I did it. It's a soothing process for me which is a good thing as the day has been stressful.

I think the appeal of  Game of Thrones is the satisfaction that comes from yelling at the screen.  They're all a bunch of nasty work. I promised someone I would give it the first season to grow on me. I'm not sure rooting for characters to die a horrible death is the best way to spend my time.  But then, I've done just that in my own story. Rocks. Glass house.

So that's a good thing - realizing that no matter how bad my day has been,  it's divine compared to the Starks'.

Flowing with the tide

I got some housecleaning done - had to make room for all of the plants.

Plans to dye my hair were postponed when we couldn't find any. That turned out alright as my friend's fiance wanted to take her out for dinner. I ended up playing chauffeur.

The rain held off. The rain barrel is back in position and one small section of the yard has been tidied.

For some reason I'm thinking yellow but seeing green. I should pay attention to that. I like green.

I'm halfway through edits on the horror story. Phew, though it's only going to get nastier as I progress. Still no Reader volunteers. I don't blame you.

Synchronicity

In the attempt to cut back on expenses, I've been shopping around for the best (for me ) cell phone plan.  To that end, I called a friend of mine who uses Wind. He says it blows then admitted to going for the joke over accuracy. He said coverage was limited as they don't have a lot of towers but they're expanding all the time.

From there we talked about his downsizing at home. I'm going to take some of the plants as it was always my job to turn them in the window. He asked if I needed any furniture which I don't. In the course of his list of things headed to kijiji, he mentioned the futon couch. He has that as well as a futon mattress. I have a frame and have been looking for a mattress - very difficult to find sold separately.

About an hour later, I mentioned to a mutual friend that he was moving at the end of the month. She asked if he was selling any of his vehicles. Oddly, yes he was. Her daughter's car died today, irreparable.

One phone call, three happy people. Pretty cool,eh.

Family

One good thing about waking up two hours before the alarm was the quality time spent with DNe. Yoda was screaming his head off,  Milo repeatedly pawed me in the face and I was cranky as hell. Then DNe put Eliot in the bathroom alone, took Yoda out of the cage and calmed everyone down.  That's usually my job and I was glad to have someone else take care of things.

This afternoon was full of good words that moved through the first two sections of the horror story. I'm going to need a reader who likes horror to run this story past. Volunteers?  Yeah,  I don't know anyone in that demographic either.

The evening involved some serious movie time with my nieces. Lilo and Stitch for the third time in the last year. It's no Frozen, thank the gods. It appeals to the idea of making our own family. That resonates deeply with the little ones. Plus Stitch is fluffy. And Elvis. The girls LOVE Elvis.

Right words

One good thing about being unable to sleep is that I got some editing done on the horror story. Things were happening too fast. I need to slow down the action while maintaining the tension. With all that time staring at the ceiling in was able to put some ideas together.

I can't say I like this story - it's psychologically disturbing - but I do like how it has revitalized my writing. I'm back in a schedule filled with enthusiasm for finding the exact turn of phrase. Painting with words using broad brushes and fine details as the story warrants.

Woman's best friend

I had a good afternoon with my mom. We went to a dog show. There were puppies, fluffy dogs and great Danes, hounds,spaniel and Bouviers. There was even a Dogue design Bordeaux pup (think Turner and Hooch).   Apparently, Leroy was a foxhound. They are known for their noses leading them astray.

Oddly, there was also jewelry. Mom bought a lovely green necklace and earring set.

It was nice to come home to our own slavering beasts.  They are spoiled rotten, listen when they feel like it and both are in dire need of grooming but I adore them.  They are wonderful companions. End of story.

Laughter

I was feeling sad - watched a Paul Walker movie and he was fantastic and my heart broke all over again - then I watched Big Bang Theory. It always makes me laugh (this was Howard and Raj internet kissing ).

Funny thing about This One Good Thing Blog. Life sucks. There's disappointment. Heartbreak. Horror. That doesn’t change or disappear just because something made me laugh. But it does give me a boost so that I carry on.  And laughter is rejuvenating.  Even - dare I say it? - better than chocolate. Nah, that would be pushing it

Hidden blessings

I am resourceful and kind. I am aware of my flaws but also my attributes.

The first day of May,filled with promise. I didn't see any fish when I was cleaning the pond but I suspect they're down at the bottom, breeding and waiting for true Spring.

Being outside in the fresh air, clearing away winter's debris, was a good reminder that not only do the seasons turn but so do our lives. Things may feel dark and full of despair but there are delightful surprises hidden if you're able to look past the shadows. Mushrooms grow in the dark. I like mushrooms. Mmmmm, stuffed mushroom caps.