The one downside of gardening is that you can lose track of time. If you consider that a downside. I don’t. That and the fact that after a couple of hours of plucking hundreds of weeds from around the strawberry plants (true story!), you may find yourself in need of lying in the grass next to the dog (if you happen to have one handy), admiring clouds and wishing for better shade, which of course it’s not possible yet because it’s early spring and the trees are just about to grow their glorious leaves.
Confession: I never thought too much of Santa as a kid.
When my sister and I were very young, Dad would take us for a long enough winter sled walk on Christmas eve, as soon as it got dark out. My sister and I sat all bundled up in blankets on the wooden sled and Dad pulled us, through the snow, while telling us stories from his own childhood. I remember the snow creaking, the stars sparkling ever so bright up above, and my dad’s voice, like another warm blanket wrapped around us girls.
Here’s a thought that will make you say ‘well, that’s a cliché.’ And it is, perhaps. It goes like this: ‘it’s easy to be grateful when things are going great.’ Right? (I’ve warned you, didn’t I?)
Okay, I am getting buried in ads, emails, and flyers about Black Friday. Isn’t it everyone? Everyone is trying their hardest to entice us by sending the deluge of ‘Don’t miss it!’, ‘Buy now!’, and whatever other messages that will compel people to buy. Buy more. And more. And…yes, more.
How often do you pick up a book and read with such delight that you forget about time and push a few less urgent items from your to-do list just you can keep reading?
Chances are, not often (unless you have somehow cracked the code, in which case I will politely invite you to share your secret.) For the rest of us, however, it’s a treat.
We have a hard time letting go of things, even when we know we ought to. Perhaps the reasons are not quite settled yet, from ideas into solid thoughts, but there is that nagging that we ought to let go.
Two recent happenings made me reflect much deeper on this.
My left heel still has a tinge of wild blueberry ‘blue’ from the day we portaged to Kidney Lake and found a big patch of them. It’s because my foot slipped off a log which I was balancing on while trying to reach the tasty little wild treats. I ended up with a strong case of purple heel which made my mother-in-law believe I was bleeding, an bad scenario while deep in the wilderness and out of reception.
We were on Turner Lakes chain canoe route in Tweedsmuir Park (one of the largest parks in Canada at 989,616 hectares!), having started our trek a few days before…