moved

Hey - my blog has moved - you can check me out at goodyniosi.wordpress.com

blogging

sorry - got totally bored with mindless blogging.

I will resume - honest

probably on my month long trip - that will give me interesting things to blog about - and hopefully great photos too!

Vegetable Garden

It occurred to me to finally take some photos of our thriving vegetable patch - some patch - as you can see, it's huge. And the sunflowers are only just beginning to shoot up. Was weeding this morning - few things feel better than working in the garden on a warm sunny day.

This is looking past the Kohlrabi in the foreground way over to turnips in the back.

My lettuce - I sow new seeds (many varieties) in blocks every three weeks or so - a constant supply of fresh young mixed lettuce - enough to feed at least three families all summer long.

Swiss Chard - just keep picking the outer leaves and we have it all spring, summer and fall

Kale of course - enough for cooking and tons of kale chips

Pole beans of course - I swear by Kentucky Wonder Green Pod - I've been growing them since year dot and my mother grew them before me. A bit of a late start this year but they're coming along.

Raspberries and peas - the English peas (my favs) are almost ready. I can taste them now, slowly simmered in  butter in a covered pan - maybe enhanced with a touch of dill.

We also have corn, parsnips, celery, strawberries, blueberries and all kinds of squash.

There's just nothing quite like growing your own food.

Mount Benson

We could not possibly have picked a finer day for going up Mount Benson

As you can see, the view from the top today was glorious!

The dogs (Abby and Ocean) had a brief rest on the steep uphill - although I suspect they weren't really resting - just waiting for us (what's taking you so long?).

Roman joined us and didn't have to work nearly as hard as we did.

And, of course, we all enjoyed a nice rest at the top. Soaking up sun and manufacturing lots of Vitamin D.

Gratitude #57

I was thinking today as I was walking on the Cable Bay trail in a summer sun-induced stupor - how insanely happy I am. Sure I'm happy because of the simple things: sunshine, a perfect day of working in the garden and making it look gorgeous - a day of harvesting sweet strawberries and a monster bowl of kale - a day of driving into town and shopping for groceries - a day of just plain contentment. I love the sound of the tractor in the field starting the hay-making process.

But my thoughts also turned to the origins of this happiness. I've been feeling increasingly happy over the last few years - especially in the past 12 months or so. And then it occurred to me that the times of greatest contentment in my life have been when I was single and unattached.

I have been married twice and I have been in several relationships. After the initial euphoria (infatuation stage) I honestly admit that the relationships have not added to my happiness.

I wonder if perhaps some people thrive better on their own. It's absolutely true that autonomy is my greatest strength. I do my best work alone and have worked independently most of my life. I am self motivated. I derive immense satisfaction and achieve great peace in my own company. I do better on my own.

In the past, whenever I have been in a relationship, I have given parts of myself away. Not good. It's a sure way to sabotage myself and the relationship. There could and surely are any number of factors that have combined to make me reasonably rotten at relationships and spectacularly good on my own. I'm sure those factors include childhood influences but I'm not in the least bit interested in rooting around and digging them up and assigning blame for my current condition.

Rather, I'm eager to celebrate my happiness. I have dear friends and a wonderful dog. My life is phenomenal. And I have arranged for my life to be exactly the way it is. I love it.

Gratitude #56

I know it rained most of the day - again - but still - how can I not be ecstatically grateful for the fact that at 6 p.m. I was able to go into the garden - a garden flooded with sunshine - and pick a monster bowl of Swiss chard and another big bowl of ripe, red strawberries?

And now the sun is pouring in through the window and heating the whole house to a point where it is actually hot! Yes!

This is what I'm talking about! This is enough for any human to be grateful for. The smell of fresh ripe strawberries fills the room - heady and intoxicating.

Gratitude #55

The trick is not to let the rain and cold get you down. I was just sitting here, bemoaning the July weather (juluary) when a lovely sunny photo I recently took at Maple Mountain popped up on my wallpaper. Ah yes, said I, the sun has been here and it is coming back.

So today, I will celebrate the ultimate stay-at-home and do nothing long weekend holiday. Tomorrow I will work and perhaps the day after or the day after that the sun will shine. It will be warm. We will have summer - and it will seem all the better because we waited for it for so long.

Now that I have a day of not working in the garden as I had fully intended to do, I could tackle other things - things to do inside the house. I could, for instance, clean out the fridge and get rid of all the little green aliens lurking in the far corners and inside ancient jars of mustard. I could - probably won't though. Oh - by the way folks, if you ever feel like giving me a present (graciously accepted at all times), don't make it chow chow or pickles or anything else you put in jars. I have never understood the purpose of these things. I believe people put these relishes on meat - I don't eat meat. Even if (and when) I did, I still don't get it. They taste either too sweet or too salty and contain foods that are often perfectly good eaten in their fresh raw state. For some reason, every summer, someone gives me a homemade jar of preserved something that looks pretty mushy and could well contain the stuff I cleaned out of my fridge last year. So don't do it.

Cash is good.

So are books

And hugs.

And smiles.

Did I mention cash?

Gratitude #54

Oh yes, I love long weekends.

And I love Canada Day - and I look forward to the day when I can really celebrate this day - that will be the day we have booted Harper out of office.

Meanwhile, another great morning at the Cedar Farmer's Market: potatoes, cauliflower, kohlrabi, bread, eggs, peppers, tomatoes - wonderful!

And this afternoon I'll be picking lettuce, herbs and strawberries from the garden. I also need to catch up on the weeding - and right now it's a constant catch-up. It seems that for every weed I pull six more spring up. And they grow so darn fast. Can't we just hybridize the weeds to make them taste really good? Then we don't even have to bother planting the garden - just go out and pick from the year-round proliferation.

Gratitude #53

If every cloud has a silver lining, then this month we've all been awash in precious metals - if we've been looking hard enough. I wonder if we've topped the records yet for amount of rainfall and cool, cloudy days in June - or as the pundits are calling it Junuary?

No matter - the more clouds, the more silver - that's how I choose to see it. Yes, I adore warmth and sunshine, but this weather has its upsides. The lettuce, kale and chard are thriving. I don't have to water my little seedlings - they are growing beautifully. I'm picking lettuce by the bucketful every day.

And weather like this gives me much needed downtime. For most of my life I have been the first one to say, "I'm bored! There's nothing to do!"

In other words, I've been a human doing rather that a human being. And I think that's because I am in constant pursuit of feeding my achievement drive. You don't achieve much by just being. But I'm getting better at this (as long as you don't make me sit down and meditate). Today J called to suggest we cancel Mount Benson and do a shorter hike. Sure I said and suggested Extension Ridges. So we did that - three hours. Plenty of time to get back for lunch and a nice post-prandial nap and a complete lazy rest of the day.

I'm getting it that being lazy and doing nothing are okay. Nothing wrong with it. Good for the soul actually. The grey weather acts as a perfect excuse. Not for one minute do I feel guilty or like I "should" be out weeding the garden. Later today - a bubble bath - yet another silver lining.

Gratitude #52

So these are the new watercolours I had framed at Gallery 223 - they did a really superb job!

I hung them in the bedroom and they completely finish off the new decor! Perfect. Beauty is such a high value for me - and I get extreme satisfaction every time I walk into the room now and see how wonderful it looks. It's a serene and pretty space.

So I'm grateful that my home re-decorating project is complete. I even framed another watercolour for the main room and it too works beautifully. Here it is -

Completely different but it too gives me immense satisfaction.

In fact, let me just say that today was filled with satisfaction. It was the kind of day I like - a day when I madly and efficiently tick things off my to-do list and it's going so well that I get even more ambitious and drunk by the sheer accomplishment of it all that I move into the next day's list and start ticking that off too.

I love, love, love that feeling. It's called achievement on steroids. I know I am a high achiever - have been all my life. Knowing how to meet that need constructively is a true gift.

I feel so ambitious I'm even considering moving on to cleaning the house - but no - let's save that for tomorrow. It's enough that I went to the chicken farm and got Abby's dog food for the next month or more, got all my grocery shopping done, got my invoicing done, met deadline on my stories, booked my next three assignments, ordered my office supplies - and I'm sure there were a few other things that I can't even remember. What I do remember is taking out my daytimer - check, check, check....

Gratitude #51

Sometimes it's just enough to be busy.

The past two days have been hectic to say the least. It's one of those weeks with lots and lots of work. And then, there's nothing that beats the feeling of having it all done - to be followed on Friday by the excellent feeling of invoicing for the work done - to be subsequently followed by the even better feeling of receiving a cheque and depositing it to the bank account.

Yup - I am crass enough and material enough to enjoy all of these stages of work - in fact, I enjoy them so much that I can't see myself giving them up any time soon.

I sometimes wonder what the difference is between now and a year ago. I was working then and I'm working now but officially I retired last September. I suppose the real difference is that I can say no to work I don't want to do. There is tremendous freedom in that - or, I should say - autonomy. I thrive best when I am autonomous.

And so, life is good. I am spending more time in the garden where I am reaping heaps and heaps of lettuce and eating a bucket (literally) of it every other day - or even more often. I am also harvesting kale and chard and soon the peas will be ready. My strawberries are amazing. What a blessing to live where I do and to have this bounty right outside my front door.

I am so blessed.

Gratitude #50

Two things to be grateful for today: the farmers' market - and not just my own Cedar Farmers' Market but for all farmers' markets. You can't beat fresh, local produce, often organic - always tastier and healthier than stuff trucked in over thousands of miles. Going hand in hand with that is my enormous gratitude for having my own organic vegetable garden. There is a simple pleasure in spending a couple of hours hoeing weeds, thinning seedlings, picking lettuce, sowing more seeds. tidying up - and then standing back and admiring the results of all the hard work.

I imagine making a living as a small local farmer must be very hard work but intensely rewarding.

So the following is my ode to our local farmers (in photos).

Gratitude #49

I'm madly grateful that my home re-decorating project is completed - and not only because I love the new look. I am also madly excited that I got a chance to clean every nook and crevice that I never get around to - mainly because I can't reach them.

So I got all the dust bunnies (more like jack rabbits actually) out from behind the bed and the fridge (and retrieved many of Abby's long lost toys) and I vacuumed everywhere - even those wee cracks between the floor and the baseboards.

So - here's my happy picture gallery:

Gratitude #48

I love my new bedroom - I love everything about it! I love the white on white on white with a touch of green in the duvet cover. I love the white lace curtain and the freshness of new paint and new Egyptian cotton sheets. I love that I had the chance to vacuum where I never can reach - behind the bed and along the baseboards etc. etc. - Sucked up all that dog hair and other dust jackrabbits (bigger than bunnies by far).

I even love the hectic and chaotic day I had - and the fun I created around the fact that I was "homeless." Visited with friends, did my shopping, hiked with Abby and had a fabulous lunch at Powerhouse Foods - such good food!

One more "Homeless" day tomorrow and then my home will look lovely and everything will simmer back down to normal.

Oh yes - I'm also grateful for shorts weather today. Do I love shorts weather? Do Great White Sharks like flimsy fishing boats off Cape Cod?

Gratitude #47

So much to be grateful for today. First for a sunshine filled summer solstice with early morning mist hovering over the fields.

I'm grateful for a productive day with good writing done and appreciated.

I am grateful - and tremendously excited - that the painters come tomorrow. All I have to do now is take everything off the walls and de-clutter as much as possible. This is a challenge in a small space. Somehow we will make it work. The chief thing is for me to disappear for two days - well for the most part anyway. Lots of walking and hiking for Abby and I.

Lastly, I am hugely thrilled about my first two ripe strawberries picked today. I shared, of course. Paul and I agreed they were the best strawberries ever!

Gratitude #46

I love ordinary days like today - even when it's a Monday. Today presented a combination of all the best everyday things. I had a good interview this morning after taking Abby for a walk. Loved my lunch while reading the paper. Savoured my afternoon chocolate. Put in a good hour working in the garden and with all the weeds gone, I really had something to show for the work. Picked another bucket of lettuce for dinner tonight. The kale and chard are ready for picking and I'll be adding them to tomorrow's dinner.

Came back in to find two new assignments waiting for me.

So it's all these little things - each one feels like a win. And now I get to kick back and read a good book and generally have a wonderful evening - anticipating a super day tomorrow. And my worries about the bed skirt and pillow cases have disappeared. Being obsessive about these things (oh yes I am) I drove back up to Woodgrove yesterday and exchanged the cream coloured ones for white and now I feel ever so much better.

Yes - home decorating is an obsessive/compulsive disorder in my world. When I have my vision in my head, I will agonize until it manifests. I've been known to wander about a room for an hour looking for the exact best place to hang a picture. And trust me, it has to be perfect and there is always only one perfect place. There you have it - another of my deep, dark secrets.

There's only one thing left to do now - the painting - then I'll hang new curtains, put on new sheets, hang new pictures - it's going to look beautiful!

Yup - it's been a good day! And tomorrow is Tuesday - new movie, book and music day! Exciting!

Gratitude #45

Father's Day. I am grateful for my father. While my mother modeled the things I did not want to be, my father gave me the blueprint for living a life based on optimism, guts and gumption.

He wasn't perfect - not by a long shot. But he loved me and his mantra was "No worries!"

A few years before he died - and this is going back a ways now - I flew out to Toronto on Father's Day to surprise him. I remember walking into the den where he was chatting with a friend (who was in on the surprise) and he looked at me first in disbelief. Then he started to cry. That was the second time in my life I saw tears in his eyes. The other time was when Sparky, his dog, died. If he held me in as much esteem as Sparky, that's saying quite a lot.

By today's standards, he wasn't a "great" dad. He didn't take us to soccer games or get down on the floor and play with us. But he built a doll house for me, even making all the tiny little chairs, tables and sofas. And he even did the upholstery and installed a battery so that the house had real lights. It was a dream house.

Best of all, he set the example: nothing could stop him. There was always a silver lining. Twice he was told by doctors that he would never walk again. Both times he said, "watch me."

He loved his family.

He was a good man.

Gratitude #44

I have so much to be grateful for today - but most of all, I am grateful for my worries.

Let me explain. Today was shopping day - I'd finally researched everything I needed to buy and had made up my mind about what to purchase and then where to go.

I started with John's Bedroom Barn because dogs come first. Now look at that photo. Is this a happy dog? Just look at the size of that bed? And then the plushness and softness of it! It's probably more luxurious than any bed I have ever slept in and I got two of them for Abby. Yes, Abby has two beds: one for the great room beside my desk and one for the bedroom. This bed actually lets her stretch out without bits of her hanging over the ends - which is what happened with her old worn-out beds. I had actually called John's Bedroom Barn to see if they could make new covers for her existing beds. Then, when they told me they sold pet beds and when I heard the price! Well, say no more! These best dogs beds I have ever seen are less than half the price of any you will find in a pet store.

So that was happiness number one. And Abby has been lying on (in) this bed since I brought it home over two hours ago and refuses to leave.

Next stop: Sleep Country where I bought two sets of sheets in white - 800 thread count Egyptian cotton. Yup - I also need to be indulged.

Next stop (well technically the next stop was in the parking lot outside Sleep Country when I realized that I forgot to buy extra pillow cases and scraped my bumper on some stupid median I didn't see - sigh - and so I decided not to go back in. I know - huh?) Quilts etc. in Woodgrove for a new bed skirt and pillow cases. I bought cream - not white - and I have a green duvet cover. White, green and cream all seem to go together - but there you have the source of my worries. I am worried that I should perhaps have stuck with white. No, really - I am really, genuinely *worried* about this. And that's why I feel grateful and blessed - that this is the greatest source of my anxiety!

It falls right in there with my gratitude about paying taxes. How lucky I am that I make enough money to pay taxes. And the more I pay in taxes the more grateful I am. Really! Think about it!

Okay - onwards with the fun. I shop so rarely that it really was a special occasion. Fabricland was my last stop where a lovely lady helped me pick out some non-fray (I won't have to sew any hems) lacy white fabric for a new window scarf.

Then, on the way home I realized I was short two pillow cases - to be picked up next week I suppose. (another source of anxiety - what if they're out of my colour?)

So - I bless my worries and I am grateful to the really terrific sales people who helped me today. Every one of them made my experience far more enjoyable. Special mention to John's Bedroom Barn and Sleep Country.

Now - if I can unglue my dog from her bed, we might take a hike down to Boat Harbour. Then - my next chore - start cleaning the tops of things (bookcases, ceiling fan) and moving stuff around in preparation for painting days - likely to happen next week.

Oh - the other piece of great news - all that money spent and I am right on budget! Hurrah!

Gratitude #43

The excitement has begun - I love this kind of excitement - things moving, happening, changing. Today I took my watercolours to the framing shop - new decoration detail. Today Cathy came and gave me a great quote for painting and we picked perfect colour samples. Painting will take place within two weeks. That means I'll be shopping this weekend for new sheets, window treatment, bed skirt, dog beds - all the new stuff I need. This weekend Paul is cleaning my windows (I don't do ladders).

So it's all coming together. Hurrah!

Very exciting. I'll take photos when it all starts to happen. I'm not sure I like the chaos of the process - but I do love the end result. So bring it on!

Gratitude #42

I am deeply, deeply grateful to political activists. If not for these brave people, I doubt very much there would be such a thing as democracy - tenuous and fragile as it is today.

It's funny how the "system" hates activists, forgetting that it was born that way. The original tea party in Boston - that whole lot - nothing but a bunch of rabble rousing political activists.

Today, if government truly had its way, we would once again be living in a feudal system. You and I would be working while the folks on the hill reaped the profits.

Oh wait - that's already happening. Yes it is, and that's why need activists. I probably don't get active as much as I "should." But at least I add my name to the online petitions and every now and then I make my voice heard much more strongly. And I vote - every single time.

I will not allow Enbridge to build a pipeline to the West Coast - I will not allow Harper to turn our country into a facist dictatorship. Happily, there are many thousands of us who feel this way and we will make our voices heard. This is our country. It does not belong to Harper and it does not belong to a multi-national oil company. It may seem that way - it may seem that money is everything. But it is not. History proves us right.

The power is with us. All we have to do is exercise it.

Gratitude #41

I'm not sure if my gratitude is for the creativity of home decor or the fact that I enjoy it or the fact that I can afford to do it - all I can say is that I am slowly working myself up to a fine sense of excitement over the changes I am about to make.

I notice a pattern when I am about to make a major purchase/change. First I think about it for quite some time - could be up to a year. Then I get busy on the web and look at ideas and prices etc. Then - the stage before things happen in earnest (today) I go out to look, feel and compare. And finally, after all that prep work - I go ahead and do it.

I started at Home Sense looking at bedding. I migrated to Sleep Country where I adore the service and where I discovered, much to my surprise, a fine selection of high thread count Egyptian Cotton bedding. Then on to Woodgrove where I toured Quilts and Things and The Bay.

Tomorrow Alison from Sonshine Girls is coming to give me a quote on painting the place. I now have a very good sense of what I want to do and buy and how much it's going to cost - and I'm getting excited. I think the new look is going to be good. I think I'm going to paint the whole place white/ivory with perhaps one or two accent walls in suede. New bedding in white/ivory - I'm going for the sort of gauzy/rustic/romantic look if that makes sense.

I've always loved decorating. I've gone from modern to Mediterranean to country with a few stops in-between.

Oh yes - there's one other real bonus to changing the decor - it means that the place gets a really good cleaning. And goddess knows, it needs to happen.

Gratitude #40

To say that I am grateful for having Abby in my life is a ginormous understatement.

It wasn't always this way. My lab before Abby was Lizzie and she left large paws to fill. As Sylvia, my vet. put it, "Lizzie was a star."

She died too soon - bone cancer. And it was awful. I held her in my arms as she sighed out her last breath. The pain was expected - but unexpected in its immediacy and intensity.

I didn't wait to get another puppy. Within six weeks I brought Abby home - seven weeks old. And as a puppy she was nothing like Lizzie. Lizzie had been a calm, sweet, dependent puppy who wanted to do nothing more than be where I was and cuddle up. Abby, on the other hand, saw the entire world as her chew toy. And she had a huge streak of independence. On the first night, I expected the usual - puppy whimpers, needing to go out - etc. etc. I was prepared for several nights of interrupted sleep. I placed Abby in her crate and put the crate right beside my bed where I could reach out my hand to reassure her of my presence whenever she woke up.

Abby settled in and went to sleep. The next time she woke was when I did at about 6.30 a.m. And she slept through the night every time thereafter - well, expect for that one time a few weeks later when she'd eaten something in the field that she shouldn't have. When I heard a whimper in the middle of the night I knew it was something serious. I pulled on a robe, opened the crate and grabbed her. Of course, Abby was hugely relieved - she wouldn't have to mess her bed - but as I rushed her to the door to let her out, she left a trail all the way from the crate......

Yeah, I know - too much information.

Abby and I went to puppy classes and then the next two levels of classes. Her chewing and biting were awful. She threw temper tantrums when she didn't get her way. She fought me. There was one time when I was about ready to give up. This is the wrong pup for me, I thought.

But I didn't give up. I kept loving her and then - she started loving me back.

Today, four years later, I can't imagine a life without my girl. We walk for about two hours every day. On weekends she comes hiking with me - no matter how high or hard or long she walks with her tail wagging. She is my best friend. We take road trips together and she is an awesome road dog.

In other words, she's my dog. There are many like her, but Abby is mine. And no, she's still not perfect. She never did get over the habit of stealing things - anything. If we come across a group of picnickers when we hike, they are bound to lose something - food, hats, gloves, cameras, mugs - it's all the same to Abby. She has stolen fish bait and an entire freshly caught fish, which she swallowed complete with the plastic bag it was wrapped in. She has stolen countless gloves, empty beer cans and take-out coffee containers. She has run off with tools and cleaning rags, bits of horse harness and dressage hats. She has stolen baby blankets. The list is obviously a long one.

But she's still my dog and I love her - I am her forever home.