Thursday, September 29, 2022

Gratitude #67

This should be a rather interesting post since it’ll be the first time I’ve done this on my phone as opposed to my laptop so bear with me if it looks a little bit odd! I am in Alberta all week visiting with Brianne and Brady. I must say I am very happy to be here when the weather is so glorious and fall colours so golden, as opposed to the usual -25 to -35 that I get when I come at Christmas! My first like is this view out of the guest room at Brianne’s.


I’m very glad that the usual fall winds that come here and blow the leaves off all too soon have not shown up yet.

I like this quote from The Daily Calm.




I love this piece, Tabula Rasa by Don MacDonald and Alison Gibran on YouTube.


I like the Paddington and the Queen cartoon I saw after the Queen’s death. As Kate has noted below, it was actually done by Eleanor Tomlinson after the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this past summer. 

I love the fact that one of the first and main activities Brady wanted to do with Brianne and me is take us to the downtown branch of the Edmonton Public Library. It has undergone a major renovation and it is just beautiful. 
This is the main entrance with a humongous digital fish tank you can see a bit of on the right! I love that the library is so much more than “just“ books: there are music recording studios, podcast suites, design centres with 3-D printers, a drama room with a green screen, computers galore, and much more. And, as Brady continually reminded Brianne and me, “It’s all free!“ 

I love this photo of my niece with her three dogs, and Brady and Brianne on a wonderful walk we did in the river valley of Edmonton. 

It’s a huge off-leash dog park with river access and oh yes, two of her three doggies went in for a swim! I loved seeing all sizes and breeds of dogs playing, meeting both humans and dogs, chasing balls and sticks and enjoying the glorious weather.  


Meanwhile back at my house in Ontario, once again this year, I like how well my impatiens did, and I love that the pink and white plants are all volunteers! They reseeded themselves I guess; that hasn’t happened before but I have several here and in another bed that did that. The sweet autumn clematis that is clambering over the fence (pretty much done now) did really well again. I love it’s pungent jasmine-like scent. 


I love my mandevilla which is a third generation baby I grew from a cutting. I’ll probably take a cutting from her, to have for next summer. I may overwinter this one again. I got three years out of her mama. 

I am enjoying the current book I am reading, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. At times it is laugh-out-loud hilarious and at others all too worrying because if its portrayal of this sad world in which we live with too many idiots. Within the first few sentences, he writes this:

This story is about a lot of things, but mostly about idiots. So it needs saying from the outset that it’s always very easy to declare that other people are idiots, but only if you forget how idiotically difficult being human is.

The other terrific book I read this month is The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Amazing, sentient beings I’ve always felt they are, but this book gives scientific evidence of how they communicate, help and protect each other. Scientists from around the world are starting to uncover just how amazing they truly are. 

The common question for this week is a beauty product you especially love. I do love Vichy, their UV protection face cream, Aqualia Thermale, and their makeup remover cream. For my crazy curly hair, to tame it I loved and swore by Catwalk Curls Rock but I can’t find it these days so I am now using Fructis sculpting gel and am pleased with it how it helps to control the curls and contain the frizz! My favourite scent is and always has been, since grade 10, L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci.

Here’s a pic of my favourite grandson, modelling his new hockey stick that Nana and Grampa bought😍
I’m soaking up every minute here with him and Brianne.


Remember that you can find several other posts of simple gratitude just by hopping over to LeeAnna’s blog, Not Afraid of Color.



12 comments:

  1. Sandra, what a beautiful gratitude post! I loved sooo many things about it. I'm glad you're soaking in all the beauty around you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoy the soaking up time with Brady! A wonderful gratitude post as usual. post

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Queen and Paddington picture was drawn by Eleanor Tomlinson, as a tribute to the wonderful Jubilee celebrations, in June. Here is an article from BBC.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-61757555
    Thought you might like to know the story.
    Lovely gratitude post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so glad you had time with Brianna and Brady (gosh, he's grown!!). Really enjoyed this post, with all the gratitude you shared. It was an enjoyable read!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love that quote from Calm. I will look for that book Anxious People, thanks for the recommendation!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So glad you are having a great time with your family surrounded by beautiful fall scenery.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's a crazy fish tank! Worthy of being at an aquarium, not at a library! Very cool. Impatiens are so pretty. Some great likes this week.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a cool library! Sounds like you had a very fun visit with family. Enjoy the fall weather, it never seems to last long enough.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really hope that picture of Brady is from last year but I suspect not; Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier. Love the Calm quote; love the quote from the Anxious People book. Love the music. Love the picture of Queen Elizabeth II with Paddington bear; I loved the skit at the beginning of the Platinum jubilee celebrations. I think we could learn a lot from plants in general - ferns have been around since the time of the dinosaurs; so must be doing something right - we just need to learn what. I love the violas that have appeared in my garden where we took down a hedge. Thanks for this post - hope it wasn't too difficult to do on your phone. Enjoy your time with Brady and Brianne.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just loved this from start to hockey stick. Listening to the music. Miss Edmonton (can't believe I'm saying that ) but I do. The view across the water reminded me of the view of the house I worked in as a nanny. The library is very grand now. I used to go weekly. Touching the cartoon of the queen and company...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ack and this is LeeAnna, don't know why google suddenly doesn't know me

      Delete
  11. I’m late to comment on your September gratitude post! My summer has been like that! So glad you had a great visit with Brianne and Brady! I have enjoyed all the Fredrick Backman books I have read. Need to get Anxious People from our library. Hope your October is going well!, I finished Pop Star and will gift it this month to a special baby! grammajudyb.blogspot.com! My iPad refuses to let me comment using Google!

    ReplyDelete