Gratitude #75

Welcome to my monthly Gratitude post. All month long I note little things that make me smile, that me feel gratitude, things that I like or love. Several of us write these posts; you can read more at LeeAnna‘s blog Not Afraid of Color.

 

1. I love dogs. When I was in Alberta at the beginning of May, visiting Brianne and Brady, one of the things Brady requested we do is meet up with my niece, Brianne's cousin, Sheila. She has three little dogs, cute little characters, who love going to the off-leash dog park in Edmonton's River Valley. It is a massage for the soul and spirit there: dogs of all sizes, shapes and ages, running around, just being dogs. Some chase balls, others chase each other, still others just amble or race along behind or in front of their owners. There is a huge field where they can run around, there are trails through forest and bush, and there is the river where they can swim. It's a paradise, and always leaves all four of us, well all seven, counting the three fur mops, just so content and at peace.

2. I liked the outfit that Governor General Mary Simon was wearing for the King's Coronation.

You can read more details about it here in Nunatsiaq News, but it was designed by "celebrated singer-songwriter designer and mental health activist, Beatrice Deer", who, like Governor Simon, is also from Nunavik. It includes traditional beadwork, fur and embroidery details, and has over 50 hours of work in it! I loved reading that she devised a way to do the beadwork similar to how I did more intricate quilting designs in the early days of quilting on my Elna and then Bernina: laying gold tissue paper down to trace the design, then laying the tissue paper over the quilt, and quilting through it, following the lines. Beatrice used this same technique to work the intricate and complex beading, (take a look at the coat of arms!).

Source: Nunatsiaq News

3.I like this sign on the restaurant where Brianne, Brady and I ate supper one night in Beaumont.

And I like this photo the waitress took of the three of us.

4. I like our Eastern Redbud tree. Actually I love the group of five trees (Bradford pear, Dogwood, Tulip tree, and a maple) we planted in one half of our front yard in 2020 to commemorate several momentous occasions, my 60th birthday that year as well as our 40th anniversary, also one for my mum who passed away in 2018, and one for Rocco, who passed away in 2020.

Those pinks against the greens! 

5. I like the bird bath that MacGyver made. He brought home from Alberta an old water tank from my cousin's farm that he plans to use as a mold for bending metal. He cut off the top and bottom, painted one of them, and set it on a stand he randomly found by the curb on a dog walk. The birds love it.

6. I like Shoppers. It’s a pharmacy but has some foodstuff, beauty and personal care. I do not like the owner, who, like all grocery chains, has become stupid rich with the price gouging. However, they have kept their points system, and they do bonus points redemption events. So for my 200,000 points, usually worth $200, I was able to get $300 worth of merchandise. I got some Vichy skin care products, and a ton of household stuff including some food products. 

7. I love my bearded irises!

Not shown in the picture that there is a splash of apricot in the centre petals!

8.  I like a new-to-me author, Isabel Allende. She has written a lot (nearly 30 I believe: her site.) of books. I am just about finished a historical fiction one of hers, from 2020, A Long Petal of the Sea. It follows two main characters through the Spanish Civil War in 1930s, their escape as refugees to Chile on board the SS Winnipeg thanks to the work of Pablo Neruda, their lives upended in the Chilean coup by Pinochet in 1973, and I’m now in 1983-1991 period. I didn’t know a lot about these two major events and I’m chilled by how similar currents events are to the Pinochet coup and lead up to it.

Refugees seem to be the theme this past month as I read two other books in this vein: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid and Hotline, by Dmitri Nasrallah. I’m slowly working my way through the Canada Reads five books, and Hotline was one, very good. As a white privileged woman, I really do not have any clue how hard of a life refugees have, the suffering they’ve been through, the loss, and the constant struggles in their new countries trying to make ends meet, fit in to a new culture, learn the language… they deserve all the respect and encouragement and help we can give. And more. A lighter one, by another new-to-me author, Mhairi McFarlane, I enjoyed was Just Last Night. It reminds us of the fragility of life, how one moment can change everything, and also that appearances are very deceiving.

9. We are enjoying the third season of Indian Matchmaking on Netflix. Well worth the watch. I started From Scratch also very good, but right now, rather heart-wrenching. It makes me want to go back to Europe though.

10. The prompt this week was where we’d like to vacation if we could go anywhere right now. Well for me it’s always and forever France. The south of France in particular: St-Paul de Vence, Avignon, Arles, Nice, Aix-en-Provence… anywhere in the south. The photos that follow are from Nice in 2019.