Gratitude and Glimmers #86

Welcome to my monthly gratitude and glimmers post where I share things that have given me a glimmer of joy over the past month. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. I practise yoga five days a week, three Ashtanga and two yin. I love yoga and look forward to my practice. I'm grateful for my yoga friend Susan with whom I Zoom for a couple of those practices. But I love my in-person companions…

Bella reclining this morning on a quilt of course!

It’s wonderful how Rufus also often wanders in and hangs out with me though it’s always because he needs a little massage, but once he’s had that, and always with a firm, "No, that’s all," he settles.

2. I like how Bella lets me know she’d like a drop of coffee cream please. Look at her fluffed up, arched tail and outstretched paw! You can’t hear, but she also miaows (usually) politely. 

3. I like this new recipe from Pinch of Yum for Peanut Butter Pie which I made with crunchy peanut butter since that's all we had. It was still delicious!

I love Point Pelee, have done ever since my husband took me there on our honeymoon in 1980. We proceeded to go out three more times over the course of the 10 days we were here! Our dogs love it too; there are lots of beaches where they can cavort. Xena loved it too though she never did swim but had started to wade. We scattered half of her ashes here this past month. The rest will go under our mimosa tree most likely because it has pink 💖 flowers. 

Rufus had a good swim and play that morning. 

4. So I was especially thrilled to hear the piece below yesterday on Tom Allen’s show on CBC. Point Pelee is one of the pieces that make up this suite. Tom even talked a bit about this wondrous national park on the migratory path of many birds and of course monarchs. 

5. I was even more thrilled to have a little monarch nursery of our own on an orange variety of milkweed I planted this year. In case you missed it on Instagram or an previous blog post, I even found a pupa after the caterpillars had disappeared into various places to pupate.

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6. I like this quote.

7. I love this crossing in Leamington at the intersection of the ferry dock, marina and beach. I’m glad that they’ve repainted it after some jerk did a bunch of burnouts over it. 

8. I’ve done a fair bit of reading over July and August, eight books in total with a ninth nearly finished. A couple to highlight are Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon, which is about the Hindenburg explosion. I didn't realize that they have never figured out just what caused it, though there are several theories, many that it was deliberate, as Ariel explores in this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed Richard Osman's The Bullet That Missed, the third in the Thursday Murder Club series. Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner was surprisingly very good. I've had it on my 'Want to Read' list in my library profile for some time, and finally got it out. It follows the lives of three people who are intertwined even though they do not realize just how deeply and if memory serves me correct, they do not all even meet. I love how Dickner doesn't spell it out, that you as the reader have a pretty good idea by the end as to just how intertwined they are... I read a couple more of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, always interesting and good for the heart imho.

I'm currently reading the novella, A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (love her work) with two more on the night table stack: a recommendation by Diann of Little Penguin Quilts, Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin (loved her The Music of the Bees read earlier this year), and Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds. So I'm set for a few weeks!

9. I've just discovered Plan B, which is original to Quebec, something like four seasons now I believe, very popular. I watched the English version of season 1 and it was just excellent! Highly recommend if you haven't heard of it. It's available to stream for free on CBC Gem. Season 2 recently was released. How many times have we wished we could alter the past for a different outcome? Well, there is a company called 'Plan B' that can do that. For a price.... Though you may not get exactly what you'd hoped for.

Note: Speaking of TV, I just read LeeAnna's post, and those of you in Canada, like me, can watch The Indian Doctor for free on Knowledge Network. Oh boy, do they have a fabulous collection... Between them, the library and Kanopy, and books, and lovely summery weather, when will I find time to sew?!

I'll be back tomorrow with another finish, this one another Smooches quilt! Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen an in-progress post. It turned out pretty fabulous (there's a reason I used fabulous which you'll see in the opening photo tomorrow)!