Gratitude and Glimmers #87

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise.

It is not that we seize them,

but that they seize us.

--Ashley Montagu

I like that perfect description of a glimmer, and yes I've written it here before but it is worth reiterating. Welcome to my post for September 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 love Lake Huron. We spent three days along its shore, mainly in the town of Kincardine,

Sunset at Boiler Beach

walking the trails or along the downtown streets of cute shops and restaurants,

Kincardine is proud of its Scottish heritage

but also exploring south along the coast (found a wonderful lake-hugging back road) to Point Clark,

Point Clark lighthouse

Stunning colours, crystal clear waters

I really really liked this. Give back to Lake Huron beach clean-up station.

and Goderich.

Clockwise from top left: a terrible tornado went through Goderich in 2011, and, rather than cut down all the trees in one area that was especially hard hit, they carved many of them into Celtic figures: more stunning, clear waters; a beautiful boardwalk that runs the length of this very rocky coast of the town: majestic flowing willows at the beachfront

We had lunch in Goderich on the way up to Kincardine and on the way back home at Cait’s Diner. Highly recommend!

I particularly love this mural.

We even went inland one day to the town of Lucknow where there is a fairly large Amish community. And yes, we saw one of their quintessential horse-drawn buggies!

One of several barn quilts I saw that I managed to get a photo of

2. This glimmer opened my eyes: 

"Social media's currency isn't nuance."

It's from a podcast I recently found, A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein. I've followed Matt on Instgarm for a number of years, @mattxiv but did not know that he had a podcast. In this episode, "The Crunchy to Far Right Pipeline (highly highly recommend a listen anywhere you get your podcasts but he's also on YouTube) his guest is author Derek Peres of Conspirituality. This episode asks this question, "How does a harmless interest in yoga turn into a crusade against homosexuals in public schools?"

Fascinating. Dark. A bit worrying in the vein of how humans can be fairly easily brainwashed.

3. I like quilty friends who recommend books they know I'd like, as well as those who recommend books and tend to read in the same vein as I do. Diann of Little Penguin Quilts recently recommended Crow Talk by Eileen Garvin. I'd read her The Music of Bees and loved it, and mentioned it, so perhaps Diann remembered this? She knows I love books with nature and caring for our planet as a theme (Harry's Trees was another she recommended that I just loved). So I'd got it out of the library but then a long-awaited hold came in, Ariel Lawhon's newest, The Frozen River, and since it is a 14-day loan, I had to read it as soon as I'd finished the then-current one, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (it was decent, but a tad depressing to the 'are you serious?' point in that nothing much good ever happened to the main character who goes through the entire book thinking she's not worthy of anything...). Did you follow all that?! It was all to say that I am happily ensconced in my 32nd book of 2024, Crow Talk! Helen of @helencdoesthings is another friend who has helped me find great books, one of which is The Thursday Murder Club series (waiting to get #4), highly recommend.

4. I like good TV; I just wish there were more hours in the day to devote to sewing, reading and good TV! TV gets the short end of the stick always, but still I manage to get in some great watches. This past month I found two I recommend: first of all, Plan B on CBC Gem. I've watched season 1 and was mesmerized. It's a really psychological, 'makes you think long after the episode ends' kind of show. It originated in Quebec, in French of course, where it's very popular; they are in season 5. For English-speaking Canada, they recently released season 2. The storyline is the same, though the creators say they have adapted it somewhat to fit the English culture.  Another good series, this time from BBC, is Amanda and Alan's Italian Job. It's on Roku and there are two seasons. It is so very good, and MacGyver just informed me this week that there will be a third season, this time in Spain! 

5. I like having a small garden. MacGyver and I made salsa with our abundance of tomatoes, mainly San Marzano, and our own garlic.

I did two methods of preserving my basil: chopped up fine and stuffed into ice cube trays with a little olive oil or water (I tried both, so we shall see which I prefer), also did this with my little food processor but flattened onto waxed paper, frozen and then sealed in ziploc bags to be broken off in chunks as needed. The second way was one I'd done two years ago: dried the leaves whole on a sheet in the oven on a very low temperature for about 1.5 hours. Crumbled the leaves and put them in a Mason jar. I love that I grew it, and it is organic. Each method produces a very different smell to the basil. I like both!

All of this rich green goodness got reduced to what you see below in the jar.

6. I love birds. We have a few feeders, a bird bath and a fountain they also use, and we both just love watching them and listening to them zip, eat, bathe, splash, drink, fight, and roost in our yard. Recently I like to think (and strongly hope) I saved a Bay-breasted warbler (thanks Molly, avian biologist daughter of Pieceful Thoughts Wendy) who was clearly stunned, sitting in the road not moving. You can read about it on my Instagram post. Holding this tiny 4" bird, whose wings fluttered in my cupped palms was something I will remember the rest of my life.

7. I love the moon, and this month and next we get a super-moon, so of course I had to find a good beach to watch it rise. Well we found a fantastic beach which we have heard of for several years, but have never managed to find,

Unfortunately, the low cloud did not allow us to see the moon rise from the water's edge, but it still was good,

and the next night I got to see it even better, brighter and bigger thanks to a friend stopping in and calling up to my open window of my sewing room to come see the moon with her! What fun.

8. I love the festive fall décor everyone does here, businesses, and houses. It is not like that on the prairies.

This is a five-minute walk from my house, taken September 25

9. As always, I love my fur kids. I'll leave you with two photos.

Came down to replenish my water and saw this! Can you spot Rufus?

Being a good pup for a Good Pups treat at Lee & Maria’s market last weekend 

Wanting to go inside Marybeth’s house. He’s convinced Elliott, her cat, is in there somewhere. He’s been in twice since Elliott died earlier this summer. 

I don’t usually remember to answer LeeAnna’s question but I actually have this time. My favourite fall scent would probably be the smell of the air on the cooler mornings. As for drinks, I’m not really a fan of either pumpkin spice or apple cider, though if I absolutely had to pick one, I’d probably go with the cider. That reminds me, there is supposed to be a great cider place near me that I need to try!