Gratitude and Glimmers #92

Welcome to my post for the month of all things I like and for which I am grateful.  You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. Glimmers are the little things that give me a frisson if you will, of joy or happiness or excitement or all three.

We had weird weather all through February: a lot of cold days in a row, a lot of grey, and a couple of times back-to-back days of rain one day followed by snow the next. This caused some beautiful ice-encased trees. Thank goodness it wasn’t too thick like a few years ago where many trees came down. This time the odd small branch fell, nothing major.

I never tire of hearing a little thump! and turning to look to see sweet Bella in her twinkletoes pose. 

She’s testing out the fabric I plan to use for placemat backs. 

I like shopping locally and of course buying Canadian products. This isn’t new for me; my family has made fun of me for always celebrating Canada: “She’s Canadian! That’s a Canadian company! They’re from Canada!” etc. This is a note to my Canadian readers but also to those who are doing their own protests anround the world against oligarchs and vacuous political morons. I have long boycotted Amazon as much as possible, only using him as a last resort. When my dentist recommended Nova Dent which is excellent for cleaning retainers, mouth guards of any kind such as the night guard that I wear, she told me it was available on Amazon. Well, I set about finding a different source in our local pharmacies. No luck. With the threats of tariffs, there has been a major push within Canada to buy Canadian-made products which, I discovered, this is, and they ship at a certain level for free. This did not meet that level; however the cost of the product was lower to buy it direct from Nova Dent. Even though I  paid for the shipping, I saved a dollar compared to buying it off Amazon. So check into these products that you use that you may have mindlessly bought off Amazon and see if you can purchase direct, especially if they are a Canadian-made product. For those in the US that are finding ways to protest monopolies annd oligarchy, consider doing the same thing.

I like this poem that one of my friends posted on Instagram. 

I love the poetry of Andrea Gibson, the poet laureate of Colorado. She continues to fight cancer and writes about what she’s going through but also writes about anxiety, depression, mental health, being gay, and many other pertinent issues. Here is one she had in her stories this month, a true glimmer for me. 

When the storm comes,

Dig seed holes in your heart.

-Andrea Gibson

I liked Louise Penny’s newest book in the Three Pines series, The Grey Wolf. I, like many of her fans, just love ‘visiting’ that darling little town. I’m an avid reader of her monthly newsletters, and was really excited to hear of her newest venture, buying a building in her town (saving it really) where she’s going to creat the bistro! Squeal. 

I follow the blog of an independent journalist on The Hill, Canada's Parliament in Ottawa. Here’s a screenshot from his Bluesky account where he’d been talking about the Liberal leadership debate this past week, Monday in French and Tuesday in English that I think is well worth printing here since we always seem to hear how Canada's economy is terrible. It is not. 

I like this reminder, something that should be broadcast on radio and social media a LOT more. Canada is clearly doing quite well thank you very much!

I like this photo of Rufus I took on February 9, happy being outside in his snuggle bed, in his domain! Such a good boy.