Gratitude & Glimmers #95

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.

-Ashley Montagu

That was one of the quotes this past week on the Mindfulness Calendar that Dayna gave me a couple of Christmases ago. I think it’s another perfect description of a glimmer, those moments of joy and happiness that surprise and delight us.

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.

One was getting this Canada t-shirt (on sale!) from Black Maple Trading, a Canadian company based in Montreal. They have a lot of wonderful designs and I will be back when I can decide which one I want next! I don't mind paying a little more if it is designed and made in Canada.

In keeping with the Canada theme, was I ever tickled to get this happy mail from Elaine, a blog reader, yes, the blog reader who, through her email about Glowing Hearts QAL, sparked the red and white with maple centre version of the quilt.

Terrific fabric; just too bad it's got 'Oh' which is an interjection as in "Oh, it is cold today!" instead of 'O' as in a nod to someone or something, a direct address, as in our anthem where we are addressing our beautiful country. I'm not sure just yet where I might use this.

She even put a bunch of Canada stickers on the envelope! Love it!

One more little Canadian glimmer: when I was watching Pretty Hard Cases, a show from a few years ago on CBC Gem, I spotted a book about Terry Fox on Sam's coffee table. I can’t figure out what the book underneath it is, but I would bet it’s another Canadian one.

I liked the Burger Bowl recipe on Pinch of Yum so much I made it three times within two weeks! Of course I subbed Yves (a Canadian brand) Mexican veggie ground round. 😉

When MacGyver was in Alberta visiting Brady and Brianne, I had to cut grass a couple of times. When I spied this lily, I cut around it, partly because it's so pretty and delicate, and partly to leave it for pollinators. I need to dig it up and put it in with my snowdrops I think. It's Garden Star-of-Bethlehem, aka Eleven-o'-clock lady, or grass lily, among others, according to my plant app.

Our flowering crab did not disappoint.

May 13. Wish they lasted more than about a week...

During my extra yard duty days, I spied a volunteer chestnut tree by our water fountain. Yay! We will baby it because the last one got chomped by rabbits, we believe.

We went on two Jane's Walks this year, one in Windsor and another in Amherstburg. MacGyver did one with B&B in Edmonton, and I did a Jane's Talk in Windsor. The one in Windsor was about Black history in Sandwich town, which used to be a municipality but is now a neighbourhood in west Windsor. It was excellent, given by a descendant of enslaved people who crossed the Detroit River into Windsor, Essex County. The Jane's Walks in the Windsor area was the second largest event in Canada after Toronto! Woo hoo Windsor and Essex County!

I love this park and hope to take a quilt photo in there one of these days. Mary E. Bibb was the first female Black journalist in Canada. She was a teacher and abolitionist in the US before she moved with her husband here.

A wonderful tribute in another park to important Black members of our city.

This was the Jane's Talk, fascinating, and would that this young man was our mayor. It was on urban planning, specifically about creating a city that is more pedestrian, public transportation, and cyclist friendly.

A few months ago Rufus started 'smiling' when he is full of emotion. He is very hard to capture on camera when he's smiling because he puts his head down, comes towards you, and either shoves his head into your knees, or when he comes to me, will park his bum on my feet. When we come home, if his chair is skew-wiff, we say, "Rufus...were you a good boy, or were you barking?" and this is what he does. It's so hilarious and endearing; I just adore this doggie. If one of our friends comes over, he tends to do this too when he comes towards them or, comes back to me if he's been too exuberant with them, ahem.

I love nature, as you know. It saddens me that the decline in wildlife is glaringly noticeable since we lived here in the 80s. The soft brown bunnies we have here never fail to give me a wee glimmer of joy, even if I know they are responsible for nibbling on my veggies and possibly that chestnut baby last year. Alberta rabbits are huge, jack-rabbits, or jack-a-lopes as we tend to call them due to their size!

Just to the left of that mama bunny (I think she's a female) I was overjoyed to spot my calla lilies (and you'll really have to squint as they'd just poked their spikes heads up) which have come back yet again, for, I believe, the fifth year! We had some prolonged very cold (for us) periods this past winter, and with the cold spring, there had been no sign of life, but I was sure (and hopeful) they would come back in this south-facing bed where I planted them, and yep! Two and a half weeks ago I spotted them when I was cutting grass! A nice reward and a photo I sent off to MacGyver. Those he had split and dotted around the garden in various spots have yet to show their faces, so we doubt they made it but these are super-healthy, now up about 6-7”, and I can't wait to take a photo when they're in bloom again.

May 13 - my lavender is coming back wonderfully too!

One of my customers ordered two makeup bags from me, and, at that time, said she wanted to order some more for her friends in future, and what colours did I have. I told her I'd give her a discount and just to ask before she placed an order, and if she wanted specific colours, give me a couple extra days. Well, a little while ago she messaged me, saying she wanted to order three, and would I give her a discount. I responded, and she didn't answer for a few weeks, so I messaged and emailed her saying yes for sure, just let me know which bags, etc. Long story short, more unanswered messages and emails later, and she placed an order without contacting me first. I said I would e-transfer her the discount and she said no, it was just fine, she loves the bags, and she'd not seen the emails, etc. etc. Well she had ordered three bags so I had to do something. I thought of a mug rug, but then when I looked in my little drawer of orphan blocks, I spied these two, which were experiments in a new-to-me method for making the square-in-a-square block. Hmm, coasters maybe?! Did she like purple? Let's see what colours of bags she had ordered... two of them were purple, this order and her first order. Well, that right there was kismet, as they say, so into my scraps box I went to find purple backs and binding and voilà! Two purple coasters on their way to Audrey in Manitoba.

Love the YLI variegated 40 wt thread which I used to assemble these, stitch in the ditch and FMQ around the flowers.

Two different gorgeous Island Batik fabrics for the backs.

We are doing the Gutsy Walk again this year. It takes place on June 1, a 5 km walk to raise money for Crohn's and IBS research. Our team is once again, Brady's Bowels, and MacGyver and I will be walking our 5 km... somewhere. It's not a set route this year in Windsor; everyone just does their own. We do love the Ganatchio Trail in Windsor, which is where it was last year, so we may do that again with Rufus. Here's a screen shot of our team's home page I created. It is such a good feeling, knowing we are walking for a good cause, that directly affects Brady, and that we walk together in spirit in two provinces and one state!

One more morning addition: A glimmer that happened just two days ago is that I won a digital copy of Michelle’s, From Bolt to Beauty, new quilt book, her first. I’ve been following her for many years, and have watched her unveil the book‘s ‘beauties’ (a nod to her long-running Friday Linky party, Brag About Your Beauties) over the past couple of weeks. I am excited to make something from it! 

My sister-in-law had this on her Instagram the other day. I like it because it’s true but I don’t like it because it’s true. Big sigh. 

Finally, if you've made it this far, I will book-end this post with another Canadian, but also American, and generally feel-good, belief-in-the-goodness-of-people story which I meant to put in my April post and forgot.

So back in either late March or early April our friend and neighbour, Marybeth, was in the grocery store here in Kingsville. She had a fairly full cart and was in line at the checkout. A young couple came up behind her in line. When she saw that they only had a few items, she told them to go ahead of her. They said, oh no, you're fine; you were here first. She insisted, however, so ahead of her they went. She started unloading her cart, they paid, and she started packing her groceries and thought it a bit odd that they were still hanging out at the end of their conveyor belt, yet they'd already paid and bagged their items. (There are two conveyor belt ‘chutes' that the cashier sends your items down so one person doesn't hold up the entire line.) Marybeth got her groceries packed and into her cart and went to pay, but the young couple said no, they had it. Marybeth said, "Oh no! I have a lot of items; you do NOT need to do this!" but they did, saying she was so kind to let them go in front, and well, they told her they are American, and they feel terrible about the things coming out of their president's mouth towards Canada and our then Prime Minister, Trudeau. They love coming here, and this was one little way they could show us that all Americans are not like that. Just wow. So, $92 dollars later, Marybeth in tears, and they helped her out to her car with her cart! 

🥰💞🥰