Gratitude & Glimmers #96

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

--Oprah Winfrey

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.

I like going for a walk at the marina in Leamington. This year they have put these life-like rubber statues at a few points. We aren't sure why unless it's a deterrent to the Canada geese, whose poop is, uh, rather large and prolific! Rufus was intrigued. I missed the original encounter where he went nose to nose to investigate this strange dog!

We bought this Arneson Gem azalea a few years ago, moved it from its original spot two years ago, and it is much happier here and wow did it give us a display the first week of June! It's a later blooming one, than our pink one.

Buying two fantastic, huge hydrangeas in rich unusual hues at a roadside stand by a greenhouse that isn't open to the public, just wholesale, was a thrill. These were just $10! The other one is a deep burgundy, which, we learned, needs lime added to make it go that colour. I've been working on one of our pink ones, adding coffee grounds and tea leaves to the soil in hopes of turning it blue.

I love walking into town, where I often walk past one of my favourite wineries, Pelee Island Winery.

I love that they plant roses at the end of the rows of grapes.

We took a drive to Amherstburg at the beginning of June to see the rhododendrons in the rhododendron garden that was planted the year Brianne was born, 1986. I do believe this is the very bench I sat on to nurse her when we went there in July 1986 with my mum who was here visiting, and Grandma Fran, an adopted grandparent.😊 I should dig out that photo...

I posted these already, but it's worth repeating because opening the package of zipper tape and pulls was a true glimmer: the post card, and those labels! Six special projects will get the 'Quality Shit' label on them.😜

We took another little drive, this time in the opposite direction of Amherstburg, to Chatham where we patronized a favourite greenhouse where this sign greeted us. Glimmer of pride indeed!

I like this morning's quote from the Daily Calm meditation app.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

--Isaac Newton

When asked to reflect upon simple things in life that I appreciate, my quick response dictated into my phone was, Hearing birds singing, watching them take baths or drink in the birdbath. The beautiful green of my backyard in the summer. The weigela and mock orange that flower outside my bedroom window and make me feel like I live in a tree, the blue skies, the early morning quiet, and sunshine throughout the leaves, a good book, a cup of tea and some chocolate, eating produce from my garden. 

I really like this combination of fabrics for another tote bag I'm constructing. It's another 'pull' I've had sitting patiently in a little stack, waiting for cutting and assembling. This one got sewn mostly as a leader/ender project! Another glimmer just in that! 😁 I was able to fussycut with some success from the fat quarter of Alison Glass fabric on the right to 'catch' the floral swoop.

Another street I like walking along in my daily walks is this one where a creek flows beside the road into eventually emptying into Lake Erie. Someone keeps a little path cleared so that one can walk down to the creek and do a little forest bathing in the beautiful green surroundings.

Nothing but 360° of  green

I just love that my calla lilies which I planted here four or perhaps five years ago, faithfully have come back yet another year. We had a couple of long cold snaps this past winter, so we were a bit worried. I am so happy that the lavender I planted in the azalea's spot (the fiery one above) is very happy and prolific here! This is a south-facing spot, and protected from the north by the house, so I haven't needed to dig up the bulbs once.

Lots of flowers pics! We are babysitting Dayna's peony until they get transferred back to Michigan. Wow, I had thought it was a light pink but nope! Kind of a very soft white with a pinkish hue, but then the magenta brushstrokes underneath and on the petal edges here and there.

 A stunner indeed!

One of the perennials I bought with a gift certificate to a local greenhouse from Brianne last year was a wisteria. MacGyver built a square-arch type pergola for it and the clematis to climb on but when he moved the square pergola frame we had on our upper deck to the lower deck last year, he had the brilliant idea to train part of it to wind across the arches. Well it also flowered this past month! I was ecstatic.

I've been reading a lot lately, currently on book #25, so at this rate I may just hit 50 for the year. I am currently reading Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Canadian author Emma Hooper, and thoroughly enjoying it. It reminds me of The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, another excellent read. I also highly recommend The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, and Fire Weather by John Vaillant. The latter is the U of Alberta alumni book club current book, which I've been doing the uncommon thing for me: read it while I read others. It's a tough book to read as it deals with the ravages of the petroleum (oil and gas) industry upon our planet, climate change not to mention the horror of the Fort MacMurray fire in 2016 where an entire city of almost 90 000 people was evacuated and the destruction was epic. I also read the graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe since it is one of four books the Alberta government in their blinders-on, pandering to the religious right, has decided to ban. Another of the four is Flamer another graphic novel which interestingly, Brady took out of our library two years ago when he was here for his summer visit. It is about summer camp, has a male protagonist about Brady's age dealing with his feelings for another boy at camp. Brady said it was good, and when I read it, I was so impressed. The story is believable, dealt with in a mindful way, and I like that Brady said he enjoyed it. And that was that. He's quite the kid that one.

I also had a lovely link to my mum this month in my reading journey: I was browsing a bit in the library after picking up Fight Night by Miriam Toews (just an absolute gem of a book) when The Gift by Alan Titchmarsh showed itself. Well, he is an author Mum enjoyed, and he also appears on Gardeners' World a long-running BBC show she, and now MacGyver and I, watch. I knew she really liked him, and had read several of his books, but he didn't pique my interest then. It was a feel-good story, taking place in Yorkshire, the neighbouring county to mum's which was Lancashire. 😍 That rounds out the lovely link to my dad this past month, as my annual QAL ended on his birthday, June 15, and when it came time to picking winners, that random number generator was tweaked by him I swear. You can read my previous post to see what I mean.😉

Thank you for reading and scrolling through so many floral photos!