Gratitude and Glimmers #111

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of September. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed. 

--Art Wolfe

Rather an apt quote for this month's gratitude post.

1.  What a glimmer this was!

This wee moth was having a daytime snooze in one of my mandevilla vine flowers. Wouldn't you love to be tiny enough to have a nap there?!

Gratitude and Glimmers #110

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of August. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

Not all storms come to disrupt your life; some come to clear your path. 

--Anonymous

1. We enjoyed a two-hour cruise on the Detroit River with Windsor Premier Cruises this month. It was one of the offerings during Windsor's Prohibition Week. During the 13 years of prohibition in the US, Windsor became a major site for rum-running, as it was a short boat ride across the water, or, in winter, car ride across the ice (though many fell through) from Windsor in Canada to Detroit in America. As much as 75-80% of the alcohol smuggled into the States went through this corridor! (source: Tourism Windsor Essex) Rather disappointingly, there was only a few minutes of information given at the Hiram Walker distillery in Windsor. The largest distillery in North America, it is currently owned by Pernod Ricard, a French company. "They produce 170 different brands under the Pernod Ricard, Hiram Walker, and Corby labels." (Windsor Star)

downtown Windsor as seen from the boat

Gratitude & Glimmers #109

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of July. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

Peace is the strongest power, yet unrecognised.

--Sri Chimmoy

1. You know my lifelong love of trees. You may recall me talking about that time in 1994 driving through and stopping (for not long enough!) in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. How I wish I could fly out to Vancouver to see this current exhibit about the magic of BC’s ancient forests.

Lifesize model of an 1800-year-old Mother Tree.

Gratitude and Glimmers #106

"Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It's the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps."

                                                                            - Sharon Draper

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of March. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. This is the absolute BEST. I couldn't' stop grinning the entire two videos. Watch both, one comes on after the other) and I am still grinning as I type this! Click to watch Huxley the rescued raven imitate his rescuer's sneeze and say his name.

Gratitude and Glimmers #105

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of March. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

Peace and joy happen, neither in the quietness of the forest, nor out of the accomplishments of the marketplace, but only from within.

--Sadhguru

1. One of the (many) things I love about living in Canada's southernmost town is being in the Carolinian forest, where winters are mild (though this one slapped us hard with more cold and more snow than usual) spring is early. Snowdrops and winter aconite are out as early as the end of February/early March. Snowdrops especially amaze me that their blooms can withstand frosts without so much as a shiver. Here is a lovely little clump of wild crocus that are blooming everywhere down the greenway paths between subdivisions where I walk.

The force of nature is astounding: these little beings push up against a fairly heavy leaf cover; the blooms close during cool grey weather and open, literally blossom, in the sunshine. They make me smile every year on every walk.

Gratitude and Glimmers #102

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of December. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. Thanks for hosting these once again all year, LeeAnna.

From my mindfulness calendar for today:

It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.

--David Steindl-Rast

1. I love sunrises and sunsets, but in winter with silhouetted trees, they’re something else. 

Sunrise

I'm Screaming!

I actually dropped my phone on Monday morning when I saw who ordered a mug cosy from me on Sunday night. An author. A Canadian author who is "renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre" (from his site). One of my absolute favourite fantasy authors whose books I've read and loved and owned since 1995. None other than Charles de Lint!!

So ya, I was screaming, and I still am. He ordered this mug cosy:

Made in February

My first thought was, Maybe there's another Charles de Lint. Checked the address. Ottawa. Nope. Second thought, He cannot pay; I'll refund him, but then I thought well, I do have to mail it, and my time is worth something, and I have bought his books because I believe in supporting artists of all mediums. So I had the idea to make him a matching coaster! Did I still have any of the butterfly fabric left? It had only been a fat quarter... I did: a 5" square coaster would work!

Gratitude and Glimmers #98

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our sense to grow sharper.

--W. B. Yeats

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of August. It is a week late, partly due to Brady being here for nine days, and partly due to a commission of four project bags. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that caterpillars and butterflies have captivated me this month. Last year we intentionally bought several perennials and annuals that are good for pollinators, and boy have we been rewarded. I've had monarchs, pipevine swallowtails (the black one with iridescent blue and orange and white markings), gigantic yellow swallowtails, a hummingbird moth and Mason wasps, to name the prettiest ones.

You can see several little videoclips on my Instagram, @mmmquilts.

Gratitude and Glimmers #91

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.

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. 

--Willie Nelson

1. I like this post Nine Things That Sewists do That No One Understands at Melly Sews written by her husband from the perspective of someone who doesn’t sew, but lives with a sewist. Numbers 8 and 9 I can especially relate to!

2. I know I've said it before, but I do love how Bella joins me every single morning for yoga.

Gratitude and Glimmers #90

Welcome to the final gratitude post of 2024. I was looking way back in my blog to try to find the date of one of my Throwback Thursday quilts from the early 2000s, (I haven't posted it by the looks of it) and was surprised to see my first Gratitude post, one I'd called Thankful Thursday, from May 8, 2014. I've done these off and on ever since. This quote from a daily quotes calendar Dayna gave me for Christmas last year is another à propos one to begin this 90th post:

If we move through our day with an open awareness of the many good things around us, we correct the brain's built-in negativity bias.

--Dr. Rick Hanson

You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. 

1. I like Boxing Day sales! Before Canada adopted the Black Friday sales, we always had Boxing Day sales, and it was an excellent time to stock back up on Christmas wrapping paper, trims, décor, and cards, etc. I don't go for that these days, as I don't use much wrapping paper at all, and less and less cards; in fact I didn't send a one this year. That is mainly due to our postal strike, which has now ended, but also to sending less and less.

I am running a Boxing Day sale in my Etsy shop from now until Dec. 28. I figured a few of you may have missed the Black Friday sale, so here you are, 25% off all patterns, no code required.

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.

Gratitude Glimmers #80

Here we are at the final gratitude post of the year. Gratitude does lead to a happier human, though I admit I’ve had to dig deep these past few months. You can find more grateful posts at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. I like the book Dayna got me for Christmas. It’s one of my all-time favourites, and I highly recommend it. I read it in 2022 and waxed poetic about it in a gratitude post that year.

It confirms a sense I’ve had about trees from, well, pretty much forever, but the moment I entered Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, I was utterly transformed into a tree-hugger, tree lover, an advocate and worshipper. Scientists around the world have been studying their communication powers, and their amazing findings about these sentient beings is ongoing. 

Gratitude #76

Since taking the month of July off, it's gotten a lot harder to make myself write a post. I've been sewing a little bit, but not much really and not anything so far I can show. I've still kept track of things I like, and things that make me full of gratitude. If you would like to write your own post, or read more of these uplifting posts, pop over to LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color.

1. I'm grateful for trees. I've been a tree lover pretty much all my life, but a trip to Tofino, Vancouver Island in 1994 took my love to a profound level, one of awe and respect. I read Greenwood by Michael Christie, in July, one of the Canada Reads books, and what a book. Highly recommend. It sent me to the internet again and again, looking up various ancient trees of the Douglas fir variety for one. I found Lonely Doug, which you can read about and see in this brief article and also this short article. Tell me if you don't feel a deep sadness when you see this massive sentinel. And once again synchronicity strikes: a few days after learning and reading about him, this article,  BC big tree hunter documents grandest old-growth tree he's ever seen, showed up on my CBC homepage. It is worth a quick click on that link to view this indescribably humongous Western red cedar somewhere on Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound. The photos are locked.

Point Pelee National Park near me

Fir tree and Sky by Emily Carr in 1935-36

This painting hangs in the  National Gallery of Canada  which we recently visited on our trip to Ottawa.

Gratitude #76

Welcome to my monthly gratitude post. There is a group of us who write these, so feel free to join in anytime you like and let LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color know. You can hop over there and see more  uplifting posts.

I just love Calla lilies and am I happy that we have the perfect spot for this group of five. This is their third summer! They are in a south facing bed close to the house, so I think this is why they continue to survive the winter.

Gratitude #75

Welcome to my monthly Gratitude post. All month long I note little things that make me smile, that me feel gratitude, things that I like or love. Several of us write these posts; you can read more at LeeAnna‘s blog Not Afraid of Color.

 

1. I love dogs. When I was in Alberta at the beginning of May, visiting Brianne and Brady, one of the things Brady requested we do is meet up with my niece, Brianne's cousin, Sheila. She has three little dogs, cute little characters, who love going to the off-leash dog park in Edmonton's River Valley. It is a massage for the soul and spirit there: dogs of all sizes, shapes and ages, running around, just being dogs. Some chase balls, others chase each other, still others just amble or race along behind or in front of their owners. There is a huge field where they can run around, there are trails through forest and bush, and there is the river where they can swim. It's a paradise, and always leaves all four of us, well all seven, counting the three fur mops, just so content and at peace.

Gratitude #66

Ah summer, my favourite season of the year. I am grateful to live in a place in Canada where we do get four distinct seasons, and for that reason, I've come to love three of the four. I tolerate winter better now we live in southwestern Ontario, though I'd still prefer to be away and in warmer climes for the two months it's most unpleasant: January and February. But enough about those two months! Welcome to another post about gratitude! Here is my current view as I type this post, on Thursday morning.

Morning coffee in a favourite mug bought in Monaco, mug cosy removed for the photo; smoothie in my also favourite Angela Walters 'Quilting is my Therapy' cup

Pretty idyllic, I'd say. It's going to be another hot and humid day. I don't mind a bit. This morning, like most others, it's already 24C at 9 am, and the humidity is such that the air feels soft. Crickets and katydids are singing, and soon the cicadas will join in the chorus. I love the symphony they create.

Gratitude #65

Hello and welcome to my June gratitude post. I'll be linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color where you can get the links to others who post. In these unstable alarming times, it is good for my mental health to remember to note things for which I am grateful.

1. I am eternally grateful for our back yard. Having a calm, green, quiet and private or mostly private place in which to have morning coffee, afternoon tea, or to float in my pool chair reading or sky-gazing is important for my overall well-being. We spent five summers on the other side of Kingsville, where we had a beautiful back garden and lake view, not really a yard there, but neighbours with whom we literally shared a patio (it was a duplex) and well, it just got too close and claustrophobic for us. Prior to that we'd lived on 3.5 acres so it was a bit too much of a drastic change!

Mug cosy on to keep the tea warm and bugs out. Current book: One Two Three a recommendation from Bernie at Needle & Foot, (just excellent, highly recommend!). This is my 20th book for the year.

This month I also read Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon, which I loved, lived and dreamed in the entire almost 900 pages. Ahhh. However, I had thought this was the last one in the epic series! Hope we don't have to wait seven long years for the next one. Another great read this past month, one of the Canada Reads nominations, was Five Little Indians by Michelle Good. And the fourth one for the month was The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, one of Barack Obama's Top 20 for 2021. It was different, and once I kind of sorted out the various points of view, pretty gripping, about a Ponzi scheme that collapses.

Gratitude #64

Good heavens, I forgot the last Thursday of the month - where did May go? I started this post, as I usually do, part way through the month, but Thursday just sneaked up on me. Remember if you'd like to read more of these uplifting posts, several of us write them, some every week, and we link up at LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color.

1. I like Kopegaron Forest, a little nature preserve we just discovered at the beginning of the month just 20 minutes from home.

Magical. Fragile. Perfect.

And we are about to re-elect a government in this province who wants to pave over thousands of square kilometres of wetlands to put in a highway that will benefit commuters by shaving off seconds, not lying, of their drive, but that will give billions to his rich buddies who clearly buy him off. I have to stop thinking too much about it other than signing petitions and writing to my MPP because I get a panic attack feeling in my chest.

Trilliums are a big deal to me, being from Alberta where they do not grow. But seeing these rich burgundy ones took my breath away. I looked them up: red trilliums. Who knew.

Gratitude #62

Thank you for once again reading my monthly Gratitude post. Several of us write these posts on Thursdays and link up at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color. 

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life 

is the foundation for all abundance.

--Eckhart Tolle

There aren't too many days go by that I am not thankful that I live within a 2-minute stroll of Lake Erie, whose actual name is erielhonan meaning 'long tail'.

March 18 - the ice went off a week later than last year

I Like/Love #42

It seems surreal (how often have we all thought/said that this year) that in five days half of 2020 will be gone. It's been a decade in six months in a lot of ways. However, we plod on. So here is my list of things for which I am grateful this month. I link up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color where you can find several other grateful peeps' posts. It can be such a lift reading each others' likes.

1. I like the programme 'After Dark' that starts at 8 pm on CBC Radio 2 hosted by Odario Williams; I love Odario's smooth voice. He plays an eclectic mix of music for the evening. I like that CBC hosts are all accomplished and talented musicians in their own rights. For example, Odario is the lead vocalist for the hip-hop band Grand Analog. Julie Nesrallah, who hosts another favourite programme, Tempo, on weekday mornings, is an acclaimed mezzo-soprano, who sang for Prince William and Kate when they were here in Canada a few years ago.

2. I love this photo of my little cat, Bella.

She's a lovebug, but only with me. She absolutely loves when I sit in padmasana, cross-legged, especially for meditation, snuggling right in. Often she sort of pads my leg, or will kiss my fingers, before getting herself arranged and settledin my lap. Those of you who join me for yin yoga on Instagram on Tuesday and Thursday mornings have seen her do this!