Pocketful of Memory Cards

The koi pond at Kasugi Gardens, Kelowna People are often unreasonable and self-centred.  Forgive them anyway. If you are kind people may accuse you of ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you.  Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous.  Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.  Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” ― Mother Teresa

This morning I'm feeling grateful for the things that surround me, that are often taken for granted. I'm grateful for running water and hot water heaters. I'm grateful for the radio and the internet. I'm grateful that I can go to bed in comfort and not fear being robbed or attacked in the night. I'm grateful my children are healthy and kind. I'm grateful for bacon and creative bandaid makers I'm grateful my husband has a job to support us and it's one he enjoys. I'm grateful for the deal where I cook and my husband does the dishes. I'm grateful for the opportunities and help I've had writing Reg's memoir. All that we behold is full of blessings.  ~William Wordsworth

Having friends from Ontario visiting this week has given me a new appreciation for the great place I'm lucky enough to live in.   Seventeen years ago we were living about 90 minute drive from Toronto, in a small city of about 65,000 people.  We decided to head out to Vancouver Island to live closer to my husband's family in Sidney B.C.  My husband applied for a job in Kelowna and when he told me about it  I was quite distraught.  In fact I burst into tears.    I thought we were leaving our home to be close to his family.  Kelowna was a 4 hour drive plus a ferry ride away.  That wasn't my definition of close.     My husband put his arms around me and assured me he wouldn't take the job if they offered it to him.  He never heard back from the company and a few months later we were living in Sidney with my in-laws, looking for work.  The economy wasn't really thriving in 1995 and my very experienced civil engineer knock...

This morning Donna and the dogs and I headed up the south mission slopes to Kuiper's Peak . The trail we took was a short 1 km stretch (2 km if you walk back on the trail rather than the road) of what will become an 11 km trail system that's part of The Ponds Mission Real Estate Development. It's a short walk that has some beautiful views of the lake and the mountains that were ravaged by the Okanagan Mountain Park fire in 2003.  

Today I'm feeling particularly grateful that: the box I sent via Greyhound from Whitby to Kelowna arrived safe and sound with with my mom's old photo album and hundred's of slides.  Paul Simon was right, Kodachrome gives those nice bright colours.  Even after almost 50 years they are vibrant and rich.  Can't wait to convert them to jpegs and get a good look at them. My friend Ann and her wife have come to Kelowna for a visit.  They're staying with another couple, but all four of them came for dinner last night and it was a great evening with lots of laughter, garlic, and a few rounds of  Canados  . I am Canadian .  We may not be perfect but we're not bad, eh? I can talk to my Dad almost any time I want for free.  Even though he's over 3,000 km away he sounds like he's right next door. I received my WSET Level 1 Award in Wines certificate today.  I passed the exam with a 90%. I met with the accountant today to figure o...

In almost 50 years of living I've only spent 4 of them in a city that wasn't on a lake. That realization makes me feel very lucky.  Though we all know you can't survive very long without water to drink, I believe water is also essential to our psychological and spiritual well being. When we go on vacation, or dream about our ideal get away, how often  is water a part of the picture?  And speaking of pictures, when  we are told to "go to our happy place" how many of us picture a scenario with a calm pool of water, softly lapping waves, or a gentle trickling stream.   I thought I'd share some of the photos I took on the Victoria Day weekend at Whitby's Heydenshore Park.  It really gave me a thrill to see so many people doing so many different things, down by the water.

I caught an interview with Neil Pasricha on Canada  AM this morning.  Neil wrote the blog 1,000 Awesome Things and if you've never read it, check it out. It really is...well..awesome! I discovered it around Awesome Thing number 300.  He turned it into a book last year, and I highly recommend having it on hand.  It reminds me of how it's the simple things in life that make it so special.  Since today is Gratitude Monday, it was perfect timing to encourage me to think about the little things I'm thankful for. Today I'm grateful for: the very special time I've spent with my father these past few weeks. the beautiful weather allowing for our daily walks in the neighbourhood or along the shore of Lake Ontario. that I was able to see the CN tower from Heydenshore Park almost thirty miles away (yeah, I know you haters want to be horrified by the smog, but it also has to do with distance, light and temperature - bloddy hot here today!). ...