Pocketful of Memory Cards

I'm posting on a Gratitude Monday, but before I get to my list I have one piece of business and if you could help me out, I'd be very grateful! On Saturday I saw the following on Facebook: I had to share it on my FB page and by the number of likes and comments I received it's obvious that it's not a rare condition. I used to be one of those people that was always reading, usually two to three books a week.  Once I picked up a book I was obsessed with it, it was the focus of my attention and I would often turn down events and opportunities and avoid minor responsibilities in favour of reading. It was almost an addiction and being a very empathetic (empathic?) person I would become strongly invested in the characters.  I remember reading The Song of Kanush , a story about orphaned street children in India that left me depressed for days afterwards.  There were compelling, beautifully written books as well, like Lorianne Brown's The Handless Maiden  and Jessi...

I haven't posted on a Monday in a while...at least it seems that way.  One summer day runs into the other and if it wasn't for appointments with contractors and doctors I'd have no idea what day it was until I noticed my husband in bed past 5 on a Saturday morning. Today I'm grateful for the fact that there are still four official weeks left of summer with Autumn, my favourite season right on it's heels. I'm grateful for the time I spent in New York, all the sights we saw and fun we had, getting to know Tracy and Christina better, allowing myself to let go a little and not sweating the small stuff.   Though with the humidity making it feel like 45 degrees some days, and all the walking and bike riding we did there was  definitely a lot of sweating going on. I lost almost 8 lbs, for which I'm most grateful! I'm grateful we finally got out kayaking a couple of Sundays ago.  I'll have pictures once I find the cord for the small camera I ...

This morning Donna and the dogs and I set out to conquer Phase 2 of the Mission Creek Greenway, starting at Scenic Canyon Park on our way to the base of Layer Cake Mountain.   We'd done the hike sans doggies two years ago and I'd been keen to hike it again ever since because you go through just about every type of landscape in the Okanagan, from rainforest, to creek bed, to desert scrub and grassland.  It's quite beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to the highlight - the canyon at the base of Layer Cake Mountain, due to some some challenges with my blood sugar.  The good news is we had a great hike in beautiful sunny weather and we'll have to go back another day and try again.  According to my MapMyHike App our return trip was just over 8 km.   The corner of Layer Cake Mountain    Somehow it looked less steep on the way down!

One of the best investments we made on our trip to NYC was the purchase of a three day "Hop-on Hop-off" double decker bus pass from City Sights New York .  Our New York Pass got us a smokin' deal for $54 that allowed us to take the Downtown Tour, the Uptown Tour, the Night Tour and the Brooklyn Tour as many times as we wanted in the three days, and allowed us a free 90 minute cruise.  As well as taking the tours, we ended up using the buses like a taxi service  to get us around the city to the sights we wanted to revisit after seeing them from the top of the bus.  The weather forecast had been for rain every day but  it turned out to be way off and though it was hot and humid, we were able to take full advantage of the open bus tops, enjoying a cool breeze and ducking under a few wayward branches near Central Park.  The photos taken here were from the Night Tour, which didn't allow you to hop on and off, but did take us into Brooklyn, whi...

This morning Christina, Tracy and I climbed aboard the Hop-on Hop-off Bus to enjoy the sights and sounds of lower Manhattan on the Downtown loop.  Our intent was to spend the day doing the Uptown and Downtown loops, remaining on the bus throughout the tours in order to get a good overview of the city and see what was where. For some reason when we hit stop number three, I said "Do you want to get off here?" and was greeted with an enthusastic "Yes!" What were we thinking? Do NOT visit the Empire State Building on a Sunday in July.  Even though we had the New York Pass, it didn't help get us to the top any quicker.  It was just before noon when we arrived and we stood in-line for almost three hours, snaking our way through various levels of the building before watching an Imax type film that allowed us a close up view of the surrounding buildings that we would soon be towering above. The wait was agonizing, but the view was quite spe...

..yes, I am leaving today.  I'm on my way to the Big Apple with 5 other women, three of whom I've yet to meet.  Is that proper grammar?  I'm to stoked to care!  You may not see me here for a while and I realize I've been an infrequent poster as of late, but once I return you can be guaranteed of some photos of New York, New York.  By a crazy coincidence there's a blogger conference going on in our hotel the last weekend that we're there, but we've got too much going on to get involved with it. Hope you'll stay tuned for my upcoming posts.  I'm not sure what the computer situation will be like in NY but if I get the opportunity I will post while I'm there.  Hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you are!

It's my first Monday post in a while and my photo is actually from yesterday but I'm feeling particularly grateful for the past week of simple pleasures.  Public thankfulness seems to give my gratitude more weight somehow. I'm very gratefully for the sunshine we've enjoyed the past week or so. I'm grateful for Saturday.  We spent it mostly apart, doing chores and puttering around the yard, but  took a break on the deck mid-afternoon to hydrate, get out of the sun and reconnect.  I finally understand  the phrase "domestic bliss". I'm gratefully for Cedar Creek Dog Beach as it's a much cooler spot to walk the dogs on these hot days.  I'm grateful for the way this park/beach allows the dogs to play or move on.  Fearful dogs can be intimidated by Max's puppy playfulness.  At Cedar Creek he's had some really good romps with Grazey (a husky/greyhound cross), Lily (1 year old chocolate lab) and Ginger (2 year old Rhodesia...