Keep The Summer Vibes Alive!

Well guys, it's the final week of August, harvest is going full force, kids are heading back to school after Labour Day, the days are subtly, but definitely, getting shorter, and some of the leaves on the trees in my front yard are displaying the audacity of teasing their fall fashion colours.

The pumpkin spice ads haven't begun quite yet, but you know they're coming the minute the calendar flips on Monday. 

I don't know about you, but I'm going to do my level best to keep the summer vibes alive!

I mean, not all adventures can be road trips across the country, but they definitely can be taking grandbabies to see classic movies at the theater, bumming around with your baby sister, and catching up with life long friends!

Let's keep the fun of summer going...

Sneak in one more camping trip, a few more s'mores, a few more days filled with no plans whatsoever...

Fall doesn't have to be all work and no play...

Maybe it's learning to play an instrument, mastering a language you've never successfully spoken, taking up yoga, juggling, doing magic, or maybe it's a class that teaches some weird combination of all the above? Could be fun? 

Hey, there are actual classes to teach you how to take selfies, survive a zombie apocalypse, and ride a bike that goes nowhere like you are running from a rabid bear, just sayin...

I'm trying hard not to be in too much of a hurry to change gears into Autumn overdrive. Even better, I'm trying to fight my life-long training and not HAVE an Autumn overdrive. Instead, shift into Autumn easydrive. Soak up a bit more sun.

We do, after all, have a little while before the sun sets a few precious hours after the crack of dawn. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it can feel that way. But, we do have some time. With any luck, fall will last until December, or, at the very least, stretch out until after Halloween. 

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I didn't realize that taking our first-ever holiday would bring with it some lessons... 

Taking time to breathe and reflect is something I thought I was already doing... but I wasn't... not really.

Apparently, you don't always have to hit the ground running straight out of bed and stay that way. You also don't, I've discovered, constantly have to be busy knocking things off some arbitrary to-do list that never gets completed anyway. 

Showing yourself the same level of kindness and grace you show others without even thinking about it, takes effort.

Not everything is your responsibility.

If you don't share in the decision, you don't wear the weight of the consequence.

 

If the shit someone else threw hits the fan, it's not your job to clean it up. 

I'm still struggling to internalize these lessons, and I'm sure many more I haven't come across yet, at 59. I think I've got some of them down, and then catch myself falling into old habits. I share these "lessons" in hopes that someone else might benefit from them before they tend to pee a little if they get ravaged by a colossal sneeze for which they haven't had a chance to properly brace themselves... if you know, you know. 

So go forth into the fall, my friends. Get ready for your school routine, get the markers and the backpacks, organize, do what you gotta do. But, please, just remember to show yourself some kindness. Don't judge yourself more harshly than to do anyone else. Try to have fun in the midst of the chaos, the quiet comes before you know it. 

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Soooo...We Did A Thing....

 Hi,

If you've been reading these ramblings for the last couple of weeks, you know that I've been taking a bit of a news break.

Well, as it turns out, I'm not quite done yet.

Please indulge me...

So, we did a thing. I've mentioned that my hubby and I were doing a bit of road-tripping... well that was a bit of an understatement. 

We actually took our very first holiday... ever. We've been together forty years, so I think we were due. We've never been able to string together more than four days off in a row, but this summer, the opportunity presented itself, so we jumped.

We got in our car, pointed it east, and drove until we got to the Atlantic ocean. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to be precise. For those who may be a bit unfamiliar with Canadian geography, from where we live in Saskatchewan, that is a 9681.3 km round trip drive. Worth every single one.

Although we didn't have unlimited time, we didn't have to rush either. We wanted to experience our country along the way, not just drive through it. We spent four nights and five days getting there, with a couple of adventures along the way. For instance, one day involved a two hour detour, while one night was spent sleeping in our car in a truck stop parking lot. Apparently there was some sort of festival going on in this particular area of New Brunswick and there wasn't a room, nor campsite to be had! We even had a tent in the car just in case something like this would happen along the way.

You might ask why we didn't book ahead? Well, what it boiled down to was this, we didn't want to be married to a schedule. We drove until we were tired, making stops along the way, and when we were a couple of hours from being ready to call it a day, I went on my phone and found somewhere to hang our hats for the night. The only glitch was the New Brunswick portion of the trip on the way there.

Once we got to Yarmouth, we had every intention of exploring as much of the Province as we could, but we found that there was so much to see and do within fifteen minutes of our hotel, that we didn't find the need to go further. There were incredible beaches, a historic lighthouse, museums, harbours to explore, incredible restaurants, all of which, of course, served the most amazing seafood. There were cool little shops and pubs, all filled with incredible people full of warmth and ready laughter.

The air was thick with the scent of wild roses and sea air. The sea gulls' perpetual chatter harmonizing with the waves slapping the fishing boats as the tide rolled, became the soundtrack to our lingering morning coffees on the pier.

Then, at the end of each day, there were moments, as the sun was setting, the water and sky became so perfectly one, you couldn't distinguish one from the other. For a few moments, the horizon simply ceased to exist. 

Have you ever felt homesick for a place you've never lived? While there, in the unassuming, humble town of Yarmouth, I felt such a deep sense of belonging. It was altogether, completely, unexplainable, disconcerting, and more than a little heartbreaking in a way I simply can't explain. 

This was a once-in-a-life-time road trip, for which I will be forever grateful. We stayed in, and explored nine different cities and towns along the way. We've created memories in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Thunder Bay, Ontario (on the way there and on the way back), Cochrane, Ontario, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, St. Andre, New Brunswick, Mont Laurier, Quebec, Kapuskasing, Ontario, and last, but not least, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Now, keep in mind, these are only the places we spent the nights, as we travelled. We made some shorter stops along the way, checking out attractions like good tourists do. 

The absolutely incredible changes in the landscape that can happen in one day of travel simply boggles the mind. We are so incredibly lucky to live in the country that we call home. I've always known it in my heart, but now, after crossing most of it, seeing it, experiencing it, meeting such incredible people along the way, I now know it in the deepest parts of my soul.

Oh, Canada! 

Buffering With Purpose…

 

Hi!

So, as you know, I’m doing a bit of a no news is good news kind of thing for a bit, but, apparently it’s pretty impossible to stay completely news free for very long. It seeps through the ether through conversations that happen in public, tv’s on in community spaces, etc. 

So this is my take on what's made it through…

The grand Cheeto called his idiot buddy in Texas and demanded he redraw districts for voting… like it was a map for tracking hurricanes, or something … but, before they could get a good start on their latest sharpie art project, people buggered off so they couldn’t hold the vote, and then a leader with a healthy brains/balls balance told him that there a is more than one marker in the box… seems there is a blue one too.

Oh…. and the Epstein thing is not going away…. at all. 

So, yeah… 

Anyway…

Other than those tidbits oozing in, we’re good, still here, living in a country where people aren’t getting swept off the streets by Temu gestapo, or living in dread, constantly wondering what their drunk, creepy, senile uncle will do next. Nope, we’re here, just chillin’, making new friends, building relationships, and setting boundaries.

I’m not entirely recharged quite yet, but I’m getting there…

I like to think of it as buffering with purpose.

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May you find your own way to recharge, then allow yourself to do so.

You can’t rule your world on empty. 

Recharging…

Hi!

You’ll have to forgive me if this is a bit short and sweet, but I am having to type this on my phone.

It’s a long, not-too-interesting story that I will relate at a later date.

Anyway…..

We’ve been doing some road tripping this week, these photos represent a small portion of the whole whack of pictures I’ve taken along the way. Odds are, you are going to be subjected to quite a few more over the next little while, whether you like it or not!😊

I’ve been taking a bit of a news holiday, I wholeheartedly recommend it! It’s good to give your heart, soul, and brain a rest from all the chaos. It’s not like the news is going away, it will be there for you when you get back. 

The asshats will continue asshatting, the trolls will troll, and those who care, will keep up the fight for what’s humane.

In the meantime, I’m going take an obscene amount of photos as I continue my no news is good news hiatus for just a little longer. 

I just need to recharge my faith in humanity…

Funny enough, it never seems to take very long.

Most… and I do say most… people are awesome!

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May you catch up with old friends, and make some new ones too.

May you be on the receiving end of some random acts of kindness, at least one or two.

May you have the best day you can remember, then top it again and again.

May you have the best of everything you find delightful, since you don’t know when. 

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