Reflections

Peaceful encounter

This photo of Samantha and Toffee’s first and only encounter was taken just over a year ago, a month before Toffee died. Six weeks before Samantha died.

For those who knew Toffee, this greeting was a shock. Any dog that was bigger than Toffee was viewed as a threat, and in his desire protect me, he always growled or barked enough to keep the other dog away.

At the time I remember being surprised and confused as to why there was no alpha display, but I also had no idea that Toffee and Samantha were both struggling in silence with their illnesses. Walks were shorter because Toffee was easily out of breath. I assumed it was his congestive heart failure, not knowing that he cancer growing in his liver and lungs.

After Toffee then Samantha died, as I was looking back through my photos I was reminded of that particular greeting. I realized that they were comforting each other. Experiencing pain helps one look at the world through different eyes.

Or maybe Toffee was just too tired to complain about a larger dog crossing his path.

Random visits

This afternoon I enjoyed a semi-spontaneous visit on my patio when two choir kids and their mom stopped by to bring me a gift. They were hot and tired from a day of shopping and errands so I invited them to stay for a drink of cold juice. We had a lovely visit, talking about the past year, their summer plans and hopes for next year.

How long has it been since I have had time to stop and enjoy the company of others? A long time! Many, many years ago it was a common occurrence when friends and would stop by to check in and stay for tea or juice and chat. That all stopped when life got busy.

Two days ago I was in the backyard doing a bit of weeding when 6 of the neighbours hens showed up. They had a great time digging at the dirt to nibble on bugs, chasing moths and trying to be brave enough to come and peck at my pants. I went back inside to do some work, and heard knocking at the patio door. They had returned for a visit!

I wish my neighbours would visit more often…now that I have cleared some time in my schedule for occasional socializing.

Spellbound

What is it about the sound of a creek and a waterfall that is so soothing and spellbinding? This photo was taken a year ago when I went for a walk with a close friend. We walked along the shoreline of Okanagan Lake, and headed into Rotary Marsh Park, watching the birds and wild animals. When rounding a corner I found this most peaceful waterfall.

My friend who took me on the walk to this secluded area of the park is a Reiki master, and performs Healing Touch. She has spent many years helping people, either by volunteering or for a small fee. The Covid pandemic has changed that for her, and I doubt if she will ever get back to her work mostly because she is quite elderly.

The pandemic changed a lot of things for a lot of people. I have heard it referred to as “the great covid reset”. Priorities have shifted. Losing 2/3rds of my income for several months showed me that by making a few changes (e.g. staying home and not going out!) I can save enough money to accommodate the cut in income.

Walks like this were once a frequent occurrence for me. Growing up in a small town in the BC interior allowed me to explore nature easily and I recall hikes and time spent in the canoe and cycling trips all part of life. It happened daily in the summer and regularly throughout the year. When did I give this up? What is keeping me from revisiting the activity of frequent walks in nature at this time in my life?

Family secret

This is a secret family recipe, translated literally as “completed sticky rice”. It’s complete because it contains both the sticky rice and the custard which are normally prepared separately.

My daughter and I prepared it for her friends. She left some of the edges (the best part) for me. This dessert has always been a favourite for special occasions. My Thai family also had a secret curry recipe called “satay curry”. I have made it a few times in the years since returning to Canada. It is so delicious but I have a hard time finding the ingredients.

How many families have secret recipes? I am careful to keep these recipes secret and passed on only to my children out of respect for the Thai side of their family but I’m not sure I understand why something so delicious should be kept secret. Shouldn’t things as wonderful as those two recipes be shared so more people can enjoy?

Do you have a secret family recipe? Would you share it?

Hope

I have been looking after this Christmas cactus for two months now. It is a rescue plant, from my daughter’s home. She was working out of town, and left the plants in the care of her fiancé. I brought it home, not really expecting it to survive, much less thrive. But last week I noticed a glimmer of hope and new growth. With special care and attention this plant is undergoing revitalization.

Over the past several months I have personally been on a journey of revitalization. Little glimmers of hope appear daily and I am confident that I am on the right path.

Daisies

I had to update my phone recently. It fell out of my hands one too many times, and the cracked screen didn’t allow me to read my messages easily. The new phone takes better photos.

These are daisies…perhaps African daisies, but my free iPlant app is correct only about 20% of the time so it is difficult to know. The name is not all that important.

That is so different from names of people. It is very important to get a person’s name correct. For some reason I am often called by another name. Common mistakes are Susan and Sharon. In fact, a few years ago when I looked in my baby book, my name was recorded as “Susan Louise” which is actually the name of a relative. I guess my parents were excited?!?!

I know there are some tricks to remembering a person’s name. The basic trick is to be sincerely interested in finding it out in the first place. Then repeat it so it sticks in your head.

Being someone whose name is often forgotten or mistaken, I am very much aware of the importance of using the correct name. I’m not always right, and I often have memory lapses but I know that it is worth paying to a person’s name.

Zooming in

I chose this photo for my desktop photo on my computer. It’s one that I took back in 2018. It was chosen for the beauty of the scenery–fence with character (i.e. old and rotting), yellow wildflowers, gently waves, driftwood littering the beach, large climb-able rocks, and fluffy clouds against the blue sky.

My monitor is large, approximately 30 X 50 cm, and what I saw surprised me. As a small photo on my phone, I could only see the scenery, but enlarged and zoomed in on my computer monitor what appeared as flecks, are now obvious as ships and barges and even a helicopter visible as a silhouette against a small cloud.

What else have I missed when I haven’t taken the time to zoom in and look carefully?

Shamrocks

Of all the photos that I took last week at the gardens with bright, beautiful flowers, this is the one that caught my eye the most.

The shamrocks were located in one of the shaded areas of the gardens, where they formed a blanket of green around rocks, a creek, a pond and many other shade-loving plants.

These shamrocks in the photo are Oxalis also known as sorrel, not the “clover” that is common in grassy areas, which are from the Trifolium family. According to my research they are easy to grow, and perfect for gardens like mine — mostly shaded with rocks.

Today I have nothing scheduled. I might just go find some shamrocks to plant!

Life dreams

“Every flower in this bouquet is edible”. “We picked them ourselves”. We had just finished our first in-person choir concert since December 2019. These two siblngs joined us only a few months ago, so it was their first concert ever. They were so excited to sing for their parents and all the other families, and just as excited to present me this lovely edible bouquet.

The bouquet brought back so many memories from when I was a teen. My dream in life was to live in a small log cabin in the woods, and be self-sufficient, living off the wild. I prepared by making edible (mostly) foods and drinks from plants around the yard, such as moss soup and dandelion tea. I read books on nature and how to survive. One of my favourites was “The Edible Wild”.

Life did not turn out that way for me. That’s probably a good thing, but maybe in some way I am still hoping for that dream.

Smelling the roses

I have been blessed with a couple of action-packed days with a visit from a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. Yesterday we walked around the Legislature, smelling the roses. Literally smelling as many roses as we could!

Watching an innocent child discover things that we just seem to take for granted was a reminder for me to slow down, and keep reshaping my priorities. This lovely rose garden is less than 5 minutes walk from my home, yet I rarely experience the beauty of it, and this is the first time in the 8 years since I moved here that I have taken the time to smell the roses.

This afternoon we will spend some time at a world-famous garden, with more rose-sniffing.