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I am generally a pretty upbeat positive person. However lately I seem to have dug myself a rather deep hole. It’s probably a combination of several things…feeling lost and worried about my teenage son, the fact that there’s still over two feet of snow in my yard, some stress at work, etc. It’s wearing me down and I don’t know what to do to pull myself out. I’m not sleeping, I look like hell, and I don’t think I’m any fun to be around. I tell myself my little problems are nothing compared to 99 percent of the rest of the world, but it’s not helping.
Forgive my rant and sorry that I haven’t posted much here lately…I just haven’t felt inspired. I just keep repeating one of my mother’s favourite phrases: “This too shall pass.” Well, it can’t pass fast enough for me!
My heart goes out to my dear friend Marguerite. Her sister-in-law Donna died this week at the age of 43. Donna was Marguerite’s brother’s highschool sweetheart and the two of them had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
This song is providing a lot of solace to both Marguerite and her brother, and I am posting it here for anyone else who has lost a loved one recently.
I shovelled a path to the greenhouse today, and when I opened the greenhouse door, a wonderful warmth greeted me. I could have happily curled up in there with a book if I didn’t have a myriad of other things I needed to get done. One of those other things was moving some of my little seedlings that are growing in the sunny window of our family room into bigger pots. I’ve got two different types of cuks, four types of tomato plants, some celery, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage, zucchini and corn all coming along quite nicely; in the case of the corn, almost too nicely. It’s already six inches tall and since I plan to plant it outside, I’m worried it’s going to get too big before all the snow is gone and the ground ready for planting.
It feels good to be ‘garden puttering’ once again. It’s been such a long winter that it feels like years since I’ve had my hands in dirt.
A week or two ago, I wrote about being overwhelmed by the choices for outdoor gear. Since then I’ve been doing lots of reading and research, and while I may not be a whole lot closer to understanding all this stuff, I’m at least starting to narrow my search.
My latest quest has been for an ultralight backpack. The Gossamer Gear packs get good reviews. One woman who has walked the Camino twice uses the Murmur, which is the lightest bag I’ve ever come across. I question its durability, although she apparently hasn’t had any trouble. Have any of you had experience with the Gossamer bags, and if so what is your assessment? On a related note, what is your favourite piece of lightweight hiking gear and why?
I’m hoping to get all the major stuff by early summer, since I would like to do the Chilkoot Trail this year with a friend. I haven’t hiked the Chilkoot since before my kids were born, so I figure it’s time to give it another go, plus it’s an ideal way of testing the gear for my trip to Spain.
I did recently order some hiking clothing from Mountain Equipment Co-op. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I had to send most of it back because it was too big. I’m still trying to figure out my new clothing size!
Last night’s birthday bash was great fun. There were close to 20 of us here, and people came laden with food, wine and very generous presents. Iris has most of the photos on her camera and she doesn’t have the cord with her to upload them, so the pictures will have to wait. Here are just a couple…of some of the many plants people brought, and what is called a Janet Basket. No kidding…that’s its actual name. I took it grocery shopping this morning…first I used it to gather the groceries, and then I put them back in the basket to bring home. Very cool.
Driving home yesterday after work, I was feeling pretty low. Jamie is once again doing poorly in school and I’m at my wits end with him. All I wanted for my birthday was for him to get caught up on his homework, but conversations with two of his teachers yesterday indicated that hadn’t happened. I was furious with Jamie and really all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and make the world go away.
Then I walked in the door and I heard, “SURPRIZE!” There was Alan and Iris in the livingroom, along with a grinning Joe. My sweet husband had flown the kids home from school for the week-end as a birthday present to me. How special is that?!
Apart from enjoying their company, having the two oldest at home is a reminder to me that kids do make it through all the sh__ that comes with being a teenager, and Jamie will too. The question is…WILL I??
In spite of my frustration with Jamie, we all had an enjoyable evening, including a good meal topped off with a chocolate cake from the Chocolate Claim. Then Alan went to jam with his friends, Iris met up with one of her friends, Jamie did homework (!) and I headed to flamenco class. I’m taking today off to be with Alan and Iris and I understand there’s a birthday party planned for me on Friday night. I’m a pretty lucky gal.
See what my friend Ted did last night….I’m as jealous as all get out!
Iris was recently involved in a hair show in Toronto. This photo, taken of her during that event, was niggling at my brain all week-end. There was something about the shot…it just looked so familiar.
This morning it hit me and I dug out a photo of myself taken 30 years ago, at exactly the same age Iris is now. Her features are more refined and she’s prettier, but still…I think there’s quite a resemblance, don’t you?
