Favorite Things

bleeding hearts in my garden

hope you all had a wonderful long weekend!

I was treated to fantastic firework shows put on by my neighbours

(they have a special love for fireworks - the disply on Sunday night went on for over an hour!)

No need to go to a crowded park!

We started to weed the very overgrown garden,

took a day trip to Buffalo (photos to follow)

fella went for a loooooong bike ride (60kms!)

and I finally put together the garden furniture.

It was a productive weekend

and a much needed break.

Happy Tuesday!

Favorite Things

tulips in my garden

how i love ye

Favorite Things

I used to commute out to Etobicoke on the GoTrain everyday.

I had a love/hate relationship with the GoTrain.

I loved how fast it was.

I hated that it made me feel like an active participant in the rat race.

You could look at people and see the years of commuting.

That they bought a house in the suburbs for the affordability 

and perhaps the misconception that it was a safer, better place to raise a family.

People were so fixed in their routine - they sat in the same place, every day.

Laid claim to a seat that they had no real ownership over

and resented anyone who dared step outside their set of rules

even though there was no way possible that they could ever know what those rules were.

I hated that I could see myself doing this commute 

committing myself to a lifetime of following train schedules.

This is why I could never live in the suburbs.

I spent too much time on buses when I was growing up.

That's time I'll never get back.

Scarred for life, I am.

But I digress.

Riding the GoTrain did give me one good thing.

One of my favorite things

was the Dairy Queen in Union Station.

I love Dairy Queen

and ice cream in general

but I rarely bought a sweet treat for myself.

What I loved was watching

serious, be-suited grown men

eat ice cream cones

while they waited for their trains.

They were childlike, vulnerable and manly 

all at the same time.

In general, I don't like to watch people eat

but ice cream is a different story.

Ice cream is pure pleasure.

It's cold

and sweet

and refreshing on a hot day.

And it can, in an instant, make you feel like a kid again.

I loved watching these men spoil their dinner

and it still makes me smile to see it.

I don't know if it makes it worth riding the GoTrain for  three years

but it comes pretty close.

photo: Life Magazine

Favorite Things

One of my favorite ways to start the day is to wake up kind of early
make some coffee
then take a cup back to bed, snuggle in
and read a good book.

I was able to do this yesterday and it reminded me
of how important it is to slow down.

I can be very lazy
but I also have a hard time sitting still.
I can't sit and do nothing.
My mind races
and the wheels churn - I should be doing this I could be doing that look at that big dust bunny on the floor I need to vacuum - again (it's shedding season. With two kitties, I could vacuum every hour and there would still be winter fluff in the corners.) And off I go. Sprinting to and fro.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually efficient at all.

I used to "lay-in" all the time
but that was before
before fella
before house
before kitties

before I felt the need to make things perfect
(when did that happen? And why do I cling to it? Because they never are, actually.)
But it felt so good - to give myself permission to stop
and relax.
And listen to the snores of fergus and fella (because yes, they both snore.)

And read as much as I could before I had to get up and go again.
Perfect.