LE PETIT JARDIN

White and bright and clean and light, the little garden I spotted today was full of blossoms and beauty with little fleurs reaching towards the sky to soak in the heat of the day. This sweet little garden was no bigger than a postage stamp but retained the dignity and impact of a botanical garden of enormity.

It really was the epitome of strength in beauty as oppose to strength in size and it was a joy to behold.

(Please click to enlarge)

This weekend I am joining

Summer Sundays and Today's Flowers.

Please feel free to click on the links

to the right to view some spectacular

photographs by some incredibly

talented individuals.

I hope this weekend brings you 

some much needed respite from the hot sun

and some joy to your heart.

Until Next Time.

Smooches Pooches

CAN I BORROW YOUR LOAF OF BREAD, I NEED TO BEAT MY BETTER HALF!

Did I ever tell you how much I detest grocery shopping. Oh lord, it's like having teeth pulled for me (not that I have had any of my teeth pulled, nor have I ever had the need to have teeth pulled, in actuality, I have pretty spectacular teeth, no cavities, no fillings, no braces... Oh sorry off topic). Anywhoo, I really despise it.

I suppose if I was going to get to the crux of the matter, it has to do with my better half.  He loves grocery shopping, and in fact, he is one damn good shopper.  He is like my own personal walking coupon.  Sales, sales, sales... he can sniff them out like a drug dog at an Airport.  But along with his freakish ability to seek out and find outstanding sales, comes his habit of complete pokiness in the grocery store.

He wanders down every aisle and reads the price of every product and small things like picking out juices for his lunch can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes for him.  He has to compare quantity, quality and price, and sometimes after 20 minutes, he will throw up his hands and say, “too much money, nothing is on sale!” and then move on. And all I can think of is Really, Seriously? It took you that long to come to that conclusion?  Well now that is 20 minutes of my life I will never get back!

The ironic part of this is that he is not frugal in any other part of our life, just at the grocery store.  He’ll put a product back on the shelf because it is five cents cheaper somewhere else, and while I can appreciate his thinking, it will ultimately cost us $2.00 in gas to get to the other grocery store just to save the five cents!  Unfortunately for me, grocery shopping has become nothing short of an excruciating torture-like experience.  It’s my own personal version of bamboo shoots being shoved up my nails, and I have to tell you that some days, it takes all my effort not to run down the aisle and tackle him and scream at the top of my lungs: “JUST PICK THE DAMN BOX OF GRANOLA BARS BEFORE I BEAT YOU WITH IT!”

Yup, grocery shopping just brings out the worst in me.  I often fantasize about knocking my better half into the shopping cart and strapping on some in-line skates and going down the aisles in record speed while knocking products here, there and everywhere right into my shopping cart and when I am done, the only thing you can see of my better half is his feet hanging out the end of the cart and some breathing movement underneath all the groceries.

And you know, shopping with him has become a two hour excursion at best, and while I try to wander down the aisle enjoying just being with him, I can’t shake this vision of us in 20 years from now where we both are hunched over, wearing depends, doing the old people shuffle and having to schedule a whole day just for grocery shopping.  Eeee Gads!

Feel for me tonight as tonight is the painful night. Our fridge has been empty for far too long and it is time for me to suck it up and get it done. But if you happen to see a girl in the aisle cramming broccoli up some guys nose, best you look away. It might be better for your safety!

Until Next Time.
Smooches Pooches.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Have you ever stepped out of your front door and just taken a good long look at what is moving, breathing, living, and just simply being.  I do all the time.  Something strong was ingrained into me since the day I was born into this phenomenal world. I really and honestly take the time to notice where I tread and I do as much as I possibly can to tread lightly. Since I was a child, and even more as I have become older, I have saved my fair share of insects that have been trapped, I have released snakes that the boys in the neighbourhood caught, and once, I even tackled a boy bigger than me because he was being cruel to his reptiles.  Besides my mother, most people are not even aware of the fact that when I drive down the road and see innocent animals killed by our vehicles that I say a prayer for each and everyone of them to ensure that their little souls are blessed.  No matter how older I become, it continually breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes when I see them lying there. I feel this odd sense of vibration from the earth, and some may say its crazy, but the fact remains that I feel that I have been blessed with this incredible connection with nature and I can feel the life in everything.  In all honesty, there are actual times I feel cursed too because I am more heart wrenched then I am heart warmed.

The beauty of living on this breathtaking planet is a privilege and its right there on every side road, street, highway, forest, backyard, mountain, valley, lake, river, ocean, sea and sky.
 

Now that you think I am crazy, and perhaps I am, I did decide this weekend to take photos of what you can find on the side of the road, if you take the time to look ever so closely... And what I found is that the beauty of nature springs where you least expect it...

Today I am joining asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com and if you click on the button to the right entitled "Outdoor Wednesday", you will see some fabulous pictures by some incredibly talented individuals.

Until Next Time.
Smooches from the Crazy One.

THE FORTY FATIGUE SYNDROME

I am pooped people!  Literally, falling over backwards into a pile of fresh out of the dryer duvets Poopedness... Somewhere between 39 and 42 I developed this love of sleeping. I feel strangely worn down and I can’t wait for slumber time.  What’s more pathetic is that I get excited if I wake up in the middle of the night and see that I still have 3 hours before the alarm goes off.  And when that alarm does goes off, I still catch a couple of “zzzz’s” on the toilet and then again in the shower.  I just close my eyes and pass out.  The fact that I haven’t fallen head first into the wall or drowned in the shower is amazing to me!

Somewhere, somehow I went from being Snow White to her dwarf Sleepy!  And if I don’t get enough sleep, well you might as well label me Dopey too!

Life has become so fast paced that I often feel like I am on a merry-go-round that keeps spinning at an alarming rate.

At work, it's just a series of faxes, emails and letters, oh my!  Faxes, Emails and Letters, Oh My!  FAXES, LETTER AND EMAILS, OH MY!  And I am starting to feel like I am Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz walking thru the enchanted forest, but my forest is a series of continual communication and a never ending workload of paper, people, demands and pressures.  And I stand there with my trusty, sturdy Clarks slip ons and I click my heels together three times and say “I just wanna be rich, I just wanna be rich, I just wanna be rich” and then I open my eyes, and I am still there buried beneath a pile of refuge! And what’s worse is that I go home, and it is clean the house, pay the bills, play with the dog, water the yard, make dinner, do laundry, go to bed and repeat. There is just no ending to it and by the time the day is over, I am so exhausted, I can barely get my large junk in the trunk into that bed!

There are days that I think I could sleep a 1000 years.  And just last weekend, I had such a weird Sunday.  I had gotten out of bed, had a shower and breakfast, and then rolled back into bed where I promptly passed out and didn’t bat an eye until 3:00 p.m. and that is only because my bladder was telling me to get up.  I never do that, mostly because my back won’t let me lay on it that long, but also because I absolutely love being out in the day.  And this past weekend, Sunday rolled around again, and I was hard pressed in getting myself mobile!  Half the day was over before I was even dressed.

I hate wasting precious minutes of life and time is moving faster as I get older and it is freaking me out.

Ironically, I am tired of being tired.  I am always preached to in one form or another: drink more water, not enough oxygen to your brain, exercise, exercise, exercise.  I love all these forms of advice.  Especially the exercise motto.  Seriously, how can I exercise if I am to bloody tired too?

As it is, I just keep chugging along in my everyday life and wishing that someone would cram some Energizer batteries up my ass so that I can keep going and going and going.

In the meantime, if you happen to see a girl leaning against a shelf in the grocery aisle with her eyes closed, would you mind giving her a nudge, be gentle though, she’s utterly pooped!

Until Next Time.
Smooches Pooches

HAZY SHADES OF SUMMER

And so I was kissed with the colour of summer today in all it's splendor, and it's sweetness still tickles my nose, and my eyes are still swimming in the beauty brought before me by the kindness of Mother Nature and I realized how simply and utterly blessed I truly am....

Here's Hoping that Mother 

Nature Shares a Kiss with you too!


Today I am joining Summer Sundays and
Today's Flowers.  If you have a chance
please click on the buttons to the right
and see some amazing photographs by
some incredibly talented individuals.

Happy Weekend
and Happy 4th of July to 
my neighbours to the South!

Until Next Time.

Smooches Pooches

FEELING BLUE (and I'm Lovin it!)

Where did that saying "feeling blue" come from?  I love the colour blue, it inspires me, it fires me up and makes me so ridiculously happy that I run around like a complete crazy woman.  Everything great comes from the colour blue.  Like the sky, the ocean, twilight, blue glass, blue jewelry, blue eyes, blue bells, and if my better half and I ever finally tie the knot, my wedding band is blue too!  Ahhhhh, lovely, delightfully, ever inspiring blue! If you think about it, the saying should have really been "feeling grey".  It's dreary and depressing and I will save that for another post.  Nah, forget it, I won't even bother, it's not worth even mentioning.

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians used lapis lazuli to represent heaven and that blue is also used to symbolize the Virgin Mary? They say that a pure blue is the color of inspiration, sincerity and spirituality. And if your nerves need calming, blue is the colour choice for you, just strap on some blue sapphires or blue topazes and you're good to go. Of course I have a ton of blue topazes, this girl is quick to pass on the diamonds! And it even gets better because a blue iris means your friendship is very important to me which is ironic since it is one of my favourite flowers to give to someone. And if your psychic powers need heightening will just break out the Lapis lazuli and azurite.

I use to live in a wonderment of blue until I met my better half.  His eyes were not accustomed to the boldness of the colours I so desired. We were so different when we met, beige boy with a love of wildlife art.  Blue girl with a love of bold, crazy architectural art. So when we built our home, I compromised with my taste in art and his taste in beige and I toned down our colour choice to a beige on beige on green contemporary casual scheme just for him.  And five years later, it is killing me, literally.  I am a moth to the flame when it comes to boldness and I express it in the artwork I collect, in the glass work that adorns my shelves, in the dishes I eat off and in the jewelry I wear. My interior designer background is flinching out of control and I think I have developed a tick because this beige on beige on green scheme is giving me a rash, and not in a good place!

Slowly and unbeknownst to my unsuspecting better half, I am quietly collecting mine (ours) newest design scheme. Yes it's a tad girly, yes it's a tad less contemporary, yes it's a tad french country and YES IT'S A LOT OF BLUE *insert evil laugh here*.  I feel design juices flowing and flowing hard and once that starts, the only thing that can hold me back on this roller coaster ride is my darn chequing account.

I often imagine the day when my better half is out and about and comes back later and walks thru the door and WHAM, the colour blue everywhere. Maybe I will just dance around the house naked and he won't even notice, well that's my plan anyway.  I hope that the design (or me dancing around naked) doesn't blind him for life, but it's a chance I am willing to take!

In the meantime, I am sneaking a little blue into this blog, just so your eyes can feast upon the gorgeousness of what thrills me to my inner soul.

And am I feeling blue?  You betcha, and I am loving every moment of it!

Until Next Time.

Smooches Pooches

A MOMENT AT THE FLOWER STALL

I am a sucker for flower stalls on the side of the road.  I suppose it invokes some old worldly charm of bygone eras of when your normal day of shopping included going from stall to stall to stall collecting your purchases for the day and scooting your butt home to make a gourmet meal of whatever you could throw together from the abundance of veggies that you bought. Not that I would actually know since I was born in the era of convenience food, so I suppose these images must have been imprinted upon my brain from shows like Little House on the Prairies and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.. lol  In any event, my better half  is constantly amused by me and my need to stop and pick up flowers, or zucchinis or tomatoes or basil or whatever I can get my little mitts on. It is a well known fact that if you are outside peddling your wares, you can better believe that I will be there with my funky little handmade basket ooohing and ahhhing and delighting over the joys of buying straight from your home.  

Sunday was such a day for me.  The weather was getting me down with yet another grey sky and so we decided to venture out on a road trip with my camera in tow.  Of course, I saw this flower stall and we had to drive 15 minutes down the road before there was place to make a u-turn in order to get back to it, but $20.00 in gas later and a $8.00 bouquet and I was happily snapping pics.

(please click on pictures to enlarge)

Was it worth the $28.00? You bet!

Because there maybe no sun in the sky but 

there is a great big splash of yellow

thriving on my living room coffee table.

Until Next Time.

Smooches Pooches

LOSING MY TRUTH

Today I wrote this blog about my small bladder and my fear of public toilets and my need to pee at every 5 minute interval.  Later during the day I thought to myself, who cares that I have a small bladder that pees at the drop of a dime and who cares that I have a fear of using outside public washrooms because I worry about bugs flying up my ass?  And it occurred to me that this particular post felt forced. The thing is that when I started this blog, it was about self expression in one form or another.  It was about my thoughts and crazy observations on situations and it became my place to post pictures that said something to my heart.  And in all honesty, facebook just didn't seem to supply enough sufficient space for my rants! Seriously tho, I really had no agenda and I had no format upon which to build.  I wasn’t writing my blog to teach something new, I wasn’t writing my blog to inspire others and I wasn’t writing my blog to discuss difficult journeys in life. It was simply about putting myself out there in an incredibly vulnerable situation, all the while letting the garbled mess in my head spill out onto the keyboard and hoping that someone else would be able to relate to whatever my crazy brain produced.

Lately tho, my blog has turned into this need to be bigger and better than what I am and who I am. At one time I was thrilled that I had eight followers and now I have 21 followers and a multitude of unknown followers and for some reason, I want more. When I started on this little endeavour, I was going to be happy if I hit a 1000 views on my blog within a year, but I hit 5000 in 3 months and I still compare my blog to what other blogs are doing.  I had also noticed that I started to feel the need to post pictures for those who wanted to see photographs.  I felt the need to post funny stories for those who wanted to laugh.  I felt the need to post more internal emotional blogs for those who wanted to try and know the personal side of me.  And I was starting to ask for feedback on what others wanted to see which is absolutely ludicrous, if you think about it. Because would you ask for someone's permission to tell you what to write down in your own diary? And now I have come to this place where I am not really enjoying the turn of events. I am in a self imposed competition and I really need to get out of it.

Somewhere and somehow my blog and myself have both become fishes out of water.  My internal compass has gone astray and I can’t seem to find where north lies anymore.  I have been getting caught up in what seems to be a blogging community built on the idea of visiting many other blogs and providing comments. And let me tell you, there is an entire large group of individuals out there who are really encouraging and leave the most wonderful comments, but still I feel this crazy pressure to land on each and every blog and make a comment myself.  Of course, this is my problem and nothing that has been forced upon me but I need to step back slightly and re-evaluate where I am going with this online journal for the world to review.  I still will participate in the odd meme now and then, possibly even tomorrow, but I am just going to slow it down ever so slightly so that I can bring some of the joy back. 

In the meantime, I want to thank those who have viewed, encouraged, commented and came back for repeats on this very haphazard, eccentric, crazy little diary of mine.  It has made an incredible difference to someone who was very insecure about this little adventure into the cyber world.

I will be back, most likely tomorrow with photographs, but this time it will be for me.  And if you end up liking it, then all the better.

Until Next Time.
Smooches Pooches

GENTLE IMAGES

The Calla Lily, so incredibly elegant, it is a symbol of both rebirth and resurrection, and for me today, it was a reminder that something so simple in it's appearance can be so incredibly overwhelming in it's beauty.

It was just a day of adoration of simplicity at it's best.

And although they are not Calla Lilies, 

I loved their little faces

(and so did the little fly!)

May the rest of your weekend be full of simple pleasures.

And please join me on Sunday for "Today's Flowers"

and a new one I am trying called "Summer Sundays"

by clicking on the links to the right to see some amazing photos

by some incredibly talented individuals

Until Next Time.

Smooches Pooches