Saturday Morning.

Saturday morning in the cottage is an early day as I work each week. Today is our kids grief class at my hospice, though it's of course online at the moment. We have 18 kids/teens and their parents/guardians with 4 facilitators. Our first session was last week and it went really well. We have 7 more sessions left and then a bit of a break before we start a new group in mid April. I love teaching kids, teens and adults who are grieving how to navigate this journey. To watch them heal and grow through the group is so powerful. Truly, I  have the best job in the world! Nothing better. 

After the group, I'll have a bit of lunch and then my afternoon, depending on the week, is either counselling clients, catching up on paperwork and tasks, or an afternoon off if I've gone over my hours. I'm actually over my hours this week but I'm going to work thru the day and take a day off down the road. I'm starting to feel tired but want to get a few things cleared off my "to do" list and then take some time back. No hockey tonight. Maybe a movie night. Or work on the puzzle night. Or on the mini bakery. Or just do all of these. Or nothing. I could flake out on the couch and nap!

Hope your day is warm and cozy, full and fun. 

~ Chy

Saturday Morning.

Writing from my cozy bed this morning. The train whistle is loud this morning but somehow comforting. Dh just finished his workout and is showering. Everyone else in the house is still sleeping. I'm taking it easy and not working out until after my Cat Scan on Tuesday. I did finish staining the deck yesterday in anticipation of putting together the greenhouse this weekend. Our plan in the moment, after I shower, is to head in to town and buy a can of paint for a project, head to Costco to pick up dh's prescription and look at new sunglasses for me (I drove over my other pair!), and then spend the day putting the structure together .... if it doesn't rain! It's predicted and it's cloudy but we'll see what happens. We may start piecing it together in the garage and then move it over. Tomorrow's weather sounds great, with sun, no clouds and warmth! I'm hoping to work on the dollhouse today as well. We may bbq tonight, put the fireplace on, pop some popcoarn and watch a movie or Netflix. Tune the World out day! It's been another tough week, so the weekend for us is a chance to recharge our energy.

Do you like my pic above? It's a wood block piece of art called "Carry on Down the Road." It's a personal favorite of mine from a company on our little island on the West Coast of Canada, Salt Spring Island. The company is called "Cedar Mountain Studios." Family run and we're so excited to see we can now buy blocks here in our own home town. I have my eye on this one for my birthday in the late Fall ....

This one is called "Wander" and just like the one above reminds me of the daily journey we are on. I love all their blocks but wall space is limited! These do stand up on their own as well. But I like them on the wall. We've begun to give them as gifts. And by chance, on our little island where these are made, we found these on our trip last October:

Aren't they sweet? I keep this on my desk, under my lamp, so I see them each day to remind myself of why I do the work I do. They are in memory of our sweet babies who died and a visual of what we have lost. They make me smile. And fill my heart with love. I'm not sure the family at Cedar Mountain ever thought that a grieving mom would become attached to these wood blocs for the reason we have but I'm so glad they created these. A reminder of who we are, how far we've come and why this work we do is so vital. 

All for now. Wishing  you and your family

a beautiful and restful weekend. Namaste.

~ Chy

Blizzardy Day.

We woke up to a blizzardy landscape

of snow, sleet, wind and low visibility. 

My pots blew over and the wind was

pushing the snow across the sidewalk.

The road was now covered and we knew

the drive in to town would be not great.

But we made it home, safe and sound,

to our little warm and cozy cottage.

~ Chy

Saturday Spins.

Saturday, our busy day. I work so we fit in all the things we need and want to do around my hours. It's a bit crazy but then we have our quiet, just for us, no work Sundays! 

Our wind spinner above. Kind of how Saturdays feel for us. Moving, moving, spinning, spinning. I captured this shot just as it was in the midst of a rotation. We have tons of windy days and nights. Some very scary. Some very worrisome. Yesterday, our tree guy came out and took down trees that are dead and blowing in the wind a bit too much for our liking. I hate losing trees, but a tree falling on our house or our cars would be much more of a headache than having a bit more sky visible in our little forest. Worth the cost and the time. Not looking forward to more storms but at least when they are active, I won't be freaking out that trees will fall down on us. Too many stressors when it's super windy.

Farmer's Market today, then work, then home. No plans for tonight just yet other than if there is no rain, we might have a fire outside. It's super cloudy, so will have to check the forecast and see if we can or if it's going to rain. We hung up our little lights around the Pergola last weekend ~ really want to sit out under the skies with our lights and enjoy some night air around the fire pit, roasting some marshmallows and listening to the crickets and coyotes. 

Hope you have an amazing Saturday! With no wind. With no storms. Just family, friends and fun. 

~ Chy

Sunny Saturday.

I woke up way too early this morning. Just before 6 a.m. I am NOT an early riser. But after 2 days of beautiful rain with dark skies, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. That was the first trigger for my early awakening. The second was the growling in my belly. Not a lot of appetite the last few days but this morning, my body was hungry! Dh was still sleeping, so off to the kitchen I trekked. As awake as I was, I didn't have the energy to cook a breakfast and I didn't feel like cereal, so I filled up my vintage bowl with white cheddar popcorn, grabbed a couple of ripe strawberries and a cup of chocolate milk. So yummy and filled me up. And dh is still sleeping, so I successfully had brekky in bed without waking him up! He works so very hard and rest is good. 

Look at that blue sky! The rain we had was so welcome. It started a bit on Wednesday, then continued with downpours and thunder on Thursday. By yesterday, the sky was dark, the air was chilled and the moods were shifting. We both had work yesterday (dh at home and me in my little office) but we stopped to have a lovely lunch and that cheered us up. Late in the afternoon, snow started to fall. Crazy weather, but true! Today and tomorrow should be warm and sunny. I'm off to teach my kids grief group today with my crew and dh is going to be at a community event all day promoting our new music festival. Tonight will probably just be a quiet night to relax. Tomorrow will be landscaping in the morning and then we want to go in to the Big City and revamp our antique mall booth. We did some treasure hunting yesterday and found a bunch of great items to sell. We'll settle down to watch the 2nd season of "Big Little Lies" and plan out our week before heading to bed. A nice weekend all around and hopefully the weather will continue to be nice and warm. More rain in our forecast for next week, which is a perfect weather pattern. A day or two of rain, days of sun, then a day or two of rain again. Just enough to keep everything green and growing. Perfect!

What are your grand plans for the weekend?

If you garden, how is your garden growing?

~ Chy

Comfort Zone.

Saturday morning musings from my very comfy desk ~ aka our bed! I truly don't want to get up. Our province is once again under an Extreme Weather Warning for the weekend. I haven't checked yet this morning but with the windchill, the temperatures are supposed to sit well under - 40 C. Really, Mother Nature? Please give us a break! A mild Winter was expected and we enjoyed, right up until the first week of February. And then you gave us some snow, not too much but enough to make it a true Winter. Our snow has gotten less and less over the years. Sometimes we don't even need boots. It was a bit fun at first and very pretty. But the bitter cold was not welcome. Please Mother, take it back and bring on Spring! Don't you think after all the cold, we deserve some beautiful warmth? With warm sun and melting snow? I'll just leave this thought out here for her to ponder.

On to my news for the day. I, little me, the very cautious, over thinking me, has taken a huge step out of my comfort zone. What, you may say? Yes, my comfort zone. I struggle with social situations and am always very protective of myself but since discovering an art store in the Big City, I've been drooling over their art classes that come across my laptop. I open up the email messages and gaze at the incredible projects. And then close them. Taking a class by myself isn't particularly appealing to me. How will I concentrate on the task at hand if I have to talk to people? What if the noise is too much? What if my voice gets crackly? What if my hands get tired and won't cooperate? 

And then this "Whisper Box" class came up and I just had to swallow my concerns and sign up. I thought about it first for a few days, dh said "just do it" and I did! I'm a self taught mixed media dabbler ~ I won't say artist yet but that is my end goal. So this class is a step in the right direction. I'm excited but very nervous all at once. To combat the nervous, I've been reviewing the list of additional items that are required (the fee includes most of the kit) and spent time in the art studio gathering what I already had ~ scissors, gold pen, matt finish, etc. After my kids grief class today (see I can teach a class, but attending ..... ooohhhh), I'm heading off to our local M's, coupon in hand to start gathering the archival inks and the varnish needed. The class is a week from tomorrow and is for 6 hours, so I'll also have to figure out how and what to bring along to eat and drink. 

Isn't it the sweetest project? I have a feeling I'll be nervous all week right up until I arrive and then it will be so much fun that I'll be signing up for the next class before the first one is done! There is only 7 spots in the class and then the instructor, so 8 in the room. I think if I can talk in front of a 1,000 people and not be nervous, 8 should be easy peasy! Do you ever step out of your comfort zone to tackle something that is exciting to you? Send along your coping techniques if you do so I can reassure myself this will be just fine and worth it in the end! And fingers crossed, mine turns out as nice as the project pictures show. I will work very hard to ensure that it does. I'm off to teach class. Have a great day!

~ Chy

Happy Saturday.

This picture came across my FB feed this morning and after reading everyone else's posts about the frosty weather outside, I chose to send this along, with a little "your welcome" after explaining why I wasn't chiming in on the weather posts. A little hope for warmer weather and all the big gardening adventures that many of us are dreaming of.

Kids grief program this morning, then a quick tidy and we headed in to the Big City to celebrate this sweet girl's 6th birthday. How did she get to be 6 already!! We had fun at her party. It was so sweet seeing her with her little friends from her Kindergarten class. Truly growing up too fast.

Excited to have not one but two little

lockets to wear with her new dresses.

Sweetest granddaughter in the world

We are so proud ~ she is too cute!

It was a "Happy Saturday" but the end is near. We came home, lounged a bit, did some writing, ate a great dinner, wrote more, watched the hockey game and now we're off to sleep ~ grandson has hockey in the morning ~ no sleeping in this week! Hope your Saturday was lovely. And warm!

~ Chy

Groovy Saturday!

Hi everyone!

Our weekends have always been a mix of busy activities, followed by relaxation and letting go. Now that we are in the process of getting this house ready to sell while our new home is being built, weekends have become a bit more hectic trying to fit in the extra tasks that need to be completed before we list. Compounding this time frame is the fact that I usually work on Saturdays. But we have created a pretty good schedule and so far, as my graphic says, our Saturdays have become "groovy"!

This Saturday, I went to my office just a few minutes from home to provide counselling services for some clients then spent a bit of time rearranging our art cupboard and my office. Two summer daycamps are just around the corner and I really need to have my work spaces organized and clutter free before the kids arrive. Once those items were crossed off my list, I headed home to paint the second coat in the living room, staircase, hallway and front door. As much as I was not crazy about the neutral color at first, I'm loving it now. Such a "groovy" color! A quick dinner and shower then we were off to be part of a fundraiser in the city that was planned to help raise money for my dh's Fringe theatre show in August. Goodies, drinks, a silent auction, panel discussion from the cast, a photobooth and a comedian, who is a friend of ours. It went well, we had fun, made money and everyone was happy at the end of  the night. 

So that was our "groovy" Saturday. A busy day, productive work and fun to end the evening!

How was your "groovy" Saturday?