Cattitude and Gratitude

I listen to “Histoires Sans Paroles” (Stories Without Words) by the Quebecois group Harmonium and I am instantly a young woman in my twenties, back in the 1980s in Montreal. I am walking in the freezing cold. I don’t know why I remember the winters more vividly than the summers. Maybe they were harder to endure and I have more memories about them. Montreal had incredibly cold and snowy winters with wind funneling around the tall buildings ready to pounce on you when you least expected it. As I listen to the music, time melts away and I can see myself trudging uphill to my Stanley Street basement apartment just above Sherbrooke Street. My apartment is in a glorious old brownstone house and used to be the servants’ quarters long ago in the days when the horse drawn carriages passed by. It’s dark and dingy and smells mildewy, but it’s home.  Ornate wrought iron bars cover the tiny window, the only source of light, except for a small basement window in the kitche...

Scarlet, yellow and orange leaves, Brash, blazing and brilliant against a blue sky, Showing off in front of the evergreens. A gust of wind and the leaves flutter to the ground, The tree branches shiver, embarrassed in their nakedness, Longing for snow to cover them. The evergreens just laugh.

Don’t you love a happy surprise that happens when you least expect it? That’s what happened to me yesterday when I took the photo of this great blue heron basking in the sun with the ducks. For one thing, I was in the city near a shopping centre and busy roads. Usually when I come to this pond there are only ducks there.  I never expected to see even one heron and I saw two, the great blue heron  and a green heron. I got home and downloaded the photos from my camera to the computer. Imagine my surprise when I looked more carefully at the photo and noticed a turtle basking right next to the blue heron. When I was taking the photo, my focus had been on the blue heron and I hadn't even seen that turtle. I was delighted! How many times have you had expectations about an experience and it turned out completely differently, but in a good way? You run into someone you lost touch with and have a wonderful visit. You lose out on a job but then something...

I can tell Kobie likes this post. Thanks, Kobe. I need all the help I can get! Ten years ago today I got laid off my full time desktop publishing job at the Auditor General. I was quite upset at the time as I'd thought I was set there until retirement in 2019 but I was laid off a day before they would have had to make me permanent. I was afraid of what the future held. How would we manage? I worried about getting another job. It was a time of fear, self-doubt and self-discovery.  Luckily the fear and self-doubt have subsided somewhat, but the self discovery continues and is an ever evolving and exciting process. I decided to take some time to do creative pursuits, spend more quality time with family and give back to the community.  Ten years later, I am still doing this and having a wonderful time. Of course I had to write a poem about it as that's how I express myself best.  Narcissistic Cat strikes again! ;) I got laid off ten years ...

It’s all about ME, ME, ME! Come to Facebook and you’ll see, Loads of photos in all their glory Some of them look pretty gory (Such as this selfie below!) I love to share my every thought From what I ate to what I bought, To how I feel and what I think It’s driving all my friends to drink My cats are the cutest, don’t you agree? Especially my famous cat, KoBEE, He is the most adorable cat ever Everything he does is cute and clever, I love to post statuses, day and night Giving Mark Zuckerberg such a fright, I post any time and in any place Eating up Facebook’s data space, I like to Facebook til I drop Mark keeps pleading for me to stop, I can’t stop Facebooking, can’t you see? My Facebook is all about me, me, me! I am writing this post for Write Tribe's Wednesday prompt of I, Me and Myself.   http://writetribe.com/i-me-and-myself/ Special thanks to Shilpa Garg whose post about narcissistic types on the Internet inspired...

Higgledy Piggledy is such a great word It bounces off the tongue and sounds absurd, In a jumbled, confused, or disorderly way Sounds like how I spend my day, Dust bunnies dance and have a ball Doing handstands down the hall, Clutter builds up by the door Covering every inch of floor, Dirty dishes and laundry fight for space You’d think that they were in a race, Around here Higgledy Piggledy rules supreme Look at me, I’m livin' the dream!

If only I was ______ enough (pretty, slim, rich, successful, clever etc) Life wouldn’t be so tough Do you compare yourself and then feel shame? It’s time to stop this destructive game, Stop with the comparison trap It’s a guaranteed way to feel like crap, No one is perfect, it’s all an illusion Stop torturing yourself with such delusion, You’re good enough and better in fact Now quit with the comparison act. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

http://writetribe.com/20-quotes-about-writing/ I am writing this post for "100 words on a Saturday's" prompt of using a quote from the list of writing quotes. I chose the quote below. The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing. ―  Alan Dean Foster Myrna washed the windows until they shone. She scrubbed the kitchen and the bathroom. Then she vacuumed the rugs. A fresh scent of lemon filled the air as she dusted the furniture. There was a knock on the door and her writer friend, Gloria stood in the doorway holding a basket containing a notebook, a thermos, two mugs and some fresh carrot muffins. “I thought you could probably use a break,” Gloria said. “That’s so nice of you, Gloria.” “Having trouble with the novel?” “Yes. How did you know that?” “Your house is so clean,” Gloria said with a grin.

Y esterday the day started with a loud honk of a car horn in our driveway, followed by a frantic knock on the door. I looked out to see the angry face of my neighbour glaring at me. “Your dog is in our garbage. My husband can’t park his school bus,” she stated in an accusing way as if I’d led him over there deliberately. I apologized and ran across the road to retrieve Tanner. There he was munching away on rotten leftovers in tin foil, blissfully unaware that he was causing the neighbour to have a conniption fit. I yanked the stinky rotten food out of his mouth and carried it in one hand while I led him back by the collar to our house.  YUCK! How could he eat that stuff anyhow? What a strong stomach! Amazingly he didn't get sick. What a dog! Our red Siberian husky, Tanner is almost 17 and has aged a lot lately. He sleeps a lot and we can't take him on long walks any more since his back hips are arthritic making it difficult to walk. He has cataracts and doesn’t...

  Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′ http://shailajav.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/from-15-to-50-fiction-link-up-september-2014/ with the following prompts:  Word prompt: Perspective Phrase Prompt: ‘Three in a row’ Picture Prompt: (Copyright Shailaja Vishwanath  at The Moving Quill) (50 words exactly! Phew!) The pots stand three in a row, largest to smallest, in perspective. “I get the biggest,” Oldest sister, Nora says. Middle sister, Carol takes the second largest. Youngest sister, Mary, gets the smallest. Her bean plant thrives while ours die. “Bigger isn’t always better,” she says with a smug smile.

Several years back, some friends from our church suffered a terrible blow when their adult son shot himself dead one winter night. How incredibly sad that this man had reached such a low point that he saw no way out other than taking his own life. While I can’t even begin to comprehend the deep despair a suicidal person must feel, it's clear that people have become more disconnected and isolated from each other. In the frantic pace of today’s world, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle and feel that no one cares. Families are fragmented and communities are not as close and supportive as they once were. Is there anything that we as individuals can do, even in a small way to connect with others and assure them that they are valuable? A movement started at the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work called “You Matter” is doing just that.   http://msw.usc.edu/category/youmatter/ By acknowledging someone, showing appreciation or even doing a r...

Throughout my life I’ve had moments of great weakness where I gave up too soon after a failure or I accepted someone else’s negative definition of me as the truth. I’m not proud of those moments but will admit to them and hope that I’ve learned and grown since then. I'd like to share my wisdom of age and experience with young people like my sons in the hopes that they will discover their inner resilience earlier than I did. I think my inner strength or resilience was there all along but often I didn't trust it enough to tap into it. Just like a piece of sandstone that has undergone intense pressure and heat to become a hard igneous rock, I would like to think I’m stronger now after a lifetime of hurts and disappointments. Of course I’m far from perfect and still go through my weak moments but hopefully I’m more resilient now than when I was younger. I still get hurt but am able to weather it better than when I was younger and more inexperienced, convinced ...

I am participating in Laurel Reagan’s weekly Gratitude Link up.  http://www.alphabetsalad.com/todays-gratitude-list-linkup-no-45/ I do think these gratitude lists are the best thing for getting our mindset in the right place. When you think in a spirit of gratitude, there is no space for self pity, negativity, envy, jealousy, guilt, and self doubt. It’s not to say that those bad emotions never come back for a visit, but it’s easier to keep them at bay by thinking with gratitude. I am grateful that... We got through our first week of September with new school schedules and routines. When I went back to Weight Watchers, my vacation didn’t make me gain too much weight. I am grateful that the humidity has gone and we are finally having some of those cool golden days of fall that I love so much. Today the boys and I took the nicest bike ride on the back roads and then a lovely walk with Loup, our Malamute in the woods. Choir started up again last Tuesday and I’m ...

This quote by Kafka reminds me to look for beauty every day. It all starts in the mind anyhow. You’re seeing the world through your own special filter of reality and no one else sees it quite the same way. Since I am an avid photographer, I have my senses finely attuned to look for the beauty all around me.  It’s there if we look hard enough. Beauty is a mourning dove Beauty is a discarded glove, Beauty is the sunset on a lake Beauty is a delicious cake, Beauty is a bratty cat Beauty is a rubber mat, Beauty makes every day a special surprise All you have to do is open your eyes.

I am writing this post as part of Write Tribe's "Two Cents' Worth" prompt for Wednesday. My apologies for being a day late, but better late than never, right? http://writetribe.com/apostrophe-catastrophe/ Hey Big Spender, listen to me, please Do you think that money grows on trees? You spend, spend, spend with no end in sight Your credit card bills are an awful fright! And do you really need to buy all this stuff? Don’t you already have enough? Bet your bottom dollar that soon you’ll see Buying things doesn’t set you free, The fact is things just take up more space They make you trip and fall on your face, This is my two cents' worth or more like a dime Hope you’ll actually listen to me this time!

This is a photo from last fall.  The leaves haven't started changing yet  but it won't be long til they look like this. Finally we’re getting some warmer temperatures today after a very cool summer here in Ontario. Hard to imagine that fall is on its way. Today kids started school again and all the clubs and groups will be starting their sessions. September feels more like the start of a new year than January. It’s a busy and exciting time, full of new beginnings and possibilities. And yet, on the other hand, fall signifies the ending of summer with plants dying, leaves falling from the trees, and winter approaching. When I think of music associated with fall, “September Song” is the first song that comes to mind. I’ve always found “September Song" so melancholy and bittersweet. I especially like this version done by Frank Sinatra as he always fills his songs with so much emotion. It starts off talking about a young man enjoying his youth as he chase...