Tag: Happiness

Today We Celebrate 15,695 Days

by barbstruestories, posted in Anniversary, Life's observations

Today we celebrate 15,695 days together, or another way of looking at it is to divide the days by 365 (yes I know I didn’t factor in leap years but hopefully you’ll cut me some slack) and that is 43 years.  It was November 9, 1974, a Saturday 43 years ago we were married.  We were reminiscing a bit today about our wedding.  What time exactly did we get married?  Neither of us can remember off the top of our heads.  I could go look at our wedding book but that would mean stirring from this chair.

We talked about how many people who were at the wedding have since died and how many people in our lives now were not born 43 years ago.  It’s time like these I reflect on all the wonderful people we know and have known.  People who have sat around our dining table or we have sat around theirs.  We are rich in family and in friends.  We have, together, lived through experiences that have brought joy to our hearts and some that have broken our hearts.  Our wedding day was filled with joy and sorrow.  The joy of a wedding, the sorrow of a visit to the hospital where my mother was dying.  We had moved our wedding day ahead hoping she might attend but that was not to be.  When I think of it now I wonder how my Dad coped that day.  His sense of humour never left him though.  After the ceremony he accompanied us to the hospital to visit Mom and as we all passed the admitting desk, he looked at the clerk and at me in my wedding dress and said “Would you please give us directions to the maternity ward?”

We have lived through a lot together, the two of us and we are blessed in so many ways. We give thanks for our family, our friends and our good fortune, probably not as often as we should.  There’s not a joke or story that we can tell each other that we likely have told one another before.  Some stories and opinions or theories are repeated over and over (mostly in his case of course).  In conversation with others one of us can start a story and turn to the other who will finish it.  

And to those who say ‘there is nothing new under the sun’, well that’s just wrong.  Something new happened today, some 15,695 days after our wedding.  We traditionally buy anniversary cards for each other.  Today would be our 83rd and 84th card purchase (starting with our first anniversary). And something new happened today.  Below are the cards we bought each other.   If we’d known, we could have saved some money and both signed the same card.

 

 

 

Going Home and Coming Back Home

by barbstruestories, posted in Going home, Happiness, Life's observations

I have just returned from a vacation to Saskatchewan.  Saskatchewan is home.  At least it was  for the first five decades of my life.  It has been said that you must leave home and return in order to see it for the first time.  It’s true for me.  You see the beauty, the scenery, even the people with eyes that are somehow fresher as a result of time and distance.  

Canadian folk singer Connie Kaldor grew up in Saskatchewan.  She has lived in Quebec for some time and yet has written several songs about her native province.  I became a fan of hers when I lived in Saskatchewan.  I always wondered how she could see things so clearly and it is possibly because of that time and distance.

My view of Saskatchewan is a biased one.  I was raised and educated there.   It’s where I met my husband, where we raised our daughter and where we were able to find meaningful and challenging work.  Much of our wonderful family still lives there.  When I visit Saskatchewan I feel it fills up my soul and I bring that feeling back with me when I return to our current home in Ontario.  Now we have two “homes” where we have family and close friends.  Who could ask for anything more. 

During your life have you been transplanted from your native home to another place on the planet?  If so, what is it like for you to “go home”?

Morning Glory-ous

by barbstruestories, posted in Green (sometimes) thumb, Happiness

Green (sometimes) Thumb -Year Two

It’s been hot and dry in our neck of the woods this year.  We have been declared in a  Level 2 drought.    This isn’t good for all sorts of reasons but there are some benefits-fewer mosquitoes, not much for lightning and thunder (not enough humidity to muster up a decent boomer), reduced e.coli counts for beach swimming-thought I’d throw that one in.  

Crop Report

Dry as it’s been, our garden, or maybe it’s the gardeners, is showing much improvement over  last year (so far).  Yes we’ve invested in all manner of things and we know more than we did last year.  We declare (to ourselves) that we have moved from the bottom rung of community gardeners to possibly mid-range.  One early morning last week I spent a glorious few hours-no mosquitoes-pulling weeds, talking to the plants, chastising whatever varmint is chewing on the yellow beets and thoroughly enjoying just being.  It was a morning glory-ous.

Healthy beets

Evidence about dirt and happiness

There is some evidence that digging in the dirt..and breathing it in-maybe ingesting some is good for your health.  Growing up my Mom would bring us lunch out to the field.  We’d eat sandwiches with our very dirty hands (from hours of operating a tractor with no cab-there might be some grease in there too).  You could literally see the dirt from your hands transfer to the homemade bread and then into your mouth.  Mom used to say “everybody’s got to eat a pound of dirt a year”.   We secretly thought we ate 2 pounds a year to make up for the city kids who likely didn’t eat any.  

Good News and Not So Good News

Pumpkins

Good news-two rather robust looking pumpkins.  Bad news-some nefarious insect or blight is trying to suck the life out of the plant. Any idea what that might be or what we can do about it?

Good news-potato plants very big.  Bad news-potato bugs plus some sort of insect or blight is turning leaves brown and causing them to curl up-any idea what that might be? Or what we can do about it?

Bounty

We are enjoying a much improved bounty this year, so far.  Lettuce, radishes, swiss chard, new beets, patty pan squash and just today-baby potatoes!

Homemade borscht (beets from the garden)
New potatoes and patty pan squash. Beets unavailable-busy in the soup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We held a breakfast come and go at the “farm” yesterday and we were proud to show people our gardening efforts.  Those who attended were likely hoping that once they showed up maybe we’d quit talking about the garden and they’d get some peace and quiet (or maybe a butternut squash come harvest time).  It was a pleasure to have people drop by.  

Summer garden party-our youngest guest was four months old


 

 

 

 

A Year Away From The Day to Day

by barbstruestories, posted in Beyond full time work, Happiness, Life's observations, Observations in retirement, Retirrement, Rewirement

Life’s transitions and purpose

If you are fortunate, you are able to experience many transitions in life.  Infancy to childhood, childhood to the teenage years from there to young adulthood and so on.  In addition to the transition from one age to another, we have many other life transitions.  We start out totally dependent on others, move to complete independence and for some of us we may end up towards the end of our lives being totally dependent on others once again.

I have known some people who have had very clear ideas about their lives.  As  a child they knew they wanted to grow up to be a (fill in the blank), they wanted to buy a house, have 2 children, travel and so on.  Lots of things to do, lots of things to accomplish and not a lot of time to do it, it seems.  

Purpose

My mother had many sayings.  They are all indelibly burned into my memory.  They should be burned in for we heard them over and over again!  One of them is “everyone has to have a purpose”.  It’s true and it’s plain speak for a life with meaning.  We may feel  we have more than one purpose but it or they are there somewhere swimming around in our conscious or unconscious selves.  That purpose may be re-focussed as we go through life.  While very young, perhaps our play was our work and purpose, then school, adult relationships, a family of our own and a career.   Then comes a time when full-time work ends-for some they choose to say goodbye and for some the end is decided for them.  There will be quite a bit of that in our city over the next few years as there will be downsizing in the federal public service.

So How’s Retirement, They Ask

I stepped aside from full-time, flat-out work just over a year ago. Here’s my take on this transition:

  • Rewirement is the word. We need to use a new word for this stage in life.  The word is rewirement.  Retirement might have started out as good term but now sounds too lethargic, too flat, too, well, too retired.  I’m not retiring, I’m rewiring.
  • Everything takes longer than you expect.  I thought I’d be a lot more organized than I am one year out.  Boy it takes a lot of time
  • You notice more things. Not flying out the door to work early in the morning and returning many hours later day after day you have a bit more time to look at things with new eyes.  How long has that bit of the house needed painting?  Have I ever cleaned that closet?  
  • Photos do not organize themselves.  If you avoided tasks before you left full-time work, you will avoid them afterward.
  • Time and freedom of choice.  Whether you take up some part-time work, immerse yourself in old or new hobbies, connect or re-connect with family and friends, the choice is yours.
  • The day in, day out routine.  Don’t miss it one bit.  The people yes, the routine of up and out the door day after day, no.  I am fortunate to be doing some part-time consulting and find the variety and flexibility to be wonderful.
  • Connections are the key.  Life is rich and purposeful when we are connected.  Connected to our loved ones, our friends, a community.  Connections can take many forms and they are what give us purpose.  If you think others care a great deal about what you do or that it makes you something special, another of my mother’s sayings ring true.  “The higher the monkey climbs, the more you can see his ass.”
  • A lifestyle to be highly recommended.  Yes work is important and yes we get tied up in careers and things, however I would recommend life beyond full-time work for anyone who is able.  It seems a bit backwards that when we are younger, perhaps raising young children and busy with so many things that we also may have full-time work in our day. It’s upside down, really.  I believe many people would like to work part-time but circumstances don’t allow it.  

Life can pass in what seems like the blink of an eye.  Make the most of it. 

Have you found your life stages unfolded as you anticipated?  Do you have words of wisdom to share?


Simply Biscotti and Betty’s Tea Room (Part II)

by barbstruestories, posted in Friendship, Simply Biscotti Project

What do Betty’s Tea Room in York, England and Simply Biscotti, the coffee/bakery bistro in Little Italy in Ottawa, Ontario in common?

Since I visited both within the past three weeks, thought I’d do a bit of an account of each the two days-mostly done through photos.  This post is the Simply Biscotti visit last week. 

Physical activity and spending time in friendly company

A friend and I enjoyed a lovely bike ride through the Dominion Arboretum on the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. The sun was shining, people were out enjoying a stroll and the sights of Canada’s Tulip Festival.  

The Experimental Farm is a jewel in the midst of a city.  There are five such research stations across Canada.  The farm I grew up on in Saskatchewan was about 50km from the Indian Head station.  Trees from that Experimental Farm stand on our now abandoned farmstead.  

The Dominion Aboretum is in its spring glory.  The collection comprises approximately 4,000 individual tree and shrub specimens from 56 families.

The Tulip Festival draws 500,000 visitors annually.  It is estimated that are one million tulips in bloom during the festival.   The colours and different varieties of tulips are amazing.



An afternoon treat
While Simply Biscotti doesn’t carry baking in tribute of the Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee, they do have tulip cookies in celebration of the current festival.  A chocolate/black pepper and almond chocolate biscotti were ideal accompaniments to our afternoon tea and coffee.
 

Snow Plow Happiness

by barbstruestories, posted in Happiness, Life's observations

Weather Report:

We have had some very unpleasant weather this winter.  It’s not that it’s been bitterly cold or there’ve been great dumps of snow.  It is the warm weather that brings us freezing rain and ice pellets then freezing to a huge coat of ice on everything-your vehicle, your front step, your sidewalk.  Today school buses are cancelled, walking outside is treacherous and if you are able, you might want to stay in your pyjamas until it’s time to go to bed tonight.

Cleaning the Driveway:

Out I went this morning, ice chipper and shovel in hand. I gave it a good go for over an hour and made some headway.  I shoved the crud onto our street.

Happiness!

On days like this, it’s wonderful to find happiness in unusual places.  

Like the snow plow that shows up AFTER you have pushed the snow onto the street!  This is almost as good as winning a lottery. In my case, this is good for smiles at least till dinner time.

Improve Happiness by Shopping for Dairy Products

by barbstruestories, posted in Happiness, Life's observations

The Book Backed By Research

Not long ago I read the book “The How Of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirski.  It was a good read.  From the official website for the book: “The How of Happiness offers a new and potentially life-changing way to understand our innate potential for joy and happiness as well as our ability to sustain it in our lives.”

The author and her colleagues suggest a number of way to improve your level of happiness.  Examples included counting your blessings…but not too often for it then becomes more of a routine must-do effort rather than a practice to increase your level of happiness.  

An Act That Can Improve Happiness

With all due respect to Dr. Lyubomirsky and her colleagues, they missed one everyday occurrence that can impact your happiness-at least it does for me.

 

A Container of Potential Happiness

And that occurrence is shopping for dairy products.  The shopping by itself isn’t that exciting but what can bring me joy is looking at the expiry dates.  Here’s an example from the store today.

 

 

 

 

And When You See the Expiry Date

Shades of Spring!

Picture this-it’s January 10th-the wind is blowing, the snow is falling and you are tired of putting on jackets, toques, gloves and boots every time you step outside.  Then you are in the dairy section of your local grocer and being the wise shopper you check best-before dates as you shop.  How great is it to see that the cream cheese is telling you spring is around the corner!! May 12th can’t be that far off if the cheese is guaranteed to be of good quality till then.  By then we will have small plants ready to go in the garden, we will be itching to start planting seeds, a few games of golf will be under our belts and the bicycle will be serviced and ready to go!  

 

No need to point out to me though that expiry dates can conspire against happiness and good moods depending on the season.   If you buy dairy products on a beautiful late fall day and expiry date is January-well, you get my (snow) drift.