Enjoy the Joys!

Hello! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas. Life over the holidays has been very sweet here. Too much food, lots of reading, and most especially, wonderful, rich lazy days playing with my little son. This is his first year that he has really been privy to the thrills of it all. Hugs and kisses punctuate the hours. My heart is full of the mystery and joy of love expanding my soul. Schedules have fallen away and we while afternoons away at the local swimming pool with its luxuriant hottub. I look up and notice the year has finally eased softly down to its close. I sit up, ahem, as I did have something to say to mark its close.

I've long held the suspicion that people are finer that they realize. I believe we can rise to our own vision of our best selves. Before we go and worry about all the resolutions we need to make to see that happen in ourselves, I bet if we looked a little more kindly on ourselves, like a good friend, we would see the seeds of beauty have already been planted. Be proud of your accomplisments. You have probably made a greater difference than you know.

I feel very fortunate that in my blogging life I have somehow become surrounded by such lovely people, like you. Salut to each of you!

The new year is a promise of light and renewal and I feel blessed to be sharing it with those I love the best. I wish the same to all of you.

Now off to enjoy my cache of lobster and PEI mussels, by way of the fabulous Billingsgate seafood market.

May a fine new year await your pleasure!

Merry Christmas from Alberta!

[Park around the corner]

I wish you all the best Christmas ever. I hope you enjoy the peace and joy of the season with those you love.

May Santa find you and leave you something particularly perfect for your inner gardener!

A Room of One's Own

First, there were the days of garden dreaming. Looking out the window that was really too high to see anything when one was sitting down, as one tends to be in the house. There was a new baby to be nourished, cuddled and hopefully put to bed occasionally, hardwood to be installed, walls to be painted, baseboards to be put in place and upgrades to hideous light fixtures to consider. Of course, there was the unpacking to be tackled, but that could wait. Back to the dreaming. And back to the garden. For that was really where one imagined being with chortling baby.

[window too high that wanted to be a door]

The garden needed a fence, it needed earth - yes, the previous owners has filled the back garden with gravel - and it needed plants - galore. So we started planning. We put in a fence, we took out gravel, we brought in good earth. We ripped dead stuff out. And then we had a place to play and a place to plant. But something was still missing. There was no place to sit and just be in the garden, and we still couldn't see out into the garden when we sat in the house. Back to the drawing board for Phase II.

We decided we wanted a cobblestone patio with a small cedar deck, large enough for the BBQ and a small table and chairs set, to become "one" with the garden. So, the landscapers came, and ripped out earth and sod, reshaped some of the beds we had created

and planted two beautiful trees (of several more to come), a Ulmus americana 'Brandon' (Brandon Elm) and a Prunus maackii 'Jeffree' (Goldrush Amur Cherry). I *love* the bark on this one, it is a real four season beauty.

[bronze satin bark of Goldrush Amur Cherry]

The stone patio went in and we had one day to enjoy it before it snowed. The cedar deck had to wait until the last little warm spell arrived and the carpenters went madly at it to finish it off. And then it snowed again.

But there is now a door. So I can look out to the winter garden and begin the dreaming time again. Sitting in our home these Christmas holidays will be a little brighter this year as we wait for the garden to awaken. And then, Phase III, the planting time will begin. The thrilling time, I should call it. :)

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

I hope you are all enjoying Mother Nature's quiet time to dream new beauty into your own verdant corner of the earth.

When We Were Young

You caught me off guard when I was making us breakfast in my little attic kitchen so small your tall cotton-shirted self filled all the negative space

I could hardly see my blue pottery behind you as you folded yourself into the opening by the dropleaf table pushed up against my lace curtains and asked me to marry you

I said yes and got teary and you swivelled out to the hall and dug through your coat pockets, finding a little green box holding a treasure. You had been carrying it for weeks

We married and invited all the children we loved to be a part of it. The girls still have their flower girl dresses. The boys laugh when I tell them they were so cute.

Nine years and they grew up and we stayed young. I think it must have been the magic on that day when the snowflakes sparkled and swirled.

Happy Anniversary, my love.



For those of you who are so patiently waiting to hear of our landscaping endeavours this fall, a post is forthcoming! :)

Just when it looked like it was over between us, something happened

What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave. ~ Baltasar Gracian

Autumn is closing, only remnants remain of the glory and gold of September. Many of us here in the north are closing our garden gates, stacking our pots in the shed and putting the chairs and tables away. But not here at Latitude. The landscapers have just arrived.

Yes, more to come. :)

If you want to see some truly beautiful autumn leaves, check out the stunning jewels at Voyages Around My Camera and the header photo over at Blue Algae Creative. They're gifted, these folks are.