Marvelous Monday - A Bird in the Hand

We have the joy of living quite close to a beautiful botanical garden - the Royal Botanical Garden in Hamilton, Ontario.  Along with a number of exquisite formal and informal gardens, the RBG consists of 2400 acres of natural land, and 30 km of hiking trails.  It is one of our favourite places to go to enjoy spring flower displays in the incredible Iris Rock Gardens and the Lilac Arboretum.  But it is also one of our favourite places to go for a Sunday afternoon hike all year round.

We spent a glorious Sunday afternoon there last week.  The sky was blue and the autumn leaves were still full of colour.

The particular hiking trail we chose that day runs along an inner harbour, so periodically along the way we caught glimpses of the water through the trees.

And at one point, the trail took us right down to the water's edge.

We saw lots of birds and animals, like this nuthatch, flicker and this noisy little squirrel who gave us quite a scolding for venturing into his territory!

And we had a great deal of fun feeding the very tame little chickadees who love to take seed right out of your hand!

You know the old saying "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" ... a great reminder to me to practice being content with what I have instead of constantly wishing for something more, or something different, or someone else's life that looks more glamorous than my own.  

So this Marvelous Monday, I am especially thankful for Sunday afternoon hikes, for sweet little chickadees, and for all the other "birds" that are in my hand ... the blessings that are already part of my life that I sometimes take for granted.

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not;

remember that what you now have

was once among the things you only hoped for."

Epicurus, Greek Philosopher (341-270 BC)

Marvelous Monday - Wonderful Parks

It's been several weeks since I posted a "Marvelous Monday" but I've been thinking all day about how much I'd like to write this one and finally now have a moment to sit down to the computer and blog away to my heart's content!

Yesterday afternoon, we spent some blissful time hiking in one of our favourite local parks.  Short Hills Provincial Park is an amazing 1600 acre park filled with hiking trails, waterfalls, beautiful trees and peaceful meadows.  Some trails are designated strictly for hikers while others are multi-use trails for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skying, and horse-back riding.  Though Short Hills is a favourite of ours, we often take it for granted instead of realizing what a treasure it really is.  I'm so glad we have access to fantastic greenspaces like this.  As my husband puts it, spending time in nature allows us to shake the "clinkers from our thinkers!"

Here are a few shots from our energizing hike on a brisk autumn Sunday afternoon:

“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”   

-- Raymond Inmon


 

“Walking:  the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise.”  

-- Carrie Latet


 

“When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body.  I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out.”  

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

“I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.”   

-- G.M. Trevelyan


 

“A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.”  

-- Paul Dudley White


 

“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”   

-- Aldous Huxley  

You Can't Always Get What You Want (and other wise old sayings from the Rolling Stones)

I have to admit, I have the perfect life.  After commuting for years to work, making barely enough to pay for a series of "below average" ugly apartments, I now get to work out of my own home.  Well, for the most part, that is.  My husband of 8 years is a mechanic and owns his own auto repair shop.  I do the books for the business, run errands, and generally make a great shop gofer.  And most of the time I am extremely grateful for my new-found freedom from a typical office environment.

Yesterday, however, I was annoyed.  I had a busy day with tons of stuff to get done but I carefully timed things in the afternoon so I could fit in a walk.   I've been trying to walk every day, yes, obviously for the physical activity, but also for the mental benefits too.  I love people, love talking to people, love to be around people (I am, after all, half Italian so this should not come as a surprise!), but I find myself restored by being totally by myself.   Perhaps this is a result of the rest of my genetic make-up which is British, but whatever, I just find that my soul is refreshed and renewed if I can have at least half an hour everyday, by myself, away from telephones, television, computers, cellphones, etc. and out in the fresh air and sunshine, thinking solitary thoughts and dreaming solitary dreams.  So I treasure my walk time and guard it quite jealously.  And then yesterday late in the afternoon, having finished almost everything on my to-do list, right when I was about to go for my lovely sunshiny walk, my husband phoned and needed me to go pick up a part for him.

So, I was annoyed.  I picked up the old part which I would be required to match up at the parts place, drove the half hour to the new Freightliner dealership in our area, couldn't find the gate I was supposed to enter in their ginormous new compound, finally found the correct gate, circled the parking lot trying desperately to find a slot for my SUV as they clearly haven't yet sorted out customer parking, eventually found a spot that was so far out in the lot that it could conceivably be considered part of the next township, hustled into the building in the hopes of getting in and out of there as fast as possible, and then stood there and waited and waited and waited.   Gahh!!   There were at least 100 cars in the parking lot, so clearly they have a ton of staff in this huge new facility, but apparently there was only 1 guy on parts and he was having problems with his computer and trying to help the person ahead of me in line.  Finally, another parts person showed up, got me my part, and I was on my way.

As I stormed huffily out of the building, mid way across the wide expanse of the parking lot, I was struck with an epiphany.  I was angry because I was having to walk so far to get to my vehicle when what I really wanted to be doing was ..... walking!  So here comes the first Rolling Stones tidbit ... "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need" ... yeah, nuff said.

But then as I got into my car, because obviously I still hadn't yet reconciled my bad attitude with my new-found insight, I heaved a big sigh and said, "But God, this isn't what I had in mind for a walk!  I wanted something, you know, inspirational, where I would feel in touch with nature, and even find something lovely and photo-worthy!"  So I pulled out of the huge parking lot, turned on to the busy industrial street, and something caught my eye.   There in the very next parking lot was a family of geese, marching their way from a marshy ditch across the pavement to a grassy lawn in front of one of the neighbouring factories.   The mother goose was leading the little ones in a huddling line, the father goose was honking in circles around them, making sure nothing was going to come too close.  And since I do work for my own husband, I had the freedom to pull over, stop and get out of my SUV, camera-in-hand, and watch the little goose family for a few precious moments.

So I did get what I needed, and what I wanted, it just didn't come in the way in which I was expecting.

And now on to another Rolling Stones tidbit ... totally unrelated, and yet one I can really relate to:

"I always have an unmade bed, don't you?"  (Monkey Man)

But perhaps that's a topic for another day.  :)