Intentional living
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A crafty lesson
I have been making notebooks lately. Thanks to the Globe and Mail craft club. It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour on a Tuesday evening as Catalina Sanchez shared her step by step instructions on how to craft homemade notebooks. Ever since I have been stitching together these little notepads with random paper I have in the house. I tend to go through phases with making crafts. A few years ago I was obsessed with sewing tote bags. I had discovered an old sewing machine in my family, a 1954 Singer. It’s a dapper little machine, shiny black with ornate gold trim, that folds neatly into a carrying…
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My name is Scilla
Early spring blooms are starting to show their cheerful faces. Bright sunny daffodils, tiny crocuses, and delicate snowdrops to name a few. It’s still too early for the emblematic trilliums to blanket the forest floor. This will come soon. In the meantime I have been enjoying the masses of little purple flowers sweeping across grassy areas. A pop of brilliant colour shimmering in the green. Except every year I forget the name of this amethyst jewel. Scilla! Siberian squill is another name for this flower that grows from tiny bulbs each spring and multiplies easily. Cobalt blue petals hang from slender stems like a tiny umbrella. Inching up mere 4…
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A peak behind closed doors
We may be staying at home, but we can still indulge in some virtual exploration. I thought it would be fun to peak inside some closed doors. Winery doors specifically. It turns out I have a lot of photos from past visits to the Twenty Valley (in the fall 2019). I have written posts on some, but there are many wineries I never wrote about. So please join me on a photo tour. Get comfortable, grab a glass of wine if you wish, and let’s go see what’s behind these inviting doors. Our first stop is Kew Vineyards. You’ve already had a glimpse at their delightful outdoor patio on the…
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Happy tweets
March 20 is the UN International Day of Happiness. As I wrote last year, it’s all about spreading the message of happiness and kindness (and I had some inspiration from a kind friend to do so!) The day is designated by the United Nations to recognize “progress should be about increasing human happiness and wellbeing, not just growing the economy.” I continue to enjoy the daily little nudges from the Action for Happiness app to remind me of ways to be happy everyday. Today’s message is “Celebrate the International Day of Happiness“. So happy International Day of Happiness! One topic that comes up frequently in the daily nudges relates to…
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Walking and Philosophy
Most of my walking this past year has been on the familiar paths of my neighbourhood streets and woodland trails. However, I do let my mind wander at times to other destinations, say a craggy Greek landscape. Instead of cold wind whipping at my face and geese honking overhead, I imagine sunshine warming my cheeks and bees buzzing in thyme and lavender bushes. This particular image comes to mind after reading about Aristotle’s school (Lyceum) in Athens. Aristotle liked to walk with his students (called peripatetics) while deliberating his philosophies. Of the many topics Aristotle deliberated, human happiness was a biggie. He believed the goal of human life was happiness…
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A sparkling memory
Pop. The gentle popping of a cork to open a bottle of sparkling wine is a joyful sound. The pop releases effervescent vapors in a delicate swirl around the narrow opening, as if freeing the magical bubbles trapped inside. This particular pop releases a nice memory as well from my visit to De Simone Vineyards in Niagara. De Simone Vineyards was one of the wineries that Eleacia circled on my Niagara wine map when I visited Southbrook Vineyards in February 2020. The neighbouring winery was just down the street on Niagara Stone Road. Luckily I took her up on her recommendation. That very same day. The tasting area at De…
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Delightful things about winter
I sliced my orange in half, releasing a fresh citrus scent, and was delighted by the gorgeous purply red colour inside. I took a closer look at the segments hidden inside the thick-skinned citrus. They were bursting with juice. Before eating the orange, I paraded it around my house to show the beautiful colour to my family (they weren’t quite as delighted as I). A small pleasure in a small thing. Perhaps this is the type of observation that Sei Shōnagon might have recorded in The Pillow Book. I recently learned about this Japanese author/poet/philosopher in Eric Weiner’s book, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers.…
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Home sweet home
I woke up to a dripping sound the other night. Drip drip drip. It was coming from the bathroom. It was 3 am. My first reaction was annoyance at my house. How can you do this?! Then I quickly realized that was unfair. My house does a fine job of providing us shelter, and so much more. As my husband yanked the garbage bin under the drip, I formulated a plan to deal with it (in the morning) and rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning, without the leaky metronome, I thought about how much I appreciate my hardworking home. Then I thought of Marie Kondo. At…
