June 2019 – Lion Tail Magic

A few of my favourite things about…Canada

Like citizens of most countries, we Canadians like to gripe about our home turf, but the more we travel the more we realize how fortunate we are — a stable government, a great health-care system, many freedoms, and so much more. In honour of our national holiday coming up in a few days, here is a pictorial look at a few of the things I love about Canada:

Canada Geese

I love these beautiful, majestic birds, despite how much they poop — they are a gift!

Farmers’ Markets
Fenwick Berry Farm displays some of the lush produce we are truly fortunate to be able to grow and buy

Supper Markets

These delicious outings have become popular in recent years

Welland Canal

An amazing piece of engineering that has been lowering ships from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie for over 150 years, and that continues to fascinate visitors from all over the world

The Great Lakes

These lakes are so large that friends who visited from Australia asked if they were lakes or oceans!

Maple Trees
They shelter us, provide maple syrup, and turn vivid colours in the fall

Autumn Colours

Autumn is our most spectacular and enchanting season, IMHO

A rich Indigenous heritage and culture

The Indigenous Garden at Niagara College, Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus, showing the harmony and respect for nature that permeates Indigenous life

An abundance of bees

I’m always happy to see bees in our ecologically troubled times

Halloween

Halloween is my personal ‘happy place’, and I’m even happier that this wonderfully wacky holiday is celebrated so widely

A love of Breakfast

We can enjoy this most basic comfort meal at a wide number of restaurants

Gorgeous winter scenery

Even while we curse at winter storms, we can’t help but admire the scenery, as well as…

Mother Nature’s ice sculptures

Poetry brought to life

Music

Outdoor concerts are everywhere, and are a great way to enjoy a nice summer evening

Craft beverages

Artisanal wineries, breweries and distillers are livening up our food and beverage landscape

Miles of open road

Thousands of miles of good roads to explore, like the Trans-Canada Highway

…There are far too many things to list here — these are just a few that I happen to have photos of. I invite you to share your own personal favourites with me in honour of Canada Day!

Candles in the wind

This week’s post is a short one and is dedicated to the families of two friends who died much too soon — last week our long-time dog sitter, only 47, from a heart attack, and three months ago one of my husband’s coworkers who died very unexpectedly on vacation abroad. My hubby spent the past two days clearing out his coworker’s locker and returning personal items to the family, a task that was hard for him because they’d been friends as well as workmates, but which he undertook willingly to help the family achieve a little bit of closure during such a difficult time. We’ve lost too many friends far too soon, and if we’ve learned anything over the years it’s that life is often much too short, and that we need to appreciate every moment, even the less-than-stellar ones, because the fact that we’re still here to have them is a profound gift.

The importance of blue

I’ve always loved being near water. I grew up along the banks of the Detroit River; before it got built up, I have fond memories of playing in the waterside parks, of my parents taking my brother and me to the water to watch fireworks on holidays.

My very first trip by airplane brought me to California, and I was so excited to see my first palm trees, and my first view of an ocean.

My travels have often taken me across oceans, to oceans, onto oceans. These glistening bodies of water are so important to our planet. As we celebrated World Oceans Day this past weekend and continue to enjoy the benefits of the sources of 91 percent of our water, we need to acknowledge the damage that we’re inflicting on one of our most precious resources.

Our oceans give us…

…beauty

…safe harbour

…delicious food

…remarkable vistas

…homes for a myriad of creatures above and below the surface

…serenity.

Help save our oceans. Learn more about World Ocean Day; donate to organizations like World Animal Protection, which is running a donation-matching program until June 30 to support our oceans’ creatures; find out 10 Things You Can Do to Save the Ocean. We humans are killing the oceans, so it’s up to us to fix it!

Stop and smell the lilacs

We could learn a lot from animals. Whenever we took our dogs out for a walk, Ramses, the male, loved to find a shrub with branches just at the height of the top of his head. He would then spend several minutes moving his head under a branch, letting the foliage tickle his fur. His face was a picture of bliss while we watched bemused and the female, Isis, pranced around impatiently.

I’m sure you’ve seen many videos of animals enjoying themselves – romping in the snow, rolling around in the grass, grinning happily as they share a surfboard. Animals have a wonderful capacity to suspend all concerns and immerse themselves in something fun, and an equally remarkable capacity to soldier along through adversity while still finding joy in their lives.

We need to do the same: take the time to enjoy even small things as often as we can, perhaps even dedicate an entire day to it. One pastime that most people can enjoy is called a Savouring Walk. The idea on these walks is to appreciate all the positive things you see – a pretty flower, a fresh breeze, perhaps the sun as it slowly sets in rich colours.

It turns out that appreciating the things that lift up our souls is great for our mental wellness in so many ways: relaxing us and easing stress, balancing out some of the negativity in our lives, connecting us to the world around us, and ultimately making us more resilient.

I’m fortunate to live near a beautiful botanical garden, the Royal Botanical Gardens in southern Ontario, and it’s lilac time! This past weekend a friend and I drove over to enjoy some much-needed floral bounty amid the barely-spring weather we’ve been enduring. I’ve always wanted to see the famous Lilac Dell in bloom, and we lucked out with a decent afternoon for our excursion.

The RBG is the largest botanical garden in Canada, and a national historical site. With the poor weather, not everything was blossoming yet, but the prevailing atmosphere of peaceful nature was still very relaxing. We visited the Rock Garden first, where there were a number of photographers out focusing on the colourful masses of tulips, and Hendrie Park, where hopefully soon the roses will be back in all their glory. We saved the Lilac Dell for last to let it dry out after a morning of rain, and people were gently clambering up and down the hillside delicately sniffing the fragrant blooms. I’m very happy to report the absence of any selfie-obsessed idiots destroying things.

It was a lovely, rejuvenating afternoon. I recommend finding any similar setting for a quick recharge, but for anyone not able to get to one, I’m happy to share some of the photos so that you can enjoy a little virtual beauty.

Some of the wonderful lilacs in the Dell