Miscellaneous

We had a great weekend resulting in awesome pictures of cows and people.  But I am 3/4 done this blog so first this, then that.  This blog shares pictures that emerged over the last weeks, they moved me in one way or another. I want to explore them a bit.  Then, when I can, a future blog will have those awesome trail pictures to share.

Gina came to me after the last blog was published to say “Oh Mom, heres another sunrise picture, you might have wanted it.” I said to her, “send it to me!” I wasn’t sure how I would use it but it is so lovely. Looking at it now I am happy that my girl who regularly starts her day by popping out her door in the midst of the dark of morning, spilling into a city occupied by millions, within a few minutes finding herself in the subway station or standing at a bus stop, well, that young woman has the chance to come home and be taken in by this view first thing in the morning.

I am so glad I stopped everything and took this picture of Shirley. I recently saw the movie “Lee” and one thing it made me think about was how I am not capturing the everyday moments of life as well as I used to. This is an everyday moment but it is also quite sacred. Here is what I notice…..Grandma Shirley has a radiant smile and is looking very healthy, this is a moment to savor……Shirley was helping out, she hates coming and not doing something to help me, I get that. She has way more experience at an ironing board then I do and so she lent much expertise to the work at hand. The work at hand was…..rescuing the table cloth I wanted to use for supper. I had put it on the table and then thought, “my Mom would never set a table looking like this.” I just didn’t have time to make it better, but I wondered if Shirley would be open to doing it. She was. So in these moments she was helping me to live out some of the hospitality lessons that my Mom practiced so easily. She was helping me honor my Mom, for that I am grateful.

I believe the above picture was taken in about 1982. I dug through some files to have a look for “table pictures”. As I remember it, extended family gatherings at home always had a beautiful tablecloth. What I had forgotten was found in the many table pictures I found, the norm of also having candles and some form of flowers. Mom and Dad knew how to kick it up a notch when special times were happening. Thats my Mom at the end of the table.

My sister in law and I were in Regina recently. We asked Jill to meet us. When she rolled in she had an air about her, I said, “Jill we need to do a photo shoot.” I think my lens was clouded because this photo does not do this moment clear justice. The thing is, I love to see our kids finding their style, their health, their strengths and their capacity. It was all evident this day.

I had a job to do one night last week. Russ asked me to “go to your spot and turn the cows.” From that spot, which is right at the top of the low level crossing road, I took this dusky picture as I was making a video. The video is shown below. Its a little bit of cattle action. I was making this video for a friend, I am sharing it here for those who enjoy seeing Kathy “the cowgirl” (!?!?!) in action or just some close up action with cattle.

The car I heard in the video was in fact a big semi. It was a bit nervewracking to see it approaching, but the cows and the semi shared the road.  Sometimes I think maybe people think  “who do you think you are to stop or slow traffic by putting your cows on the road!?”  To that I say…..”if you want to eat a burger, somewhere, cows are on the move for you.  And if you want to eat bread you might get slowed down behind a combine moving down the highway.”  The behind the scenes action is real and neccesary.

Last week Gina, Jill and I and my friend Abby attended “Come From Away,” a musical telling the true story of Gander, Newfoundland in the days after 9-11.  I was so excited to see it after being in Newfoundland a few years ago. It was a great production.  Abby took this picture for us.  As we were exiting the theatre I looked around and saw that most people were 30 years old and over and I thought, “this is all of ours story.”  We all remember something about September 11, 2001. That unity of general experience felt profound to me.  This story from Gander, where 38 planes from all over the world landed for refuge and stayed 4 days, was really heartwarming.

Knightwing, our guard dog, is proof positive that tough and tender can live in the same body.  Grandma Shirley is her best friend but many, when asked, say that of all of our 4 dogs, Knightwing is their favorite.  This is a nice moment.  This is the same dog that took on a wolf in the pasture last year and lived to tell about it.

I love going for coffee, I have since I was a university student.  Grandma Shirley and I have a little tradition of stopping in for tea and pie at Tailgate Dining in Carievale after going to North Dakota for packages at Sherwood.  Gina got to join us this past week and Taylor took this photo for us.  I feel very loved when I look at this picture.

That ends the miscellaneous photo round up of these little nuggets of life.  These pictures add up to me having the word “opportunity” in my head.   Every day has opportunities to see and experience some form of beauty and goodness.  What I am reckoning with is that it seems I need to shut down some of the noise in my life that keeps me from glimpsing all the beauty and goodness.   I have become a little too attached to my phone and my earbuds, it seems I am always listening to or scrolling through something, I am sacrificing peace.  I have some changes to make.   I am looking forward to doing better on this issue and seeing what comes of it.