Soaking In The Green

Soaking Up The Green...

 

 

Breathing...Ever so very Deeply.

A Low Hanging Sun

I love this time of year...
(though I know most people working normal 9-5 jobs probably hate it!)
But, I love it when the sun hangs low in the sky, clocks have rolled back & it's suddenly dark at 5:00.

 

 

There's this delicious warmth to it all I find.

It's 3:30ish right now as I write this post...

Like most days at this time, I am enjoying a hot drink at my coloured pencil desk,

waiting for my hon to get home, thinking about what to have for dinner.

 

5pm darkness...It makes the evenings feel so deliciously long, embracing & cozy, don't you think?

A View To Appreciate

We enjoy time by the waterside as much as we can...

especially since it'll all be frozen over cold & forbidding before we know it.

 

We are having our lunches here on weekends.

We bring our dinners here many nights & are usually still munching & chatting away

as the stars peek out & start to twinkle and the crickets seal it all as perfection with their song.

 

 

I am a firm believer in 'Growing where your planted'...

Not waiting to grow & take root until you think you've found the perfect place.

 

I believe that there's always time to slow right down and take in the beauty around us...

Put cellphones down, turn off computers...just be present.

Hold your loved ones hand abit longer...hug harder...breathe deeper...and count all our blessings.

 

A Lovely Weekend is being wished your way...Be Happy.  See you next week.

Adventures In Kayaking

It started out as a very beautiful day to be out on the water...
sunny and lovely but not too hot...smooth as glass water that sparked like diamonds...
Perfection.
We just had a busy morning and a yummy lunch out and were ready to be out in our boats.
For it's no secret at all that being on the quiet water with my favorite person in the world
is definitely one of my happiest places.
(we just wish we could bring a bunny or two along as well, ha ha!)

 

 

My love saw a big beautiful grasshopper afloat in the middle of the water

and he stopped to pull it out of the water...(heart flutters enter here).

The grasshopper crawled to the front of his boat and dried off and stayed there the whole journey...

(just one example of why after 20 years this guy still makes my heart flutter and beat fast, ha ha)
I picked up my own passenger about an hour later, so there we were paddling away,
both with a green grasshopper sunning themselves on the front of our kayaks!
They only jumped off when we were close to an island shore...so awesome, ha ha.

There were hundreds of tiny turquoise blue dragonflies darting about the lily pads...

they were so pretty...also apparently to quick to catch a shot of!

 

The world seemed to turn off for long long peaceful wind swept moments...

 

 

All that seemed out and about was us, the dragonflies,
the sound of our paddles slicing through the water,
the grasshoppers & an osprey who spotted lunch in the middle of the reeds.

 

 

All was quiet...

until my love was deep in the reeds looking for a pathway to the main lake...

when a deafening, sudden and very scary crashing sound of grass & water parting

by very heavy and possibly very angry hooves rushed towards my honey!!!

He was rushed by a moose!

We couldn't believe it...it was terrifying and quite unbelievable.
Our hearts were going like mad...
it happened so quickly and coming right out of the peaceful quiet, was quite jerking!
It took my brain a few seconds to put together what was happening...my brain processed it like this...
Big crashing sound...
something huge...
something huge heading straight for Jon...
where's Jon?...
where's JON...
then seconds later my breathing began again as my love emerged from the tall grass...
paddling harder than ever before!

Lesson learnt!...if the reeds are too thick to see through, DON'T paddle through them!!!
What are the odds though!  holy crap!

 



 THAN the water turned and got really chopped

with these big rolling waves that made me want to puke big time

(and I am a massive suck when it comes to being nausea!)

but we still had about 2 hours to paddle back to the shore & truck!

My shoulder started to pain and pull and than a bad headache set in making the pukiness even worse!

My sweet love wanted to tow me but that didn't work too well cause the water was too rough...

and well let's admit it, I was just too stubborn and was determined to get back on my own steam.

 

And we did....soaked and abit chilled despite the skirts.

The waves brought us in for a crash landing against each other on the shore, but we didn't care, ha ha
we were just happy to have hit the beach finally!

We flopped on our backs on the sandy beach, exhausted...
The solid unmoving earth wicking away my nausea...

We laid there letting the evening wind dry us off as the setting sun turned all around us golden.

We retold the moose & reeds scene over and over to one another...
until we realized we were starving & it was time to head home to feed us & the bunnies...all in all

...another perfect day of kayaking indeed. 

 

This Is Summer

I can't express how grateful I am for my pretty magenta kayak...

nor the handsome bearded guy of mine who can lift it up onto the Jeep rack for me, ha ha!

(We're both short....I am 5.2  and my love is only 5.5

but we found a way to get our boats on our very tall Jeep...where there's a will, there's a way, ha ha).

 

 

Our boats bring us to such lovely lovely spaces & we see such amazing beauty.

 

This pretty little deer was all curled up in a ball sunning herself on the river bank...

until I squealed with delight at the sight of her that is!

 

This particular river leads into the big lake that we live a short walk from and on this day the waves

were big & choppy so some exhilarating wave play was had, ha ha...

 

We saw tons of turtles sunning themselves on logs...they weren't too worried about us.

 

(Following this day we promptly went out for a waterproof bag for the camera, ha ha!)

 

Oh it's so awesome & centering to be out in nature...enjoying it gently & healthfully.

 

For us, that's what this summer is all about...

Being out in our boats & being in nature, enjoying each other,

getting big & small house projects done together and just being outside in the yard with the buns.

It's feeling like a lovely summer so far.



Kayaks

We've wanted to get kayaks for years now

and everything happily aligned just right a couple weeks back

that allowed us to find the perfect ones for us.

Up until then every time we looked, nothing ever worked out...nothing felt quite right.

This time not only was the decision on which kind of kayak seem super smooth, but also the timing

was perfect & the price just right AND we also got the custom roof rack we needed for the Jeep too.

Cherry on top type of stuff, ha ha.

 

We've been having sooo much fun & are out on the water every chance we get

and oh what adventures we are having together.

Since we can't travel anywhere this summer because of the new bunnies...

this fills our wanderlust beautifully.

 

We chose a hybrid kayak and we're so happy with that decision.

They are a cross between a touring (which is what you normally see)

and a white water rafting one...

which was perfect when our glass smooth lake suddenly turned into 2 foot swells the other night!

We can enjoy smooth water but also do class 3 rapids with these guys.  Wohoo, ha ha.

I am so excited to have a kayak finally.  I am now a Kayaker...ha ha.

 

I was super worried about my bad shoulder and my bad wrist BUT both seem to love the motion.

And those close to me know that being near water always heals & centers me...

so being right out there smack dab in the middle of it is even better....Wow.....

I am a HAPPY GIRL.



Where Is Winter

I don't think we're the only ones waiting for the lake by our house to freeze over.
It's usually well on it's way by now but so far we've had a warm and rainy winter, which is unusual.
I don't like it one bit to be truthful, ha ha...since, in my humble opinion,
one of the benefits of living in a land which is frozen for almost half the year (and often unbearably so)
is indeed big beautiful snowflakes and crazy winter storms that keep you in your house
in front of roaring fires & in the company of hot chocolates, etc!!!...



...But I shouldn't complain for I know soon enough we'll be walking hand in hand or
gliding across this exact same spot on our skis,

with a thermos of hot chocolate and a big warm blanket tucked into our backpacks...

before we know it we'll be spending another season on the slumbering freeze,

Enjoying it's oh-so-quiet endless calming lengths...
Part of me can't wait, even though a bigger part of me hates being cold!

Be Well, Be Joyful & Be Inspired

XO Mandy & The Buns who will be starting holidays very soon and can't wait!

Summer In The Park Music Line Up

So we went to another festival, one in our very own little city, called 'Summer In The Park'

It had the best musical line up it's had in years...so we couldnt' pass it up.

I really LOVE some of the shots I took of the musicians and was hoping you all wouldn't mind terribly if I showed them to you today...it is after all concert week on this dear blogling oh mine!

First let me just say that the skies the first night were quite ominous...

And we did get drenched in a torrential downpour but the hardcore fans stuck it out, ha ha...

First up was the rockin 'Sheep Dogs'

The guy with the long dark hair was sooo photogenic, I think I took 20 shots of him alone, ha ha.

Unfortunately because of the rain, their set was cut short, which sucked cause they were great...

but we were seriously impressed by their dedication to the crowd, they played in torrential rain & wind to the point of being dangerous...& I wouldn't be surprised if some of their equipment got ruined.

Up next was the excellent East Coast band 'Hey Rosetta'

And next up was 'City In Colour'

The crowd was bonkers for these guys...apparently the main singer is the current Canadian heart-throb!

The 2nd day was the day 'The Tea Party' played,

which is the band we most looked forward too...

They were awesome and put on a great show...

Jonathan was especially psyched to see them live.

And than to wrap up the event was 'Joan Jett & The Blackhearts'

I think most people have heard of this song...it was fun to see her live.

But we ended up leaving after about 5 songs
because the crowd was just abit too rude & rowdy for my taste!

The cigarette smoke was horrid and I already had a bad headache, people were throwing things and ripping apart their glow sticks & spraying everyone with the chemically gunk inside!!! and than to top it all off there was a plump rude 40-some year old witch grinding, jumping & bumping against me the whole time...it ticked me off enough to leave!  I have no problem with physical contact but seriously woman, back off abit...Ugh!!!

So there you have it....what do you think of the photos?

Next week we'll get back to Art work and Bunnies, I promise!

XO A Rocked Out Mandy whose currently basking once again in sweet sweet Jazz XO