(polaroid sx-70, 600 film)

i have been all about the simple pleasures these days and thankfully after the crazy cold and snow of last week, we are once again living the beautiful life of sunshine and blue skies, green grass and green leaves. blossoms and tulips. dandelion dreams. its finally spring in alberta and i couldn’t be happier.

my garden was painstakingly turned over, weeded, raked and prepared for the plantings. its hard work but oh so worth it because this year i will have two kinds of peppers, hot chilis, sweet corn on the cob, green string beans, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, zuchinni squash, sweet spanish onions, beets, carrots, peas, tomatoes, an assortment of gourmet lettuce and various herbs along with yummy raspberries and strawberries and hopefully some blueberries though i suspect those won’t take until next year.

i still have a swack of new perennials to plant and it looks like we may be digging up another part of the yard to put in a brick patio which i will surround with yummy bee and butterfly attracting flowers. there is nothing better than sitting outside with a glass of something fruity reading or talking to a friend or blissfully writing in my notebook while surrounded by the life of the natural world. we have a short season here but somehow that just makes it all the more drinkable.

i have been running and running and then running some more. i have been logging at least an hour a day at the local saltwater pool and my bike is finally giving my legs a workout. i have been spending lunch hours walking in our river valley and pressing me some weights in the gym. i have been really enjoying pushing this body of mine as far as it will allow me to push it. i feel like a kid again most days and fall asleep content dreaming of raspberry dripped syrup, grass stained elbows and rolling down grassy hills filled with tiny daisies and dandelion stained knees.

simple pleasures.

(polaroid sx-70, 600 film)

and of course we have a garden gnome after all it was the garden gnome that brought me and my husband together. if you don’t know the story, you can read it at the story of us and this past weekend, i found the perfect companion to watch over our veggies and plot his own secrets.

i feel really grounded in myself and my family these days, in the sunshine laughter of my life and the bright earth around me. i am hopeful that this is a new journey i am on, a journey that honours the ground that i have walked on and holds the memories close to my heart always but is indeed a new journey forward.

in keeping with my enjoyment of the simple pleasures, i was so happy to read that the lovely shelagh of alice in paris loves art and tea has created a space to bring back the art of letter writing and is giving me an excuse to use up some of the beautiful stationary that has been gathering dust in my bookshelves. if you are so moved to find yourself a letter writing pal, check out artful penpals, reviving the lost art of letter writing.

peace and love.

“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” (jean paul richter)

(my blog is a part of me)

dear blog,

five years ago today, i wrote my first post. i mean really what is there to say to you that hasn’t already been said on you during the past five years?

i had no idea what i was doing and i had no idea that it would last this long, that you would evolve as you have, that you would lead me to create photoblogs and flickr sites and then force me to learn html and css and help me discover blogger and handcoding and typepad and movable type and wordpress. i had no idea you would open up opportunities for photoshows and publications. i had no idea that strangers would come and read my words and that some of those strangers would turn into friends and that those friendships would be so incredibly meaningful and caring.

i feel pretty grateful to have this little room of my own, this place to express myself and connect with others and so my dear little blog … i would like to wish you a happy birthday … thank you for being you!

xoxo

dar (aka daisies)

p.s.

a super talented writer friend of mine is doing a wonderful series on women bloggers and she interviewed me for contribution among a whole lot of very cool women bloggers. i am find the interview fascinating and i am amazed at how much the blogging world has grown and continues to grow. i am glad this interview is running on your birthday, it somehow feels fitting.

“What is the most wonderful thing for people like myself who follow the Way of Tea? My answer: the oneness of host and guest created through ‘meeting heart to heart’ and sharing a bowl of tea.” (soshitsu sen, grand master xiv, urasenke school of tea)

I have to tell you that the best thing about my previous post is found in the comments spilled forth by some utterly amazing powerful in their own right, loving and giving bloggers, bloggers that my heart considers friends and oh my gosh, what a joy it would be to have them all in a room together. That thought alone makes my heart smile.

It was really fantastic to spill because it has helped me already in small ways and I even find myself taking baby steps towards opening up and engaging in this fabulous life that I live. I am myself on my blog and by allowing myself to be myself in my body, I am finding that the world is receptive in the same way as all of you are receptive. What an amazing concept and why I am I surprised really. I shouldn’t be. If I can somehow find a group of amazing women scattered across the corners of this not really all that big earth of ours than surely I can open myself up to amazing women here in this corner of some one million people where I currently reside. Its true, the universe is pretty giving when we allow it.

Dear friends,

I could go on and on but really all I want to do is sit down with each and every one of you and share a cup of tea and my heart. Since, my limited funds will not allow that at this time, I want to share a special cup of mine with each and every one of the 27 commentors on my last post. As I read through the list, I realized that I have many of your address already and that alone made me smile. For those few that I don’t, expect an email over the weekend or if you are reading this and commented on the last post, please email me your address. I will be sending mail love in the form of a print of the above photo in the hopes that someday, we will sit down and share a real cup of tea and a hug and many many words I am sure.

much love,
peace.

dear neighbourhood,

thank you for you and your big elm trees and cute vintage and historical houses. thank you for welcoming me with apple blossoms and white picket fences and friendly dog walkers and shade from the hot sun. thank you for incredibly lush soil and artistic intent, for independent businesses filled with art and books, organic food and history and care for the environment.

its been two years since we invested in your streets and i have never felt more at home anywhere in my life. thank you for a salt water pool, a river valley and fields of schoolyards. thank you for being close enough to the downtown core that i can bike to work but far enough away that birds and song fill the air with sound.

i am so glad to have you in my life, to be able to wander your streets and feel at home in your embrace and i look forward to a summer spent in that hug.

thank you for being you,

dar

dearest april,

please take a moment to sit back, rest and reflect. you have such a way about you filled with drama and soft moments of quiet and this year you really shone like only you can shine. you brought record highs of heat and allowed us to revel in the sunshine but you couldn’t let the sun take centre stage as winter’s blizzard snow was becoming quite jealous wasn’t she? so you allowed her to fly across this province with bitter winds and dancing snowflakes. you gave me moments of cozy warmth and wool socks, sweaters and flannel movie watching. you gave me moments of dancing in the outside planning my garden and walking on the promise of green.

today i awoke to say good-bye to you and saw that you were not quite finished with your drama as rain drips down to reveal fields of green grass and an explosion of green buds. you leave behind a freshness that feels exactly right, exactly like a good-bye should be. you allowed me to grieve for my losses. you allowed me to rejoice in all the exciting new beginnings that are happening in my life. you showed me that if i believe in my dreams that they will happen because they are happening.

thank you april for honoring all the contradictions in me. for showing me that it is okay to feel two very different ways and to know that one day the sun can burn down and the next the snow can tumble around me; one day i can feel absolute joy and the next i can cry in pain. we hold it all in ourselves don’t we and that is a wonderful way to live i think.

see you next year,
lots of love

dar

Dear Time,

Where do you go as the snow melts backwards into the ground and patches of water flow through river’s ice? Where did you wander as I raced through deadline driven days filled with mangled paperclips gnashed against my teeth as last year’s blades of grass emerged in a patchwork quilt of snow and straw? Where did you live while I sat in peaceful bliss as incense drifted against the glow of candles and the sound of live music wafted up from my basement while I was treated to my own personal interlude as I giggled on the phone with a beautiful friend? What do I think about you when you stop for another friend suddenly out of the blue and I am left eyes wide open wondering how someone so young is forced to leave this world so abrubtly as I touch the sunbeams that float in the air and breathe in my life now? Where did you dance as I laughed with family and friends, enjoyed wandering in spicy aroma lingering over silk’s soft glint and painted comfort in a room for rest?

Dearest Time, you sprung ahead and cleared my head as you reminded me that each second of each minute is precious and can be taken away in the turn of a wave, the dream of a sleep. Dearest time, I cherish you as you sing to me in leaves whispered thought and the cycle of spring’s renewal and I give gratitude for my life right now, embrace you as I move through my days and evening and love you as fully as I can.

much love,
dar

Dear internet,

I didn’t mean to be away for as long as I was. Time had other plans for me. Thank you for your emails and thoughts, your concern for my absence. It is always nice to know that you care. I am fine, just busy with life and hopefully Time will allow me a little space to come here to rest my words and share some of my moments.

xox

dar