Yesterday I had hoped to convince my Westie he needed only a very short dog-walk so I could spend most of the day indoors catching-up on cleaning, laundry and decluttering. Piper, as usual, had his own agenda. First, he took me to Queen Elizabeth Park (honestly, his choice because I always let him follow his nose for the first 30 minutes of our walk) where at the park’s highest point, we discovered dancing water sprites:
On this dull, gray day — when to be honest, I had been feeling a bit melancholy — I suddenly felt a burst of spring sunshine in my heart and had an urge to start dancing myself. Perhaps I was influenced by this jen lemen post? When the fountains were resting, I too, wanted to lie back in the water and let it hold me up.
Refreshed by unexpected beauty I was ready to return home. I really, really wanted to walk back in as straight a line as possible (Do Not Pass Go). Even more, I wanted to avoid crossing paths with too many squirrels that drive Piper into fevered frenzy as he tries to fulfill his destiny. My arm was tired and sore from all the tugging at the end of the leash. But the Westie started pulling West, very hard, and for a change he wasn’t after vermin. “Whatever and wherever“, I acquiesced, not too unwillingly because he’s a bright little fellow and knew I really wanted a Sunday afternoon vacation.
A dozen or two city blocks later, we came across a front garden filled with my favourite Spring perennials that alas, I cannot and will never be able to grow in a container on my sunny balcony. Their heads were bowed downward close to the ground and I decided to take a chance, put my camera underneath their faces, shot blindly and hoped for the best.
Not too bad. Good enough to remember the translucent, rosy-mauve blooms of Helleborus orientalis.
What could have been a lonely, self-absorbed day indoors turned into a true Sacred Sunday when I yielded to what my heart was telling me to do (with a little help from my friend) and made time and space for beauty and gratitude.
Gorgeous! I am incredibly jealous… I can’t wait for those first blossoms of the spring. We hit 45 yesterday, but I’m keeping my expectations low so my heart doesn’t get broken.
I just found out about your other blogs via jen lemen… I’ll be stopping by! I just picked up the Moosewood cookbook from the library on a friend’s recommendation.
oops! I meant magpie girl, not jen lemen! Silly me.
Hello, Elle. So nice to hear from you again. Yes, keep your expectations low but your hopes high that Spring will come to you soon.
Rachelle and jen — don’t worry, I know why you confused them. They’re both pretty wonderful.