Beneath My Feet

  Photo: The smiling face of a city drain once cleared of debris. Saskatoon Sept. 2026 I set out in the pouring rain determined to clear a city storm drain that was flooding the street behind our place. Fortunately, water didn't overflow my boot tops and I was able to locate the drain with my rake. When the water started to rapidly swirl and move down the drain, it gave me an immense feeling of  satisfaction. Such a simple thing... a letting go. Perhaps like a sudden clearing away of debris that collects in our minds. We can carry thoughts, worries, old stories, expectations and little things without realizing how much space and time they consume. We might not be able to control all the twigs and leaves that enter our mind until the resistance -- a jumble of thoughts and emotions seem to have nowhere to go. But, we can choose what we continue to hold onto. Once the congestion gives way, everything begins to flow. The heaviness lifts, the water clears and there is room to breat...

I'm attempting to avoid the topic of weather, but my app seems to forget it has more than one option, even if check it 10x a day. It has been gray, soggy, rain-gauge overflowing, sometimes flooding, for the past month in most parts of Western Canada. It is tough to plan outdoor activities -- even many Canada Day festivities were cancelled. Undaunted, with umbrella in hand (for insurance), we venture out for walks. I'll be the first to admit that the air smells so fresh, while the grass and trees have never been greener. We happened across wild rose bushes that were laden with bright blossoms and a fragrance sweet. Yes, I literally "stopped to smell the roses".  There is something reassuring about roses, when, unbothered by weeks of dreary skies, they show up. Perhaps, every thorn has its rose ... a reminder that rough seasons don't last forever -- that sometimes life rewards patience with a carpet of rose petals instead of puddles.  Photos: Meewasin Park, July 1, ...

  When your favourite slippers look up at you with a face that says "gee, give me a break already", yep, it's time to let them go. I know, it is almost summer, but spring cleaning doesn't really have a timeline. I recently moved from my clay studio to create a smaller home studio, hence, decisions had to be made about the necessities and what I should purge or pass along.  The trick to actually getting rid of stuff is to stop treating every object like it has a future career ahead of it. Creative folks know this is especially difficult.  Every item suddenly has irreplaceable potential.  If you haven’t used it or worn it in years, chances are you won't need it. A good strategy is to put things in a donation box out of eye view, otherwise rescuing them becomes too easy. I remind my hubby that our home is not a retirement community for old cords and “just in case” containers and boxes. He knows that I get great pleasure from recycling all of the mystery lids and plas...

  Feeling confident about our late stay in the tropics this April, we expected to avoid final blasts of winter that were being thrown at 'all the folks back home'. Just when the weather app promised sunny shorts-weather and you’ve made eye contact with a patch of green grass, boom—everything is frosted like a cupcake again. Yep, nature dusts everything in a suspiciously cheerful layer of sparkle, but I'm not buying it!  The optimistic will try to remind you not to worry because "spring is just around the corner". Let me remind you that winter's 5x encore performances were -- unrequested. (No mas!) However, let's look on the bright side of all the benefits: You get to experience all four seasons in a single week! A budget-friendly climate sampler. Fashion rules totally collapse, because no one knows how to dress anymore. The earth needs the moisture. (And so do my feet, apparently.) Procrastination was a good thing because you didn't put away your boots...

  Primavera tree blossoms - Primavera is the beautiful Spanish word for spring!  The Primavera trees in Mexico magically herald spring with their timely yellow trumpet blossoms. After weeks of a muted landscape in the dry season, suddenly the trees burst into colour. Their blooms are bright notes that dance across the blue canvas of sky. They are a reminder that life has a way of returning -- a signpost of renewal and resilience  after a natural cycle of dormancy.  One can't help but pause, look upwards into the towering branches and admire their bloom. Then, look down to see how they gently shed their fleeting brilliance at your feet.  Primavera  Golden trumpets sing out. Hummingbirds' gossip hovers Among yellow bells swaying high. Spring spills their secrets as Petals softly kiss the ground. Moments bloom, then fade.  (My poetic attempt at a Haiku. Haha. I think the Japanese are flexible on the syllable and line count. Right?) Me standing next to a P...

Reflection of my feet. I love the story of the guy with the tattoo spelled "No Ragrets". I walk around thinking I don't have regrets, but after listening to a podcast with interviewee Daniel Pink... ya, I do. He talked about his book  Power of Regret - How Looking Backward, Moves us Forward.  His books are interesting and always backed with solid research. This time he collected 26,000 regrets from people from 130 countries. He discovered that people will talk about regrets, but most, like me, want to ignore them. This denial is likely due to believing that reflecting on regrets isn't good because "positivity is the only way" plus you've moved on. Others wallow in regret, which isn't good either. But he says we all have regrets -- the remorse or uneasy feeling about things we wish we had done differently.  In Pink's study, most regrets were about things not done, rather than what was done. It might be as simple as wishing you'd been kinder, m...