Joy in everything

Sunset at the beach.

Life is not about big memories it is about the small moments lived well.  

Here are some of the moments in which we live well.

Oat grass growing on the dunes

Attending the 11:00 Sunday service

Selfies on the beach

Ice on water puddles on cold mornings

Walking on the beach at low tide.

Enjoying 1/2 price banana splits on Thursday afternoon.

Exploring the wonders the beach has to offer.

Watching the children build amazing sand castles

Exploring favourite places Georgetown.

Reading at the beach.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2020 twosnydergirls

More

Butterfly on out door plants at  Murrells Inlet

While enjoying a coffee and thumbing through a magazine I came upon a page with the word more and blank line repeated down the length of the page. 

We had three foggy mornings.  We woke to this landscape.

More? 

What do I want more of in 2020? 

Murrells Inlet boardwalk was a show case of pelican.

And with this question  I spent the next 45 minutes journaling and opening myself up to the idea of a life with more.

Even Pelicans get an itch that just has to be scratched.

More reading.

More long hot soaks in the bathtub.

The foggy mornings turned into beautifully warm afternoons for walking.

January 2019 I was overwhelmed with how I would retire; focussed on how to remake myself; experiencing the loss of my identity as a professional woman and truthfully running away from myself.

More writing/ journaling.

Each day we are getting stronger.

More time spent in silence.

The camellia bushes are in bloom at the park.

One year later I am geographically in the same physical space and light years away from the emotional turmoil of 2019. 

More time with family.

We have had some windy days.

More time with friends.

I am grateful and acknowledge the privilege of being able to step back from fulltime employment and experience just being me.

More spiritual growth.

Each day the sky is new and sometimes dramatic. 

More time in prayer.

More laughter.

Sitting quietly by the dunes we were surprised when a
warren of bunnies came out to play.

Peacefully enjoying each moment, plans are just possibilities, always being open to new opportunities and spontaneity.

More creating.

The beach and sky are an ever changing landscape.

More walks.

With tranquility of spirit we have started to declutter our lives, we need less to be happy.

More time enjoying my life partner.

More just being me.

We hope that you enjoy the photograph and thank you for visiting.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2020 twosnydergirls

Grateful

Winter storms delayed our departure by a day and so we found ourselves driving into the dawn on roads still icy and snow covered.

Our Town and Country Van pulled the Rpod without any difficulty (as long as I remembered to take the emergency brake off).

Grateful for winter tires and the mechanics who keep our Van and Rpod in excellent working order.

Our crossing into the USA was uneventful and took less than 15 minutes.

Grateful for the men and women of both sides of the boarder who keep us safe.

Remnants of the previous days storm followed us all day.  Deciding to delay our departure by one day was clearly the right decision.

Grateful for the men and women who operate the snowploughs within an hour of our departure we were traveling of road ploughed clean.

January is the month with the fewest hours of sunlight, and we drive only while the sun it up thus Pittsburgh PA was where we found a hotel for the night.  We know many of you stay in Walmart Parking lots or other boondocking spots and we opted for a stress-free night’s sleep in a hotel.

Grateful for the hotel staff who helped us connect to the internet and disconnect the very noisy refrigerator.

We were up with the sun and back on the road.  Our plan was to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and head east avoiding the mountains however muscle memory took over and we made the turn we have for the last 24 years.

Grateful for the many well-maintained rest areas and gas stations just off the highway.

The panoramic vistas through the mountains are breath taking and while not the route we intended we enjoyed God’s creation very much.

Our second night was spent at the Wytheville KOA and we had to admit that we sleep well in our Rpod.  We were off the road early enough to make supper and enjoy sometime reading before bed.

Grateful for our GPS and the men and women who maintain this system. 

It had been 22 years since we had stayed at this KOA and it was not where we thought is should be.  With the help of Google maps and the KOA address we were safely stopped for the night.

We arrived at Pirateland at 4:30 pm our set-up was quick and painless. 

Grateful for the men and women who maintain this beautiful camp ground.

We had stopped at Lowe’s prior to arriving and from their scrap pile picked up to pieces of wood for under the tires.

Since arriving we have enjoyed walking the beach, exercising in the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, catching up with friends and attending church at the Shephard by the Sea.

We can relax in our winter home only because of the support of our children who house sit, looking after our home.

Grateful for our neighbours, children and everyone else who protects our home while we are away.

Thank you for stopping by.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2020 twosnydergirls

Stocking Stuffer Journal Flip Through

Loaded Folio Flip Through

Leading up to the Winter holiday most of our time is taken up in gift preparations and here is an example of what has been sitting on my craft table.

Grandma Snyder

© 2013-2019 twosnydergirls

Should or Want

It has been almost a month since our last update to this blog and there is no real reason why this has happened.

Since our last post many things have happened and none of them earth shattering just the normal goings on of a Canadian family.

We continue to give back some of our time in volunteer activities within our community, driving, at our local library and most recently for the Salvation Army.

We have spent time with our children and grandchildren who are all well and we have visited with extended family.

Since our last post we have been consciously posing the following question to each activity we engage in.

Do we want to (fill in the blank)?

or

Do we think we should do (fill in the blank)?

What we found is that too many activities that are taking up our time fell into the we thought we should and were not activities that in the moment we really wanted too.

Over the past month we have wanted to spend time together as a couple watching Netflix, we are enjoying Suits, at the moment.

We enjoy going for walks either outside when the weather is nice, on our home treadmill or at the local indoor track when we would prefer to stay inside.

Paul has enjoyed planting his 2020 garlic crop and cleaning up outside the house.

I completed two junk journals, and two knitting projects are in the works.

Amazingly today I got into the Christmas Spirit something that has not happened for the past three years.

We continue to participate in a weekly yoga class and Paul works out daily.

I had a great time taking an acrylic art course from Kathie Smith a local artist and what fun Rylee and I had completing her Halloween Costume ‘Circus Baby’.

We took a tour of the local Alpaca processing plant.

Getting our snow tires on was a should that turned into a glad we did as snow has come to Ontario and looks like it will stay.

At church we participated in a potluck and enjoyed a cooking class.  Emma B taught us to make her Whoppie Pies.

There has also been moments of sadness as friends have discovered they have cancer and others have passed away.

There is a release in life when you consider if an activity is a ‘should or a want’.  It does not mean that you ignore the should’s no for us it has meant we do not feel guilty about adding in more wants on weeks with too many should’s.

Like movies, ice cream and yes sleeping in.

Thank you for taking the time to visit with us today.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2019 twosnydergirls

Life is an adventure

The beautiful colours that carpet the forest floor.

That is lived one moment at a time and you maybe asking yourself what does this have to do with anything.  Great question and the answer is reflected in the lack of blog posts over the past number of days.  

One of our favourite activities is walking Toaster at sunset.

In the moments between the last post and today we have done many things.  We explored Victoria BC, spent wonderful evenings with our son and daughter-in-love, flew home, visited with our children, had a plumber come in and fix a leaking pipe, enjoyed the company of our youngest granddaughter three nights in a row, went walking with our oldest son here at home, delivered a gift from our son in Victoria to his sister here in Ontario and took personal time for pedicures and I had a manicure. 

Everywhere we look there are signs of fall 

And when I thought about writing a blog post or catching up on my 5 Minutes Of My Day the activity did not bring me joy so I turned to something that did.

Father and son engaged an evening game together

I think for the next few month while we spend time at home the blog will be posted when the activity of sitting at a computer brings me joy, until I organize my retired life and find that sweet spot where sharing through pictures does bring me joy.

Paul and I enjoyed the cultural variety of foods and we tasted many this Trip.

Fall is my favourite time of the year to walk , nature has clothed herself in abundant colours and she dances with the wind.

Found enough fabric to make the dress that Rylee needs.  Rylee learned how to carefully ripe out seams so that the fabric can be used,  A $4 find at Salvation Armyu

Thank you for dropping in to read this post and we hope you enjoy the images I have explained the pictures in the captions below.

Grandma Snyder

2013-2019twosnydergirls