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

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

Some vacations are all about public walkways

Even on days when clouds threaten rain there are beautiful places to walk Victoria and we are walking them. 

From sidewalks crowded by flowers and hedges to pathways beside the ocean. 

The first thing you learn when walking around Victoria is that you are either walking up or down hill level ground only occurs at the waters edge. 

Mild weather means flowers abound 

and everywhere you can forage for apples and wild berries. 

On Saturday we took Toaster for a walk around Fort Macaulay.

We ended our day with the most delicious harvest meal ham, scalloped potatoes, roasted veg, apple crisp and homemade ice cream with new friends and family.

Thank you for spending this time with us. 

Grandma Snyder 

©️Twosnydergirls 2013-2019

What you do on a rainy day

Wet, cold and rainy a wonderful day to write letters, finishing up some crafting swaps, make an instant pot full of vegetable soup, work on some knitting and do dishes, lots of dishes.

I woke at 3:45 am this morning and could not get back to sleep so instead of waking up Paul I got out of bed and came into the livingroom to read in my pink rocking chair. 

I had forgotten how much I enjoy being up in the early hours alone in the darkness with no deadlines or pressures.

I am reading The Triumph of Narrative by Robert Fulford and this morning I was reminded of the power of story telling and the risk that it presents as with each telling we change small bites of the story.  Family histories are like this each of us experiences the story differently and changes the narrative ever so slightly to make sense of it.

By 5:00 am I was having trouble staying awake so slipped back into bed without waking Paul and slept to 8:30 am. 

We were going to walk for breakfast and run errands, until is started to rain so our plans changed to hot oatmeal, a day at home and refrigerator soup.

Refrigerator soup is a fall and winter favourite.  The soup base chickpeas, rice and all the vegetables that are in the refrigerator, so good.

Between making the rice and re-hydrating the chickpeas I worked in my craft room finishing the last of the 4 season swaps and putting together my pen pal mail for Lucas and Clara.

After lupper (lunch/supper) we eat between 2 and 3 pm I started to sew together a sweater I am knitting only to realize I made the back to short so I am now taking the stitches out so that I can correct my mistake.

Our day was rounded out with late afternoon yoga, completing October’s zen doodles and an hour of down time before bed.

Thank you for coming along today we hope you enjoy the images

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2019 twosnydergirls