Long Live the Weeds!

 Nodding Thistle, also called Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans)

 

“What we call a weed is just a plant that hasn’t learned to grow in rows yet.
Or we haven’t got a purpose for it yet.”

~ Steve Kenyon

 

Nodding Thistle: A Thing of Beauty

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving down a busy Calgary roadway—windows rolled down, sun on my shoulder, my arm exuberantly slapping the side of the car in time to a snappy tune on the radio—when I came to a stoplight. As I waited for the light to change, my eye caught a flash of something bright pink. I turned to see that the attention-getting vibrant hot pink colour belonged to the large, heavy-headed blossoms of some tall prickly thistles growing in a dense thicket amidst a mass of Yellow Sweet Clover—all flourishing in an abandoned empty lot beside the railroad tracks. The striking tangle of vegetation bestowed a spectacular and flamboyant splash of colour on an otherwise drab looking landscape.

Crazy Love: A Poem for Bear

Crazy Love

Years and years ago,
when we first met, so young and soaring high
on possibility, music and crazy love—
you showed up somewhere, purely unexpected,
and I first understood “my heart leaps up”.

And still today, expected or not,
whenever I catch a glimpse of you,
with even the very thought of you,
my heart leaps up and up—
still crazy in love,
still crazy in love,
still crazy in love—
with you.

~ madlyinlovewithlife
From my poetry collection entitled: Honeyed Poems for Bear

For my Sweet Bear:

Thank you for reading to me.  Thank you for singing with me. Thank you for dancing with me. Thank you for a lifetime of love.

I love you beyond description.

~ YSVB

Little Danbo: How to Beat the Summer Heat

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees
on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

~ John Lubbock

Summer Heat Wave

I have always loved a good summer heat wave, but its been so hot here lately, that even I’ve been dreaming about cooler weather. Leave it to Little Danbo, though, to figure out how best to enjoy this heat wave—he spent the whole of the afternoon cloud-watching as he dreamily floated about in his new makeshift swimming pool.

Flight Over Mount Meringue

The Meringue Mountain Range

The Meringue Mountain Range (so-named for it’s remarkable resemblance to dreamy meringue topping) is a remote area of snow-covered glaciers and high-altitude peaks located in a seldom visited part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

In this short video, you will have an incredible flying adventure. Experience the thrill of a close-up aerial flyover of the famed Mount Meringue—the highest peak in the Meringue Mountain Range. In this exciting flight, you will see rare, never before seen aerial footage of the fabled Meringue Mountaintops.

The Danbo Brothers: Flapper Pie Day

 

The Danbo Brothers, ever-willing helpers.

 

The secret to a happy life:
love wherever you are,
do only what you love
and love everything you do.

~ BJC (my partner)

Making Flapper Pie

The Danbo Brothers caught wind of my plans to make a Flapper Pie today and hung around the kitchen all morning waiting for me to start. They just love doing anything in the kitchen. In fact, as far as I can tell, the Danbo Brothers seem to enjoy everything they do. For them, there is no such thing as work—it’s all simply just play. No matter how hard they work, it’s all fun and games to them.