Sometimes Life's a Beach!

Around 6am every morning at work I head to the dumpster with a load of garbage and this particular morning there was a light mist over the water. I couldn't resist going back in for my camera to take a couple shots but unfortunately as nice as the pictures are, they still don't do justice to the serenity of that early morning. I especially love the reflections in the water.

What a beautiful day today after a horrendous thunderstorm last night. I worked through the night baking bread and making some apple cinnamon dog bones then came home for a shower and a nap looking forward to a trip down to the beach this afternoon.

It's always a nice walk on New River Beach and usually desserted but today it just happened that there was a bus of kids from Ontario unloading as we pulled up to the parking lot. I figured there wouldn't be much chance of finding treasures with so many people combing the sand however we did end up with 15 sand dollars, a couple nice clam shells and Lyndon came away with a new pet...Mister Crab.

Maddie enjoyed the freedom of running the beach without a leash and some of the kids had fun playing with her as she chased them around in cirlces. I'm pretty sure she is going to sleep well tonight!

Good Friday Was A Little Sappy

I forgot to post my Easter weekend excursion, so here it is.

Good Friday was a beautiful, sunny day here in St. George...the perfect day for a walk in the woods. My good friend Elsie and her husband Donnie had never been to a sugar bush so we were happy that they decided to come along with us.

Duffries Maples is a small maple syrup operation near Kings Landing, about and hour and a half away from here.

The sugar shanty in the bush was newly built and the smell of fresh sawdust hung sweetly in the air when we got out of the car. The owners were really nice, very friendly and down home type people. We sampled some maple butter and got the low down on how their operation runs. The actual sugar bush was down the lane and across the road, right on the banks of the St. John river.

Donnie proceeded to check out the buckets and Elsie had her first taste of fresh sap...didn't think there was much flavor to it, just like sweet water. There in the bush we found two Adirondack chairs positioned with a perfect view of the serene river flowing by. Lyndon, coming off a nightshift with only an hours sleep, couldn't resist taking a few minutes to relax. The chairs had an obvious cup holder on the arm and I think Lyndon was disappointed that coffee wasn't served in the bush too!

After our stroll through the woods we headed back to the car and made our way to the nearest restaurant for a delicious lunch.

Lots of fresh air taken in and plenty of laughs along the way made for a quieter ride home. What a nice way to start the Easter weekend.

Ain't Life Great?!

I was thinking today about making some changes in my life....again...seems I do that a lot doesn't it? This time though, it's about making changes in my way of thinking. There has been so much drama going on in the background, things I worry about but have no control over and yet, I do have control over how I deal with it.
We all have people in our lives that think we are awesome, that appreciate the gifts we bring as individuals to the table of life and would sing our praises to those who question our integrity. We also have people in our lives or who have passed through our travels that don't believe in us, fear our awesomeness and are jealous of our abilities to overcome the odds and follow our dreams.
I believe I am here, in this place, at this moment in time for a reason. Life has brought me here on the journey to fulfil my dreams and I have been allowing the sourness of others to seep in and try to tarnish my path. I remind myself that just because they are not on the same path as me does not mean they are on the wrong path, just a different one.
My whole life I seem to have wanted to take the road less travelled and have never found it to be a lonely road...just less crowded. I see so much potential in my surroundings and feel in my bones that this is the place...my time is here and now and I need to make it count. The realization struck me today after a few conversations with some very good friends that my problem has been my perspective. I thought my dream was clear and concrete and I wanted it all at once. Life is not like that. It's the baby steps I take towards the goal that are really the dream I think. Sure I want to someday have a bed and breakfast but reality says that can't happen over night. In the meantime, though, I can open myself and our home up to visitors and enjoy their company. I can continue to work, save money to invest in our future here and I can bask in the knowledge that I have a job I love where I am appreciated. I have great people in my life that believe in me and my abilities and best of all I am at peace and truly believe it when I say...."Ain't life great!"