Down, But Not Out

It was a weird day, jam-packed too. I brought Riley into school late this morning, chose to not set the alarm and get up when we were ready. I waited to see if he could keep a piece of toast down. Then we set off. He seemed a little wonky but wasn't feverish or vomiting, and he was running around the house with energy to burn so off to the salt mines he went. Then it was the garden centre for a few flats and pots of flowers, top soil etc., last stop the vet. The studio was calling but I took myself by the hand outside and started weeding. I can't believe how fast everything is going, it's crazy. I worked fast for about two hours and made some headway and I must admit it looks a darned site better than when I started. At the garden centre I bought a couple of my favorite morning glories - the heavenly blues - which are an incredible shade of blue, one you rarely see in flowers. Actually, they were marked heavenly blue but the photo on the tag is more purplish and not at all like the heavenly blues I know, love and covet. So I'm feeling a little sceptical and suspicious because in past years I've bought other morning glories that the seller swore up and down the flag pole were heavenly blue but they weren't.

This is what they should look like if they are the real thing (taken last year in my garden):


And a shot of one lone tulip - I don't know how it got there, probably courtesy of a squirrel but I might look for more in the fall to plant because they are quite pretty and an unusual shape:


After school we headed down to the lake with some friends and burned up a little more energy on our bikes. Heart of my heart:


And he isn't the only one who was pensive today. I had a mini-revelation, something to build my Friday haiku around. After my weeding marathon and before I met the school bus I had just enough time to sit and admire my handiwork and look over the suggested reading at the back of "Life is a Verb". I started another soul-help book, one that I have mentioned here briefly, but have had such trouble getting into it, finding it very clinical and hard to relate to. I found myself avoiding reading because once I start a book I try very hard to finish it. But I've been struggling. Looking at Patti Digh's suggested reading and how passionate she is about some of the books made me realize that life is too short to be forcing myself to get through something I just can't relate to. So I've put it aside, and feel such relief. There are so many books I do want to read and I'm not going to "stick it out" if it's just not speaking to me at all. So I've filled out the book request forms for the Used Book Circle (an internet service linked with certain second hand shops in various Canadian cities) for a few of Digh's suggestions, hoping that I might find one or two there first. And since we will be finding ourselves in both Toronto and Ottawa over the next ten days, I filled out the request forms for those cities too. What fun, new books! Or, new-to-me books! Love books!