Simple

 

 

 

Everyone must take time to sit, and watch the leaves turn.

Elizabeth Lawrence

I had forgotten

 

I had forgotten how blue a real robins egg is.  How the turquoise color glows, how the eggs are shaped.  Because since I don’t live in the country, I never get the chance to see the real thing.

This is something that I never want to forget again.

I had forgotten what it feels like to walk on grass in your bare feet, living in the city, you don’t dare walk on the grass in the parks. This is something I want to experience again.

I have forgotten what sunsets, and sunrises look like, living in the city you only see buildings, and clouds. I want to live somewhere I can see the sun rise, and the sun set.  Watch the purpling skies as they change. And predict the weather with real life, not with the TV, or the computer.

I had forgotten how much cats adapt to life in the city.  Cats that live indoors may meow at the birds, but they are much safer.  Cats in the country rarely return, unless they are very smart, and lucky.

I had forgotten what it feels like as a child to run through a sprinkler on the lawn, I never want to forget this again.

There is so much I have forgotten, the taste of real tomatoes, the feel of a real breeze on my sticky skin in the heat of a summers day.  The distance you can see in the country, miles, and miles, without buildings that block the view…..I had forgotten.  Maybe someday I will remember.

Tell me what you have forgotten, remembered, lost, and wish that you still have, now that you live where you live.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Not always sunshine and roses….

 

Thanks to everyone who left such wonderful comments on yesterday’s blog post.  Life isn’t always sunshine and roses…especially when someone you love must leave.  My elderly neighbour took it hard, but we did what we could to make it easier.

It was Columbus’s time, and he was ready to go.  Now we are left with memories of his antics, and his beautiful green/gold eyes….

I had been dreading the appointment all day, but I am so glad that I could be there for both of them.  Things have changed in veterinary care, and it’s so much gentler now than the last time I had to do this.  He fell asleep in her lap, peaceful, and unafraid. 

It really changed my outlook on how to deal with the loss of a pet.  It’s hard, and it’s sad, but something I had read on a website made me want to be there to support him.  I had read that our pets give us such joy, and love, and the one thing that we could do for them, was to be with them when they go.  To make the decision to go into the exam room, and comfort them, that we owed it to our beloved pets. I truly believe this, and no longer fear that step as much as I did before.

Many thanks to our amazing vet, and his assistants, they were wonderful.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

When it’s time

 

This isn’t a oh it’s a lovely fall day kind of post.  I guess if you need that you should go and visit another blog for today.  Everything will be back to normal tomorrow, but for now it’s time.

This is a “it’s time” kind of day for my 89 year old neighbour, and her 17 year old cat, Columbus.

How does she come to the conclusion that it’s time, when a companion cat that has lived with various members of her family, and is older then most of her grandchildren, gets old.  Suddenly forgets where the litter box is, and what it’s for, although she aches as she cleans up the mess. She knows little by little it’s time.

And although she tells me that she is not ready, we both know that the cat is now ready. It’s his time.

And it doesn’t feel like it should be time.  He was eating well, happy, deaf, and loud, with a routine so established that he knew before she did when morning comes. It came every morning at 5 am.  And then so quickly, he isn’t himself.

How does she look at what was once a playful kitten, and now see a elderly frail skinny cat.  One that played with her grandchildren, and crossed the country to live with her a few years ago, and now it’s time.

How does she look at the cat, and not see her own mortality.  Even though it doesn’t bother her to look it in the eye, and say, yes, one day.

But now, for the cat, it is time.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

 

Pink rain

 

 

It’s funny how with autumn here, and the colors starting to change to ambers and oranges, the pink flowers in my garden are just starting to shine.

 

 

The hydrangea is a glowing, lush, and deeply colored cerise.  The perennial carnation, now has more blooms on it at one time that it has accumulated all summer.

 

 

And the Japanese Anemone is bursting with blush pink colored blooms.

Maybe it’s all the garden gossiping that the plants are doing, whispering about the changes coming.  Or maybe it’s the slightly cooler nights.

 

Summer, your cousin Autumn is one hot number.  It’s almost like you decided to stay awhile longer, and taunt us with those never ending sunny days, and warm nights.

But we know even though you keep teasing us with yet another warm, and bright day that Autumn is a cool kind of season. 

It’s just hard to believe that when we are being treated so warmly.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Farewell to summer

 

 

All of the plants in the garden are gossiping about the change of season, they are saying farewell to summer.  If you turn quickly, and look over your shoulder, you can catch them whispering.  The hosta’s know it’s happening, they’ve started to drop their leaves. The Japanese Anemone is in denial, it’s simply loving this weather. And the lobelia is too blue to know it’s almost over.

 

 

The daisies bright faces are getting a little colder each night, they are starting to shiver.  And the maple is sleepy, and yawning through it’s leaves.

 

 

Farewell to summer, goodbye to sunshine, hello to pumpkins, and spices, and warm fires.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams 

Can I paint that?

 

I am driving my friend around the bend when we walk together, and not only because I stop every few feet to take a photo in this glorious late summer light.  But add to that every piece of furniture I see for free on the street, makes me say out loud, “can I paint that.” Be it old, and decaying, falling apart, and water stained, or newish and not needed, I check it out, to see if it is a suitable candidate for my new Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  And my walking buddy cringes every time I stop..LOL.

Ever since picking up the paint at the Passionate Home in nearby Langley, I have been eyeing up my pieces of furniture to see which one of them needs a makeover.  This is a little side table that I picked up in the thrift shop, there are no “before” pics sorry.

It was a uninspiring two toned brown, with shiny lacquered legs.  Now it’s a peaceful antique white, shabby finished table, with a hand painted French postscript on top.  The best thing about this new ASCP, is that there is no sanding.  No sanding, and no priming, yes you read that right.

Ah thank you Annie Sloan for creating this amazing paint, thank you Passionate Home for being the first BC retailer stockist.

And thank you to my walking buddy for your patience….  hey, see that dresser over there, can I paint it?

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Does this count?

 

According to all the home decor bloggers, and magazines out there, we are supposed to be redecorating our homes with masses of fall leaves, pumpkins, grasses and dried wreaths right about now. 

Color coordinated pumpkins, that match your decor, autumn colored rugs, and curtains, pillows?  Ummm yes, lovely, but maybe it’s my years of constant displaying of product in my retail jobs…I just can’t get enthusiastic, and I feel like I should be. I admire those who can, and do.

I can hardly find color coordinated towels for the bathroom, much less garner the enthusiasm for coordinating my paper towels to the season.  What’s up with that? And I dread decorating for Christmas, more then you know, trust me, after doing hundreds of trees, it kind of loses it’s appeal.

It makes me wonder if cutting some faded, and browning hosta leaves, propping them up in a old spaghetti sauce jar, with pieces of paper label still attached count.  I would also be using a piece of twine formally used by Bootsie as a toy, wound around it as a accent? Does that count? 

Maybe I am spending too much time on Pinterest, or venturing out there in the rain to take too many photos, but I just can’t seem to get excited about it. Oh, and I work, as if that’s a excuse that counts. I am just hoping that this is a phase….

I have a very good and admirable friend who redecorates her entire house at least 4 times a year.  She puts me to shame, without meaning to at all, as she would many a decor blogger.  Fall arrived at her house, ages ago.  Tasteful ambers, reds, auburns, and chocolate colored decor scattered around.  The couch gets a makeover with it’s autumn colored pillows, and throws, the paintings are changed,  the curtains rehung in the correct seasonal colors.  Trust me, it’s beautiful, and it looks like a perfect show home. One that you can take the ideas home from, and use them in your own place.

Then I come home to my apartment.  Well, the canvas crow photo I made for my husband’s birthday matches our decor, and he loves it. It is predominantly fallish colors…so maybe I am ahead of the game.  Oh and look, there are some rustic chestnuts hanging out in front of it.  They do double duty as the gas they give off as they dry, repels spiders.  Does that count?

There have got to be more of “us” kind of people out there.  Those of us that would rather do almost anything other then change out pictures, strip the couch of it’s layers, rehang curtains, and fluff pillows.  I am happy with what I have, and it’s nice, it’s cosy, and uncluttered, and it looks good.  I just don’t feel like expending the effort to change it all up every few weeks. And if it’s looked the same way for a few months, I really don’t have a problem with that. 

So what do you do?  Are you a fiddler, one who is constantly redoing the mantle, or are you like me, fix it and leave it kind of girl. Let me know, because I think that I might have to break out the paints and gussy up some pumpkins with glitter to get kick start my enthusiasm for fall decorating.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

I’m taking a nap

 

Busy, busy, busy, busy…… and now I am taking a nap.

 

 

 

Very, very busy…..snore.

 

Don’t wake me.

 

I’m busy, very busy.

 

A cat’s got to get his rest you know.

 

And I am very tired.

 

 

Purrrrrty tired.

 

 

Soooo sleepy.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

These golden days of summer

 

 

These golden days of summer are mine, for basking in the late summer light, storing up the feeling of sun on my bare skin, hoping that the memory will last through a wet, and cold, dark winter.

These golden days are mine in payment for those stark wet times when the camera can’t go outside.  These golden days are for building up a inventory of images that I can work on during the long evenings when shadows nip at the walls.

There is no welcome for the cold temperatures in my heart,  I am relishing these golden days, only the late summer sun can offer.

As a gardener these golden days offer a promise of autumnal colors deepening, seed pods ripening, flowers fading, and grasses drying.

As a photographer these golden days offer a light that is rarely seen during high summer, edging now towards the darkness waiting just over the horizon.

Winter is the time to process photos, when the rain splatters against my window, darkening my life. 

But these golden days of summer belong to me, for now.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Maybe I’m just getting old…er

 

I am not that old, just older….you know, when you are reaching the status of ma’am.”  No longer addressed as “miss” by any one but octogenarians.

It’s not that I mind, and luckily I don’t look my age, [and no I am not sharing it with anyone, for now let’s just say that I am in my late 30’s.

Very late 30’s.  Laughing.

Lately I have found myself thinking about events and I was wondering at what point in our life we start to realize that eventful moments are from decades ago, and not in the last few years like we fool ourselves with. 

First day of school, well maybe high school, it was only a few decades ago.  First time you got to drive a vehicle by yourself after getting your licence.  First real job, first apartment.

When do you realize that you are getting older, that middle age is not really that far off, and has decided to camp out smack in the middle of your birthday cake.  Looming over your ever so slightly, maybe soon to be wrinkling shoulders, because hey, everyone tanned back then.

Does it happen when you finally have to get those bi-focal glasses, since your arms length is no longer enough to make the fine print clear?  Does it happen when you start looking at sensible shoes, instead of the sky strappingly high cute little heels that will kill your feet? Does it happen when the not so young guy at the supermarket calls you Ma’am?

Or when you forget what you wanted to tell your blog readers?  Where you put the car keys, and what you had for dinner last night. Can I be having a senior’s moment when I haven’t even acknowledged that I might be middle aged?

Not that it’s happening to me, oh no, I am not getting older….am I?

Are you?

 

Jen  @ Muddy Boot Dreams

 

 

 

Wordless…

 

 

Sometimes there are no words that will make it any better….

 

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

I thought I had something to tell you

 

 

 

Seriously, I thought I had something to tell you.  You know it’s important when I have to start the sentence with Seriously.  Yes, well, I did have something to tell you.  If I can only remember what it was.

I started to write this post, and then phone rang, it was a telemarketer, and 3 of the emails I had sent to friends came back with questions, and of course there was the time I didn’t waste because I enjoyed wasting it on Pinterest.  And then Bootsie needed to be fed, and “oh yes, there is something I had to tell you.”

Do you know I can’t remember what it was.  It wasn’t that I had to make dinner, in this luxurious late summer, “can you believe it’s September”  heat, and that’s a twitter kind of thing.  And I am most certain that no one cares that I was making dinner. 

Then the Police cars raced up our street, and my heart thumped in my chest as I turned towards the patio door, praying that no cat was out on the road.  Or child……  how totally irresponsible of them, one day..….but you don’t need to know that.

There is something that I was supposed to tell you, but I just can’t remember. You know those little nuggets of joy that you save up for your spouse’s arrival home, or the phone call with a good friend.  That kind of thing.  Then the camera called to me, and I remembered that I was going to take some shots of the garden, late summer heat and all, but I forgot to do that also.

Yes I am sure it will come to me.  Maybe it was about the gorgeous sunset at Crescent Beach the other day…or maybe it was something else.

One day I will remember.

And then I will tell you.

Seriously.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

 

What did it say?

 

There seems to be a never ending supply of quotes out there, and I’m collecting them as fast as I can.

Here’s a few of mine from my Pinterest board.

 

“Everything is going to be alright, maybe not today, but eventually.” 

Love, love, love this one.  Perfect for those Mondaymorningsit’sbacktoworkthewholeweekisstillaheadofmedays.

 

 

“Thought about cleaning the house, and then I thought, what’s the house done for me lately.”

Snort giggle, laugh, come one, well what has it done for you today?

 

“I laughed so hard, tears ran down my legs.”

Maybe you have to be a woman of a certain age to know this one, but ohhhhh baby.  Snort, giggle, laugh…….uh oh! 

 

“Due to economic cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.”

Ah hahhhhh. 

 

“Dear Math, I’m not a therapist, solve your own problems.”

Math, all those years in school, and I still couldn’t solve your problems.

 

 

“Do more of what makes you happy.”

Words to live by, now go out there and do it.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Time enjoyed wasting, is not wasted time

 

 

I’ve been hanging out with a few friends lately, gathering recipes, and quotes, images, and ideas, all credited back to the original author.  I have gathered so many that there are times when I wonder if I am getting anything done….but enjoying it anyways.  It’s stolen time, a few minutes here, and few there. Nothing really much, just a bit of fun, and a lot of creative inspiration. The site?  Pinterest.

Now some people have mentioned that they are not going to be spending their time a wasting, hanging out where I have been.  It’s my choice, and it’s my time, and I need the creative outlet. For us visually creative people this is like having unlimited credit in a candy store, and no cavities ever.

I found a sign on this site that reads, “The time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted time.” I totally agree.  But there is a also a sign that reads,

 Thanks Pinterest, for helping me feel creative, even though I’ve really just been sitting at my computer for the last 3 hours.

Well, it wasn’t three hours, quite….but look at what I have found and pinned to my boards, a recipe for the very best rice rolls with mango, mint, shrimp, and cilantro that’s like a explosion of delight on your tongue.  Ideas for cleaning your oven glass that are so simple, you will cry, and it’s not from onions.  Mind boggling beauty in images, dresses, fashion, and clever ideas for storage.  Ideas for gardens, displaying collections, recipes for pretzels, and doughnuts, shoes to die for. 

And here’s the best part, you can follow other peoples boards, choosing what you would like to pin to your board.  It’s like having a friend with a wonderful inspiring sense of style, share her secrets with you.  We all need a little more creativity in our lives, and if you would like a invitation send me your email to muddybootdreams [at] gmail.com .  I am on there as Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams, look me up.  I am more then willing to share, and see what you have pinned. I have heard there is a limit to how many invites you can give out at a time but all the other information that you will need is on their site.

 

 

And thanks Pinterest, I know it’s not been just 3 hours, but it’s certainly not been time wasted.

 Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

Some people look for a beautiful place…

 

 

 

I’ve been hanging out somewhere beautiful on the web lately.  In my next post I will share this beautiful and inspiring place with you.

See you soon, have a lovely long weekend.

 

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams