friday adventures {part one - old rainbow valley}

August 15, 2017 Arlene Giddings

a couple of weeks ago
i got up and nabbed the car
before my 17 year old son
was even rubbing the sleep
out of his eyes
(it's about the only way i get the car now)

i packed it with my camera,
my phone and bullet journals,
my pencil case,
a can of diet coke and a can of bug spray
and a bag of swedish berries.

i ended up at the old rainbow valley site
in cavendish...
now called cavendish grove
but in my heart
it will always be "where rainbow valley used to be"...

the last time i was there
the trails were just babies...
not developed at all...
i wouldn't even call them a trail,
i would have called them a path...
and a small overgrown path at that.

but now...
now there are real trails.
i did a fairly short one
(um...because partway through the 17 year old
woke up and started texting wondering
when the car would be back...haha)

i am in love with these trails.
you can get right down to cavendish beach!
which, to someone as spatially challenged as me
seemed like complete and utter MAGIC
because i cannot put the beach in relation to
old rainbow valley and in my head
i can't make sense of how i WALKED there...and so fast.

don't try to explain to me...
i prefer to believe the trail are magic.

i came across a little building
that looked like it might have been a church
or related to a church at one time...
and dunes & flowers that are probably really weeds
but still so pretty...

there is a little forest of tall, tall trees...
there was an explanation of what the trees were
but i didn't take a photo of it
and now i forget...
but i was glad i followed the path
into this little clearing...
i can't explain why
but it just felt so quiet and peaceful
and the light was so pretty...
and i could not capture it with my camera,
not the way it felt to me.

i am definitely planning to come back here
when i have more time
(and have fortified myself with something
more than swedish berries & diet coke)
to do the longer trail.
i am pretty sure it said 8.5 kms for that one.

when i left here,
i had full intentions of going straight home
but ended up in north rustico
but that's a post for another day...
even you even made it to the end of this long post!
:) :) :)
TO BE CONTINUED...

whatcha readin'? {2017::book 8 - goal 24}

August 14, 2017 Arlene Giddings

it's no secret...
i adore alice hoffman.
this is the 2nd of 3 books
i read of hers
just this year...
just this year SO FAR.
i suspect there will be more.

and
it's also no secret
that i love fairy tales
if you know me at all...
there are books of fairy tales
all through my house.

so can you imagine how happy
it makes me when one of my
favorite writers
references fairy tales
with words that sound like music
and poems and whispered secrets.

once again, she did not disappoint.

"Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. 
Every one had teeth and claws"
Alice Hoffman

4 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP: BOY SNOW BIRD - HELEN OYEYEMI

life is messy...

August 13, 2017 Arlene Giddings

this weekend
has flown by in a
blur
of happy and sad,
birthdays, bittersweet homecomings
and sad goodbyes...

our girl turned 22 on saturday.
it is hard for me to wrap my head around this number.
where is the time going?
2 jobs, going to school, her own apartment...
no driver's license yet
{well... she is her mother's daughter...}

we are incredibly proud of her.
she came into this world stubborn,
taking her sweet old time
and not making her entrance
until she was good and ready...
and that's how she still lives her life today.

she's loud and mouthy and
strong and brave.
and i would not change a thing about her.

we weren't expecting to see her on her birthday
since she was just home last week
but she came home
for a wake and funeral.

i had not planned on talking about this here
because it was my husband's uncle
and i feel like it is not really my story to tell...
but i do have to say this...

as i watched my husband's family over the past
couple of days, i was struck by how strong
and closely knit and...well...how amazing that family is.
they accepted the unbearable sadness that came with having to
say goodbye to a man that was like a rock
within a much larger part of their family,
extending far beyond their family unit of husband and father
to father in law, grandfather, brother, uncle and close cherished friend to so many,
with the strength of coming together
as a family in such a powerful way.

goodbyes are always so damn hard
yet made bittersweet when filled with stories and song,
laughter between the tears, hugs and memories and so much food
passed around the family til late in the night...
and it gives me comfort to know that
yes, things are going to be hard sometimes
and goodbyes are going to have to be said
no matter how hard we don't want to say it,
no matter how hard we fight to hang on,
but watching each of them looking out for each other...
pats on the back, so many hugs, so many stories...
well...i think it's a testament to how he lived his life
and how he affected/influenced/impacted so many people in his life
in such a positive way
and that is the kind of legacy worth leaving behind...
you can't ask for more than that.

he will be incredibly missed by so many

♥ ♥ ♥

wordless wednesday

August 9, 2017 Arlene Giddings

rainbows and watercolors

August 8, 2017 Arlene Giddings

the other night
i was working on a new watercolor...
(and when i say working on, i mean struggling with...)
when i happened to look
out the window
and see this bright & shiny rainbow
over my neighbors house.

i really need to reconfigure my workspace...it's better than it was but i think i need more space.

i grabbed the camera
and ran outside
barefoot in the spitting rain.

sometimes
it's good to walk away
from what you are working on
and
get your feet wet
while looking for
end of the rainbow...

when i came back in,
i felt like my frustration
with feeling like i don't know what i am doing
with these brushes, this paper, this color...
why doesn't anything on the paper
match what is in my head,
why do youtube videos
make it all
look
so damn
easy.

anyway.
i felt better when i came in
and was able to finish what i was working on
with fresh eyes
and less eff words.

although...
i tried doing her feet different
and now she looks like
she is suspended in air...
sigh.

and one last photo...of the cat...cause...look at his cute little nose! :)