Gratitude Monday --Crunch Time

I am very grateful for chiropractors. They don't get their due and that's a shame because they do good work.

A nasty cough recently messed up my back including displacing a rib. Assorted back muscles have done their darnedest to compensate for it in the only way they know how.  I'll skip the details, but in short I didn't have a comfortable position to lie in and turning over was quite a big, painful deal.

Massage, essential oils, ice when needed, heat when needed, and rest have done been a great help, but it's the chiropractic adjustments that have made the greatest difference.

I'm getting another one this morning, the third for this issue and quite possible the last. I'm looking forward to it and am very grateful for the skilled help I am receiving.

Photo-Finish Friday–I See You

An elk near Jasper townsite, Jasper, Alberta.

Just Ducky

Buffleheads and a female mallard out for a leisurely Easter Sunday swim.

Gratitude Monday–Take A Different View

The other day I was practicing drawing.  I like trees with noses near the root system and I like attaching an ear on the side  so I was busy putting this together on a trunk.
I made an effort to play with some shading techniques I'd read of. It's a stretch to say I've learned them, but I presume that will come. I have a good range of graphite pencils for playing and the best way to learn is to use them.
This is what I'd drawn:

I was having fun.  For that alone I am grateful.
My husband was sitting across the table from me so I picked up the drawing to show him. He smiled and told me to look at it from his angle, upside down.
When I did I smiled. I was so intent on doing something one way I had neglected to see it in any other way.
Usually I'm the one looking at the world from a different angle.  I must have needed a reminder.
My husband was there to provide it and for that I am grateful.
Here's what he saw:


Other views can be surprising.

Gratitude Monday–Green

The first few shoots of green have been trying to get growing.
We get plenty of deer in the yard and they find them before we do.
I understand. In their hooves I'd do the same.

But I did manage to find these Egyptian onion tops growing near the sidewalk in the front yard.
They are green and they are beautiful and I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday—Summer Soon?

A bohemian waxwing takes a break from eating the berries in the ash tree in the front yard.
Photo taken August 2012

Gratitude Monday --Seasonal Swing

The temperatures have perked up.
Water runs and drips and the sun shines.
Yes, we've been down this road a few times lately. But this time, based on it being calendar spring, I believe spring is here to stay and for it I am grateful.

Photo Finish Friday -- Peyto Lake

This is Peyto Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, in August of last year.