Gratitude Monday -- One Gratitude Leads To Another Edition

I have a great deal to be grateful for, and for that I am grateful.
On the weekend before last my friend Sylvia and I had a girls' weekend in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was a blast.
During it we did some spur of the moment shoe shopping. A family-owned shoe store on Main Street was said to have hard to find sizes. I have small, hard to fit feet.
I found the best pair of hiking shoes ever.
I bought them.
They are wonderful.
This past weekend my husband and I went camping and did some hiking in Jasper National Park. For this I am grateful.
The new shoes got a thorough tryout on the Valley of the Five Lakes Hike.  We ended up going about 8. 3 km ( about  5 mi. in the Old Tongue).
We did a shorter, steeper hike the next day.
Though I am a bit footsore from all the walking the hikers worked well and I am grateful I bought them.

One of the five lakes in the valley.

Gratitude Monday - Unquestioned Good Health Edition

I had my three month check-in with my cancer surgeon recently. All is well and for that I am grateful.
Up until now I've had to see him every three months and get some bloodwork done about two weeks prior to the visit.
This time he said, "Your blood work is pristine."
Okay. I don't know quite how that can be, but I was damned if I was going to question it.
I smiled and took the win.

Meanwhile, I only have to see him every six months now, but still need to get the blood work done every three months. I am to get a CT scan in the late summer.  The next colonoscopy is the far future of 2018.
Cancer, my ass!

Gratitude Monday -- Right Here, Right Now Edition

I ran across some wise words on our recent drive through Jasper National Park.
We stopped for a pee break at Columbia Icefields.
The outdoor toilets are at the top of the large parking lot and look out toward Athabasca Glacier.
In one, the word gratitude was written in large letters. Underneath it was the sentiment you should "be grateful that you are right here, right now."

There are many layers to the remark, and all of them are true.



Athabasca Glacier:

Gratitude Monday-- Be The Marmot Edition

A marmot in the morning sun

This hoary marmot spent part of a sunny Friday morning enjoying the sunshine.

Whatever other important marmot business it had to attend to that day was either done or could wait.

Marmots sun themselves.

It is important to them.

Above, it had a rock and the sun. That's all a marmot needs for a sunbath. I presume it was living in the moment enjoying the warmth and light, and I further presume it was grateful as its current need and desire was being met.

I am grateful to have seen the creature and to have gotten its photo. I am further grateful to have the reminder to be grateful for having what I need when I need it, and to enjoy it.

It's a good reminder.

Be the marmot.