In a sea of negativity, in she walks...

People continually amaze me with their generosity.  They really, really do.  I work at a Women's Centre.  This is not a women's shelter, we are more of a resource/referral/advocacy agency for any woman in our region.  A few months back I, along with a couple of women I sat on a committee with, started a community drive gathering donations of toiletries for women to access for free.  We have always known there was an issue with this stuff, we keep pads on site from which women could take a couple, as well as being the drop-off for folks gathering those little bottles from hotels.  It can get freakin' expensive you know?  Especially if you are on a fixed income (social assistance up here in Canada), as most of the women we work with are.

Well, we realized that there is wayyyy more of a need than a couple of pads and little bottles, so "Women Helping Women" was born.  We did some advertising, told everyone that we worked with, and were completely overwhelmed by the community's generosity.  Offices put out donation boxes and held comptetions to see who can get the most stuff collected.  I'm pretty sure every church in our area had a box for us next to their food donation box.  There were massive boxes coming in, garbage bags full.  We got donations of money to buy what we needed.  A baby shower was held with the intention of all gifts being a donation.  It was nuts.  And, this program is popular.  I have no idea how many women have used it since March.  Some only once, some come in each month.  All are generally surprised that they can come here and get free stuff.  It's currently the absolute favourite part of my job.

So, our stock has been getting pretty low and I put out another call for donations.  And, this afternoon in walks a woman I went to school with, carrying a bag full of stuff (everything from deodarant, toothpaste, pads, tampons, baby soap, bodywash).  We had a great chat about what we were up to, how great the program was, yada, yada, yada.  I mentioned how difficult it is for women to have to buy these things when on social assistance and she proceeded to tell me she knew all about that as she is on social assistance.  I was all, "you're on social assistance and you're donating to US????"  She does have supportive parents, but mostly she has a keen eye for deals, buys in bulk when she can and is a master budgeter.  Even with a really (and I mean really) limited income, she wanted to be able to donate to this project.

I am humbled and, oh, so happy today.  I really just wanted to write this post to continue to thank her and thank her and thank her.

Edited to add:  I wrote this post with the intention of later posting it.  About two hours after she dropped off the first bag she came back with another from her mom.

Dear Mother Nature

Please send some warm and sunny weather our way.  Not to be a Negative Nelly but I'm kinda cold, slightly depressed due to lack of sunshine, and a little tired of having to wear full-length pants and sweaters all the time when it is nearly July.  I understand that rain is really important for warding off forest fires, especially in this fire-laden area of the world.  However, I feel that we can come to a mutual agreement that a couple of nice days in a row may not be too dangerous?  Even if you are worried about fires, perhaps you could warm it up just a little?  All of this rain would be a bit more bearable if it weren't so frigid.  I promise to be better at enjoying your wondrous beauty, weeding my garden, and as an extra bonus I will actually get to use my clothesline.

Much love and many thanks,
Steph

P.S.  I think you are really pretty when you showcase ALL the different types of weather you possess.  Not just the cold and rainy days.

Garden pictures from two weeks ago

Just because I've been a bit of a slacker lately, I thought I'd put up some pics of our finally-planted garden :)

First up, our beans and peas:

And, naturally, Fran being cute with scary eyes next to our new fire pit:

And, because blogger is being a big wiener-head with my pics, here is the picture I had posted FIRST, but has decided to jump down to the bottom, and I cannot for-the-life-of-me manage to get it back up top.  Our potatoes, beets and carrots:

And my sweet little daffodils that I thought were crocuses when I planted them:

I forgot to take the pictures of the little mini-greenhouse that contains our spinach, swiss chard and kale, and I ain't gonna try after this hulla-balloo.  I have no idea why this post was so hard to do.  Blogger, why do you hate me so??? 

On another note, the gardening that I did do, which admittedly is a lot less than the work that Dom did, made me sore for a good week.  Not joint sore, but leg muscle sore.  I have this habit, as my knees don't like to squat for any length of time, of bending straight over at the waist when I garden.  So, basically I was stretching on and off for a couple of hours.  Stretching is great.  Extensive stretching when your are not particularly stretchy is not so great.  I think I need to invest in a little stool if I want to spend any time in our garden this summer.

Current Philosophy

This is a wonderful philosophy from one of my favourite characters, one that I'm trying to tell myself all the time. In a good way of course! Things are great, but I need to just keep swimming. Especially as I prepare for yet another work trip, work on increasing my patience, and try to deal with stupid blogger being a curmudgeon about posting pictures right now. Anyhoo, I'm off to follow the wisdom of Dorrie.