
Reading in the Garden

I planted a mix of annual flowers in my garden this spring, in hopes of adding a dash of extra color and fun. They were seeds and I wasn’t sure what to expect or how many would make it. So when these spots of color started popping out this week I got pretty excited! Of course, plenty of weeds are also popping up, so I’ll be busy for a while getting things under control.
I took a few minutes from my walk to say hi to this critter making her own way along the South West Coast Path in Cornwall, UK.
This is the most beautiful February I’ve had in a climate that actually has seasons. I have been taking walks, working in the garden, and generally escaping outside as often as I can. This afternoon we took a trip to Bodnant Garden and had a beautiful visit. Most of my photos are still on my camera, but I grabbed this picture of some of the many snowdrops sprinkled throughout the grounds — the only kind of snow we’re likely to for the rest of this “winter”!
During a walk last weekend, I stopped after noticing a flock of little birds looking for food near the edge of the water. It was calming to take a few minutes to just stand and watch them.
Today, I spotted another flock in a different place on the water’s edge. The tide was going out — much more quickly than I’d expected — and I captured it in this time lapse video. Apologies for the shakiness; it was hard to stay steady with the gusts of wind.
This coot made quite a fuss, flapping and paddling as it tried to keep up with our little boat on the Amstel river in Amsterdam.
It was probably not the best idea to try a walk like this when I was battling a cold, but the canal was lovely and I couldn’t resist the sunshine. ☀️
Spotted on a walk past the Manchester Museum, this neon sign is a piece of artwork by Waqas Khan that means “welcome.”
I am not a gym-lover. I am not a runner. I am also not consistent about practicing yoga, even though I love it.
But I know this about myself: If I find a way to be even slightly active during the day, I will be happier for it.
And so I have been working on that. I have done 20-minute yoga classes, because sometimes I have to ignore my judgy, perfectionist brain telling me I really should practice for an hour and be realistic about what’s going to happen. I tried a Zumba class because 45 minutes of feeling silly was absolutely worth the happy-exhausted feeling I ended with. I even joined a gym because knowing that my husband also plans to go will at least get me out of the house and moving a couple times a week.
And today? Today I did none of those things. Today I opted to walk the 20 minutes between my dentist’s office and a coffee shop, and that was most of my activity for the day. And it counted — my brain and my body tell me it was worth it.