It's a bright, sunny but cold and snow-covered day at the farmette. I almost came up empty for this post because nothing much happened last week. But then I thought, well, that very fact is a good post.
We don't appreciate enough, I think, the routine of life in Canada. Most of us get along and go along, toiling away or tinkering away and once in a while, hopefully, getting away.
We don't have to deal with the worst effects of climate change (okay, I am getting tired of the damn snow). Generally, we don't have to worry about getting gunned down like the 50 - FIFTY - people who were killed in the New Zealand mosques on Friday.
Most of us are regularly fed and watered. We have roofs over our heads, walls that protect us and solid foundations under our feet.
By and large, we are fortunate to live here, and maybe we have to examine a little more closely why - and try a little harder to maintain what we have.
It's not like we don't have our problems. I hate it when people say, 'that's a first-world problem'. Yep. We live in the first world. So we're going to have those kinds of issues. Doesn't help to denigrate them.
We do have to put things in perspective, though.
Having the electricity go out for an hour or two - like it did for us last week - is not a life-altering crisis.
Getting stuck in a traffic jam on the highway does not mean the end of the world. Although I was very tired and very grateful to get home a few weeks ago after driving for three and a half hours through a blizzard.
I think that, when we're feeling a bit bored or ground down by the everyday, we need to put our heads up, take a look around, and see the beauty in the ordinary. The joy in the mundane.
As you can tell, I'm feeling a bit peely-wally today. Need to get out in the sunshine. Take a hike by the river and freeze my butt off. And enjoy the fact that there's nothing much going on. Until next week.