Spring is Here!

While the news channels are talking about record snowfalls and massive airline cancellations due to heavy snowfalls, come and stroll with me thru Butchart Gardens and smell the flowers!

I had no idea the extent that these people would go in order to provide a year around venue here... even in January and February.

They have taken all the tables and chairs out of the Blue Poppy Restaurant and made the entire space into an amazing exhibit.

To build this waterfall and pond is no small job.  In another month or so they will remove all the rocks, gravel, pipes, pumps and plants and return the space back to the Blue Poppy Restaurant.  This pond is even stocked with some beautiful sizeable fish.

With my sister Rose and her husband Morian, Shirley and I made our first visit to Butchart Gardens in 2011.  

The smell of the Hyacinths filled the air with the most pleasant perfume... which hit us the moment we entered the place... long before we actually saw these flowers.

We hope to use our seasons pass a lot this year and see the gardens every month or two.  Can you tell me the name of the next few flowers?

"Spring is a heart full of hope and a shoe full of rain."

"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." -Robert Schuller

"I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face." -Langston Hughes

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" -Robin Williams

"In spring time, love is carried on the breeze. Watch out for flying passion or kisses whizzing by your head." -Emma Racine deFleur

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet

This classic view of the sunken gardens in February, without leaves and blossoms, is still very interesting.

I saw this utility cart with my initials on it... so had to stop and take a photo of it... not realizing at first my shadow.  We had a little discussion on what the SG stood for. Something Good? or maybe Sunken Garden.

We enjoyed the sun that graced our day... and so did all the plants!

There were several robins also enjoying the sun.  This was the only one who stood still for 1/125th of a second.  We could hear the worms crying, "Look out!"

Here is the first daffodil I've seen blooming this year.  There are many more nearly ready to burst forth, but someone had to be first!

As we completed our visit to the Gardens, Shirley was drawn to Gift and Seed Store... where she could not resist purchasing some hope.  There is a lot of hope in a package of seeds.

"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring." -Bern Williams

Eat Healthy

I am probably the last one to be giving advice on eating healthy... but on this Every Monday Matters day we will just invite you to check out today's site.  It has some good facts to scare you into action.

"A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice." -E. W. Howe

It is one thing to say you want to eat healthy... but to actually do it consistently is another thing.  You know how easy it is to make a little exception... until if you are not careful, soon the exception becomes the standard and the pants keep getting tighter.

I have come to the realization that there are two factors in eating healthy with a goal to lose or at least not gain weight.  First is to eat real food... and stay as far away as possible from processed foods and crinkly bags. Second is to eat less.

Real foods don't require labels.  Carrots, apples, whole foods in the bulk section, like legumes, nuts and seeds... these don't have labels.   The more real foods you put in your shopping cart the better.

The second key has to do with quantity.  Some of your favourite foods may not qualify as "healthy" but if you cut back on the serving size, it won't work against you.

"Moderation is not about enjoying less but about enjoying better.  It allows me to be the master and not the slave of my pleasures." -Andre Comte-Sponville, paraphrased by Shirley Goerlitz

What is your favourite "trick" to lose weight?