Gratitude: Day 1

A friend has been having daily gratitude posts for more than 200 days. I'm inspired. So here it is: Day 1: I am grateful for the abundance I am discovering within myself and within my new community here in Oakville. It feels like this has been the right choice, and an opening.

The first nip of fall

It's the 25th day since we arrived in Oakville, Monday morning. Caroline left on the bus for school this morning, Dave is off to work, and I have the week ahead of me. Last night Caroline slept in her own room for the first time, which is a landmark. What's more, she stayed in her own bed all night ;)

We've been lucky to find second hand furniture, and even luckier to have help moving it. Yesterday the last items arrived, and it feels like we can settle in. We also bought some more art for the house in the form of handmade rugs from India and Tibet. Extravagance, but extravagance we will enjoy for a while, and pass on to our daughter.

The sky is blue, the sun is shining, but there was a fall nip in the air this morning, and the seasons are starting to turn. The tips of the maple are pulling in their chlorophyll, russetting. I'm told it is a scarlet maple, so I look forward to crimson as the seasons continue.

Settling in in Oakville

What an amazing summer this has been. My daughter and I spent 22 days driving from the west coast of Canada to southern Ontario, stopping along the way to visit with friends and sight see. Packing the car was a combination of Tetris and pick-up-sticks by the end of the journey, and we still have yet to clean off the dust from the nooks and crannies of the van. So many stories and memories. What a great transition from one life to the next.

 We have been in Oakville, our new city, for 16 days. Our home, remarkably, is even nicer than the pictures suggested. Caroline had a week of gymnastics camp, giving me a bit of time to get settled. This past week we mostly went out, visiting with friends for two days, first at the Ontario Science Centre and then at Centreville, a great amusement park for younger children on Toronto's Centre Island. Wednesday we puttered, and on Thursday we took a road trip to the shore of Lake Erie to visit a friend and frolic in the sandy waves of the great lake. Finally, yesterday was the day to visit the new school, find out where the washrooms are, and get information about the classroom and the school bus. So now it is Labour Day weekend, the last free days of summer. Time to find out exactly how much Caroline has grown, get some new clothes, and get ready for the rhythms of the new year.