Little precious moments of humanity

On snow plows, rescues and senior cats

Sliding and tripping into February can feel a bit bleak here in rural Southern Ontario, Canada . January brought us -20 c degree windchill, snowstorms, icy roads (more to come about that!) and the world news is not getting any more heartening. It’s quite easy to slip into a gloomy state when the world appears all grey.

So I am trying to look a little harder and conjure up some sprigs of sunshine and joy

despite it all.

A day that starts out rather poorly can turn around .

Like my road rescue by Scott the tow truck driver . He arrived to tow my car from the ditch after it slid over the icy edge during my lame attempt to avoid an oncoming snow plow. Thanks too to the snow plow driver, and many other neighbours who stopped to insure I was ok. And I was. So other than a little inconvenience and a chilly wait -I was back in action two hours later..no injuries to the car or myself.

So the silver lining was the help and offers of.

Later I could relax with a hot cup of tea and a cat in my lap-warmed by the fire ..

Feeling the warm glow of the support I received through this icy incident.

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Speaking of cats ..our one tuxedo cat Gus is behaving in needy and odd ways ..crying and playing in the night, yowling at my bedroom door and sleeping peacefully during days - while becoming a nocturnal terror at all times of the night (and early morning..) He also has developed this new habit of needing to be held in a certain way that we have named “the scarf position “ As there doesn’t seem to be any underlying health concerns we feel it’s and elder cat thing.. He purrs in rapture each time we hold him this way

Even Though a few of these habits are maddening in the moment (3:30 am meowing for instance) we are trying to put it all in perspective and tolerate his senior quirks for who he is in his time of life! (I am hoping that if there comes a time when I require the scarf position hug that there will be a willing human to accomodate me . Ha! )

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I enjoyed Participating in another wonderful online draw fundraiser for Palestine with 200 (and some) other artists worldwide facilitated by Sarah Dyer illustrator . Again it was an illuminating and heartfelt experience with some lovely background discussion happening.

The timed drawings were only 15 and 20 minutes in length but in the hour so much magic happened. (The reference photos were from @hidden palestine and @pomegranates feeds on instagram)

All these little moments offer us a bit of hope , a brightening of light and a way forward. As creatives I believe we need to find a way to record and learn from these small experiences which make up every day of our lives .

Where do you find your pearls of hope and meaning in these times?

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