Flower Quotes and a visit to my garden

By Diana McCollum

I don’t have any one quote I live by. I do love flower quotes as I love working and sitting in my different garden areas.

The first five pictures are ones I took of our different garden areas.

When I sit in my garden I know my soul is fed just looking at my beautiful flowers, butterflies, hummingbirds and other birds.

This first flower is an unusual type of morning glory. I planted a dozen seeds but only this one came up. Part of the fun of gardening is watching for a particular seed to pop up through the soil. A newborn flower.

  

This is a picture of one of four butterfly bushes in our yard.

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” – Luther Burbank

 

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.” – Sigmund Freud

 

One of two sunflower gardens we have. I love how their blossom follows the sun throughout the day. And come morning, they are facing east again.

 

“Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.” – William Cowper

(deposit photo-Author Igor Vetushko)

"A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.” – Doug Larson

Even some weeds are beautiful.  Who hasn't made a wish and blown on a dandelion weed?

I hope you've enjoyed the flower quotes and visit to my garden.

Do you have a favorite flower?

 

Backcountry camping - my happy place

From the time the boys were walking, we've spent part of every summer camping and canoeing, first in a regular campground, what I call 'car camping', and then at remote campsites in the backcountry with everybody and everything loaded into our large canoe. 

When the kids were old enough, and strong enough, we graduated to two canoes for the paddle into the wilderness - one parent and one child in each canoe. And then it was the boring parents in one canoe and the boys in the other, either racing ahead or lagging behind. 

Now that our nest is empty, we're back to one canoe (or two kayaks, but one canoe is a heck of a lot easier to manage on the portages). 

We recently spent a few days in one of my favourite places on earth, Kejimkujik National Park, located in the south-west end of Nova Scotia. 

Here's a map showing the backcountry campsites, some on lakes, some you need to hike to, all very remote. The orange square shows our location for this most recent stay.

And an enlarged view of that area of the map. We parked our car at Eel Weir.

 We walked the O portage and put our canoe in the water at the end of the red line.

Then we paddled to the P portage and site 23, the only campsite on that lake. 

One of the first tasks is making the water safe to drink with a filter and special tablets. This site is one of only a handful with a wooden shelter, very handy should it rain. Though we always have an extra tarp to use as a rain shelter just in case.

A previous camper left this interesting axe behind. My writer brain instantly went in a dark direction.

The next day we paddled further down the river to see the sights ... 

before returning to our campsite for a cosy fire.

Our last day dawned sunny and warm.

We packed up aaalllll our stuff and got on the water for a leisurely paddle back to the portage.

A friendly doe said goodbye.

And then the walk back to the parking lot ...

and the end of another perfect stay in a truly happy place.

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing spicy contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical romance. When not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband, a spoiled cat, and five hens. 

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Amelia Bennett is getting her life on track and won’t let the mistakes of the past harsh her joy. Most days. While working at the family store by day, and building her graphic design business by night, she dreams of the perfect life in the perfect house – just as soon as she can afford it. A man is Not On The Schedule. Not even the big, strong, gorgeous man with the sweet smile and sexy arms.

Nate Hardwick’s craft brewery needs a boost. New bottle labels might help and, luckily, a graphics designer with perfect ideas and a whole bunch of attitude struts into his life. Pretty soon, they’re hanging out like a couple of buddies, but another buddy isn’t what he needs. Not when she’s everything he wants.

Will Amelia’s … issues crash this chance at love? Nate needs to convince her that he’s strong enough to handle whatever she can throw at him.

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PEACE BABY! ✌

It's that time of year up here in the Land of the Midnight Sun when we are fully aware of why this wild, wonderful place has this moniker. The robins chirp all night long because to them, morning is all night! This is great for the mating season, but for humans who desire sleep at 3:00 a.m. it's close-the-windows time. So we can sleep in peace.

The above photo is one of my favorites and whenever I look at it, I get a sense of peace in my heart. Because it's a reminder. 

When we're in a large touring vessel motoring in any of Alaska's ocean waters, and we approach a tidewater glacier, the captain slows the motors. For one thing, it's not wise for a boat to get too close to a tidewater glacer when it calves. Mini tsumanis race outward. There have been kayakers and small boats swamp or flip over by the displacement of water when enormous chunks of ice hit the ocean. Another reason the captain slows the motors is to listen...not just to the lapping of the water on the hull, but to the peaceful silence. Broken only by a flock of gulls, or a shrieking eagle claiming the salmon just beneath the surface.

But most of all, we wait...and wait...and wait...then SNAP! A sound like a thunderclap. Then another. And another...until the air fills with sounds of ice grinding down a massive glacial wall, then breaking off. A nanosecond of pause, then KERSPLOOSH! Into the ocean it goes, all in slow motion. The waves ripple out, eventually reaching our boat and our vessel glides up high on the wave's peak, suspends, then gracefully lowers back, level with the ocean. 

I try to go on these tours at least once every summer. Either in Resurrection Bay out of Seward, Prince William Sound out of Whittier, or Kachemak Bay in Homer. All three offer the grandest that Alaska has to offer. What I like is the peaceful feeling that fills your heart. Nothing to distract you but the forces of nature, the breath-taking beauty, and the marine life. The whales love to show off by breaching around the tour vessels when they slow or stop. Returning whales know the cadence of the bays, they know when the boats motor to the outer shoreline. They'll swim alongside sometimes, roll over, dive, then burst from the water in all their wild splendor.

As they fall back to the sea, I instinctively put my hand on my heart. There's no words to describe the all-encompassing feeling when I experience this. But I do know one thing...whenever I take these boat tours, I really do feel like I'm part of this spectacular marine world. And it's a peaceful one.

Mostly I love going to our cabin. The photo above shows the view from our bluff on the edge of our little cove, on Kachemak Bay. When I want peace in my heart and in my life, I head here, to my happy place. We found it some 28 years ago. It's boat only access, so we don't get a ton of visitors, but we do get kayakers, paddleboarders and the occasional boatload that stops by for a visit.

I think all of us need to find that inner peace that lies within us. It's hard in today's world with all that goes on, but it's there, if we give ourselves time to settle in and let it come to us. A happy place recharges our batteries, and rekindles our spirit. I'm heading down there tomorrow morning, in fact. The first thing I'll do is drag my sea kayak to the beach and paddle out to Otter Rock.

And wait for a whale to breach and bring me the peace I know that lives deep in my heart.

Where's YOUR happy place?

Side Note: The author wears peace sign tee shirts, PJs, and sandals; and sleeps on peace sign sheets and matching quilts. You can take the girl out of being a hippie, but you can't take the hippie out of the girl. Peace Baby!

***

I'm thrilled to announce my second novel, Alaska Inferno is now on Amazon. I'm thrilled to say the reviews are wonderful so far and it's hit a 4.9 rating!

Watch the book trailer for ALASKA INFERNO!   

LoLo Paige was a wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service. She's an award-winning author of two novels in the Blazing Hearts Wildfire Series, Alaska Spark and Alaska Inferno. Her stories contain edge-of-the-seat, invigorating action, strong-willed female firefighters, and romantic suspense. LoLo and her husband divide their time between their beach house in Kachemak Bay, Alaska and sunny Arizona. 

What readers have said about LoLo's books... 

"I could almost feel the heat of the wildfires that surrounded the crews as they staved off threats..."

"The men are wild and yummy and the women are strong and lovingly feisty. The plot moves along at a fast pace..."   

 GET INFERNO HERE!

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