Hurry Up – Slow Down

Print is from Dazey Chic, $20.00 for an 8×10.  I quite like this one too!

Do you ever get the feeling that there is something out there trying to get you to slow down? One Saturday evening, mid cooking dinner for my husband (boys asleep), dancing to The Black Eyed Peas, our power went out.

Between you and me, I had been shaking my booty around the kitchen, a glass of chardonnay in hand and Nigella Lawson at my side talking me through a new mango chicken salad recipe. Boom, no music. My husband, mid placing of a new ceiling fan in our bedroom called down ‘I don’t think it was me!’. Found my neighbours out on their deck too gazing off to the blues and twos that were flashing away at the entrance of our neighbourhood. We saw the Fire service arrive, the ambulance service arrive and depart. A sigh of relief. When power goes out here it tends to be either an accident disrupting the power or a thunder storm.

I’m not quite sure what the reason was this night, but it made me stop. No internet, no TV, no anything with power. Now I have a gas hob (cook top) so I continued to cook my red quinoa (you should try this!) and I finished the salad, but as for anything else – it would have to wait. We ate dinner that night on the deck, temperature still hanging around the 20C mark talking to each other. Talking actually talking! Wow that’s pretty amazing in our world. No interruptions, just us.

The sky was clear and bright. Stays light here well into hours that further south would be tinged with darkness. The colours that surround us – when was the last time I actually sat and looked at all the colours that a setting sun produces? Probably while sailing on the ocean when every one sits and stares at the horizon watching for the green flash the sun gives as it disappears beneath the waves. Humm, the 6-10pm watch was a good one. Back to my big Alberta skies – for a long time we (hubby and I) missed our Denver blue skies. I once read that the sky looks bluer there because of the elevation, mile high city and all that, and boy the skies are blue, but here is pretty stunning too. So much so that when we decorated our house I asked our interior designer to help me bring the outside in. I have had my fair share of browns and creams and neutrals and I like them, I do but this was time to enjoy those sunny, bright clear days that our family love so much. My kitchen is white with yellow walls and running into the family room a pale blue called Harbour Haze which in turn runs into the hall, and great room which is open to two stories and is called Early Morning…..up stairs is a mix in the guest bedrooms of Honey Harbour yellow and my boys rooms Icy Moon Drops and Summer Lime. The master a mix of gentle mauves.

I could see all those colours and more as I gazed at the sky. Greens and mauves, yellows and blues, all like an artists watercolour palate. I achieved what I wanted. As I walk around my house it does feel like the day continues to brighten and cheer. When winter spends such a long time in your company you might as well have what you enjoy surrounding you inside!

I am brought back to focus on my moment by the sound of a car rushing off somewhere. The peace and tranquility shattered for a second. Someone has noise around them, a radio on I expect, are they experiencing these colours, hearing their thoughts? May be they don’t want to. For once I am relaxed and focused on nothing other than what is around me. My family. My senses heightened of the smells, sounds and sights of summer. If I ever need to meditate, and I am notoriously bad at things like that, I must bring myself back to this moment.

So it is off to bed. Ah, relaxed, calm thinking I hope the ‘Peas’ don’t wake me at 2am full blast singing at the top of their lungs ‘tonights gonna be a good good night… yey yeh ’ because it is and was – just not with them reminding me of such!

Have a lovely weekend,

Kate