Bec's Happybox

Things that are Pink

The cherry blossoms are pretty much done for the year.  I always find this slightly depressing, even though the apple blossoms are a nice consolation prize.  The elation of those weeks when everything is blooming...boy it can't be beat.  Behold, the roundest bunch of blossoms in the universe.  These are not from my tree, they're from a tree in Cherry Blossom Central, AKA James Bay.

These next two are from my tree, and were taken while I was having a little nighttime sitting-high-up-in-the-cherry-tree-time, an activity I highly recommend. 

This one is of my neighbours' tree, taken during a nighttime lying-on-my-back-on-my-neighbours'-wet-lawn session, another thing I find quite enjoyable. 

And now for some of the pink consolation prizes that will still be around, even after the cherries have stopped blooming.  Consolation prize number one: pink tulips.

Swooon, right?  Or how about these pink rhodos?

I was reading a garden book the other day and I came across the phrase "unsightly hodgepodge".  I realized today that my garden may qualify as an unsightly hodgepodge!  It is not simple, well-designed, or elegant.  It has all sorts of colours with no thought given to the overall plan.  But who cares when you have pink bleeding hearts?

This plant is really my baby this year, because when I planted it last year, it died immediately, and I was very sad and never expected to see it again.  But there it was a couple of months ago, poking out of the ground with insistence.  Now I won't have to twist Tobias' arm into letting me buy and plant a couple more this year.  He is not a happy camper when I buy (relatively) expensive plants and then kill them. 

Even pink things that are dying are nice, as evidenced by this little carpet of pink created by my camellia bush.

The aforementioned apple blossoms are pinkish, moreso before they've opened. 

Now I can't claim to have grown my new sparring boots, but I plan to do a lot of good work with them.  What do you think?  Intimidating?  Would you want to be kicked in the head with these boots?

Now there was one last thing that I wanted to include in this roundup of all things pink, but I just looked out the window and it's not there right now.  So watch this space for a pink thing that I promise will delight you.  Well, I guess if you hate pink, it may not.  Hint: it is not a pink bird.  Wouldn't that be something?

There's more to Tae Kwon-Do than Sparring, you know

Sahsez learned her first spinning kick tonight.  My baby!

In four months, Sahsez and I will have our three-year anniversary of beginning Tae Kwon-Do.  When we started, she had just turned five.  She has always been the youngest and smallest member of our club.  But not the quietest!  It's been said that, pound for pound, Sahsez has the loudest kiyup (yell) in the club.  She can definitely make herself heard. 

Next month I am hoping that she will test for her yellow belt with Grandmaster K.S. Hwang who will be visiting us.  That would be very cool.  She's a bit shy though, and might decide to wait. 

Certain aspects of training are still really difficult for her; mostly stuff that emphasizes her size (as the smallest person in the club) or competitive stuff.  She's probably the only kid in the club that would rather do line drills than play dodgeball.  She doesn't like losing.  But man, she's come a long, long way with her courage and shyness and attention span and technique and form.  I'm so proud of her. 

Ending Coward

I've just sent off a couple of emails that have been a long time coming.  They are resignation letters for two jobs I've been doing, one paid, one not.  I'm feeling a little bit raw right now, but considering how long I put off those letters, it's not as bad as I thought.  Incidentally, it is much easier to resign from a paid position than a volunteer one.  Funny, that. 

I have never been good at ending things.  I tend to disappear, rather than look someone in the eye and say "Okay, this is over now."  As part of my "Become a Better Person in my Thirties" scheme, I am working on this. 

Small steps: weaving in the ends of yarn in my knitting projects, rather then leaving them in a perpetual "nearly done" state.   

Mediums steps:  explaining to the JWs that have been visiting me that I am really not interested. 

Big steps: hmm.  Well, I guess the resignation letter for the volunteer position (choir director at church, if you must know) was a big one.  So I should feel good about that, I guess?  Maybe tomorrow the relief will come.

Retroactive steps: It would probably be nice for me to go and visit my old boss and show her my children and tell her about my new life.  She would probably like that.  Eleven years ago I told her I was going to Ireland for a few months and then basically never went back to the store again.  Oh, and while we're at it, I could also say hello to my old piano instructor when I see her around town.  She's another person that I used the Ireland excuse to end something with. 

Once I get better at ending things, I'll work on not starting things in the first place, also known as "learning to say no".