A Spring Walk In The Rain

Forgive me for being absent. There's been a lot of travel this month and more to come. There are graduations and birthdays and moves to organize and so much more.

Today, despite the drizzly weather and strong wind, Buddy and I went for a long walk on the city streets.

This is what we saw.

Aren't the colours in this tulip divine?

Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, for the upcoming Chihuly exhibit

Fading flowers, still beautiful

I know the artist is name Chihuly but I keep wanting to say Chipotle.

The last of the tulips.

Some interesting brickwork on Bishop Street

Another cat paw brick! A double one, in an alley off Bishop

This is the view from the alley. I almost got squashed by a delivery truck backing up. Don't you love this window? Wasted on a narrow alley, methinks. But such is Montreal. All kinds of surprises in hidden corners, tucked away from view.

Love these buildings, the old juxtaposed with the new. This is Montreal.

More carved stone.

I want to live here. There's a teensy deck on the second floor, and a large deck on the roof.

I took this by accident, but I kind of like it.

An Ancient Parable from India, not to be confused with an ancient parasol or parasite

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone in the wise woman's bag, admired it, and asked the wise woman to give it to him. The wise woman did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the jewel was worth enough to give him security for the rest of his life.

But a few days later he came back, searching for the wise woman. When he found her, he returned the stone and said, "I have been thinking. I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back to you in the hope that you can give me something much more precious."

"If you can, give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

Words to live by (unless of course we're talking about oatmeal cookies, especially if they're still warm from the oven. Then this parable is totally bogus.)