Just a thought… Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. [Marcel Proust]

Ah, Monday. Another quiet day here on Pender Island before we take the 45-minute ferry ride home this evening for a few appointments and errands in Sidney, BC. Just the usual: get my roots done (although I’m almost always wearing a hat), get my nails done just so they look pretty while I type. Yeah, now that I think of it, it doesn’t make much sense, does it?

Then there’s our toenails. We all show ours off more at this time of year, but this summer in truly trying to embrace island life, I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks. These flat, usually open-toed shoes have been around for decades (not my pair; I bought them new) and I never really felt a need to own them. A couple of weeks ago on a drizzly day in Sidney, I found myself looking for better hiking shoes than the Skechers I usually wear. In addition to getting a pair, I was also drawn to – and purchased – a very basic pair of Birkenstock sandals. “Finally,” I told my Gracefully and Frankly partner Lisa Brandt, “I’m a true island girl!”

Am I the only person in BC – or anywhere for that matter – plagued by blisters from them? After my first wearing, Rob had to adhere some moleskin we keep handy for my soft, sucky feet to stop the rubbing. I’ve worn them only a handful (footful?) of times since, but I’m afraid I got sucked into the hype. The plastic pair I bought for $10 in California a few years back (“before” Elbows Up) have proven more comfortable. Maybe I should have bought the plastic Birkies instead, but I wanted as authentic as I could get. Serves me right. It’s not like they’re haute couture to begin with.

Speaking of which, I read that Taylor and Travis’s wedding went off, seemingly without a hitch, in NYC on Friday (with both members of the couple wearing Christian Dior. While I’m not a big Swiftie and can barely pick out Kelce from a lineup, I’m delighted that two seemingly lovely people had the party they wanted in the venue they chose. They donated $26 million to charities (many of them food banks), paid $160K for their own police security around Madison Square Garden, and managed to invite about one thousand people who, so far, have kept their fingers off their devices and their mouths shut about the no-phone event, so as to preserve some semblance of privacy for the happy couple. How they managed to keep even the servers on the downlow is beyond me. But they did. They pulled it off, and that’s amazing.

What I haven’t been able to get my head around is all of the bitter Betties and Bobs who have been obsessed with slamming T&T for everything surrounding the event. Now I’m not here to defend a billionaire and her new husband; they don’t know me and certainly don’t care what I think, nor should they. But why does everything have to be such an outrage? Leave them the hell alone. I mean, as much as the biggest pop star on the planet and her dashing husband can be “hands off.” She didn’t take over Venice like Bezos and his inflatable bride; she caused some traffic closures in a city that is hit with them so regularly it’s an event when there isn’t one.

Frankly, in the midst of a red, white & algae green shit show in Washington the past week, a World Cup rife with corruption (with Mango Mussolini himself admitting to calling the FIFA boss to get a red card suspension on a US player overturned), and a heat wave that seems to have been as punishing as last winter’s cold in parts of Canada, what on earth does it hurt to have something pleasant on which to dwell? It’s not like the Jays are brightening our moods, but the fact that we weren’t even tempted to spend big American bucks to go south of the border to watch them lose two out of three makes me a little bit grateful.

I guess what I’m saying is, to hell with the negativity. Or, more appropriately, yay positivity! Let’s celebrate what we can, when we can. Even if it’s getting two exceptional pictures of a lovely buck relaxing behind our cabin on Saturday evening.

I just happened to capture him with the perfect late-day lighting, and I’ll hover on this cloud of contentment for as long as I can, grateful we had no fireworks in our area to frighten them during our blissfully quiet Canada Day.

May your week include moments of peace, too. Oh, and comfortable shoes! Talk to you with Lisa on Thursday, or on another free Drift with Erin Davis sleep story tonight. And thank you for spending some time here.