A Smile from Niklas 🙂

an ocean-rounded stone with a hand-drawn happy face on it. On the reverse side is a name (Niklas) and the word happyHi Folks:

Last year we did a blog post called Receiving Kindness where we highlighted two gifts we had been left. The first was a beautifully painted stone left on top of our front fence, and the second was a note letting us know how much someone loved our chalk art on the sidewalk in front of our house. We were quite touched by both of these gifts!

Well, yesterday we found another gift: an ocean-rounded stone upon which someone had drawn a happy face with a black marker. 🙂 On the back side was a name (Niklas A.) and the word happy. We don’t know if Niklas left it for us or if it was passed along by someone else, but it doesn’t matter. We are very happy because of it!

It continues to amaze us how much beauty and kindness there is in the world, every day. We’re a little saddened sometimes that there are those who don’t seem to see much of this, but this must be an individual choice. Grow joy in your own Being and you will radiate it out everywhere you go. As you do, you will become attuned to seeing it, and it will continue to show up spontaneously in your life.

Sending love and hugs your way,
M&M

P.S. Special thanks to the woman this morning who stopped to read the Hugging Poem on our fence and who called out, “I love this!” Made our whole day. 💗

For those of you who can’t walk by our front yard to read it, the poem is here:

Hugging is

Hugging is healthy. It helps the immune system, cures depression, reduces stress and induces sleep. It’s invigorating, rejuvenating and has no unpleasant side effects. Hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.

Hugging is all natural. It is organic, naturally sweet, no artificial ingredients, non-polluting, environmentally friendly and 100 percent wholesome.

Hugging is the ideal gift. Great for any occasion, fun to give and receive, shows you care, comes with its own wrapping and, of course, fully returnable.

Hugging is practically perfect. No batteries to wear out, inflation-proof, nonfattening, no monthly payments, theft-proof and nontaxable.

Hugging is an underutilized resource with magical powers. When we open our hearts and arms we encourage others to do the same.

Think of the people in your life. Are there any words you’d like to say? Are there any hugs you want to share? Are you waiting and hoping someone else will ask first? Please don’t wait! Initiate!

We need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance, and twelve hugs a day for growth.

– Virgina Satir

Sharing Hugs on Canada Day

Hi Folks:

Marcia standing in front of our hugging tree, and by a chalk art circle. There are two circles, one 4 ft in diameter and one 2 ft in diameter. The inner one has a chalk drawing of the Canadian flag. Between the circles the text reads, "Happy Canada Day" and "Share Hugs Here".This being the first Saturday in July, as you’re likely well aware, today is International Free Hugs Day! If you’re lucky enough to live here, today is also Canada Day! 🇨🇦

To that end we thought we’d combine the celebrations and take our sidewalk chalk down to our old hugging spot at the Homecoming Memorial. For full disclosure, we scanned the Canada flag image into the computer and used CorelDraw to create and print out the template.

We had fun making the drawing and interacting with those who stopped to chat, and when we were finished cleaning up, we retired to a nearby bench to people watch. While it felt a little strange not to be there with our FREE HUGS posters, in the short time we were there we were immensely gratified to see people stop to photograph the hugging spot and even more so to watch two couples and a group of three engage in hugs at our hugging spot! We know our hugging tree (a western white pine) was also happy to witness these events.

Speaking of our hugging tree, the oldest image we have is from July 2, 2011. At that time our tree was a sapling, barely reaching the top of the fence:

Marcia with her Free Hugs poster (decorated with ladybugs) standing in front of our hugging tree. The top needles of the tree barely reach 3 ft.Eleven years later, you may notice that our tree has grown, just a little bit. We’ve been feeding them love, hugs and gentle needle caresses for 14 years.

A very tall image showing Marcia standing in front of our hugging tree, with the chalk art before her. The pine tree is now approaching 30 ft tall.

Same hat, same jacket, same beautiful smile. 🙂

We had such fun downtown that we decided to use the same pattern to update the hugging spot in front of our house.

An image of a chalk art circle. There are two circles, one 4 ft in diameter and one 2 ft in diameter. The inner one has a chalk drawing of the Canadian flag. Between the circles the text reads, "Happy Canada Day" and "Share Hugs Here".So, if you’re in Canada, help us celebrate Canada Day and International Free Hugs Day by hugging the ones you love! Today and every day…

Hugs,
M&M

Happy Father’s Day!!

A multi-coloured chalk drawing of a large circle, encircled by smaller circles around its edge. There's a two-coloured heart in the middle, and on opposite sides outside the circle it reads, "Hug Your Dad"Hi Folks:

All of Marcia and Mike’s parents are gone now, but we have two sons and a son-in-law and five beautiful grandchildren. We are Grandy and Grandalf! 🧙‍♀️&🧙‍♂️

As with those who are moms, Happy Father’s Day today to all of the strong, loving men who are fathers, to those who are chosen dads, surrogate dads, step-dads, adoptive dads, and to the women who are also dads.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

Happy Mother’s Day!!

A chalk art drawing of a flower within a circle. Outside the circle the text reads, "Hug Your Mother"Happy Mother’s Day today to all of the strong, beautiful women who are mothers, to those who are chosen moms, surrogate moms, step-moms, adoptive moms, and to the men who are also mothers.

Special thanks to all those who love and support them.

Hugs,
M&M

2023 Hug Zones

a sidewalk chalk drawing in four colours - circles within circles - with text that reads, "Prime Hugs Zone"Anyone else needing a nice warm hug? As explained in our We Have Huggers!! post in May last year, we came across a short video on Instagram showing someone who had created a Free Hugs zone in sidewalk chalk outside their house – and the various people who had taken advantage of the situation. Always willing to contribute to more acts of kindness, we created our own first attempt. We were so inspired by the effect that we created 11 different hug zone patterns in 2022 (12, if you include the one we created at our old Free Hugs spot at the Homecoming Memorial at Ship Point). Continue Reading →

Celebrating the Holidays!!

Hi Folks:

We’re running a little late with our Holiday Greeting this year… The winter solstice has come and gone, winter has descended up on us (here in Victoria, anyway!) and today marks the sixth day of Hanukkah.

As we move toward the vernal equinox we’re also entering the period where the days begin to lengthen once again (here in the northern hemisphere, at least). More light, more trust, new beginnings. It’s a choice each of us gets to make in every moment, so if you’re ever unsure how to react in any situation, be kind. It’s good for you, good for the other person, is non-fattening, doesn’t cause cavities and helps to make the world a better place, even just for a moment. And, sharing kindness is often contagious! Pay it forward. 🙂

A gingerbread creation in the shape of a pegacorn. Per the rules, everything in the display must be edible. In this case the horn is made from drawn sugar, the wings were individually hand-cut and the final result is just exquisite.

Pegacorn – by Selena Olivera for the 2022 Victoria Gingerbread Showcase for Habitat for Humanity.

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” —Princess Diana.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Festivus, Solstice or Saturnalia, the arrival of Sinterklaas or Grandfather Frost, Hanukkah, Yalda, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa or something entirely personal, from our house to yours, we wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday season! May 2023 find you safe, healthy and surrounded by Love. 💗

Hugs,
M&M
🎅🤶

P.S. Above image made by Marcia.

It’s Our Birthday!!

Hi Folks:

Generations

Generations – Cathedral Grove, Port Alberni, BC

Well, it’s now been 13 (!!) years since our blog took its first breath. The world is quite different today from what it was 13 years ago… the world is quite different from what it was 3 years ago, but we’re slowly finding our way back to each other. As Ram Dass said, “We’re all just walking each other home.”

It’s been a somewhat quiet year, but we currently have 678 blog posts and 153 pages on our site. The posts cover poetry, photography, our hugging adventures (88 countries and counting!) and various other musings; our pages include some of our stories and free Adventures of Rainbow Mouse colouring pages to download and enjoy. We’ve shared some wonderful adventures with you through these and are looking forward to sharing more in the future! This blog is our gift to you, our readers, and we very much appreciate having you here with us. Feel free to drop by any time, check out Marcia’s books, download our colouring pages, read our stories, leave a comment or reach out, relax and enjoy yourself. We don’t have any birthday cake that we can share (this is the best we can do: 🎂), but we send you love.

Remember to hug someone you love today, even if it’s just screen to screen. You’ll both feel better for it! 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♂️

M&M

P.S. Extra special thanks to our son Nick, who does all of the techie stuff that keeps us afloat!! 🙂

Receiving Kindness

Hi Folks:

In our We Have Huggers!! post we highlighted our latest escapade to encourage people to share hugs and spread kindness by creating a hugging spot on the sidewalk. The latest iteration looks like this (previous versions can be seen in the above post link):

Group Hugs

While we know that people have stopped to share hugs with each other (or themselves), made images and sometimes just smiled as they walked past, we’re not aware of them unless we happen to be out front or near the window at the time. Nonetheless, everyone who engages with our chalk art adds their energy to our garden and our lives, and we very much appreciate it.

We have received two more tangible gifts, however, and we wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the donor(s) who secretly left them for us. The first is a Kindness Stone someone left on top of our gate:

Kindness Stone

The second is a note someone taped to the inside of our gate!

Kindness Note

Whoever left these for us, we wanted you to know how much we value your acts of kindness. Made our whole day!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. It’s easy to find ways to spread kindness to others in your world, but if you’re looking for inspiration, check out The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation and Ripple Kindness Project as great places to start!

Our Hugging Tree

Hi Folks:

If you’ve been following our Free Hugs adventures, you’ll know that we’ve done (almost) all of them at the Homecoming Memorial by Ship Point in downtown Victoria. Part of the reason for that was that we could stand away from the sidewalk (we offered, but people had to come to us). Part of the reason for that is the statue in the Memorial itself:

Homecoming Statue
Continue Reading →