Gentle Be!

I have to be honest…  i haven’t yet decided what to write about tonight.  I’m feeling a general disdain about a great many things tonight, and any one of them would likely make a good blog post.  Nothing like righteous indignation to fuel a blog post.  But then I remind myself that I have made the decision to choose joy whenever possible.  And there is no joy to be found in those topics.

I can’t say that I am feeling joyful tonight.  I can see my way through to calm, or even peaceful…  but not joyful.  I’m too tired and road-weary for that.  So, I think, tonight I will just leave you with this:

Neither here nor there…

There are a lot of things I could write about tonight… but honestly?  I’m feeling rather pensive and mellow without any leanings one way or another.  It’s been a crazy week, and I’m starting to settle back into my, already busy, normal routine.

I have to admit, following Samhain I always find myself feeling a little lost – not in a bad way.  Just serenely pensive.  And tonight is no different.  The coming of the dark half of the year spurs a quiet mental preparation.  A solemn adieu to the warmth and light that fills us so completely during Summer and Autumn.

Stepping out the door to walk the girl to school I was quickly chilled.  Suddenly, my fleece (that yesterday, even out trick or treating at night, was plenty warm) just wasn’t enough.  The wind whipped around me and drew my gaze upwards at the few snowflakes that braved a first meander from the heavens… melted before reaching my face.  How they could disappear so quickly in such a brisk, frosty, breeze I’m at a loss to explain.

My gaze again settled on earthly things, like my daughter, waiting for me to lock the door so we could begin our promenade:

bow to your partner then join hands

together now, up one block,

cut through the park

throw some leaves, hide behind the trees

back together, hands held tight

look to the left, then the right.

across the street, now do-si-do

It’s a good thing I don’t call out instructions for a square dancing group…  we’d all be in trouble.    Anyway…  it was a chilly walk.  Seven blocks of runny noses and cold fingers (well, for me anyway.  the girlie had mittens).  I’m glad it’s only seven blocks.  But if I learned one thing today, it’s that I need to put away our Summer and Autumn gear.  It’s time for the heavy duty coats of Winter (though I’ll continue attempting to put off the scarves, hats, ski pants, and boots for as long as I can).

Welcome to November!

I think we have a winner (in the cool two-wheeler category).

I’ve been out sick for the last several days…  so I actually have a legitimate excuse for the lack of blog posts lately.  LOL  It was pretty miserable, so I’m very glad to be on the other side of all that nastiness.

We took the girlie out looking for bikes.  With the snow still covering everything, we aren’t in a big rush.  But I’m full of Spring thoughts and warm weather wishes…  and looking for a two wheeler was a fun springy thing that we could do indoors (where the blowing snow couldn’t get to us).

We visited a couple different stores, and had to have tried out nine or ten different bikes.  But I think we may have found a winner.    Unlike all the others that piqued her interest, this one has no tassels, no pink or purple, no fairies or princesses, no doll bike seat, no basket, no flower vase…  But when she saw it her eyes lit up and she exclaimed:  “Wow!!  It’s just like a car for racing!!!”

The Winner!

 

And, the coolest part?

While I know she’d get the hang of any bike after a little practice, all of them were stop and go.  Push one peddle down, wait, push the other down, wait…  Well, all of them until she tried this one.  She needed a little help to get started, but then took off like a flash!  She went about 40 feet without any hesitation or signs of slowing.  LOL

So I called her Daddy over to help her out so I could pull out my BlackBerry to take a quick video. 

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150130011992353

And yes, if I could figure out how to embed a fb video here I would.  LMAO  But, for now you’ll just have to click on the link.

 

 

Jaclyn and Kim: sweethearts in the snow

On Sunday afternoon I had the privilege of doing a sweethearts photo shoot out in the snow with Jaclyn and Kim.  I love shooting in the snow, and though it presents its own unique challenges, I wish it was something more folk were willing to consider.  So when Jaclyn suggested it (without any prompting on my part) I was thrilled.

The two of them will be receiving a disk with over 100 images on it from our hour-long session.  But figured I’d share a few of my favourites here, both as a preview for them, and for me to show off.  LOL  I absolutely adore shooting couples in love…  and a couple in love out in the snow?  Awesome!

Little People in the Snow

Here are a couple of the wee girlie’s Little People…  out in the snow.  You can see bits of the barn and the house, but the people and the bus are well buried by now.  She has some she plays with inside, but these were sets that we got passed on to us second (and third) hand, so are ideal for outside play.  But I just found something humorous in the way they are peeking out of the snow.  We just didn’t get them put away before the first big snow fall this year…  even when we had little bits of snow she was still playing with them.  So there they’ll sit, until it melts away.  Waiting to play in the Spring.

Little People buildings in the snow

Snowman II – The Remains

Within a couple of days, the girls’ snowmom, snowowl, and snowbaby had been destroyed.  Pushed over, trampled on, and left as nothing but piles and clumps of snow.  Then provided with an ever growing blanket of snow to cover their exposed remains, there is not much left to see.

A snowy blanket to cover the remains of a murdered snow family.

 

And if you can’t see the little piles under the blanket of white, here’s another try from a different angle:

Snowmen No More

The first snowman, snowowl, thing…

Today, during our walk to school, the wee girlie and I were playing catch using snowballs.  It’s only a six block walk, but we usually allow ourselves a half hour to get there because…  well…  because you can just have a lot more fun that way. 

–

“Hey!  Lily-Ann…  check out this move.”

The wee girlie comes running over, and watches, utterly amazed as I take a snow ball and roll it through the damp sticky snow covering the field.  The little, tightly packed ball, quickly grows to double, triple, and quadruple it’s original size.

“This is how you start a snowman.  Wanna build one with me?”

You can almost see the wheels begin spinning in her little mind as her eyes widen.  With the enthusiasm only a pre-schooler can muster, the girl bursts  forth with “Yah!”

And thus our little snow adventure began to take shape.

–

So, on the way to school we built a snowman in the park.  Which is cool enough on it’s own.  It was the wee girlie’s FIRST snowbeing.  We didn’t have carrots or raisins or twigs… but we did have lots of leaves – so they worked for making a face.

On the walk home though, it got even better.  We talked Carissa and her Dad into building some more with us.  In the photo below you’ll see the two super long paths the two larger snowballs made as us two grown-ups pushed them along.  I made the bigger one.  LOL  …but I didn’t have to pick up mine.  Carissa’s dad on the other hand, did have to pick up his, and nearly crashed into the original snowman after dropping his on the ground where it broke in two.  Snow is heavy.  Damp snow especially so. 

The new snowbeing is an owl, I was told.  Or at least what the two girls perceive a mythical snow beastie of an owl to be.  I loved it!

And even the broken half of the second large ball of snow ended up becoming something…  a baby snow creature.  Thus our original snowman became snowmother.  So snowowl, snowmother, and snowbaby now sit in the park by our house waiting to greet us during our walk to school tomorrow.

Working on the snowowl

Discussing what would come next.

The whole snowfamily.

Nostalgia peppered with white…

So…  if you think back to yesterdays blog post.  Or heck.  You don’t need to think back, you could actually just go back to it if you really wanted to.  Or you could just stay on this post and SAY you went back.  In any case…  (think it might be time for bed, I’m quickly losing that quality of cohesiveness required for cognizant coagulatory contemperance communicative abilities)

Oh boy.

Let’s just keep working together and get through this post before I fall asleep on the keyboard. 

So…  as I was saying…

Yesterday I mentioned how that first bit of snow rarely sticks around for long, and I hypothosized that the beautifully thin veil of crystal beauty which had descended upon us would likely vanish by afternoon.  Well…  I took these photos this afternoon.  At about 12:30 actually (so very shortly after noon).  And it was just the beginning of what has become a rather thick blanketing of crisp cold first snow.  LOL  Tomorrows trip with the wee girlie’s class to the pumpkin maze may be an interesting one. 

Watching Lily-Ann for the brief time we had available to us before heading to her school filled me with nostalgia.  It wasn’t as long ago, as we sometimes think, that we met the cold with that same enthusiasm.  So what else could I have done?  I grabbed my camera (albeit for only about two minutes – you know, cold fingers and all that) and shot a few black and whites…  capturing the moment for when a 30+ year old Lily-Ann feels a little nostalgic.

Hmmm….

I’m not always a fan of what compression does to photos…  RAW to JPG…  but you do what you have to do, I suppose.  LOL

Oh!  I likely won’t have the results back from my FoodSafe final exam for a couple weeks, but I’m pretty sure I aced it.  Easy peasy.  So you can bet that the Lentil Ladies 2.0 Collective Kitchen will be up and running before too long. 

Night all!

And be safe out there.  It’s easy to forget the keys to safe Winter driving after several months of sunshine and lollipops.

It Snowed!

Initially I planned to write about taking my FoodSafety course.  I have my certificate from the CHEP leadership training, so now only need my FoodSafe certificate in order to lead a Collective Kitchen group.  I took a quick pic of my notebook and some of my notes, and was all set to share.  Then I got home.

Well…  you couldn’t see it downtown (where I am taking the course) but once I was home, you couldn’t miss it.  There was snow.  Albeit a thin layer of it, but it is there.  Shining white like diamonds in the moonlight.  Shimmery, beautiful, new.  Chances are it will be gone by noon tomorrow (thankfully), but that first bit of snow really is a pretty sight.  A little touch of faery magick in the otherwise dreary and dark late Autumnal world. 

So while I’ll be happy to have it melt away, the new snow still puts a touch of magick into an otherwise drab and boring night.

It Snowed!

Scraptastic Saturdays – My Favourite Layout

Early this week I created what is my new favourite layout.  I’m really proud of this one.  It features a photograph that you’ve seen on this blog before…  but that had  a regrettable bit of negative space (specifically a garbage bin and a shovel).  Extracting the wee girlie, the snow, and the snowflakes (and duplicating the snow so that it appears on both sides) made for a much more pleasing image where nothing competes for your attention.  It is the simplest layout I’ve created, but I do think it is the most beautiful as well. 

This LO (short for layout) has been awarded LOTD (layout of the day) at Enchanted Studio Scraps and is now up for LOTW (layout of the week).  Wish me luck.  Voting is this weekend.

I used the Magically Pink kit by Sugar Pie Scraps.  It’s a wonderful kit that was just released last week.  It’s available for sale through ESS.  I only used two papers, and two  elements (star and wordart) from it… but I have to admit that I had a hard time limiting myself.  Lots of great stuff in the kit. 

For a special Halloween treat, head on over to ESS and visit the blog.  Every day leading up to the 31st they are giving away part of a huge mega-kit.  All you have to do is visit the blog, and click the image to download…  try to get there every day, and you’ll get the entire kit for free. 

Enchanted Studio Scraps Blog – http://enchantedstudioscraps.blogspot.com/