I Love Sundays!

Another fabulous Sunday with the family!  Ever since we started setting aside Sundays to do something special with the family they’ve become awfully wonderful.  And while it’s not always easy coming up with something we all want to do, AND that sticks within a small budget, it’s worth a little work finding things.

Today we headed down to the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market for some early afternoon treats.  Baked goods, home made ice cream, and greenhouse produce – always a hit with our family.  Then we hopped in the car and headed out to the Forestry Farm Park and Zoo for an outdoor adventure.  Because, let’s face it…  taking a four year old and a 17 year old to the zoo together is ALWAYS going to be an adventure.  LMAO  Especially with Damon and I along for the ride. 

We made a snowman (yes, at the zoo).  Made a whole row of snow angels.  Had an hour long snowball fight (it lasted nearly the entire time we were there).  Found a huge branch on the ground buried under the snow and made a bunch of wands from it.  We wrote in the snow.  Cast spells on one another.  And giggled at the baby lion cubs as they climbed on their mother.

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Good bye to January and it’s blahs.

It’s no secret that with January comes my annual case of the blahs.  The holiday festivities are over, there is little going on, it’s the coldest month of the year, and my thoughts are of Spring and the fun of the dog shows that come with it (yet it’s still too far away to really begin any of the planning or fun).  There are good things in January…  like my Dad and my brother’s birthdays – both which happen to fall on the 11th.  But over all?  I’m happy it’s drawing to an end.  I am SOOO ready for February!

Family really does rock pretty hard.

I’ll be honest.  I’m a little too brain-tired and body-weary to write much tonight.  In the afternoon we headed out to Winter Shines, an annual Winter festival here in Saskatoon.  The girl got to go for a pony ride, and visited with a bunch of animals at a mobile petting zoo.  We checked out a bunch of amazing ice sculptures, and took pictures on the ice throne.  After checking out some of the goodies at the farmers market (which is located right on site) we each picked out a treat to snack on, and then headed out to Diefenbaker hill for some serious sledding.  We took my youngest sister home and snuck in a visit with the ‘rents before heading home for some supper and a little Princess and the Frog (a la Disney).  But before any of this?  I got a little scrappin’ in.

Today was a wonderful day.  We created all sorts of new memories, and I got to scrapbook another great memory from this past Autumn.  All in all?  I’m a happy camper.  Days like this, full of family, really do rock!

A Wintery Day in the Park – a photography preview for Pat Kilgour

I had a lovely time with Pat and her family on Sunday afternoon out in Gabriel Dumont Park.  It’s one of my favourite spots to do family photographs ANY time of year, even when it’s -20 out.  Thankfully it was substantially warmer than that, as we’re having the warmest Winter Saskatchewan has seen in my 34 years, so while we were all starting to get red cheeks and cold hands by the end of our hour together, we managed to get all the way through without complaint.  Well…  except for Shmee, who was unimpressed by the whole thing.

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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!

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/

Moving on…

Lily-Ann finally figured out how to peddle her bike, just in time for her to have outgrown it.  LOL  Isn’t that always the way?  So as we head ever closer to Winter, we are now on the lookout for a new-to-us bike for the wee girlie.  The one she has outgrown has 8″ tires, so probably something in the ten to twelve inch range would be right.  We’ll be passing her old bike on to someone who needs it, and hoping someone will do the same with one that their little one(s) have outgrown.    Guessing we’ll probably find one just as the snow hits, and then by Spring, when she can get out and ride, we’ll need the next size up.  LMAO  So cross your fingers for us, that we find the perfect new-to-us bike sooner rather than later… so the wee girlie actually has time to get out and enjoy it. 

Moving on up...