NO MORE SWEETS, PLEASE!

If I see any more chocolates, cookies or cake I think I'll be sick!    I've gone well over the level of insanity with regards to eating this stuff and there's still lots around.  Ye gad!! 

It was a good Xmas with my daughter and two grandchildren here.  They arrived on the 23rd.  Fortunately the weather cooperated.  We sat down to a meal of lasagne and salad that night.

The afternoon of the 24th. I had an open house from three to six.  That went well with people stopping in for a drink and some food. 

So many presents under the tree, two trees actually.  I put one up in the living room and one in the sitting room.  This is the smaller "sitting" room and tree.

The night of Xmas Eve, Andrew brought in a huge basket filled with gifts and had a blanket over it to hide what was inside.  He put it near a table in the living room which was fine.   The next morning I was the first one up.  It was still dark so I found my way across the living room to switch on the lamp, forgetting about the basket.  I tripped over it, fell into it, the lamp on the table went flying along with old bones in his sleigh and some wooden coasters.  What a racket!  I managed to haul myself up and was in tremendous pain with my arm and leg.  While sitting on the chesterfield waiting for the pain to subside, I was thinking, I could have fallen with a heart attack and be dying here when the rest of the household are snoring away in there snug little beds.  haha.  Unfortunately I broke a beautiful wine glass that was one of the gifts in the basket when I fell. 

Everyone got up fairly early and we opened all our gifts.  It was a great day.  Laurie and the kids left on Boxing Day for home.  It was the first time that I can remember that we were all together for the holidays. 

We've had some snow.

My friends waiting for breakfast.

Some Goldfinches arrived and took advantage of the feeders.

Loads of Juncos around these days.  No unusual birds to be seen.  The woodpeckers weren't around for some time and I found that upsetting but I've seen a couple at the feeders this past week.

One of the presents I got was a Santa to add to my collection.  I just love him.

 And last but not least, Stanley snuggled in the old fellows arms.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and wishing you all a wonderful New Year.

Monday Morning.

So there I was early this morning sitting at the computer enjoying my first coffee when I hear an "ahem" behind me.  I turned around and there was himself stark naked with a Xmas elf hat on saying "See what Santa brought you for Xmas."  To say I nearly choked on the coffee is putting it mildly.  No picture!!

Speaking of pictures, the on/off button on my camera has bitten the dust.   I can still take pictures but to turn the camera off I have to hold down the off button and while doing this, take the batteries out.  A real nuisance.   I've had the camera for a good many years so I suppose it's time it started breaking down.  Himself tells me that I can use his camera, the one sitting on the shelf since he bought it.

I have all the decorating done.  To be honest my heart wasn't in it for some reason but now that I'm finished and look around, I'm happy.   I spend a morning making Nanimo  Bars and a truckload of shortbread.  I used my grandmothers old cookie cutters on the shortbread.    So many memories came flooding back.  

So, next on the agenda is to make a variety of finger food that I can freeze.  I'm thinking of having an open house Xmas Eve like I did last year so I like to have food already made then I'm freed up that day and it's off my mind.

That's about it!  A few pictures.....

Crows waiting for breakfast.

Blue Jay.

Just Cats.

  

A Bright Sunshiny Day!

We've had our first real snowfall.  Aside from the fact that I don't like the stuff, I have to admit that it looks very pretty. 

A few pictures taken yesterday morning.   The sky was so blue and crystal clear.

We went to Gander earlier this week to do our monthly shopping.  I was dreading it because I figured this time of year the stores would be blocked with people and the lineups at the checkouts would be unbelievably long.    I was nicely surprised to see that this wasn't so.   We got back home by early afternoon.  

There are so many birds at the feeders these days as it's been terribly cold and they need to bulk up on food to keep warm on these cold nights.   This Northern Flicker was here the other morning.  I've only ever seen one a couple of times.  He didn't stay for long so I only managed to get this one picture.

Speaking of birds, it's just getting daylight and I must get outside to fill the feeders for the day.   It's so cold out, brrrrrrrrr!

Back Again!

My brain feels like it's been all over the place lately.   It seems that I have no time but of course I do.   I believe it's because I'm thinking too far ahead about things I have to do instead of concentrating on today.  I've been fairly busy......I spent three days painting our bedroom.  Not an easy task as I had to move so much heavy stuff around then haul the ladder all over the place to get at the walls.   My body was a wreck with all the twisting and turning.  I can honestly say it's the worse job of painting I've ever done.  However, it will suffice.  It was a rather dull colour, now it's a warm yellow and when the sun comes in through the windows the room brightens up considerably.

What else have I been doing......I did three mini paintings on 3" x 3 " wooden blocks to give as gifts.  Also painted four wooden boxes to fill and give as gifts.  Spent part of a day painting the tips of huge pinecones white to use as decoration for the holidays.  Then, I'm in the middle of sewing a, hmmm, I suppose it's a sort of dressing gown, in a patch work design.  Maybe a lounging coat would be a better name.   It's time consuming as each bit of material has to been sewn on. 

I also spent a morning clearing out the small storage room/pantry.   It was  filled with stuff that had been hanging around for years, stuff that was never used, and I was getting fed up with it all.  So, I packed up about seven boxes and lugged them up to the shed.  I have to go up a bit of a hill to get to the shed so bringing these boxes up there was no mean feat.

Another bear came around and knocked down a feeder that was nailed onto the top of a post.  That particular post had four wooden signs with the four directions and elements associated with them.  Two of those were hanging off.    That has now been repaired. 

Lots of birds around now.  You can set your watch by when the crows come flying in for breakfast.  7:15am I hear them cawing in the distance and within seconds big black shadows appear.   I do love them so.  The Juncos have arrived and will hang around for the winter.

Well, I really must take off.   We will be cleaning the chimney shortly.  We're just waiting for the sun to come up.   A few pictures.......Sleepy Stanley, Little Freya waiting for her treats and handsome Frankie posing for his picture.

Bits and peices.

It's been another busy week.  We had a couple of almost summer like days so I hauled out some outside lights to put up for the holiday season.    I figured why not take advantage of the warm weather rather than wait until December when the cold weather had set in. We also had a new set of back steps built so himself stained those again taking advantage of the lovely warm days. 

I bought a small electric fireplace a couple of weeks ago.  It seemed to be too low on the floor and looked lost.  I wasn't too happy with that so I bought some wood, built a platform for it, stained it and now am very happy indeed.

I might have mentioned that the Blue Jays are being proper bullies with regard to the feeders.  They've been eating up all the sunflower seeds and driving away the little birds.   I found a feeder in a seed catalogue that was for small birds and the bully birds couldn't get at the seeds.  It's one of the best investments that I've made in a long time.   The little birds love it and are going in and out all day long.  The jays are a little peeved but they do get enough to eat from the other feeders.

I did get a chance to make a straw man (King of Winter) for Samhain (Halloween).  We will welcome him at that time and he'll watch over the home during the winter months.   I've bought a pumpkin that I hope to stuff and bake at that time.  I've tried this recipe before and it turned out quite well. 

The "Benevolent King Cat" is regaled in it's bone necklace and skull necklace. 

The pumpkin.    

I also received some news this week that has me very excited.  My granddaughter is flying in for Christmas so if all goes well,  my daughter, granddaughter and grandson will be with us for a few days.  Now my mind is going crazy thinking of the kinds of cookies, etc. I can make.  I remembered my grandmothers shortbread cookies.  She'd cut them out with cookie cutters and put a bit of cherry in the center of each one then bake.  I knew I had her cookie cutters put away so found them and plan to do the same thing.

They are so old but the memories, ah, the memories!

Just a bit about the garden.   Most of the phlox is still in bloom and some of the other perennials.   A lot of the trees have finally changed colour with lots of leaves on the ground.  The fall smell is heady.  I love it.   The Burning Bush is putting on a nice little display as you can see from the picture. 

The crows arrive every morning at around 7:30 these days.  You can almost set your watch by them.  Then again around 4:30 pm.   Along with the Blue Jays, there are loads of Nuthatches and Chick a Dees.  Woodpeckers of course and recently I had two Common Jays drop by.

October.

I can't seem to be able to keep up with anything here lately, ie: reading my favorite blogs, blogging myself, etc.  I've been to the city, saw the parents and my brother who was visiting.  Had a lot of fun there.  Then spent a couple of days with my daughter.  That was good.  She had a party with a Moroccan theme.  Quite a crowd showed up and everyone had made a Moroccan dish.  A fire was lit in the fire pit outside, some people were out there chatting, others in groups all over, chatting.  It was a good evening.   Just one little incident that I still laugh at.  I was sleeping on a futon in the yoga room so before most had left I went up to bed.  I was beat!  Got my pyjamas on and got nicely tucked away when the bed fell over and I ended up sprawled across the floor.  The lamp flew off the end table and hit the floor with a crash.  I expected a crowd of people to come running up the stairs to see what had happened but no.....I told my daughter the next morning and she said they heard a noise but well, thought nothing of it.  haha. 

I've been so busy trying to get the garden put to bed for the winter.  I've done quite a bit this past week but unfortunately I've hurt my hip once again.  This happens every October.  Something I do in the garden triggers it.  So, I don't know how much more will get done.  Thankfully the worst of the work is over so I might just sit back now and say the heck with the rest of it until spring. 

Not much in the way of leaves changing colour and everything looking very autumn like this year.  Most of the leaves seem to have dried up and just fallen off.  I noticed the same thing happening in the city. 

I've decorated the mantle this year.  It looks rather pretty.

All in all it's been a good year weather wise.  One of the best summers in a very long time.  Hoping the winter is not too harsh. 

We are still having lovely warm sunny days although it cools down some overnight.   The leaves on the trees seem to be turning brown and dropping off instead of giving us some colour.   I'm hoping we will still get some colour before October comes and goes.   The Blue Jays seem frantic for food these days.  It's all I can do to keep food in the feeders.  Some say it's a sign that we're going to have a bad winter.   The Rowan trees didn't produce any berries maybe because of a hard frost we had in Spring.   Nothing says fall to me like the red berries on the Rowan trees.

I've been trying to get the garden put to bed for the winter but it's going slowly.  We've had company again for a few days.  I'll be taking a break and going into St. John's next week so I'm looking forward to that.  Otherwise things are going along as usual.

A few pictures from around the garden.

Thanks to my friend Pete who sometimes gives me ideas like this one.

This beautiful Orb Weaver has had it's web on the deck for ages.

And, a wonderful surprise when I looked out the window one day.  A Northern Flicker.  A rare sight for me.

Salvage

We have company from Nova Scotia staying with us for a few days so decided to go to Salvage, a small community about 5 miles away.  It was a beautiful day with a wee bit of a bite in the wind.   Some pictures.