Back to "Normal"

My nephew left today on the Greyhound and now my house is quiet, too quiet. 

 This afternoon I went out in search of a small planter box which would fit into an adorable decorative cart my sister gave to me, she also gave me the flowers to plant and they had to be transplanted ASAP. I didn't find what I was in search of but tomorrow's another day and for now the plants are breathing again. 

Thank you Cathy for the beautiful gift, I love it! 

Yup, things are pretty much back to normal, I'm procrastinating homework and I know I'm going to regret it later but oh well, such is life. I'll just have to pull a few overnighters writing and doing assignments all the while wishing I didn't put the work off but it's all going to come together... one essay at a time.

Conferences

Today I spent my morning at a conference, this three day event is the 11th Annual Harm Reduction Conference. I only attended the morning session today, I wasn't feeling well and left after the first presentation which ended at 12:30. I don't know what was wrong but I came home and slept for a few hours and felt much better. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to stay the whole day, there are some very interesting topics being addressed. 

The hotel where this event is being held is a beautiful hotel, the meeting rooms are comfortable and the service provided by the hotel is phenomenal. 

I could get used to attending conferences, not only do I learn a lot but from what I gather employers will often pay for the conference, hotel, expenses and still pay wages while you are attending. When I'm educated and have that piece of paper in my hand I'm going to get me a job that will pay for such things... I just decided this! 

The Symphony

This afternoon I went with one of my nephews to the symphony. I'd never been to one before, nor had he, and he won two tickets so I was pretty excited when he asked me to go with him. I'm glad I went, the music was amazing.  

The final part of the event a young fella by the name of Jan Lisiecki played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, it was a standing ovation performance.

A bit of background information on the Alberta born musical genius: "Hailed by critics worldwide for his mature and poetic playing, Jan Lisiecki made his orchestral debut at the age of nine and has since given over 50 performances with orchestras worldwide, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Quebec Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia, to name a few." 

Anyone interested in reading more about this distinguished young gentleman, who graduated grade 12 in January of this year, can click on this link. 

There were no cameras allowed in the concert hall so I only used my P&S when I felt it was "safe" to do so. 

After the performance we met up with one of my other nephews, pictured on the right, and we all went out to a nice dinner. It was a wonderful day, thank you Michael for thinking of your Auntie. 

Such good "boys".

Family

Today I had some of my family over for a BBQ, it was a great turnout and fantastic seeing family members I haven't seen in quite some time. We had an amazing feast and it was nice visiting with everyone, I had an amazing day! 

I'd love to post all of my photos from today but I've narrowed it down to two. My son Derek came over early and helped me set up the patio and did whatever he could to pitch in and help me get ready for company. 

Thank you son. 

My little princess is getting close to walking. Today while she was holding onto my hands she was motoring along pretty good, I'm sure any day now she's going to be doing this on her own. 

I really enjoyed my day with family, the only complaint I have is that we don't get together often enough!

My Blog Book

I received my blog book today and I LOVE it! I ordered all of 2010, I didn't include the table of contents and I still ended up with 193 pages including the dedication page. My book is hard cover, the pages are excellent quality and the photos turned out amazing.

When I order from this company again I'll set it up different, this time I ordered the "compact" version, this arranges your pages for you and saves space. There's the other option which is "snapshot", the photos and text layout stays as is and uses more pages to keep the alignment you've set up. In my book there's a few pages where the text doesn't line up with the photos and really it's not a big deal but I'll try it the other way next time. There will be a next time, that's how pleased I am with my book. 

I'm posting a few different photos of my book tonight so that you can take a look and see what it's like. And no I'm not being paid to promote this company, but I think that if anyone clicks on the link (blog2print) on the main page of my blog and orders a book that I'll get 20% off my next order or something like that. I added the link so that those of you who might be interested have instant access to the site. Those of you who read my blog know that I'm only showing you what's available, if I didn't like this company or my book, trust me... you'd know. 

.... enough of that now, it's on to the book! 

I chose my grad photo for the front cover, this was one of my big moments in 2010.
The title, well I just stuck to my blog name as it is appropriate for my book, it is my life for a year. I also like that I got to add a bit of writing on the binding, "Through My Lens" is what I added there. 


Here's a few of the pages, a glimpse into my book. 

The best day of 2010 - May 5th, the day Elyssa was born.

One of my favorite places to be... yup the farm! 

And my favorite time of the year, Christmas! 


On the back of the book I also added a photo and one of my favorite quotes...

When we went to Canmore my daughter snapped a photo of me from her loft bedroom. The quote I chose to add:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." 
Erma Bombeck

Volunteerism

Today I volunteered to take photos at a small conference. They fed us quite well and I got to listen while shooting photos, I found the speakers to be very interesting. For the better part of the day I used my new lens (70-200mm) and the conference went from 8:30 this morning until 4:30 this afternoon, talk about a heavy camera by the end of the day. I went to take a photo near the end and accidentally hit my head with my flash, duh! 

I wasn't the only volunteer, there were others and this one young lady volunteered her time to video the event.

 She was thinking, she had a lightweight camcorder AND a tripod. Her only complaint at the end of the day was her feet, she wore heels... ouch! 

I just checked how many photos I'm giving them, it's 115 in total. That's not counting all that I deleted which must have been at least 100. No wonder my arm is a wee bit sore and I'm tired! 

Yup, all in a day of a volunteer. 

Stories

Today was my son and daughter-in-laws 9th anniversary, a very Happy Anniversary sent out to them. With it being their anniversary I went and spent time with my granddaughter while they went out to a dinner theater.

Elyssa is growing up so fast, she's so close to walking now and she's full of spunk. Every night before bed her mom or dad reads her a story, she loves her books. Tonight I let her read Grandma a story.

 Elyssa wanted to share her story with me, she was trying to tell me something, I only wish I understood what it was. Nonetheless I love it when she chatters away with me, she knows what she's talking about and sometimes that's all that matters. Some of the best stories are in they way they are told, tonight I had one of the best stories ever told to me!

"If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book."

~Author Unknown

1000th post - Compare and Contrast

For my 1000th post... wow, that's a lot of posts!  I've decided to do a bit of a comparison between city and country life. 

Construction in the country often involves one, sometimes two people and both do the work. As a general rule there are no traffic delays and nobody has to be rerouted or go out of their way to get to where they'd like to be. It's kept pretty simple, the only breaks are for meals and the work gets done in no time at all usually.The pay is the joy of having the job done.

On the other hand, construction in the city involves massive manpower, there are many employees who stand around, breaks are generally in half hour increments with one hour lunches. Traffic is rerouted often creating traffic jams and a person can add in excess of a half hour to get to where they want to be... if they're lucky that is. The job is always behind schedule and tax payers pick up the tab. 

Country roads...

City roads...

City mud...enticing but expensive

and country mud... free and brings out the kid in me!

Is it any wonder this is my favorite way to view the city?

...in my rear-view mirror!

All truth be told I would miss certain aspects of the city if I moved away permanently, I'd definitely miss my children and my beautiful granddaughter. I think the ideal lifestyle for me and my country bumpkin heart would be about 1/2 hour outside of the city, close enough to visit and shop, but far enough away to be rid of the hectic lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful to be where I'm at in life, I have the best of both worlds... the other world is just a few short hours away. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you for being a part of my journey. I'm amazed and never even noticed until tonight how many posts I've added here, that's a lot of blogging... and very unlike homework, I'm not sick of it yet! lol

Soothing Aches and Pains

This morning when I got up I was extremely sore, I found muscles I'd forgotten existed ... I guess all the work took its toll. I found the perfect cure to help lessen the aches and pains...

There's almost nothing more relaxing and soothing than crawling into the hot tub, especially when there's a light misty rain like there was this morning. After an hours soak my achy muscles felt much better. 

Before it was time to pack up and hit the dusty trail to head for home I went out and captured a few more photos of the flowers, a reminder of the beauty I shall return to in a few weeks. I'll leave you all with one of these photos, l like the colors red and white, true Canadian colors.

 

Another one of my ahhhh moments in time, just seeing the beauty of color in our world again soothes those aches and pains. 

 

Have a wonderful week... it's back to my "normal" life in the city for another few weeks.

Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Today was a little bit of this and a little bit of that so I'll give you a glimpse into some of my day. 

 I cleaned out a flower bed and arranged some flower pots, now only two more huge flower beds to clean out. 

The garden is fully planted and yesterday while we were checking out the rhubarb at Herb's Mom's property I spotted an antique tiller, I know that I'll use it this summer. I planted my rows far enough apart that this tiller will be able to go between the rows, now how's that for thinking? :-) I also have rhubarb at the end of my garden now, I love strawberry rhubarb anything!

I filled the bird house with bird food and hung it and in no time at all we had our first visitor.

 I washed and hung sheets on the line, cooked a few meals, visited for a while, and naturally I shot some photos...now it's about time to call it a night. 

I'm so glad that God took over, He's watering my garden for me tonight and I love sleeping in the rain!

Yup... spring is in the air!

Sunset Sunday

Last night I went out for a drive to enjoy the countryside, the skies were beautiful and fortunately I remembered the ABC rule Rick has taught me. I captured the sun just before it was going down and can once again post a sunset shot for Sunset Sunday which is inspired by Scott.

Tonight I'll be back, the good Lord willing, with my regular photo of the day... I have to wait and see what unfolds today before I decide what to post. Til then stay safe and enjoy your day!

A Wee Bit Of Kid In Me

Today I planted almost all of my garden, I don't know how it happens but after trying to downsize it this year it's still huge! 

This afternoon we went to town and I left the sprinkler on to water down the garden, when we got back there was more then enough water out there. I wanted to turn the sprinkler to go the other way and talk about mud! At first I was ready to turn around and say forget it, then the kid in me kicked off my shoes and in I went... what fun!

I forgot the feeling of having mud ooze between my toes, now I wonder why I don't do things like this more often. It's like going down a slide after a downpour and landing in the puddle which has accumulated at the bottom. I think that my inner child has surfaced, something tells me I'm going to have one heck of a fun summer!

By the way, the garden is fine, I'm trying a new concept this year. I've planted a few rows by hilling the rows before planting, the neighbor does it and she says it's so much easier to weed. I'll try (almost) anything once! The mud was between the rows so all is well, I didn't drown out my seeds.

More Signs of Spring

 

I think that it's safe to say our spring has arrived and I'm hoping it's here to stay.

The neighbors crab apple trees are blossoming...

and I arrived at the farm to be greeted by 24 baby chicks... in the living room!

As cute as these babies are they have to move outdoors, they're noisy and don't belong in the house even if they're in a huge box. It never ceases to amaze me what I find when I come out to the farm... well almost never!

Abbie's Photo Shoot

Today I took Abbie down for a bath and haircut, she looked so cute when I picked her up. She did a bit of a forced photo shoot with me afterwards but being the sport that she is she humored me.

The innocent look

The hair blowing in the wind... I'll get right on that.

You want puppy dog eyes? Common now...

I'm done, no more!  (This one cracks me up!)

I love my Abbie girl, she's such a good dog!

Elephant Ears

My daughter-in-law pulled up to her house after work only to find me taking a few photos in her yard. I can explain... I told my son that I'd be over this afternoon to sit with my granddaughter, nobody was home when I got there so I sat on the step for a bit then decided to take a few photos. The photo is of one of their plants, I call this plant Elephant Ears, does anybody know what other name it might have? 

Wishing Wells

This isn't really a wishing well, it's a wishing fountain located in a mall... now lets see if it works! ;-) The general idea is to toss a coin into the fountain and make a wish, the way I've heard the tale be told is that you're not supposed to tell anyone your wish or it won't come true. So I can't tell you what I wished for, sorry!

And if you're curious what happens to the coins collected, they are all gathered up and given to a local charity.

Food For Thought

"If we had no winter

the spring would not be so pleasant." 

Anne Bradstreet

 I feel it's safe now to say Spring, at least I'm hoping it is!

Windy City

The winds have been blowing like crazy here this past few days, today I heard on the radio that they were gusting anywhere from 50-70kms an hour. With wind like this things are bound to get blown over or blown down...

The Sign of Hope ... well let's just say that I hope nobody was under this sign when it came down! 

Flags were blowing in the wind.... that song just entered my mind "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind" Bob Dylan sang this song years ago, he wrote and recorded this the year I was born. I was going to say it's a very old song but that'd make me old so I won't go there!

After a non stop busy day and fighting with the wind it was nice to go out to dinner with a couple of good friends, we went out for East Indian cuisine and it was spicy but delicious.

Great, I just played that song and now it's stuck in my head... the answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.

Beauty In My Day

I can't resist posting this photo.  Today I met up with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter at a kiddies fair, the ones which sprout up in the parking lots of malls. There were no rides suitable for Elyssa to go on but I had the opportunity to snap a few shots of my beautiful baby girl...this one being my favorite of them all.

I got to thinking that I'd best capture the beauty of my Mother's Day flowers as well before they all wilt, the bouquet is so beautiful! 

"The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart."

Helen Keller

And one last quote, author unknown...

"Beauty is simply reality seen with the eyes of love."

The Conversation

This made me wonder what the conversation was which was going on, I thought that it really wasn't any of my business but I liked the photo opportunity.

What do you think they're saying? 

Blogger Book

I was curious about an advertisement I spotted on someone's blogsite and checked it out, I found out that I can turn any part of my blog into a book. Tonight after doing a bit of research I decided to give it a shot. I've ordered all of 2010 posts, only one is missing and of all posts it's New Years Eve. I didn't know that Picassa is where all of the photos for Blogger are stored and I deleted some of my photos from that site to free up some storage space. Not a good thing to do when you have a blog site I now know.

Now I'm excited to get this book, I hope it's as good as the reviews I've read. When it comes in I'll take some photos and share what this book of mine looks like. Ohhhh I won't be able to sleep now for a few weeks!

Golden Arches

Living alone has it's pros but it also has it's cons. Tonight I wasn't going to bother cooking, I didn't much feel like it and there's nobody here but my dog and I don't feed her human food. I have this agreement with my Abbie girl, she isn't allowed to eat my food and I'm not allowed to eat hers. I think that's fair. I ended up going out in search of food. Yup, I was the Great White Hunter tonight. 

When I set out I knew that I wasn't going to find something both healthy and fast, my first stop was the grocery store where I picked up some fresh fruit. Nothing else really appealed to me so I went for a drive still in search of supper. I drove around fast food lane, within one city block there's McDonalds, the Golden Arches as they're known and I kept on driving. I refuse to eat their food. There's a Starbucks, nope, a Burger King and Wendy's... nope and no. There were a few other fast food places and still nothing. I finally went back into yet another grocery store and picked up some Singapore noodles and went to M&M's and got some dry boneless pork ribs. It wasn't the healthiest supper but it was quick and easy and clean up was fast. 

Finish This Sentence

I went to visit a very dear friend at the Royal Alex hospital today. When I walked into the hospital I couldn't help but notice what was on the wall and thought it would be an interesting post for today. This post involves a response from the reader, all you have to do is finish this sentence...

I'll start this and for now I'll share only one of my hopes.

  My hope is that my friend recovers and the medications work for him. 

Now it's your turn, what's your hope?