Autumn

It seems overnight that the summer has completely slipped away on us, it's cooler in the evenings now, the air is crisp and the leaves are falling to the ground leaving the full trees starting to look bare.  Just a few short weeks ago these trees were filled with beautiful green leaves, the streets were covered, like an alcove. In a few more weeks they'll be completely bare... sigh. 

The colors are so pretty as the leaves are changing, it's just too bad Autumn didn't last longer. It seems to pass all to quickly, leaving me scurrying to dig out the winter gear. I'll get right on that tomorrow... or when it snows. 

Could Life Be More Beautiful?

I've had the joy and pleasure of spending a night with Elyssa, 

we've had us some fun. Last night one of the things we did was living room bowling... 

We had a wee bit of a chilled out morning today

Before lunch we went out for a walk, naturally we took out cameras

The look on Elyssa's face told me something was coming, sure enough hide and seek was on...

Then catch me if you can

one quick glance back to see where I was and which direction she had to go to stay a few steps ahead of me....

Seriously, could life get any better than this? 

Montana's

Tonight we went out for dinner, I chose this place...

(not too bad of a shot for my phone camers I'd say)

This is only the second time I've been to this restaurant, the decor is rustic...

all Cookhouses need at least one moose and  one deer head hanging on the wall. 

And this is why I selected this restaurant...

Montana's has some of the best ribs I've ever eaten, they're finger lickin' good! 

Coming Home

It was time to come home today, on the way home I couldn't help but stop and take a few shots here and there; the country is so beautiful this time of year. 

From the farm I head south, nearing Fort Assinibone there's a huge hill before the town, this is the view from on top of this hill. 

I got back in my car and continued on my merry little way, I pulled off again about an hour later, this is what captured my attention...

and this...

I got back into my car after I shot this next photo...

and down the highway I continued, leaving all of my yesterdays behind. I was headed for home. 

C is for Cookie

Today I figured I'd bake some cookies, some for out here at

the farm and some for in the city.

 

Over the years I've baked a lot of cookies, I've found you can't go

wrong with Chocolate Chip, they're a sure hit and never last to long.

 

Have you ever heard the Sesame Street song "C is for Cookie"? I remember listening to this as a child, I was infatuated with the cookie monster and would sing right along. Hmmm, the cookie monster must be getting up there in age, mind you I was in about grade 3 when I listened to this song so he can't be that old... can he?

This and That

I forgot my card reader at home this trip out to the farm, hence not using my Canon. These shots are taken with my phone and I must say I'm rather impressed with what phone cameras are doing these days. 

The pine tree before the white stuff begins to float down from the sky. I'm hoping we don't get that nasty four letter word, which starts with an S, until a week before Christmas. A girl can dream.

With it bring officially Autumn there's few flowers left, but the Alberta Rose I planted two years ago is hanging in there. The Alberta Rose is our official provincial flower and they smell heavenly.

And one last look at the fields, I'm not sure if I'll be back this way or not until spring, it depends on what my next venture in life happens to be. 

I love the colors Autumn brings, a new peace takes over the land 

as it prepares for the colder months of the year.

Skinny

It's been yet another busy day, but it was a wonderful day. I went and did a photo shoot for Renewing Friendship, it was a coming together through ceremony, gift exchange and breaking of bread (bannock) between the Ukranian and the Indigenous cultures. I have a ton of photos to go through and edit, then I'm going to make a movie using Windows Movie Maker and incorporate both cultures music. I have a ton of work to do so tonight I tried this new type of cappuccino and I don't normally drink much caffine.

 

 

I'm trying something new, it says Cappuccino Skinny...
my question is how many of these do I have to drink to get skinny? ;-)

 

After the event I drove out to the farm and the internet is slow here, once I'm back home I'll share a few photos from todays event. I feel blessed to have been at the Renewing Friendship event, I'm Polish and Cree and it touched me to see this renewal of a friendship between both of my cultures. It is so amazing how things work out, I was asked to take photos at this event and the lady who asked me to do this doesn't know what my nationality is, or I don't think she does.

BBMA Award Celebration

Tonight was the Belcourt Broseau Metis Association (BBMA) Awards Celebration, I believe this is the 11th year this organization has been helping Metis students achieve their goals. This is my 3rd year of attending this event; the first year I was a recipient and today I love to volunteer for this function, it's my small way of giving back. The event itself is never a let down; fantastic food, excellent entertainment, a great networking opportunity and a chance for me to see people I haven't seen in a year or so. 

 There's always a cocktail hour before the celebration begins, an opportunity to 
socialize and catch up with one another. 

The MC was as hilarious as he was last year, this man is a natural born comedian and a fantastic MC. This is his rendition of the broom dance...

There were various artists who entertained, these three ladies call themselves Asini and their music is amazing, as are the ladies themselves. I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with two of them in our "green room." 

There was a 'professional' photographer at this event, I shot the fun shots and ensured I snapped a lot of photos of the volunteers. Without volunteers there wouldn't be such an event. 

This next photo, well this couple I have to share with you. 
They are adorable and the lady is an Elder whom I admire immensely. 

I guess this young fella and myself will make this a yearly ritual, the only photo shot of myself was with Ryan, I posted a photo with him last year as well. He's such a wonderful young man, full of humor, respect and easy to chat with. 

So that's it for another year, this is only a glimpse of the event, trust me when I say that it was thoroughly enjoyable, tons of fun and the food, well the food is an entire blog in itself, but I'll spare you all that.

Thank you BBMA for a wonderful evening! The good Lord willing I'll see you all next year! 

(I've posted these and a few more shots here if anyone is interested in taking a look.)

Saz

Hi there, 

I have a request, I know this one young lady, Saz, who I met here through blogger; she's currently away from home (England is where she is from and is currently working in Scotland) and she's feeling a bit homesick, if any of you has time can you please pop into her world and say hi or offer some words of wisdom and support? 

Thanks.  

Wishing you all an amazing weekend, see you all tonight! 

Abbie

I think that Abbie is feeling neglected lately, just look at this face...

She always looks like this when she needs to be taken in for a bit of pampering, so today I booked in for her special 3 hours of fun; she gets a bath, grooming and socialization with other dogs. My poor spoiled puppy! I sure love my Abbie girl, she's such a good dog and listens so well, in more ways than one.

Sunshine and Painting

It sure was a beautiful day today so I decided to take my work outdoors... it was way too nice to stay indoors, that and the paint dried faster, or so I told myself. 

I haven't been rushing to get the new bedroom painted out, but it's getting closer to being done. The weather this week has been so beautiful that I haven't wanted to stay in doors all the time. It'll get done all in good time, life is way to short to not enjoy it while we still have sunshine in our lives here in Alberta. 

Patience

Why is it when I want to get somewhere in a hurry something almost always seems to happen? Either every light turns red as I'm approaching, there's an accident, or construction or something going on. Well today was one of those days. I was headed to the West End of the city, Google maps said it would take me 16 minutes to get there. I merged on to the freeway and traffic was crawling along so I decided to turn off the first chance I got. Things were going good until I got stuck waiting for a train. I put my car in park and started snapping away... it gave me something to do.

After about a 10 minute wait I was moving again and headed towards downtown only to once again be slowed down and stopped going uphill at that! Again because I was parked and patiently waiting (I had no other options!) I snapped a few more shots. This time it was construction which has us at a standstill; however I manged to get a beautiful Autumn shot.

So after being slowed down by an accident, then a train and construction I realized that my patience is getting much better, either that or I've learned how to occupy myself instead of becoming inpatient. As it turned out my 16 minute drive took me 40 minutes, but the drive was beautiful and the lady I was meeting didn't mind one wee bit.  There's one saying which I'm not sure who said it but it goes like this:

"You get the chicken by hatching the egg

Not by smashing it."

Today I got the chicken! :-)

They're Here

Today I had a bright yellow truck show up in front of my house, my son told me Leon's was here and I said I don't think so, then I looked out the window and how can anyone miss this?

My new washer and dryer arrived... I can't remember the last time I was so excited to do laundry!

Pay It Forward

There was a time many years ago I'd rented a place and it had no washer, but I had my own dryer. I wasn't in a financial position to be able to go out and purchase a new washing machine and somehow I found a free washer. A couple had bought a new set and were giving away their old machine. I remember clearly how me and my second son packed that old machine out to my car, hoisted it into my trunk and hauled it home. It was so blasted heavy I don't know how we got it downstairs, but somehow we managed. 

Today I was able to give away my dryer, my new set is going to be delivered tomorrow and instead of the store taking them away I thought I could pay it forward; someone was kind enough to give me their washing machine, the least I could so is give away my dryer. I still have the washing machine and I hope to also be able to give this to someone who needs it. 

It was late tonight when the people were able to pick it up, but I'm sure glad they showed up to get it. I'm also excited about my new set being delivered tomorrow and I love the opportunity to be able to pay it forward when I can.

Friends

Today I had some near and dear friends over for a BBQ, with me being constantly on the go since... hmmm, well since forever ago, I figured it was about time to invite my good friends over and spend an afternoon with them. The food was good, but the company was amazing! 

The lady in this photo is the lady who hired me approximately 5 1/2 years ago as a part time cook. We became extremely good friends and as much as I could be there to help her at the restaurant you bet I was there, in turn she's always been there for me. As the months turned into years, our friendship has deepened and we've shared some amazing laughs. Today we were reminiscing about some of our catering jobs and what made us laugh is the things the two of us could get into! I also know her husband very well, who is with us in this photo, he is also there for me and would have my back in a heartbeat. They truly are amazing people. 

I have quite a few photos from today of my near and dear friends, they know who they are, and I want to thank them for showing me what true friendship is all about. These people I can laugh with, I can share with, and I can cry with them if the need arises. They are there for me when I'm down and they are there for me to help celebrate my successes. I realize on days just like today exactly how blessed I am to be surrounded by such amazing people... it's been a wonderful day! 

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have,

and one of the best things you can be." 

  ~Douglas Pagels

This Douglas fella knows what he's talking about! ;-)

Edmonton's Women's Symposium

Today I attended a Women's Symposium, the city of Edmonton hosted this event which was held at the Fantasyland Hotel at no charge and the luncheon was amazing! Salmon, chicken and/or pasta, veggies, all the fixings, as well as a decadent dessert. It was so appealing I forgot to take photos of the meal itself! 

The mayor opened with his words of wisdom; he really is a personable man, mind you not a photogenic man by no means, but a personable man nonetheless. In my opinion Mayor Mandel is genuine, compassionate and speaks from his heart, his actions speak louder than his words; in my humble opinion this mayor is definitely an asset to the capital city of Alberta. Some might argue this, but it's politics, and how often do you hear me address anything political on my blog? Ummm, never! 

I've had the opportunity to attend various functions where I've heard Mayor Mandel speak, but the photos I've shot of him... well that's another thing. 

As you can see the hotel meeting rooms are beautiful. The topic of the day was Women Building Leadership and Community; it was not only informative, I found much I listened to to be interesting. There were various speakers and after the opening remarks we all branched off into 5 different rooms. Unfortunately a few of the speakers I'd wanted to hear were booked at the same time, but I managed to get a lot in even though I had to leave 2 1/2 hours before the event ended. It was a great way to spend the morning and half of my Saturday afternoon; I found this symposium to be very empowering and informative, I'd definitely get up at 6:35am again on a Saturday morning to attend another function such as this!  

THE Dress!

Today I stopped off at a ladies boutique in the small town I have to 
pass through to come home and lo and behold I found THE dress...

I chose this one for my convocation in November. 
The second I spotted this dress I just knew it was THE dress,
 I tried it on and it's the most amazing dress...
 I know they made it just for me, well me and my credit card...
but I'm worth it! :-)

What to do in cool weather

Today was a bit chilly, about 15c and I wondered what I should do today. I decided to do a bit of baking; fresh chocolate chip cookies and low fat lemon meringue pie...

 What makes this low fat is I don't use the crust! :-)

I then decided to go out and take a look at what to do to ready my plants for winter, after preparing the antique decoration (ya, that's what I'll call the antique manure spreader) in the massive flower bed, I then planted some Narcissus bulbs which I hope will come up in the spring. 

While I was outside I noticed the shop door open, the old tractor doesn't look quite so old anymore. 

Yup, there's rarely nothing to do on the farm, that is unless I want to do nothing. Some days I could just sit and smell the roses... today I took a bit of time to do just that. 

 

Tomorrow it's back to the city and my 'normal' life; as normal is in my world.

A Drive in the Country

I decided to go shopping today; where the farm is this means a drive in the country and I chose to go to the town which has more shops, it's about an hour away from here. The country is so beautiful this time of year, it's chilly but beautiful nonetheless.

Music blaring, must me and my thoughts decided to stop off at Goose Lake so I detoured a wee bit.

I love my Canada, we have miles and miles of wide open spaces... I just don't like what's on its way, that nasty four letter word which starts with an S.

Yup it was a beautiful day for a drive, even with gusting winds my little G5 stayed on the road!  As for the shopping, sure I can go shopping in the city any time I want, it's just not the same type of an experience as shopping in the small town stores; nobody tries to force a sale on you and they're mostly so friendly it's hard to not stay and chat all day.

Color in My World

The weather in Alberta is so unpredictable, yesterday we were in the higher end of the 20's and today felt like... hmmm pretty darn cold. We've had a howling wind all day long which sends shivers down my backbone and it rained a bit this morning;  I figure I'd best post a few more flower photos while I still have color in my world. 

Does anyone have any idea what these are called? I don't recall planting them but they're in full bloom and look beautiful!

Soon enough the ground will freeze and all my plants will go to sleep for the winter. Most of our winters it's super cold and I love looking back on my posts and seeing the color I'll have to look forward to next spring and summer.  

This quote sums up living in Alberta:

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing."

 ~Alfred Wainwright

...time to go shopping soon!

Simplicity

I love the simplicity of small towns, there's no hype, no flash and no glitter... just good old fashioned advertising in this small town. When you turn to come into the town this is what you're greeted with...

Don't turn too fast or you might miss something! 

When camping keep it simple; what better place to camp out than on the top of a gas bar? 

And in honor of Sunset Sunday, a simply perfect way to end a day, 
here is the beautiful sunset I witnessed tonight.

Sunset Sunday is inspired by Scott, thank you Scott for the inspiration.