Well this is a little creepy

So I'm just toodling along for my morning dog walk, when I turn the corner and see this:

Yes that's right, three old fashioned style dolls, one of them sitting on a tractor in the front yard of a vacant house that's up for sale.

I have never really been okay with these types of dolls, especially the one in a black dress and white bib which looks like the old style of mourning clothes.

I bet that realtor will not be happy pulling into the driveway with prospective buyers and coming across that site.

BTW - it's about 4 days later and they are still on the front lawn. ((shiver))

Wake Up - Dog Style

Eco sleeps in our room and doesn't wake up before me- well if she does, she fakes it until I put my feet on the ground. But The Kid sleeps in and Eco loves to give him kisses when he's sleeping(more like a full face and ear wash). He doesn't get this friendly style of wake up:

But I must say, no matter how sound asleep he is, he's never been mean to her - he just moves his head and gently pushes her away. A testament to his good temperament?

I should ask my brother if this works for him - as a teenager he was notoriously difficult to wake up, including talking convincingly in his sleep - but my other brother and I knew better and we'd keep trying to wake him up until he was up. We also learned to duck his swings as his hand would come out to punch us! Sheesh, our mom should've given us a medal or something - that was a lot of work.

Anyway, he has two big dogs now, and I'm sure they've figured out how to get him out of bed

You know you're not feeling well...

I woke up this morning feeling tired and groggy. I had a big long dream about being in the US Civil War and hiding in my attic as troops were marching past our big house (totally weird isn't it? ) My brain tried to puzzle out the dream, plus my body was achey and my throat was sore. I felt like I'm getting a cold, but I kept trying to put those thoughts out of my head and tell myself that I am not sick, I am just fine. I then proceeded with my normal morning routine - getting dressed, feeding the dog and taking her for a walk.

I was 30 minutes into my walk when my one foot felt funny (I have one pair of shoes that always pokes me in the achilles tendons)   -but only one, so I guess that registered in my brain and I look down and see this:

Geez - how groggy was I? It's a good thing I don't drive when I first get up. In my defence I will say that they were bought at the same time, they are made by the same company and they are both a walking/hiking shoe (and they are both grey) - but other than that... I have no excuse. And it took me 30 minutes to notice??? Good thing it's only 6:30am and I am not stuck wearing them for the rest of the day!

Monday Morning Contemplation/Lament

Right now I am tired from the weekend, I feel like I've been hit by a car. I don't want to be at work, I want to lounge in bed. My head is still achey - but it's not a migraine anymore. I am conscious that I have created this headache due to work stress, and trying not to get frustrated that I let it take over my Sunday. My weekend. My head aches trying to reason how I should react with a teenage boy who is like a remora in my house. 

I am cold. I don't like being cold. Everything in my body wants me to go back to bed, but here I am. Ready to work. And I will start work and I will plug away and my alarm goes off telling me it's time to take lunch and then I will continue work until it's time to walk the dog. And then it's time to shower and get dressed until it's time to leave for dance. And then I will dance, and laugh and have and forget there is a world outside the studio. And go to bed aching from dance, but this time it's a good and satisfying ache and I will sleep well and start another work day four more times.And then it's the weekend, a chance to get what I want to do. I try again weekend after weekend. Hoping for a do-over every Sunday night.  

Street Heart - spider web

Here's another to add to my "street heart"  collection, I came across this heart shape in a spider web:

Isn't that interesting? It's also really hard to get a photo of a spider web in the middle of a park in dewy, foggy weather, with a dog randomly pulling on the leash.

End of Summer, or Beginning of Fall?

The beginning of September for many is like January 1st. For many it means new things - new pencils, books, clothes. For some, it's a new way of living as they start university living away from home in a dorm.

I imagine that last night there were many tears as parents tried to kid their young ones off to bed early for the first day of school after a summer of late nights. Which is why, I presume, the first day of school is also usually only a couple of hours - probably EVERYONE is exhausted.

But I too, like the beginning of September. Sometimes I take a new course. Or start a new hobby or journal. I take advantage of the cute notebooks and school supplies out there and pick up one or two items for myself. And each day I start my dog walk in the dark, waiting longer and longer for it to be light enough so I can put away my flashing light and to turn off Eco's collar light  - once I assume that people can see her (being dark brown has it's disadvantages in the dark).

I assume this time of year is meaningful to others when you hear songs like "September Morn" or "Try to Remember the First of September"  which longingly recall the glorious days at the end of summer. For us, we had a wonderful, textbook summer which was a little dry for our area, so even though it hasn't gotten cold yet (still no less than 12 degrees celsius) in the mornings there are some leaves falling due to our heat and the dryness. It's starting to feel like fall, and I'm starting to think of Thanksgiving and Halloween, and of course the fact that Christmas is only 3.5 months away -but I try not to get too far ahead of myself. And you? Does this time of year instill any great thoughts or memories?

Soundless Sleep

Last night I was awakened by Eco walking around the house at 3:21am. I have no idea why. Sometimes I think she just changes rooms because there's a different bed in a couple of them. After a quick bathroom break I went back to bed and I thought about a friend of mine who wears double hearing aids - this means that he takes them out before he goes to bed and his poor wife gets to be awakened by things that go bump in the night.

I am grateful for my hearing and I don't want to wish hearing loss on myself or anyone but I wondered what it must be like to hear NOTHING once your head hits the pillow and what it would be like to have a soundless sleep. Don't you think you'd have a wonderful dreamy sleep? Freedom! Short of an elbow to the ribs or an earthquake you should be able to sleep peacefully thought the night. "What would it be like?" I asked myself over and over, and soon I was asleep again.

Do you wake up in the middle of the night because of noise? Do you think a soundless sleep is perfectly dreamy?

On a cold and frosty morning...

This morning it's below freezing and frosty. I went out with Eco at 7:30 for her morning business and it was all very quiet. For about 5 minutes the world was silent. It was amazing. Then a car roared down the road behind my house and the bus can't help but be noisy and then all the magic was gone.

Today I am meeting a friend for brunch, then hoping to pop into a couple of stores for some little gift items, then back home to help a neighbour put up her Christmas lights, then I'll need to walk Eco and then it'll probably be time to start cooking dinner.

This weekend I am rushing to finish making a Christmas present. If I get in several hours of making time tomorrow I should be able to get it done. I want to have everything wrapped and packed and ready for the mail for Monday morning. So anything that doesn't make that deadline isn't going to get done or be included.

How about you? How hard do you push yourself getting in the 'last minute things'? Do you get to take advantage of the last minute sales because all your gifts will be doled out locally or do you have to make a shipping deadline as well?

D is for...dogs and decorating

No I won't turn this into a dog blog but I just wanted to share this as I think it's priceless.

Someone definitely knows labradors very well! 

* * * * * 

Yesterday I put up the outside decorations - I still want 1 bigger piece out there - maybe a lighted tree? Dang they are all so expensive! Plus I have to think about storing it for 11 months. So, I bought a little light up "present" from Wal-mart but the thing fell apart as I took it out of the box. That's not a good sign, I put it right back in the box and will return it - I want my money back! I know I didn't pay a lot for it, and you get what you pay for and all that - but this went beyond all of that! It's just crappy!

Then I went inside and put up as many decorations as I could in the living room. Sadly no big tree again this year, there just isn't room in our tiny living room. I put up a little 2 1/2' tree but it doesn't have any lights. I miss lights in the living room for Christmas, so I may have to go back to the store to find something suitable.

Today I am knitting a Christmas present so it can be mailed. I must have it done by next Saturday. Clickety clickety goes my needles ...

How about you? How are you spending your Sunday? 

Wake up it's Monday!

My alarm goes off and I hit snooze, not wanting to get out of my warm bed yet and still feeling tired. Then my second alarm goes off and I give myself permission to stay in bed - it's Sunday after all and I have nothing planned. Slowly my brain wakes up and reminds that yesterday was Sunday. Yesterday was Sunday? Ah crud, today's Monday and it's time for work.

And then this some comes to mind:
 

 How about you? Were you ready for Monday today?

***

And by the way, did you get the see the commercial at the beginning of this video - the cell phone commercial with Richard Simmons?

(I can't get is smaller so sorry that it hangs off the edge of my blog) 

 The way he says "detergent" just cracks me up. 

Okay that's a better start to the week. 

An extended weekend in Alberta

Last week I was in the lovely city of Calgary for work meetings, this was the view from my hotel room:

Pretty isn't it? 

Then when the meetings were over I hopped on a little 14 seater Beech 1900 D . A snow storm was happening in Edmonton and had caused multiple smaller flights out of Calgary to be cancelled. As I waited for my 2pm flight there were many people told that they would not be flying that day. Some very sad families that's for sure. Then when it was finally time for us to board, all 6 of us got on the plane and then waited for the left prop to start spinning. It didn't. I watched the ground crew literally scratch their heads and look at it, finally it started (no help from the ground crew). Then we had to wait for the plane to warm up. Then we moved 5 feet and stopped. We did that about 18 times. Finally it was time to get de-iced and then we crept along the runway waiting for our turn to take off. I was thinking we'd have to be de-iced again, but we made it out without problems. The cloud cover was so thick that our whole flight ended up being in the clouds (the co-pilot had told us that he hoped we'd be able to fly above the clouds). When the plane is this little you can see all the flight controls and look out the front window -which may not be such a good thing. As we approached the runway to land we were zig-zagging left and right and I thought we were going to hit hard - but we had a very beautiful text book landing. Yay, thank you female pilot!

When I arrived, it was snowing, and this is what I woke up to the next morning:

 A view of my mom's backyard, from inside the house.

Brr, I wasn't ready to get outside yet. 

It was  -19 degree celsius (that's -2.2 F) and about 1' of snow had fallen. But I must admit that I didn't feel cold, it was actually quite pleasant. And I also thank my family for lending me hats, coats, boots and gloves when needed.

And later that day I had gone out with my SIL and then made the mistake of stepping outside to see where my brother was - next thing I knew I had a snow blower in my hand and I had cleared 3 driveways and the sidewalk! LOL-JK!

It was just a quickie little visit but it was a nice. My mom and brother live a couple of houses away from each other and it's nice to be able to just run back and forth as needed. On the morning before I left my brother made up yummy  waffle batter and then brought everything over to my mom's house for our brunch.

Here's my cookie monster waffle: 

So I got lots of dog walking done, ate lots of yummy meals and enjoyed myself. Hopefully my family enjoyed my visit too.

September love

I must admit that we've had an absolutely fabulous August and September (so far). I can't recall a September that has been so dry and sunny and I am really enjoying it. Most years our tomatoes would just be nice and big on the vine by the end of August and then the rains would start in September and they would never turn red or they'd just split and then the slugs would get into them and into the compost they'd go. And the grapes would be just about ready and then the rains would cause them to stay sour and get mouldy and then I'm busy keeping the dog away from all the fallen ones on the ground.

September does have a special appeal to it for me - even though it's now been YEARS since I've been in school, September still feels like a time to start again, a time for fresh paper and supplies and for new goals in the 'year' ahead, hope for what lies ahead. And even last night when our dance group met for our fall classes, it felt like the beginning of a school year (even though it had only been 4 weeks since most of us saw each other) There were several new hair cuts and even some new hair colour and of course, many were tanned from summer vacations. And we were all so happy to be together and get going for the fall and planning for the future.

September has always been special to me as my parents shared the same birthday and so it was special in my mind because of it. It reminds me of bouquets of asters and dahlias and those lovely orange chrysanthemums. My mom now lives far away from me, but I trust by brother and SIL to tak good care of her, they always have very lovely presents for her and a lovely meal with a special dessert. I'm envious that I can not be there.

I really love the summer because I love the heat and the sun but for some reason when I fondly recall dog walks, I always conjure up images of the fall walks (often all the way back to walking my Old English Sheepdog when I was in high school). I think about being bundled up in my coat, boots  and maybe even a scarf and mittens with my dog happily enjoying all the different smells and the cool air. And turning a corner on the walk and being surprised by a tree that seems to have suddenly turned red (or yellow) overnight!  And soon it will be time for me to switch our morning walks to midday as it's staying dark later and later and soon daylight savings will mean we'll be completely in the dark (it's just easier to walk in the daylight rather than outfitting both of us with flashy blinky lights and reflective gear). The midday walks are also quite enjoyable, it's a nice break during the workday and sometimes we end up walking past the local elementary school around lunch time and many of the little kids run to the fence to pet Eco and of course, Eco just LOVES children and can't wait to say 'hi' to all of them.

Other than the hour or so before and after school as the kids noisily walk to and from school, most of the days are quieter and there seems to be a calmness in the air. Slowly one by one the hummingbirds and other birds start to disappear  - the geese honking as they fly south, sometimes in groups as big as 50 and sometimes they can be seen and heard for miles. And there are less and less lawnmowers or other sounds during the days. September just seems to have it all: warm, sun, rain, cold, frost, flowers, colour, empty trees, ending of summer, beginnings of autumn to winter. Sigh, isn't it a wonderful time of year?

What's your favourite part about this time of year? 

Lovin' my cuppa

Recently Jp made some changes and stopped drinking coffee which meant I too had to make some changes. It used to be that I'd make coffee for the two of us either in a french press or the drip coffee maker and liked the coffee very much, but I couldn't seem to get a good cup when I was just making it for one and since I drink my coffee black, the taste isn't masked by crem or sugar so it had to be good. I had just decided that I would switch to tea for my daily cup when he surprised me with a Keurig coffee system for one:

Wow! I am impressed! The manual said it would take 2 minutes for the water to get warm and two minutes to brew coffee but I've got a nice hot steaming cup in 2 minutes total! Can you believe that? I am amazed. And the joke around here is that I need three days to warm up to new appliances introduced by Jp, but this was love at first cup.

And check out all the varieties of coffee- they list 71 on the site! The machine came with a sampler box of 12 k-cups and I've been keeping track of which ones I like - so far the ones marked 'bold' are a bit strong for my liking but they are pretty good. I'm liking "Donut House" which is strong but not super strong. My one issue is that the k-cups are not very environmentally friendly since the little plastic cups have a mini filter inside they have to go into the garbage - but Jp must have known I'd think that about that and so he also bought me a reusable filter. This way I can use the coffee I want and not have to throw anything away. (The grounds go into my compost)

It also brews tea, which I understand if you're in an office or or RV or other location that doesn't have a kettle, but otherwise, tea already can be brewed one cup at a time so I don't see the need for that.

What a great gift idea! He knocked it out of the park with this one! *

Do you have one? Which flavours do you like?



*Note to family members, mum really wants one now too.....

PHOTO  CREDIT: http://www.keurig.ca/brewers/keurig-mini-plus-brewing-system

My New Friend

For years we have been making coffee with a lovely glass thermal French Press until an infortunate accidental bump (that's all I'm going to say) in a shared sink caused it to break. I taped up the broken corner and we continued to use it while we waited for an unbreakable stainless steel French Press to arrive. However, in the mean time Jp bought a  drip coffee maker. With a timer.

Now the joke around here is that I usually don't like new things*, but I take 3 days to get used to it. So he patiently waited for the romance to blossom. And blossom it did. Who wouldn't like to wake up to the smell of coffee brewing, and by the time you make it down the hallway it's already made?

Now I realize it's no $1000 machine, and it's not an espresso or cappuccino maker, but it makes dang good coffee - nice and hot. And it's waiting for me when I get out of bed.  I like that.

My little friend is easy to clean, easy to use and is there waiting for me in the morning to present me with a yummy cuppa nice black coffee. Mmm. This is most appreciated as we are already a month into the rainy season. Now if I could get a friend to empty the dishwasher I'd be over the moon!

*By the way, if you think I am bad - this is an improvement from my father who took 2 weeks to decide he liked the new item.