Melting

The snow melt continues...

Looking for Spring?

Well, another week has gone by and the sun has been shining and the temperatures in the day time above zero.. so let's see if more snow has melted.

Spring?

Our weather has been fairly mild for February, 

however the flowers here are still asleep covered with
their white fluffy blankets!

Family Tree

I find it quite enjoyable searching for family history. Now a days one can find much of that information from the comfort of their home computer. Whether it's looking through the 1901 and 1911 census or searching online history books. There are lots of resources available. Check out my Barrhead Roots blog for more.  http://barrhead-roots.blogspot.com

Here are couple decorative family tree charts I was working on recently.

Sunset Jamaica

We went on our first all-inclusive winter holiday at the end of December. We chose to go to the island of Jamaica. The flight was direct to Montego Bay and took about six hours. It was already dark when we arrived so we were not able to see the countryside on the 90 minute bus ride to the resort. The next morning after a good sleep we were able to walk outside and experience the warmth of the sunshine. What a nice feeling to escape the cold winter winds. The buffet meals were great too. We enjoyed the wide variety of food choices and the service of the local people. There was also a number of tours available for an extra charge. We went on three tours. These included a tour of Coyaba Gardens, Sun Valley Plantation, Fern Gully, Dunn's River Falls, Murphy's Hill, Annandale Great House.

One of those warm water creatures, the Jellyfish, also made itself known and that ended the swimming in the ocean. After that the pools were the preferred choice. We also attended a church service on the Sunday. It was very lively with lots of singing. They made us feel most welcome. Jamaican people really are very happy and friendly. It ended all too soon and we arrived home safely. Another wonderful travel experience was had.

Snowy day

It is a real winter day today! Everywhere you look it's white!  I'm in my room and well it's green here! I bought a new little table. It was just the right size for this small space.

This week I received a box in the mail which contained a quilt I've been waiting for. My sister made it for me. She has this wonderful ability to sew things and makes them look so beautiful. Now here it is hanging in my green room on a expandable shower rod where the closet door used to be.  Isn't it great! Thank you sister dear! Maybe if I'm good, she'll make me another.. fingers are crossed!

 

Little Things

I like having some old and some new little things to look at.

Such as cups and saucers, odd buttons, old jewelry, perfume bottles and so on.

The small corner china cabinet from downstairs was the perfect place to store them. 

Small cream jugs and odd saucers come in a variety of colors making a neat display.

 

 

Green Room Friends

I was looking around my room ... and there are some interesting characters watching me!

This is my hide the face doll. She's usually facing the other way, but I thought it was time

she saw the world. So here she is!

This is Mrs. Rabbit! She's recently moved upstairs! Isn't she sweet!

This lovely lady was a wonderful find at a garage sale some years ago. I love her braids.

She has also recently moved up in the world.

Here is Mr. Rabbit!

He was found at a garage sale in Lethbridge this summer! I guess they were tired of his constant watching. Pretty neat how he sits by himself. 

A November Day

It's a nice day today!
A bonus for us to have a sunny mild day in mid-November at +13C and without SNOW!

Happy Halloween

It's the last day of October! That means Halloween and this year Daylight Savings Time ends.

The weather changes a lot at this time of year. This month we've had some of everything.

New Curtains

I used to do a lot of sewing when I was in my twenties. I sewed dresses, slacks, tops, pants suits, blouses.  Pretty much whatever I wanted to sew. If I wanted a new outfit, I had to make it myself.  I enjoyed doing that. Then I got busy doing other things and lost interest in sewing. It was easier to buy it. A few years ago someone convinced me I could make a curtain for a small basement window. I was told it's not that difficult.  So I gave it a try. That's a few years ago and now it's time for new curtains.  

The green curtain is in our mustard yellow room. The plan is to have an "old world" look in that room.

The second curtain is in the downstairs bathroom. The plan is to paint this room light orange or a pumpkin color. We'll see what happens!

Early Winter?

It's the 14th of October and it really looked like winter today. Walking into the wind and the snow hitting the face... ugh! Not liking this at all!

Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day! A little chilly outside for this time of year, but warm inside. We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of our church this weekend and a little later will be cooking our turkey dinner. We've done a lot of renovating this year and I enjoyed it very much. It was a lot of fun. Our sons now have a nice home of their own and we can change some things around in our house. Our big holiday will have to wait until next year, God willing! However, we did see marvelous scenery on our little get-away to the mountains at Banff and southern Alberta.  And here's my new desk, almost finished! God Bless!

Fall Colors

We went for a walk today on our walking trail. The leaves are changing colors and it's such a pretty walk through the bush. The forecast is for a windy day tomorrow. I'm afraid the leaves won't stay on the trees much longer, so I'm glad we were able to go out there today.

Mr. Mike's

On a recent trip to the city we enjoyed a nice meal at Mr. Mike's in WEM. I had a salad called Cascadia, mixed greens, honey roasted pecans, goat cheese and cranberries with zesty grapefruit ginger vinargrette. Hmm! I enjoyed it very much. I had something like this at The Keg in Banff last month, except it was a spinach salad.

End of August holiday

We were able to get away for a short holiday last week. It actually worked out rather well, the hotels were having their end of summer specials.

We always thought a drive down highway 22 would be nice. This would take us from Rocky Mountain House to Cochrane and Bragg Creek to Pincher Creek.

We began our week with a visit to Rocky Mountain House and the Tamarack Inn. The next day we contined on towards Cochrane where we had lunch at Boston Pizza. Our next adventure was the scenic highway 40 to Kananaskis Village. It is a nice drive to the village where you can visit the shops in the hotel with lots of nic-nacs and t-shirts/ jackets etc. as well as an ice cream shop for those that delight in such things. Then we continued on our way on highway 1 to Banff where we spent two nights at the Red Carpet Inn. This hotel is two blocks from downtown where you can find a lot of stores to shop the whole day and into the evening too. Many restaurants are also located along the hotel strip and in the downtown. At the end of Banff's main street and across the bridge is a beautiful park with many beds of flowers all manicured and pretty just waiting to have their pictures taken.

On Wednesday we left the Banff area to continue on highway 22. At Turner Valley we found a delightful little restaurant called the Chuckwagon. It is just off the main road in a brightly painted red building. The decor is western and filled with antiques. The food is delicious and we were told on weekends the people are lined up to get into the place.

After all that driving we came to Pincher Creek's A&W and a quick drive around the town where hubby had one of his first teaching assignments. Onwards then to the city of Lethbridge for a three night stay. Southern Alberta didn't disappoint... the weather was gorgeous.. it was hot and we loved it.

Carpet removed

The two rooms with new paint are ready for new carpet. It's not a pleasant job to remove that old dusty carpet and the even dustier underlay, but if you can stand the dust and have a good cutting knife it really doesn't take that long. We rolled it up and tied it in 2-3 ft bundles and put it in garbage bags so it won't get too soaked before next pick up. I was surprised the first time we put out old carpet for the garbage man, they actually pick it up. So.. now we just have to wait our turn for the new stuff to be installed. No, we haven't tried that on our own.

August long weekend

It's the August long weekend. Lots of people go away camping or something, but we stayed home. Saturday was spent putting in a storm door.. that's a time consuming project! Well, I wasn't too much help there. I did take a look around the yard and discovered the raspberry bushes were covered with bright red berries... wow those need to be picked before they all fall on the ground! Hmm .. maybe six bushes and I got two containers full... When frozen they filled a big ziplock bag!

Monday, a rather cloudy cool day, yes a good day for baking, laundry and doing dishes. Lots of dishes after three batches of cookies! I hope the summer isn't over yet! We still have more jobs to do!

New colors

I've been thinking about how I would transform those two rooms.. Yes, I know they've not been empty that long. Well, I'm on a roll, in cleaning mode you could say. Washed and vaccumed... still have to patch the holes. I dared to wash the one set of drapes and they turned out nice. So I thought may as well do the other ones too. They didn't fare so well, too old I guess, the lining kind of stuck together and when trying to pull it apart the fabric just came apart. I guess we'll have to decide on a new set for that room. Oh, I got the paint today too.. velvet latex. One room will be an earthy light brown called Tangible and the other light bluish, reminded me of Robin's eggs, called Rockpool. We will see how it all turns out!

Moving Days

We just finished two days of moving our sons to their new home... managing to get mattresses, dressers, desks, shelves, books, clothes, etc. etc. transported over in our vehicles. Mind you we had to make quite a few trips to get it all done. They'll have to sort through and decide where all the stuff goes, but their beds are set up and there's food in the fridge. Now here we are.. the two of us sitting with sore backs and tired feet, trying to adjust to the emptiness of our house. But I imagine they are a little tired too. It'll take a little while for us all to get used to the changes!