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!

July 3rd

Today was our 33rd anniversary. Wow, how the time flies by. I still remember it well. July 3rd, 1976 was a very hot day. Today was nice too, a lot of sunshine with a little shower, but not as hot as then. We couldn't get away today, so we just went out for a little A&W breakfast. It was good for a change. I had homestyle ham & egger. Hmmm!

This week we've been helping our kids clean up and fix up their house they purchased. It's been a busy, busy week. Almost like having a full-time 9 to 5 job. It's a good thing I took a couple weeks of vacation.

Cooking Free Night

Another trip to Boston Pizza and this time I remembered to bring my camera along. It was a nice evening out. The place was busy, but the service was good and the food was delicious.

Days in June

Several years ago we had a yard full of flower beds. We had many kinds of perennials and also lots of annuals. My favorite annual was the petunia. Now we don't have too many flowers anymore, but there are a few blooming despite the changing weather.

Street Festival

Well, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Mind you it was a little cool, but that's better than walking in the rain. Talking about getting wet, there were those getting wet in the dunk tank. The main street of town was closed to traffic, instead was full of people and activities. Crafts and plants were for sale, popcorn, cotton candy, hotdogs, etc. The crowds were being entertained by singers and musicans on stage in the gazebo. Kids were jumping in the bouncy castles and adults were looking for bargains!

Much Needed Rain

It's raining for more than five minutes! WOW! It must be a dry year, otherwise we would not appreciate this much rain. It does look pretty wet out. The Street Festival committee is probably a little worried about tomorrow's activities. They've been planning this outdoor event for a year now. The weather is indeed unpredictable! The other day it was very warm and now it's turned rather chilly and it's raining the night before the big day! Hopefully it will rain itself out overnight and tomorrow will again be sunny and suitable for a Street Festival - Mexican style.

Summery Day

It was warm and sunny outside today. I even went to work without a jacket this morning! I hope it's not our only day of summer. I also noticed that our Burr Oak has made it through another winter. It is slower than the other trees in leafing out. It looks so dead when everything else is showing signs of life. I'm afraid if someone else moved in here, they would have cut it down already.

I decided today also was a good day to return refundable containers to the depot. What a messy looking place that is. Now that the milk containers have a deposit on them, we'll be making more trips to the depot. What a job that will be. I really don't know if those places are ready for that kind of volume. At least the one here I don't think is.

Spring Flowers

It's a rather blustery day today, but I thought I should go out and at least look at the few flowers that are blooming. There is the beautiful purple pasque flower which is among the very first flowers to push its buds thru the frozen ground. The little mini iris lilac white color is so petite, but rather short lived. The old reliable poppy in yellow, orange and white. As a child I remember walking in my grandmother's garden, she had these poppies with their plump buds, and I always wondered what color would pop out. I'd be so curious I couldn't help but break open the bud to see what color was inside. I also have the bergenia (elephants ears) in my yard. Its tight clusters of rosy pink look so strong as they barely move in the wind. Oh, I almost forgot there is also the very prolific yellow alyssum. It's a perennial and spreads around even when the soil isn't good. It is pretty though.

Mmm..good!

Tonight took us to our neighboring town for a quick browse in the mini mall and supper at Boston Pizza. They make one of my favorites, the California pizza.. no mozzarella or meat, just onion, tomato and mushroom, well there's sauce too! See then I can eat the whole thing myself. Would we like some dessert? humm? Yeah, the warm chocolate brownies with two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream please and two spoons. OK...that was good!

Walking Around Town

I took my camera along last weekend when we went for a walk around town. Sometimes things do change in a small town, new buildings are built, little renovations done, or big changes. One building that had been here forever it seems, was the building that was once the Barrhead Alliance Church and later the antique store. It has been totally renovated into apartments. The house that was beside the church to the west was taken away and so it looks very different.

Snow Day in May

It's May 19th and we wake up to SNOW! What gives with this weather? I'm sure glad I didn't buy plants for my yard. The May long weekend is usually when we go out to the greenhouses. We see the masses of plants all lined up, looking so beautiful and hard to resist that we just have to buy them. I heard some people went camping and were happy to get back to their heated houses. In this country the weather seems to be very unpredictable. We can't plan too far ahead. However, the forecast for next weekend is much better. A warm +20C. The walking trails will have to wait until then.

Gaithers Concert

Well, we'd never been to a Gaither's Concert before, so it was pretty exciting. Of course we'd seen them on TV, but now we were actually part of the audience. Yipee! Rexall Place is pretty big, confusing if you're not a regular!

Our tickets said Sec.118, row 14 seats 16 & 17... hmm. where's that.. ooh here it says 118... down the steps we go to row 14. oops wrong side, should go to the other side of the section. ok.. here we are got all that food from the concession, try to balance two fries, two hot chocolates, hamburger, a large pretzel and a bottle of water... crazy, hey did we really need all that? $25 worth, wow! Anyway made it around and excuse me, excuse me, over three ladies who were already comfortable in their seats.. here we are trying to get seated, holding all this stuff and trying to lower the seats... had to have help, oh there were volunteers around us, one wanted to hold the hot chocolate, smell it I presume, well maybe they wanted to taste, who knows. Very entertaining I'm sure, and the show hasn't even started yet! ok you got the picture, we ate the food before the two vacant seats on our right were requested and we would all have to get up again.

Well the show got started and we were entertained as each of the performers came out and did several songs. The lighting effects were bright and colorful. Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry gave us some good laughs as did others. The piano player, Gordon Mote was fabulous. He is the best. He won the award as the best pianist in country music! And he's blind! Obviously not a handicap. Of course, he's played the piano since he was three years old.

We also enjoyed Jeff & Sherry Easter and their children. And then there was also Janet Pascal, Jesse Dixon, Signature Sound and the Gaither Vocal Band.

A most enjoyable evening and we got to let our little lights shine!

Flowers

Well, it's Mother's Day weekend and I think that means flowers. For several years now our church has held a free car wash, free burgers and of course a free flower for the moms. This is held on the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend. This year we were a little slow in getting set up. It looked like it might rain, but we continued to get ready. The sun came out and the people came out. Some come to get their car washed, others walk over to have a free burger and some just come to chat. They know we do this every year and they look forward to it. We even have some come from farther away, so it's a great opportunity to meet people from different walks of life.

Mother/Daughter Tea

The spring mother/daughter tea... hmm deadline to sign-up a week before. Well, I couldn't decide, should I go or not after all it was supposed to be a mother-daughter tea. Seeing I don't have a daughter and my mother didn't want to go I was in kind of a dilemma as to what to do. I thought well I won't go. So the day before I was at the church and happened to notice the white table cloths and peaked in to the room to see.. hmm looked very interesting, all pretty with tea cups, napkins and little bowls of jams on the tables. I thought this could be fun! OK, try and find a daughter or a mother to join me? Think, come on, who.. ran my finger down the list of names. Oh, there's a lady, lives alone, might she be available and interested? Dial, oh, nobody home.. should I leave a message.. oops waited too long, hi, I'm looking for a mother for the Tea tomorrow, would you be ? OK see what happens. Short while later the phone rings, hi, I'll be your mother.. relief, thank you Lord! The next day she picks me up at my house and off we go to the tea. We both brought our cameras and while I was welcoming the ladies in, she was out in the hallway taking their pictures. So cool! The rest of the afternoon was spent eating pretty little sandwiches, scones, cucumbers, cream puffs, squares & cheese cake and of course sipping tea!!