Playing Catch Up...

It's been ages since I've posted....I've been super busy...but it's time to catch up. Please know that I've been reading all your blogs and keeping up to date with everyone even if I haven't commented much.

There will be some very random posts in the next couple of days that may or may not be in any particular order so here goes!

I was published in my first Gooseberry Patch Cookbook! How cool is that? I think it's great of them to send you a free book when they use one of your recipes. There are a few in this one that I plan to make.

We've done a bit of this lately....it's been a really easy winter for us compared to others! Hailie loves being out in the snow. We made snow angels and a snowman last week too.

And we even got to go out ice fishing this winter. My brother bought a new hut and my Dad took us out. Hope to get out this weekend as it's the last weekend for pickerel fishing and it's supposed to be a gorgeous weekend with temps in the + and sunny!

My Dad, Miss Pearl, Lynn (my brother's girlfriend) and brother Vic. We didn't catch any fish that time but had a great day on the lake!

Well that's it for now...more random posts to come :)

Christmas is almost here!

It's been a while since I've posted but I've been super busy with life and of course getting ready for Christmas...my favorite time of the year! Here are a few simple decorations for our home.

Miss Pearl was really getting into decorating the tree this year...too cute. She's not so sure about the guy in the big red suit though. She wanted nothing to do with him at the mall...hehe

Finished tree....hard to get a clear shot of it at night.

Some of the snowmen I made a few years back.

 We have no snow and not much in the forecast so we may end up having a green Christmas. I want snow for Christmas!!!! 

This next photo was taken a while back when we had our first snowfall but it's all gone now :(

Hope you're all ready for Christmas....I still have more shopping and baking to do but I'm almost ready!

Winter/Christmas Sale on Ebay!

I need more space in my craft room so I'm having a sale on Ebay. A lot of items have been reduced and many will be listed with a starting price of 0.99! Can't beat that for a deal! Come take a peek!

This is what it looks like out my windwo today....guess winter's not over yet!

Staying warm and cozy

It was -35C this morning. Good thing the sun is shining today - hopefully it will warm up a bit! Baby Evelyn is doing better and so is her Mom. They were over for a visit a few days ago and I finally got some new pics of her.

Thanks for all the prayers! 

Winter Wonderland

This is what I woke to yesterday morning and it was still snowing when I went to bed last night. There is nothing like waking up to a winter wonderland!

Hubby and I decided to take a ride on my brother's snowmobile on the trail across the road from us. It's part of the Ontario Snowmobile Trail System which means they are groomed trails and this particular one can take you as far as Toronto which is a 3 hour car ride from us. Hubby is from Texas and it’s the first time I’ve seen him on a snow machine – I think he enjoyed it even if I didn’t let him drive….LOL

I grew up on a snow machine but haven’t had one in 15 years or more so it’s nice to get out there again. I hope we can get one ourselves someday in the future.

As we took off into the fresh powdered forest it reminded me of the first Narnia movie when they walked out of the closet and into the snow. The scenery was incredible! Of course I brought my camera along for a quick photo shoot.

This morning it was -32C and it's not supposed to get much warmer than that so it'll be a day of cooking and crafting. 

Empty Skating Rink

Not a kid on the skating/hockey rink tonight. Can't say that I blame them! It's -23 C (-9 F) here. The old lake will be making ice tonight....ice fishing next weekend hopefully.

Hailie's First Hockey Game

Hailie enjoyed her first hockey game today with me and Aunt Shelby. She loved watching all the girls skating on the ice and Shelby's friend Ashlie was the goalie. Too bad they lost 4-0, but it was a good day out as we had to drive an hour to another town and the scenery was beautiful as the highway follows the lake for quite a while.

Hailie had a little snooze on the way back. It was hard work watching all those hockey players!

Winter Walk

Today we took Grand-baby Hailie for a walk in the woods. She loved it - Just sat there in her sled checking everything out. We followed the snowmobile trail that`s across the road from us and it was a gorgeous day! We didn't get to see any wildlife though, but we were probably making too much noise anyway.

Snow-flakes

Out of the bosom of the Air,

  Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

  Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

    Silent, and soft, and slow

    Descends the snow. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Blast of Winter

Old Man Winter decided to come callin' today and is supposed to continue his visit for another day. I went outside and took a quick picture of the 2 small trees I have decorated in the yard. There's a lot more snow now than when I took the photo. In fact, I think we have more snow on the ground now than we did all last winter. 

Notice the perfect snowflake at the top middle of the picture...pretty cool!

~It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas~

Fun Facts about Christmas Trees

- It’s estimated that two million Christmas trees are sold across Canada every year.

- Canada harvests around 5.5 million trees annually. Of those, B.C. produces 300,000.

- In 2008, Canada exported most of its trees to the United States. The breakdown of sales per province was as follows: 860,900 from Quebec, 540,000 from Nova Scotia, 307,100 from New Brunswick, 11,400 from Ontario, 3,300 from B.C. and 51,600 from Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan combined.

- Canada exports to other countries, including Mexico, Japan, the Cayman Islands, Panama, Venezuela, the Bahamas, Aruba, Barbados, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Honduras, British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Jamaica, El Salvador, Antigua and Barbuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Singapore, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and Grenada.

- The species that sell the most are the balsam fir and the Fraser fir.

- It takes six to 15 years for a tree to mature and bring to market.

- For every tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place

- A newer Christmas tree option is the "rental" idea. One company offering this service is Burnaby’s Evergrow Christmas Trees, which will deliver a potted tree to you and pick it up after Christmas.

The facts about artificial trees:

- Most are produced abroad — in China, Taiwan and South Korea.

- On average, an artificial tree lasts between seven and 10 years.

Source: The Canadian Christmas Tree Growers’ Association and the Recycling Council of B.C.

Keeping it simple outside too

I'm keeping true to a simpler Christmas outside too. In past years I've been so stressed out trying to 'do it all'  so this year less fuss + less stress = more enjoyment time and I'm already noticing a difference. I'm actually enjoying every bit of preparing for Christmas this year.

 Here are a couple of gatherings outside my back door (the one visitors come to).

An old milkcan holds a bunch of silk poinsettias. An old rusty bucket and tool caddy await fresh greens that I still have to go cut in our backyard. The vine reindeer was purchased for me by my oldest daughter a few years ago :)

I got this wooden toboggan at a garage sale this summer for $5 - can't beat that! It will be put to good use this winter when we take Grand-baby for rides. And Santa is there to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I hope to get out and do some shopping today but they're calling for a major storm so we'll have to wait and see. 

Proverbs 31:21

She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

Remember to take time to enjoy the beauty of winter and be thankful for a warm home. 

So many of us, myself included, complain about the hardships of winter, but this year I'm determined to start enjoying winter again as I did when I was younger. It really is a beautiful time of year and I want to pass on a  positive attitude toward all seasons to my Granddaughter - so no more complaining about the cold and shoveling for me! I promise to TRY to do all shoveling with a smile on my face :)

Thankful for the views outside my window

Although our Thanksgiving was in October, I’ve enjoyed reading all the posts about everyone being thankful this time of year so I thought I would share a couple of things that I’m thankful for and that make me smile when I look out my window.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to have a special visitor that only shows up a couple of times a year…a gorgeous Pileated Woodpecker. I grabbed my trusty camera and took a few shots of him before he spread his massive wings and flew away. They really are very large birds!  Only one picture turned out clear enough. I was thankful for seeing him AND getting a photo.

That photo was take a couple of days ago and this is what it looks like outside today…

I’m thankful for the beauty of winter and my warm cozy home.

Poor birds are so confused

I took this picture about an hour ago on my way to town. It's still coming down! The birds cleaned out both of my feeders this morning and were fighting over the seed. The contrast of green grass and leaves with the white snow is beautiful but I think I still prefer sunshine this time of year.

A couple of primitive pillows - She looks well to the ways of her household & Winter Blessings

I love pillows, bowl fillers, ornies – whatever you’d like to call them! I have them tucked in bowls, baskets, shelves, and just about every nook and cranny in my home. I enjoy making them almost as much as displaying them :)

To purchase visit my website or Etsy.

To purchase visit my website or Etsy.

Outdoor skating rinks

Outdoor rinks are everywhere in northern Ontario – especially in the rural areas. There are a few in the cities but most are in the smaller towns, villages, and outlying areas.

Here is a photo of the outdoor skating rink across the road from our house.

In December they replaced all the boards with brand new ones, replaced the fencing behind the goals and levelled the ground so the ice would be nice and smooth - something that has needed to be done for a long time. They had men working there for weeks and they finally finished it in January while all the neighbourhood kids waited patiently.

The kids managed to get a few good weeks of skating and hockey time in and then we had a thaw – no more rink for a while. February turned colder and was pretty good until the past few days – another major thaw!  Now, all that's left is a huge melting puddle and a bunch of sad looking faces! Hopefully it will freeze again for the upcoming March Break and they will get a few more days of winter fun before they hang up their skates and put away their sticks for another year. 

I grew up with outdoor rinks and have never really given much thought to them until my in laws came up from  Texas last fall. My MIL took some photos of the rink and that’s when it hit me that not everyone has the luxury of walking down ( or across in my case)  the road to skate or play hockey whenever they want. Some people never get to experience skating outside while big white fluffy snowflakes fall all around you. That’s the best!  And when that happens, everyone grabs a shovel, forms a line, and they work together to clear off the ice.`

I considered myself very lucky as a child because my parents bought a cottage on a small lake which we remodelled into our year round home.  All I had to do was put my skates on and walk across our front yard about 5o yards to a patch of ice that we cleared for a rink. That’s where I learned how to skate but always enjoyed going to the many outdoor rinks with my friends. Most of the rinks had a small shed or attached building that housed a few wooden benches and an old woodstove in the corner. The shed was always a nice warm place to take a quick break. The smell of the maple logs mixed with the aroma of hot chocolate is burned in my memory forever. There was always adult supervision and  kids of all ages.  It was as much a social gathering than anything else – something to do on the long winter nights that seemed way too long when darkness started at 5 PM and you only had 3 TV channels to choose from.

My skating days are pretty much over now and I don’t take my girls anymore because they are old enough to go themselves. In a few years, my Granddaughter will put on her first pair of skates and I’ll be glad to take her and help another generation learn the enjoyment of going to an outdoor skating rink.  Until then I’ll be content just listening to the *boom* of a slap shot echoing off the boards and watching the crowd of skaters from my kitchen window.

Hugs from Connie!

Funny faces, rabbits, and finally some snow!

My Granddaughter gave me quite a chuckle today. She has the most amazing facial expressions I’ve ever seen on a baby. You can tell what she’s thinking just by the look she has on her face.  I was taking some photos of her with Charlie the rabbit  with my digital camera and after I took a few shots I was looking at them through the window viewer of the camera and decided to show her. She looked at herself in the camera, looked up at me, looked back at herself in the camera, then up at me again with one raised eyebrow and a very confused look. It was priceless and  I keep trying to capture these expressions on film but of course she is the same as most babies and won’t do it when you’re holding a camera in your hands!

 

Here’s one of our pet rabbit Charlie and the best dog  I ever had  the pleasure of keeping company with - Chanel. Chanel is no longer with us but will always remain in our hearts. She had a long happy life with us and Charlie misses her like crazy too. Charlie is a house bunny and provides hours of entertainment for all, especially Hailie. I just wish he would stop chewing everything!  His favourite things to chew are wires and rugs! If anyone has any helpful hints to help him to stop I’d sure appreciate it.

I hate to mention the “S” word on here because after reading some of the blogs I love to visit it’s easy to see why some people are tired of winter already! Y’all have way more snow than we do so I’ve been content looking at all the photos I’ve seen online.  Here, where I live, in Northern Canada, we’ve hardly had any this year and I love snow. It’s beautiful, refreshing and clean. Best part of all…no bugs!!! We have about 6 – 8 inches on the ground now and it’s been a relatively mild winter compared to what we usually have to deal with – I’d rather have the snow than the –40C – way too cold for me! We’re usually the ones buried in 3 feet of snow or we used to be. The past few winters have been very “calm” for us. Here’s a snapshot of what we can expect over the next few days and just to make everyone feel better a couple of photos of snowfalls we had last spring!

This photo was taken in April 2009

 

This one was taken on May 31! Yes, May!!! Isn’t is beautiful with the leaves on the trees? LOL

Happy Tuesday :)