Well my beautiful Amaryllis is done. It was such a delight to see it every morning when we got up, and it is always a bit sad when a lovely experience is over. This one delighted us for far longer than I expected, so I should not complain
The album is now done so I can share it all with everyone.

Album Link -  http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Life_Cycle_of_my_Apple_Blossom_Amaryllis_/

With the sun shining for most of last week, Elmer and I took the opportunity to go to our local Mill Lake/Centenial Park, as I wanted to take a few pics of the pool construction going on there, and record another area they are doing – a mystery to me as to what it will be. These will also be put into an album another time, but for now I wanted to share a couple of them here.

This little duck came so close to me – I know she was hoping for some food, which I did not bring. They now frown on people doing that.

I was also wondering if there had been any major damage by those hurrican wind storms we had earlier in Jan. Except for a few small branches, it looks like the majority of the forest went unscathed. And then I came across this big tree

One section showng where the major split went

The rest of it. Here you can see where they cut the first part from, and lying on the other side the split section and remainder of the trunk in pieces. Obviously they have done a lot of cleanup before I got there.

Yesterday, I also had a bit of excitement. While sitting here working at the computer, I heard this odd sound outside my window. At first I thought it might have been Elmer doing something, but realized he was in the kitchen. Looking out the window, I was able to just see this thing, sitting on the bend of the rain spout on the side of the house. At first I thought it was a cat, but the face was all wrong and the brown colors definitely not cat fur or color. The nose was somewhat longer too and short ears. The size of a large cat. I quickly ran and pulled Elmer in, but he was not sure where I was telling him to look so missed it. We both ran for the cameras, hoping it would stay there long enough for us to get a better view and pic from outside, but in that couple of minutes, it disappeared. Now I wonder what it was that I saw. Elmer seemed to think it could have been a Possum, rare here, but not impossible. The trouble is – I looked it up online and the ones that live in this area are grey and black with a white face – not what I recall seeing. So now I have a mystery and so hope it comes back again and I can get a pic.

I have one more story of my adventures  
That slow cooker we had – yes had – put it on the other day to make a pot roast. Everything ready to go and nothing! It just would not go on or acknowledge it was even plugged in. We tried it on a couple of plugs, even though we had just used the first one to make bread. Nothing! I transferred everything to my good old pressure cooker pot, and made it on the stove, very low. Came out well. So we packed everything back into it’s box, and Elmer took it back to the store and got a refund. I have decided I do not want a replacement after all. Really did not fit into my lifestyle of cooking . And the old pot will do just as good a job without the hastle if I want a slow cooked meal again.

Added later – talking to my daughter we discussed what I had seen and did a search on groundhogs – I do believe that is exactly what I saw – see the pic in link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Closeup_groundhog.jpg

January is almost over already. Life has been very quiet for the most part. I think the most exciting? thing has been this weather At least, while it has not been exactly sunny this morning, it is out now, and they are saying it will be here for the next week. And the Temps are going to be not too bad either.

Did I ever mention we bought ourselves a slow cooker a couple of months ago? So far I have made a couple of stews and pea soup with it. The trick, of course, is to have all the ingredients, and remember to put it all together in plenty of time, and I am not very good at that Do not think about food until late in the afternoon, and then there is no time for it to do it’s thing.  Elmer has been bugging me for some time now to make more pea soup, and even went out and bought what I needed. This morning early, he brought out the cooker, and sweetly let me know
Lots of time to get it going, so now it is doing it’s thing (2.20pm) and Oh does it smell so good!

Just had to take a pic of it to show you.

For Christmas daughter Angela bought me an Amaryllis bulb. I planted it a few days later, and it is flowering today. Now, I am not posting the pics of it till it is all done, but so pretty and delicate. Fascinating to watch, as this plant just grows right before your eyes. I am sorry I did not think to take pics of it every day to record the growth, until the bud was there. But I am doing so now – in fact the changes from morning to night have been almost phenominal, so have been doing it twice a day – one in the morning and one in the evening to see just how much difference every few hours have made.

Remember I have another one that I started a couple of years ago – it has grown 4 babies around it, and they are putting leaves out like crazy too. But up till now no flowers this year. I kept talking to it and asking what the problem was, as it has flowered for two years in a row. This morning there was nothing on the main bulb. This afternoon a flower is starting to come out!

See that little green in the center there? That is the beginning of the flower stalk. I will be taking pics of this one to show how much it grows each day, and I am just so happy!  It does not take a lot from the sound of this to make me want to dance   This is our baby!

P.S
Looking back at my postings I see I wrote about that Santa on my screen. Thought you would like an update. I went into my programs eventually and found a little one called Santa. Still have no idea where it came from, as I know I did not deliberately download it. But there it was, so I deleted it – no more Santa.

Monday

The sun is still shining brightly, but another snow storm in the forcast for tonight. Oh but I have enjoyed the sun, even if it was so below freezing.

Our front – my Rhodies between us and the neighbors.

Elmer’s tracks on our driveway when he took the garbage out for pickup.

Top of the trellis that holds the Honeysuckle as it joins our patio railing

Snow clinging to some of the Honeysuckle branches

These were taken before the snow had truly started coming down in earnest – we had almost two feet of it by the time it ended the next day.

It has been a while. So much and yet so little has been going on in my life.
My head is filled with stuffing LOL
Let’s see – we had a wonderful Christmas – a great party for the family given by daughter Angela on the Eve, woke up on Christmas day with a slight sore throaght and feeling very achy, this developed into a head cold very quickly. It was a very quiet day for the two of us. Boxing day Granddaughter Shannon and I took off to see if we could get a couple of those specials they were advertising. We both wanted another Scandisk for our cameras while they were on sale. A couple of the places we went to were sold out already, but we were lucky and finaly found a 1gig one for cheap. At the same time I picked up some cold tablets – they have been getting me through this reasonably well, but I am tired of the coughing and nose blowing which it does not fully take away. At least I felt human enough to join Angela and Family again for a great meal. Now Elmer also has it – seems there is a cold/flu like virus going on everywhere and we must have caught if from a member of the family, as many of them too have been going through it.  It really does leave us lethargic and uninspired to do anything. Just wish it would clear up as it is taking a long time to do so.

I just have to tell a bit about a strange thing going on in my computer. Just before Christmas Santa started walking across my screen. He does a little cute scene then explodes and disappears. I am never sure when he will pop up and what he is going to do next. I have no idea where he came from. Checked for a virus and anything else that could have brought him in – nothing there. This is still going on, now he is wishing me a Happy New year and doing exercises. Has anyone else come across this? He does not seem to be hurting the computer, but I would like to know where and how he found me

Of course, the weather we are experiencing for the last couple of months leaves a lot to be desired. Torential rains, major wind, gray skies and very few sunny breaks. And they say it looks like this is going to continue for a few more months!  I am so ready to run away and find some sun! Just not possible right now. I feel for the coastal areas and Vancouver Island – they have been so battered by it all, major devastion, flooding and power outages for days on end. No sooner do they get it all back when another storm has blown down more trees and lines again.

Oh dear – I know there was something else I was going to write about, but it has gone for now – I really should jot down some of these things when I think of them during the day, so I remember. Guess they will have to come back to me in their own time, and give me something to write about another day

Another storm coming through here – mostly rain and heavy wind. I am just so tired of dark gray skies! I know it is the winter season – but Oh I miss that sun! makes me so lethargic when it is not here, and I get a touch of SAD.

Well, I could not resist – treated myself to a Notebook. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with it
It took a couple of days to get it all loaded and registered. Would not go wireless, even though part of the things I bought with it was a wireless hub. So we put the disk in to get the computers to recognize it – still nothing! In the end, off I went to Angela and let her try to figure what was wrong. Turned out there is a tiny switch on the side that I could not see, that turns it on. How we laughed when it was discovered and Voila! we were on! I came home and we tried it out here – said the signal was very low, even when I had it right next to the hub. Does not seem right, so I put the disc in again and hoped that would help it to recognize our signal – oops, we are now no longer connected to the internet at all! None of the computers register. I just felt like crying, and left them for the rest of the night – turns out it was not me but the internet itself had gone down due to the high wind. It really is going to take me some time to get used to the much smaller/differently set up keyboard, and I have not figured out half of those keys – so different from a desktop, and nothing in the book to say what each individual one means on top row. Not even sure how to activate them either as it seams they need a third way to do that, as the first two are upper and lower case. I feel like a total newbee here, and need instructions for Dummies

OK on to other. I had a great day on Sat. Picked up little Jamie, and we had our special together day shopping for presents for her to give to her Mom, Dad and sisters. I loved every minute of it, and am so pleased she wanted to do this again this year.  One thing about the little ones – they have their list ready, have very specific ideas on what they want to give, and where we should try to find them. Some items are way out of their reach, but it amazing what the dollar stores can carry that will come close to what they want, and then as we explore, ooh there just may be a good substitute that will be loved.   Shopping completed, we come back to my house to wrap and label. The two of us were exhausted, but in good time to meet up with Mom and sister at Laura’s Hockey game and watch the last half. A day well spent. Next weekend I take each of the other girls on separate days to do the same thing. 
As for my own gift shopping – at least I now have a start, having come across a few good gifts for some of them, and an idea of where I want to go for the rest. While I was with Jamie in Walmart, we truly lucked out. There was a special demonstration onsome super, lifetime, knives. Just the night before, discussion with Angela what her two older boys and their fiance/girl friend would like she had let me know their list was kitchen knives that were sharp and versatile. So this was exactly what I would have been looking for – and what a bargain I got when I bought them.  They not only sold one knife, but threw in two more plus 3 pairing knives, a kitchen scissors and a filet knife. How could I go wrong!

Yesterday afternoon we also had a lovely surprise – our investor representative dropped by to wish us a Merry Christmas, and brought us a neat gift. A jar filled with packages of spices – I love it! I am a great spice user and all of them will be used and enjoyed in my cooking. This is so special for me. I also think I talked too much too we touched on the subject of digital cameras and photography – I don’t think he realized what he was getting himself into, but did comment he loved to see passion from someone who shows they love their hobby. He got passion from me!!!

Not much going on here lately – weather wise we are doing well once again. the sun is trying to peep through the clouds, the temps are warming up and might even get to the +c  for a few days. Light snow and rain predicted in the coming days. The snow plow finaly made it to our neck of the town and cleared a narrow path for cars to drive in.
As for my car – it came home to roost once agin last night, after doing a great job for my daughter LOL.

I see many were not comfortable with signing up to look at my Kodak album. It does not require you to buy anything, they do not send you any mail, it is simply joining to view, and maybe you like it enough to start putting in your own albums, but not required. I have done it this way as all my private family photos are in there and I did not want it to go indiscriminantly all over the web as the other albums do.  These are somewhat protected and only can be seen by invites.

Meanwhile, I have added another Album to my collection in the CARE2 ones. These are a mix of ones taken from the end of Sept through November, and do have a couple of the photos from my weekend duplicated in it. Also some of what I have already shared here, but there are others too. Enjoy

Fall 2006
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Fall_2006_/

Tuesday already – the month of November is almost done! I am quite sure many are already full into the shopping and preparing for the next big event of the season. I cannot quite get my mind around it yet. I look at all the adds coming out now and just wonder what is it that I should get for presents. It is getting harder every year as the children are all growing up now, too few little ones left, and the kind of things they want are way out of my price range for them. Oh well, like every other year, I will eventually come up with something to suit all.

This last week or so has been so very different. Lots of things going on where the weather is concerned in our corner of the world. Today the sun is shining, but the temp is – 10c with a windchill of -20c Brrrr this is very cold! I for one am not going to venture outside if I can help it. Elmer loves it though and has spent a lot of time out there cleaning up the huge piles of snow on our driveway, patio and off the bird feeder.

On one day we had about 1 1/2 ft of snow alone – this is almost double the old record for this month. The temp lows too are off the chart where the records are concerned for this month.  Lots of problems out there. They still have not  cleaned up all the mess left from the torrential rains and floods we had a week ago. (again breaking records) More snow expected in a day or so.

  At least the children are making full use of the closed schools and having a great time with this.

On Friday, my two girls – Angela and Sheilagh, and I took off for a craft/Crop-till-you-Drop retreat weekend in Maple Ridge. About 1/2 drive west of us. this year it was held at a horse ranch. We left with light rain and not too bad temps. We came home in the worst snow storm ever Believe me, what would have taken us 1/2 hr. drive took us nearly 2hrs to get home. I think I was praying all the way, as we watched car after car going into slide motion and into snow drifts, a few crashing into each other. We too could feel the car doing a few sideways sliding but pulled out in time. I was so glad to get home. I had turned my car over to the girls to do the driving, and then sent Angela home with it, as, instead of dropping her off, she dropped me off here. Wise choice!

I had a blast with that camera though, and took quite a few pics to share for those that are interested in going into the album to see our adventures.

Timberline Ranch Craft Weekend Nov. 24-26 2006
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8og9qvl.63enwwk5&x=1&y=rvf3nu

To all my American Friends and viewers

Time for me to update on what has been going on. Last week was so much better than what I have been going through
I ended my week of woes with my camera no longer working. Par for what had been a week I was so glad to get through Elmer told me we could go look for a new one, which he felt I was due for anyway, even if I was not really ready emotionally for it. So, on the day I had to go and get my new glasses, we went shopping. I had been thinking of a high zoom, but also had some very specific things I wanted in the camera. On handling and checking so many brands out, I realized I would not care for the ones that were offering high zoom. Instead I settled for a 6 zoom Cannon, shake stablization, AA batteries, and as a bonus lots of added features I will now have to learn all about if I wish to utilize them. Small enough to fit in my pocket.

This is a pic from the new camera – my pink flowered cactus is now blooming.

Just had to try it in a different setting here as I also wanted to record the Banana tree all tucked up for the winter at my daughter’s house. The two white covers at the bottom are protecting the new “pups” from it that have started to come up. This is a very new thing for us, and an experiment at best. She was told this is what they had to do (house insulation, then burlap, then plastic covering to protect it from freezing during our winters.

Not the best pic of me here – from the new camera, we were at a birthday dinner for Elmer’s youngest, and I asked her to snap me so I could at least have myself in one of the pics for this event. I am now sporting those new teeth – called in on thursday to get them in (and not with the denturist as they said was to be there.) I still have to go tomorrow morning for their final check up, and they are throwing in a teeth cleaning supposedly then for the rest of my teeth. (also have my new glasses on, which I am happy with)

I also had another good surprise – after buying the camera, we came home and I pulled out the box for the old one to put it all away. Discovered the bill, and found out we had purchased a 3 year full coverage extended warranty – it is only two and half years old -WOW!  I took it in and they have sent it away to see whether it can be fixed. If not or it proves to be too expensive they will replace it with an equivalent new one. Going to take a few weeks but who needs to count LOL.

I guess you have heard on the news all about the torrential rain we have been having last week. We are lucky to not live in the main area where most of the devastion and flooding has occured. If it was not raining and blowing so hard,  I would have liked to have gone out and taken some pics, but I am not so adventuresome LOL too cold anyway for me. Even now it is raining on and off and will be for quite some time to come yet, with gray days inbetween. Alerts for more storms coming through just about every second day for a week are on the TV, just have to let the news record the floods, snow in the higher places and washouts.

This was taken with Elmer’s Kodak which does have a good zoom. The seagulls are coming way inland. This one was having a hard time flying against the wind before settling on the lamppost down the street from us. Just had to take his pic. You can tell from this what a gray day we have – this is actual cloud cover not sky there. I was not even sure if there would be enough light to get what I did.

An old one posted before, but so appropriate lately – our nights have dropped below the freezing point and we wake up to a frosted scene. Quite pretty really as the sun starts to come up and the rays hit, giving everything a silver glistening look before it all evaporates.

Halloween is over – we had more candy than we needed (Makes Elmer happy as he gets to eat the left over chocolates LOL) but there were at least 70 children, so a good turnout. This year both the children, and many adults seemed to have gone all out for some great costumes. I was particularly delighted to see one Dad with his little 3 year old. Dad looked like a Knight from the round table, complete with sword, sheild breastplate. Just him and son doing the rounds. From the look of it this could have been the little one’s first trick or treat, and so cute.

This last week, I have been just a knot of stress, waiting for my Wed. apt. for those teeth.  Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized. First off they are not what I thought they were going to be. Second – they were too big, and had several things wrong with them from the way my dentist was complaining behind me as he tried to fix some of it so that he could get it into my mouth properly. In the process, it cut into the back of my gums – Ouch! that hurt! He finaly gave up and they have to be redone. Again I will have to wait for their call, as this time it has to be co-ordinated so that the denturist is there too to adjust and fit it properly when the time comes. They had to replace the old ones again (whick had broken with all the pulling out and replacing it has gone through lately, but it looks like the assistant did a great job of gluing that all back together again).  To say I was unhappy is putting it mildly. I came home and just bawled.  As my daugter described my feelings now about the whole thing – I am like a beaten person, no more fight in me. Short of going through the whole proceess again with someone else (and who would I trust at this point?) I am stuck with whatever the final result of this will be for the rest of my life. He is supposed to be the best in town, and I know he has worked hard with me, just not what I thought we had agreed upon at all. Not even close! (sorry but I am still feeling very down about it all)