Time for me to post some updates on what has been going on in my life.

This is my eldest Grandson and I – Winter blues are getting to me. I needed company, sun and time away from this house. We had a good day so I took off and collected Angela (his Mom) to go out for a lunch. As Chris was home from work early, I collected him too and the three of us enjoyed the break – Angela took this pic for me. Yikes my hair looks bad!  It has become long and wild!  I have broken down and had it cut (March 2)- so much nicer now.

Elmer took this for me – playing in Facebook haha.

Back to earlier in Feb…….

Two days before taking this I had been out and checked the garden – nothing showing, then on the 23rd Feb Wow look what was shoing in the front beds!  I was just so tickled to see their pretty faces.

Even the bees were out enjoying them.

Then the next day – look what happened

Snow by the bucketfull, freezing temps and major winds – so strong it had covered the huge patio we have.

Here you can see the large snow flakes just coming down in the neighbors back yard.

Ahhh the next morning it was all over and the sun was out – same scene as the last – quite the difference here. Just so pretty when it is all lit up and glistening. Took a few days for it all to melt, but it has all gone now.

Here I am with Elmer and his eldest – John. As we wanted to have dinner out we asked him and Angela to join us at the ABC Restaurant. It was a couple of days before John’s birthday, and we though it was a great way to help him start his celebrations   They have a great selection on their menu, and each of us had different meals

This was mine – a Salisbury steak – yummy!

As for the rest of my time – I spend a lot of it playing in Facebook.  I have discovered that I can play all the favorite card games I ususally do when I just want to relax and at the same time get cyber dollars that I can donate to many good causes online, a thing that I have done for years elsewhere on line(and still do) with those free clicks – food for the hungry, animal causes, health services, support for cancer research, the list just goes on and I get to have fun too. So I appologise for not being in here as often as I used to, but there really is not much else of note going on to write about.

Both Elmer and I are doing well healthwise for which I am so thankfull.  I do know while he had fun digging out from all the snow when it was around, he too is longing for the days that we can get outside to work on the garden. Be a while yet. He threaghtened to go out and mow the lawn the other day when it was so pretty haha  too soon!  He has done some clean-up of the dead leaves for me but it is not enough to keep him that busy and he does not like to sit around at all, way too active a person.

The day is almost over but I do hope there are still many out there who are celebrating this evening with their loved ones. I have been having fun sending Ecards to all those I love. Received a couple too.

This year I went and treated myself to another Amaryllis – an Orange one in a box. When I opened it it had already bloomed and the flowers were dead and all curled up. I was so disapointed, but planted it anyway. Surprise! It sent out another stalk and here is what the looked like. Gone now but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

I have been procrastinating for months now in putting all the pixs I took over the Summer of what flowers I had. Today I decided it was long enough and did it

Summer Flowers 2008
http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/449078385/Summer_Flowers_2008/

Still have to do the ones I took for the Fall, but it was good to look at these and remember what was growing in the garden. With the temps warming up again, and the sun attempting to shine more often, I start to think of outside and how my garden is going to be once again. Wonder just how much of it survived this winter and how much I will have to replace. Part of the fun of gardening I guess.

I received this link in my mail – just awesome photos. I am not sure if the person who has put them in his album really is the one that took them, as several of them were on the news while it was going on, and said they came from many different people all claiming they took them.  Regardless, they are well worth seeing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/millardog/sets/72157612849740046/show/

This was about a week ago, when we were having cold nights, foggy mornings and beautiful sunshine in the afternoon.

I seem to be spending a lot of my time just trying to catch up with a lot of people online, feel as if I am so scattered in my thoughts – too much input? I am having a blast though and also playing all those Facebook things we can get into hahaha – I am not sure what I am doing there, but am addicted for now anyway.

A while back I saved some pics from the dinner Elmer and I were treated to as a late Christmas gift. Never did get around to putting them in a blog, so guess I should do so now?

So yummy and I ate a lot of it!

This was my food – the other plate choices eaten are in my photos. I have tried to put them all together as an album in Xanga but there does not seem to be a special link here to show them, so if interested guess you will have to look for them

Yesterday we could not have asked for a more beautiful day – clear skies, and the temp went up to 11c/54f after another frosty foggy early morning. It was time for me to go outside with my camera and see what would catch my eye for a change. I also wanted to take some pics of a new construction going on behind our home in the next street over.

The first thing I came across was the cutest kitten. She hid besides the bushes but was still enough then for me to get her pic. One of the children from this home had left their toy truck out, and I did my best to get it too.

Here is what is going on – it is huge! This cannot begin to do justice to the massive project they are working on – this foundation is actually almost all going to be underground as there is an enrmous hole here where they are working in.  I looked everywhere for some kind of sign as to what it will be when completed but could not see one. As it is on the ground besides the Menno Home I will assume for now that it will be similar to the apartments for assited living they built a couple of years ago which would be beside it and behind me in this pic.

Parked on the side of the street going to the project I noticed this little Smart Car – could not resist taking it’s pic. Not too many around but so cute for a run about in town.

This abandoned child’s barrow caught my eye as I started to return home – shades of the fun children have with snow. Only the piles left from clearing the driveways are still around to give credence to all the snow we had these last few weeks.

This morning I awoke to -4c/24f temps – the yard was covered in ice and frost.

almost looks like snow on the hedge.

the last remnants of snow around the front where it had been piled from the driveway. When I looked at this pic I realised my snowball bush had one of it’s branches snapped from all the snow it had received over the last few weeks. But it is still alive and doing well.

By 11am the sun had burnt off the heavy fog we also had first thing and it has warmed up quite a bit. I was happy – I had promised to take Granddaughter’s out to lunch and let Katie choose her belated Christmas gift. They are so busy with all their activities, it is getting harder and harder to fiind a day that we can share like this. Today I lucked out – Mom and Dad left this morning with Laura this time for her weekend Hockey Tournament in Calif. and the other two girls had a Pro-D? day from school, so I had them for a couple of hours before they were to be picked up by their Aunt for the rest of the weekend.  I really enjoyed shopping and eating out with the two of them.

It has been a while since I blogged – not much has been going on that is excitinig news besides the weather here.

We have a White Christmas! Wow I cannot remember when we had one last, it is so unusual. In fact they are saying we have broken records from 1947 and 1969 for this one. Needless to say the two of us have been house bound for the last couple of days. We did get the odd sunny day this last week that was so lovely even I had to get out and go to the stores with Elmer just for the joy of it.

Between us though the cameras did come out and some pics were taken to record our Winter wonderland at home.

After 8inches of snow on Christmas Eve day and another 10 inches last night this is what we woke up to Christmas day.

I had to take a pic of the neighbors car – they had spent a lot of time yesterday clearing it all off their car and the surrounding area – now look at it. I do not think they will be driving anywhere soon!

I have put all my pics into an album in my Facebook and they say I can share the link to non-members, so here it is and hopefully it works so you all can see them too

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66723&l=e23f4&id=701722201

First I hope all my American friends had a great Thanksgiving.

I have been taking some time out here and will be having a lot of catch-up to do.

A while ago one of my daughters asked me if I would like to join her on a trip to Calgary and Lethbridge for a few days as she was joining her eldest for the Hockey tournament the team was involved in at Warner (just outside of Lethbridge.) I jumped at the chance to see her play, spend time with daughter, get to visit with family members I rarely see, and an added bonus – get to meet an online friend that also lives in Calgary.

I took very few photos of the trip – too busy visiting and just enjoying everything and everyone. Still I do have a few and am sharing just a couple of them here.
when we arrived in Calgary, it was soooo cold,  -16C windchill, but the snow had stopped which was a blessing. We had made arrangements to meet with my friend for lunch shortly after arrival, and this was so exciting for me.

I am in the middle, daughter is the tall one and my online friend that I now know in person. Such a sweetheart.

Even knowing each other for so long, neither of us realized we both smoked After a great lunch and long visit inside, I let her know I really had to go out for one, and she was just so happy as she was in the same boat as me – what us smokers have to contend with! See the snow and ice outside, and the wind just cutting through us, but we survived while we continued to gab around the corner in a slightly protected place.
After a long goodbye when we dropped her back at her home, we continued to my neice, who was putting us up for the night. Another great welcome and fantastic meal for us. As everyone was coming and going at this time and we had made arrangements to be back on Sunday for lunch (and have more of the family there) before getting on the plane to come home, I did not take my camera out. Now I wish I had. Things did not plan out that way.

What a difference in climate and scenery once we were outside of Calgary – no snow, and several degrees warmer (in fact not even freeezing though close) with mile after mile of flat harvested fields – at least I took one pic of this. We had rented a car at the airport, hence the driving. Before this all started I did not know that my Neice’s daughters lived in Lethbridge where our destination was. When they heard we were coming we were immediately invited to stay with one of the girls too. I was so thrilled to get to meet her little ones and husband, and what a wonderful welcome they all gave us.

As Katie had 4 games to play from Friday night to Sunday morning, we spent most of our time at the arena. The games were intense and great to watch, till the last one. A few minutes before the end of the second period Katie went down hard and hit her back and head – out for a short while and had to be taken off the ice. The attendant checked her out and told us we should take her back to Lethbridge to the emergency section of the hospital as she felt Katie had a concussion and needed to be checked more thoroughly, and they may not let her fly home that night. To say we were all in major shock was to put it mildly. 

Taken just before she fell.

I know we had an angel with us that day. Katie was looked at almost immediately, xrayed and checked – yes she did have a concussion, but it looked like a very mild one and it was OK to fly. She would need another check up once she got home again. Sheialgh was able to catch the last of the team group as they were leaving for the airport, so Katie was on her way. We were too late now to visit my neice and have lunch, so grabbed a quick bite and said goodbye to D (who was with us for all of this) and took off for the airport and to return the car. Just made it with under half an hour to spare. The quiet flight home again was anti-climatic, but it was good to be home again.  Needless to say, I still did not function till I heard the results the following night of how Katie was. She was given the go-ahead for this weekend tournamet in Boston Mas. as long as she did no physical activity for the week. Now I have to wait till Tuesday to hear how that trip all went, and just pray it did not have any problems. At least this time both Mom and Dad will be there for her.

It has been a quiet week or so. I seem to be in more of an inward than an outward mode for the most part.
Still I have been reading some of the things that have been going on, and trying to keep up with most of you here and elswhere, without saying too much. Part of me needs to assimilate and sort out all that has been going on for the last long time, and I cannot quite let it all go.

Meanwhile, thinking hard about posting this, I decided that just maybe some of you are interested in this reading I came across of Obama. Actually I found it interesting and quite exciting to hear. It is about 40 minutes long.

Barack Obama Natal (Astrological) Chart…. Lisa Dale Miller

 Downloadable mp3 (recorded early September 08)

http://www.astrowisdom.com/BarackObamasnatalchart.xml

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1065865/Pictured-Elephants-march-hotel-lobby-built-migration-trail.html

I received this in my mail today – Why am I posting? 

Zambia, formerly known as N.Rhodesia, was the country I was born in. Naturally this would catch my eye, and be interesting to me. I am not familiar with South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, where this lodge is situated though.  What a fantastic experience for the visitors that are there during this time – see link for the full story and more pics.

Here is a short YouTube link of them too – hope it works for those that want to go in and see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOxIahIsrCA