Five on Friday

1.

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007); Writer

2.  Check out this video for a glimpse of Canada at its best!

3.  I got a Christmas present in the mail yesterday!  My niece, Jill, sent me a lovely picture book called "Great Joy" by Kate DiCamillo - thanks so much, J!  I will have fun sharing the gorgeous pictures and the message.

4.  I had a chance to spend a bit of time with a friend, making cards this week.  It was fun to create together, try some new techniques and revel in the colours, images and textures available.  Thanks, T!

5.  Photo of the week:

Colours of Winter

(rosehips beside a birch tree)

Five on Friday In Photos

1.  Lake Okanagan and orchards seen from Wind Rosa

2.  Red Haven peaches

3.   Loaded to the rafters!

4.  My friend and travel companion

5.  Boxes of goodness :)

The Weekend Lens in July, part 2

We took a little road trip this weekend and drove with Bob's parents to Kalispell, Montana to visit Mom's sister and some of her family.  The two sisters had a great visit, reminiscing and laughing about times when they were young.

It was very hot and that, combined with a record-setting amount of rainfall in June, has made for awesome growing conditions.  This garden had the biggest leaves of spinach that I have ever seen!  Mine are positively measly compared to Uncle Philip's!

On our journey down we decided to take the scenic route around Waterton Parks and through Glacier National Park.

The Going-to-the-Sun road is breathtakingly beautiful with wide mountain vistas! 

 This 50 mile long road took 10 years to build in the 1920's and is now a National Historic Landmark.  

The road opened on June 15th this year and there was still lots of snow around.

We crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass.

This section of road is called The Loop and it winds right along the side of the mountain.    The rock railings along the edge of the road (that you can see here) are being historically restored.

As we came around near the end of The Loop, you could see far down into the valley.  In the center of the photo is a waterfall that splits.

You can park your car at either end and then use the shuttle system to explore the area.  At every lookout point the parking lots were full of cars.  The park was being enjoyed by lots of people this weekend.  

These three mountain goats were right along the side of the road!  It's the first time we've seen the elusive goats while driving through the mountains. 

I can see why this drive is considered one of the most scenic mountain drives in North America!

Fun fact:  "Glacier has some of the darkest skies around and is an ideal lace for viewing many celestial wonders." (from the Glacier Visitor Guide)  So there's an educational programs, 'Half the Park Happens After Dark", which provides an opportunity to see the night sky in all its glory.  They even do laser guided constellation tours.  Cool!

Five on Friday

1.  National Geographic had a special online article this week titled Best Spring Trips to take in 2012.  Go and look at the pictures and read about the places to visit if you are yearning for a travel experience today.

#1 is the Cherry Blossom Festival 

in Washington, D.C.

2.  And did you know that National Geographic does not allow you to use Pinterest from their site?!

3.  I stopped at a local store earlier this week to check for a certain kind of tomato seed - and I was absolutely blown away by all the new choices this spring!  Seriously, you have to have a list when you walk in because you will be so tempted by all the pretty pictures on the packets.

4.  This excellent post by Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking on observing  Lent and Easter with a variety of projects looks awesome.  I like the nature scavenger hunt that has a family looking for objects to remind them of the life of Jesus. 

5.  Here's a great little article on starting seeds.  I especially like the chart, even though it's American.  

Lists of 2011 - #30

Listography #30 - Places I Would Like To Go

In no particular order!

1.  Australia and New Zealand

2.  Disneyland with our whole family

3.  India

4.  Hawaii

5.  Antarctica

6.  Chile and Peru

7.  More of Europe, especially Italy and Switzerland

8.  Greece and Turkey

9.  All 50 states in the USA

10.  England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales

11.  Galapagos Islands

12.  Russia and Ukraine

13.  Iceland

14.  The Netherlands in the springtime

15.  On a special trip with each of our grandchildren individually, when they are older

I could make this list much, much longer!  Pretty much anywhere in the world is a place to travel for me!
All pictures are from Pinterest links.

Five on Friday

1.  Samuel got new golf clubs last week from Auntie Abby and Uncle Patrick - and he is definitely putting them to good use!  He loves to give out the 3 clubs and always keeps the blue 'iron' for himself.  He goes out on the lawn and "whacks" the ball around and around, with great success at hitting and getting it up in the air.  It's really quite amazing!

2.  This is the beautiful historic home in which Melinda and Tyler have an apartment, on the right hand side, in what used to be the servants' quarters.  Their apartment is on 2 floors and looks like a little add-on to the main house. 

The house has 3 other apartments., including the rest of the main floor which is where the owner lives.  

This is their view from the back deck and you can see the lawn to the left where Samuel loves to play.

Over the next 2 years all of the exterior wood on the house will be replaced - a huge project!

3.  Here is the view from the dining room table with the house right across the street and about 3 blocks away, the New Brunswick Provincial Legislature.   This whole area of the city is a designated historic properties zone and all the homes are wonderfully restored and beautifully painted.  

4.  I am enjoying this little man so much!  Here he's trying out the special chair at the greenhouse where Mommy was buying some pots for her plants.  (On a side note, most of the plants at the greenhouse were $1 a pot, including the begonias!)

5.  This summer Melinda signed up for a weekly Community Shared Agriculture fresh vegetable box from The Jolly Farmer organic farm.  She picked her order up at a local shop and I was amazed at what was inside this week!  

So many fresh, delicious vegetables to use and the added fruit box had 3 quarts of fresh strawberries!

And next Thursday another one comes :)  

Have you guessed that I'm in Fredericton, New Brunswick this week?!!  I'm enjoying every minute of this visit and these people!!

Flower cauldrons all along the downtown streets

Home From A Road Trip

Heather and I took a quick road trip to the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia to get some fruit for preserving.  I was gone less than 60 hours and travelled just over 2000 kilometres!!   We brought home 900 pounds of produce but we are sharing that around  between family and friends.  Needless to say, I'm a little tired - and the work is just beginning!  So I'm going to find my bed and I'll show you some pictures of the trip soon.

From My Window

Can you guess where we are and what we are doing??????

Ten on Tuesday

1. We went to a travel show last night - and we saw images just like these  -

Photo credits - Exodus.co.uk - and they went on for nearly 90 minutes!

2.  Our new passports arrived today!  They are good to 2014 which means we should be able to do alot of traveling in the years ahead :))  My old one has stamps from the U.S., Belize, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, England, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Brazil and Argentina. There were 2 visas from China and Brazil.   Not bad for 5 years!!  I'm going to do a scrapbook layout with it.  

3.  Lunch today was Mushroom Chowder and Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms with Peppers and Cheese on a Panini Bun at the Eco Cafe - so delicious!  They were recently mentioned in the AMA Westworld magazine so it will be even busier over there this summer.  

4.  My mom's pedicure looks great!

5.  The greenhouse visit was inspiring and colorful.  I'm going back next week to pick up some plants.  It's just too cold to have them out yet - it was -1 degree C last night.

6.  Here is the first LO I did on the weekend, showing some flowers that were growing in Andrzej and Maria's yard in Poland.  I love how it turned out! 

7.  If you know someone who is graduating this year or you're looking for Mother's Day ideas, then Bakerella is the place to go!  Seriously cute stuff over there these days.  

8.  Ann at A Holy Experience has written this  post and another one about what happens on a farm when a storm goes by and the power goes off.  If you've ever lived on a farm you can relate to this so perfectly.  I like her analogies with God as our power source.  

9.  The trees are finally showing some buds but it's going to have to warm up alot before the leaves pop out.  It's going to be very chilly for our local high school graduation this weekend.  

10.  I bought the first watermelon of the season - I can hardly wait to cut in to it :))

Check This Out

I got a message from Hotelscombined today so I went over and toured around for a bit.  This is a hotel locator site that covers many countries around the world.  I clicked on Egypt and Kenya and Australia and New York City - can you tell what I'm dreaming about?!!  I loved the way several hotel choices in a city are listed and  how it's so easy to investigate each one.  You can see pictures of the hotel, find out if internet is available and read reviews from past guests.  Bookings can be made through the site too.  I think this is a seriously cool site - and a complete bonus is that they are donating to one of several worldwide charities when you mention them on your blog.  So thanks for listening - and investigating further, I hope.  Compassion International is happy too :))

365 Project - Catch up!

I have a little catching up to do after no pictures for 4 days. Thanks for waiting patiently (I hope!).

January 21



It was so windy today! This is what the road was like in front of us. Thankfully it was sunny so there was still good visibility. It's good to be home after 3300 kilometres!


January 20



We were in grain country


January 19



All along the way we saw snow that had been sculpted by the wind into great big snowdrifts.


January 18



This is that new little gizmo for the computer that I told you about. It's an aircard and you just connect it to the USB port and it picks up internet service wherever a cell phone will connect. It's pretty amazing and oh, so convenient!