THIS GIRL WAS MADE FOR WALKIN'

According to family legend, my original mode of movement was scooting. Yup, I was a bum scooter. Eventually I developed the fine art of using my two legs in an upright position and started walking.

I've been walking ever since. I confess. The cards are on the table. This girl was made for walkin'!

There was no bussing system in Trenton, so as I teenager I had to walk downtown to find whatever mischief  was to be had. A quick 10-15 minute walk and there was I was, in the middle of the action. Hanging with the other street riffraff, the drug-ees and drug-dealers, the strippers, the mentally unstable. I would walk to meet my girlfriend who literally lived on the other side of town on the Base. She was a good 7 inches taller than I and mostly in the leg region. I  had to trot to keep up with her, my two steps to her one. 

Here I am, nearly 40 years later, still walking. 

I walk the dog. I walk on my lunch. My running shoes are well worn and scruffy. I bounce along taking strides bigger than my frame can handle. 

I walk in the dark and pick out constellations. I walk through sunrises and sunsets. In rain, snow, heat and cold. 

Recently my husband bought the mother of all treadmills. 

It takes up a good chunk of the basement and is really keen on whipping you into shape. There are numerous walking tours you can take, all led by svelte young things that are over the top in the motivation department. Personally I just put it on manual, bring the incline up really high, stick my I-pod in and start walking. 

Eventually my knees and/or hips are going to wear out from all this walking. I will probably be signing up for whatever bionic parts are available for replacement.

This girl was made for walkin', that's just what she'll do. One of these days this girl is gonna walk right up to you!

SNOW: LOVE IT, HATE IT

I got up this morning and "boom there it is" Our first official snow fall. I walked Lulu with sharp bits of baby ice hitting me in the face. And so it begins. 

I have a weird love/hate relationship with snow:

Love to look at it, hate to drive in it

Love the smell of it, hate how cold it is

You get the picture. 

So, after walking Lulu I made a nice hot cup of coffee and snuggled  in to warm up. 

Blanket (electric) - check

Fireplace - check

Big, fuzzy slippers - check

Pets - check

I sent this pic off to a friend of mine who LOVES snow. This was her response:

Cause she gets out there and enjoys it. While I'm prepped for hibernating, she is just gearing up!

It really is beautiful stuff. I bought this painting for my 50th birthday done by a local artist, Jesus Estevez 

I could have bought something in the sailboat or flower genre but no, I'm drawn to a snowy scene of downtown Belleville.

Some of my best-selling photographs are snow scenes.

Firebush in Snow

Narnia

Ice, Ice Baby

For Christmas I asked for snow shoes (and a kitten, cause I aways ask for a kitten). This year, by golly I'm not just going to be a recluse and watch all the winter drama from my window. This year, I'm going to get out there!! 

Full disclosure: I say this every year. But maybe this year will be different.

Now where are my big fuzzy slippers??

HUNGRY?

Every time feed Lulu it is a high 5 celebration, or in Lulu's case, high 10. I open the cupboard and drop in some dry food and that's when Lu jumps up and gives me a two paw smack down.

High 5 (x2)! Let's eat! It's gone in about 15 seconds or less so I'm not sure she even tastes it. But we celebrate these moments.

Food...glorious food! 

This week was colonoscopy week for me. Now I won't go into all the details but part of the prep includes very little food. On Monday  I ate light, knowing what was ahead. After supper it was nothing but liquids (juice, broth, water) until Wednesday when it was nothing at all until after the procedure. So for nearly 2 days there was no food going in and LOTS going out. 

Let me tell you I was hungry. And dehydrated. And once I was given the green light, food tasted glorious!

My oatmeal was as Lulu would say a High 10.

Warm with raspberries and a bit of maple syrup...Please sir, can I have some more??

The family took me out for a belated birthday dinner on Friday and at Linguine's I had the Olio pasta.

Rich in garlic, olives, artichokes and mushrooms with penne pasta. 

Heaven!!

Proverbs 27:7 says "One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry, everything bitter is sweet." 

You can apply this to pretty much everything. Christmas is coming and we here in Canada have so much. Sometimes we take it all for granted: food, clothing, gadgets, peace and protection. Hunger for anything is something most of us are not familiar with.

So, if you need a reminder....just go on a fast for a couple days, whether that be food or your phone, car, whatever. 

I guarantee you will find everything seems sweet again. 

I RAKED, I BAGGED, I MOWED, I'M DONE!

There are certain times in home ownership when you just have to hunker down and get'r done. 

Yard work...for example, particularly in spring and fall. For me, yesterday was one of those days.

I'm blessed with a beautiful back yard so I can't complain too much about having to spend the day out there.

Time to rake the leaves up!

It was chilly but I bundled up and doubled up on sweaters and mitts and got to work raking all these bits of gold up.

Lulu, though not much help in the raking, bagging and mowing department, is very helpful in the assessment and moral support department.

After making a number of piles here and there, the bagging commenced.

I found one last rosebud. She looked a little frostbitten but I snipped her off and brought her inside, hoping she would open up. 

Raking and bagging done, it was time to move on to mowing, hopefully for the last time this season. And here is the final product friends:

My husband helped take down the canopy on our gazebo and other than one last raking job and putting in the spring bulbs my work back here is done. 

A cup of tea and nap were in order to rejuvenate and I'm ready to move onto the next stage of home ownership....

For the next few months it will be me, a shovel and lots of time in the driveway!

VIVA LA VIGNETTE!!

It's no secret I'm not much of a shopper, but I was out doing just that this week on a few days off and had to admire creative vignettes set up by local store owners. 

"A vignette is a short description, picture, or piece of acting which expresses very clearly and neatly the typical characteristics of the thing that it represents."

It is French in origin pertaining to "little vine", describing the little decorative vines across the bottom of a page, per se. Somehow that has morphed into a description of all sorts of little things. By that description, I guess I'm a walking Vignette!

Clever store owners display little vignettes to grab your tickle your senses. If you are into jewellery, here's one I found in Bloomfield:

Look at all those pretty baubles!

Same store, in the spirit of Halloween, was this spidery vignette, which makes me uncomfortable just looking at:

I can practically feel them crawling on my fingers!

In a store that specializes in Mexican goods was this vignette in honour of the "Day of the Dead", a mexican holiday to honour, remember and pray for friends and family who have passed away.

Might as well throw in a cottage sign, while you are remembering the good family times!

I like my own personal vignettes to include reminders. This one at work includes an old photo of myself and Sam aka Dogzilla, an Angel given to me by a friend after Sam passed away and a turtle, cause I have to remind myself to slow down.

I also like a bit of quirky humour thrown in, so Woody is there too, just hanging out. 

Here is one on the top of my piano. Brahams, Beethoven, Chopin and Bach all sternly assessing my bad piano skills. But Super Grover? Well he just likes to party and have sing-a-longs! 

"Come on fellas! Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer!!"....look like a bunch of party poopers to me...

Next time you are out and about, check out those little vignettes set up and try to find the story being told. They may be enticing you to buy the pretty baubles or remind you of something or maybe they just want you to relax and not take life too seriously!

THE WAITING GAME

This is Amelia (God love her, I sure did). She was the best dog I ever had and I waited a long time for her. 

As you can see from this pic, Ami was waiting....who knows for what, probably food or a walk, but clearly she's waiting...just like the rest of us.

Have you noticed that? You spend a lot of time waiting for something? Waiting for a change, for something to happen, for someone to show up, for that perfect job/partner/whatever?

I know I do. There are people who will tell you to stop waiting. If you want something go on out there and get it, make it happen! You can spend your whole life waiting!

But there is also a lot of sense in waiting too. If we rush into something without assessing the pros and cons, the results can be messy all round. Because, it's not just about you. You and your actions affect a lot of people and situations around you. You have that kind of power!

I read a C.S. Lewis quote today that said "I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait." 

Sometime we are kept waiting to teach us patience, sometimes it is because there are many other pieces to the puzzle that need to align to make a perfect picture. Sometimes....who knows??

But this I've seen in my life: there are those who wait with great frustration, always grumbling cause things are not the way they should be and there are those who wait with expectation and patience. The former are generally miserable their whole lives, the latter enjoy the ride. 

We all have to play the waiting game, at one time or another, whether you are a go-getter or a patient one. I hope you can enjoy the Waiting Game and all your dreams and wishes come true in perfect timing. 

IN SEARCH OF THE GREAT PUMPKIN

Do you remember Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch for the "Great Pumpkin" to arrive? Can you believe this was created in 1959?? Me neither. Linus firmly believed that the Great Pumpkin would rise out of the pumpkin patch and deliver toys all over the world to good girls and boys..

Well, Linus, I wasn't too keen on waiting all night in a pumpkin patch so I headed to the next best option - Pumpkinfest in Wellington!  If the Great Pumpkin is gonna be anywhere, it's there.

There were some mighty big pumpkins there and they take this business seriously. 

Trimming and a-cleaning are required before an official weigh-in to see who will be the "Great Pumpkin" winner. The biggest I saw weighed in over 1000 lbs.  That's a lotta pie. 

But don't worry, if anybody can utilize a good gourd, it's Wellington on Pumpkinfest. 

Pumpkin tarts, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread..if it can be made out of pumpkin, it was there to be had. 

The day starts off with a parade (I missed the parade, dang it, I love parades) and then the whole town just gets into the spirit.

Almost every third person, big or small, young and old, were wearing these little pumpkin toques. Best...Hat...Ever.

So, like Linus, I'm now a firm believer. The great pumpkin is out there. He's either showing off his accolades picked up in the Wellington beauty contest on Saturday or yet to be discovered, somewhere in the most sincere pumpkin patch prepping for his Halloween flight. 

Now can someone please pass me the whipped cream?