How Do You Spell Relaxation?

I spell it s-c-r-a-p-b-o-o-k-i-n-g.  I haven't had the time, space or inspiration to do much of my favorite hobby in the past few months.  Neither has my friend, Mickey.  However, this week we've overcome all our obstacles to playing with pictures, paper, adhesives and embellishments, with a vengeance.

Our days down here typically start when I come downstairs in the morning between 6 and 7 o'clock and find Mickey hard at work (play?) on the dining room table trying to figure out what paper goes best with what pictures.  So I jump right in on my side of the table and try to catch up with her.  We stop for breakfast around 9 and then continue scrapping till noon.  Then we go out for lunch, go shopping, come home and swim for an hour or so, and scrap again till ten or so, stopping briefly to eat dinner.

 

What a life.  Or more exactly, what a week!  I hear it's minus 22 and snowing at home.  It's so nice to be away from it all for a little while.  I have a hectic couple of weeks ahead of me when we leave AZ, so I'm taking advantage of this week of relaxation.

Here's a sample of some of my work this week.

 

 

Tomorrow we're taking a break from scrapbooking and swimming and are going to the Desert Botanical Gardens.  I'm willing to bet that Mickey will come home with no fewer than 100 pictures from there.  It's part of the sickness ;)

Ahhhh! That's Better

Mickey and I got here in Surprise, AZ yesterday afternoon.  What a change from Edmonton! It's a different world down here - one of sunshine and blue sky and warmth!  Since we were up at 3 am in order to get ready and be at the airport by 6 (some of us take longer getting ready in the morning than others), we were pretty tired by the time we got here, went out for Mexican food, and stocked up on a few groceries, we didn't venture far from home.  Instead, we got out our scrapbooking materials and got right to work - relaxing work.

When I got up this morning, Mickey was already at work on her layouts, so we spent the morning scrapbooking.  I've done three layouts already - a remarkable feat for me!

 My first one was a tribute (?) to winter.

...and grandson Max.

...and granddaughter Quinney.  I'm on a roll, working with limited supplies.





But before I started scrapping this morning I called Lloyd and had him walk me through turning the heater on for the pool.  We're hoping to be able to have a swim later today.

We went to Paradise for lunch, then out saving money at Kohl's, and in an hour or so we'll be in the pool - another kind of Paradise.

Mickey has a brand new camera so she's been taking pictures of everything and anything, learning to master it.  The pictures in this blog, except for the ones of my layouts, are courtesy of her new Canon Rebel T3i.

We're not planning our days too much, just doing what we want, when we want.  Today's our resting up day.  Tomorrow we'll be more venturesome, and from then on we'll try to have an adventure or two. But for now, it's enough to be out of the cold and the snow and able to rest and relax.  We're loving it!

Aaarrrrgggghhhh!

I can't take it any longer! Minus 29 in March!! It's inhuman!  And the weather forecasters say we'll have 2 more months of unseasonally cold weather.  What did I do to deserve this? I'll show them!!!

On Friday morning Mickey and I are hopping an early morning plane for points south. If Arizona is experiencing unseasonably cold weather too it's gotta be better than it is here. At least we won't be knee deep in snow and ice.

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And on a complerely different topic, 39 years ago today my life changed forever with the birth of our first baby. Happy birthday Rob.

Life is good, whatever the weather.

A Weekend in Lethbridge

This past weekend Mickey and I went to Lethbridge to watch her granddaughter's Cheer team compete in the Provincial championships.

The cheering Grammies

 It was a fun time watching all those girls perform, creating human pyramids - so much energy! 

 Wynne's team won gold in their division so it was well worth the 6 hr drive to be there.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Mickey and I spent our time scrapbooking. 

I finally finished a scrapbook of Kenzies 3rd birthday party. She's 8 now and was really pleased when I gave it to her.

I just tested the Comments section.  For some reason it's not allowing comments. I'll try to fix it later.

Sun Dog

Mum used to tell us that these sky phenomena were called sun dogs. Whether or not that's an accurate name, it's what I've always called these beautiful round rainbows - usually seen in pairs - one on either side of the sun. They seemed to predict a change in the weather - usually cold weather.



Driving from Edmonton to Lethbridge this weekend, Mickey and I spotted this sun dog, and since we're both scrapbookers and neither of us had ever taken a picture of one, we stopped the car on the side of the road and snapped our pictures. Sometimes you just need to do what you need to do.

And the sun dog was true in it's prediction. The weather turned nasty while we were in Lethbridge. Today the 5 hr. trip took us over 6 hours because of wind, blowing snow and icy roads.



In one 115 km stretch of road we counted 25 vehicles in the ditch, some upside-down and others right side up with the drivers still sitting in them. Thanks to Mickey's excellent driving, we made it home just fine.

And yes, winter is still with us, with all it's beauty and ugliness. Surely spring can't be far behind.

Joy

I'm sorting through some of last year's pictures. So many of them, especially of the grandkids, express pure emotion. Today's emotion is JOY.

Baron

Anson

Kenny

Max

Is there anything more contagious than the smile of a happy child. JOY.

Grandchildren of a Different Sort

I've always been a cat person. From the time I was a baby we always had a cat, and subsequent kittens, in our home. Then I got married - to a man who is allergic to cats, and had children, some of whom were also allergic - so my days of being a cat owner ground to a halt.

Now I get my cat fixes at my daughter's house, where the famous hunter, Mickey, and her lazy pal, Percy, live. I actually have three grand-cats but Emily's Hero lives a sheltered life on the other side of the river and is seldom seen.

Besides the cats, we have two grand-dogs - Chester, the huge bull mastiff who lives in BC, and Bernie, the equally huge St. Bernard who shares a house with us. I love them both - the fierce protector of his territory mastiff and the gentle welcome-to-my-home-stranger Bernard.

Bernie is more than twice this size now but I haven't taken a picture of him recently. He's huge.

Chester bestows his favors on very few men - luckily Lloyd is one of the men he likes.

But he loves his kids and is very protective of them, thank goodness.

Oh, and lets not forget our grand-parakeet who lives an hour down the road with Jenny and her boys. I don't have a picture of him, but he's very interactive and loving in his own way. I love birds and have had several in my post-cat days.

So there they are - our alternate grandchildren. Every kid should have the experience of owning a pet, if only so their grandparents can enjoy them too.