The Color of Fall

The ground this morning was covered in a fine sheen of frost, a sure sign that winter can't be far behind.  Already the trees have shed most of their leaves and what delicate plants left in the garden by careless gardeners have blackened with the touch of frost. 

Before the colors are all gone for the winter months, I thought I'd post some pictures of my favorite fall (or anytime) color - orange.  I've loved orange for many years, although I hesitate to call it my favorite color because I love so many of them, but orange holds a special place in my heart.  Here, then, are some of my favorite oranges.

Sunset in Arizona

Oranges we picked ourselves

Fruit on the tangerine tree

Orange rose from a Mother's Day bouquet

Pumpkins in a Fall table display

My table lamp, which gives a beautiful soft glow at night

The vase Lloyd bought for the hearth

Scrapbooking embellishments - ribbons, flowers, buttons, etc.

The sky at Sunrise after a storm

The last leaves of autumn.



Orange - the perfect color for fall - and anytime of the year.

Pat

Good-bye Sweet Chester

We lost a special family member over the thanksgiving weekend.  We knew the end was inevitable and soon, but it was still a very sad passing.

This was taken in May, the last time Lloyd and I saw Chester.

Chester was an eight or nine year old bull mastiff.  Mary and Greg got him from a breeder when he was a couple of months old, before they had any children.  When Mary got pregnant we were all concerned about how such a huge dog would interact with a baby, but he proved to be very protective of her, and of her brother Baron when he joined Chester's pack a few years later. 

For some reason, he didn't like men too much, but learned to like Lloyd eventually, and he was always happy to see me - dancing and peeing in his enthusiastic greeting when I came to visit.  He came to trust and like Lloyd too, but was very watchful one day when Lloyd was teaching 4-year old Layla to hit some golf balls.  When he saw Lloyd swinging a club around Layla, he moved in growling low in his throat to warn Lloyd that he better not hurt 'his' girl.

Lloyd and Chester

Layla and Chester

Lloyd, Chester, Layla and Greg

Chester always accompanied the family on their long walks in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of BC and particularly enjoyed playing in the river along their walking trails.

He was a great guard dog.  Whenever anyone came near the house he'd terrify them with his deep, throaty bark - there was no doubt to visitors that there was a large dog on the premises.  I think he topped the scales at 165 lbs.  But he was always gentle with his kids and let them crawl all over him and pull his ears and tail.  He even slept with Layla sometimes.

He's had health problems this past year and at the end had only the use of one front leg and one back one on the opposite side.  He still appeared happy though and it was only when he started moaning and looking sad and sick that the final decision was made.  The vet who had been treating him for several years kept him as healthy as he could for as long as he could, but when it became too much for Chester to bear, they had to put him out of his pain.  He had bone cancer which gradually affected all his limbs.

Family picture 3 years ago.

So it was a sad thanksgiving weekend for Mary, Greg, Layla and Baron.  But they know they did what was best for Chester.

RIP sweet Chester. We'll miss you.  

Pat

I Don't Feel So Good

Is that not pathetic! Don't you just want to tell that person to crawl back into bed and hide for the next couple of days!   Don't you feel sooo sorry for me!

Actually, I'm feeling better.  Day three of a head cold - and it's never a pretty sight.  Especially when the picture is taken at 5:30 am just minutes after being coughed awake.  I managed to stagger to the computer - I have my priorities! - and wrapped up in Lloyd's 'special' blanket.  I'm going to go now and shower and dress and get ready to ride herd on a particularly active one year old, who has already had this cold.  In face, I think I got it from him, his siblings, and/or cousins, all of whom I interacted with this past weekend.

I have all afternoon to rest and recuperate.  Got to.  Have a date with Mickey tomorrow, and on Monday or Tuesday (I can't think straight right now or I'd know the exact day) I'm off to Lacombe to take care of Jenny's five boys while she and Anders get away for a much needed kid free break.

So I haven't felt much like blogging these past few days.  I'll be back in a day or so.

Pumpkins and scarecrows and mazes, oh my!

Yesterday Lloyd and I and two of our daughters and their families went to a corn maze out in the farm country around Edmonton.  It was a beautiful fall day - sunny and cool and bright - perfect for our outing.

It was more than just a maze - there was a haunted house, and conscession stands, pumpkin patches, scarecrow making areas, petting zoo, and much, much more.  We took in as much as we could with 8 kids between the ages of 1 and 9 years old.

Here's an overview of some of the fun we had.

Part of a beautiful display ast the entrance of the farm

Kenzie, Sydney and Aidan with their pumpkins.  The girls have a
Harry Potter lightning bold painted on their foreheads.

Quinn tried to pick up every pumpkin she saw and take a bit out of them.

Aidan loved the scarecrow he made in the scarecrow barn

Max, Charlie and Kenzie are busy stuffing their scarecrow's head

We bought some delicious fudge at this candy shack.

Pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colors were all over the place.

This beautiful owl watched over the pumpkin barn.

These live scarecrows wandered all over the grounds visiting with people and
having their pictures taken.

Six of our kids, with ice cream cones all over their faces
rode the wagon over to the corn maze.

There was a parking lot full of hearses with various gruesome creatures in them.

Kenzie, Elly, Aidan, Max, Charlie and Sydney at the entrance to the
Great Prairie Corn Maze

SIL Curtis riding herd on the kids as they made their way through the maze.

Elly and Max resting after their trip through the maze.

So thst was our very fun day in the country on this beautiful Thanksgiving weekend.  To all my fellow Canadians, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

Pat

What are the Odds?

Lloyd and I went out for Chinese food today to a little place I hadn't been to in years.  The food was good, as usual, but when the fortune cookies were presented and opened, this is what we found.

We each got the same fortune!  What are the odds of that happening?  Never, in all my years of eating Chinese food and opening cookies, have I ever got the same fortune as someone else.

The fortune, too, is a bit off.  I'm retired so I don't know what I can be promoted to from here.  Lloyd is CEO of his organization, set to retire next year, so I'm not sure that a promotion is possible, or wanted, for him.

The six numbers on the back of the fortunes were different though.  Maybe I should use them to buy a Lotto 649 ticket!

On another topic altogether, I'm having problems commenting on a couple of blogs that I follow and have no other way to let these ladies know that I'm still here and trying every day to comment on their blogs.  So, Jan at Serenity, Serendipity and Stitches as well as Taryterre and Scooter Lady Rides Again, don't give up on me.  I'll keep trying till a comment goes through.

Pat

Puzzles, Money, Goats, Food, Forks and Games

This will be my last Winnipeg post.  I figure that since I didn't have anything nice to say about it before my trip I should try to redeem myself now, since my sister did such a good job of showing me the beauty of her city.  Thank you Wendy.

Puzzles

Doing jig-saw puzzles is a tradition in our family.  We always had stacks of them and used to do them over and over again.  When we were young Dad and Mum used to do the large colorful  500 - 1000 piece puzzles and let us help.  They'd leave them out for awhile after they were put together and Wendy and I would take a corner of the puzzle apart and re-do it.  We both enjoy the challenge of putting puzzles together.  So, when I went to Winnipeg this time, I took Wendy what was billed as the world's smallest 1000 piece jig-saw puzzle.  Each piece was no larger than my thumbnail - and my nails are not very long.

We spent my last morning there finishing it off

Money

Winnipeg has a license to print money.  As we were driving to someplace else, we stopped in at the Winnipeg Mint, where coins for over 62 countries including the US, Mexico, Australia and Great Britain are minted,  with a production rate of 750 coins per second and four billion coins annually.  In front of the Mint complex wave the flags of all the countries that have contracted to have coins printed there.

It was a very windy day so the flags are snapping straight out.

The Mint from the parking lot

Inside the foyer of the Mint. 

We didn't take the official tour because we were on our way someplace else.  It would have been interesting though.  We couldn't figure out why the foyer was decorated with tropical palm trees.  Winnipeg is anything but tropical.

Goats

Our destination on the day we stopped in at the Winnipeg Mint was a place just half an hour from the city, called Pineridge Hollow.  It was a beautiful spot out in the country - a restaurant and large gift shop, beautiful grounds and a small petting zoo.  It's a favorite spot for weddings, we were told.

Our first stop out there was the petting zoo where we saw some pygmy goats playing 'king of the castle' on their shed.

Nanny Goat was successful in keeping Billy Goat on the ground where he belonged.

Food

Our main reason for going to Pineridge Hollow was to  have lunch at their famous restaurant.  A reservation was required, even for a mid-week lunch, as the restaurant's reputation had spread far and wide. 

Wendy on the steps of the restaurant

I had the most delicious fresh chicken and tomato quesadilla with farm fresh vegetable salad.  I had already eaten one portion of the quesadilla before I remembered to take a picture of it.

Wendy had a Reuben sandwich with home fries and...for dessert...

the most enormous brownie imaginable, with ice cream, strawberries, blueberries and nuts on top.  Of course I had to help her eat it and even then we had some to take home.

My dessert was a lovely creme brulee, which was all I needed, but then I had to help Wendy with her 'little brownie' too, so we really overate.

Forks

In the middle of Winnipeg there's a lovely park called The Forks.  There's a Children's Museum, playground, picnic areas, railroad cars, restaurants, and a beautiful river walk.  It's called The Forks because it's where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet and flow together northward to Hudsons Bay.

Visiting with the Canada geese at the Forks

A CN train crossing the Canadian National bridge over the Assiniboine River

Part of the river walk - Assiniboine River.
The last time we were here, we took one of the boat tours. It was quite beautiful.

The water at the front of the picture is the Assiniboine River and in the middle where the water appears smoother is the Red River. They join up here and head north to the Hudson's Bay

The city rises above the Forks.

Games

It wouldn't be a visit to Wendy and Randy without at least one night of playing games.  One of our favorites is Hand and Foot Canasta.  I can only play it when I'm with Wendy and Randy because Lloyd doesn't like playing cards (although he will when pressed) and neither do any of my kids who live close enough to me. 

Randy, Me, Angelo (Wendy and Randy's son-in-law), and Wendy. 
Meredith (their daughter) took the picture.  She and Wendy took turns sitting in as my partner, working on the puzzle when they weren't playing.  The men still beat us.

And that wraps up my adventures in Winnipeg...a good trip...I'm glad I went.

Visit With Mum

The main reason for my visit to Winnipeg last week was to spend time with Mum.  My last visit with her was discouraging and depressing.  Although she's being well taken care of in the long-term facility it's sad to go see her and have her be so unresponsive.

This visit was better - it was cheerful and fun.  Mum was having a good day and although she still didn't recognize (and never will again) me and Wendy, she seemed to enjoy our company.  She made eye contact with both of us, smiled and even laughed a few times - mere shadows of her pre-Alzheimer's smile and laugh, but real nevertheless.

Mum at 90

Sharing a laugh with Wendy

Smiling as she walks with me

 She collected some leaves that had fallen from the trees as we walked and seemed to enjoy being out in the fresh air and sunshine.  She's still very strong although we held her arms as we walked on the uneven paths.  One of the blessings of Alzheimer's is that she seems to have forgotten pain and no longer seems to feel the bone grinding arthritis in her shoulder that caused her such agony a couple of years ago.  She's always been a very healthy, strong woman and the Alzheimer's hasn't dimished that very much.  It was so nice to have such a good visit with her.  I talked to her about things that were happening in my life and she listened but couldn't respond.  Forgetting how to speak is one of the many symptoms of the disease.

So, all in all, I'm glad I went and spent such an enjoyable time with Mum.