Monday, April 18, 2011

Holy Week beginning with a beautiful spring day!

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, was more like a cold winter day. It was a bitter wind that blew, followed by rain. Today is completely different, it feels like Spring finally has the upper hand. 

After a few morning chores, it hopped on my bike and had a very pleasant drive up Machon's Point Rd. This was my third outing. The Confederation trail is still bogged down with snow in places. It will be a bit longer before "Go PEI" group will resume our bi-weekly bike rides down the trail. But in place of the treadmill or floor mat stretches it has been a nice change to get out and bike. My knees have been bothering me but I read that biking can only help my knees and hopefully get rid of some winter belly fat I gained :)

Paul and a retired minister friend are organizing our Maundy Thursday service. Good Friday is always a sad but nessesary service. How can I celebrate the joy of Easter morning without the sad reminder of what our Lord suffered for us? My bike rides are preparing my body for my favourite morning of the year, our Sunrise Service at Machon's Point. It will be dark as I head out Sunday morning, I want to get there before most of the others. Maybe in time to help build our traditional bonfire on the beach. Hopefully it will be a clear day and the sunrise over the harbour will be grand as we finish our most joyful service on the beach. Easter is late this year but I remember a year when only the most devoted headed out in a heavy snow fall. Another year we had to stand on ice cakes that had pushed their way upon the beach!

Sunrise Easter morning 2008:





Paul & I have got the yard raked of forgotten leaves and needles. Cleaning up brances that were winter wind pruned from the trees surrounding our lot. When a nice free day comes I can now begin the enjoyable task of detailed weeding.



Next fall & spring I'll have to work extra hard at my beds. Krista's wedding will be in July of 2012. She hopes to have some pictures taken in our gardens! It is over a year before her & Chris' wedding but plans have begun: the dress is ordered (she looks like a goddess in it ), I can't post a picture though I could 'cause Paul doesn't want to see it 'til the wedding and Chris is not allowed! The venue is reserved for their reception. The wedding will be in our own church but the reception will be in Charlottetown. They live there and it is halfway between our home and Chris' parents. 

The following July of 2013 our youngest daughter and remaining child will be marrying her sweetheart, Stephen. So will will be busy with our next family wedding the following year!
I am excited that my favourite author, Jean Auel, has finally released her sixth and final book in the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series. Its is "The Land of the Painted Caves" and continues the saga of the lives of Ayla and Jondalar.  This is who my cat, Ayla, is named after :) Talking about pets, our puppy, Callie, seems to be slowing down in growth. Her mother is a small Collie mix, but she was growing so fast we were scared she'd take after "daddy", a Golden Lab mix. We are hoping this won't happen and are pleased she may be done her growth spurt.


Have a blessed week my dear friends!
Hugs, Faye

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Tax time!

I'm really slack at keeping up a blog :(

My ipod touch has been my mode of Internet lately. But it is not convenient for posting or writing e-mails. The reason I have been using this device instead of the computer has been my addiction to Farmville. Every time I plan to write and e-mail or blog, (except today....knock on wood!) I have taken a "peak" at my farm just to see how it is doing but end up spending hours there.  


I am preparing myself to just delete the whole thing, but I am having a struggle to push the button and end a year's worth of work! I know those who haven't entered the world of these on-line reality games must really think I've gone bonkers, but those who have become addicted will understand my dilemma.


Started that old spring chore...taxes! Dad has done his own but wants me to check it and do the finally copy. I'm so proud of him, 92 yrs and still tackles this task. I also do Paul's and my own, just waiting for a couple of receipts. I was in the middle of spring cleaning but have put it aside and have just put my mind to getting the taxes out of the way.


Spring is very slow making her entrance. We will have a spring like day, then will get clobbered with a snow fall or a dark day or two of dull skies, cold winds and flurries. It is heart warming and encouraging to see my crocus up and the tulips pushing about an inch or two out of the cold ground. Yesterday Paul spotted our first Red Winged Black Bird! So spring is definitely coming but oh so slow.


I haven't proof read this, hope I've made at least a bit of sense. Got to get on with my day, but at least I've made an attempt at a blog and haven't succumbed to "farm ville"!


Hope you all have a great day!

Hugs, Faye

 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Homer - August 1997 - Sept. 2010

Those who followed my blog in MSN Spaces know I was very close to my buddy, Homer. We had lots of enjoyable walks around the neighbourhood and on the beach. Homer became really sick last fall. We had to put him asleep in September. The vet was pretty sure from the symptoms he had colon cancer. He couldn't retain his bowels and the last week stopped eating and could hardly walk. The day we realized he wouldn't get better, we booked an appointment and that same day he stopped drinking also, so he wouldn't have lasted more than a day or so anyway. We brought him home and he now rests down back near my flower beds under the pines where he would lay as I weeded and pruned. I'm not really a dog lover but Homer was different. I miss him everyday.

The following week, Paul was having shoulder surgery for a rotor cuff injury he got a couple of winters ago when he slipped on the ice. With Homer so sick we needed to lift him many times when he couldn't get up. I knew I couldn't do it myself. So we had to make this heartbreaking decision, though I doubt Homer would have survived that long anyway.

We have different ways of dealing with our grief: I didn't think I'd ever want another dog, but Paul wanted one right away. We searched the Humane Society web site almost daily and visited a couple times. Then, a friend who heard we were looking for a dog, told us of some puppies available in the country. So one Sunday the four of us went to look at them. Their were eight puppies, the mother a small size Collie mix, red like a little fox. The father was a Lab mix, but we didn't see him. We spotted this little fur ball, the only female among seven brothers. She would be five weeks old Christmas eve, born on Remembrance Day, November 11th. 

Well we brought her home the Sunday before Christmas. It is advised not to get a pet Christmas but it was a quiet Christmas (other than the puppy) because our three kids had other plans with the parents of their "significant others", (BF's and wife).

She has a name of course. Callie. I sure hope she slows down growing soon. She's half the size of her mother or more now at only three and a half months. We don't want an itty bitty dog, but would rather she not get as big as a Lab! 

Here are some picture of her as she has grown. The first one is the day we brought her home.

December 19, 2010
January 3, 2011
February 2, 2011
February 25, 2011
Callie and Ayla have been getting along good. Ayla will only put up with so much. Sunday we took her to our son's and DIL's. I guess she missed Ayla. This is the two of them that evening after coming home.

 


 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I thought I was Super Woman...

I had big plans to continue with a blog update on the weekend.  But....because I thought I was Super Woman .... I paid up this weekend.
Let me regress. My 91 year old dad should surely get the flu shot, so should my husband, Paul, because he has had bronchial asthma. But me? Nah, I never get sick, my immunity is good, I eat well etc. Yeah, right. Remind me next year....get the flu shot!

I was feeling rotten all day Thursday at work, took to the couch and was sick in bed (or on the couch) from then on.  Missed work Friday, missed youth group Saturday, church Sunday morning & really disappointed to miss a two week planned get together with our kids.  I finally rallied by Monday morning and made it back to work Monday afternoon.


My hubby has been great though, kept the house looking decent and picked up, laundry never behind, dishes done. Mostly I appreciated the attention he gave me with bringing me water & a hot water bottle when I had the chills and bringing me soup and crackers when I wanted a bite to eat. Thanks Paul!

It's going to take a while to get this new blog spaces "decorated" to my standards as it did in MSN Spaces. I'll just have to be patient with myself as I learn all the new tricks that Bloggers has to offer. I'll do this by trial & error and help from my friends who have their own blogs looking so dapper!  One problem maybe someone can help....I wrote my blog in Microsoft Works then copy/paste. Now I can't change the margins to fit, I find it frustrating :(

Hugs, Faye

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

"Toto...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Well it may not be MSN Spaces. It's not WordPress...didn't like it there and only a couple of my friends found me. I hope this is my new "home". Thanks to Herman who lead to Bloggers. It's taken a couple day to set up my new "home", lots more needs to be done to really feel homey here but that will come over time. 

First I want to welcome all my blogging friends old and new. Grab a chair and settle in for a cup. We all have lots of catching up to do! It's been a year since my last blog on Spaces. Other than those I meet on facebook I don't know much of what 's happening in blog land. It was very heart breaking when I found out about Curtis' passing. The night before his death, he sent me an e-mail wishing me a happy birthday the next day. I wish he were still around many will miss his stories and encouraging comments. :(

Well I don't know if you know of a computer addition going around. It seems to be most prevalent among middle aged women. Many of my friends from blogland have it...it's called "Farmville". Even Dr. Phil confronted a women. on his program: "In a recent show, he tackled a terrible affliction currently gripping the nation in its hay-covered grasp, the Facebook application FarmVille. Dr. Phil asked his guest, a mother named Teresa, the hard-hitting questions on her battle with growing crops and raising chickens.
"Are you worried about your crops as you sit here?" he said.
"Before I came here, I made sure that none of the crops were going to die," Teresa replied.
"There aren't really any crops," Dr. Phil informed her. "That's just a little image on a screen. They're not going to die."

Well that's what happened to me last February when I took a mid winter vacation...even when I am working I'll spend 2 hours a day on it. I am so addicted to Farmville but I want a life! 

My Farmville
Well I missed blogging and blog walking so much. I love you guys (blush). I have other new/stories from the past year. These will have to wait for another day. They include to engagements, death of a beloved dog, and adoption of a new puppy. To be continued ....

Hugs, Faye