fun with fruit

 fun with watermelon

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 fun with apples

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fun with grapes

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fun with bananas

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other fruits join the bananas for more fruity fun

pie - are you squared? or are you circled?

very punny

a horse of a different colour

by golly - it does

sneaky stairs

This picture reminds me of those old creaky houses 

that have all the cubby spots and hiding places.

Wish we had one like this in the house 

- don't know why - 

but I do.

clever storage ideas

I wish that I had thought of these

bater wottles

 a couple of things to do with your left over water bottles

another clever idea

We do not have a wall mounted television but 

if we did, I would like to look like the one of the left

find where - insert me

what a creative mind could think of this?

now I just have to find out where it is

save money to get there 

and insert myself somewhere in the picture

late

I am not usually late.
In fact it is a rather rare occurrence.
This is mostly a reminder to myself that we have to turn that clocks back.
This means we will get a little bit more sleep.
Or that is what it is supposed to mean.

Neighbours

Now here is a couple I didn't know until many years later. 

Marguerite and Milan Lymberner were our neighbours from Caistor Center. 

We lived there when I was near the end of grade 2 until I was finished grade 6. 

Their daughter Robin was a year younger than me and a year older than Jeff. 

The picture above is how I best remember them. 

I never really did know Milan at all. 

I do remember helping them once with the haying - 

although I am very sure I was very little help at all.

I also remember him driving Robin, Jeff and I out trick or treating in his pickup truck.

But Mrs. Lymberner was my sort-of surrogate grandmother 

as I didn't have grandparents who lived close by. 

She was a very capable housewife and I remember her driving the family car 

back when not that many women knew how to drive. 

She was active in the community and knew just about everybody.

I remember that for Halloween she would prepare popcorn balls to hand out.

Boy they were good - and a real treat for us.

Milan has since passed on but Marguerite is over 90 years old and lives in Stoney Creek 

where she gets nursing care at Heritage Green. 

I am sure that that place is a better one because she lives there.

My Mom and Dad drop in to visit her from time to time.

I have visited her a number of times and 

I really should make the time to go more often 

because each time I am there I feel that I am in the presence 

of a marvellous woman who has wisdom and kindness wrapped up into one person.

I think of her often and when I do, I smile.

Bah pumpkinbug

Halloween is coming up this week and I must admit that I am rather ambivalent about the whole thing.

I don't really have anything against the idea of dressing up the youngest of our population 

and letting them loose on the neighbourhoods of our community 

to procure as much sugar as they can.

And I don't have any prejudice against the decorations 

that most like to bestow upon their homes.

Just don't really feel like doing it myself.

Although I will admit to being rather fond of the lowly pumpkin.

for it's colour - 

for its innerds that can look like guts -

for it's seeds that can be roasted -

for it's ability to contribute mightily to the grand pumpkin pie

(that when dolloped by whipped cream makes a most fine dessert)

Since we have lived here (since August of 1986) 

I think I can count on one hand the amount of 

trick-or-treaters that we have had come to our door.

There should be a term that we can use to utter the declaration that we have decided

 to opt out of the Halloween celebrating

 just as Scrooge was allowed to declare 'bah humbug' to anything Christmasy

we should have a word...

Anyone got one?

2001/7363

as of today
7363 pageviews in the life of this blog
and
2001 of them were for the page 'wicked'

that I wrote about the musical that we saw and the book that I read
I have no idea why so many people are looking at my wicked page

flowers of summer and a s'room or two

Now that we are firmly stationed in the autumn months...
(yes the air conditioner is out of the upstairs window)
(there are copious amounts of leaves falling from the trees)
(I am now leaving a sweater on every level of the house so I can find one easily when I am chilly)
...I will search some pictures for some of the flowers of summer that were found here at home.

 the rose of sharon that we got from my dad last year - 

we didn't expect it to be blooming this year but there she is

a mess of these are growing in the dirt pile at the front of the house

I have no idea what they are but I like them

there are more weeds in the back yard than blades of grass

our sod that we planted a couple of years back died a gruesome death over one winter

and that is after we watered the heck out of it

 this fall we had a number of kinds of mushrooms growing in the backyard

 too bad we couldn't eat them

just were not willing to chance it

thanksgiving

In honour of Thanksgiving Day - being celebrated on this day in the great land of Canada.

So today I write on one of the rather odd things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my basement carpet.
It is really an assembalage of a number of carpets but it covers most of the lopsided concrete on our lowermost floor.
It makes the space very nice for settling up the wooden Thomas the Train track for when the grandkids are over for a visit.
I am also thankful that the gabillion legged centipede that I squarshed under a shoe is still squarshed and will remain there until I am pretty sure he has disintegrated to dust.
I will then suck him up with my handy dandy vacuum and send him flying through  tube-like vacuum pipes into the sturdy metal receptacle until I remember to dump that out.
He will then make his way to the garbage bag, which like the others, is so marvelously taken away on Thurday mornings. From there I know not where he goes and that is fine with me.

I do not have photographic or video evidence of the magnitude of the beast but you will have to trust me on that. I found a picture of his brother (actually cousin once removed) so you can understand the scope of my bravery.

I am thankful for my basement.
I am thankful for the carpet.
I am thankful for the shoe.
I am thankful that the gabillion legged beast underneath the shoe is dead
- and that he will stay that way.

diligence

The month is almost over and I have not been diligent in my blogging.
Too much to do.
And besides that I don't feel particularly creative.
Maybe I will post some pictures of the past month.

 We celebrated Mom's birthday out at Lemongrass for dinner and back to Jeff and Debi's.

I was babysitting Isabel and we went to pick Alexander up from school. 

Alexander did not want to pose for a picture.

 

We celebrated Ethan and Moriah turning 2 years old.

We celebrated 33 years of marriage on the 20th.

After playing many Mondays since January The Final Answers

 finally won Trivia Night at the Coach and Lantern.

 At the church community barbcue. 

Anne and Andrew were part of the group that provided the musical entertainment.

  I babysat Callie last week. She is a very easy going child.

finally she found what she was looking for

For the last number of years I have been looking for a mailbox.
I was looking for a specific type of mailbox.
One similar to the dinosaur that had been receiving our mail since we had moved here.

I had taken the one that came with the house and painted it grey.

Now after all these years the paint has worn off and
the rust has just about eaten a hole through our receptacle of all things postal.

Finally in St Jacobs at the Home Hardware store. There it was.
Just what I was looking for.
I happily paid about 70 dollars to a cashier
who thought it a little strange that I was so happy to find my mailbox.

I got Martin to move the post a bit closer to the house.

I got a talented friend to put the lettering of our name upon the beast and ... voila.

My mailbox dreams came true.

garden

This is the time of year that makes me wish that we had put a garden in.
The vegetable that I miss the most is the beefsteak tomatoes.
The ones from the store just don't taste the same.

creative ways to have fresh vegetables

Oh well. Maybe next year...or the next...or the one after that.

from my facebook page

• posted on Facebook on August 3

Grandpa came home from work and was unloading the truck. 

Alexander and Isabel were over and he took them for a spin in the wheelbarrow

• and then I posted again on August 11

  
  

  When Alexander and Isabel were over the other week 

  Martin drove them around in his wheelbarrow. 

  When they were over the next week, 

  Martin was not home yet and we were eating cheese and crackers on the front porch. 

  I hadn't seen Alexander in a while so went looking for him. 

  
  

  

  
  

  There he was sitting in the wheelbarrow 

  waiting for Grandpa to come home to give him a ride. 

  
  

  

  
  

  So sweet.

  
  

no where near the wall

Well now that the wall subject has concluded 

I must admit that I am at a bit of a quandary about what to write.

Clearly my life doesn't feel very exciting at the moment.

This should not be a problem because then what is left is the imagination.

Trouble is that my imagination is not working at the moment.

With my propensity for exaggeration one would think I could come up with something.

But here I sit and ... blank.

So I will not bore you.

There has to be something interesting out there to read.

Go find it.

Bye.

that's about enough of the walls

That is just about enough regarding my walls.
A couple dozen posts with more than a couple dozen pictures.
I do have more wall pictures but will use them where I see they fit.

On of my favourite pictures of something on my wall was one that was never taken.
I do not have a picture of the flattened mosquito on the bathroom wall.
I was rather happy that I flattened the above mentioned blood sucker.
As a part of the flattened creature there was a tiny smear of blood that had probably come from me.
I save my blood to donate every 56 for Canadian Blood Services
and prefer not to be inflicted with the itchiness that mosquitoes curse me with.

I had left the flattened insect squished to the wall for a number of days.
It was not because I was too lazy or too squeamish to clean it up.
I wanted the other mosquitoes that would fly by
to see the carcass impressed upon my wall and choose to flee.

Can't say that it worked.
But can't say that it didn't either.

it looked a little like this