All Through The Year

As this year ends and another begins here are some glimpses of the colours of my world.  

We are blessed to see the sunrise each morning and the sunset each evening 

with an unobstructed view of the sky.

Each day a new world awaits outside our windows and in the coming year 

I plan to photograph some of the beautiful paintings in the sky and share them with you.  

May the coming year be filled with all the people, places, beauty, bounty and love 

that make your heart sing...Happy New Year!

I'm linking to Mary's Dear Little Red House for this first Mosaic Monday of 2012. 

Stop by for a visit - you'll find inspiration there...

Christmas Images

The colours of Christmas at our house are usually traditional but after changing to new strings of LED lights a couple of years ago, we've added some more modern colours.  I have always found it difficult to take a good photo of the Christmas tree and this year experimented with just moving the camera slightly as the picture is snapped.  It makes for some interesting results.  I've also learned that when taking pictures of large outdoor lighting displays it would help not to have one's camera set for landscapes.  Recently, while in the city, I took these photos of the Bright Lights display which surrounded the Edmonton General Hospital - quite a sight but you had to be there to see it!
Happy Holidays - hope your days are filled with laughter and light!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours the time to enjoy the beautiful music of the Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.  

Hope that the coming days will be filled with the wonder and joy of the season, 

the traditions and memories that make Christmas so meaningful to you 

and that the coming year will be 

filled with good things for you and your family.  

Season's Greetings from our home to yours!

Christmas is Coming...

Christmas on the farm isn't elegant but rather cozy and comfy and our decorations are memories of the past...our "children's" favourite Christmas books, my grandmother's Nativity scene, my sister's lovely handiwork and photos from the past. 
Here and there through the house are special things and each has a story.  We do have one small tree filled with our "children's" favourite ornaments in our family room and a cardboard village that reminds  me of one we loved when I was a child.


 Next week we will get our real Christmas tree, but for now I'm finished decorating and I'm on my way to the post office with the last of the parcels and our Christmas cards and letters to mail.  Do you write a Christmas letter?  I find it difficult some years but always seem to come up with something that tells our story in a concise way.  I keep all the letters I recieve so that next year I'm able to respond to our friends and family with the 'news" close at hand.  Hope the coming week is filled with the things that make you happy as you prepare for Christmas.  See you at Mary's Little Red House...I will try to visit your blogs this week and know I will enjoy seeing glimpses of your homes at Christmas time.

December Light

One thing about living where we do is the amazing view of the sky that we have and the morning colours are sometimes spectacular. If it's not too cold, I open the deck door briefly to capture a few pictures of the morning light.   Usually I click the "Enhance" feature just to see if the colours stay true but are better.  Often, I sharpen and crop photos but generally I'm happy with the overall composition of the photos.

Looking southeast at the early morning sun...

The sun at noon on a cold and gloomy day...

One day last week I glanced out to see a buck very close to the house.  We often have deer that wander closely but the bucks are usually further out in the field.  You never know what will make our day just a little different here in Northern Alberta.  Hope that your week is going well wherever you are!

I'm linking to Mary's Little Red House and looking forward to catching up again with everyone.

November?

As I gaze through the kitchen window these days, I do wonder where November's gone.  But I am happy to say that I have finished the sewing and quilting gifts I planned to make for Christmas.  Once the presents have been opened, I'll share some photos here.  This month  has been so grey and cold until today and unbelievably our snow is melting and we can see green grass again.  If only this would last awhile... In any case it was so nice to be walking outside today.  Downtown the pavement was bare and free from ice. It's a wonderful day for those who are putting up Christmas lights because it's above zero. We took advantage of the minus 10C day a few days ago and today it's plus 7C.  Sometimes the early bird doesn't get the worm!

I'll be trying to catch up on everything that you've been posting about in the coming week and in the meantime, I'm linking to Mary's Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.  See you there!

A Blanket of White

It's official - winter's here!  A blanket of sparkling white does nothing to improve my opinion of winter. But the reality is that my boots will be my "going out of the house" footwear for the next 5 or 6 months and I will never leave the house without my toque, gloves, scarf or windshield scraper.  It's very unlikely that we will be able to open the windows to get fresh air. We'll have to bundle up each day we venture outside. After 17 years "on the farm" winter never gets better for me - just longer.  Now I understand why so many Albertans are "Snowbirds".  It only makes sense to me but with ties to the farm and an elderly parent it's not an option for us.  The only thing certain about our northern winters is that there will be a spring and if we're really lucky it will be in late April rather than mid May.  I'm already counting the months...but the sun will come up tomorrow and 9 days out of 10 it will shine on the glistening snow through the winter. Have a great week wherever you are and don't mind me.  I'm an optimist so by this time next week I will be back to normal and dreaming of an early spring.

Lest We Forget

On our last full day in Rome we visited the Commonwealth War Cemetery of Rome.  After finding it listed in a tourist guidebook, we followed the directions that my daughter had recorded in her notebook and arrived at the beautiful entrance gate.  Amazingly the padlock combination worked and after removing the padlock and locking ourselves in, we found ourselves alone as we wandered through the meticulously tended graveyard.  It was so touching to read the ages and inscriptions of the young Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen who lost their lives in World War II.  We left Canadian flags and a special maple leaf that was made of our local clay to leave in remembrance.  I'll let the following photos tell this story.  

Fall Days

These days I'm so grateful that we are still looking at the grass and a few leaves and the stubble in the fields. The colours aren't as brilliant as in this collage but just for fun I enhanced a few of my photos. Sometimes when the days are slow I really enjoy visiting other bloggers. It's amazing to realize how much we can learn from one another.  In this world of blogging, its entirely possible to take a wonderful trip with another blogger to see sights one has never seen before.

Tonight I'd like to share an amazing blog with you.  Michelle lives beautiful Vancouver Island on the West Coast and her blog, Relics and Tales is fascinating.  With curiosity and an interest in getting the original story on artifacts that have come to her attention, Michelle investigates until she knows the real story.  One of her posts is about the beautiful paddles her husband carves.
Do pay Michelle a visit and check out her previous posts - if you have a fascination with history, you will be so glad you did.
Tonight I'm linking up with Mary's Little Red House - a great place to meet new friends...

Ostia Antica

One day while we were in Rome this past summer, we decided to take our friend's advice and visit the ancient Roman harbour of Ostia Antica.

Talk about taking a trip back in time!  This remarkable archeological site is filled with ruins from the 7th century BC.  The main road is paved with flat large field stones and it was easy to imagine the rough ride the Romans must have had as their carts travelled along the road.

We climbed up to a viewpoint to look down on the mosaics of the Baths of Neptune.

The streets were lined with apartments known as insulae.

We walked among the ruins of military camps.

My daughter climbed to the top of Theatre Teatro but I was satisfied to view the theatre from below. 

The house of Diana dates back to the reign of Hadrian in the 2nd century AD.  This house was a public house.   The mosaic floors are beautifully preserved and the kitchen contains display shelves for food and a bar where the patrons were served.  As we relaxed for a few minutes in the public courtyard we tried to imagine what life might have been like so many years ago.

Ostia Antica is a huge area rich with artifacts and away from the crowds of tourists in Rome. In just one afternoon we wandered back in time and we saw no more than 25 or 30 tourists.   The streets are easy to navigate and there are many signposts with the history explained in detail.

I'll be joining Mary for Mosaic Monday tonight.  See you there...

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with the traditional meal and a gathering of my husband's family (13 in all) and on our farm it's always a special time of year. Harvest is not finished but hopefully we'll continue to have good weather and harvest will be wrapped up before the snow flies.  "Que Sera Sera -whatever will be will be".

In the early morning light I captured these views and as the day continued on the sunshine grew brighter.  By the time the family arrived we were all able to enjoy the wonderfully warm afternoon on the deck before moving inside to enjoy the traditional harvest meal.  Hands joined in blessing, good food and wine,  cousins, aunts and uncles sharing stories and laughter.  We are thankful for the visitors from the big city.  It's always great to get together here on the farm.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend.  In Canada we have so much to be thankful for. If you have time to do a little armchair travelling you will find the links to the Provincial Tourism websites in my previous Canada Day post here.

I'm linking to Mary's Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.
Thanksgiving day wishes from our home to yours!

Autumn Leaves

Forty years ago I was living 500 miles from my home town and I looked forward to letters that my grandmother wrote to me on a regular basis.  One day I opened her letter to find an autumn leaf enclosed and this is what she had to say...
   " Dear Sheila,
The enclosed leaf is from a silver birch tree & last week, 
when a slight wind was blowing, 
a number of leaves were running,
on three points, across the street,
as if they were chasing one another or playing tag.  
I watched them from my window.
          Love Grannie "
A few years ago I found the leaf in the letter and framed it. The memories of my grandmother are special as I gaze at that still perfect leaf and her words.

Our autumn leaves are only here for a very short time.  I took these photos last week and now the branches are almost bare...too soon!

Enjoy your week and thanks for your kind comments.  I'm linking with Mary's Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.