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.