Starting Fresh

Well you may have noticed that I took month off from blogging.  Things have settled down somewhat and summer is here in all it's glory.  The Farmer is officially a "Bionic Man"  after his total hip replacement which took place on June 25th.  It's truly amazing to have seen him start walking a day later and climbing stairs with crutches a day after that.  I thought I had everything organized for his recovery when we arrived home on June 28th but there have been a few glitches.

When we moved to Alberta 19 summers ago, we built a bi-level home and finished the downstairs as well.  Since there is a walk in shower downstairs and the tv (with Net Flix) and computer are downstairs as well it seemed like an ideal place for him to recover.  Coming through the garage and down to the lower level there are only 6 steps to navigate.  From downstairs to upstairs it's a total of 14 steps...no problem I thought.  Well out of curiosity I kept track of all the trips I made from the kitchen to the family room and yesterday it was a total of 32 round trips.  I have a big basket to carry food, dishes and cutlery down for meals and I've set up the coffee maker there and will continue to try to leave things  on appropriate levels.  I'm hoping  to lose some weight in the process.  We're enjoying the coolness and light downstairs and with an old table and chairs mealtimes are a highlight of the day.  Hope that you have been keeping well and enjoying the first week of summer!  I haven't taken many photos lately so this will just include a few of my favourites. Hopefully I will have a few minutes each day to catch up on what's been happening in your world.  Sunshine Always! Sheila

Waiting and Watching

I have neglected blogging for more than three weeks.  It's been wonderful to be WITHOUT SNOW since then.  I hope that this will be the last time I bore you with my moans about our very long winter.

May has been such a beautiful month.  Each year I understand more why green is my favourite colour.  It's the colour of new beginnings and it makes a person like me feel alive again.  We have seen touches of yellow here and there as the dandelions push up through the grass and very soon the lilacs and iris will be blooming.

Spring is a time of new beginnings and this year it's more relaxed in one way but we're playing a waiting game as the farmer's hip replacement operation inches closer.  He knew he had to rent out the land this year and so he has time to putter with things such as our son's broken lawnmower. As I've explained before, the farmer farmed with old equipment using tried and true methods,  Our neighbour has new machinery and was finished seeding our farm in a matter of days.  This year we will sit back and watch as the canola crop grows in our back yard and though it's hard for the farmer to watch another man work his land, a decision had to be made.

We will see what the future brings but in the meantime we're enjoying sitting back and watching what's going on in our big back yard.  Twice we've seen 3 bears, several times moose have come wandering by, we love the geese who visit here each spring and all the birds that visit daily.  The farm is alive in the spring and a good place to be!  Hope that you have a wonderful week wherever you are!

Patience is a virtue...

Watching and waiting is always hard - especially at this time of year.  We've been waiting for the snow to melt since it fell in mid October and just over a week ago our almost snow free land was blanketed again by another few inches of snow.  

On Sunday a friend emailed me and summed it up this way..."From boots to flip-flops in less than a week".  Actually I heard this afternoon that our area was the hotspot of North America.  Apparently, yesterday at 29'C we were hotter than Miami, Arizona, Las Vegas and LA.    

Today is cooler and we noticed that the roads are edged with a minute ribbon of green grass and there is a sprinkling of new blades of green grass poking through the brown lawns.  It won't be long before we see the green leaves on trees.  

Our geese are back and are nesting in the pond across the way.  The frogs have been croaking all night long. Deer are happily munching spilled over grain in the fields and we can leave the windows open through the night.  Spring is wonderful isn't it?

I went out to lunch with good friends yesterday and we chatted about the possibility of planting peas this early and discussed when we hang flowering baskets and plant our bedding plants.  If you want to be on the safe side you wait until the 6th of June to hang baskets when all danger of overnight frost is over. Bedding plants aren't put in pots or the ground until May 21st. I brought home a flat of pansies from the city and yesterday I stopped at both places that set up temporary greenhouses but there was nothing for sale just yet.  I think in past years the bedding plants have been available before the Mother's Day weekend.  I'm very impatient though and will take a chance and fill up my porch and deck pots with spring flowers.   My perennials will pop out out of the ground in due course...but I just can't wait!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you!  If you're like me you'll be happily digging in the dirt. 

The Passage of Time

These past few months I've been working occasionally on an ongoing project.  For the past 40 years I've been keeping track of time and some years I've kept a journal.  Many times my sisters have given me journals or calendars for gifts.

 They are all shapes and sizes. I have saved these calendars and journals and although I always start out with great enthusiasm sometimes whole chunks of time are left blank.

  It's always a mystery to me as to why I didn't jot a few notes about certain events that have happened.  Sometimes they appear just on the calendar and sometimes in a journal.

 So this year I've been going through my life notes and trying to write down the important events.  I want to know when we went on trips and where we were living and what the important events of the year were.  I hope to incorporate these somewhere, individual sheets in each photo album or maybe in one binder...for the record.

 I'm just wondering...have you kept calendars and journals over the years?

 Is it important to you to know when a certain thing happened or are you happy to think back and remember that you enjoyed a wonderful trip to a fascinating place when the children were small.?

Are you happy to remember special family celebrations in your mind or do you have written memories to pass along to future generations?  Do you have any suggestions?  I'd be happy to hear them!