Spring is Finally Starting to Spring

I think Spring has finally Sprung. Or at least that's what my allergies are telling me. ;-) Actually, this year, due to the unusually cold winter, my allergies have only started about a week ago. Most years I am already suffering in February, and it goes until April. So hopefully it will be a shorter allergy season for me.

Today I went looking for some signs of Spring. Like this lone crocus (the only one not eaten by the squirrels I guess) poking through the decaying Gunnera leaf (as always, click the photo for a slightly larger image):

This past winter hit so cold and so suddenly, that I didn't fold the Gunnera leaves back over the crown to protect it. So hopefully the snow insulated and protected it. We'll find out.

I love this mini daffodils, they are a cheery sign of Spring (the tiny red sprouts nearby are from the Geranium "Victor Reiter" (cranesbill):

This time of year, my metal frogs are visible behind the bare twisted vines of the climbing hydrangea. Wow, those little guys have held up to a number of years of weather now, and look as delightful as when I bought them many years ago, in a little shop in Gastown, Vancouver, BC. If I ever see them again (they had lizards to choose from also), I will buy some more.

The fairy house held up surprisingly well to the winter, it appear to be undamaged from the load of the snow and pelting of the rain this winter. So I must have done something right when I built it (click "fairies" on the left for postings on the construction of the fairy house, and clearing and planting of the fairy garden).

Although not particularly attractive to me, the flowers of the Petasites Frigidus has emerged. It will be followed by very attractive leaves. For more photos of this handsome plant, click "petasites frigidus" at the left, or click here (note also those same frogs in the climbing hydrangea).

Some of the fruit trees are visibly budding. Particularly the cherry trees, such as this Lapin (dark) cherry:

...and the Rainier (golden) cherry:

This is the time of year for major garden cleanup, and fortunately the past couple of weekends have cooperated with good weather. I have pulled and cut many bags and wheelbarrows full of last year's stalks and rotting leaves, to make way for the new plant growth. I keep thinking I'll take some "before and after" photos, but forget to take the "before" ones, or move too randomly from place to place, and can't decide what I'm going to tackle first. So here's one of my "after" photos, after I cleared a lot of tall grass and weeds around the base of some of my missouri currant (Ribes odoratum) bushes (the clumps of dead-looking grass to the left will soon be an attractive green and white striped ribbon grass).

This part of my "hummingbird garden", with the Buddleia davidii (butterfly bush), Crocosmia, and red Monarda (growing all around the white stick), is substantially clearer, but still needs more cleanup. I have a nasty grass which has grown and tangled itself between the crocosmia shoots (that hairy mess in front of the buddleia), so one day I need to dig up the entire clump, sort it all out, and replant the crocosmia. I have a feeling it may not be this year. We'll see.

All the best for Spring to everyone! Go out and enjoy the garden whenever you can.

Little Carnivores For My Little Sprouts

Since I'm not yet snapping many photos of my garden, which is just barely emerging after all the snow we've had this winter, I wanted to say a couple words of appreciation about the little plants which have kept me company on my windowsill all winter.

Last Spring, I was excited to attend my first plant sale at Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver, BC. In fact, it was the first time I have actually been inside the gardens (not counting being in the restaurant at its edge). I had talked my mom and her friend Violet and my two kids into going. Although the weather was a bit drizzly that day, we carried our umbrellas, and enjoying the experience anyhow.

I picked up a few plants which were meaningful to me at the time. The most exciting was a Cardiocrinum Giganteum (Giant Himalayan Lily). I hear that it can take 5 to 10 years to flower, from seed. So hopefully the one I bought is already a few years into that. It didn't look too good by the end of the summer, so I'll be waiting anxiously for signs of life this year.

My kids are wonderful, the tolerated my shopping, and wanted to do some of their own. The ended up each picking a carnivorous plant : a sundew, and a venus flytrap. At the time, I tried to talk them out of their choices, they seemed too expensive (about $10 each), and I didn't think they would survive very long.

Well, I stand corrected. They have lasted very well, and the venus flytrap even bloomed a couple weeks ago. Here is the cheery white flower (click for a slightly bigger image):

The flower is not impressive in itself, but I'm impressed by how easy the plants have been to care for, and I'm not in ANY way an indoor plant person. (Seems contradictory at first, but for me the garden is my way to get out of the house and away from my household duties. An indoor plant, to me, is yet another thing to take care of, and I already have more than I can handle, thank you very much.) These little carnivores enjoy boggy conditions, so I try to keep the outer plastic cup part filled (which is a lot easier than noticing when the soil dries out, which I am NOT so good at noticing).

In the summer, we set them outside (in their pots) in the garden, and were amused by the many flies and pillbugs they trapped. For the winter, they have sat on my sunny kitchen windowsill, keeping me company. Poor things haven't caught anything in the house. We have screens on all our windows and doors, so rarely have any bugs inside.

I look forward to being able to set them back outside this summer (which seems a long way off, at this point), but also sure I'll also miss seeing them on the windowsill. If the kids want to each pick another plant for "themselves" this Spring, I'll be fine with that.

Stopping to Smell the Roses (or Look for Signs of Spring)

Do you remember the story of that fisherman who was already enjoying the "Good Life"? Well, most of the time I am too buried in my work and running the household, that I forget. But last week (between episodes of more snow!) I needed to drop off some registration forms for my kids (they're at a visual & performing arts day camp this week, since there is a Spring Break at school) at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.

Normally, I would plan about 5 errands to run at the same time, and barely make it back in time for the kids to arrive from school. Often I don't even make it out the door, and then end up dragging the kids with me after they come home from school. But this time, I decided to try out a small sample of that fisherman's Good Life, and not only go drop those forms, but also plan to take a walk about the beautiful grounds of the Shadbolt Centre, which sits on the hillside above Deer Lake. I decided to phone up Andrea, my friend who also buries herself in her work, and convince her to join me.

So we dropped off the forms, and then took a walk about the park. It was wonderful. Blue skies, interesting conversation, and signs of Spring (okay, this year we had to look for them, but sure enough they were there!). I carried along my camera, but hadn't taken any photos (too deep in conversation, and nothing had caught my eye) so when we came near the end of our walk, and passed the climbing dome in the playground area, I suggested to Andrea that she climb up and I'd take her picture.

To my surprise (wow, she's a really good sport!) she didn't take too much convincing, and climbed up to the top of it. I love this photo of Andrea, she looks so naturally radiant. I love that clear blue sky in the background, too.

I am trying to remember to make the most of the moments I do have, to enjoy the outdoors, or spend some fun time with the kids. We played the Michaels Arts & Crafts store $5 game again tonight (although didn't really allow enough time, the store was closing before we were really finished). We play that "game" almost every time we go to Michaels. Each of the kids have $5 to spend on anything in the store. It just needs to add up to $5. Good thing there are lots of small items and activities which are $1 or $1.50. So they practice addition, learn the value of money, and have fun doing so, while I have some time to do some shopping and dreaming of my own.

Last time I went to Michaels, I saw a wonderful little Tikki Bar bird feeder which I had to have. I painted it on the weekend after I painted plaster fairies with the kids. I'll have to post some photos soon. Too tired tonight, it's after midnight already. Sigh!

Spring Cleanup - and More Snow!

Sunday afternoon was wonderful, calm and mostly blue skies. So I went outside to do some Spring garden cleanup.

First, I did one hour of cleanup in the front yard, so the kids could bicycle and skooter (hmmm, what is the verb? to skoot?) around the driveway. My usual cleanup rate is one large clear bag per hour, and sure enough, I filled my bag in one hour. At that point, the kids had retreated into the house again, so I happily went into the back yard, where the real gardening takes place.

Seven of my twelve fruit trees are planted within little circles cut into our upper lawn. In all but the last 2 we bought last year, I've edged the circles with flat river rock. A few of them are underplanted with daffodils and tulips, for a bit of colour in early Spring, when the trees themselves are just bare twigs.

I pulled the weeds that had popped up in the circles. Including a very annoying creeping/running grass, which is great in the lawn (which is where I think it originates), but is terrible to try to remove from the garden beds. Then I spread some fresh compost around each of the fruit trees. The few with bulbs poking through the soil, I topped with some bark mulch also.

I tried to take a few photos of my work, but after 3 shots, the memory in the digital camera (I was using my daughter's) was full. Anyhow, this is my Rainier Cherry, underplanted in small daffodils:

This is my Frost Peach which we just planted last spring. I have yet to edge or underplant it:

Same story with my Morello (sour) cherry:

The other trees I didn't get a chance to take photos of, are the Fuji Persimmon, the mystery Apple, Lapin (red) Cherry (underplanted in tulips and daffs), and Bartlett Pear (underplanted in tulips).

As I worked, the bright blue/white sky had gotten quite dark. I was already getting tired (after an additional 1 1/2 hr in the back yard) anyhow, so I was amused to see small flakes of snow coming down.

But then they kept coming. And coming. Here is a photo later in the afternoon, of the back yard (where all my work under the trees has been completely covered!):

And the front yard:

It sure was pretty, especially how it hung in the trees, making them white. But by this morning, when there was 3 inches of it to shovel, and neighbours struggling to get their cars up the hill, it left us all saying "Enough is enough!" We've had MORE than our fair share of snow this Winter. We are ready for Spring!

How Much is Enough?

A rich man was asked "How much money is enough?" to which he replied "Just a little more".

A wonderful story about life arrived by email this morning from the people at Free Range Studios. I had heard it before, but this is a great little 3 minute movie version of it.

The email preface to the movie is this :

Dear Free Range Fan,
Nearly everyone agrees that this economic crisis was set off by a simple human foible — greed. From the bankers to the borrowers, people just couldn't seem to get enough of what they thought would bring them The Good Life.

Sure, there's a time to point fingers, but there's also a time to look at ourselves and consider how we are a part of this "more, more, more" culture. So, Free Range has teamed up with social values business leader Mark Albion to create the parable of The Good Life, a story that asks what "enough" really means.

This isn't your usual urgent call to action; instead, it's a chance to take a moment to reflect on your own life and the work you do. We hope this three-minute story of The Good Life adds some helpful perspective to your life.

Click this link to view the movie "The Good Life"

I wish I could say that I have already taken this insight and wisdom to heart, and am living life a bit more like that fisherman. But instead, my first thought was "Who should I email this to?" with the intention of then continuing with my work. As I started to compose the email, it occurred to me that I might benefit from taking the story to heart also.

When I think about it, my husband and I have all that we already need: good health, a wonderful family, a beautiful home (and garden!), a good neighbourhood, friends, church community, promising careers. But in the past few years, our enjoyment of these has been threatened by the company we founded and now find ourselves dedicated to. I try not to complain, since it's all good news. Our company has encountered much success in all ways, and is growing at a furious pace to keep up with the market demand. But that has meant a lot of long hours for us. Most nights working past midnight, after the kids go to bed. On weekends, we spend time together as a family, and then go back to work most nights also.

My only hope seems to be a "liquidity event". The vague hope that somehow someone will one day buy us out, and let us return to some sort of "normal" life again. For me, to spend more time in the garden, and to enjoy being with the kids, working on homework, or piano practice, or going to activities, or just "playing" and spending time. Not looking at my watch while talking to them, or being repeatedly called away by the phone. To finally make time for the wonderful friends I have been neglecting so long. Even to visit with our extended family.

I work from home to allow me to care for the kids before and after school, but the result of this is that I am never really "off" work, and have my work always close at hand, to mix into my home life any time I want to (and being a workaholic, it happens very often). As my daughter complains, any time I have a discussion with my husband, the first thing we seem to talk about (and the topic of the majority of our conversations) is work.

It is interesting that the topic of Sunday's sermon was "Finances and Faith" (click the eyeball link to watch the video), and one of the key verses for me was I Timothy 6:6 "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment". Recent events in our family have made it painfully clear how fleeting life is, and how we cannot take it for granted.

So will I heed the message that I keep receiving in so many forms? Not to sit back and live life selfishly (since that is not the message, either), but to stop to "smell the roses" and enjoy the people in my life, while I have time on this earth, with them? And to enjoy some of the things that give my life meaning.

For a start, I took advantage of the wonderful weather (a respite in between one day of rain, and the threat of more) to spend 1 hour at lunchtime, cleaning up more of my front garden. Now I will get off the computer (!!), and try to really spend some quality time with the kids before returning to work again this afternoon/evening. I hope to watch the video again tonight, as I plan out the remainder of my week.

If this movie has inspired you to consider how you are living your life, please share your thoughts with me, too. I know I will benefit from more reminders. Thanks.

Manga Kids Portrait

I am exhausted, but in a good way. I decided it is finally going to be Spring, since the snow is ALMOST gone from the ground, and there is sign of daffodils and tulips breaking the surface and starting to sprout. So today I took advantage of beautiful clear weather, to wash down the driveway.

It might sound funny, but this is one of my favourite jobs. There is something therapeutic about shooting out all the grime and dirt which has accumulated on the concrete, and in the cracks between. Our builder gave us a high-pressure hose connection (i.e. it takes advantage of the pressure from the City supply, prior to the pressure being reduced for our home's drinking/water system). So while it is not a real pressure washer, it does a pretty good job of blasting the driveway.

I ended up doing the driveway, a section of the road, both sidewalks, and the back stairwell. While I was doing that, the kids helped clean up fallen leaves and pull the old grass out of our blue oat grasses. Then I did some trimming of plants, bushes, pulled weeds, and cleaned up the beds at the front of our yard. With the grasses and cuttings, we ended up with two full clear garden bags. The kids lasted for about an hour and a half, but I was out there for almost 4 hours, working non-stop. Then I fought with the hose, which is very stiff, to put is away. By the end of it, I was pretty exhausted.

However, I still had energy for my manga (anime) portrait of the kids. I had finished the black & white of it while at soccer practice this morning (I "watched" from the car). I think I had put in about 4 hours total on the B&W drawing, so pretty quick progress. Here is the result (click image for a larger view):

I wanted to try colouring it also, but wasn't sure if I would destroy the drawing, or have trouble colouring some of the areas which I had drawn & erased (sometimes it leaves a trace), so I scanned a copy of the black & white, then used this scan to colour on. I think it turned out pretty good, too (although the scan doesn't render the colours and details very well - it looks a bit better in real life):

My husband says he doesn't really recognize the kids, but I think it is a pretty reasonable likeness of them. It has their favourite bunnies (stuffed toys) and my daughter's hamster also. My daughter has boots like that. So to me, it represents them fairly well. If I have my way, I'll plan to frame it and hang it someplace where I can look at it often.

Manga Family (or at least Kids) Portrait

I guess it's been two years since I worked on my garden painting, and one year since I finally hung it, while waiting for my life to return to "normal" so that I could find some personal time for such pursuits.

There seem to be no end to the late nights, but somehow I manage to squeeze some time for some expression of creativity... I found a great how-to-draw book at the library recently (see below), which inspired me to attempt a manga family portrait. Or at least of the kids. I don't know if I could really pull off a good likeness of myself (hmmm, have you ever seen a fat manga lady?) or my husband (hmmm, bearded handsome bishie gentleman?).


I started the image while waiting for my son's soccer game on Saturday. Then put in a couple more hours one late night. It's coming along fairly well, with my daughter and her favourite stuffed bunny, her hamster on her shoulder, and my son with his favourite bunny. I am pretty close to being done the details, and then need to figure out how to add colour. I'm not so confident with that part of it. We'll see. Here it is, so far:

What do you think?

Pokemon Birthday

It's officially the end of birthday season in our house. My daughter's birthday (see posting) is past, and now so is my son's.

We had the party on Saturday, and being encouraged by my success with my daughter's campfire cake, and since the grocery store (we usually order a cake at Save-on-Foods) didn't have any Pokemon-themed cakes anyhow, I decided to bake my own.

I know anyhow that the kids pick a cake for the characters on top, which they get to keep, rather than for the design itself. So after trying to decide how I would draw a Pokemon image on it, I realized that it would be a better treat to just buy a set of Pokemon figurines, and decorate with those. So I prepared a basic cake (from a mix), and icing (from a can, with the addition of green food colouring), and the kids placed the Pokemon figurines. For the Pokemon ball, I made it with Perler beads:

I think it turned out well, what do you think (click image for a closeup)?

We ended up hosting a combined party with a classmate, since his family was thinking of holding his party on the same night, and inviting pretty much the same set of kids (including each other). So we had one Pokemon cake, one ice cream cake, a lot of balloons in an otherwise empty living room, good school friends, and lots of fun.

Camping Theme Birthday Party

The "camping" party for my daughter's 10th birthday was loads of fun. My neighbour and friend, Helen, joined me and was a great help to me during the party.

Helen made a wonderful arrangement of the ingredients for the oven made 'smores (click on any of the images for a slightly larger view):

The recipe is simple. Place graham wafers on a cookie tray, sprinkle with chocolate chips, add a large marshmallow,...



...and bake at 350F for about 8 minutes. When you pull them out, the marshmallows will be big and puffy. Top with another graham wafer, squish down, and enjoy. Pretty fun, and a nice gooey sweet treat:

Helen brought over some battery-powered candles, and with some red tissue, we created a campfire...

...and played campfire games, with flashlights and glow bracelets. (Don't buy the dollar store ones if you can find better quality ones - the clasps on many of ours broke, and two of the kids ended up with glowing hands when their tube broke also! Helen commented that her glow bracelets from Michaels never had those problems.)

The cake looked fabulous when the candles were lit (even if I have to say so myself):

From the volume level at the party (wow, it was loud!) I think it's fair to assume that everyone had fun. I certainly did.

Campfire Cake

This year we decided on a "camping" theme for my daughter's 10th birthday. The reasoning was that, at least in previous years, the Christmas tree usually keeps relatively fresh into early February, so we have taken down the Christmas decorations, and put up birthday decorations, transforming it into a "birthday tree".

Two years ago, I decorated it with blue & pink balloons, and it served as a birthday tree for my daughter's birthday in January and my son's in early February. Last year, she had a fairy party, so we decorated it with butterflies and fairies and such.

So this year, since we cut that monster 15' tree, I was sure it would be a great backdrop for a wilderness/camping theme. I didn't know that by now it would look dry and miserable, and that the branches would touch the ground, so that this week I couldn't even climb under to water it one last time. Oh well, it is now decorated with butterflies and birds, for our indoor campground. We also dug out the kids' old play tent, to add to the campground feel.

My sister Rose was very inspired by the theme, and sent me a great recipe for a campfire cake, based on a brownie cake, with Twix bars stacked on it, with small white marshmallows and red and orange M&Ms for the coals, and red cellophane for flame, or something like that. So I have created my own variation on this idea.

In my Google searches for "campfire cake", I found someone who had melted down red & orange candies, to create thin sheets, which were then broken into jagged shards, to look like flames shooting out of the center of the cake. I looked for red & orange candies, and didn't find much, except the red cinnamon hearts which are coming out for Valentines. So I instead used some old candy canes, and picked the ones with significant red or yellow in them. I laid them together on a sheet of wax paper, on a cookie sheet, and melted them at approx 350F. They needed a bit of help, I used a bamboo skewer to mix them around a bit. The smell of the peppermint was wonderful.

After cooling them and refrigerating them, they were brittle enough to break into shards. A bit too brittle at the start, but became more manageable after being out of the fridge for a bit. So here is the initial result (I found that the big pieces ended up being too big, so later broke those into smaller shards):

The base of the cake was a devil's food cake mix (Betty Crocker, I think). My only round pans were a 9" and 10" springform, so that's what I used. The frosting was a prepared, whipped chocolate one (Duncan Hines, I believe). Here is the basic frosted 2 layer cake:

Then I added the shards of the peppermint:

...Then some chocolate wafers:

...Then the coals... In this case, some raspberry flavoured candies (same as jelly beans, but round shape instead of bean shaped):

Finally, I added 10 wavy candles (I was pleased to stumble across those at the dollar store today, and knew immediately that they would work, being taller than the usual birthday candles, and the wavy shape being suggestive of flames or smoke rising from the campfire):

I'm pretty pleased with the result. I haven't thought about how or whether I'll even try to incorporate her name into the cake. I think the 10 candles may be enough. We'll see. The party is tomorrow night.

Stick Bugs

I was very happy when my sister, Rose, bought me two stick bugs for my birthday in October, so these first few photos of them on my blog are long overdue.

They have already grown to probably twice their original length, in these past couple of months, and their colours have become much darker. I noticed a while back, a skin molt in the bottom of the cage. But then the other night, I discovered this spooky looking skin molt hanging from the top of the cage. I was able to snap a few photos of it, before it fell.


My sister bought me a male and female. The males are not really necessary for reproduction, since the females can reproduce asexually if no males are around, but then I understand that then the offspring are pretty much genetic copies of the mother, so sexual reproduction provides greater genetic variety in the offspring.

The eggs will drop to the bottom of the cage, and if kept moist (neither too wet nor too dry), they will hatch into tiny stick bugs. My dear sister thoughtfully also brought me two eggs so I would be able to recognize them when they come. So I'm ready and waiting, and watching the bottom of the cage (I have them in a reptile terrarium, with glass doors which open at the front, and a mesh top for good air circulation).

When the stick bugs are at rest (which seems to be all the time!), they extend their two front legs directly in front of themselves, and are very twiglike, as in this photo:

They are very gentle, and although a bit tickly at first, very easy to handle. When you coax them onto your hand, they may walk a bit, or more often will just position themselves, motionless, until you coax them to move again. They eat only leaves from blackberries (or other brambles), which I fortunately have more than enough fresh supply encroaching on my yard from many sides. Even at that, I can hardly see the small amounts chewed at the edges of the leaves. So even if these were in the garden, they would have minimal impact.

Please feel free to click any of the photos for a closer view.

Snowed In

If I was already saying "Enough Snow Already!" on Boxing Day (Dec 26), then it's really ENOUGH snow already now, after a few more dumps of the white stuff. It was not so bad when we were on holiday, and besides my husband was around, willing to venture out in his 4WD Jeep.

But then on Monday, school started. The city snowplow finally came on Monday to plow the 3 blocks which are the only access to the school. Even then, everywhere, the street was down to a single lane, with huge piles of snow on each side, making it next to impossible for cars to pass each other. Only the daring or 4WD drivers would pull aside into snowy driveways. Roadside parking was next to eliminated, and there were a number of abandoned cars lining the road, unable to make it back to the safety of their own driveways. And since there is only one way in & out of the school, the traffic problems in the morning have been disastrous. Good thing it's only 2 blocks up the hill, so we can walk. But even the walking has been treacherous. The neighbourhood had not kept up with clearing sidewalks, so there is a buildup about 1 foot deep in most places. To either side of the sidewalk, it is knee deep or worse, so a misplaced step can easily result in a boot-full of snow.

Then two nights ago, it started raining. Yesterday, the street, still slippery with compacted snow, had two rivers flowing down the two tire tracks. No sign of any available storm drains to accept the water, other than the one my hard-working neighbour across the street, Carissa, managed to shovel clear in front of her house.

It seemed as if the City had just abandoned us down here. The snowplow / salt truck had not been down since about Christmas. We set our our garbage cans twice, once before Christmas and then again after Christmas, and no sign of any attempt to pick it up. So it was 3 weeks today since we had a pick up. That's a long time, when you are used to pick up every week.

It is still raining now, and it would be good if it continued long enough to actually clear the snow, at least in that single lane in the centre of the street. In the meantime, I cancelled all lessons and appointments for this week. I started to feel a bit trapped, since my husband was entertaining clients last night and tonight, so coming home too late to count on him. But I am for sure the lucky one, since I can work from home, can ask him to pick up groceries if necessary, and can still walk the kids to school.

We also haven't had any problems with the house. A few friends have already started having floods in the basement, and leaks in their ceiling. My dear friend Andrea is in a basement suite, and not only had leaking from her ceiling (apparently the water is making its way down from the roof, travelling down the wall and along one floor joist, then into her ceiling), but her side fence/gate was broken by the weight of snow sliding off the roof, and piled high with snow behind, so she is unable to get out, other than into the back yard. That would be scary.

Nobody I talk with (some older than me, so would remember more winters) can remember so much snow in Vancouver and persisting for so long. There were a few highlights to this otherwise dreary season, though. One was hearing the sound of the garbage truck, finally making his way down our street today. When I saw him, I ran onto the porch to scream out "Thank you" and wave. What a welcome sight, after 3 weeks! (And even then, the recycling truck only ventured as far as our house, and didn't venture down to the 2 houses down the street from us, or into the still-icy cul-de-sac across from us. So I was glad he at least made it this far.)

The other was a magical moment, on the Saturday night before the kids had to head back to school. The neighbours below us had actually shovelled clear the road, but then there was about 6" to 12" of new snow deposited on top since then, so my husband was out shovelling our walkway (that was a great sight in itself!), while the kids slid in their toboggans down the street (which is quite steep, and has only two more houses, then ends in a dead-end against a greenbelt). I had been on a work-related phone call for more than an hour, and had come to realize that the house had gone very quiet. By the time I was done, it was past 9:30PM, and I looked out the living room window, to see the kids sliding happily, the snow falling, and my husband playing with them and shovelling the walk. I picked up the karaoke microphone, and selected a few Christmas favourites, "O Holy Night" (in the "style of Celine Dion", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (in the "style of Tony Bennett"), and sang out joyfully, while watching my little family playing in the fresh white snow under the light of the streetlight. That was a pretty special moment.

But for now, I wish for the snow to wash away, and give us a "normal" winter, just the usual rain and more rain. I have a feeling, though, that there are a few more months of winter left, and we may not get off that easy.

Snow Fun

On Friday evening it changed from snow to rain. I wished it had cleared for a while and I had caught a photo of the house in snow. This was the most we've ever had piled on the house. So on Saturday my husband went out to capture a few photos before too much of the snow was lost. I think it looks pretty neat, what do you think?:

This one looks almost like a postcard of our house (except I'd need to Photoshop in a blue sky instead of the greyish one):

Here is a shot of the back yard and shed in a blanket of snow:

In the afternoon, my husband shovelled a path across the back deck, and insisted that we all go play in the snow while he cleared the remainder of the deck:

So we all set to work building snow creations. My son & I built what I will call the Throne of David:

No, not that throne, the throne of my little David:

My daughter took her turn at sitting on the throne:

The kids also built a fort (which joined into the back of the snow throne), with help from my husband (who supplied them with snow by the shovelful):