The December that almost was

Merry, joyous and bright....that is how I would sum up the holidays this year.
It turned out that it was enough. What a happy realization that was. With all my stalwart insistence that it was enough, as the big weekend neared I second-guessed. Maybe just a little more....My practical head took over thankfully....and proved correct.
As we near the end of another great year I find myself making a promise to myself to remember that no matter how it may seem it is always enough. We have enough, we give enough, we live enough. A resolution of sorts....
I am glad for this space. It provides me with the respite I need to step back and remember these all important lessons.

A tradition of sorts

As I stood around I kept getting lost in thought, and in time. For about 10 years now we have gone, it was our first official date. We make the trek to my favorite town in the world. Pay our money to get in and make our way to the back to watch some of our good pals play some really good music. It is pretty much immediate, my reaction to the moment. The space, the crowd, the music...it all contributes to my thoughts leading me back through the years. I remember the first times when we could actually get a seat and dance as well. I remember those who are not with us in person anymore, but in spirit. I remember how the night always seems to bring out the best in my world. I am reminded to put all the other things aside and enjoy the moment.
I love this holiday tradition. The season does not feel complete without it.
Merry Christmas all. May the season be spent in happiness and joy.

The happiest season of all

Things are in full swing. The excited feelings making time fly faster if that is even possible. And I am mostly ready. The last little bits have time allocated for them. My breaths are slow not frantic with the pace of things in the world. This year, after many of trying, the plan worked.
Wishing you all a happy season.

This moment

A King and a Queen.
Happy weekend.

It is good to be back.

Well, I survived the first days of December...managed to put my on hold my desire to get ready for my favorite time of the year (I know, I insisted previously that autumn was my favorite...a fairweather girl I am). And now, with the craft fair and annual cookie exchange behind me I am unwinding and slowing into a season of merrymaking with family and friends.


Ornaments are being unpacked and placed all over the house.


A craft fair keeper that I just couldn't bring myself to part with.


Due to the last minute nature of this year's cookie exchange, a mass production cookie line was our kitchen on Saturday night. Eight dozen really sounds like an easy idea in October when the preparations start....not so much once the realization hits that it is the next afternoon.


King Winter making sure that snow is present to really set the mood. And for real, I put this out on Friday afternoon....snow started on Saturday.

Happy December to you.

When the wool hits the fan

My mind and hands have been elsewhere. Absent from this realm, resting firmly in the world of fibre....more specifically of the wool variety. Time marches steadily onward to the one and only craft fair I have done for the past three years. It takes place on Saturday December 4th, at Fisher Park PS...a mere 10 days to go.
Here are some of the projects I have been working on:

One of many baby blankets


A herd of farm animals


Mittens to keep little hands warmer


This is what happens when the wool hits the fan (in my house anyway).
Happy Wednesday to you and yours.

Five sweet years

November 17, 2005. My third sweet girl enters the world...at home...during the first snowfall of the season.
What a wonderful day it was....and still is.
Happy birthday lovey.

The weekend in pictures

Each time I find myself wondering where the weekend went I just have to take a look at the camera and am reminded. Our weekends are full, despite our best efforts to keep things simple. This weekend past found us celebrating the birth of Hazel 5 years ago....although her actual day isn't until the 17th (more on that later). Also, a special trip to one of our favorite spots...Westboro Beach. Time surely does fly when you are having fun.











Happy Monday.

Bedtime in Hazel's tent

I was in a bit of a bedtime song rut. I found myself always singing the same tunes - Lovely Moon, Twinkle twinkle Little star interspersed with Silent Night or You are my sunshine. Then, one night we strayed. We improvised and were spontaneous and it turned into a wonderful new bedtime ritual. It goes a little something like this:

*climb into bed and get comfy,
*blurt out a word that will be the subject of a song (I usually say the first word that comes into my head once on the pillow),
*make up a song using that word as your subject,
*repeat however many times it takes to take the last bits of energy out of a girl who should have been in bed half an hour ago,
*plant a kiss on that sweet one's head and exit the room....or sleep on.

Golden slumbers.
Karen

These days

Here we are. November upon us. Cold on the way. Shorter days. Cozy homes. Sunshine like crazy in the kitchen windows in the afternoon. I love all these things about late fall and early winter.


I am doing my best to keep up with this girl. Her energy and enthusiasm for playing and running and coloring know no bounds. She used to be such a quiet girl.


I am trying to keep things new for my little ones who come to play. I chose this little piece because it does just that. Emphasizing the seasonal shift taking place...translation: less time out of doors, more time in.


Last but not least, preparations for my upcoming craft fair. Somehow it always seems to feel like cramming for an exam.
The wool in all its lovely forms is flying.

My favorite season is winding down, making way to the colder and darker one. My second favorite season.
Hope your days are good ones.

To-Don't

I am a list girl. At any point in time, I have at least three going. One for this, one for that and another for those items that don't fall onto either of the previous. Most times I write these lists to get things out of my head....things that I think are crucial and don't want to forget to do.
Today I feel they are a curse. They are a reminder of the things I haven't done and not a visual of all I have completed. Today I am not in the right headspace for lists...I do happen to be in the right headspace for swinging, playing in the leaves and rolling down hills. Those kids - they are so smart.

Another photographer's debut

Papa plays in a local band called Fiftymen...not named after the number of members, but as far as I can tell...a beer of choice.
They played a weekend gig at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. Here is his handiwork....






In case you were wondering, I was at home doing the everyday stuff....and dealing with a really really noisy neighbor that brought my needlefelting abilities to new heights.
Happy Halloween all.

This moment

...playing along with SouleMama and her "this moment" series

An old soul

I find it such an interesting phenomenon....how does a change in the seasons especially the shift from summer to winter invoke such a strong sense of communion with the rhythms of the natural world? I have essentially been raised a city girl, with exception to a small amount of time spent in the country during my childhood....why would I feel such an urgency regarding getting ready for the winter times ahead? It's not like I have to put food away to survive the winter. I do what I can as far as preserving the small harvest we are lucky enough to reap on our tiny city lot. Yet I feel a pull that I can't quite put my finger on. I want to enjoy the times of hearing the wind blow the leaves and watch the geese begin their annual trip to more sounthern climates. It feels special to be able to do those things.....if I close my eyes I could be living 100 years ago and the same things would be happening right now.

House love

From the moment I walked in the door, I was preoccupied with looking around at everything. Some houses lend themselves so easily to that....mostly those of the older variety...those built with love and care using resources from the surrounding land by those who would inhabit it. So much beautiful attention to detail. A house built to be a home.






They welcome you in and make it hard to leave. Not just the house, but the people in it too.

Horse love

While I spent a seemingly endless amount of time at my grandparent's farm while younger, my children have not been immersed in the country living lifestyle I had hoped they would. We are lucky enough to live in a city that has a large farm in it's centre (Canadian Experimental Farm), however, trips to the "farm" always leave me feeling a bit saddened that that is most children's farm experience. Contact with the animals is quite restricted and the fact that it is called the "experimental" farm leaves me wondering what they experiment with.
On the journey to our weekend in the country I found myself wondering whether the girls would be bored...skittish around animals...afraid to get dirty, the list went on and on. My worried thoughts mostly applied to Raine who is 13 and has spent pretty much all her life in the city. Turns out she was just as filled willing to jump into the moment as Hazel and the adults. She fed the horses, walked through the fields with the dogs, picked veggies and loved every moment of the day with camera in hand. What a happy mama I am. And a lucky one to boot.
Here are some of her horse shots.

The view through the eyes of a 13 year old...

We spent the weekend visiting family in beautiful horse country in Southern Ontario. If this place wasn't 6 hours away we would be there every weekend! Raine went a little snap-happy, but let me say that it was hard picking the best...there are so many.
Tomorrow, the horse series.
Thanks Aunt Susan and Uncle Ron. Your spot in the world is so lovely and peaceful.

Fall

None of my words can do this justice I think.
What a beautiful October we are having!
I am starting to wonder how we are ever going to adjust to more time being spent indoors...

Batten down the hatches

My love of the fall season is unwavering. It is strong and proud. I believe my life is enhanced by its presence. I welcome it wholeheartedly regardless of the type of weather that comes along with it. I love not feeling hemmed in by summer's hot and humid days. To me, it is the most wonderful time of year to be alive. And it is beautiful. All my favorite colors dress the trees...red, yellow, orange, brown. I noticed last fall that the interior of my house is painted in autumn colors. This was not planned...just a happy accident.



The one and only drag that keeps coming up year after year is the effort it takes to try and keep as much warm air in the house, and as little flowing out in our older energy inefficient house. Old wooden doors with single panes of glass...aluminum windows that actually conduct cold instead of keeping it out....a cold storage room door that is actually a hollow core interior door....and last but not least a concrete basement floor that is our saving grace in the summer, but the bane of our existence in the winter. We are responsible and aware people who lack the funds to just "throw money at it". So, we are left in a position to do what we can. Last fall, I attached batts of insulation to the back of the cold storage room door and interior basement door with a staple gun and some vapor barrier that we had around. I recaulked around all the windows in the interior. I taped up the ducts to prevent heat escaping up through the walls. And, of course, the part that I hate the most...the most tedious and disappointing of tasks.....putting up the cursed window plastic.



While I have gotten very good at putting this stuff up, I don't look as happy and well put together as the woman on the box. (I found this at an estate sale and bought it as a joke for myself). I can make it look like it isn't there, and provided that I clean the windows inside and out beforehand (done on Friday), from a distance one would never know there is plastic there. The sad truth only hits me when I want to open a window to air out the "winter" house and I can't. I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that there is indeed lots of fresh air infiltrating from many other places!
Maybe one day I will miss this seasonal ritual.....find myself longing for some windows to put plastic up on. Hopefully though, I will have better things to do with my time.
Happy weekend all.

I cannot believe....

it has already been a year since the first annual (?) Pony Dance party on the septic field. We were lucky enough to housesit for some friends last fall. Wow, if I try really hard, I can tap into the feeling that surrounded that weekend. We ate mostly takeout, took long walks in beautiful hills, watched some movies and I crafted like a madwoman getting ready for my one and only craft fair.
I remember thinking that sometimes it is the short jaunts that are the best....
Hope this fall is treating you well.

In anticipation.....

*of yummy harvest treats this Sunday,
**of family getting together for a tradition that Michael and I really look forward to
***of an extended weekend full of perfect autumn weather.
I would venture to say that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It doesn't get clouded by giftgiving and family commitments...it is just a time to be thankful. And sometimes that is all it takes.

Happy Thanksgiving all. For those who are travelling, be safe.
Karen

Seasonal shifts on King Mountain

A few weeks ago, Hazel went on a hike in Gatineau Park with her Nana and Grandpa. More specifically, they hiked King Mountain. All was still green then. This weekend past, we decided to walk the same route to see the changes...and they are everywhere!

Someone's winter cache.


Hazel drawing the trees as she sees them....smiling and covered in many different colors of leaves.


The view from the top...farmers fields and bales of hay.


Beautiful little mushrooms...I wish I knew more about mushrooms. I am not sure what makes a good year for them but I do know that I have noticed many more this year than in previous ones.

I have mentioned this many times before, but I am so thankful to live in such close proximity to those Gatineau Hills. It's the next best thing to living in them.