Italy in the Fall

A week from today our family will be landing in Rome! It will be a special trip because we will be staying with good friends in Rome when we arrive and before we travel home. We will be travelling to our favourite hill town in Tuscany and using that as a base to travel to other places.  Then we will be catching the train again to Cinque Terre.  The weather promises to be lovely and warm.  I will share some photos of our last trip to Italy tonight and promise to share some new photos next time.

I will joining Judith at

http://www.lavendercottagegardening.com/

Ciao Ciao!

Hope that your September is filled with all that makes Autumn such a lovely season !

A Reunion !

Hello to all my blogging friends!  I must apologize for not visiting your blogs this summer. How can the days be so long and yet they speed by so quickly. It's the time of the year when there seems to be so much happening and that seems strange when the rest of the year is often so quiet.
The farmer has retired and so the possibility of travel during the summer resulted in a road trip to my hometown.  It was wonderful to spend time with our friends and family and oh so nice to spend some time with my old school friends ...amazing to think that half a century ago the second chapter of our lives was just beginning.
You can just imagine the smiles, hugs, and stories that were exchanged that afternoon.  Seeing each other made me think that although some of us hadn't seen each other since the last day of high school or perhaps sometime in university, we all seemed to be the same as we were back then.  We chose different paths in life, experienced different things and now have families but everyone loved being together once again.   Our school is much different than when we walked through the hallways but the central section is almost as it was and it was wonderful to see once more.

This photo of St Ann's Academy was taken in winter.  I should have taken one at the reunion but there just wasn't time.  We had too much catching up to do! 

Hope you are having a wonderful summer.  

These days our family is getting ready for a trip to Italy.  We are going to Rome and Tuscany.  

I'll tell you more about it next time we meet at

http://www.lavendercottagegardening.com/

for Mosaic Monday.

Spring

Spring has sprung...dandelions are decorating the lawn, the trees have green leaves now, our garden was in the ground early and my perennials are green and bushy.  A few iris have bloomed but they were dwarfs this year due to the extremely dry conditions. Our lilacs have yet to bloom and may not because of a heavy frost we had two weeks ago and there is not enough moisture to coax the garden seeds out of the ground.  Some farmers have already ploughed up the spring seeded crops and replanted in the hopes of harvesting them this fall. We need rain!  

Twenty years ago we planted spruce seedlings that were just 6 inches above the soil and I asked the farmer and our son ( both well over 6 feet tall) to pose in  front of them to show how much the trees have grown. My petunias were a Mother's day gift from my son and the lupins will be blooming before too long.  Otherwise all the perennials are waiting for rain.

My daughter was recently in Palm Springs and loves vintage shops so bought a vintage hand rolled scarf for my Mother's day gift.  It appears to be brand new and I imagine it may have rested for many years in a scarf drawer.  She also gave me a lovely new necklace from Astoria, Washington. I snapped a picture of it resting on a beautiful dresser scarf she brought back for me from Bangalore, India.  I really treasure the special things she has given me over the years.

A few weeks ago there was an evacuation of people who lived about an hour north of here because  a forest fire threatened their homes and community.  I belong to a group that makes and donates quilts to people in need and though we don't meet through the summer we had stockpiled about 60 quilts to be given away through the summer. I went with the president of our group to get these quilts and she donated 64 quilts to one of the evacuation centers.  Luckily the fire was contained and no one lost their homes. We decided to have a 4 day quilting blitz last week and we were pleased to look at the stacks of quilts we had created at the end of the blitz.  Co-operation, fun, and friendship are in evidence every day as we quilt and one day we were surprised by one quilter's brother and sister in law who arrived to make us delicious soup and biscuits for lunch. Our group will be celebrating 10 years of quilt making in the fall.  We think it's time to invite our community to our quilting party.  

Hope that the sun is shining in your part of the world and that gentle rains fall to coax your growing things in this season if new growth. Sunshine Always, Sheila

Memories on Mother's Day

Yesterday my memories were circling back in time.  Motherhood has been such a wonderful gift to me.  Our children are grown but so much a part of our lives.  We are lucky to live close by.

I opened up two photo albums and have captured just a few memories to share with you here. I was remembering my mother. She pursued her dream of becoming a registered nurse and then stayed home to raise four children.  I think of the days when she became a homemaker, perhaps wishing that it was possible to return to nursing.  She did this once my sister got to junior high school.  Twenty five years after graduating she went to her 25th nursing reunion.

I was also thinking back to 50 years ago when I graduated from high school.  

It hardly seems possible that so many years have passed by. 

I graduated from a girl's school and tradition was that we rented a dance club and hired a live band for our graduation dance.  Our parents were invited.  Did my mother take the picture of Dad and I dancing?  I think she wore a blue lace dress but wish that I had that picture.

  Many of us made our own dresses, if shoes didn't match they could be dyed to match. 

Some of us attended the Royal Military College Balls so our dresses, long gloves and necklaces borrowed from our mothers could be worn again.  

On Sunday our graduation took place in The Royal Theatre. My little sister was chosen to be one of the flower girls and she held a pillow which held the grad pins that were presented to us. Our teachers presented us each with a bouquet of yellow roses.  

I'm looking forward to seeing many of my high school friends when we "girls" gather on the grounds of St Ann's this summer to remember the time when we were young and carefree, 50 years ago. 

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day ! I'm linking to Judith's Lavender Cottage here.

Looking Back to Green

Just a couple of months ago we were on holidays in Arizona and we witnessed a springtime beauty like we've never experienced before.  The desert was all dressed up for spring in gorgeous shades of green.  I'd like to share some of my photos from our trip.

We visited the Grand Canyon and the two days we spent there were wonderfully warm, a sharp contrast to our last year's experience of an afternoon spent in awe of the majesty of such natural splendour.  The winds were strong and we experienced snow and sleet, freezing as we walked to the view points.  This year the weather was wonderfully warm and we spent hours looking at natures paintings.   We enjoyed the experience of being able to drive our rental vehicle along the canyon and being able to stop and explore at the viewpoints. 

We have wonderful memories of exploring Nevada and Arizona in February. 

I will share some of the other highlights of our winter getaway next time.  

Have a wonderful week wherever you are ! 

I'm linking this to Judith's Lavender Cottage Mosaic Monday 

An Early Spring !

We can't believe our luck here in northern Alberta.  It seems amazing to have been working for the past few days in the yard raking, cleaning the flower beds and pruning the shrubs.  We are weeks ahead of the game and in just a few hours the temperature is predicted to be 17 Celsius! Tiny green leaves are poking out of the perennial beds but the grass is for the most part brown.  We need a good soaking rain to green things up.  In the meantime I am thankful to see the pictures of flowers my sister has sent from Vancouver Island.  She has been to the nursery and her deck is covered in colourful blooms.

Although we took a two hour drive to the city, last week I was disappointed not to find flats of pansies at Costco.  I've really had luck planting them early in the past.  Our local nurseries generally have bedding plants for sale in about mid May so we will have to wait awhile.  But anticipation is in the air and Spring is definitely coming.  The frogs are croaking in the pond, our favourite pair of Canada Geese has been stopping by for the past few days just to honk hello and eat some spilled grain.

At sunrise I looked out to see a moose laying down behind our house and soaking up the sun.  He rested for about an hour before standing up and giving himself a shake as he loped with giant steps into the forest. The farmer reported there were two big moose in our canal as he drove by yesterday.

  

  

Here are some views of the way things will be in our corner of the world before too long.  

I am linking this post to Mosaic Monday at Judith's Lavender Cottage.
If you have time  do stop by to see some interesting blogs.
Happy Spring wherever you are!

Easter Decorations

Do you find that as Easter approaches the world seems brighter? 

I love to do a few things to bring some spring colours into the house.  I was thinking of my mother and grandmother as I decorated the hutch for Easter.  The glass Bonsai tree is the last gift my mother gave me and the picture is of my grandmother with her cocker spaniel, Bonnie.  

She had been given the dog by her three sons before they left for the army.  Whenever I visited Granny, she made a pot of tea and this was my special cup and saucer.  I bought the teapot some years ago thinking it would match Granny's cream and sugar set.  

Even though our children are grown and there are no little ones to decorate for, 

it seems that tradition wins out every time.  So on Saturday, the farmer insisted 

that we drive downtown to get some dyes for the eggs he'd already hard boiled.  

We were surprised by the results...one of the eggs had a white design on it 

and there were eggs with speckles. All we did was mix the dye and dip them in it.

I hunted for and found the Ukrainian style eggs our children had made more than 20 years ago.  

The elaborate traditional egg was a prize in a school contest.  Our closest neighbour had dropped by on Good Friday to bring us some delicious hot cross buns and I baked some raisin scones 

so we had a delicious breakfast on Easter Sunday.

Hope you had a lovely Easter weekend !

I f you'd like to see some lovely Spring flowers consider stopping by to visit 

Judith at her Lavender Cottage  for Mosaic Monday.

Blogging Friendships

How is it that in this big wide world we are able to connect through our blogs with friends who may be half a world away or across the continent or in the next province?  We read through the lines and recognize in each other's musings and shared pictures, the similarities and the common interests of other bloggers and a friendship begins.

I was so surprised to find a post written by a blogging friend a few days ago.  We have read each other's blogs and kept in touch over the past several years but have never met.  We have discovered some similarities in our stories and are looking forward to the day we will have a chance to meet. Her gift was to send me photos of blossoms and in doing that she reminded me of springtime in my hometown.

In our adult years we have both been transferred to new places with our families and as she and her readers have pointed out home is where your family is.  I've always known that but at this time of year my heart's home is Victoria, BC.  Thank goodness for my memories.  I know that without fail, we too will see some green leaves and flowers before too long.

Thank you my friend... 

the photos you shared brought a smile to my face 

and I am looking forward to the time we'll meet this summer in Victoria.  

Sunshine Always, Sheila

St Patrick's Day Greetings

Top of the Evening to you!  I felt I couldn't let this day pass by without wishing the luck of the Irish to you.  I've only been to Ireland once but remember it so well.  it was 11 years ago in  the spring when my daughter and I landed in Shannon.  Here are a few pictures in no particular order....

We found our family crest in the airport gift store before boarding the local bus to Adare which is known as the prettiest little village in Ireland.

Thatched cottages that are still in use as family homes and stores line the main street.  We enjoyed talking to the locals and hearing Gaelic being spoken.  We stayed 3 nights in a lovely home and caught the bus to Killarney where we went on a horse cart ride to Ross Castle and through Killarney National Park.

Another day we wandered through historical Folk Park near Bunratty Castle and later enjoyed a Medieval night of feasting and music in the castle.  It was a perfect place to be introduced to the friendly Irish people and to the lovely countryside.   We went to Limerick one day and then crossed Ireland by bus.  I'll save our Dublin experiences for another time but in the meantime would like to say,

"For each petal on the Shamrock,

This brings a wish your way-

Good health, good luck and happiness

For today and every day!"

Happy St Patrick's Day!

South of the Border...

Today I packed a carry on bag for a trip because we are heading south of the border 

to visit with friends who are officially snowbirds.  

The warm dry air, sunshine, desert landscapes 

and the vistas of the Grand Canyon 

seem to be calling us back.  

We are flying to Las Vegas 

and then renting a car for the rest of our vacation. 

Maps, picnics, and the open road are all part of the adventure.

After a visit with friends in Laughlin and a few days spent at the Grand Canyon, 

we will be driving to Mesa, Arizona to spend time with friends 

and to celebrate "Canada Day" with the Canadian snowbirds.   

I'll leave you with some photos taken last March at the Red Rock Canyon

which is very close to Las Vegas.

  

Hope the month of February is a good one for you...

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blogging friends 

- enjoy the sunshine wherever you are!

I am linking with Judith at Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.
Thank you Judith for inviting us to Mosaic Monday.
I'm looking forward to seeing other bloggers wonderful collages. 

Time for Tea

The month of January is half over and although most days have been sunny, the grey skies and cold weather often make the short days seem so long. A restorative cup of afternoon tea is a lovely thing to have to add a little warmth to a cold afternoon.  One of my favourite gifts was opened on Christmas Eve.

Our daughter decided it was time I had a small teapot to use for the specialty teas she had chosen for me.

I have visited some lovely blogs and notice that when they take pictures of tea time, they have lovely scones or baking to compliment their tea time photos but as you might guess there is little left in the larder, so I sliced a small Panettone just for the photo. Like so many of you, I've looked forward to watching Season Five of Downton Abbey.  Last Sunday I was all set to watch episode two when the phone rang.  Luckily I already knew that on Friday afternoons, the latest episode is replayed.  So this afternoon I will have a cup of tea as I visit Downton Abbey on my tv.  I should have waited until the tea was steeped before pouring the tea and taking the picture. I should know better as I do have experience as a tea waitress at The Empress Hotel.  It's time for tea and a trip back in time.
Til next time then...Sunshine Always! Sheila