Category Archives: nature

spiders…

04 Thursday Sep 2014

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can’t believe the number of spiders I have found in the house in the last few weeks…

yesterday they seemed to be everywhere… this one was under the fridge…

IMG_7990.JPGI wasn’t able to deal with it… and not ten minutes later I found this one in a pot on the stove…

IMG_7991.JPGI was able to take the pot outside and dump it over the deck…

today I was sorting through some baskets at the front door and found one in the brim of a hat and got it outside… another on a cupboard door and finally one on the back door…

enough already… I am still afraid of them, but I get the fly swatter or Kleenex or a shoe and do what needs to be done…

they’ve been in the bathroom and even the bedroom…

wearing those big girl pants a lot lately…

firsts…

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

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this morning I was able to spend some time remembering the girls’ first days of school… I was privileged to be home while they were young and can still remember the excitement of those special days…

my baby watched her first born get on his first school bus as he headed to a French-only high school in St. Boniface…

IMG_7989.JPGher baby starts kindergarten in the next few days and the middle one started grade 4 today…

hard to believe they are so grown up…

after that I spent a good part of the day with our photo albums because I knew there were some first day pics of them…

it was great fun as I wandered through our life in photos… was missing my
beloved as I went through them… found a few to give away in the process…

IMG_7987.JPGI think this is our oldest’s first day of kindergarten…

IMG_7986.JPGthis is probably the youngest’s first day of kindergarten and the oldest’s first day of grade 2…

two other firsts today… saw my first monarch of the summer as I was walking home from breakfast at the “A” with my daughter… not sure if I saw any the year before, which was very sad… I still remember how one year my vacation was at the same time as the caterpillars moved to butterflies and I got great pictures of the entire process… truly miraculous…

late in the afternoon I walked into the garden and spotted a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower… I was so excited because we haven’t seen any in the garden or even the neighbourhood for more than ten years… of course I didn’t have my phone or camera with me… I’ve been out a few times in the hope of seeing her again, but no luck…

to celebrate this day filled with firsts I baked lobster tails for dinner, a great treat…

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home…

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

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this morning I woke in my own bed… it was lovely… the bed I was in over the last week was fine, but there is something about being in your own…

last night I thought about having a hot tub but could hear the police helicopter flying over in circles… usually that means they are searching for someone so I don’t like to sit out there, lol… and I was rather tired…

this morning I went out for one… sigh… I do love my hot tub and miss it when I am away from home…

relaxed for the remainder of the day although I did wander through the garden a few times…

brought in two hydrangea flowers and put them in a vase…

IMG_7941.JPGalso got a nice pic of a hibiscus flower…

IMG_7940.JPGtomorrow I will have to unpack my suitcase, lol…

finally…

01 Monday Sep 2014

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this morning we arrived at the sign-in area for the balloon rides… there wasn’t much wind and we could see lots of stars… the energy seemed higher but we didn’t want to get over excited…

we were called up to the lines and then the pilots came over and got us… we went to the seven sections of the field which were each divided into five or six areas…

the teams started to get their equipment out… it was amazing to stand in a field with thirty plus balloons filling with air…

IMG_7801.JPGeach of the four times we had been, we took a photo in front of one of the trucks… this time we are in front of the balloon we will rise in…

IMG_7811.JPGafter filling the balloon with air, they start to heat it and the basket stands up gently…

IMG_7818.JPGand the next thing we are in the air… we were the third balloon off the ground… watching the other balloons rise from the field was truly an unforgettable event…

IMG_7837.JPGwe flew for 45 mind-expanding minutes and then floated down into a soccer field…

IMG_7857.JPGwe walked the balloon from one end of the field to the other and then everything happened in reverse order, although the balloon didn’t want to give up flying and it was difficult to get the air out…

IMG_7862.JPGthere were six balloons which landed in the field and everyone supported everyone else… great to see…

IMG_7874.JPGafter a great ride back in the pursuit van we got a picture of the Intuit team, captain Hal Cooper, his two sons and two volunteers from the Festival, as well as the four of us who rode in the balloon…

the twenty-five year wait was worth it… I wasn’t afraid for even one second… wow…

Ottawa Day 7…

31 Sunday Aug 2014

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long night… just after we got into bed at 10:30 pm there was half an hour of fireworks from the Festival and we had a great view from the kids’ apartment… went to sleep to be woken up at 12:30 to a loud and furious storm filled with lightening, rain, and thunder… back to sleep for a couple of hours only to hear “Grandma, my stomach hurts”… after about half an hour went back to sleep… had to be shaken at 4:30 when the alarm went off…

headed over to Gatineau one more time to try and get our balloon ride…

this time they didn’t even have us sign the form because the ceiling was low and rain was expected… so we sat around till it was almost light, and took our picture in front of another balloon trailor…

IMG_7788.JPGtook a taxi to ByWard Market where we had a lovely breakfast and checked out some of the Farmers’ Market, as the boys slept at the apartment…

IMG_7772.JPGonce we got home we decided to take a tour of Ottawa on the Lady Dive, an amphibious bus…

IMG_7775.JPGhome for a nap and did some laundry while the boys played racket ball… they headed off to a movie and we took another taxi to Gatineau…

we waited for about half an hour and once again it was a no go, sigh…

IMG_7786.JPGjust made it into a taxi when the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down…

IMG_7773.JPGwe were treated to a stunning rainbow with very bright colours… even the violet was visible…

tomorrow morning is our last opportunity for a flight as we leave Ottawa in the late afternoon…

we will see…

Ottawa Day 6…

30 Saturday Aug 2014

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well, the day did not turn out as hoped… we took a taxi at 4:45 am to the Festival Montgolfier de Gatineau, across the river… we got lost a few times but eventually arrived at the Hot Air Balloon site where we waited in the dark for a long time in a long line… we filled out forms and sat and waited for our flight… eventually, the sun rose and the sky was beautiful…

IMG_7714.JPGsadly this is as close as we got to the balloons…

IMG_7715.JPGit was too windy… we took a taxi home, slept for a bit and after lunch we all went back to the fair and spent some time on rides and playing games…

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IMG_7719.JPGwe shared some wonderful potatoes and then we went and waited for the evening balloon ride…

IMG_7720.JPGonce again, this is how close we got to the balloon, still too windy…

IMG_7716.JPGwe took a bus to the Museum of Civilization where we thought we would get another bus across the bridge to Ottawa and home… unfortunately that bus didn’t run in the evening, so we walked across the bridge and I got a nice shot of the Museum…

IMG_7721.JPGso, please send us nice weather vibes so we might get up in a balloon over the next couple of days, although the weather says it is going to rain tomorrow:-(… there are still three chances and then we head for home…

Ottawa Day 5…

29 Friday Aug 2014

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spent an hour first thing watching about 24 hot air balloons fly over the city… what a treat… took some pictures but they weren’t good…

we went out for a late lunch to Cacao 70… it is a chocolate restaurant…

IMG_7659.JPGit was delicious…

took a walk over the bridge to see water lilies and arrowheads… another beautiful day…

IMG_7661.JPGwater was calm as this paddler went by…

IMG_7660.JPGwhile we were deciding on our supper more balloons floated over… this picture is taken with Cyndi’s camera…

IMG_7662.JPGlooking forward to spending the whole day with the kids tomorrow…

Ottawa Day 3…

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

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more relaxing day… before we got up we got a picture of our sleeping arrangements which are working very well…

IMG_7556.JPGthe boys went off to get fixins for ice cream and came back with a lot of candy…

Ron ran a few errands with a friend while we watched a bit of tv, worked on a Lego piece and took a walk along the river…

IMG_7557.JPGthen we headed out to see the new house… it has some lovely hydrangeas in front…

IMG_7558.JPGit is going to be perfect and I got a pic of the kids taking a photo in front of the house…

IMG_7559.JPGwe went out for poutine and while we were waiting a few people had a rest…

IMG_7560.JPGand really I don’t care for poutine, which I must remember, lol…

we jumped on a bus and headed to the Parliament building where we watched a fascinating light show… the weather was gorgeous…

IMG_7561.JPGmy favourite part was the poppies filling up the space…

IMG_7562.JPGafter the show we followed many people to the bus stop and headed home…

everyone else is in their bed as I write this, as the kids both have work tomorrow, and me and the little guy are on our own… we have some plans:-)…

Ottawa Day 2…

26 Tuesday Aug 2014

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saw Cyndi off to work and then went back to bed…

when we were all up, we headed to the Experimental Farm and saw some animals…

IMG_7484.JPGliked the donkey…

IMG_7476.JPGwe learned some of the science of agriculture…saw some lovely gardens…

IMG_7477.JPGthe boys did some paddling…

IMG_7478-0.JPGwe spent some time at the mall and finished off our adventure with beaver tails at ByWard Market…

IMG_7479.JPGfull, but fun day… now to rest my feet, lol…

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ready…

24 Sunday Aug 2014

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tonight the sky turned dark and the wind blew like crazy…

eventually it blew the storm right past us…

IMG_7429.JPGthe sun shone through the clouds and the light in the front and back was beautiful…

IMG_7430.JPGthe kids came over, mowed and whipper snipped the front yard, which looked as though the house had been abandoned, lol, and then we had supper before they headed home…

my nine year old grandson stayed behind… we had a fun time in the hot tub, found markers and colouring books, and cards for his backpack and he has headed to bed…

my suitcase and carry on are packed and we are ready to go…

IMG_7431.JPGtaxi is picking us up at 6:15 and we will be on our way to Ottawa to visit Cyndi and Ron…