selfies…

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been a busy day…

it started with views of the beautiful sky out the window… a bit later met the kids for family photos… what fun we had…

started out pretty chilly but by the end it was beautiful… sun was shining and it was lovely and warm…

got a few selfies with the kids…

as we were leaving, spotted the skeleton arriving, lol…

then it was on to dim sum… while we were eating my daughter mentioned that it was nearly four years to the day when we took pictures with Jamie Noordman Photography at a dog park… laughed about some of the antics from that day and how much better our shoot went today…

son-in-law and I went to Costco for a few things and then I headed home…

the sky at the end of the day was easily as spectacular as the morning…

turkey…

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Monday night after Thanksgiving dinner, I made the turkey soup broth, and popped it into the fridge…

this morning I worked on the soup by adding a bay leaf, shredded carrots, celery, onion and potatoes… used the mandolin and laughed again as I remembered how my beloved and I hadn’t used the first one we had correctly, lol…

after that cooked down I added in barley, peas and corn and left it simmering on the stove for a few hours…

final step was to make my mom’s dumpling recipe and add it to a portion of the soup…

I tend to remove about half of the soup into containers before adding the dumplings to what’s left…

let it simmer for about half an hour and voila…

vegetable turkey soup with dumplings… delicious dinner…

tomorrow I’ll give some to the kids…

lethargy…

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been so tired lately…

not sure what the deal is, but I arrive home and have a nap before I make supper, and then sleep through the evening before going to bed…

had a conversation recently with someone who appears to be struggling with a similar lethargy

not sure if it is the weather, time of year or what, but I sure hope it sorts itself out soon;-(…

slideshows…

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another beautiful early morning drive… was rather surprised by the amount of traffic…

ended my day with the last of the Thanksgiving mashed potato and green beans, made into patties and shrimp

in between I learned some very cool things regarding photos on my phone… been trying for ages to save slideshows on my phone… and today a colleague helped me figure it out… so exciting… I do love technology...

gotta go and play now;-)…

passport…

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today I applied for a new passport… had printed off the documents ahead of time and was in and out of their office in about six minutes…

this is what they do to expired passports…

I had been dropped off, and after I was done, I walked back to the office in the lovely fall sunshine…

as I walked along I was remembering when I got my first passport…

it was about six months after George died and I had decided to take all the kids on a vacation so had to go and get a passport… I had never had one before…

it was odd preparing the paperwork and going through the process required to find individuals to act as references, having a photo taken and then taking in the paperwork… the kind of thing we would have done together

five years have passed since that day at the passport office… hard to believe that my beloved has been gone for five years, six months and twenty-seven days…

loved this view of the moon over the flag as I was waiting to cross the street…

appreciate…

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what a lovely day… kids arrived and we decided to head out to get a few pumpkins… on our way we FaceTimed with the kids in Ottawa… good to see them and share Thanksgiving greetings…

we’ve been trying to get to Schwabe Pumpkins for a few weeks… it was chilly and rain came down a few times while we were there, but fun, and we really enjoyed the colours as we drove there and back…

when we got home the boys caught the fish, cleaned and got the aquarium going, and moved the fish into their condo…

the youngest two reorganized the sea shells as we talked about the fun we had in Mexico in March…

dinner was delicious and cleanup was quick with all the help… leftovers for here and there were packed up and they headed home…

I certainly appreciated having their company for the day… now to bed…

tasks…

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yesterday I spent time setting the table for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner with my Winnipeg kids…

doing these small tasks while thinking of so many previous Thanksgivings brought to mind how George and I would work as a team to get the house and dinner ready for friends and family…

his job was to grocery shop and get the house organized… that could be tidying or cleaning or reorganizing the hall closet, depending on what he felt was most important… and often, to make a pie

my job was to prep and cook the meal…

now I get to shop, tidy and everything else… the good news is that someone comes in now and again to clean so I don’t have to do that piece…

I have worked out a system where I do bits and pieces of the prep work over a few days before the special day so that I don’t feel exhausted…

yesterday I even made an apple pie…

today I started my day with a walk to and around the Park

it was cool and windy… spent quite a bit of time with the geese… still trying to get some good shots of them taking off and landing…

once home I made stuffing, cranberry sauce, peeled and cooked turnip, prepped potatoes, green beans and cauliflower… also cooked the ham and started pea soup…

sounds like a lot, but fit in naps and tv too;-)… there is something holy about preparing space and food for others…

lots of memories as I moved through the day, but this time they are happy, not sad… a step forward

thinking…

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today I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of some of the reasons to be thankful

my health…

family and friends…

work and great colleagues…

a comfortable home and garden…

almost forty-two years of marriage…

I’ve also been appreciating my car and the garage that she gets to live in… George did the majority of the driving, partly because I was happy to be chauffeured, but mostly because he loved to drive…

one of our traditions was to take a drive out of the city to enjoy the colours of the foliage… sad that has fallen by the wayside… still not prepared to drive on the highway, lol…

once I was on my own I had to put on those big girl pants and drive myself places… going in and out was huge, as there is a little jog between the driveway and the garage… every time I went in or out was stressful

now it is a piece of cake…

had some fun today and made an apple pie for our Thanksgiving dinner, which is a rare occurrence… George was the pie maker and I’m thinking he would be proud of me… looks good, fingers crossed that it tastes good too…

heavens…

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of course, on a day off I woke up at 5:30, so I headed out for a hot tub…

the heavens were amazing and the moon was huge… the stars were very bright and I was able to get a picture of Orion’s Belt

considering it was on my phone it came out pretty good, lol…

the streetlight shining on the lawn furniture was also lovely…

as I was driving toward my appointment this morning the moon looked like it was close enough to touch

happy I stopped and took a few photos, because by the time I got out of the car, it was gone

had a nap this afternoon;-)…