For the first time since 2020, I'm sending out a few Christmas cards. (I planned to last year, but Canada Post was on strike!)
My grandson is in full Christmas-fever mode! I spent a PD day with them... The kids made an indoor slide using a foam mattress.
Elves are out...
Decorating for Christmas is in...
For kids, there's nothing more exciting than counting down to Christmas... and decorating the Christmas tree!
I finally completed my phenology calendar for November 2025.
As I coloured in the month's daily temperatures, I realized that they didn't fluctuate all that much, hovering around the freezing mark, sometimes a few degrees above, sometimes a few degrees below.
Fewer, if any, animal sightings are noted.
There were fewer sunny days in November than in October. It was a cloudy grey month.
Looking back at my first phenology calendar, January, 2025, I was astounded by the many colours that jumped out at me!
Did I have more enthusiasm back then?! I wonder! Or did I just use more colourful pens and crayons?
I noticed a dark BLOB on the backyard fence...
Moved closer. It was a squirrel - motionless - head falling forward... Was the squirrel okay?!
After staring at it for a few moments, I concluded that it had been basking in the sun... and had simply fallen asleep!
Hope he doesn't fall off!!
I tried to grow aloe vera for years - before I found one that does well for me...
Now I have so many!
Time to give some away!
Terry and I rarely eat the breakfast together ... but recently we were both at the table with our respective (quick) breakfasts - bowls of cereal.
I was eating the one with raisins (which I had accidentally bought, thinking it was another with similar packaging). Terry was eating his favourite, which I jokingly refer to as "cardboard."
I wonder how much fiber they each contain, I commented, (fiber being the main reason I buy "bran" cereals.) So I put on my reading glasses and looked...
I can't believe it! Your "cardboard" has more fiber than my "bran" cereal! Yours has 6 grams of fiber per cup. Mine only has 5!
And when it comes to sugar, your "cardboard" has only 9 grams - while mine has 20!
Time to start pulling out my reading glasses - to check nutritional information - BEFORE I buy anything!
Unplanned deliciousness!
I love "coming up" with tasty treats. Not a lot of planning - but delicious in the end...
A while back, I made a quantity of apple crisp topping - and had a bit leftover...
What to do with the rest? I wanted to use it up...
Discovered a cup of frozen sweet cherries in the freezer. Poured it into an oven-safe bowl.
Not quite enough... What else do we have?! A bag of frozen mixed berries... blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.
Added a cup of that. Heated it all up in the microwave. Sprinkled on the topping. (No additional sugar.)
Baked it for half an hour...
It was delicious!
Terry may still prefer apple crisp - but cherry-berry crisp is now officially my favourite - an unplanned surprise!
I'm really excited to be nearing the end of my virtual walk along Route 66!
I started in June 2024, wondering if I could even do it - walk 3,670 km in under two years!
Now I'm hoping to finish the challenge in a year and a half.
For the past few months, I've been surrounded by desert...
I'm ready for greenery again!
I'm not sure where I'll walk next - maybe in the UK... Maybe in Australia... Or maybe on a road with ocean views along the coast of Vietnam...
For my next (8th!) virtual hike, I'm looking for a challenge of 500 to 1000 km.
Wherever I end up going, I know it will be very interesting. They always are!
