Even so, we do "drop in" for a quick visit from time to time, thanks to FaceTime - an app similar to Skype.
I notice that spring is arriving there, too: The leaves on the trees are filling in! Hope to be back soon!
Terry and I have a long-standing tradition of driving to Perth (Ontario) for their annual maple syrup festival.
After all, maple syrup is one of Terry's favourite foods - and he loves to sample!
Last Saturday, our family met up there.
In spite of coolish weather ...
We all had a wonderful time!
Yesterday was Ivy's first "double-digit" birthday...
She turned 10!
Here are a few more memories - provided by our photo app.
So much fun to remember!
History being made one day at a time.
Today is Ivy's 10th birthday!!
For me - and for those who were there at the beginning - it's a time of looking back and MARVELING at all the changes we've seen... in what seems to be such a short time - in the big picture...
But, of course, for her, it's been a LIFETIME!
Here we are on May 7, 2016. I'm holding this precious baby for the first time. She's one week old!
(Do we all look younger?!)
And here are more "portraits over the years," as chosen by my photo app...
Such great memories for us all!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You've added so much to our lives!
🎉 🎂 🎈
Hmmm. If you sit very, very still, maybe no one will notice you're there!...
I walked past this spot a few days earlier ...
I noticed the sign but I didn't understand.
Then, a few days later, I walked past again... and I noticed her - a mother goose - sitting very, very still in a planter.
The planter was in a quiet corner of a shopping mall.
I looked around but couldn't spot her protector - the father goose. I'm sure he was there, somewhere, watching, ready to fly to her defence.
I'd really love to come by every few days, just to see what is happening - but it's not my usual path...
From my limited experience, I notice that urban Canada geese choose the most unlikely spots to build their simple nests - a few sticks on the roof of the house (next to my daughter's apartment in Guelph). On the edge of a cliff overlooking the river in Manotick. And now this planter in a strip mall.
Her days here may be numbered...
Is it my imagination, or do I see a gosling peering out from under her wing feathers? Have some or all of her eggs hatched - and she is now covering her chicks with her wings? If so, they may soon be gone.
They don't learn to fly for several months... but they do walk away from their nests when all the eggs are hatched. They follow their parents, when only a few days old, walking - as their parents search for grass and water. Then, several months later, much larger and stronger - they begin to fly.
But recently my photo app brought back this memory. Seven or eight years ago... (though it seems like yesterday)...
An age when everything - even housework - was a game. It was all pure fun! (And getting that spray bottle to work was a challenge!)
Nature is not deterred!
Spring is here!
