Birthday Memory

I have a winter birthday... so I'm always looking for fun INDOOR things to do with EVERYONE in the family.

Last year, we all went 5-pin bowling together... It was fun (though I scored very poorly)! I haven't bowled in decades! Every time it was my turn, I asked my grandson to roll my first ball using this dinosaur helper. That way I always got at least one pin down!

Terry and the other adults did really well! I was on the kids' team - and my grandkids were better than me! Never mind! We all had fun!

After that we headed to the community pool to watch Ivy have her swimming lesson.

Then - dinner out... and ice cream cake for dessert!

A beautiful, joyful day! 

Family, fun and food make for a wonderful celebration - anytime - not just on birthdays!

Winter Masterpieces

As winter disappears, making way for spring...

I want to remember the beauty of this past winter's gifts...

Amazing snow sculptures - created by blowing wind in "just the right" sticky conditions...

And giant icicles created by freeze and thaw - and an uninsulated roof!

Beautiful - and sometimes dangerous - art!

But my favourite winter "art" is colourful sky - when it surprises me at dawn and dusk... in an otherwise drab-coloured world.

Astounding beauty that feeds my soul!

What to Do...?

I bought a small peace lily many years ago. It had lush green leaves. It grew and eventually bloomed - some years producing several flowers.

A few years later, it stopped blooming at all. Eventually, I decided to divide the plant - maybe it had outgrown its pot. Repotting it, I discovered that the pot was totally root-bound. In fact, I had to cut the roots with a garden saw to divide the plant. 

I put the roots into three pots, added fresh potting soil, placed them in a north-facing window for indirect sunlight - and continued to water them, hoping for an abundance of flowers.

Long story short, there was no amazing recovery. Only two of the three ever bloomed. And the leaves of all three plants were pale and yellowish, rather than lush green.

What could the problem be? I looked up "peace lily yellow leaves" in a gardening website... and found no answers - only questions!

Are the yellow leaves on the bottom? If so, the yellowing might be part of the natural process. They may be dying to make way for new growth.

Are they on top? Maybe there is too much sunlight. Or... too much water.

Hmmm... I don't think so.

Do they need fertilizer? I assume that the fresh soil would have adequate nutrients for a few years... i haven't fertilized them.

Maybe I should put them in a new location. Sometimes, for some unknown reason, that makes a difference.

"Who Do I Look Like?!"

 "Who do I look like?!" my granddaughter asks...

Grandma?!

I guess my reading glasses perched on the end of my nose - and my cup of coffee - do define me... (in my granddaughter's eyes, anyway)...

She has always loved to try on my glasses!

Here she is staring at them when she was a year or two old... while I read to her!

And here she is - a few years later... trying them on...

An early fascination, for sure! (While her brother has really never taken any interest...)

We're all different!

Learning More

My grandfather was a carpenter - who built houses and barns - and, in his latter years had a "sash and door" business, making windows and doors.

Here is one of the barns he built 100 years ago. It's still in use! I visited it last winter in Edmonton.

My brother hung around our grandpa's workshop after school - but I stayed away from the buzzing saws. Too dangerous! (Though fun to watch from a distance.)

So it's not surprising that I've never done any crafting in wood - though I do have an electric sander and have refinished tables, chairs, and old pine cupboards.

Recently - in my winter decluttering - my attention turned to this hand-made wooden duck, a gift to my parents from a visiting cousin.

Would my kids like it?

Who is the artist? Ron Sadler.

Online... I discovered that Ron Sadler had made many beautiful wooden birds which he sold in his Ontario woodworking studio. 

His passion must have been birds ... and wood. Beautiful!

Taking the Stairs

My phone has a "health" app that tracks the number of steps I take every day.

My goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps - so I check the app several times a day, to see how I'm doing.

I recently noticed that my app also notes the number of flights of stairs I walk - usually two or three.

But one day I apparently walked18 flights! (Was that a mistake?!)

Do you remember when I might have walked up and down 18 flights of stairs? I asked Terry.

Maybe the day you vacuumed and organized the upstairs bedrooms, he replied. You were going up and down a lot.

Yes! That was it!

The undervalued benefit of house cleaning as a fitness activity! (And the fitness benefit of preparing for guests!)

Orchid Beginning to Bloom

What's this I see?!

My orchid is beginning to bloom! I've been waiting for this for weeks!

It changes slowly... 

But its blooming is such a satisfying affirmation... Yay! I got it right! Not too much (or too little) water... Just the right indoor temperature and light.