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.

Pure Winter Fun!

A week ago - on Family Day weekend - our whole family headed out into the country for an afternoon of cheese tasting and sledding fun.

We had heard that a small local artisan cheese factory called "Back Forty" was having an open house... They also have a hiking trail and a sledding hill.

A beautiful place, near a river. On a nearby sliver of open water, we noticed swans out swimming...

After eating our grilled cheese sandwiches - made with locally produced cheese and sour dough bread, we headed out to the sledding hill - where all (except Terry and me!) trekked up and sled or snowboarded down (again and again and again)...

The same winter fun I remember enjoying  as a child!

Then home... on snow-covered country roads! A perfect day!

More Snow!

Yes, we have more snow!

Terry hasn't been out a lot during the past two weeks. First he injured his wrists, shovelling - and was in a lot of pain. Then he picked up a cold...

So I wasn't sure how we would handle this significant snowfall. But he decided to go out and do "just a bit" of shovelling.

Fortunately we have kind neighbours! Ken and his ride-on snowblower came over and did most of the heavy lifting!

Maybe we should get Terry one of those ride-on machines for Christmas! (Maybe I could even learn how to use it myself...  It could be fun!)

Year of the Horse

Terry often asks me what I learned walking in the mall that day.

Well, yesterday I discovered that the new Chinese year is ... the year of the horse. 

Online some call it the year of the "fire horse"...

Not sure what all that means... but the sign nearby calls it a symbol of strength, freedom and success... All good things!

Nostalgia

Our visit to the college last week - to watch our granddaughter dance - was full of nostalgia for Terry.

A year after retiring, he started to teach at the college in the social service worker program. So it was exciting to return... 

He wanted to have his picture taken next to the photo of his (now-retired) friend and colleague who encouraged him to apply.

Hard to believe that Terry taught here, part time, for 10 full years! It definitely added interest to his life!

Dance Competition

Last week, our granddaughter participated in a dance competition at the college near our house.

Terry and I walked over to watch.

It was a "pairs" competition - just Ivy and her partner on stage....

I pulled out my phone and managed to snap a few pictures.

Later, when we joined up with her in the lobby, Terry said: You were great! But when she lifted you up, upside down, I was so shocked... Your partner must be very strong!

WHAAT?!! Ivy was in the air upside down?! I didn't see that!

That's the problem with taking pictures. You sometimes miss important things when you're fiddling with your camera! 

Surviving Winter

I've never really LOVED winter. I didn't mind it so much, as a child. I liked to build snowmen and make "snow angels" on fresh show. We built our fair share of winter "forts" to hide behind when throwing snowballs.

But I never enjoyed winter sports. 

I tried skating and skiing - the old-fashioned way... Not on a ski hill with a lift... After we slid down the hill on our skis, my uncle Knut taught us to step sideways to walk back up again.

This year, we've had a lot of cold, snowy weather. I haven't gone for outdoor walks - but I do continue to walk (and shop!) in a nearby mall. 

I've also surrounded myself with things I love to do - like knitting and crocheting.

I try to capture the world outside my window in a tiny daily sketch - focusing on the sky.

I blog... I've started a new eating plan to help me control my type 2 diabetes. So I'm full of optimism... in spite of the snow and slippery roads! 

I'm happy, content. I'd say, I'm not only surviving... I'm thriving... in this, my least favourite season of the year!

A "Soup" Kind of Day!

Yesterday was ALMOST warm ... warmer than last week - but not quite spring...

Terry was lying low with a cold...

A perfect day for making my favourite chunky vegetable bean soup! I like to make a large pot - so there's lots for another day.

Thinking About ... Family

Today is "Family Day" in Ontario. It's a relatively new holiday - that came into effect for a few weeks AFTER I retired!

I recently came across this picture of Terry's father as a child - in a family picture that includes Terry's grandfather, Donald, his grandmother, Olive Ruth, and Terry's uncle (his father's younger brother) also named Donald.

The only one in this group that I ever met was Terry's grandmother - who attended our wedding. For a while, we all lived in Montreal - so we would see each other regularly. Our children all met "Nan Hutchins" when they were very young.

It's a beautiful family photo, probably taken in the early 1930's.

That's a First!!

Have we had more snow than usual this year?!

City workers have kept busy clearing our roads. 

Our neighbour, Mary, filled us in on something Terry and I missed the other day...

You missed the excitement again.  We were coming up our street and noticed a truck appeared to be parked in the middle of the road at our end of the street.  

As we got closer we noticed that a dump truck was partially parked in our neighbour's driveway and there was a backhoe removing snow at the dead end part of the street.

In our forty years of living here, I have never seen them remove snow from our end of the street. 

Kim noted that she now won't have to climb a mountain to walk through the field to get to work.

That is a first! 

I remember one winter, when the college first purchased the elementary school property that had been next door to us and closed off the road with large boulders. Our street was no longer the point of entry into a school yard, so we lost our special status for early snow removal. 

But they forgot to put us on another snow removal roster - so our end of the street had NO snow removal at all until we complained to our counsellor!

That was frustrating! 

I wonder if this year the city was worried about losing access to the fire hydrant if snow got any higher. Or maybe they were concerned about spring flooding.

Whatever the reason, glad someone is looking out!

Follow Your Heart!

I thought my grandkids might enjoy these cute Valentines...

When I gave them to Jericho, he immediately started to assemble them. The creator's idea was to have each pair of paws hold a heart-shaped eraser, like the cat is doing on the right. Great idea!

But in Jericho's imagination, the sticky paws could do much more. The animals could dance! 

Give hugs! Toss each other up in the air! (Didn't get a picture of that one!)

Jericho's Valentines had much more life - "joie de vivre" -  without instructions! 

That's it! Follow your heart! Instructions are just suggestions! 

New Neighbours?!

After our last snow fall, I noticed a tiny path in the snow - between our neighbour's cedars and our wooden shed...

Do we have new neighbours? 

Mice? Rats? Chipmunks perhaps? 

Not an animal that hops. One that burrows, or so it seems to me. And the burrowing path stops at the base of our shed!

A skunk once lived under that shed. It would let off warning whiffs from time to time. After it left, Terry wired up all entry spaces... or so he thought!

But those tracks... Tracks in the snow don't tell a lie! I think we have new neighbours!

Craving Colour

These days, I'm craving colour...

Small tasks - like organizing my coloured pencils - give me great satisfaction.

And I'm inspired to work on a bright, bold, colourful quilt! Haven't started it though. Still gathering ideas!

Morning Entertainment

These snowy grey mornings...

I'm entertained by the antics of squirrels!