All that remains...........

(Click on the above arrow to start the audio--it will be just like you are inside my head.  Scary, right?)

I donned the snowshoes today and headed out to enjoy the sun.  It was lovely--windy and very cold but still lovely. 

I happened upon the remains of this past summer's sunflowers and this Jesse Cook song came to mind.  Is this a sign of cabin fever?

Summer Sunflowers

Fall Sunflowers

 



Winter Sunflowers

Hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy the sun and soak up some Vitamin D?  It does wonders. 

Just another note about the blog.  I can only set a few email addresses up to be notified of a new post so put it in your "Favourites" and don't forget to check in every now and then.  AND do a post of your own.  You may have noticed I have strayed a bit away from the blog theme but what the heck!

Also from the south.... Just south of Seven.

Today Mom and Dad had a day with just Miss Zoë, so Justin and I had a Mommy/Son day. The day started out with snuggles and a movie and then we took to the yard for a sunny day of sledding. I would have liked to get more pictures but Little Man said to "put down my phone and watch. No pictures Mom."

After lunch we painted some pictures with our new paint and had a nap... Both of us :)

When John came home we hit the hill again until dinner. 

This weekend is the sled dog races in Marmora. Some more winter fun... Just south of Seven.

Greetings from the Sunny South!!!!!

Okay so it is south of the Bay Bridge but it was definitely sunny here in the County today.  Warm enough to sit on the back deck and warm enough for me to think that our little gathering here today was would qualify for the blog. 

It was a bit of respite from the regular routine.

We got the morning appointments out of the way--physio for me and a check up for Wayne at his G.P.--and returned home to start the preparations for our afternoon company.

I had invited Mom, Dad, Aunt Betty and Gail over for tea.  I decided to try a couple of new scone recipes (not that I had a regular one--I can't even remember if I have made scones before......).

Laurie, you would have been proud.  I think they turned out pretty good.  Not as good as yours but close, I think. 

One was a cranberry-orange and the other was to be a regular scone with lemon zest and buttermilk.  That was until I noticed the asterisk at the bottom of the recipe that suggested an alternative that included chocolate!!!!  What a great variation--more like cake than scone but that was okay.

 

 

While we waited for our company to arrive, Riley and I took it outside. It was beautiful on the back deck out of the wind. Close you eyes and you could almost imagine it was spring.

I think Riley was trying to tan his belly!

Anyway, we had lovely visit with everyone and enjoyed some tea and tasty treats.

  Don't forget to share!

Birds of a feather!

Well today it is rather cool in Fla sadly BUT sunny so will look for a protected spot poolside to read.

 This year we are staying right next to the Sea Bird Sanctuary. Nice condo if you like birds and don't mind daily deposits on your car. NOT.

Aside from the healing birds at the sanctuary, there are hundreds of freeloaders perched on surrounding roof tops. Yikes wouldn't want to spend over a million dollars on a waterfront home next to a bird sanctuary. Imagine the smell mid July!

I do have a picture of the dastardly Pelicans on the surrounding roof tops but I will be darned if I can upload into this post. Drat!

NOTE:  There does seem to be a bit of an issue uploading pictures directly from computer files.  I have to put mine in a Picasa Web Album (an option when you open up the icon for inserting images) then can insert them in a post from there.  Not sure what the issue is.  Anyone got any suggestions?  In the meantime, if anyone wants to post you can always email the pics to me and I can insert them like I did for this one.  I will try and find a fix.
Sue

A Cautionary Tale..........

So here is the first entry into our "Community Blog".  I am a little behind on getting this thing going.  Laurie contributed a post before the end of December.  I think you may remember Laurie and her "other half" Gord from our Bye Bye Long John's blog. 
This is a great entry to start with because it can serve as a reminder to all of us to check and double check those "to do" list well ahead of your departure day.

Enjoy!

Today was a total adventure- well actually the day started last Saturday afternoon- I digress but it is a necessary part of the story. I pulled out our passports for our trip......... after all this procedure was on my excel spreadsheet entitled- "Checklist for Departure to Florida". Gord's passport expired Nov 2014! WTF? Ok rally- here is the plan- we download a copy of the application- fill it in and make plans to depart the County at 6:00 AM for a trip to the Scarborough Passport office to complete an emergency passport renewal on Monday. Normally we would be heading to the Ivey Lea (sp?) bridge to the US. BUT we had to reroute.

 

That would be Gord waving at the end of a very long line-up.
 

 

8:00 AM arrive at the passport office to a line up that no one has ever witnessed in the somewhat unicultural environment of Prince Edward County. Pics are attached of Gord waving and being excited about being the 60th person in line. They march us single file to the second floor for processing.

 

All good except they want more than two people to reference the fact that Gord is a decent fellow and needs a passport - right now! Today! Our car is loaded and we are off to FLA. We scramble- pull out a couple more names of folks who can say they think he is an ok guy. BTW they asked these referees a lot of personal questions about Gord- geesh.

 

 

 

We are told he will not receive his new passport until 4:00 PM! Ok when the chips are down, go to the Mall, shop at Lululemons (pic to follow), get manicures and access email at the very fancy Scotiabank lounge with red Lucite lamps, white leather furniture, free bottles of water and Kernels popcorn (pic to follow). Ok a delay of this kind can be tolerated.

Just following the manicures, we receive calls from friends Bob and Ben who tell us the Passport office has called. So we take a leap of faith and arrive at the Passport office early asking about the status. Voila! Passport in hand at 11:53 AM. We dart off for Buffalo to enter the US.

 

 

 

Well, again, no one who has ever crossed at Gananoque could possibly imagine the one hour line up at customs. (pic to follow). Geesh we are already behind the 8 ball- one hour? We have to drive 1,400 miles to Florida. REALLY?

We departed PEC at 6:00 AM and arrived at our hotel (Best Western- "no tell motel") at 8:00 PM in Morgantown, West Virginia. 850 clicks from home and totally exhausted. Snack pack in the car fed us all day and we are turning in shortly. Well after a bottle of Keint-He wine. Weather was favourable for driving with only a few flurries en route. Clearly we needed something favourable- didn't we?

No Krispy Creams, no Dunkins during the day, but we are moving forward to sun and sand. Thank Gord- I mean "God".

 

Just so you know, Gord and Laurie arrived safely and are now enjoying all that Florida has to offer this time of year.  Here's hoping they share more of their adventures in Paradise soon!  Laurie was good enough to provide us with our first Florida sunset pic as well.