Manubrium Monday

manubrium ~ any handle-like structure

I was talking to one of my sisters on the phone yesterday and I said our weather lately has been crazy all over the place, like Mother Nature has been using a roulette wheel to pick what the day is going to bring. One day it’s hot enough for a tank top, the next it’s cold enough for a jacket, with wind and rain and overcast skies in between. You just never know what the day’s going to bring.

Take today, for instance. It’s a little windy, a little overcast, a little chilly, but it’s supposed to warm up and be sunny later. And by the end of the week we’re supposed to be back up to 24 Celsius (75 Fahrenheit). Maybe I was a little premature in putting away my summer clothes.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned we had a family outing to the CNE, but I forgot to mention that one of the traditions is that I pick up something . . . frivolous. This is why you’ll see a variety of weird things around my house, like a voodoo stick, wooden chest, dragon holding a plasma ball, etc. This year it was a mask to add to the collection in my office, which is where my story starts.

It’s not that I didn’t have room for another mask, it’s just that we had to rearrange the masks on the wall to make room for it. And then the hubby suggested I might want some of my other keepsakes that sort of went with the masks in my office – things like the didgeridoo, voodoo stick, and rain stick.

Which seemed like a good idea except the only place I had room for them was behind my reading chair. But I also have a pole lamp behind my chair that kind of took up more than its fair share of space because it was too short for the height of the chair so I had it up on a wooden stand.

I managed to wedge the rain stick in behind it, decided it looked stupid and pulled it out again and in the process knocked the glass chimney that covered the light bulb and held up the lamp shade which shattered all over my head – the glass chimney, not the lamp shade.

But I digress.

Once I had the masks rearranged, I realized I had space for one more mask. So on the weekend the hubby and I went to Primitive Designs (a seasonal import store that’s just crammed with really cool stuff), and I bought yet another mask. It’s not the mask I had in mind, but the more I stared at the one I was going to get, the more it creeped me out. There was no way I wanted that thing staring over my shoulder when I was working in my office.

So . . . now my wall is filled and the glass chimney has been replaced and all is right with the world.

And is that the end of my mask collecting?

Probably not.

The Fog Is Very Thick Today . . .

Every photographer has their own unique approach for taking pictures, and apparently mine is to take as many possible and hope one (or more) turn out okay. LOL

I was down at the west beach a couple of times this week, once to take pictures of the monarchs that are attracted to the goldenrod, and once to take pictures in the fog.

The first time I went down in the fog, the fog was heavier than I expected and obscured a lot of what I wanted to photograph. Then the battery ran out in my camera and when I went back about an hour later the fog had lifted enough to take the romance out of the landscape. *sigh* Maybe next time

Of all the pictures I took (about 90 all in all), this one is my favorite. I may not always get along with spiders, but there's something magical about their webs, don't you think?

Melopepon Monday

melopepon ~ any of various kinds of squash

Last week I had my yearly eye exam, and I’m pretty sure I had a reaction to the drops the doctor used. I’ve had both kinds before – the ones for the diabetic check and the ones for glaucoma – but never both at the same time. Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night having a reaction to something and spent the rest of the week getting over it.

Obviously I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished last week. It was my last week of babysitting but it was also a short week so it kind of eased me out of it. Which was just as well considering the way I was feeling.

We offered to take the grandbaby out to lunch, but she didn’t want to sit in a restaurant. Instead we went to good old MacDonald’s so she could play in the play area, and then we went to one of the local parks to visit the ducks and took a short walk to watch the fishermen on the bridge.

There really wasn't much else to see because summer really is over. We haven’t had to use the air conditioner in weeks, and the nights are getting seriously cold. We had a frost warning last night! The temperature dipped to 10 C (that’s 50 F for you Yankees) overnight. Sorry hubby, I don't think there's going to be any more swimming this year.

Today I’m going to spend some time changing over to my fall/winter wardrobe. Normally I’d wait until later in the month – this is Canada after all and the weather is nothing if not unpredictable – but I don’t think there’ll be any coming back from this.

I learned an interesting gardening fact yesterday. If you plant pumpkins too close to squash, the squash become hybrids. My neighbour gave me a piece of what appeared to be an acorn squash and I cooked it up to have with supper last night. It had a definite pumpkin flavour to it.

It was a really short growing season this year - the gardens are starting to look a little rough. I picked a pumpkin, the hubby picked another whole bagful of beans, and I discovered a teeny tiny little pepper hiding behind the broccoli that did nothing but take up a lot of space in the garden. I'm pretty sure the carrots are ready to be picked and I have another tiny orange pumpkin and a bigger green one.

Concerned about the frost, I raided my linen closet for an old sheet to cover the tomato plants. Picture this: me in my jean jacket and the hubby in his pajamas, late at night, cursing only a little as we tried to cover as much of the tomatoes as we can with a sheet.

Oh, the things we do for our gardens!

Summer's End

Last Friday I went down to the west beach with a friend to take pictures. We did the same thing last summer, but much earlier in the season - while it was still colourful, the colour was definitely fading.

After scrolling through my 100+ pictures, and taking way too long to pick one, I finally decided on one of my favorite flower - the sweet pea.

Mournival Monday

mournival ~ set of four things

I’m not sure whether I should be saying happy Labour Day, or holy crap it’s Labour Day already!

I don’t know about you, but September never fails to take me by surprise. One day we’re experiencing August’s dog days of summer, and the next day it’s fall.

If you live in Ontario, Canada, as I do, the traditional way to end summer is a visit to the Canadian National Exhibition. It opens the second last week of August and closes at the end of Labour Day.

When the daughter was little we used to go to the CNE as a mommy/daughter thing. However, we did not go for the midway or the games, we went for the shopping. Then she started growing up and discovered boys and we came to an important realization – boys are great for carrying our stuff! LOL

This year we went on a week day, which was far less crowded than the weekend, and it was a rainy weekday at that which further reduced the crowds. It was awesome!

Considering we arrived late in the morning and left again around supper time, we sure packed a lot into our day, starting with the grandbaby meeting Chase from the Paw Patrol:

This took place in the Kid Zone, an area of the fairgrounds set aside for kids activities. So naturally she got to play a few games and go on a few of the kid-sized rides:

While she and her parents were doing that, the hubby and I checked out the arts and crafts building and we all met up again at the food pavilion for lunch. It was pouring rain by the time we were done, but that was okay because it was time for shopping in the international market and that was in another big building.

We also wandered through the Legends of the Silk Road exhibit, which featured fairy tale scenarios like this one:

The hubby and I needed a break from all that walking, so we sat with the grandbaby to watch a group of African singing acrobats perform. By the time this was over it had stopped raining long enough for us to go out onto the midway to try our luck at some of the games. Please note you aren’t seeing a picture of one of the large stuffed animals any of us won. LOL

We hurried back inside to catch Abracadabark – the show put on by the President’s Choice SuperDogs. The grandbaby even got to meet a couple of her favourites.

After that it was time to head for home – tired and broke, but happy. As it should be.

Monkey Business

This picture was taken about two weeks ago when we took the grandbaby to the Riverview Park and Zoo in Peterborugh. It's one of the few pictures I was able to take with my camera before the battery ran out.

I still can't believe with all the other preparations I made for that day it never occurred to me to check the battery in the camera. And the really sad part is, I have two batteries for this camera and keep a fully charged one inside the camera case. Unfortunately, I didn't have the case with me, I just carried my camera.

Another lesson learned. *sigh*

Melic Monday

melic ~ to be sung; lyric

Boy howdy, it was a busy week last week. And I feel like I need a vacation from my weekend, it was that busy.

The weekend actually started on Thursday, when the daughter and I went to the Fan Expo in Toronto.

If you’re looking for comics, comic book art, or Funko pops, Fan Expo is the place for you. It was actually the half day preview, so there were no celebrities, but there were lots of people dressed in their cosplay outfits. I bought some original artwork posters and drooled over a Klingon bat’leth and a display of steampunk hats. I still regret not asking the price of the hats. LOL

I had Friday to recover, and then Saturday there was a big open house to celebrate the 65th wedding anniversary of the hubby’s parents. The mother-in-law’s health hasn’t been good the last few months but she rallied for the open house at the hall. There was tons of food and tons of people to eat it.

Even though a good portion of the extended family are local (or within easy driving distance) we seldom get together unless there’s a celebration like this. Sadly, we’re none of us getting any younger so there were many faces missing, but it was great to see all the ones that were able to make it.

Later we all went back to the hall for a catered family dinner. And when I say all, I mean kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. All totalled, the family consists of five children, eleven grandchildren, and eleven great grandchildren. Not all of the grands were able to make it, but we still managed to fill five tables.

And since most of the family were coming together for the anniversary party, the oldest son decided this would make a good time to get married. Which he did, on Sunday. It was a beautiful, intimate affair in a secluded courtyard of a local hotel, followed by an incredibly decadent lunch.

Today is another day of rest, but tomorrow . . . tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow we’re going to the Ex – the Canadian National Exhibition. This is Canada’s largest fair, and the sixth largest in North America.

But that will next week’s post. :-)