Day 288 Thursday Oct 29

Drove out to DV this morning since Jim would be back in town by 1 pm then going out to check a new location. A perfect opportunity to spend the afternoon/evening together.

Jim had to stop and fuel up from his slip tank on the way out to the new location......

Day 287....Wednesday, October 28

A carpet of leaves ....... seen on my travels to Camrose where I went to the bank since I forgot that it was Wednesday and the bank in NN closed at just past noon.

Day 286 - Tuesday, October 27

A little out of focus, but you get the idea......going to town to get my nails done.

Day 285. Monday, October 26

On the road between my house and Wetaskiwin. (Not that I drove by it today....I'm cheating and taking the photo from another day)

Day 284...Sunday, October 25

One photo....of Daniel coming down out of the attic after patching the hole that is where the chimney goes through the ceiling.

He did not want me to take this photo because he didn't want anyone to see him wearing cowboy boots.

Then why did he 'buy' them?

Day 283 Saturday, October 24

Remember the hole in our basement wall? Well, Jim put a temporary 'plug' in it and then we sort of forgot about it over our busy summer.

It is fall now, and the rodents are attracted to the warmth of the house. We remembered the hole but unfortunately, Jim was away at work.

One of the benefits of having Daniel at home is that he is pretty handy at things like fixing holes in basement walls......it was the first thing he did after settling himself in the house.






As for me.....my temperature is normal today. I feel better but now am coughing and sniffling - not alot, but ......

This evening was the more 'public' celebration of Jessica and Brock's marriage. I'm glad I was feeling well enough to go.

How many brides get to get all 'dooed up' and wear their wedding gown TWICE?

I think Brock looked happier and certainly less nervous than he did on October 3....their actual wedding day.

One of the many relatives I was able to touch base with tonight was newborn Rebecca Jayne....great granddaughter of my Aunt Mavis....granddaughter of my cousin Gail........daughter of Crystal, who is the same age as Kathryn. Rebecca was born the same day as Ava.

It was good to see so many rellies and long time family friendss in one place. Here, my cousin Jodi greets my mom.....

All my kids were also there, all looking handsome or beautiful. My grandkids provided much entertainment for the baby loving ladies of my family and the older girls played hard with Seth, Donny and Luca and Jessica`s friend`s little ones.

There are plenty of other photos, but I`m going to try end the year by fulfilling the original goal of this blog ...... ONE photo a day. I already did not accomplish this goal today.

As to that goal......I have felt that this blog has taken away from my original blog. I don`t think it would have if I had stuck to the original purpose. I was supposed to post ONE photo with very limited journalling. Since I`ve not done that, obviously, the posts on this blog have become what would have been on my original blog and since everyone that visits this blog also visits the other blog, I did not want to repeat info on the original.

For this reason (the fact that 365 is taking away from Musings) I am going to focus on the photo aspect of this blog. If I cannot keep myself from posting multiple photos and journalling about them, I will discontinue this blog at the end of the year. If I can actually take or choose ONE photo to give a pictoral history of my life, I will continue next year.

Now you have fair warning.

Day 282 - Friday, October 23

Still 'sick'. Still have a fever, although it is a little lower. Actually, I feel a little better.

I went to town to get some groceries for Daniel to eat.

On the way home, I tried to capture the beauty of the setting sun through the bare branches of the trees.....

Day 281 - Thursday, October 22

Still 'sick'. Still have a fever.



I was supposed to go to Edmonton to spend a couple days with Victoria, Kaden and Ava but we all decided that would not be such a good idea when I am sick.



So, I stayed home.



Unfortunately, I did not feel well enough to really accomplish much - every time I went to

do anything, my mind would not work.

Daniel moved home tonight - late. He had gone to the city wide worship service first.

He is still without a job and although he was enjoying living with Mike and Tor, he could no longer pay the 'rent'. I welcome the company.

Day 280....Wednesday October 21

You may have noticed....I missed a few days.....didn't even think of pulling out my camera. tsk. tsk.

Sorry.

Last night I drove out to DV to spend the evening with my man. Although our time was short, it was nice to just be together - even if it was in a hotel room.

So, my day today started at 5 a.m. There was a fog warning for a the morning so I left as soon as Jim did in order to beat the fog. It was clear until I got to Falun, so most of the way home.

Later on, I went in to NN for the mail....a flock of swans had stopped for a rest in the field across from the village. I slowed down to take the photo, but couldn't actually stop because after all, I was on a highway.






Been fighting some kind of flu the last few days....today it seemed to be more than a threat. I was very tired (not sleepy because I got up early - but the flu-y tired) I woke up after my second nap with a bit of a fever.

Day 278....Sunday, October 18

It has been 2 whole days since I saw my granddaughter so I spent the afternoon and early evening at Michael and Victoria's.

Andrew came up to meet Ava as well, but first, Kaden wanted to show his uncle his new toy.....






Kaden satisfied, Andrew said hello to his newest niece....

She is so pretty.

Kaden found Ava's socks on Mommy and Daddy's bed and tried to put them on.....

Even holding Ava, Uncle Joo still played with Kaden......

Tickle Time over, Kaden requested to hold his baby sister.....

He is very gentle with her.

We had a nice visit, I had lots of cuddle time with Baby Ava, and we shared supper.....after Mike and Tor made 2 mattress sales - the customers coming to the house to pick up their new beds.

Mike will be home for the next few days.

Ava had a good night last night....hopefully she sleeps as well tonight.

Day 277....Saturday, October 17

Obviously, since I had Seth overnight, I also had him for the day today.

When he woke up, I brought him into bed with me for a morning cuddle. When we got up, I turned to make my bed. He ran over to where my flipflops, slippers, and shoes are sitting in the bedroom. He picked up one of my flipflops, ran back over to me, set it on the floor beside me and said "shoes". He then ran back and got the other one.

As I was getting dressed, he explored Papa's side of the bed. After being told he was not allowed to play with the things on Papa's bedside table, he turned to come toward me. Jim's cowboy boots distracted him.

"Papa" he said as he stepped into the boots, which come up to the tops of his legs. He did not try to walk in Papa's boots, but stood there grinning for a minute or two.

Thankfully the weather has warmed up and the snow is melted so Seth could play outside for awhile. He loves being outside.

Here are just some of the things he did in the yard:




Jumped on the trampoline.....he can actually JUMP on it now.






His favorite outside toy is hands down Papa's tractor.....

He also discoved he could climb onto the snowmachine and pretend to drive it.....

He took a turn on the swing......

And discovered the pail of charcoal beside the fire pit.....

He filled his little hands with burned wood and made little piles on the fire pit wall......

He threw the miniscule pieces of black wood......

Put handsful on the picnic table and then spread them around......

Oh yes, and he tasted it, too!

He was also quite interested in the dog's pen......he even got brave enough to go inside.....

He checked out what was in that blue bowl that the puppies were drinking from.....

So much for a busy boy to do at Papa and Mama's house!

Day 276 Friday, October 16

I was not feeling too good today....maybe I'm getting Jim's cold. Nevertheless, I agreed to take Seth for the night and next day so Kath could get some studying and housework done. They had had an extremely busy week - out most every day and evening - so she hadn't had time to keep things picked up and in their small apartment, it doesn't take much to become quite untidy.

Anyway, I went in for Seth but had to wait for him to wake from his nap, which afforded me a visit with my daughter and Taliah.

At home, Seth and I had fun.

Supper....chicken nuggets and apples for him. He dipped the apples in the ketchup!








After supper, he played in the kitchen....jumping, climbing on the stool, and playing with Papa's magnets on the fridge.

Then, Seth led me to the piano where he serenaded me for awhile.....

After awhile, he pulled me over to sit at the piano and motioned for me to play. In spite of the fact that my piano (oops, I mean Lana's piano) is dreadfully out of tune, I played for him. He laughed and pulled out one of the chairs from the child-sized table that sits beside the piano. Seated, he began to use the table as a drum. We had a fun jam session.

The toy box was our next stop where he pulled out a ball. It was a small one that his little hand just fit around. He held it in his hand, reached his arm way over his head, and kind of jumped as he pushed his arm forward. It took several trys before he figured out how to let go of the ball. So funny.

We played 'catch' for quite awhile, then, when I figured he was tired out from all the playing, I put him to bed.

Day 275...Thursday, October 15

Ava Grace was born today at 7:55 p.m

She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

I spent the day with Kaden until his Grampa and Gramma Mauer arrived at about 5 pm. After that, I waited at the hospital until after Ava had made her debut.

Victoria did a great job - especially considering she went from 4 cm to 10 in about 20 minutes and was not even really aware she was in transition at the time. (Similar to Kathrynès experience a few months ago)

Anyway, here is Ava, my 8th grandchild......

She is so cute.....and even though she resembles her brother quite strongly, she is certainly daintier than he was! All girl, for sure.

Day 273. Tuesday, October 13

I had several errands in Camrose today....a trip to the lawyer and a trip to the bank to pay our year end taxes began my list.

I also returned the shoes I bought last week - after wearing them for a day and a half, the ends of my toes were aching. I surmised they were actually too short so I exchanged them for a half size larger. They did not give me an opportunity to try on the new size so I hope they will work. At any rate, I will not be wearing them outside at all until I am sure they are the right size. I was amazed that the store let me return them, actually.

As well, I was on a mission to find some photo corners - which I did not find. But I ran across a sale at the scrapbook store and took advantage of that. I also tried to buy a new blade for my cutter and then finally gave in and just bought a new cutter....one that is popular enough that I can easily find replacement blades.

Then, I returned the universal headset I had purchased a few days before for my cell phone. I guess my phone is not included in the term universal. I went to a couple places searching for a headset that will work with my phone - to no avail.

Here is a photo of the snow covered fields between my home and Camrose.....





At home, I actually used my new computer for the first time for something other than internet... I edited some photos and was excited and amazed at how much more quickly the Dell does the same tasks....my other computer gave me wait time between each click of the mouse - sometimes long enough wait time to play a whole game of solitaire. This comupter works so fast I could hardly keep up with it! NO wait time at all! I am still amazed at this.

Day 272. Monday Oct 12

Jim had to go back to work tonight by 6 pm.




We had a turkey that had to be cooked.




Jim also had several jobs he wanted done before he left for work.




So.....Rob and Andrew came out to clear the old mattresses from the basement and take the foozeball table down and store it out of the way. This left some room in the basement to begin working on cleaning it out.

Jim, in spite of feeling pretty rough because of the cold he had, worked all day getting the yard ready for winter. He spent most of the time working on the dog pen-house.

The ill fitting doors needed to be repaired so the wind would not whistle through the openings around them.....

He also pulled out the old couch that had been in there for the dogs bed and swept all the accumulated shredded dog food bags out, leaving the dogs with a nice, clean house, furnished with plush, cedar filled beds.......

......and kept warm with 2 heat lamps.....

Here are Rob and Andrew - they were supposed to be just taking the foozeball table, but they got involved in going through some boxes, finding treasures from the past.

Rob and Lana were cooking a turkey at their house (pre-planned) and Andrew joined them so he could also watch the hockey game. Vinj and Kath had previous plans. Mike and Tor, of course, were sticking close to home - still having contractions. Daniel was advised to stay in Edmonton because of the roads and weather.

So it was that our Turkey was cooked and enjoyed by only 6.....Mel and Ken, Scott and Chelsea (Suzanne has been sick) and us.......

It was a comparitavely quiet meal and Jim left almost as soon as we had eaten.

I packed up all the leftovers for Daniel (who provides his own food at Mike and Victoriaès) and for Vinj and Kath who had been bitterly disappointed not to be able to partake in turkey and dressing.