We are so lucky to have such a wonderful place to go to. Our cottage, [camp] brings such peace and tranquility in our lives. When we're there, our hearts are content and free from worry.

The weather has been so cool this week, well below normal for this time of year. But even a bad day at camp is better than any day at home! It rained a few times, but we had lots of inside work to do. Our addition is almost complete and we opened up the wall between the main camp and the new room. It's awesome!

I did a lot of brushing again. Give me an axe and I go nuts. I love cutting dead branches and lower limbs on trees. It opens things up and looks so neat and tidy. [I think it's an OCD thing of mine.] Had a few campfires and burned some of the brush. But first I had to cut up all the pieces to just the right size. I'm picky about that.
And I'm so anal about things being out of place or untidy. I even pick up the acorns that fall because they're scattered all over the place like specks of dirt on a floor. If I could, I would even sweep the ground! That's another story though...

The water temperature has gotten too cold for swimming. Gracie only went in once, although it's probably fine for her - it's just that it was so rainy anyway. Doug jumped in after a sauna, but not me. I wasn't brave enough.

We went for a walk on the Shoe Tree Trail. I brought the GPS with me and then I marked the trail with fluorescent tape on branches. I'm usually pretty good with my internal compass and have a good sense of direction, but we often get turned around back on our trail. Now with the markers, it's easy! It's so pretty back there, deep in the woods. The leaves are just beginning to fall and the sun dapples through the trees in spots. It's so quiet back in the bush. Saw one partridge, but that's it!

So, we're back in town for a few days to get some more groceries and building supplies. Having high-speed internet here at home is SO nice after dealing with dial-up at camp. When I'm there I can't even check out the gallery at TwoPeas because photos take forever to upload!

Thanks for dropping by and for those of you that take the time to comment, I appreciate it!

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I took quite a few pics but none that I was overly thrilled with. I'm still struggling with my macro shots taken with my 100mm. I seem to have better success using it without the 1:1 adapter. Perhaps I need to use a tripod more, but I just hate lugging it around with me. This one was taken with that lens.

I'm THRIFTY, not cheap!

I am cheap. There, I said it. Actually, I like to consider myself thrifty, frugal, prudent or even conserving, but somehow the word cheap sounds so, well, cheap! My family has accused me of this trait for many years and razzes me about it constantly. Well, geez, they're going to thank me some day, I know it.

I took out a whole whack of old slides the other day. Most of them are from my Mom's collection, over a thousand I'm sure. Then a few boxes from my M-I-L's. They had been sitting in my closet collecting dust for so many years and I felt it was time to dig them out to have them copied to DVD. Being the ever thrifty person I am, I wanted to save myself a buck and try to do it myself. I did some research to see if it was possible to scan them on my flatbed scanner. I found a few directions, went out and bought the necessary supplies, all to find that it did not work. I wasted a lot of time, but spent only $9 on a fluorescent light, [which I returned]! No biggy.

After that initial failure, I figured I would bite the bullet and have them copied professionally. Walmart could have done each slide for pennies each, but my slides were so old, they would not fit in their scanner. Bummer. Costco doesn't do slides anymore. Bummer. Black's Photography does slides for $1.99 [wow, pricey] but my slides wouldn't fit in their scanner. Bummer. So, I found a place downtown that could do them for $2.00 per slide. I figured it would cost me at least $200 to do the ones I wanted. Only problem is my slides are so old and dirty, I had to disassemble each one to clean the glass inserts. Big job, but I figured worth it. So I began the task of cleaning old slides. For those of you over 50 years old, you might remember the slides I'm talking about. Thick plastic case, two glass inserts and the slide.

As I was having lunch one day with my daughter's boyfriend the other day, he said to me, "couldn't you just take a picture of them while displayed on the projector?" What a genius!! Why didn't I think of that? Long story short [ya, right] that's exactly what I did! I saved myself a couple of hundred dollars by doing it myself! I think they turned out wonderfully! I'm in the process of editing them now [hundreds] but thought I'd show you a few of my favourites.

So these are essentially, SOOC from the original camera and then from my camera after taking the picture on the screen. With a little tweaking in Photoshop, I think the results are pretty darn good! And I saved a buck again! You wouldn't call that cheap would you??

SOOC, on my projector screen:
This is me, about 45 years ago at Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario


SOOC



My dad, sisters and me - circa 1962



CIAO, and thanks for visiting!

Words

I like words. Words are my friends. I think I discovered my love for words when I was 11 years old and wrote my first poem. I was hooked. Thirty-eight years later, and I'm still fascinated with the written word.

I love to read, I love to do crosswords, I love to write poems and stories, I keep a daily journal and I like to think I'm pretty good at grammar and spelling. Nothing drives me more crazy than words used incorrectly, spelled wrong or with poor grammar. I'm no english major, and I don't care if someone doesn't speak right, but if you're going to write it down for other people to see - make it right!! Look it up in the dictionary if you have to, but make it right!

As much as I enjoy reading a good book, I'm not into classic literature like Shakespeare. Dostoevsky, Orwell, or Bronte. I've never read Crime and Punishment, War and Peace or Wuthering Heights. Sure, I've heard of those timeless authors and famous books, but give me a good Dean Koontz, [my fav], J.K. Rowling, [she's a genius I say!!], Johnathan Kellerman or Patricia Cornwell novel and I'm consumed for hours in their tales! I don't like Romance books or Sci-Fi. I don't care for Non-Fiction unless it's about True Crime or Forensics, [another one of my interests]. I like characters like Kay Scarpetta, Lincoln Rhymes, Alex Delaware or HARRY POTTER!


My favourite poets are Rod McKuen and Emily Dickinson.

I enjoy doing a Crossword puzzle while sitting on the dock at camp in the early morning. Listening to the birds and the sound of the waves is so tranquil - great place for thinking! I like word games like Password and Balderdash and Scattergories, oh, and I LOVE Scrabble. No one else in my family is a fan of Scrabble, so I don't get to play it as often as I'd like!



When I first started writing poetry, I was totally into free verse. Reading back over some of my poems now, it seems I was into weird as well! What was I thinking?? Now I have fun writing in rhyme! Maybe it's because when I was younger, my vocabulary was smaller and I couldn't think of enough words that rhymed!

As some of you may know already, my favourite poem of all time and such an inspiration to me is DESIDERATA, by Max Ehrmann. When I first read his words when I was about 13 years old, they had a profound impact on me. It all made so much sens!! Does anyone remember the recording of this song by Les Crane in 1971? Kinda cheesy, but I love it!



To this day, I'll often turn to those words to remind me that the universe truly is unfolding as it should. And as Max says,

"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. "

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Thanks for visiting Cheers!!

And you've got to have friends....

It has always intrigued me how easily some people make friends. I know that some people forge a friendship in grade school and remain close with that/those people well into their adult lives. Some people meet in a casual capacity later in life and strike a bond and become close friends for the remainder of their years. Other people make dozens of friends throughout their lifetime. Some close, some casual, some fleeting. Friends come and go.... and for me, they mostly go! I don't know how I've had such bad luck with friends. I'm easy to get along with. I'm kind and compassionate. I think I'm funny. Since I was very young, I have lost touch with so many of my friends, mainly because they have moved away. Some of the closest and 'bestest' friends I had as a youngster moved to other cities with their families. That was way back in the day before email or MSN or instant messaging. As young children, our only means of communicating over the miles was through snail mail. [Long distance phone calls were expensive and reserved for family only]. And as young kids often are, we weren't very reliable in keeping each other up to date and before you know it, we had lost touch and moved on.. At least 3 of my Grade school 'best friends' moved away.
Once in high school I had many buddies that I would spend my free time with, chat with on the phone, go shopping with and do girly things with. Two of those friends were particularly close, but one I considered to be a best friend. But once again we lost touch. It's a long story but it is still today one of the biggest regrets I've ever had.
Some psychologists might be able to give me insight as to why I've never been able to secure a lasting, close bond with a friend. I know I couldn't have helped it if someone moved away, but with relocation, strained relationships, and having some weird friends along the way, I have since become very hesitant to open up my heart to just any body. Don't get me wrong, I've got many acquaintances and many social friends that fulfill both DH's and my lives but I will always regret losing that one, best, do-anything-for friend.
If you have one of those friends, tell him/her how much they mean to you. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

*ETA - just found out today that two of our closest friends are calling it quits. I am so saddened by this news.

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Here's a few photos of the friends that are a part of our lives today!!

My FURRY Friends

Life just wouldn't be the same without the animals in my life!

First and foremost, our darling Vegas Grace [Gracie] who is our BEST friend! I don't have enough room in this post to brag about her!!



Then there's Finnigan [aka Mr. Finn, aka Finny], my daughter's cat. He just left our house to move in with her in her new apartment!! When he was a kitten, he and Gracie would cuddle and snooze together. They'd play fight and chase each other all over the house. So cute.

And this is Mally, my sister's Shitzu/Maltese. Mally is a little shy and insecure. She mostly sits on my sister's lap and watches life from up high!


This is Indy, DH's buddy's dog. Poor Indy had some issues as a young dog [snapping, biting, barking] but he's okay now! Whew.



Now, Spencer is a friends dog. He's old and crotchety. In the first minute he visited us at camp he chomped down on Gracie's nose, gave her a good bite as if to say, "this might be your place, but I'm boss around here." Poor Gracie, being the ever gentle soul she is didn't know what the heck was going on. Needless to say, she let him be boss and totally ignored him the rest of the weekend. He's actually a sweet dog - and still loves swimming, for hours!!!



Sadie-Lynn is Spencer's little [adopted] sister!! She doesn't like swimming so much.

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And I have been tagged to list 8 things that you might not know about me!

1. I once met Colin James. Doug and I took him to a lake for fishing. We enjoyed a BBQ together. Then I drove him to the airport after his gig. Very cool day.
2. I am ANAL about recycling. I will NOT throw anything away that belongs in the Blue Box.
3. I hardly ever wear socks. I hate how hot my feet get. Even in winter, I usually only wear moccasins inside, with no socks.
4. I hate white noise. I don't like the sound of fans, heaters, blowers, etc., or any noise that is persistent and steady. Drives me INSANE. I don't like listening to radios or music before bed either.
5. I have three tattoos. The initial 'D' right above my cleavage. A sun/star on the nape of my neck. A design on my right calf. I designed the first two and my daughters designed the other.
6. I desperately wanted a third child ... probably until only a few years ago!
7. I skipped Grade 2. Being a New Year's baby, I didn't start school until I was almost 6 years old. [There was no such thing as Junior K back in my day and you had to be 5 to start Kindergarten]
8. For as long as I remember I have had a secret desire to be a TV or Movie actress. hee hee.

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That's all for now! Thanks for visiting.

The Men in my Family... [err, the MAN]

I didn't realize at first that I had posted only women in my last Blog post! [BTW, thanks for the nice comments. My mom is always thrilled when someone comments on her photos! I'll be sure to tell her about these comments too!] And I'd also like to say that this week's theme is fun. I'm enjoying looking at everyone's posts.


So today, the men in my life. Both my Dad and my DH's Dad have passed away,and we have more women than men in our family. Besides one brother-in-law, the only guys in our family are two nephews, two nephews by marriage and 4 great-nephews. I don't get a chance to capture the guys very often because they're either not at the family events, or they're off doing their hunter-gatherer huddles around the BBQ grill! You know, where they stand in a circle around the meat and grunt! ha ha. In winter, you can usually find them in front of the TV or hovering over the food in the kitchen. Because I have no pictures of the other men in my family, I'm going to post of few of my darling DH!

Speaking of grunting by the grill......
Almost looks like he's trying to grill his face!

Doug is a musician. One day, when he was 31 years old, he said, "I'm going to learn how to play the guitar!" The rest is history! He plays lead guitar in a local band. I took this when he was jamming by the campfire and applied a filter to it!

I don't know if it was a midlife thing or what, but he bought himself a Yamaha VStar Classic motorcycle for this 50th birthday! Somehow, I never pictured him as a biker -- but one look at this photo and you can tell he's definitely not your average biker dude!! What a guy!


And this one from today is DH trying to change the oil filter. One thing led to another and he ended up with broken parts and even an extra part!! Needless to say he was not a happy camper, uh... biker! Not sure if he'll get it back together for his road trip on Sunday.

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Thanks for stopping by.

My Family [well, a few of them!!]

I am so fortunate to have almost all my family living in the same city as me! Out of an extended family of 26 people, only 2 live across country and another 6 live about 5 hours away. Even though we all live close by, we don't get together very often, so when we do it's usually quite an event. But even then, we're always missing somebody! Busy schedules prevent us from always being able to be at the same place at the same time! At Christmastime, we try to all gather on one day for a family dinner. It's hard to plan for a day when everyone can be there, so when that does happen, it makes it an even more special event!

We had a nice gathering this summer for a BBQ and party. Most of these photos are from that day. I imagine the next time we'll be together will be Thanksgiving and/or Christmas!

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I've been catching up on everyone's Blog posts from the last week or so. I haven't left comments everywhere, but I wanted to say that I am enjoying the peeks!! Thanks for visiting mine!

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This is my Mamma! She's 83.


My big sister...!


My niece...

My nephew's girlfriend...


My great-niece...