My Prince Charming ?

We closed up the cottage the other day. It's always a sad time, saying goodbye to the place for the next few months. Besides getting the chores done - packing up the perishables, the freezeables, bedding and clothing, etc., we turned off the power, winterized the water pump and put away all the water toys and canoe. We hung up the snow shovels in a tree. [One winter we got to camp to find they were frozen solid into the ground. We had to 'shovel' with our feet!]

It was quite cool outside, but not raining, so we had a campfire and just sat and stared at the flames for awhile, neither of us talking. It amazes me how long we can stare at dancing flames and jumping sparks. Very mezmerizing.
By the time our campfire had turned to coals, the camp was warm enough to go inside. We took the wood-stove out when we were doing our renovations, so until next summer all we have for heat is a construction heater. It works great, but it takes awhile to heat up the whole camp.

I bought some Roman style, roll-up blinds for the four new windows. Each window is 6x4'- that's a lot of window! I didn't want our place to look like an aquarium with the possibilities for looky-loos and shady snoopers to peek inside - [ not that there any such characters on our lake!!]. So, we installed the blinds mainly for privacy. Also, because there's so much window I didn't want the cute little chickadees and nuthatches to break their necks thinking they could fly through them! So, after the blinds were installed we took a walk in the bush. Our last one of the year. The smell was divine! There is nothing like the fresh, damp, biodegrading smell of fallen leaves and moose poop. No really, it smells like nature. I'd love to bottle that smell and in the middle of winter take the cap off the bottle and take a good whif - so it can take me back to the middle of the bush, at least in my mind.

I took a few photos of water droplets on the leaves. Just a few of them turned out. I was feeling very uncreative lately in the photography department. Must be the rain. Or the lack of GREEN. Or the lack of anything ALIVE!! But, just as we were ready to pack up the recyclables and the empty beer bottles we saw a big, honking TOAD!! This dude's body [or dudette - how can you tell?] was about the size of my fist. I thought for sure he was going to scurry [do toads scurry?] under the camp, but he hopped up onto a rock as if to say, "I'm here for my photo shoot". He sat for me and posed while I took shots from several angles. What a guy!! Don't you wish your guys were that cooperative?



I named him George. Anyway, I started thinking it was a sign. This guy was my good luck charm. First of all, I thought toads and frogs would have already hunkered down for the season, here this one was right out there enjoying the near zero temps! I just kinda knew that it was going to be a great autumn and an even better winter. I knew that our camp would fare the loneliness just fine until we next returned when the ice is safe for crossing. I felt that I was going to have a better year, healthwise. I can't explain it, but George made things feel right.

That evening, back at home there was a clear sky and a gorgeous full moon. I went to Google and look what I found on the first hit!!

The ancient Chinese revered a mythical creature known as the Chan Chu or "Toad God". This toad is believed to be bring good luck, prosperity and wealth to its owner. Frogs have traditionally symbolized good luck and prosperity.
The Chan Chu is said to appear every full moon close to the people who are about to receive good luck regarding money!!

Maybe I should have kissed George!

My Bad Day

I had one of those days. You know the kind -- when nothing goes right and you just wish you could either start all over again or fast forward to bedtime.
It started out fine, good breakfast, great latté, finished a great novel.
My daughter Lauren called and asked if I could drive her to work today. She's leaving for Ottawa with a friend right after work and she needed to bring her bags to work. She usually walks or takes her bike and couldn't do so with her suitcases. "No prob", I say! So, five minutes before I had to leave to pick her up I went to get the car keys and.... no car keys!! We have two for the car. DH has one [on his key chain - at work] and guess who had the other one? Lauren! Arrggh. So, she had to walk to work afterall, bags and all.

I needed the car today for some errands and a hair cut. So, I thought this would be a good excuse for me to take the dog for a long walk, listen to my mp3 player and pick up the key from my Lauren's work. Twenty five minutes there and back, sunshine and fresh air sounded good. I was tired of the tunes on my player, so I wanted to delete them and add some of Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe stories. Love listening to him! First of all, I couldn't find the USB cord for my mp3 player. Finally found it, but couldn't remember how to upload new stuff to it. Finally figured that out but it was taking FOREVER to upload just a few stories. I gave up after 3. No problem - that would give me a good start - about 45 minutes worth of listening.
I loaded up my pack-sack with pooper-scooper, wallet, umbrella and mp3 player. Good to go. Now, Gracie loves going for walks, but without her Halti [gentle, leader collar] she's a complete idiot on the leash. I usually put it on her because she's way more easier to control with it on, especially if we meet up with other dogs, however she HATES it so much and is always trying to rub it off somehow. She flops down on the ground, snout on the grass/gravel/ground and with her butt in the air pushes her self along with her back legs as she slides her face on the ground. I told you - idiot. So, to spare her the discomfort of the Halti today I decided to to just go with the regular collar. Bad idea. The walk was not pleasant. Tug, pull, tug, pull, yank, tug, pull. That annoys me. And to add insult to injury it was windy today. I HATE the wind. And this wasn't just a gentle breeze - it was full gale force in-your-face winds. After walking in it for an hour I felt like I had just been abused. Now I was really annoyed, wind-blown and sweaty, [it is unseasonably warm today, 20ºc and I was overdressed] and I was now getting an ear-ache and headache from the wind.

But, back home once again with the key I could now go do my errands with the car. Had to take some acetamin for my headache first. And change my clothes. I left for the the mall with the intention to buy blinds for the four windows at camp. I planned my time so I could buy the blinds and then go to my appointment for my hair cut. I found the blinds, but there were only two sets, not the four I needed. I had to struggle to get them out of the racks. They're 6' blinds and they were stacked at the BACK of the racks. I stumbled my way to the cash with them, [they were heavy and awkward] I asked if there were two more sets of blinds anywhere in the store? Nope, but the other store in the Valley has them. Good, they will transfer them to this store for me. I went to pay for the two that I had. NO WALLET. I had left it in the pack-sack from my walk earlier. OMG. Could my day get any worse?
I had to leave the blinds at the store, on hold so I could pick them up tomorrow. Good thing that parking is free at the mall, so I was able to leave fairly quickly.
I got back in the car and rushed home to get my wallet so I could make my 3pm appointment. I saw an empty meter on the street, turned into a driveway so I could back up into the parking spot and just as I was backing up, a van drove up from the other way and took my spot!!! I'm normally a pretty laid back person. I don't get excited or frustrated easily. I'm usually quite calm. It took a lot of self restraint not to back right up into that van.
So, I put my money in the meter and go to the salon. I get there and my stylist is running 1/2 hour late and would I mind waiting?
N-O P-R-O-B-L-E-M!!

The salon is next door to where Lauren works, so I gathered my wits and enjoyed an espresso and cookie while I waited. By the way my day had gone so far I was sure I was going to either choke on my cookie or bite my tongue or something. [the caffeine actually calmed my nerves!]

Fast forward an hour and I left the salon with a brand new, radically different haircut and style! I'm still not sure what happened. I'm usually not that brave when it comes to my hair. I've had longish hair for as long as I remember and today I bit the bullet and said "do what you think would look good"! OMG what was I thinking? But really, it's not so bad. It'll take a little getting used to, but it's okay. Hair grows back, right?

I had 5 minutes to spare on the parking meter and I made it back home in one piece!
There's 6 hours I'll never get back!

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I know this pic doesn't have anything to do with my day, but it makes me smile!!

Bear!

This is the time of year for bears. There have been a lot of nuisance bears in town. There was one in my neighbour's yard a few weeks ago.
Since we've had our cottage, we've sighted a few bears, but never on our own property. I know they're out there, but thankfully, they haven't come around. When we walk back in the bush, we're sure to make lots of noise. At camp, I always freeze my meat scraps until we go home and I always rinse the recyclables and NEVER leave garbage out.
The cottage across from us is on an island. There seems to be more bears over there as we've seen them in their yard a few times. The bears never seem to be there when the neighbours are. I don't know if that's a cooincidence or if they stay away if there are people near by.
Just a few days ago we saw one at another cottage on the island. It was chowing down on grass or something. I hung around for a good 20 minutes or more.
I got DH to take me over in the boat so I could take some photos of it. I had my 50-200mm lens with a 1.5x teleconverter. I didn't get the greatest focus, but I was glad to get the shots I did. This was the closest I have ever been to a bear. We were about 30 feet away I think. You can see in the eyes that it's looking right at me!! I took about a dozen photos, and these were the best.
After we got back to camp, we saw it right across from us at the neighbours again, munching on her potted mums and Mountain Ash tree. Then it made it's way to the next camp. No hurry, no rush. Just searching for something more to eat.

Thanksgiving, Banana Boats and Fun!

I love spending Thanksgiving at camp. We've had some great temps, but no sunshine this year. It was overcast and cloudy, but no rain. We started a campfire Sunday morning before our guests arrived. Sipped coffee and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. Usually in the summer, we don't have campfires that often for fear of forest fires. But the wind was calm and the bush was already damp from a few days of rain, so it was nice not to have to worry about sparks. We gathered benches and chairs and circled them around the fire pit.
Doug had to take several boat trips to and from the Marina to pick up our friends and family. [We NEED a new boat!!] With only 5 life-jackets and comfortable seating for 4, it makes it tough! There was 14 of us all together for a wonderful Thanksgiving day.
I took lots of pictures, so I'll post more in a day or two.
We made banana boats in the hot coals. This was our lunch! We didn't want to be too full for turkey dinner!

Before:

After:

It's Thanksgiving weekend and I love turkey!
We're having our turkey dinner at the cottage on Sunday. Fourteen of our family and friends will be joining us and the forecast is for WARM temps!! I can't wait.
My little oven at camp isn't very reliable, temperature wise, so I didn't want to take any chances in ruining a turkey so I'm cooking a 15 lb one here at home today. It smells heavenly in here right now. I'll slice it all up here, then wrap it nice and tightly. Then on Sunday I'll warm it up slowly just before we eat. I'll do the potatoes there. I think I'll mash up a sweet potato with the spuds this year and whip them with lots of butter! Mmmm. My sister is bringing her famous buttery, candied carrots. Others are bringing more veggies, V8 juice and snacks. My girls are bringing a bottle of Chai liqueur. That should go nicely with the Pumpkin Crappe dessert I'm going to make. I also bought the cutest little, tiny apples [Paula Red] that I'll be making Candy Apples with for everyone!
I'm hoping to have a campfire where we'll roast some marshmallows and make banana boats!
If the weather holds out, I'd like to set up the table outside. It'll be so nice to enjoy our meal in such peaceful surroundings. There are hardly any people on the lake this time of year, so it's the breeze, some birds and us!! Just hope the smell of the turkey and fixings don't attract any unwanted critters!!

Decisions, decisions...

I get tired of my furniture very quickly. In the 29 years of our marriage, D & I have had 7 different living room sets. That's an average change of 1 in 4.2 years!!
I've gone from plush to pastel, from plain to plaid, from sofa-bed to reclining. Looking back, I have to wonder 'what was I thinking?' I guess at the time, I thought I had made a sound choice.
When I get a new sofa, I LOVE it. I sit in it, I read in it, I admire it. But after a short time, I don't care if I eat food on it, or drink red wine on it. Then I get to the point where I start trying to disguise it with throws or pillows!
I also have a bad habit of changing the layout of my furniture. I do this pretty often. I get tired of the same ol' and need to rearrange things. DH has to laugh, he'll come home from work and find things anew once again.
Well, I'm at that stage again. We're looking for new furniture and it's so HARD!! We just brought our old loveseat to the cottage. The sofa is going to go in our rec-room in the basement. The old cart we were using as a coffe table also went to camp, so at the moment my living room has a recliner, a TV cabinet and the dog's bed!! I need to find something new soon.
I've been to every [affordable] furniture store in town, twice and three times! I keep going back to McQueens. They have the nicest selection. But that's the problem - I like so much! So now I have to decide what is going to suit me best for the next, oh, 4.2 years.
We've got a traditional dining room set in a dark walnut colour. I think I'd like to match something with that. I'd like to get two love seats and one recliner. Maybe an accent colour like dark burgundy for the lamps and recliner.
Oh, the decisions.....
This is the one I'm leaning towards now, [but in loveseat, not sofa]....

What do you think??