Fond Farewell Friday...

Today's picture is not a recent one...

It's one from May 2008...

It's of my Grandma's home in Raymond, Alberta...

Wait, I need to rephrase that...

It was her home.

You see TODAY is the closing day for the sale of this house.

In May of 2008 my Mom, brother & I drove to visit her.

It would be the last time I saw her as the fully-functioning, multi-tasking woman I grew up seeing.

Just a few weeks after we left, Grandma had a debilitating stroke.

She was taken to the local hospital and would never return to her beloved home.

  I was fortunate enough to travel and see her before she passed away in February 2009.

Her mind still very active but her body just would not recover.

Grandma found this incredibly frustrating.

I know this because she and I talked of this during our visits.

I was glad that I was able to bring her some comfort by massaging her sore and stiff joints and limbs.

She was able to communicate and said many times how grateful she was that I could ease her pain. 

- - - - - - -  

It has taken some time for her home to sell and my Mom has shouldered that responsibility.

Unfortunately her brothers weren't as eager to have Grandma's estate dealt with in a timely fashion and so it has taken far too long...

I am thankful that she had my brother to help her with the final 'push' to get it SOLD!

I am also SO very thankful that this 'home sale' is now COMPLETE and Mom can focus on things that she enjoys without this extra responsibility!

So today I post the last picture I captured of her home.

MANY happy memories were created here.

Grandma has a way of making all feel welcome.

She truly has a Christ-like love for everyone.

I hope many more happy memories will be made for all those who live and visit this home.

 - - - - - - - - - - 

Here's the last picture I captured of Grandma as we were driving from her home back in May 2008...

Bye (for now) Grandma...

I'll see you on the other side!

Playdough?!?

For the past several years a popular alternative to giving out candy at Halloween has been small tubs of 'Playdough'...

The kiddos have a bin FULL of 'Playdough'...

So today they were mucking about with it...

Gone are the days of shaping cute wee critter or making pretend cookies...

They're definitely thinking "outside-of-the-box"...

Here's 's' with his scary mask...

Are YOU scared?

Me neither...

LOL...

'Playdough'... for kids from 2 - 102!

Tomatillos!

Received a bunch of plants from a friend the other day...

Several ground cherry plants and a few tomatillo plants...

Here's a gorgeous green tomatillo plant with a sunny yellow bloom...

I hope to be enjoying that 'sunny yellow bloom' in some delicious fresh salsa...

...eventually...

Terrific Towels!!!

At the end of last month a good friend of mine moved out of town...

She passed along a couple of towels that she had used for her kiddos.

They are TERRIFIC!

The babez LOVE them!

I LOVE them!

So today's pics...yes pics...

You know me... I can't pick just one!

Anyhow... today's pics are a big

~ THANK YOU ~

- - -

Here's Miss 'g2' looking "beary" cute in her new favourite towel...

 and even cuter still...

Check out those FOUR teeth!

- - - - - - -

Here's wee Miss 'c'...

She wasn't in a particularly smiley mood tonight...

But I LOVE this capture of her...

However...THIS is how she spent several minutes after she got out of the tub...

She really enjoyed her towel!

- - - - - - -

So again we'd like to say THANK YOU!!!

The babez will be snuggling in these towels for many more bath nights to come!

Big Kiddo Pics.....

As promised I'm going to share some pics of the big kiddos that I snapped Friday on our Farmer's Market/Maffeo Sutton Park walk...

We'll start off with this one...

z, g & s

- - -

again... z, g & s

- - -

But I REALLY love this one!

- - -

So now we'll move on to some individual snaps...

'g'

and...

's'

and...

a reflecting 'z'...

But one of my faves of the day is this one...

Miss 'Z' was running across the playground equipment while I was trying to get some snaps of 's'...

She stopped and the camera refocused on her just as I was pressing that button...

I think it's such a cool shot!

- - - - -

Well, there you have it...

Just a few from the 296 I caught...

Tie Dye Fanatic!

I don't know what it is about it...

But I just LOVE it!

 Our waterfront Friday Farmer's Market features a terrificly talented local artist.

Scott lives on Gabriola Island and he does AMAZING work!

Here's the link to his site...

http://www.tiedupanddyed.com/index.html

He takes custom orders too!

He's currently working on a couple of wee hoodies for the babez!!!

ALL of my kiddos wear his art!

The babez have some super groovy onesies, 'z' has a couple of dresses, 's' has a couple t's and 'g' has t-shirts and even some undies!

Yes!

 He does undies!!!

They are SO COOL!

Here's a pic of some guy undies we saw on Friday...

 His "rainbow' work is SPECTACULAR!!!

Oh just SO GORGEOUS!!!

- - - - -

He has some new styles of dresses that I absolutely adore!

Since 'z' already has a couple dresses I decided that she didn't really NEED another....

...but it was SO HARD NOT to buy another....

LOOK how FABULOUS they are.

Just another snap of the dresses hangin' in the cool ocean breeze!

One more to share...

LOVE the colour!

LOVE the blur!

LOVE the tie dye!!!

I also saw some dresses for ladies...

...a new style...

I was tempted...

but I didn't buy one...

When I was telling dh about them he said I should have bought one!

Ok...twist my rubber arm!

So when I go back to pick up the babez hoodies I'm going to see if he still has the one that I liked.

If not, I have an idea for one that I think would be cool for me.

Too bad I didn't have it for this next heat wave we're getting...

Yes... I'm not exactly sure what it is about tie dye...

... it just makes me so HAPPY!

We interrupt our HOT summer weather to bring you...

RAIN!!!

Finally after FAR TOO MANY days...

...it came down in BUCKETS!!!

Wanna know why I'm so happy???

I don't have to water the gardens!

Friday's Farmer's Market Fun!

We are very lucky to have THREE days of Farmer's Markets to enjoy...

Wednesday afternoon on Bowen road, Friday morning on the waterfront and Saturday morning @ Rutherford Mall...

Today I took the three BIG kiddos with me to the waterfront market.

Here they are strolling between the canopies...

We bought a few veggies and the kiddos enjoyed a cookie from

 'The Cookie Lady'!

She sells 3 cookies for a dollar!

Perfect!

We then walked over to Maffeo Sutton Park...

I will be sharing some of those pics over the next several days...

HOW can I choose just ONE out of 318 to share?

Big Bokeh!

Oh how I love it!

bokeh
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus  areas of a photographic image

Speckled Petals...

- - -

Love

the

multiple

colours

on

these

pretty

petals.

- - -

Rad Bloom!

This is what a radish going to seed blossom looks like.

It tastes like a very mild radish.

Perfect in salads!

Waiting...

...patiently waiting...

With the sun we've been getting...

They should be turning red soon!

There's NOTHING like a vine ripened tomato!

Bespangled Leaf

Another early morning in the garden and this is what I am greeted with...

Every leaf point has the tiniest water droplet hanging from it...

like someone came along and stitched a tiny crystal bead to each.

Absolutely Stunning!

Baby Bunnies!

Early this morning I was busy weeding and clearing out a garden bed that really doesn't produce anything worthwhile.

I had decided to completely clear it and then cover it with some heavy duty ground cloth.

I could then make it look better with a variety of drift wood, rocks and plants in pots.

Good idea...right?!

So I'm going along with my three pronged tool and I dig up THIS!!!

YES!!!
FIVE baby bunnies with their eyes still closed!
I felt horrible!
I was freaking out!
I called dh out to take a look and that brought the bigger kiddos out to look too!
I even called a friend over to tell us what we should do.
[I figured he'd had more experience with such things.]
So...we ended up tucking the wee bunnies back into their "nest" and hoping that the Momma would return and take care of them.
We did check on them the next day and Momma had been back to feed and soothe them.
[We even looked 'baby bunnies' up online and found out that they don't open their eyes until they're 10 days old.]
We did find the 'nest' empty the next day and we think that Momma moved them.
Since they had been 'discovered' and it really wasn't the best place for them anyway.
We have plenty of shrub covered ground in our front yard and I have seen many a bunny hopping about there.
I hope they've found a more undiscovered home and are growing into healthy happy bunnies!
[Just stay OUT of my garden please!]

Sweet Iron & Sweet Peas...

Here are two of my favourite thingz...

Sweet Peas and rusty metal!

Put the two together and I am one happy gardener!

I was given a couple of rusty iron gates in the Spring and I knew just what I wanted to do with them!

They were "planted" at the back of my raised beds along with some Sweet Pea flower seeds.

LOVE how it all grew together!

Blueberry Blues...

This blueberry was taunting me as I walked by it this morning...

So I grabbed my camera, snapped a pic...

and then I ATE IT!

YUM!

Beautiful Blossom!

Behold this beautiful blossom...

I am looking forward to enjoying the zucchini it will eventually become!

Tomato Alley...

Two weeks ago I drove to Duncan to pick up some tomato plants from my Mom.

Here's what they looked like THEN...

- - - - - - - 

Here's what it looks like two weeks later...

Gotta LOVE fertilizer!

And water... and sunshine!

- - - - -
Here's a pic of "Tomato Alley" taken August 7, 2010...

Towering Time...and a "Happy Birthday" shout out!

's' has always loved stacking things...

Recently he began stacking the babez Duplo blocks.

He enjoys building them up to the ceiling and it keeps the babez entertained!

We just have to take cover if they start tumbling...

- - - - - 

Also wanted to say "Happy Birthday...and MANY more" to my big brother today!

Hope this year is an extra good one for you!

Babez in the Pool...

Finally the babez had a chance for some pooltime!

I was grateful to have plenty of extra hands available so each babe could have their own 'spotter'.

Thank you Uncle T & 'z'...

- - - - -

Miss 'c' was rather fascinated with the whole concept of 'the splash'!

I thought this pic was a pretty cool capture of that.