What a Wonderful Weekend

Thanks to some generous, loving people,

I have just experienced the most amazing Thanksgiving weekend.

It all began with a magically elegant

50th wedding anniversary party set at 

The Boulevard Club

on the edge of Lake Ontario.

Congratulations Sam and Heidi.

Thank you Christian, Jean-Paul, Jonathan and Alexandra for graciously including us as you feted your parents.

Then a wonderful, lazy Sunday at home

just me, Brilliant Husband...

newspapers...

coffee...

croissants...

a glowing fire...

Up bright and early Monday for a full-on Thanksgiving feast with the family!

Thank you George and Paula!

The day finished with an hilarious evening with V., her sisters-in-law, daughter,

nieces, some delicious champagne and gooey, smelly cheeses.

Thank you John and Adri for our perfect room at Hotel Martini

Ida, Alexandra,

Sarah and Katie-squared for the terrific old jokes and the gallons of laughter.

This morning, Victoria and I and Adri and Kate drank coffee around the dining room table before gathering ourselves for a brisk walk in the early fall sunshine.

Then it was back to the house for big mugs of hot tea, more of Adri's exquisite baking before whisking sister and niece off to the airport and back to British Columbia.

So very much to be thankful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Life is a miracle...

and because no one does it better than Sarah...

One Year Ago Today...

Lynne Cheryl Holland

February 8, 1948 - October 10, 2009

Our darling, beautiful sister.

Junk Drawer

JUNK DRAWER

is Razmataz's photo challenge this week.

My best friend's daughter is a fabric artist in Vancouver.  She once created a whole series of work based on this topic.  Erin believes that you can see who someone is through their Junk Drawer.

She created a piece from this collection as a wedding gift for my daughter and-son-in-law.  It depicted Nelson's pocket full of the junk of their new life in the making.  Beautiful.

Erin says her mother's junk drawer is her car.  I have travelled in this vehicle many times, and as pristine as this woman is, she doesn't hesitate to throw her finished Tim Horten's coffee cup or muffin wrapper on the floor.  She half-jokingly adds you could pretty much find a full-meal in front of the passenger seat.

You see, my friend Petra is one of the most generous-hearted people I know.  She spends a lot of time in her car, driving from activities to volunteer work; trips to spend time with her mother or to visit with me; and then there are the times she willingly loans her car to one of her kids.  I know if I phoned her right now and just said "come", she would be behind the wheel in a flash...no questions asked.
I believe her junk-drawer-car is evidence of her unfaltering generosity.

Ever since Erin's project, I've thought a lot about this topic and I can genuinely say

I don't have a junk drawer. 

I've moved home so many times that I have a curious relationship with stuff.  I only have space in my heart and my home for the precious.  If it doesn't have meaning for me, I get rid of it.  If it's important, I file it, if it's not, I trash it.  You could go through every handbag I own, every pocket of every article of clothing I have and you would find ...nothing.

I make my husband very nervous a lot of the time about this.  He has junk drawer after junk drawer.  He keeps everything, every silly piece of paper, every faded-so-much-you-can't-read-it-receipt...probably in direct reaction to how much I toss.

I'm still not exactly sure what my lack of a Junk Drawer says about me, something about space and freedom, maybe even secrecy...I'm not sure.  I'm still trying to figure that, and a lot of other things, out about myself.

Thanks Chania...once again, you've made me think, long and hard.

Oh, and the picture, that's my best friend Petra.

Bread

Yesterday, thanks to my dear friend Mary,

I made this:

When she was visiting last weekend,

Mary showed me this video

Here's the recipe:

No-Knead Bread

The recipe differs from the video slightly.  I used the video amount of water (1-1/2c),

but baked it at the recipe temperature 450 degrees.

For real, there is no kneading...it's the simplest bread recipe I have ever tried.

And...it's delicious.

Chickens

I would really love to have chickens in my backyard.

I don't know the first thing about keeping them,

but the idea of raising beautiful little chicks

into elegant adult fowl

is appealing to me right now mostly because of 

all the beautiful, fresh eggs we could have.

This is just a dream right now, because I'm sure, somewhere deep in our condo documents

there sits a clause banning the very notion of this!

Ah well...maybe at the next house!

Thank Heaven for little boys...

and a new Aunt

who expresses her

love for her sister

by hosting the

most beautiful baby shower

...

with flowers

...

and

edible white butterflies

that sit

magically on your glass

...

...

and

Delicious

Decadent

Divine

Double iced

cupcakes!

Hand made with love!

...

...

then

when the party was over

and it was time to go

a

'thank you'

so

'sweetly'

sent us on our way

with a sweet cookie given

to enjoy the next day

...

...

the beautiful baby boy

Harrison (Harry) Cole

...

the beautiful hostess

my lovely talented daughter-in-law

Trisha!

...

Healing power of water

Water

Like breath, it is vital to us

It nourishes

It cleanses

It restores

It heals

Sacred ceremonies

prayer

water

flowers

When I am stressed whether it is my body

or my mind that needs relaxation

I always end my day with a long warm bath.

And even though my bathroom isn't nestled in the beauty

of the outdoors like the photo above, I still take time to

make my tiny room a sacred space.

Candles can transform any room into

a place of welcome.

A bath infused with lavender's sweet, gentle scent

calms the overstimulated mind and

prepares the body for sleep.

To prepare the infusion combine a half cup of fresh lavender

blossoms with four cups of boiling water in a French press.

Let steep for twenty minutes.

Fill your bathtub, then pour the infusion into the bath,

and soak in to the comfort of lavender.

In very simple yet powerful ways

water can heal our bodies and our souls.

VICTORIA

Water

There really is something intoxicating about

water.

My beach,

Lake Ontario, taken from Niagara-on-the-Lake

(that's Toronto on the horizon)

V's beach at Tofino, Vancouver Island BC

sits on the Pacific Ocean

I 'borrowed' this photo from Razmataz,
which I believe (correct me if I am wrong Chania)
is Georgian Bay, Ontario

V. tells me that water is all about emotion.  I get that.  She tells me that we need to be careful when our homes are situated where water rushes toward it (too much roiling of the emotions, apparently).
I also read somewhere that our tendency to covet property by the water harkens back to a time when we needed to live next to a source of fresh water to survive...that makes sense to me too.

I love to sleep with the windows open when it's raining...I find the sound soothing.  And unlike poor Suzan over at the old grey mare, I even love thunder and lightening.

My best friend loves to swim.  In an icy-cold lake preferably it seems, but she will take a salty ocean or a  swimming pool, if push comes to shove.

So what is it about water?..is it because our bodies are about 70% water; that our tears so closely resemble the chemical make up of salt water; or is it that for nine months we sit below our mother's heart surrounded by amniotic fluid?

What's your theory?

What is it with the 80s?

Okay...this I get...

but please...

shoulder pads?

  

big hair?

MC Hammer?

done...dusted..life is good...NOW!

We're back...Molly & Me!

Hi Everyone...sorry to have been absent for so long...

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful sister

as J. to keep the blog going along.

I missed the 'ball' over at Willow Manor

and all the fun!

Darn it!

So just to let you all know

where I've been hiding...

I was here at

Pacific Sands Resort in Tofino.

The weather was outstanding.

Long, sunny, warm days.

Then at dusk we had just enough chill in the air

to bundle up and take the last walk for

the evening along the beach.

Then back home it's time to curl up infront of

the fire and watch the sun go down

and wait for the stars to fill the sky.

It is one of my most favourite places to be

in this

big beautiful wild world.

VICTORIA

Ryder Cup

We've been trying to watch the

Ryder Cup

being played this year at

Celtic Manor Golf Course, Newport, Wales

The countryside is stunning,

but it's been a bit wet and windy

which was a bit tough on the players.

They had to keep waiting for theses guys to squeegee the greens

So they finally gave up and had a 7-hour rain delay.


The weather forecast for the rest of the weekend is good,
so, with the time change and all, it's going to mean some very early mornings for
Brilliant Husband and I.

Lord, love-a-duck, what were the organizers thinking...

Wales in October!

Here I Am...

Here's my entry for Razmataz's photo challenge this week

SELF PORTRAIT.
Didn't quite know what to do with this one
except deal with it 'head on' (bad pun...groan)

...what a difference a day/season/haircut makes!