Sylvia's Simple Shots

A robin having a bath and a lot of fun in a rain puddle morning.

There were several birds taking advantage of the puddles to splish and splash.

I found some more of the votive holders I bought a while ago for my Advent Wreath/ all year round candle display.  I had a mixture of cobalt and white before.  Now I can make it all white if I want.

Super happy to find these additional holders which gives me flexibility in my decor.

Some veggies from my sister's garden that my niece picked on her way to my place.

Fresh carrots are the best.

Some of the cucumbers are a bit on the large size but I love them too.

A few tomatoes we had for breakfast.

My niece and I had a great time at the ReUse Center and the thrift store. We came home and pulled out all our goodies before we headed out for supper at my sister's house.

Magazines, crafting stuff, each found a fountain pen amongst our tea and snack dishes.

We picked up take out and headed to my sister's house for supper.  Korean was the request of the birthday girl.

My sister had a friend visiting and her husband has been ill and was in hospital.

We talked crafting, life and much more.

It was really nice to spend time with family and friends.

I picked up this wax container at the Thrift store while my niece is visiting.

I thought I could use it when I wanted to wax my thread for stitching.

It is a high quality blend of paraffin wax.  I chose a mild scented one.  From my online research paraffin is the the best so I may try to find a beeswax candle that I can melt and fill this little container.

I was looking for a bin/tote that I could place under the phone table in the living room that would look pretty and disguise the contents.

I found the fabric tote at a thrift store for a couple of bucks, it works with the wood I have in my space.

The baskets were more expensive and now I see this is a better option for sliding on the new floor.  The wicker type basket would have scratched.

Excellent.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I made a visit to the Lois Hole Provincial Park this week.  The waterfowl was quite absent. For most, the babies are grown and the adults have moved on. 

The Cedar Waxwing was a nice one.  The Barn Swallows were flitting around as usual and there were quite a few.

Still some blackbirds also making their iconic calls. A very peaceful day.

 A Garden to Keepp by Jamie Langston Turner was a good read. 

Elizabeth Landis has recently moved and is finding herself at loose ends. Her son has gone to college and she misses him terribly. Her marriage is on the rocks as she forges new relationships. Her husband leaves the house and is carrying on an affair with someone from the college where is works in the music department.

The book was quite slow at the beginning and I did consider just giving up on it but that is hard for me to do. The poetry references were pretty much lost on me so I just moved on.

Grace, forgiveness, mercy, patience, and Christian values are sprinkled throughout.

I am glad I hung it and the book did redeem its self but it was a bit of a slug.

It's that time of year.  The gardens and fruit trees are producing more than some can manage.

My niece gave me some nice green apples from one of the 2 trees in her yard.  My aunt gave me tomatoes and a garden cucumber. Yummy!  Some zuchinni as well.

I appreciate the fresh produce.  

I had grilled cheese and tomatoe sandwiches a couple of times.  There was zuchinni fried in a pan with parmesan cheese.  

The apples will be in a apple rhubarb crisp.

Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah was another book I finished. Another broken marriage story.  Elizabeth and Jackson Shore live in the north west in a small town.  He works the sports beat in a small market and Elizabeth works on the house.

Jackson is always working on getting back to the big time sports job he lost when he fell from grace after his NFL career.  The time comes that the story that will bring him back to the spot light appears and he pursues it at the cost of all else.  

They are moving to the East Coast for this new job that Jackson has been offered.  Once again, Elizabeth packs up the house and the van arrives to take it all away.  She insisted that they not sell the Echo Bay house and just rent it out.  When she is to take the plane for the east she changes her mind and returns to the west. Putting what she wants ahead of what Jackson wants, which has been the past pattern.

There is a decent ending after each learns a few lessons about setting their marriage as a priority.

The dahlias were headed into their peak condition when I visited early this week.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere in these gardens.

I did have my ankles bitten a lot as I had worn capris.

I had a visit with my aunt after my photo trip.  It was good to connect with family.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The Canada Geese are gathering in large numbers.  It is the time of year.  We have been experiencing wonderful weather for October.

The geese were communicating, honking and flying over head.  I expect they are in fields feeding on harvest leftovers and I was grateful to see so many on Saturday morning.

This is the largest pond at the Heritage Hills Wetlands.  I did a large walk because I walked along all 3 ponds that morning.

The weather was perfect and I had such a good time.  The sun rose of course as I was out there and it affected my photos.

Sunrise and sunset are getting closer together.

I finished this book earlier this week.  The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards was an interesting read.

There are two story lines for a set of twins - Paul stayed with his parents David and Norah.  David a doctor gave away his daughter because she had Down Syndrome.  This decision made this couple absolutely crazy.  I just quit reading that story line about half way through the book.

Phoebe was given to the David's nurse, Caroline to be delivered to an institution for disabled persons.  In the 1960s this was common.  She could not leave the baby girl in this very sad and desperate institution. The night the baby born Caroline meets her future husband and makes a move to ensure that Phoebe survives and thrives.  This story line was so much more positive and uplifting.

When I quit the first story line and when to the last chapter and read back a few chapters to get the end of the story.  Saved the book for me.

I received a bowl full of beautiful cherry tomatoes from my aunt.  I am so grateful to have these delicious fruit to eat for the next few days.  I have a bunch more green ones which will ripen over the next couple weeks.

I roasted some the other day that were the last of the ones I had bought from the grocery store.  They burst and were delicious.  I ate them with the pizza that was in the oven at the same time.

Harvest is such an amazing thing.

I finally got one of these vintage pencil sharpeners.  We had one of these when I was at home and going to school.  With 8 kids in school you can bet it got a lot of use.  It was rescued when Mom and Dad left the house in 2015. 

I found this one at the thrift store the other day and check out the price of $2.  Once it got a real good cleaning I discovered that the suction cup on the bottom still works as designed.

I tested it out before I took it home and it will be appreciated for the next long while.  I use colored pencils mostly because I use mechanical pencils for writing.

Very grateful that it showed up after looking for about 4 years.

Every Step she Takes - K. L. Armstrong was the book I finished in the last couple of days.

I did finish this one but it was another story which was pretty crazy.  The murder mystery was interesting and compelling.

It was not for me but I am sure it works for others out there.

A beautiful fall shot of the yellow leaves in this season of autumn.

The challenge for Flickr's Macro Mondays is "Open". This was a great challenge and allowed a wide variety of subjects.  The shot on the right is an open container of leads for mechanical pencils.  You can see my submission on my Photostream (SMDPics).

Have a great week!

Recent Photos

It's time to harvest the produce from the garden. I am grateful that those who have them share the spoils.

I was to visit my Mom last week who shared potatoes and carrots from her garden.  I was able to pick some dill as well which I will freeze for winter dishes.

A friend shared a few cherry tomatoes and some basil. 
Yummy!

I bought a 20 lbs case of free stone peaches last week while I was visiting Mom.

I arrived at the store at 8:00 am and 10 cases walked out the door by 8:05 am. There were several of us waiting for the BC truck to be unloaded.

Mom and I canned 7 quarts on Wednesday morning.

I have been cutting them up and freezing the chunks on trays so I can take just what I want for my cereal in the mornings this winter.

I have been eating my fill fresh as well.

I am working on photos for a show at the end of the year.  It's focus is abstract art.

Top Left: Shadows on concrete to which I added a filter to highlight the edges.
Top Right: I thought this one looks like rock cliffs but it is a piece of rotted wood.

Bottom Left: This is a reflection of rails in a window.
Bottom Right: This is some tar type sealer which has cracked and aged.  I have applied a filter to enhance the texture.

The birds were really feeding this morning.

There were Chickadees, Nuthatches and of course Sparrows.

The sunlight was wonderful on my walk this morning.

He was keeping an eye on me as well as getting seeds.

The challenge on Flickr Macro Monday this week theme was GoesTogetherLike.  This is Black & White.  I placed the discs on the opposite colored piece of card stock.

I am sharing with Mosaic Monday 42 hosted by Angie at Letting Go ofthe Bay Leaf.

Through my Lens 205 hosted by Mersad.

Harvesting - High Bush Cranberry Syrup

I was out to visit my sister yesterday which was a much nicer day than Monday. One of the tasks was to pick up the High Bush Cranberry Syrup she made on Monday.  She picked 2 pails of them in the snow with gloves to keep her hands warm!  We generally process them together but the berries were wet and she decided to just do it!

We have decided standardized our jars for preserving. She is using pint sized Mason Jars with Gem Lids which you see in the photo that hold 1.5 cups. I brought her 2 flats of them which I unearthed from my corner kitchen cabinet that have been sitting there since I moved years ago.  I will be using the 1 cup tapered Mason Jar with Standard Lids.  Those are the ones you see in the background of this photo. 

I brought a few of the 1 cup jars back with me so I can make Chutney nearer to Christmas time.

Recent Snapshots

The bison at Elk Island National Park are sporting their gorgeous summer coats.  The straggly look of earlier in the year is gone and they are trim and great looking as long as you don't get too close.  The light was very good and the shot turned out well.

Several of my sisters and I picked Mom's harvest on Friday.  Apples from two different trees and you can see that there was a difference in color and size. 

The left pail is a small portion of the grapes we harvested from Mom's vines.  They have moved to a seniors residence so this was the last time we will pick fruit from the trees and vines she nurtured for nearly 50 years.  She shed a couple of tears knowing we were at the house and she could not be there.

I was looking for art for my kitchen and after a while of browsing sunflower kitchen art was reminded that my niece gave me this wonderful metal one a couple of Christmases ago so it made the short trip from dining room to kitchen.

It may need something more. A frame, a word, or another thing. I don't know so I will wait further inspiration.

Changes are progressing nicely in the kitchen.

The fields of grain are warming up in color and texture.  Soon the cutting and combining will start a frenzy activity to get the crop off before frost and the cold put a halt to the activity.

I managed to get one head in nice focus so I cropped the image to isolated it somewhat.

I started enticing chickadees wit sunflower seeds and I managed to get this shot after sitting quiet of 90 minutes.  My hands were stiff, my butt was sore and I was really cold.  The life of a wildlife photographer!!!

I am happy with the photo but would like better.  We shall see how many more days I can sit quiet for a long time.  The weather has turned here so the mornings will be much more cold and I likely will not be able to sit for that long and the camera may not be happy with cold either.

We generally do get Indian Summer here so we could still have some warm days ahead.


I am sharing with

Maggie at Normandy Life if her computer issues get resolved
Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #112

Share Your Cup #215

I worked on my lesson plans and activities for the Advent preparation class "Be Present for Christmas" which I am offering next month.  It is a class for adults to help us to pull back from the commercial aspects of Christmas and focus on the Reason for the season Jesus. It is based on the book "The Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp.  We will be having 6 lessons this time and I have updated 3 of the lessons so that it will not be the exact class from last year.  I will be posting my lessons as I teach them.

I brought some produce home from my sister's house last weekend.  I cut up this beautiful red rhubarb into chunks and froze it for crisps in the winter.  The tomatoes are grown by a friend of hers and there was a bag full of those in various stages of ripeness so I could enjoy them over a period of time.


We had a very good fellowship time on Thursday. I have taken over the planning of the group because I thought it was important that it continue.  The women really appreciated the time together to share prayer concerns.
I did a devotion on Tea - Is that a surprise? We mentioned Hospital - Tea, Hones - Tea, and a few more.  You can find it here.
Sharing with Carol at Art&Sand - Share Your Cup #125