….thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees
This one’s for you Becky. I couldn’t find my original shot so I went out and took some new ones of this grand old willow close to my home. 

….thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees
This one’s for you Becky. I couldn’t find my original shot so I went out and took some new ones of this grand old willow close to my home. 

…thanks to Becky B for hosting October Squares
….and Happy Birthday Onkel Günter, Winnie and Brendan
It’s been a busy weekend. Not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada but we had four birthdays in the family on the same weekend. In fact in October we celebrate birthdays for my husband, my father, my granddaughter, my son-in-law and his brother, my father’s brother and my cousin. I’m sure I’ve missed someone.
This weekend our granddaughter turned four. Andrea, our oldest daughter volunteered to host Thanksgiving and the birthday party at her house. I was most grateful for that, especially after spending five hours in emergency with my husband on Friday. Before you become too concerned let me just say that he’s much better and gets better each day. Thankfully I had made my contribution to the dinner the day before.
The other thing that I did before going to Andrea’s for dinner was volunteer at the Inn to help with the outdoor oven for a workshop that was being put on by George Brown College. At the workshop the students were instructed in baking pizza in the wood fired oven. Everyone got to make two pizzas, one to eat and one to take home. I couldn’t stay for the whole event because I had to be at the dinner. After I left they also baked pita bread and a cranberry loaf. Dale manned the oven and took the pizzas out when they were ready.







Dinner at Andrea’s and Josie’s was spectacular but the highlight, especially for Winnie, was celebrating Winnie’s 4th birthday. Seeing all the presents was too much for her so we decided to let her open her gifts before dinner.





All in all it was a wonderful weekend, with way too much food and drink. I gained about six pounds but I’m determined to take it off as quickly as possible.
…thanks to Ann-Christine for hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge
Candid shots are the ones where your subject is unaware that they’re being photographed. There are photographers who specialize in street photography where they almost exclusively take candid shots.




…thanks to Nancy Merrill for hosting A Photo a Week
…thanks to Becky B for hosting October Squares
….on the weekend I took a stroll to the naturalized park close to home
It’s not often that our dog, Frances wants to go for long walks anymore. She’s almost 13 and she sleeps most of the day. On occasion, however, when she does want to go for a walk she’s seems to find the energy to make her way to Col. Sam Smith Park. On warm days she likes to go for a swim from one of the three beaches in the park but last weekend the water was a little too green for my liking so I didn’t tempt fate and kept her on her leash.
I love this time of year with the colours changing. Plants are producing berries and seed heads and the grasses are turning brown with lovely seed tops swaying in the wind. The bees are very active these days and the birds are getting ready to migrate. Here are a few of my favourite sightings from my walk last weekend.









