….thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees

View from my back window, early in the morning.

….this week’s WPC theme is serene
Nothing is more soothing and serene to me than water and sunrises and sunsets.



…every day, from December 1st to the 24th a new surprise to unwrap
Years ago my daughter and husband collaborated on a project where I was given a small gift every day from Dec. 1st to the 24th. Each gift was carefully wrapped and placed in a take away container and set before me at the breakfast table. I was so touched by this gesture that I’ve wanted to do a similar ‘advent calendar’ for someone special in my life. This year I finally got my act together and did just that. In fact I created two different ‘calendars’ for my two daughters and their families. Today I’ll share the first one with you.
At first I was just going to create a calendar for my granddaughter but then I decided to include presents for my daughter and son-in-law as well. In fact I even threw in a gift for their dog, Lucy. The hard part of this project was choosing what to put the presents into. I decided to use an over the door shoe organizer that had 24 pockets. After searching the internet and several stores I finally found the perfect vessel. After Christmas, I thought that the organizer could be used to store some of Winnie’s toys.
Apart from buying things that would be fun to open and be somewhat practical and not break the bank, the next most difficult part was wrapping each gift.

I won’t kid you and say that this project is simple and quick to put together. If I were to do it again I would start buying small gifts months in advance and wrap them as soon as I bought them. It was, however, fun to do and now that December 1st is here I’ve been blessed with photos of my granddaughter’s reaction to the first gift that she unwrapped this morning.
….a day late

….thanks Cee for hosting Fun Foto Challenge
Otters at the Toronto Zoo

Orangutan at the Toronto Zoo

Jack-O-Lantern

Cows at the Royal

Hog at the Royal

Olaf at the Hamilton Santa Claus Parade

…thanks to Trablogger for hosting Mundane Monday

….thanks to Roda for hosting The Critter Connection Challenge
I went back to my photos from my last Toronto Zoo visit. I loved this amazing Red River hog. They can be found in west and central Africa, as well as Madagascar.


…join the fun and change your colour photos into black and white
Thanks to the Maine Paper Pusher for hosting the Black and White vs Colour photo challenge.
Which of the two do you prefer?
Standing in the rain, waiting for Santa.

