…..one of my favourite things to photograph are flowers
Do you have any photos of yellow orange flowers? If so, you should consider joining Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.
…..thanks to Becca Givens for hosting Sunday Trees
…..this week Cee has chosen White Flowers for her fun foto challenge
….a new year and four new questions from Cee
As a child, who was your favorite relative?
Most of my relatives lived in Germany and I rarely saw them. My grandmother visited us about every two years but I remember being a bit afraid of her. My mother’s sister I saw even less but when I did I loved being around her. She was glamorous and spoiled me. When her husband died she moved to Canada with her two teenage children. It was a difficult transition for my cousins but they adapted.
Strangely, over the years I didn’t see much of my aunt even though she lived in the same city. In her last two years, when she became ill I saw a lot more of my aunt. Her son had moved to Florida and only saw his Mom about once a year. Her daughter came as often as she could and always helped her with her shopping. Since I lived the closest to her, my husband and I started driving her to her appointments and took her out for lunch once in awhile.
Near the end, when she had to be hospitalized we went to see her, every day as first, and then three to four times a week.
The other relative that I liked wasn’t really a blood relative. It was my god father. In fact I loved the entire family. They had four boys and they were more like cousins to me. I loved going to their house and the first cottage they owned. Maybe because I didn’t have brothers of my own, I found them fascinating beings. So different from having sisters.
If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?
I would definitely be a tree. They live a long time and provide shade in the summer, life giving oxygen and a home for so many creatures.
What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?
I usually wake up at dawn. Sleeping till noon seems like such a waste of the day.
Would you like to sleep in a human size nest in a tree or be snuggled in a burrowed spot underground?
I would definitely prefer to sleep in a human size nest in a tree. Staying in a tree house resort fascinates me. I like the idea of begin up high enough to be protected from wild animals and having a great view of the world below. An underground burrow would be too claustrophobic for me.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I’m grateful that last week is over. Spending five days at the hospital, (emergency ward, then 3 days waiting, and finally the day of surgery recovery) is not my idea of a great time. I am, however, grateful for the wonderful care given by the nurses and that my son came through the surgery without any complications.
When my son finally came home we were able to properly celebrate his and his twin sister’s birthday. I’m glad we were able to all get together and our oldest daughter announced her wedding plans. She and her partner of 10 years are getting married on Feb. 10 of this year.
This week I’m looking forward to my son recovering from his surgery and hopefully we can stay calm and support each other. He had to cancel his trip back to London because of his injury and he’s rebooked to go back next week. I’m also looking forward to seeing my granddaughter again. She changes so much every week. She’s already pushing herself up and we think her first tooth is starting to emerge.
Cheers!
….you can tell I had a lot of time on my hands while waiting for my son’s surgery to happen
Hospitals can be creepy places late at night when most people have gone home to their own beds and the patients have the lights turned off so that they can sleep as well.
One evening last week, while I was waiting for our son’s surgery to take place, I took a walk through the empty halls of St. Joe’s looking for interesting subjects for a photo shoot. Here are a few things that I observed.
….for the last week of the year I just had to participate in one of my favourite photo challenges
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge allows us to post any photo that doesn’t really fit into any other category. This past weekend when I walked through the neighbourhood I noticed these bushes that had been cut back, leaving only the base of the the plant. Sometimes they literally grew from the rocks.
…this week’s WordPress Challenge is Now
This week we are encouraged to embrace the ‘now’ and share photos of the present moment. This afternoon I took a walk through the neighbourhood. It was getting late and the sky was cloudy. It was also very brisk and I was glad that I brought my gloves with me. Here are a few things that I saw on my journey to get more steps in today and to capture the things we take for granted.
…while many of you are busy preparing for Christmas dinner I’m having a little down time
Our big Christmas celebration took place last night on Christmas Eve. My husband has long enjoyed the German tradition of opening gifts on the 24th since we first met 42 years ago. Now that our children are grown and have significant others we only prepare Christmas dinner every other year and this is that year. Later today we will be driving to Hamilton to enjoy a dinner prepared my daughter and her husband.
I thought I would take this time to share some of the highlights of this years Christmas season. As many of you know I’m a teacher librarian/art teacher. I essentially teach every student in the school for library and I have four classes that I do art with.
The week before Christmas I started receiving gifts from students and their families. There’s always one gift that stands out for me and this one brought a huge smile to my face and I couldn’t wait to share it with my colleagues and friends.
One of my grade one students brought me a small box that he had clearly wrapped himself and very proudly handed it to me. When I unwrapped the paper I discovered that the box was from Juicy Couture. 
When I read the name out loud, T very quickly declared that the box had nothing to do with what was inside. When I opened the lid I couldn’t help but smile for inside the box lay an angel that he had clearly made himself.
He used masking tape, paper and marker to create this little gem. Today it sits prominently on my Christmas tree, just below our angel tree topper. Aren’t kids wonderful?
Hopefully I’ll have more stories to share throughout the week.
Merry Christmas to all and happy holidays.
Carol
….this week’s theme for WPC is Gathering
….thanks to Cee for coming up with four more interesting questions
What would be your ideal birthday present, and why?
I love birthdays and I love to be surrounded by family and friends on my birthday. My ideal present would be a big party with all the important people in my life present
What colour would you like your bedroom to be?
I’ve had grey in my bedroom for years and I’ve hated it. I recently bought a neutral cream colour which I think I’ll much prefer.
Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?
I like snow but I also like it when it melts away in March. Last winter it hung around way too long.
Would you rather go a week without bathing, but be able to change your clothes, or a week without a change of clothes, but be able to bathe?
I think I would prefer to bath every day and wear the same clothes. At least the clothes won’t get as dirty if I start out clean every day. I would probably hand wash my underwear every night.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week I was grateful for a very mild weekend. I managed to get out on Saturday for a walk with the dog and then meet up with my daughters and their families at the Junction Christmas Market. All in all I walked 16 000 steps that day. I also got to spend some time with Miss Winnie. She’s starting to smile more and when I changed her diaper she gave me a huge smile. She makes my heart melt.
Last week, the girls’ basketball team played in their first tournament. They won all three games and have moved on to the West Conference Finals.
Yesterday we hosted our annual Craft Night at the school. We invite the students to bring their parents back to school in the evening and go from room to room and make whatever craft is being featured. This year we had numerous crafts that included golf ball snowmen, melted snowman ornaments, Minion ornaments, cookie decorating and paper crafts. I usually don’t have time to go around and take photos of the different activities but this year I did manage to go to a few rooms close to the library before we became busy. Here are a few of the great things that the children made. It was all over in an hour. It’s almost like preparing a big Christmas dinner where you spend hours and hours cooking and making preparations and then it’s all over in 20 minutes.
For the rest of the week I’m looking forward to having dinner with a group of friends. On the weekend my husband and I are planning on driving to the countryside with our daughters to cut down a Christmas tree. This will be my youngest daughter’s first Christmas tree in her new home. Ideally it would be nice to have some fresh snow but the temperatures are suppose to remain well above freezing so that’s very unlikely.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. Till next time.
Carol
