Photo Scavenger

The Photo Scavenger returns!

The clues for this week are:
1) a blue building
2) something fishy
3) something that starts with the letter 'N'

Here are my submissions.

1) A blue building.  I had a blue building all picked out, and plans to photograph it.  Then I saw this building.  It was bluer and prettier.  So it wins a spot on the blog.

2) Something fishy.  This involved me taking the camera into a grocery store and pretending I didn't notice people staring at me as I took a picture of some wild Pacific salmon.  Actually, I'm not sure anyone actually noticed.  Is fish fishy enough?

3) Something that starts with the letter 'N'.  That would be the necklace I received when I retired from BBH

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Getaway

Rob and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a little over a week ago, and this past weekend we had a short little getaway.  We didn't go too far - just to Port Dover.  We stayed at a B&B, a house built in the 1840's and we were also promised a four course breakfast!

Our mini-holiday started Friday after Rob came home.  We finished packing and off we went.  We stopped for dinner and then headed to the B&B.  Russ was our host and he took great care of us.  The house is lovely and decorated in to match the period in which it was built, but with all the modern amenities.  Except the stove - that was from the 1950's.  But the fridge and dishwasher were hidden behind cabinetry so it just looked like a lot of cupboard space.

The room we stayed in was the master bedroom of the house - it had a lovely king size bed!

The above picture was our first impression when we walked into the room - the wall paper was a little busy, but still nice.  And then we turned around...

and turned around a little further!

I really do find the decor from the 1840's a bit much.  It just hurt to look at it.  But I think that really is how they decorated their homes then, and I think it is awesome when home owners do what they can to maintain the era in which the house was built.

We had our own private bath, there was a toilet behind the half-wall and a shower immediately to the right (not shown).  Obvioulsy this is much updated from the 1840's, but this room was originally a bathroom of sorts, with whatever they had available at the time.

In the morning, we had breakfast!  I love breakfast.  The first course was what Russ called "breakfast soup".  No picture, but it was fruit in a yogurt + lemon juice + ?? mixture.

I'm not quite sure of the delineation between courses two and three, as we were then served fresh biscuits, toast with melted cheddar and fresh rosemary, and a variety of muffins.  Between all that, that must have been courses two and three.

All that was just the appetizers for the main course!  I can't remember what Russ called it (a french name) but it was rye bread, with ham, swiss cheese and spinach layers, toasted, then topped with a poached egg.  It was really good!

Of course, there was coffee, tea, and juice, as well as OJ mixed with a blackcurrant liqueur.  I think that's the first time I've had an alcoholic beverage and spinach for breakfast!

After we checked out, we spent a bit of time wandering round the property.  The house was on a lake/river, so the front of the house actually faced the river, and the back of the house faced the road.  The road was not really in existence when the house was built.

This is the view from the road - so the back of the house.

A water pump - this would have been well used when the house was built!

We spent some time wandering around Port Dover before heading home.  It was a lovely day (especially for February).

It was fun to get away for a short time, and to celebrate our anniversary!  Here's to the next seven years (Lord willing)!

Photo Scavenger

Good evening all!  (Or morning/afternoon depending on when you're reading this).  I'm back with this week's Photo Scavenger Hunt.  The clues for this week are:

1) Something smaller than my thumb
2) Something borrowed
3) The 92nd page of any book

Here are my entries.

Something smaller than my thumb - breakfast!  Well, a small part of breakfast, anyways.  By the way, photographing one's own thumb is easier said than done (at least for me).  Said digit looked quite frightening on some of the pictures!

2) Something borrowed - the DVD set of Season One of Sue Thomas F.B.I Eye.  My friend Geraldine lent these to me, I've been watching them during my endeavours to get more exercise into my life.  I've been quite enjoying the shows, AND spending some time on a somewhat regular basis on the elliptical.  I'm almost done this set of DVD's though - does anyone have any recommendations?  It is a lot easier to put in 20 or 30 minutes on an exercise machine when I'm not bored out of my tree!

3) The 92nd page of any book.  The book I chose was the devotional I'm using for 2012:  Holiness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges.  Thirty-one days into the year, I highly recommend the book.  Seeing as page 92 is from Week 15, I haven't read that particular devotion yet.

Photo Scavenger

I'm ready with this week's Photo Scavenger post on Friday afternoon this week.  The clues Thelma gave this time were:
- a silhouette
- something soft
- reflections in water

I had a hard time with the silhouette, and I was almost going to skip that clue.  Earlier in the week I had looked up the definition of silhouette and pondered over the difference between a shadow and a silhouette.  Eventually I came to the conclusion that for the purposes of this game, I needed a picture of an outline of a shape.  This morning I suddenly remembered Roger Tory Peterson's book on Birds.  One of my Dad's favourite books, we saw it frequently when we were growing up as Dad identified the birds he saw around.  In that book, my friends, are silhouettes of birds.  And, Rob and I have a copy of that book.   So, I flipped through it, and found this diagram:

It even calls the pictures silhouettes!

The next clue I found a lot easier - something soft.  As soon as I saw that clue I knew it would have to be a picture of the Mindy-Kitty.  She is soft.  Soft and furry.  And she purrs.  She doesn't purr softly though - she has a good rumbler!

The last clue - reflections on water - this was fun.  I knew Rob and I had some good water reflection pictures from some of our holidays, so I browsed through those pictures to find a good one.  It is fun to go through the pictures again.  Here's the one I chose.  This was from our vacation to Alberta and British Columbia in 2008.  I do not recall exactly where this picture was taken, but it was a man-made lake.

Those are my submissions for this week - hop on over here if you want to play along!

New Light Fixtures

A month or two ago, Home Depot had many of their light fixtures on sale.  Since I'm on a mission to replace several light fixtures in our home, Rob and I chose new fixtures for our kitchen and dinette.  Last week my Dad came over and installed them for us.  Now I'm loving our new lights!

Here are some BEFORE and AFTER pictures.

Whoever roughed in the light fixture for the dinette area was not thinking too straight, as the light was in a most obscure place.  There was no way we could center the table under it if we wanted any sort of reasonable traffic patterns in the kitchen/dinette.  Rob and I both noticed the odd location of this light when we first came through this house before we bought it.  It is about 22 1/2 months since that day (and about 19 1/2 months since we moved in), but that oddity is FINALLY fixed.  It is so nice to have a light OVER the kitchen table.  In our old house, the light was in a reasonable location, but it was really an ugly fixture.  Now, I have a light I like AND it is centered over the table!

So, thank you very much Dad - we really like the new lights!

Christmas Festivities A. Family Part 2

This past Saturday we had our A. family Christmas.  Cher, Laura, Corin & Yvetta had arrived from Winnipeg earlier in the week - it was so good to see them again.  We sure missed Rich, Luke & Caleb though!
Our group for the day numbered 19, and I think a good time was had by all.  With the possible exception of the Mindy-Kitty - I don't think she was very impressed.

We spent time talking, some people played some games, and of course, there was food.  We also had a gift exchange - Rob and I might just enjoy our chocolate letters for a late dessert tonight!   It was a very enjoyable day!

Here's just a few pictures - we didn't get too many.

Photo Scavenger

I'm hoping to squeak in under the wire with this week's Photo Scavenger hunt...hopefully Thelma is sleeping in really late this morning!

The clues for the week are:
1) An old book
2) Something that begins with 'R'
3) Something in my favourite colour.

Here are my submissions.

1) An old book - this is a new copy of the book but it is a very old book.  Praise God for this gift to us!

2) Something (or someone!) that begins with the letter 'R' - my dear Rob.   
This picture comes out of the archives.  I'm kind of glad we don't live in this era but Rob would have fit in well, eh?

3) Something in my favourite colour.  My favourite colour changes regularly, but usually is one of blue, pink, yellow, brown - they are all my favourites.  Blue is probably my all-time favourite so then my blue lunch bag wins today!

D. Family Christmas

We had the family get-together with my family last Friday.  Lisa and Jon were only here for a week, and that's the date that worked the best for us all.   Rob was working that day so I went over to Mom and Dad's in the afternoon.  Jon was looking through some of Lisa's old year books.

Arian and Karin & kiddos arrived a bit later - Esther was a very happy girl!

Once Rob arrived, Erik didn't have much trouble convincing him to play "cowboy". :)

We had supper first and then it was time for presents! 

It was bedtime for Esther so we did all her presents first.

By then, Erik and Alex were quite ready for their turn to open some presents!  Erik loving on his new Tigger...

And Alex had a very oddly shaped present...any guesses?

A bicycle!  This was from Lisa & Jon, and Rob & I.  Gramma & Grampa contributed a helmet, so Alex is ready to go!

It was a fun night and I do like having my sister close by for a week!  Lisa and Jon arrived Tuesday (very early) and then flew out again 6 days later on the 2nd, but I think I saw them every day except Monday before they left, but that was also quite early.   But she's hoping to be in Ontario again in April, when she will be on her way to Australia!!

We're so thankful for our families and the good times we can have together.  Stay tuned for Part 2 of the A. family festivities, which are planned for this Saturday!