giving thanks

What a gorgeous thanksgiving weekend this has been!

We celebrated, as we have the last few years, by going to an inn with Nanny and Papa for thanksgiving dinner. Our current favourite destination is the Aberfoyle Mill near Guelph...

We walked around their back property a bit to soak up a little more of the warm sunshine...so pretty, though my camera can't quite capture the quality of that late afternoon light.

Then inside to the 100 year old mill, to enjoy a scrumptious thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings.

The sweet potato soup...yum. Miz C ate every drop.

One of the reasons we love this place is the owner - he recognizes us every time and sweeps the girls into big hugs. As we leave, he always pauses to make them a balloon animal - such a joy to be there.

We hope all of you enjoyed the Autumn weather and delicious get-togethers - we give thanks every day that you are a part of our lives.

picture fall

This seems to be the season when my artistic side is getting a full workout!

My sister (who is an amazing photographer) signed me up for an online photography course called Picture Fall by Tracey Clarke for my birthday. While I hesitated at first (how was I going to find time to take a photo every day through the month of October?), I am really enjoying it and finding myself challenged in a way I haven't been since the days of my writing group.

My photos cannot compare to some of the stunning images that they share space with online, but it is fascinating just to look through those and find new ideas and inspiration. I am posting my assignment submissions to Flickr and if you're interested, you can see them by clicking on the Flickr photostream in the right sidebar. The daily assignment theme is the title under each photo.

And if you feel so inclined, sign up yourself! If not for this course, then the next one around the holidays...you might suddenly see the world around you in a whole new light.

wonder woman

For the last few weeks, I have been the grateful beneficiary of the organizational super skills of friend, Anne Marie.

AM has a flair and a passion for organizing; it is almost like magic how she can stand before a cupboard and as easy as saying bibbedy bobbedy boo! visualizes exactly how that pile of kitchen paraphernalia can suddenly make sense.

A month ago she prompted me to to purchase a label maker (?) and a number of plastic bins. Then a week ago she arrived and while the kids played (and stayed up very late) we emptied out every cupboard in the kitchen including the hall panty. We piled up the vast collection on tables and counters and then methodically went through it all. Whenever I started to fade, or felt overwhelmed by how much STUFF there was, AM kept us going.

And at five minutes past midnight we were done! Three bags of garbage, another for goodwill, and 2 bins of recycling cleared the way for a kitchen that had room for every single thing. A few more purchases this week (with coupons found by AM of course) and the kitchen is now one of my favourite places in the house!

Very happy - hopefully I can maintain the energy to tackle all the closets throughout the house now!

Anne Marie's magic touch

Happy Belated Moon Greetings!

Far too much work overtime has me behind on blogging so will catch up over the next few days. For now, just a brief note to say that the dynamic duo and I did celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival last Wednesday with batches of moon cakes and our traditional walk to the pond. With only the light of our lanterns and that beautiful moon to show us the way, we kept thoughts of all of you, near and far, close to our hearts.

Hope you enjoyed it too!

once upon a time (a long tale)

The Story-Writing Club, plus 2
Read on for the full tale

Once upon a time there was a young woman (I won't say beautiful, but definitely wrinkle-free with long hair that had never known the touch of a colourist). This young woman was footloose and fancy free....not a care in the world, plenty of available resources to travel, and buy clothes, and go to the expensive musical theatre productions that she adored.

In that earlier time, the young lady (let's call her Lia) also had a passion for writing. Lia studied the words of other writers within halls of higher learning and even went on to learn the craft of how to turn her musings into stories for others to enjoy. She chanced upon other like-minded people and together they formed a story-writing club which was filled with light and laughter and reams of paper that told tales of many kinds.

The years passed...some of the writers completed their stories... some were short tales, some long, some imaginary and some of a more instructive leaning. They were wondrous tales and the friends encouraged each other in their work and cheered each other in their successes. Lia's own tale reached near 500 pages and 34 chapters and she loved the time she spent on her craft.

Then Lia became a mother.

This too was wondrous and filled with joy and excitement and fun. However, as all good mothers know, being a mom means BUSY. It means laundry and cooking and play dates and doctor appointments and first days at school and driving to swimming and dancing and piano and gymnastics. It means being so tired at night that stirring the brain cells to do any more than help the body crawl slowly up to bed was not to be - for a while.

Lia would not change any of that for a moment. Never. Being a mom is one of the most important and most rewarding accomplishments in her life. But her storytelling had to take a back seat and unfortunately so did the joyous times with the story-writing club...there simply was not time to do everything.

Until now...10 years later, Lia's children are growing and striking out on adventures of their own and suddenly there is a little more time. Suddenly, those 500 pages are calling out to be completed...to finish the tale started many years ago.

So be it, the tale will continue.

Okay...enough of that....I think you get the point.

The 500 pages is accurate and I figuratively dusted off my manuscript (figuratively because it is in electronic format of course) this month and am very excited to return to this other joy in my life.

Many events this year brought me to this point. Some were the musings of my sister's blog and being in contact with other writers. But also important was an email received from a dear, dear friend of the story-writing club...Rona Arato, Ronnie to her friends. I have known Ronnie since my earliest days of writing and she always encouraged me with enthusiastic words and gentle nudges.

During my first decade as a mom, Ronnie has continued to write and publish. She has many books under her belt and this past Spring another of her children's novels was published and she invited me to the book signing party. By fiddling with our crazy schedule I was able to go and bring my girls with me. How wonderful to also meet my other writing friends, Sydell and Lynn (also successful writers) and introduce all three to my daughters. (That's us above...Sydell, Ronnie, yours truly and Lynn.)

Ronnie was busy that day, of course, signing books and chatting and reading from her newest tale, Mrs. Kaputnik's Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium. When I wasn't chatting with my friends, I went and bought both of Ronnie's recent children's novels.

Available on Amazon and at Chapters!

I began the first (Ice Cream Town) as soon as I returned home that day but before I could finish it Bryanna had confiscated the story and proceeded to read through the entire book in a few days. Then she took the Mrs. Kaputnik book and finished that one too. They ARE great stories and I was thrilled that Bryanna thought so too.

And so this post that began as the story of a once young writer and a return to her craft, circles back to the daughter who loves books.

Now that's a happy ending.

first day smiles and trials

Are these not happy looking girls?

As most everyone knew, Cassidy was over-the-top excited about the start of school. She could not wait to launch herself through the doors of Osprey Woods and into Grade 3. Friends Leah and Sydney were with her and she was happy. She picked a simple shorts and t-shirt combo for the hot day, and with bandaids on knees, a new short haircut and her trusty backpack she was off with Papa.

Bryanna was less enthused. Heading off to Grade 6 in a new environment at the local middle school and already knowing that none of her closest friends were in her class took some of the shine off this first day. However, she was happy with her new shoulder bag and cool blouse, and she and I headed off to a new world (this mom with trepidation well hidden).

Little did we know how big the new world would be - NINE Grade 6 classes, formed from three junior public schools in the area. As we took our place in the designated area for Homeroom 6-H, Bryanna watched with a suddenly solemn gaze as she realized that there was not one girl from her junior school in the class. As the minutes ticked by, her smile completely disappeared and I was doing and saying every cheerful mom thing I could think of to lighten her mood. Her teacher was lovely and introduced herself to both of us - I knew she would help ease things if she could and I took a quiet moment to explain Bryanna's concerns.

As the classes filed into the school at the bell, I watched with my own sinking heart as my eldest walked away around a corner.

I worried all day.

A sudden power outage in our office building meant that I was able to leave work early and arrived at Cassidy's school as our daycare provider waited to do the daily pick-up. I asked where Bryanna was (who gets out earlier) and learned she had headed inside to see some of her much loved teachers. And so I learned second-hand that there were two girls Brya knew after all in her class (they had been lost that morning!) and that made her feel better. And her teacher IS nice. And she has a nice locker-mate.

Huge relief. We headed out to the Mandarin for dinner to celebrate first successes and that was a great end to the day.

All that said, Brya is not as enthusiastic about school as she has been the last seven years and her second day has not resulted in any exclamations of happiness. I am trusting, however, that her love of learning will make middle school more fun as she becomes familiar with this new world.

I need to get used to it too.

for the love of camping

You may remember my trepidation when I first took the dynamic duo camping last Summer. However, it turned out to be great fun, and the girls had such a marvelous time that I somewhat resignedly (hey, camping is WORK) decided I better upgrade our little pup tent to a more significant shelter, and my parents helped out by contributing a ton of camping gear this past Christmas.

And so, back in the Spring we began exploring with our camping mates, Shauna and MacLean, where we might adventure this year. Being in tents, we weren't thrilled to venture into more northern locations where bears might be a factor. We checked out many places but were directed to Port Burwell Provincial Park on Lake Erie by a friend of Shauna's. Apparently a gem of a park with marvellous beaches, we decided to take a chance on the unknown and booked a site.

Wow.

We LOVE this place. And when I say "we" I'm not talking about just the girls. Shauna and I, and Shauna's good friend Mel who joined us, were over the moon. While most of the rest of this post will be photos to hopefully share some of the beauty of the place, I'll provide a little narrative too...

The Thompsons and Mel arrived early Thursday afternoon in a heatwave and were melting by the time our tent was up. Shauna and MacLean weren't due to arrive for some time so we headed to the beach under pure blue skies.

As we walked over the rise from the car park, My jaw dropped and Mel and I looked at each other and then the horizon in disbelief. We could have been in Florida.

Look at the beach! Huge, sandy, and the water...warm, warm, warm. The girls threw those boogie boards into the waves and were off...

After great fun, we headed back to meet our friends at the site...

...and found them with their tent up and pooped out from the heat too.

Our new camping home...

We headed back after dinner so that all three girls could have another swim ...despite the setting sun, it was still really warm...

The heat continued...the adults actually had trouble sleeping that night though we slept on top of the sleeping bags in our tents and had all the windows wide open. Bryanna, ironically, spent some time that evening knitting her scarf, started with Auntie Kim back in July.

Friday morning, the forecasted rain finally descended. We were patient, the kids played, and we took advantage of the campground laundry facilities to dry the soaking towels. But around 11 am we finally decided to escape the downpour and headed to nearby Tillsonburg for a couple of hours. After a great lunch at a small-town diner and a brief shopping expedition, the sun returned and we hurried back to Port Burwell and the beach.

Wow again. The storm had awakened the surf and we all had an amazing adventure that afternoon - the girls threw themselves into those waves...what a blast!

That night we dined on Jambalaya made by Mel...we will definitely need the recipe for that creation...Cass had 3 helpings!

The cool weather finally arrived overnight and we were happy to have a hot breakfast the next day. While Saturday was too cool for the beach, we enjoyed exploring the park and just relaxing.

By early evening, the clouds had cleared and we took a long walk in the sunshine all around the campground.

Last night was colder still, but the girls (and me too) think we like the cold better for sleeping...snuggled into our sleeping bags and covered by three thick afghan blankets, it was cozy in our new, big tent.

This morning we packed up in the sunshine and returned our site to the tidy place it was when we arrived.

We bid farewell to wonderful Mel, and then - sad to leave this place we enjoyed so much - Shauna, the girls and I headed back to the beach for a last look at the surf. (Auntie K - we think S. would love this place too!)

While Summer technically continues for a little longer, this was really our farewell to a wonderful July and August full of adventures with our family and friends. Port Burwell allowed us to end the season on the high note that will set the tone for the Fall.

Till next year!