Overnight Guests

June 30, 2009 – Day 181

My son-in-law Ian and granddaughter Ashley arrived at our place at 9:00 tonight. Ian has to go to Jasper to pick up his kids for a summer visit tomorrow and Ashley is going to Winnipeg with her step-mom after she spends a couple days with us. We’re all doing Project 365 and had to get our picture of the day in!

A New Coffee Cup!

June 29, 2009 – Day 180

The "Mother" cup that Christine bought me about 26 years ago is my favourite but it's getting old. I'm afraid it may get broken one of these days, so early in the year I asked each of my kids if they would buy me a new “Mother” or “Mom” cup sometime during the year. That way, if the old one gets broken, I'll have several others to chose from - and I thought it would just be fun to see what each of my kids choose.

I received my first cup today; it was from Christine. Adam brought it back from his weekend visit to Cold Lake this and dropped it off this morning. It’s such a beautiful soft pink, nice and big and I absolutely love the quote on it. I can't wait to have my first cup of coffee from it tomorrow morning! Thank you Christine!

High Heels

June 28, 2009 - Day 179

Kristy brought a couple pairs of shoes for a photo shoot I did for her and Michael today. I loved this pair so I just had to take a picture of them on their own.

Breakfast Treats

June 27, 2009 – Day 178

Adam is in Cold Lake for the weekend but Michael and Kristy came for a visit this morning. Treats were on Kristy…coffee and breakfast buns! My coffee was a Caramel Coretto from Second Cup and a Ham N’ Egger from A&W. It was all absolutely delicious – thank you Kristy!

Worth Waiting 50 Years For!

June 26, 2009 – Day 177

I’ll be celebrating a “special” milestone birthday this year. It doesn’t happen until the third week in November, but I received my birthday gift from Ken today. It’s the Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM, my very first truly professional camera lens! It’s large and heavy (about 4 pounds with the lens hood and tripod mount) so, for correct balance, instead of the camera attaching to the tripod, the lens does.

My heart could burst with excitement yet it’s going to take a while to believe that this is really mine! :-) I’m thrilled that I’ll have time to practice using this lens before taking it along on our little vacation next month.

Someone (maybe mom?) gave me a small instamatic camera when I was 12 years old. When I saw the first printed pictures I took with that camera, I was instantly hooked on photography; it was magical to me that we were able to capture moments of time. Little did I realize then that this would become a lifelong passion!

Right Next Door to the Country

June 25, 2009 – Day 176

I walked to the end of our cul-de-sac and aimed my camera northwest. We live on the north edge of the city and I love it – but this won’t be the edge of the city forever. Development has already begun with the widening of the road to the east.

It makes me sad that the pond is almost gone, from lack of rain I suppose. Ducks have laid their eggs around the edges of the pond and it would be nice for them to have some water for their ducklings once they’ve hatched. One of the highlights of living “out here” for me is that we can hear the frogs croaking in the spring. It’s also much quieter than many parts of the city.

I’m a country girl at heart and I’m really going to miss these sights and sounds when they’re gone. Ken and Little Bear will miss their walks throughout this area as well.

Fourteen Years

June 24, 2009 – Day 175

Ken and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary today! It’s hard to imagine that the years have gone by so fast. One of the stops of my day was Carlton Cards to buy a card for Ken.

Dried Roses

June 23, 2009 – Day 174

One of the girls at work (“Sherri”) left some roses at her desk over the weekend. They were in a vase filled with water; however, when Sherri returned to work on Monday (yesterday), she discovered the roses had dried! It makes a person wonder how hot and stuffy it must be in the office over the weekends when they turn the air conditioning off in the building but Sherri’s roses dried beautifully in that atmosphere!

Dr. Morley

June 22, 2009 – Day 173

I had an appointment to get a prescription refilled this morning and took my camera along. I asked my doctor if she’d mind if I took a few pictures of her. She was a little shy about it but she was a good sport and allowed me to do so.

Dr. Morley has been my doctor since she started her practice ten years ago. At that time my previous doctor moved her practice to the south side and referred her patients to Dr. Morley. I’m so thankful for the referral - Dr. Morley has been a wonderful doctor right from my very first visit!

I told Dr. Morley about Project 365 and asked if she’d mind if I posted one of the pictures I took of her today; she was a good sport about that as well and said it would be fine.

If All Else Fails

June 21, 2009 – Day 171

Further to my picture and journaling of June 15th, Ken spent many more hours trying to fix my computer this week. After trying all the previous fixes, he finally decided to delete all the information from my C: drive and reboot the operating system. Once he did that, things still weren’t working well and it was only then that he was able to narrow the problem down to the additional hard drive that was installed in my computer.

Ken tried the problematic hard drive on his computer and it wouldn’t work on his either so his next step was to run recovery software programs on it. He tried a few different programs with no success. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I had lost all the files on that drive but Ken woke me up this morning, excited to tell me that he was able to recover them! I was thrilled, yet had a hard time believing it was true!

The “secret” was something Ken had read online – if all else fails, put the hard drive in the freezer. He had put it (in a plastic bag) in the freezer and left it there overnight. Lo and behold, it was working fine this morning!

However, after about an hour of being installed on the computer, it “died” again. And my heart sank…again.

Ken put the hard drive back in the freezer for a several hours. As it was refreezing, he went to Best Buy to buy a new external hard drive. Once he returned, he connected my laptop to the hard drive that was in the freezer (which is in the garage), plugged in the new external drive to the laptop and put some heavy “weights” on the freezer to ensure that no warm air was able to get in through the space around the cord running out from the hard drive inside. We were able to successfully back up all the files from the frozen hard drive on the new external drive! I am amazed!

Home II

June 20, 2009 – Day 171

This is the back side of our house. I took several shots of this scene throughout the day but since we’re at our longest day of the year (officially tomorrow I believe), I chose this picture that I took at 10:16 this evening for my picture of the day. I had my camera on a tripod and had to use a long exposure (4 seconds) so anything that was blowing in the breeze (i.e. the flowers) is a little blurry.

Home

June 19, 2009 – Day 170

Ken and I were renting a house when we decided to buy a home of our own in the summer of 2005. We met with a realtor (“Frank”) on August 16th, bringing along our “wish list”, things we really wanted in a house. Frank asked us several questions and added details to our list. Two days later, Frank took us to look at nine houses and we especially loved the last one we saw; however, we didn’t know if we should jump right in so quick! Maybe we should look at more houses before making such a big decision? I mean, who buys a house the first night they go out looking?! In the end, our deciding factor was that we would have been hugely disappointed if the house we loved wasn’t available a couple weeks later, after we’d taken the time to look at others.

We went back for a second look on August 19th and, not wanting to miss out, we made an offer! Another couple had an offer pending so it was a nail-biting weekend until we found out (on the 21st), that they withdrew their offer because their house didn't sell fast enough - and the house was ours! Our possession date was September 16th, 2005, and we both love our home as much today, if not more, than we did when we bought it, almost four years ago.

The couple that withdrew their offer came over to introduce themselves when we had a garage sale in 2006. They bought a house a block away; it was one of the nine houses we looked at. :-)

Sitting Pretty

June 18, 2009 – Day 169

I walked around downtown for an hour at lunchtime today, looking for interesting things to take pictures of. I was surprised to discover these pigeons, and the old abandoned building they are nesting in, as I neared the end of my walk. The building is just south of the new Epcor building that’s going up on 104th Avenue and 101st Street.

When I started taking pictures, most of the pigeons flew away but it only took them a couple minutes to return and I was able to get several shots that I’m pleased with.

Scary

June 17, 2009 – Day 168

There aren’t too many of these old grates on the sidewalks downtown, but there are a few - and I hate stepping on them as I’m walking by. I have a fear that one of the grates will break under my feet and I’ll fall into the dark, bottomless pit below! So, I almost always walk on either side of the grates or on the strip of cement between them. Once in a while, when I’m feeling brave, I’ll step on the grate as I go by. :-)

Lawn Improvements Ahead

June 16, 2009 – Day 167

Ken is going to fix some of the smaller bare patches on our lawn now but this is where the topsoil waits until he gets my computer fixed, or maybe until the weekend.

A Backup

June 15 – Day 166

I’ve been having problems with my computer recently and those problems have gone from bad to worse. Ken and I have each tried a few things to fix it in the past week or so. He knows much more than I do in that department so he’s now trying a reboot of the operating system. I don’t know how long it’ll take or if he’ll be successful. If not, I guess I’ll be buying a new computer but in the meantime, I’m very thankful for my laptop! I find it a little difficult to work without my Wacom tablet and pen and I’m not so great on the laptop keyboard, but hey – I’m not complaining! Things might take me longer to do, but they’ll still get done...important things you know, like keeping up with Project 365!

Family, Food, Fun!

June 14, 2009 – Day 165

A few of us met at Mirama (9431 Jasper Avenue) at 11:30 this morning for Dim Sum. It’s the first time I’ve been there but the food was delicious and the prices were reasonable. From left to right around the circle is: Adam, Michael, Kristy, Darlene, Shayne and Sandy. We all live in Edmonton but Shayne and Sandy live clear across the city, on the south side. Those of us that live on the north side don’t see them often so it was nice to get together again.

Dear Mrs. McLeod

June 13, 2009 – Day 164

I received a letter in the mail from Ross (my stepdad) on Thursday. It was a letter addressed to mom that he received a couple months ago. The author of the letter apologizes for “the delay in responding”. Delay is an understatement; Mom has been dead for nearly seven years!

If you’re going to respond to a a letter seven years later, shouldn’t you exercise common sense enough to do a little research and verify that the addressee is still at the address on file – or even alive anymore?!

In my opinion, the seven year delay of this response to mom’s letter epitomizes governmental bureaucracy/red tape and it makes me angry! Perhaps part of what’s behind my anger is sadness in wishing that mom was alive to read her mail.

”Dear Mrs. McLeod:

I refer to your duplicate Application for Registration under the Indian Act and additional information dated March 5, 2002 and received on March 15, 2002. I apologise for the delay in responding. Please find enclosed the photograph you provided to our office.

From the information that has been provided, I have been able to determine that your maternal grandmother, Julie Andrews nee Sunshine is entitled to be registered under the provisions of section 6(1)(c) of the Indian Act. Your mother, Eulalie Andrews, is registered under Section 6(2) of the Indian Act as her mother is registered under a provision of Section 6(1)(c) of the Act. It has not been possible to identify your father, Leo Clarence Kunce, as someone who is registered or entitled to be registered under the provisions of the Indian Act.

There is no provision in the Indian Act to allow for the registration of a person when one of the parents is entitled under section 6(2) when the other parent is not an Indian as defined by the Act or is not identified.

You have not provided any new information that would change my prdecessor’s decision of August 15, 1988. Please find enclosed a copy of that letter.”

The enclosed letter dated August 15, 1988 basically said the same thing as this one did.

Fun

June 12, 2009 – Day 163

Adam, Michael and Kristy came over tonight. We barbequed, watched the hockey game and had a fire after the game. Kristy had to work at 8:00 in the morning so she and Michael left around 11:00 but Adam, Ken and I played Guitar Hero (Adam brought his set with the drums) and Singstar until the wee hours of the morning.

Aunt Linda's Pickles!

June 11, 2009 – Day 162

Last summer my Aunt Linda, Aunt Joan and I got together to make perogies. We made a few hundred perogies and had a whole lot of fun while we were at it! I think Linda and Joan sent me home with more than my fair share of the perogies we made that day - and Linda also gave me a jar of her homemade pickles.

Little did I know what a special treat I was in for!

Until then, the very best homemade pickles I had tasted in my life were Baba’s, and Baba died in 1981; however, I was thrilled to discover that Linda’s pickles tasted exactly the same as Baba’s had!

I have thought about Linda’s pickles often since then and finally called her last night to ask if I could buy a jar of her pickles. She said yes! Yes, I could have a jar of pickles, but she wouldn’t let me pay for them. They’ll be perfect for a barbeque Ken and I are planning to have tomorrow night.

I stopped by Linda’s tonight to pick up the pickles and she had other treats waiting in a box for me to take home as well! Included in the box was: a jar of salsa, bread and butter pickles, relish (I think it’s called chow chow) and saurkraut – all homemade! I am in pickle heaven! Thank you Linda!

Downtown Adventures

June 10, 2009 – Day 161

I was snapping away when this random stranger walking by asked me if I wanted him to sit on the statue for a picture. I told him to go ahead if he wanted to. He tried, but was unable to climb the statue so he simply smiled, waved goodbye - and continued on his way. This is totally just a quick snapshot and I know he’s blurry, but he made me smile and I think he makes the picture much more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Gotta love downtown! :-)

The Big Move

June 9, 2009 – Day 160

If I’m still working at Justice in a couple of years, I’ll be working in this building. “The big move”, as it has come to be known as around the office, is scheduled for 2011. We now have offices in three buildings in the downtown core but we’ll all be together, on six floors, in this building when we move. It’s only a couple of blocks north of our current location.

Mmm...(butter)milk

June 8, 2009 – Day 159

I can’t stand the taste of milk, but I absolutely love…buttermilk! Ken doesn’t understand how I can drink it; he teases me and says it’s like drinking sour cream. lol

As soon as I was finished taking this picture, I added a little salt and pepper and enjoyed my delicious treat! I don’t care for any brands other than Dairyland and it has to be 3.25% (the 1% is almost as unpleasant as milk).

Featured Designer

June 7, 2009 – Day 158

I’m the featured designer in the May issue of the Scrapbook-Elements newletter which runs from the middle of May to the middle of June. The newsletter goes out to hunrdeds of people and I was shy about being featured, and especially about doing the interview - but it’s great exposure for my store.

The newsletter is only available to subscribed members but you can read my interview at the store here (until the middle of June) if you’re interested: http://scrapbook-elements.com/sbe/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=324

New Toys

June 6, 2009 – Day 157

I have been sharing my tripod (a Manfrotto that I bought at a garage sale years ago for $10!) with Ken since I bought him a camcorder for Christmas 2005. We both wanted a tripod of our own so I finally broke down and bought myself a new one at McBain’s this morning – and I love it! I also bought a lens cleaning kit for digital cameras and a remote for my camera.

Care Package

June 5, 2009 – Day 156

Two or three times a year I send a “care” package to my son Travis and his family. They live in Grande Prairie, which is only six hours away, but I don’t travel much and neither do they so I don’t get to see them often.

Travis and Amanda’s daughter, my sweetheart granddaughter, Hannah, turns five years old on Wednesday, June 10th. I bought her a card (and put money in it for her to pick out a birthday gift from “Grandma and Ken”) but instead of sending the card alone, I thought it was about time to send another package for the family since it’s been quite a while since I sent the last one.

Included in the package are treats for each of the kids: wall stickers for Faith and Hannah and a toy car for Owen. Also included are pictures for Travis and Amanda and several individually wrapped mini chocolate bars for everyone. There is also a mini package of Kraft Dinner for each of the kids and one of my homemade pizza buns for everyone.

I sent the parcel Express Post but since it’s Friday, they won’t get it until Monday. The pizza buns were frozen when I mailed the package and, ideally, I’d like them to receive them the next day. I know they’ll still be good on Monday but it bothers me that they may not be as good as they would have been on Saturday! I thought parcels were delivered on Saturdays if you paid the Express Post fee – which means next day service. Canada Post is a federal government organization though so I guess I should have known better!

(wish I would have shown more of the contents of the package but it’s too late, the parcel is already on its way to Grande Prairie)

Lunch for Holly

June 4, 2009 – Day 155

Tomorrow will be Holly’s last day in the office for several months so those of us (on our team) that were in the office today took her out for lunch. Further to my post of May 20th, Holly goes for surgery on Tuesday, June 9th, and she expects it'll be the end of December by the time she's finished chemo and radiation treatments. We’re all rooting (and some of us are praying too) for Holly!

Around the circle from left to right is: Lana, Holly, Stacey, Brenda, James, Shaun and Sherri. My chair is the empty one. Missing from our team and from the lunch today were: Apryl, Jim, Ellen, Dale, Sheila and Shirley.

(posted with permission from the people in the picture)

Getting High

June 3, 2009 – Day 154

When I arrived at work this morning, these guys were busy washing the windows of a nearby highrise; they are about 30 floors up here! I’m afraid of heights and could never do this job - regardless of how many ropes and harnesses I had tied to me! Could you?

My Fuchsia

June 2, 2009 – Day 153

My fuchsia is growing an abundance of flowers and I love it! It hangs on our small deck in front, facing east.

Homemade Pizza Buns

June 1, 2009 – Day 152

I’m having a busy, productive, fun day at home today. Among other things, I made a batch of pizza buns and played with my camera (taking pictures of those buns). Cooking and photography are two of my favourite hobbies.