Mommy was very glad Daddy installed the gates before he left,,,

We played with the cats…at least tried to…it was hot so they weren’t really interested…

We watered the plants on the deck.

Look! There’s finally new oranges growing on the potted orange tree. The little plant is confused from the weird seasons we’ve had…

New growth on the tropical plant, too…

We tended to the herbs, which are doing well…

Mommy was excited to se ethe Bee Balm that she planted on Mother’s Day had flowered…

Mommy contemplated what to do with this tree growing right beside the house…

We took a bath…

Sophie played with her toys…

While Mommy still contemplated decorating her room…

We took naps, like Penelope here…

We watered the house plants…

We fed the cats…

We had fun over all. Mommy got to read her book as well, and Sophie was pretty easy on Mommy during meal times. Hurray! Now hurry up and come home, Daddy!

The date: June 22nd, 2008
The Place: Plains of Abraham, ironically where that pinnacle battle between the French & British took place; sealing the fate of what we now know as Canada, only this day the field was flooded by thousands of pilgramming Roman Catholics…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH….;)
The weather started off a beautiful sunny summer day, only to turn into torrential monsoon like conditions…either we were all being “re-baptised” by God or condemed (or just plain silly) – depending on whatever side of the many facets of religions you fall.

The choir (obviously…)

A postcard to the Pope…ah, that cracked me up…

Via satellite…no introduction needed….RATSINGER! I mean…Your Holiness…;) (Sorry, I haven’t seen the Daily Show in awhile, trying to get rid of TV entirely from my life…and Jon Stewart…ah, that Jon Stewart…)

I pointed out the buses lined up and down the street…they closed off this whole street just for this reason. During a dry patch, Rick shot this picture.

The following pictures were taken inside the Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre-Basilica…breath taking as usual…

ceiling

The artwork from this particular artist was amazing…so vibrant and three-dimensional…and recently done as well…

Ah, candles. Now here’s some pictures I took…

Crutches that line the entrance

More ceiling

Floor tile

breath taking altar

Detail on the front door

Always love visiting this church whenever we are in the area.

We took the ferry over to Oka from Hudson…

I don’t like open water, but I felt very safe. It’s simply a barge with a small boat pulling it. Although I doubt this chain would stop us from going into the water if we ever slid backwards. Breaks don’t fail us now…;)

I’d like to take credit for this shot, but I didn’t get out of the car on the ferry. Rick took it; he is just as creative as me when it comes to picture taking…

We headed straight to the beautiful stone church we saw from the the water…

Ducks enjoying the calm waters of Oka Point…

I thought this rushing water (above) looked like an alligator lingering just below the surface. See it?

Someone had some explosive fun recently…

Well manicured lawn. I found the lone dandelion.

Baby feet in the grass!

Rick spotted this squirrel way up in a tree. I get the zoom out…

Is he cute, or what?!

Baby hands discover bark for the first time…

Just a gorgeous day appreciating what nature has to offer…

I was so pleased to see one of our bushes had many buds all over it, and the other day I noticed this beautifully fragrant flower. So Sophie & I cut it and put it in a vase in our livingroom. Being new to the whole home-with-perennial plants, I wasn’t exactly sure what this was. But, send a picture to your mother, she’ll know. We are still enjoying the first peony of the year. Times like this I wish I had one of those flower globes from Lee Valley where you can preserve a flower for months and months…like you have, Robbie! But the closest Lee Valley is in Ottawa and we won’t be going there for awhile. Oh well…I enjoy smelling it anyway! The simplest things please me. I love gazing at our coffee table right now. It has inspired me to do some much needed sprucing up of the homestead. Tomorrow I am doing the great curtain swap…lol…

Welcome to our home…

The last time you saw pictures of our humble abode, we were covered in snow! With a gloomy rainy day upon us, Sophie & I chose to make the most of it when the showers stopped this afternoon, & take pictures of the new life emerging…

A bumble bee clumsily flies by us…

Working amongst the flower on a bush like any skilled gardener…

As slow as the bee was, I certainly had a hard time capturing him in pictures…

He was far too busy to pay attention to us. That’s what I like about bees…

These stinging creatures on the other hand, I am not so thrilled about…wasps have built a nest in the corner of the garage door. It’s only tiny but I really want it removed. Any suggestions as to how to remove it other than, “get a big stick, whack it, and run like hell”?! As much as I hate wasps and their sting, I really don’t want to harm them. I just would like to relocate them to an area where they aren’t in the middle of general foot traffic…

What flower is this? I used to know and it escapes me at the moment. I do love perennials. You do nothing, and they just come up next year…

Jet gives us his best “please let me out”face as we walk by a basement window…

The chamomile I planted on Mother’s Day is twice its size already…

The garden angel watches over the herbs…

Dandelions…a lawn’s annoying weed…

I think they are beautiful….

Remember when you used to blow on them, make a wish?

Although Rick admits this just reminds him he needs to mow the lawn…:)

The potted strawberries are looking (and tasting!) yummy…

The potted rosemary tree is doing well and has already made its way into culinary delights…

The fruit on our potted orange tree is looking a little pathetic from the up and down weather we’ve been having…

I bet it can’t wait for summer, either!

Intensely red little flowers…

Brightens up the the bistro table…

Signs that the prairie dog has returned; his hole is dug out again under the cabana!

No sign of him today…

Just a normal soccer ball, right?

It’s actually teeny tiny! It showed up on our lawn last year, and no one came to retrieve it…

The rain started lightly while we were exploring. Our lawn is full of tiny white flowers…

The solar light will probably be dim tonight…

Ah, the crab tree. I wanted to get photos of it in bloom but it didn’t last very long this year with the wether being so hot/cold…

This young oak tree was no more than a stick at the end of last summer! We thought it was dead for sure since it has been buried in snow for months…

Instead, it is breathing new life…

…and we sigh along with it…

This is Rick shoveling down that monstrosity of a snow bank last week, when it was 30 degrees in our back yard! It is so hard to believe the snow is all gone now and the green grass is already coming up!

Took this a couple of days ago. It kinda felt like…shaved ice for a Sno Cone. Rick finished breaking up the snow bank in the back yard yesterday and it is finally gonzo. Just a small patch behind the cabanon and on our front lawn. Thank goodness for this heat to dry up the ground a little…the grass is just a tad scummy…

Nevermind my gnarly feet with the chipped nail polish…it’s the first bare foot picture of the year. Spring seemed to disappear completely today and instead was replaced by summer. The offcial temperature today was a high of 24 (celsius) but it reached 30 on our back deck!! I thought 16 degrees this morning for our morning walk was great…by the time Sophie & I went back out on the deck this afternoon to finish taking pictures of jewelry it was time to strip off the layers.

Now here’s an odd picture…bare baby legs and snow! You can see Rick shoveling snow in the background with winter boots and SHORTS on. Too funny! We’re trying to break up those drifts in the back so they melt completely.

I have more pictures from our fantastic day, but that’s all for now. I have lots of pictures of jewelry to go through to get them ready for sale.

Natural rubber duck by Rich Frog Industries of Burlington, VT.

I snapped this one of Jet today…Jet & Sophie’s Mini-Jet…

Ok, so bitter enemies is rather harsh, more like tolerable rivals. Either way, to see them voluntarily on the same couch together is a rarity. What I didn’t get to snap a pic of is when they ended up in their half asleep stupor almost touching…and then them waking up and realizing it…quite funny.

Sophie’s Lola sent this jacket up from Windsor as an Easter gift. I am impressed that my mother was listening. I don’t like pink, but this is a nice sorbet kind of pink, unlike baby pink. Plus the jacket has a cute kitty on the back, somewhat like Hello Kitty. :) Even better, it’s size 24 months so she can wear it next year as I have a spring jacket for her this year. Good job, Mom!

Spring is upon us, even with all our snow, spring is definitely in the air! The air is different…hooray! I feel like a bear coming out of hiberation…celebrate the renewal, the new life! I can’t wait for the ground to thaw so I can plant the seedlings I have started in our mini-greenhouse!

Meanwhile, the Easter Lilly blooms bright on the dining room table…

To new life! And a Renewal of yours & mine!

Any excuse to eat cake…it occurred to Rick on Sunday that we had been in our home for one year and that was cause to celebrate. So that night we had wings, Greek salad & chocolate cake. Really, I am married to the wrong person when it comes to squelching my sweet tooth; twist Rick’s rubber arm!

Ah, I don’t care how well we try to live, it’s good to splurge once in awhile. Although coming off of Christmas, it’s probably a little too soon. Oh well…I feel fab after the new supplement routine soooooo…..shhhhhhhh…… ;)

I am in a state of excitement tonight, my mind is going a mile a minute. Seems I am back to business expansion mode & for once have great ideas to push my website & jewelry design forward in a way that’s simple & straight forward for once. Do-able. And this time there are no pending events to get in my way…no am-I-going-back-to-the-day-job, no wedding, no house buying, no moving, no baby planning, no baby on the way…so I think that helps. That and because we are out of the desert period that has been going on since oh, 1987. So the horoscope says. That’s for everyone, BTW.

Still, I must be patient…with an infant each day is different and if today is any indication, I won’t be getting too much done, fast. Poor baba is cranky the past coupld of days at noon, on the dot. Just inconsolable. Until I hand her over to her father. In which case she quiets, babbles. Sometimes I feel like I’m only the on-demand milk dispenser. Sigh! ;)

It’s snowing today, which reminded me to post pictures of the record breaking 40 cm of snow that fell here on Dec. 16th, in a matter of hours.

This was New Years Day:

A lot of this melted, due to the warm, temps we had last week. But winter is just getting started, so I’m sure there’s more to come. We’re definitely getting our money’s worth for snow removal this year.

Merry Christmas…& Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends! Our little family has been very busy these days…will try to update soon; I promise!

All the best…

Rick, Leilani & Sophie