Colour coming

We walked to the park yesterday and noticed that a few trees were starting to get their colourful dresses out of the closet.

The water was as smooth as glass so was the perfect mirror for this fine lady to use while trying on her new red dress.
Smudge was quite impressed and so was I.

View from Canoe Club

I know I posted pics of Smudge this morning, but I have these pictures from the weekend that I thought would be fun to share with you too.

AC and I often walk past the Canoe Club in our local park but we never ventured up the stairs to peeked in the windows or checked out the view from the deck. Last Saturday when we walked by, things were locked up tight and looked pretty deserted, so we thought it would be OK to take a closer look.

I'm glad we did. The view from the deck gave us a whole new look at the river.
Pretty huh?

Hambone

Colouring is getting to be a regular after breakfast activity for the Wee One. Smudge will sit in her highchair for quite a while colouring and having a grand time with paper and crayons before she lets me know that it is time to get DOWN!
She is getting to be quite the hambone though. She sees me with the camera and starts to ham it up.

What a cutie.

Walk at the Mill of Kintail

The most wonderful, fabulous, glorious September weather continues to grace our area, and AC and I are taking advantage of it. We set off for a hike along the paths at the Mill of Kintail the other day and enjoyed cool forest trails, and...

...open fields...

...then more forest trails.
And, you will notice we did it all sans coats. Yahoo!

Picnic in the Park

We had the day off on Friday, but the Sun was on duty all day so we took a picnic lunch to the park to soak up some of the sunshine while we munched our lunch. It was the perfect day for a picnic.
Not much colour at the park yet, but that will change in the next couple of weeks I am sure.The geese are very active down by the water's edge and are getting their flight plans all figured out.
We enjoyed listening to their chatter while we lunched near by.

Afternoon Walk with Grandpa

Every morning Grandpa and Smudge go out for a walk but Smudge rides in the stroller and Grandpa gets the exercise while Smudge gets the fresh air.
Afternoon walks are different though. Smudge actually gets to walk, and Grandma or Grandpa get to trail behind to hedge her in, lift her over curbs, steer her out of puddles, away from dogs, off the road, around thistles, and out of the path of whatever other trouble she might get into. And believe you me, she finds plenty! I love it though. She studies the gravel, feels the grass, touches the sidewalk, thumps the metal mailboxes, pats the tree trunks, admires flowers and weeds alike, stops to listen to birds, lawnmowers, cars, trucks, school buses, garbage trucks and anything else that makes the slightest noise, looks directly at any and every person who passes by, woofs at every dog she sees or maybe only hears, and delights in every breeze that ruffles her hair. What a treat to walk with her.

Smudge Lesson for the Week - you miss a lot when you walk around on automatic pilot. Take a walk today and stay in the now for the whole journey. What you see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel will amaze you.

Strange Fascination

Looks innocent enough doesn't it? Just a little girl sitting in a chair enjoying a cookie and a drink. Right?

Wrong! This chair had to placed on the floor right in front of the stove in the kitchen so Smudge could watch the oven!!! Go figure. She loves to watch the oven, and when something is actually in it, she diligently keeps track of the minutes on the digital timer.
I happened to be cooking muffins on this day, and she watched every minute tick by on the timer. As much as she loves to watch Elmo, he doesn't hold a candle to the oven and stove timer. Strange fascination indeed.

First Day at Play School

It certainly looks like Smudge is excited about going to Playschool doesn't it?
She didn't even take time to remove her hat when we arrived. She went right over to the first play table and made friends right away.
She and her new friend met up in a couple of the play areas throughout the morning and seemed to have fun playing together. Here they are in the Doll House section. I think Smudge is making dinner while Lance checks out the appetizer.

Smudge soon moved on to the Truck and Block carpet to check things out there.

Then it was time to take a break in the Library corner.
Next stop was the Dress-up area. She quite liked this Viking hat.
Oh boy, the painting table. Let's see what it feels like to get my hands in this paint. Maybe a taste is in order too. I don't think you would like the taste of that paint Smudge. It is a mixture of shaving cream and paint. Yuck!

There were lots of activities to keep her interest, but her favorite thing to do during her first morning at Playschool was...to push a little plastic chair around. Yep, she pushed this chair up and down and up and down and round, and round and round.
She was one tired baby when we got home from her first day at Playschool. Grandma was tired too as I followed her up and down and round and round and round.

Autumn leaves

The leaves are falling, and so am I...down on the job of posting a picture or two of Smudge each day for all her fans. Sorry!AC will post about our busy day on Saturday, so be sure to check out his blog later today. Pressure systems changing and the tail end of a hurricane sweeping through our area left me with a pounding headache for the last couple of days, so not much time was spent at the old laptop.

Weather and head cleared this morning, but I have no new pictures of Smudge to share with you. Sigh! I will try to remedy that today. Stay tuned.

Oh Boy!

The latest and greatest discovery.




I would say Smudge is having a blast with these new found delights.

In Her Shoes

When we were getting ready to go out the other day I noticed Smudge's shoes beside Mommy's. I couldn't resist adjusting them a tad, and taking this picture.
As mother's and grandmother's we have to watch our step don't we. Little ones take everything in, and follow close behind; learning, learning, learning.

September in the park

AC is posting lots of wedding pics on his blog these days, so I thought I would slip one or two of Smudge in over here.
Wonderful, glorious, marvelous September is here, and almost every day we enjoy a walk to the park at the end of the street. The geese are busy on the water and overhead, the bugs seem to have packed it in for the season, and the trees are starting to put on their colourful party dresses.
I love - wonderful, glorious, marvelous September. I think Smudge does too.

More Girl's Night Out

More pictures of our Girl's Night Out. Enjoy







Ah, sweet memories. What a fun time we had.

Girl's Night Out

AC is sorting through wedding pictures and will be posting some this week. While he is getting those ready, I thought I would go back to the week before the wedding and post some pics of the events of that week.

The Saturday before the wedding we planned a Girl's Night Out for the A Team. The brides knew that we were going out for dinner, but they had no idea that a stretch limo would be picking us up for a big night on the town. They were so shocked, D3 was in tears and D2 was smiling from ear to ear. It was so much fun to surprise them.
The mothers of the brides relaxing in the limo, and toasting each other on a successful surprise. What fun.

D2, D1, D3 all smiles in the limo on the ride to the By Ward Market for a night of dining and dancing.
Waiting for dinner to be served.

After just one of these...

The mothers of the brides were ready to dance. And dance we did.
Then it was time for a break out on the balcony to cool off a bit.
Ah, almost midnight, time for one more dance...
Then it was back to the limo for the ride home.

Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

How could I miss it?

I don't know if you can see it from this picture or not, but this is a rather deep and wide hole. I would say it is about 3 feet wide and almost as deep.
On the night of the wedding reception, after a few glasses of wine, and all dressed in my party finery, I went for a walk outside the tent to take in the cool night air. I wandered over to a dark corner of the yard, and yep, I fell kerplop in this hole. I didn't do it daintily either. I dipped my right foot in, slipped down the edge, tried to catch my balance, over corrected, nosed forward, rolled over and ended up on my back staring up at the stars. AC was walking beside me and didn't know what the heck was happening when I dipped out of sight. He tried to grab me, but each time he tried, I lurched off in another direction, and both of us ended up doing this rather hilarious dance. If I had seen me fall I would have been doubled over in gales of laughter I am sure. To his credit, AC didn't laugh at all. I sure did though.

In the dark I couldn't see what I had fallen into, so we went out the next morning and took this picture. On seeing how big the hole was, I was amazed that both of us didn't fall into it never to be seen again. Luckily I escaped without a twisted or broken anything. Thank goodness! A sore hip and nasty bruise on my knee were the only gifts of the fall. Oh, and plenty of laughter even after the fact. I am giggling about it again now. It was a spectacular fall, it really was. Chortle, guffaw, gasp.

Doctor on Duty

Grandpa had an appointment at the mall today, so Grandma and Smudge got to saunter around finding fun things to do while waiting for Grandpa. After toddling around the food court and making friends with a number of store owners, Little Miss Personality found this Pet Ambulance Ride and apparently...
...thought it was the cat's _ _ _


She had so much fun in this little truck. I think there was a slot to put money in the ride, but Smudge had a blast without me putting a penny in it. She laughed and giggled, tooted the horn, pushed lots of buttons that didn't do a thing, and climbed in and out, and in and out, and in and out, and...well you get the picture.

Smudge had lots of fun and so did Grandma. What a little joy she is to be around. She brought a smile to lots of faces in the mall today. Hope she brings one to your face too.

View from the Playner Mill

I still don't have my balance back after the push to get ready for the Wedding Weekend, but last weekend helped me take a big step in the right direction. AC and I headed to Riverwood to pick up a load of stuff left at the farm after the wedding, and we stayed for a couple of days to rest and relax. It was soooo nice.
AC wrote a blog about our magical afternoons and evenings spent in the Playner Mill, but I thought I would post a couple of pictures I took of the view too.
I can't begin to describe the beauty to be seen from every window.
The breezes blew in, but the bugs had to stay out! Oh joy!

Wedding pictures are being sorted out and made ready for posting. Stay tuned we should have some more ready to post real soon.

The Family

The girls come home today, so I should get my hands on lots of pics over the weekend, so I can post a ton next week. In the meantime let me share this one last one I have of the family with you.


We are heading to RW for the weekend. Talk to you all again on Tuesday.