Well, it seems that spring is here. The crocuses are up! Aren't they beautiful???! It's been quite chilly the past few days and there's even been snow flying, but nothing accmulating, thank goodness!
I probably won't be posting until Monday as I'm busy with the Pet Expo happening here in Abbotsford all weekend. I'll have my little business there plus be with Greyhaven as a volunteer. I'll have one of the birds with me, so it will be tiring as it's always stressful making sure that they are comfortable. There are also lots of other animals, so one has to be diligent in keeping the birds safe.
Blessings to all! Enjoy all that spring has to offer around you!
Well, from the sounds outside, it seems that Spring is right around the corner. We have two ponds on our property - one in the front and one in the back. These ponds have lots of frogs and in the spring, these frogs CROAK when the breeding season begins. As soon as the sun goes down, they begin their serenades! I guess the boy frogs are wooing the girl frogs with their throaty croaks! Anyways, I absolutely LOVE the sounds of the frogs! It's been going on this year for about two weeks now. We've lived here for 17 years now, and I look forward to the sweet sound each year! I find it so peaceful and soothing - there's nothing like drifting off to sleep at night to the sounds of frogs croaking and croaking and croaking...
Here's a photo taken a couple of years back of our German Shepherd, Aspen (now in Heaven) with one of the large frogs. We had gone outside just before bed and came upon this big fellow. This particular frog was SO big that I just HAD to snap a photo! Aspen didn't quite know what to make of it!! These particular huge frogs are non-native species, not sure how they got here, but they are so big that they will take a duckling in one huge gulp! We always see the duckling population dwindle in the spring - one year, a mama duck had 13 babies and two weeks later had only ONE left! Of course there are other dangers than just these enormous frogs, but they certainly do prey on the poor ducklings. Another way the ducklings are lost is to the Blue Heron who makes his home near us and visits the ponds daily.
I also see that the grass is beginning to grow! I think we'll need to start cutting in the next week or so....
Enjoy the spring sights & sounds around you!
Blessings to all!
Oh, and don't forget to come back soon as I'll be having a bloggy giveaway for my 100th post! This is post #94. Sorry, Connie, you're not eligible!
I know this is a very busy time of year, but I have watched two very good (and CLEAN) Christmas movies in the past week and just wanted to share the titles with you. The first one is called "The Christmas Shoes" (with Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams) and the second one - the sequel - is called "The Christmas Blessing" (with Neil Patrick Harris and Rebecca Gayheart).
Both of these movies are heart-warming, moving and very thought-provoking. They are also kid-friendly and inspire some great conversation. I cried in both and don't usually cry in movies, so that's saying a lot.
So, perhaps when you have a family night coming up in December, you could rent one or both of these (they are an hour and a half long each). It's time well-spent.
Another movie I saw on TV the other night and am not sure if it's available to rent or not, but it was called "Stolen Miracle". It was a great Christmas movie as well. I don't often watch TV, but just happened to see these three movies in the past 10 days - it's probably the most TV I've seen in the past 2 months - go figure!
So, while the snow piles up outside (I think there's probably a FOOT in places), we are warm and cozy inside. I put on a pot of Split Pea and Farmer Sausage soup and it's just simmering away now. I also have a loaf of bread in the breadmaker to go with the soup and two loaves of banana cake in the oven. Even though I don't like driving in this weather, I DO like to watch the beauty of the snow from INSIDE!
The kids are out playing in the snow right now. They love it and it's a real treat for them since we don't get it too often. They'd best enjoy it - just got an e-mail from the local radio station saying there's a Provincial flood warning out because the snow is supposed to turn to rain and with the runoff from melting snow, flooding is expected in lower areas. Oh, dear. Luckily, we're on high ground, but it sure is a worry for some other folks around the province.
There's a Canuck's game on at 3 p.m. - they're playing the Minnesota Wild. May the best team win - yeah!
Well, the dreaded "s" word is here again. SNOW! You know, I love the LOOK of snow, I really do. It's just so inconvenient in lots of other ways. It makes more work when feeding the outside animals, and makes more work with shovelling, and driving can be a nightmare here. You see, here in B.C., most people aren't used to driving in snow. Snow really is a rarity here. It is rare for it to stick around for more than a day or so. As a result, people don't really change their driving habits accordingly, and this makes for absolutely treacherous conditions as it's the OTHER people you have to focus on worrying about if you're out in the snow. Being from Ontario, I grew up with snow - and LOTS of it!! The people here on the West coast have NO idea what snow is really. In Ontario, winter used to start in October and end in May.
My point is that it really is dangerous driving in the snow here because a lot of people don't adjust their driving habits for the conditions and think they can drive normally. NOT! Because the snow we usually get here is a heavy, wet snow, it can be a challenge to drive in. I know a lot of people who just stay put when it snows.
Here are a couple of pics from out back of our house taken a few minutes ago. Beautiful, no?
Where has the year gone?? I took all the harvest decorations down yesterday. I will pack them all up today. I have 6 bins of autumn/harvest decorations. I didn't know I had so much! It's currently covering our table....and wow....check out the DUST on that little chair!!!!
In case you're wondering, we Canadians celebrate our Thanksgiving in mid-October as opposed to late November as it is in the U.S., thus taking the decorations down already!
When all the harvest things are packed away, then the Christmas bins will come up - all 28 of them - probably this weekend! Can you believe that - 28 bins??? Thank goodness we have a crawl space for the storage!! I wouldn't believe it myself if they weren't all mine. I love Christmas - a time when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour! I know the decorations mean nothing in the overall scope of things, but it's nice to decorate our home and enjoy the season. I have 20 years' worth of decorations, so I guess it's added up over the years! I just love Christmas decorations - I have stopped collecting stuff, though - unless it's a really, really great item!! I even went through and gave quite a bit away last year!
Our family also loves Christmas music and starting December 1st, we have Christmas music playing almost the entire month!!
Well, I'd best go and start packing my bins! Have a great day!
Well, I know for sure that fall is here! I finally pulled out my flannel nightie last week. There is absolutely no doubt that fall is here when the flannel makes an appearance - LOL!! I know that I've said it before, but autumn is just my favourite time of the year. I love the coziness of having the stove turned on and snuggling for a few extra minutes when it's time to get up. The beautiful colours of the changing leaves is breathtaking - it makes me more aware of God's creation and the wonderful pallette of colours he uses!
It's time to get breakfast started (for the flock AND the family!!) . I hope you all have a very blessed Sunday.
Well, it's autumn! Where did the summer go? It's been quite cool at nights here on the Canadian West Coast. There's that chill in the air that makes it undeniable that summer has left us.... It all happened so fast, or so it seems.
Autumn is my favourite time of year! I just love the beauty that fall brings. I love the fall mums and the pansies in all the different shades. I love the crispness in the air... it's like everything that the Lord has created is somehow illuminated in the beautiful colours and the early-morning dewdrops and silhouetted spiderwebs!
I must admit that when I lived in Ontario, I used to get depressed in autumn because of the LONG winter coming. The winters out here are so much more moderate and bearable, but back in Ontario, they seemed to stretch on forever! Now, having said that about Ontario, I understand it was 32 degrees (celsius) there today where it was only 11 here. Go figure.
I took Dd to the orthodontist this morning. She has way too many teeth in her little mouth. She's only 9 and the ortho flicked out her last two baby teeth! The new ones were already in behind the teeth, so they were just ready to be flicked out! That is quite young to have lost all of the baby teeth - our Ds still has lots of his at 11! Shows you that everyone's different. Dd is also adopted, so it must be in the genes. Anyways, the ortho wants to wait another year for her to grow a bit, then he will re-evaluate at that time. Gives us a bit of time to save more $$$$ as we don't have insurance.
I hope that you are enjoying the beginning of autumn! And with Autumn comes HOCKEY SEASON! Go, Canucks, Go!
I love country living. I'm a stay-home mom of two children - one biological and one adopted from Thailand. Wife to a wonderful hubby. Also Mom to 8 parrots, 1 Jack Russell Terrier, one cat, 3 goats, 2 guinea hens, 2 roosters, three plump brown hens, a wee black bantam hen and one oversized duck. Daughter to the King only by His grace.
Anyways, I absolutely LOVE the sounds of the frogs! It's been going on this year for about two weeks now. We've lived here for 17 years now, and I look forward to the sweet sound each year! I find it so peaceful and soothing - there's nothing like drifting off to sleep at night to the sounds of frogs croaking and croaking and croaking...
