This is Gus, who belongs to a friend of mine and I think this is one of the best dog pictures ever!

These are our empty Christmas Child boxes. We picked 2 up at the hockey game last night, and what a good idea that was! They had volunteers at every exit, with boxes of these boxes and a pamphlet on how to properly fill it. No one wanted to walk by and not take one, so I imagine they gave away 2,400 (that was the attendance of the game last night) If only as few as 10% of the people return their box, well, that's 240 kids that will have a brighter Christmas. I looked up their website and watched the little video, which of course tugs at your heartstrings, but it seems like Samaritans Purse is one of the better Christmas box companies. It does have a bit of a religious bend to it, but they also mention that some areas where they send the boxes do NOT want any religious training or teaching, and that is respected. We will each fill up a box for a Boy 10-14. Everyone seems to want to do a box for a little girl, and from what I have heard and read, the pre-teen boys have the least amount of boxes sent to them. I'll post a picture of the filled box when it is done. Meanwhile, I suggest that you check out the site: www.samaritanspurse.ca and consider filling up a box of your own. It's the least that any of us can do, and I feel like $25 or $30 is such a little amount. I spend that once a month on a pizza, and some of these kids have NEVER had a gift.

Mule Deer

Last week this mum was walking through our neighbourhood with three young ones. This week we have seen her with only two.

If you click on the top picture, to enlarge it, you can get a good look at how sweet the baby is. Those eyes!

Memories.

I was Google-Earthing the other day and ended up being linked to this picture, which is the small airforce base of Moisie, in Quebec. It's where I grew up, and I was so surprised to see how small the base is. I remember it being rather large, large enough that I was lost more than once.

See the long long buildings at either end of a field? (you can see a square, which is actually the skating rink, to the right of the building in the bottom picture.) Those were the 2 schools, one was for Protestants and the other for Catholics...I kid you not. This was in about 1964.

When we first moved there, there were no PMQ's available so we had to live in the TQ (teachers quarters) in the Catholic school. You can see the tiny attatchment in the middle of the building, it was the sweetest little house, and one door opened right into the hallway of the school. My mom used to let me play in the hallways of the school, and I'd go into the classrooms and pretend I was a teacher. However, I was Protestant, so every morning I had to leave our home and walk through a crowd of Catholics and run across the field to the safety of the Protestant school, thinking as I ran, that I had played in "their" classrooms and "they" had to work there.

Eventually we got a PMQ that was right across the street from the Protestant school and I always felt a little sad that my time of actually living in an elementary school was over.

It was an adventure living there, you can see in the top picture that we were indeed at "the end of the road", it went no further. We were allowed to bring our clothes and I think a box each of personal effects, a few toys, books etc and that was it. My mom and I flew to Montreal and my Dad drove there (From Vancouver Island) so that we could at least bring a few more items that he packed in the car, although it was a Volkswagon so not a lot fit in it! He picked us up in Montreal and off we went, to this tiny little village in the middle of nowhere.

Everything else went into storage for 3 years and we lived on what we could buy at the Canex. There was no TV and all the radio was French and there was certainly no computers, DVD's, cell phones and that sort of thing. I think that's where I really developed my love of reading since there was nothing much else to do, especially in the winter, which lasted until June.

My dad was manning the DEW Line, the Distant Early Warning Line, that would let us know if the Russians were sending missiles and/or troops over. You can just make out the 2 radar domes in the top picture, on the upper left. We used to get to tour them once in awhile, or maybe my Dad just used to bring me there to let me see what was going on because I don't recall ever seeing anyone else in there.

Whaaat?

I just read about this, is it creepy or what? This is called a "pirahna pedicure" and while they aren't actually pirahnas, they do eat dead human flesh. It's the latest way to get smooth clean, feet. The fish are kept in warmer than usual water, which inhibites the growth of food, therefore they are quite hungry and since they love dead skin....you pop your tootsies in the water and they will nibble all the dead skin off (which they love) and they leave the live skin alone because it's too tough for them to chew. What a strange world we live in.

Neither of us have ever seen deer in the water like this. Normally they just stay at the edge and drink. These ones seemed to actually be playing and having fun. Nature just never ceases to amaze me.

Ummm...what?

About 10 days ago I spotted this odd creature outside the front door and when I touched it, it seemed really squishy. I didn't want to pick it up in case I actually squished it, so Steven tossed it into a grassy area. A few days after that, he (Steven) was outside and called me to: "See who's back." Sure enough, it was this guy. Or a lookalike. So he once again took him behind the house to a grassy area. Now today I came home and here he (she?) was, yet again, in the same spot on the front step. I poked him gently with my finger and he (she?) still seemed fragile and squishy so I just decided to take a picture. When I put the camera close, it reared up on it's tiny little legs and waved some of it's front feet at me. Funny little thing. I should have put my finger beside it, it was easily the size of my index finger. PS. I just found out that this is a Tiger Swallowtail.

Heads or tails?

Enlarge this picture and tell me who looks more solomn...

Last weekend we took a trip to Creston, about an hour west of here. Every time we go there I want to stop and take a picture of the goats that live on the roof of the soap factory. Yes, you read that correctly. There is a small "town" called Yahk on the way to Creston and there is a place that makes really excellent soap. And they have goats that live on the roof. It seems like whenever the goats are hangin' out on the roof I have no camera, and when I DO have my camera, the goats are hiding somewhere. This weekend it all finally fell into place, not only were the goats there, I had my camera, and if you enlarge the bottom photo you will see a sweet baby goat too.

This goes with the story below....it was SO yummy, the picture does not even begin to do justice.

Nina's garden

What a treat I had today! A friend wanted to take me out to lunch (that's a treat all in itself!) and she said we were going to Nina's Garden in Kimberley, a small town about 20 minjutes from here. I had never heard of this place before, but Kimberley is full of little boutique-y and trendy type places, and I enjoy them all, so I figured it would be fine.

Well, we drove up to Kimberley (the highest city in Canada I might add) and through the town and up into an older section. She pulled in front of a house, an older looking nice home, nothing special, very 50's style and said: "The restaurant is in her backyard, it's all outdoors, only open in the summer."

I'm thinking:"This is sort of odd." and followed her through a small arch into what can only be described as a Secret Garden, a little fantasy Wonderland. There are probably 10 or 12 tables, all tucked away in tiny, shaded nooks, with statues and flowers, waterfalls and ponds. It was INCREDIBLE! You need to enlarge these pictures to get the full effect. The yard is terraced and you can follow the trail as it switch-backs down to the bottom, and every step has little hidden houses, gnomes, and an entire Swiss village in miniature.

How come I have never heard of this place? Why isn't it written up in every guide book?

She is open from the end of April, weather permitting, until the end of September, also weather permitting, daily from 11-3. There is no menu, just a daily special of soup and a bun...but WHAT a soup, and WHAT a bun! Today we had potato-leek soup, and 2 bun halves, one with the creamiest bree I have ever tasted, and the other with procuitto and melon. The buns themselves melted in your mouth. Some little radish roses and a bit of friut completed the lunch. And homemade lemonade. Roland, her husband is a pastry chef and you can choose from 4 different tortes for dessert. I had hazelnut...mmmmm.