Changing Seasons

Oh I had such a wonderful weekend. Saturday was chilly so it was a day of movies & a long walk. Sunday the sun came out & Alvin & I had a date to run stairs in Edmonton's fine river valley. That was an experience. And Monday I learned how to pickle beets; I had such a lovely day with my folks - below you can observe the fruits of our labour.

I also couldn't resist including a photo of the perfect little acorns on my Pop's favourite oak tree- apparently the squirrels have a blast trying to eat the tempting acorns. I think that they're so cute!

Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days so I am going to rip out for a quick bike ride so I don't regret staying indoors later...it really feels like Fall is upon us now...& I'm not ready to bid farewell to summer!

Ageing with Grace

I met a beautiful old lady out running the other day. The Olympics were on & I was on a tight timeline- I had to get back home to see Usain Bolt win one of his big races. So I negotiated with myself & decided I'd rip off a quick 5km route rather than complete the 8km minimum runs I have committed to throughout the summer.  I felt great. I was on the homestretch heading up the last hill til home. This is where the aforementioned old lady gave me a big smile and said:  'This is such a tough hill & you look like you're floating up it'.  Really? Floating? I Loved it. I did feel like a million bucks and was tearing up the hill...what she didn't know was that I cut my usual run short by 3km:-) I hope that when I'm old & wrinkled & out walking with a cane on a beautiful summer day that I will think to make someone else's day.

As I'm very behind on photos here are a few. Us!

My first 2 tomatoes from the balcony. Since then many have been pulled off the vine & I made fresh salsa last night- divine!

I was out at beautiful Alaina's the other weekend with Eddie. I Just love all the space, dogs, & of course the best company.

I believe Alvin & I took these photos in June- we were off on a marathon walk in & out of ravines so we thought to take photos that we'll likely eventually send back to his mom/grandma/sister/brother/aunts etc.

Quiet...enjoying the long summer days

I've stored up a couple of stories so I may break them up now that I've made time for my floundering blog. There's nothing wrong with being quiet for 2 weeks & then publishing a couple back-to-back...right?

I took photos from the first hail we received (back in June). I was excited though my pansies got a little battered. Since then we've had one more hit of hailstones.

I was hanging out with Eddie a couple weekends ago & thought he was looking so sweet & grown-up. (More shots to follow from this weekend eventually)*grin*

Heritage Days! One of my all-time favourite festivals in Edmonton. It was smoking hot & we ended up drinking more mango-slushy drinks than we did sampling foods from all over the world.

Candra did, however, suggest we try a plate from the Venezuela booth.  Toston con salsa de queso: deep-fried plantain chips w/ spicy cheddar sauce & banana peppers. I never would have dreamt up the combo myself but I loved every bite...we have decided from that experience that we will seek out a Venezuelan restaurant & try more*grin*. I love being reminded that there's so much more to learn & experience in our beautiful wide world...& of course adding a couple of names to a 'must-travel-to-one-day' list.

A little closer to home I made up a summer-berry crumble with fresh-picked cherries from Tom's yard. It was divine.

And now that the Olympics are over perhaps my posts will become a little more routine. London 2012 was amazing- I was completely hooked through the whole 2 weeks.