HAPPY HALLOWEEN

FAMILY VISIT AND CRANBERRY HARVEST

Last week DH and I took a 3000 mile flight to British Columbia to see my family..... my two sisters and their husbands, my Dad, and our niece and nephew. While we were there, DH was able to see our Brother in Law's Cranberry Harvest that was in full swing. He really enjoyed seeing it, as he enjoys all aspects of farming. There is no cranberries grown in our area, so this was very interesting for him to see. We stayed at the home of my sister Karen and her husband Allen. We had some great meals while we were there, and Karen makes the best spaghetti I have ever tasted! There were lots of other delicious meals too. We had a great time seeing everyone again. DH got some wonderful shots from 38,000 feet and some pictures of the Cranberry Harvest.

Coming in for a landing at Abbotsford, BC

Above the clouds

Harvesting the Cranberries

Flooding the Cranberries

Flying over the Rocky Mountains

Another great picture of the snow capped Rocky Mountains

Flying over Lake Michigan on the way home

Going over the Prairies

My sister Audrey with her dog "Lucas" and my Dad

HALLOWEEN STITCHERY

I was fortunate  enough a few weeks back to win a Halloween Stitchery made by Linda of Parker's Paradise. I picked it up at the Post Office this week and I absolutely LOVE it! Linda, you do fine work. Thank you so much. I will treasure this for years to come.

On another note, it is getting pretty chilly here in Ontario. I am sitting here typing this, enjoying the heat of my wood stove. We are supposed to get a heavy frost tonight so I made sure that I brought all of my potted herbs inside. Yesterday DH and I stacked 4 face cords of firewood in our wood shed and hope to do more this weekend.

Halloween Stitchery I won from Linda's Give Away

GIRLFRIEND GATHERING

On Tuesday night it was my turn to host a dinner for my quilting friends Linda, Brenda, Mary and Shirley, and our friend Michelle should have been there, but unfortunately she was coming down with a cold, and couldn't join us. I made caesar salad, vegetarian lasagna, and garlic bread with cheese. We also enjoyed some wine with dinner and for desert, I had a choice of home made pumpkin or apple pie with tea or coffee. After dinner we did some sewing and catching up on the goings on in our lives. We have been getting together like this for about five years now and I so look forward to our gatherings. I managed to take a couple of pictures of the event.

Janet

A Gathering of Quilting Friends..Linda, Brenda, Mary, and Shirley

Linda......she is always smiling :)

GETTING TO KNOW ME FROM A TO Z

I saw this on a few Blogs and I enjoyed reading them,  so I thought I would join in :)

A~   Age:  55
B~  Bed:  Double, 4 poster pine bed. 
C~  Chore you hate:  Washing windows, cleaning the bathtub.
D~  Dog: We have three dogs, one Jack Russell named "Shorty" and two Australian Shepherds named "Sydney" and "Louis".
E~ Essential start to my day:   Black Coffee. I am up at 4 am and I have 2 cups of strong black coffee before I start my day.
F~  Favorite color:  Red. 
G~  Gold or silver:  Gold, but I don't wear much jewelery. 
H~  Height:   around 5 foot 7 
I~ Instruments I play:   None. 
J~ Job Title:   Equine Judge, Webmaster, Graphic Designer, Critter Keeper, Gardener, Dog walker, home keeper, quilter. 
K~  Kids:  All of my kids have four legs. 
L~  Live in:  Ontario, Canada. 
M~ Make of car:  Jeep. 
N~ Nicknames: Doodley, Mummy.
O~  Overnight hospital stay: None.

P~  Pet Peeve(s): (1)People who don't answer an email,  I would appreciate even just a "Thanks",  so I know that they received it. (2)The way people get on and off airplanes. I wish I could do a tutorial on the efficient way to plane and de-plane. (3)People that are users, and I have known some :( and they are now HISTORY from my life! The friends I have now are TRUE  friends.
Q~ Quote from a movie: You know they often say a man with a car like that, is trying the compensate for smaller genitals sissy, but not in your case, cause I see that you're a strapping man aren't ya.~ Mrs. Doubtfire
R~ Right or left handed:  Right. 
S~ Siblings:  Two Sisters both younger than I. 
T ~ T.V. Shows: CSI, Criminal Minds, Road to Avonlea, Coronation Street.
U~ Underwear:  Cotton. 
V~ Vegetable you hate: I love vegetables, I just don't like Black Olives.
W~ What makes you late? I am always early. I hate it when people are late. If I can make the effort, they should too.
X~  X-rays: Yes. Various reasons. 
Y- Yummy food that I make: Home baked bread,  spaghetti, pot pies.
Z~ Zoo Animals: I like all critters.

A couple of extra things about me. 
~I enjoy the simple things in life.....I would much rather be sitting beside my wood stove watching the snow coming down, than be lying on a beach in Hawaii or on a Caribbean cruise. If I ever won a cruise, I would either give it to a family member or have a give away on my Blog :)
~If I don't like you, you will definitely know it, for I am not an actress. If I was an actress, I would be in the movies!

SUMMER KITCHEN

Well last weekend the weather was so nice that I finally got my summer kitchen stained. I used Early American but it came out really dark which is fine by me. I let the board and batten weather for a year and half, so it really sucked up the stain. I wanted to get this project done before the snow started to fly. I also stained the front porch. I have been asked to post a picture, so here it is. I even put in a little garden at the side. I put in 2 sedums and 3 hostas.

2011 Convocation

Last night DH and I attended my College Convocation. We had a great time. Here is a picture he took of me with my Honours Diploma. The picture is a little dark due to the lack of lighting in the room.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Seeing it is Thanksgiving in Canada, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
Janet

SHE HAS ARRIVED

My Pumpkin Gall has arrived at Olde Crow Primitives. I was one of the lucky winners from Brenda's giveaway last month. Her blog is the Rusty Thimble Thank you Brenda, I just LOVE her. I will treasure her. She is very well made too. Brenda does a lovely job of making her Prim dolls. It was a beautiful day here in Southwestern Ontario with temperatures in the mid 70's. My favorite time of year. I started staining the outside of my summer kitchen today and I got one side finished. Tomorrow I have to get on the roof. Not looking forward to that. DH has been harvesting his soybeans for the past two days. The weather is supposed to be good up to next Wednesday late in the day, so he should get all of the soybeans harvested and the wheat planted. It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so I am cooking a chicken and a ham with all the fixins.

She has already made herself at home :)

And here she is again sitting on my wine rack

WINNING 1ST PRIZE

This weekend was a winning weekend for me. I was so proud when I went to our small town Fair yesterday and saw that my bread had won first prize in the "Best Bread" contest in the "Country Fair Baking contest". It was sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast. I was up at 4:30 am on Friday to bake this bread and have it cooled so I could enter it by 11 am. I won a beautiful rosette....our first place is red in Canada, and I know it is blue in the US. I also won $15.00 and a gift package containing a measuring cup, recipe book, and tons of coupons. So it was well worth getting up that early to make the bread. The bread had to be hand made, no bread machine was allowed. That was fine with me, as that is how I always make my bread, from scratch, and I love doing it. Needless to say, it made my day! It is very chilly here in Ontario, we have had our wood stove on all day. I think we may have a frost tonight.

Loaves of bread cooling. One went to the Fair and my DH ate the other one :) Below is my winning ribbon.