What a nice way to spend an evening.

Last night my husband came up with a wonderful idea.

He dragged out an old canoe he bought from an auction a few years ago. This poor thing was so beat up no wonder he only paid $20 for it. Along with it came the paddles and my question "Will it sink"? Really it was that bad.

So after dinner we all put on bug spray, strapped the kids into their life jackets, and walked through the back field to the bird sanctuary in behind our house. It's tucked away in amongst warehouses and a few other properties like ours. I'm sure that very few people even know it's there. So after the kids and cat trudged through grass as tall as them and hiked what my daughter called a small mountain; we put the canoe in the water and I held my breath as we all climbed in.

It was lovely! I haven't paddled in a canoe since I was a teenager and had forgotten how calming it can be. The kids sat beautifully one behind with my husband and one in front with me. We paddled around for a half hour or so and just enjoyed the scenary. We discovered two beaver dams, two lodges and we even heard and saw the beaver. Well we kind of saw the huge splash of water has he slapped his tail. The kids loved it. Further on we spotted some baby ducks but, I couldn't get close enough to get a picture. I did managed to get a picture of one of the red winged orioles that were flying around.

It was so relaxing and peaceful that my little man fell asleep in Daddy's lap. About the only hard thing was getting the sleeping boy out of the boat.

Definately something that we will do again.

Patience, it's worth it.

When we moved into this house it was with the knowledge that no one had cared for it in a Very long time. The family previous to us had done work in the garden but, they took all the plants with them when they moved. A little upsetting when come spring you are hoping for something other than slush and mud to appear in your front yard. I believe I had one lone tulip which had somehow been over looked. Along with a mess of over wintered kale in the so called "veggie garden".

That first year the garden was very bare as I waited hoping, that some of the other removed plants might make a come back. To my delight some columbines poked their heads out and grew vigorously. All spring and summer I waited, but no flowers appeared on them. The only bloom other than the tulip was a lone iris. Pretty, but one flower does not a garden make. Some other plants popped up that I really wasn't sure were plants but, thankfully I have left them in. Now I have some lovely perennial geranium, some additional irises, Shasta daisies and some pink cone flower. I raided my mother's garden for her cast offs and friends gardens for seeds and found a great deal on some out of season bulbs.

Thankfully the second spring was a little better. I had some lovely Daffodils, tons of Grape Hyacinth, my lone tulip and the start of more columbines. Spring faded and summer past with a few more blooms but still no columbine flowers. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. All the other plants were blooming. So this year at the advice of one of the garden centres I put fertilizer on the garden as soon as the snow melted. The daffodils, hyacinths and new tulips came up beautifully and with them came my columbines. They now created huge foot and a half mounds of foliage and I was preparing myself for another year without blooms. Much to my delight one day I noticed new shoots of growth coming up from the middle of the mounds and on the shoots were flower buds. I know this is how they normally grow but for me after two years of waiting this was a miracle. This weekend Finally they opened.

My other favorites so far are the English daisies, I got a great deal on them at the local flea market. They remind me of something from a Dr. Seuss book. So this year the garden is shaping up to be a colourful display.

Why write a blog?

As I sit here composing this first entry I am asking myself "Why am I doing this?"

It certainly isn't for lack of things to do, to which the mountain of laundry, unfinished projects and a very weedy veggie garden can attest. Maybe it's the need to communicate with people other than playdate parents , children and family. Something all to myself.


In my previous position I had a constant barrage of people to talk to, and equally as many that I didn't want to. I am now a Full Time Stay at Home Mom and while the title doesn't have the same ring as CMBC Customer Information Workleader, I can say it has many of the same challenges.


I am in love with, amazed, frequently surprised by and forever in debt to my children for the changes they have brought to my life. However, sometimes you need something more than the conversational skills of a 4 and 2 year old. So here goes... Maybe this will give me a reason to finish all my projects if not for anything else than to have something to write about.