Monday, March 31, 2008

Shining up that beautiful smile


C must be married to a scrapbooker - he snapped this pic of Katie getting a fluoride treatment with his camera phone.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The sap is running


The endless long winter is drawing to a close - the maple sap is running. This old fashioned sap collecting bucket (and many many of its brothers) is still in use at a private hobby farm near Crysler. They were boiling the first of the season's sap when we visited. Ah the smell of boiling maple sap, the promise of sticky sweet treats to come.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Earth Hour 2008


Today, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm, was Earth Hour. It doesn't mean much, really, an hour without lights, but perhaps this one hour will lead to greater awareness. Maybe.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Forever


When my oldest friend Jodi came to visit last November she brought me these beautiful ceramic angels. Jodi's always had a thing for angels. I loved the sculpture, and we laughed about which angel was her and which was me. Then I put it on the shelf in my living room and hadn't thought much about it until now.

Today Jodi joined the angels she's always loved. 18 months post transplant. I know that I'm supposed to be grateful for those 18 months, but mostly I feel cheated. 80% of lung transplant recipients live 8+ years past their transplants, and many live much longer.

I am grateful for our final weekend together. I did see her one last time before she passed, in the ICU in Toronto, but it's the two days of chatting, hugging and sharing tea that will always be, in my heart, my final visit with Jodi.

Now that she's gone I look again at this angel sculpture, only this time I really see it. Two angels, 'friends forever'. Thank you Jodi. Thank you for the angels to remind me of you, thank you for 17 years of friendship, 17 years of love. Thank you for being patient with me when I was selfish, for loving me when I was unlovable, for teaching me more than I can say. I miss you.

Friends Forever.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Jack frost


Waiting for the school bus (yes, we drive the kids to the school bus stop, it's far!) I snapped pictures of the cool frost patterns on the window.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter


Hope your day was sugar-saturated bliss...

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The dreaded 7 - 10 split


We took the bits bowling for this first time today. They enjoyed it (despite being distracted by air hockey tables and slushie machines), but I felt it in my arm and shoulder after just one game. Still, I'd like to take the bits again!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Game on!


Yup, another hockey game. What can I say, we're Canadian eh! This time C and big J encountered this furry fan queuing up for caffeine during intermission.

Taken on C's cell phone camera

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Mamma Mia!


That's-a big-a plate of spaghetti!

Yummy too :)

Monday, March 17, 2008

You could lose a Smartcar in here!


I know, it's been a hard winter, the plows have worked non-stop, there's no time for caution, blah blah blah but SERIOUSLY people will you look at the size of this freakin' pothole??? And it's not even the worst I've seen!

(PS - if you work for the city of Ottawa this bad boy is on D'Aoust Avenue)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Little helper


She was pretty darn fascinated by the rollers we were using to paint her room. No harm in having her help out - painting inside the closet :)

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Cabane a sucre


An annual tradition - our family trip to the sugar bush. There was a LOT more snow this year, so instead of a wagon ride we enjoyed a real horse drawn sleigh ride through the woods.

Friday, March 14, 2008

The face of seven


I did a little portrait shoot with the princess today. Such a beautiful girl.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

More of the same


Why not, it's freakin' snowing again anyway.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Snow, on a smaller scale


Leah challenged me to take macro shots of snowflakes. The weather wasn't perfect for it today (at only -5 or -6c they were melting too fast) but I gave it a try.


PS - Happy Birthday little brother!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Icicles


Check out the way cool icicles! HUGE! I love icicles.

Monday, March 10, 2008

At least someone is enjoying the snow...


Not a trick photo at all, this snow bank is well over ten feet tall. Scared the wits out of me seeing them scramble up there but I had to snap a few shots anyway!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

53 cm



Yup, came home to 53 cm of new snow on the ground. That's nearly two feet for the non-Metric among us. That's on top of the many feet already there. Really, what can you do but laugh (and grab a shovel). Here is our front walk, before and after (notice how dark the after picture is? Took quite a while to get through that snow...)

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The storm hits Toronto...


Just how crazy do you have to be to drive on highway 401 in this crap? It was a white knuckle ride for sure.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Fat free!


I'll spare you any more snow pictures today (if only because a MASSIVE storm is coming this weekend so there will likely be more snow shots to come) and instead present red licorice - fat free means I can eat the whole bag right?

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Seriously, this is nuts


My neighbour's house - these are second floor windows people! At this rate we won't be rid of our snow until July! I think we should just declare all of March a snow month, and hermit ourselves away inside until Spring.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Mother Nature continues her torment


Yes, another winter storm, another snow day. The fence Katie is standing beside? Over 5 feet tall. The snow she's standing on is packed solid, and still the white crap continues to fall.

I'm going to have to kill the groundhog.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Webkinz


How did one cute little black and white stuffed kitten turn into this? And that's not even all of them! Webkinz - they're practically viral!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Bucky the beaver


Sheesh, she's only been 7 for 2 days and she's lost 2 teeth. The tooth fairy is going to go out of business.

(PS - I showed this picture to a dental hygienist friend who commented 'she's a grinder, just like her mom'. Proof positive that you can't hide ANYTHING from your hygienist - so floss!!!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Crash


Poor sweet fella spent well over two hours like this. Guess all of yesterday's fun caught up with him...

Saturday, March 1, 2008

A Princess Birthday


I can't believe my little princess is 7. How did this happen? She had a princess birthday party, here she is with most of the other princesses.