RUG HOOKING BLOG

About Me

My photo
I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Friday, September 1, 2017

I BLINKED AND AUGUST IS GONE AND SEPTEMBER IS HERE

August is always a busy month on our farm. Hay has been plentiful this year.  All our barns are full. s      There are still a few fields that are cut but the hay will be left in the field.   There has been a lot of activity like building a new tarp barn. This time George put the tarp on with the help from his friends 
 .and they did a great job despite of the wind shifting to give them a hard time instead of helping them



This year one of our local plant nursery gave George a lot of plants they had overstocked and he planted everything. We have so many tomato plants, squash, cucumbers and some other veggies beside what I have in my little garden. A friend gave potatoes so he planted those too.

This year I haven't weeded his veggies simply because I have already way more than I can do.

We had hoof trimming for the cows or maybe it sounds better saying the cows had a pedicure.
We had the milk inspector coming to check each cow individually to see how well they are doing, then we had the vet coming to do herd health to check on which cows are pregnant and which one needs to be dried off before they calve and we had dehorning of the calves.  Just so much to do.

We also had visitors who have now returned home  and I've been weeding and clipping the badly damaged spruce hedge.I had to stop trimming when it got too dry and when we got a good rain, I resumed pruning. It's slow going , one branch at a time.  I'm getting closer to finish if I wasn't chased in by the rain. Unfortunately the trees by  by the road were so badly damaged that I had George remove 4 of them.

I've also been picking high bush blueberries for my neighbour next door  who no longer can pick them because of her bad knees. I think the blueberries are pretty well done for this year. I haven't had much time for blogger or for myself. I rush in to get meals ready and rush out again and it's time to go feed and bed the calves. I've had lots of calves lately.




Daylilies are almost finished blooming and soon will be making Lady Ashburnham pickles for George. He's loaded up the truck full of cucumbers for the church ladies to make pickles and they have made a lot so far.

The sun came back out just to tease me after the rain got me wet.  Only half and hour before I have to return to the barn. Did I mentioned the flies are bad this time of year. I have difficulty keeping up destroying them. Cold weather should slow them down...

I started this post last week but I'm having difficulty with my old computer as the curser is working in fits. So I'm having difficulty updating the events...  I can't get rid of that s  on the first line... My photo library is full and it's difficult writing a post.
I may just need a new computer very soon. Grrr... My pictures are few this time.

I can't believe that September is here and it feels like October.
Thanks for stopping in.  I so appreciate your comments.
Happy Labour Day
Hugs, Julia

Saturday, August 12, 2017

CHRISTMAS IN JULY 25, 2017

I'm going back in time here but I wanted to keep a record of our family gathering. Life has been a bit busy for me lately and I'm still playing catch up.

We always celebrate Christmas at Christmas time but this year we tried something new, we celebrated Christmas in July.  We will probably still celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December as it's Jesus' birthday ...

No we haven't lost our mind or got our date mixed up. You see July 25th is Nicole's birthday and it just happened that the family was all together to celebrate and we even played the traditional present game after a big family meal.  After all she was the one who introduced it to the family and it's a fun tradition.









Christine got all the presents for the game over a period of time as she went shopping, she would pick  up some and added to the pile. I think that she wrapped over 50 presents by herself... There was a big pile.  She did this because her and her family will be celebrating Christmas in Ottawa this year and won't be coming home for Christmas as travelling in the winter with small kids can be very long and tiresome drive  flying a family at Christmas is not much fun anymore...


Isn't this a gorgeous smile and the cupcakes are lovely too.

Christine even made a dark chocolate zucchini cake batter and made small and medium cupcakes and made some ganuche icing, oh so moist and yummy.  My son in law Bill,  made his famous Chicken Fettuccine with Sun Dried Tomatoes and my daughter Jackie made her famous toss salad with home made dressing and she also made an appetizer of baked Brie and it was to die for.  I provided the wine and did nothing else since I was working at the farm.

Vaughan was milking and George was baling hay. Since I was a bit late with 7 new born calves to bootle feed plus all the others and  having to shower before the meal, I had no time to take pictures of the meal but take my word for it, it was very delicious and enjoyed by all...


Aren't those most amazing fork jewellery that Jordyn got! She had picked it up at an earlier date and was wearing it in honour of Nicole... unfortunately she left before I could take picture of Cypress and Willow.



Remember the shipment of 17 boxes from Scotland of Nicole's things, the rest of her belonging stayed in Scotland and given away to charity with her mask collection to be donated and shipped to The University Of New Brunswick Anthropology Department.

We toasted our  Nicole with a wee dram of 12 years old scotch whisky again  and after we went upstairs to distribute the rest of her belongings amongst family members.  It was done with the upmost respect for her things and when asked who wants this, someone would say, I want it if no one else wants it. There was no greed.  Of course we all pretty well know each other's taste and everyone would say it's yours, take it. There was jewellery, home decorations, souvenirs from places she visited, and lots of decorative and interesting items she picked up on her many travels to so many countries, clothing, tons of photos,  postcards, and too many things to name here.  It has taken days to organize and there is still lots of belonging to divide or to donate at a later date. It all went so smoothly and everyone got a little piece of Nicole to cherish.

This week Nicole's tombstone was finally installed in the cemetery.  May she rest in peace,
Thanks for your visit and know that I enjoy reading you comments.
Hugs, Julia



  

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

I'VE BEEN ABSENT TOO LONG SO I'LL START FROM THE BEGINNING

A few weeks ago I was all prepared to post on my blog  but Google wouldn't let me open my email account. It asked me to open another gmail account and was pushing me to Google+ and wanted me to start another blog. I couldn't send or receive emails, I couldn't post on my blog or see my Reading List and of course, lost all my contacts. I could read my blog and I could receive comments and I could access my followers by clicking on their comment link on my post but it was a long and tedious job and I was just too busy with work to spend much time on the computer.

I tried to fix the problem but got frustrated until Christine, my techie daughter figured how to get back things like they were before.   I'm back and running so this is history.

I had a lots of appointments booked on my calendar, one at my bank for transferring some retirement investments, one to move the piano, one at my doctor to discuss results of some blood tests etc, one to pick up my granddaughter for her Dr's appointment in another town, and one to bottle my wine.

I got to the bank appointment and after waiting 15 minutes the clerk had to rebook my appointment for Friday because she couldn't access the internet to view my files. She had moved to a new office and lost her internet connection in the process. Wasted morning for me.

When I got home from the barn that afternoon, there was a message on the phone. My piano appointment would have to be changed because the moving men couldn't come until late afternoon instead of morning. I had that appointment booked two weeks in advance...They couldn't give me a specific time, between 1:00 and 3:30pm. so I had to wait for their call. I worked inside  the house instead of working on the hedge.

My granddaughter had to change her doctor's appointment to Thursday, so it meant that I had appointments everyday that week.  It was disappointments at every turn. It all started with Google... hahaha.



Finally my piano is being moved. Three men came and did their work professionally. They were recommended by the music store who sells pianos.


Moving heavy piano can be tricky and one man said, he had one tipping over and crashed once...  I kept my fingers crossed...


They rolled it unto the platform on the ground and lifted the platform up and rolled it inside the truck and secured it for the short trip to my granddaughter's house. Goodbye, piano... Now I'll have to find an alternate place to display my Christmas Village for the Holidays.


I 'm clipping the very neglected spruce  hedge as the tops were growing very fast, but it was much easier than the last time I did it a few years ago. I'm seriously considering removing it and replacing it with a fence. My legs and glutinous muscles were sore but after a few days were ok.

Having all those appointments has made me put the hedge clipping on hold and it's so dry, I'm having second thoughts about finishing my job.  The trees by the very end will have to be removed as they were beyond repair.  I clipped most of the dried  branches off and they are awaiting for my husband time to do remove them. I'll show a picture later...



Meanwhile, these yellow blooms are gone but the rosebush is still blooming.


Some sort of  calendulas also on their way out by now.


Some sedum also on their way out by now.  Meanwhile there are many other  flowers that have bloomed.  I will show them in a later post. They will probably be finished by then, oh well...



My husband is talking of retiring next year but still need another 3rd tarp building to store the hay. We have already 1500 big round bales stored and it's just the first cut.
This is the ditch for the footing.


The men pouring the cement for the footing. To be continued next time as this post is already too long.
I hope that we get more rain in August as the ground ids bone dry.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I really like to read what your thoughts are.
Hugs, Julia


Friday, July 7, 2017

WATER, A GIFT, A RIGHT, A COMMODITY

I've been complaining about the rainy weather lately. It reminded  me of a poem I wrote on November 18, 2005.  All this rain has played havoc with our hay harvest and we are not alone. Many of my outdoor plans had to be put on hold until the rain stopped. While we have frequent rain, somewhere on our beautiful planet, there are places where it has not rain for a long time.  Thursday was sunny and dry with a beautiful breeze,  and today is starting out sunny as well but we're supposed to get showers and a severe thunder storm so I got a lot of yard work done already this morning...

In November 2005, I was at a retreat at Villa Madonna Retreat House in St John N.B. and I was looking for some guidance from my spiritual advisor at our first one on one meeting. I had some expectations even though I can't remember what they were at the time, but instead she told me to write a poem on water.

Prior to the meeting we had a presentation on the misuse of water and the selling of bottled water. Big companies are reaping huge profit from selling water. I wasn't prepared to write a poem. I wanted something more earth shattering. None the less,  I reluctantly obeyed and retreated to a rather small bedroom which had a single bed, a chair, a desk with lamp and a sink.  There was a crucifix on the wall  and a window.  No distraction there so I took pen to paper and one word came at a time. Just like a slow drip, drip, drip. I was trying to think of anything that had to do with water, more like brain storming...

I wasn't impressed in the least. When it was time to meet with my spiritual advisor again I said downheartedly,  I'm sorry but I just couldn't come up with much.
She asked me to read it to her anyway. So I started to read. After a little while I look up to read the expression on her face and I saw that she had her eyes closed and her hand was flowing in rhythm to her heart, taking it all in. I felt a bit more encouraged. I had never written a poem like this before so it was all new to me. I'll share it with you today for those who have oo much rain and those who don't have any.

WATER, A GIFT, A RIGHT, A COMMODITY
Oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and streams
Babbling brooks, water falls, puddles, wells and pools
Geysers, clouds and rain torrents
Currents and waves, drip, drip, drip
Glaciers and ponds, hot springs, cool springs, juices, ice

Who will give me water for my tears?
Who will provide water for my precious cargo? Dehydrated womb
Who will provide water for my blistered hands and feet?
My tongue is cleaving to my palate. Thirst

Who will provide water for my pused pimples, for my sweat?

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink
Contaminated, dehydrated, salty, dirty, mineral
Gurgles, spittle
Who hears my cry? I have no tears left.

Lines and lines of bottled water,
Profit margin, stocks and bonds, truck loads
Warehouses full.
Soft and hard, clear and fresh. Who will buy my water?

Soaked, drenched, down pour
Going under, swimming
How will I get across?
Where will I go for a cruise?
Mirror image, glass full or half empty

Water, a gift, a right, a commodity

Baptism, Holy, shared and poured
Come bathe in my pool.
Come and get the water of Life, refresh yourself
Pool of miracles, well of salvation

Here, let me wash your feet

Millions of snowflakes falling, glistening and not two the same
Snow angels, foot print to follow, season of hope
Frozen breath, storms, ice pellets and snow banks, slippery, thawed
Smiles on children's faces, skating, sliding, building snowmen
Curses from grumpy old folks, chilled to the bones

Flushed down, sewers, gutters, lagoons
Muddy trenches, face down, drowning, sinking down below
Foggy night, sandy deserts
Dams, submerged land once fertile
Obstruction in my path, lack of water

Open the flood gate, widen the canal, built a power plant
Irrigation, heavy water, nuclear waste
Floating, drifting, message in a bottle, tossed over board
Lost at sea, watery grave, tidal wave
Boat wrecks, desperate family waiting, hoping

Parched land, cracked, wilted green
Merciful gift from heaven, drizzle, rain, coming down
Renewing, refreshing, life giving
Renewed resources millions of years old
Thankful hearts, dancing, quenched

Drunken stupor, bloated, swollen
Caffeinated, decaffeinated, coolers
Spirited water, tea, Coca Cola
Can I offer you something to drink?
Something hot, something cold?

Water fountains, washing machines
Golden faucets, whirlpool bath, hot shower, sauna
Which one to choose,? Water bills, hydro bills
Which one to pay?

Luxurious eau de toilette, bubble bath, dish water
Soapy water, boiled, distilled, potable, deep shallow
Come fill your bucket, come fill your jar
All this for you at no cost
Gift from the creator, oasis, clear blue

Douse the fire, put out the flame
Rinse your hair, sprinkle the kids
Cool your drink, hose down the lawn
Bucket empty, well dried up
Desperation, smelly armpits


Water, a gift, a right, a commodity

By Julia Bourque
November, 18, 2005





Saturday, July 1, 2017

POWER IN A BOTTLE OF HOT SAUCE

These last two weeks, we had rain and sunshine, rain and sunshine pretty well every day. Today it's been raining quite a bit but it seems that the rain is over for now. Still a very wet gloomy day.  Since I can't be outside working and it's Canada 150th Birthday and it's also Canada Day, 1st of July, I'm taking a bit of time to post on my blog. What a slacker blogger I've been...

On Monday June 26, in the afternoon, I mowed the front lawn and the side by the house and brought the mower to the back lawn. It was time to go to the barn to care for my calves and check if one of the cow had calved. I left the mower in it's tracks with the intention of finishing the job after supper.

We had a new calf, I came home from the barn extremely tired as it was hot.  I had some garlic bread and leftover spaghetti for supper, sprinkled with parmesan and some hot sauce that my daughter Christine and son in law Joe gave me.  I love hot sauce...




I hope the name doesn't offend anyone but it's called Gator's Squeezin from The Pucker Butt Company and rightly so... This sauce is very hot as it's made from Carolina Reapers hot peppers. These peppers are the world hottest peppers on the Scoville scale. We eat a lot of Cayenne pepper because it's good for our health but this sauce is much hotter than Cayenne pepper.

 So after supper I said to George, "I'm too tired to finish mowing the lawn. I'm just going to put the lawn mower in the Gazebo for the night  because it's going to rain tonight and  I'll finish the job tomorrow".

I put my hands on the handle and thought to myself, "Maybe I can mow a few strips before I put the mower away. The moment I pulled the string, the mower started and I pushed and to my surprise, I had lots of energy left and I cut the whole back lawn and even a strip around the back garden behind the hedge.  I still had some energy left... Pucker Butts Power I thought and I started to laugh out loud to myself.

I ended up with 2 bottles of this hot sauce because the other bottle was for our priest, Father Maria from India . I made him taste it on the end of a tooth pick and he found it too hot. I'm wondering how Bill my son in law has tried his bottle.  Here in Canada they are available in Ottawa at $10.00 a bottle.  If you're interested in hot sauce, you can check  the Pucker Butt Company.  They have won many awards for their hot sauces.

Now for petals and what is growing in my vegetable garden.


These photos were all taken on Monday, July 26 and the garden has grown more since then. My potatoes have blossoms on right now.


Tomatoes, parsley, sweet basil, sweet peppers, cabbage, broccoli, romaine lettuce and onions.

My end of the garden was a weed patch at one time after the strawberry patch was abandoned to weeds. I reclaimed a little part last year and again this year and I will reclaim yet another last section that you see there at the end where the tall weeds are.  I has intentioned of weeding that part last fall but it did not happened. It's full of burdocks, angelica, wild oat grass, creeping charlie, wood sorrel  and many others.


Roma tomatoes,  one cherry tomatoes and one low acid yellow tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. Not shown are my beans and carrots that I planted very late.


My gazebo is a messy place as I use it to shelter my gardening junk from the rain. I have soil all mulch all in bags on the seats so I have no place to sit yet. My swings are in need of a good scrub and painting. These photos were taken today in the rain.


I have two of these John Davis rose bushes, one each in memory of mom and dad. My dad love roses.


A William Baffin tall arching rose bush desperately wanting more sun.


A Grootendorst with two tones.  It's just starting blooming.


This one is called Blanc Double De Coubert and is very fragrant.

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. It means a lot to me when you do. Gardening is hard work but I enjoy the beauty in each different flower and the goodness of fresh veggies.
Have a safe and Happy Canada Day and 150th Canada Birthday to my Canadian friends and families and happy 4th of July to my American friends.
Smiles & hugs, Julia

Sunday, June 18, 2017

WILLOW HAS HER PRIORITIES.


I was blessed to be visited by my granddaughter Jordyn with  great granddaughter baby Willow and great grandson Cypress last week. Cypress wanted to be the photographer, I had no problems with that. He took a few shots that I will share with you, the others , I'll spare you, lol...

Cypress is 3 months short of 4 years old and still can't figure how to look in the camera viewing piece  with one eye closed and the other opened. He closes both eyes and he brings my heavy Canon T1i camera to his forehead and can't see what he's shooting at, but he loves taking photos and get's annoyed when they don't turn out. He checks each photos after every shots and either groans if they turn out blurry or out of focus or squeals with delight when they turn out OK. He also makes sure the camera is turned off when he is finished taking his pictures.... It's just so funny. I hope you enjoy viewing his shots of his Mamoo.


Yep, Cypress took that photo of his grandmother. He was quite pleased with himself.



Then he took this picture and it didn't matter to him that he cut off my head, he was so pleased with himself, so it's a keeper. I'm too tall anyway at 5'1''. Yes, I shrunk one inch, but still I'm too tall for Cypress.   That's what happens when you get to be a grandmother...you shrink...



He's still  shooting away. I had to delete quite few photos just because they were blurry and I'm running low on space in my iPhoto library...


When Willow was smiling, of course Murphy's law would have it that I didn't had my camera handy as I was preparing lunch but when I tried to get a smile out of her she was just too tired.  You can see it in her eyes, but I still think she's gorgeous.


She really tried hard but when the Everready batteries runs out a girl has to recharge her batteries...



Such  sweet moment, don't you think!!! She gave her all but just couldn't make it work...  She was in Dream Lane faster than I could say"Sweet Dreams my little angel.


Meanwhile, the Irises are blooming and the Daylilies are putting out some foliage.


Another Azalea takes it's turn at the  blooming parade although it's hiding behind an Azalea that bloomed earlier.




More Irises showing off.



Yet some more Irises blooming their little hearts out for me by the big rock... This is one that my daughter Jackie gave me years ago. I just love the color.


The colors are a bit faded in this photo but these pink  Cherub Smiles Irises are also trying hard to do their best under the scalding sun.


Finally a new flowerbed that was born of a dream.  Reid and George worked on it last week after I dug up all the perennials out.  What a job that was.  The lawn is all torn up but the flowerbed is done.  Now I need time to plant sone flowers in there. The lawn has been repaired and seeded but I don't have a photo of it.

Life is very busy on the farm as the haying season has begun.

 I ended up in emergency for a bug bite that got infected similar to Yaya  of  Whispering Pines  so I'm on antibiotic.

It looks similar to hers but it way up on the back of my thigh so I'll spare you the photo and you should all be thankful.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE, EVEN THOSE WHO HAVE  FUR BABIES FOR KIDS.

Thanks for visiting and gifting me with a comment. It really brings a smile on my face.
Smiles & hugs,
Julia

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

JESUS TURNED WATER INTO WINE.

It might be cheaper turning water into wine but I don't mine spending a little money to have someone else do the work for me.  Mary knew that Jesus was able to turn water into wine instantly at Canna's wedding when she realized that they ran out of wine for the wedding guests...  I can't do that so I have to do it the natural way...
 It's been a while since I got a batch of wine on the go and my little rack was empty as I gave a lot away as gifts... I was going to have some made for Christmas but when my daughter Nicole decided to come in July instead of Christmas as she didn't want to be caught in long overseas flights delays because of ice storms again as it happened to her twice in a row... I decided that I would wait before getting a few batches on the go as there was plenty of time...

October last fall made  me realize that she was never coming home again to taste my wine again.  My plan to make wine just fizzled out... I've accepted that and life must go on anyway.  She's got the best wine from the true vine that makes my wine pale by comparison.



So, just last week, I  got a batch of one of my favorite red wine, Valpolicella. I insisted that they don't add sulfite to it as it gives me headaches. The wine is great and no headaches.  I like a glass of wine with my supper meal and I like to relax at the end of the day with a nice glass of red wine. I have the labels but I still have to put them on. That's the least of my worries right now... haha, it still taste the same without the labels.

In the summer after work, I like to sit on the swing on the deck and sip a good glass of wine. I still have two batches of of wine on the go. Another favorite of mine is a white Gewurztraniner and I'm trying a Pinot Noir this time. I'm not a wine connoisseur but I trust my palate to tell me what I like.

On the gardening front, I've got my potatoes planted just so I can have some small fresh first potatoes for my Hodgepodge recipe, yummy. George also got lots planted at the farm...  also I got my onions in but nothing else in the garden although, I've transplanted tomatoes and green peppers in large pots.
I didn't started my own seeds this year as I was in Ottawa and couldn't care for seedlings when away and wasn't in the mood to care for seedlings. My daughter Jackie's peas are up....

I've been enjoying a constant display of flowers in bloom this spring and there's more too come. The skunks also enjoyed destroying my poor neglected lawn.  Look at the mess they created and the bad weeds have really taken over...

Nothing is perfect but it better to look at the color and greenery than to look at a brown lawn and messy dead flower beds. I'm always amazed at the transformation that spring brings.





The flood came and went with no damage. You can see the drainage pipe to pump water from the basement. What a big relief.


Some blue little bulbs I planted last fall.


I had just finished digging out and redoing this flowerbed when I received news of Nicole's death last October. The border bricks were left there and are still there. It's pretty well goes the whole length of the property in the back, right to the shed. Digging those perennials was such hard tedious work.



The Azaleas on the right just finished blooming and the pink Azaleas are now blooming.


Some blooms on the old rock wall.


I  dug out all my weedy and neglected perennials from this flower bed and George added some top soil and manure compost so I can replant this flower bed. He made deep tractor tracks on the lawn that he had to reseed but there's still some work to be done . We need to get some cement edging to hold the soil in place and a new eave through up above as the rain cut through the middle. Right now, my plants are still sitting on the door step.

That's it for now.
I hope that you all had a nice week so far.
Thanks for your visit and please leave your comments so I know you visited.  I  usually get over a hundred visits per post,  but only a handful bother to comment.   Comments encourages bloggers to continue blogging. I've noticed a large decline in blogging post lately from many of my followers. I hope that you will come back to blogging again.
Hugs and smiles.
 Julia

Saturday, May 27, 2017

AS THE WORLD TURNS, I'M GETTING SLOWER AT POSTING

It seems to happen a lot more to bloggers lately that they slow down in posting. I've been hesitant to post because my computer isn't working at maximum capacity with my hard drive being almost full and my iPhoto library  running out of space so I've finally deleted some duplicate photos to make room but it was a very tedious and time consuming job. I'm still getting the same message that my iPhoto is running out of space but I finally managed to upload a bunch of photos anyway.

My daughter Christine announced that she misses reading my blog lately so here Christine, this post is for you

In May Christine bought me 2 plane tickets to go visit her for a week for the Tulip Festival in Ottawa but it rained almost every day I was there. I did get to see the tulips but forgot to bring my camera. I had only one sunny day and I spent the afternoon outdoors weeding her little vegetable garden. I even  managed to get two therapeutic massage while there.  Sleeping in late was also a treat. No getting up at 5:00am.

Prior to leaving for Ottawa, we received a shipment of my daughter Nicole's personal things from Glasgow Scotland that we wanted to keep. I unpacked it and put everything away to be sorted out later.


There were 18 boxes of Nicole's stuff on pallets. George used the tractor fork lift to take it off the big transport truck and deposited on the garage floor. It was a rainy day.  The driver was happy as it made his job much easier.


Here below are some photos of my visit in Ottawa at the beginning of May.


James was anxious for my arrival so he kept track of how many sleep until my arrival. How sweet is that?



 He had received two Smithsonian semi precious stones kits that had to be hammered  out of hard bricks with little wooden mallets and sharp sticks. James and I worked for a whole hour to dig out these stones. He got so excited every time we found a stone. I did help him some. Notice that he's wearing a lab coat and a pair of safety glasses.


These are the stones we found in two bricks.


After the mess was cleaned out, he read a story to his mom.  James is in Kindergarten and is a good reader.



 Daniel played a marble game all by himself.


Again this year, James made it into the War Amp Champs magazine.  He was showing his new swimming arm paddle. James loves to swim under water with his new paddle.


What are the chance that my sister Leona and I would be in Ottawa at the same time. She was also visiting her daughter who lives one and a half hour drive away from my daughter's place. It was a treat to see her and her family.



This is her daughter Linda, grandson Samuel and son in law Richard.



A family photo.



I was resting in bed and James came in and asked me to read him a book...  He said something funny but I can't remember what he said that made me laugh out loud. James is a Senators Hockey fan. He  loves to watch the hockey game with his dad and even wears a Senators jersey.

I hope I still have some readers left. I'll try to do another post next week.
Thanks for leaving a comment. I hope that you all have a great weekend.
Hugs, Julia