photo a day

Hog's Back Park

Since moving to Ottawa more than two years ago, Hog's Back Park has been on my list of places I want to visit. Finally, today we went. It was lovely. There weren't too many people around and there was lots of orange in the trees. Love that. This is a picture from the Hog's Back falls. Niagara it isn't but still... it was beautiful. Loved the whole time we were there.

shopping south of the border

Today we decided to go down to New York to do a little shopping. The last time we were in Watertown we went into the new Target. I know. Aim high. But I loved it. They had some unique and interesting things that you just can't get at Walmart in Canada. I loved spending time there so I was excited to go back this time. Derek wanted to go to Eddie Bauer but was very disappointed when he found out it had closed. I was mostly interested in buying some books because in Canada they're much more expensive. I, too, was a little disappointed that I couldn't really find anything at the mall where the Eddie Bauer used to be. So Derek obliged and we headed over to Target. While I shopped Derek moped around, trying hard to occupy himself. I bought lots of Hallowe'en stuff and love all of it. I got a new black wreath for the front door and a cute pumpkin mat. Plus some funky pumpkin beaded coasters and some more books. Love it all.

A world of adventure

We were going to take advantage of the awesome dollar and head south across the border for some bargain hunting in New York. But we decided instead that a trip to the Papanack Zoo would be more fun. So we headed off and were highly impressed with the animals. I figured it would be just a small town petting type zoo but was pleasantly surprised when we got there. We all loved it.

Check out these beautiful brown and white zebras. Absolutely gorgeous.

Bad Uncle

This is an absolutely horrible picture but it's one of my favourites of Kim's visit. Click on it to see it better.

Derek loves it when babies and children laugh at him and/or his antics. I think he was a bit nervous that Nicholas would cry around him because this was the first time he'd ever seen the baby since he was born almost eight months ago. Plus Kim warned us that Nicholas cries when he sees strangers at first. But Nicholas didn't cry when he first say Derek. Derek puts on a such a show, making faces and funny noises, I don't think it would be possible for a baby to be scared. And so the merriment and fun making continued whenever Nicholas was in Derek's audience. On this particular night, Nicholas was being a little fussy. He was tired and hungry. So to make him happy while Kim prepared his food, Derek decided to put on a little show. He had just taken out the garbage and was about to put a new bag in the trash can. Nicholas was watching him. So Derek danced. Derek sang. Derek goofed. Derek said "Look at me, Nicholas!" Nicholas laughed. Encouraged, Derek goofed some more and then decided that it would be really funny to put the garbage bag on his head. As soon as he put the bag on his head he stopped dead, shouted out in an almost scared voice "Bad uncle!", whipped the bag off his head and said "don't do that Nicholas" and "what am I thinking? Your sister's going to kill me." Fortunately for him, Nicholas is only 8 months old and just doesn't get it.

What was so funny to me, even now as I'm typing this, is that in the weeks before Kim came to visit, we were both worried that Nicholas would get upset at seeing Derek. Derek would always say, I have lots of nephews. I know what to do. I wonder if he ever put plastic bags over his head before. Probably not.

Peek-a-boo

My sister and nephew are in town this week for a visit. I took today off to take them downtown to visit Parliament and walk along the Rideau Canal. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. As we walked along, the sun kept getting in Nicholas' eyes so Kim would stop to pin a blanket over the front of his stroller. Now Nicholas is a very curious boy and doesn't like to be left out of things. So as we walked along, both of us thinking Nicholas was content inside the sun shrouded stroller we had no idea that he was actually playing peek a boo. Every now and then a stranger passing by would look down at the stroller and smile. We wondered what they were smiling at because it's just a stroller covered with a blanket. Then we'd take a look and find Nicholas peeking out or leaning way out over the side with his arm hanging out, watching the wheels of the stroller go around. I love his little face in this picture.

Wouldn't you know it???

This is it. The last few pieces and then it's done (plus staining). And wouldn't you know it... Derek ran out of wood. One measly piece of wood. After all the wood Derek lugged back and forth all summer long, how is it that he ended up one piece short? We had to laugh.

Praying mantis

It's true that things are bigger, bolder, hotter, colder and stranger in Ontario. I've seen bigger bugs here then I ever saw  back home. So when I first saw this thing perched on the back screen door I wasn't really surprised the even the grass hoppers were extra large. I called out to Derek to come a take a look. Upon closer inspection Derek recognized it as a praying mantis. A praying what!?!!?!? What the hell are they doing in Ottawa? I had no idea. Of course because I'd never seen one in Newfoundland I had no idea what they were or what they were capable of. Derek assured me that they were harmless but let me tell you I kept a close eye on it all day. And it hung around out there all day, too. Very annoying. Go away already!

Coincidentally, I also saw a hummingbird for the very first time ever today, as well. Pretty. But fast!

night lights

Derek's got this thing about looking out through one of bedrooms windows in the back late at night. On any given night between 11 and midnight, I can walk past one for the rooms on the back and find Derek standing in the window, sometimes with the camera, sometimes not. Tonight was one of those nights with the camera. I don't know what he was actually trying to capture but this was the end result. Pretty fancy. I think Derek surprised himself with this shot because there are about 12 shots similar to this one. I think he was pretty fascinated with himself for figuring out how to to the time exposure thing.

fall is here...

at least according to the leaves. It's actually still way too hot here, with temps in the high 20s, low 30s. Ugg. When we went to the Parc Omega on the 1st lots of trees were turning then, too, but this one is from one of the shrubs in front of our house. I love it.

Speaking of fall... I don't know what gets into people. I guess the summer goes on for so long here, starting in April, that by August people are sick of everything summery and can't wait to jump into fall, perhaps believing if they dress like fall and act like it's fall, then maybe it will be. The first few days of September were no cooler than any other day of the summer, yet simply because it was September, people were going around dressed in entirely too warm clothes. On the Tuesday after Labour Day I walked up to the Shoppers on Bank Street during my lunch break and couldn't help but laugh to myself. It was a respectable 25 degrees. The only concession to the impending fall season was the ever-so-slight breeze. I passed a young girl wearing flip flops, capris and a tank top. Behind here was another young girl wearing boots, jeans and a scarf around her neck. All stylish but still... it was 25 degrees. Who wears boots and a scarf in 25 degrees? The next woman I passed was wearing a halter top and an extremely short mini skirt. Believe it or not, the person following her was wearing a turtleneck sweater. Unreal. I get how badly everyone wants fall to be here. I'm one of those people, too. But what gives? I can only assume those who dive into heavier fall fashions as soon as September comes, must also be those silly people who still follow that "no white after labour day" silliness!

fall flowers

I bought this giant bouquet of hardy mums at costco for only $9.99. While in the store, pushing them around in my cart I felt like some kind of traffic director. At least six people stopped me to ask where I got the flowers. I honestly don't know how they all missed them. They were right inside the front door. I love them, though. They're so pretty. I bought the gorgeous brown enamalized (I know that's not a real word) pot at Walmart for $8. Gotta love end of season sales.

How to get your husband to help with housework

There a few things that Derek does that I can't handle. Three of those things is being messy in the bathroom, flicking his flossing gunk on the mirror and doing dive bomber spit into the sink after brushing. (it always splashes everywhere!) Put I especially hate the gunk on the mirror. It usually ends up right at eye level for me which is pretty disgusting. So I wondered to myself how I would counter the problem. At any one particular time neither Derek nor I can easily find the big bottle of windex, not having remembered where we left it last. Then it came to me and I hoped in the car and headed for the Dollarama. These little bottles were going to be the answer to all my gunky, dive bomber problems. I was going to put one on every bathroom counter in the house and one in the laundry room. So while Derek was outside working on the deck I dutifully filled all the bottles with windex, labeled them and tested them all out to make sure the nozzle worked. For a dollar a piece you can never be too sure. Imagine how stunned I was when Derek actually noticed them sitting on the counter without me having to tell him to look first. He actually asked me where I got the cute spray bottles!!! Insert the sound of a chiming slot machine here! Score Jennifer!!! At least for a while. Derek liked the little bottles so much he actually used them for a while at first for their intended purpose. Then little by little their charm wore off. Finally Derek resorted to using them to chase the stray flies around the house "shooting them down" and effectively covering many windex wary surfaces all over the house. Oh well. A girl can try!

almost there

The end is near. Just a few finishing touches left.

Creatures in my floor

While sitting on the floor one day back in April passing tiles to Derek as he laid the new floor in the powder room I noticed that there were little people creatures in our floor (how bored was I with the tiling to notice the floor like that?). Today, as I sat on the stairs putting on my sneakers I saw another one I thought it might be interesting to show.

Progress

A shot of Derek's very own, custom made railings. Almost done. Looking good. Fingers are crossed.

A little more Newfoundlandia

Derek and I celebrated our second anniversary a few weeks ago. We didn't do very much, really. Both of us had mentally planned out things we wanted to do but we were both so tired and basically disinterested that we didn't do anything on the actual anniversary or that entire weekend, actually. We went to dinner the following Friday at Cabottos which was nice.

This is the beautiful key chain holder that my mother send to us. I love it. It matches my mailbox from my brother and the nice nightstand Derek bought me for Christmas years ago. I love it.

Sweeping the days away

It's a constant battle and a losing one at that. Since June 30 when Derek started the deck, our house has been one big, giant work shop. Every few minutes Derek runs from the back door, through the kitchen, across the hall, and out to the garage with some wood that needs to be cut. Shoes remain on at all times. Then he cuts the wood and returns back out through the house with the freshly cut wood and leaves behind this stuff. I swear I must sweep the floor a dozen times a day. Although I really appreciate all the work Derek's doing, I cannot wait for all the tools to be put away off the kitchen floor and to be able to properly clean the entire floor instead of just cleaning around the piles of tools. That would be bliss. I don't ask for much.

Oh deer!

We went to the Parc Oméga in Montebello, Quebec today as part of our long weekend celebration. It was so nice. We were able to drive through the park at our own leisure and it was so sweet. The best part, though, was that we were allowed to feed the animals. We bought a bag of carrots at the gift shop and set our for some adventure. I guess the animals are very used to cars passing by and getting fed because they come right up to your car and if you have your window open they will stick their heads right in looking for the carrots. I learned this a little to up close and personally. Perpetually living my life behind the lens, I was focusing on trying to get a great, close up picture of the big deer as it approached the truck looking for carrots. I was watching him through the LCD display on the back of my camera, totally oblivious as to just how close he was getting. I swear digital cameras should come with one of those warnings like side view mirrors. "Objects may be closer than they appear." When I finally looked up from the camera I was so surprised and frightened by the huge deer head inches from my own that I let out a very girly scream, so loud that the guy in the van next to us started laughing at me. Let's just say I kept my window near closed the rest of the day, opening it only an inch or so at a time to toss out a carrot.

fall is in the air

It's that time of year again. It's dark by 8:15, the nights are cooler and it's raining a lot more. And I love it. Derek was less than pleased to see the rain though because he wanted to go out and work on the deck this evening but everything is wet. Here's a snap of the sort of heavy rain from my office window. A grey day but I'd take it over all those bright, sticky days any time.

annoyed

I am so very easily annoyed. Really, it doesn't take much to get on my nerves. So that's why I couldn't help but notice, and photograph, this guy as I looked out my window. I was getting ready to leave for the day - finally! - and as I stood up to go I caught a glimpse of this guy, standing right on top of one of those construction caution signs, teetering back and forth as if playing. Tell me why a man of this age would have to stand on this piece of wood. Why? I mean, if he was eight years old or something I could understand but come on! I really need to stop letting stuff like this bother me. And as much as I know that I have to say that I spend a good two minutes just watching him, letting it get on my nerves more and more. He's lucky he was gone by the time I got outside. Otherwise, he would have been the recipient of one of my "you're not worthy" stares.

just sittin' here watchin' the wheels go 'round and 'round

Have I ever mentioned that my job is about as exciting as watching water boil? Well, I case I haven't let me make it perfectly clear now just how very boring it is.

Now I generally enjoy watching construction work happen. But today as I sat in my office, eating my lunch and looking out the window I couldn't help but be mesmerized by all the work these guys were doing on the library roof across the street from my building. They were working so fast. Is it any wonder that construction workers always seem to be in such great shape? Just this morning I saw that they were starting to tear up the old roof top and now just a few hours later they were already almost finished putting down part of the new one. They just don't stop. I can't tell you just how much of a lump I felt like sitting in my cushy chair. For sure, construction work is hard work but except for the extreme sun exposure why would anyone want to be an office worker?

day off

My tooth was still very sore today. There was a throbbing all day so I decided not to go to work. Instead, I stayed home, did some laundry and baked cupcakes. I figured it was okay to make cupcakes since the only thing I could really eat still was soft stuff. Nothing like a fresh chocolate cupcake with lots of icing to take your mind off pain.

when i'm hurting

When I'm hurting two things usually happen. 1)Derek buys me some kind of sweet, eatable treat and (but in this case "or") 2)we play a board game. Since I had a root canal early in the morning and was still feeling a nice bit of pain and unable to eat anything unless it was soft and mushy we played a game. When I hurt my back in November we played a nice few games of Monopoly. There wasn't much else we could do since I was pretty immobile. So tonight we played Battleships. It was a lot of fun but the cheap construction of the old classic was pretty bad. The begs barely stay in the board and the plastics cases are really poor quality. Still, it was lots of fun.

magnet mania

We've had one or two instances too many where someone (ahem... Derek) started putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher before the clean ones have been removed. So to help alleviate this problem I devised a new plan. Whenever there were dirty dishes in washer there we would put a green magnet on the front of the machine to tell us that it was okay to "go" ahead and put more dishes in. When it was full and turned on we would put a red magnet on it to tell us to "stop" and not put in anymore until the clean ones were removed. Once removed we would switch back to the green magnet. I had to explain the plan to Derek a few times because he kept forgetting to use the magnets.

I guess it finally sunk in because when I went into the kitchen tonight I saw this. Derek had made a little face out of lots of little magnets. Notice the frown. "He" is frowning because he's full of dirty dishes. I laughed so hard. I don't have the heart to take them down. But at least it gives me a new canvas for all my little magnets. The fridge can only handle so many!

for kim

Kimberley. That's how my sister's real name is spelled - ey. Not just y. Everyone always spelled it with just a y and I think it bothered Kim more than we ever knew. When you're seven years old who could blame you for getting upset when someone misspells your name? At seven your name is all you've got so go ahead, I say, raise a little hell about the e.

And so when we were little, my sister and I used to like to check out all those displays that had merchandise with your name on it. We rarely ever bought anything. Just checking to see if our names were there. Jennifer, of course, was easy to find and usually either plentiful or sold out. Kim was a little less available but occasionally we'd find one. But Kimberley? Never. And that's why, when I saw this street name today, I just had to stop and take a picture for Kim. Perhaps this is the first thing other than her birth certificate that spelled her name "correctly" without having to correct it herself.

German loot

I love all things Christmas, so when we went to a Christmas store in Heidelberg I expected to find many treasures and to leave with less money than I came with. But I found it all very expensive and too delicate to ship. So I left, with nothing. Then I felt bad. I told myself that I'd probably never again have the chance to buy Christmas ornaments from a German Christmas store again so I made myself have a second look around. Desperate to have something to show for my efforts, I bought this. Until today I had no idea where I had actually put it when I got home but it had somehow gotten lost underneath my bed. Anyway, I took it out and wondered what I was thinking. It's an angel holding a car. It's not even a Christmas angel! I think at the time I thought it was cute and perhaps bought it as some kind of homage to my old car. But my old car was green so I really don't understand my thinking on this one. But I do like it. It's in my craft room now and it looks really cute.

light up the night

We went to see the fireworks competition at Gatineau last night with friends Chris and Deanne. Russia was competing  and it was AWESOME! I have never seen a finale quite like this one before. So beautiful. We're going again on Saturday to see the last show. It should be a good one. Wish everyone I knew could see how awesome these are!

and

I love this symbol and what it means. I found it while at a mall in Cambridge this weekend and I had to buy it. It's now sitting on the window sill of my craft room.

I love it because balance isn't "either/or". Balance is "and". A balanced life affords me the chance to go and stay home; to work and to play; to ask and to know. And is such an empowering word - brings ideas and people and seemingly incongruous things together. Makes life challenging and interesting and that's a good and exciting thing.

"And" means there's something else. There's more. There's this and that. There's still something left unseen.

summer lovin'

We got some happy mail today! Not only did we get a wedding invitation but we got a box full of treats and gifts from my sister and mother in celebration of our upcoming second anniversary in a few weeks. I ripped them all open pretty fast, totally oblivious that I a) should have at least waited for Derek because his name was on the box, too and b) should have waited until our big day on the 20th before diving in. But I couldn't help myself. This kind of mail makes me so happy!

Inside was a nice big bag of one of my favorite summer time treats. Marshmallow strawberries! I had them open and half gone before my dinner was ready and it was so worth it. Love them. That's real summer right there, in all their sugary sweetness. Yum! Thanks, Kim.

while we were out...

someone came and left garbage on our doorstep. In the form of garbage can candy, that is!! Derek's friends Chris and Deanne from St. John's are in Ottawa for a visit. They came by to see us but we were still en route back to Ottawa and we missed them. They left behind a little note and a treat for us. How cute! I love little surprises like this!

elephant eye

We went to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge on Sunday. I've been wanting to go for ages and finally we did. It took us five hours to get there and right though some pretty scary Toronto, 401 traffic but it was worth it. I especially loved the elephants. How cool are their eyes? For an animal who's said to have the smallest brain of all animals, their eyes seem to hold such wisdom and sadness.

my latest specialty

For his first solid meal in almost a week, Derek asked me to make him an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. This was the end result. While I was cooking the egg a little bit it ventured off to itself, making my otherwise perfect circle not so perfectly circular. I decided not to cut it off and made the sandwich anyway, knowing Derek would get a kick out of it. I didn't expect him to pick it up and start to make it "talk", pretending that the stringy cheese was teeth. Very cute. We joked about putting it up for sale on ebay like the woman who said she had the image of Mary on her toast did. But Derek ate the evidence so that's out of the question! HAHA!

shake and bake addict

It appears I have a thing for shake and bake products. I actually don't but you wouldn't believe it if you peeked inside my cupboard. I seem to buy a lot of the stuff but I hardly use it at all. I have a thing for buying certain products repeatedly. I do the same thing with Sunbird Sweet and Sour envelopes. Everytime I find them here I buy at least two. That's fine, except I rarely make them. The other day I took them all out of the cupboard. I have nine envelopes of Sweet and Sour mix just waiting to be used. Guess it's time to dig in to my stash.

mansworld

It's a mansworld around here these days. Everywhere I turn there's either a tool or sawdust.

Derek was sick all this week so there was no progress on the deck to report, unfortunately. And since we're going out of town for the long weekend, there won't be any this weekend either. But that's okay. He's got the rest of the summer to work on it. Just hoping the sawdust dragged through the house stays at a minimum!

lonely weed

I noticed this weed tonight while I was out watering the plants in the back. Usually I would have just pulled it up and thrown it away. Tonight, for some reason, it struck me differently. Tonight I was struck by its resiliency and couldn't help but think how interesting it was that it could bloom where it wasn't planted. And it made me realize that that could apply to me, too. I wasn't planted in Ottawa, but that doesn't mean I can't bloom. Perhaps I shouldn't compare myself to the bane of all gardeners but I couldn't help it tonight.

at least i can find them now

My craft room is really not turning out as I had hoped. I had a vision in mind, everything was going to be so neat and tidy, so streamlined. Well it's not. I saw this at IKEA years ago but never bought it because I didn't feel like I could use it yet. Then I actually wanted to buy it, it wasn't there. Recently I found them again and finally Derek put them up for me tonight. I'm not impressed. They don't look as good as I wanted. The room doesn't look any neater than before. But at least I can find all my pens now.

more than solo socks

Lately I've been finding a lot of change and clumps of tissues in the bottom of the washer. The change I don't mind. I've got quite a collection down in the laundry room now. The tissue I tend to mind a little more. But this takes the cake. I did a load of Derek's shorts today. When I went down to take them all out of the washer this is what I found left behind - 2 earplugs, 3 screws, 1 quarter, 1 pen. Unbelievably the pen did not burst open and ruin everything and the screws did not shred through anything, either. Can you believe that pen still works??

Weatherproofing, Derek style

This deck is hurricane resistant. Derek has trussed up and "shored up" every possible nook and cranny on his masterpiece including caulking in all the visible holes and other imperfections. Derek is a caulking master. There's nothing going to take this baby down. This is built to last. This is built Andersen proud!

a hallowe'en kind of night

Derek noticed this sky last night and called out to me to come upstairs and have a look. It was the coolest, scariest sky I've ever seen at night. A real Hallowe'en sky. The picture obviously doesn't do it justice but you can get the gist of it. I loved it.

turned on

After dinner downtown on Friday Derek and I went to the ornamental gardens to walk around and take some pictures. I'm always looking for interesting pictures and this one stood out like a sore thumb. This particular flower is dubbed "turned on". I couldn't resist taking a shot. I think it's just a basic lily but it's still quite pretty.

Careful of the fish-ies

One morning while at the bus stop near my house I noticed that the manhole cover was in the shape of a cute fish. Later one evening as I walked around the neighbourhood, I noticed that the majority of manhole covers had fish on them too. I think it's a neat concept, an interesting way to remind people to be careful of what we flush down the drain and put into the environment. I'm willing to bet though that a lot of people don't even notice them. But I like them. They remind of the time quite a few summers ago when one or another boy/girl scout troops went all over the city painting blue fish on all the curbs near the manholes as a reminder.