Apples, Raspberries and Pie

What a busy weekend!

Friday: Cosmic Bowling (bowling in the dark with neon lights and loud music!) with the girls and Enrico.

Saturday: Football for the girls and dinner with friends in the evening.

Sunday: Chudleigh's Apple Farm....

This has now become a tradition (Right Jill - if you've done something more than once....?) with the Hortons and Klugsbergers. [And we've managed to get ourselves lost both time...!) It's a great day out. Playing among the apples.

Playing among the hay bales.

And generally enjoying fall fun with our friends!

Tess had a need to create in the kitchen on Sunday and brought plans for a delicious dessert to me first thing in the morning.

The concoction included raspberries, raspberry coulis, vanilla ice-cream and some yummy pastries made with vanilla, butter and brown sugar. She was very proud of herself and the results were fantastic.

And finally....

I've just finished my book club's choice for September; 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie' by Alan Bradley.

A very easy and entertaining read and a very likeable main character. It's basically a murder/mystery which we don't usually choose for book club, but it was great fun and didn't take me long to read. I will definitely be reading his next one which will also 'star' Flavia de Luce, the 12 year old heroine...

Shoes, Spinning and Sunshine

Every now and then I become completely obsessed with scrapbooking.... This is one of those times. (Probably because the girls are at school all day, I'm not working [yet!], and I'm in no routine with school commitments / home etc.

The result is that I'm able to create.

Here is Mission to Create #26:


I only managed to use 4 of the 5 concepts but I love the layout.

1) at least 3 bright cardstocks

2) decorative edge scissors (Raided the girls' craft box and cut around the black cardstock.)

3) Use sheet music (which I printed off the internet and is, rather sadly of me, the actual music from the Paolo Nutini song...My sister-in-law will be laughing at me for this... 'Too much time on my hands...')




4) something shiny (the label holder at the bottom)

5) And just didn't have the right rub-on alphas for this... Oh well!

Anyway, loved completing this one as I loved, loved, loved those shoes of Tess' and wish that her feet hadn't grown so quickly...



So, to the rest of today. As it's proving very difficult to find work I'm using my time to get a little fitter and have discovered 'spinning' classes at the YMCA. Let's just say I hope it's doing me good. I sweated so much today it was actually dripping off me but not as much as the guy in front of me... I think his pool of sweat (great subject, huh?) had me so mesmerised that I managed to complete the majority of the class. Yuk, but yeh!

When I pick the girls up from school, ready for the weekend, we're off Cosmic Bowling. It's a shame we organised an indoor activity as it is such a beautiful day here. Hot, hot, hot and the sunshine is streaming through the backdoor... I do love autumn here in Toronto. Hope your weather is as nice.

Back, Background and Back To School

Ok - so it's been a while but we're back to carry on with the blog because it seemed to be working out so well.

I've also been neglecting the old scrapbooking lately so I've been very determined to sort the basement out so I could get to my stuff. I created this layout for Mission to Create #25.

We had to use:

1) beige or cream (I used a cream background)

2) a doilie (which I didn't have, so I used doilie-like trim)

3) an envelope (which contains a letter to the girls I wrote on their second day of school)

4) something clear (I added a clear heart)

5) polka dots and stripes (self explanatory)

I loved doing this one and am feeling very creative again, which is great.

And finally, because I haven't yet done it, here a picture of the girls on the first day back to school.

Meg has finally started Grade 1 and Tess is now in Grade 3. The start was a little lukewarm, but I'm very pleased to report that they are both now settled right in and enjoying school.

Hurrah!

Artwork, Earthquake and Humid

Today I've begun taking down some of the artwork dotted around the house; the kitchen, dining room, my wardrobe door, the girls' bedroom walls. I will, of course, be filing these very carefully but just in case they should get lost I've taken some photos.

So here's a selection:

This is just a very, very small selection...

And now for some news.

Yes, it's true. There actually was an earthquake here this afternoon. I just thought it was a truck going by. but there are reports that it was a 5.5 on the Richter Scale....

The girls are fascinated, but terrified by the reports that there may be tornadoes tonight...!

The weather is funky here. Very, very hot and very, very humid. The girls are desperate for a sprinkler in the garden and we've prmoised it will be the first thing we buy for the new house.

And Jill, glad to hear you're home - can't wait to see you!

Graduations, Flowers and Boxes

We have had a week of graduations here in the Horton household - and what a busy week it has been!

Olly is finally able to close the books on his Executive MBA. He has worked incredibly hard and we're very proud of him. The weeks away, the late nights and slightly stressful times have been worth it and his official graduation was Thursday night.

On Wednesday I watched in wonder as a lady struggled down the road carrying the most enormous basket of flowers. I was astonished to find that these plants were destined for our house. It was a thank you to the grads and their families from Walmart - a thanks for all the effort and support.

Orchids, lilies, primula and lots more that I can't name.... Not sure what I think, but nice to get an acknowledgement.

The other grad in the house is Meg. A slightly kooky Canadian tradition but here they like to mark the 'graduation' from Kindergarten to Grade 1.

So here is a little excerpt from Meg's little presentation.



And here are my two graduates....

With only 10 days to go before we move I did some panic packing this weekend and the boxes are beginning to pile up. We are now at the stage where there are boxes half packed in every room - it's very chaotic looking but I'm certain I'm actually organised... yes - I'm organised... Do you believe me?

And Jill, whenever you get to read this we are / have been / will be sending love, good vibes, positive waves and hugs and kisses... Speak soon.

xxx

Turtle, Frog and Mosquitoes

What a brilliant weekend we've had! Although the weather was so-so here in Toronto we had glorious sunshine all day Sunday and reasonable warmth on Monday up at the cottage on Lake of Bays.

The girls absolutely love it there. As soon as we pull up outside our place they clamber out and disappear. That is the beauty of a place you return to time and time again - they are familiar with it and know the drill.

There is always a highlight of each trip and this time it was the creatures we encountered. Before we'd even arrived we'd spotted a fawn at the entrance to Blue Water Acres.

On Sunday morning, while the girls were paddling a canoe on the lake they reported sight of a turtle. We all dashed down to the dock to check it out but couldn't see anything in the water. All we could see was a rock. We were disappointed - a turtle was something we were yet to see. We were discussing how much the rock looked like a turtle... "You can see how they thought it was a turtle... That bit looks like its head.. And the ripples in the water make it look as if it's moving..."

Suddenly the 'rock' started to amble towards us!!!! It really was a turtle. A huge turtle. Over half a metre in diameter. It was a snapping turtle and would have given someone a nasty nip if we'd got close enough.

They look something like this.

And listen to this video:

This is what is making the racket - a grey tree frog.

While we were roasting our marshmallows around the campfire we literally could not hear each other speak as this little beauties were so loud.

And no visit up north at this time of year would be complete without a few bites from mosquitoes and other nasties like the deer fly and black fly. Despite lots of bug spray and long pants and long sleeves none of us got away without quite a few itches; Tess, it seems, has come off worst and Meg just a few...

Perhaps casting spells with sparklers helped.

Butter, Pages and Cottage

Meg was in a hurry to go play in the sprinkler with Heather and Lily the other evening but not before she had made herself some honey toast. I came downstairs to find her singing a little song to herself entitled 'Butter'.

How very cute and funny!

Here are my latest scrapbook pages completed the other Sunday. I think these will have to be the last for a while as we are moving very soon and then we're in England.

This is a picture of Tess from March last year - very simple and I really like it!


This one was done in response to a challenge on Mission to Create. This challenge was to include a cupcake, 3 circles, homemade stamps, an owl and white space. I quite like how it turned out.

What do you think?

Anyway, the excitement here is that we're off to the cottage for the weekend. We haven't been up since Christmas so the girls are looking forward to fishing and swimming, Olly's looking forward to watching the football (of course!) and I'm looking forward to relaxing before the big push for the end of school, packing up the house and coming home!

Spa, Spoilt and Birthdays

Tomorrow I am 40. Now this is not a fact which bothers me all that much.. until this morning when Meg said, "Mum, you know, you've been alive for 40 years." That's when I began to feel a little old... Still it's a great excuse for some fun and pampering.

This started yesterday with a day of fun with Olly who took the day off and arranged for the girls to be taken care. We had a lovely day; breakfast out, coffee, an early lunch with wine, an afternoon in the spa having massages and a blow dry, followed by steak at my favourite restaurant, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - take a look at the website and you'll see why my mouth is watering just thinking about last night's dinner!

It was a super day! Thank you Olly!

I continued to be spoilt today. This morning Marcie (our next-door-neighbour) asked if she could 'have the girls for a couple of hours' - as if I'd refuse! When they returned a couple of hours later this is what I was presented with...

It is covered in Smarties, blueberries, chocolate chips and strawberries.... Yum!

And talking of birthdays, I had a bit of time to put some extra photos on the Flickr photostream, so you can now see some pictures of Tess' birthday.

There are lots more over there so take a look - her and her friends had a great time!

Funny, Faraway and First

Want to hear a funny story?

You know that Olly has started his sailing course (which has been a slight bone of contention since he did not inform me about how LONG the course was.... 7 Saturdays, 9-5pm). It has all been a little confused. He missed the first one because he thought the course started later in the year, and the second Saturday was so freezing cold and stormy they didn't go out on the water at all. So finally this Saturday looked all set. He goes down to the marina and is approached by the admin lady who discretely asked for a word.

"I don't have any record of you paying for the course."

Olly answered, rather abruptly, "I have paid - just check your records."

"Well that's the problem there is no record of you paying."

"Yes - I corresponded with Andrea - she took my money." As you can imagine, Olly's getting pretty ticked off at this point.

The admin lady looked at him and said, "There's no-one here called Andrea..."

Pause...

"This is Mooredale Sailing club?"

"No -this is Jamestown!!!!"

Ha! Olly had been sailing at the wrong club for the past 2 weeks... Ahh!!!!

Tess is just finishing a homework assignment. She has to choose a book to recommend to the whole class for their teacher to read aloud and write about why it should be chosen.

Her choice was 'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton. This was my favourite book when I was her age. I remember it as the first book I wanted to share with friends once I'd read it. There are actually 3 books in the series and I read them all back-to-back when I read it to the girls.

They loved it and Tess said she felt like she was in the story and never wanted me to finish a chapter. I think it would be an excellent choice for her class.

And finally and rather randomly I was going through some photos of Meg's first year and found these lovely ones of her with Grandma.... So just because here they are.

Karaoke, Ride and Survivor

Olly arrived home from work very excited on Friday night. He was carrying a very large bag.

"Guess what I've got in here... Well, you're never guess... It's a Karaoke machine!!!!"

A karaoke machine!!!! The girls were sooo thrilled. Olly's co-worker was having a clear-out and thought we'd like it... It doesn't actually work but the microphone does and we had lots of fun putting it through its paces last night.

I'm sure there's more where this one came from.

Today has been a beautiful 16 degrees, so we took advantage of the weather and the fact that Meg is now confident on her bike without training wheels and took a long bike ride down the Beaches. We cycled for miles, played on the beach, picked up lunch, then gorgeous ice-cream from Ed's - it really was a lovely day.

So now I have to dash because it's almost bedtime for the girls and then we're watching the finale of Survivor which Olly and I have been looking forward to all weekends.

See ya!

Book Club, Boxes and Walk-Through

Despite a dreadfully rainy and cold evening last night, there was a fantastic turn out for my book club. It was the first time I'd hosted and I wasn't sure how many ladies would come - we usually range between 5 and 8 people, so I put a couple of extra chairs in the living room... However, that just wasn't enough as 12 ladies turned up to discuss ' Through Black Spruce' by Joseph Boyden.

This was a pretty good book. About a native family in the north of Ontario and the stories of their lives. On the whole we liked it and I would recommend it if only for the interesting parts about Will's life living alone in the wilderness. Find it at Amazon if you're interested.

We have booked our moving date and the boxes are on their way. I have spent a large proportion of today standing staring into corners thinking, "Maybe I should start there..." I've been picking up boxes, sifting through them and then returning the boxes to their original places... Do you think 7 weeks is going to be enough time?

Tess finally got to see the new house today. Meg saw it when we did the inspection but Tess was at school that day. So I arranged for a walk-through of the house so she can see her new bedroom and new back yard, She was very excited and I was so glad to go through again... in my head the house has grown smaller and smaller over the last few weeks - it was good to see all the rooms again and begin to place the furniture. It is bigger than I remember....!

Meringue, World and Mothers

Olly was off on the first of his sailing days yesterday - there are 5 more weeks after this. The weather was horrible and the girls were busy playing with the Moores so I decided to have a cooking day.

I pulled out the oldest of my cook books (the one I made when I was in my 20s with clippings and cuttings from magazines) and found 'Mushroom Pots' (mushrooms in a creamy sauce under a pastry lid), 'Lemon & Basil Chicken' (roasted chicken finished with lemon and wine) served with spinach and bread and the yummiest dessert, 'Black Forest Meringue Cake' (a chocolate meringue sandwiched with chocolate, cherries and whipped cream). It was liked by all!

The girls had spent the best part of the day with Heather, Lily and Ashley which resulted in the usual craziness and backwards and forwards-ing (!?!!!) We watched a video to smooth things out for an hour or so and when Olly got home there was singing...

They have been learning 'We Are The World' at school - this is very cute...

And here it is Mothers Day. There has been lots of whispering and hiding and 'Did you see thats' around here for the past week. Olly and the girls made me breakfast in bed, brought me chocolates and about 20 homemade cards... So many lovely things from pictures to drawings to hearts to writing... I am very lucky!

Leased, Details and Fling

After a steady stream of people through the house over the past few days (which meant we've had to keep everything very tidy...) the house has finally been leased. It brings things into perspective that we only have a few weeks before we actually move. I had a moving company give us a quote yesterday, and I'll be getting boxes next week to begin the whole packing process... As our moves have been international previously I haven't had to pack everything up myself in a while. I'm sure it's going to take longer than I really think. The countdown is on to the 2nd July!

I wanted to show this picture that Meg did for me the other day. Pictures of pet shops are her favourite thing to draw; she usually does them at bedtime, sitting hunched over her desk with her little lamp on. In the morning she'll present me with her masterpiece and explain each compartment to me.

I just love the details. Can you spot the chameleon who is camouflaged? Did you notice the tree frog with his feet against the glass? there are stick insects (or stick bugs as she calls them), rabbits, fish, hamsters, birds in cages, there's even a little hermit crab... I think they're amazing.

The reason this post is late is that I started yesterday and then ran out of time as it was the big school fundraiser last night; the John Wanless Spring Fling.

Because the school is so big (over 750 students) this is a huge event, and very posh. It was an interesting evening; connecting with people you don't often see and making connections wit parents we hadn't yet met. It was difficult to recognise people. We are so used to seeing each other on the school yard, no make up, track suits and jeans, hats on heads... Everyone had pushed the boat out; posh frocks, hair do's, make up... It was so much fun...

I'll try to keep up this week.

Beautiful, Beautiful and Beautiful

This has been a nice day!

When I picked Meg up from school last Tuesday her teacher, Lauren, said to me, "Oh Meg said the most beautiful thing about you. She said, 'I love my mom because she is so pretty and she smells of England...'"

I don't know what 'smelling of England' is, but it was meant to be a compliment and I took it as such...

Now, my other lovely also said a beautiful thing this morning. She had left her 'diary' in my room. This is where she writes things about friends and I've seen little poems and stories (quite by accident you understand...). Anyway, I was passing this precious book to her and she whispered, "It's funny, since I've been older, there seems to be more to write in there...!"


Do you think the teenage angst has begun already?

Today has been the most beautiful day. It has been really warm but not hot; no humidity either, which is a blessing on a warm day. There has been a cooling breeze and it's felt great to be in the city.

However, around half an hour ago it began to cloud over and before we knew it there was a thunderstorm and rain, rain, rain....

Let's hope the good weather returns in time for Tess' track and field meet tomorrow...