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!