at this moment...

i am sitting on the new stone patio, enjoying my paper lanterns and sweet smell of wild roses.  I will be back soon!

Happy Vernal Eqinox

 Celebrating the colours of Spring

Happy first day of Spring! - Autumn for those of you in the southern hemisphere. Yay!
I'm balancing eggs and digging out my Spring clothing today.  How are you celebrating your fist day of Spring/Autumn?

Peacefulness is in simplicity (Video clip)

{Wordless Wednesday}

Sound clip:  Odette by Matthew Good
Visit other Wordless Wednesday participants  

Scent Recall

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a light breeze 

came in through my bedroom window

a scent

an aroma

of wood smoke 

and wet leaves

took me back to when I was in my youth-- 8-12 years old. Me, my sister and our friends in a clearing in the forest near the pond where we would play for hours on end. Building tree forts, catching frogs, or just lazing about listening to our transistor radio, eating a picnic lunch on a wool blanket.

But this particular scent memory was of late afternoon, mid October. The sun was just starting to set and rays were streaming through the fall foliage lighting the leaves up like jewels -- red, gold, rust... It was my favorite time of the day. We were up in our tree camp, ignoring my parents' shouts to come home, recounting summer gone and making serious plans for winter that was just around the corner. Lounging with our legs dangling over the side of the platform, inhaling the deep aroma of wood-burning stoves and dampening piles of leaves.

It is amazing how a scent can trigger memories so powerfully vivid from decades gone by.

Have you had a recent scent recall? I'd like to hear about it sometime!

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Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween weekend ♥

October 1st? Really???

The calendar says it is the first of October
although Mother Nature seems to have other plans for us.

This week our weather has been foggy and cloudy
but also unseasonably warm.

Today the temperature was 23°C.

I've been feeling very inspired,
going on little photo shoots here and there. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a lovely weekend
 so I can go hunting for little Autumn gems.

Give me a shout and let me know what you have been up to lately.
I'd love to hear all about it!

It's (not) beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

When I was a kid one of my favorite months was November. Not only because it was my birthday month, but because it was the month before my favorite (December), when the temperature dropped and the frost set into the ground making a great base for the first snow fall, the lakes would start to form a skim of ice and I knew it would only be a matter of weeks before we (us kids) would be out skating on the pond in our back yard.

I was thinking of how different winter was when I was a kid while hubby and I (mostly hubby) were putting up the holiday lights on the house. We were up bright and early this morning taking advantage of our unseasonably warm temperature today, decking the house with white lights, putting up swags and wreaths, cleaning up the yard, pulling weeds and raking leaves; my flower garden still has a few plants in bloom even after the first frost a couple of weeks ago. I even dug out the snow shovels that were stored in the back of the shed in anticipation of shoveling snow possibly in the next few weeks. I put the lawn mower to the back of the shed, but today felt like a great day to give the lawn one more cut... if only I had had the time.

The only thing reminding me that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas is the lights that decorate the houses in the neighborhood.

Snow Covered Friday

Look at what we woke up to this morning...

Happy Friday! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

September Melancholy

I could feel it and smell it in the air this morning as I stepped outside to see my youngest daughter off for her first day back to school. A few red and yellow leaves that skipped across my feet and the air had that distinct - change of season - scent, a reminder that fall is just around the corner. Yup, summer is drawing to a close and it will be soon time to start making plans for autumn, packing away the summer T-s, short pants and flip flops to make way for warm sweaters, fleece hoodies and jeans - as Don says... "I feel it in the air, the summers out of reach..." ( "Boys of Summer" -Don Henley).

September is a time for fresh starts. The start of a new season, a new school year, back to work, back to schedules and routine back to blogging. Today is my first post in over a month. I have been enjoying getting settled into our new house - lots to do still but I have decided I am no longer going to obsess over the little details and focus on a room at a time. It's unbelievable how much stuff we had squirreled away that we really didn't need. So instead of having a yard sale, we decided to donate all the furniture, clothing and house hold items to charity, and I am still sorting through boxes of stuff... one day at a time.

Thank you for all your good wishes during our move :)
It's great to be back!

Beach Day

Sunny Spring Sunday (Sx3)

Here in Halifax signs of spring are only just beginning, but in in Blomidon Nova Scotia spring has sprung. This is where hubby and I spent a very peaceful Sunday. We talked, explored, listened to the birds, drove up to the cape where we were going to take a stroll on the ocean floor but discovered the stairway leading down to the shore had washed out during the winter months -- the tides and ice of a harsh winter have taken its toll. I took some photos on the new camera of the breathtaking views, hoping they will turn out just as lovely as the shots above that I took with the little Fuji. Hubby and I are planning another trip back soon to see all the apple trees in blossom. I can hardly wait for sights, smells, and sounds (Sx3 again).

nice drive in the country + a sunny spring day + wonderful company = one happy jack!

Tell me all about your weekend?

Spring Things

Today is such a beautifully sunny and warm(ish) spring day. I can feel the change. I am so looking forward to a fresh start and have been thinking about some lifestyle changes as well. Last May hubby and myself stopped smoking - still smoke free! This spring we have decided to see a nutritionist and join a gym, and I may even hire a trainer.

Here are a few other things I want to accomplish this spring/summer season:

1. Put in a small veggie garden.
   
2. Photography classes.
   
3. Find some vintage cameras.
4. Take lots of photos with them.
5. Weekend road trips.
6. Lots of family BBQ's and cookouts.
7. Camping.
   
8. A trip to Newfoundland to see Gros Morne National Park .
9. Try some Geocaching.
10. Treasure hunting.

How about you? What is on your "to do" list for this season?