My beautiful Daughter.....

Susannah.......

Lake scenes from Elk........

swing time

Abigail loves to swing........I remember when she taught herself to swing at the old house...a year or two ago...she was sooooo determined to learn to swing by herself that she spent days doing just that! Now she is a fab swinger.......

She was just the same when it came to skipping....she would practice and practice with her skipping rope until she could do it well.....

Abigail is so determined...if there is something she wants to learn she will keep trying until she gets it! She's the perfect unschooler lol! Very self motivated and determined :)

My beauty

I love this natural pose of Abigail...she was on the swing at Elk island and the wind is blowing her hair as she swings...It's slightly blurry because she was swinging so fast and was talking constantly but I'm happy with it :) Abigail is growing up so fast.......

Sprinkler fun......

The girls have been using the big pool as a slip and slide to cool off in the heat...we have the sprinkler going too and thye have been having a lot of fun out there......Rosie our puppy has found that diving into the pond a few times a day is a great way to cool off......unfortunately she then likes to get on the slip and slide too....which isn't a problem when she is clean lol......good job we have the hose to hose down the slip and slide afterwards...we keep hosing down the dogs with nice cold water to keep them cool.......Amber isn't keen but Rosie loves it.

Silhouette by the lake........

Saturdays Sunset

This seems to be coming a regular blog......my daily sunset pictures!!! Last night I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...we left Astotin Lake too early...would've got some fab pictures there...but we drove home and on the way I kept snapping pictures of the sunset through my window......as Lloyd was driving...so most are not good.......blurry........bad focus...I did persuade him to stop by a lake though so I could snap a few of the water........

Elk Island Shoot

So to escape the heat we took the younger three out for an early dinner last night.....air conditioned restaurants....wonderful! Then we picked up Iced Capps and drove out to Elk Island Park.......being in the car is lovely and cool and I took my camera (of course lol) and got some great snaps! We drove up to Astotin Lake and walked along the beach and the boardwalk before heading to the playground at dusk.......as we drove out of the park all of the animals were coming out...it's a great time to go as they have all been hiding in the cool of the trees from the heat but at dusk they come out to drink and walk around......the bison trail was VERY busy with bison taking dustbaths and practicing their rutting......the beaver seemed to just be enjoying a leisurely swim.......gophers were dashing here and there.......

I thought it was quite funny that the car in front of us at Tim Hortons (Baseline/ Broadmoor by Joey T's) was the car in front of us as we drove into Elk Island Park...how funny we had the same idea of Iced Capps and driving out to the park! They had their kayak with them.......

Elk Island was quiet as usual...I'm surprised how few people go there...especially on a lovely evening like last night....the breeze off of the lake was nice and there weren't any mosquito's.....and the trails are cool and shady from the trees......it was a lovely evening!

Here are the wildlife pictures....i'll post the scenic pictures later!

My place on the porch

Many evenings this is where I can be found.....sitting on the porch, drinking tea (or wine lol), reading, watching Lloyd throwing the ball for Rosie, cuddling Amber, watching the sun set, chatting.........my place on the porch!

Sunset in stages.....

I started taking pictures as the sun set last night and then took another every few minutes...it's amazing how quickly the sunset changes...minute by minute...and the colours are incredible!

Notes from inside the oven....

Or at least it feels like I am sat in the oven....it's already 32c at mid day and they forecast it to get a fair bit hotter by supper time.........it didn't cool off last night either and was lready 24c by the time I was watching the breakfast news.

Lloyd has driven the boys in to town...Chris is working at the library today and then meeting some friends at the mall before heading back to A's house for a sleepover...and Laurie is sleeping over at the twins house too.........Lloyd took Sam too so all my boys are out right now :) the only other male is Cairo the cat who, if he has any sense, has climbed into the coolness of the barn.........everyone and everything else here at home is female......me, my daughters, the dogs, the rabbits and the chickens :)

So what are our plans? We think we are going into the cool basement for much of the day...we're going to sort it all out and hopefully throw out a ton of stuff...........then this evening we may head into town, pick up some iced capps and then drive out to Elk Island Park at dusk and take some photographs......

Tomorrow probably much of the same except collecting the boys at some point..........

I love to read. Normally I like to have one fiction book on the go and a few non fiction......but right now I seem to have found myself in the midst of several books at once...but it's nice because depending on my mood that day/ moment I can pick or choose what I want to read or do......

So right now I am reading Nicholas Sparks 'Nights in Rodanthe' which is a small novel, romantic and light......with scenes from the Outer Banks of North Carolina...perfect to read when I'm sat out on the porch in the evening.

I'm also reading Jennifer Weiners 'Goodnight Nobody'.....which is an ok book..........a bit too 'desperate housewives'-ish for me though...but I plan to finish it anyway....

I'm reading a lovely Canadian book...autobiographical I guess....it's called 'The Perfection of the Morning - an apprenticeship in nature' by Sharon Butala who left the city to marry a farmer who ranches in the middle of nowhere in Sask. I wish the book had pictures....I would love to see everything she discusses.......it would make a fab blog! lol!

I'm also reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's 'Something More - Excavating your authentic Self' which is kind of a follow on book to Simple Abundance.

And I am working through Sarah Ban Breathnach's workbook - 'The Simple Abundance Companion' - excellent! I have borrowed this from the library but think it will definitely be on my Christmas Wish List!!!

The other books that seem to be in constant use in this house are the 'of Alberta' series.........ie Bugs of Alberta, Birds of Alberta, wild flowers of Alberta, Mammals of Alberta..........Abigail loves finding things in these books......she keeps a notebook and writes down the page number of her favourites....and is always asking me to give her the name of something to look up!

I am very proud to say I have met John Acorn the author of most of those books and also the photographer Ian Sheldon..........and had emails from John!!! Am I sad or what??? I get a real buzz from meeting my heroes like that........people I so admire...

Hmmmm admiration.......I recently got to know someone I admired for a long while....it's funny how you can build such a picture in your mind of how great this person is, yet when you finally get to know them you can be so utterly disappointed.....This person I admired had always seemed so knowledgable and fascinating and yet now I just see her as arrogant and fairly ignorant where social skills are concerned...someone who seems to gleen pleasure from making people feel bad about themselves...which to me just seems like a huge sign of insecurity...as if they need to make others feel inferior simply to make themselves feel better....

And yeah yeah I realise that 'no one can make you feel anything...you choose how you feel......blah blah blah...I was married to a psychotherapist for 10 years....been there done that!

Back to heroes.......I am a huge HUGE fan of Daryl Benson....photographer extraordinaire........his pictures of Alberta are incredible....and he grew up in Sherwood Park...and he's SELF TAUGHT!!!! Anyway...my Mom gave me the money to buy his beautiful book 'Alberta' last year but I waited and waited for a book signing and yay...the week after Costco opened here HE WAS THERE!!!!!! So I met him and he signed my book and I chatted with him for a while and inside I was gushing!!!! But I played it cool and I don't think I stopped smiling the whole day :) he signed my book 'For Jane - NEVER stop shooting!'

http://www.darylbenson.com/

I was one very happy girly!

Hot chick pics.......

It was 33c yesterday...so these are some very HOT chicks ;)

Luckily they get plenty of shade and air and water......they spend most of their time during the day inside........coming out in the evening.....the temporary run is working well for now.....hopefully the bigger run will be ready soon......

I love listening to the chickens clucking as they walk around......very sweet...and so relaxing to listen to...........they like the scraps they get as extras and they LOVE watermelon :)

They are getting more and more confident now and just walk up to you when you go near the run.....