Stone Soup

Here they are, the contestants. (see my earlier blog on the Pumpkin Contest here)  There were only 8 entries this year.  Results will be announced early next week.

I can't believe that I can remember my very first Halloween.  I can't find my keys, can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday but I can remember my first Halloween.  I think I was four years old.  As my mom got me ready I didn't understand but it was fun.  She put lipstick on me, that I didn't like the feel of but she showed me how I looked in the mirror.  I wore her Sunday hat and her jacket, I know now it was a swing jacket.  So I went out my first Halloween as a fancy lady in lipstick and grown up lady clothes. 

Last year we had our first annual pumpkin contest at the office. I convinced the girls to join me in a team effort and we chose to immortalize our Director of Corporate Accounts in our pumpkin entry. I took his picture, changed it to b&w, enlarged it on the photo copier and we were off to a good start. We worked for hours planning and carving...and we were so pleased with our results, we were convinced we would and should win. Some of you thought so also. Unfortunately, we didn`t win! A giant hamburger won the prize, I can`t remember what the prize was. We went home knowing we did a great job and our director loved it so much he used the photo as his facebook profile photo.

Sore loosers we are NOT! But this year we decided to take an easier route. Lynda and I locked ourselves in a boardroom this morning at 11:00 AM and were finished and cleaned up at noon. We are pretty happy with the effort, and who knows, maybe our simple pumpkin will do well tomorrow at the judging. Wish us luck!

Here is our Grim Reaper lit up in the dark.

Happy trick or treating everyone!

Through the window, I saw her sitting on the bed.  She was beautiful, elegant even.  Entranced, I went in and picked her up.  I just had to have her!  Unfortunately, her price was too high, I couldn't afford her.  The shop sells these beautiful ladies for $300 and can't keep up with the demand.  

Glenn is finished school, for now...he graduated from York University with his Master's degree in Sociology; convocation was last Saturday morning.  I found out Friday afternoon.  That's Glenn!  Fortunately, I was in town, where else would I be?  

Driving in to the office this morning I turned on to a shortcut through Wal-Mart parking lot at Morningside.

A few cars turned ahead of me. At the other side of the lot, we turn left on to a busy street, doing it this way spreads out the traffic, there are two other places to turn out here and spreading out reduces the line up at each stop sign.

From the corner of my eye I saw a little black Mazda speeding diagonally across the lot, apparently the line up was too long where she had been first. She cut me off and pulled up to the stop sign.

The sticker on her bumper amused me. God must be embarrassed.

Wow, who isn't worrying about the economy these days? I am loosing huge amounts of money daily and can't do a thing about it. I was planning to retire in two years but I will not be able to do so now unless there is a miraculous recovery in the market.

With the crumbling stocks causing me so much stress that I can do nothing about except maybe bite my nails, I am making my home as calm and stress free as possible. I try to decorate using feng shui principles and have been uncomfortable with the prosperity corner of my home; it was dark and lifeless.

Last night I bought a waterfall for that corner of the room and woo hoo...I just love it! I can change the light colour to blue, green, yellow or clear and the sound of the water is pleasing, relaxing and happy. I feel energy in the room. I don't know if this fix will turn my finances around but I sure love looking at it.

How do you like it?

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend. Drive Safely!

I saw these along the roadside while driving last Sunday. They were so pretty in the sunlight, white and silky, I thought they might look good in a vase in my hallway. I had to stop the car and get some.


They were on someone's property so all I could do was snap a photo. But I just had to have some. Soon I came along to a bunch growing in a ditch near the road. Not as plentiful as the other ones but legal!


I had to vaccuum the car when I got them home, there was dandelion-like fluff and bits of grass all over the back seat.

And here they are in my hallway...not a brilliantly white as they were with the sunlight shining on them in the field but they look so nice when the natural light catches them in the afternoon.

This photo was taken some time ago, on a spring walk, with my Canon Powershot SD450 Digital Elph.  

I snagged this from Mr E...

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool by switching any of the songs - a lot of the songs fit with the setting

---

Opening Credits:
Summer Love - Grease 

Waking Up:
Hey Sweet Man - Madeleine Peyroux

First Day At School:
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

Falling In Love:
Money In My Pocket (but I just can't get no love)  Dennis Brown

Fight Song:
Proud Mary - Ike and Tina Turner

Breaking Up:
We Are The Champions - Queen

Prom night:
Alice in Chains - Heroin (*LOL*)

Life:
Ain't No Reason - Brett Dennon  

Mental Breakdown:
When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin - Doris Day

Driving:
Oh What a Beautiful Morning (Oklahoma)

Flashback:
Under Pressure - Queen 

Getting back together:
I Go To Sleep - Sia 

Wedding:
Simply The Best - Tina Turner

Birth of Child:
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

Final Battle:
Bubbly - Colby Caillat

Funeral Song:
Crazy - Norah Jones, Molly Johnson

Final Credits:
House of the Rising Sun - Nina Simone

It was fun to see what popped up.  Thanks Mr E.

I call this photo  "Gaining A New Perspective"

was 3 large stalks of celery with roasted red pepper cream cheese and a creme brulée without the brulée.  I have been eating a lot of that the past few days.  Whenever I was sick as a young girl my mother would make me custard so it is comfort food now. . . hers was bubbly and a bit lumpy but I liked it because it was dessert and it was such a treat to have dessert for a whole meal.  Mom's was bubbly and lumpy but I liked it.  This one was smooth and creamy, I like it better.  All I needed was the brulée but I am afraid of the torch.

It is raining this morning in Toronto and my deck is slippery wet, the wood is swollen and scenting the air. I like this kind of morning.

From 2008_09_06 Picture Perfect - Wet

My entry is a bit late, hoping I can sneak it in! If you would like to join in go here.

Picture Perfect

A friend of mine has posted some photos, with descriptions of a place that cares for and finds homes for rescue horses. The one she eventually brought home is Cool Conclusion. Isn't he lovely?

You can see the slide show here: Last Chance Coral

I have been out and about all summer, taking pictures everywhere then too tired to post them when I got home, then on to the next thing and the cycle went on for weeks. I did manage to get a few posts up and I will catch up soon. I am home this weekend, taking it easy.

At work on Friday, Lynda showed me a Canadian Tire ad; power washers were on sale. Half price! I went directly from work and got one for only $125. I had been wanting one for my deck, yes I know you can rent them but I never seem to get around to it. Don't you think it turned out well?



Owning one means I can power wash the deck every year when the mood strikes me and have it looking new instead of mildewy and mouldy. It turned out rather nice and I feel like being out on the patio again. I also used it on the patio doors, the aluminum sparkles now and it blew out all the grunge from the track corners. I started looking around for more ways to use this wonderful little machine.


While I was at Canadian Tire, I picked up a new patio umbrella on sale. The old one broke a couple of weeks ago--dirty deck, broken umbrella, you can imagine how I was avoiding that patio. New umbrella only $58 and it came with a nice little surprise. I didn't really check it over in the store, just opened the top of the box to make sure the colour was right.

When it was set up we noticed the crank sat on a bulbous thingy (that's technical talk) where there was also a switch. Craig felt around and opened the back; the bulbous thingy is a battery case. What does it do?


The crank is easy to use, even tells me which way to wind it. I am a little challenged that way, I can never remember which way is up...or down and usually try both...not good for the mechanism.

The button, we discovered, lights up the spokes, casting a nice soft light in the evening! So, I am very pleased with my $58 umbrella.


These Rudebeckias were shining out of a dark corner in my little yard yesterday morning when I went out to sit on my clean patio. I love these flowers, they are so bright and long lasting and undemanding...require very little care.


And my houseplants have recovered after a summer out on the patio. I put them out in the spring and they were almost decimated by a heavy hail storm in June. I thought they were finished but left there. (another ugly thing on the patio) Eventually new leaves began to come out, I fertilized and before you know it there were enough new leaves that I could remove the damaged ones. This Mexican Lime (Key Lime) tree is looking fine now and will return to its place in the hall in about two weeks. I grew it from seeds Craig's former girlfriend brought back from Mexico City. The Mandarina tree has recovered almost as well.


Have a great day everyone! I hope to be around more often in the days ahead.

Angles please me, I like the way they break up space. I have always liked the feel of the lobby in my workplace. Because of the angles and the light, clean, cool colours, I find it pleasant to walk through here. ..but I never take the stairs, bi-focals do things to my perception of the space below me so I have frozen once or twice on these stairs...I never take them anymore.

Here is, not my entry, but another view of angles from the hallway of our lobby.

Can you guess the kind of business that goes on in this building?

If you would like to join in the Picture Perfect challenge this week, post your own original photo of "angles" in your blog, then post the link to it here.