Santa's Workshop

Santa Claus may have finished his work on Christmas Eve, but Ukranian Santa is still hard at it, making Christmas gifts for the ones he loves!

What is he up to?

When we took a peak into his North Pole workshop we saw piles of sawdust and heard saws, drills, sanders and hammers.

His experienced hand guided the wood as he shaped it into something new and wonderful.

What is it?

I guess you'll have to wait until the Braun Ukranian Christmas to find out!

Our church has bells!

When we left the Christmas Eve service we saw a young guy in the foyer pulling on a rope. As we stepped through the doors to go outside we could hear the bell ringing. It was a special touch to our Christmas Eve service to hear a real Christmas bell ringing!

Chicadees Have Come!

I'm so pleased! I planted sunflowers and put out suet in hopes of drawing chicadees to our yard. I just about gave up and brought the suet in when the snow and cold hit and the chicadees arrived. We have no big trees in our subdivision so the chances were slim, but they've been coming steadily for about week. They've been eating the dried out sunflower seeds, plus regular seed and the suet.

They are so cute to watch. They move constantly, flitting from feeder to feeder to sunflowers, but aren't as easily frightened away as sparrows.

Since the cold, the sparrows have been coming in flocks of 30 to 40. They scare off easily at any movement in the windows, but just retire to the neighbor's tree until they deem it safe again.

This is a price we thought we might never see again! What a difference it makes! What is the price in your area?

Visit to Parents

Dad's as great as ever!

Mom is frail but cheerful.

It was nice to see sisters and sister-in-laws, cousins and aunts.

Happy Birthday Juanita!

What a sweetheart!

Have a great day!

Which look is best?

So I've been trying to recapture my youth...

I'm getting tired of my hair, but the question is, what color should I go for?

I colored my hair yesterday. I used medium brown, but it goes red on me.
Is it too red, should I try a different color, or let my hair go grey?
How long should one avoid going grey? Until 55? 60? 65? 70?
I sure don't like the idea of a 70 year-old redhead!

We're Making Progress!

Jon, Magan and Jack were with us for a couple of days last week. Jack and I had fun playing lego. Mal and I had gotten a laundry basket size tub of lego at a garage sale, and it kept Jack happy and busy for a long time. He concentrates long and hard at playing and doesn't get into stuff at all. Amazing for a two-year-old!

Jon helped Mal drywall his office-to-be. That was a big relief to me, because otherwise it would have been me helping. I'd rather play with Jack! Our plan is to finish Mal's office so he can move his desk and bookcases in there, and then close it off and finish the rest of the basement. Any way you look at it, we're going to live in a mess this winter!

Last piece of drywall in the office.

Let the mudding begin!

Through snow, wind, sleet...

Memories - good or bad???
I shall protect the author with anonymity.

"When I tell people I'm a paper boy
they ususally laugh, and so do I.
It is a pathetic job, but it's the only one I have.
While most people are still in bed
I am walking the cold and cruel streets of Saskatoon.
Delivering the Star Phoenix in minus 40 is just no fun.

The snow and wind blast up aginst my face
and freeze my nose.
I slip and fall on the ice and hurt myself.
I hurry to get the job done and miss someone's house.
Then I apologize profusely while a fat, fat man
yells at me for missing his paper.

But soon that reality fades and
the new one of me wrapped in four blankets
overpowers the earlier terror of the day.
By the time I wake up
my papers are just a bad dream.
But it seems to me to be a recurring nightmare..."

NEWS FLASH!

Jason and Tanessa are engaged as of yesterday! Details to be announced later.

Birthday Gifts

A mother had 3 sons. They each wanted to impress her with a fantastic gift for her 75th birthday. The oldest bought her a beautiful mansion.
But she said,"I only live in one room, but I have to clean the whole house!"

The second son bought her a convertible, and hired a chauffeur for her. He was sure she would be pleased, but she said, "I don't like to go out, and the chauffeur is rude!"

The third son was confident he would please her.

He knew her eyesight had been failing, so for years he had been planning a gift for her. He had bought a parrot and taken it to a monastery. He paid the monks $100,000 a year to train the parrot to memorize Scripture and recite it.
Now, after 10 years, the monks had announced the parrot was ready. He knew the whole Bible and could recite any verses when given the reference. The son had the parrot delivered to his mother's doorstep, and waited to hear her response.
She was immensely pleased.

She said," You, of all my sons, know where my heart is and what would please me. Thank you so much. The chicken was delicious!"

Novelties

Hey, I've got a sunflower blooming! And you thought Calgary in November was too cold! Actually, it's not outside. I transplanted a tiny plant inside at the end of summer to see if I could get it to bloom, and it co-operated.

We went to church with Jon and Magan and this item was hanging on the wall in their church. Can anyone guess what it is?

We had fun with Jack and among other things watched him play with his train set. Mal and Jon worked on their downstairs bathroom and I took pictures but all I got was their backs in a small room, so I won't post them.

In fact, I'll probably slow down on posting because the on/off button on my camera broke. I'm addicted to picture-taking, so I don't know what I'll do!

Ginger Carrots

Mal's pretty happy with his crop of carrots this year. They are huge (10 inches), crisp and sweet. One carrot is a meal for both of us.

Ginger Carrots

I found a recipe for a sauce that I really like over carrots or cauliflower:
2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup orange juice (I use 2 tbsp. orange juice concentrate)
1/4 cup butter

Mix all ingredients of the sauce except butter. Cook until thickened. Add butter, stir until melted, pour over carrots. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

Rental Wanted

Just saw a hilarious add in the local Keremeos paper:

"Wanted to rent by Senior lady. Small house or cabin, prefer acreage, must have no neighbors or neighbors with references. No next door dogs or roosters. Prefer landlord who lives in Saudi Arabia and likes pets. Must be reasonably priced."

How's that for the perfect renter? I wonder how many responses she'll get?!

Thanksgiving visit

We were at Jon and Magan's overnight. Jack calls us "gammi and pa"! This sidewalk welcome sign greeted us.

Jack enjoyed the birthday book Auntie Jess sent.

Jon discovered a window in the theatre room that had been covered up. He decided to open it up.

It was a nice large window. This is only half opened.

Jack was into picture-taking, so he took a picture of Mom. Pretty good, eh?

Fall Travels

Fall travelling has been beautiful. A double rainbow was a bonus.

The last 2 weekends we've rented a Jeep Liberty. This one was a 2009. They look cool, but aren't as comfortable as a car.

Kaleb's First Birthday!

Yeah for the cutie who's one!

He's not too sure about the fire...

but the icing is great!

Chad's Wedding

Chad and Sharon

The Guys

Jordan and Anna, Ashley and Tim

Zinnia Opening

I planted zinnias for the first time this year, and I enjoyed them so much I'll definately plant them again. I don't know why I never planted them before - perhaps I didn't like the name. I think it sounded like an old lady flower to me- but then, maybe I qualify to plant them now!

I found the progression of them opening fascintating and took some pictures:

I won!

Carstairs had a sunflower contest and I entered mine for the biggest and won $250! It was almost 17" across from petal to petal. This picture was in yesterday's paper. I was amazed - it was in colour, and took up 1/4 of the page! I guess that says something about what is big news in a small town! I get my prize at the Pumpkin Festival later in the month.

This is the actual photo I entered. The sunflower was just barely opened.

This is it in June. It had a hard beginning. It was so rainy all June that it just about drowned.

There's a story behind this: Mal had preached a sermon on "Extravagant Giving" about the woman who poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet, and he talked about the beauty of extravagant giving. I wondered what I could give that was uniquely mine, since I don't have income that's all my own. I thought about the sunflower contest, and at that point I decided to give the prize money to God if I won.
However, it appeared to be a rough go for the sunflower because of the poor weather. But I gave the sunflower to God, and when I was worried it would be drowned, I prayed, "Lord, it's your sunflower, so please take care of it."

They got piles of rain , lots of wind, and very little sun. At night I covered them with pails to protect them from the rain and wind, but during the day I had to uncover them because they needed the light. Finally in July they got some sun and started growing. But they were behind, and the picture had to be entered by August 15th. The week before Mal and I looked at the biggest one, and were sure the flower wouldn't open on time. It looked so small.

I had to enter the picture on August 13th because we were going away, and it began opening just before then. On the 12th I thought, "Is it worth entering? It seems so small." But I thought, if it's God's sunflower I should at least give it a chance, and everyone was growing under the same weather conditions. On the 13th it was not completely opened on one side, and only 11" across, but I took the picture and entered it. Within several days it grew to almost 17" across. A few days later I got a phone call that 2 ladies from the horticultural society were coming to see it, and when they came they measured it and told me I'd won.

This picture was taken on Aug 13th. The one I entered is on the right. It's not as big as last year's which grew to 9'4".

This has been a fun experience!