Wetland walkies

Christmas Day was a quiet one. I did have a nice video chat with the kids in Vancouver, they were at the cottage, actually. The girls were so excited to have gone out in the rain to the community outdoor heated pool. They are avid skiers, so Bryony and Cluny were happy to get outside.

We had a quiet dinner and watched some Christmas concerts on TV. 

Boxing Day, Dec. 26th, began with a frozen turkey out on the back deck. I soaked it in the pot to thaw it. 

All arrived, and we had some good chats. First thing was to open our mutual presents. It was fun.

Grampa had socks for everyone! 

Grampa wanted a new Ukrainian flag!

I was determined to have some photos of us together.

The kids are crafty. Aster is embroidering moss on her toque. Just free hand. Some of it looks like lichen! She is quite crafty, as are they all. 

Jo was working on putting kids into groups for their planned leadership camp. He and a friend are co-leading it. There is a lot of work to do.

 

Aster, Caitlin and I went walkies. Aster is supposed to do 40 minutes exercise assigned by her gym teacher. First stop was the dock and the frog pond.

OK, Aster kindly shook the tree and the tree shed its snow load on Caitlin! Laughter ensued. We'd looked at the trees, as they are riddled with yellow-bellied sap sucker holes all lined up.

This used to be Annabelle's climbing tree. We had to rehome her. Aster remembered the tree. 

We've so many large, dead white pine trees. 

We called to the barred owl. No sign of it, just having fun!

Back at the house, we fed Grampa's deer!

Caitlin tracked our trek.