Crumbly Acres: embrace winter

They are delightful to watch. They surround the house in the morning.

I noticed they were after my rhododendrons! 

My mistake was leaving the pumpkins in the middle of the garden. 

 

They were eyeing the bird feeder.

Their fur coats are amazing!`

The poor rhodos... I think they ate the one bud, and most of the leaves. I am not confident about spring blooms!  

 

I wrapped them up for protection. December was a bit of a shock, as well as November. I wasn't ready!

🥶 Monday morning, -17 ℃. and I drove the garbage the 100m to the highway pickup. Bbbbrrrrrr!

🛷  🏂  ⛷️  🛷  🏂  ⛷️ 🛷  🏂  ⛷️ 

It is good to be able to embrace winter. Our Ottawa kids went tobogganing, after a ski afternoon last week. Jordan is back at university. Aster back to gr. 10 and exams this month! 

Our Vancouver family are embracing winter after their big move to a new house and a run in their panto theatre.

Cluny:

Bryony racing:

Cluny watching Bryony race!

Meanwhile, I did the driveway once. Joe did the sidewalk. Twice. it's good he can do it. He has had a rotator cuff injury since March, 2020. 

I looked like Frosty snowman when I was done. 

It's not so bad doing it in the sunshine, after the snowfall. That did not happen Monday.

Snowshoe and skiing adventures

 It was a cold – but sunny day. The blue sky makes such a difference, even in the wetland.

I went down to the point, where I spotted snowshoe hare tracks.

I've gotten snowshoe hares on trailcams, this in 2015. I once spotted one snowshoeing on the wetland, but they are so fast, I didn't have time for a photo!

The quiet meadow! Summer and winter...

See her ↷?

A deer bed on lot #2. This is our lot beside the highway. You can see a passing car in the background.

We've lots of old trees... the white pine is finally done.

Frog pond... summer, spring, winter

More fun from the kids out west. Cluny and Bryony are getting bigger! They have so much fun. They will be 5 and 8 this year.

Jesse is part of the ski club at Whistler Olympic Park, and volunteer teaches some littles once a week in British Columbia. The girls also have lessons. It is a great program. 

Jess wrote:

"Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club and the Payak Loppet. Cluny is nearing the end of her second year in the club and just yesterday did her 2nd Mini Payak at 5 km. Hollyburn is such a great program and the Payak is a great challenge for young legs."

 And while you can laud the little kids skiing, here is Jess taking cell phone videos alongside Bryony, Feb. 12! He's a tad slow to upload his many images!

Cluny skiing from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Garbage is out, birds fed, the week begins anew.

Our Vancouver Family – Day 3

• The kids are here from Vancouver!
• Our Vancouver Family – Day 2

Thursday, July 7th

I woke at 4:30, but managed to listen to news, and get up at 6:00. Cluny was the first to come upstairs at 8:00 and said the other two were sleeping. I gave her a bowl of cereal. The other two emerged from slumber closer to 9. Stacie was still in NOTL visiting her actor buddies.

We found a spider on the floor, I captured it in the bug catcher, and Cluny released it over the back deck. From there we looked for Maple the tree frog. Maple had moved, then came back later to sunbathe.

From there we did some painting and then thought we might swim. It was COLD!

A better idea: lunch on the patio. The patio was full at CC's, so we were on the porch. 

After hamburgers and such, we went for a walk on the docks. The redid this dockage with a provincial bursary. It is quite popular.

The docks and water required inspection! 

It is a busy waterway. There were two le boat boats. You can rent them from Smiths Falls and motor on and around the Rideau Canal. I was happy to see the actually came in the restaurant to add to the economy.

Vanclief Park

Lunch done, we were off for an adventure. As we approached the park, we noticed a lot of geese and goslings. And lots of goose poo!

We did a lot of swinging.

Jess played 'I spy' and said he saw a pirate. It was the pirate flag. 

We went for a swim to cool down, after a hot drive home in the car. I got out the foam. Back in the day Jos and Izzy would play foam girls. 

After our swim, we watched Bambi while Jesse had a nap. Bryony lasted for about half of it! She went downstairs and woke her daddy. Then we played the car game, and had yummy strawberries from down the road. They played Rush Hour for awhile, stopped for strawberries, and went back to that and reading. I'd forgotten this game, but it was popular.

After our big lunch, we debated dinner. Jesse brought eggs from his sister's house, as they are travelling for three weeks. I suggested we have eggs: breakfast for dinner. That didn't go over well. Instead they came up with the idea, and he made us all French toast! The syrup was from Coutts sugar bush, the berries from Millar's Bay farm, and it went over well.

Each girl had two pieces of French toast, Cluny had peanut butter on hers, and Bryony wanted an extra egg after she'd downed her toast. I think we played hard today and they will go down.

They aren't quite comfortable with us, still a bit shy. Jesse was reading a story on the couch. Somehow we ended up talking about hair. Oh, I remember. Cluny wanted braids. I did hers, and that sufficed. I explained that when I was a teen I had hair down to my waist. Grampa told them about HIS long hair! he had to fetch the photos to prove it!

Here I was, 1973. Can you spot me?! Grampa Joe explained he was backpacking in Banff Park! They were suitably awed! 

 

 We eased into the evening. Jesse did bedtime routines; baths were had, hair washed, and bedtime arrived. Stacie arrived just in time to present their souvenirs from NOTL. That was an epic drive (450 km), but she was so happy to see her old friends. 

By then it was 9:30. We chatted. Stacie regaled us with her adventures, especially her Google maps which took her through Toronto. By 10 p.m. I was baffed, so was Grampa! We toddled off to bed like the old farts we are.