It's a party!

What do you expect when a nearly 5-year-old plans a party for her step-grandpa?
Pin the tail on the horse, pink balloons, Close Eyes, and lots of fun and laughter!

As ever, the young kids get pressies. I found Jofee a sparkly red Christmas dress at the second hand store. Isabelle is wearing her new black velveteen dress. She wanted to show everyone her 'Beebee' crib toy. The balloons were decorated with the 'Close Eyes' stickers we brought.

Grampa managed to pin-the-tail on Josephine, and that had to be the funniest moment ever! I found my much older husband a lovely bib at a craft show. It is in a manly brown, the reverse brown polka dots.

The 'cake' was a key line pie, grampa doesn't like sweet cakes!
All in all, a fine celebration!
 

What do you do?

On a cold day, when the temps register in the double-digit negative range. When the garage door opener breaks, the car won't start, the roof leaks, my delightful hospice client is in hospital (I miss him!), and the news is nothing but depressing, e.g., impending Federal election (great), pollsters already polling for the Oct. 6th provincial election (more election fever).
When you're not invited to the Royal Wedding.
When our taxes are paying to rescue dual-citizens, and non-residents of Canada in Libya, to be liberated, while 3200 people await beds in long-term care in Ontario, or they complain about lack of care in LTC, or suffer at home without adequate home support, or wait in the aisles of hospitals for beds.

When you feel for those without pensions who struggle on daily wages.
When the aches and pains, and physicians tests in your middle-aged body make you mad.
When nothing but doom and gloom, civil war, earthquakes, famine, poverty, violence, anger and acrimony are in the news.
When your pensioned peers travel the world, while others live in poverty.
What do you do?

You live in the present.
You revel in the joys of family and granddaughters and a visit my MY royal family!
You enjoy Dr. Seuss, and the rhymes he spun, for the millionth time!

Gramma brought me animal crackers! Mommy and I played, 'Cheers!'

Cheers!

Sady feigning disinterest.

Back off, buster. My crackers!

Sady wants some, too.

Mommy, don't give away my cracker!

If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.
  -Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

when you give a girl a camera

Sorry to leave the lovely couple at the motel after several days there. Neat and clean, cheap and cheerful.

The hydro crews and fishermen are much earlier risers than we are!

After a drive by, we found a house that is not listed in the handy dandy MLS map we found on-line. More on that later.

Driving around S.E. Ontario has been marvellous. Lots of interesting sights, if you take the time to look. Unfortunately, many are on the move, late for something, and tailgating. It makes for a stressful trip. We pulled over on Carp Rd. and found an ancient (for Canada's timelines) cemetery. The Landon family. Some of the stones dated 1861, the latest 1958.


Lots of old barns and farm houses.





As we house hunt, it puts it all into perspective when you think of early settlers, many soldiers granted 200 acres of land, clearing 2 acres a year, finding the land, and making themselves a home.

We were so grateful that the kids took us in. After days on the road, we no longer feel like road warriors.  "Mom", as we call our daughter, let us do laundry. Jofee and I took a break to play on the swings.



She wanted to use my camera, and since it is a pretty heavy duty one, we had some fun.

We tried to capture a bee on a flower with limited success. The is the behind the scenes view.




Visiting the kids and grandkids is a blast.