⛄Winter wonderland!❄

 I know some of you wonder about our grandkids. Isabelle (gr. 6) is a social girl, and she's happy back in school. It is a new semester for Josephine (gr. 9): science (in French), gym, math, geography (in French). She finally gets a locker, too. They've had to carry their coats and stuff with them everywhere in the school. 

We talk lots. Thursday morning we compared our Wordle scores. That was fun!

❆The snow was quite something (5 cm). It rained first, and then snowed on top of that. The snow stuck to the tree branches. First job was doing the sidewalk. The trick is to wear layers as you warm up quickly. It's great exercise and I enjoy it.

The sun was peeking through the clouds. We've more snow overnight, I'll have to get out and do it all over again. 

JB took me for a drive after chores. I was quite excited to see a flock of starlings. Maybe they know spring is coming soon? 

There are ice fishing huts on the lake.

The farm is quiet.

The birds have been active, especially with the snow storm. This was a photo fail. They are so fast. I laughed. 

To answer your questions...

1. I'd forgotten about gators, Jean. JB has a pair and he dug them out for me! We've more snow overnight. I'll probably shovel, rather than snowshoe. 
2. No raccoons right now, RedPat. They sleep in the depths of winter, rousing if the temperatures rise. It's more a torpor than hibernation. I haven't seen one since mid-December. 
3. I do get Louise Penny's newsletter, Jeannie! 

While I was using the snowblower, I discovered that there is a button to flip which heats the handles. Who knew?! We've had it since 2015. Seriously! 

We had a wind storm!

Our Ontario Hydro posts outages. This was after the Sunday storm.


As I wrote this (Monday, 2:30 p.m.), Ontario Hydro reported:

Crews restored power to 54,000 customers since yesterday’s storm & 6,600 remain without power. Visit our app for the latest updates #ONstorm pic.twitter.com/enRMuOJJPO

— Hydro One (@HydroOne) October 16, 2017

Toronto was hit pretty hard.

UPDATED: Many will be without power overnight, Hydro One says, citing 'significant damage' to distribution system https://t.co/Ck9QTyhsTq pic.twitter.com/pqWqHbqixq

— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) October 16, 2017

We didn't have much damage. Easily tidied. It was a nice vase, though! The fish gravel has some glass in it. Dang. It was supposed to anchor it all. I should have known.


Just found a photo of my lovely vase!

Before: the sumac are barely hanging in. The drought of 2012 nearly did them in. Also the previous owners used to cut the field beside it.

After: timber!
I cut it apart, as it was too heavy to lift, and chucked it onto the grasses behind it.

You can see the odd tree down. My rainbow wind sock konked over.

The forest didn't do so badly. The forest has integrity, thick and deep, and only a few went over. Mostly it was the dead elms.



This was during. I just loved the skies.
windy weather from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Oliver's Lot, Daisy, Annie, Dorah

That's our Dorah!!!!

Big walkies, here is Daisyon the return from our forest walk. We can hear construction in the forest. Our neighbour (actually, his contractor was the one doing the work!) is building a log home. You cannot see it, the wetland and forest come between us. Hubby ran over a calendar from the ones I made. The contractor said that they saw a bear there a couple of days ago.

Oliver's Lot, with his marker, is the 2nd photo. Daisy likes to lag behind, then roar up the path and pass me!



Since this walk, we've had a bit of snow! I took a walk Saturday, December 19th, with the sudden cold snap. I didn't see any of our regular birds: the three crows, the hawk, etc. The pond is frozen over. The bold Annabelle, descended from Norwegian Forest Cats, didn't like the snow! "LEMME IN!!!!"

Art in the Garden - Kiwi Garden

This is always a fabulous event! We attended in 2011:  Perth's Art in the Garden, in 2012, and in 2013. Amazing piece of art, sculpture, glass work, metal work.
Also, a wonderful selection of plants in their nursery. If they haven't got one potted, they will pot it up for you. A vast army of people to help us park, too.

Hubby wanted to buy a cat, as a memorial to our Oliver. I repurposed a headboard, painted the cat black, and attached the piece. It is dedicated to both our black cats, who didn't look both ways when they crossed the highway. We call our Lot #2 Oliver's Lot, since this was where Oliver spent much time looking for prey. Lovely, deep grasses, where the deer feed, as well. I attached the board with lag bolts to a huge, dead log I hauled over from the middle of his lot.
The headboard isn't exactly rubbish, but it could have been. We got rid of the rest of the bed and mattress, as they were pretty old! More rubbish by Roan.



Not only fabulous, creative sculptures, but they have music, and an amazing array of foods, as well as a pizza oven, on-site. Here are my photos.

dancing girls

Imaginative works