Saturday, October 24, 2015

November 2015 Photo Challenge

Get over the "November blahs" before they start by participating in our November Photo Challenge!

All you have to do is:
-take photos using the daily prompts.
-post them on your blog. (I plan to post weekly, because daily photos never mind daily blog posts aren't really that likely to happen.)
-come back here and comment to let us know you're playing along.

This photo challenge is being co-hosted by Little Monster(s) & Mommies and Two Lasses and a Baby so be sure to check out their pages as well.

November 2015 Photo Challenge 
November 1: Shadows
November 2:  Routine
November 3:  Music
November 4: Comfort
November 5: Words
November 6: Change
November 7: Animals
November 8: Sky
November 9: Touch
November 10: Colour
November 11: Memories
November 12: Clothing
November 13: Rest
November 14: Friendship
November 15: Movement
November 16: Beauty
November 17: Creativity
November 18: Technology
November 19: Weather
November 20: Water
November 21: Family
November 22: Nature
November 23: Love
November 24: Kindness
November 25: Food
November 26: Tradition
November 27: Home
November 28: Touch
November 29: Art
November 30: Warmth

Monday, October 5, 2015

Not Grieving

Yesterday my mother's brother died.

It wasn't totally unexpected. He had cancer and had actually just gone in to start a new and aggressive experimental treatment. From what my mom had explained, they either expected it to kill him or to help him recover almost completely.

And while I'm sorry for her loss, especially as he was her only sibling and last surviving family member, I do not have any strong emotions either way regarding his death. Nearly fifteen years ago, when Jen and I started dating, he made his (disapproving, to say the least) opinions clear. I believe it was just after we got married that he disowned me. Other than a very brief exchange at my sister's wedding, I have had no interaction with him since that time.

This place of not feeling affected by a family member's (I use that term loosely) death, is odd. I can see that people expect me to be sad. To be grieving. But I feel like I lost my uncle a long time ago. We were never particularly close to begin with, and any mourning period I went through has been over for a long, long time.

So far there has been no news of funeral arrangements. I am actually hoping that my mom doesn't even tell me about them. While I feel emotionless about his death, I think I would be repulsed by his funeral. He was in the military, and I'm sure whoever gives the eulogy will say something about what a wonderful, brave, courageous, honourable person he was. If that is the case I would have a hard time biting my tongue and not saying anything about how prejudice and hateful he was. Nobody needs to feel that or hear that someone feels like that at a funeral. Hopefully my mom understands.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

October Already?

I cannot believe it is October. Tonight I'm sitting on the couch in my flannel pajamas and sheepskin slippers while the wind blows outside. Just a month ago we had air conditioners running.

I naively thought that with The Bean starting school in September that I'd suddenly have all sorts of free time to start  blogging more (among other things). Turns out things are still pretty busy with one kiddo at home... and I have a feeling that even if both of them were in school there'd be plenty to do to fill the days. 

So, a quick update on some of our going ons over the past month...

The start of September was still warm enough for a trip to the beach. This was definitely one of our favourite spots this summer. I have a feeling we'll be back again even more often next year. 



We took a very impromptu trip to Niagara falls when my friend called me and told me that she and her girlfriend were going to be coming in for a weekend trip. The kids were impressed with the size of the falls. Sprout's favourite part was taking the trolley up the incline. The Bean liked the arcade.



We spent a Saturday afternoon at the apple farm with my cousin and her son. Going apple picking has become an annual tradition for us. While we don't usually bring many apples home, we still enjoy going. The place that we go to has a ton of activities for kids, but this year they both said their favourite part was picking the apples.







After having two other local bloggers/friends recommend it, we decided to go Treetop Village. The Bean LOVED it. Sprout had a harder time navigating the ropes, but loved it just the same. I'm sure it helped that Mommy and Mama piggy backed her around a good bit.

 




We celebrated Jen's 40th birthday with her birthday treat of choice: donuts.


We went down to Harbourfront for Word on the Street. It's been a few years since we last went and Jen and I agreed that it was much harder to navigate with mobile children. Both kids got to pick out a book. The Bean selected a Magic Treehouse book and now I think we're going to be in the market for more of that series. We read it to him, but it is remarkable how well he is reading these days.  Sprout picked out a Little Golden Book called Theodore Mouse Goes to Sea. I had a copy when I was a child. She may or may not have been encouraged to pick this over the Disney Princess book. The kids convinced us to take them on a paddle boat ride while we were down there. Their identical smiles kill me.




Starting us into October, The Bean, Sprout and I all participated in the Terry Fox Run at The Bean's school this past Friday.  


Many more adventures to come, I am sure.  And hopefully a little bit more time to write about them.