Happy Hallowe'en

Happy Hallowe'en!

Did you have a lot of children come trick or treating at your house? Maybe you had children or grandchildren to get into costumes and take out. Did you get lots of candy? Our area doesn't have very many children so this is the first year our building is not handing out candies.

On Thursday when I had Geoff and family and Ronian the new granddoggy over we had Hallowe'en dinner. I set the table for dinner in Hallowe'en style...

This is a big ole spider my youngest son Richard made a few years ago....it found its way to the table.

The tablecloth was black and we had Hallowe'en napkins... We each had a little loot bag of goodies and a puzzle.... A gummy worm sat in front of each of the plates...there was a pumpkin gobblin in the centre of the table but it didn't make it into the picture.


shhhhhhh...have a peek at what was under the napkin on the salad bowls of the 2 little ones...

Austin is looking rather surprised to find a trantulla spider....


Madeline, being the older one..*s*...picked hers up...


and proceeded to explain to Geoff, her daddy that its not real, you know.....

I didn't seem to take anymore pictures.. I think we were hungry instead. It was a spaghetti night with apple crisp for dessert. I'm sure both Madeline and Austin are having a good trick or treating time right now as I type this..... fun...

We were at the cottage again for the weekend. There won't be many more weekends there this fall before Marc closes it for the winter. The wind was just howling last night but we were nice and warm with the fireplace on...almost all the colourful leaves have blown to the ground.

On Friday night Marc and I watched Hallowe'en II in honour of......

What did you do during the Hallowe'en weekend?...

Have a great start to the week... Judi xoxo

Ronian, The Granddoggy

I finally met my grand doggy Ronian (pronounced Ronan) alst night. He is a 4 month old doberman puppy. Geoff lives an hour from me and with their busy schedules and works shifts...boy life is busy. I was happy to finally meet him!

They picked me up after work and off to the Puppy Park we went. Its a nice field where dogs can run safely off their leash and play with each other and a great way to train dogs and have them interacting with people as well.

He has been there a few times and at first was quite interested in watching the other dogs and checking out what they were doing.

A little bit of sniffing...


Then he was just one of the young kids following the older ones...

A little bit of reassurance from dad...and Madeline. (nice when daddy has a nice warm vest for Madeline....it was a cool evening) I told her she looked like a turtle!

and hugs from mom....

What a nice little outing for us all. A happy time watching the happy dogs romping around...

Ronian is such a sweet dog. They have only had him for 3 weeks but he is such a good boy and getting the jest of the training they are doing with him.

Then we all went to my place for dinner and goodies for Hallowe'en. Ronian played nicely with his toys and Abby's toys. Poor Abby I kept her in my room for this visit. We'll see how she handles his visit another time.

Aren't grandbabies and grand doggies fun?

Have a wonderful day... Judi xoxo

Oprah...And My Passionate Thoughts

I don't know what to write about for today. I have been busy, haven't been taking pictures however while I've been busy my mind has been wandering. THAT is a good thing! :o)

I have a book by Oprah and its about "What I Know For Sure". In the book I read -

"If you don't know what your passion is, realize that one reason for your existence on earth is to find it."

That is thought provoking and as I sat thinking about it it opened up a whole new wave of thoughts and ideas. I wondered how one would go about realizing this.

Do you deliberating move through the day trying a little of this and a little of that until you find what you like? Do you observe and determine if you'd like to take this path or do something different? Is it about fulfilling your life and making yourself happy.....helping someone else to be happy? Is it about chipping in and supporting ... is it about becoming famous?

I bet it could include a bit of all of those things. Although I don't always do it I think it can be about seizing the opportunity and going with it....taking it to where it will take you...right to the limit...and beyond... :o) Oh my....passion. This world has so much to be passionate about. It doesn't seem right to waste one day of them.

What do you think? What is your passion in life? Have you found it? Judi xoxo

Perfect Fall Day, Apples, Dinner and "Friends"

A couple of weeks ago we set off to Brown's Berry Patch looking for apples. It was the perfect fall day for a nice pork roast...and fresh apple sauce.

We passed the apple orchard by the cottage where these crates of apples were picked from.
lots of apples....

At Brown's we have a good selection of freshly picked apples...a

all makes and varieties....

There were interesting people hanging around....

and so we posed for pictures with them....wonder why she is looking so bashful?

This lady is really paying attention to Marc....

he's showing a little pumpkin....

This lady was waiting to greet everyone...

And...at the end of the day the roast was ready with stuffing...(stuffings under)

apple sauce was still warm and delicious...

and everything tasted like the perfect fall day....

mmmmmm Fall is really a yummy time... Judi xoxo

Inspirational Thought for an Early Morning

We had some rain last night and I fell asleep listening to it...this steady drizzle....I love that sound. It reminds me of being at the cottage and its peaceful to me.

The mornings are so dark this time of year. It makes me want to snuggle up and stay in bed. On this overcast, slightly wet drive in I wondered why it is I actually enjoy the dark, early mornings. Why I feel inspired by it.....I often wish I was one of those people who got up real early and greeted the dark by exercising or baking or starting a project or reading with a nice cup of coffee. But I don't really because I love the snuggling in bed part.

The picture below is actually a morning we had at Grand Canyon...but it has "that" feel I'm talking about... *s*..

Thinking about inspiration I wanted to share the following quote with you.....

"People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within". I have misplaced who wrote this thought....

Do those dark, early morning hours inspire you?

I hope its a perfect one for you... Judi xoxo

It's a Boy!

It's a Boy!

Marc's daughter Janet surprised us all when she announced on her 30th surprise birthday party in February that they were pregnant! Jack was going to be a big brother. At that time I posted they were having twins however Janet lost the other baby early on without knowing it. Hearing all good news during the rest of the pregnancy was very exciting.

Reed Christopher was born yesterday morning by scheduled C-section. He is beautiful weighing in at 9 lb. Big brother Jack isn't quite sure what to make of the whole idea now that the brother is on "this" side. *s*.. Janet is feeling great and so is dad and Grandpa Marc is very proud.

I plan on finishing Reed's quilt tonight. I will see him on the weekend so I should be right on schedule with its completion....getting it done at the last minute schedule that is! I left my camera at the cottage on the weekend so I'll get pictures of the quilt and more of Reed on the weekend.

New baby news is such happy news....I hope you have a happy day too...Judi xoxo

Autumn's Beauty Painted With Leaves.....

I want to share some pictures of the beauty of fall around my world. These pictures were taken right on the campus where I work on Friday.


Aren't the colours of fall beautiful?

We have a log cabin on campus which is used for some outdoor classes....


The cabin snuggled in the surrounding fall....

A colourful carpet....

Its a beautiful world we live in....

I hope you have a great day... Judi xoxo

BLUE Monday - Redneck Bellagio...Ever Been There??

I have some BLUEness to share with you today on BLUE Monday, a special day hosted by Sally from SmilingSally. Be sure to click and visit all the other BLUE participants.

This is a picture of Bob and Georgia's place next door to the cottage on Lake Ontario. They are great neighbours who collected the mail while we were on our recent vacation and kept an eye on the place. Last week they visited my blog taking them to the places we'd visited....

On Saturday when Marc and I got back from an afternoon of galavanting....we found this mysterious package on our front stairs....

We opened it up and laughed...and laughed... shook our heads and hung it outside on our door...Marc is posing with it..... and if you can't tell what it is.....

I am posing with it.*grinning*....

Is this not a precious "welcome home sign"?? It is made on a BLUE container lid?

We had stayed at the Bellagio in Las Vegas....this was to welcome us to the "Redneck Bellagio"...with our names on it..

Marc is moving some of the "art" over on the BLUE sign so you can read it properly... Wasn't this a lot of fun??? I don't know how Georgia ever came up with something like this? It sure made our day and made us feel very special......special to have such fun neighbours..*s*...

I hope you too have fun loving neighbours to make your day.... Judi xoxo

Spaghetti Sauce - Squash Spaghetti - YUM!

Happy PINK Saturday! Today I'm joining in on Beverly from HowSweetTheSound as she hosts all the PINKness for this day. Be sure to visit her for more PINKs...

Do you cook Spaghetti Squash? in place of pasta? I love it but don't make it often enough.

This week I prepared an easy peesy spaghetti for dinner. I opened up a couple of jars of my favourite spaghetti sauces. One has spinach in it and the other has cheese and portichini mushrooms. I made meatballs mixing in parmesan cheese, egg, bread crumbs, bit of milk and some spices, rolled them into little meatballs and browned them as normal. They cooked in that delicious sauce for about 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile I sliced the spaghetti squash lengthwise, removed the seeds and microwaved the halves until soft and cooked.

NOW comes the first of the PINK... in my dinner plate. I have 3 sizes of them and they are made in Italy....purchased "thriftstyle" years ago.

Now 0nce the meatballs and spaghetti sauce have mellowed together..*s*... and the squash is cooked...use a fork and scrape it down lightly lengthwise and you'll have squash spaghetti from the spaghetti squash!

Sscoop yummy sauce and meatballs into your squash spaghetti bowl and enjoy. It truly is VERY yummy...mmmmmm... One 1/2 is a good size per person. More PINK on the rim of the plate.

Do you eat spaghetti squash this way? Another way?

Hope you have something especially yummy for PINK Saturday dinner.. Judi xoxo

Paris in Las Vegas....

Grand Canyon was our last stop in Arizona before heading back to Las Vegas for the final 3 nights at The Paris Hotel. This pic was taken from across the street at the Bellagio where we were the first week.

We were on the 24th floor facing the strip. The view was wonderful again. Thats the Bellagio across the street.

The front foyer and check in was lovely with these chandaliers.

Our room was very sweet...

Directly below us was the pool. I took my book out there for a couple of hours each afternoon, relaxed and took in the sun and swimming....

The main hotel area and casino area had beautiful washrooms with these beautiful sinks....

closeup...pretty....

The hotel was set up as if you were walking Paris streets....

There were shops and restaurants and this one was a lovely bakery. It was called Madeleines. You should have seen the lineup right out the door each morning as peope stopped by to pick up pastries and coffees....

Some of the shoppes looked like this...there was much french writing to point out Les Toilettes, Le Cafe etc... French music played everywhere....we got so that we would dance together in the elevator (when we were alone). I bought a French CD from one of the shops...

This is part of our hotel we took while having a walk...

In Vegas you don't just cross the street....you don't and you wouldn't dare with all the traffic. Instead they have escalators that go up or down and then a walkway across the streets....

I caught picture of Marc travelling down....

I am waving goodbye to you from our suite bathroom. Thank you for letting me share my special vacation with you. This is my "Bathroom Diva" picture. I'll take it over to Shelia at Notesongs for her Gallery of Bathroom Diva Pics.

If you have taken a Bathroom Diva picture be sure to take it to Shelia at Notesongs....

Have a wonderful day! Judi xoxo