OMG it's Friday already!

I don't even have any new photos to put up! Damn, you would think I have been busy or something. Well, maybe a bit, but I certainly don't have anything to show for it.

I have half of the outside cleanup done, I still have a few pots to empty, but I hate to pull our plants that are still alive. I also did find some bulbs to plant. In all the years I owned my own properties, I have never planted bulbs, so this will be a first! Yesterday morning they told us it would snow today, yesterday afternoon, they said rain, by evening they were back to snow, but mixed with rain. Because I cleaned up the patio - nothing. They are still calling for snow/rain mix today, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining even if it is hovering around freezing.

This is the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I have no idea what I am going to be doing, but probably what I usually do, going to friends and having a bit of turkey. We might have something else though. None of us really enjoy turkey enough to have it twice a year.

Tuesday is our Federal Election. I will be going out to vote, but none of the choices this year are inspiring. I have to figure out which one will do the least damage to our country and vote for them.

Well, I guess that is all. I have to get back to cleaning and making busy noises. I might be able to catch up on everyone's blogs over the weekend (at work). Being a long weekend, I won't have anything to do there - oh well.

Take care all and have a good weekend.

WWC: Distorted & Clear

Here it is Tuesday again! My how time flies when you are having fun! Tuesdays are reserved for the Weekly Word Challenge on my and several other blogs. The WWC is hosted by the lovely Tink of Pickled Beef and if you drop by her site you can find out how to throw your photos into the ring. The words for this week are DISTORTED and CLEAR. Without further ado...

Click on any photo to enlarge.


Distorted reflections in the base of this glass.


Water gets Distorted running over rocks.


Clear glass gets Distorted to make pleasing shapes.


Champagne is good! Oh, um, yeah, it also gives Distorted images of the stuff behind it.


Clear pools and Distorted water.


This tree has been Distorted by wind and other things.


My dishes make Distorted reflections.


Clear Alberta blue skies!


Clear (and coloured) acrylic tumbler also makes Distorted images.


Clearly we had a big wind.


Clear glasses have Distorted the lines of the table.


This Jay can clearly hear the camera and is curious.



So, there we have this weeks words. Some of us have created a Flickr group if you would like to drop by and have a look at other images you are welcome to do so.

Have a good day all.

No MTM today, but get some cheese!

It has been the week from bizarro-land. Everything I have tried to accomplish has gone down the tubes, been three times as difficult as it should have been, or just not worked!

I am down to wearing my embarrassing clothes, so I have to get to the laundry machines before anyone tomorrow morning. That is the worst thing about living in an apartment, well, one of them anyway. Timing your laundry when no one else is doing theirs. One of the other things is the people that have no allergies insisting on using "Gain" laundry crap. I have been having headaches all bloody week, for some reason the smell wafts down the hallway and right into my suite. I currently have a fan running, pointed at the hallway door to keep the smell out as much as possible. I am going to start a NO GAIN campaign, well, maybe just get the Asthma Society on their backs.

I purchased some swimsuit fabric the other day, I found a very nice pattern and thought it would be cheaper to make my own. In fact the fabric was on sale for 50% off, so I bought 4 metres and think I will be able to make a pair of bike shorts and maybe a tank top too - all for just over $20.00. If anyone has any tips on sewing lycra or spandex, let me know okay? The community pool near here is a salt water pool and they have aquasize classes in the evenings, so I thought I would give them a try.

I am also rebuilding a leather coat (I hope), it got a corner tear in the back a couple of years ago, so I figure if I mess it up, well, I couldn't wear it anyway. I just hope this machine is strong enough to sew leather. I am going to put darts in to take it from a box coat to a more tailored look, which should allow me to hide the tear and have a wearable coat again. Cross your fingers for me.

Of course, I have to clean up my patio and get it ready for winter, clean up my pots and put everything away neatly. I might get some spring bulbs to put in, but I am not sure about that yet. I still can't kneel, so maybe next year.

Of course, I also have to go to the Dr and express my displeasure at his behaviour. Then find out how long I can expect my knee to feel like this. I have things that need to be done and having a bum knee all winter is not going to be any fun.

Well, I have run out of cheese, so I had better quit now.

Have a good day all!

Just a hello!

Just thought I would do a quick post. I spoke to the staff at the Dr.'s, they just received the x-rays, but haven't had any word from him to call me in... I asked if he could call me, so we will see how that goes.

In the meantime, some photos I just haven't had time to post. Click to enlarge if you please.

Can you see a face in this one?

Pinwheel in the wind.

Cool pattern.

I'll update if I hear from the Dr.


Have a good weekend all.

16.00 hrs - Still haven't heard from the Dr. so I called again. This time he had left a note on it that there was no reason to call me in. I assume that means it is not broken, but for F-SAKE, a phone call only takes a minute.

Wow!

Wow, is really all I can say. Thank you all for your concern about my leg. I did call the Dr.'s office this afternoon and the nurse said to leave it as he hadn't told me to wrap it when I was there. My plan is to call again tomorrow to see if the x-rays are back...if I pester them enough, they may call to find out where they are. :)

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Hebba over at Jeepgirl17, gave me a sweet award, she said I make her smile. In the spirit of awards, I pass this along to Kcinnova, Knight and Dianne. These women remind me to be happy, be sassy and be strong.

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As you may have noticed, My blog is PINK. It will remain so for the month of October for Breast Cancer awareness. If you too would like to make your blog PINK and have a badge to put up, go here. If any of you are interested in reading about my journey, click on the links in the side bar.

Have a good day all.

WWC: Time & Place

Before we get to the WWC, I have a story! I may have told you and shown the bruises from the last couple of times I tripped over the speed bumps in the driveways of the complex. Each time was just after I had received my new sleeve for my lymphatic arm. Well, I am a couple of months into my third sleeve and I have been being really careful - obviously not careful enough though. Last Wednesday I hit the pavement knees first for the third time on dry pavement. This time, I fell off of the curb. I had glanced over my shoulder and when I turned to see if I had actually seen what I thought I had seen, I knew better than to continue walking, so stopped. I even looked at the ground to see where I had stopped, safely back from the curb. Then I took a step forward and my heel caught in the broken curb just as my dicey hip gave out and next thing - I was on my face on the pavement. I went to the Dr. today, because I think this time my knees had had enough and I did some damage. Yes, he said, go get an x-ray, you may have cracked the top of the tibia, where it joins the patella (shin bone, kneecap). He didn't seem concerned enough though to recommend I keep weight off of it or go get a brace or rush right back here with the x-rays. I went this evening and had the pictures taken and the tech said it will take 3-5 days to get them to my Dr. It hurts when I walk, sends me through the roof if I brush against it and by days end, it just hurts. The best case is that I have just bruised the tendons that hold the kneecap to the shin bone, either way, shouldn't I be wrapping it or something? I sometimes really hate my Dr.

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So, on to the WWC. This weeks words are Time and Place and are brought to us by the lovely & chivalrous Tink of Pickled Beef.


Still on daylight savings time


Time to do dishes


Time to do laundry too


Not quite time to turn white though


The best time of the evening


Place across the street


Place for my wireless


Place for my files


Place for my keyboard


Place for my ancestors (photo courtesy of the Bag Lady)


Have a good day all.

MTM: Dunvegan Provincial Park

Peace River Valley at Dunvegan (North side)

Flickr photo by: Skylinejunkie

Dunvegan Park! Just the name brings back memories of day trips and picnics, hot sun beating down on our (still blonde) heads. Climbing the hill on the other side of the hwy, because we were following our older brothers and cousins who were much more adventurous than us girls. Of course, one of them then had to go get dad, because we couldn't/wouldn't go down by ourselves. It was steep! I think I was 6 or 7 and Sis would have been just a little bit older.

Yeah, as an adult, it looks really tame now. This is not exactly where we climbed, but the only photo I could find. For some reason I have only two photos that I can say for sure are Dunvegan and as an adult, I drove over that bridge at least six times a month for fours years. I suppose you get complacent about things you see all the time. I always marveled at the beauty, but didn't often stop to take the photo.


View Larger Map

I was raised in Grande Prairie and then I worked in Peace River for four years. I would usually go home on my days off which meant driving through this valley. Trust me in winter those hills can be scary as hell. I worked shift work and would leave at 08.00 after my night shift was over. It takes about an hour to get to the bridge and one fall morning, it was crisp and clear as a bell, which experience has taught me will mean fog in the river valley. The area on both sides of the valley is fairly flat & you can see for miles, but just before the valley there is a little rise in the ground before you head downhill. I came over the rise that morning to see the entire river valley shrouded in fog from bank to bank and yet clear all the way across the top. It was as though the valley had been filled in with cotton and you could drive right over it to the other side. About half way down the hill, you broke out of the fog and it was clear again until half way up the other side. It was, I think the most surreal driving experience I have had in my life.

Another photo again from the North side, but in summer.

Flickr photo by: Little Black Sheep's Photos

Enough reminiscing, Dunvegan Provincial Park is an historical site. It was a fur trading post and mission site and one of the most significant sites on the Peace River.

The site of one of Alberta's earliest fur trade posts and missionary centres dating back to 1805. The Beaver Indians were some of the earliest inhabitants of the area with the first European explorers passing through in the 1700's. In 1805, Archibald Norman Macleod established a trading post naming it Fort Dunvegan, after his family's ancestral castle in Scotland. Dunvegan became a Hudson Bay Company post and operated until 1918. The Factor's House and the St. Charles Rectory and Church (1867) are the only two buildings remaining from that time.


Here and here are short articles about life and the history of the Fort at Dunvegan. This is a bit about the history of the Metis in the area and their relations with the Fort. (I am not sure if that word is commonly used elsewhere, Metis is a French word for mixed blood Indian.)

The demise of the Fort at Dunvegan came about by the establishment of trade at the town site of Peace River which sits at the junction of the Peace River and the Heart River. Dunvegan then became know for the market gardens that had been established during the days of being a Fort.

When we were kids being rescued off of hills, it was much less evolved than it is now. Now they have interpretive actors and guided tours. They have walking trails and campsites (it used to be day use only), boat launches have been upgraded and they have added some other amenities.

And yes, that is a suspension bridge you see in those photos. It is in fact the only suspension bridge in Alberta for automobiles. It replaced the ferry in 1960 and spans 2375 feet and is the fourth largest suspension bridge in Canada.

There have also been dinosaur tracks found along the banks of the river there.

One day, I will have to get back there and take some more photos, in the mean time click on the links and see the church and the beautiful painting inside. This one has great shots of the church.


Have a good day all.

My Town Monday is the invention of Travis Erwin, if you would like to read more about places all over the world drop by and click on all the many links.