What to do in Winter

On Saturday last a number of horse people (their major hobby is horses) and a lot of horse lovers got together for the annual sleigh ride afternoon at my brother's farm. A biting wind this year kept the numbers down a bit but the effort was well worth while for those who made it.

Here Steve waits while my grandson (two years old) and his entourage climb on for the next ride:



A number of the nannies that look after my son's boy and other children in his neighborhood went along for the ride. And they loved it. Most are from the Phillipines so are not used to this cold but we gave them a taste of Ontario's winter and a wonderful thing to do out in the cold.

Back at the drive barn after the ride people ate and drank hot drinks, all provided on a bring-your-own-and-share basis. Warmth was more important than fashion that day as my sister showed with this hat which was my father's many long years ago.


Other favorite pastimes during our Canadian winter are fixing up the house, the basement or the garage or working on hobbies. Here Ron has just completed building a kit in which to store his tools and bits and pieces of fix-it things. He is a happy camper.



Of course the question is, will he keep it all neat and tidy once he is finished the new storage place? Oh, well. That brings to mind another winter job for him.

Four Girls

I have three sisters about whom I've written before in this blog. Today I was skimming pictures on my computer and came across this one taken last October at a wedding. We try to get our picture taken together at every event we can.

With the youngest, Donna, being an actor/musician, getting together is less often than we'd all like. She was in Regina for almost three months on her last gig and I missed her.

Linda--she's not sleeping, honest!--is also a musician and performs when she can take time out from her private teaching. She is also in love with their sons, their farm and their horses.

Joyce is closest to my age but still much younger although I always introduce her as my older sister. She is a nurse and the mother of four, with the youngest now in Grade Ten.

And that leaves me, the oldest and best, I tell them. My greatest success in my life is my two children but I am also happy to have been a teacher of French, English and Computers over my high school teaching career. And equally happy to be finished with that, retired and writing my historical novel.

We are all happily married and in love with life. I celebrate my times with my sisters, each of whom I can always count on. How lucky am I!

Post Christmas Blues?

No way! I have post Christmas reds and yellows and oranges. Reds because red is such a vibrant meaningful colour. It never takes a back seat. All the other colours have to go with red. It just doesn't give an inch, does it?

And yellow because every day the sun streaks into my window and I have to tone it down with my blinds or I can't see my computer screen. Yet on grey days I really miss my yellow friend. I struggle to keep my spirits up.

Orange in January? Well, this is the season of Florida oranges and we buy a box every few weeks for my husband to make fresh-squeezed orange juice in the mornings. The succulent drip of juice floating by my taste buds on its way to my stomach is a winter delight I love every year at this time.

I don't write out resolutions, because I've lived long enough to know how disappointing their non-accomplishment is. Better to just set little goals, happy goals, goals which are joyful to complete. Then, if there are some less interesting or exciting things I have to do, they just get done without a lot of fanfare. Of course today I am really proud of getting back to my writing after a Christmas away celebrating (and slacking off.)

And I am glad I took these pictures of the tiny toy bench we gave Ben for Christmas because the decals lasted about one day. Now they are all gone, his parents tell us. Oh, well. Here is what it looked like when we gave it to him.



I made tiny mittens for both my grandchildren but think I got more out of it than they did. The story book I wrote for them was better received and Grandpa and I had such fun taking the pictures and puttting them into the software. I should have ordered a copy for myself as I ordered two and gave one to Ben and one to Chelsea. Nevertheless, here is the cover.


The story is about our big bear which both of our grandchildren love and our search to find it. I think that was my most favorite gift to give this year, although I surprised Ron with a couple of neat things.

So the final word is, I have no post Christmas Blues. The new year is looking bright and sunny.