This Old House

Project 52 - Sweet Shot Tuesday

Tuesday Muse

Tuesday Around the World

Outdoor Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

My sister and I recently took a road trip from Medicine Hat to Edmonton to see my niece, her daughter graduate from her Caregiving course. We rented a car, filled it full of our bags, our snacks and drinks, and our trusty set of directions located on a private Facebook message about how to get from here to there in no uncertain terms! You know the kind, go this many miles to this road turn right and continue till you get to this road, turn left and so on and so on. We had about  6 hours of travel and barring our stops for more food and those freshen up stops we made it to Edmonton in 7 hours. Pretty good, right??

 

We had a blast in Edmonton, and really enjoyed proud Mom and Auntie moments watching Tracey receive  her Certificate. We shopped till we dropped. We ate more food in three days than most eat in a week. But like all holidays, they must come to an end and we had to go home.

 

That is where the challenges began. Have you ever tryed to take the list of directions that brought you to one place and turn it around so it can take you back to where you came from? 

Well, needless to say, we ran into a few directional difficulties (detours) and we ended up travelling down a couple of roads that were not exactly on our backward map.

 

It can't be a mistake if it takes you to places you might never of seen had it not been for that unplanned detour, can it??? 

 I would never of seen this abandoned relic of an old house sitting in the middle of a farmer's field had it not been for that particular detour!

 

I stopped short of climbing through the barbed wire fence that surrounded the house to get closer and take better pictures of the place. 

I have been known to do that on occasion. Probably not the safest thing to do around these parts. I have been told that there are Rattle Snakes in this province and that the farmers don't take too lightly to trespassers on their property. 

 

This old house has seen better days. Its covered inside and out with graffiti, broken windows, peeling boards and surrounded in brown grass.. It has broken stairs and furniture inside. The elements have taken their toll. 

But it has history and if it could, probably a story or two to tell. 

And I would of never seen it if it had not been for that darn detour. (Detour- that's my story and I am sticking to it)

I'd love to tell you exactly where this place was but we were kind of lost, you know, the detour!!

Project 52 - Fooling around.



I can't say I am one for April Fools Day jokes. I don't play any jokes on people, at least not for the past few years.

I think the big joke this year has been by Mother Nature. We had a nice mild winter which did not start until the first day of spring. Then the cold rolled in along with such inclement weather that we don't usually see this late. Snow, hail, sleet, and buckets and buckets of rain.

I have been on a quest to find the elusive Cherry blossoms. Everything is usually pink this time of year. I found three trees, in front of the barn photo I posted the other day with cherry blossoms on them. I got chased by a Pit Bull and another black big dog back to my car when I took these few photos of those blossoms. Not fun. Not enjoyable.

Very few trees have blooms on them, but I am watching them and will be out taking more photos as they do bloom. It is still cold, though and they are cautious!

Linking up with http://rachelmariemartin.blogspot.ca/

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Project 52 - Hunger

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Now that Spring seems to have actually made its appearance, I am hungering for some time outdoors with my camera. Everywhere you can see buds on trees now, pussy willows all over the place and see birds of all shapes and sizes everywhere.

They are so much fun to watch flying here there and everywhere. They don't seem to particularily shy amongst people. This one came to feed on some seeds about two feet away from where Hubby was sitting.

I am sure with the advent of Spring lots of energy is being used for the purpose of setting up nests and getting ready for little ones. Birds appreciate the free seeds put out for them.

One eye on the seed pile one eye on the camera!

Flitting here and there so fast it is hard to actually catch them on the wing.

He is just a blur but you can see what kind of bird this one is as he whizzes past.

Feeding birds has always been a pleasant thing for me to do. It brings up sweet memories of going out with my Dad when he was alive to feed the birds. My Dad never met a bird he would not feed. He just loved feeding all birds.

Whenever I feel like I am missing my Dad, I can go out with a big bag of bird seed and simply feed the birds. Dad always had a big Rubbermaid container in the trunk of his car filled with bird seed and small containers to scoop out the seed. He had enough containers to share around and never ran out of seeds. Some of the birds my Dad fed knew his car on site and would fly up to his car and land on the hood while he slowly drove to his parking space ready to feed hungry mouths.

Where birdseed and hungry birds are concerned, there is always someplace to spread a little pile of seeds out. There is always a hungry mouth to feed just around the corner.

Like I said earlier, Spring is a time of Hunger. New life springs up, new plants bloom, and creatures abound. And I am hungering to get out and experience it!

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Project 52 - Eyes of March



The other day during a walk at Campbell River Park, the forest was alive with life. Lots of squirrels out and about and birds everywhere. I posted birds in a previous post, and here for Eyes of March, a few of the tiny babies we saw on our walk.

These little guys blended in quite well, but they did not seem afraid of people and were quite friendly around us. Curious of us.

This little baby Squirrel was literally vibrating at my feet. He did not seem afraid, but all that energy in that tiny body made him shake, rattle and roll! You can see my reflection in his little eye taking his photo!

The park had lots of babies around. They did not seem to have any fear of people walking the paths. This little guy was a couple feet away from me and standing on an old stump. He was tiny!

New life in the forest. New life in Spring.

 

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Project 52 - Be Still

At times it seems that I am always rushing here and there, busy with more things than I really have time for, and trying to figure out what needs to be dealt with before other things, and consequently not getting too much done in any timely fashion. I stay up too late to fit more things into the day, or I stay awake running things over in my head when I should be sleeping. Either way I lose sleep. At times my body will give me a couple of signals that I am on a slippery slope, such as an ache or two in the back or shoulder or a headache. You probably can understand that. If I ignore those little clues they get a bit bigger. Somehow I get to a spot where I have to pay attention.

My house is a good indication of where my mind is at. At times its cluttered, things don't end up in thier place, little chores get put off, and soon its a major thing. I have to roll up my sleeves, and just get it done and my mind is still again. I can "work" through a lot of things while I work through my house!

And then can I surround myself with those things that calm me, the things that are soothing and calming to my eye and to my soul.

Every home should have a sunny window, a pot of flowers, and a clear path to the stillness within.

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Hannah and her Mom

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This is Hannah, who's Father lives a few houses over from us. Hannah used to live there as well, up until her parents split up about five years ago. She was too small then to be out and about but now when she comes to see her Dad, she rides her very cool Barbie bike back and forth on the road and always comes over and says Hello when she sees us at home.

She is like a little ray of sunshine. Always happy and chatty. Energetic.

Here she is with her Mom, who comes over for a coffee and catch up chats when she is in the neighbourhood.

Neighbourhoods change, people come and stay awhile. You meet them, become friends, and sometimes changes happen, and they or you move on. Its nice though that even when you move on, you can still come back and revisit.

Ever asked your self, I wonder what ever happened to _______? Well, sometimes they come and chat, say hello and catch up over coffee!!

Do you have any one where you ask yourself, I wonder what ever happened to them?

Tea Time!

Who doesn't like a nice cup of Tea?

Linking up with: http://thedailywyatt.blogspot.com/

It seems that not many people have teacups anymore to have their Tea in.  My former Mom in Law, straight from England would not think of putting Tea in anything but a fancy teacup and matching saucer. She also had the little spoons to stir with, the kinds you collect from different places as a rememberance of trips gone by.

My grandmother as well drank her Tea either out of fancy teacups or out of the green or orange old coffee cups that you see a lot of now in Antique stores.

I always liked the look of teacups and the fancy designs and flowers etc. that decorated teacups and saucers but never was a fan of drinking my tea out of a fancy teacup. They always seemed tipsy to me, and rattly on the saucer if you know what I mean and the Tea never stayed as hot as I like my Tea to be.

The sight of a fancy pretty teacup though never fails to bring back those memories of the past people in my life who took a well deserved break in thier day for a proper cup of Tea.

Linking up with: http://mychaosmybliss.com/