Thankful

We have had a very busy weekend and the week looks the same.
Monday was Thanksgiving here in Canada and I always host our family's turkey dinner.
This year my daughter Ashley (who is a photographer) wanted to do some family photos.
As a scrapbooker, my heart jumped for joy :)
Here is my husband Wayne and I with our 3 beautiful daughters <3 p="">

And us with our adorable grandson...this little guy has my heart.

Here is the gang that all came for Thanksgiving this year...we are missing a few family members that couldn't make it this year.

This weekend was also the weekend we closed up (or winterized) our cottage.
We will be going up there to pick up the truck plow on a later date.

Always sad when we go for our last quad ride :(

I woke up early on our last morning at the cottage to this beautiful sunrise.
It was so much prettier in person.
It was like the lake was giving me a view to stick with me throughout the winter.

I will leave you with this photo of my adorable grandson in front of me front yard Autumn display that my daughter Kristy and I put together.

I hope all those that celebrated Thanksgiving enjoyed your day and cherished the family and friends you spent it with.

Tracy :)

Happy 150 Canada!!!!

July 1st is Canada's 150th Birthday!!!
I always thought I was special being born on a Centennial year  ;)
What better way to celebrate Canada's birthday then spending it out doors in this beautiful country I am lucky enough to call home.
So off to the cottage we went with plenty of food, family and fun.

We will start with the food :)
Ashley came up with the idea that each of us was to bring a food for Canada Day that was red and white (as those are our Canadian colours)
I brought potato salad, Tyler made brochette and Wayne made hamburgers (we added a Canadian flag to the burgers as they really aren't red and white)

We had many desserts ;)
Ashley make angle food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Heather made Oreo bark with red and white chocolate. Blake made peanut butter and jam cheese cake. And Kristy made red velvet cookies with chocolate chips as well as red velvet chocolate balls.
Lets just say there was no calorie counting this weekend, teehee.

The best part of the weekend was being able to spend so much time with my family.
I love when we are all able to get together...I am one lucky mom and grandma.

Here is Heather and her daddy :)
They both don't like to get their photos taken, but they were game this weekend.

Kristy and her boyfriend (of 7 years) Blake.

Ashley and her husband Tyler and baby Sawyer...and of course Oscar their doggy.

And we also had some fun!!
Heather and Kristy enjoying the water.
The water is still way to cold for me.

I picked up some bubble solution as I thought Sawyer would like to watch them...but it seemed like Oscar had way more fun playing with them :)

But like any weekend up at camp....there is a bit of work to do.
Sawyer was able to sit with Grandpa in the little loader.
I was surprised, I thought Sawyer might get scared as it is very loud.
But like his grandpa and great-grandpa, he loves his machines :)

Wayne was going to trim some branches off of a tree down by the lake, but (as I predicted) he ended up cutting the whole tree down.
So everyone helped bring the branches and cut tree, up to the fire, and then the girls wanted to clean it up, so they raked up all of the old pine needles.

Ashley wanted some slabs for decor for her table, so Wayne used the chainsaw to cut them.
Then Blake used a hand saw and cut some coasters for Ashley.

And of course what is a weekend at camp if Wayne and I don't get to take our toys out for a ride.
This is an odd sight....Wayne is in front of me, lol.
We checked out one of my favourite riding trails and there was a huge tree across the trail and the brush was so thick that we couldn't drive around it (believe me I tried).
So we had to turn around.
We were then stopped by the conservation officer.
He just wanted to know if we were fishing and check to make sure we had the proper papers for our machines and that we were wearing helmets.
All was good and in order, so we ended up just chatting with him for about 20 minutes.

So much more happened this weekend that I had better write it down in my camp journal before it fades from my memory.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you are a Canadian, I hope you celebrated our country's birthday with your family and friends :)

Tracy :)

Rainy Cottage Weekend

It was a rainy weekend at camp, so I decided to edit and finalize some of my videos while we were stuck inside.
I also planned on working on some of my planners, but didn't get as much done with those though.

This has been our nemesis this year.
This is our water pump.
Last weekend we discovered a wee little leak in the top of this brass pipe.
So Wayne purchased all new fittings and pipes for this weekend.
Can you believe they wouldn't tighten properly and it kept leaking at the joints.
Wayne and I decided to put the old joins back on, but to only change the brass piece.
It was quite dark out by the time we had this all put back together.
We still don't have as high pressure of water than we usually do...but we will tackle that problem on another weekend.

Even though the water pump took most of our time, we did get in a few other projects we like to do when opening the camp.
I put our names on our sign, put out the solar lights and put up our flag.
We also went to Wayne's dads camp next door and cut up a tree that fell. It almost hit their steps...but just missed it.
We even went for a quad ride or two.

It is so nice to be back at our camp.

I hope you all have a very day.

Tracy :)

My Evening Walk

One thing I love to do up at our cottage is walking the trails.

This here is the pipeline.

When I go for my evening walks I try and stick semi-close to the cottage.
And this is why.....bears.
I know bears are around all day and night, but I don't wander to far in the evening.
Not only bears, but I had also seen some wolf tracks.
I find it funny that I am posting with this bear track as Wayne and I are watching The Revenant and it is at the "Bear" scene!!

I usually take the same few routes on my walks.
Last week I saw this cute mushroom on one of my trails and thought it looked just perfect.
Then walking by it this weekend it looks a little different doesn't it.
I thought it was pretty neat to see such a difference in it in a weeks time.

Isn't this a beautiful view.
This also on the pipeline, but heading in the other direction.

Then this is what I saw a really big helicopter.

I think it was the one the pipeline uses to check the line.

But they didn't go all the way down it, once they saw me, they turned around and went back the way they came...I didn't think I looked that bad today ;)

Heading down the trail to do my last loop towards the highway.

Don't you just love nature.

Went across the TransCanada highway to take a picture of the beautiful sunset.

Then walking into our driveway, I love seeing my repurposed wheel barrel full of impatients :)

Here is my walk on Map My Walk.
Doesn't look it look like a T-bone steak, lol.

I hope you enjoyed walking with me at our cottage :)

Tracy :)

Crops and Critters

I am so excited I can't contain myself.
It is time for my Girl's Getaway with my friend Debbie.
Every year we rent a really nice cabin with a hot tub.
We relax, chat, create, chat, walk the trails, chat and soak in the hot tub...and you guessed it..chat :)
Here is what I am taking...this is only my crafty stuff.
How do you like my 3 legs in the mirror, lol.

We were at the cottage this weekend and I enjoyed some of the critters there.
This toad loves it here.
I found him inside this old birdhouse one weekend,
Then last weekend, Wayne found him in the BBQ cover, so I got his birdhouse and got him to crawl back in there.
This weekend he was on the side of the BBQ under the cover.

I again, got his birdhouse and got him to crawl on top of it.
Then I put it under the deck as that is where he was the first time I had seen him.

I then had fun watching the many chipmunks we have in our yard.
A baby chipmunk actually ran up the back of my shirt and back down, while I was sitting on the steps.
And this sneaky little guy kept climbing up the shepherds hook to get to the bird's seeds.
That was until I sprayed some cooking spray on it and he couldn't get up there anymore, teehee.
Then he would sit on my foot or run up my leg looking up at me like "where are my seeds?"
I had such fun that I think all of the neighbours heard me laughing :)

Not sure how the signal is going to be up at Mink Mountain, so not sure how much I will be on the internet :)
But what I do know is, I am going to have a blast!!

Hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Coffee Anyone... Planter

Isn't this huge coffee cup and sauces planter adorable!!
I had my eye on this for a while now at our local nursery Vanderwees.
They gave out fake money when I purchased my plants and out door decor earlier in the season and Thursday was the last day I could cash them in...plus this was on sale :)

I let Kristy pick out the colour of the flower and brought everything out to the cottage to plant it there :)
Being as it is a pretty big planter, I needed something to fill up some space as not to use so much soil.
We have an abundance of pinecones in the yard at camp, so I gathered a few handfuls to take up some space.
I also put a coffee filter in the bottom to cover the drain hole.
Then added soil and some moss on top hoping that it will keep in the moisture since it only gets watered on the weekends....I will find out when we go back to camp if this worked ;)

Doesn't this look so cute on my bistro table on our deck :)
Being that I don't drink coffee or tea, this is a perfect use for any type of tea or coffee cup :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Wind Turbine Vent Planter

Another planter at the cottage and another small thing that made me so happy :)
I needed to improve on my planter from a few years ago...for one thing, it needed to be repainted as it had faded from the sun.
Second the soil dried out pretty quickly as it only gets watered during the weekend.
Thirdly, the landscape fabric I put in to keep the soil from falling out of the blades, would shimmy down over the summer.
Time for late night planning, as that is where all of my ideas come to me :)

Here is the new and improved planter :)

So lets start at the beginning...
I found this old wind turbine vent at the cottage dump a few years ago....it did not look this good when I first picked it up.
Again Wayne didn't say anything....but he may have rolled his eyes at me, teehee.
After we straightened a few of the fan blades, I got Wayne to paint it the same colour as the planter from yesterday's post.

I grabbed this soft plastic trash can I was going to put in the dump and cut it to size so it would fit in the turbine without sticking up to high.
I also drilled in some drainage holes and added some coffee filters so the soil wouldn't fall out.
I then got Wayne to paint the top of the container (trash can). I just needed the top painted as the bottom can't be seen...and why waste paint, right ;)

I went for a nice quad ride to pick some moss from the bush and wrapped it around the inside of the turbine in between that and the container.

See how the moss peeks out from the gaps in the vents :)
I love that!

I planted my bedding flowers and lastly added my shims around the bottom of the turbine...turned planter to keep it level and from tipping over :)

Didn't this turn out cute!!!
I think it looks better than last years, don't you?
I was so happy, I did another little dance ;)

Tracy :)

Its the Small things...planter insert.

I get excited about the smallest things....I mean really excited!!!
I actually danced when this all came together...now let me explain.

I picked up this wooden planter from my dad's apartment many years ago.
There was a garbage shed and anything the tenants thought someone may be able to use, they would place it beside the shed, instead of in it.
Much to my husbands dismay, I grabbed this wooden planter.
I got Wayne to paint it this deep burgundy colour.
But to find a container to fit in here, so I could plant some flowers was no small feat.
Wayne found some empty windshield washer containers and we added some scrap wood to lay on the bottom of the planter and then planted my flowers in the containers.
This year when I took out the windshield washer containers....they crumbled apart.
So what to do????

I searched and searched around the camp, looking for a better inner container to plant my flowers in.
I found a couple of dish pans (which I don't use) and it fit almost perfectly.
I got Wayne to give it a bit of paint to match the planer itself (as it can be seen around the edge) and then drilled in some drainage holes.

I added a few coffee filters so the soil wouldn't clog up the drainage holes and added my soil.
Now look how perfectly the dish pan fits!!!!
Seriously...this made me so flippin' happy!!!
Don't you just love when things come together so wonderfully :)

Lastly add my flowers.
Yes, its the little things that make me so happy :)

What small thing has made you happy this week?

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)