Cold Winter's Night on Wordless Wednesday

The streets of Orillia, Ontario

Linking up to +Ruchira Khanna over at ABRACABADRA for Wordless Wednesday.

Where Did the Snow Go?

Linking up to ABRACABADRA on Wordless Wednesday and  to
                                                  Create With Joy

Ten Things of Thankful Going Into Fall

Fall has flung and I have sung. Trying to be a little poetic there but didn't quite make it.
Onto TToT.
1. If you look around my house, what you'll see on a normal day is a fairly organized uncluttered home. My kitchen window however is where I tend to decorate and add all kinds of things that I like. I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and feel it should appeal to my eyes. 

How many pieces of stained glass can you find?

2. Fend for yourselves Fridays. This is something I started when the boys were old enough to make their own dinner. Friday nights I took the night off from cooking and either went out with hubby for a bite or we'd grab a sandwich or hot dog. The boys would either be over at friends houses or they could cook something easy that I had in the house. This tradition has continued to carry on each week. 

3 & 4. Today is day three of this week that I've felt better than I have in the past year. My energy is high, my mood is great, and I'm enjoying life to the fullest. 

5. I was typing away on my laptop yesterday and I kept getting a message saying my memory was low. I said to my laptop, I know, but how did you know. Seeing that I consider my computer my lifeline most days I was a little worried. I stopped everything I was doing and thought why would the memory be low. Thinking back I remembered that I'd installed Dropbox and Skype recently. Immediately I went into the msconfig and cancelled these two programs to start during start up. All is now well and my computer is actually running a lot faster.

6. Take out food when you have one of those days where you don't want to cook.

7. Good friends that you can catch up with in a moments notice. A friend and I were talking on Facebook the other day and I thought this is plain ridonculous. I picked up the phone and called her. We had such a nice conversation and it was much easier than typing back and forth to each other. 

8. Good Coffee. There's nothing quite like that first cup of coffee you have when you start your day off.

9. Warm fall days that are full of beautiful colors erupting all over. 

Lake Couchiching, Orillia, Ontario

10. The TToT blog hop. Each week I now look forward to writing a post for Ten Things of Thankful. 

This is part of a blog hop called TToT or Ten Things of Thankful. If you'd like to participate please follow any one of the following links and join in. You don't have to post every week so don't let that scare you off.

Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Amycake and the Dude, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies,Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me, The Wakefield Doctrine

Join the Ten Things of Thankful Facebook Group

Stephen Leacock House and Grounds

Stephen Leacock Museum (The house was built in 1928)

Yesterday July 24th, I had the pleasure of visiting the Stephen Leacock Museum in Orillia, Ontario.

Unfortunately there were people rehearsing here for a play they were putting on for the Leacock Summer Festival last night. I didn't get to tour the museum itself but I did get to walk around the beautiful grounds. 

This is one of my most favorite places to visit in Orillia. 

All the flower gardens were in full bloom. It was a warm summer day, sunny, and not too hot. 

The Boathouse on Lake Couchiching

The Leacock Summer Festival continues through to the 27th of July.

 The Orillia Beatles Festival starts tonight and continues all day Saturday.

Art Grows Here Streets Alive 2014 Planters

After walking downtown in Orillia and seeing all the planters for this year's Streets Alive, 'Art Grows Here' exhibition I'd have to say that this particular one by Catherine Cadieux is my favorite one. I had a chance to speak with the artist on Saturday June 21st for the kickoff and she said that she was honored to submit a planter for this this years Streets Alive outdoor art exhibit. If you'd like to see Catherine's planter, it will be on display until October 19th, outside the Orillia Opera House.

To view last years sculptures on Letters please click here. 

In 2012 all sculptures were Stephen Leacock Chairs.
2011 - 60 Sails
2010 - Guitars on Parade

One Lonely Duck for Wordless Wednesday

Where have all the duckies gone?

Usually down at Lake Couchiching in Orillia, at this time of year, you would normally see several or more families of ducks. Yesterday however, we only found one lonely duck.

They may have moved down to Tudhope Park further down the lake. If the rain stops later this week I'll go see if I can find the rest of them there.  


If you'd like to link up and join in on the fun of Wordless Wednesday,  you can do so by linking up over at 
 Abracabadra  where there are no rules to this blog hop. 

Silly On Sundays 13 Coaster Collection

Hi and Welcome to Silly On Sundays. We've now hit week 13 and I hope this signifies a lucky week. 

Grab my button if you'd like

This past summer I was out looking for coasters. We'd gotten a new coffee and end table to go along with our newly renovated living room so off I went on a coaster hunt. Surprisingly the stores in town didn't have that much of a selection. One kitchen store I went into said that they couldn't get coasters. What???? Why not? The answer I got was that people weren't buying them as much anymore as they once did. I found this a little strange and unbelievable so I continued on with my hunt. 

A few weeks passed by and still I'd not been able to find what I was looking for so every time I'd go out for lunch or a beer I'd help myself to the coasters that came with my drink. You're allowed to do that right? Hope no one sends the coaster patrol after me as I'd hate to be locked up. 

My sons girlfriend Meghan noticed one day what I was doing and she started grabbing coasters for me as well. Then my my mother in law jumped on the coaster wagon. I now have more coasters than I know what to do with. But hey one can never have too many coasters right. 

A few of my favorites

I suppose the silliest thing is that at Christmastime I ended finding a set of six coasters at the Mariposa Market in Orillia. Of course I bought them! I wouldn't actually steal a set of six. 

Loon Country by Jason

Backside of Muskoka Brewery Coaster

My newest and most favorite of all. I love the artwork that went into this.

Front Side of Coaster

Do you think it's silly to have a coaster collection that is slowly turning into an addiction?

I did a bit of reading and found out that there are a lot of people that collect coasters.

What do you collect?

Anything silly happen to you this week? Please share it with us and join in on SOS.

My co-host +Kelly Umphenour has been cooking up a storm a with a silly story over at RealHousewife.

If only I'd have gone to Amazon I would have found these. 

It's Been a Cold Winter That Started Far Too Soon

Here in Ontario Canada we've had a cold winter so far. I've taken quite a few photos and thought today I'd share a few with you.

The ice build up on the driveway side of our home every year is a concern. These huge icicles could easily kill someone or do costly damage to any vehicles that are parked in the driveway.

The middle photo is the accumulation as of yesterday January 1st, 2014.

Luckily we were not affected by the ice storm this year like many of our family and friends were south of us. One of our relatives went without power for over a week. Then when their power did come back on they found that their pipes had burst destroying rooms of furniture. Drywall ceilings came down making a huge mess. Thank goodness they have insurance that will replace and repair the costly damage caused by the ice storm.

These 3 pictures are of my Red Maple glistening with icicles.

One last shot of the dreaded icicles 

Wordless Wednesday - Wood Carving

 Please join in on the fun of Wordless Wednesday

         You can link up at Abracabadra.

The Bandstand at Couchiching Beach Park - Wordless Wednesday

The Bandstand, built in 1901

Originally this bandstand was built for musical performances. Now a days it is a popular spot for weddings and wedding photographs. 

Come join in on the fun of Wordless Wednesday over at over at Pictimilitude, hosted by +Cyndi Calhoun .