A day at the fair...

Yesterday was a civic holiday Monday, so I took the kids to the Luxton Fair...

For them it was all about the midway.

The cotton candy, bells and whistles, rides flying overhead, barkers calling out to us...

"c'mon in...try yer luck."

Hmm...more like "cmon in and get ripped off!"

So we played a few games...

Won a few small stuffies...

Slid down some slides...

I always love the ferris wheel ...

So we all went for a ride...

The little ones were scared...

It's pretty high up and even if the seat rocks a little it can make you nervous.

But after getting over their fears and finding out what it's like to get a birdseye veiw of the world...

It was all smiles!!

Knowing that your big brother and sister are up there too helps keep the courage up...

 Near the end of the day, we walked over towards the fun house only to discover we didn't have enough tickets for all to go in.

Then I noticed this guy working the funhouse...

After a long weekend...

long days...

loads of screaming kids...

He just didn't give a hoot anymore and was letting anyone and everyone in for free..

Not only were we going in for free, he was letting everyone go in and out as much as they wanted...

"Ah, let them blow off some steam" he said  to one mom...

Now this is what it's all about...

I think the kids must have went in and out of there about 10 times and it was the most fun they had all day..

Oh yeah! The best things in life are free!

It's the way things should bee...heh heh...

Tis the season...

When I first started using a digital camera, I was still very computer illiterate and didn't quite know how to keep folders and at one point I deleted a bunch of photos and never found them again...

In this group of photos were some of a progression of a clutch of Robins eggs that was in one of our apple trees.

When mama bird was out gathering worms and such, I would sneak down and take a picture once a week.

I remembered the other day that I had made prints of these pictures to sell as cards and as luck would have it I had one group of them left.

So excuse the quality since I had to take photos of the photos but it really is amazing how fast they grow!

In the begining...

...balls of fuzz and flesh...

...thinking the camera is mama coming home with snacks...

...about a week before they flew away...

Song for Friday...You do the walk....

As I was thinking about being linked to all of these incredible people through blogging, I thought of this song...

I mean aren't we all out there doing 'The Walk of Life'?

The technology of today has changed the way we travel, the way we take pictures, the way we communicate.

You can find out about something that happened 2 minutes ago halfway across the world.

You can feel a kindred spirit to someone you've never met.

You can share slices of your life with the click of a button. 

And on we go...doing our 'Walk of Life'

To think that when this video came out, there was no such thing as bloggers! Go figure.

Oh...and I always love a good sports blooper...

Cheers all.

Juice army...

Assemblage of battalion...

($2.89 : grocery store )

Battalion: Fall In!

Arm for battle!

(Sally Ann: $5)

 Commence Operation carrot, apple, ginger, lemon juice!

Mission accomplished SIR!

Get that down yer gullet!

PRICELESS...

Movie review...

 Coco Chanel.

 Last night I watched "Coco Avant Chanel".

I am not a fashionista and really didn't know much about Coco Chanel except that she was a clothing/hat designer and has perfume named after her.

The fact was, that she was fiercely independent, had a sense of style like no one else at the time and knew exactly what she wanted to do.

The movie stars Audrey Tautou (she also starred in "Amelie")

who is absoloutely elegant as Coco. 

The movie is beautifully set in France, the colours and lighting are enchanting.

The costumes..... fantastique!

So if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, I highly recommend this story of one of the strongest and most influential women in the fashion industry.

 I leave you with a few quotes from Ms Chanel....

“Fashion passes, style remains.”

 “Nature gives you your face at twenty. Life shapes your face at thirty. But the face you have at fifty is the face you have earned.”

Woods, meadows, marsh and beach...

Yesterday I took my niece and nephew for a ramble at Royal Roads.

 It is and old estate turned University/park with miles of walking trails through all sorts of terrain.

First we walked through some old growth forest...

There are some big old Douglas firs in these woods...

Then the woods open up into the most beautiful long path through the meadow where the sun came out!

Yum! the first salmon berries os the season!

Then it was into skunk cabbage land where they grow so big we almost lost Hannah!

Down at the back of the gardeners house, the road leads past more meadows where a young doe stood to watch us...

These fences are made of metal, lead I think and are probably from the late 1800's when the estate was being used privately by Lord Dunsmuir...

This place has an 'old world' feel to it with its narrow laneways and stone walls...

Nick loves to take pictures so I always bring along an extra battery and let him go nuts taking picture after picture.

Thank goodness for digital cameras...I showed him how to use the action setting and we took hundreds of 'running' pictures alongside the walled garden...

 These structures were built ages ago and are fish ladders which helped the cut throat trout make it from pond to ocean during spawning time...

It makes the most calming gurggling sound as the water tumbles down to the sea.

More giant, old trees...

And down to the lagoon.

See that pretty little house at the back of the marsh?

I always wanted to live there. It houses offices for the University now.

Here are some more of Nicks photos...I think that boy has something of an eye for things...

It was a beautiful day spent with 2 great kids who love nature...such a pleasure to take them out...

Dr. Feelgood...

Some days at work are shite.

Plain and simple.

Just the nature of the universe, the alighnment of the stars, waking up on the wrong side of the bed...

or whatever else you might believe. 

So when I get home there are things that make me feel better no matter what kind of day its been.

A massive mug of tea.

A good dose of dark chocolate.

The smell of lilacs from my garden.

Walking into my garden.

Seeing all the little seedlings growing strong.

These guys!

How could this mug not make you smile?

And some good music...my latest favorite...

an old Judy Collins song about a girl and a cowboy..."Someday Soon"