Happy Spooky Halloween

On Saturday night, Richard and I attended the Glengarry Pioneer Museum's first ever ghost walk. First stop was snacks at the Orange Lodge.


Shelley Mullin whipped up a batch of her famous Monster Munch...


...pretty yummy.


Then Lindsey escorted us through four different buildings, each with a story teller waiting inside. Some of the stories were spooky. All of them were true (?)


Last stop was Dane Lankin telling us spooky stories about Glengarry native Allan the Dogs, an itinerant chairmaker and story teller who also caught feral dogs and made mittens from them.


Looks like Dane's spirit was melding with Allan the Dogs...or some sort of apparition was appearing. Scary!
Have a spooky one, boys and girls!

Late Bloomers

We've had several hard frosts and yet some determined flowers continue to try blooming. One brave spike speedwell is all purple and pretty.


Speaking of purple, my wonderful Oregon lupins blooms like crazy in spring and sometimes poke out a few flowers in fall too.


My pale purple phlox popped out another beautiful array...


...as did the dark purple phlox, albeit a smaller effort.


And dear old digitalis just keeps on rubbing its nose in the wake of winter, with a whole new set of buds ready to bloom.

Now You See Me...

Richard's cat Millie understands how camouflage works.


His other cat Percy, however, doesn't quite grasp the concept as well.

More Wild Turkeys

I looked out my window yesterday morning and couldn't believe my eyes!


A gaggle of wild turkeys. Actually, a group of turkeys is called a rafter (I Googled it!).


They were scratching around the side of my house and just kinda hanging out.


I decided to head out the back door and try to get a better shot of them.


And contrary to what Les Nessman of WKRP in Cincinnati thought, turkeys can indeed fly!

It's Autumn

Guess it's time to put away the watering can, eh?

Kitty Cat Cake

My neighbour Monica called and asked if I could make a cat cake for her husband Steve. When leaving Scotland to live in Canada he brought his two black kitties (Midge and Murphy) with him. Sadly, Murphy died this year at age 17. But one-eyed Midge (at 14) is still going strong. Since then, they've adopted two more pussy cats.
Happy birthday Steve!

Boom Boom!

I love wine bottle labels -- and wine too, to come to think of it! -- and my brother brought me this one from Washington State a while back. I haven't felt like throwing it away because I just love the look of it. The wine was pretty darn good to!

Nutmeg Relaxing

Well, Nutmeg doesn't exactly have what you might call a stressed out existence.


The funny thing about her is that most people have never seen her because as soon as the doorbell rings, she's under the bed and doesn't come out until they leave.


Now that it's getting cooler out, most of Nut's days will be spent under the heater. And nights...with me!

You have to check out this blog! Deb is a cat sitter and is also fostering some tiny kittens. To get to her website click here: Debs Just Cats. (Deb, for some reason I can't post on your blog -- Blogger won't let me-- but I love to see your cat pix!!!)

Barn Raising

They had an old fashioned barn raising at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum this past weekend


The new structure will be used as an open air pavilion.


Well, it wasn't completely old fashioned. They used some new fangled equipment to raise the roof.


Sure helped on what was a very windy day.


I like how the guys were so comfortable, they could rest up there and chat. More images to follow when the rest of it gets put up.

Rafter of Turkeys

Driving home from work yesterday, I noticed something dark on the side of the road.



About 16 wild turkeys! Thank gawd, Thankgsiving has come and gone.


The boss on the left seemed to be herding them about...


...and sent them all into the ditch as I approached. Eventually, they scattered and flew into the trees. (Yes, turkeys can fly!)

Fall Bounty

Last winter, my friend Sigrun gave me some squash seeds to try. This fall, I pulled a dozen grey ghost squash from my garden. Next up, soup. (Thanks Sigrun!)

Journaling in the Muskokas

Last weekend while up in the Muskokas at Lake of Bays...


...I sat in 26C hot sun and did some journaling in my sketchpad.


Then I switched to my larger sketchpad to draw the same view.


A beautiful spot that inspires drawing for sure.

100 Thing To Eat Before You Die #11

Okay, this one is a personal fave because my mum used to make it for me when I was little and I still love it. Toasted raisin bread, mayonaise, a fried egg, lettuce. That's it. Great flavours that remind me of my youth. Give it a try and lemme know whatcha think!

Fall Air

There's nothing like hanging laundry in the crisp, fall air.

Views of Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving this past weekend, we headed to Richard's family in the Muskokas.


On our way, we had a picnic at our usual spot on Golden Lake on the edge of Algonquin Park.


The temperature was 26C with a humidex of 28C, very unusual weather for Thanksgiving weekend. It's the first time I've seen swimmers this time of year.


We spent much of the weekend at the dock, watching a pair of loons on the lake...


...and soaking up the hot sun with a beer or two.


Richard's sister and brother-in-law took the canoe out for a paddle.


Sadly, the cottage had to be closed down for the season and the dock moved to its winter position.


We said goodbye for another year and on the way home, stopped for another picnic at our favourite spot, this time a table right beside the water.


And what could be more Canadian than a butter tart? Hope all my Canadian readers had a wonderful Thankgsiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

I made this spice cake with maple frosting for Thanksgiving. The dinner on top is all made with marzipan, except for the cherry jam. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!