First Frost

We woke up this morning to the first frost of the season.

 

 

And so it begins...

Between being back to work and "morning" sickness (what a stupid name that is!), time has just been flying by! Today I finally had a chance to go around and take some pictures of our gardens! Our flowers that were supposed to flower in August have finally decided it was time to bloom.

Some of the dahlias we planted are blooming. The plants themselves don't look very big, but the flowers sure are!

The gladiolas started to bloom a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we didn't plant them deep enough and the wind knocked most of them over. We've taken to cutting the flower spikes once they start to bloom so we've had some nice fresh cut flowers inside.

The gardens that we worked so hard on earlier this summer have been doing well. The first one we tackled is filled with blooms. We even discovered some yellow cone flowers that we didn't see last year (lucky they survived the rebuild!), and it seems some seeds from a ground cherry plant that was planted 30 feet away made it in there as well. David has been enjoying harvesting the surprise crop!

Our shaded rock-garden is also doing well, although it will still need some work next year. Some of the ferns I thought I moved have come back, but with the new rock placement it works well. 

Our neighbour's chicken have gotten big and she often lets them roam free...

And finally, a sure sign that summer is coming to an end: the Canadian Geese have begun their fall migration south.

Starting to sound like spring

A sure sign that spring is on it's way:

And, there are flocks of geese winging their way south!

Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone!

Snow Bound

We knew there was a snowstorm coming, but when we looked out the window yesterday morning and saw this, we thought it might be a good day to stay home.

When we saw the snowfall warning from Environment Canada, encouraging anyone who did not need to travel stay home, we thought we were justified in staying cozy at home all day. As I was enjoying the day in the basement, watching movies and playing some Wii, I couldn't help but notice the window wells filling up with snow. 

 Luckily we don't use our front door very often...

Later in the afternoon, once it started to let up a bit, I heard the rumbling of the snow blower... at least we were able to get out of the driveway today!

Catching up...

We've been pretty busy these past few days...

Saturday morning we decided to head back to the store to pick up a new duvet cover we saw while curtain shopping. Next on the list will be some new paint for the walls, but that probably won't be until spring at the very earliest. New curtains and blinds are also on that shoppings list. The duvet cover wasn't on the bed long before Caesar decided it was time for a nap.

The guy who clears our driveway also came by, even though there wasn't too much snow. Usually we get up in the morning to a clean driveway, so it was nice to actually witness the snow clearing.

There was also some furious knitting on Saturday that lasted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning as I was trying to finish some knitwear for my cousin's baby shower Sunday afternoon. I've resisted posting any pictures earlier just in case!

We all had a great time at her shower! But, of course, I once again forgot the camera... that's one of my new years' resolutions... be sure to have always have the camera for those spontaneous (and those "it's been on the calendar for months!") photo ops!

We started back to work at the college yesterday and we've been busy getting everything ready for the beginning of the semester. Fortunately, we won't see students for another 2 weeks so there's still plenty of time to prepare. After work we spent the evening with my parents for my mom's birthday... it was a great evening!

So far today has been more of the same... cleaning, organizing, getting ready for labs to begin!

We have ignition!

After we brought some of the wood in to dry, David decided to get the fire going with some junks of wood that were fairly snow-free.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck...

We received our first load of wood for the season... 4 cords of wood, and the pile is almost as big as our little Yaris!

We've been working on moving it in for the past hour or so, but it's slow going! Now to wait for the snow & ice to melt off our "dry" wood ;)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It was a beautiful day today so we decided it was time to put up the rest of our christmas lights and the snow fence.

We saw some brave chickadees too!

Early but oh, so pretty!

I think this is the earliest I've ever put our christmas tree up, but with all the snow on the ground and lots of free time I decided no time like the present!