February 6 - A Golden Oldie

OK. Tomorrow I'll take a picture for sure -no more cheating. In the meantime, here's another oldie goldie. That's me on the right with my sister, Wendy, on the left. Our birthdays are 8 days apart - Wendy is not quite one year older than me. We used to have birthday parties a few days after my birthday, a few days before Wendys. This is taken at one of those parties - I'm 3 and Wendy's 4. Picton, Ontario. 1951.

February 5 - Banjo Babe

Here's one just for fun. This is me in 1968 or 69. I was working at the University of Alberta and did some moonlighting typing PhD theses for some students. I took the pay for one of these theses and bought myself a banjo, took two lessons, and then sold it. Too bad - I would have liked to be able to play it but just didn't have the discipline to practice and learn. It was good for a photo op though.

Look at that blouse - long sleeves and buttoned high on the neck. Oh to be that slim again. Sigh.

February 4 - Keys of the Kingdom

This is where we keep our keys - house, cars, truck. Also, the little girls like to make necklaces for me with their bead sets, so after I wear them for a few hours, I hang them on the key holder so Charlie and Kenzie can see them when they come to visit. I also hang any necklaces they leave around on their visits. What is it with little girls and jewellery. They love it.

Sara made the key holder, putting pictures of Charlie and and Max on it.

February 3 - Sara's Kids at the Muttart

I didn't have a chance to take a picture today so instead I'm posting one that Emily took at the Muttart the other day - Sara's kids, Eloise, Charlie and Max. Sara is using some of the pictures taken that day in a project so she has faded out most of the color. But, in color or black and white, my grandkids look beautiful to me.

February 2 - Cleaning Day

Every once in awhile these tools need to come out and play, and today is one of those days. But first I had to change the vacuum cleaner bag. Somehow it had become way overfull and the dirt and dust when I opened the canister up completely hid the full bag. What a mess! I got it cleaned up though and vaccuumed and swept all the floors, scrubbed tub and toilet and finished up by cooking my favorite comfort food - beef stew with dumplings. Greg and I ate our fill and I left the pot on the stove for Lloyd, who should be home from Victoria (by car) around 8 tonight.

I like a day like this once in awhile. It was beautiful and sunny outside. This morning Greg (a pretty cool son-in-law) took me out to a new diner that he and his work buddies frequent, and I had the best BLT I've ever had. It's nice how simple things can make us happy.

February 1 - Fixed

Thanks to Sara, this is how the Muttart actually looked - without all the blue snow and sky. She's going to have to give me lessons.

February 1 - Paradise in a Winter City

What do you do when it's -25, cold and snowy in Edmonton? This afternoon Sara, Emily and I took Charlie, Max and Eloise to the Muttart Conservatory for a photoshoot. The Muttart is a 4-pyramid grouping of ecosystems, featuring a show pyramid where they feature different floral shows through the year, a desert landscape featuring cacti and succulents, a temperate zone and a tropical zone. The trees and plants are beautifully arranged, growing from season to season in a climate controlled greenhouse pyramid -a beautiful place to visit at any season, but particularly comforting during a record cold spell like we've been having. These two pictures are a few of the ones that actually turned out. I was switching between my two lenses and didn't alter my settings so a lot (most of them) are blurry and out of focus. I need to practice a lot more. Fortunately the professionals (Sara and Emily) had their studio camera and I'm sure they got some lovely pictures. The top one is one of the pyramids from the outside. The bottom is me on a bridge in the tropical zone holding Eloise, with Max's little head in the lower corner.