The Importance of Pruning

This morning after a quick trip to the dry cleaners to FINALLY pick up my dress and a stop for some groceries, I couldn't help but notice my rose bush in the front of my yard as I drove into the garage.  Being one who is easily distracted, I didn't give it much more thought once the garage door closed until about 30 minutes later when I sat down with my tea, half grapefruit and Bible study books.

As part of my quiet time I've been reading Priscilla Shirer's book "And We Are Changed" and the chapter I started reading today reminded me again of my rose bush.  In this chapter entitled, "The Cost of Transformation", Priscilla was discussing the importance of pruning.  She writes, "God, the Master Gardener, prunes areas of our lives so that we can grow.  Pruning hurts, but it promotes new life."

Last year was the first year for my little rose bush in my front garden.  I stuck it there, in the corner by the walkway, where the snow and salt gets piled up high in the bitter winter.  I had been given this little miniature rose bush as a thank-you and I think it was originally intended for indoor enjoyment.  If you've read my blog long or know me, you know that the only living thing in my house besides Hubby, The Nephew and myself are the dust bunnies that run wild under the beds and sofa.  I can't keep a house plant alive longer than a month (if even) so I decided last spring to plant the rose in that spot in the front of the house, which at the time was the only garden spot in my entire yard that got "full sun" (that is before I had Hubby rip out the bush and make me a garden).   I didn't really expect the poor bush to survive in that spot but I was at least giving it more of a fighting chance at survival than it had in the house.

As grace would have it, our winter was mild and my little bush survived, despite my lack of pruning it last Fall.  As new buds began to sprout, Hubby grabbed the cutters and snipped that little bush back and to our surprise, and delight, rosebuds began to form.  To be honest, I was expecting this little bush to moderately bloom considering it's pathetic plot of land it calls home and my lack of pre-winter preparation, but after snipping that baby back... VOILA...

We went from this at the start of the Spring...

to this... how my bush looks today

If you look closely you can see that where one rose has bloomed there are at least 3-4 more buds ready to pop up beside.  I am blown away by it's beauty and growth.

I can't help but think that this is how God's pruning in my life works.  He cuts back the dry, rotted areas of my life.  Sure it hurts.  Any cutting is.  But just look at the beauty that can result!  His ultimate goal in pruning us is so that we can be all that He's created us to be, just like the rose bush. As it is meant to be overflowing with beautiful roses, He longs for that in my life and yours.  He wants our lives to be in full bloom of His will and purpose.  He just needs us to hold still so He can trim us back and get off those dead parts that are stunting our growth.  

Pruning may hurt for the day, but I for one am ready for Him to snip away in me so I can see the fruits of the Master Gardener's love, for after all that is His reason for pruning. It's because He loves me and wants me to fully bloom!

....

No letters of intent this week but here is this week's Friday Fill-ins followed by my Friday's Fave Five...

And...here we go!

1. The summer sun feels great.
2. The solution is found in Jesus.
3. Most nights it takes me forever to shut my mind off and fall asleep.
4. How about that sister of mine... she was honored as a Hometown Hero in her city today!
5. Making lemonade out of life's lemons is something I highly recommend!
6. Imagine Heaven... I can't wait!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending as much time with Hubby as I can because, tomorrow my plans include taking him to the airport for his business trip to Texas and then in the evening taking his Mom, sister & brother-in-law to the funeral viewing of Hubby's uncle who passed away earlier this week and Sunday, I want to worship God at church and come home and crash before Monday's funeral!

The gist of Susanne's meme "Friday's Fave Five" is to think back over the past week and blog about 5 favorite things from the week.  It can be anything so here we go... in no particular order...

Number One:

Reading Priscilla Shirer's book "And We Are Changed"

Number Two:

Continuing with Beth Moore's "Jesus:  90 Days with the One and Only"

Number Three:

Glee Season Finale

Talk about a roller coaster of emotions!

Number Four:

Sipping some White Zinfandel/Chardonnay wine while watching Reality TV.

This I think is my favorite wine which we can only buy when we visit the U.S. 

Number Five:

New Find... Golda's Kitchen

This amazing store I found in my City that made me feel like I'd arrived in cupcake making heaven!  And yes, Amy... we WILL go together... SOON!! 

Okay... your turn.  Grab the links above and head on over to play these two fun memes for yourself!

Aching Back (and Butt) Part 2... and Other Fun Stuff

Let's start today's post with this week's Letters of Intent, brought to us by Julie of FourSons blog.









Dear Little Blooms,


You looked so pretty in your little cell packs at the garden centers and now that you are planted lovingly in the ground, please grow!  You went from this...

to this...

My summer garden hopes are in you and I hope that you thrive in that new sunny place Hubby and I have made for you in our front yard.  I promise I will try and take care of you, even though my gardening prowess is slightly on the "black thumb" side of things.  Prove me wrong Little flowers.  I want you to grow big and tall (and fragrant) and prove that I have a green thumb after all!

With greatest anticipation,
Your Caretaker


So... as you can see, I have been a busy little beaver in my front garden and I have the aches and pains to prove it!  Being the first year for this little plot of earth, I wasn't exactly sure how things would grow so I decided to plant some of my favorite flowers this year and see how we go.  I tried as best I could to plant them according to their expected height, but we'll see how that goes as the months go by.

First I planted snapdragons at the back.  The little tag on them said they could grow up to 36" so I thought for sure I'd want them at the back.  Next I planted my favorite fragrant flower, Stock.  Have you ever smelled this?  It has a mild spicy floral scent.  I often find it at a local grocery store's floral shop to put in the guest room when we have overnight guests.  It really is delicious smelling!  Here's a picture of what Stock looks like:

In front of the Stock I put 4 gerber daisy plants.  These are some of my favorite, non-fragrant flowers.

I interlaced in front of the Gerbs some "mini" Stock plants.   I found those at one of the nurseries I went to yesterday that grow their own flowers.  In front of the mini-Stock I planted Sweet Alyssum which should spread out nicely along the front to "edge" the garden (I hope).

Here's a picture of the front pathway garden I planted yesterday with impatiens and begonias (at least I think that's what they are).  I also got some mini hostas for that row of plants too.

I'll get to the back garden on the weekend.  Probably need to give my back a rest, not to mention I'm going to help babysit the triplets this afternoon/evening with my sister-in-law (AKA Grandma!).   I'm hoping I haven't overdone it, both in terms of the plants (not having enough room to grow) and physically (I may need my chiropractor on speed dial).  I'm hoping that my garden is full enough that I can actually go out and cut flowers to make arrangements so I can enjoy my favorite flowers indoors as well as in my garden.  Time will tell!

And... that leaves us to end today with this week's Friday Fill-ins:

And...here we go!

1. Thinking of the triplets sweet faces never fails to make me smile.
2. I'm looking forward to watching my garden grow over the summer.
3. Sounds of traffic out my open patio door is what I'm listening to right now.  Ah the joys of living in a big, busy city :-S
4. Potato salad must have green onions and miracle whip in it! Although I must confess... I have only made it once or twice in my life.
5. Half a ruby red grapefruit was the best thing I ate today...it's also the only thing I've eaten today so far, which reminds me... I need to eat!
6. Today was a perfect day for planting flowers, not too hot, not too cool.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to babysitting & cuddling the triplets, tomorrow my plans include laundry, maybe planting the back garden (weather permitting) and a movie with friends in the evening and Sunday, I want to celebrate my god-daughter's 3rd birthday and then watch Celebrity Apprentice finale in the evening!

So there you have it... my Friday in a nutshell.  What are you up to this weekend?  In Canada it is Victoria Day weekend so Monday is a holiday.  Woohoo!! 

Aching Back and Top Three Thursday

Oh what a gorgeous day in Southern Ontario!  Temperatures were summer-like and I was driving around with the sunroof open while heading out on a quest for some horticultural knowledge... and flowers.

When I last left you, I was on my way to Lowe's to pick up some things for my garden.  I picked up a trellis that I'd hoped to put along the fence in our backyard and then have some flowering vine-type plant decorate our fence a little.  I found a trellis I liked and was off and running.  I stopped at the garden center at Home Depot (across the street from Lowe's) and found my favorite fragrant flower, Stock, but chose to hold off on buying it.

This morning, I was out early (okay... not so early ... it was 10:30) and head off in search of the vine to go on the new trellis.  This was a much harder task than I'd planned.  I ended up speaking with a couple "experts" and decided that my new trellis was not going to work in my shady back yard.  So... my 3rd of 4 garden center visits was actually to Lowe's again, to return aforementioned trellis.  While there I picked up some gerber daisies for the front garden.  I did go back to Home Depot (across the street from Lowe's) and found the Stock again, only to find that it had been moved to the "Clearance" section... half price!  WOOHOO!!!  I picked up quite a bit of it and can't wait to have the most pretty smelling garden on the block.

I made it home after all the running around at the garden centers around 2pm and immediately started planting the impatiens I got for the front walkway garden.  I feel like I don't really have a clue how to garden, but I'm faking it.  We'll see what it all looks like in the summer.  After the impatiens were in, I started preparing the front garden, tying the leaves of the dead tulips and hyacinth (like the garden center woman told me to do... hopefully I did it correctly).  By the time I had my little garden pad, gloves and trowel put away 3 hours later, my middle-aged back was breaking.  Man I need a good massage!  It'll have to wait though... tomorrow I need to get out to the garden in the morning and plant the front before my "full sun" plants wilt in my garage.

Before I answer the call of my pillow though on this lovely Spring evening... it's time for this week's Top Three Thursday.

This week's topic...

Top 3 Celebrity Crushes

John Cusack

Brad Paisley

(He's made the Top 3 Thursday two weeks in a row!)

(from one of my favorite TV shows of all time

 Pushing Daisies)

Who are your Top 3 Celebrity Crushes?  Head over to Kelly's blog to play along!

The Blogging Blues

I can't believe it's almost been a week again since my last post.  My aching back that has now been going on for almost a month (if not longer) has really started to get me down and affect my entire being and my poor hubby who wonders if his sweet wife will ever return to him!

I've been to the chiropractor every Tuesday and Thursday for weeks and all seemed to be progressing in a positive mode until this past Monday.  I had joined a friend for breakfast and before leaving the restaurant, I took a quick jaunt into the "little girl's room" before heading out for some shopping.  While leaving the stall, I heard a loud CRASH which caused me to quickly jerk my head to see what fell (it was the cover to the double toilet roll thingy) and I re-injured my neck/shoulder/back again.  SIGH!  I had the mother of all headaches from that point on until Wednesday morning.  I am beginning to wonder if I will ever not feel pain in my upper extremities again.

On a positive note, my precious mother-in-law came by on Monday and Tuesday afternoons after her work to help me plant some bulbs in my front and rear gardens.  I can barely wait until Spring to see the tulips, hyacinth & crocuses pop their little heads above the earthy soil.  In order to keep the squirrels from stealing my buried Spring treasures, I sprinkled Cayenne and Chili pepper over the ground to ward off the "rats with bushy tails".

Speaking of work... my next door neighbor called me on Tuesday.  Her BFF is a naturopath doctor who is in desperate need for reception help and my neighbor "J" wondered if I would be interested in helping her out for either a short-term or long-term gig.  I met with Dr. C on Wednesday morning and tomorrow I begin training.  I'll be working M-W, & F, 10am-2pm for at least a month probably.  I'm uncertain if this is a job I'd like to do long-term because I am still thinking I'd like to sign up with a temp agency so I would have more freedom, but for now, this position allows me to continue leading my ladies' small group at church which I would have been sad to give up.

I have not much else to say tonight as I'm wrestling through feelings of discouragement from my aches.  It amazes me that in this time of chronic pain I lose sight of my need to call out for God.  I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself and I have a few times in the past weeks forgotten to remember to pray for God's healing over my back.  Isn't that silly?  Why is it that when we truly need God in those daily things we sometimes forget Him?  I know that it is only in spending time talking over with Him my situation and my days that I will feel the strength to carry on through the pain of what I'm enduring.  I was reminded this past week in one of my many "pity-parties" that my Mom, who suffered every day with ailments for the last 20+ years of her life, never seemed to let them get the best of her.  She would say aloud to herself and anyone within ear shot every day, "This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it!"  I need to follow her lead!

Real Life Love Story... and other weekend fun

I do apologize for being a terrible blogger of late. I don't know what it is... too much summer fun? Too much craziness in my house? Still recouping from my Bachelorette addiction which hasn't completly ended if truth be told, even if the show itself has been gone for weeks. Sigh. I promise I'll get my act (and brain) together in September, but until then, please be patient with my sporadic posts!

This past weekend, one of my sister's (C) and her daughter (S) and I took off on a girls' getaway weekend. My sister has been longing for years to take a tour of The 1000 Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway (the large river connecting Lake Ontario to the Ocean). are at the very east end of Lake Ontario and only about a 3-4 hour drive from home. (You can also get to them on the U.S. side of the lake as well ~ ).

We packed our overnight bags and took off Saturday morning for our fun weekend. Being the tiny bladdered wonders we are (thanks Mom & Dad) we stopped a few times for "potty breaks" and at the first one came face to face the miracle of God's timing. After standing in a lineup at the woman's washroom which makes me ask... why is there always a line up for us and not guys? I know the answer but it's still mind boggling all the same we started to head back out to the car when all of a sudden C stops and grabs this couple as they walk through the door. That's unusual I'm sure you're thinking but not really. You see, the couple was our aunt and uncle (my Mom's younger brother and his wife) heading in to the rest stop on their way back to their home on a lake north east of Toronto. Small world! We chatted for awhile with them, catching up on family news, and then we were back in the car on our way, singing movie/broadway soundtracks all the way.

C found us an amazing B&B in Gananoque, Ontario called Sleepy Hollow. No. Johnny Depp wasn't there, but it was still a gorgeous old century home owned by a lovely couple, Don and Marion (I think that was their names).

Our B&B ~ Sleepy Hollow

We stayed in the "Eden" room which was pretty spacious considering we had the couch pulled out into a bed. We had our own bathroom, but it was just down the hall one door... a little awkward but not too bad since we were all girls.

3 Amigos on the bed

Before we checked into the B&B we visited the small craft show that was being held in the town square. Don't you just love small towns and their city squares? Reminds me of Gilmore Girls for some reason. We all got some cool items from this one booth before leaving the square in search of a place to eat lunch. While we were out and about, we came across a church just as a bride was arriving for her wedding. We practically stopped traffic on a side street we were so busy being rubber-neckers, waiting for her to emerge from the car. I have to be honest though... her dress was SO not worth the wait in my opinion ~ it had tons of gathers that made it look like she'd rolled it in a ball after having a fitful night's sleep in it. I found a link of one that looked similar here. I apologize in advance if I offended anyone who wore or loves this gown... not my intent ~ just my opinion!

After checking in we took a walk around the city, down to the water front along the edge of the St. Lawrence River and came across the same wedding party as they took pictures on the Gananoque Inn grounds. I really must learn to keep my opinions to myself ~ I spoke out loud of my dislike of the dress ~ only to have a woman standing near us rave about the gown. Oopsie!

Later that afternoon we hopped in the car, taking a drive about 20 minutes east to Rockport where the boat we had booked our tour on is docked. The rest of the evening was quiet and each of us found a book on the area to look at before we turned out the lights on another day.

Sunday morning we were up early and down for breakfast at 7:30. C & S each had Eggs Benedict, while I had this...

Belgian Waffles and fresh fruit
~ could this be why I can't shed those pounds?

The meal was unbelievable and how's this for a little more of that "small world" I was talking about earlier... the couple sitting behind/beside us at breakfast were not only taking the same boat tour as us... we found out on the boat that they live in the same city as our aunt (another of my Mom's siblings). Crazy small world I tell ya!

Our boat left the dock at 10am for a "five hour tour". I couldn't stop singing Gilligan's Island I tell ya, but I'm happy to report that we did not find ourselves shipwrecked although at some of the places we stopped, might not have been too shabby if we had!

Our first stop was Boldt Castle on Heart Island. This castle has one true love story if ever there was one. Mr. George C Boldt, proprieter of the Waldorf Astoria hotel back in the early 1900s, bought "Hart" Island, renamed it by adding an "e" and had the land tweaked into the shape of a heart. He began building this 100+ room castle for his wife as a birthday gift. It is inlaid with hearts everywhere from the mason work detailing on the castle walls to the wrought iron fences embellished with iron hearts. This guy was one huge romantic. While the castle was probably more than half done, a telegram came telling Mr. Boldt that his beloved wife had suddenly died. Heartbroken, Mr. Boldt had work on the castle cease immediately and he never returned to Heart Island. Can you imagine being loved that much? I can't imagine what the mansions God is preparing for us in heaven are like if this is any indication of human love! I joke with hubby that if he had the money I know he'd build me a castle too - hee hee. Gee... my birthday is this weekend... ya think? Naw... not this year at least!

C & S had never been to Boldt Castle before, but I had been years ago when a cousin visited Canada back in my late teens/early 20's. At that time the castle was completely unfinished, as it had since that day the news came to Heart Island of Mrs. Boldt's death. The inside walls were covered in graffiti. You can still see some of those walls in the upper floors of the castle, but little by little, since 1977, the 1000 Islands Bridge Authority have been restoring the castle into what should have been it's 1900's glory days. This island is on the New York side of the 1000 Islands so Canadians need a passport when leaving the boat.

3 Ladies and a Castle

We wandered Heart Island for two hours, searching every nook and cranny of the castle and island, snapping pictures like we were paparazzi before embarking on the next leg of our journey. The boat had a delicious buffet lunch on board and we enjoyed seeing the sights of the islands while chatting with our aunt's "neighbors" at our table. The boat stopped at our last destination, Singer Castle, on Dark Island around 2:30 just as the rain clouds began to hover above. Dum. Dum. Duuuum.

This castle was built by Frederick Gilbert Bourne, one of the former presidents of the Singer sewing machine company. During construction he told his wife he was building a "modest hunting lodge" on the Island. Let me show you what a "modest hunting lodge" looks like to a multi-millionaire:

Singer Castle ~ a modest hunting lodge

Apparently, compared to his massive Long Island estate, this was modest. A-hem. Okay. The design of the castle was inspired by Sir Walter Scott's book about Woodstock Castle in Scotland and even includes a dungeon and secret passage ways. The tourguide told us that staff would "spy" on guests while eating in the dining room (in order to keep abreast of their dining needs ~ refills, etc) and would use the passageways to move about the castle without being seen. Kinda cool yet kinda creepy! Interesting tidbit of trivia... "Singer Castle is the only castle on our river to be completed, fully furnished and resided in during the heyday of the 'great builders' and industrials in New York" (quoted from their website). We weren't thrilled with our tour guide at this castle ~ we much preferred the self-guided tour of Boldt Castle, but we were glad to have experienced Singer Castle.

Our 2-castle tour was over and we boarded the boat to head back to Canada. We docked around 4:30, exhausted and with camera cards FULL of pictures... 1600 between the 3 of us to be exact. We drove home just as a wicked thunderstorm struck the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

It was a fun weekend of laughter, silliness and great history. Don't you wanna go sail the 1000 Islands now too?

Week Full of Family

Helloooooo dear friends out in Blogland! I'm home and almost settled in before I soon must pack my bags and take off again. Where do I even begin to update you on what's been going on this past week? (You may need to grab yourself a large glass of lemonade ... or your favorite beverage ~ preferably caffeinated).

Since my last "real" post, we have had our fill of family fun, starting on Saturday, July 25th with a family get-together at our place. My sis from NC, her hubby and youngest daughter made the trek up and so hubby and I opened up our little abode for whoever of our family could make it to come visit with C, D & J. Here's a pic of who was able to attend ... and 18 were absent from this photo op!

Monday (July 27) was the big Bachelorette finale so I told my sister I couldn't leave for the cottage (Dad's place on the lake) until after the finale! I won't go into huge detail as you can find what happened at nauseum online but I will say that even though she didn't pick "my guy", Reid, it sure was romantic to see him come back and try and win her heart in the 11th hour. I believe she was truly torn about what to do because I think her feelings for him ran deeper than she even realized. She may be engaged to Ed, but I honestly don't think she'll soon forget the magical connection she had with Reid. I personally think she should have chosen no-one that night and taken her time to sift through her feelings because she was obviously conflicted and confused when he too got down to propose. Her little fingers were wriggling away to grab him and the ring but she talked herself out of making too rash a decision in that moment. (I think she should have gone for it!! Sometimes love doesn't make sense and you just have to jump!) Anyhoo... they may ask Reid to be the next Bachelor and if that's the case... the obsession will continue for at least one more season, sad to say!

Back to our regularly scheduled blog post though...

Tuesday morning, C, J & I packed up her SUV (along with Buddy the dog) and head up to Dad's.

Dad and "G"

My brother and his family were also up at the lake so we had lots of fun visiting and hanging out with them. Although I had to spend some of my time working on my writing assignment, we also got in some time playing games like Dominoes, Dutch Blitz and Rummikub.

During the day we were either out in K's boat:

K in his boat

... heading to the Marina for candy...

J, S & Buddy

tubing...

S, L & N on the giant tube

spotting...

Me spotting the tubers from the front of the boat

kneeboarding...

N taking a ride behind the boat

or just going for a ride...

K, J, C and Buddy (with the tubers in the distance)

Fortunately the rainy weather left a day or so after we arrived so we could get out there and enjoy our surroundings, whether in kayaks...

C & I kayaked around a couple islands

peddleboat...

J & C peddleboating in the afternoon sun

or hiking down the lane to the nearby Falls...

Hanging out by the Falls

N playing in the Falls

Evenings around the cottage were fun. One night K took us for a boat ride at sunset...

and two of our three nights we sat by the campfire... being eaten alive by mosquitoes!

Campfire Girls

Campfire Boys... and J

L brought the goodies for us to make S'mores so we of course worked at roasting the perfect marshmallows...

J & I roasting the perfect 'mallow

Mine on the left looks like a chef's hat

On one night, after our campfire and rowsing game of Dutch Blitz in the cottage, C, J, S & I head outside to lay on the dock looking up at the stars. There is nothing like looking at the galaxy of God's handiwork from this place... there were SO many stars that almost every piece of sky was covered with twinkling lights. You could even see the milky way streaking across the night sky. We saw a few shooting stars which always amaze me. In the city we barely see any stars so this is even more brilliant for me.


There's always time at the cottage for a bit of fun and silliness...

My new lips... thanks to Babybel cheese!

And family bonding is of upmost importance...

Dad bonding with his furry grandson, Buddy

K with his furry little girl, Jazz

Sitting with J and Buddy on the dock

But all good things must come to an end and Friday evening C, J, Buddy & I repacked the SUV and head back to my place, but not before a Sibling/Nibling photo op...

Thanks for the fun time guys!

Saturday, C and D (who flew back to Canada after working all week) were off to a wedding so J & I hung out watching Pushing Daisies DVDs (which we'd watched during the week at the cottage). Sunday, they packed up their SUV one last time and head to my sister's for a BBQ with other family members (some of who couldn't make it to our party the weekend prior) and they head home Monday morning from D's sister's home. It was a great visit and in just a few weeks they'll be hosting us down in NC!

The Bandit's Nest

As you will recall if you are a regular lemonade sipper here at my blog, I found a sleeping bandit in one of the trees in our backyard last week. The little raccoon slept soundly amongst the waving branches in the breezy afternoon sunshine.

He was lying in a nest about 2/3 up the tree. Many readers wondered if it was his nest. I am here to update you on the nest our little masked bandit used as his hotel for the day. It was not a raccoon nest (which I didn't think it was). It was in fact, a squirrel's nest (which I did think it was). How do I know you ask? Well let me tell you!

This afternoon as I folded laundry on our bed I gazed out the window overlooking our back yard. Wondering about our little masked friend I looked up into the tree and you wouldn't believe what I saw. Scampering from branch to branch was a little black squirrel. He would hop to a branch and then with one hand/paw he would grab a fresh green newly sprouted branch of leaves. He would break it off and then scamper back to his old dried leaf nest, placing the bright new leaf on top before scampering off to find more.

I watched him for about 5 minutes as he hopped up and down the tree with new sprigs of leaves burrowing himself in the middle of his new fluffy bed. It was fascinating to watch. Eventually his bed was complete and it now sits about 4-6 inches above the old dried nest. Looks like a fluffy, green, leafy cloud!

While witnessing this little creature fix his home I wondered: Is this something he does every Spring? Or is he trying to get rid of that nasty raccoon smell left over by the "Goldilocks" bandit who had taken over his place last week? I guess I'll never know.

The Sleeping Bandit

If you could conjure up your most perfect Spring day, I think today would be it! It is glorious out today in Southern Ontario!

I booked a chiropractor appointment at 11:45am when I got up at 9 so I knew I only had a short time to get something... anything done before hand so at around 10:20 I threw on my walking shorts, tank top and running shoes with MP3 in my pocket and ear buds in my ears. I was ready to hit the pavement, so to speak, along the winding trails in my neighborhood.

Looking up into the brilliant sky, I could see glimmering airplanes that had recently made their ascent from the nearby Toronto airport. The contrast between the cloudless blue sky and eye-popping green of the new leaves on the trees almost took my breath away as I head into the park near my home. Wow, God is a good Creator! Who else could come up with such amazing scenery!

I made my round through the park, crossed the street into the wooded trail and took a detour at my first chance to cut through a neighborhood making a big circle back into the park from another entrance. I didn't have enough time (or energy) to take the same trek as yesterday.

After a shower and quick chiro appointment I was back home, trying to figure out how I can be productive and stay outside. Quickly, I made a chicken salad sandwich, poured a tall glass of water and head outside to eat my lunch. After I ate, I grabbed my Bible Study to finish my last lesson as well as my computer to begin working on my next assignment. Man, I'm loving a laptop about now!

The afternoon seemed to breeze by and before I knew it time had flown by and hubby would be home soon. I quickly chopped chicken and veggies to toss into a stir-fry, made some "minute" rice (I know... not the healthiest), and about 10 minutes after he arrived home, hubby & I were back outside, enjoying our dinner on the patio (for our 3rd night in a row!!)

As we sat and shared the days' events, I noticed something up in the tree in our "common area" backyard. The tree is actually in our next door neighbor's backyard but it's all open so it's like one big backyard with little fences giving a hint of privacy.

"Is that...?" I said as I ran inside to get my glasses so I could see beyond the 2 feet in front of me.
"It's a piece of wood, isn't it?" Hubby answered.
"Naw... I think it's a .... Raccoon!". We peered up into the tree where a big nest has sat for who knows how long.
"I thought that was a bird's nest." Hubby said.
"I thought it was a squirrel's nest. I replied.

No matter whose nest it was... like Goldilocks in the 3 Bears' home, this little guy was having himself a nice ole nap! We scurried to grab the camera and started taking pictures of the snoozing "bandit".
"Is this the guy fighting in the tree the other night?" we wondered.

I don't remember if I told you last week how hubby & I had run to the window because of loud fighting heard from trees across the fence. We thought it was cats. Nope. It was a raccoon attacking something (we presumed another raccoon... a friend suggested they were trying to mate!). No matter what they were doing it was a horrific sound that woke hubby up and got me out of bed (I wasn't sleeping yet) not once but twice! Crazy animals!

So, here I sit now, watching the sleeping bandit who awoke for a short time to have a scratch... guess sleeping in dead leaves can give someone a good itch! Hopefully he'll stay up there until I'm safely back in doors. Hubby has been trying to call him like he called our cats. I have to remind him it's a wild animal - ha ha.

So there you have it. The excitement of my day! Oooh... and if I can get it to work, here is the video I took of Mr. Sleeping Bandit (who knows if it's a Mr. or Ms at this point and I am NOT going to check!). Or... is it the Itchy Bandit??

Sorry the video is a little jumpy. As you can see by the trees blowing, it's a little windy up there.