Christmas came and went...

Amazing to think that Christmas is behind us for another year.  This year, for some reason, it seemed to have come and gone really quickly.  We had a nice one nonetheless, quiet, just the three of us.  We did "Facetime" with my family and it was nice to see them, even from a distance. We will do it again on New Year's Day.  The weather wasn't the best so we stayed in all day and just lounged around.  Although we had planned to watch some movies, we didn't, but we did watch the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular Show that we have on DVD.  We saw the show in New York City a few years ago and just loved it.  It is a great show to watch, especially on Christmas Day.  Those Rockettes sure have nice legs!

Boxing Day was also quiet and we spent the day relaxing.  It was actually nice to just do nothing.  Yesterday,  I went back to the gym and life was back to normal, until New Year's Eve that is....

We haven't seen the sun much lately, although it did come out today for a little bit.  It sure doesn't feel like a typical Muskoka Winter.  We have no snow to speak of and the temperatures are mild.  So much so that the Arrowhead Provincial Park has been closed for the past few days due to the slushy conditions. The temperatures will drop this week so hopefully the park will reopen tomorrow or Tuesday. I do not mind if the weather turns cold but I want the sun badly.

Cooper also had a nice Christmas.  He didn't have much to do other than get a few special treats and lounge around.  Such is a dog's life!

Not much is going on for us this week.  We hope to stay up until Midnight on New Year's Eve but I'm not holding my breath....As for New Year's Day, Russell will be watching the College Bowl Games and I will be cooking a turkey.  I didn't think to buy a turkey before Christmas, thinking that I could easily find one this week.  My mistake....oh I did find one, one of 5 left at the grocery store.  And a big one...a 20 lb one!  But I bought it anyway so lots of leftovers will be had!

I leave you with two pictures.  One is a collage of Christmas decorations that my brother Francois,  sister Lynn and I, as well as my two nephews, Sean and James, made over the years.   My parents put them up every year at Christmas.   The one that I made is at the bottom left corner.  I was 5 years old when I made this work of art!  Those are nice memories to treasure.  The other picture is of the Coop  lounging on Christmas Day.

I wish you all a great week and hope that your New Year's Celebrations are great!  I will write again in 2015!

Memories of Christmas past.....

Did I hear someone say, it is treat time...guess I'll get up!

Christmas Wishes to all!

Here we are, December 21, 2014.  The Winter Solstice and just a few days before Christmas.  For many, this will be a busy week.  Kids all over the world are getting excited and hope that Santa will be good to them.  As for us, we are ready for Christmas.  It will be a quiet one, just the three of us.  I will be preparing a few special meals, we will be watching some good old Christmas movies and Russell will have a nice fire going.  We will be doing "Facetime" with my family on Thursday.  Not quite the same as seeing them in person but it will be nice to see everyone's face.

This past week was, shall I say, "crappy".  Our little Cooper came down with a case of dietary indiscretion, as the vet calls it.  I will spare you the details but, for 48 hours, every 3 hours, the Coop was "indisposed".  As you can imagine, with any dog, this is not fun, but when your dog has a long coat like Cooper, well, let's just say that we made good use of our laundry tub, day and night.  We did go to the vet and he was given some antibiotics as well as some probiotic powder that we sprinkle on his food.  It took him longer than anticipated to recover but yesterday morning, at 4:30 am, he gave us an early Christmas present:  two nicely formed Yule logs!  I am happy to say that he is back to his old self and we resumed our walks with him yesterday afternoon.

Today, we went to Arrowhead Park for a nice walk in the forest and we bought our Winter Pass.  The park opened its Winter season on Friday.  It is a great place to go for walks, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and skating.  We plan on making good use of the park in the next few months.

All is good for Russell and I.  A few more workouts until Christmas then we will take a short break....I will resume my Bootcamp on December 27.  No rest for the wicked.

This ends my blog for today.  I include two pictures that Russell took.  One of Cooper by the Christmas tree and another one which we find quite special.  Russell took that photo of Cooper one year ago and we put it in this cute frame that I found in Huntsville.  With a Christmas teddy bear around it,  it makes for a special Christmas picture.

Russell, Cooper and I wish you all a wonderful Christmas.  May it be a very happy one!

Cooper asking...how much longer do I have to pose?!

Waiting patiently for Christmas....the Coop is ready!

The Christmas Elves are getting busy....

It's Christmas time all over the world. Busy times for all, nostalgic times for many and happy times hopefully for most people.  We often hear that Christmas is for kids.  I think Christmas is what you make of it. We don't have children but we have one beautiful dog who brings out the kid in us all the time.   So, we are getting ready for Christmas, like everyone else, and we're almost ready.  Most of my baking is done, our Christmas cards are mailed and our outdoor tree...well, it's still standing straight, although much thinner than when we got it.  We caught the deer nibbling at it 4 times today....just imagine what they do at night.  But there is a bright side to this:  the 400 mini clear lights that I put on the tree are now looking much brighter as they are not hidden by the thickness of the branches.....

This past week was busy.  Our trip to Toronto was delayed by one day due to the storm that hit Ontario on Thursday.  About 15 cm of snow fell but some of it has already melted due to the mild temperatures. Cooper had a great time playing in the fresh snow and we took some pictures. He simply loves the snow!  We left for Toronto Friday morning and came back yesterday. The roads were perfect. We had a good time although is seemed a bit rushed.  Everytime we go to the city, we seem to have a number of errands to run and, as Russell said to me yesterday, we, or I, always add on, trying to do too much in so little time.  Nonetheless, we had a very nice dinner at our favorite restaurant in Yorkville, Dimmi Trattoria, and you could feel the buzz of Christmas.

While we were in Toronto, Cooper was at Camp Talemaker.  During his visit, he bonded with Spice and they both played really well together.  I include a picture that Darlah took of the two of them.  I think they make a nice couple.....he had a great time as always.

Not much else is happening.  We have some appointments this week and Cooper will have his last doggie day care visit for the year.  Wow, amazing to think that in just a few weeks we will start a brand new year.  The weather forecast for the balance of the year is not bad at all, if I say so myself, although we all know that it can change very quickly.  But for now, we will take what we get....milder than normal temperatures.

This is it for this week's blog.  I wish you all a great week ahead and may your Christmas preparations go smoothly.

Christmas Elves.....hard at work or hardly working.

Spice and Cooper survey the yard at Camp Talemaker. Is Spice flirting with the Coop?

The Coop on a rescue and retrieve mission with his fave toy.

The Coop about to take flight.....

It's beginning to look, and smell, like Christmas

As I am writing this blog, the house smells delicious. I have Chewy Molasses Cookies baking in the oven and my favorite candle for the holiday season is lit, Blue Spruce scent.  I just love the smells that Christmas brings!

All is good for us and this past week was good.  Cooper's dental procedure went very well and his teeth are pearly white. We are very pleased with the results.  With daily brushing, he should not need to have this done again any time soon, if ever. When we brought him home, he was a bit wobbly and quite subdued for a few hours but by dinner time, he was almost back to normal.  He ate his food with gusto but didn't feel like playing that night.  The next day, he was back to his old self.  That's a good job done!

My car was at the repair shop for one full week.  I got it back yesterday.  Did I ever mention that my MINI Countryman is yellow, as in lemon.....OK, to be fair to MINI, of the two fairly major problems that I had with my car this past week, one what not entirely caused by the way the car was built.  There was a mouse nest in the air cleaner which prevented the car from driving properly.  Now, one would think that the car could be built so that this little incident wouldn't happen....so the first problem was not MINI's fault, but Minnie's.  The second issue was totally MINI's:  the fuel pump had to be replaced.  Not something that we would expect to replace on a 3 year old car.  Needless to say that our faith in that car is gone, especially when we take into account the other problems that we've had since we got it.  Enough ranting but it is frustrating.  Two good things came out of this:  we found a great repair shop in Huntsville that services European cars.  Far better than having to drive to Barrie to go to the MINI dealership and much better service.  The other thing is that we now know that we can live with one car between the two of us.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having my good friend, and former colleague, Anne, over for an overnight stay.  I hadn't seen her since I retired so it was truly wonderful to see her again.  Needless to say, we had a lot of catching up to do and some of it was done while taking a nice walk in our neighbourhood. Anne loves College Football so Russell had a good excuse to watch the games... Cooper was a gracious host and even went up to her room this morning to give her a little wake up call......

So, just a few weeks before Christmas.  Busy times for everyone.  We are off to Toronto on Thursday for a much needed haircut.  It's been 8 weeks since our last haircut and it shows.  My hair is a mess and Russell looks like he is growing Chia grass on his head.....We will stay overnight and plan on going to the Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District.  Cooper will be at Camp Talemaker.  He hasn't been for a while so he tells me he is looking forward to it.  Who wouldn't!

I leave you with a few pictures that Russell took of our Christmas decorations. As for our outdoor Fraser Fir Christmas Tree, and as predicted last week, the deer have been doing a good job at trimming the bottom of the tree! We may not have an outdoor tree by Christmas after all......hope Santa doesn't mind. I wish you all a great week!

The Coop loves to oversee all household activities and dresses the part.

The Coop giving Anne some much NOT needed direction.

Fresh Fraser Fir wreath on the great room wall.

Christmas has almost arrived in the great room! Come on Santa.