Happy Easter! Joyeuses Paques!

What a beautiful day it is to celebrate Easter!  The sun is shinning, it is warm and we are spending time on the deck soaking up those rays.

All is good with us although our emotions are running a little high.  We sold our Huntsville home and we are now house hunting in the Burlington area.  So, lots going on at the moment and much more to go on in the next few months.  More on this in future blogs.  Today, we are taking a much needed mental break from all this.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having some good friends over, with their pooch Phoebe. It was another beautiful day and we were able to sit on the deck and enjoy a glass of wine.  Phoebe played in the snow non stop.  She is 14 years young and just loves the snow.   Cooper was content to just watch her play from the deck.  I gave them each an Easter treat, a kangaroo tendon.  Yum, they loved it!

Today, we went back to Arrowhead Park for the very last time...the park closes this coming Thursday for the season and who knows if we will ever go back.  The walking trails, although quite icy last weekend, were very nice and soft today.  It was a beautiful and peaceful walk.

We will spend the rest of the day relaxing.  I have a nice spiral ham to cook later with yummy vegetables.  For dessert, we will enjoy a piece of my Blueberry and Lemon layer cake.  I could have done a better job at icing it but we took a picture of it anyway.  It was totally delicious!  So good in fact that I gave almost half of it to Eve!

That's it for this week's blog.  I hope you are all having a nice Easter.

Mr. Cooper wishes everyone Happy Easter...woof...woof!

Anne's soon to be famous Blueberry and Lemon layer cake! 

Cooper, Anne, Eve, Pernell and Heaton with Phoebe...
a nice visit with good friends.

Loving up the pooches and getting kisses in return -
thank you Cooper.

Russell and Cooper on the trail in Arrowhead Park.

Looking skyward on a brilliant Spring Easter day in
Arrowhead Park deep amongst the pines.

Anne and Cooper on the trail in Arrowhead -
likely the last time this season.

Welcome Spring!

Happy Sunday to all!  It's official, we are starting a brand new season.  Spring is off to a good start, at least for today.  It is sunny, a tad cool but our snow is all gone in the backyard.  Looks like we will have to keep our snow tires on a little while longer though....some snow on the way this week.  It will be short lived so no worries.

All is good with us.  Last week was a good and busy week.  We were in Toronto on Wednesday, overnight.  We had a great time as always and tried a new restaurant for dinner, Cibo, in Yorkville. It was very nice and quite trendy.  Our usual place, Dimmi Trattoria, was closed for renovations, reopening sometime in April.  We also met with our good friend Gord later on in the evening and we got caught up on life in general.

We had a great weekend with our friends the Lulhams.  It was really nice to see George and Diane again.  They arrived yesterday afternoon.  We took them for a nice walk at Arrowhead Park and showed them a little bit of what Huntsville is all about.  Russell then made a nice fire and we had a lovely evening. It was fun to catch up on what we've all been up to in the past few years and all four of us had lots of stories to tell.  I made roasted salmon fillets marinated in Irish Whisky, followed by my "to die for" Guinness Gingerbread Cake.  A little belated St-Patrick's Day celebration.  Cooper was a good host although, at times, he wanted some attention....surprise surprise!

We went back to Arrowhead for another walk today.  The walking trails are not so good anymore, very icy in the shady areas, so it is a bit treacherous to walk.  If we get snow this week, the trails might be good for a bit longer but the park closes for the Winter season at the end of March regardless.  So, another season of Winter walking at the Park is about to end.

I did not realize until last night that Easter is this coming weekend.  I thought it was in two weeks time.  I knew it was early this year but didn't realize it was this early.  I'm loosing track of time it seems. Gotta plan our Easter feast....

That's it for my blog this week.  I include just a few photos that Russell took during our walk yesterday.  Somehow, Coop got cut off in the picture of Diane, George and me.  That's OK, you all know what he looks like :-)

I wish you all a great week!

Ice formations in the quick flowing Little East river
 at Stubb's Falls.

The Little East River upstream of Stubb's Falls.

Diane, Anne and George pause on the bridge on the
Little East river in Arrowhead Park.

Lots of daylight on the way!

Welcome to daylight saving time!  What a beautiful day to mark the arrival of more daylight.  Today, in Huntsville, it is sunny, warm and it smells and feels like Spring.  This past week, we literally watched the snow melt away right before our eyes.  The big dump that we got two weeks ago is history. It is amazing how quickly the white stuff is going away and, luckily, with no floods.  Love it!

This past week was good but busy.  We had quite of bit of rain and mild temperatures.  The sun finally came out on Friday, just in time for the weekend.  We went to Arrowhead Park for a number of walks.  Despite the mild temperatures, the walking trails are still in good shape.

Yesterday afternoon, we sat on our deck for the first time this year.  Such a nice feeling to be able to just be out there, with no snow and feel the warmth of the sun.  Cooper was a happy camper and took his usual spot on the deck by the steps, surveying his backyard while watching the chipmunks come and go. Another sign that Spring is here... Alvin, Theodore and their friends are out and about looking for the nuts that they hid last Fall.  The deer have also returned to our property.  We don't see them often in the Winter as the snow is too deep for them to hang around our place.  But they are back now.

This coming week will be busy.  We are off to Toronto on Wednesday, overnight.  Time for a hair cut.  Coop will be at Camp Talemaker. We will be back home in time for our St-Patrick's Day dinner. Russell will have his usual Dublin Coddle, recipe courtesy of my friend Pat Murphy (or rather his mom's recipe). It doesn't get more Irish than that!  Then we have our good friends, the Lulhams, coming over next Saturday.  It will be nice to see them.  We have a lot of catching up to do!

That's it for my blog this week.  I leave you with a few photos that we took at the park yesterday, another beautiful sunrise from yesterday morning, a few pics from our melting backyard and one of Cooper's many St-Paddy's Day photos.  I wish you all a wonderful week.  For those on March Break, have fun!

Anne and Cooper on the trail in Arrowhead Park!

A little rest near Stubb's Falls.

Russell and Cooper on the trail!

Birch trees and blue sky in Arrowhead.

At long last the fire-pit emerges.

Cooper wonders where all the snow has gone.

Russell trying to hand feed the chickadees...no luck that day.

Another stunning Muskoka sunrise.

Cooper wishes everyone Happy St Paddy's Day!

Spring is in the air

Well, my friends, it looks like Spring is just around the corner, at least based on the weather forecast for this week.  The sun is shining, is it warmish and the snow is melting.  Doesn't get any better than this.

This past week was good but it brought the biggest dump of the white stuff so far this year, about 25 cm.  We got a lot more than we expected.  The morning after the storm, we had lots of cleaning up to do.  The priority was to clear the paths for Cooper's backyard...25 cm is much higher than his little body can handle.  Russell and I thought, why not use our electric snowblower just to make our life a little easier....well, it was a good thought that we couldn't materialize. The ignitor switch was frozen and it wouldn't start.  Of course, after shovelling the backyard by hand, we then thought, why not use a blowdryer to try and thaw the switch.  Bingo!  It worked, just a little too late.  That's OK. It was a good workout.  Of course, I went to the gym afterwards...silly me.

Aside from shovelling, we haven't done much.  There is quite a bit of action on our house at the moment and we don't feel like doing much until we know more.  We are in limbo and the waiting is a tad stressful.  But we will get through it, with some positive thoughts.

Cooper is, of course, oblivious to the fact that his kingdom is for sale...although he probably wonders why we put his crate and toys away from time to time.  We do this every time we have a showing just to make the house neater.  For sure,  it will be a big change for him when we eventually move but dogs do adapt, and Cooper will be just fine.  We wouldn't have it any other way.

Not much else is going on.  We have just returned home from running errands and killing time while we had another showing.  We will spend the rest of the day relaxing.

I leave you with some pictures that we took of "our" Coop (as Diana so affectionally likes to call him) having fun in the snow.  Russell also captured two beautiful sunrises this past week.  Truly amazing how each sunrise can be so unique.  I wish you all a good week.  Just think, next Sunday, we Spring forward!

Cooper in full stride...where is that plush squirrel!?

Hard left hand turn and the ears are flapping!

Cooper's focus and eyes say it all..."Now I've got you!"

Always time to pose for a photo post the big snow!

Now that is a snowblower...six foot wide auger! Thanks John T.

Sunrise shot taken on the back deck.

Sunrise shot, same deck but 2 days later...just like snowflakes
no two sunrises are the same.