Forty Beautiful Years!

August 28, 1982, 11 am, Ste-Anne-De-Bellevue, Quebec

Forty years ago today, Russell and I said our "I Do's".  It was a beautiful day, just like today.  We have been going strong ever since. 

Those 40 years have gone by so very quickly. We have made memories that we will cherish forever and now look forward to making many new ones in the years to come.

We are celebrating in Niagara-on-the-Lake, at the Prince of Wales Hotel. A little getaway in one of our favorite places. It is quaint and romantic. 

In this week's blog,  I thought it would be fun to share a few of our wedding photos as well as a photo of the top tier of our wedding cake, with the original orchid and ribbon. It has been preserved very nicely. That cake has followed us through the years, through our many moves from Alberta to Ontario to Quebec. It has a little place in the corner of our freezer. A little memento from forty years ago that we cherish to this day 💞

Today, we look a little different but we are the same two people who fell in love so many years ago. We feel truly blessed to be together and to share our lives with two very special Havanese. Happy Anniversary to my darling Russell! Cheers to many more years together!

More about our Ontario getaway in next week's blog. Enjoy the photos! Have a great week everyone!

Sealed with a kiss!

On our way to begin our new life
together.

We have always been close to each
other and only a tree has ever 
come between us.

A deep and loving graze that has only grown 
stronger over the years.

Our wedding party...family and close friends

A radiant bride with her adoring husband.

Cutting the traditional wedding
fruitcake

The top tier of our wedding cake 
40 years later, a testimony to
enduring love.

Sunflower fields

Happy Sunday everyone! It's a sunny, hot and humid one today. Possible thunderstorms later. We need rain badly. On our walk this morning, we noticed that the Willow trees are dropping their leaves. Same in our neighbour's backyard. Seems kind of early 🍂

This past week was good. We saw our friend Errol at the park a few times. Spicy was cuddling against him, it was ever so cute! Cooper was busy sniffing the trees 😊There is a public piano on display at the Edgewater Park until October.  The town of Pointe-Claire is inviting all citizens to play their favorite tunes. I may give it a try one of these days. We couldn't resist getting Cooper & Spicy to sit on the bench, such a beautiful and colourful piano, painted by a Quebec artist, Zoe Boivin.

We spent a good part of the week researching all about Greece. Thank you to Pauline for sharing her trip with us. It has given us a good head start. In a week or two, we will have a video call with a former colleague of mine who is Greek and knows the Greek islands inside out. We're a little all over the place at the moment in terms of which islands to visit besides Santorini so his perspective will be appreciated. Most of the hotels will not release their 2023 price list until October so we have lots of time to figure things out. In the meantime, it's fun to read all about Greece.

On Friday, Russell joined the Lakeshore Camera Club for a trip to La Belle du Coteau, in Coteau-du-Lac. They got to photograph fields of sunflowers and other flowers too. It was the perfect day although a little too bright he thought. I include a few of the photos that he took. Beautiful!

That's my blog for today. Have a great week everyone! Look for my blog next Sunday, it will be a special one!

A busy bee on a sunflower!

Sunflowers as far as the eye could see.

The day was a little bright, so Russell used his
skills in Photoshop to add a new sky to this 
solo sunflower. Very pretty!

A field of wonderful red zinnias.

Black-eyed Susan looking at you.

Cooper and Spicy wanted to play a tune on the 
piano set up at Edgewater Park.

It's that time of year!

Happy Sunday everyone! We're enjoying a glorious day, once again. More of the same this week. Summer is far from over 🌞Despite this gorgeous weather, the Fall Mums are now for sale in most grocery stores.....it's that time of year! 

All is good with us. Our week started quite cool, a huge contrast with the hot temperatures of last week. I found myself sitting on the deck with my pashmina shawl over my shoulders. That lasted two days.

Russell cut the grass on Wednesday. We noticed how it's not growing as fast now. It's still very green though.  Our planters are starting to fade away. The two apple trees that we have in our backyard may be a source of food for the squirrels but they are messy. Before cutting the grass, we have to pick up buckets of dropped half eaten apples. It's that time of year!

We are still thinking about a European trip for next year. Although Italy was our top choice, we are now thinking about Greece. We have more research to do. Still in the planning phase. We find that we are not as excited about travelling as we used to be. I suppose once the airlines get their act together, hopefully soon,  it will be more enjoyable. 

Cooper & Spicy are doing well. We had some nice walks with them last week and met up with Errol, the nice man that sits on a bench. He keeps thanking us for taking the time to stop and chat. Yesterday, Russell actually helped him figure out something on his cell phone. That was nice.

My brother came for a visit this morning, always nice to catch up with him. The rest of our Sunday will be quiet. I'll watch more episodes of Pretty Little Liars. I just can't let it go. Russell has been following the 2022 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally online. It started on August 5 and ended this morning. Over 500,000 riders attended, all kinds, from "normal" looking bikers to not "so normal" looking. You have to see it for yourself to understand why I'm saying this 😏

That's my blog for today.  I only have a few photos of our pooches, of course 😍. I have to start taking pics of them in different rooms of the house...maybe the bathroom 😂Spicy always rubs herself against my bath towel, will try to take a pic of that one day.  Have a great week everyone!

The duo lounging on the deck on
a cool day!

Cooper and Spicy want to know....
when will your workout be over Mom!

Spicy always has a smile...especially when she
gets her paws on the table...any food up there?

Cooper is a perpetually happy and smiling
fellow, he is a treasure!

A very hot Sunday

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! We are experiencing a scorching day, like many others around the globe. It's 33 celsius at the moment, feeling like 42. Unlike yesterday though, which was as hot, today's heat is much more oppressive. I'm not sure if I will spend any time on the deck today. One thing is for sure, it is way too hot for our pooches to be outside, other than a quick in and out when nature calls. We are under a severe thunderstorm watch for this afternoon. Hopefully it will break the humidity. This weather reminds me that we got our snow contract renewal last week 😏

Enough about the weather. This past week was good. Russell has recovered from his salmonella although it took a while.  Now he's all about restoring his gut flora. 

We had a few nice walks with Cooper & Spicy. On Monday, as we arrived at the park, we ran into Matisse, a PON that we met for the first time last year. It was nice to see him and his human again. We chatted for a bit while we walked. The dogs got along well. On Friday, we saw Errol, the nice man that likes to chat with us. He was happy to see us. We haven't walked since. Just too hot.

Our Rudbeckias are in full bloom. They make for such a nice display in the corner of our backyard. Our PeeGee Hydrangea in the front of our house is also full of flowers. Our daisies are almost done. Before we know it, the Mums will be on sale 😂

It's a short blog today. Russell will have a nap with the kids soon. I will watch a couple of episodes of Pretty Little Liars. I started watching this series a while back. It's actually entertaining, although quite far fetched.  

Have a great week everyone and stay cool if you can!

We like the smell of your food..can we have a taste?

When it's too hot, you just chill!

Now this is hot, 37C feeling like 45C, yesterday.
Will it get this hot today?

Waiting to go downstairs to play in the cool basement

PeeGee Hydrangea has filled out and has set nice
lovely panicles which will turn lime green soon.

The Rudbeckias make a nice bright splash of
yellow in the back bed.