It must be getting close to spring, because we all have spring fever around here. There has been a lot of making going on everywhere I look. The birdhouse, the greenhouse, the bird seed wreaths. The kids aren’t the only ones making, either. Mama’s knitting needles have just finished new socks for a tiny little [...]
There is some serious fort building going on around here. Seriously. Christmas was spent in Toronto amidst family and friends, and while Ottawa had snow on Christmas day, Toronto did not. We came home to snow, which was a wonderful surprise, and over the next two days it snowed more. And more. And more. The [...]
I would never have said that I am a huge fan of winter. With Reynaud’s syndrome, my hands and toes get exceptionally cold with the slightest provocation. Thick socks and mittens – warm mittens — are an absolute necessity as soon as the weather dips below 10 degrees C. Even indoors, I tend to keep [...]
With all the gardening love that happens around here, you would think the kids would have had quite enough of visiting the garden centre with Mama, but I am sorry to say, it just ain’t so. They love the garden centre. They love looking at plants. They love identifying things where they can and asking [...]
A while back, K built B a bird house for her birthday and we mounted it in our hackberry tree. Lately, these two lovelies have been hanging about underneath that same tree: Usually, they hang out underneath one of the feeders, picking up seeds dropped by the messier visitors. Often, they sit atop the arbour [...]
We like watching birds. We watch Snowball, our pet society finch. We watch the birds in the woods when we go on walks. And we watch the many fine-feathered birds who visit our feeders daily. Lately, there’s been a lot of bird-related crafting going on, and it’s been super-fun. First, there was this: B made [...]
Monday, we began the joyful process of breaking in a new workbench. For Christmas, the kids acquired a gorgeous maple workbench from Santa, and B received her very first set of tools to go with it (before you think that is vastly unfair, K received his first set of tools when he was 7 too). [...]
The only thing better than a winter weekend is a winter weekend when it snows, and snow it did! Saturday morning we set out for lessons amidst gentle flurries that had us all wondering if the snowfall was going to be worth it, or if it was just going to turn into one of those [...]
What is it about secret spaces that is so appealing? Lean-to forts in the backyard, cozy holes in a hedge, the sheltered space under a weeping willow tree, that funny little space under the upper levels of the playstructure at the park, and of course Harry Potter’s room under the stairs — all of these secret [...]
Today is officially the first day of Spring! We’ve been spoiled rotten by some unseasonably spring-like weather this year. Winter in Ottawa is cold. Very cold. And it lasts forever. Or at least it seems that way somewhere around mid-february when friends and cousins in the southern reaches of the USA call and tell me [...]
