fall back!

so, what are you going to do with your extra hour?

In the midst of the flurry of school, judo and dance activities, I'm going to have an extra cup of coffee and try to catch up with pictures.

Yesterday was a classic Alberta fall day - brilliant yellow leaves, blue sky, and warm enough to do yardwork and barbeque burgers on the patio:

Another sign of fall - rare (for us) birds visiting to take advantage of windfalls:

And of course, the speedy change of seasons:

We are reasonably well prepared though. Tim harvested the root vegetables on the Thanksgiving day weekend and we are decently supplied with root vegetables. Borscht fixings!

All is well at school and home. I almost forgot: Stasha got a recognition award at school a few weeks ago, for "Leadership and assistance in the Classroom". Not for being bossy or anything like that, no, not at all.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I am thankful for being able to come downstairs to coffee made by the children:

It is great to take a break from an increasingly busy routine. School has been busy for the kids and myself, Tim of course never stops being busy at work; judo, dance, school meetings, and teaching yoga all continue to keep us on our toes. So taking time out to relax, eat turkey, watch movies and hang out with each other is especially delicious this weekend.

Thanksgiving dinner also gave us an opportunity to teach the kids an important lesson in Circle of Trust. You can't tell interesting anecdotes and stories without some reassurance that the kids won't immediately run and tell the subject of that anecdote, innocent as it may be. Thus:

I'm grateful for kids who can grasp the concept of discretion.

Let's see - other things I'm grateful for?

It's been a fairly warm fall and we got away without having a severe frost early in the year, so the apples got really nice and red. Even after giving bushels and bags away to friends and neighbours, and even strangers walking past the tree in the green strip, we have tons for ourselves to use through the fall. If I wasn't so crummy (ha) at making pastry, I'd make more pies.

And of course, I'm grateful for having a sweet daughter. I would have a picture of Theo too, if I could get one without him crossing his eyes or delivering some similarly moronic "I am cool" expression.

I still have to study this weekend. Normally I try to get as much work as I can done at the university while the kids are in school, but there's so much more material for what I'm taking this fall, and besides the texts are the size and weight of coffee table books. We moved the sofa from the family room up to the living room, and now it makes a cozy place to sit and study - almost too cozy! But I like it.