It's that time of year!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Room at the Inn
Turtle Creek Casino & Resort Room
October 5, 2009
I love getting ideas for decorating/renovating our home and since we do a lot of traveling I have an uncanny knack of taking pictures of where we stay. I take pictures of the decorating, the tile work, the washroom and anything else that strikes my fancy. It's rather interesting that I can see a style or colour combination on tv or in a magazine yet can't get a really good feel of it until I see it in real life. I keep a large file of these pictures filed under the category of home ideas.
What we really liked about this room was the clean yet cosy decor. What we didn't like was bumping our shins on the bed frame. Both of us ended up with multiple bruises from running into it. Now this is a good thing because we saw this bed frame idea in a magazine and had planned on doing the same for our bed. That is just not going to happen now! I liked the wall turned headboard idea here too. So that might be doable in different colours of course.
The room was spacious and comfortable, nicely decorated. The washroom had the glass tiles I fell in love with as an accent wall. I liked the deep earth tone colours as well. A few more ideas were added into my home ideas folder.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
H1N1
Everyone is talking about the H1N1 flu. As predicted it does seem the flu is making its second rounds right now. H1N1 is now the hot news topic, it's big in the blogsphere and it's all over Twitter. Yesterday I was talking to our neighbours both who are feeling just a bit under the weather as are we. They know of two people down with N1N1! Then I checked the mailbox to find the H1N1 pamphlet from the Public Heath Agency of Canada. Apparently H1N1 has hit our small little corner of the world. With that new I came in the house a brewed a fresh pot of herbal tea, snuggled into an afghan and continued on my hibernation theme.
We've been taking precautions since the first outbreak because with chronic respiratory problems I'm in the higher risk group for complications if I contract H1N1. At the same time and considering the risks we do not plan to get the H1N1 vaccine. Staying away from social situations including shopping until there is a good freeze has always been a good way to help prevent illness. Avoiding contact with infected people seems to be one of the best courses of action. Of course we take precautions like washing our hands well often combined with good housekeeping and sanitizing. We are fortifying our bodies with good, old fashioned home cooking. That heathen greeting of hand shaking has gone out the window although I very seldom did that anyway. Learning not to touch any mucousal membranes or your face is likely the hardest because most people don't realize how many times they do this just on an hourly basis. At any rate it is now a wait until a really good freeze that will help stop the spread of the virus. In the meantime we putter on.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
BYBS - A Beautiful Autumn Day
It has been quite pleasant and on the warmer autumn temperatures type of day today so we took a bit of time to enjoy the lovely weather. All of the lawn furniture has been put away. We did a fair amount of caulking and sealing as well. I'm still puttering doing a bit more sealing and checking for air leaks while enjoying the gorgeous sunshine. I'm hoping to get a bit of work done cleaning out the garden as well today. What a lovely, unexpected blessing!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Dollarama
I was watching my favourite Canadian funny men, Rick Mercer the other night. One of their skits was about Dollarama, one of my favourite shopping haunts. My family teases me about shopping at dollar stores but hey there are some excellent values to be found if you know what you are looking. Apparently they are making money thanks to moi :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Stranger met on Safari
You never know who you will meet of a Safari adventure. I love these types of animations and couldn't help but think the grandbabies would really enjoy this as well :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
On the Safari
Majestic
October 3, 2009
Continuing on my safari I came across this majestic elephant. Isn't he grand? Just look at those huge tusks too! The scenery is all hand painted but the stuffed animals are real at Cabelo's. I am really pleased with this photo. I had to do a bit of tweaking to compensate for the incandescent lighting but other than that I think this picture looks very realistic just as if I had been on a real safari :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Safari Adventure
The Attack
October 3, 2009
On our recent Wisconsin trip we made a short side trip to the plains of Africa. There I managed to capture an amazing scene without getting hurt but the noise was astounding. Isn't it amazing?
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Umm, you are buying the short side trip story are you? It was a side trip but to Cabela's not Africa. Cabela's is a huge outfitter's outlet so anything related to living the great life outdoors can be found there. Scattered throughout their store are various very realistic displays of full sized real preserved animals set against their natural habitat. An awful lot of work must go into preparing these exhibits. They also have huge tanks and small ponds of game fish which is rather interesting in helping novice anglers identify local fish. As if that wasn't enough they even have a small museum with several exhibits.
I'm not a shopper by any stretch of the imagination but this type of store I find very interesting. The have a fair amount of food and food related items. The store is massive but extremely interested. I took a lot of pictures of the displays so will share a few more with you as well.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Autumn Comes to the Forest
Autumn Comes to the Forest
October 3, 2009
The kids live on a beautiful country property surrounded by natural forest home to deer, wolves, racoons, skunks and porcupines. There is an abundant avian population as well. The forest behind the kids' home showed more yellows than reds. The morning I took this picture a cute little woodpecker was busy practicing of the eaves trough. He just would stay within my camera view so I didn't get a picture of him.
Summer basically didn't exist in many areas this year so the fall colours don't seem to be popping. It hasn't helped that many areas have already experienced their first hard frost bringing the end to many home gardens. At the same time the trees simply dropped a lot of leaves with the frost. Still the colours are quite enjoyable.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Building Art
Building Art
October 2, 2009
I have always been fascinated with building art. There are three types of building art with the primary goal of the first being advertising a product and/or business. This type of art was the precursor to bill boards and advertising signs. The second type is meant to beautify the side or front of a building as a way of conveying something about the owner of the building or perhaps supporting a community focal point. The third type is the one that tends to get a bit more publicity because it is viewed as vandalism. Graffiti has been an ongoing problem for many communities but with all the legalities aside it is amazing how gorgeous some of this building art is.
Pictured is the building art for advertising the Jacom Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls and Milwaukee in Wisconsin. The art that expanded an entire wall of the building just caught my attention so I was quite pleased that the picture came out as good as it did. The muted colours just add to the eye appeal.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Milwaukee County Historical Center
Milwaukee County Historical Center
October 2, 2009
I love taking pictures of old buildings with interesting architecture. The Milwaukee County Historical Center located at 910 N. Old World 3rd Street in Milwaukee, WI. The building is an elaborately detailed neoclassical revival structure was completed in 1913 after two years of construcition. It originally housed the Second Ward Savings Bank. In 1866 the bank was reorganized, Board members included the famous brewers, Phillip Best, Valentine Blatz, and Joseph Schlitz which led to its moniker, the “Brewers’ Bank.”
The building is now home to the Historical Society Home. The museum is open to the public daily for a small charge that is waived for members of the Historical Society. Residents of Milwaukee County can visit free of charge on Mondays. The Milwaukee County Historical Center is a City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County Landmark. It has been listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Chicago, O'Hare International Airport
Chicago, O'Hare International Airport
October 2, 2009
October 2, 2009
Chicago, O'Hare International Airport is located 32 km (20 miles) northwest of downtown Chicago. While we saw the exit signs for the airport we did not go off of our route to see the airport itself. Security is so tight at airports these days that we wouldn't have got close enough to get much in the way of pictures. We did however see several planes fly over the highway. The Chicago area looks quite interesting and we would love to have authentic Chicago deep dish pizza so our next trip through the city we plan on stopping over for a couple of days to explore.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chicago Skyline
Chicago Skyline
October 2, 2009
We had been traveling in the rain sometimes heavy at times for most of the journey. As we approached the Chicago skyline it stopped raining just enough to get a couple of pictures. It is impressive! I couldn't get over the amount of traffic for it being quite early afternoon. Thanks to Lucy we made it through the Chicago traffic without any problems or delays.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge
Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge
October 2, 2009
My husband had programmed Lucy for the fastest route. The fastest route involved a few toll roads so we had a few slow ups to pay the toll. On a trip like this it is always a toss up whether to take the toll roads or go around. In most cases the toll roads will get you there faster but they cost you to use. Pictured is the entrance to the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge. Unfortunately all 6 days of our road trip it basically rained or threatened rain so I wasn't able to take as many pictures from the car windows as I normally do.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
BYBS - Thanksgiving
We just returned home from a recent road trip that spanned 6 days and 5 nights. So the first blessing was we had safe travels the entire trip. The second blessing was the wonderful time we spent with the kids. This really is one of the greatest blessings there is!
Today will also be spent with the kids and the grandbabies. We will laugh, reminisce and give thanks for the blessings wthat came before us, what we are experiencing now and what it to come.
Happy Thanksgiving, may you and yours enjoy as many blessings as we have.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Meet Lucy
Lucy
October 2, 2009
We left on a road trip on October 2 returning on the 7th. It began with an 8 hr stretch of driving mainly freeway with heavy traffic, heavy rain at times and construction. We have a fair amount of road trip experience under our belts so one thing I admit to is not being able to decipher road maps. That is because the concept of right and left is almost foreign to me and I am extremely directionally challenged. So map interpretation is extremely frustrating for me which sometimes means voicing that frustration. For this trip my husband borrowed one of our kid's GPS in the hopes it would work a bit better than his wife's navigational skills.
Within a few minutes into the trip the GPS was nicknamed Lucy. A pleasant female voice told my husband where to turn and we could even watch the road on the GPS as we traveled. If we went off the route which we did for a bit of sight seeing and a couple of detours Lucy directed us back so we could get to the main route. My husband immediately started talking back to Lucy usually answering to her directions 'yes dear' and occasionally 'but I don't want to go that way Lucy". We erupted into fits of laughter when Lucy showed us driving in a field because the new road didn't appear. In all Lucy made for a very enjoyable, peaceful ride with no frustration flare-ups. What a wonderful and relaxing way to travel. We definitely are going to buy one of these gadgets!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Flu Update
[from my email files]
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"FLU UPDATE "
What is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu?
For bird flu you need tweetment and for swine flu you need oinkment
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Monday, October 05, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
BYBS - Moving Fast Forward
Kenny Chesney's song Living in Fast Forward is a good reminder to slow down and unwind real slow. My husband and I are doing a bit of unwinding for a few days. It's nice to able to spend quality time together :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Connie Talbot THE FINAL Britains Got Talent Over The Rainbow
Little 6 year old Connie Talbot has an amazing voice and what a real sweetie!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Flowers on a Grey Day
Flowers on a Grey Day
September 25, 2009
My husband came home with a lovely bouquet of bright, sunny flowers on Friday. It had been a long, cold, rainy and very almost wintery week. I didn't get to enjoy them until Sunday morning after getting home late the night before from visiting the kids but that was ok. Grey days always bother me so we keep a lot of lights on in the main living area on grey days. Anything that helps brighten the grey is always very much welcomed. Aren't the beautiful, sunny colours gorgeous?
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Sleeping Moments
I'm not a huge fan of sleeping but when I do I look forward to my dreams. I have always had the most awesome, realistic, Kodak® colour dreams ever better than any television program you could ever imagine. The best part is I can for the most part remember every graphic detail of these dreams which totally drives my husband nuts. And let me tell you some of them are well worth remembering! It is like the line between the dream world and reality is so fine it is very close to being blurred.
Last night I drifted off to sleep waking in the midst of a very realistic dream because apparently I was thirsty. We use refillable water bottles on our bed stands so I mindlessly reached for mine hoping to get right back into the dream. It was empty! So I hopped out of bed and headed out into the kitchen to refill the bottle. That effectively froze my feet! I hopped back into bed, had a nice sip of cold water then covered up tightly and drifted off again to yet another dream only to be somewhat awakened by my cell phone alerting me the battery was low. I did not even bother batting an eye as I pulled up the down duvet snuggling deeper into its warmth. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind the cell phone dinging until it died might have registered but I was too busy with the dream of the moment. It didn't really matter as I was off on one of my dream adventures :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
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