Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving. One of my favourite celebrations. October is the perfect month. The harvest is mostly finished, autumn has arrived, and it's good to gather with loved ones and acknowledge our many blessings. Although all of our dreams and hopes may be fulfilled, there is always, always something for which we can thank God.

We celebrated with our children and grandchildren yesterday, Saturday, so that they could be with other family today. 

This afternoon Tim and I went for a ramble around Rithet's Bog. There is colour if one looks for it, and that I did, finding golden trees that glowed in the sunlight, red leaves that swung gently back and forth, and plenty of pale brown stalks of grass and fat, ready-to-explode cattails.  

Recent rains have begun filling the bog that was dry and bereft of ducks for the summer. The ducks have returned to splash and swim, not minding the debris and pollen in the air. 

A crow cawed from behind a curtain of yellow leaves shimmered and caught the light. He was a shy bird, not a show-off at all.

Our three little grand darlings. The girl cousins play together so well, and Mister F. follows them around saying, "me, too," "me, too." How I love them. 

After our walk, I took my basket to the garden and discovered a few ripe figs, one zucchini, bunches of grapes and cherry tomatoes, and lots of lettuce. The kale and carrots I left for another day.

Tomorrow is the actual holiday, but we've always had the tradition of having our dinner on Saturday or Sunday to leave Monday as the day for doing little or nothing.  Wishing all my fellow Canadians a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

Linking with Mosaic Monday, hosted by Maggie of Normandy Life.

PS. I added a bit of information to my previous post about the memorial stone for Lucy Partington at Hailes Chapel, with thanks to Rosemary of Where Five Valleys Meet.  

Gathering Close

When Tim suggested we get together with our in-town children for a walk and supper, I jumped right on board. Cooler than usual temperatures had us planning a somewhat shorter walk. Around 4 pm at Mount Doug Park, the sunset in the west stained back to show pink loveliness in the east. Of course, to be honest, some of that pink might be due to smog over Vancouver and Seattle. 
 

A visit to the park must include swinging. The girls are pushed by their fathers, and both are looking in the same direction at I-don't-know-what.
 

Double slides are so much fun that even Nana slid down, holding Little Miss S's hand.
 

I'm usually the one behind the camera, but this time, Tim had it. I'm loving this photo of me with my two darling grand girlies. No, we didn't coordinate our pink outfits ahead of time. 
 

Home to Roasted Potato Soup, an Antipasto platter, and the first servings of Christmas baking. Tim lit a fire and we spent the early evening watching the girls race around the house, playing catch with Uncle Gerry. Oh, the energy! Oh, the fun! 

A couple of people asked how I got the overhead table shot in my last post. I just stand on a dining room chair and take the shot straight downwards. The pearl garland in the last post is draped around the light fixture and I focused on that to get the blurred table background. In the above photo, I focused on the poinsettia.