Tuesday, November 14th - a celebratory week all round

Two special occasions to mark this week - Happy Anniversary to Brenda and Bernie who had the family all over for dinner on Monday night to celebrate. And secondly, an early Happy Birthday to Patti who is celebrating her birthday on Thursday.

At Westminster Abbey

It's been a busy week for Patti with Remembrance Day Celebrations. James did two legs of the Friday overnight vigil at the cenotaph so I suspect he needed to be picked up, warmed up, and then taken back for the second shift.( I was checking their weather, and it was much colder than here).

After taking part in Remembrance Day ceremonies on Saturday, Patti and James headed to London, England on Saturday night. They celebrate remembrance day on the 2nd Sunday of November, so they were able to participate in the ceremonies there as well. The legion there  has what they call the poppy field on the lawn outside Westminster Abbey. They have wooden crosses that you can get by donation and they have all kinds of different sections. People can write the name of someone who died in the war or something they want to remember and place it in the section that represents it.  James got a cross on behalf of the 121 Red Arrows squadron to remember the Canadians who died and placed it in the Canada section. I am so incredibly proud of this young man.

Nothing nearly so exciting around here. The week was spent (by Lloyd, as least) finishing up the last

Backing into the barn for the winter

minute things around the yard. Once all the outside stuff is done before the snow arrives, it's a huge relief to know that now you can take your time with the indoor jobs over the winter.
Wood is all in, yard has been all cleaned up, barn has been emptied and is now filled with pieces of summer stuff - lawn tractors, push
lawn mowers, BBQ's, and last but not least, my little red car. It always makes me sad to see it get put away but knowing it will be coming back out in the spring gets me through the storm days!

We had a large pile of gravel in the yard as well, and that is now also spread around the place, so it's really looking much tidier, thanks to our neighbour, Frank.  Between all those jobs, we tried to take the dogs for a long walk/run in the back fields and woods most days. Well, we walked but they sure liked the run. Not only is it good for them, it's also good for us as well. When Abby goes home at the end of this week, we'll have to try to keep up this routine with Cooper - he really does enjoy it so much.

I also spent the weekend getting a bit of a head start on some Christmas baking.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

I'm going to post some photos on our website and facebook page just in case anyone in the area needs some help with their Christmas Baking. 

I also did some baking for a Christmas party we're catering at the beginning of December.  Now it's time to give my Wee kitchen a good cleaning. I think that will be my job for today.

Final confirmation today from my friend Petra. She's arriving from London on the 15th of December so I have almost precisely one month to get the house in order and Christmas sorted out.  Yikes!!!

I just had to include this photo of Cooper and Celery lounging on Coopers mat in front of the fire the other morning. Looks like a fairly serious conversation going on!