Natasha's 53rd Birthday Retrospective

In the least surprising transfer of power to happen this week (here's lookin' at you, Canadian election results), I am taking over the blog for the day, as my way of wishing Natasha a happy 53rd birthday.

As has been done in years past (see here, here, and also here... you get the idea), there is a unifying theme behind this birthday post. This year, tying into the usual "Friday Favourite Moments" weekly theme, I've picked a handful of what I imagine are Natasha's favourite moments from this past year. I have tried to put myself into her shoes (well-worn from a great deal of walking), but she might beg to differ on some of these.

Anyway, without further ado, here is a Happy Birthday edition of Friday Favourite Moments -- enjoy!

May

We visited a pick-your-own tulip farm about an hour south of us with Rachel and my mom, as an impromptu Mother's Day excursion. The weather was good, the flowers were abundant, and we got to visit a new part of our province; it was a lovely spring afternoon, all in all.

June

We took a weekend trip to Toronto to check out the Riverdale Art Walk, an art fair that Natasha's co-worker was participating in. Natasha was happy to support her friend, we spent a morning wandering through some cool neighbourhoods, and finished at a lovely hole-in-the-wall café for lunch.

July

This was a summer of travel, so here is a glimpse of part one: we went on a family road trip through the northeastern US. There were many fun moments, but two highlights were catching a Phillies game with good blog friends and going on a working lobster fishing boat in Portland, Maine.

August

The second trip was an eight-day hike — just the two of us, this time — across the West Highland Way in the Scottish Highlands. While I was in awe of the scenery, I think the highlight for Natasha was an especially wet day spent crossing the Devil's Staircase and fording several rushing rivers.

September

The Lumen festival, mixing light, art, and technology, is always a fall highlight for Natasha, and this year certainly didn't disappoint. Note that the light-up flower crowns that she and Rachel are wearing are from a different art and light-oriented festival that we went to earlier in the summer.

October

While picking a single picture for some months was tricky, I had no problem whatsoever for October. The Northern Lights put on a once-in-a-lifetime display, and it was so extensive that we were able to catch it here in southerly (for Canada), urban Ontario.

Fun anecdote: Natasha ran into a former student from the school where she works, while wearing bright pink pyjama pants and a Taylor Swift sweater... which wasn't at all awkward!

November

The highlight of November for Natasha was having her parents come visit for a few weeks; our time together included lots of visiting, good food, and a chance for her mom to pass her bun recipe (and shaping technique!) along to Sam.

Note: Although it was a significant event, I am deliberately not including any photos of our new car, purchased as our 15-year-old car became, um, gradually less reliable (and held together by an increasing amount of zip ties and duct tape) over the course of the fall. As Natasha has said many times, she hates change and hates new technology, so the transition to a fully electric, technology-infused vehicle was not easy or pleasant for her.

December

We headed west to spend Christmas with Natasha's parents in Saskatoon. Natasha was thrilled that her dad invented a new drink for her to try during our visit, and the fact that this drink has a connection to her family's prairie horticultural history was the cherry on top.

January

Natasha often has trouble figuring out what to do for my birthday (which falls in mid-January), since I'm not into big events, and am not necessarily able to come up with particularly creative plans.

Thus, when Natasha found out that our favourite local ice cream place was holding an ice cream-making workshop, she figured this was the perfect birthday event. I must say that I was initially skeptical about making large quantities of a cold dessert in the middle of January, but I will hereby admit that I. Was. Wrong. I found the tour super interesting, the ice cream making was lots of fun, and we enjoyed pint after pint of ice cream for months afterwards!

February

The month of February was cold, snowy, exhausting, and generally unpleasant.

Moving right along...

March

After our initial March Break plans fell through, Natasha quickly scrambled to find various fun family activities to fill the gap. Although we had a number of entertaining adventures (you can read more here) the highlight for Natasha was unquestionably the Alice in Bloomland exhibit at the Royal Botanical Gardens, complete with a Mad Hatter tea! The garden exhibit had a variety of whimsical Wonderland-themed displays along with an abundance of flowers, while the tea included a Mad Hatter tart, delicious scones, and of course plenty of excellent tea.

April

The month of April had lots happening, but a definite highlight was a visit over the Easter weekend from Emily and her family! We looked forward to their arrival for much of the spring, anxiously watching our snow pile in the driveway slooowwly melt, hoping there would be room for another car by mid-April.

The weekend itself was so much fun! We showed them around town, enjoyed classic Canadian delicacies (poutine, Harvey's burgers, and beaver tails... mmmm...), did tourist-y things in Toronto, went to a Blue Jays game, and even celebrated a birthday! It was great having in-person visiting time with a "blog friend" connection, and so much fun watching the kids having a blast together.

And that will bring us back to do...er, I mean, the beginning of May. Here's hoping this next year is just as full of flowers, friends, and fun!

Friday Favourite Moments 2025 #18 (On A Thursday)

I know, I know -- I need to post on of these "Friday Favourite Moments" on an actual Friday one of these weeks. However, I have a very good reason for posting this today, which you will find out tomorrow :) For now, on with my favourite moments from this week.

And just a note: This has been a week of ADULTING -- doing taxes, voting, meetings with the bank, and then this morning I woke up to this...

...our hot water heater was trickling water from the top. Thankfully it was all going to the basement drain but today was supposed to be a shower day. Plus, I was going to finish this post this morning. Instead I was on the phone with the water heater company and they were trying to upsell me while I was trying to make an appointment to get this fixed. Grrrr.

With that caveat, here are my favourite moments from this week...

1) Readathon

It was a readathon this past weekend and I participated in a lowkey way which worked for me. That means I read from about 5pm on Friday until about 6pm on Saturday, but I got a good night's sleep in there too. I ended up finishing three very overdue books so that felt like a win!

2) Nice weather for the win!

It's been a week of great weather and, on Sunday I hung out two loads of laundry and ate a chocolate croissant outside. I LOVE outdoor morning time and can't wait until I can start every day like this :) 

3) Walk with Janice

In the midst of all the adulting, I fit in a walk with Janice. She came my way and we had a good walk & talk one night. Then we got a picture in front of our neighbour's magnolia tree which looks amazing right now!

4) Flonase for the win!

My allergies were horrible earlier this week. I remembered that one year when I was whining about allergies, a blog reader suggested Flonase. I picked some up on Tuesday night and I feel so much better! Yay!!! My itchy eyes are almost gone and I've been sneezing so much less. I'm so thankful for good recommendations from blog readers and not suffering from my allergies as much has been a favourite moment for sure!

So those are my short and sweet favourite moments from this week. Come back tomorrow for an extra special blog post... :)

What's Up Wednesday: April 2025

Wow, was April ever full of a lot of fun and good things! We started out the month with a dance show, are ending it anticipating another dance show, and the weather is definitively spring which just makes everything so much better!!!

Answering these questions monthly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... My principal bought dried apricots at Costco and shared them with me earlier this month. I remembered how much I love apricots so we bought a bag too. They're so good and I've been enjoying snacking on them this month.

We also ended up with a ton of frozen bananas in our freezer so I baked five or six batches of banana muffins this month. I was determined to clear our freezer out and now we're down to three frozen bananas which is a much more reasonable number to have on hand.

What I'm reminiscing about... Well, I'm writing this while I wait for Rachel to get her dance photos done so clearly I'm reminiscing about her first show :)

Rachel as a gem in Aladdin in May 2016. Who is that tiny child?!?!?!

What I'm loving... I am loving the beautiful weather we've had this past week. I've been hanging out laundry, sitting outside reading and drinking Coke with lime, and generally just living my best April life!

 

What we've been up to... As I mentioned above, we started out the month with Rachel being in a dance show. All the dances were based on musicals and Rachel was a zebra in The Lion King and Glinda in Wicked, as well as a dancer in The Greatest Showman.

Sam attended his second semi-formal...

...and Janice and I attended a Blossoms and Brunch event where we drank mimosas and made bouquets. I will write more about this next week, I hope!

 

Emily and her family came to visit us. We survived with nine people in our house and one shower!!! When is that renovation that I've been dreaming about happening again?!?!?!? Seriously though, we had so much fun hanging out with them and then spending a day in Toronto together.

Rachel and I even got to go up the CN Tower while they were in town.

 

And I've been on a few spring walks, discovering the flowers in a woods near us.

What I'm dreading... Well, I'm in the midst of dealing with horrible spring allergies so, on the plus side, I'm no longer dreading them. sigh. I picked up some extra meds for Rachel and I last night and if these don't do the trick, we're heading to a clinic to see if we can get some extra help. My one eye is permanently itchy, red, and watering. I look awesome.

What I'm working on... I've been working on getting our pansies planted and now I'm waging war against the squirrels. The squirrels dig them up and I replant the pansies and it's a continuing cycle. I need to remember to sprinkle cayenne pepper around the pansies so the squirrels will leave them alone.

 

What I'm excited about... I'm excited about various things decorated with bunnies for spring! Hahaha!!! Rachel and I found seasonal spatulas at Wal-Mart and then Janice crocheted me a bunny garland for our dining room.

What I'm watching/reading... Well, the spring dance performance information was ten pages which I highlighted and then Rachel's friend's mom and I coordinated rides for our kids and I also have some volunteer commitments so I'm closely checking the dance schedule to make sure I'm not missing anything. It's going to be a full two weeks from now until performance weekend. And then of course I'll be watching Rachel dance!

 

As for reading, I participated in a low-key way in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon this past weekend. I read three books and they were all pretty good.

I'm also currently working my way through Babel by R F Kuang and I don't know what I think of it. Have you read it?!?!?

What I'm listening to... Well, since I'm writing this at dance I'm listening to a bunch of excited dancers who are getting their photos taken in all their costumes. It's more than a little chaotic! When it's quieter, since our windows are open, I'm listening to all the birds chirping. It's chaotic in a different way :)

What I'm wearing... I'm wearing such an eclectic mix of clothing these days. Some days it's warm enough for capris in the mornings and other days I'm looking for a sweater. Layers, layer, layers -- it's all about layers. I've definitely ditched my socks for the season though which makes me sooooo happy!!!

 

What I'm doing this weekend... Well, it's my birthday on Friday and we're celebrating a friend's 50th birthday on Sunday so, besides dance, it's all about birthdays this weekend!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... I'm looking forward to the dance performance of course, and after that I'm just looking forward to a slightly slower month before the craziness of June, and the last month of school, hits. I'm also looking forward to some good times out in the yard, getting it in shape for spring. I've been seriously neglecting yardwork so far this spring and it's starting to show.

 

So that's what's up with us this last day of April. Here's hoping I can actually make some headway on getting my allergies under control so I can enjoy being outside even more.

10 On The 10th: April 2025

I'm going to be playing catch up on the blog for a few weeks and decided I'd go in chronological order. So this is my "10 on the 10th" post for April. What is unique about this post is that I actually took all the pictures on the tenth of the month for the first time this year. Maybe this trend will continue?!?!? :)

7am - morning coffee

7:07am - Dave had joined me and agreed to pose for a picture. I really appreciate our morning catch up time.

7:47am - do you see the bunny in our backyard? Also, I don't remember why I was leaving for work so late. Usually I try to head out between 7:35 and 7:40. Maybe Dave drove me this day???

12:03pm - my principal was telling me how good the Costco dried apricots were and then gave me some to try! She was right, they are delicious, and we ended up buying a bag later that week.

4:03pm - it was SNOWING after work. Ugh.

4:41pm - I drove Rachel to dance and then bought some flowers for my friend. She had driven Sam to and from the dance the night before so I wanted to let her know I appreciated her. I thought the bright colours would bring some spring on a snowy day.

6:26pm - Wal-Mart often has seasonal spatulas and Rachel and I picked these up the previous night. I like the fact that they can be Easter or spring as I will be using them well past Easter! Hahaha!!!

6:27pm - Banana muffins ready to bake. We had 18 bananas in our freezer at the beginning of April. Thus, I baked a lot of banana muffins this month!

6:32pm - I needed some tea on a snowy April evening. I drank out of the spring-iest mug I had. Also, when I looked back at my "10 on the 10th" posts from April of years past, I've drank tea out of this mug (and taken a picture of it) at least twice previously :)

7:09pm - I stopped buying tulips at the beginning of April, but it was still too cold for outdoor flowers, so Dave bought me this "transition" bouquet. I wanted to capture a photo of it in all its glory.

So that was April 10th -- a day consisting of early Spring snow, bright flowers, and muffins.

Friday Favourite Moments 2025 #17 (On A Monday)

Why are short weeks always the craziest weeks?!?!!? The weather last week was amazing so instead of writing blog posts, I was enjoying the outdoors. I worked on this post on Friday morning but I didn't get it done. Now it's Sunday night and I'm trying to finish it before I go to bed. Anyways, pretend you're reading this post this past Friday sometime :)

1) Mom's recovery

My number one favourite this week has been my mom's recovery. She had been having some post-surgery issues (nothing major) and made some major progress this week. I'm so happy for her!!!

2) Emily and family's visit

Emily and her family came from Pennsylvania to visit us last weekend! We had the most fun with them and a longer recap is coming soon. We really enjoyed hosting them (our first blog friends to visit us!), exploring with them, and generally hanging out!!! We hope they come back soon!!!

3) CN Tower with Rachel

Rachel has always wanted to go up the CN Tower but not everyone in our family enjoys heights. When Emily and her family wanted to do that, Rachel and I joined them. Rachel was so excited to go all the way to the top!!! (Again, more on this coming in a few weeks).

 

4) Starbucks with Rachel

On Tuesday, I had to volunteer at dance so Rachel and I grabbed Starbucks first. Since she had to wait for a bit before her dance class started, I said she could get a "venti" which she is rarely allowed to have. She was so happy!

 

5) Impromptu walk with a friend

My friend randomly called me on Wednesday night as she was headed out for a walk. We were just going to chat on the phone but, since she was walking not far from me, I headed out to join her in person. We enjoyed a short walk in some woods near us and I was so glad to connect with her, even if it was just a quick visit.

 

I also loved seeing all the spring wildflowers beginning to bloom!

6) So much outside time!!!

I got my pansies planted in my window boxes, I was able to sit outside and read, and I got a few walks in. The weather has been amazing and I'm so excited that it's actually nice to be outside again!!!

 

So those were some of my favourite moments from last week. These are the days when, if you're looking for me, I'm probably outside either hanging laundry, reading, or walking with a friend! Yay for spring!!!