It Took a While, but ...

... we finally have some decor on our stair wall.

We've only been in our home for eight years. 

That's waaaay longer, of course, than I've actually had these pictures. But still ... these photos have sat in a cupboard, and then on a stool in the Family Room, awaiting their final resting place - the stair wall - for quite some time.

This week, though, Catherine decided the hall walls were going to be decorated. She pushed us to get the photos sorted, to decide where they were going to go, and then, tonight, to Just Do It.

All the photos are black and white, and they're all family snaps. They may get some tweaking over the next few weeks, but for now, I'm happy not to have an empty wall here.

And this finally found a home too. The wall where the door from the hall into the kitchen used to be doesn't look so bare now.

Family. Where life begins and love never ends.

I reckon I agree with that sentiment.

Oh, and I've decided our girls are never gonna leave home. We'd simply never get anything done if they did ...

My New Best Friend

My New Best Friend is not really new. But he has become my bestest friend only recently.


Before I reveal my NBF to you, I want you to know that I used to have a problem. You'll notice I said, 'used to' because I have none now. I am now problem-free. Isn't the Builder the luckiest guy alive. 


Uuuhhh....moving on... My old problem stemmed from my love of ironing, and my love of seeing newly ironed clothes hanging on an airer, and then folded in a pile, all ready to get placed back in drawers. (Note to family here: clothes that have been washed, dried, ironed and then placed in your bedrooms are supposed to find their way into wardrobes or drawers. Yes, I know that's a novel idea to you guys, but it is the way of the world.)


Anyway, back to NBF. Normally, because we tend to have a gently breeze blowing most days of the year - oh well, okay, so we have anything from a gentle breeze to a hurricane on any one day ... well, the long and the short of it is that we can normally manage to get our clothes dry outside. In fact, we had a friend in Glasgow who realised that, despite our seemingly constant supply of rain, we were able to dry our clothes outside because if we got a 5 minute spell with no rain, the wind was so strong it dried the clothes in that time! 


It's all untrue of course. Our weather is not that bad. 


But, for some reason, recently there are simply not enough minutes in the day. And now, when I dry my clothes in ...

this,

(yep - my NBF is my tumble drier)

I now don't iron them. Well, unless it's shirts or other clothes that really need ironing.

Yesterday, 

all this

came from NBF and were NOT ironed.

Phew! I feel like I've confessed something. b-r-e-a-t-h-e, Anne, b-r-e-a-t-h-e.

Say it again. All these clothes went straight from NBF, either to the airer or to the bedrooms.

And now, instead of ironing for hours on end, I have all this extra time to do other highly useful things.

Like blogging.

What are you all thinking? Is it:

a) What a nutcase ....what was she ironing all that stuff for in the first place?

b) Oh, what an awful housewife. I'd never wear non-ironed clothes.

or

c) Iron? What's an iron?? Gonna move on, cos I've no idea what this post was all about.

If you were thinking:

a) - I understand.

b) - Mum...what are you doing reading my blog?

c) - I love you. Really, really love you.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

This post is not about mirrors! It's about pictures on the wall, though, so the title kind of makes sense. Kind of.

This print of Glasgow University, where I did my degree, is hanging in the Lounge

I graduated from here, aged 26, at nine months and 4 days pregnant.

No kidding. Our firstborn arrived, thankfully late, five days later. That large black robe worn for graduating was very useful. I was about 5 foot tall, and 5 foot wide!

This hangs above the fire in the Lounge. I think someone ought to write a book based on this picture. 

It says so much.

And of course these guys make it too! 

This is printed on canvas, and is almost black-and-white.

These are hanging in the Dining Room. I bought these prints in Grand Bend, Ontario in 2001.

I love the prints, but I really, really love where they came from. Every time I look at them, they remind me of a wonderful day my Mum and I, along with our relatives in Ontario, had visiting Grand Bend. 

I don't want to bore y'all, so I'll leave it at that right now. Another time, I'll show some of what hangs in some of the other rooms.

Hope you're all having a fantastic day. We have hailstones and gusting winds right now. Sooooo - anyone fancy a swap?

Huh! Thought not!

Freezing brocolli

Although we lost our cauliflower this year, our broccoli did - for the most part survive.


Over the past couple of weeks, it's been ready to harvest, so I've been busy cutting, washing, blanching and freezing.

We now have a couple of drawers in a freezer full of bags of brocolli.

God is so good to us.