A thing of beauty is joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness -John Keats

Mosaic Fun!

Set up a Flickr account today to try my hand at making a photo mosaic of various random photos from 2007 - what fun!

Photoshop digital layout

Learning how to put together a digital scrapbook page is quite a challenge for me! I would love to take a Photoshop Elements 5.0 course with specific focus for scrapbookers but I have not yet seen any such course offered! I guess practice and experimentation is the only way I'll learn! Maybe I can find something on line ....?

Playing with Photoshop to create "vintage" feel

Believe it or not, there were many steps to create this photo. Most of the color has been washed from the photo, creating a dreamy like photo of my neice Chloe and I, taken this past June in England. Note the slight coloring of the frames of my glasses, jacket and greenery behind me. This was super fun to create.

Playing with Photoshop Elements

I received a "Computer Tips" magazine from Lyden for Christmas and decided to apply some of the lessons from the magazine and what you see here is the finished product!

Christmas Day 2007 has come & gone

Photos from top to bottom: Kids with their Christmas Eve Gifts (new pjs); kids playing the new card game "Set" that Rachel received from Lyden; Andy trying to crack the mystery of the puzzle Tyler received from Rachel (everyone had a go to no avail); Christmas Dinner.
























After the Christmas Eve service at our church, Tyler and Rachel came home with us and slept over. My mom and Scott had breakfast with Jeff & Silvana and stayed there until about 2pm and then came over for dinner. Scott brought his dog Keisha with him and usually she's pretty good and well behaved but she decided to relieve herself on the carpet, in front of the tree! Scott was mad at the dog, saying she knew better. He figures Keisha is annoyed at him because he's not taken her out to the dog park since he returned from Thailand in early December. Scott's excuse is that it has been "too cold" but it hasn't been - it has been rather mild, but it is cold to him, when compared to the warmth of Thailand.....

Christmas Carol

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, my mother and I went to see the Christmas Carol at the theatre Friday evening. The play adaptation was marvellous - it was really well done. I had seen the play a few years ago but it bore no resemblance - this year's story adaptation, set, costuming and "special effects" were terrific. Who doesn't love this Charles Dickens classic?

An excerpt from an essay found on the web sums the story up rather nicely - to read the entire article, go to: http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/classics/story/0,6000,1673562,00.html

"Dickens valued morality, but what he really worshipped was merriment - the buzz of making other people happy, of making a moment glow, of dancing a jig for no particular reason. The greatest tragedy he could imagine was an existence devoid of excitement or playfulness, a biding of time on the way to the grave. Fun, for him, was the only compensation for death, the dismal inevitability of which preyed constantly on his mind. Scrooge's triumph is that he stares his own corpse in the face, and, instead of despairing, defiantly resolves to enjoy the gift of life to the full. He is galvanised by a thousand volts of goodwill. Witnessing his transformation, we realise with a pang of regret that we are hard-hearted too, and that it might take a thousand volts to transform us likewise. We cling, miser-like, to our self-protective anxieties, our emotional meanness, our pointless inhibitions. Perhaps we're all waiting for the Ghosts of our own Past, Present and Future to burst through our defences, seize us by the hand and shock us into joy. Until that day, we revisit A Christmas Carol and watch this alarming miracle happen to someone else."

Christmas Tree Decorating

The Price family annual tradition continues ...whilst sipping on eggnog and Rachel and Tyler's Christmas CDs playing in the background (more to her liking than our Christmas CD collection), Erin unwrapped the ornaments and tossed them to Lyden, Rachel and Tyler while Andy and I watched on.

Lyden and Erin carefully arranged the nativity set.

Decorating the House

Andy went hunting on Wednesday but came home Friday so we could spend at least one full weekend in the month of November together! After breakfast we decided to tackle decorating the house in preparation for Christmas.

After selecting a bunch of Christmas CDs to put us the Christmas spirit (after all, Christmas Eve is only a month away), we spent about 5 hours today preparing the house for Christmas.

Step #1: haul all 7 rubbermaid tubs upstairs and the tree;

Step #2: assemble tree;

Step #3: vacuum "fake snow" debris; return empty tree box to basement;

Step #4: apply greenery to banister; fix faulty lights and restring onto greenery; apply swag;

Step #5: put lights on tree;

Step #6: vacuum "fake snow" debris;

Step #7: apply swag to fireplace;

Step #8: unpack snowman collection;

Step #9: assemble snowmen in pleasing groups on fireplace bookcase;

Step #10: return rubbermaid tubs to basement.

Step #11: decorate wreath on front door;

Step #12: one last vacuum paying special attention to staircase to clean up greenery bits.

Step #13: relax!

While we set up the tree - I only went as far as to put on the lights. Price family tradition dictates "no grown ups allowed to decorate the tree", a tradition that our adult children enforce. While I decorated the banister with greenery, lights and sparkly swag Andy took on the task of arranging the snowman collection in the family room. He did an awesome job! He "mixed things up" this year by putting lights under some of the glass snowmen with glowing results.

Tomorrow afternoon the "kids" will decorate the tree.

My brother Scott is married in Thailand

It's official - my little brother Scott is married. He and his wife Mody met 2 years ago when she was here studying English - in a dog park. He went to Thailand last November to meet her family and a year later, flew back to make her his bride. Not sure how long the immigration process will take but we look forward to welcoming Mody into our family when she arrives.

Great White Hunter at Sunrise

While the boys are away...

With the boys away hunting, Rachel and I planned to do some window shopping in Ingelwood today. We met for a hearty breakfast at 9am. Christine spent the night with Rachel so she joined us. Rachel was most interested in this cedar lined blanket box - the inside was immaculate, but the veneer was quite badly damaged on the sides. We found a few other blanket boxes as we scoured other stores & antique shops but at the end of the day we both went home empty handed.

The boys go hunting

It was a family hunting affair ... Tyler's first hunting trip out with Andy and Lyden. They got up early (3am) Friday morning and set off to the camp. Being the chef that he is, Andy took a small one for the tender meat (esp. seeing as there were no decent bucks in sight).

Hunting Season

It's hunting season ... and that meant Andy and his hunting buddies were off this past Wed. night to take in the opening of deer hunting in the zone they hunt in south east Alberta. He came home empty handed (as he usually does opening weekend - wouldn't want to bag a deer too early in the season!) but his buddy Dave shot this 4x4 mule deer.

Lyden and Tyler are joing Andy & the boys in the hunt next weekend so Rachel and I are planning a "girl's day out" on Saturday.

Brrr.... no heat!

Woke up 4:21 am Tues. morning to the familar "click, click, click" sound that usually signals the furnace coming on but it never kicked in ... it was non stop click, click, click". I mentioned it to Andy when his alarm went off at 5:30 - he went to the basement to investigate and pronounced a service call was definitely in order. Of all days, why this one, the big day had arrived! CREW Calgary's AGM for which I had been gearing up for weeks, pouring over & refining my speech, thinking through every possible contingency in the event the special resolution to amend the bylaws (which required 75% approval by the members) didn't fly. I decided to keep warm by working out and once 7:30 rolled around started calling around to get someone in to check the furnace out. No luck ... apparently our home was not the only one without heat! After booking an appointment for Wed. afternoon I headed off to work. Unfortunately, the new furnace will not be installed until Monday (Oct 22) so Andy built a fire tonight to take the chill off. Believe me, without any heat, getting out of bed this morning was particularly unappealling. I was snug as bug in bed, toasty warm with the quilt tucked up under my neck. The only thing cold was my nose! You know, I really couldn't tell any difference between the temperature in the kitchen and the fridge when I opened this morning! Ahh... but we're a hardy family and are taking this in stride!

Happily the AGM went off without a hitch. We had the exact number of proxies needed to augment the number of members in attendance to bring the vote to 75% of the members, all in favor of the amendment. The special resolution was approved! I cannot believe how quickly my presidency year has passed by - a strategic planning meeting is planned for mid November after which I move to "past president" role on the board.

Fall photo - R&T

After enjoying a delicious meal of home-made pasta (tagillate with a lamb) lovingly made by Andy, I took this photo of Rachel and Tyler October 13 (surpisingly, at Rachel's request! she wanted an updated photo to post on the church website). As evident by this photo, these newlyweds (can you believe how quickly the past 10 months have gone?) are happy and enjoying life to the fullest.

CREW Convention - Denver

Once I was reassured by Rachel early Wednesday morning that she was out of the woods and on the road to recovery I booked a 2:30 pm flight to Denver. I arrived at 5:30, grabbed a cab to the hotel and met up with fellow Calgarian, Kendra. We went to the CREW Convention Marketplace (trade show) and joined Kareen for some nibblies, entered the draws (didn't win a thing) and had a chance to chat with other Canadian CREW members. Afterwards, Kendra, Marian and I went for dinner at the hotel and called it a night. My room was "upgraded" to a suite with a murphy bed (because they gave away my king size room I had originally booked for Tuesday night). It was an interesting room - twice the size of a normal room, with a dining room table & 6 chairs, fridge and serving area, couch & 2 chairs!

Following the CREW convention, Marian and I were booked on the same flight home, at 8:55 pm. We had some time to kill before heading to the airport so we headed off to an Outlet Mall nearby the airport. Our first stop was at a juice bar (top photo) where Marian checked her vmails - she was over the moon to hear that she landed her largest deal ever (worth $1 billion)!! Way to go Marian!

We managed to fit in concurrent makeovers at Sephora's (middle photo) and concluded the staff in that store have way too much fun! After checking in at the airport Marian managed to sweet talk the United Airways rep at the gate... she asked him whether it would be possible for us to sit together - he said he would see what he could do. We grabbed a bite to eat returning to the gate 10 min. before boarding and he managed more than just arranging our seats together - he assigned us seats 1A & B - a free upgrade from economy. Needless to say the 2.5 hour flight was very comfortable! (bottom photo taken on the plane just before we landed - 11:30pm). This is the 3rd CREW convention Marian and I have gone to and somehow we always find a way to fit in some quality shopping. (certainly doesn't hurt that the Cdn dollar is at par with the US for the first time in 30 years.) I couldn't imagine going to a CREW convention without her!

Fall Splendor

Took these photos today during my lunch hour - just a mere 5 min. walk from my office. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but all too often our fall season is much too short lived. It seems to me the trees are holding onto their leaves a little longer than usual. I especially love the red and orange hues which are hard to find on the prairies ... my childhood memories of autumn come from living in Ontario where every year we watched the green leafy leaves of the maple trees turn to rich red. It's hard to find a tree in our fair city whose leaves turn any color other than yellow and various shades of gold but occasionally you'll see bursts of red amongst the shrubbery as seen here which I absolutely love!




I am so thankful for being reminded of God's faithfulness while capturing these images. Today was a particularly difficult day for me. Rachel had not been feeling well since the weekend and I knew that Tyler took her to the hospital last night around 9pm but I was in no way prepared for his call this morning around 9:30 am to advise they were still at the hospital and that Rachel could possibly undergo surgery. The CT scan suggested her appendix may need to be removed but the tests were "inconclusive". Rachel had been given IVs and was not allowed any food or drink (standard pre-op procedure).

I'm sure any mother can relate to the feelings of helplessness I felt - there was nothing I could do to "fix" the problem. Moreover, it was her husband who was at rightfully at her side, not me which was also a new experience for me. I was to fly to Denver today to attend a conference and despite reassurances from Rachel that I should go and that she'd be fine, I just couldn't do it. After taking a walk and thinking it through, I decided to cancel my outbound flight, with approval from my boss who was very understanding and supportive of my decision. Seven long hours after Tyler's first call, he called me with an update to say that the doctor did not feel it necessary to operate and they were letting Rachel go home. My prayer is now that whatever it was that caused her all this pain and grief has run its course and that she'll be back to herself in short order!

Creative Juices are flowing!

We kicked off GBC Scrappers last Sat. night at the church and it definitely got my creative juices flowing.... I never get much done at the church crops - too much visiting with the guests not to mention fulfilling my duties on the team.

I am not sure where this inspiration for wall hangings came from ... I used some of the left over chipboard album covers from the "All about Me" mini album class and went from there. I am happy with the results.

Golf Day

Oh how changeable the weather is in our fair city! Woke up to overcast gloomy skies and a forecast of snow flurries. By 11 am the snow flurries arrived, fast and furious but as my host Liz (pictured here) said so well in her email this morning "A day of golfing in the snow is better than a day in the office" - who can argue with that?! It was definitely a fun time! We practiced our swings with two golf pros and headed off to our first tee where coffee and baileys were served. Just before we teed off on the first the hole, the snow flurries stopped and the sun shone.

Stracci with spicy eggplant, tomato, basil & parmessan

Before & after photos of the dinner Andy made tonight ... he used up the rest of the fresh pasta he made another day & stored in saran wrap in the fridge ... it was simply delicious!

Fig Season is here!

September is a bittersweet month for those of us living in the northern climes; its arrival signals the end of summer while at the same time heralding the arrival of plentiful local grown produce, and sweet juicy figs from California! We picked up this flat of figs from our local grocery store this morning. Suffice it say, they didn't all arrive home intact ... Andy and I could not resist having a sample on the drive home. Juicy and sweet and oozing with goodness. What's not to love?

Today was a brilliant fall day, warm enough to work up a sweat golfing but not too hot to bake! MMMMmmmm... chocolate zucchini cake, made from zucchini from my mother's garden! Our climbing vine turning color on the trellis is a visual reminder to enjoy these last days of summer ... I only wish I had remembered my camera when we went golfing today! :-( The view of the 8th hole was a feast for the eyes with the contrast of the lush greens against the trees lined river turning various shades of gold. I'm golfing in a work related tournament this Wednesday at a much nicer City course so I won't forget my camera then, but sadly the weather is expected to turn cooler and overcast. Just my luck.

Wild Flowers

Andy picked and arranged these wild flowers we planted from seed in July. We put Danny on the plane Thursday night back to England and our life has returned to "normal" ... it's much quieter in the house and not as lively.

We talked to Andy's mom today - Danny arrived safe & sound Friday morning, took a quick nap that afternoon to offset the jet lag which didn't stop him from going to football (soccer) practice Friday evening!

Sept long weekend - Fairmont

The whole family headed out to Fairmont Hot Springs for the Labour Day long weekend. I took Friday off and we got a head start ... Tyler and Rachel arrived around 9:30 p.m.

Hearty breakfasts were prepared and served each day by Rachel & Tyler who came well stocked with everything but the kitchen sink! (they are know exactly what to bring to a rented condo). All 6 of us hit the tennis courts Sat. morning and played for a few hours. Sat. afternoon Andy, Tyler, Lyden and I went golfing on a 3 par golf course just north of Radium. The setting was absolutely beautiful, lush greens set against the majestic Rockies.

There was much fun to be had at the pool where the men enjoyed a very competitive game of pool basketball which Rachel and Danny watched from the sidelines.

Evenings (and some mornings) were spent watching the entire Star War series, yep, 6 episodes in all, played in order. It was a Star Wars Marathon!

Tues. Aug 28 - Andy got a fire going in the BBQ pit and prepared a mixed grill for supper. After supper we taught Danny the fine art of roasting marshmallows and constructing a s'more which he thoroughly enjoyed!