December ~ and so ends another decade

Roses in December.

 

They were a bright spot on foggy mornings 

and reminded me of the old Christmas carol we used to sing...

'Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming'.

December is always a good time for getting together with family and friends.

A highlight over the past dozen or so years is a MGCC Christmas party.

Julie hosted us this year...

a delightful evening with a wonderful group of friends.

Ellen drove many hours from eastern Washington for the evening.  We had a good laugh when we noticed that we were dressed like twins once again. I found a photo from a few years ago where we also showed up in similar outfits.

  

Our small group from church always has a Christmas party of some sort...

and this year it was at our place. 

It seems we have dealt with a lot of hardships in this group over the past year...

but this was one evening when we put our cares aside and 'made merry'.

Laughter is the best medicine!

I had company in the house this December.

Elmer had surgery on his right wrist at the beginning of the month (wrist fusion)...

and couldn't do much of anything besides read and watch TV for the first while.  

I was his 'right-hand man'.

He is on his second cast, back to driving now and looking forward to having a pain-free and functional wrist again.

Dad had a bout of pneumonia just before Christmas...

and we weren't sure if he would be up to going out at Christmas.

He was able to join us on Christmas Eve...

and quite thrilled with his new Rosevale Farms cap.

On Christmas morning we had brunch...

and opened gifts.

Ranen and Micah played us some lovely Christmas tunes on their violins.
What a gift!

Unbeknownst to them...
my friend painted up some lovely portraits of Emme and Spencer from photos that I sent her.
They unwrapped them on Christmas Day.
Did she not do a great job?

Boxing Day was a snow day.
Not at our place...

...but after a 45 minute drive to Chilliwack Lake we found plenty of snow.

It was a great place to build a snowman...

...but not quite so good for having a picnic.

We opted to have a tailgate lunch!

I had planned to do a year-end blog post...
but since my computer is 'on the fritz' right now and my photos are inaccessible..

I will just add a collage of a few reminders of the happenings of 2019.



As the sun sets on another year...
I am thankful to God for His faithfulness.

How reassuring to know that He holds 2020 in His hands.

Thanks for all the visits and comments throughout the year.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

November Remembered

And just like that, the month is almost over!  Before we are on to all things Christmas, I will post a few of the highlights of this past month.

We have enjoyed sunshine and snow-capped peaks here this month.

We spent the beginning of the month in Palm Springs, where it is always sunny.  As it turned out we missed a week of sunshine back home while we were away.

We met up with all four of my sisters there...and celebrated Kathy's milestone birthday.  I won't say which birthday...just that she is the youngest of the five girls. :)

We went on several hikes while we were there...and read many books, mostly while sailing down the lazy river.

We seem to return to this same spot most every year...a great place to relax in the sun.

Once we were back home, we had birthdays to celebrate.  We ordered in pizza for the main course...

...had more pizza for dessert (as well as Danish cream squares, which has always been Heidi's birthday request)

...and take-home pizza as birthday gifts. That's how to host a party when you arrive home late the night before.  One bill per year. 

Micah is now ten years old...a kind and delightful guy who does amazing things on his scooter.

Spencer and Emme are 18. Wow.  Where have the years gone?  They used to walk along the rock wall whenever they came to visit.  They did it again on their 18th birthday! They haven't changed a bit, have they?

We also made a quick trip to Alberta this month.  We wondered whether our plane would be flying that morning, as the fog lay thick around the airport.

We left as scheduled and were above the clouds in no time...over the Rockies and landing in Alberta in an hour or so.  Why were we in Alberta?  We came for a wedding of  a young guy who has helped us out on the farm for several years and married a gal in Picture Butte, near Lethbridge.

We rented a car and drove south...where there were only pick-up trucks on the road.

There had been a huge dump of snow and blizzard conditions a few days earlier, but all was calm and clear on the wedding day. I had a good laugh when I took a closer look at this 'on-the-way-to-the-wedding-selfie'. What happened to his hair?

I won't post wedding pic's, but this is a photo I took from the church parking lot...directly across the road.

Southern Alberta has a beauty all it's own!  We stayed an extra day after the wedding, to visit with my uncles and aunts that live in the Taber area. We could never have known that we would be there for a funeral.  My cousin's 25-year old son was killed in an accident and the funeral happened to be that day.  Though it was not under the circumstances we would have chosen, it was good to meet up with many relatives we rarely see as they came together to celebrate the life of a fine young man and support the family.

One morning there was a barred owl in distress...fighting for his life...in the manure pit over at the farm. Our friend who is both a veterinarian and owl advocate came to the rescue and fished the owl out.  They washed it off well and then placed it in a cardboard crate for a few hours to dry off before releasing it. He hopped around on the lawn for some time before setting sail...and then flew off.  Never to be seen again...or so they thought.

The next day he was back at the farm...sitting on the deck of the old playhouse.  He returned to say thank-you!


And while we are talking wild life...

...let me share a photo of another specimen that has been hanging around the farm lately.  He looks mighty healthy!

And then there are the trumpeter swans that are back for the winter...and looking lovely when they are on someone else's fields.  We are discouraging them from parking in our ponds, since they destroy the winter wheat crop in short order.

This is the view from my office window as I type this post.  We began the month with sunshine and that is how it is ending.

As the sun sets on November, let me wish you all a blessed advent season and a wonderful Christmas as you celebrate Christ's birth with family and friends in the coming weeks.

October ~ memories and moments

October is a second spring...

where every leaf is a flower.

Where in the past we have climbed Mt. Cheam on Thanksgiving weekend...

snow arrived at the beginning of October this year.

It makes for a lovely backdrop for the turning leaves.

Leaves and birds were sailing in the wind.

  

 We had the family home for Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday.

I thought to take a picture before they all arrived...

and not again until the meal was over and done.

We had much to be thankful for...

as a family and individually.

And on Thanksgiving Monday...

we had sunshine and blue skies and took the opportunity to go for a long bike ride.

Fields of red...

and snow capped peaks.

We rode the dike along the river...

and were quite delighted to find two chairs on the bank.

The perfect spot to enjoy our turkey cranberry sandwiches!

Elmer got a new e-bike from the kids for his 70th birthday.

Since fall is a busy time on the farm...

and the weather had not been ideal...

this was finally his chance to give it a test-run.

Let's just say he's on easy road now!

We cycled beneath the Rosedale-Agassiz Bridge over the Fraser River.

Both of us recall crossing the river by ferry before this bridge was built. 

And that was a very long time ago!

The blueberry fields look amazing in October...

painted red!

We cycled past dahlia gardens, still in bloom...

...and turkeys out celebrating their freedom on the Thanksgiving holiday.

Another day...another river...another trail...

with Heidi and Maggie walking hand-in-hand.

41 years ago we welcomed our daughter to the family.

Now she is busy loving on her daughters. 

Where have the years gone?

Heidi shares a birthday with her Auntie Martha...
who turned 80 this year.

And that was a very good excuse to make a trip to Kelowna...

...and join in a surprise dinner celebration planned by her kids.
That would be Martha at the far end of the table...
with her one and only brother to her left.
It was a good excuse to get together...
and good to catch up with family we don't see often enough.

We've had a northern flicker woodpecker hanging out at our feeder this past month.

He's been fun to watch.

This brought a smile...

cousins in the backyard after dinner trying to get the perfect sunset selfie.

My rainbow pic's are always taken from the front porch...with the rainbow against the eastern hillsides.  What a surprise to see a rainbow to the west from my kitchen window.

I'm ending the month on one of those chaise lounges beside this pool with a book in hand...'where the skies are not cloudy all day'!

Wishing you all a wonderful November!