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.