Snow in the forecast

Snow is in the forecast for the coming week.  I have mixed emotions about the onset of winter.

We have been talking wistfully about a snow day - a true snow day when everyone is safe and the roads are impassible and then the sun comes out and melts all the snow before anyone has to go anywhere.  (Ok, we have been delusional about a snow day that doesn't exist.  Our real motivation is just a day at home with a perfectly good excuse to set our own schedule.)

We have also been enjoying a fantastic fall!  We have been blessed with moderate temperatures and beautiful, beautiful trees.  I have been loving every second of the weather and am sad to see it turn colder.

So, winter.  It is coming.  The possibility of snow days are ahead.

Colder temperatures throw us into a flurry of activity - working ahead on chores, extra bedding for the animals, firing up the snow blower, moving things around in the garage to accommodate our vehicles, cleaning up the garden and flower beds, and much more.  The list is always longer than the amount of time we have to give.

Colder temperatures also make me think about scrapbooking - one of my favorite activities when it is too cold to be outside.  Give me a good snow day and I will burn through a pile of pictures.

So, I am trying to organize some photos and supplies for my first scrapbooking marathon.  That led me to some of my favorite pictures from this summer.  Prepare yourself for a few posts about summer fun...just getting to them a few months later.

We went to Canada on a long promised vacation with my dad. We told him for years that we would go fishing with him in Canada - visiting an area near where he has fished with family before. We chose Tall Pines Camp on Wabaskang Lake in Perrault Fall, Ontario.  It was a long drive, but really exciting to be in a new place and to feel like we were "away."

We arrived on the first night in just enough time to see the sunset over the lake. 

We saw a moose on the way to the camp.  My husband - eagle eyes - spotted it right away and served the paparazzi.

We picked up groceries in Canada on the way to the camp.  I geeked out over the food labels.  The cabin has some cooking utensils, including a cast iron skillet.  It was a new experience to cook on cast iron for the week.

Our encounters with wildlife were some of the highlights.  My dad is a nature guy, so he loved everything.  There were little pairs of loons - some with babies - on the lake and we had several families of ducks near the docks by our cabin.

One of my favorite experiences was seeing bald eagles.

The lake was really beautiful.  We had rain and cool temperatures, but it wasn't nearly as cool as I had expected. We also caught some fish.  I enjoyed the fishing so much more than I thought I would.

We had to go check out the falls that are the namesake for the lake.  Everything was really, really beautiful and peaceful.