Welcome October

October's the month
When the smallest breeze
Gives us a shower
Of autumn leaves.
Bonfires and pumpkins,
Leaves sailing down —
October is red
And golden and brown.
~Author unknown

I think October is my favourite month. I love the colours, smells, food and the weather. It's time for soup, stews and open windows, especially at night. I sleep so well on cool October nights with the cool breeze in my window and snuggled under my blankets. 

To end September I had the privilege of being the opening speaker at our local Taking Steps Against Breast Cancer. I was nervous but proud of the speech I gave, I watched women nodding their heads as I spoke and had a few people tell me I was an inspiration....wow! Having the boy with me made it even more special as we walked the full 5K and he laughed as I stopped to chase a butterfly to get 'the shot'. A great morning doing a good thing.

Got up close to a couple of butterflies, next year I am determined to go to the Point in the evening to see an abundance of them.

Finally, I made poor Harlow miserable for my entertainment again. This time I dressed her up as a witch, lol. She did give me a few good looks as well as the "I will kill you in your sleep" look.

That's it for now!

It's the Weekend!!

The weekend has finally arrived and with it a long list of 'to do' items. Of those items, I can tell you many won't be completed.  How do I know this?  Well, it's after lunch as I am writing this and nothing has been done. Let me correct that, I have done some purging, albeit it off my hard drives nothing I should be doing.  It seems I am expert in procrastinating yet again.  I have thought about starting the laundry, does that count?  My motivation seems to be on vacation and I desperately need it back, so much to do!!

Sunday I am participating in the Taking Steps Against Breast Cancer run/walk. This is the first time I have participated in many years. Not only am I participating but I am also doing the opening/welcoming speech and handing out roses to the other survivors. It's going to be an emotional morning. The boy is joining me which will make it even more special.  Afterward, we are going to hang out at the park and explore, hopefully finding some Monarchs as it is migration time.

Thursday while playing outside with Harlow I heard the knocking of a woodpecker.  I have heard him many times but never seen him, I saw him!! He was knocking away at a tree directly across from me.  I ran into the house to grab my camera and of course had to change the lens all the while hoping he wouldn't fly away.  I was thrilled that he was so engrossed in what he was doing he didn't move and I got quite a few shots of him. Not sure if he is a Downy or a Hairy Woodpecker, I am not knowledgeable about birds other than your basics. 

Off to help put furniture together at my parents!

Bursting with Pride

On Sunday I did another 5K (yes I walked it again) and this was for the Run for Rocky which helps support local high schools GSA's so we can provide a safe and inclusive school for all students. There is also support for the iCANdonate  campaign to bring awareness and support to encourage the Government of Canada to change its legislation on organ donor eligibility through advocacy, education and social media.

We had a lot of students (and staff) who signed up and attended Run for Rocky this weekend.  Our principal offered to pay for a bus to assist students in getting the run and back home (how awesome is she!) and we had about 23 on that bus.  Our school mascot (costume) was also going to make an appearance as long as the weather held out.  I am pleased to say that the weather did in fact hold out and it was hard to miss a giant yellow bulldog roaming the grounds followed by a bunch of students proudly sporting their black and gold wear.  Our group was hard to miss and seemed to be quite popular.  The students were loud, positive and represented our school and community in fantastic fashion.  We had students who once they finished the race were at the finish line cheering others on, congratulating everyone and well just being amazing. Our staff turnout was well represented also, 16 staff members not including their spouses/children.   That's almost half! As we jumped on the bus ready to head home one of the event staff as well as the Director for Windsor Pride came on our bus to express their gratitude to our students for their support and thank them.  The looks of pride on those kids faces were wonderful to see......being thanked for doing good and recognized.  

This run is near and dear to one of our staff member's heart as it is in honour of his wonderful nephew who was tragically lost due to suicide. The pride and emotion you could see on his face at the turnout from his school family will forever be etched in my heart.  

We can create change, it takes time and a lot of support but it can be done.  We can do good things, we can crush stereotypes, we can be supportive of those around us, we can all stand together as people and have each others backs.  You do not necessarily have to walk in another's shoes to stand up and say 'this is not an acceptable way to treat another human being.', we can have each other's backs and be allies.  It is also wonderful to show the world, even if it is our small corner that we have some amazing young people out there who are going to do great things. They need our support and backing to help them achieve the change they want in the world.

As I close out my post for today I just want to say Go Bulldogs!!  I am proud to have been a former student, a present staff member, a member of this community and a parent of a student who attends this school. 

Go Bulldogs!!

*Photo credited to Owen Wolter posted on WindsoriteDOTca

Feeling Proud!

Participated in the Cocoa Classic 5K this morning with a friend. =D>   It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and there was a tonne of people!!  The course was nice with a section along the river front, through a park.  I started out jogging (think that lasted about 6 feet) and then settled for walking at what I think was a good pace with my tunes cranked and off I went.  I did manage to jog across the finish line, just so I could say I accomplished that.  No stopping for a rest or anything, went the whole way and am feeling pretty good about myself.  Maybe I will eventually get into running these but I highly doubt it, am quite content to walk. Got our thermal Cocoa Classic cups at the end of the race but didn't wait for the fondue as the line was sooo long.  We opted for a stop at Tim Horton's after crossing the border to come home.  A good morning and I would definitely do it again.  My opinion may change tomorrow when I can't move however.

Here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone of the scenery;

April is Here!

April is here and hopefully that means winter is over, I like many people are ready for spring.  This winter was one of the worse we've had in 30 years.  While the snow was fun to see I was ready for it to go it away.  I do think if I had a little one it would have been a bit more fun as it would mean building snowmen but 16 year old boys don't want to be outside building snowmen with their moms (at least not mine).  We had a really yucky day yesterday, cold and rainy but today the sun is out and things are slowly starting to green up.  That's what I like to see, when Mother Nature starts to paint the landscape with her pretty colours.  Hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to tend to outside and get my deck in order preparing for the warm weather.

Speaking of outside I will be participating in my very first 5K.  The awesome part would be if I was actually running it, but I will be doing mostly walking with maybe a little bit of jogging.  As per usual I *thought* about training but that is as far as I went, lol.  I am a great thinker but not so great as a *doer* when it comes to some things.  If you want me to plan something give me a call, just get someone else to do it :D.  My reason for doing this?  Well my friend and co-worker Amy does run and said 'hey let's do the Cocoa Classic 5K' and I said 'sure, sounds fun' .....truth is I really wanted the touque, hoody, reusable mug and the idea of a free chocolate fondue at the end of the race really sounded good. It was so not about the actual running. Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow in all seriousness, maybe I will meet a cute medic when I fall down because I am so out of shape.

On the digi front:
I am really exploring using more brushes and blending.  Some days I can just throw it all on a page and be so proud of what I created, other days I struggle.  I am definitely a person who needs to be 'in the mood' to create.  I participated in the DigiDares for the first time in a long time and loved the way my page turned out.  Had a proud moment as my page was selected for the GSO blog AND it was selected as the winning page for that Dare.  A very proud moment for me to have my page selected and recognized.  So while I was excited about that I discovered another page I just posted was also selected for the GSO blog :-O.  These things don't typically happen to me so to say I am shocked, happy and proud are understatements.  While I do this for myself I would be lying if I didn't say I was thrilled to have my pages featured.

Speaking of pages, here are the two;

The one on the left titled 'London's Calling' uses products from Captivated Visions and the one on the right is titled 'Go Ahead Be. . . ' and uses product from ViVa Artistry.