Putzing Day

The days of putzing around the house are what I miss most now that I'm gainfully employed.  This is the kind of day I used to love as a stay-at-home mom, especially once all the girls were in school.  Admittedly I didn't have a lot of them because I did contract work and then part-time work, and the days with no volunteer activity, field trips, or sick children weren't all that high.

However, it's how I'll remember those years.

Wandering around the garden, pulling a few weeds, harvesting and storing a few vegetables, coffee with a friend... whatever the day happened to bring.  It was always different.

Saturday was sort of like that.  So much going on, yet not much really planned.

It started with an early drop-off at a fundraising activity for Beth.  While on the south side and having an hour or so to kill before dropping Alice off at her Engineering for Girls class (I know - how cool is that!), I thought it was time to introduce Laura and Alice to the Sugarbowl Cafe, an old Edmonton institution.  They don't look happy, but they really were.

Oh my!  Their cinnamon buns are so great and the smell wafts through the door as you walk in.

Luckily we were there early, as the lineup went out the door by the time we left just before 9:00.

Going to the south side feels like leaving town for me.  I rarely cross the river, so Laura and wandered through some shops we never visit.  The antique mall and Home Reusables.  We've got the basement renovation and decorating on our minds lately.

By the time we got home, the house smelled like crabapple jelly that Yvon decided to try.  Yummy!  And pretty as a picture, although I didn't take one!

I went back to get Alice and came home to a slightly tidied yard and a fire going in the pit.

They burn fast, but we had a small mountain of 2x4 ends to burn off and are now starting on the old framing strips that were torn off the foundation walls.  It's still beautiful fall weather, but we know the snow can come any day now and I don't want that wood pile buried for months on end.  I'd like it burned out of sight.

All afternoon I fed that fire, and had a lovely visit from my blogger friend.  She is the administrator behind the "Chicken Retirement Home in the Country" and had come to pick up some new residents.

Alice is the best chicken whisperer in the house.  She snuck up on them and caught them one-by-one for their final goodbyes.

Goodbye, Velvet!  You were always my favourite.  And your green eggs were the most abundant and consistent of all your sisters.  I already miss the life in the yard.
 

That night Yvon and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary by attending a play in the old theatre in Fort Edmonton.   I will never tire of Fort Edmonton and it's so beautiful at night when abandoned by the tourists.

All in all, a beautiful and busy day.