My first time

(The picture of Fergus is him at the wedding in Doug's regular tie - more about that in a moment. The other picture is my sister - Rhonda, my dad - Don, Quinn and I at the wedding on Saturday night)

Seems weird. Writing a blog I mean. I have done essentially this on many occasions but they were put together as big letters that I send out in mass emails. Now I can do it more often than a couple of times a year, keep the content a little more manageable for all (myself included) and let you know what is happening in our corner of the world.

Who would I share my blog information with??? Family? Probably. Especially those of you who are very far away. Friends? Yes. Again, especially for those who are far away. If I have sent this link to you it is because I value the space you take up in my life, heart and brain. Thanks for being there. Makes me glad I am here.

Not a lot new here. We spent the Canadian Thanksgiving being very thankful for a number of things. Saturday was spent with family, close and extended, as we celebrated my aunt's marriage with a man who clearly loves her. We were in the lovely village of Elora, ON. They are both retired and have been dating a couple of years. No time like the present to declare their love for one another in front of friends and family. I was quite surprised by my cousins though. Holy cow! I guess I thought they paused in time. Isn't it strange how we always do that? Become alarmed by the passing of time even though we live it every day?

I hadn't seen a good number of them since my cousin, Laura, was married when I was pregnant with Fergus. I will see if I can figure out how to post pictures on here so you can see my boys in their dapper wedding clothes. We had to talk Fergus out of wearing Doug's "Wolverine" tie and go with something a little more subdued for a wedding. The "Wolverine" tie reads something like: "valley o' death" or some such, equally inappropriate, words.

After the wedding we had a glorious Sunday, which we started slowly (getting up late after a lovely lie-in). After some french toast and coffee we went out to pick apples with friends. While it was a wonderful and warm autumn day, we were clearly not the only people who thought apple picking was a great way to celebrate the harvest season. Highway 25 was closed to northbound traffic so it took Brenda and Max a lot longer to get to the farm than they had planned. Brenda and Maxine have an idea that apple picking should be an annual harvest excursion and it's not that I think it is a bad idea but both of them were so frazzled by the time they got to the orchard that they probably would have been happier at home. Frayed nerves aside we found the tractor and went out to the apple picking locale and managed to bring home some Northern Spy, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and one or two Empire apples. I think we are set.

Brenda and Max then asked us to join them for their turkey dinner. It was fun to hang out with them and their families. It also gave me a chance to snuggle with their daughter (Riley). She's pretty cute.

Turkey dinner somewhere else wasn't enough though. I wanted some leftovers for ourselves. I bought a turkey to cook here and we had a full dinner with Doug's parents last night. It is handy to have them downstairs because it allowed Christena and I to share the cooking and clean up. "Many hands . . ." and all that.

Now we are back to work and "real life" and although I am supposed to be working on my part of the presentation for the conference in Ottawa next week I am figuring out how to start a blog. Perhaps I should get back to work.