148/365 Look what has arrived!

Hoorah! And so far they have behaved themselves very well, I even got breakfast cooked for me - hoorah once more!

They're off exploring on their own tomorrow, fingers crossed they find their way home again!

147/365 Race weekend

We live pretty much on the race route for the Ottawa Marathon, which I forget. That is until the cheering stations start warming up at 7:30 and we get hits of the eighties blared round the neighbourhood during our lie in. Ho hum, if you can't beat them join them as they say (the cheerers that is, not the runners, don't be silly!).

Our dog walk this morning took us round from about the 17km mark to the 20km mark, and we saw some of the 'elite' runners heading back to the start, and the erm....not so elite runners pacing it out at the back. Most seemed in very good humour though, although they had only just reached halfway so not sure how much longer that would last.

I dabbled with the idea of running a marathon once. Got over it!

An afternoon playing Euchre in the park and dinner with friends made for a fabulous Sunday, helped by the sun making an appearance.

Anyway, my photo is not my favourite one of the day, that honour goes to one sent me by my daddy-o. My sister and 4 elephant hawk moths they caught in the back garden - makes me smile! As you can tell, the younger siblings are much more stylish than me, W manages to co-ordinate her nail polish, dressing gown and wildlife in this ensemble - my socks don't even match!



Sister number two arrives tomorrow - Canada you have been warned! ;)

146/365 Battle of the bands.

You may or may not remember my mentioning watching the Taiko players at the Chinatown festival a week or so ago.
We loved the performance so much that we signed up for a workshop, and at the end of the session we were split into two groups and told to compose our own pieces - P and I were put in opposite teams - battle of the bands commenced.

Here are he and the boys.



And me and my team.



I'll leave the judging up to you. In my defence though I demonstrated a much greater sense of rythm all morning, it just went for a coffee break during the performance.

Great morning, highly reccomended. Website here.

145/365 Finished!

Its only taken me since last November. Ok so I took quite a while off when I couldn't face another granny square, and another break when I ran out of black yarn....but its done!



And the bloody dog has already claimed it!

Apologies to knitting/crocheting buddies who will have seen me celebrating the completing of this project everywhere....but for those of you not bored yet, there are 335 squares. Yes 335. And I actually made more than that as apparently I can't count green squares accurately.
It measures about 3 1/3 feet across, and just under 6 feet tall.

And it is the last Mario project I will be making for a wee while.

But I love it. And hopefully P will too (he'd better do, its big enough to roll up a body in if not!).

144/365 Recycling in action

I gained posession of those beautiful wellies recently, as N has grown out of them. Sadly they are too small for my clown-esque footsies, but I have reinvented one as a herb planter, adding some compost and mint for fresh smelling toes.

More recycling to follow, found a fab wooden box that someone had put out for the binmen yesterday, our house is turning into a reclamation yard at the moment.

143/365 Wednesday night at the pictures.

They may not be Wells-next-to-the-sea chips, and they definitely aren't my Mum's homemade chips, but there is a lot to be said for a large coffee cup of chips.



They did sit a little heavily, but as T and I had a three seater sofa between us at the cinema (P opted for an armchair, he's too good for us it seems!), we had room to get comfy. The film (Small Town Murder Songs) was dark and moody, perfect Wednesday night fare. Especially the soundtrack by the fab Bruce Peninsula who we'd seen at the folk festival before.

A cycle home by starlight ended a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Especially for a Wednesday.

142/365 Jasper's personal trainer.

(Oops...a post for Tuesday, late yet again!)

So, Jasper is apparently now on a stricter diet, with smaller portions of his food and less tidbits too.

I say 'apparently' because P and I are pretty rubbish at human diets, let alone doggy ones. He doesn't beg, he rarely whines for food, but he is just too cute to leave treatless.

Thank heavens then for his new personal dietitian and trainer, Greedy McBeaky.



As summer has finally arrived (well, at least a dry Spring anyhow), Jasper prefers to eat his meals al fresco. His grub is served on the back porch where he can watch squirrels whilst he eats. Lovely.

But if he doesn't eat fast enough, or leaves any in his bowl - Mr. McBeaky swoops in and gobbles down the rest, therefore limiting his portions.

Not content with his dietitian role, he has also taken to hanging out on the porch so that Jasper races out there to chase him away - helping those calories burn off too.

I'm expecting him to turn up with exercise equipment in the next week, maybe get Jasper lifting weights or on the treadmill. I'll keep you posted.