Cake and Celebrations

Sydney made this beautiful spring inspired cake for her Nana's 80th birthday on the weekend.

Love the spring colours!

 The cake was delicious.  Lemon scented vanilla cake with almond buttercream icing.

Yum!

Forget Spring it was Summer in the Air this week.

Wow! What a week.  We've been saying for a while now what happened to winter?  Well now it's what happened to spring?  With temperatures soaring to 26°C and sunshine galore you felt you were hopelessly behind in the gardening department only to be reassured it was only March.  The trees are budding, the birds are out and there is green, lots of green in the garden.  Sandals, pedicured toes and tank tops are the style du jour.
Some spring summer inspired designs!

Have a great weekend friends!

Welcome Home

On Saturday, Erica returned from a wonderful trip to Tanzania.  She was away for two weeks and we all missed her.  Sydney, her sister, baked and created this masterpiece for her return.  This turned out to be a big undertaking for Sydney - with all the different stages of baking and decorating this cake was a three day process and took many 'girl' hours.

It was certainly worth it.  Gorgeous and Yum! 

The (Mis) Adventures of Chippy

Monday morning while sipping on a coffee at our kitchen table, and peacefully working on the computer, I noticed something running by in our backyard.  When pulling back the curtains I saw a cat.  There are very few cats running at large in our neighbourhood and of the ones I had seen this one was unfamiliar.  He was a scruffy one with a snarl on his face and he glared right at me.  Ok. maybe he didn't have an actual snarl on his face but he definitely was scruffy and I'm almost positive he glared at me.  He was preoccupied with something in our garden and then all of a sudden he sprang into the cedars and shrubs.  I was quite horrified thinking he was after one of our birds.  I knew the mourning doves regularly sit in the garden back there.  When he emerged from the shrubbery it took me a moment to realize it was not a bird but a small animal....on no a chipmunk. It's Chippy!   The strange, guttaral sound coming from my mouth startled the cat and he dropped Chippy. I was sure he would be dead but after a few seconds of shocked stillness he scrambled off into the neighbour's backyard.

I watched and searched for him throughout the day.  I was sure I was going to stumble upon him lying in the garden bleeding or worse. Tuesday came and almost went with no sign and then last night at dinner a familiar friend showed up.  Springing around and popping in and out of his chipmunk hole.  He looked good and I sensed his new fresh outlook on life.  Chippy would definitely stop and smell the roses this week...as would I.

Spring Break

It's amazing what just a few degrees latitude can bring you.  It's March break for us here so we visited my parents up at Lake Muskoka this weekend.  On Friday when we left Whitby, it was freezing with a windchill making it feel like -20°C.  Not far along the highway we were met with snowsqualls, highwinds and overall not fun driving conditions. Although Muskoka  had less snow than it normally does it was a bit of a shock to us as we haven't had any significant snow on the ground for a while.  While only a two hour drive north of us it was definitely still winter at my parents.

Spring was definitely in the air on Sunday.  It was bright and sunny and the temperature climbed to 10°C.

There were definite signs of spring.

 With Muskoka being such a big and busy lake you rarely can see reflections in the water.

 This was my view of the sky while lying on the dock. The sun on my face felt like summer.

Back in Whitby it was 16°C and we were greeted by these at our front doorstep.

Spring is definitely coming!

March already?

Well, I can see that I only visited my blog once the whole month of February.  Even with the extra day this year February just kind of went.  Sometimes life can throw you a curveball or two, sometimes it pitches a rainbow over your way as well (which I am thankful for).  I mostly just found myself in a quieter mood this month.  I have lots on my mind but less to say I guess.

I have found myself a few times staring out the window as I work watching the birds in our yard.  The sparrows, chickadees, junkos and our cardinal pair.  I have also come to know a little chipmunk visitor.  He has been amusing me as he jumps on the fence and runs through the garden.  Although only a tiny fellow he has similar mannerisms to our dog.  He hears a noise that startles him and he stops dead in his tracks so not to be noticed. It's quite cute.  Mabel does this as well as she hears me call her name when she tries to get a nice backrub off the front of our brand new couch. I think she figures if she stands still, even if she is literally tipped over with her back firmly glued to the cushion I won't notice. (Actually pretty cute!)

This little chipmunk - I have so uniquely named Chippy - has been eluding me every time I go to get the camera...until today.

It's one of the first times I have been able to use my telephoto lens on my new camera.  I think a tripod would have definitely helped as they do seem a bit blurry but good for a first try.

...ooohh, and so cool as I'm writing this the male cardinal just flew into our backyard.  Such a lovely sight on a gray day!

And I just noticed that both of my last blog posts are dominated by rodents! It's a new idea. Maybe to get out of my writing rut I shall devote this space to all the rodents of the land....or not!

We will be busy tonight helping Erica pack up to go to Africa tomorrow for two weeks with her school and Sydney will be performing in her very first dance competition! Big, exciting things  happening here!
Have a good weekend friends.