G is for Garden Delights

As I sit here on Saturday afternoon watching the wet snow fall from the leaden sky, all I can think of is that it's time for Spring!  Spring, with flowers blooming and Lorne getting excited about all the pots he's going to prepare for African daisies, echinaceas, fuschias, and tomatoes!  I think most people find that Spring improves one's mood as we get outside in the warm sunshine and our thoughts turn to baseball, leisurely walks along the seashore, and gardening.

With that in mind, I thought I'd give you a little prelude to Spring by bringing you some of my photos of the flowers in and around my garden.  Enjoy and don't forget to turn up the music that accompanies the photos. It's called "Spring Has Sprung."

But before you click on the slideshow, remember the gentle Denise (creator of ABC Wednesday) and the gregarious Roger (our administrator) without whom we would all be out in the cold without ABCW to keep us warm together throughout the cold winter months.

F is for FUN

Hi everyone!  I've been having a lot of fun lately watching the Olympics in Sochi and so grateful to the Canadian athletes who have put their all into their performances.  Canada is doing very well this year and are tied for 3rd place with Norway for total points out of all the countries involved.

I wrote about the Olympics last week, so had to try to think of something else that's fun for me at any time.  And I thought "Gee, I haven't posted about Tegan for ages!"  So I'm going to show you a few photos of the fun we have at the doggie parks or at the beach or even at home.  Hope you have fun watching!

Oh, and don't forget to thanks the fantastic Denise, the creator of ABCW, the fabulous Roger, our administrator, and the fun-loving team of assistants.  Without any of them, we wouldn't be so fortunate to have fun here on ABC Wednesday.

E is for EXCITING

 

The most exciting thing on television right now is the Winter Olympics at Sochi, Russia.  We consider ourselves an "Olympic family" because Lorne was intimately involved with both Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.  So naturally, we watched the Opening Ceremonies Saturday morning at 8:00 am and have been glued to the tube ever since.  

We are rooting for Canada, of course, and are thrilled that we already have one Gold and a Silver for sisters Justine and Choe Dufour-Lapointe in the Ladies Moguls,  a Silver for our Figure Skating Team Event, and a Bronze for Slopestyle Snowboarding going to Mark McMorris, who performed with a broken rib!  And we've only just begun.  Our hockey teams (both men's and women's) won Gold medals in the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver and are poised to repeat those wins.  Fingers crossed! 

 Chloe (left) won Silver, Justine (middle) won Gold, Hannah Kearney (USA) won Bronze

 Mark McMorris celebrating his Bronze medal win!

 Canada's Figure Skating Team

As I say, we are naturally rooting for Canada, but its so exciting to see each country rooting for its  team.  There are so many very talented athletes competing and we are excited to watch them all.  This morning we watched the Men's 30K Skiathlon event and ended up cheering for the Swiss, Swedish and Norwegians win their medals.  Switzerland's Dario Cologna overcame a broken ankle and worked extremely hard to simply be able to compete. He ended up in tears over his gold-medal win. 

We have also watched the Men's Ski Jump (Normal) and were excited that the Polish athlete won the Gold medal.  We lived with a lovely young Polish couple when we were in London and we keep in touch with them now that they have moved home to Poland.  So we thought of them and their excitement for Kamil Stoch's gold-medal winning jump!  Also, speaking of when we were in London, our congratulations go to Britain's Jenny Jones who won a Bronze medal in Ladies' Slopestyle Snowboarding. 

For the next two weeks, we will be riding high with excitement as we watch the Sochi Winter Games.  We will be thrilled for all the winners and wish them well in their efforts to represent their countries in a sportsmanlike manner.

With thanks to the elegant Denise Nesbitt, creator of ABC Wednesday, and to the easygoing Roger, our Administrator.  If you are interested in joining the team (who are assigned about 10 posts per week to visit), please email Roger.  We're pushing towards 100 participants per week, so we always welcome eager beavers to join in to help.  Have a great week, everyone!

 NOTE:  All photos courtesy of Mr. Google.

D is for DOUBLE DIGITS

This week, I'm celebrating my grandson's 10th birthday, which was actually on January 1st.  Unfortunately, his entire family came down with the flu and was unable to make a big to-do for him.  I remember phoning him to wish him "Happy Birthday" and assured him that I would bring his birthday present over as soon as everyone was well.  I also assured him that he would never ever forget his 10th birthday when he turned "double digits."

We finally managed to get together for breakfast at "the Spot," a well-known family restaurant in British Columbia 1928, on Sunday.  It's famous for its burgers and for its Pirate Packs for children.

When he opened his gift - a "grown-up" Timex Outlander watch, he was thrilled.  He had to put it on right away and then took it off so his Mom could set the date and time for him.  He was quite intrigued at how it read the date in numbers and that it had a seconds ticker, too.

Double digits are exciting to reach the first time, and maybe the second or third time.  However, once the fourth, fifth, or sixth time comes around, we tend to try to disregard it.  But then, if you're like me, you decide to make the best of it and celebrate anyway!  Oh, and by the way, if you look at the little video below, don't think we allow him to be all "bad boy" - he wanted a hoodie for Christmas, which I gave him, and he was so thrilled with it, that he pretended to be a "bad boy."  He even wore it when we went out for breakfast.  So, here's to Noah - HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY!

Now don't forget to give thanks to our darling Mrs. Nesbitt, the creator of ABC Wednesday, and to the debonair Roger, our administrator.  Without them or the team of dedicated volunteers that help out by visiting at least 10 posters per week, we would be deeply despondent!  And don't forget to let Roger know if you'd like to be on the team list and visit 10 contributors.  We have lots of newbies (we made it to over 90 for the letter C) so the more people on the team, the less time involved for all.  Thanks!