Pam's Week 12: Ice Ice Baby....

Oh, what a week...The weather wasn't as nice as promised by the weather man.  The +9 Celsius I was promised for Brantford on Friday and Saturday was only about 2, if that.  The sunny Sunday turned into freezing rain on our drive home from Sudbury.  I visited 5 different McDonald's in 4 different cities and NONE of them had Shamrock Shakes (and I actually visited the one in town before St. Patrick's Day even and nada).  The denim capris I have been eyeing up were in stock in my size in Brantford but they looked better on the hanger (I guess the upside is that I saved myself a lot of money...).  I arrived home to a hubby with the stomache flu and strep throat (a nasty combo, if you ask me).

On the positive side - I only worked 2.5 days.  My flight to Toronto was pleasant (even if the incoming flight was "tardy").  I got to spend some time with my brother and his pretty fantastic fiance and her cousin too.  I got to eat some yummy Vietnamese food (one of the ethnicities lacking in Sault Ste. Marie fare).  My dad's surgery was a success and he is healing well and in great spirits.  We had a good drive home in spite of the freezing rain.

Now a word of warning before I get to the photos - none of them, with the exception of ZigZag were particularly well thought out or executed.  I was more in "just take a picture and call it a day" mode this week.  Please accept my apologies....

ZigZag

Now I usually have Pinterest or my good friend, Google, to thank for the good ideas I come up with.  For this picture, though, I have Facebook ads to credit, Crayola specifically.

Oh, is it bad that I'm crediting Crayola for the idea when I used CraZArt crayons?  Oopsie....

A Beginning

My initial thought was to take a photo of a newly budding plant for the "beginning of spring".  While at my Aunt and Uncle's on our way home this past weekend, however, my cousin came with her youngest and we decided that the "beginning of life" was more exciting.  He's about 10 months old now but compared to the rest of us, he's just beginning.

Starts with Q

If I didn't know better, I would have thought Sharon purposely put this photo this week, knowing that I would be spending time at my brother's house.  Why, you ask?  Well, my brother has an English bulldog named Q-tip.  You see, as a little puppy, he was pure white with this orangish spot above his eye that reminded my brother of earwax on a Q-tip.  His name is usually shortened to Q, which he seems to enjoy.  I'm not sure how he felt about me calling him Riya for a few days though...  Unfortunately, he wouldn't be overly cooperative for a photo.

Strong

I decided that Mother Nature is stronger than all of us.  Her snowstorms bury us for days  (well, maybe not us northerners but they certainly bring life in the south or in the US to a standstill).  Her windstorms bring down trees and power lines.  Her rainstorms bring floods.  And then when she gets really angry, she throws hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis at us.  On Sunday, it was freezing rain that delayed our departure from Sudbury as we weren't sure how to get ourselves and our belongings from my Aunt and Uncle's house into the car parked on a hill on their driveway, let alone bust through the sheet of ice covering the car to get into it if we made it that far without a major break.  On the way home, I really wanted a photo of one of the speed limit signs or exit signs with the icicles hanging down.  Unfortunately, I wanted to get home in one piece more.  As a result, my photo is a rather pathetic attempt at capturing the ice on my neighbour's tree.

Joy

We had a lot of joy in our lives this past week, the biggest joy being the success of my father's surgery.  Of course, my mother's name is "Joyce" so she's another joy we are happy to have in our lives.  This is a photo of my parents at my brother's house after my Dad was discharged.

A Bunch

I considered taking a photo of the bunch of boxes I'd heard rumours were still in Chris and Renee's basement but I think Renee was possible horrified at the thought.  You see, they bought a house together and moved in at the end of August.  The problem is that they both are "collectors" and both had houses of their own that housed their "collections".  Now, they have had to bring their collections together and find places for all of it or decide what to get rid of.  Apparently Renee's cousin and another friend had planned on cleaning up and organizing the basement while Chris and Renee were on vacation if the Packers were going to the Superbowl.  Unfortunately, that did not come to pass so the boxes remained.  Luckily they cleaned out the boxes in my room before I arrived!  It was a super comfy bed even if all I could do was see a bunch of crystal penises hanging above me after they told me I was in the room with the penis light.

Instead of the boxes, I decided to take a photo of Liam, my cousin's little guy, playing with a bunch of blocks.  This photo was Duncan's favourite.

Wildcard

I considered actually taking a picture of a wild card while we played cards on Saturday night but since the wild card changed every hand in 2500, it was difficult to do.  Instead, I thought I'd include a photo of my dad in St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton.  My mom asked me to take a photo of him so I did.

He still looks a little dazed from either the anesthetic or the pain meds or combination of both but we were happy to see him smiling.

And that's it for this week.  I have one idea for this upcoming week so let's see if I can come up with more ideas and execute them too!  The sun is shining and the snow is melting, though, so I'm feeling inspired!