The Great Pumpkin

Honestly, where has the time gone?! With Halloween tomorrow night, school reports and teacher interviews imminent and Christmas shopping to be getting on with, the blog is in a state of disarray. Hopefully these photos will mollify until I get my proverbial 'you-know-what' together again.
On Saturday we held what is fast becoming our annual pumpkin carving party. We grabbed some expats, threw them in a room with some pumpkins, sharp implements, and alcoholic beverages.
This was the result...

There were vomiting pumpkins, carved drinking vessels, roasted pumpkin seeds and plenty of scooped-out oozy flesh. My funny old pumpkin-shaped cake turned out just fine (if a little peach coloured due to my lack of excitement over orange food colouring additives).
We completed the evening with pizza and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".


 Sally Brown: Do I get to go trick-or-treating this year, big brother?
Charlie Brown: Sure, Sally.
Sally Brown: Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! How do we do it?
Lucy Van Pelt: All you have to do is walk up to a house, ring the doorbell and say "Tricks or treats."
Sally Brown: Are you sure it's legal?
Lucy Van Pelt: Of course it's legal.
Sally Brown: I wouldn't want to be accused of taking part in a rumble.


Are you ready to rumble?

Slightly Spooky House

Well, we've covered our front yard in fake spider webs. Just in time for Hurricane Sandy to try to blow it down. I think we'll get some decent winds in Toronto tomorrow night, but that's about it. It's generally going to be 9 degrees in Toronto this week and raining. Halloween will see us out with scarves and umbrellas. But hey, it's candy. Totally worth it.
So, here are some shots of our finished house. We don't go for the very scary as Poppet is still working her way up to that. I'll try to grab some shots of the neighbourhood houses later in the week. If Sandy doesn't blow them down, that is.
Some Aussie friends came over to help spread the spiderweb. The kids were completely disinterested, so Husband took them to the park with a soccer ball and we got on with it alone. For some reason we didn't pour ourselves a glass of wine until we were done.
Such discipline!

Next year we might add some headstones and severed limbs. It's so much fun being ghoulish.
Oh, and if you're looking for some Halloween inspiration, there's plenty to be found on my Pinterest board over here.

River Rambling

We've had the perfect weather for rambling. We finally got down to the Humber River Valley for a wander with some friends recently. It's super close to our place but for someone reason we haven't been. It was a bit of a rainy day, but that's perfect for wandering and collecting leaves for some collage. The colours were beautiful, but the river was quite low so the salmon weren't running. No coyotes either, but we did see a snake!
Good times, I love the 'great outdoors' when it's cooler.

And I am completely in the market for a new camera. This one is dying a slow but certain death. The plan is to buy one before Xmas. Do you have an awesome camera that I need to know about? Feel free to share in the comments.
Thanks.

The Week So Far

Not too many words from me as I have a cat on my lap, my laptop perched precariously on the edge of my knees and it's all feeling a little dicey. When I got home from drop-off he was sitting on the porch looking wet and bedraggled so I just had to let him in for a cuddle. Haven't told him I'm going out in ten minutes...
This week we've been doing a little Halloween decorating (only inside), Poppet has been madly sketching away and the Xmas stock pile has been growing. I even bought myself some moccasins and leg warmers, yes I did. It's that kind of weather.
Poppet has finally completed reading the entire Narnia series of books. She is an incredible reader and these books have really developed both her reading and her narration skills. I bought her the gorgeous Narnia pop-up book to celebrate such a triumph. The Spiderwick Chronicles await us!

Now, I have to go break it to this cat that I am about to put my wellies on and drag him outside again...
(Apologies for the photo quality, I'm hoping a new camera will be in my hands by Xmas!)

Fabulous Foliage

For Thanksgiving Monday we went on a little roadtrip to see the Fall Colour. About an hour's drive out of the city is the Forks of the Credit park. It is a huge park, complete with lakes and rivers and waterfalls and the most enormous trees I've seen. Just beautiful.
We walked for over two hours and Poppet managed most of it without complaint, collecting leaves and and actually getting into it. It was pretty darn cold too!

When we left at lunchtime it was crazy packed. Couldn't wait to get out of there and find a burger joint. It's times like these that we're grateful our girl is such an early riser.
Home by 5pm, happily tired and fed.