Fall and a new hobby

I took a stroll with Ruby and took some photos of the fall colours. They took a while to arrive, but were quite spectacular this year. 

Yes, dandelions are still around - I even found some in full bloom. This one that went to seed just begged to have its picture taken.

Some very large leaves are falling

I also have been working on a new hobby over the past few months - inlay ring making. Here are a few of the ones I have made. I buy the ring blanks on Esty, usually. The inlay is made with synthetic opal and other inclusions, but the main ingredient is cyanoacrylate glue - crazy glue. A Dremel for grinding, sandpaper, and some polishing compound are all that is really needed. Most are less than $20 in total to make. 

Black ceramic ring

Cobalt chrome ring

Tellurium copper ring

The tellurium copper ring also glows in the dark!

Blue tungsten Damascus pattern ring with iron pyrite

Tungsten ring with obsidian black, ember & black fire opal, plus stained glass copper wire

It is a fun hobby and only takes an hour or two to make a ring. 

Big news!

The biggest news of the fall is that Parker and Jaclyn got engaged!!!

At the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada

The happy couple!

The custom ring included diamonds from Wendy's mother's ring!

Wendy and I are very please and proud!

Thanksgiving in Manitoba

Wendy and I headed to Manitoba to visit my father for the Thanksgiving weekend, staying just under a week.

My father showed off his new chair - with included ejection seat!

On Thanksgiving day, Wendy and I decided to take a walk while the turkey was in the oven. We wanted to take a picture of a newly painted mural on the local Manitoba Telephone System building (a few blocks away). It was bitterly cold in the wind, so we cut our walk short.

Dinner was only 8 of us (my older brother's wife was not feeling well). I think the turkey turned out well, and we were able to fill my father's freezer with meals before we headed back home.

Couch evolution

We recently had our sofabed/couch reupholstered. 

This piece of furniture was originally Wendy's grandmother's, and it is probably the heaviest couch we have ever experienced. It was likely purchased in the 1940s-1960s, and we have had it since the 1990s.

Here is how it has evolved in our hands:

Original

Original floral pattern

2006

Covered in medium grey (when kids were younger)

2025

Current light grey - with a new mattress inside

Finished another stained glass panel

I have been working on a 4-panel stained glass piece for quite a while. I was given this old window frame and it took years to decide what would work as a pattern. Each panel is 3.75" wide and 17.5" tall, so not much would fit. 

I decided to not decide and went with randomly cutting glass (much of it scrap) and to make waves of colours across all the panels. I started at the bottom and worked upwards to make a mosaic.  Seems to have worked out well! 

 

Summer is over, but a lot of ice cream was involved

My last post had summer just beginning - well, it did its thing, and now it is over.

Wendy, Eric, Parker, and Jaclyn headed to Manitoba at the end of July for Eric's mother's Celebration of Life event. One of the first things we did was to visit the National Indigenous Residential School Museum in Portage. It was a great museum and had a very powerful message.

The Celebration of Life and interment at the cemetery was very well attended and was a beautiful day to remember Eric's mom.

Parker brought his grandma's ashes to the cemetery.

Eric gave a brief speech.

Before we headed home, all of us took in a visit to the local Dairy Queen.

Unfortunately, our flight got cancelled and rescheduled for a day later. We had to check into the hotel again and extend our trip by 27 hrs.

An extra night in the indigenous owned and operated hotel.

Ruby was happy to see us when we returned. She learned to play in the sprinkler in the ~40C heat.

Eric and Wendy celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary with some ice cream.

Adam just happened to be in Saskatchewan for work, and he dropped in briefly to see is Grandpa in Manitoba. 

At the end of August, Parker celebrated his 25th birthday with more ice cream!

Once September started, it was back to work for all, and this meant a new school year for Eric. This is likely the last time during the year that lots of chalk will be available....

Summer begins

Summer started with a trip for Eric to (smoky) Manitoba. He went to help out his dad for a week and a half and was there for father's day. 

Portage la Prairie, MB

Dan, Veronika, and Elizabeth came out for a visit as well. 

After returning home, we decided to take Wendy's mom's best friend (since high school) Anne out to dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant in Etobicoke that we had previously visited. Little did she know that Parker and Jaclyn plus Anton and Tanya would already be there!

Eric, Anne, Wendy at Barrel House Korchma

Raspberry season kicked into high gear with all the heat and sunshine, so Wendy took her friend Rahil from work, while Eric acted as photographer and raspberry sherpa.

An odd sight that Eric and Ruby came across on one of their morning walks. It was so hot during the day that early morning was the only time to go out. 

Before the raspberry season ended, Wendy wanted one more batch to go into the freezer. Eric got co-opted to pick this time. The freezer is now full!

Eric has been working on an abstract/mosaic stained glass to go into an old wooden frame. He just finished cutting all the glass and has the daunting task of foiling all the pieces next. 

Next for the summer? Eric, Wendy, Parker, and Jaclyn head out this week for a short visit to Portage la Prairie for the Celebration of Life and interment for Eric's mom.