The end of the Mazda 5

 Back in 2013, I bought a used Mazda 5. It was great. It had storage space or seating, and I took full advantage of both.

When my mom brought the 3 ten-to-twelve year olds to visit, it picked them up at the airport. 

When I started building furniture, I hauled 8-foot-long boards home in it. 

It was there through Halloween parties, road trips, injuries, renovations, storms, COVID, picking up the puppy, and everything else that has happened in the last 10 years.

It was hard to find a replacement! The Mazda 5 had a lot of storage, not to mention the flexibility of the 6 seats. But it was time, so on Friday I traded it in.

It was a good car.

I'll take the potato

 This year, we did Halloween a little differently.

In addition to candy - of which we had a lot - we had pencils. We also added one potato to the bowl.

Kids were given the chance to choose two different things. The pencils were surprisingly popular. But if we mentioned the potato (i.e. "you can choose candy, a pencil, or a potato"), they took the potato. If we didn't mention it, they didn't take it. 

It was an interesting experiment!

The littlest vampire wishes you a happy Hallowe'en

Still outside

Back in 2020, my Pathfinders moved outside (like everyone did, since inside was far more risky). Over the past couple of years, most groups have moved inside.

We haven't. We still meet outside all year - and we have no intentions of ever moving back to indoor meetings.

We've built sand castles in the snow, built a quinzee, identified trees, used power tools, and found constellations in the sky. And we're more active - there are chairs available, but most of time we're standing or walking or playing.

In some ways it's harder - it does get cold in the winter, but the worst days are the cold, dark, rainy nights in March and November, when there is little snow on the ground.   

And in three weeks, we start again. 

A productive weekend

 This weekend was very productive. 

Wanda and I painted the siding. It took all day Saturday and half of Sunday, and it looks great! I was so inspired I cleaned out the shed and cleaned up some of the general mess outside. 

Last weekend the pup turned one. She enjoyed her birthday cookie.

The summer is speeding by, but hopefully I will have time for a couple more projects before fall.

Well, 2022 is over!

 Well, it's been quite a year.

• 5 vaccinations (3 of them COVID)
• 1 new puppy
• 1 new human in the house (my niece moved in for school)
• 7+ days without power due to a storm
• 1 downed tree (that I had to deal with)
• 7 days in Yellowknife
• 3 Girl Guide camps (all in tents)
• 1 new dishwasher
• so very many masks

Here's hoping 2023 brings health, happiness, and an end to the pandemic.