November is National Blog Post Month. 30 posts in 30 days. I was first introduced to this by an extended family member – blogger who’s blog I had been reading on a regular basis three years ago. When I saw that she was going to challenge herself to write 30 posts in 30 days I thought I would throw down the gauntlet and try it as well.

The first year, I was able to make it through. It was tough, to find interesting things to talk about every day for a month. Last year, I wasn’t able to make it through. A friend of mine sent me a private message that it seemed like it wasn’t fun, and why do it if you aren’t enjoying it. I stopped around the 15th of the month last year.

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of another year. I went to walmart this morning to see if they had any discounted Halloween candy and you can see that the seasonal aisle is already taking shape with shades of red and green taking over from the black and orange of the last few weeks.

The leaves are almost all gone. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking pictures of my friend’s family.

It was such a beautiful day at the Mill Pond. The sun was a bit challenging, but the photos turned out amazing, and my friend was very happy with the final product. I drove past this one tree as I was heading to the photo shoot and made a mental note to come back and take picture on the way home. As you can see, I did. What you can’t see are all the amazing yellow and orange leaves on the ground underneath the tree. It was on private property (and the ground was wet) or I may have just made a pile and lay down on them. 

 This amazing tree below was actually on my condo property in our back parking lot.

Taken the same day, I had to stop before I went into the underground to admire the beauty of fall.

And now, the beauty has fallen away. We change our clocks tomorrow night and fall is falling away, and winter is arriving.

I hope you will come along with me for my November ride. Until tomorrow….

Last night was one of those rare Friday nights that I wasn’t having dinner either at my parents house or at my brother’s house. We had some cousin’s that were in from Montreal and they wanted to get together and have dinner out, which my parents and I decided to do.

We were ten of us for dinner – my mother, and her two cousins and their spouses, and then myself, my cousin, and her two children. There were three generations of cousins and it was really nice. We went to Paisano’s at Sheppard and Willowdale, which I am sure many of you are familiar with. If you are not, and really good Italian food, you should check it out!

My cousin and I were at the “kids” end of the table, with the ‘adults’ at the other end. Her sons are almost the exact same ages as my nieces, 8 and 6. When they arrived, of course the two boys were quite shy and stuck to mom, but the older one sat beside me, the younger one across from him and then my cousin and I across from each other.

It was very nice, because my cousin and I are the same age, both live in the “neighbourhood” but our paths have not crossed very much. We had a nice time talking and catching up. I had brought my photo books and that lead into travel discussion and about cruising. It was great, because they had been on the Allure and the Freedom of the Seas, which allowed me to ask the boys questions. That was all it took – the younger one was FULL of questions for me.

I loved some of the questions that he asked. It was fun and humourous and really seeing life through the eyes of a 6 year old.

As I said, we are sitting at the “kids” side of the table, which lead into the following interaction:
6 year old: “you are not a kid”.
Me: “Well, yes, I am. That lady is my mom, and that man is my dad, so I am their kid.”
6 year old: “no, kids are only up to teenager. You are not a kid.”
Not going to win this one.

Discussing how we are all cousins.
Upon meeting the cousin from Montreal
6 year old: “She is our cousin, how old is she?”
Mom: “She is the same age as Gramma.”
Me: “How old do you think Gramma is?”
6 year old: “86”
cough, cough (Gramma is in early 70’s and looks like mid 60’s)

I had brought some of my photo books to share with my cousins and the 6 year old really enjoyed looking at the books and asking questions. I loved it. He was really engaging and funny and sweet. It was such an enjoyable meal (maybe not for Mom) but for me, I had a great time.

Final set of questions before we ended the meal:
6 year old: “do you have kids”
Me: no
6 year old: “do you have a husband”
Me: no
6 year old: “so you live by yourself”.
Me: yes
6 year old: “so that is why you live in an apartment”.

So, back to Paisano’s….as we were walking towards the front door, he was walking with me holding my hand (trusting me to walk out ahead of his mom). I told him that Paisano in Italian means Friend. To which he replied, “We are eating at a place that is called Friend”. Yes.

I hope that I will get to see my cousin and her boys again soon. It had been way too long, and my mom told her that I love children (as if she couldn’t tell by then) and that I love to have kids over, bake, arts and crafts, etc. She looked at me and said “I have your numbers now”. I told her that she could use them, anytime.

If you are one of my friends with kids, you know this to be true.

Thanks for reading, happy Saturday everyone!~