My favorite shot from the past few days..

Hi everyone!!  Again, the week has gone by fast for me!  I have enjoyed reading a bit of everyone else's posts, so thought  before I call it a day I would try to get some blogging done!

We got Ben off to Sweden on Thursday.  This is a big step for him!!  He travelled alone for starters!!  Had to transfer planes in Amsterdam and landed in Gothenburg Sweden where he was greeted by a complete stranger and taken to Roonang where he will be helping with Hockey Ministries International.  He will be a counsellor, on ice helper,,,wherever needed with helping at 2 hockey camps in Sweden.  He has sent a few messages on facebook, and he is a little bit homesick.  I am praying that with camp starting today, he was able to get busy, keep his mind off of things and have a good day.  Oh,,this will be a stretch for him, but I am super proud of him for venturing 1/2 way across the world!!  He will be meeting up with Darrell and Grandpa Florian in Zurich on Aug 13th. and then the 3 of them will do some more travelling in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.  Miss you bud!!

A quick shot of Ben with all his stuff!  He was nervous and didn't want me taking his picture!
How can you tell....

Well, after we said goodbye to Ben, Darrell and I thought we would try a last minute, spontaneous "stop at a ticket counter"and see where we could fly last minute!!  Darrell was in line at Air Canada and I was in line at WestJet.  Victoria, Portland, Seattle,,,,,,,all wayyy to expensive last minute for us and the August long week end didn't help either.    I guess next time we will plan to book in on a seat sale!!

So,,, we headed west to the Rocky Mountains!

Entering Banff National Park

And decided to stay a couple of days in the town of Banff.

I will end my post today with a couple of shots from a guided tour we took of some of the early homes in Banff.  The pictures below are from the Moore cabin.  More info to follow on our museum tour...

I really like the "Hudson Bay" curtains and the true mountain cabin feeling in this home.  

Favorite two shots below.

 Of course, we were restricted a bit where we could go in the cabin and it was a little dark.

As soon as I saw the light streaming in the window though, I knew I could probably get a nice

shot and with some editing it would turn out like I had hoped.

Posting to Mosaic Monday:

Have a great week everyone!!

Also linking to :

Sweet Shot Tuesday

Wordless Wednesday

Show off your Shot

Debbie is still hosting her "newbie party" so hop on over and have a look!

I am still hoping to have 100 followers, so hope you will follow along.

Mosaic Monday...

It has been another busy week of work, doing yard work, BnB guests, a trip to Medicine Hat to see Kaleb, and here it is another Monday just around the corner. You know I love Mondays though, as that means it is time for another Mosaic Monday post.

It seemed that my peony bush bloomed so quickly this year.  We had a couple of hotter days and just like that it was starting to drop its pretty petals.  Usually I have atleast one arrangement sitting on the kitchen counter from it.  Glad I got the camera out in time to capture its beauty... hope you enjoy it too.

Have a great week everyone! and don't forget to head over to Mary's to see the other Mosaic Monday posts.

One crazy prairie storm...and getting somewhat caught up.

Hi everyone!!  There is one wicked storm brewing this evening.  We have had pouring rain, a bit of hail, wind and more rain.    I am finally finding myself in front of the computer .  Other than checking quick emails and making a few comments on some of your blogs, I have been busy this past week.  I am finally done working my fulltime "fill in" shifts at work and am back to my glorious 10-2 shift!!  We have had a busy week and a bit of BnB guests.  Holland, Switzerland, Edmonton, Moose Jaw are some of the places people have been visiting from.  I enjoy that about our BnB, meeting people from other places.

The Santo family from Switzerland.  

Their comments from our guest book at the BnB

"Dear Darrell and Dawna, we thanks you so much for your warmhearted hospitality! Your house is very beautifully furnished, we are very impressed.  A lot of details, and are all in the right place.  The flowers this morning were wonderful and the breakfast, dear Dawna, was very fine.  Thanks so much for all.  I hope we can come back in a few years.  We wish you all the best   If you are in Switzerland one day, you are very invited, to visit us."

It really is a small world, and in about a months time, Darrell and Ben will be in Switzerland and do plan on visiting the Santo family!!  Ben leaves for Sweden on July 28th...he is going with Hockey Ministries International and will be helping with on ice coaching and counselling at 2 hockey camps in Sweden.  Then on Aug 13th, he will meet up with his dad and grandpa in Zurich for another 2 weeks of seeing where Grandpa Florian was born and spent his early childhood.  They will have quite the adventure!!  Turns out that the Santo family's farming operation is only about 1 hour from where Darrell, Ben and Florian will be !  Ben will be travelling on his own to Sweden, so I know I will be a little bit anxious next week...you can say a prayer for me!!  I am glad that he and I  travelled to Europe last spring with the school trip, atleast he will know a little bit of what to expect with international travel.  

Ben getting on the airplane to come home from Frankfurt last April

Can't believe it is time to let them spread their wings more!!

We finally have had some really hot weather here on the prairies!!  On Saturday, after getting breakfast done for a full house at the BnB and getting all the rooms made up for the next group of people, I decided to sit in the sun for awhile, sip some iced tea and read my book!!

Same picture edited in Picnik

I decided to even let the watering can sit for a few hours....

Here is the same picture after doing some editing in Picnik.

Sunday evening and Monday my parents, aunt and uncle, and my moms first cousin and his wife were here.  We enjoyed sitting on the decks, looking at photo albums and visiting.   

My mom, Ben and cousin Donna

My dad, enjoying some ice cream on a hot day!

My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Alvin

Where has the time gone,,,,glad we have photos to remember them by!

Some interesting clouds in the prairie sky!

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by the country!  

I will try to get caught up on my blog reading soon!!

Its another Monday!!

These old buckets look so cool on this fence made of old lumber.  I shot this picture in my good friend, Sharalynn's, yard.  About a week later a hail storm came through their farmyard and lets just say the buckets have a few more dents and the flowers don't look quite as perky anymore!  But, the good thing is even when we are beaten down, we have another opportunity to keep reaching for the sunshine in our lives, get up and keep going!

Wishing you all a great week ahead!  We have a busy one, with bnb guests, bbq planned, working extra hours at the bank to help cover for a co worker on holidays, and some of my family will be here on the week end too.  Where is the summer going!!    Please slow down!

1. Posting to my favorite Monday site..

Mosaic Monday

Gold on the Prairies!

I had a great drive to Red Deer today.  The small community we live in has a population of 3000.  We are about 2 hours to Calgary, or Red Deer or just a little over 2.5 hours to Med Hat.  We can get most everything right here in our little town,,,but what girl doesn't like a day of shopping!  Although, I wasn't in the city for long...I am a very quick shopper!!

Anyways, the weather was windy and stormy this morning when I left.  I put my camera in the car, a habit I am trying to get into.  I was glad I did, as the fields of canola are in full bloom and there is nothing quite like seeing the prairie bursting in yellow.  I stopped to shoot a little barn that is surrounded by canola.  The landowner cleared some old carraganas from the field, but left the barn!  I see that a piece of it was removed, but for the barn was left intact.   I guess he knew I would be needing a subject!!    I have also shot this barn in the winter.  Quite a difference when the prairie is full of color.

Cloudy skies this morning...

Coming home late afternoon, the sun was trying to make an appearance..

So, I pulled off the road again to shoot the barn with some different light.

Those are the Handhills in the background.

Don't you just love the wide open spaces !!

No traffic jams, no long lines, just peace and quiet.....

The only thing I dislike about coming home from a day of shopping is unloading the car and putting everything away!  I wanted some new summer clothes for work and found some great sales today!!  and of course found a few good items at Homesense.   After getting home, I went for a good hour walk and think I am ready to call it a day!  

Thanks for stopping by the country!

Posting to Photo Friday

Mellow Yellow Monday

Barn Charm

Project Aliciawww.projectalicia.com

Barn Charm

I love old barns...the colors, the shapes, the old wood.  One thing I am finding out in blogland is that there seems to be a blog for everything!   I found this interesting site "Barn Charm" where you can post all your favorite barn pictures!  I hope you will enjoy it too, be sure to check it out!

This is an old barn at Darrell's cousins place.  I like how there is just a little bit of red coloring left under the eaves where the sun has not hit it as much.

Barn Charm

Thanks for stoppin by the country!

Great CANADA Day long week end!

It has been a busy, but fun long week end here at That Country Place.  It all started on Thursday when I took some grad pictures for a close friend...she is such a lovely young lady and photographing her was fun.  We beat the rain clouds , and did our fair share of swattin mosquitoes!  I think we captured a few though.

Friday we had friends visit us from Medicine Hat...it was a last minute invite and they enjoyed cruising to our place with the top down on their Corvette.  A great steak supper, relaxing on the deck and catching up with friends was perfect!!   We enjoyed a fireworks display over Fox Lake to celebrate Canada Day as well.

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous weather!!  I enjoyed spending time in the yard, took some BnB bookwork out onto the deck, and watched the yellow finches we have in the yard.  Then we were off to the little town of Rosebud, AB for "Jake and the Kid".  A dinner theatre show.  Rosebud is just a sleepy  little village, but is very well known for the Rosebud School of the Arts.  The village comes to life for the days of the performances and then as quickly as the crowds came in for the show, they leave.    We have enjoyed going to a number of shows on the OperaHouse stage.  We went with great friends, and Kaleb and Jami met us from Med Hat as well.  Great food, good company and great entertainment rounded out the week end.

Of course it is Monday again,,,so am posting this to my favorite Monday spot Mosaic Monday

A very Happy 4th of July to all my American blog friends I have met!!

Enjoy your week everyone!

Mosaic Monday

www.sweetlittlegals.com