Another layout from the summer issue

I was lucky enough to be sent The Great Canadian Stamp set (available from http://cornishheritagefarms.com/) to showcase for the What's Cool in Canada section of the summer Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. The stamps generated a lot of inspiration in my brain, and I finally settled on scrapbooking a photograph of a canola field I pass on my way to work. I love the way the layout turned out, the paper is by Carolee's Creations and the colours are perfect!!

I have a love/hate relationship with canola. I adore the way the fields look when they are in full bloom, they make my heart sing with joy with their vibrant colour and beauty. But I hate the smell. Many years back, I had a number of summer jobs which involved walking through canola fields and counting weeds, or measuring growth stage, or determining disease infestations. This was not so bad when the plants were small, but when the crop was bigger and blooming, it was tough going. Besides the hard work of slogging through a solid mass of plants, one would come out of the field covered with moisture, dirt, flower petals and every little caterpillar and other insect that made a home under the crop canopy. Yuck.

Happy Father's Day

Don't you just love the Father's Day and presents and cards kids make when they are little? This year, Ron received an altered soup can pencil holder from Ben and a plaster of Paris handprint from Marty. He also received this special card made in kindergarten by Marty (the age is right, but the weight's off by a hundred pounds). Um, and I think the height estimate might be on the high side. ;-) I just bought him a boring old table saw.

Soccer Season

I just love watching little kids playing soccer. They are just so darn cute! Their soccer shirts fall to their knees, they travel in packs, occasionally heading in the wrong direction and shooting at their own goal, they get distracted by a butterfly, a mosquito, a dandelion............ At any given time, only a couple of kids are playing soccer. The rest are wrestling, playing, laughing. Which is a beautiful thing.

I spent Saturday at an under six soccer tournament and watched the little folk run. Everybody played equally, everybody got a medal and a pennant, everybody was happy. I don't know when it changes and becomes competitive, but right now it is wonderful to watch. :-)