It's that time of year again:  Painting, dusting, wiping, purging, sorting, cutting, begging, bribing, overspending, labeling, piling, sharpening, panicking, breathing deeply and...

...hopefully soon there will be an "AFTER" blog entry!!!  :))))

Simon's green thumb, supplemented with a friend's watering while we were in PEI (and a little luck when she didn't water for two weeks!) resulted in the eventual blossoming of the Morning Glory he planted way back in June.

In the midst of a concrete jungle, against a backdrop of metal balcony rails, parking lot and cars, the morning glory blooms each morning, closing up her delicate blue and purple flowers around noon, until the next morning.

Great spot to stop for lunch... we spent some time in the butterfly conservatory first.....

Suddenly our PEI summer is over, and we're enroute back to Toronto!!  While Trevor enjoys another week out east before flying back with Jasper, Tats and I loaded up the car and headed west with the boys.

Spent most of the day in PEI, at the Haunted Mansion, and geocaching at Confed Bridge, before heading to Fredericton for the night.  Then on to QC today....

(For more flying photos from Sat across the Island, click here!)

Got to go for a tour of the tower at Charlottetown Airport last night and watch my friend arrive by plane from there!!  Westjet 222 was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 p.m. local time.  We watched on the radar as they were handed off from Moncton, then snapped a pic as they broke through the clouds at CYYG and landed.  Fun!

One thing that has always struck me about PEI is its incredible colour palette.  With the exception of a few, small “urban” centres, the island is largely rural, and the pastoral landscapes offer simple yet dramatic canvasses for Mother Nature to experiment on with various tints and shades.

 The most obvious combination is the red soil partnered with golden fields and blue skies – the primary colour scheme is an effective one for sure.  However, the longer I am here, the more I begin to appreciate the different sections of the colour wheel played out against the backdrop of the PEI countryside.  This morning, for example, I was overwhelmed with the beautiful simplicity of the lighter green fields contrasted with the darker green treeline in the distance, and topped off with the most magnificent sky featuring a wide variety of blues.

The photos, of course, don't do it justice. Uncluttered by humanity, the horizon lines were most pleasing to the eye, and provided an optimal setting for my morning walk with the beagle, who was –nose to the ground—more smitten with various crab remnants and jellyfish on the beach than with the gorgeous scenery he was obliviously trampling through!

Another day, another lighthouse, this one near Montague....

(Click on a photo above to get the "big picture".)

Finally, a gorgeous, sunny day on the Island!  Eventually hauled myself out of bed to walk the dog and begin painting the music cabin.  What seemed like a "fun" little project has turned into a complete nightmare and total fiasco!

The boys wanted to "help mommy paint".  I thought it was not a bad idea, until I saw their side of the cabin, lol!  Yikes!  Definitely an excercise.  Trevor and I repainted it this evening while the boys watched a movie, hehe.  We were eated alive by a thousand hungry mosquitos (they come out in droves at dusk), but manage to get a base coat on three walls of the cabin in total, and complete a second coat on one large wall.  God grant us the strength and good weather to muster up the energy to complete the second coat on the other two walls and do two full coats on the remaining wall.  And then paint all the trim white.  Ugh!

Happily, I also got to fly today.  :)))