I Spy 2023: The Last One

After not completing the I Spy 2022 photo challenge in 2022 (I stopped participating about mid-June last year), this is my last I Spy post for 2023!!!

colorful

We went out for supper on Friday night and our charcuterie board was surprisingly "colourful"!

backyard – quarterly

Our "backyard" is looking very fall like -- not at all what I was expecting for a mid-December picture.

far

We finally got our holiday cards and are sending them to friends and family near and "far." (Tell me I struggled with this prompt, without telling me...!)

jewelry

Rachel, with some help from Dave, repurposed an old "jewelry" box my grandma made, to hold her scrunchies. I thought this was fairly clever!

choose anything – monthly

 

Our dining room decorated for Channukah, with our traditional Channukah centrepiece -- minus the 8 year old gelt which mice ate sometime over the past year.

Thank you for following along with my I Spy photo challenge this year. I have decided I am going to take a break from a yearlong photo challenge in 2024. Hopefully I won't stop taking pictures though!

*week 100 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her post here.

I Spy 2023: Week 46

It's my second last "I Spy" post of the year. I can't believe that I managed to post something for every week, even if I wasn't always the most timely!

special

The fact that my dad made me window boxes is so "special" and I think they look even better with something in them. These will stay decorated like this until the end of March, beginning of April, when I will replace the greenery with pansies. I am sooooo excited to use this "special" gift!

blunt

 

I was struggling what to do with this prompt until I was cutting watermelon radish this past Saturday. You definitely need a knife which is not "blunt" to peel this radish. I also really love the shadows of the knife tip in this photo and the fact that the watermelon radish is in Christmas colours! Hahaha!!!

Starts with S

 While shopping for skates, Sam smiled about soccer balls! There are a lot of things which "start with 's'" in that sentence.

food

 

Some of my favourite holiday food ever are the latkes Dave makes every year during Channukah. Soooo good!!!

your choice

 

Having a lot of fun with Rachel at an extra sparkly event when it gets dark so early is always "my choice"! Come back tomorrow to read more about this super fun evening.

*week 99 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her post here.

I Spy 2023: Week 44 & 45

I can't remember why I didn't get an "I Spy" post done last week (I think I might have been missing a few pictures) and I'm bound and determined to get this post written for today. It's Monday night as I'm writing this and I've taken a sick day for tomorrow. So as soon as this is written, I'm crawling into bed, even though it's not that late. I'm hopeful a good night's sleep will help me feel better. Also, since it's been dark since about 5, it feels a lot later than it actually is. I'm sure it's got to be close to 11pm by now :) Or you know, 6:29pm -- same thing.

Week 44

acorn

I could not find an "acorn" to take a picture of at all so I decided to take a picture of these brown, dried flowers which are the "acorns" of this bush. Yes, I know, I'm stretching here. An acorn is the seed of its tree and these flowers are the seeds of this bush...

plant – quarterly

This plant used to be in much better shape (see it in all it's glory, a mere six months ago, in this post here), but, real life, this is what it looks like now. I'm tempted to toss it, but it is starting to send forth some new shoots so maybe I shouldn't give up all hope yet.

brown

There is so much "brown" in this photo -- the bricks, the dead leaves, the dying plant (which is hard to distinguish from the leaves), the new window boxes -- so many shades of brown.

forever

I really struggled with this prompt and then decided to get low to make it look like our stairs go on "forever." Did it work?!?!?!

your choice

Sam convinced Dave to buy an assorted pack of danishes.

A cherry one will always be "my choice."

Week 45

lock

These are the "locks" to our front door which we hardly ever use. Once in awhile, someone comes to the front door, or more likely, opens it to yell at another family member in the front yard, and then we sometimes forget to "lock" it for a few days. Oooops.

Spot in Town – quarterly

For "spot in town -- quarterly" this year, I picked our street. I think I thought the differences in the yards and trees (and new buildings at the end of the street) would be more significant than they have been. I apologize that this was an uninteresting sight to watch (not) change throughout the year.

body parts

Rachel had a dance friend over and they were doing some partner yoga. My "body parts" don't bend like theirs do!

in the dark

I love the labyrinth at our church which we walk to kick off Advent. We start in the sanctuary "in the dark" and then each person who walks the labyrinth gets a candle lit in a jar to eventually fill the space with more light.

 your choice

I really dislike carnations but they will always be "my choice" for my Advent wreath. I think it's because my mom always used carnations for hers so they're tied together in my mind.

*weeks 97 & 98 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her posts here and here.

I Spy 2023: Weeks 42 & 43

It's my last "I Spy" catch up post. I found it hard to find photos for the prompts this time around so hopefully my thoughts all make sense :)

 

These pictures were mostly taken the week of November 1 - 7, although some of them were taken later.

earth

One of my favourite places on "earth" is in our backyard. I love digging in the "earth," planting flowers in it, and sitting enjoying the sun on this little piece of it.

near

We never sit this "near" each other on the couch while watching movies but I was trying to get a picture of our pajamas! Hahaha!

starts with X

While it doesn't "start with 'x'", our solar lights on the tree make an (abstract) 'x' and this was the closest I could come for this prompt.

garden objects (no plants)

The shovel, the grass clippers -- these are all "garden objects" I used to make the lily bed I dug a couple of weekends ago.

your choice

Pizza on a Friday night, after a full week of work, will always be "my choice." 

These pictures were (mostly) taken the week of November 8-14.

leaf love

 

Rachel and I raked all our leaves to the curb this day. I love that our city comes and sucks them up for us. The prompt of "leaf love" is a little vague here, I know :)

on your plate – quarterly

On our plate often this fall has been veggies from our CSA. We're doing a Fall box for a few months so enjoying some new veggies too.

monochromatic

 

While it isn't exactly "monochromatic" I love the orange of our floor, the orange flowers on Rachel's bunnyhug, the orange inside the purple carrots Rachel is chopping, and the orange of the sweet potatoes. There's a lot of orange in this picture!

no humans allowed

Sam tried out for his high school curling team (unfortunately he didn't make the team) but there were some early mornings driving him to the rink for tryouts. I loved seeing the sunrise after I dropped him off.

choose anything – monthly same vantage point

 

This was our dining room in October when my parents were visiting -- extra chairs and napkins and a tablecloth for a fancier dinner!

*week 95 & 96 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her posts here and here.

I Spy 2023: Weeks 40 & 41

It's time for another "I Spy" catch up post. Fall is definitely featured in this post as the majority of these pictures were taken the last two weeks of October, when fall was in full swing around here.

Also, this post is "late" (by my self-imposed timeline of posting these on Tuesdays) because, in a last minute flurry of activity, Rachel got braces on Tuesday! We knew she was getting them and, originally, had an appointment for December. However, at her pre-appointment on Monday they offered us an appointment time for Tuesday (less than 24 hours away) and we decided to go for it. So we've been getting soft foods, figuring out comfortable clothing, and dealing with "I'm getting braces!!!" emotions. Thankfully, the process seems to have gone well and Rachel didn't have too much discomfort. But let's just say, blogging took a back seat for a few days :)

These pictures were mostly taken during the week of October 18 - 24.

starts with R

Rachel definitely "starts with 'r'" and since the majority of these two weeks was also Rachel focused, due to dance, this is a great picture for this prompt!

band

 

Sam and his friend from elementary school are on two different soccer teams. While it's a little hard to see in the picture, two of their friends came out to watch them play each other. During half time, and after the game, this "band" of boys played soccer together. I love that Sam's elementary school friendships have provided the foundation for his middle and high school friendships too.

selfie – quarterly

I took this selfie earlier this week. I think I've captured the "tired Natasha after a full fall" look! Also, the "Natasha needs a haircut" look - hahaha! This is me, on my way to work, on my favourite path.

bent

I didn't think I would have a picture for this prompt, but our screen door fell off the back and I captured this shot with the very "bent" frame.

Your Choice

 

If our screen door is going to break, having my dad around to help replace it is always "my choice"!

These pictures were mostly taken the week of October 25 - 31. These pictures show you some of our weekend dance getaway, which I'm hoping to blog about in the next few weeks.

favourite

There was a provincial park with about 100 birdhouses on display. You can probably guess why this one was my "favourite"! (Click on the picture to see it bigger, if you need a hint.)

workspace – quarterly

I feel like my "workspace" isn't very exciting. It is, however, a lot emptier once I got the kids' old school papers off it!

logo

I was truly stuck on what to use for this prompt and then, a couple of days ago, my co-worker brought in Smile Cookies. Smile Cookies are probably as familiar as the "logo" for Tim's. But only if you live in Canada... :) 

foliage

We saw some gorgeous "foliage" on our trip. It was the perfect weekend to capture fall in all its glory.

your choice

Since we didn't know what the weekend would hold, we had Sam come with us. My two kids, sharing a delicious crepe, will always be "my choice."

*weeks 93 & 94 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her posts here and here.

I Spy 2023: Week 38 & 39

Welcome to another "I Spy" catch up post. I tried to (mostly) use pictures I'd taken during these weeks but I didn't take a lot of pictures so some of them may not fit the prompts very well.

This first week, pictures were mostly taken during the week of October 4 through 11th.

seasonal

 

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we had a meal of baked salmon and roasted "seasonal" vegetables. I love roasting veggies as a way to use up a lot of them at once. This mix had leeks, carrots, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and I don't even remember them all. I just remember it was really tasty!

outfit – quarterly

As Dave and I enjoyed our local Oktoberfest for the first time, our "outfit" included the official Oktoberfest hat and feather. And yes, I wore my favourite fall sweater to Oktoberfest.

starts with F

While Oktoberfest doesn't "start with 'f'" it's a fun, fall festival with lots of delicious food! This picture was taken in the festhallen (festival hall)!

listen

It was fun to "listen" to Rachel play my grandpa's violin. She gets to choose a stringed instrument in Grade 7 and I think she'll keep playing this one.   

Your Choice (same vantage point) – monthly

I didn't take a picture of our dining room in September and that's one I can't take afterwards so this is prompt is empty this month.

These pictures are from the week of October 11-18. I took a few more pictures this week :)

in line 

 

While I was not willing to wait "in line" (although a virtual one) for Taylor Swift concert tickets, I was happy enough to buy tickets to the concert tour movie. It was very fun to go with Rachel and my mom.

back

 

I don't mind (much!) heading "back" to work every morning when my views look like this :)

front

My dad made new window boxes for me when he was visiting and now the "front" of our house looks so much better. I am so excited about these window boxes!!!

caught looking

The views on our street in fall are amazing and don't be surprised if you get "caught looking" when you're driving down our street. (Okay, this description might be kind of lame, I admit!)

your choice

Being able to celebrate a holiday with my parents (in this case, Thanksgiving), even it's a bit belated is always "my choice"!

Thus ends another "catch up" I Spy post. I'm getting to the point in the year where I'm trying to decide if I will do a photography challenge in 2024 or take a break. Do you have any fun photography challenges you've participated in?

*week 91 & 92 of Lysha's challenge prompts. See her posts here and here.