I am so tempted to begin with a weather comment.  It’s so…well, Canadian!  But I will resist the temptation to tell you how cold it has suddenly become, and to bemoan the fact that snow is nearby.  I won’t tell you how at this time last year we were around 30 C.  No, no…I will not do so.

Instead let me tell you that I’ve put our patio furniture away for the winter and tonight I put some of our potted flowers inside the garage.  Can you guess why?

Driving down the alley way tonight I noticed that one of our neighbours has enormous sunflowers growing along the back of his property – probably 15 or so of them.  So I caught this photo.  Sunflowers are amazing plants – they grow quickly, have hollow stems, reach tremendous heights (these are near 9 feet tall) and the heads are very heavy.  And who doesn’t love sunflower seeds?

Strangely enough – even though we are 3 hours drive north of Calgary this is a much better climate to grow in.  Though now the sky is dark by 8:15 p.m. or so.  It won’t be long before the days are short – very short.  But first we are off to Winnipeg to see the newly minted cadets…and Jason and Susan too!