one of my favourite things

I love autumn. It is one of my favourite times of the year. I love so many things about it. The leaves changing colour especially out here in Ontario!! It is so RED! I love the crisp air, cardigans, being able to wear my mukluks again, and the way the floors start to creak early in the cold mornings. I love watching the steam from my tea or coffee while wrapped in a blanket, and I love seeing the first signs of Halloween- (my favourite Holiday other than Christmas!!). I love eating the fresh squash and baking things with pumpkin, and eating warmer heartier meals like stew, soups, and curries. Of course I get excited because my Birthday is in October..... But I also get excited at the thought of wearing toques and mittens and scarves! Today I'd like to share one of my newest favourite things about fall (I just discovered them in the past 3 years!) with you.

Chinese Lanterns!!
Enjoy!

he's not so eeency weency.....

But he does have only seven legs!! We're thinking about keeping him and naming him 'Lucky'.... or maybe 'lil' ocho'....

the eency weency spider climbed up the water spout

Okay. So, I don't really like spiders. I'm not the type who screams and runs away when I see one, I can manage to kill them if I have to (re: if Jeremy is not around) and sometimes I actually let them be or even set them free. It really depends on 1. my mood, and 2. how creepy and big the spider actually is.

So, it's obviously Fall now. Cooler nights and days. The perfect time of year for bugs wanting to come into your house to avoid freezing. Except the HUGEST spider I've seen wasn't in the house (thank goodness- HUGE sigh of relief here). I opened the door to our laundry room (just below the apartment) and thank goodness I was carrying the laundry basket. Otherwise I would have walked into the hugest mass of spider web EVER. Luckily the laundry basket managed to deflect most of the icky sticky web.

Eeewww, I thought. Now.... I had to ask- where is the spider that could create such a tangly, thick web? Answer- on the door- just beside the doorknob on the inside. Crap. This is a freaking big spider. I saw a big (wolf?) spider the other night crawling up the driveway- and even stopped to watch him for a while, so huge and grey and fascinating. But this spider, that I am now face to face with, is even bigger than the (wolf?) spider. And it is not cute in any way. It was fascinating to watch him collect up his demolished web. But I really didn't want to try to move him, or risk further disturbing him by moving my bike out of the way to get to the laundry. So, I continued to watch him. I ran up to get the camera- (which is still out of batteries- CRAP!!) but I managed to (maybe) squeak in one picture.

You know that part of the door that comes out the side and you can push it in an out, and it connects into the wall when the door is shut? (what is that part called?) Anyways- our little spider friend could WALK OVER IT- and have all of his legs around it, and his body on top of it. Spindly spider legs, and a MASSIVE 2 section body. It was kind of pretty in a strange way- brownish gold, and a silverish and cream pattern up it's back.

It was definitely too big to kill (I have some kind of strange respect for something that has lived long enough to grow that freakishly big). And too big to attempt to move. So, laundry will have to wait, and hopefully the spider will pick a different area of the garage to build a new web, so I don't destroy it with the laundry basket again tomorrow. Although I will definitely be opening the door carefully just incase..........

sweaty betty's and the carnival car woman

It has been a few busy weeks here at the coach house!! I am still in the process of trying to organize my last few students, which will mean that I am teaching 21 students (so far!) this year. That is between my private teaching on Tuesday, the private school, and the studio I teach at on Saturdays. I still have room for a few more, so if anyone knows someone who wants to take some flute lessons...... let me know!!!

I booked the venue for our year end recital. We are doing it at a retirement home, which has an AMAZING recital hall!!! Cushy theatre seating, a raised hardwood stage, and a grand piano. It should be a great experience! Unfortunately they were all booked for December, so I still need to find a venue for my student's Christmas recital. Any ideas? I might try to do it at the private school I teach at- since they are just finishing building a new recital hall.....

The past few weeks have also been socially busy for Jeremy and I. We've had a few games of poker, seen our friend off to Florida at a pub, and had an excellent dinner at our good friends Matt and Michelle's. But the most interesting story is probably about our time at (and after) a place called Sweaty Betty's.

We met up with our friend Liza, and some other musicians at an interesting bar called, you guessed it, Sweaty Betty's. We had a great time, and I especially enjoyed watching the pretty diverse crowd of people. We were pretty tired, and didn't want to stay too long, so we decided at about 1 that we should go catch the streetcar home. While we were waiting for the street car we experienced the most hilarious thing!!!

This woman pulls up to the red light in her green mini-van. Her music is blasting. Now, this is not your typical music blaster type of person. This woman must have been in her late 50's or 60's. She was wearing a large floral print polyester top, which I personally hope was actually a Muu-muu. The windows of her van were rolled down in true music blaring fashion, but instead of blasting rap, hip-hop, metal, opera, oldies, or classical, she was blasting CARNIVAL MUSIC. Like the kind you hear playing while you are riding the merry-go-round. Jeremy and I looked at eachother in disbelief, and then burst out laughing once she had driven away. Too funny.

Grocery shopping awaits....... if only I had a green mini-van......

Toronto to 1950's Baltimore in 5 minutes

Finally some time for an update!!! It has been a few very busy weeks, teaching and assisting at camps, and I am very glad to be back home, and able to unpack my suitcase without packing it up again right away. The laundry I'll be doing later today gets to get put away- in the drawers and closet instead of back in a suitcase! Although I had a great time travelling and teaching, it is nice to feel settled again.

Yesterday was my first day back from camp, and we had a great day!!! My close friend Chris stayed with us, and we had a relaxing morning, with a delicious breakfast and real, non-camp, coffee. mmmmmm. Feeling refreshed, we spent the afternoon wandering around a film set close to our house. They are going to be filming 'Hairspray' and the whole street has been converted back to the 50's, complete with 50's street lights, parking meters, storefronts, signs, and cars. Even the gas station has been restored!!

Here are a few pics from our excursion: