The slow road back…Skywatch Friday and Random 5 Friday

Hello Again…

Yup…

It has been a while…

SO

without further ado 

I am beginning my return to the blogosphere by
posting a photo to
Skywatch Friday

Autumn Sunrise taken from our back deck

AND
by joining in at

a meme brought to us by my friend

Nancy over at A Rural Journal

5 Random Facts about me/my life/whatever

ONE

I have been away from blogging for almost a year!

I am hoping to reunite with some old blogger friends

 and to make some new ones as I get back up to speed here

I am fumbling with the controls but I am hoping 

it will all come back to me - like riding a bike again…

TWO

Speaking of bikes…

I bought a new one this summer

I searched long and hard for an old fashioned bike like I had as a kid!

You know the kind?

With only one speed...

The kind where you pedal backwards to brake...

I found one called a 'Classic Cruiser'

Google Image  - no credit available

That's me!

A classic cruiser

still wobbling after all these years

...or maybe wobbling again?

All I need is some spokey dokeys and streamers!

THREE

I live in, what I consider to be, a small town in Ontario, Canada

Having come from the 'Big Smoke' aka Toronto five years ago

it feels like a small town to us, and has just the atmosphere we were seeking.

My brother, on the other hand, feels that I still live in a 'city'.

He and his wife live in the middle of almost 100 acres of forest,
that my parents bought to build their retirement home on many years ago.

The nearest town is easily 15 or 20 kilometres away.

I love to visit because it is such a peaceful place, full of memories
and a great place for photos
but it is too isolated for me to want to live there…yet!

Burnt River near Donald, ON

FOUR

As I type I can feel the ground vibrating beneath me…

some earth compacting machine outside my house.

We are getting sidewalks on our quiet smallish town crescent.

They are replacing the ancient water infrastructure

We have heard this would be happening since we moved in 5 years ago!

They started late this summer

One day they cut off our internet, and then broke a water pipe.

They had to work into the night to fix that!

Another day they dug a HUGE hole in my lawn.

I had fun going out and photographing all the chaos!! 

I don't think they'll have the road paved by winter's first snow dump!!

FIVE

Since losing both of my parents, in less than 10 months, last year

I have been searching all over for my creative mojo

I continued to take photos and, 

occasionally, to experiment in Lightroom.

I pushed myself to post on my Flickr page with some regularity.

What prevented me from totally abandoning my photography

was an e-course, Beyond Beyond, with Kim Klassen.

I am so grateful to her for allowing me to start after the course was in progress, 

and to take a combined class.

Random 5 Friday is a next step on my slow road back…

Thanks for the opportunity, Nancy!

Janetxo

P.S. I have just found a very special treasure in my Mother's belongings…
Will share it in separate post for Friday Finds with the lovely Kim Klassen!!
 Why not hop over and check out both the treasure and the meme!

if this link does not work due to server issues please try
 http://aruraljournal.blogspot.ca

http://skyley.blogspot.ca