Sunbeams in November

I can't believe it is November already. Even with all this snow the first day of winter is still more than a month away -- it is technically still fall. Hmmm. 

One of my favourite treasures is the Sunbeam Mixmaster that sits on my kitchen counter. It belonged to my dad's maternal grandparents. (We grew up baking with a chrome Sunbeam and I still think it mixed much better than my fancy mixer does today.) I love its yellowed bits and chipped metal. My grandmother gave this mixer to my great grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary on February 21st, 1956.

Another of my very favourite things are old family photos and the stories that go with them. I am fortunate in that we do have quite a few of each from both sides of my family and I am lucky that I have aunts from both sides and my parents who remember the stories. 

Marlene and my dad circa 1945 in front of my great grandparents home.

Yesterday I visited my Aunt Marlene (she's the little cutie in the picture above) and we had a fun afternoon going through a new box of old photos. Every time I think I've seen all of the photos some wonderful new ones surface with letters and clippings. Piece by piece the stories weave together. I started my genealogy research on my dad's side with many questions as my grandmother was adopted in Ontario in 1917. I did find some information with the little bit we had to go on but have yet to find any direct relatives. Ontario is a long way from Alberta but I do hope to find more information soon. In the meantime I'll enjoy the new photos we came across. Here are a few...

My grandmother (on the left) at our local lake in the late 1920's with a friend and Grandma Gladys in their yard with a furry friend. I love this photo; Grandma was a real animal lover.

Most photos have no information scrawled on the back so we are left to wonder. I loved this picture of happy children and wish I knew who they were.

I do know who these characters are! The school family dance was held Tuesday night;  Macy and some of her 5th grade girlfriends on a rare occasion when I got them to stand still.

Another favourite activity this week was carving our pumpkin on Halloween.

Pumpkin carving was much more temperate than the trick or treating that followed! One quick cell photo was all Mr. C.F. sent, but I was glad it was him out in the cold and not me! -15C with the windchill is not my idea of good chocolate gathering weather.

I was happy today to have my first visitors (that I've noticed) at our sunflower buffet. One of my favourite yard guests, purple finches, dropped in for a snack. 

Their visit was short. They took off in a flash when this female Merlin zipped over then stopped in our mountain ash tree.

She came up empty handed this time and I'm quite sure I wasn't the only one who was relieved.

So that is what is happening around here after Halloween. We've already had Canadian Thanksgiving in October, Christmas is thankfully two months away, so I'm kind of in a decorating quandary. I feel like I should be decorating with snow rather than leaves but the snow doesn't stay white and fluffy indoors for long. Poor Doughboy isn't even white anymore. He has retained some purple dye and nothing he bathes in seems to remove it. It doesn't seem to bother him -- he just tied on a jaunty fall scarf and went about his day. I am not sure if the cause was the Halloween costume parade. I did catch him rolling around in purple Smarties** yesterday (kind of like the rest of us after Halloween). I'd better check my arms for purple stains.

 **Smarties, candy coated chocolate popular in Canada and the UK. Mmmmmm.

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to:

Common Ground Vintage Friday

Mockingbird Hill Cottage