In our yard and on my feet

We were away in Abbotsford for four days. I came back to find these in my yard, just poking their bright faces out of the bamboo/lawn. They're a type of fall crocus - Colchicum. The leaves come in the spring, then disappear and the flowers appear seemingly like magic in the fall. I'll say. What a lovely surprise.

And now about my feet. I have been faithfully wearing my birkenstocks for 9 years. Lance gave them to me for my 19th birthday... that is a long time ago. This summer I knew it was time to let them go, the soles were worn through, the footbeds cracked, cork splitting apart. But Birkenstocks are very expensive. Think around $130. Yikes. I have a REALLY hard time spending that amount on myself. And think of the stress of the choice, I have to pick a pair that I'll like for another 10 years! Anyways, before we left Camrose Heidi bought Jeremy my chopsaw (an anniversary present for me from Lance, something I always wanted, but in the two years I had it never used it). I decided that their generous payment would fund my new Birks. So I started looking... Lance encouraged me to not bother with choosing a sandal that would last ten years in terms of style, but to choose something fun. I looked in many stores one day and came home with a pair of shoes - on sale, orange and very cute. I needed shoes too and these were such a good price that snatched them up. They look like this, but an orangy colour:



Then I got to thinking. I could probably find some great Birkenstocks for a great price online. Nothing in the stores was catching my eye anyways. I knew my size and had narrowed down which style I wanted. So I looked and looked and finally found these:



And the best part - well besides being very happy with both pairs of shoes, so happy in fact that I look at my feet way more than anyone should - is that I got both shoes for basically the price of the chopsaw! So Heidi, thanks for the new shoes!