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Good afternoon Blogosphere!
Since we last spoke, I have had some of the cartelage removed from my L5-S1 joint.  This means I'm slighltly lighter and am in much less pain than I was when we last spoke, although, the recovery has been slower than I thought it would be.

It has now been four weeks since my operation.  I have been encouraged to slowly increase my activity and I am just back from a walk to the Library, a distance of about 1 km from my house (making it a 2 km return trip, if you're counting).

I have been enjoying this unusually sunny November for all my walks.  It does the heart good to see the sun shining almost every day even though it doesn't shine for as long as it does in June!  Another November activity I have been enjoying is eating leftover Hallowe'en candy.  The neighbours said that 100 treats should be enough, so obviously, my mom (who was looking after me after the operation) had to buy at least 200 treats! Only 18 kids came to the house.  If you come into my kitchen you will notice the cannisters of candy. Some people make fun of me for this, saying that most people keep cannisters of flour or tea on their counters but I haven't had a guest under 15 yet who was upset by this ;-)

I have had a few outings since my surgery: the grocery store, Zellers, Walmart and a Sunday Church Meeting among them.  However, one of the nicest outings I have had was seeing The Once perform at the National Arts Centre.  Lesley and Annie gave me tickets for my birthday.

For those of you who don't know them, I suggest you find out about them!  They are a folk band from Newfoundland.  They play many instruments such as guitars, irish drums, banjos, bazookis, mandolins and are able to blend their voices in beautiful harmonies.  They mostly play traditional songs, but have some original compositions and some folked-up covers of bands like Queen and Leonard Cohen.

Well, I guess Leonard Cohenisn't actually a band but more of a Canadian icon and I also guess that his music can often be classified as folk already but I do know that you will agree with me that Mr. Cohen is one of those rare artists whose music sounds better when sung by others.  Don't get me wrong, his lyrics are pure poetry and magic but the strange gravelly chanting voice accompanied by wispy female ahhhs, ooos and word repetition just doesn't do it for me.

Anyway, I was talking about The Once....a very great band, you should check them out.  You can do that by clicking here.  They will be releasing a Christmas album very soon, you should buy it!

Since it has been so long, I have lots to share with you but I don't think it's in our best interest for me to write it all at once.  Here are some topics you can look forward to in the coming days:
--Knitting update (you know you're so interested!)
--Carla's Netflix Picks
--Cooking with a back injury
--Christmas Decorating!
--probably more stuff that I just can't think of right now

Before I sign off, here is a gratuitous First Snowfall Picture.  I love the first snowfall!  I walked through the a school yard today and noticed that the kids had made forts and houses by squishing the snow together with their feet to form walls that were no more than 30 cm high.  Really, they are outlines of forts or houses.  I remember those fondly!
Here is my snowfall picture:

This picture also shows off my bird feeder.  I hung it up yesterday.  The birds haven't found it yet but the squirrel spent most of yesterday morning sniffing the air and wishing he could climb the metal posts of my pergola thing.

And because goodbyes are so hard, I have one more thing for you before I sign off.  A video of The Once performing Sail Away to the Sea.  Check them out.

Ok, just The Once more...seriously...check them out...buy their records...request them on your radio stations...