Never leave empty handed...

This is the mantra of those that don't live within an hour's drive of IKEA. A standard day's activities when back in the homeland (Guelph, ON) is to travel to one of several IKEAs. The closest to Nova Scotia is in the East end of Montreal...

This gnome ($2.99) is likely one of the funkier garden art pieces I have. It has aged well, and seems to have survived a burial under the season's ice and snow - it usually gets put away under the overhang of the front porch. It is hiding in the bowl of a large terra cotta bird bath, the base of which was not as resilient as the IKEA gnome...

That will teach me not to be so lazy in the autumn...