My luck is back

This picture is kind of scary... headless model. But I wanted to show-off my new find at Frenchy's, not my face. Finally, my luck has returned. I was having doubts lately. Everytime I went to Frenchy's I could'nt find one suitable item to buy for myself. Then it happened - last night Dave and I went to two Frenchy's in Yarmouth. Between both of us, we had three grocery bags full - curtains, books, records, jeans for me, two pair pants and two t-shirts for Dave, three large bath towels and I found this nice sweater for the office this winter.

Check-out the button detail on the sleeves...


Tonight, on my way to yoga class I stopped at the Saulnierville Frenchy's and look at what I found for $1. Yes, Mattie Stepanek's book of poems 'Journey through Heartsongs'. When I first saw this little guy on Oprah I was left breathless and wondering 'why do I complain'.

With this latest find... I know my luck has returned !

Trunk

As previously mentioned, the Sunday we went blueberry picking in Digby we stopped at an antique dealer and I thought I had died and went to heaven (...so to speak). Hidden in the far corner of the store Dave found this amazingly old and rustic trunk. Later this Fall we want to renovate the living room and I want to use this trunk as our coffee table. It has a few bumps and scratches here and there but hey, that gives it character... it has a history ! And you want to know the best part....

... the lady sold it to me for $30.

Family

We went to my brother Chester's and his wife Annette's this afternoon for a family gathering and BBQ supper. BBQ loaded with steaks, pork chops and salmon along with pasta salad and veggies. Then to finish everything off... chocolate for dessert.

Below - my sister Carol (visiting from Ontario) with my niece Joelene and Casper.

My niece is so talented when it comes to building things with her hands. She (with the help of her mother Darlene) built this trellis within 15 minutes for Annette's rose bush.

Tabi's playmate Princess. Annette and Chester's loving and adorable dog. We did'nt bring Tabi with us. She would'nt have been able to keep up with the 'younger' dogs.

My mom with one of my sister-in-law, Darlene.

This bug kept showing up all the time we were out on the deck.

My brother Chester with Princess.

Sister Carol holding Casper and a very friendly crow that was hanging out with us.

Getting things ready

With the days getting less daylight, mornings and evenings getting cooler, leaves falling - there's something in the air ! yes, it's my most favorite time of the year... Autumn. Dave and I are enjoying ourselves getting things ready for the winter season.

This afternoon we went to the beach to fetch a few buckets of seaweed to start feeding the veggie garden. We will need way more then a few buckets but everytime we go to the beach we'll bring back a bucket or two.

On our way out of the beach we noticed some very gorgeous rose hips. We picked just enough to make a batch of rose hip jelly.

Below - rose bushes where said rose hips were spotted and picked.

I also picked the scarlet runner beans. They will be put outside to dry for about a week.

And that is mostly what we did today - plus, hanging clothes outside to dry, getting visitors (my mom, sister Carol from Ontario, brother Chester and sister-in-law Annette).

Bread 'n Butter

This is what I was doing at 10 p.m. last night...

Prepared the cukes, onions, garlic and salt after supper and had to let stand for 3 hours. In the meantime, went to visit my sister that's home from Ontario. By the time I got home it was 10 p.m. and I HAD to bottle the pickles.

U-Pick...I pick...we all pick

Dave, mom and I went to the U-Pick blueberry farm this afternoon in Marshalltown, Digby County. We have sooooooo many blueberries we don't know what to do with them. But it is so much fun picking them... you can't stop yourself. As I am posting this, I have a double batch of muffins in the oven as well as a blueberry crisp for supper.

Yours truly with my pick.

Mom... out of control. She had double what we had, lord knows what she'll do with them. She's expecting company tomorrow for two weeks - hope they love blueberries.

Mom and I - picking away.

On our way back we stopped at an antique store. I bought an antique trunk that I will use as a coffee table when we redo the living room. I will post pictures later.

Wish me luck, it is my re-entry into the working world tomorrow - after four weeks of vacation.

Making noise

As mentioned in my previous post yesterday was National Acadian Day. There was all sorts of organized activities during the day. However, the highlight of the day was the Tintamarre (parade of cars and people) making loud noise throughout the streets of Clare. The colors of the Acadian flag (red, white, blue and yellow) have to be displayed on the cars and costumes. Below is a picture of our car, partially decorated.

Below - another couple decorating their vehicle for the parade starting from the Meteghan Firehall making its way to the Little Brook Social Club where a huge crowd was awaiting the arrival of the parades of cars. On-lookers lined the road leading up to the Social Club to cheer and make 'more' noise. The evening ended with a great concert (sorry no pics).

Bonne Fête les Acadiens

Joyeuse Fête à tous les acadiens et à toutes les acadiennes !

Ce soir nous aurons le Tintamarre (photo ci-bas pris en 2006). Soyons fiers de notre identité et montrons nos couleurs.

Lunenburg

Today's day trip was to Lunenburg on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Dave took a vacation day and we headed out at 8 a.m. this morning. We got back at 8 p.m.... totally exhausted. The weather was fabulous except for a few foggy patches on the harbour a couple of times during the time we were there.

Everything is so clean and green. Everywhere you look there are flowers or gardens.

Below - gift shop with very colorful fishing thingies stuck to the building.

Dave loved the scenery below so he had to have the picture to turn it into a painting.

The picture below 'Polka Dot Rocks' was taken last night (Monday) at Grosses Coques beach. Dave and I went beachcombing for seaglass and it started to rain causing these cute spots on the rocks.

Edinburgh

On one end of our municipality (Municipality of Clare) sits a beautiful little seaside village - New Edinburgh. That was our biking destination for today.


What a beautiful shade of blue...


Saying goodbye to Bluenose II tonight - (sorry picture is not of good quality, it was taken from a considerable distance).

This picture is pretty wacky. Our faces aren't that red, it's the sun shining on our faces.

While watching the Bluenose leave, Dave turned around and noticed Sacred Heart Church in Saulnierville... nice picture and nice church.

Did you say biking...

He did'nt have to ask twice... when Dave ask me this morning if I wanted to go for a bike ride I was ready, set, go. We left the car in Dayton and rode our bikes to the end of the Yarmouth Waterfront. Yarmouth town and its surroundings is our favorite spot to go biking.

Dave enjoying a refreshing drink of water.

For some reason that I can't explain, I don't like being close to big ships. This is the closest I will get to the Cat ferry.

And of course, as I often do, I will leave you with a picture of my favorite buddy.

10 years ago...

Below - Dave is saying to himself 'there were tons of blueberries right here on this spot... 10 years ago.

We would love to have a certain amount of blueberries in the freezer for next winter. Dave was up bright and early this morning to go blueberry picking. The picture below shows the amount he got in no time at all. I put aside a cup to bake blueberry crisp tomorrow and I froze the rest. So tonight we went on the hunt to find the massive field jam packed with blueberries... ten years ago. We drove for an hour before we found said field and we were disappointed to find a field with not one single berry in sight. I guess the landscape changed in 10 years.

Bluenose II

The Bluenose II is in port at the Meteghan Wharf until Saturday. Dave and I went to visit her this evening. What a beauty !


We don't stop often enough and appreciate Nature. This was our sunrise this morning from our front porch at 5:45 a.m. ...
... and took this one tonight of the sunset from the Meteghan Wharf at 8:30 p.m. After last night's rain, wind and thunder storm the day turned out pretty darn beautiful, I would say.

Cukes

This year is the first time ever that I've planted cucumbers from seeds and the results are very rewarding (so far). There must be about 25 cukes growing on 'the pig'.

One thing that I did not plant this year is garlic but look what I found in the garden yesterday mixed up with the dead pea plants.

Gardening is sooooooooo much fun, you never know what surprise is around the corner.

The Islands

We've been lacking in the cycling department lately so today was the perfect most delicious sunny day to go for a nice bike ride. We visited the Islands - Morris Island and Surette's Island (both in Yarmouth County). We parked the car at the Sluice's Point wharf then headed out. The picture above was taken just as I was getting ready to cross the Surette's Island bridge.

Fast-forward an hour and we are at the wee end of all islands - Morris Island, having a light lunch and much needed rest.



We headed back after a 30 minute rest. Below - we stopped on the Morris Island to Surette's Island bridge for a very short break.

Below - salt hay stacks in Amirault's Hill.