Saturday, October 31, 2009

Kids night out

Tonight the younger crowd is going out and I'm the taxi. I just came back from dropping them off at the dance. I'll pick them up at 2 a.m. I soooooo don't mind driving them when they go out and have drinks. This way I know they're safe.

Liette (Luc's girlfriend) on the right ''the gold-digger'' and her friend in a cute orange crush costume.

Luc, the used car salesman. He looks so funny. He's been growing a beard for a few months now just so he could shave it this way.

The three together ready to leave.

Annual harvest walk

Every Fall Dave and I make our way to the apple orchard way back of our property. The apple trees here have been left unattended for at least 30 years (some of these trees have to be over 100 years old) so you know what this means - no chemicals or pesticides added. ALL organic. Most of the village's residents don't even know these apple trees are still in existance... but we do. We don't know the names of the half-dozen or so apples but one kind we know the name ! We mainly go for the russets.

They aren't pretty apples on the outside but inside they are all nice and white. Russets aside, I will make applesauce with the balance.



Happy halloween night everyone !

Halloween 2009

This year I was an indian ''nerdy'' woman and my friend Clo was a firewoman. These two pictures were taken last night before we left her house for the dance.

The next picture is a little dark but you can see the reflector stripes on her outfit. She even had an inflatable water tank on her back.

I don't know about you but I love Friday afternoons. The anticipation of quiting time is so exciting. And how better to end a hectic working week than with a delicious caramel apple hand delivered by a very good and thoughtful friend. It was delicious by the way.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Taking it all in

What can I say! Life is pretty good right now. One of my goals (kinda like a bucket list) for my 50th birthday is to be more present; be more in the moment; be aware of my surroundings. I've beem pretty good at this ever since I started living a more yogic lifestyle but I knew there was room for improvement. It's so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the everyday - running around trying to do too much at once, trying to keep up with others and thinking we ''have'' to act like them and live like them in order to be accepted or to fit in. Being the non-social butterfly that I am helps me to ground myself and see things the way I want to see them.

I am very much aware that our veggie garden is cleaned and cleared til next Spring. All well and ready for the cold winter months up ahead.

I hope this year I get a few more trick or treaters than I've been getting the past few years.

Last weekend Dave and I visited the ocean...

... and again tonight.
It's that time of the year - AGAIN ! Eight cords of firewood need to be brought in the basement. I sooooo love the smell and feel of a wood fire.


This afternoon Dave and I went to the theatre at the university to watch the ''70's Show''. A group of very talented local musicians put this show together. It was awesome. Very professional in my opinion (and Dave's. And he sure knows his music).

Wishing everyone a good start of the week tomorrow. Hopefully for next post I'll have a picture of the huge pile of books that I've found at Frenchy's in the last two months. There are some good ones !

Friday, October 9, 2009

Rafting adventures : beautiful gift

Sorry I kept you hanging since last Sunday saying that I was going to post more pictures the next day and here we are almost a week later. So here are the remaining shots from our wonderful rafting weekend at Tidal Bore Rafting Park & Cottages. This weekend was an early 50th birthday gift from my awesome husband.

This picture is kinda funny - here we were deep in the woods and Dave is checking the road map. I don't think where we were could be found on the map.

We checked into our cabin and pre-registered for the rafting tour late Saturday afternoon. After we were settled into our cozy little cabin we headed to the nearest town for supper. On our way we passed over the river where we were going to go rafting the next morning. Look how wonderful the weather was on Saturday.

Our cute little cabin. The basket you see me holding is the one I wanted to swing by Hubbards Saturday morning to pick up at Mother Hubbards antique store. I've been hoping to find one of these basket for a while now and when I found out from my yoga teacher where they get them from I headed that way on Saturday. They are fair trade Bolga Baskets handmade by weavers in Ghana. They are beautiful and you can pretty much carry anything in them. I guess I should say this is another early gift from Dave.



Sunday morning we had breakfast in the restaurant on site than waited patiently to start getting into our rain gear and life-jackets to get on the zodiac. It was way more cloudy on Sunday but no matters.... we were happy !

Almost time to get ready. Unfortunately after this picture was taken we had to put away our camera. Getting into heavy rain gear, a life jacket, walking down a muddy hillside and settling into our zodiac did'nt leave much time for picture taking. Plus, there is no way you could hold on with one hand and take pictures with the other. Nope, both hands tightly on the ropes please !

After two hours of washing machine swirling in the tidal bore we managed to get up the muddy hill and out of our wet rain gear.


We had a blast of a good time. All 100 rafters that day had great big smiles on their faces afterwards.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Rafting adventures : getting there

For a while now I've been saying that I'm looking forward to turning 50 and this past weekend confirmed my thoughts. Going rafting was on my list of things to do to celebrate my 50th. Last month Dave booked a rafting tour and a cabin at Tidal Bore Rafting Park & Cottages. My birthday is next month but the celebrations have started !!!!!

We left the house at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. Getting to the rafting park is a 4 hour drive but we knew we had many stops before getting there. We did'nt really have a schedule so we took our time; stopped whenever we had the urge to explore. I knew that one of those stops was at an antique store in Hubbards (one of many costal communities on the other coast of Nova Scotia) to buy a fair trade basket handmade in Ghana. Before getting to the basket we stopped in Chester Basin - look at that view. (Note for my niece Colleen - it is very similar to Mahone Bay, you would love it).


I forgot to take a picture of the antique store where I got my basket but here we were at the Hubbards Farmers Market. We got a baquette, cheese and cookies.

Our initial destination - the rafting park. They are not in the hustle and bustle of the everyday busyness. They own acres upon acres of land. You drive their dirt road driveway for about 10 minutes before getting there.

Below Dave is walking the road leading to the Main Lodge.

It's getting late folks, I will leave you for tonight and tomorrow night I will show you our cute little cottage we had for the night.

Unfortunately we had to leave our camera behind so I don't have pictures from the time we get into our rain gear and life jackets; into the river and getting back but I will have an after picture of Dave and I - we are pretty soaked.

In the meantime, watch this promotional video the owners have on their website. It gives you a pretty good idea of the place.

Can I just say ''WE ARE GOING BACK''.