Vacation :: deep sea fishing

The two week long festivities have started in our area on Thursday - the 55th annual Clare Acadian Festival. As part of the festival, today marked the deep sea fishing tournament. We go, the same bunch of friends, every year. Here we are, my friend and I waiting patiently for the others... coffee in hand at 8 a.m. this morning.

It was a perfect day to go out at sea.

Road Trip :: Halifax Public Gardens

Yesterday Dave and I headed to Halifax for a nice, relaxing road trip. We avoided the big box stores and malls and went straight to the small boutiques downtown that we knew we wanted to visit. A few hours of shopping than we bought a few lunch items at the Frootique and headed straight for the Public Gardens for lunch. This is a special place for Dave; a childhood memory.

(Please ignore the plastic forks; we forgot our bamboo Sporks in the car)

A fine place to visit indeed.

Vacation :: patio party

Vacation is still going great ! I spend most of my days doing pretty much what I please - weeding, watching and talking to the cooks, drinking iced tea or sometimes it's hot tea, reading in the hammock. I hardly ever leave our property - I love my simple home.

Saturday we went to some friends house to celebrate their new patio.


Yup, that's Dave on the far right.

This last picture has nothing to do with the patio party. It's to show you how calm the water in the rain barrel was this afternoon.

Winnings

I think Beauty that Moves is my second blog I discovered over three years ago. I love everything Heather has to say. She is an inspiration on many levels - simple, healthy living, thrifting, yoga, mindfulness, love of family and many more. A few months ago she sent me an email saying I had won this beautiful print. It arrived in my mailbox this week. I already own one print of Heather's. It's hanging in my sewing/craft room where this new one will also go.

Three years ago I knew nothing about blogs. Than one stormy winter's day I stumbled upon this young lady's blog. For some reason it caught my eye and I started reading her archives. I loved everything about this amazing young person's happenings. I am a huge fan of this blog and I read it daily. A few weeks ago she had a giveaway for some lavender scented balm... homemade I tell ya ! this girl has a 4 month old and a 3 year old and she finds time to whip-up a batch of balm. And by the way, she makes the most delicious smelling soaps but that might be on hold for now, seeing she's got her hands full with the babes. See that cute little jar in the picture below, that's my balm. It's perfect for my rough elbows. And you know what, I love the smell so much that sometimes I dab a little on my wrist as an essential oil.

That gadget on the right in the picture is from here. It's used in scrapbooking; to cut fancy corners in your paper. Yup, won that too about a month ago. You should check this blog out, it is loaded with all sorts of useful information, patterns, tips, giveaways, etc.

So there you go, I wanted to share all of my wonderful winnings with you guys. Tell me, who doesn't love receiving a parcel in the mailbox !!! all the while making wonderful friendships.

Pottery and Mr. Puss

Two separate pictures both related to pottery. The first one is a sneak peak at one of my pottery projects I had going during class in the Spring (classes will resume in September, yay). I can't reveal what the finished product will be, it may just turn into a gift for someone that reads this blog. I did'nt get a chance to finish it during my last class so I applied the three coats of glaze yesterday and will bring it back to my teacher for a last firing.


The next picture is of a very funky but awesome pitcher I thrifted at a yard sale on Sunday. I don't usually mention here how much I pay for thrifted items but this time I have to say it ''10 cents; a dime'' isn't that amazing. It holds about 1.5 cups. It would be a perfect vessel to hold maple syrup for pancakes on a cold winter morning. This is one of my favorite items found in a very long time.

Mr. Puss is still visiting while his parents are vacationing in the States.

Vacation :: day two

Weeding, weeding, weeding... that's all I did today. And, I'm not even done yet. See all those weeds in the cart, in the basket and on the ground next to the cart - that was all in that bare patch you see in the background. It was 3 years over due but today was the day.

Other parts of the gardens are so beautiful...


Day two of my vacation started off very foggy but the sun came out at noon with a lot of clouds. I like clouds with the sun, it would be way too hot without the shade of clouds.

Vacation :: day one

This was day 1 of my vacation last year. Today marks day 1 of my 2010 month-long vacation. I wonder what today holds for me !

Pictures below were taken over the weekend. It's another beautiful day outside this morning. I might head outside and work in the flower gardens. Some of them are in desparate need of weeding.



Wishing everyone a wonderful summer.

Chickens

I love my chickens. I knew I would, we had some about 15 years ago but after their tragic death (night invader in the coop) I did'nt think I would ever get some again. But for the past few years I've had it on my mind - getting chickens again !

Long time readers of this blog and those that know me personally know that these beauties will not be on our dinner plates any time soon. They are definetely not being raised for meat... for fresh organic eggs and the peacefulness they give us just by watching them roam around in their run is their only purpose around here.

My beloved Agnes. She is such a snoop that girl and often gets in trouble with the other ladies.

Dave and I decided the coop needed one extra little window (the original plans included one window in the front) for ventilation in the summer and day light in the winter.

Product Review :: Clay baker

About a month ago I was contacted by these guys to see if I was interested in doing another product review from one of their stores. The first product I reviewed for them was a beauty. You can read more about it here.

Of course I was interested. After searching their many, many stores to see what product I was interested in, I stumbled upon this beauty.

In this simple, organic lifestyle that is happening in our home - one of the things I enjoy the most is baking bread and the no-knead bread is our favorite... so moist, chewy and crusty. I've been baking it for a couple of years now and using my dutch oven pan to bake it in. It turns out perfect every time but I had read about and knew that baking this bread in a clay baker (or any type of bread for that matter) made it even more perfect. Since last year I've been searching stores in the city for one of these babies but never finding one. I went shopping on-line but most of the sites did not ship to Canada. CSN ships to Canada. And speaking of shipping - the process with CSN is such a breeze. As soon as you've finalized your order, they inform you that your product has shipped and the next thing you know (about a week later) you have a parcel on your doorsteps.

Soooooooo, I made no-knead bread this past weekend and look at the yummy-ness. The clay baker baked it more evenly throughout the loaf and it made a bigger loaf of bread.

You need to soak the lid for 30 minutes the first time you use it than 10 minutes every other times. Even though the bottom is glazed, you need to grease it because your bread will stick (believe me, I know).

I still look at this beauty on the shelf and get all excited that I actually own one now. Thanks CSN stores.

Heat and horseflies

This summer's heat brought with it an army of horseflies... and they are annoying. Always one or two buzzing around your head. Tonight they chased us away from the woods. We had to head to the beach to take a break from the heat and the horseflies.




Even at the beach you should never leave an open fire - a few buckets of water and it all turns to smoke.

Stay-cation :: The Garden Path

As declared here in May (sorry I did'nt feature a favorite stay-cation spot in June) I am featuring another stay-cation suggestion for you to visit. This gem is only about 50km from our home. You'll have to travel a certain distance in the woods and a small length of dirt road but it sure is worth it. We went yesterday and look at the gorgeous day we picked to go.

The Garden Path ! A couple in South Range, Digby County, started gardening in 1999. They started with one small bed to see if they would like it...

... as they say ''the rest is history''. I think they liked it. The picture above is their front yard.

A few years ago they opened their gardens to the public. You tour at your leisure, stopping, admiring and snapping away as you please. You can even bring a book and find a favorite spot (I would pick the swing) and read for a while.

Ginette and Dave.
Me and Ginette.
Again, in the BIG chair.