Snow Day

I love Eastern Canada...

Half of the province got rain and the other - SNOW ! yup, that would be us. This is not our first snow storm of the season but it was my first snow day. I knitted, baked and there's a delicious supper ready to be put on the table.

Surprises

When I got home from work this was waiting for me...

My organic herb order from Mountain Rose Herbs. I've already made the echinacea tincture which will sit for 6 weeks. Dave and I have been huge fans of echinacea for years. I also made the elder berry syrup which too is an anti-viral; immune system booster. Fingers crossed, we are hoping to stay under the flu radar this season. And of course, washing your hands often is also a good practice to avoid the flu bug.

And.... tah dah, my lovely and very thoughtful daughter sent me this delicious tea from David's Tea - Coffee Pu'erh. And my new love; this amazing tea press travel mug. There's a little compartment on the bottom to store extra tea in case you'll want a second cup when you're away from home. How cute is that. If you're a tea lover I suggest you drop into David's Tea on your next trip to Moncton or Halifax (and many more locations throughout Canada). I was in need of a new travel mug but I never dreamed that I would end up with the cadillac of travel mugs ! Thanks so much Ginette. xxxoo

Baby it's cold out there

As the day progressed it got overcast and the snow came down... again !!! After lunch Dave and I decided to bundle up and go for a strole on the beach.

En route to the beach - a small cabin along the river.

Lasted all but 5 minutes at the beach than I headed back in the car while Dave braved the cold winds to take a few landscape shots.

As I type this post, our little weather station says -10 (without wind chill); eek.

Hope everyone has a good start of the week and stay warm.

Moving slowly on a Sunday

It's hard to believe but January is almost over and done with... see, it wasn't that bad now was it. Let's see what February will bring us. One things for sure, we can expect more snow and cold winds.

We've had a gorgeous weekend so far. This morning Dave and I had breakfast than I did a few rounds of knitting than headed outside to let the chicks out in their run and take a few pictures from around the yard...

Last summer Dave found some old fence wire tangled in the grass out in the field. I made this authentic wreath.

The girls enjoy a few rays of sun. We keep an eye on them though because it's quite cold out there.

Whipped up a batch of hummus. Mmmmmmm.....

Brrrrrr.....

Dave and I might be hitting a few Frenchy's this afternoon. I haven't posted any fabulous finds in a long time.

Dave working on his latest piece - folk art dogs. I love folk art, it's probably the rustic look of it.

Birdie cakes

The birds that stay around for the winter need food, water and a heat supply. Seeing the abundance of snow in these parts it's safe to guess that they won't go thirsty for a while.

As for food - they don't need as much food as in the warmer seasons seeing they don't burn-up their energy as fast (they don't fly and move around and as fast as in the winter). We are always putting something outside for our fine feather friends, dried toast from breakfast, out dated bread, crackers and those birdseed cakes you buy at the store. This morning all containers were empty so I made some from what I had. The main ingredient for their energy in these is peanut butter and that is mostly what keeps all those birdseeds glued together.

I've just came back from setting them outside; our little friends will be happy come tomorrow morning.

Have a great start of the week !

Snow woman

Tonight's snow creation - a snow woman but I think she looks more like a dog than a snow person.

Snow

The blizzard advisory has been lifted for this part of the nor'easter path but we are still having our fair share of snow this afternoon. Ground and trees were bare at 11 am this morning ...

The girls are all warm and toasty in their little coop. Still, they can't figure out why they're not allowed to run outside.

Stay safe and warm tonight !

CSN Stores :: everything you need for your home and life

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been talking a bit around this blog about CSN Stores. For those of you that have not yet taken the time to drop-in for a virtual visit... you should. More specifically, if there is a product that you are in need of and you are unable to find in your neck of the woods, this is the place - I'm pretty sure you'll find what you're looking for. I did !!! with my amazing clay bread baker (check out my blog category on "Products" to read more). I will soon be doing another product review (wait until you see this one, it's a good one people) but first check out the swingsets they carry. I don't think you need to be a kid to enjoy one of these; right.

(Taken from the CSN website) "Based in Boston, CSN Stores LLC began in 2002 and has grown rapidly into a Top 3 online U.S. retailer of home and office goods... Beyond providing unparalleled customer service, selection, and savings to our U.S. customers, CSN Stores has opened its doors to online shoppers from Canada, the U.K., and Germany. Recently named to the Hot 100 List of online retailers for 2009, CSN Stores continues to grow".

They pride themselves on providing unparalleled customer service and let me tell you, they go above and beyond to assure satisfaction. Many items have free shipping, hey, that's money in your pocket, a good thing in my book ! I am still blown-away at the stress free delivery they have.

CSN Stores is on twitter, facebook and they have a blog.

Organic herbs, routine and sprouts

I order organic herbs (and supplies) from Mountain Rose Herbs. I'm making our own flu syrup and tintures this winter. Let's try and keep those nasty bugs at bay shall we! This company is a joy to do business with.

We are in our winter-mode routine: week nights are mostly spent at home, warming up to a cozy fire, sipping tea and knitting while Dave's watching television.

After less than a week in the easy sprouter, we are eating sprouts. This picture shows the wheat grass I've been testing for when I get my juicer. The sandwich sprouts are in the fridge - two trays full. Hmmmm, I could be eating sprouts for the rest of the week.

Later this week I have something nice to show you. We are having something made with our favorite pieces of beach glass by a local artist. Stay tuned...

Easy Green

This is the christmas gift I was waiting to have assembled before showing you - the Easy Green Auto Sprouter. I love growing my own sprouts and up to now I've been doing it the very manual way - seeds spread on organic cotton cloth on bottom of a glass pan and mist with a hand mister every day. Worked for me but I guess Dave thought it was time to reward me with this handy dandy automatic misting machine (I have to admit, I'm a little bothered by the fact that I have to use a wee bit of electricity to run the mister). It works like a charm. It runs on a timer so every few hours the mister comes on for 15 minutes. I should be eating sprouts in my sandwich in a few days. And, it is easier to use than it looked in the box at first... yup, I was just a little frazzled by the looks of it. It works like a charm.

It holds 5 growing trays. As my experimental run I only have 3 trays with sprouts and one of those is wheat grass. I may or may not be getting a wheat grass juicer in the coming months; I'm just sayin'.

Happy 2011

Wishing all my family and friends a very happy beginning of a new year. What I wish the most for each one of you is health. A couple of days ago Dave and I decided to go for a hike in the trail. It was the most gorgeous day in a very, very long time... plus, we needed the fresh air. About half way on our route you can take a shortcut and go through the woods and end up at our son and his fiancé new home. And yes Dave has a stick, to ward off coyotes (luckily none were seen).

And I had to leave you with a picture of my lovely ladies enjoying their new dry straw.