Beaches and Ice Cream!

Hello!
We've been having beautiful weather this week! :) Warm days and cool nights - my favourite! We got some work done in the garden, building up the beds and general tidying. Things are starting to come up well now, so I'm anxious to start getting some seeds in.

We got two of the beds done, and we'll be doing two more like this on the other side.

Plus lots more, I'm hoping.

We took some time on the weeked to do a day trip with our friends Brandon and Jo. They took us down the French Shore for the first time. It's beautiful! We stopped at all the little antique stores, and saw some treasures.


We stopped for delicious ice cream.

And we stopped at Mavillette Beach, which is quite incredible. And quite deserted, as you can see.


Other than that, it's been a busy week for work as well. I finished the walnut dining table, and will post pics as soon as the finish is dry and we put it all back together. It turned out really nice, and I'm happy with it. Hopefully they will be, too. And Jai's been working on a wholesale order of tops. I've also been playing with some new book ideas, and just got a new shipment of 100bf of walnut, so I've got lots of wood to play with, now. We still have a couple of jobs on the go, but it does feel like we got some things accomplished this week, so that's always nice.

Brief News Update

Hello! Just a quick note this time, while Jai takes out his contact lenses. I can't even believe so much time has already past since the last post! I guess now that the summer weather is arriving, time is truly flying by.
I feel like every second of spare time has disappeared like a glacier lake. We listened to a program on CBC about a woman who studies these HUGE glacier lakes that disappear in the summer. She said they had a lake that disappeared in an hour and a half. Giant body of water to nothing, down a fissure the size of Niagara Falls. Can you imagine?

Anyway, we got lots of stuff done this week, got a couple of commissions out the door, got started on the garden, picked out a new house colour, and built most of a fence around the back of our property. I'll post more soon!
(Old colour on the left, new colour on the right.)

Hello Again!  We've been out and about quite a bit this week!  On Friday we went up to Port Williams with Brandon and Jo to pick up some ceramic molds that a lady was selling (For my crazy, fantasy pottery studio) and to check out a new restaurant that just opened up there.  We got the molds just fine, after a few scenic detours, but couldn't get into the restaurant, unless we wanted to wait 50 minutes.  Oh well, we'll try again later.  We went to the same old pub we always go to, instead, and it was good, as usual.

On Saturday we went down to Halifax to see Mom and Errol.  That was really nice, although it was a very short visit!  Hopefully we'll see them again next weekend.  

Since then we've been working a lot.  I thought I would put up some pics of the place I work, just for fun.  This is the new CNC that is going to change some things about the way we build:

And these are some cabinets we just finished for a kitchen.  

On Tuesday night, it was movie night again.  Jo and I went for a walk along the boardwalk first, so she could check out her spiffy new binoculars that actually take photos somehow.  

And then through the park, which is always pretty.  

It's  like Spring happened overnight here - suddenly it's warm and light and bright and wonderful.  There's no blossoms out yet, but I do have plenty of blossoms happening inside, as my forsythia branches are bursting with yellow flowers.  Hooray!

Last night I attended a Marketing Meeting by Keeping Lau, which I found very interesting.  It gave me lots to think about, in terms of where I want the business to head, and what I want to focus on in the future.  As I was saying to Jai, my first goal was just to get enough work to keep busy.  First mission accomplished!  Now I need to start narrowing my focus and getting smart about it.  I think for the next couple of months, once I have finished all the current orders, I am going to only make books for a while.  I'll eventually spread out again, and expand the line, but I want to see what the production could be like.  I think there's a lot of potential with the books that I haven't explored because I've been too busy making a million other things.   I would love to hear any opinions or thoughts that anyone out there has on this.  Right now I am trying to be anything to anyone, and that's no way to run a business.  Speaking of business...the box came back!  

This is one of those nightmare moments that you try and think could never actually happen.  The doorbell rang, and it was a courier asking me to sign for a package.  So I did, and he came around the corner lugging a huge box.  "What's in that?" I asked, oh so innocently.  "I don't know," he said, "it says it's a return."  (This is the moment when I should be waking up.)

My coffee tables got returned at the border, because the girl they were being sent to was out of town for a couple of days, and they couldn't reach her to get her social security number.  Don't ask me why they would need/want a person's social security number written on the packing slip, but apparently they do.  So that's the other thing that has been occupying my entire week - repeated phone calls to various people in UPS, US Customs, and the UPS Store.  Blech!  

And the last piece of news (the one I know my Mom has been waiting for!) is that I got my haircut yesterday.  Here's a before pic:

And the after:

I went to one of the ladies here in town, and she charged me $9.00 for this cut.  I think I must have looked shocked, because she said, "I guess that's a little less than what you're used to paying in the city."  Um...yeah.  

Anyway, hope you all are well, and enjoying your spring as much as we plan to!  Every day we go out in the garden to check on the progress, and say "Not long now..."

Random Weekly Update

Hello! Another week has gone by already! I probably say that a lot, but I swear it's astonishing every time. In some ways, I always feel like lots of things have happened, and in other ways, I always feel like I didn't really get anything done. I wonder why that is? Well, here's our update for the week...
Jai is off at band practice. Dayliner is beginning to record some of their stuff, so hopefully soon I can actually post something that you guys can hear. They are really coming along, and Jai is really enjoying being part of something musical and collaborative again.

I am listening to my new cd - The Cave Singers. I totally love it, I think it's my new favourite for this week. If you can find it, I recommend it. It's kind of like a punk-bluegrass-Bob Dylan mixture, with a little bit of Nick Cave thrown in. The new Nick Cave cd is last week's favourite. It's so nice to have access to all this amazing music while living in a rural town (hooray for the internet!) We're probably the only household in the whole county to own either of those cds.

Anyway, I got a new marquetry picture finished up this week. All it needs now is a frame, and then I will list it in our Etsy store. Jai said I should take an "in-progress" picture, so I thought I would show you a little bit of the process. It started with the photo of the cedar waxwings in our oak tree several weeks ago (check back several posts.) I traced two of the birds, and drew out where I wanted the different woods to go. There is a lot of planning at this stage, as I need to figure out the right cutting sequence. As you can see from the second picture, I work from the "bottom" of the picture to the "top." Each piece gets carefully selected, shaded and placed.


Then the final result (sans frame.)

I managed to fit that in, in between some larger projects, which I will post later. Oh, and making ten identical boxes for my cousin Emma, who runs Emma Rose Photography (www.emmarosephotography.com) She is using them as cases for wedding photos. This is the first time I have built ten identical things at once. Whew! It's hard not to let that get tedious, so it's nice to have something completely different to think about.

Spring is slowly creeping up on us here. Yesterday was more snow, but today was all sun. Those snowdrops are finally blooming, and our crocuses are peeking out shyly.

I have spent a couple of evenings now perusing all the on-line seed catalogues. I found a couple that specialize in harvest seeds, and have such interesting varieties, that I would never see at the local nursery. Check out www.heritageharvestseed.com from Manitoba, if you're interested. I think I am definitely going to try some of their bean varieties, as well as the Minnesota Midget Melons, Pennsylvania Dutch Butter-Flavoured Popcorn, and Alma Paprika Peppers (the actual kind of peppers they grind up to make paprika spice!) And I'll be expanding the tea garden this year through www. richters.com from Ontario, who carry, among other things, Rose-scented Bergamot, Apple Eucalyptus, and Licorice. I'm also going to try Soapwort, which apparently can be added to the wash (in a muslin bag) in place of laundry detergent.

I also cut some branches from the forsythia and quince bushes, to see if I can get them to bloom inside. Two days ago, when the ground was covered in snow (again) the idea of something blooming held extra-special appeal.

Anyway, I guess that's all our news. More and less than I thought.

Happy Birthday, Jai!!!!

Hello! It's Jai's Birthday today, but sadly he is at work, and I am sitting here alone. Anyway, I took a picture of him leaving the house, so here is his birthday picture. Happy Birthday!!!!!
He's spending it at the theatre, for their annual general meeting. We were there last night to see Persepolis, another good one. I took this picture then:

It snowed again this morning, but then it turned to rain, so most of the snow has disappeared again. We had lots of plans for this weekend, but then I got a bad cold, and spent most of the weekend lying in bed, so none of them got done. So that was kind of crappy. Lying in bed, sick with a cold, however, is the perfect time to read the original Mary Poppins, and Mary Poppins Comes Back, for the first time. I picked them both up two library sales ago, and didn't realize until now that they are actually the original, first print editions. So that was kind of cool - that was about my intellectual level all weekend. Still, we did manage to get some Easter in. Jai made an Easter egg hunt for me with Hershey's kisses and jelly rabbits, and Pearl (our neighbour) dropped off two plates of food. Plus I spent some time with the bunnies, and they got a couple of extra carrots for the occasion.

And that's really all our news. In between lying in bed, and all the flurries, I have been trying to get some pictures of the family of robins that have moved into the empty lot across the street from us. There are six or seven of them, at least, and I think they are Newfie robins, as they have VERY red breasts, and almost black faces, which are apparently the signs. I hope they stay around for a while, and maybe even build some nests. That would be very cool.


I'll keep trying!
And it's back to work for me tomorrow. After this week, I am feeling a little bit behind. It looks like Jai and I will both be working all weekend. In the immortal words of Will Rogers,
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
(Yes, I admit, I am having way too much fun with the Quotationary!)

Hello!

We've been very lucky with the weather this week, considering the stories we hear coming out from our near neighbours to the East and West of us! We did have a little bit of snow, but it's mostly melted now. Only the big piles, and the really shady spots still have snow. We poked around in the yard a little, and discovered the first signs of spring, in the form of some little snowdrops just starting to peek out. All three seasons in one shot:


This week I finished the coffee tables that were a custom order for a girl down in the States. I'm very happy with how they came out, and it was a good experience to get them shipped out. We drove down to Kentville and shipped them off this morning.

Also, Jai made me a rolling pin for rolling out slabs of clay, so I made a little creamer, just for fun. Sadly, I have nowhere to fire it, so it will probably never get finished. Still, it was fun to make. I just have a small amount of clay that our friend Phillip gave me, so next time we're in Halifax I think I might buy a bag, just to play with. Eventually, I can just melt it all back into wet clay and start again, at least until I can get Jai's Mom's kiln out from Ontario. We haven't figured out how that's going to happen yet.
This rolling pin is pretty rough, as I just needed something quick and dirty, but I actually really like it, and I'm hoping Jai will make more so we can sell them. It's a good prototype.

At work, Stephen has got his CNC set up now. He cut out the parts for a desk on it earlier this week, and we spent the morning coming up with all sorts of ideas for ready-to-assemble furniture that doesn't require screws or glue. It's all very exciting.

Hmmm...what else? I made home-made granola bars last week, and they turned out perfectly. I got the recipe on allrecipes.com, which, if you haven't heard of it, is a mouth-watering way to spend an afternoon of internet browsing. Tonight we're having home-made chili, but we stopped at the meat market in Berwick on the way home from shipping the tables, so we are using locally bred, raised and butchered beef, which is kind of nice.

We stopped at the beach earlier in the week to look for some good rocks for a set of custom bookmarks I am making for a girl.

Coming over the mountain, I was finally able to photograph this frozen waterfall, which has been intriguing me on my drive to work in the morning. I think it's the combination of cold weather and super sunny days that produces something like this, but it sure is pretty.

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.
~Doug Larson