Here Lies an Update

Hello! Mom and Errol are here now, we picked them up on Monday. Our shiny new car definitely made the trip to Halifax much faster, smoother, and slightly less interesting (the new car is so smooth and quiet compared to the truck that it feels relatively boring!) It makes a big difference, though if we can get to Halifax on a quarter of a tank of gas.

Yesterday Jai had to work at the theatre, so we did a little tour of the area around Annapolis Royal. First we went to the Stony Beach cemetary. To get there, you travel down this narrow, bumpy dirt road that looks like someone's driveway. At the end of the road, though, this is what you see.

Some of the tombstones date back to the 1700s.
Then we went to the Habitation at Port Royal. It's a wooden fort that was recreated in the 1930s. It's very well done, and super scenic, right on the bay.

Our garden is doing really well - we've had some really hot days in a row, and the garden has been loving it! Everyone else spent all day today weeding and staking tomatoes in the garden while I got some work done in the shop. It's getting pretty exciting as the tomatoes grow giant green fruits (a couple of them fell over, cage and all, they were so overloaded!) The lettuce all bolted, so we had to throw a lot of it into the compost, because it got pretty bitter. The romaine is still good though - we had our first caesar salad with it last night, and it was delicious! And check out my watermelon!

The pumpkin plants are doing really well, too. They only bloom in the morning, and the blooms only last for a couple of hours, but they are so pretty! I love this orange colour! It's so cheerful.

And we discovered yet another excellent reason for living in the town of Bridgetown. Yesterday was sunny and hot all day - so hot it was hard to do anything but sit around eating ice cream. Last night we thought we would take the ten minute trip to the Bay of Fundy to wade in the water and watch the sun go down, but as soon as we got over the crest of the mountain, it was grey and gloomy. So there you go - sometimes it isn't better to live right on the water. It must have been at least a 20 degree temperature drop! It was still really pretty though, and it made it actually pleasant to come back to a very warm house.

In other news, we had another contractor friend come in today to look at the wall we are taking down, and he confirmed that it is not a supporting wall, so we can feel free to remove it completely now. Jai was talking about doing it tomorrow while I'm at work, but I think that plan may have been discarded in the wake of an offer of a day at the cabin. I can't say I blame him!

Money comes in (sometimes), Money goes out

It's turned out to be an eventful couple of days here, by our standards, at least!

Let's see...looking back....

We've been tearing down the wall between the dining room and the unfinished library.

Jai's got the whole thing down to the studs now. We just need to start building the bracing that we will be putting in the header. We had the stove guy come in and give us an estimate on installing the woodstove in the new space, breaking into the old coal chimney and putting in a flexible liner. It's still a little pricey for my taste, but much cheaper than installing a whole new chimney, and still much cheaper than a year's supply of oil. We will still need to use the oil furnace a little, but definitely a lot less, and we will actually have one warm room, or maybe even two!
And speaking of spending money...

I got a great new drill press for a very good price. It's sitting all shiney in our tiny little shop - so pretty! I also picked up a good mitre saw and a really good router. Just about everything I need now, but way past everything our little space can handle!
And more money...

This is a car that we are looking at buying. It's a 1999 Chrysler Intrepid. We have been talking about getting a zippy little gas-saving car (which this isn't exactly, but it's close!) and since Mom and Errol (who arrive Monday) would have been renting a car while they are here, they are contributing the money they would have spent on the rental towards the cost of a new to us car. Right now in the truck, it costs us close to $100 every time we need to go to Halifax (which, due to the us-being-broke-factor, doesn't happen very often!) This new car would be closer to $30, and would probably shave 20-30 minutes off the trip. The truck is great for what it does, but not a good commuter car at all. Now that Jai and I both have jobs outside of town, it doesn't make a lot of sense.
So we'll be eating Kraft dinner and Ichiban noodles for the next five years or so, but luckily for us, my lettuce and tomatoes are doing very well in the garden, so we'll still get some veggies!

Hot and Humid

Hello! Things are coming along here in little Bridgetown, NS. I've been working out at Cottage Woodworkers building kitchens (ugh!) although he keeps promising we'll get on to some furniture pieces one of these days. It's not so bad, really, I'm learning a lot and he's happy to show me, which is great.
Jai drove some vets around the other day, and heard some great stories. He also saw the river beaver up close and personal, but he didn't have the camera with him. If you are ever in the same situation, according to Jai, of being on a bridge looking down on a beaver, and you happen to call out "Hey Beaver!" the beaver will stop, look left and look right, but he won't ever look up. Beavers are shifty creatures.
It has been really hot and humid here for the last two days. Luckily, most of the time there is a little breeze off the river, but it's still hard to be outside in the late afternoon.

Emma likes to lie right in the window until the sun hits it late in the day, and I have to close the curtains.

We have a blossom on our watermelon plant! Yay! And if you look really hard, you can find the odd little green tomato already on the bush.

We've both been getting some work done in the shop, and making lots of plans. One of these days we'll get started on those plans!

Here's a nice shot of a tree at the side of our house:

And that's all the news I have for you tonight!

On to Plan "D!"

Hello! We had a windy stormy day here in Bridgetown today. No thunder and lightening, but we did have the power go out for a while. It's the first time since we moved here that the power has been out for more than a few seconds - even during some of those snowstorms and a spectacular thunder and lightening storm a week or so ago.
All in all it was a good day for me to stay inside and sand. I finished up four books I have been working on for the last couple of days. Here's a sample.

Jai is sick with a cold right now, so it was a perfect day for him to snooze in bed. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that!
We had a little visitor this week:

Our shop renovation has been put on permanent hiatus, pending the day when we have more money to spend. Our contractor friend called us on Monday morning to say that we didn't have enough money to do the job properly, and he was going to have to bow out. So that was a little disappointing, but we have come up with a new plan - Plan "D!" It involves building a lumber and firewood storage shelter on the side of the driveway, turning our unused living room into an office/finishing room, and purchasing a large quantity of lumber, as well as leaving us enough money to install a woodstove in the house. I'll keep you posted on all that, we are hoping to get started soon.

Canada Day was amazing here - we had some people over for a BBQ, and sat in the backyard to watch the fireworks. We didn't have the camera with us when the fireworks started, or I would have attempted to capture some of them, they were absolutely amazing! The local volunteer fire department runs them, and I don't know what kind of budget they are given, but whatever it is, they really do a good job! Jai and I both agreed they were some of the best fireworks we'd ever seen, anywhere.
Here's some random party shots:


And, of course, I couldn't let you go without some pics of our fabulous garden!




Also, congrats to Pete for graduating, and to Rowyn for taking her first steps!