Catch Up

Hello! This is not my usual time to write, but I've got some time to kill this morning. When Jai left for work at 6:30 this morning, he said "I'll be back by 9:30, maybe we can have breakfast together." And I mumbled "OK." But now that it's 8:30, and I've already been up for 45 minutes, breakfast is looking really far away. Oh well, it's a good opportunity to catch up.

View from The Lookoff:

It looks like it's going to be one of those days where you run a bunch of errands and hopefully clean the house. It sure would be nice to have a clean house again! We've both been smokin' busy over the last...well, month, really. The weather report is calling for 29 degrees here today, so it should be a good day for all that stuff. Not that it's been all work and no play...

This is our market stall this week:

On Saturday, after the market, Jai and I and our friends Brandon and Jo went up the Nova Scotia coastline (I wanted to say "up island!") to visit the peaks of Blomidon. I had to drop off a little piece for that charity art auction I was telling you about earlier, so it seemed like a good opportunity for some exploring. Our other friend, Carolyn, had given us directions to find the "mud flats" of Nova Scotia. (Stopping here for a mini-rant) Nova Scotia is totally ridiculous in some ways. It's not set up for people who didn't spend their entire lives here. The road signs in this province are absolutely terrible - by far the worst of any of the provinces that we drove through on the way out - which is almost all of them! Not only that, but they have no interest in showing off any of their sites to people who are from away. Since we've arrived, almost all of the coolest things we've seen have been at the end of an unmarked dirt road. It's very strange. Anyway, at the end of yet another unmarked dirt road, we found this:





Pretty amazing!
Then we came back in to Wolfville and spent some time at Noggins Farm. They had U-Pick pumpkins, a corn maze, U-pick flowers, and an awesome little farm market. It was so much fun - the perfect First Day of Fall activity. There were people and kids everywhere, and yet it still managed to maintain that feeling you get at the beginning of a horror movie. It was perfect.

And it's Fall Cleanup this month, which means Free Junk (or treasures, depending on how you look at it.) Jai found the find of the decade, at least, when he stopped to get me this wagon:

I've been wanting a wagon for so long, and this one was put out in the trash in perfect working order, only needs a new side. I doubt I can ever top that find, but that doesn't mean I won't try!

Garden Bounty

We've been totally enjoying the bounty of our garden this week. We had some of our corn. It wasn't the prettiest corn, but I think it might have been the tastiest. It wa so juicy and sweet, it's kind of amazing how good corn can be.

Plus Jai made an amazing curried carrot and leek soup, made entirely from our garden (except for the stock.) It was sooooooo good. And our carrots are so pretty!


I've been drying as many herbs as I can for some good winter teas. So far I've got raspberry leaves, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, orange mint, anise hyssop, bee balm, chamomile, and blackberry leaves. It should be a nice winter, sitting in the library, in front of the fire, sipping homegrown tea. I've also done a couple of batches of sundried tomatoes, which worked really well. I'd like to do another one, as we have about a million yellow plum tomatoes.
And it turns out we didn't miss the Ciderfest parade after all - they postponed it until Sunday night, so we walked down to take it all in. It was very short, but the funnest parade I've ever seen, and I'm sure the whole town was there. And we knew half the people in it, which was kind of neat.

I had kind of a lazy day today, sundrying the tomatoes and running errands this morning, and having tea all afternoon at Sarah's house. Erin came over with her brand new baby, Sunna, and we chatted and drank tea like perfect ladies. All night I have been trying to make a piece of art, as I promised a piece for a charity auction that is happening in Halifax. I'm not sure I have anything I'm happy with, but it was pretty fun to do, and I DID manage to make a pretty good mess, so that's something.
I'll leave you with a shot of our fabulous bunny, Webster, who has also been enjoying the bounties of our garden:

Hello! I'm just sitting down for a nice quiet hour or so. Jai has gone to work at the theatre, which is playing Sicko tonight. Jo and I are going to go see it in a couple of hours. This morning was full of action, as we hit the Library Book Sale, and picked up several gems (including my very own copy of 100 Years of Solitude - yay!) It was about half an hour of total chaos before we were swept out the door with our new purchases. Then it was off to the auction:

which is always entertaining at the very least. We picked up a couple of things we needed (a mirror for the bathroom vanity) and a couple of things we didn't (including a giant barrel full of broken furniture.) I was bidding on an amazing old tin sign, but I was completely outbid. Oh well, you can't win them all.
This week we have been trying to get busy in the shop. I finished a commissioned box, and Jai got a good start on his wholesale top order. Still, I almost always feel like we're running behind.


It rained all day today, so we didn't have to do the market, but it also meant the Ciderfest parade was cancelled. One of these years we are going to see it. They have been using some of the same floats for at least 65 years.
On Thursday I tripped in to Halifax with my friend Carolyn, mostly just running around doing business stuff (she's a craftsperson, too) but we did take the opportunity to have dinner at an Indian restaurant. Yum! Jai's cooking is definitely getting up there, though, it's starting to wreck restaurant experiences for me, as I had a crappy but expensive pizza for lunch.
I've just about finished up my wholesale order for Mahar Drygoods (mahardrygoods.com), so it is going to feel really good to get that sent off.

The garden is still doing really well. The night I got back from Halifax, there was a big frost warning, so Jai and I went out at midnight with a flashlight, and pulled in as much stuff as we could. We have four giant tomatoe bushes hanging in the pantry right now. Plus a countertop filled with cucumbers. If anyone reading this is in the area, and wants a free cucumber, please let me know! To top it all off, it never did frost.

I also bought myself two rose bushes this week. I was feeling crappy after telling that lady I couldn't afford to build her giant maple television hutch for the quote I took on, so I had to stop at the nursery on the way home and do some retail therapy. They're so pretty, though! Hopefully I won't kill them both in the first year.

All right, I'm going to go eat some dinner, and find a sweater. It's starting to get a little chilly around here. Only a couple more weeks until we have an awesome new woodstove, though!!!!!!!!

South Shore Revelry

Hey! Just a quick update today. We've both had a really productive week, which is great - especially in contrast to some of our other weeks!
On Sunday, our friends Brandon and Jo brought us down to the South Shore to check out a gallery in Mahone Bay. The gallery is called Trees, and it carries mostly wood products, or other forest-related things (mostly paintings of trees.) We brought our portfolio and met the owner, and she is going to carry our stuff, as soon as we have some to give her.
So, since that was out of the way, there was lots of time to bum around. I had to show you these pics of Crescent Beach. It's a long, long sandy beach. The water is shallow, and pretty warm, for the ocean.

Plus, you are still allowed to drive on it, so there is a steady stream of cars driving up and down the beach. It felt a little like stepping back in time.

Especially after we saw the Yum-Yum Bus II. Yes.

It was the last day of the season for the Yum-Yum Bus II, but none of us partook. Maybe next time.
The South Shore is great. It's like a pretty little haven created by rich people, but people like us are still allowed to visit. I even got Pad Thai at a restaurant!

September already!

Hello Again,
We've had a nice, busy week. Amy and Dennis were here, and we had a great visit. We spent a night in Halifax bumming around at the Keith's brewery, Bubbles Mansion, and various bars.


And since they left, we have been busy trying to get back into our routine. We've both managed to get a little bit of work done in the shop. Jai has had a big run on his spinning tops, and I'm trying to catch up on orders.
The garden is at the point where we have an abundance of food. Tons of basil, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers. Gorgeous!

We bought our woodstove, and picked up our firewood for the winter. It's all piled in the driveway right now. The stove should be in by the end of September. It will be sooooooooooooooo nice!

And at the market today, Carolyn, the girl who is beside us, and I negotiated a trade. I got one of her gorgeous felt pieces. She dies all the wool herself, I just love it! This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea. A nice valley view.

We did it!

We did it! A functional bathroom! It's almost midnight now, and I am exhausted, but I am going to go and have a shower...just because I can!

None of the finishing touches are done yet, so I'll post more when it's actually finished. Still, we're pretty happy.

No more pink walls!

Hello again! Well, I was priming until 10 o'clock tonight, but the bathroom is getting there.
This is how it looked yesterday morning:

And this is how it looks tonight:

Goodbye pepto-bismol-pink walls! See you. . . never!
Tomorrow, we paint everything, then put the tub, sink, and toilet in place and hook e'm up. It kind of sucks to have to finish everything so quickly, but at the same time, without a deadline of some sort, I'm sure we could drag this renovation out for many more weeks! And it will be so nice to be able to shower in my own house again!

And while Jai was doing the wiring and plumbing in the bathroom (stuff I can't help with) I have been working away on our library bookcases. They're almost done being built, then I will finish installing them (baseboard and trim so it looks built-in) and then they will be painted.

We haven't been all work without some play, though. On Sunday night we went to the Annapolis Royal Paint-in with our friends Brandon and Jo. It was so much fun. They had 80 different artists all around the town, painting up a storm. When an artist finished a painting, a volunteer walked it over to the Legion in a pizza box, and it was hung in the gallery, where there was a giant silent auction going on. Until 5 p.m. there was a buy-it now price, and after that, bidding was open till 6. At about one minute to six, you could see all sorts of little skirmishes around the most popular paintings!


We bought two pieces, for our miniature painting collection:

And more renovations...

Hellooooo! We're still here. I'm sitting in my house, all alone, for the first time in what seems like months! All of our company is gone again, and I was very sad to see them go. Our friends Amy and Dennis are coming out from Victoria next week, so we have one week to get our bathroom into a functioning space. This is what it looks like now:

The walls that needed to come down are down, the first layer of subfloor is screwed in, and the plumbing is all roughed in. I go back to work at the cabinet shop tomorrow, but Jai is hoping to get the wiring done, and hopefully screw down the next layer of subfloor.

At the same time as we are renovating the bathroom, we had to take down the ceiling in the pantry because of the leak, and I started building the bookshelves for the library, with some help from Mom. The whole house looks like one giant project right now.

We took most of today off, as Errol and Justin came down to pick Mom up and take her back to Halifax. They went swimming in the river behind our house, something we have not been brave enough to do yet. They gave it good reviews, though, and Jai and I are considering a way to orchestrate some serious inner tube floating.

We still have Jane the cat, her and Emma have worked out a somewhat uneasy truce. We'll see how it goes now that Mom is not here to keep the peace any more. She has been the resident cat herder for the last week, a practically full-time job that I have neither the time nor the willingness to take over. Jane is a sweety, though, so hopefully we'll be able to get everyone sorted.

Last night, Mom and I volunteered at the King's Theatre, where Jai works. It was pretty fun - she ripped tickets, and I was the usher. We got to see the play for free, but we were only able to stay for the first half, because we wanted to sneak off and do the graveyard tour. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died AGAIN, and I didn't get any pics to share with you, but I would HIGHLY recommend the graveyard tour to anyone who might be interested, and around. It was so neat - everyone gets a candle lantern (95 people last night) and then a fellow in period mourning takes you around and tells stories about the oldest English graveyard in Canada. It was the perfect night last night, totally clear, and you could see millions of stars. The cemetary is in Fort Anne, right on the water, and it was absolutely picture perfect. If only I'd had my camera!

We had a big wind and rainstorm here a couple of days ago, and it was very hard on the garden, so Mom and I spent a couple of hours re-staking all the tomatoes. There are literally hundreds of tomatoes coming, so hopefully I can figure out what to do with them. Already I am giving away cucumbers left, right, and centre. All the fresh food is so good right now, though! We've been eating handfulls of blackberries every day, and perfectly ripe peaches (ok, I didn't grow those!) cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. We are overflowing with basil and jalapeno peppers, and the carrots are actually growing quite big. Having a garden is so rewarding. I'm already thinking about next year, when it will be even bigger!

Renovations and Visitations

Hello! It's been a very busy time since last I wrote. The bathroom renovation has begun in earnest, thanks to some amazing help from family in the financial area of the renovation. Right now there is still a tub and shower, but no sink, no toilet, and only half a floor. This is a shot from the first day of work, the camera batteries died before I could get one of how it looks now.

We have ordered an amazing clawfoot tub, and some really nice flooring, so all the pieces are coming together. By the end of the week, it should look like it will one day become a bathroom again. When we pulled up the floor, Jai discovered that the toilet had been leaking. For decades. All the wood underneath it was black and rotten, and the smell was none too pleasant. This bathroom renovation will make a big difference in the quality of our lives.

We had a great visit with Brad (Jai's brother), Karissa (his wife), and Rowyn (their daughter.) Rowyn turned one in our house! We had a fun couple of days touring around, although the visit was way too short!



And Emma the cat was very patient with little Rowyn, so as a reward, we got her a little friend today. She's not very happy with us at the moment. Oops, I'm sure they'll get along great soon. Here is Jane, in a completely unflattering picture, hiding under the sideboard.

We had the first potatoes out of the garden in our dinner last week. Yummy! And just yesterday, we found six ripe blackberries on the bush. They didn't all make it into the shot.

Mom and Errol come back tomorrow. Yay!