Dreaming Of Wild Roses

2012-05-26T05:22:00.000-04:00

What a busy month since we moved! I can hardly believe that we will have been here four weeks on Tuesday. Where does the time go? Trying to combine work with unpacking does not help as there are still lots of unopened boxes and far too many items lying around.

One of my priority jobs was organising the kitchen. I could not contemplate being unable to find food items and utensils or continue to climb over boxes to get to cupboards.

I've always wanted a pantry. Whilst my new kitchen does not have one, it does have a very large cupboard which I've designated for this purpose. I quickly filled it with bulky food items which take up so much valuable space as well as additional supplies and there is even a large space towards the bottom where I am able to stand kitchen appliances which are not used on a daily basis, such as the breadmaker,

I dream of having a beautifully stocked pantry filled with homemade produce, but for now, I'm very happy with the results.

Home

2012-05-16T19:23:00.000-04:00

It has been far too long since I've posted, but one reason is that we were unable to connect the camera to the computer and download these photographs. Anyway, we've been here two weeks now and there is a lot of work to be done, especially in the garden. The above photo shows the lawn after we spent seven hours removing enormous dandelions and before the grass was cut.

We have a large deck at the back of the house and a back garden which can only be described as 'having potiential'. It is good to be home.

Ten Days To D-Day

2012-04-21T06:49:00.000-04:00

This is the chaos of our living/dining room. With only ten days to go, there is still much to be done, because we are moving house. I know it is hard to believe that anyone would want to put themselves through the stress of this again, but after spending a winter in this house, we can't wait to go. The house is cold and very expensive to heat and the worst of it is that within minutes of the heat going off, the house is cold again!

I found a place online and it is a cosy modern house with good insulation. We have waited ten weeks for it to become available and our moving date is 1st May. The bookshelves are empty (aside from my birthday cards ~ an event that is a blur in the flurry of activity) and this weekend is going to be busy with packing.

I know that I have not been a good blogger of late and I've rarely found the time to sit down and visit my loyal followers. I hope that this situation will improve once our move is completed and the dust finally settles. I'm looking forward to a large garden with huge potential and the opportunity to share lots of photos in future posts.

Easter Weekend

2012-04-08T20:37:00.004-04:00

The weekend got off to an early start as far as chocolate was concerned, as I baked a chocolate malteser cake for the birthday of one of my work colleagues. I used Nigella's recipe, but had to modify it slightly, as I couldn't find Horlicks here, so used chocolate Ovaltine instead. This is a deliciously moist cake which was enjoyed by all.

The tradition of hot cross buns lives on and I cheated this year and bought some. It hardly seems worth the effort to bake them, as I am the only one who likes them. These were equally delicious and probably some of the best that I've found here in Canada.

Best enjoyed with butter and a cup of tea.

Saturday dawned and it was cold, but the spring bulbs were starting to flower and the colours were so cheering. Although it was necessary to wear a warm coat, I thrilled at the prospect of spring.

The hyacinths have been in bloom all week and the weight of their flowers has caused them to bend. Their fragrance is absolutely overpowering indoors (my husband kept bringing them in on cold nights!) filling the house with their scent.

Unexpected Visitors

2012-04-03T15:55:00.005-04:00

More delights at the feeder during the last few days have included this Downy Woodpecker, who we have called Woody! His plumage is beautiful and he has a red patch on the back of his head.

This male Purple Finch is another beautiful bird. He frequently visits the feeder.

We also have Goldfinches.

This is the Purple Finch with the female.

And more photographs of the male Purple Finches.

Woody seemed convinced that he could peck his way into the feeder from underneath. He must have given himself a headache trying to peck through metal!

Next, the Bluejays arrived.

And finally, the Grosbeaks. They remind me of giant budgies!

Thanks to my husband for patience at capturing these images with the camera. He gave me regular updates at work on the birds' arrival. We have never seen so many species of birds in the garden in the time that we have lived here.

At The Feeder

2012-04-03T15:45:00.001-04:00

When we lived in Ontario, we hung this feeder in our garden and waited three months before a bird finally showed up. After we moved, we placed it in the tree outside our window, but the winter storms forced us to take it down. We put it up again recently and had our first visitors after only three days!

These cheeky Black-capped Chickadees really enjoy sunflower hearts and were quick to make the most of ours. Soon after they appeared, they were brave enough to remain at the feeder even when we ventured outdoors.

I have more photographs to share in the next post, which has been in draft form for about a week.

Sugar & Spice & All Things Nice...

2012-03-26T15:24:00.002-04:00

I have started re-reading The Wonderful Weekend Book by the late Elspeth Thompson and rather than just reading it, I am determined to actually rediscover the joy of weekends. To this end, I decided to have a weekend free of housework (!) and I must admit that this is a first for a very long time. Working full-time, the weekend tends to be my opportunity to catch up on laundry, ironing, house cleaning....etc. Normally, they are one long round of domestic chores and I'm lucky to be finished by Sunday evening.

I have to be realistic about the idea of reclaiming my weekends, so I thought that I would try to do this once a month. After all, I'm also on-call one weekend every month too, so I can't expect to have all of my weekends free.

This weekend was much more relaxing with time to sit and read, watch the birds at the feeder (more about them next time) and generally unwind. One pleasure which I do enjoy is baking, so I finally found time to make a ginger cake. The kitchen was filled with the smell of spices and that delicious homely smell of a cake baking in the oven.

I cheated a bit and used my mixer, which proved not to be a good idea. It did a great job of removing the lumps as the flour was mixed in, but the hot liquid poured into it set on the cold bowl, which made for a rather stickly clean-up.

Still, I must admit that this is probably the best ginger cake that I've ever baked. For once, I was patient and didn't take it out of the oven too early, only for it to sink in the middle and a lower shelf position resulted in a lovely colour without any burnt edges. Just perfect for another pleasure: a nice cup of tea to go with it. Perfection!

Heatwave

2012-03-22T07:57:00.000-04:00

After weeks of unpredictable weather which has included rain, snow, gales, freezing rain and ice pellets, we seem to have bypassed spring, at least for a day and gone straight to summer. After our trip to Cape George yesterday, we returned to find that the inshore temperature had hit 25 C. As we drove through town, we saw lots of shorts in evidence and even students from the university sunbathing ~ in March!

With all this sunshine and warm temperatures, I am seeing signs of spring in the garden too. The bulbs that I planted late last autumn are starting to appear and it seems that there may be flowers before the end of the week. And just to prove that the boots finally did come off....for a day or two at least. Roll on spring!

Spring

2012-03-22T06:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we decided to go out for a drive and headed up to Cape George Lighthouse, which sits on Cape George Point in Antigonish County. The weather was sunny and we looked out across St George's Bay, where sea ice was still visible as a white line in the distance.

Along with remnants of snow in the more sheltered spots. The sky was clear and blue; a sight which we have not seen in recent weeks.

This last photograph shows the coastline looking south. The temperature on the coast was 9 C although the forecast high was a lot higher: the wind keeps the temperature lower by the water. It was lovely to get out and breathe some fresh air after too long indoors and to take a short break from our packing. Back to reality today though, as the packing and emptying of our basement continues.

Mermaid Drops

2012-03-18T06:45:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we went to the opening of a new boutique in town and I came away with this little package. They say that good things come in small packages and that was certainly true on this occasion.

Inside I found this pretty blue muslin bag and a hint of the pleasure to come. Even though I knew what was inside, I loved the care taken with the packaging.

These pretty earrings were beautifully displayed in a little beach setting complete with sand and as you can see, each pair was displayed inside a shell. There was a tag attached which explained that the jewellery is inspired by the timeless beauty of the sea....and the whispers of the mermaids.

As far as I'm concerned, I like to think that they were made by mermaids.

In The Kitchen

2012-03-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

There hasn't been much time for blogging lately, or for anything else now that I come to think about it. Life seems so busy these days and I do miss visiting all of my blogging friends and reading about your adventures. I've thought about closing my blog on a number of occasions, but I feel that I still need a place to share my thoughts and creativity (when I have the time to be creative). For inspiration, I have been watching Kirstie's Handmade Britain, which I heard about months ago, but was unable to access at the time. In more creative moments, I made Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake for my husband's birthday, which was a hit, although I must admit that I didn't like it. I found the cake a bit too dense for my liking and it reminded me of the sort of chocolate cake they used to serve at school with custard! Still, he enjoyed it and got to eat it all.....

A couple of weeks ago, we entertained some friends one Saturday evening and I made a trifle. I didn't manage to get any close-up pictures of this due to a combination of factors, but mainly because the light was too poor once I actually served it. It was delicious, though I've had to put in some extra effort with my walking to fitness after too many calories!

As for news, we are moving house again (!) I know, we must be mad, but after a winter of freezing in a cold house, I started looking for somewhere more modern and found a cosy place which I'm really looking forward to calling home. We move on 1st May and so I'm starting the mammoth job of packing again this week. I hope to find the time to visit you all in the coming week, but my visits and posts may continue to be sporadic as I disappear into a pile of packing boxes. I just hope that I can find my way out....

Armchair Cookery

2012-02-28T06:48:00.000-05:00

I've recently been enjoying Lorraine Pascale's series Baking Made Easy. I hadn't seen any of her programmes before, but I was impressed by how easy she makes it all look. I've always enjoyed baking and own a lot of cookery books, but I am always willing to add a few new recipes to my repertoire.

At the time that I placed my order with the Book Depository, I also bought the Cath Kidston preserve labelling kit. I made some preserves at Christmas, but failed to find any pretty labels or covers for my jars, so I have every intention of being better prepared next time. For the present, I am content to sit and indulge in a little armchair cookery.

In The Pink

2012-02-26T15:47:00.000-05:00

This is a recent knitting project; the pattern for which came from Debbie Bliss' book The Knitter's Year. It has been fun to knit because it is on chunky needles and knitted with chunky wool, so it grew at an incredible rate. I knitted one side in the course of an evening.

I would have liked to show you a photo of the finished bag, but sadly, I'm running out of yarn and don't have sufficient to finish the bag. I'm on the look-out for some more, but I purchased it online and the seller has none left. If any knitters out there see Debbie Bliss Como yarn in shade 19021, I'm looking for some.

Thoughts Of Spring

2012-02-25T15:46:00.000-05:00

Although the snow continues to blow outdoors, my thoughts are turning to spring. This is our first winter in Nova Scotia, so I have absolutely no idea what to expect in terms of the change of season. For now, I have Country Living to enjoy, which dropped in on Thursday afternoon like a breath of fresh air.

Another recent arrival was Woman & Home magazine, which is full of spring fashions and ideas. I downloaded their suggestions of music to inspire a walking fitness plan and it has certainly pepped up my walking routine.

Then there was a package awaiting my return from New Brunswick from my friend Tracy over at Prana Light. She sent me this delightful felt flower to brighten up these last dark days of winter. Thank you Tracy!

Winter Continues...

2012-02-23T17:59:00.001-05:00

It started snowing again yesterday morning and I thought that I would show you a short film of the sight that greeted me outside our door. This was in addition to the 20 cm of fresh snowfall that we found upon our return from New Brunswick at the weekend.

Not feeling particularly like venturing outside in the cold, I shot this from the doorway. There is only so much Winter that a girl can handle and I think that I may have reached my limit. The good news is that the course went very well and I am so glad that I had an opportunity to take it. Although I've been off work this week, it hasn't felt like much of a break, as I've been busy trying to catch up on all the jobs that don't get done when I'm working. Speaking of which, I believe that there is a rather large pile of ironing awaiting my attention...

This is my first attempt at posting a video to my blog. Apologies for the sound quality/commentry in the background. The microphone is a lot more sensitive than I thought it was!

Trials & Tribulations

2012-02-12T05:27:00.000-05:00

It has been far too long since I found time to sit down and write a post, but it has been a challenging time as far as technology is concerned. In the past six months, I managed to delete the entire content of our laptop whilst doing an upgrade (no back-up!); which cost us our entire digital photo collection of the last five years.

Just before Christmas, I wiped almost 800 songs from my iPod when it synchronised with my iPhone, which didn't have any music stored on it! Then two weeks ago, there was an accident with our laptop when it flew through the air, but didn't bounce very well. Before I could tell my husband that we might be able to salvage some of the content of the hard drive, he had taken a hammer to it to ensure that no-one else was able to access our files.....

Now that we have got a replacement for our laptop, I have diligently backed up all our files and will try to do better in the future.

In the meantime, I am still trying to study for my course, which is at the end of this week. Getting there could be a challenge too, as the forecast is for 20 cm of snow on the day that we travel, I'm hoping that they are wrong, or that the snow may be delayed long enough for us to get there.

Upon our return, I have a week off work. I'm really looking forward to having some time to myself and hopefully catching up with you all.

Winter

2012-01-08T05:26:00.000-05:00

A Winter walk when the landscape is blanketed in snow. Nature sleeps.

The sky has that slightly leaden look, though on this day, the sun did put in a brief appearance.

My apologies for not blogging in recent months. I do appreciate your visits and comments, but life has been so busy, particularly at work that I have not had time to catch up with you all. The coming weeks are going to be even more hectic as I study for an important course, which I take next month.

Enjoy the quiet days of Winter and I will see you all soon.

Happy New Year and may 2012 be filled with peace, joy and special moments.

White Christmas

2011-12-31T07:25:00.007-05:00

The snow that started on 23rd December continued throughout Christmas Eve, so we awoke to a white Christmas. We decided to get warmly dressed and go for a walk in the woods behind our house.

The branches of the trees were heavily laden with snow, which bent many of them to the ground. There were no human footprints along the trail, though we did see some animal prints, possibly deer.

The woods were silent and it was easy to imagine how people can wander off and get lost. Although we were following a cleared trail in the daylight, much of this part of Nova Scotia is wilderness where there are no roads or trails.

We found some deep untouched snow and I made my first snow angel!!! I've never done a snow angel before in my entire life.....better late than never! The walk was exhilerating, mainly due to the fact that the outward part was all uphill, but it was lovely to return to the warmth of home and put our feet up.

A Maritime Christmas

2011-12-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2011 ~ our first Christmas in the Maritimes and also our first country Christmas. The tree was much larger than anticipated after I ordered one around 5-6 feet. The one that was delivered actually measured 8 feet, so we had to shorten it to get it in our living room ~ we had branches and sawdust everywhere!

I bought some new Christmas ornaments to adorn our tree during a visit to Halifax: Santa and Rudolph adorning a lighthouse with lights and Santa in a rowing boat full of gifts (sorry that the photo is a bit dark).

This country Christmas bauble is another new addition.

And how could I resist this adorable snowman and his gingerbread companion? Let It Snow is one saying that we didn't need this year ~ we had lots of it and I will share some photos next time.

I finally started my Christmas Memories book, which I've been saving for far too long. I've always intended to save memories from our Christmases, but never seemed to find the time. After unintentionally wiping the hard drive of our computer this summer, I realise the importance of saving digital photographs.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

It started with light snowfall yesterday morning and continued throughout the day. By late afternoon, there was a blanket of white and people were hurrying home. This was the view from our window as night fell.

The snow continued overnight and Christmas Eve morning dawned a dull grey. The garden had been transformed overnight and there was a hushed stillness to the landscape; what sounds there were being muffled by the winter blanket.

This is the view of our house from the end of the driveway. Fortunately, we were able to get out without waiting for the plough to come and clear it.

The trees are heavily laden with snow now and we are planning a walk this afternoon. We are certainly having a white Christmas this year.

All that remains is to wish each one of my readers a very Merry Christmas.

May this season be filled with peace and joy.

NaBloPoMo 2011

2011-11-30T06:40:00.000-05:00

Once again this year, I set myself the NaBloPoMo Challenge to blog every day for a whole month. At this time of the year, I often find myself wondering why I blog and what to write about, so this challenge gives my blog new impetus.

I blog because I like to write and my blog is a visual journal which I can look back on from time to time and remind myself of some of my achievements.

To those of you who shared this journey, thank you for being there and for making it all worthwhile.

A Little Celebration

2011-11-29T05:14:00.000-05:00

Need I say more? Yes, I passed the exam that I went all that way to Vancouver to write last month. I got my results yesterday along with this card from my husband, a beautiful red rose and a chocolate cake!

Thought For The Day

2011-11-28T05:04:00.001-05:00

'If home is the magnetic north of the heart, then all journeys eventually become a circle.'

Will Ferguson (1964 -)

(Photo: Malhamdale, North Yorkshire in Winter, courtesy of my little sister.)

Advent ~ 1

2011-11-27T18:15:00.001-05:00

A single light shines in the darkness. The first candle stands for hope.

Anyone For Tea?

2011-11-26T12:05:00.001-05:00

Afternoon tea is one tradition that I would like to revive if I had the time to sit down in the afternoon and enjoy it. Even as an occasional treat, I believe that there is little better than freshly baked scones.

On a foray into Halifax a month or so ago, my husband discovered clotted cream. In all the years that I've lived in Canada, I had never seen real English Clotted Cream.

In combination with his favourite Bonne Maman Strawberry Jam, these didn't last long!