down home...

I am sitting in the cottage listening to my favourite 40's music station and just loving it. There is a cool strong breeze blowing, the sun is out, I can hear the horses talking in the field out the back door.

We got here safely on Monday, August 23rd. The first part of our drive was a bit iffy. I took the first shift of driving, being a new driver I wanted to be fresh and rested, and also not have to drive through Montreal. Well, we drove smack into the heaviest rain ever, well at about the third our of me gripping the steering wheel so tight, my fingers were losing feeling, I decided it was the heaviest rain I had ever seen. We switched driving when we pulled over in Cornwall, I was a bit shaky but I did it! This was a very big deal for me. The rest of the drive was uneventful, we did learn not to trust the navigation system...even if it did have a slightly sexy British accent. Fergus started to wig out about an hour away from the bridge to PEI, he always seems to know when we are getting close, it must be the ocean smell. Once we crossed the bridge we were greeted with the island smell, a mix of fresh fields and manure....I love it!

Our time is winding down here, we are starting to get a bit sad about packing up and leaving. We just seem to be happier here, mentally and physically. I have been trying to dream up a way to make it last longer....we have even been looking at the real estate pages...someday maybe....


My old guy is pretty happy here, swimming for a couple of hours at the beach every night. Before we left the vet told us most of his left elbow joint had osteo arthritis in it. So all the limping he was doing is from that, here, we can swim him for hours with minimal limping! We actually have to make him stop, he would go all day. He is still not quite sure what to make of the horses, but they don't seem that bothered by him.


Me in the car mirror on the way back from the beach...I have always loved driving fast with the windows down, my hair flying around...


Mmmmm, sour late summer rhubarb picked fresh from the garden across the way. I was able to find some east coast strawberries at the market so I cooked them down with the rhubarb to make some yummy tart jam. Just some fruit and a little bit of sugar....yummy on buttered toast or even on icecream! James just like to eat it by the spoonful out of the jar. The three horses come to visit often. They hear the screen door snap and they come running sometimes, you can here them coming from a couple fields over. I would like to think they come to just say hi, but I am pretty sure they just come for the carrots.

sigh....

I have been a little busy this past couple of weeks but I did manage to do some preserving. My Mom taught me when I was young the basics to making preserves...we come from good Ukrainian stock so we would always make our own pickles. I digress, so as I was biting into the fresh summer peaches, warm from the car, a light bulb went on and I decided to jump right in and do some jarred peaches.

In progress, the colours were just so fantastic, so rich, they just made your mouth water. The yummy smell filtering through the house and the warm glow from the jars. The first batch was "tested" by James and got a very big thumbs up. So away I went, stocking up on warm summer peaches that we can eat during the winter when we want a bit of warmth.

This evening is that start of our vacation, I cant wait. We will be driving to PEI sunday night, we are going to try driving straight threw. Lets see how that goes...I love the excitement of packing up the car, even the dog starts to feel excited. I will pack a cooler with drinks and sandwhiches and another bag for treats. I love seeing the country, breathing in the cool fresh air. As we get closer and closer to my grandparents little cottage, my heart swells and feels a little lighter. We will have two weeks of being unconnected...even though the farm finally got WIFI...ain't progress grand...actually I am still undecided on that. Long walks on the beach when the tide is out, Fergus will get to swim and dig for his tennis ball, and I will get to dream of a small little shop all of my own in "Victoria by the sea" or what ever other idea I have come up with on the 20 hour car ride.

lots to add....so i will start here

"So I think it's time we finished the basement..." That's the sentence that started it all at the beginning of the year. James just nodded and said sounds good, so we packed up the basement, rented a storage unit for all our precious stuff (aka JUNK) and realized, yep, the moisture issue is worse than we thought! The fuzzy white mold growing in the corner, the new electrical boxes put in 6 years ago, already rusting and corrodin, yep, this is going to cost us! After 5 contractors with quotes later, hoping to dodge the bullet of a major waterproofing job, which we didn't, the job of getting our house water tight is done! I we documented the jobs the entire way.


It started with replacing old plumbing, because if your a going to make a livable basement you don't want concrete floors, you want something nice. Old plumbing wont do because what if there is a flood. So you dig down 5 feet replace the pipes and then fill in the giant hole to hell. Yes, that's what I said hole to hell, well more like trench I guess. Man those guys worked hard, all this digging done by a couple of guys with shovels! Totally necessary we found out because that stack pipe that take all the bad stuff out of the house was totally corroded shut. Hmmmm how was anything getting out?

Well that was the first step done about a month ago, my next post will outline how the waterproofing company had to then dig out the basement, which involved digging out 9 inches of concrete and sand, while also digging around the four sides of the house! WHAT FUN!

Also, the last of the summer strawberries, and mmmmm peaches, I never can do anything in small amounts, nope not my style. My fear, just humour my ramble, is that I will be featured on one of the hoarding shows at some point in my life.

this seems to be a common theme....

Here I am starting another post off with, "it's been so long...."! I am not a super busy person, even though I may think that I am. Only 3 hairy beasts in my life to take care of, James (husband), Fergus (lovely cuddly big old dog), and Ollie (super suck of a cat). Yes, I work but really that doesn't take up that much time...and to quote a line from a movie "there are 24 usable hours in every day". So where is my time going?

So that is my rant for the last month, on more exciting news I have been accepted to my very first craft/artisan fair. I will post more on that later but here is a sneak peak at one of the things I am getting ready to sell at that market.



Oh and on a side note...thanks to those that leave me comments, it really brightens my day. To R&B please leave me an email address so that I can answer the questions you had for me. Thanks.