Our Girls...

It's been a week since Holly and Sean went home...The first couple days were a little tough after they left. We'd been looking forward to Kim and Oliver and Liams visit, then Holly and Seans and suddenly I felt a little like there was nothing left to look forward to. But I kept busy and soon the feeling passed and now I just look forward to the next time I talk to them or the next time we see them. The time spent with all of them was wonderful and we are just incredibly blessed that our kids are our friends!

So anyway, this one picture is Holly posing with the "super"blueberry of Oxford. Guess which one is Holly. Then there is one here of Don and Sean taking pictures in Mahone Bay. The weather through most of their visit was just what you see in this photo. And the last was taken at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. The tide was out far enough so that we could wander in amongst these worn formations for a while. But knowing how quickly the tide comes in in the Bay of Fundy, we were careful to keep an eye on the water.

So there you are, how we spent our summer vacation! Well, maybe our autumn vacation is more accurate. Whatever, it was fabulous seeing both of the girls and their families. I think they had a good time too. I know that Sean is looking forward to the next time they come, hopefully Holly too, and seeing that Kim and Oliver are travelling with a child, I'm not sure how they feel about the idea, but what the heck, it was fun, no matter what they decide. How wonderful when your children are your best friends. I am so lucky!

The colours, oh the colours, they are glorious!!!

Kim and Oliver were here and the change of foliage colours had begun. And as the time passed, we kept our fingers crossed that a big wind and a sudden cold snap wouldn't bring down the rest of the leaves so that when Holly and Sean came, the trees might be bare and brown and decidedly unattractive. But we've been lucky and the "Nova Scotia quilt" lays languidly across the land, charming all who look with fresh and seeing eyes. It is so beautiful, glowing reds and golds and all the shades between.

Holly and Sean have enjoyed their time here so far. Like Kim, Holly loved Lunenburg, although I don't know that she would choose to live there - nice place to visit and all that sort of thing. But with the weather being absolutely perfect, warm and sunny, this time of year couldn't be better there. No crowds and the shops still open for visitors...couldn't be better.

Today, while Don and Sean went hunting for photo- ops, Holly and I went for a ride on the horses. We rode up along the blueberry roads behind our place. And this might sound very repetitive, but it was so beautiful. It felt like we were on the top of the world up there. So peaceful, only the sound of the birds calling in the trees and the red blueberry plants, spread out like a glowing carpet at our feet and covering the distant rolling hills too. It was so much fun in a quiet sort of way. Then a little bit of ring work before we untacked them and put them back in their paddock.

Tomorrow we will go to Pictou, and then the next day we will go to some place in New Brunswick where the waves have worn away the cliffs and formed intriguing pillars of rock. It's raining right now, but maybe by morning, the clouds will blow away and it will be another gorgeous day. I have my fingers crossed.

The studio that Don built.....For me!

I have a fabulous studio and I am the luckiest woman around. It isn't finished yet, but when it is, it will be just the coolest. We had the wrong size window delivered and rather than send it back, Don suggested we have it put into the room that I was going to use as a studio for my art work. So David installed it yesterday and I can't help myself, I keep running upstairs to look out it. I can see Ambra and Sierra in the shelter that I built, and I can see our fields almost entirely, and I can see our woods, and the beautiful Nova Scotia skyscapes, and I can see or at least will be able to see part of my garden from a different angle. If I am up that early, the sunrise would be spectacular from there too.

Right now, though the walls are a dark, very dark green and the middle of the room is stacked high with boxes. But I am vowing that by my birthday, at the latest, I will have a functioning studio with things put away, walls painted, pictures on the wall....it will be wonderful. For right now though, I have been focusing on getting things outside done before the temperature drops below zero, and on things done so that Kim and Holly's (and the guys (and kidlet too)) visit is nice. Like a bedroom with a bed and clean carpet to walk on, etc. But before long, I won't be able to resist throwing a coat of paint on those walls and getting started.

I won't be doing any pottery here as we don't have a big enough electric box to push a kiln, but I will probably make some more dolls, just for fun, and do some painting and well, whatever else comes to mind. The stoneware sculpture is one that I gave some friends who live in Surrey, the cake is the the one I made and decorated for Holly and Sean's wedding and the painting is based on a sketch that I did, oh my goodness, maybe 20 years ago? But the question is, is there any creativity left in me? We shall see.

Oh my goodness, we will miss them...

Kim and Oliver and our dear little "buggie", went home today. Ten days went by so fast, and we had such a great time with them. The weather was good and I think they got to see some things that they liked. Hey Kim, did you guys have a good time?

Hey we had a different experience one day. We'd gone to Pugwash and saw a little closed antique store with a note on the window. It said, "If you wish to see the store, please come across the street and someone there will come and open up for you". So that seemed reasonable, but when Don went over there, the lady said there was no one else to stay in her store while she opened up for us. So she handed Don the keys and said here open up and if you see something you want to buy, just bring it back over to her and we could pay her there. So here we are, total strangers and we spent the next half hour poking around in her little antique store. Isn't that amazing? And I hasten to add, we had never met her before. We were so amazed. That would never have happened in Langley that's for sure.

We went to Prince Edward Island one day, and got to see the Anne of Green Gables cottage. Kim wanted to make them an offer on it, but I don't think they would have accepted it, no matter how high. It is a lovely little old time cottage, and PEI is such a tidy province. My goodness, so tidy.

Then we went to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay and finished off at Peggy's cove. Kim absolutely LOVED Lunenburg, and even though they lived in the middle of nowhere on Vancouver Island and LOVED that, she was willing to put up with the summer crowds of Lunenburg, if only she could live in one of the old time houses there. I think maybe she was born in the wrong time or something.

And as for Liam, well even though he came down with a cold, he was a little charmer. On his worst day, he slept most of the day, and hardly wanted his bottle at all, but that only lasted a day or so and then he was on the mend. Such a sweet little boy, we just love him.

Today was hectic, getting things packed and organized. Trying not to forget anything. She bought a bunch of little souvenirs, pictures, antique postcards, shells to use in her art... she was like a little kid looking through her presents when she was showing them to me. I love the little watercolor of Lunenburg that she bought at a coffee shop. I am not as impulsive as Kim, which is a good thing because I saw so many lovely things...but I just try to remind myself that these things become things to dust.

So we had a good time with them and we'll miss their faces, but we will talk lots. And next year will be our turn to visit I guess.

Give Me Shelter...

The Rolling Stones wrote a song called "Give Me Shelter" and I swear that that is what I heard Ambra and Sierra humming one day out in the rain between bouts of shivering and so this is what I built for my ponies. I set the posts myself, just to see if I could manage it, and then when I had done that, I just carried on. I still have one sheet of roofing to put up but that will come in the next day or so.

So they use it in the rain and they use it in the wind and they use it on sunny days. And I don't have to feel sad for them when the weather is icky. I also built the bin for the sawdust myself and then Don used his tractor to push it further in. Tomorrow I will tarp it to keep the rain off. Yessiree, things are getting organized so that caring for the horses is less difficult come winter.

I'm so pleased. I love it when things are right! When things work or are practical, when stuff makes sense. And I don't like it when people have animals and don't take care of them so this meets my criteria. I feel good about the work I did and my ponies feel good.