do we live in the country or the city?

A question that came up from two people via email was if we live in the city or the country?

Both, actually. We do most of our living in the country on our parents farms and hang our hats at the end of the day in the city in this house. Because it's north facing, blooming flowers are only planted on the east side (left side of this picture, hidden behind our truck) where there's enough morning sun to grow my grandfather's favourite lilies. All the rest of the blooms are in the backyard. I love gardens. Love them. Lots. And lots. I would happily quadruple the size of them at this house and then some if we had the space. Ironically, I only have issues with rabbits raiding my garden here in the city, no problems out on the farm.

The front shade garden is limited to ornamental grasses, a variety of hostas and some sedum. The tall stand of bamboo grass on the right of the living room window grows up to 10 feet by the end of the growing season. Until 2 years ago there was a massive Colorado Blue Spruce in front of the windows on that tiny speck of lawn. It was encroaching the property line and that was an issue with our previous next door neighbour so we had to saw it down. It was gorgeous and regal and we didn't mind that it hid most of the front facade from the street. We decorated it at the farm for Christmas. Well, the top 14 feet of it anyway. And it was wide. We tied in it's branches as best we could with baler twine and used brute force to shove it through the doors to get it inside the house. It was so heavy it needed a custom made tree stand my husband welded out of 7/8" steal.

This place was the closest house we could buy to my parents farm where we keep our critters. It was the closest house to the farm 15 years ago but now the city has grown up between us. The adage "location, location, location" was absolutely true and it's biggest selling feature. We call this place our "Postage Stamp" because of it has no land.

I realize now that talking about our horses, baling hay, chickens, the tractor and other farm related things gives the impression we're currently residing on a farm. Our city neighbours enjoy having a handy farm guy living on the street and aren't in a hurry to see us move. Right now it works for us to live here. The kids are in school/college nearby and active in sports and recreational endeavours. Work, shopping and hospitals are all right here as are lots of restaurants (even if we almost never eat out) and access to most all city amenities and coffee shops. We have multiple Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Second Cup and Williams Coffee Pubs. Ontario people have a big thing for their coffee 'n donut shops.

My parents have a beautiful century stone farm house build in 1855. We're there several times a day. Everyday. Our kids were raised as country kids. They enjoy pleasures and chores citified kids aren't exposed to. They help us take care of the landscaping, barns, equipment, horses and livestock. Mom and dad don't have a dog anymore but our 3 romp around there every day. We love every minute we spend at the farm. Well, sometimes mucking stalls not so much...

So do we live in the country on a farm or the city? Yes. To both. It's the best of of both worlds. We reside in the city, but we're country folk.

questions and answers

I love reading about everyone in the comments for the Giveaway, thanks so much for commenting. The Giveaway is open until Sunday, September 20th. Here's the Q and A:

~Sue asked how many socks I knit in a year? About a pair per season. Here's where I'll let you all in on a secret: a good portion of the knitting/sewing I do is for gifts ~ because of that most of my FO's don't make their presence known on the blog or Rav, unless the giftee is willing to be mentioned on the blog. I like to knit socks in stocking stitch with about 3"of 2 x 2 ribbing at the cuff. They stay up and are comfy.

~RenataS asked where I got the Socken Wolle? I bought it last year at the Knitters Fair here in Kitchener. I don't remember who the vendor was, sorry.

~ Amanda would really like to see my stash. I've thought about cataloguing my stash on Raverly. I'm in stash denial. If I can't see it all at once it can't really be that big, right? I have a list to inventory all the un-knit yarn I have right now. While searching stash busting groups online I realized my stash isn't that out of hand, but I also sew, quilt, spin and um, have stashes for those too.

~Kristin asked when I knit my first pair of sock? I was 18. I really didn't enjoy knitting socks then. I suspect that was because I had awful plastic DPN's. Now I have nice wooden ones , metal ones and addi turbos for Magic Loop.

~Selkie -- I'm going on the yarn diet with you. That means some planned projects like the Wrapigan won't happen this year. I'll buy the right yarn for it after I defeat my stash. I'm in Stash Busting mode!

If anyone has other questions or interesting things to share about yourselves I'd love to hear from you. Not many sleeps until the Giveaway - sharpen your needles and hunt down some patterns, that yarn is going to a new home soon!

every blog needs a gorgeous hunk, right?

Yeah, I think so too. One of my favourite subjects to photograph is my gorgeous hunk of a virile husband. How about some of him roofing? Did I mention he's drop dead handsome ~ in that capable, muscular, handy and talented sort of way? The first time I met him he was driving a pick up truck, wore a shearling lined winter denim jacket and cowboy boots. Be still my heart ~ when I saw that smile I knew I was done.

The house rooftop is finished, just this area left to do.

"What...?" he didn't realize I was in the upstairs window taking his picture.

"Ah, it's you."

We've lived here for 15 years. We're the second owners of this 24 year old house. The original owners didn't upgrade anything from builder basics so pretty much the whole house needs work (read as spend lots of money doing repairs and maintenance). Amongst our current projects are the backyard, which is a construction zone right now, and the roof. The shingling is almost done except for the kitchen breakfast nook portion on the back of the house. It's got 5 different slopes and 4 seams that need capping. There's a lot of shingle cutting to work the angles.

And then more cutting. For a little area it's a deceptively large amount of fiddly work. Our house is north facing. We have a shady, cool front yard. When everyone else's snow has melted we still have a mountain of it up front that has lasted in to May and sometimes June. Handsome husband has to pile it a storey high with the front end loader when there's a lot of snow so we can park the trucks in the driveway. That used to really excite our kids when they were little.

The sun rises to the left side (east) of the backyard and sets to the right side (west). The back side of our house is a hot pit with full sun all day and the tall wood fence around the pool. The wear and sun damage on the south side of our house is significantly more than the front.

That's a long way down.

And not a bad view up.

Here he's telling me to stop taking his picture already...

Consider this last shot the "before" picture. I almost didn't show it because it's got so much that needs to happen there and it's a mess right now: finish the roofing, build new stairs for the still under construction new deck, and enclose the bottom portion under the deck with planter boxes, cleaning up all the construction tools and stuff. Lots to do before the snow flies again. We have had snow by the first weekend of October (many times) and that's not that far off.

It's rained all summer. We only have time to work on projects on weekends. The few dry weekends have been used up baling and putting up hay for our in laws cattle and our horses. The farmer idiom of 'make hay while the sun shines' has definitely been true this year for us. Working on our yard projects hasn't happened as quickly as we'd have hoped, but they're getting there.

My handsome, charming, loving husband is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm seriously lucky. He's my true love. The first time I ever saw him he made my heart do a flip. He still has that affect on me each and every time I see him. Sounds corny, doesn't it? It's true though. Some times I have to pinch myself to be sure I'm awake. I take a lot of pictures of him since he's always doing something interesting and well, who wouldn't want to take lots of photos of a gorgeous guy with that smile, with those deep, dark blues eye and that... oh, wait... getting carried away, sorry.

We always have a lot of projects on the go. I'll try to make a point of showing you what we're up to around here and add a bunch of gorgeous hunk pictures while I'm at it. He has the best smile. :)

Win some Yarn ~ It's Giveaway time again

Could you use some new sock yarn? I'm feeling the urge to share some fingering weight love. There's enough to make 4 pairs of socks or 4 scarves or 4 pairs of gloves or whatever your heart fancies. It could be your new stash enhancement until you decide what you'd like to do with it yarn with no buyers remorse? Free to a good home.

This is two skeins of Knit Picks Gloss in Cocoa, which is a 70% Merino and 30% silk blend.

Two balls of Socken Wolle 4-ply in blues, greens, purples and turquoise. I have got to tell you ~ these were hard to part with, but I'm sure someone else will love them as much as I do. A 75% Virgin Wool and 25% Polyamid (nylon) blend that's machine washable and felt resistant, says so on the label.

Two balls of Knit Picks Essential 75% Superwash Wool and 25% Nylon in a two-tone brown and cedar shade called Dune Twist.

And finally two more balls of Socken Wolle in the same 75% Virgin Woole and 25% Polyamid blend in really delicious solid green. It's photographed on the olive side in this picture but this yarn is a vibrant apple-y green.

If you're interesting in re-homing this pretty yarn leave a comment and tell me something about yourself. I really, truly enjoy getting to know you all. Or if you'd rather not tell me something about yourself, feel free to ask a question or two, or three about me! Ask anything at all you might be interested in knowing about me EXCEPT how much I weigh... 'cause I am just not going to answer that question! A simple 'want yarn' will do too.

The Giveaway will stay open until Sunday, September 20th at noon. Let me hear from you if you want this to show up in your mailbox and I'll send this sock yarn happily your way doesn't matter where you live!

31 questions and answers

This went around I think a few years ago, or a close variation of it. I had it sent to me twice just this week via emails so I thought I'd answer it and share on the blog. Tagging anyone who wants to play along:

Your significant other? still at work. love him madly and he's darned handsome
Your hair colour? dark blond
Your mother? is at the farm
Your father? he's with mom
Your favourite thing? standard poodles, no horses. it's a toss up. I'll go with standard poodles since they can sleep on our bed
Your dream last night? Painting the bedroom walls in a house I didn't recognize pale blue
Your dream goal? move out of the city
The room you're in? dining room
Your hobby? dogs, horses, quilting, knitting, spinning, renovating our house, gardening, dreaming
Your fear? losing my sight, I'm a very visual person
Where do you want to be in 6 years? on a farm with a huge garden and a barn, lots of pasture and hay fields, and a big country kitchen for cooking, baking and entertaining... heh, guess I'd have to win the lottery. Maybe my goal in 6 years is to be a lottery winner. I better buy some tickets.
Where were you last night? home, it was our anniversary :)
What you're not? patient, I think everything should be done yesterday
One of your wish-list items? long arm quilting machine
Where you grew up? Kitchener
The last thing you did? came home from work
What are you wearing? Jeans and a white shirt, barefoot
Your TV? is old. It's tuned to HGTV when I'm watching, sports or Discovery channel for Don and Ryan, Nicole is all over the dial
Your pets? 2 horses, 3 standard poodles, an assortment of chickens and we're getting some rabbits again soon
Your computer? it's Don's actually. Dell
Your mood? unsettled, restless, hungry... we're invited to the farm for supper with my parents, yum.
Missing someone? always
Your car? Ford suv
Something you're not wearing? socks
Favourite foot wear? my cowboy and hiking boots
Favourite shop? quilt shop, tack shop, garden centre...
Your summer? was cool and rainy
Love someone? yes ~ deeply
Your favourite colour? just one again? apparently I don't follow directions well: watery blues and greens and gray
When is the last time you laughed? now, at this question
When is the last time you cried? last week

Tag, you're it!