harvest

A little sunshine in our back yard.

And the last of the tomato harvest.  

May your day be sunny and bright! 

Renee

Hello Spring!

It's finally here!  Very late - odds are we'll be flung right in to hot and humid summer shortly, but after a long winter that's just fine by me.  Bring on the allergies and mosquitoes (also known as the Canadian Air Force), it's worth it to see green and feel warm sunshine and bright blue skis.  Around here that means it's time to indulge in annuals.  The growing season is pitifully short here in South Western Ontario - but what there is of it we enjoy.

North facing front garden in-progress

Our front yard garden has always been very small.  Well, grown a little bit each year as I edge in a few inches every year to sneak some more size to it.  Don loves his lawn, I'm greedy and want more garden space...  this year I just dug in and expanded a bunch.  The garden is still tiny, but doubled in width under the living room window and expanded about 2 feet along the walkway.    Divided up my hostas and spread them out.  Once they're opened up more it'll be purdy.  I'll take pics again soon when everything is leafed out.    

It's with sadness I share that we lost Hunter, who passed away last month.  He had a ton of character and was a real ham.  Rest well, old man, you'll always be in our hearts.  These pics were of Hunter in his younger days, this is how I remember him most - always grinning and having a good time.

On the knitting front, I've only pick up the needles to get the first border done on McCafferty, once I have the gardens and lawn at the farm (acres of it, seriously it could stop raining already...) under control I'll have a little more time to sit and knit.  This weekend is the Poodle Club of Canada Regional and National Specialties so I'll be off playing with dogs.  Have a great one yourself, hope you're doing something you enjoy.

wood wall n wool ~ cast-on-itis, full blown case

We got a new tv, perfect to put over the mantle.  It was hard to see with our necks cranked up that far and the tv was sitting up a bit too high.  And I wear bifocals so tipping my head up to see the screen had me peeping through the reading part of my lenses.  We planned to lower the brick by 3 rows and put the oak mantle top back on.  What we thought would be a simple, weekend project and a small drywall repair wasn't quite what we expected.  The fire brick behind the decorative brick front of the fire surround we discovered was installed before the drywall.  The drywall was butted up to the frame.  Result? The firebrick of the chimney stuck further into the room than the wallboard around it.  There were lots of ways to fix that, most easier than what I was hoping for, but Don was a sweetheart and humoured me.  We clad the wall - after a lot more chiselling, grinding and dust then first planned - in wood.

We used rough hewn pine boards that we had planed to a smoother surface and brought all the boards to the same thickness.  They range from 11 to 13.5" wide.  Amazing how out of square a 26 year old house is, but Don did a fantastic job cladding the wall.  I put a fresh coat of paint on the adjacent walls, then made a stain from the left over paint by cutting it 50% with water to stain the pine boards.

Loving the finished wood wall.  We need to deal with the wires, blu ray player and cable box on the mantle in some sort of attractive manner and accessorize on the right side of the fireplace.  Any suggestions would be very welcome.  Check out the wall all finished up with the pine planks!

I haven't knit in forever.  Not for a lack of wanting to.  I'm about to cast on for Lily Kate's pretty shawl pattern McCafferty .  It's just what I'm in the mood for with spring here, something chic to wear  my favourite white blouse and jeans.  The pattern is available here on Ravelry.  The yarn I plan to use is The Plucky Knitter Primo, but just can't decide on which colour?  Pink or Gray?  Help?!  Which colour should I use?

I'm pretty certain I'd wear the gray more, but this pink "Gumball" colourway is fun too...     

It's starting to look festive around here...

Similar to last year ~ but different.  I love the "Chocolate Therapy" paint on the fireplace wall with all the other walls painted white.  Martina is still my favourite listen for the holidays.

Now that I'm looking back at last years photos I much prefer the new colours to the ginger walls we had before.

Next on my agenda is baking and knitting.  And more baking.  It's really starting to look and smell festive around here and the snow fall is adding to the atmosphere.  Wishing everyone a lovely first weekend of December!  Best,  Renee

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.

It's started

I collect Christmas CD's. Martina McBride's "White Christmas" is the best. Give her a listen ~ she's wonderful. I'll wait here while she puts you in the Christmas mood. This year she's released a "Blue Christmas" with Elvis Presley. Get a load of her hair! It really looks like they're singing live together even though Martina was only 2 years old when this footage was actually recorded by Elvis.

It's started. Decorating for the holidays in earnest. I switched out the swag my grandmother bought us as a house warming gift 14 years ago for a big wreath that I'll add live evergreen sprigs to. The garland lights give the room a lovely glow. I've collected ornaments for about 35 years and buy them for the kids to start their own unique collection.
In the evening when the stove is on with the garland and Christmas tree lit and candles are flickering it's the coziest place in the house. There's a glass sliding door on the wall opposite the quilt. We turn on the outdoor deck lights while it's snowing and the room turns into a winter hideway.

We're hosting our first Christmas party here on Sunday so this week we'll be decorating more inside and out. It's stayed cold so it's still white outside with more snow in the forecast. Looks like it will be a wonderful White Christmas this year.