Shadow Shot Sunday

I'm participating today in  Shadow Shot Sunday.  The photo was taken on Mother's Day 2011 on the beach in Carmel, California.  When I suggested this shot the boys groaned and rolled their eyes....but I told them it was Mother's Day....then I threatened convinced them it was a good idea.  I'm glad you can't see their facial expressions in shadows, they were less than pleasant.

I've got a picnic packed and I'm off to the lake for the day to cool down.  Happy Sunday.

The answer my friend....is blowing in the wind.....

I was complaining to my mother about how high our electricity bill was last month, considering it is summer and we have no heat turned on (and no air conditioner).  Mom pointed her finger at me accusingly and said "I know why your bill is too high...dryer, dryer, dryer".  Yes, at 42 years old I was being reprimanded by my mother for the crime of...drying my clothes.  (I obviously have not given her enough drama in my life so far).  Mom even uses her clothesline in the dead of winter...I remember as a teenager bringing my jeans in off the line in January and they were frozen stiff, and I would have to stand them up in the kitchen until they thawed.

Living in the country almost all our neighbours have clotheslines...and mom will notice their laundry and say things like "Cindy's son must be playing basketball this year, I see uniforms on her clothesline"....and " I think Lindsay had her baby because I saw  baby clothes on her clothesline"...or my favourite " The people that bought the Patterson farm sure put out a lovely line of laundry"(which the highest compliment in Mom's opinion).

Anyway we took our clothesline down last year when we moved our washer and dryer upstairs and hadn't managed to get the new clothesline up so last weekend Scott re-installed it and my laundry is blowing in the wind....and Mom is satisfied...for now.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The title of this post refers to the weather we have been having...not this lovely ensemble I was photographed wearing around the campfire.  I guess there isn't ever a good time for wool socks, sandals and plaid pyjama bottoms but I thought the fashion police would never catch me in the middle of the woods...and we were camping...and the mosquitoes were really bad.

It's been so hot and muggy this week the only nice place to be is at the lake

While we were at the campsite, some young guy stopped by in his canoe for a visit....he had his guitar with him...I thought that was quite funny.

What are you doing to beat the heat?

St. Andrews-by-the-Sea

I went to St. Andrews yesterday with my sister and our aunt.  We had a lovely day visiting the farmer's market and some of the little shops.

I had a conversation with this cute chef guy.  He and his girlfriend recently bought this portable wood-fired pizza oven and now they travel around farmer's markets, festivals and concerts selling their delicious pizzas.  They wanted to open a restaurant but also like to travel so this idea seemed perfect.  I have a thing about wood-fired pizzas (oh, and cute chefs too)

We visited this cute little gardening shop and checked out their very well kept garden outside....

they had their gardens edged with scallop shells ( a bit anal-retentive but maybe I was just jealous?)

we had lunch here on their back patio facing the ocean

this was the view from our table, the tide was out but it was still lovely.

Dave Matthews...my Friday night crush

I'm a big fan of Dave Matthews....I think he's cute...and I like his music, and he seems like an all-around nice guy.  I don't want to admit how many times I've watched this videoDave Matthews performing "Rye Whiskey".

But since it's Friday night, and the sun is shining, I want to share something else with you.....Dave Matthews-the cocktail.  That's right, there is a delicious drink named after him, that apparently was created by a bartender in Fredericton, New Brunswick...not far from where I live...coincidence?  I think not.

It's so delicious, here's the recipe:

1 oz amaretto almond liquor
1 oz coconut flavored rum
3/4 oz pineapple juice
1/4 oz cranberry juice
Combine in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake and pour into an ice-filled glass.

yummy....

I should warn you....only too soon your glass will look like this....Happy Friday!

This Old House

There are some great things about living in a very old house (in the middle of nowhere) like the wood stoves 

this one in the living room is very cozy on a wintry night

this cook stove in the kitchen is lovely too cook breakfast on when it's cold outside, I even bake in it when I'm feeling all "Little House on the Prairie"-like

but did I mention our wood order arrived today...and  it all needs to be stacked in that little woodshed with the red door..and it's really hot here in July?

I love the old clawfoot tub

and the tiny little bedroom with the slanted wall

the funky old farmhouse sink

I love the twisty back stairway....but did you know there are only TWO closets in the whole house (apparently one did not need a lot of shoes in 1876)

this is our long driveway, it's nice to have privacy....it would also be nice to have pizza delivery (not an option)

I love the big red doors on the old barn

but...does anyone want to pop by and help us shingle the side with the windows?

I often joke to my husband that I think we should spend the second half of our marriage in a sleek condo in the city...but who am I kidding.....I probably couldn't leave this old house if I tried. (though the pizza delivery would be nice)

10 on the 10th

This weekend...so far..has included;

• a trip to the farmer's market
• visitors from Maine
• 3 extra teenagers in the house
• marauding deer that ate part of our vegetable garden
• a power outage
•  running week 8 day 3 of the couch to 5k program (2.75 miles in 28 minutes...and my knees feel like I'm 100 years old)
• getting through half of this month's book club book

and it's still only Sunday....

puffy oven pancake with pears for breakfast

view from the sink while I washed dishes...I love Mrs Meyers stuff...

new pillows.......

new books from the second hand bookstore....

to be read here...........

vegetable garden

putting up the fence to keep the deer out of the garden

How's your weekend so far?

Yarn Along - July 6, 2011

Today I am participating in Yarn Along from Ginny at Small Things.  I actually haven't started "The Book Thief" but it is the July book for the book club I'm in so I better get busy.  The socks I am knitting haven't progressed much since last month, I guess I am more of a cool weather knitter.

Canada Day at the Lake

We had our yearly Canada Day party at the lake on July 1st.  The waterfront is a part of my parents farm, when I was a kid it was literally a hay field and we would swim there every day, wading through the tall timothy that was waist high to get to the lakeshore.  When I was a teenager my father bought this very retro trailer, from 1950 I swear (we nicknamed it the Eisenhower trailer) and put it by the lake so we would have a place to change into our swimsuits,  a kitchen and bathroom.  When the trailer was enroute to our place it was  hauled through town...right by the high school I attended...everyone commented on it...my sisters and I pretended we had no idea who it belonged to or where it was going.  I have to admit it does come in handy at the lake and it is quite comical because all around us the waterfront lots sold and some are home to giant McMansion "cottages", but we continue along with our retro trailer...and have a lot of fun there. Someday we plan to build a more permanent camp and maybe a few bunkhouses...but we haven't got around to it yet.

 We had about 35 people over for Canada Day...

hubby had some guitar time....

this was my view for most of the weekend...

strawberry shortcake for 35

We ended the day with fireworks (which I didn't get a picture of) and launching Chinese lanterns...

Happy Canada Day....and Happy July 4th too!

The little room at the top of the stairs

I did a little $50.00 re-do on this tiny bedroom this weekend.  This was the bedroom that we used as a nursery when we brought our first son home 19 years ago.  You can see how tiny it is, this is a single bed...and there is a slanted wall at the bottom of the bed.  I guess in 1870 when our house was built...there was no such thing as a queen sized bed.

It is one of the last two rooms in the house that still have the original plaster....under many layers of wallpaper.  We put a new window in recently and the plaster was damaged in the process.  I considered tearing off all the wallpaper...but there are layers, and layers so I got lazy and bought a gallon of paint and painted right over the wallpaper.  We rarely use this room as we have another guest room with a double bed.  This is what it looked like when I started on Thursday.....

My only purchase was a gallon of Behr paint from Home Depot  (Venus Teal) then I went shopping in my linen closet for some bedding I already had.  I walked through the house and picked up pictures and accessories from other rooms and tried to strategically place pictures over the seams from the old wallpaper..I don't know if it would suit Martha Stewart but probably her budget would be a little more than $50.00