Funny stuff

Thought this was fitting since whenever I take photos for this blog, I always make sure to take a moment and push the dirty dishes, junk mail on the table etc. just out of view of the camera, just wish Ryan Gosling was supervising...

A snapshot of today

It seems every blog I read lately is about how hot it is and how everyone really wishes Fall would arrive.  Well it's here...I mean here at my house, it is getting quite cool at night and my flannel sheets are back on the bed...and I'm wearing socks again.....and I already miss swimming in the  lake.

3 batches of homemade soap drying to be ready for my Open House studio sale in November...basil/rosemary, sweet orange and patchouli.

Most of our firewood has arrived and the woodshed is getting almost full.

The leaves are just starting to turn red.

This may be the last zinnia bouquet from my garden before the frost comes.

Lots of garlic drying in the barn

The tomatoes will not stop...I've sauced and salsa'd just about enough thank you.

I found this crazy thing in the pumpkin patch...since I saved my seeds from last year I'm thinking my garden was the scene of an illicit biracial pumpkin/squash encounter last summer and I'm left with the offspring this year....I've named him Squashkin.

This is my entire pumpkin harvest this year...I'll probably save their seeds too for next year...who knows what they've got up to this summer...they look quite innocent though.

Wednesday ramblings

Last night I met up with my ladies for book club.  We have such a fun group.  It's not too serious...but not too "Danielle Steele" if you know what I mean.  This  month's book:

so interesting, so heartbreaking....but the ending did not please me....so much left out.  I will not spoil it for you but if you want a book that will really put your "problems" in perspective...this is it.

On another note...we are in the process of helping my in-laws downsize and move from a 5 bedroom farmhouse...to an apartment, yikes.  They have lived in their home for 55 years.....and raised 5 children there so it is sad but the time has come, in fact at 82 and 86 I can't believe they have been able to maintain it so well for this long.  My mother-in-law is very tidy and organized but there is still so many pictures, books, and mementos to sort.

In the pottery studio Christmas orders have started and I'm planning an open house studio sale for the first week of November so I should really be limiting my Facebook, blog, pinterest time.....she said...

iWant it...but do iNeed it?

A year an a half ago I bought a new cell phone.  With two teenager boys I felt the need to be able to text if I ever wanted to communicate with them again.  When I went to the little phone kiosk in the mall to pick out my new phone the baby(well he might have been slightly older than a baby but barely) who was working there asked me what phone I was using.  When I pulled my 6 year-old flip phone out of my purse, he gasped.  I was quite proud of the fact that I was still using the first cell phone I bought...you know not filling the landfill with used electronics etc.  The phone kiosk boy thought it was "quaint".  

So now I feel the need to get a smart phone...and I bought a Bose ipod dock at Costco about 6 months ago when our 27 year-old stereo died.  Now I'm thinking instead of buying an ipod I should just get an iphone and it would do double duty as phone and ipod.  

But...

Good Lord those things are expensive.  I just can't quite bring myself to pay that much money for something that I don't really "need".  

And then in 6 months time they'll change it again...and try to convince me I need the latest and greatest.  It's a vicious cycle.  But I feel the need for Instagram....I need  apps....I want Siri to talk to me...I guess the ads are working.  Thoughts??

Weekend recap

We had a busy weekend attending the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival .  We had tickets to a few shows and were lucky enough to meet up with friends downtown for drinks and socializing.  The highlight for the weekend was getting to see these guys......the Avett Brothers

It was probably one of the best live music concerts I've ever been to.  Check them out.....

10 on 10 September 2012

Joining with Rebecca today for 10 on 10.  Here is my set for this month:

#1 Unmade bed

#2 Laundry on the line

#3 Salsa making preparations

#4 Finished salsa

#5 Sunflowers

#6 Strange little mushroom

#7 Lunch hour dog walking with my honey

#8 Afternoon break, tea and a whoopie pie (so much for the diet)

#9 Working on some mugs in the pottery studio

#10 new pillow fabric waiting for the sewing urge to strike 

In the neighbourhood

Today I give you this...the excitement in my hood...our neighbour's honeybee enjoying my hydrangea blossoms.  Those bees travel quite far to visit as the beehives are at our neighbour's about 1.5 miles away.

My favourite thing to do when I see the bees is call my neighbour and leave messages like this on his machine "Hey Moore, your bees are here again.......even the queen, she obviously gets around", don't worry we're friends with him (surprisingly?).  In fact he likes to call us and leave drunken messages on our machine when he is away on vacation..good times.

In the forest....

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post about our trip to the old cabin in the woods that a certain little great-nephew of mine made the trip as well.  I took advantage of our forest location to do a little woodland photo shoot of two week-old baby Christian.

I could be a little bit biased...but...isn't he adorable?

My mother didn't like this one "he looks like we abandoned him in the woods...it's sad". What you don't see in this picture is his mother, grandmother, great grandmother and aunt hovering 2 feet away making sure a mosquito didn't land anywhere near him during the photo shoot.

On another note, I was a little sad that it was September and summer was practically over....until I went to the mall today...and saw this....yum...it was even better than I remembered.

In the middle of nowhere....

Yesterday we took advantage of the holiday Monday to do some repair work on an old hunting camp that has been in our family for over 50 years.  My grandfather and 5 of his friends built this log cabin in 1961 because at that time they still depended on hunting to provide some extra food for their families.  They built it together and used it for hunting trips every fall.  Now the camp is shared by descendants of these 5 men.....we don't hunt but we do cross country ski or snowshoe to the cabin in the winter and we walk to it in the summer and fall.  It is rustic to say the least.  You can drive partway to the camp on a dirt road then leave your vehicles and walk approximately a mile to the camp.

Here we are getting organized to walk in...my sister and her family, my mother, a friend's family and Scott and I and our boys.

Here is the camp....rustic eh?

Here is my least favorite part...the "spa bathroom"

The kitchen sink.....notice the lack of taps...and running water.....there is however a spring outside...

The men discussing their big project of the day...making a bridge over a boggy area of the trail in to the camp

Work on the bridge commences...

Cameron and Isaac supervising...

The finished project...a bridge made with rough lumber they cut down on site since the nearest hardware store is at least 20 miles away.....