a picture post

This is a three minute photo post - they say a picture says a thousand words - so here goes

 Paul and Alpine chilling - can I hear "one man and his dog?"

Dogs chatting - they spend a lot of time hanging out together which makes me happy and at the same time wonder what they are potentially plotting... Dukie likes to chew odd things like my very expensive Laura Ashley curtains and the shower curtain.. hes a doofus. Alpine just likes to share his fur around and trail water through the house at every opportunity.

This is one of Dukes happy places. He often hangs out up on this deck even if its stinking hot and he ends up panting in the heat, its a dogs life.

 We did some artistic renos lately. These chairs were painstakingly painted by me and let me tell you its NOT a good plan to decide to paint these outdoor, full of nooks and crannies chairs with indoor paint just to "use it up". It entailed primer - headache, paint of at least two coats - more of a headache and then a varnish - major headache.. but they look pretty good. They just took up weeks of time.

 My kitchen diner - this area is crying out for a coffee bar. Pinterest is my friend.

 Our summer front room, its hot so we spend next to no time in here but its sweet and it has some awesome palm tree cushions on the couches.

This is where we spend our indoor TV watching moments, our summer family room, This room doesnt get a look in all winter but I live and die in it when its hot as it leads out to the deck and is all round relaxing.

 Lily at the beach, this child is my most precious smallest one, at age 8 shes growing up waaaay too fast for my liking.

 

My Chloe - my so very deep and cautious first baby with a strong love for horses - shes got that from her mama. We have currently lost her most weekdays to the barn where she hangs out all day and rides. More pics and updates to follow with her progress.

Shes also a bit of a beach bod too, just like her little sister. My baby!

 And this is me these days, getting older and maybe wiser, hopefully wiser. I am certainly working on it.

And this is Ace, hes new in my life. I have ridden him a few times and we get on well, watch this space as horses are well and truly back in my life. I feel so very fortunate.

summer has arrived - finally!

Summer has arrived! Finally!
In true Nova Scotia style it turned up on Jul 2nd just after my father in law returned to England.
Given that he always comes in either Fall or Spring to late Spring he has not yet experienced summer here and I am sure he thinks it doesnt actually exist.
You have to experience it to believe it, those Brits (me too once) imagine summer here to be like an English summer because hey, its Canada right?! They only get snow and freezing cold temps and a sniff of warmer weather. They must think we are nuts here to have a pool... but anyway, they cant envisage the feel of the heat and humidity here.

I love it, in a nutshell. I am sure I am about the only person around that loves humidity, welcomes it with open arms. To me it signals that summer is really here. Unless I am sweating as I get ready for work in the morning then its not summer.

And of course that morning choice of work attire at this time of the year can be tricky. What to wear on such a day when I know the office could (cant say for sure if it will) but could be freezing with an over-abundance of AC. I hate AC by the way, I am happy to be without it, I would rather be sticky hot than have AC on (unless I am stuck in a car in traffic of course - then I welcome it, but only then)

This is the time of year when the ceiling fans are on 24/7 rotating warm air around the upstairs and I am wondering around in shorts and blissful happiness.

Today is Sunday, In fact its Sunday morning, a favourite time. I am writing this, sat at our newly sanded and waxed dining table that we have figured out is about 20 years old (love love love) with the windows open, birds singing, laundry out, dogs walked and a jam jar of freshly cut lavender adorning the new waxed surface. Its all rather agreeable.

Today we have beach plans, Melmerby (my favourite NS beach) is the planned destination with some overexcited children and an overexcited me. I love it there - it has decent washrooms!

July 1st- early morning

Its July 1st - Canada Day! In memory of last Canada Day where I made a drunken spectacle of myself at a friends pool party, this year will be low key.
We are hitting the parade at 10am - its just the community one so its little and all things cute and then back home to hang out all day.

I have been sick the last couple of days, I think due to food poisoning as no one else got it (thank God!) and I have still feeling a little ugh but I am damned if I am not going to ignore it! I am tired of feeling a little off still so I continuing as normal although I still cant enjoy a coffee.

What to write about?

I have been trying to decide what to write about. We have been here over 4 years now and I see a trend, winter - white, cold. Major minus temps and snow storms and some drama, then tedium into a Spring that always sucks with mud and cold and grey and dead and late. It's always so late. Then summer - bugs, heat, humidity, happy happy happy with how hot it is. Then Fall - warm/hot, beautiful but winter is in the post.

All this has been interspersed with New Years resolutions, house Reno plans, new jobs and vacations (finally they are back) so it's all been a bit of a rinse, repeat lately. We are now hopefully settled in jobs, summer is back and life is sweet. Things and stuff that used to amaze me (big logging trucks, snow plows, beaches) are all normal now.

So... What's new?

I have settled into new pet hates ( didn't take much really) and routines which i habitually like to break up as life is too short. I am kind of tired of hearing about how people need to move west, the taxes are too high, the power company is a monopoly which is the ONLY reason in their minds as to why power costs what it does, Nova Scotia is the armpit of Canada, blah blah blah.

I don't agree with any of it and have to remind myself that it's because I have seen it another way but that doesn't make me the font of all knowledge at all....

So moving on I will continue to love this province, been amazed by some peoples viewpoint and try to still live every day a little differently.

a catch-up

I have been horribly remiss at posting. Its been a long, hard, horrid winter to be frank and I was just about sick of it when we boarded the plane for 10 magical days in Florida.

There was no Disney involved (girls werent digging Disney at all) but we went to Islands of Adventure, enjoyed a lunch at Margarittaville,

 hung out in the tranquil Keys and ate everywhere.

 I got in runs all around Bahama Bay in Orlando and one wonderful, memorable run on the old 7 mile bridge in the Keys, check that one off my bucket list!

Saw this little shark from the 7 mile bridge (it was poss a big shark, I was 30 feet above it):

We saw a little water spout one day, it was awesome although Lily nearly freaked out:

It was a great family time and was amazingly, insanely hot. I loved it! Didnt love the no-seeums in quite the same way though.. they did their level best to ruin things. But,... nothing can ruin Florida for us.

Anyways, we have been home a week and this last weekend late Spring arrived on this little coastal peninsula of Canada and we welcomed it!

We hung out in the garden, had the windows open, hung laundry out (sweet!), walked ALOT and went to the Hurricane Hunters event at the aiport, love a freebie and this was awesome!

Boxing Day

Its Boxing Day and I am feeling that annual post feasting dismay. Not over Christmas dinner, that was amazing and I was "good" for the most part but over the two helpings of desert that I didn't need and then the 9pm pepperoni, cheese and honey mustard dip that I wasn't really feeling anyway but indulged in and then the third helping of desert that I wasn't even hungry for (t was still good)

Dismay over my loss of my old favourite routine of wakening early, coffee, some internet time and then walking the dog. I used to love it. Now I get up early, spend waaay too much time in cyber space and don't walk the dog. I am missing out on the joy of the early morning walk.
Half the issue is that we now have two dogs and I cant take them together, its not enjoyable.

I am feeling the pinch of regaining most of this weight, for not wanting to exersize, for eating badly too often. I want to take the control back and go back to my  fun routines that I used to live for.

So this years New Years resolution list will be going something like this: get in shape, take control back, begin the next decade of my life the way I want it to continue and stop spending.....

Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas, here are some photos,before I go out and walk the dog - its early and the light is amazing.

December 2014

Its almost Christmas, the trees are up in the house, the garlands are draped and lit around the door and up the staircase - pinterest style.  Presents are wrapped, eggnog in coffee has been discovered, Christmas work parties have been attended and enjoyed, food is in the fridge for the BIG DAY and weight is slowly being gained.

I am doing my usual recap of the year to see if we managed to attain all that was planned, I listed it all here:
New Years Resolutions 2014

• Commit to Combat Timetable - massive fail BUT I do know 50% of the program and its my happy go to in times of exercise planning
• Running - fail again,. I am so out of running. I need to get back into it, I think it helped me enormously in more ways than one.
• Enter races - nope
• Drive to Maine - well we did manage that kind of, we didn't do a long weekend in Maine but we sure did one in New York City which was awesome!
• call my Grandparents - check - I call them a lot, they are not in such good health so I know I only have so long with them to chat to.
• Buy another pair of reefs - nope
• Purchase a pool heater - a nice environmentally friendly solar powered one is in our possession, sadly its not yet connected to the pool
• Volunteer - I have failed here too, finding a new job and then learning that new job has exhausted me this year.
• Project Build a House or Buy a new one - not got much further on that one it seems except we know now that we are not planning on building right now, we may buy but it would have to tick every box as well as have "that feeling"
• Florida Pad - yep we are going back to recheck out Florida
• UK Visit - major check - I was back there in February for sad reasons but got to be there too, so that was a definite upside.

So I need to come up with some resolutions for next year. Next year is a BIG year for me. But I also realize that I need to spend some time reflecting and refinding whats important to me. What brings me to my knees so to speak, that I am actually passionate about.
Last night, whilst watching a remarkably good film called a Big Miracle about saving some Alaskan Whales, I came to realize that I am so very fortunate to be working in a history making project, in an amazing team, for renewable energy... and most days all I think about are the politics and finding my way.
Once upon a time I would have been acutely aware all the time of my part in something great, of my role, of THE PROJECT, and I would have been passionate, driven and excited on the end result and being part of time. I need that back for me. I need to be mindful of this again.