Sunday Lunch with the Folks

My parents decided they wanted to come and have lunch at our house today. It was a bit of a struggle to get my dad up the stairs and into the house but we managed.  I made a lovely lunch of barbecued flank steak that we had picked up on Friday from Katherine Farm, three bean salad with fresh green and yellow beans, home made french fries and lemon meringue pie and of course, wine.

The steak was absolutely delicious as was everything else but my lemon pie needs some work.  I really had a hard time getting the filling to thicken up but then it became too thick.  I snapped  this picture before we sat down but then I completely forgot to take any other pictures.

Note the new dining room chandelier.  The company is sending out some replacement glass globes to replace the ones broken in the move but I think it still looks great, a lot better than what was there.

Love this blanket that I picked up at Home Sense when I was back in Ontario packing up the house.  It is very soft (minky?) and lightweight, just perfect for summer and fits the decor and theme perfectly.

Another Friday

With the Dyson all charged up I spent about an hour vacuuming. It really is great. It is so light and the ball does make it more manoeuvrable. And, no cord!

Also today the Westies were groomed. The groomer is only about five minutes away and on our side of the canal! She is so busy we had to wait over a month for an appointment. Even though she admitted she was a bit rusty on grooming Westies, she did a great job.

For some reason grocery stores in CB don’t stock flank steak. We have a barbeque recipe for it that we love and were hoping to serve for the folks on Sunday. Brigitte has tracked down the “meat lady” who we will meet with tonight and she will bring us some.  

The meat lady is actually an organic farm located about 20 km from us.  The farm, named Katherine Farm is a small family run organic farm in Roberta.  

Later in the day

As it turned out it was actually the meat lady’s husband we met. He had three freezers on his trailer—the open kind with the back that folds down to make a ramp, often used by landscapers. He had a generator on the back of his pickup truck. He had already been to Port Hawkesbury and the freezers were getting empty. We met him at the Lions Club and when we got there, there were customers lined up. We got two flank steaks and some other cuts of meat. It doesn’t look good when your jonesin’ for a flank steak and have to meet up with your supplier on the back streets of St. Peter’s to get your fix.

Brigitte told you about going for the kayak lesson last week, but she omitted one interesting detail. Our instructor was Eberhard who had a mild german accent. He asked us where were from. “St. Peter’s” we responded. He got quite excited and said that he had given lessons to people from all over Europe and North America, but had never given a lesson to locals. Over the course of the hour and half with him, after he discovered we didn’t know where everything is and who everyone is, so, we had to admit that we had only been living here for only two months. “So you are ‘come from aways’.”  He did his best to hide his disappointment.

Paul

Its Been a Foggy Week

At least every other day there has been fog for some of the day. Today we took the dogs for a walk at Battery Park, a provincial campground on the ocean just beside the canal—on our side.  Unlike parks in Ontario, there is no charge for day use. A section of the trail went by the rocky beach and we watched the fog roll into the bay. When we got home, four kilometres away, it was warm and sunny. As sunset approached we watched the fog come over St Peter’s and come across the lake, completely obscuring the lights on the other side of the bay.

Monday I bought my new yard tractor. Locally there are two dealers selling tractors. They both sell Husqvarnas, so you will never guess what brand I bought. It has many options, including cruise control—yes, on a yard tractor! The best feature of the tractor is that most of the controls are exactly the same as the controls on my previous Kubota, so I don’t have to learn a whole new system of inputs and pedals. Also, it is assembled in North America. The garage had no problem taking a check didn't even ask for ID. I told the driver the address to deliver it to and he said, “Oh. You must be in the white house just past Errol’s house on the left.”

“Yes.”

Today our new Dyson vacuum cleaner arrived. It took us a while to put it together as the manual comes with pictograms so it doesn’t require multiple languages. Brigitte has taken to ordering things online. While we like living close to the village for picking up day-to-day necessities we cannot get all we need there. Rather than drive to Port Hawkesbury (43 km) or Sydney (83 km) it is easier just to order items online with free delivery. And, our nephew is usually the delivery person.

One thing I am very surprised about is the number of emergency vehicle sirens we hear. Several times a day we can hear one or more vehicles screaming off going somewhere. But, then we do live across the bay from the second busiest highway in Cape Breton.

Paul

Roman Blinds

Before I start this post, I must mention that two nights ago, we heard this loud noise in the middle of the night.  Upon investigating what could have caused this, we found that the leg of the folding table where I have my sewing machine had collapsed and everything had fallen to the floor.  I had a moment off panic as this was my big Janome machine but everything seems to work fine on it.  Phew!


On to the roman blinds.  After watching several youtube videos, I decided I could make these for our windows.  They seem fairly straightforward to make.  Some people use only glue and slats from old mini-blinds rather than sewing and using wooden dowels.  I guess this method is good for people who don't have a sewing machine but I don't think I would be happy with the results.  God knows I have enough mini-blinds in this house, 19 windows, but I will donate the blinds.  They are still good just ugly and annoying.  I am going to make a test blind before I launch into buying a whole lot of fabric.  This is the fabric I'm going to use for the first one - its something I picked up at a thrift store for $1.00 and an old sheet will serve as the lining.  Of course, as soon as I put it on the floor to take a picture, Ralph thought I had put it there for him to lie on.

So off I went to the local hardware store to see if I could get any of the hardware I needed to make these blinds.  Well lo and behold, the lady, her name is Fonda, told me she makes roman shades all the time and gave me several tips.  The most important one was about Roman Shade Tube Tape which cuts your sewing time in half.  The tape incorporates a sleeve for the dowel and, eyelets for lack of a better word, to thread your cord through, so no sewing of annoying little plastic rings. I told Fonda I would likely be back to get more advice and help from her.  People are so helpful here, she ran home, in the pouring rain even though I told her it was not necessary,  to get me a sample piece of the tape so I would know what to look for.   I immediately came home and ordered some from Amazon. The tape will not be delivered for a month or so, so this project will go on hold for a while.   I love Amazon more and more since moving out here.

Oh, and by the way, it poured rain here for a good part of the day.

Another Day

Started the day by going to my folks and doing some paperwork and making phone calls for them and having a little visit although we were just up there yesterday with the Sunday lunch which was chicken on the rotisserie, french fries and salad and creme brule for dessert.

We then went lawn tractor shopping for Paul.  At the first place, he negotiated a $300 discount.  At the second place they were completely sold out but while we were there, I snapped a picture of this really cool truck in one of my favorite aqua colors.

While Paul was buying his tractor, I went for a walk at the canal with Pearl and Ralph.  There was a lot of activity, five boats went through while we were there requiring the locks to be opened and closed and the bridge to be turned.  I wasn't close enough to get a really good picture but you can see the bridge turned to the left of the boats.

There were two boats from Quebec travelling together.  The people didn't speak English so I had a chat with them in French.  They were followed by some people speaking German (I think), then a sailboat from Halifax with 4 young women and the last one I couldn't tell where it was from.

Back home, Paul tried out his new tractor and I took Pearl and Ralph down to the lake to cool down.  They both love going in the water and will actually swim out and retrieve sticks.  Funny thing is, they won't bring a ball back on land unless I have treats to bribe them with but in the water they bring the sticks back without being bribed.  They are terriers, no other explanation is required.

Yesterday I put the backing on the piece of fabric I started in Judy's class.  I am quite pleased with it but I thought it could use some more texture.  Last year I purchased a flower stitch foot and due to the travelling back and forth to Cape Breton, buying a new house, selling the old one, I never had the time to try it out. I thought I would use it to add a few flowers to the top of my piece.  I struggled with that foot for quite a while but could not get it to work.  So I turned to the internet.  Well it turns out that the flower stitch foot does not work with embroidery machines.  There is no indication of that on the packaging or instructions and my retailer  certainly did not inform me of that fact even though both my machines come from that store.  So I am very annoyed.  If anyone knows of a way around this, please do let me know.  Anyways, I am thinking I will finish my piece with a simple beaded edge.  Now the problem is to find the right size and color of beads in a place where there are no bead stores.  Its difficult to buy a specific color of bead on the internet but I shall persevere.

Adventures in Textile Art

As mentioned in a previous blog, while in Ontario, I attended a workshop facilitated by Judy Eckhardt.  The workshop focused on various techniques to make your own fabric.  Our first two days were spent learning the techniques.  On day one we sewed on fabric samplers using our machine decorative stitches, practiced free motion stitching and stitching from the bobbin.  On day two, we practiced these same techniques but this time using water soluble stabilizer.  We did leaves, bobbin stitching, making our own shapes and making lace.  That night we took our pieces home and washed the stabilizer out.  Day three is when the real fun started.

We started by stitching all around the edge of our background sandwich of fabric and batting. Then we started adding stuff:  snippets of fabric, pieces of lace, threads and wools and finally the pieces we made the day before.  The idea is too put down layers of texture.  The whole thing was then covered with a piece of tulle which we stitched down using decorative machine stitches.  The pieces we had made the previous day could either go under the tulle or over the tulle.  It was such fun to see everyone's pieces developing.  Each piece was so different.  Here we are, everyone very focused on their work.

I wish I had had the time to see everyone's almost finished pieces but if you hop over to Judy's facebook page, you will see some of them.  The link is at the bottom of this blog. The intent was to make a book cover out of the piece but I decided to make mine into a wall hanging. Here is my piece, not quite finished yet.  I'm thinking of how to finish it:  maybe a beaded border ......  I will leave it alone for a few days and then get back to work on it.

Thank you Judy for a very interesting and educational workshop.

 Judy's Facebook Page

Kayaking Lesson

Yesterday, we went for a kayaking lesson.  The instructor described the various types of kayaks and showed us the basic paddling technique.  After being outfitted with life jackets, he showed us how to get into the kayak.  There is no graceful way to get in or out of a kayak.  There is another type of kayak where you sit on top which we would like to try before we decide to buy kayaks.  We set out on the water where he showed us how to steer with and without a rudder, how to turn around, back up and various other actions.  The wind was quite strong so it was a bit of a challenge for our first outing but after an hour, we were starting to get the hang of it.  Lots more practice is needed.   Sorry, I don't have pictures but I wasn't going to risk taking a camera out and that was a good thing as I ended up getting quite wet.  Fortunately, it was one of those rare very hot Cape Breton days.

On our way to the kayaking lesson, we passed a unique type of garden art.  The property owner collects license plates and nails them to the trees in the front yard.  There are dozens of trees adorned with license plates.

Back to Ontario

I have been away from the blog for the past week or two.  I flew back to Ontario to pack up the house and attend to the closing of the sale transaction.  This was a huge relief for us as we had thought it might take much longer to sell the property.  Packing up wasn't too bad and I had our friend Kyle to help me and he made several trips to the dump.  Here he is with his truck all loaded up.  He is so proud of that truck.

I took advantage of my time in Ontario to do some shopping and visit with friends.  I also attended a three day workshop on Adventures in Textile Art facilitated by my friend Judith Eckhardt.  Twelve very talented ladies came together at the Wellington County Museum to explore new techniques and make their own fabric which was made into a journal cover or, in my case, a wall hanging. (Pictures to come)

Toronto airport is such a zoo.  Crowds of people rushing here and there.  I found my way to security but I had forgotten to empty my water bottle.  Much to my dismay, I had to go empty it and then pass through security a second time.  I find that taking off always takes a leap of faith on my part that the plane will actually take off and stay in the air.  I could see lots of smog hanging over the city as we climbed higher and higher.

Canada Day

Hope Everyone had a Great Canada Day!

Here it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm but not hot. We packed a picnic lunch and went wandering. We headed towards River Bourgeois, following an old gravel road along the coast.  Eventually we ended up at the church high up on the hill. There is a wonderful view on all sides.  Its interesting to note that the former priests are all buried high up on the hill and the deceased much lower down as if the priests are still watching over them.

Note spelling:  Could it be that a handy person wearing a cap parks here?

                                                   

Once we finished eating and wandering around the grounds, we headed across the road to the wharf.

We spotted a couple of kayakers; one with her dog at the bow. After exchanging greetings, we got back in the car and wandered some more.   The lupins are in full bloom right now and grow wild all over.

We ended back at the St. Peter's Canal where some boaters were coming through the locks. Some people were fishing and others just enjoying a day at the beach.

Back home, we took the dogs down to the lake to cool off and then I worked on organizing my sewing room while Paul cleaned some windows. I have about half the size I had in Puslinch so it has been quite a challenge but I am finally getting there.

Afterwards we sat outside enjoying a glass of wine and watching the sailboats go by.  We have a resident Kingfisher family.  He spends a lot of time sitting atop this tree while the rest of the family is in their tunnel.  These are very interesting birds .  They dig a cavity or tunnel excavated in a bank near a river or lake and this is where they lay their 5 to 8 eggs.  Another interesting fact:  They teach their young to dive for food by catching a fish, stunning it, then placing it on the surface of the water, The young birds then practise diving for it. (Information taken from Formac Field Guide to Nova Scotia Birds by Jeffrey C. Domm).

We ended the day by barbecuing some ribs and vegetables over charcoal and were they ever good. Afterwards we enjoyed watching the fireworks from our windows.  It was a great day in Cape Breton.