Gardening.....I'm losing my patience and a certain squirrel is getting FAT!

Every Spring, the kids and I are excited for the garden to start growing...its starts with the tulips, which for some reason never bloom...leaves shoot up...but that's it! Oh well!! Next is the hyacinths...those actually BLOOM..lovely shades of pink and purple! Then all the perennials...its fun watching them reappear...
"Hello, how was your Winter?" they say.
"Looks like you made it through THAT brutal winter!?" I reply.
We re-introduce ourselves, become familiar with each other, mend the earth and I pull the weeds.
AND just so you know, even though we have been living here for 4 years...potatoes keep growing...I'm not sure if Hubby is playing a trick on me...but they are STILL growing, in the most odd of places!

This year, we tore down an old shed....we cleaned up the soil and prepared it for vegetables!! Its exciting seeing the fruits(err...vegetables) of your labour grow!! We did the usual tomatoes, lettuces, onions, carrots, cucumbers and this year I wanted to do peas...Summer sweet peas!! This is where we are getting into trouble...I'm losing my patience and a certain squirrel is getting FAT! I did not know that squirrels like to eat peas...but they do!!! My plant is slowly dying....and I know this squirrel is eating it on purpose!! He teases me...I'll catch him...nibbling...I run and clap my hands...he drops the pea pod and scurries to another corner and picks up a Maple key!!
"What?" he says...."I'm just sitting here with this seed!"
It's becoming a vicious cycle...and he is winning!!

A few days later, I was sitting out back...drinking my coffee, on a early Sunday morning...and what should appear...a squirrel...he comes right up to me...I try to scare him...but he keeps coming up...I on the other hand, run back into the house!! I know its the same squirrel!! I know he is plotting his next step...perhaps he'll want some Mint to go with the peas!?


Other than that...we are enjoying our gardens this year!!
What do you like to grow??

Time to pack and repack ONE suitcase...we are headed off to PEI!

Vacation time is upon us....its slowly creeping in...4 MORE DAYS till we head off  for Prince Edward Island....the fairest Isle of them all!! It seems that we go every two years...but stay in the same cottage, in the Provincial Park, in Cavendish!! Kids are excited!! Hubby is excited...cause he gets to go fishing!! I'm excited!! I went to school there...I feel part of the Island is with me...its my home!! Do you, or have you ever felt that way...another province/state/country is your HOME, even though you were never there...its in your being, absorb into your soul! Its something you can't explain...just that it feels like HOME!

I will be excited beyond words when I see the Confederation Bridge....leaving mainland behind and going to heaven! At least thats how I feel......

This year, we are travelling in a CAR...yes, 5 of us in a CAR...a CHEVY CRUZ!! Last time it was a VAN...a BIG VAN where the possibilities of bringing back antiques and books thrilled me!! We even brought back drift wood...which now sits in our livingroom...top shelf of a bookcase!! This year I am determined to fit all our belongings in one BIG SUITCASE!! We should save some room in the trunk for the odd book....!!

Hubby will be fishing in Rustico, at Joey's Deep Sea Fishing!! This will be his 3rd year with them!! He says they are like family! We highly recommend them!!! He has been non stop talk about fishing for Tuna! And how he will take our 9yo fishing for cod and mackerel!!

This year...I'm excited to be going to Chef Michael Smith's Flavour Shack, in Souris!! My 9yo Son is excited too....we hope to run into Smith...but if we just get a signed cookbook and a pic by the shack...well, that will be fine too!!!

Of course....our trip is not complete without a visit to COWS, seeing Anne of Green Gables, sampling island treats, visiting with University pals and the need to travel on the road less used!! Finding a red, dirt road...abandoned, just screams adventure!!

How is your Summer shaping up? Any plans? Discoveries.....??

Birthdays! My Daughter celebrated with JOY! My Birthday coming...not so much!

This past weekend was Daughter's 7th Birthday!! As soon as we hit JULY...there was a daily countdown! There was no "GOOD MORNING MOMMY"...there was "19 MORE DAYS TILL MY BIRTHDAY!" So.... she is now 7...and acts like a teen at times...I'm scared for when she actually hits the teenage years...LOL!!
The day was spent having fun, making a cake and a little shopping in between. Then a surprise visit from some family! Since her Birthday on Saturday, she has been wearing the same Princess Disney dress.....and surprisingly it is not dirty...not one speck of dirt on the satiny white and purple dress!!!!


Her day of treats and celebrations made me think of my own Birthday...slowly creeping upon me!! A week later its my turn to have a slice of the cake!! While I'm happy for my kids to celebrate my day, I'm a little less in the celebration mood!! This is my last year in the 30's! I'm at the marker of hitting 40!! 40!! Hubby says its just a number, accept it! I'm not doing well with aging!! It scares me...I cannot accept it! I still feel like I'm 16...getting my licence...driving for the first time, a Chevy, a red Blazer...with red interior...I can remember it all....pulling out of the driveway and Tom Cochrane's song was in the background..."Life is a Highway"...how fitting...the world at my feet, my life ahead of me...so many possibilities!! And here we are now....the last year in my 30's!!

I feel like I need to commemorate the 30's...reflect upon the decade and write a list, not a BUCKET LIST...that term makes me think the end is near, and its not.....
The 30's were good to me....birth of my Children, marriage, buying a house and realizing what I wanted to do with my life....I WANTED TO CREATE! I became my own individual and got to know myself! Felt more comfortable within my own skin.

What else do I want to do before I turn the BIG 40? Finish the 30's off with a BANG!?

How about you....how did you feel, leaving a certain decade?

Strawberry Picking..... times spent with the FAMILY! PRICELESS!

This past week, we had a Family Day...we went to a local farm and picked strawberries!! The kids were excited...they got a tractor ride out to the fields....and row upon row lay the sweet berries...ready to be picked! We had never been to Barrie Hill Farms....but we knew we were headed in the right direction...we could smell the Berries before we saw the Farm!! The air was thick with the heavenly aroma!! It seemed unreal!

I know that we ate a few, right there in the fields, lips were stained red....I have never tasted anything sooo sweet, warm from the sun, full of strawberry taste! In grocery stores, you sometimes end up buying Berries from another country..and they lack that REAL taste! You become use to the half taste...then in the fields, fresh from the bush...the FULL flavour hits you hard and you know what you have missed!


We also browsed inside the market....and couldn't pass up a pie and some tarts! Of course they are calorie free...freshly made desserts!! We have made plans to come back and buy local...support our farmers!!

Later I researched online various recipes for Jam! I settled on one and of course tweaked the recipe...I never follow a recipe, I use them as a guideline...just the way I am! Through all this I was reminded of my Grandmother. She took me Berry picking one year. I was young, but I recall the heat and the sun and how her nose kept running. She had her hankie ready, tucked into her bra strap and sometimes under the band of her wrist watch! She picked Berries, pickled various items, she seemed to do it all! I felt happy, as if she was with us...smiling!

The JAM...was delicious...and even now, I might sneak a spoonful...just to taste the FULL FLAVOUR of Summer...sweet Strawberries and remember the GREAT MEMORIES we made that day!!

Apologies....to myself!! For not being me!

Apologies....I know it has been far to long....LIFE happens, I got so wrapped up in the everyday, that I had no time for me...or if I did find that time for me, I would do something else(escape home and head to a bookstore) or zone out and be absorbed into a favourite movie of mine! But after typing this, I realize that its not you that I should be apologizing to, its me...I am sorry to myself for not continuing to write...after all its part of me, writing....I love writing and being creative(in many ways)....and by not doing it, I am becoming less authentic to my true self....and we all need to be authentic....it makes us tick, it makes us a better a person, a better parent, friend, and lover!

So....with all this being said, I MUST carve out that time for me and be creative! We only have one life, and at times it might seem LONG...but as we get older and somewhat wiser, we realize that life goes by fast! I am ever more aware of this...this is my Birthday month! I am turning a certain age that has me terrified!!
It's my last year in my 30's...and that has me scared! Life is rushing by! Am I satisfied? NO! Do I want more? YES! Will I get everything I want? NO! But I will work hard at trying to achieve various goals! And if I don't achieve it, well....atleast I tried! Right!

So with all this being said, I am back....and for now, being an early Saturday morning, I am going to fill my coffee mug full of hopes and dreams...and quietly sit out back and watch the sun rise above the tree tops and listen to the silence...and reflect on me and all the possibilities that life has to offer.