Lammas is tomorrow!

Lammas (or Lughnasadh) is a celebration of the first real harvest of the year. It is a time of vitality and celebrating what the sun's power has brought to our lives. For food, tomorrow I will be making cornbread, what a treat!

A friend of mine has been struggling with health issues so I have been preparing rose quartz, amethyst and moonstone beads on my altar under the blessing moon for her. Tomorrow I will be putting the necklace together. (Michelle, I would have made your necklace by now but the tortoise bead has wandered off!!!)

It has been a long time since I have been inspired and had enough energy to do anything creative outside the kitchen. Here, my creativity window is very short, perhaps three months of the year. There just is not enough time for me to get a lot done. I will try and just be happy to do what I can, while I can.

So do not forget to celebrate tomorrow! Whether it is Lammas or Imbolc, tomorrow is going to be a day for celebration and lots of feasting. Enjoy!

The Happy Book

Look at all the hearts carved into this gazebo! I love hearts, they are my favourite symbol.

This week for The Happy Book I am happy about a lot of things. I am happy life is hopefully going to start slowing down so I can get back to some serious self-care that I am in desperate need of. I feel like I am on the edge of collapse, I am so exhausted. As I write this 3 am is approaching and I still can not sleep. My body has gotten used to running around doing stuff all the time and will not shut off. But it will. Slowly I will get back to a better pace and not risk self-injury. I want to get back to gentle.



I stumbled across these roses the other day. I think, if memory serves, these are fairy roses. I have not seen them since I left BC. Hatley Castle had a beautiful rose garden where I learned about different roses. I discovered that these were one of my favourites, they seem enchanted. I also found out that tea rose is the most heavenly smelling of all roses. I was grateful for this memory, this moment where I was transported back home for just a second. It was true joy for me.



On a totally different note... It appears as though signs of Samhain's approach is upon us! Doesn't this look just like a jack-o-lantern? That's what I saw when I came across this leaf. It was telling me that my favourite time of year is approaching, get ready! Of course I have no desire to leap through summer towards winter but getting spooky signs like this makes me over-the-full-moon happy. I get so few signs from The Other Side these days. No dreams, quiet tarot cards... so this leaf made me laugh and made me very happy. This is my sense of humour and spooky style.

On one hand I am a romantic, in love with hearts and roses. On the other I am all about the supernatural and the bizarre. Ghosts and flowers. Yup, that's me. And I am totally OK with that.

Cottage Days

Last weekend we made it down to the family cottage. We seem to get down there once a year just for a short visit. I love being in the cottage. This cottage was made by father-in-law's own hands decades ago and there is character in every corner. Nothing fancy, a real and true cottage in every way.



You see his personal touches everywhere including this monkey in the window. I swear every time I walk in to the cottage I think he is real!



My father-in-law built this silly hunter's trophy which makes us laugh every time we look at it.



My mother-in-law's personal style can also be seen on every windowsill, birds and other creatures of nature everywhere.

I would love to have my own cottage like this one day. Simple, homey, by the water with kayaks outside waiting for us to go exploring. I think I will live there instead of just showing up on sunny days.

Gardening Update

I think it has been three weeks since I spent any time in my garden at all. I keep waiting for life to calm down but it just doesn't. Life in Nova Scotia is divided up into six months of hibernating and six months into trying to catch up on everything you have missed. I find it unhealthy and absolutely life draining. That said, my garden seems to be doing OK despite my personal neglect.

Above I think what you are seeing is a small sprout of ornamental grass! I planted it two months ago to help camouflage our propane tanks which are ugly and depressing. I was worried when the mourning doves came to visit that they ate all the seeds but I think some survived!



My pumpkin plants seem to be doing great! They have not yet taken over my backyard but they are definitely healthy and alive. I just hope they are mature enough to create a harvest of pumpkins by Samhain.



Although my tomato plants hanging in a basket off my clothesline have yellowed and look like death, there are small tomatoes growing! We certainly are getting enough sun for them this year but I think I may have over watered one day because the plant is turning more and more yellow each day. Oh well, I tried!

Life just keeps getting busier for me and I really do not like it. I am hoping to take on less, spend more time slowing down because I know when the pace of my life gets manic, I am on the verge of getting hurt. No thanks! Think I will spend some more time in the garden this morning and hope that some time soon I will get time to breathe.

The Happy Book

I am sorry I have been away but my husband has been home on holidays and finding the time and opportunity to write has been next to impossible. Not to worry, I have been very happy but very busy doing this stuff:

• Hanging out at Crystal Crescent Beach
• Refinishing our deck
• Visiting Schubenacadie Wildlife Park for the first time

This week's Happy Book post I am just so very happy with all the donations we recently gave away. Letting stuff go makes me very, very happy. My husband and I did not get the opportunity to go through our stuff before our last move so a ton of stuff we no longer wanted came all the way to Nova Scotia from BC with us. They are like anchors in our lives, keep us here. Letting go will tell the Universe we are serious about leaving stuff behind so we are lighter and able to move on to our next destination. Plus, it just feels better not to have stuff we no longer want.

My husband was a superstar this time around, giving away a ton of stuff and blowing my mind, he is getting super serious about really letting go and moving on to the next step. I am so proud of him and happy that he is also feeling less weighed down by stuff.

This is not to suggest I am a minimalist. I just like focus. I like to edit down so I am left with stuff that makes me happy and not drain my energy. Books are next. They are hard to part with so I am going to try selling some on Amazon. That should be interesting!

The video Jamie shared on her site also made me very happy this morning. It reminded me of just how cool Toronto is and made me homesick for some place other than BC.

Schubenacadie Wildlife Park

I finally did it! This is my third summer in Nova Scotia and we finally had time, opportunity and beautiful weather to go visit Schubenacadie Wildlife Park in the valley. We attempted once before but did not print out directions and never found it that day so take my advice, print out directions or program your GPS just to be sure.



I love peacocks and think of them fondly. They roam the grounds of Hatley Castle on Vancouver Island and I would go sit with them in the garden all the time. On my first walk through the woods around the castle I heard their cry and was convinced I had heard a pterodactyl crying out! It was fantastic to be with them again.



I believe this is a red fox who was very smart and stayed in the shade on this unbelievably hot and humid day. The valley gets crazy-hot and a lot of the animals were chilling and taking it easy.



We searched high and love for the moose, who has in the past proven to be an elusive creature to my friends who have visited before. We had given up and were making our way back when we saw someone taking a photograph of something on the other side of the field. Sure enough, this beauty was resting in the grass and was larger than life. Definitely the highlight of the trip for all of us.



The raccoons were one of the only creatures being very active, wrestling with each other so much and so fast I could barely get a photograph of them!



This beaver was the smartest creature of them all, swimming around cool water and munching on leaves and bark.



Even the barred owls were sleepy from the heat! I caught this one in mid-yawn, amazing!



I believe this is the red tailed hawk who gave that piercing screech that I remember so well from the show Northern Exposure and this time I heard it in real life!

Overall I really enjoyed my day at the park even though I melted away quite quickly in that valley heat. I love that this is not a zoo, it is a rehabilitation centre for animals. The ultimate goal is to set them free, which is a beautiful thing.



Another beautiful thing is Diary Queen! We quickly had burgers for dinner and then moved on quickly to a cool dessert. With my burger I drank what used to be called a Mr. Misty, I loved them when I was growing up, it is like a grape slushy. Now they are called "Arctic Rush" which I gather is supposed to sound much cooler. For dessert my friend Mike recommended the chocolate milkshakes. I am very picky about milkshakes but as soon as I lifted it and felt that it was very heavy and dense, not light, airy and empty, I had a good feeling. It tasted fantastic! It was as though you made a milkshake using Wendy's Mr. Frosty. Delicious!

We did not get out and do a lot of the touristy things I wanted to do on our holiday but this was a big one that meant a lot to me. To be out in the woods with the animals was wonderful. I love adventures and this is one of the things I really wanted to do while I was living in Nova Scotia. I can now check it off my list!

Wischasting: What do you wish to envision?

Barred owls at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park 

This week for Wishcasting Jamie asks, what do you wish to envision?

When I think of envisioning, I think of barred owls. They see so clearly, through the dark. What I wish to envision is living with them again. I had profound experiences with barred owls when I lived in British Columbia, both on Eagle Mountain and on Vancouver Island. I envision connecting with them again, first here as my totem and then one day back on the island. I envision walking through the woods with them flying over my head, silently, spookily.

That said, for now, I need to recover from my vacation. Just a quick post to say I am back to being online but must hold in the small amount of energy I have right now so like these particular owls I am stuck where I am and will not be going to other places in cyberspace but I hope that all your envisioning wishes come true.

Redoing your deck with Behr products: Phase 2

After almost passing out with heat exhausted the first day and phase working on our deck, we braced for another tough day, this time staining the deck. Neither of us had ever done anything like this before and we were a little nervous. Once again we covered the entire garden with a plastic sheet to help protect it and then got to work on yet another ridiculously hot and humid day. No rain in the forecast for at least 24 hours and we had less than 48 hours of our vacation time left to get this done. Bloody hell!



We used Behr Premium Wood-Toned Deck, Fence & Siding Weatherproofing Wood Finish Complete Protection, Color Redwood No. 502. This is the closest link I could find to it, not sure it is the exact same one, the wording is different. We followed the directions exactly and started with "cutting in" three boards at a time which was very challenging to do. You have to work around the posts and on the other side of the railing first and then quickly blend the stain in as you work down the boards:



We used this broom thingy we got from Home Depot which we found out not all Home Depots carry so no refills. We had used it for Phase 1 to slather on the chemicals so I carefully with gloved hands washed the applicator, put it through the dryer and then my husband used it to apply the stain. I tried to blend in the little drops of stain that were inevitable as well as doing some of the cutting in and blending as he quickly applied the stain to the entire deck, three boards at a time.



When we were done, we were not happy. We did not like this colour at all. The boards were so dry and the pores so open it ate up all the stain so we barely had enough to do the entire deck with one can. We let the stain dry and then went, once again, all the way to Home Depot for more stain and supplies.



In between each board you could see naked light spots so I suggested we get this roller foam thingy and use it to apply the stain in between the boards. That was my job. We went a few feet at a time, a few boards at a time. I would apply lots of stain and my husband would use a foam brush to get it in between. Then he used a brush to apply the second coat of stain and blend everything in.



As you can see, we worked until the light faded away. The good news is we were liking the darker red colour much more than the orangey red.



I took this photo the next day. Much nicer! Dark, rustic, rich and warm, that is what we wanted. I know, perhaps a little shocking to some people. As I go through the neighbourhood now I realize that nobody has a deck like ours anywhere. I hope this adds to our curb appeal and does not take away from it. So here are some before and after shots:



We bought this small deck set and put it out on the original deck, so you can see how grey and speckled it was. On the right, that is the wood stripped right down with no more speckles or mold.



On the left is the orangey first coat that filled us with dread. On the right you see the final results which we are happy with.

OVERALL

We could not have done this project without Behr Premium Stain and Finish Stripper and Behr Premium 2-in-1 Wood Prep. To do that by hand would have been absolutely impossible. Behr stripped everything right down and even though it so difficult to remove all that crap, it could not have been done without those chemicals. No way! We are happy with the stain, it went on well and did dry quite quickly but you definitely have to apply more than one coat to get to the right colour. One can barely covered our small deck so if you have a large one, you are going to need a few cans and they were $40 a pop. One thing we did not consider is that our big garden which is in front of the deck makes doing that part impossible now. We went over every scenario and decided to put that on hold until the fall when everything starts to wither away.

TIPS

Have a protected staging area. We didn't and some of the stain ended up on our walkway which I had to clean up during the madness of quickly applying the stain. For the second layer I put down a plastic drop cloth and then forgot all about it and did not freak when little drops of stain fell to the floor because it was protected.

Wear a long tight-fitting shirt. I was working so fast and hard that I had no idea my shirt was riding up and woke up to a painful lower back completely sunburned.

This project is not for the tender. I am still in so much pain and we finished the job two days ago. I have fibromaylgia and did not do hardly any of the work and I am still suffering. My poor husband spent his last few days of vacation doing this job and now has to go back to work exhausted. Even for the strong and healthy like him, this was one hell of a job.

Personally, I never want to do anything like this again but my husband is already talking about painting the back deck (no more staining!) in the fall during our next holiday. Oi! I just want to run away from the house but he is getting that connection to the house people talk about when they do home renovations. Guess I am not that sentimental. I am thinking about improving curb appeal for our future sale so we can go home to BC.

Still, the house does look much fancier and prettier now. I wonder if our neighbours will find the colour shocking? What do you think? I would love your opinions!

Redoing your deck with Behr products: Phase 1

Here it is, our refinishing deck story. Well, part 1 anyway. After we had decided we were going to do the deck ourselves (since I could find no one who I could pay to do it) on our "staycation" we examined the deck and did see that despite a lot of weathering, there was a lot of strain still on our deck. This meant yet another trip to Home Depot to get the the stain and finish stripper too:



Remember, we are not handy at all! Not only did we have to buy these products, we had to buy all sorts of other products as well. That said, the main products we used on our deck were: Behr Premium Stain and Finish Stripper first followed by Behr Premium 2-in-1 Wood Prep. Together I think they cost around $45. We also had to buy protective gloves, plastic drop sheets, brushes, an applicator tool... I think it is safe to say we dropped around $200 on everything including the stain which was $40 a can.



We used the plastic drop sheets to protect our garden which we misted and then covered. After the entire process, many of the plants are obviously suffering despite our efforts to protect them which sucks.



We put on the Behr Premium Stain and Finish Stripper over our weathered deck which made it very, VERY slippery! We left in on for about 20 minutes and then checked to see if it was working:



Yup, there WAS a ton of crap on the deck! At this moment I was so glad that we had driven all the way back out to Home Depot to get the stain and finish remover. Instead of scraping it off by hand...



... we used a combination of water and a strong bristled brush to scrape away all the crud that came up off the deck. This was unbelievably challenging, my poor husband did a ton of hard labour this vacation! I know, you are thinking why not use a pressure washer instead? Well the directions say that this can damage your wood which was the last thing we wanted. Getting rid of all that thick material along with the old stain and finish took a long time and we were not done yet!



My husband started once again at the end of the deck and worked his way to the steps, this time applying Behr Premium 2-in-1 Wood Prep to remove any mold and mildew that was left and to open up the wood to help it absorb the stain. We then removed it once again using our hose on the "jet" setting.



That took us all day and it was +30C degrees outside with 94% humidity. My poor husband did the majority of the hard work with goggles on that filled up with sweat so much he had to keep dumping it out. We were both soaked through with sweat and ready to pass out once this part was over.

The wood had to dry out for 24 hours and the stain was going to require at least 24 hours of no-rain and in Nova Scotia, that might be the most challenging part of doing your deck. The weather. I listened to one forecast that said five days of rain were ahead and the other said sun for the next five days. We gave it a day and there was one shower but then the sun came out. Our vacation time was disappearing so yesterday we took a chance and stained it. I will write about that phase tomorrow.

I am beginning to understand why I could not hire someone willing to do this job! Holy crap!

Where has Suzie been?

My husband gearing up to take on the deck

Not to worry, I am alive. I have either just been totally uninspired or too busy to write. We have had the CRAPPIEST weather possible during our holiday so we have been going out to the movies a lot. Thankfully the sun FINALLY came out yesterday and the time to work on our deck was finally here.

Last year on our "holiday" we painted on our shutters. It took us days! This year it's the deck. We thought that there was very little stain left on it, man, were we ever wrong! I tried to find someone to do this for us but nobody would return my phone calls, as usual. We even went to Home Depot to talk to a contractor who was never there. Finding anyone to hire to do anything here is next to impossible.

I will write about the deck odyssey next week once our holiday is over. At the moment it has been stripped and is now drying out:



Look at the colour difference! From a grey mildewy gross colour to this lightly golden yellow. The work involved though? OMG! Unbelievable. Wait until you see next week.

Next we have to stain it ourselves. Wish us luck OK? We are not do-it-yourself-ers in any way shape or form which explains why this has been taking up our entire vacation. Well, the sunny side of our vacation. I hope we manage to squeeze in a little fun and relaxation in the last couple of days too.

As we were scraping off all the crap and goo, I swear, I could hear the house breathe a sigh of relief. As much as I do not like doing this kind of work, it does help you connect to your home. And I do love my house very much.

A day at Crystal Crescent Beach

My husband and I are on holidays! And yes, I have been sick but I was tired of being sick damn it! I wanted to go to Canadian Tire, pick up some beach chairs and go to the beach. I slathered on the sunscreen (forgetting the tops of my feet which burned a little) and headed down to the water.



Yes, it was busy but not too bad. Crystal Crescent Beach is absolutely stunning. White fine sandy beach with a fabulous surf, this is one of the reasons I moved here.



The waves are great, you really know you are on the ocean here so we set up our chairs facing the water and got a little too close.



I snapped this shot just before the wave suddenly reached out to try and touch our toes! Which made us laugh and laugh. And move! Just a little farther back. I am so here for the ocean and I get to be near it so rarely.

My husband thinks there is some kind of healing power about the ocean for me because the entire time we drove out there I coughed and coughed. All the way home I coughed, wheezed and coughed some more. On the beach? Silence. Just us, our iPods, the waves and our toes in the sand:



In Nova Scotia the Atlantic Ocean is so cold, even in the summer time, it drops the temperature by 10 degrees. This is old-school air conditioning and I'll take it.

It isn't reaching Ontario's temperatures but we did reach 29C yesterday and I'm up at 4 am zonked out from the heat. Even though I can't sleep, I will still take this over the cold any day. No complaints about the weather from me. I think it is just what the doctor ordered.

Contest on my foodie blog!

Paula Deen's tea kettle

I don't want any of my readers to miss out on this opportunity! On my foodie blog I have a $100 gift certificate giveaway for CSNStores.com's many different stores. All you have to do is go to my foodie blog and leave some feedback about it to enter. Contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents.

On a personal note, I am so super sick. Absolutely no improvement despite taking it easy for the last few days and taking a ton of astragalus. I totally wore myself out and now I am paying for it. I also have a small fibro flare in each knee making life extra difficult so if you are wondering where I am, I am probably passed out on my couch resting, wanting to get back to life.



Good news is life around me seems to be doing well, those little green plants are my morning glories and the bigger ones are my moon flowers, I really didn't think they were going to grow but here they are! My pumpkin patch is also doing fantastic so it is looking like I will have my own pumpkins for Samhain this year!

OK, that's enough, time to go back to bed. Not happy about being sick on our vacation one bit, time to kick this illness' butt.

Halifax Harbour on Canada Day

Once again we went downtown, this time on Canada Day, to try and get a tour of this American ship. We walked all the way there to find out they were not giving tours! Arg!!!! It was on one end of the harbour and so we walked all the way to the other side of the harbour...



... through giant crowds under hot sun to the other side of the harbour...



... to try and get on that giant navy ship only to be turned away, we were too late! At least we got our exercise in and I worked off my chicken enchilada from The Red Stag Tavern ahead of time.

We had a great time with our friends on Canada Day yesterday. Wish I could have stayed downtown for the fireworks but I was too tired. I am DONE! And, I am sick. A sore throat and a cough have found me, I pushed my health too far and now I am on vacation with my husband and sick. Bummer!

It is next to impossible to stay home for Canada Day. It is one of the few days during the year I want to be downtown with a lot of people celebrating together. I love Canada, with all my heart. Hope other Canadians out there had fun too!