Canada Day

Felt flag...by me

The Nation will be celebrating Canada Day tomorrow....the first long weekend of the summer.  Just dropped my Ky girl off at a car pool stop to load her into a friends car along with the cooler filled with fruit and cheese and other delicious foods (beer).  She's heading North to the annual Tight and Bright Party...a tradition at the Muskoka lakeside cottage she is spending the weekend at.  Other than the attire, I am envious of her youth.  Days spent lounging with friends and jet skiing and big BBQ's and songfests around the campfire and loud parties.

Our town has the flags up.  Unlike the Americans who proudly fly their flag all year, Canadians tend to bring them out once a year on Canada Day.  Unless you live in cottage country.  Then it is left out all year.  There are festivals, bands and fireworks planned all weekend., plus the Pride Parade in Toronto, so the City is going to be hopping.

We are on Hospital Duty for my FIL this weekend, and so will miss much of the festivities.  No word on the Florida place. The offer is still on the table gathering dust.  We will be down there in a couple of weeks to scout new properties.  Wishing you all a weekend of Good Fun, Good Food  and Good People.

Catch Up

I seem to be lacking in material lately.  Life hasn't been handing me blog-able moments.  So, I decided to show you some nature shots as I chat about my weekend.  Tonight the sun cast a gorgeous glow on the trees by the pond near our house.  The light made everything a fabulous chartreuse.

We closed the deal on the cottage this week and handed over the keys.  I'm not one to be attached to buildings, so it was relatively easy to do.  We made an offer on another Florida house, but the lawyer that owns it seems to think he's getting paid hourly or something because it is the most drawn out offer (5 days) I have ever encountered.  I ended up just telling the agent my bottom line and staying out of it. He can call me in September and let me know if we got it.  Now the seller is into his closing argument.  So we wait.  And watch the grapefruit ripen.

We made the trip to see the in-laws.  FIL had another medical crisis warranting another ambulance trip from one hospital to another.  Another midnight emergency procedure and thankfully doing well once again.  It sucks getting old.

 And because ....there just aren't enough photos of peony;s on the blogs.......................

Made a little $$ at a garage sale on Saturday.  Garage sailing is difficult.  People don't want to spend a dollar on a pair of brand new boots, they want to spend 50 cents.  I like to hold out for the dollar and then donate the items to charity if I can't sell it.

My neighbor died a couple of years ago, and she was such an avid gardener.  I still  like to lean over her fence and admire her work. Her husband thinks I am spying on him.   She loved her dogwood tree.  I had a little "moment for Margaret" today beside her beautiful dogwood tree.  Gone too soon.....

So, a bit of a transitional time.  A blogging slow down.....petering out a little....sorry!

Drama.......with a dose of humour.

www.wiartonnews.com

An emotional weekend saying farewell to the cottage ended with a double whammy with both of my in-laws ending up in hospital after one broke a hip and the other had a stroke (mild thankfully).  Which is worrying as they may just be reaching the point of not being able to take care of themselves any more. 

We arrived at the cottage to many tales of the recent drama (read it HERE) of a boat exploding in the harbour after taking on 1300 liters of fuel.  The owner, a camera man for the Discovery Channel apparently lost everything in the fire, but miraculously was relatively unharmed.  Our cottage and several neighbors were evacuated, however we were fortunate not to be there and forced to camp at the local arena.

Laughter is good in times of stress and when I arrived at the hospital, my FIL was still waiting for an ambulance transfer to a larger city hospital for surgery and was more than a little miffed that someone else had got the ambulance intended for him.  In an unimaginable sequence of events, the ambulance intended for FIL, was given to MIL to be transported for an urgent CT scan.  FIL is in the dark about MIL to avoid further duress.  MIL is at home again and laughing about "stealing" his ambulance, which should make for a good family story once everyone has recovered.

When events such as these happen, it is wonderful to watch the troops rally with aid and support.  At the marina, it was the local hotel and neighbors that housed and fed the now homeless young man from the boat, and volunteer firefighters who worked tirelessly to contain the fire and lessen the damage of the spill, and with the In Laws, the family gathered, supported and fed each other, and kept a line of communication open with text and phone calls to other family members who couldn't be there.  

Whimsical White Platters by Artist Rae Dunn

 

I was packing dishes the other day and thought how much I loved these platters that I have had for several years.  A couple of hours later, I was reading a blog, when a thumbnail in the sidebar caught my attention.  I clicked on to read the blog of Clay Artist Rae Dunn.  It was all very familiar and when I turned over the bottom of one of my platters, sure enough they were by Rae Dunn.

Her designs are very simple, the shapes very organic and the whimsical embellishments are really sweet.  I love to know the details of how things are made and Rae's blog is quite lovely and shows you her inspirations, tools and also her sketches.  She also has an Etsy Shop which is listed on her blog.  Click HERE to view her blog. 

Small platter

Simple, fresh designs.

Wishing you all a fabulous Weekend!

The Search Continues...........

I spotted this sweet little house while travelling up the Fraser River near Ladner BC

This sweet little house looks like it is easy to maintain and should take 10 minutes to clean.....plus the water feature and recreation are built right in.  I'd buy that right now..........(it was for sale a while ago) and tow it down to Florida so I don't have to start the process of looking for another house all over again.  When you purchase from afar (Canada) you have to do a lot of the leg work from a distance, so when we had made an offer on this home we were ready to commit.  

However, the deal has collapsed as all things cannot be agreed.  So we start over.......  :(

Keep and Collect Market in Hamilton this Saturday.

There's something interesting going on this weekend in Hamilton that you collectors and crafters may be interested in.  Please see below for details and contact info for Michaela.

The Keep & Collect Market acts as a launching pad for local creators to showcase and sell their products while providing a new a different shopping experience in Hamilton. It's a place where shoppers can find one of a kind pieces and meet the talented people who've created them.

Selling locally made art, crafts, design, vintage items, jewellery, photography, fashion, home decor, stationary, edible treats and more!

Location:    The Freeway Coffee House
Address:     333 King St. East Hamilton L8G 1E6
Date:          Saturday June 25th
Time:          11am - 4pm

Facebook: facebook.com/keepandcollect
Twitter: @keepandcollect

To become a Vendor please contact: keepandcollectmarket@gmail.com

Vintage Ralph

You know you were missed when you went away because Hannah Cat wants to be everywhere you go....even to  bed.  My girl Ky came to stay at the house for a night while we were away.  When she woke up the cat was snoozing right on her pillow.  The blue flowery linens are Ralph Lauren from the 80's which according to Etsy makes them vintage........

Girly Bits

I am figuring out the packing thing for the weekend as we close on the cottage next week.  I had to make a list of the things the buyer has purchased with the cottage, and to assist in this task I went through my photos to remember all that I had there.  While I am leaving some of my dishes, I have excluded the vintage ones such as the ones above.  I have a thing for roses on dishes.  Good thing the Raz Man goes along with my girly collections.

Home Soil...and don't forget to watch the hockey game........

Arrived home to some bursts of purple in the garden. 

We have returned home from our vacation/house hunt refreshed and pleased with the fact that we both now love St. Petersburg and feel it was the right decision for this house.  Mr Raz will be building the USA side of his business while we are there, and I will be doing something I haven't figured out yet. .......Given that I can't take a job there, I need to figure what I can do there for several 2-3 week spells several times a year.  My fiber art is something I am thinking of going back to since I find I can focus better on it when it is my sole distraction and not thinking about clients and sofas etc.    House chosen still may fall through, but that's OK.  We bought it more for the location than the house and I am not in LOVE with the actual house, so I can deal with the loss if it happens. Bigger fish to fry than fussing over a house.

Wisteria in bloom and many bees along with it.  Keeping allergic cat away.

We stayed at the historic Vinoy Hotel in St Pete which was originally built in the 20's, closed down for 18 years and was inhabited by the homeless.  Restored now to it's former glory, I would highly recommend it as a great play to stay, central to everything.  I love a hotel breakfast with a silver coffeepot and those little pots of jam.  Favourite thing to eat here was the Vanilla Bean Waffle with Plum Compote and Salted Honey Butter. They have a massive porch running the whole length of the hotel where you can sit in rocking chairs and stare over the harbour while drinking Gin.

The Porch at the Vinoy.  Photo from Phylisscooks.com

Basil starting to take off....it's very particular is basil.

And of course we did my "Florida" thing.  Testing the key lime pies for desert every night to rate the best one.  Hotel won for flavour and zestiness.  400 Beach Seafood and Tapas won for crust...macadamia nuts are the secret ingredient in that.  I once tested almost every Key Lime Pie on the menu on Sanibel Island......

The thing about going away is coming back to the familiar and loved.  I can never wait to go, and then look forward to being back.

Wishing you all a great weekend.  Don't forget the Vancouver Canucks are playing Boston tonight in the Stanley Cup Final........(Hockey for those from afar)

An Over-Abundance of Art

A favourite oil...

Since selling the cottage, I have brought home some of the items that we didn't sell with it, including all the art.

It worked well up North with all the moody colours and Northern landscape, however, my home has most walls covered, which leaves a rather overabundance of art.

 Since it can take me two years to hang one piece, this process may take a while.

 For now, I have leaned them all against the living room wall waiting for inspiration. Or the cat to knock them all over like dominos as she seems to like to squeeze in behind them

I love the oils by Canadian artists, but they aren't fitting with this house, and will be even less at home in Florida.   Do you think art needs to work with the decor, or should you buy what you love?

I love the colours in this painting.  Rather shabby roses drooping.....