Such Things

Good Old November

I've always had a bit of a fondness for November.  There's something about November that makes it a relaxing month.  It's an in between month, at least here in Canada.  In between Christmas and Halloween, in between festivities and start-ups.  A month of some sun but also rain and cold.

It's a month of leaves,

wind,

fall fires,

 and bikerides around our neighbourhood to see the local salmon.

It's a month that feels "settled", yet still looking ahead. 

Here's to enjoying November.

A Last Summer Project

It's amazing what a little paint can do.  The kids are back to school, but not organized into their classes yet.  I thought I would post on that in a bit, but in the meantime, I want to throw in one last summer post.

I have been working on transforming the front porch at our beach house to improve curb appeal and make it look cozy and welcoming, rather than cluttered with sand buckets, towels, tools and old worn-out chairs.  We finished painting the house a "blue denim" over quite a dark brown. 

Next, I thought I would take the plunge with this very comfortable and well-used, but dated and faded chair and table combo set.

A little white paint,

and some new cushions, and we have a whole new deck set that almost made it to the local dump. 

I must say, we are very happy with our newly finished chair set,

And we look forward to next summer to make further transformations...

Hope your new school year is off to a great start!!

Fresh Squeezed

I was completely inspired by these young entrepreneurs.

With the right ingredients,

brainstorming and collaboration,

careful preparation,

good advertising,

and a great sales strategy,

profits can indeed be made.

Now we are off to the candy store (the remaining change will be donated to the SPCA)

Way to go kids!!!

A Taste of Tofino

We just got back from our camping trip to Vancouver Island, which was indeed wonderful.

We fell in love with our campsite, Crystal Cove,

known for it's many well-tended gardens filled with a colourful variety of flowers. 

The place had quite a tropical feel, scattered with palms,

and a with stunning view of Mackenzie beach,

a quiet cove.

We had fun touring the local attractions as well, such as,

Wickaninnish Interpretive Center, Comber's Beach,

and the Rainforest Trail.

I think my favourite was visiting the beach and sitting at the playground in an adirondack chair watching the kids play and drinking complimentary coffee from right next door to guest services. 

Ah, Tofino. 

The Jam Post

Forgive me for rewinding a bit here.  I couldn't help but post about one of my favourite early July events.  The rain has actually delayed berry growth so strawberries were in ripe condition when we went picking this year!  

 

Fresh berries, shopping at the adorable marketplace, slurping smoothies and eating homemade corn pizza and berry pie while sitting back on the porch at Krause's overlooking the berry fields and forest.  Then coming home and making the jam together.  It's a tradition that can't be missed!

Was so excited to have our sandcandles posted on the Crafty Crow last week!

Away at the Cottage

wildlife,

biking, scootering,

parades,

neighbourhood barbe-ques

fireworks of all different kinds,

and best of all trips to the beach.

With the warm sun, the tide out, Baker and mountains in the background, whales and seals in the distance, sailboats and yachts passing by, sitting back on the sand, dipping, wading and swimming in the ocean, and the kids playing and playing, well, life just doesn't get much better and it's only the beginning.

Hope you've been enjoying your July!!

Early Summer

Towards the end of June, we have some rituals we look forward to rain or shine...

Heading to Chapters to choose an ecojot "summer journal",

borrowing or buying,

new and,

used books for "summer reading", along with joining the summer reading club at our local library,

and organizing all of the items brought home from school. 

Last year the girls each painted their own banker box to store their treasured books and creations,

but recently I discovered these beautifully decorated and double-sized storage boxes at Ikea. 

We decided to use them instead, as they fit two stacks of binders etc.

The box even fit this huge art portfolio that belonged to Megan.

The girls were really excited to sort through all their work and found it hard to toss some of their things, but we only keep what they consider to be special and important memories from their school year.
 
All organized and we're ready for some summer adventures!!!

Our Summer

I wanted to write a post called deep summer, about how we get into natural rhythms and routines without the hectic schedule of school and other activities, but alas, summer has already slipped away.  I'm always sad to see summer go.

It's our first day of school tomorrow and it makes me look back on the summer with fondness, and wishing for more.  We had so much sunshine all summer long!  We spent most of the month of August at our beach house and enjoyed some true cottage living complete with plenty of trips to the beach, visits from great friends and family, sweet Maggie's sixth birthday, hanging laundry out on the line, washing dishes by hand, projects like painting and clearing, rock polishing, making fresh squeezed lemonade and black berry pie, frequent trips to the outdoor pools here at home, and other summer goodness. 

We also witnessed the demolition of the old house on the property that we bought.  You can see a high-speed version of it on my husband, Mark's new blog called The Build. 

Now here's looking forward to all the great things a new season of school brings.

Spring Break

I can't believe it's already March 15th!  There's been a lot going on lately, report cards and more importantly, Spring Break for my husband and me.  This year our Spring Break was a different week than our kids' (long story) so anyways, the kids were in school and my husband and I, who are both teachers in the same district, were on break together.  It was a good chance to get projects done around the house and we took a couple of small trips too. 

One thing that is great about B.C. is that you can be sunning yourself on the beach one weekend,

and camping in deep snow the next, and I loved every minute of both. 

Yep, that's our tent trailer at Manning Park.  We went up with some friends and it snowed and snowed and snowed.  The furnace pumped out tons of heat and we were cozy inside. 

It was gorgeous in the woods for cross-country skiing.  Have you ever noticed how quiet it is when it snows?

but a bit deep for the kids to enjoy the skiing a lot. 

This little bird followed us from tree to tree and took a little bread right from our hands.  My daughter was thrilled.  Then in the evening we all had dinner together in the day lodge, joking and laughing while the kids had a blast playing together in a rec area.

After having such a sunny winter and no snow where we live, the kids just wanted to play

and play.

At Pt. Roberts, we built, played on the beach and enjoyed campfire. 

Family, friends, fun, nature, adventure.  That's what life's all about. 

Why can't Spring Break be just a bit longer...

 

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile

To me, books are a great comfort and joy.  I love to surround myself with wonderful books that inspire me, magazines, craft books, novels and classical literature.  One of my favourite things is to order a book and pick it up at the post office when we visit Pt. Roberts (it's cheaper to ship to the US).  I usually order from ABE books.  An excellent resource, if you haven't heard of it before.  I was sorting through a bunch of my kids' books, some of which are actually books that belonged to me as a child,

and I decided to start ordering my kids some classic children's books. I thought it would be exciting for them to pick up some parcels from the post office too.  So last time we were down, we picked up some Lyle books, written by Bernard Waber.  Indeed they were a hit with each of the kids.  The artwork is fantastic and Lyle is so enduring.  I also appreciated the bits of dry humour tossed in here and there.

Now we're looking forward to the next delivery!