Garden gets a makeover

We have a small flower garden that we’ve been redoing this year. It was neglected last year due to both hubby and I being sick most of the year. I thought I’d share a few photos of the garden makeover we’ve been working on. I’ll post photos throughout the summer when the different flowers appear. Right now it’s pretty bare but it’s starting to look more like hoped it would.

Hubby and my brother Vic raked, weeded, and added 25 bags of red cedar chips over plastic tarps to help keep the weeds down.

This is the lilac bush that hubby bought me and planted in 2000. The buds are just starting on it but it should be in full bloom soon. I LOVE lilacs and can’t wait to smell their sweetness!

Can you spot the little boy fairy sitting on the wheel? My neighbour down the road owns a gorgeous farm and he had a few of these old wheels laying around. We made a  trade – this worn out old wagon wheel for the swing set my girls had outgrown. I definitely got the better end of that deal!

I took an old rusty wheel barrow wheel and leaned it up against some trees in the back and added the girl fairy to a piece of driftwood. The garden stone is one that Shelby made in school with colourful marbles and stones.

I found this old red water pump at a yard sale last year and fell in love with it but didn’t buy it. When I got home, I told my Mom about it and she handed me the money and told me to go get it for my birthday present. Thanks Mom! You’re the best there is! It looks so perfect in the garden – especially with an old rusty bucket hanging from it.

Now all we need are some warmer days and flowers! I think I might even try my hand at a few vegetables this year. I’ll start small for now and see how that goes. If it goes well and it’s something that we enjoy, I might have to plough up my back yard and make a real vegetable garden for next year! Learning to be more self sufficient is something I’m really taking an interest in lately.

Maple Syrup Festival – A Sweet Success

This was the first year that I’ve ventured to a Maple Syrup Festival in a small town about 20 minutes south of us. It was held this past Saturday and I’ve wanted to go for the past several years but the weather has always kept me away – as well as many others, so much so that the festival wasn’t doing so well. It’s usually cold, raining or snowing, and windy! This year the sun was shining brightly and the little town of  Powassan was as crowded as some of the bigger city’s festivals.  My youngest daughter and I went for a few hours enjoying the sunshine, vendor’s booths, food, and entertainment.

Here are a few photos of our day :)

Shelby fell in love with this little goat that was following it’s mom around town. It’s only 4 days old and oh so cute! I had a hard time talking her into letting the little guy go back to his mama!

Some of the older historical buildings of Powassan

Town Criers in costume

A couple of old tractors

And tons of this…

We went for a wagon ride…I wish they would have had old fashioned carriages but this had to do.

In recent years a few Mennonite families have moved up here and I couldn’t be more pleased! I hope a lot more families move here. They are wonderful craftspeople and entrepreneurs. They have already gained quite a following for their construction and furniture building in an area that was completely void of these wonderful “plain” people. I wish them all the best and will support them every chance I get.

And of course it wouldn’t be a truly wonderful day if I didn’t find some goodies to bring home with me.

I found this wonderful star with grapevine wreath to hang on the outside of my house for only $10.00!  It’s quite big and looks perfect on the house!

and this cute little garden angel to watch over the flowers

and this barn star that is hanging in my living room.

It was a wonderful sunny Saturday. I can’t wait til next year’s festival!

A few party photos

Shelby and her friends by the bonfire on her birthday. She’s the second from the left.

Blowing out the candles in my parents store.

Me and Shelby in her Santa/Elf/Leprechaun disguise.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Hard to believe but my baby is 16 today! Where did the years go? It’s all a blur – like a dream sequence of one photo in my memory blending into another and another.

One day she was tucked safely in my arms…

 
Me and Shelby at 1 week old

and the next she’s preparing for her driver’s license and making plans for her future. She wants to be a Crime Scene Investigator and I know that she will be the best one there is!

Shelby and her niece Hailie

Her smile and laugh are contagious and her kind and generous heart brings joy to those of us who have the privilege of knowing her.

  
Shelby at Christmas – 2 yrs old

She is a true gift from God and I thank Him for her daily.
Shelby on large Muskoka chair in South River Ontario

She’s the best road trip partner there is! Who else would think to name all their fingers using road signs and states to kill the boredom? She had us in stitches all the way to South Carolina and back!

Shelby at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina

She’s always willing to help if anyone needs a hand and she’s the person to go to when you need some real muscle power.

She’s always calm and cool in a crisis and has a way of calming others around her and she has a natural ability to comfort people.

She’s having a Sweet 16 party tonight and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun and the weather is nice so we’re going to have a bonfire in the back yard too! I’ll try to take a lot of pictures and post some tomorrow.

I love you Shelby and I’m so proud to call you my Daughter. Happy Birthday!

Vintage Salt & Pepper Shakers

For those of you who collect Vintage Salt & Pepper shakers, I've listed a few on ebay here and I will be listing a lot more over the next couple of days. My Mom purchased a huge lot of them a few summers ago at an estate sale and I thought I had sold them all but I found another box. There are some really cute ones in this batch too!

PRIMITIVE Patriotic Stocking RED WHITE BLUE 1776

New stocking added to ebay. You can check it out here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390183916848

Tonight's Forcast - A Freeze on Blackflies and Mosquitos

Tonight

Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this evening changing to periods of snow after midnight. Snowfall amount 2 cm. Wind southwest 20 km/h becoming light late this evening. Low minus 1 C.

This happened to us last year - a snowfall in April and one at the end of May. It slowed down our growing season by 2 - 3 weeks. Things still grew - just took a little longer. 

What makes me happy about getting snow this time of year you ask? That's easy! We hardly had any blackflies or mosquitos because of it!

 This photo was last May 31st

So if we get one or two cool nights and wake up to a beautiful winter wonderland a couple of times throughout the spring, it's ok with me! I actually enjoy the beauty of white snow on the green buds of spring and being able to sit outside in the evenings without being completely miserable because of the bugs! - That's a huge bonus for a little cold if you ask me!