Tuesday, December 1st - Now I can put my new mat out!

When Patti was growing up, we always put up  our Christmas decorations around her birthday on the 16th of November as that was also usually the same time as the Toronto Santa Claus Parade. That was our official kick off to the season. Unfortunately Lloyd never shared that enthusiasm for all things HO HO HO, so we've always compromised and he's tolerated the festivities starting on the 1st of December.

But this year is a little more unique.  We won't be here and it will be over when we get back so there really won't be much done in terms of decorating. Plus he'll be away the week before we leave for Williamsburg so there's little point. I see that the kids have put up their tree so they'll really be in the festive spirit by now.

 We were watching on the news last night about the Christmas light displays up in North Rustico. We've never gone up to see them but apparently they are quite spectacular. Lloyd even suggested we might take a drive up one evening on the weekend and have a look.  Okay who are you and what have you done with Mr. Ba Humbug!

Yesterday's weather helped put everyone into more of a winter spirit - we had a little bit of snow. Some areas on the island got a fair bit but we just got enough to lightly cover the ground. There was more in town than we got here. The different weather patterns on the island were clearly illustrated one morning last week. The temperature in Charlottetown was 16' while an hour away, in Summerside, the temperature at the same time was only 6'. Quite remarkable really.

First real snow of the season

It was a moderately busy week. Tuesday evening was our pot luck at Community School. As always a good time was had by all.  Brenda didn't attend this year as she was busy helping Will get his new-to-him home ready to move into.  Will and his friends have been busy painting, replacing floors, etc so Brenda has been helping in what ever way she could. I went over on Thursday night after supper and helped out a little bit. She was cleaning cupboards and I cleaned the fridge.  They had a space between the fridge and stove that was just the right size for a kitchen cart that I have that I really don't need so it now has a new home as well.

Sunday was my day to work on my sheep skins. I have no idea what it's supposed to look like at this point but I'm following the instructions to try to figure it all out. I removed the layer of salt and put them outside for a couple of days to dry in the sun. Everything tells me they should be stiff as a board at this point, but they are not. The next step was applying the tanning solutuion. I'm to paint that onto the skin twice a day for about a week. That's the step I'm at now so we'll see how it goes. I trimmed them to make them a bit smaller and more rug shaped. It also makes them slightly lighter and therefore, a little more easy to manage.

It's along road from this....

...to this!

Lloyd was busy on Saturday and Sunday with our neighbour. A fellow down the road has three pigs that he also raised over the summer.  One was killed on Saturday and butchered on Sunday. Lloyd helped Frank with that job. The other two are apparently being done this weekend so Lloyd will also be helping Frank with them as well. He's quite keen to learn how to do the butchering and this is a great opportunity to learn from someone who really does know what he's doing. Rumour has it that the first one next year will be done by Lloyd under Frank's supervision.

Meghan (1) is moving into her new apartment in town this weekend.  She's really looking forward to that and the guys are all lined up for Saturday morning. It's going to be a busy one this weekend.

PS: only 24 days till Christmas!