Tuesday, December 26th - Happy Boxing Day Everyone!

Another Christmas has come and gone. I sincerely hope you all had a lovely holiday visiting with friends and family.
It's been a busy week, sometimes, and relaxing at others. In fact, there were days when we didn't get out of our pajamas until midday.  Such is the stuff of vacation days I suppose.
Last Tuesday evening Brenda, Petra and I went into town to see Irish Mythen, an Irish singer who has made PEI her home. She's got an amazing voice and is funny as hell to boot. A very enjoyable time was had by all.

I worked a couple of  days so I recruited Petra to come and help me. Lots to do to keep the cards stocked up for those last minute shoppers.




One day we went for a walk in the woods. Petra had some nice warm furry mittens that a friend had
given her before she left. It wasn't bad in the woods but walking back to the car she needed them. We've been watching the temperatures in London and they are hovering around 10' to 12' with some sun thrown in. Needless to say she's finding it quite chilly here, in spite of our constantly telling her "this isn't cold, it's a lovely day".

We spent an enjoyable afternoon at Dave's shop. He puts on a bit of a celebration every year and we are fortunate to be invited. Caitlin and Mike had arrived in the wee hours of the  morning so they were also able to join us.






We took a drive out to Borden one day to see the bridge in the daylight. It was really cold that day,
 with the wind coming off the water. It was dark when we drove across it last week so we wanted her to see it in the daylight.

On our way there we stopped in to Summerside so she could see Lloyd's plane. She was impressed that he built it all by himself.







We had planned our trip so we would get back via North Rustico. I've heard they have amazing Christmas light displays. It wasn't dark yet when we got there so we found a little spot to have some food and by the time we were done, the lights were on. They seem to be in clusters but are quite fun to see. 

Christmas Eve was another lovely day, no snow in sight. We spent an enjoyable evening with the VanGaals. Lots of food, lots of great conversation, lots of dishes left for the host family!

 Christmas morning was a leisurely time with coffee and a late breakfast. Once again, Santa spoiled me much more than I deserved, I'm sure. We usually do stockings for each other and we did one for Petra. She was quite thrilled as she hadn't gotten a stocking since she was a child.

We had been watching the weather all week. As Christmas day got closer the weather forecast got worse. Eventually we were up to an expected 25 cm of snow predicted. What to do. Should we postpone our dinner till Boxing day so our friends who were traveling could get here safely. We decided to wait it out and in the end it was a lot of hoopla over nothing. We got a bit of snow and a tiny bit of freezing rain, but in the end, everyone arrived safely.  We had a lovely dinner and great company once again. We skipped the turkey and opted instead for roasted Cornish hens

 with a rice stuffing. Sticky date pudding with toffee sauce rounded everything out nicely.

I have lots of work to do this week. I have to take down all the Christmas cards at the pharmacies and put out the valentines cards. Now I'm one of those people pushing the seasons seemingly way too early!

Tuesday, December 19th - what a difference a day can make!

Remember last Tuesday, when I showed you our lovely snowy wonderland?

This is what we woke up to on Wednesday morning. Bit of a downer when you're trying to get into the Christmas spirit!

It was an uneventful week, just some cleaning and getting ready for Petra and Christmas, as well as keeping my card shops topped for the holidays. Brenda and I enjoyed some snacks and wine and a festive themed movie on Thursday evening and then I was off to Halifax on Friday morning.
Fortunately the weather was good, although quite cold,  and roads were for the most part, clear and dry. I arrived in plenty of time and had a bit of a wait as quite a number of passengers on her flight were sent to secondary search, including Petra. But we were back on the road  before 4:00 pm. Some of the ride was in the dark and unfortunately it was too dark for her to see the bridge she was crossing so we might take a drive out that way one day to have a look at it in the daylight.

I'd gotten an unexpected call from a lady in North Rustico on Tuesday looking for some food to be catered to a party she was hosting on Sunday. Needless to say, Petra was put to work on Saturday morning helping in the kitchen.

With her help, we finished up early enough to go over the back lane and cut down our Christmas tree. Lloyd came with us and brought the chain saw to make quick work of the job. Good thing cause it was freezing!

 On our way back, we stopped in at the neighbours for coffee before bringing the tree in and putting the lights and a few decorations on it before retiring for the night.

I still had a few things to finish on Sunday morning so I was up very early to get those underway. By the time we had breakfast and got everything packed up, it was time to leave. We needed to delivery the goods by noon, and it was roughly an hours drive. However it had been snowing lightly most of the morning so we thought it might take a little longer, but in the end we arrived right on time.

Once our delivery was over, we headed back towards town and stopped in at
Island Hill Farm.  I was so happy to see they had some newborn baby goats to cuddle.  Petra loved seeing them all and having the chance to interact with them.



 By now we were both getting hungry so it was back into town to find some food.  Since it was Sunday, I knew there would be live music at the Old Triangle so we headed there. We enjoyed something to eat and some lovely music before heading back out to the country.

On our way home, we stopped in at Brenda's to check on progress. She and Meghan were baking cookies and were well into it when we arrived.  A short visit and then back home. Lloyd had very graciously offered to make dinner for us and was knee deep in prep when we arrived. This left us no choice but to fix ourselves a drink and retire to the living room to keep out of his way.

After a delicious supper of poached salmon, rice and beans, we said good night to him and sent him off to bed. When the dishes were done, we retired to the TV to watch some more festive programming. All in all, a great end to a lovely weekend.

Monday was a day with no plans. I had some cookie orders to be filled for Friday so I spent the morning tidying up the kitchen and checking out my supply of cookies to ensure I had enough. Petra had the morning to herself to just relax and chill. She is, after all, on holidays!

Lots of stuff going on the rest of the week!

Tuesday, December 12 - it's beginning to look like --- winter!

The snow started falling yesterday afternoon and accumulated quickly. It's looking quite festive out there but unfortunately it may not last but there's more to come. Hopefully it will wait till I've returned from Halifax on Friday.




 We enjoyed the community school pot luck supper on Tuesday. We were treated to a wide variety of delicious dishes and entertained by some of the students. As usual, a very entertaining evening. The rest of the week was spent getting ready for Friday nights party for the flying club.


 It went okay but once again we learned a lot. Several things to change and do differently next time but a big shout out to Brenda for all her help at several times through out the day and to our other friend Jens for helping out as well.We really could not have done any of it without you folks. Lloyd and I were in town early in the morning to start setting up the tables and Brenda joined us part way through. We were done before lunch so it was a good start to the day. All in all it seemed to go over well but we did learn a lot.


There was a guest speaker at the party, who was one of the pilots who flew the Vimy planes across Canada. As he was telling his story and showing slides of their adventures, who should pop up in one of the photos, but James. They had spent some time in Guelph and the Cadets were part of the event. What an amazing coincidence.

The first part of Saturday was spent doing dishes - lots and lots of dishes. The hall had few facilities or equipment to speak of so everything had to be brought in, and taken back home again to be washed. In the end it was quite a huge task.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I did some tidying up and pulled out a few of the Christmas decorations. The rest will wait till this coming weekend. We plan to go out and cut down a real tree, with Petra's help, of course. With any luck, we'll have snow for Christmas - the first time she's had that in her life!

Tuesday, December 5th - 10 more sleeps to get ready for our Christmas guest

December always seems to fly by much faster than most months and this year is no exception. While we're busy getting ready for a catering function this Friday, I'm also trying to sneak in a few other chores that need doing before Petra arrives, as well as make a small start on decorating for Christmas. Plus throw in some cookie orders and it's all good. Fortunately I'll have all most of next week to really get busy.

This past week I once again worked at Island Honey Wine bottling mead. It's always a full day but this time we only had to do 1,000 bottles, although it still seemed to take just as long as last week's 1,500.

Thursday was an absolutely gorgeous day and after working in town for the morning, I suggested to Lloyd when I got home that it would be the ideal day to put up the lights outside. Fortunately for me, he didn't have anything specific planned for his afternoon. So up they went. Just in time for Brenda's arrival to watch some TV and enjoy some snacks, supplied by Meghan, thank you very much!



Friday Lloyd acquired a number of gallons of raw  cows milk so his plan was to spend the weekend making cheese. Needless to say I found it best to just stay out of his way. I worked on a few other projects over the weekend while he made several varieties of cheese.

 I made some cookies and fashioned a large wreath to put on the outside of the house with fresh greenery - we'll see how it holds up in the strong winds that are predicted for Wednesday. 

 I also took some time to 'trim' some of the trees in our yard and came up with greenery for my rack by the back door. It's starting to look a little festive around here!

 One task that I did complete was the centre pieces for the tables at this Friday's events. The way we're setting up the tables will give us a large table that will seat 10 people so I needed something fairly large to set off such a large space. I saw this idea online and thought it would be perfect. It did involve cutting up a value village table cloth, scrounging habit for humanity for old globe lights and having Brenda rummage through her recycled tins to find suitable cans.  In the end I think they turned out not so bad. Check back next week for a photo of the tables all set up with their finery.





Other than that it was a pretty quiet week. Okay, I'd better get back to work. Lots to do to get ready for Friday. There are no supplies at the fire hall we're using, so that means we have to bring absolutely everything - dishes, cutlery, etc, etc so lots to think about to make sure I don't forget anything. (But we all know I'll miss something!)

Tuesday, November 28th - it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - literally!

We've woken up to a light covering of snow for the first time this fall. It's such a lovely sight. Or course, once we've dealt with huge masses of the stuff over and over again, it kind of loses it's appeal, but for now it's beautiful. Unfortunately it's likely to be gone in the next 24 hours or so. Too early to haul out the skis and snowshoes just yet.



Busy week just passed. The  most exciting thing is James passed his drivers test and is now licensed to drive by himself. Well done James. Now he can drive himself off to various Christmas parades and highland games. I wonder if he drove himself off to the parade this past weekend in Puslinch?

It is that time of year.


Our Christmas parade was on Saturday and I was in town, but I didn't stick around to watch it. I was helping the PEI Speedskating club at their Atlantic Cup meet. I've met some really  nice people there when volunteering in the past and it's nice to catch up with them, albeit only once a year. While there I had the pleasure of meeting a young woman by the name of Jamie MacDonald. She's a speedskater from out west and is headed to the Olympics in February. It's kind of neat when you have actually met someone who will be competing. Makes the watching that much more interesting, so good luck to her.

Saturday was also the Victorian Christmas weekend, when dozens of vendors set up shop on Queen Street in town for three days. There's also all sorts of other activities planned around this event and it gets quite busy. Not so much fun for the vendors if it's cold and wet but Saturday should have been lovely. The sun was out and the temperature was around 10' so a perfect day for residents to get out and do some Christmas shopping. I had thought about putting a table in but didn't get my act together early enough to have enough baked cookies to last for three days. I do have some cookies baked but I have some orders to fill so that's going to keep me busy in the next couple of weeks.  Perhaps next year I'll plan a bit better. I'd like to do a whole range of gingerbread cookies. There's nothing like that at the market (or at least there hasn't been in the past). Plus a week from Friday is the Flying Clubs Christmas party so that will occupy a bit of time over the next little while.

We endured a wicked wind storm during the week that left quite a bit of damage it it's wake. We were very fortunate in only  losing some of the older branches off the trees but others weren't so lucky. In fact when I drove into town, there was a huge trampoline hung up on the power lines. An interesting sight to see. We did lose power for a few hours, but that's not a big deal.

I also worked out at Island Honey Wine Company. They have these huge tanks that hold enough wine for 1500 bottles. We washed, sanitized, bottled and corked them all. Tomorrow I'm off to do it all again.

We also had the pleasure of attending Lloyd's work Christmas supper on Friday night. It's held at Red Shores and is always a nice time.

Now that there's snow on the ground, I suppose I might get away with putting out a few Christmas
decorations. Petra is arriving on the 15th and we're going to go out and cut down our tree so that won't be happening yet but that doesn't mean other stuff can't go up!

Tuesday, November 21st - time to turn up the heat - finally!

After a roller coaster ride of temperatures, it's been cold now for a couple of days, although it appears we may be well above freezing again in a few days. This up and down is really getting difficult to deal with. Just get cold and stay that way! Then we'll get used to it.

We had our first flurries on the weekend but  none stayed. Now the weather people are telling us to expect a lot of precipitation over the winter. Hopefully it won't be like that dreadful winter a couple of years ago.  But I guess the up side of that is I don't have to try to get to town on those really bad mornings.  Bring it on! (just not on the days my friend Petra is traveling here and back home)

It was a fairly quiet week. We're catering the Flying Club's Christmas party in a few weeks. I wanted to add a little something extra so thought I might make individual gingerbread men to put at each place. It's not a huge group - maybe 50 guys at the most. But as I was searching through my cookie cutters to choose just the right gingerbread man I came across a couple of cutters that are airplanes. How appropriate.  Lloyd chose the one he liked and I baked 60 cookies. But they were kind of plain and boring so I asked how I could dress them up just a little. He suggested that a real plane has a red light on the tip of one wing, a green light on the tip of the other and a white light on the tail. So off I went in search of appropriately coloured candies and I found some. I spent one morning last week gluing candies on wing tips and sticking on propellers. I used melted sugar as glue - easy to make and sticks like crazy glue! Here's part of the completed fleet...

This week will be spent in collecting everything we need for the party. The venue it's being held at is very simple with not a lot of supplies, so we have to take absolutely everything. I'm currently working on centre pieces as well. It should be good. 

We had our neighbours over for supper on Saturday night so Lloyd chose a menu with several Portuguese dishes. He spent the day in the kitchen cooking and I got to do some tidying and sorting. We had a nice time at dinner and great food was consumed.  In fact the neighbours both came back for second helpings so that speaks volumes. Well done Lloyd.

Sunday the cleaning continued as I emptied out all the cupboards and cleaned them and pitched a lot of old ingredients and packages. Quite a bit of stuff had been hanging around for a very long time - time for it to go. So it was a pretty productive weekend.  Plus it was easier to stay inside by the fire and keep warm.

Patti's kids had a busy weekend. Meghan just started a new job at the Aberfoyle Mill restaurant near where they live. It's a lovely place and I think she's going to enjoy it as a source for a little extra spending money.  She's just worked one shift so far but I think it will be good for her. Besides busing tables (she's not old enough to serve) she helps plate deserts, delivers bread to tables, refills water, etc. Plus she'll get a share of the tips so that will be bonus. Patti, Greg and Tristen went there for supper on Sunday to celebrate Patti's birthday. Lovely spot for a birthday dinner!

James was also busy this week with the Santa Claus Parade...

( Apparently it was very cold at the parade - a little chilly in a kilt I would imagine!)

  ... and the Cadets Commanding Officers Parade.

Tonight I have my boss from the card company coming over for supper. She's from New Brunswick but is over on the island usually every 5 or 6 weeks. I talked with her yesterday and asked if she would like to join us for dinner and she was delighted. Today was the only day that would work for her so I guess I'll have to skip exercise class - ooops! Oh well, there's always next week to look forward to...

Tuesday, November 14th - a celebratory week all round

Two special occasions to mark this week - Happy Anniversary to Brenda and Bernie who had the family all over for dinner on Monday night to celebrate. And secondly, an early Happy Birthday to Patti who is celebrating her birthday on Thursday.

At Westminster Abbey

It's been a busy week for Patti with Remembrance Day Celebrations. James did two legs of the Friday overnight vigil at the cenotaph so I suspect he needed to be picked up, warmed up, and then taken back for the second shift.( I was checking their weather, and it was much colder than here).

After taking part in Remembrance Day ceremonies on Saturday, Patti and James headed to London, England on Saturday night. They celebrate remembrance day on the 2nd Sunday of November, so they were able to participate in the ceremonies there as well. The legion there  has what they call the poppy field on the lawn outside Westminster Abbey. They have wooden crosses that you can get by donation and they have all kinds of different sections. People can write the name of someone who died in the war or something they want to remember and place it in the section that represents it.  James got a cross on behalf of the 121 Red Arrows squadron to remember the Canadians who died and placed it in the Canada section. I am so incredibly proud of this young man.

Nothing nearly so exciting around here. The week was spent (by Lloyd, as least) finishing up the last

Backing into the barn for the winter

minute things around the yard. Once all the outside stuff is done before the snow arrives, it's a huge relief to know that now you can take your time with the indoor jobs over the winter.
Wood is all in, yard has been all cleaned up, barn has been emptied and is now filled with pieces of summer stuff - lawn tractors, push
lawn mowers, BBQ's, and last but not least, my little red car. It always makes me sad to see it get put away but knowing it will be coming back out in the spring gets me through the storm days!

We had a large pile of gravel in the yard as well, and that is now also spread around the place, so it's really looking much tidier, thanks to our neighbour, Frank.  Between all those jobs, we tried to take the dogs for a long walk/run in the back fields and woods most days. Well, we walked but they sure liked the run. Not only is it good for them, it's also good for us as well. When Abby goes home at the end of this week, we'll have to try to keep up this routine with Cooper - he really does enjoy it so much.

I also spent the weekend getting a bit of a head start on some Christmas baking.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

I'm going to post some photos on our website and facebook page just in case anyone in the area needs some help with their Christmas Baking. 

I also did some baking for a Christmas party we're catering at the beginning of December.  Now it's time to give my Wee kitchen a good cleaning. I think that will be my job for today.

Final confirmation today from my friend Petra. She's arriving from London on the 15th of December so I have almost precisely one month to get the house in order and Christmas sorted out.  Yikes!!!

I just had to include this photo of Cooper and Celery lounging on Coopers mat in front of the fire the other morning. Looks like a fairly serious conversation going on!

Tuesday, November 7th - Only 7 weeks till Christmas - but who's counting!

Okay, don't hit me for that one. The time between now and December 25th will go much faster than we would like. Just doing my bit to keep everyone up to date!

Another crazy weather week. Temperatures up and down like a roller coaster but still often on the higher side. Yesterday it was quite windy but 18' so how crazy is that?  I guess the best part of that scenario for everyone is we're not using a lot of heating fuels, be it oil or wood or whatever. I remember the first fall I was here and I had the fire going in September, but then again I was a wimpy girl from Ontario and was yet acclimatized to cool damp weather. But along with all this warm weather we've had some very strong winds. One morning I went out after a particularly blustery day and saw very few leaves on the front lawn, where the large trees are, but a big pile in the back yard. Thank you mother nature for raking the leaves for me (of course the large hill of gravel helped stop them).

Another productive week. I've been working on a project for the past few weeks, but I can't tell you what it is as it's a Christmas surprise. But it's finally finished and I'm ever so glad. One more project to get going on and then I'm pretty much done. It really helps that I don't have tons of people to come up with gifts for.  I also spent an entire day cleaning and organizing my craft room. It's been so neglected for such a long time and had become something of a dumping ground. But now it's looking fabulous again and I can't wait to get onto the next project.

Bernie flew up to Ontario last week to attend a funeral. He flew out of Charlottetown but flew back into Moncton. So on Wednesday afternoon Brenda and I went on a quick road trip to pick him up. We left after she was done her bus run and got to Moncton with little time to spare. We had hoped to have a nice dinner somewhere but we ended up at a Thai fast food place sharing an entree. But actually, it was really quite tasty. It was also very close to the airport so we got there in time to pick him up.
It was a beautiful evening for a drive and not a moose was spotted - we always breath a huge sigh of relief and the muscles just automatically relax once we get onto the bridge.

Brenda was leaving on Thursday along with Meghan and Maureen, to drive up to Montreal, to visit an aunt. Our neighbour, Sharyn is also away, so I thought the only polite thing to do is invite both husbands over for supper. Pat and Bernie came over on Saturday evening and we enjoyed hearing all about Pat and Sharyn's recent trip to Ireland. It was quite a lovely evening - good company, good food, good wine, does it really get any better?

Our other friends, Charles and Laura, have gone up to Ontario for two weeks - one week for a conference and one week to visit friends and family. We're dog sitting  Abby - their  Great Pyrenees. She's a beautiful dog and a pleasure to have around. With this nice weather, it's great to take them for walks down the back lane and let her and Cooper run in the fields and explore in the woods. Also not so bad for us either, to get out there and do some tromping around in the fields - a little fresh air and exercise.

Brenda's coming over this afternoon to help make cabbage rolls. We acquired a few cabbages yesterday from the Salvation Army. They have way more than they can use thanks to gleaning. For those of you who don't live on the island, let me tell you about gleaning. We grow all kinds of vegetable crops here on PEI. All crops are mechanically harvested in one way or another. But these methods aren't fool proof. Some produce stays behind in the fields, whether it's potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbages, etc. So once the farmer had taken what he can, the rest has historically been left to rot in the field, and just get plowed under for the next year. So now it's quite acceptable for groups to go into fields after harvesting and pick up what's left. We've done that a few times in the past with local potato fields. There was actually a story about it on CBC yesterday morning. The person doing the gleaning can keep 1/3, another 1/3 is offered to the farmer, but in most cases they don't take it, and the remaining 1/3 goes to groups like the Salvation Army. So you can well imagine how much product they might receive during this time of year. Lloyd just happened to stop by the church for something yesterday and they were more than grateful to have him take a few cabbages. Waste not, want not!  Hence the need to make cabbage rolls.

Tuesday, October 31st - Happy Halloween!

Good Tuesday morning! Gosh, the days are getting so short. As I sit here at 7:10 in the morning, it's still pitch black dark outside. I suppose that will change slightly for a short time when the time goes back this coming weekend.

Our mild weather still continues. It's quite remarkable to have temperatures close to 20' on a regular basis at the end of October, but we'll take it.  This nice weather was a contributing factor in finally getting Lloyd up in the air.

He went for his first flight in over a year and a half, on Saturday. He went out to do some circuits and get his head back into the game. I was going outside to the garage to get something when I heard a small plane overhead. I looked up and saw what I was pretty sure might be Lloyd. As I watched, it made a couple of circles over our property, so I knew it was him. I was standing in the yard waving like a mad fool, but not sure if he saw me.

He flew again on Sunday, when he moved the plane to Summerside to be housed in a hangar out there. Bernie drove out to pick him up when he was landed.

Brenda was away on Saturday and Sunday at her annual girls weekend, so I invited Bernie to join us for supper. Meghan was out helping him so she came over as well. I was making lasagna, so it was easy to make a smaller vegetarian version as well. I made fresh pasta, tomatoes from our garden were in the sauce, and the ricotta used was made from our goats milk. Pretty much a local product, I would say.

I got some great news this week - my friend in London, England, is coming over to visit over Christmas. I'm really looking forward to sharing a Canadian Christmas with her. She's from New Zealand and her family, who also live in England, are going to Australia/New Zealand for 3 months and will be away for Christmas, so I suggested if she had enough time off work, she should come here. I was surprised to learn that she's never had snow at Christmas so I really hope Mother Nature cooperates.  She's flying into Halifax and we're going to pick her up and we should be able to come back on the boat as it will still be running when she arrives on the 15th.  Now I'm really looking forward to Christmas and all the festivities that go with it. I was reading the November Buzz yesterday and Decembers will likely have lots of ideas to keep us busy while she's here. She will be leaving on the 1st of January, the same day I'm planning to fly up to Ontario so Lloyd will drop me off and then take her to Halifax. Again, hopefully the weather cooperates!

And to start preparing for our Christmas feast, the wild cranberries over on the VanGaal property are now ready. Brenda has picked quite a few so I think I'll need to go over and pick some to freeze to make our own festive cranberry jelly in December.