Tuesday, August 29th - a busy birthday month!

They say time flies when you're having fun. I must be having a blast cause I can't believe it's the end of August already. Where has the summer gone?

When we get to the kids birthdays I know that fall is just around the corner.

A belated Happy Birthday to Meghan, who turned 15 on Sunday

Cavendish Beach Music Festival - July 2010

and an early Happy Birthday to Tristen who will be 12 on Friday!  Where has the time gone?

 First bonfire of the season - April 2011

And where has the summer gone?  But we usually get some pretty nice weather in September and often into October as well. The nice part of it is there aren't quite so many bugs as in July and August.

We made a decision on Friday to participate in a fall flavours event : "Farm Day in the City". It's an opportunity for farmers and the like to showcase their products. There are also craft people as well as folks selling all manner of items and products. We've ordered a large banner with our Wee Bee name and logo on it to hang in front of our table. It's really just to get some exposure. We'll have business cards, a slide show running with food and event photos (not that we have that many) as well as some samples and a few items for purchase. It's really more just to get our name out there and this is an excellent way to do that. Especially if it's a nice day, there are throngs of folks who pack the streets downtown for this event. It it rains, not so much. Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates and brings us sunshine.

I've been working on a list of things I need to make before, to be prepared. I spent Saturday morning up the road picking what turned out to be the last of the raspberries at Coffins. I hadn't planned to make any jam this year but this was a good motivation. It took quite a while to pick them as they were few and far between but at least I got some. Then it was off to our friends back field to pick blueberries. Last night was spent out in the "Wee Kitchen" making a double batch of raspberry blueberry jam.

Summer 2011

 Every time I make it, I'm reminded of one of James' visits a few years ago. (as you can see, he's grown a bit since then) We'd gone to Alan's and picked raspberries on our way home from somewhere. I was looking through my Small Batch Preserving Cookbook to find a recipe and there was one for Raspberry Blueberry Jam. James thought that sounded good, just too bad we didn't have any blueberries. I told him if he took a walk down the back lane he'd find some in the fields back there. So off he went, and I have to say, he's the best blueberry picker I've ever met. There was not a single stem or leaf in that bowl. He did an excellent job of picking but I doubt he'll ever pick them again. It took him quite a long time but that's because he was so meticulous.  So this jam will forever remind me of one of his visits to the island.

Farm Day is the 1st of October so we should have a bit of honey by then as well. I'm going to bake a few varieties of cookies so folks can sample them as well as a couple of other things to try. We'll be pretty limited in what we can serve so I have to give it a bit of thought.

We have a tent for shelter to keep out the elements, on three sides at least, and a couple of tables so we should be all set.  It will be an interesting experience as even though we will have a little bit of product for sale, it's primarily the service that we're promoting. Hopefully it will be successful.

Sunday was spent baking cookies for Cavendish. We took 36 dozen packages to them last Tuesday and by Saturday there was 4 left. But this will likely be our last order. Now that school is starting soon, there won't be many tourists in the Cavendish area so the store shuts down usually in mid-September.   I imagine we will likely get the same contract again next year. They seemed happy with what we did this year.

Other than that, not a lot going on right now. Lloyd is getting ready for his bike trip to Newfoundland. Lots of little details to work out before heading  on an adventure such as this. Part of the challenge is the time of year, and the part of the country. September isn't included in the 2 weeks of summer that is typical of Newfoundland!  Better dig out those long johns while you're packing.

And finally another little piece of our trip this summer - James was SUCH a good sport!

"I want to hold your hand...."