Weekending

Did you remember to spring ahead this morning? I didn't! *grin*

Our day started with my usual lighting of the woodstoves, making sure everyone got breakfast, puttering around the kitchen tidying up, planning for lunch and today I popped on a pot of bones and veggies for chicken soup. Just before we reached lunch which was now past lunch I realized that I was truly running an hour behind. I had joked on my twitter page that I had been living in the past all morning but the truth of it was that I never caught up with the time today!

So I decided that I was not going to set my clocks ahead today since I simply just could not catch up!! That's right I had my own personal time zone for the entire day and tomorrow we'll catch up to the rest of you LOL. I swear sometimes it's a good thing we live in the sticks where we can march to the beat of our own drum *grin*.

We've had quite the run of weather to with sun, rain and snow flurries and sometimes they were happening all at the same time. The temperature in the shade today was just above freezing so the kids had to do a lot of running and jumping to keep warm but when they realized that just wasn't working for them they came up with a new plan to help keep themselves warm....

Chicken warmers!

I bet you didn't know that chickens make great hand warmers *grin*. The kids would run into the pen, pick up the closest chicken, tucking their hands around their warm fluffy bodies and warmed up a bit. Plus the chickens just loved the extra attention :)

In payment for providing warmth for their little hands my youngest two collected pine cones from the mugo pines in our front yard and blades of grass to create a soupy treat for the chickens. You've got to love their imaginations! The chickens weren't to keen on their treat but did pluck out the odd blade of grass for a nibble :)

Before my husband left for work on thursday he had been a busy boy demolishing my old clothesline stand. It had been getting pretty rickety and rotten and he knew that I really wanted a new one so he finally tore it down. I can't wait for my replacement stand. The warmer days are just around the corner and I can't wait to get the laundry out to air dry again. For now though the scrap lumber has been stuffed in the back of our horse trailer so we can haul it down the the bottom of our property for a big bonfire when he returns :)

I've been making a lot of homemade yogurt to. It is sooo good! I just have to remember to make sure I put it on in the evening so it's ready for our granola in the morning :)

How was your weekend?

Hugs,
Rosina

Weekending

It has been a simply beautiful weekend full of bursts of sunshine, squeals of laughter, splashing in the kiddie pool, weeding, planting, crazy flash rain squalls and time playing together :)

There was stick tossing in the raging river...

glimpses of the pair of canada geese that have a nest in our pond...

the calls from our cow as he begged for more clover and handfuls of grass...

major growth spurts in the vegetable garden...

baking sweet strawberry galettes, grinding wheat for pastry and rye breads, cookie mixing, a whole lot of finger licking and lip smacking...

and of course enjoying the fruit of all our work :)

Now you know where we've been hiding *grin*. Our days are just bursting with activity. Some of it chores but there seems to be an awful lot of play LOL.

I was listening to a podcast today about the different stages of a child's development and how important play and imagination are in those precious younger years and it was so reassuring to hear. Sometimes I feel that I am way to easy going and there isn't enough academics to counter balance the free time but I know they are learning everything they need to know and more and I just want them to enjoy every minute of childhood. There will be many days ahead to learn the hard stuff. For now I want them to spend as much time as they can exploring nature, creating things out of found materials, letting their creativity shine and learning gently through our daily routine :)

Ahh to be a child again would be such a treat :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Weekending & Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!
The kids surprised me this morning with little pencil drawn cards chock full of xoxo's and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers. Oh it smells and looks just wonderful and it was such a treat :)

I can't believe it has been a week since I was last here! Hubby was home most of the week so we did a lot of work around the yard but it also gave me a chance to take a special trip down island with just my mom. An early mother's day outing you could say :)

We ended up in Coombs which is such a fun place to visit. Every spring they open up their little garden nursery full of super healthy looking veg starters, herbs and perennials...

and there is all of the great fresh fruits and vegetables in the market along with dishes, textiles and more. We had lunch at the restaurant and then slowly made our way back up north. I can't remember the last time we had a mother daughter day without the children, just the two of us :) It was really nice.

Back on the home front our house has been getting some attention. I finally got a new storm/screen door. Yay :)

The old one had an unfortunate incident with a mad one horned goat on a rampage and by the time he was done head butting it only the frame of the door was left. Yes it's true... not a stitch of screen or glass left *grin*. I can look back on it now and have a good laugh but in the heat of the moment you can be sure I was not impressed *grin*.

We have a great re-use store located in the next town that is operated by Habitat for Humanity and people donate all sorts of used building supplies that the sell to raise funds for building new homes for those in need and that is where I finally found my new to me screen door :) Can you believe that I got it for only $20!! All it needs is the screen repaired which is super easy and all of the glass and paint is pretty much like new!

The old railing around our sundeck came down this weekend to. It was in really rough shape. Most of it was rotten and the giant juniper hedge growing around it had wound itself through many of the spaces in the boards so hubby had to bring out the big tools to rip it down. Why use a hammer when you can use a chainsaw :)

So with the deck down this is going to be the future spot of my new greenhouse :) Hubby's been working on plans, figuring out measurements for fitting in the windows and how to make it all work when it's only going to be 8 x 11 feet.

And to top it all off my dad surprised us with a whole bunch of rough cut cedar that he hand cut on his mill :) This is such a blessing! It will save us so much money and I love the skookum size of the big 2 x 6's. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be done and ready to use by the beginning of next month :)

Camping season is inching ever closer as well and every summer we have strict campfire bans here on the island which is no fun. So this year we purchased one of the new propane fire pits that have a low flame, throw off a nice bit of heat, don't spark like a normal campfire and they are allowed during the fire bans :)

Hubby wanted to try it out so we had it set up on the front porch and it really will be nice to use it this summer because sitting around an empty fire pit in the evenings while camping is just not fun!

Hope you all had a great weekend :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Weekending

I thought I'd share a few snapshots from our weekend :)
It has been a beautiful couple of sunny days which was a lovely change from the rain and weird hail storms we've been having although as I type this I think we are heading back to stormy days by the look of the gray clouds that are sweeping across the blue sky!

The children have been enjoying the first dandelions of the season and making necklaces, bracelets and earrings with them. I can't think of a better way to use them up :)

Under a big oak tree in the backyard we have an old tractor that we use for parts and it is the perfect refuge during a flash rain storm or when it's to hot out :) It makes a pretty good play place to as the steering wheel gets a good workout and all of the knobs and levers are cranked back and forth *grin*.

Of course with three bums and only one rusty old tractor seat it just doesn't accommodate everyone so naturally someone has to ride shotgun on the giant tire *grin*.

Lately my oldest has been using it as a bit of a learning tool as he takes apart bits of the engine at a time to see how things work together. This weekend he freed up the gear box which has been sticking and he was rather pleased that it can now be shifted into first, second and third gears *grin*. It will never run again as it is missing to many parts and seized but how wonderful it is that he can tear it apart and rebuild to his hearts content :)

It wasn't hot enough to dry up all of the puddles but what is a puddle without someone splashing in it :)

Sending warm thoughts to all of you this Sunday afternoon.

Hugs,
Rosina

Taking In The Beauty Surrounding Us

Talk about disbelief this morning! This was the scenery that greeted me when I looked out the kitchen window as I made breakfast. It didn't last long but it has brought below zero temperatures again despite the gorgeous sunshine that graced us today :)

I wanted to treat the kids today so we went down to the little corner store and they got to pick out a little candy and we drove the end of the road where it narrows and stops abruptly...

where the wooden planks and rocky edges join as one with the Johnstone Strait :)

The hues of blue welcomed us and the icy wind whipped around the car but the view was divine. We are so blessed to live only minutes from the ocean. It has to be my favorite place on earth to be :)

So while the kids munched on their treats I enjoyed the weekend edition of the paper...

and they all took turns using the binoculars to look for ships and signs of whales and seals. We had an amazing experience of seeing one of the young bald eagles testing out its hunting skills as it swooped down and attempted to snatch a fish from the ocean's surface! It missed but still very cool :)

Crew boats heading out to the nearby camps had a bit of a bumpy and lumpy trip today as they crashed their way across the strait through the white caps and I was just happy. Oh so happy taking the beauty in around me and listening to the giggles in the backseat :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Weekending

Oh happy weekend :) We got to see some more of that ever elusive sunshine so I took my baby tomatoes outside for a little light therapy *grin*. They were outgrowing their little jiffy sevens anyways so it was time for an upgrade to larger pots. One of the cool things about tomatoes if you have never grown them before is that you can re-pot them and bury them right up to their necks in soil so that just their leaves and a wee bit of stem are sticking out of the top of the dirt. This actually helps them to grow a stronger root structure all up that buried stem. The only tricky part is when you have short and tall seedlings. Sometimes the taller ones don't get buried quite as deep as you would like :)

Hubby tackled the big job of trimming all of the hedges that surround our home. They are quite extensive as they run up and down our long driveway and fully enclose our backyard but this year he had it a bit easier :) In past years he would cut them using heavy clipping shears but he finally spoiled himself and bought an electric one which makes the job much easier and quicker!

L and I spent a good chunk of the morning out in the field raking up leftover hay from feeding the cow over the winter and putting it into the compost bin. I took a minute to turn some of the compost already in the bin before adding the hay and it is already turning into black gold. It won't be long now and we'll be able to use it :)

The boys kept themselves busy in the dirt pile creating roads with their tonka machinery and creating pirate hideouts for their playmobil men to play in. Of course a pirate play scene wouldn't be complete without an ocean to float their boat in so a mud puddle was created *grin*.

I had mentioned how we were dreaming of camping the other day and Hubby must really have camping on the brain because out came our travel trailer and it got a good scrubbing :) All of the windows got a new coat of silicone around them to prevent any leaking and it's all plugged in and raring to go!

And today we loaded up the kids into the truck and hit one of my all time favorite trails along the estuary. I'm completely exhausted tonight so I'll have to share more photos of our nature walk tomorrow :)

I hope you all had a great weekend to!

Hugs, Rosina