You're no bunny till some bunny loves you

Do you realize that Christmas is a mere 25 days away? I am trying to give hand made gifts again this year. Not all of them are made by me, but they are all hand made with love by talented artisans.This bunny was created by a blogger friend Jennifer and will be given to our youngest granddaughter, who will be turning 3 months old in a few days. Bunny has traveled from Nebraska to Nova Scotia, and will be moving on to Ontario soon.

The bunny is adorable, Jennifer, and I'm sure she will be well loved...just like our granddaughter!

(Added on Dec 1st: Whoops! Forgot to mention that this photo is courtesy of Jennifer. I edited the photo with Photoshop to liquify the background)

Snowflake Window

Begin doing what you want to do now.
We have only this moment,
sparkling like a star in our hand
and melting like a snowflake.
- Sir Francis Bacon Snowflake Window - Part 5 of 5

This window was salvaged from a house in Wileville (just outside of Bridgewater, NS) that was being renovated. The window was repaired and repainted white. I added snowflakes in white, pink, and pale mauve. I etched the inspirational words by hand using a dremel. The words are courtesy of Sir Francis Bacon...from over 400 years ago!

$150 Window measures 25 5/8 inches wide x 39 5/8 inches high. (sorry...can't be shipped!)

Sparkling like a star

Begin doing what you want to do now.
We have only this moment,
sparkling like a star in our hand

Snowflake Window - Part 4 of 5

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends!

Only This Moment

Begin doing what you want to do now.
We have only this moment,

Snowflake Window - Part 3 of 5

Begin doing

Begin doing what you want to do now.

Snowflake Window - Part Two of Five

Begin

Begin

Snowflake Window - Part One

Sunday Fundy Drive

A sunny day had us heading north to the Fundy Shore. A few photos for your viewing pleasure...

A BIG THANK YOU to all the folks who ordered my calendars....and still want them even though there is a photo glitch (one photo was repeated...totally my fault and not the fault of the printer). Who knows...maybe they will be a collector's item one day...like a coin minted incorrectly. ha! Calendars will be in the mail tomorrow.

Olympic Torch Relay

This is what it looked like in Lunenburg last night......for the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay.Lunenburg was selected as a "celebration community" for the Olympic torch. The torch is being run from coast to coast and is the longest domestic relay in Olympic history. The flame will be carried by 12,000 torchbearers across the country. The relay began on October 30th, and will complete its journey in Vancouver on February 12th. There was lots of excitement in the air as we all waited for the flame to arrive.We were entertained with music, and acrobats, and choirs, and glowing Coke bottles...

But finally the big moment arrived...
...and the flame was transferred to the stage.

We all sang Oh Canada. I usually get teary eyed when I sing our national anthem, but this time I actually cried. What a great country to live in!

And even though the Olympics are totally commercialized (glowing Coke bottles and all), it was a once in the lifetime experience and I was glad I was part of it. One of the event sponsors had a great slogan on their sign..."the journey just got better".

A good life slogan, don't you think? I think I'll change it to: The journey just gets better.

Lunch Date

Today I ventured off on my own, and drove into Halifax to meet Shelagh for lunch. I met Shelagh through the blogging world last year. She is such an inspiration for me...she's a very talented artist and photographer and writes a blog full of lots of interesting and informative things. We had lunch at The Coastal Cafe......coffee and dessert at the very modern Fred (an interesting place...hair salon at one end, restaurant and art gallery at the other end).

...and toured some side streets with our cameras. The houses above are apparently known as the "3 Sisters". There is a house beside them that must be the ugly brother...it's the same style but a dull beige.Thanks for a great day Shelagh!

A walk on the beach

Much to my horror and amazement, we discovered that we have not walked on the beach since the long weekend in September. We had to remedy that situation immediately and headed out to Risser's Beach today.I could hardly believe it was mid November! No gloves, no hat, and an unzipped jacket. The sound of the waves gently rolling in and the seagulls crying. A visit to the beach soothes my soul (not that it needed any soothing!) and makes me feel peaceful and, well, just good.

Just my man,my dogs,and me enjoying the afternoon. Two hours of sunshine and beach walking.I am the luckiest woman alive.

Everything but the kitchen sink

This is the first home I have owned where I can stand at the kitchen sink and look out the window as I wash the dishes. (the deal around here most of the time is that John cooks and I clean up). Unfortunately our window overlooks the driveway and car park...not too inspiring.

So...I have my windowsill cluttered up with Sara treasures. Here are my goodies...a glass candy dish that belonged to my mother-in-law...she was the sweetest lady in the world. In the dish are sand dollars and sea urchins found during our beach walks, an empty robin's egg I found on our driveway, and a glass pig. The pig has no significance...I just think he's cute.The small red glass cup says "Roseneath" and is being used as a toothpick holder. This was on display at my parent's house as far back as I can remember, and then my sister had it, but I don't know the history of it. The photos are of our first dog...a Siberian Husky named Bailey, and one of the last photos taken of my sister and me...Canada Day the year before she passed away.

My wee chicken collection...

An old fashioned mason jar filled with beach glass collected during our beach walks. An old marmalade jar given to me by DIL, holding two fantastic forks artistically created by Linda at the LTCreatesJewelry etsy shop. I ordered them to use in one of my stained glass windows...I was going to create one or two "kitchen windows" filled with stained glass and kitchen doodads...but I liked the forks so much I haven't dared use them yet! (by the way, Linda makes lovely jewelry too if you're looking for a unique Christmas gift). Lastly, the crystal butterfly was given to me by my dad...a most unusual gift from him. He used to give me practical things like outdoor thermometres and plastic things to put under your car tires when you get stuck...that kind of thing. So I treasure my butterfly, and it throws lovely rainbows on the kitchen ceiling on sunny days.

What treasures do you have on your kitchen window sill?

A visit to Peggy's

Yesterday John and I drove into Halifax for an appointment. We had lunch at a place called the Cobourg Cafe. I think we raised the average age a fair bit while we were there...seemed to be a favourite of the university crowd. I had a fantastic lunch of spicy peanut soup and greek salad. Yum.

We toodled back on the Lighthouse Route, and took a side trip to Peggy's Cove. I think it's the first time we've visited when it was warm! I love going at this time of year, because there are just a hand full of people around. Just the sound of the waves...oh yeah, and a helicopter giving us a fly by!
A final reminder...today is the last day to place your order for a 2010 Nova Scotia South Shore calendar.

Frosty

As of yesterday, we still had flowers going strong in our garden. I've never experienced garden flowers in November before! Last night we had a heavy frost, but some of them are still hanging in there. They are tucked into a sheltered spot just outside of Purgatory (our screened in porch).

The frosty morning had me headed outside with my camera and macro lens. John just shook his head and took both the dogs down for the paper as I moseyed my way along with camera in hand.I liked the way the sun was shining through one of our apple trees...looked black and white except for one of my windows.

Remember

We attended the ceremony in Bridgewater this morning. Usually Remembrance Day is cold and rainy, as if the heavens are weeping for the fallen. But today was lovely with blue skies. As the names of the dead were read aloud, a soft wind blew and leaves were gently falling.I found this photo in an old scrapbook of photos my dad took during World War II. He was a navigator in the Canadian Air Force and never talked about his experiences. His brother was killed in the war and buried in England in this cemetary.

2010 Nova Scotia South Shore Calendars

I'm really excited to offer professionally printed 2010 wall calendars of my favourite photos from our travels this year. Eleven of the photos I selected are from Nova Scotia's South Shore, one from Halifax, and one from Peggy's Cove. Here are snippets of the photos I chose: Each calendar page is 11 inches wide by 8 1/2 inches high (meaning the opened calendar will be 11 inches wide by 17 inches high).

The calendars include photos from LaHave, Dublin Shore, Carter's Beach, Blue Rocks, Peggy's Cove, Halifax, Lunenburg, Broad Cove, Beach Meadows, West Berlin, Voglers Cove, Northwest Cove, and Mahone Bay.

$15 each for the first 3 orders I receive (Nov 10th Update: the first 3 calendars have been sold...all orders are now $20), $20 each for everyone else. Add $3 for postage if you need them mailed. Orders will be accepted until Friday November 13th!

Want one (or more)? Email me: saraharley(at)ns(dot)sympatico(dot)ca

Listen

One week ago I picked up 2 guinea keets to add to our "chicky chick" crew. Last night when I went down to move them from their porch into the coop one of the small guineas was acting strange. It wasn't afraid of me, and just sat on the ground. I lifted it up into the coop, and then worried about it all evening. I thought maybe it was chilled (they were raised in a heated coop by our neighbour, and had not been exposed to the outdoors before we had them). I went down at 10pm to check on the hens, and both the small guineas seemed to be okay. Both were moving around when I shone the flashlight into the coop.This morning when I went to let the hens out, one of the keets was dead. So I went to get a bag and a shovel to take it away. And I cried. Shoulda listened to myself and warmed it up in the shed under our heat lamp. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference. But it maybe it would. So last week we went from 5 to 7. This week down to 6. Hope the other little guy makes it.

I tried something new with this window, and I'm not sure what I think about it. JK wanted a window with "beachy colours" to go in her office. The window is from a house in Beach Meadows, Nova Scotia. JK said she liked the glass globs, so I thought I'd try making one using only globs and not cut glass. This is a loose interpretation of a beach...green in the bottom corner to signify grass, peach colour for sand, and a mix of blues and clear for the ocean.

I'll have to ponder it for a while. But I am glad I listened to myself on this and tried something new. You never know unless you try, right?

Unplanned adventures

Monday was a glorious sunny day, and we decided to end our exploring drought...we headed south to Shelburne. Our plan was to stop in Shelburne for lunch, and then head back home along the coastal route....something we haven't done since September 2008. Here is a map of Nova Scotia...the red dot just north of Bridgewater is where we live. The red square on the lower left of the map is where we ended up exploring.We did stop in Shelburne, and had lunch at a Scotia Lunch...a rather soulless diner, but the food was great. We had some home made coconut cream pie to finish off the meal. John suggested we split a piece, much to his chagrin. He gallantly let me eat most of it! From here, our plans changed. John thought we should head further south-west, unchartered territory for us. Good thing he's persistant and puts up with a bit of my sulking about changing plans. (I am not a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal...I like making plans and sticking to them!) If you click on the map below, I think you'll get a blown up version that you'll be able to see better.We headed down to Cape Sable Island (not to be confused with Sable Island, where the wild horses run) and drove all along the coast back towards Shelburne. A causeway was built in 1949 to Cape Sable Island. This is one of the first things you see after crossing the causeway:Salt marshes, quite lovely at this time of year with the golden colours. Of course, making a living by the ocean is a dangerous thing. There are memorials all along the coast to commemorate those lost at sea.This is a war memorial with a beautiful poem We drove out to the point and saw the Cape Sable lighthouse, as well as a radar station that looked quite out of place. There were no trees and the landscape reminded me of many parts of Newfoundland. Don't the houses look lonely?We stopped to let the dogs have a run. It doesn't matter how cold or windy it is, I love walking the beaches.We wound our way along the shore until dusk started to settle in. Just before dark we discovered yet another stunning beach.White sand as far as you could see in both directions at Roseway Beach. But it was getting dark, and we still had a 1 1/2 hour drive along the "big highway" to get home. We'll have to get back to Roseway Beach...I'm looking forward to walking the length of it!

Another fantastic day exploring Nova Scotia.