January bl(AH)s

January has indeed brought some snow here. 

We missed two large snow storms across the province in the last few weeks. 

One of them saw schools closed in the whole province, except for our county.

Kids were bummed that we didn't get a snow day.

But into Saturday night and Sunday morning, we got our snow and a canceled church service.

Big deal in our house, I sing in the choir and the kids are both altar servers. A sunny day off.

The most perfect time to test the smaller of our two ponds for ice skating.

Turns out, the ice was thick enough!

This is the first time in our 4 winters here that we are doing this. I am so excited!

The kids are excited! The neighbour's kids are excited!

My daughter facetimed a family from the ice and they came straight over to play hockey.

Here is our portuguese Zamboni team

They finally were able to trim the alder bushes/trees that took over the pond. 

I haven't seen this view before.

Now, my usually very sport obsessed son, 

( He does play basketball 2 days a week, and skating, but that is not enough for him) 

can play outside again.

I am looking forward to a neighbour hood hockey game on the pond with benches and a fire pit next to the oak trees. Hot chocolate, marshmallows and wieners on the fire. Yes, Winter at it's finest.

But most times, you will find me here.

(the most delicious Moroccan Tajine cooking on the woodstove)

And if I'm lucky, I will get to knit a little bit of this.

(look ma, it's not socks!)

 

Oh yes, for record keeping, I must have a picture of my boy, who is now 12!

At the moment, he is heavily into rubiks cube, (and anything puzzle related.. triangles, shape shifters, holes in the middle of the cube), Basketball, skating and dreaming of sailing in the summer.

Have a good one, keep warm.

Amanda

another day of needle felting

Oh Look! More Snow!

This week saw Monday as a holiday-Heritage day, Tuesday was a snow day- no school, Wednesday Neve stayed home because she was sick, today- half a school day due to impending weather.

 And it hasn't stopped snowing since 5:30 this morning. 

Over that period of time, Rafael went crazy on the needle felting.

Big and small

 Even my uncle tried it out!

 I'm feeing too blah to say much more. And my feet hurt. 

The kids are playing a massive game of cards with a twist.

They have the deck of cards in the middle of the den area=big long space on the 2nd floor.

They each run to an end and meet in the middle to turn over the cards for their play.

Much stomping and heaving breathing. 

And imagination.

And exercise indoors that this mama can approve of.

I need to get lost in something on Netflix. :}

Have a good one.

Amanda

how to pass the snow days away...

Day two of snow higher than a rhinoceros. 

Yesterday was Sunday, so that's ok. I managed to clear up enough to enjoy day 2-today of snowed in.

I've been threatening to do needle felting every storm day. Today was it!

(oh, I don't drink soda pop, but Propeller Ginger Beer, pictured int he back,  is my most favourite. It's made by Propeller Brewing Co. in Halifax. It's so gingery that it makes me sneeze and burns in my ears. I love it. 

If my husband ever gets a free tank at his work, Boxing Rock Brewing Co., 

he promises me to make a batch of Ginger Beer soda.)

 Neve made a dog from Wool Toys and Friends

 She made it a little bigger and added spots. The original was to fit in a pocket of a felt picture.

 I had some fun making this here frog from Wool Buddies

 with big googley eyes

 and polka spots

 I also finished off my socks! Hurrah! Spent time with my boy watching Harry Potter #4

 Here is a sad picture of our wood pile. It's only the middle of February people!

We don't have enough wood.

We do have oil heat, so not a huge panic, just huge $$

 All of our 5 doors were snowed in. And they open outward.

We just left this one for now. But I must shovel it out before it freezes. 

Don't want to have to deal with all of that melt off.

 Look way in the back to the left of the pole. There is a green handled pitch fork in the ground there.

See it? no? under the snow.

 And under the snow is all of the potential food for the deer. Poor things.

They have been in our yards eating the bark off the trees and my holly bush. grr.

There haven't been any tracks since the storm, so I don't know what they are eating these past few days.

yes, a lot of snow. We are all fine.

 At least we didn't have all the rain and flooding in Halifax 

or power outages in the Annapolis Valley area. 

I do hope there is school tomorrow though. 

I have to work.

Ciao, 

Amanda

craft making

Howdy!

Well, winter has set in and regular routine has taken it's hold again.

There's been less screen time in this house to make some of these instead.

 It comes from the book The Cuter Book by Aranzi Aronzo

The kids love this book because 1. the felt friends are cute, 2. the instructions are amazingly illustrated.

I get them to trace the pattern and cut it out, then I cut it from felt. 

They don't want to mess up the felt cutting so they leave that to the pro. :} 

Their stitching has improved.

 I even made the bunnies. (sorry sucky cell phone picture)

 Here are a few other feltie books we've enjoyed looking through and pondering over which to do next.

 I was so happy when Mollie Makes had an American edition and so sad when they canceled it.

But, to their credit, Mollie Makes UK are honouring their North American subscriptions by substituting with the UK version. A great win. (I regret that I didn't sign up for a 2 year subscription).

The UK version usually comes with a gift. And yes, they sent it over here too.

Cool beans.

 Even though the Christmas Mitten rush is over, I still get calls for mittens. I really need to stock up for such calls, as sometimes, people are just passing through and are not able to wait for a few days while I make them. There are some though, that live just close enough to put in an order.

Thank you. I've been busy.

 And then, this happened!

 My lovely sailor boy turned 11!!!

But now, in this winter season, he's skating boy!

And that makes me so happy.

 This is not our pond, but the neighbour's field that floods. Perfect. It's a long one too.

Now our sailing and scooter boy can enjoy the outdoors in the winter. And that he does!

It's been a white winter wonderland in these parts.

Even the birds look good.

Have a good one,

Amanda

busy busy

We've been busy in this last week of school

Our friends had a sailing birthday party for their son. 

 What a great day for it. Sometimes, I still can't believe that I actually live here.

 And in our own back yard, we got a new octagon picnic table. I like how the seats are cut so you don't have to do that leg lifting thing to get in. We love it in there.

 Bought this mini, let's get wet, not really swimming pool for the kids. It should warm up by August.

 The garlic scapes have arrived. I debated tell my DH, 

as I think I can still taste the pesto he made from last years. STRONG

 This is very exciting! The brewery will be open in a few weeks. No firm date yet, I'll keep you posted.

There is much activity over there.

Soon you can open your own 6 pack in your own yard!

 And in sewing news, I've sewn a few of these monstys. Very popular whenever I sell them. Mothers tell me their sons are happy with their new bedtime buddies.

School's out! Well, almost, they have to go back for 1 hour on Friday for report cards. 

But really, we're on vacation! Planning on visiting this place today!

Have a good one,

Amanda

Mud. Mud. Everywhere is mud!

Last month, we had a huge drop of snow. I even blogged about it. It was wonderful. It has melted.

Now that snow is replaced with mud.

 Everywhere! 

 Hey, I've been on this earth a time and am not new to mud. We used to play in it as a kid.

 So I've been wondering why I'm so intune to it these days.

 The ground is spongy. Soft. Squishy.  Why does this intrigue me so?

 Then it struck me. In the middle of a step.

 I'm walking on the ground. The earth. The dirt.

 Not the sidewalk. Not the road. Not some man made ground cover. But the earth.

Just like this creature. (what is this creature print by our front door? It's huge!)

Having just moved from living in the middle of a large city for 20 years, I was walking on the earth. 

There's lots of it here in our little piece of nature and town. Often times, there are only sidewalks on one side of the street. You walk on the dirt. 

And after a melted dump of snow or a rain, the earth is soft. And muddy.

But it's all a moot point today. Because today....

 We're having some of this!

What's happening where you are?
Ciao,

Amanda