Halloween 2020 ~ Outside the Cottage.

A collection of shots from outside the

cottage tonight. A full moon. A full

night. Tiny goblins. Tons of laughter.

Gratefulness for our decorations. But

for us, it was a fun night and worth all

the work to see happy families. G'nite!

~ Chy

Halloween 2020 ~ Inside the Cottage.

As dusk falls, our cottage starts to light up

with candle light and our outside lighting. 

Candles to warm our hearts on a chilly

Hallows Eve. I love candles in the Fall.

In the sitting room in the front of

the house. Candles and cards ....

Spider web and spooky pieces to

scare the little goblins who will visit.

Boo! Candy in the bin waiting

for the scary kids! And adults!!

More candles in the window in the

dining room overlooking the veranda.

More in the dining room. And the

Butler's Pantry over in the corner.

Looking down from the front hall 

to the back of our little cottage. 

Pumpkins every where! Many are

candle or candle holders. Sweet.

In our front hall. We had so much fun decorating

this year, even in this new Covid life. Our little

trick or treating visitors number less than 20 over

the evening but we loved spoiling each of them,

especially this year with so many things that were

taken away. It was nice to have something to look

forward to, and to have a chance to chat with our

neighbors. It was lovely to hear laughter again and

see such sweet (but spooky) smiles! Covid didn't

win this one. Glad our community came together.

Hope your evening was fun.

Happy Halloween!!

~ Chy

Finally, Ikea!

After 33 weeks at home, only going in to town for

groceries, gas and an occasional trip to Indigo where

we felt safe, we have not ventured in to any other

establishments to minimize all our Covid~19 risks.

I've been waiting FOREVER to visit Ikea! And finally

we got to go this week. No line ups, very small crowds

and we even felt safe enough to have some lunch. My

dd had fries and garlic toast, and I had a spinach salad.

After a yummy meal, we ventured out to the various

floors to see what was new. Clearly, our Ikea has been

redesigned and it was fun to explore all the new areas.

Finally, we made our purchase and headed home to

build my new Raskog cart and put up a bar in the art

studio to hold metal tins for all my supplies. Finally!

Do you have an Ikea close to your home?

If you do, do you get to shop here often?

~ Chy

My Favorite Show.

Every week, I love to make a warm cup of tea

and settle down to watch "Call the Midwife.

There is something about the theme song, the

acting, the feel of the sets and the stories that

make me tune in. Now that they are in the 60's,

I'm watching with a new fascination as this

would have the era my mom and dad had my

brother and I. Do you love this show as well?

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 31.

Happy Halloween to those who participate

in this fun filled day. Even in this crazy year!

Our little guy is away this weekend but we are

still all decorated and ready to hand out candy

to our neighbors and their children. In our rural

subdivision, a thread started about what everyone

thought for the evening ~ staying home or going

out and the majority were still going to hand out

candy. I'm happy this is something we can all do

and have fun, while still staying safe. We bagged

up our candy in to colorful themed bags and they

have sat for some time. We'll be using a set of

tongs to choose a bag and put it in to the child's

Halloween bag so everything is safe. We often

only get between 8 and 12 kids out here and it

sounds like that's what it will be for tonight as

well this year. I hope the kids all have fun, that

no one becomes ill and this is a lovely memory

in a year that has been so full of sorrow and

hard times. Wishing you a lovely Halloween!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 30.

Waiting for our little guy to get off the

bus the other day. It had been frosty that

morning but was now sunny and warm.

Took this shot of a plant with droplets.

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 29.

Last week, on one of the cooler days when we still had a bit of snow on the ground, I started chatting with a friend online and when we realized we had a lot of catching up to do, I made a cup of tea and settled in for a good time. The tea warmed my body and the conversation, my heart. I so miss talking with people in person. I love that each day I get to connect with my staff and clients on the phone or by Zoom. I'm glad we're all safe and I have a comfortable cozy cottage to work in. But I do miss conversing face to face, live, in person. I know Covid is continuing and we have to be patient. In time, when we can be together again, I will cherish even more those moments and those conversations. 

This week was supposed to be quiet but it's turned in to a crazy, hectic week. All good stuff, just a lot of it in a short time span. Today, I have a 3 hour webinar with the leadership team at my hospice. I've only been a Director for a short time, so I'm very excited to attend this first event for me as a member of this team. We're small (4 of us plus our ED) but we're mighty! A short break to eat some lunch and then I have several counselling sessions, then the kid gets off the bus, a bit of play time, dinner and then a baby loss support group meeting tonight. Tomorrow is finally a bit quieter though I do have 2 grants that are due that I'll be pressing send in the morning. Appointment with my Naturopath in the afternoon for my 1st of 4 shots to boost my immunity against any flu bugs that may be present this Winter. Looking forward to a quiet night tomorrow with NO meetings. Saturday is busy with my kids grief program and counselling, then it's Halloween and we're all ready for the little goblins. Sunday I hope will be a true day off that we can just enjoy and relax! Working away on my Christmas shopping so we're ready in case our community gets shut down again. Cases are rising, so we're hoping to stay ahead of the game again. Only way to do it.

Wishing you a beautiful Fall day!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 28.

Hugs to end off a busy few days.

We could always use an extra hug!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 27.

The bit snow we got has melted and now

we're back to sweater weather again. So

very sunny and warm. It's hard to believe

that in just 8.5 weeks, we'll be covered up

in snow again and celebrating Christmas.

Exciting but sad too as it will be quite a

different season for most of us as we can't

see all of our friends and family. We will

make it all work. It sure won't be the same

but maybe it will make future years special.

Are you looking forward to Christmas?

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 26.

A letter arrived in our mail today! Not

a bill or a flyer but a sweet written letter.

One of my favorite things in the world

is to open the box and see a letter inside.

Do you love to get letters?

~ Chy

Fall Leaves.

Fall brings on so many memories,

like jumping in big piles of leaves!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 25.

 

The little guy in our cottage is now

taking the bus home to our little lane.

It's so nice right now to now have to

stop my work part way thru the day.

He's growing up so quickly. Walking

home from where the bus drops him,

we talked about all the deadfall and

next thing I know, he's dragging small

branches to our fire pit pile. I didn't

have to ask him to do this, he just took

it on himself. So impressive. It's truly

nice to have a tiny helper with energy!

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing .... my warm and cozy pyjamas! Complete with fuzzy socks and slippers.

What I'm reading .... "Christmas on Coronation Street."

What's happening in my kitchen .... the dishwasher is running.

What's outside my window .... snow is gone, our Halloween Decorations are up and our Christmas Lights are lit up on the house. I'm sure you can see our cottage from space tonight!

What I'm thankful for .... good health. 

What I'm smelling .... Fall candles. 

What I'm hearing .... "Escape to the Chateau" on tv.

What I'm crafting .... working on the dollhouse. Still!

What's on my mind .... meetings upcoming this week. It's going to be a hectic week, so lots of planning will be in order to stay on top of it all!

Words to live by .... 

Perfect words for the state of the World ....

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 24.

 

We had our first snow last week. It was much earlier than we're used to and the air is definitely 10 to 15 degrees colder than usual for this time of year. After all the prediction that we would be enjoying a very long and warm Fall, this was a big surprise. I'm so thankful though that we were well prepared and everything in the garden, and around the acreage was all ready for Winter. We still have to test the Christmas lights that dh hung on the house last week and straighten up the garage so we can park inside after leaving our cars outside all Summer. Grateful for a warm garage!

The bit of snow you see in the pictures above did melt later in the day. But the cold air has remained and today, we woke up to a white landscape, with big flakes falling down like Christmas Eve! I think this may stay, at least for a few days. Next week, we're supposed to go back to warm temperatures and likely this will all melt again. I guess this sums about our Covid year ~ things change in the minute and we just keep rolling with it. Nothing else we can do!

Except make soup .... yup, that's what we do when the weather is not the best outside. We create warm things in our kitchen to nurture our bodies and our souls. Soup, made from scratch. Buns from a recipe. Hot drinks and lots of laughter keep us going thru the Winter. We spent some time figuring out what we can do thru the long, dark months ahead. Hygge will be in full swing here once again!

What do you do to get thru the Winter?

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 23.

One of my last jobs, before the snow

arrived, was to turn over the dirt in all

the raised garden boxes in the veggie

patch. It was a big job but one I love

to see done as the dirt always looks so

fresh and ready for the Spring planting.

~ Chy