About Me

October 31, 2020

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

October 30, 2020

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

October 29, 2020

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

October 28, 2020

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

October 25, 2020

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

October 24, 2020

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