Canada Day.

Tomorrow is the 154th birthday of Canada.

Each year, we gather to party and show honor.

But this year is different. Our country is in

mourning. We hold shame and we are all lost.

There is a movement to cancel our birthday

tomorrow. I'm torn. It is a dilemma. I'm also

thankful for Covid, as we can stay home and

don't have to choose if we'll be part of the big

celebrations or just quietly spend our time all

day with each other instead. Our dilemma ....

~ Chy

Cottage Life.

Cottage life is very eclectic. I imagine if someone lived in a modern mansion, everything would match and be very sterile looking. Or a home filled with minimalists may be quite stark and very open. I personally love a very comfy environment, one with items that suggests that we love our home but we also live in it. It's always tidy as I have pretty high standards. Except for the garage and the art studio. Those are always in a state of "projects are happening here" mode. I suppose it would look quite strange to have these two spots absolutely spotless. I would love them to be tidier than they are but can live with it if the rest of the cottage and the acreage are tidy and in order. Cottage living means soft colors that complement each other, lace curtains, framed photos, a variety of plants, doilies to soften furniture, birdhouses, lots of tiny lamps, soft couches and overstuffed chairs, wood floors and area rugs, colored cabinets, vintage stoves and hidden fridges, antiques gifted and antiques found, projects in progress, books everywhere and the sound of music and laughter. Cozy quilts, warm fireplaces, many windows of different shapes, big verandas and long hammocks. Green gardens, singing chickadees, croaking frogs and buzzing bees. Warm cookies cooling on the counter. Lemonade chilling in the fridge. Laundry drying in the sun. Blooming flowers and gravel paths. Cottage living.

Can you imagine it all? 

Or do you live in a cottage too?

Namaste.

~ Chy

Unbearable Heat.

It is so hot, the benches at the park have curled up.

It is so hot, people are dying from heat stroke. I can

not remember in my entire life this kind of heat. It's

so unbearable, but I am so thankful we have central

air in the cottage and at work. I wish I could work

in the garden today but other than watering it all, it

is not comfortable to be outside. So today, we'll stay

in and keep cool. I may do some office tidying and

work in the art studio but other than that, it will be

a lazy day of cooling down. Hope you stay cool!

Namaste.

~ Chy

Vacation Days.

It's 8:45 am in our cottage, and not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse! Today is the first day of my little vacation, which ended up coinciding with everyone else in the house. I'm the only one awake and only because we were originally going to head over to Costco at 8:00 am to pick up more cool items for the next few days. But this bed is too cozy right now to leave, especially as it's cool and quiet. So here I write, while everyone else sleeps. No complaints.

Had a chat with my boss a few weeks ago and vacation days came up. Turns out, everyone else in our hospice is amazing at taking days off, except for her and I. She informed me that I have the most days logged and should start to take them soon. I thought I might have 4 or 5 weeks but was quite shocked to learn that I actually have 10 complete weeks to use up! That's 2.5 months I could take off. But won't, because there is so much work to do right now in settling in to our space and re~opening all our programming. I think I'll take the bulk of it in little chunks, save a big chunk for Winter and use up a bit when we head to the coast for our son's wedding in September. The little chunks I'll centre around long weekends/stat holidays to get a nice rest in. Tomorrow is a stat (Canada Day), so with today, tomorrow and Friday, then the weekend, I have a nice little stretch to be lazy, or in my case, be slightly lazy but get a few things done on my task list! I'll check emails in the morning and late in the day, and my work phone will be off. I may take a few days next week to but if the weather is still so hot, I'm not going to get outside work done. At that point, I'll keep those days for another week when the weather is reasonable and I can work outside. My plan.

Are you good at taking holidays?

Or suck at it like me? Do share ....

Namaste.

~ Chy

Don't Lose Hope ....

~ Chy

Hot Riders.

Too hot for me but our neighbors were

out for a ride today in the heat. Brave!

~ Chy

Garden Gate.

Isn't this the most amazing garden gate?

Ours is sweet but not this ornate. Love!

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

Guess who's back to gracing our cottage?
Yes, it is our sweet little Oliver. He's back!

What I'm wearing .... my jean short overalls and a purple tank top, with grey socks and my black and purple runners. My black hat with a million flowers all over it. With all our hot weather, this was the next best thing to being naked!

What I'm reading .... still reading the same book. I'm slow ....

What's happening in my kitchen .... dinner prep is underway. BBQ tonight, with thick pork chops, corn on the cob and an amazing caesar's salad with bacon and croutons. I have a Mike's Hard Lime cooling in the fridge, just waiting to be cracked open and enjoyed. A treat at the end of a busy day.

What's outside my window .... our brand new, almost finished constructing shed, set on the brand new deck we built for it, and 8 pallets of brick pavers to start our hardscape landscaping. A Summer full of outside projects.

What I'm thankful for .... that after working so hard on all these projects, we're still married! We've found our rhythm. 

What I'm smelling .... the scent of fresh laundry that has just come out of the dryer. I LOVE this smell.

What I'm hearing .... the sound of dishes and silverware as we get ready to eat. Days like this we often forget to eat lunch, so dinner is very welcome tonight!

What I'm crafting .... dollhouse windows, flooring choices and fabric to sew. Excited to work on my granddaughter's dollhouse. Wish I had more time ....

What's on my mind .... the struggle in my mind over the call to cancel Canada Day this year, in light of all the newly found graves filled with Indigenous babies, children and teens. I've always felt so blessed and fortunate to be Canadian but today, I am struggling with this horrific piece of history that is now so public, as it should be.

Words to live by .... "the hot weather got me like ...."

Be well! Have a great week.

Namaste my blogging buddies.

~ Chy

No Open Windows.

It's too hot to leave the windows open.

It feels quite dark in our cottage right

now as we have the blinds closed and

the curtains drawn. Even with a/c, we

do still try to keep it cool in here so

we don't have to use the a/c all the time.

How are you staying cool this wickedly

hot this weekend? Namaste and stay cool. 

~ Chy

Sunday Morning.

Heat wave continues. We're up and off

to finish building our new shed before

it gets unbearably hot. Fingers crossed

we can get the last bits done today ....

Namaste. Stay cool!

~ Chy

Heat Wave.

We are heading out this morning to continue to work on our projects outside. But this time will be limited as we are now under a 10 day heat wave. Warnings out here to take care of ourselves, pets and our community. Calls are out for water for our inner city residents and for everyone to find a cool place to be and stay there. We'll come in after we get a bit of work done and enjoy the a/c as we get ready for our realtor to visit @ 1 pm. Just as we started thinking we should take advantage of the hot real estate market and sell our old house, the amazing family who have been renting it from us for the last 4 years made the decision to go "back home" as the husband is working 6 to 7 days a week out of town and she is raising 4 sweet boys all on her own. They are so sad to leave and we feel so incredibly blessed to have had such great tenants, our first. But now we can sell this home we've owned for 30 years (next month) and have 1 less thing to worry about. Fingers crossed it will sell well and quickly. This will be our first experience selling a home without my dad. He was an owner/broker with ReMax but died in 2002. Prior to that, he always took on our real estate transactions and not once did we actually ever have to put our home on the market. He would just ask his realtors if someone was looking for a house, show those prospective buyers, and bam! House sold, no commission. So lucky but this time, we'll have to go the traditional route. Thankfully, we're not living in the house and our renters have it so beautifully staged, so fingers crossed. I'll be so nervous until this is done, so hope it's fast! Wish us good luck. 

Wishing you an amazing day and hope wherever you are, the weather is not as hot as ours will be. If it is hot, stay cool. Namaste my dear and sweet blogging buddies.

                                     ~ Chy

Sunny Summer.

After a rainy week, we've had a great start to Summer with blue skies and warm air. It's going to get super hot next week, so I'm taking in the current forecast, which is decent temperatures but not brutally hot. This is my last week to work and then I'm going to be off for 2 weeks. No big plans yet but landscaping is high on the list, as well as re~staining this deck in the soft grey we chose, we do the front stairs as our builder didn't extend them to the columns like we asked, re~do the front path to the driveway (landscape pavers arrive this week), and re~stain the back deck in "Willow Mist" which is the lovely soft sage green we chose for back there. We did build the decking to hold the new shed this past weekend, so at some point, we'll also put the shed together, which makes me so happy as its a great size and we have a number of items that can come out of the garage and be housed in the shed instead. Then our plan is on a rainy day when we can't work outside, we'll re~organize the garage for the Summer. Can't wait to have that out of the way. Right now, the shed in its 2 gigantic boxes takes up an entire bay and its making it very difficult to move around in the garage. Frustrating. But we're almost there!

Work has been super busy and I'm looking forward to a nice break. We've settled in to a pretty good routine onsite. But the big change will be on July 5th, when all of our staff will be back together, in person, every day! I'll miss that as I won't be back to work until July 12th but we do see each other on Zoom all the time and most staff have come in a day here and a day there, so I won't miss anything. It will be fun to be back onsite once my holiday is over and see the offices filled up with staff. Right now, I'm at the end of the hall and can play my music thru the day as everyone who is currently onsite is at the other end of the hall. I'm going to have to get used to NOT playing my music so loud!

The birds woke me up extra early this morning so I'm now off to workout and shower, then drive in to work for the morning. I'll head home at lunch and work away this afternoon in our little office. No plans for tonight but likely I'll do some gardening as it will be cooler tonight. Last night, we were just going to head outside and stopped as the mama deer who frequents our forest had her brand new, still wobbly on his little legs baby deer with her. We froze then tried to capture some pictures. Mine are looking fuzzy so I'll ask my dd if hers turned out okay. They were so sweet together. I hope they continue to visit so we can watch the sweet baby grow. This happens each Spring but it still makes us stop and marvel. The moose family that visits has 2 babies this year as well. Tiny but impressive as well.

Wishing you a beautiful Tuesday.

Namaste my blogging buddies.

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing .... my black leggings with dark pink, white and green flowers. My hippy gauzy dress in dark pink that matches the flowers. Bare feet. It was a hippy kind of day!

What I'm reading .... "I Was Anastasia." Still reading. I've had a wicked headache all week ~ likely the humidity is the culprit. Not a lot of reading happened, outside of work related stuff. Today, no headache, so I might try and read a bit tonight. Unless I fall fast asleep in our comfy bed ....

What's happening in my kitchen .... closed up for the night. Clean and quiet. Ready for tomorrow's yummy creations.

What's outside my window .... very quiet outside tonight. A slight breeze is making the leaves dance on all the trees. The sun is getting lower and lower, and will set soon.

What I'm thankful for .... a sweet Father's Day for dh, a time of reflection about our dads, and missing our tiny babies a lot today. A beautiful but teary and hard day for so many. 

What I'm smelling .... my coconut cream on my hands.

What I'm hearing .... I just cleaned the kitchen, so I'm still smelling the dish soap ~ lavender, my favorite.

What I'm crafting .... our sweet granddaughter's dollhouse. Windows are on the way. I do wish I could create the wreath above. Isn't it sweet? I love the coordinating soft colors.

What's on my mind .... how much we got done today .... I made dh breakfast in bed, we then went outside and levelled the ground, laid down the landscape fabric, gathered all the tools and the wood, and put together the deck that next week we'll build the new shed on, tidied the greenhouse, took the covers off the deck furniture, water the plants and the garden, swept the deck, planted my last 2 pots, while dh and dgs took the bins down the lane so the garbage truck can pick them up tomorrow I had my shower, then came down to our neighbors out on the deck ~ lovely visit, then we sat out in the sun for a while, came in when we got too hot, dh had his shower then went to play a game with dgs, I sorted and filed all the paperwork for May and June, tidied, vacuumed, dh made an amazing bbq dinner, then we celebrated him with gifts and cards, laughter and ice cream cake. Now everyone is ready for work and school tomorrow, and the cottage is quiet. I'm sure it won't take long for any of us to fall asleep tonight. Busy week but I only plan to work until late Wednesday, then I'm going to take a bit of time off from the 23rd until the 5th of July. Many plans to figure out before Thursday. And time to relax too.

Words to live by .... love this one .... hope you like it too ....

Wishing you a beautiful week.

Hoping it's a sunny. Namaste.

~ Chy

Love Cookie.

Dh made cookies the other night. We

have a tradition of buying the large

cookies from "Cookies by George"

at the airport once we're checked in

anytime we are traveling. But with

Covid, no trips to the airport, no big

cookies to buy. When I had a craving

the other night, look what dh made for

me to enjoy! And it was soooo good,

so much that we don't have to travel!

Have an amazing Friday. Namaste.

~ Chy

Deficit Mode.

Storms continue to fill our days. And nights as well. I appreciate the rain but when you live in a forest, the crazy wind can wreak havoc on the trees. We have one that looks like someone pushed it over and it's trying so hard to get back up. I'm sure we'll have to take the chainsaw to it on the weekend. Today has started out windy with cloudy/sunny skies. Not sure what the forecast is just yet. It's almost not worth the time to look as  it changes hourly around here anyway. Hoping to get thru today without tons of thunder and lightening. It's definitely not my favorite thing.

As you can see by my photo above, I'm working away on creating a memorial table at our hospice to remember our residents who have died. We have the tall candle, the short pot to hold pens and a lighter, and the memory box behind where staff can write notes to share memories. We'll also have a scrapbook with a page for each resident if the families are open to this. I'm almost done and hope to set this up today. Then I need to start to look for an item we can order to give to each family when their loved one dies. So many wonderful ideas that we can incorporate in to our programming. I've got a short day on site this morning, then a long afternoon into the evening with counselling from home. I'm feeling super tired today but hope a quick workout will help before I shower. My energy is definitely in a deficit mode this week. Hope you are doing well and have an amazing day today! Be as kind to yourself as you can be.

Namaste.

~ Chy

Sewing Vignette.

Over the last year of working from home and living from home, all the time, we've worked on various projects to keep busy. The art studio was one area that got a lot of our attention. It's been fun pulling it all together. We're almost done. A bit more organizing to complete, then some curtains to source or sew, and hang. Then I'll take photos and show how we put together this amazing spot to create. 

As you enter the studio, on the left side is a little alcove and we placed a vintage dresser in this spot. Inside the dresser is baby clothes that had meaning and we've kept. Some very vintage from my childhood up to our little grand babies. Not sure yet if these precious items will be shadow boxed or made in to quilts. But for now, they are safely tucked away in my dh's grandfather's dresser. The bottom drawer also holds the overflow material I've collected for quilting. We have a tall dresser in another corner that holds the majority of my material, as well as lace, extra doilies my gramma made and sewing tools. Now I'm all ready to sew again.

I created this sweet corner with sewing in mind. The lamp was a thrift store find and perfect as we've added a bit of teal into this space, along with our traditional lavender, sage green and ivory. The carved shelf was a clearance bin sale from Michael's. The original tag said $69.99 but I paid $10.00 for it. A collection of thimbles, buttons and scissors grace this space. The tin sign was an antique mall find and it finally has it's home. Ejoy my little sewing vignette!

Off to shower and get ready for work. Sleep last night was not great with the storms but they've finally stopped. I have a break later today between work and my board meeting tonight, so a nap may be in order. Hope your day is amazing and quiet! Namaste my dear blogging buddies. 

~ Chy

Thunder Storms.

After a beautiful weekend of warm sun and blue skies, we woke up to a very strong thunderstorm this morning. Rain, lightening (even a warning) and the loudest thunder that I've ever heard. We had storms thru the day, my first at hospice for the year. This picture is looking northwest and that dark cloud was very quickly over our building rain and swirling the clouds. We're under a warning tonight, and have sun, rain, lightening, thunder, wind and now it's calm but dark. Supposed to last thru the night and well in to tomorrow. I'm not sure what the purpose of thunder and lightening is but wish we could just have rain as needed, without all the drama! I got lots of work done, despite the noise.

Our cottage is pretty humid tonight. We'll likely turn the air conditioning on for a bit before we head to bed to cool everything down. Hoping it's not too loud thru the night. Our weekend was busy, so I'm feeling tired today. Fingers and toes crossed that the thunder gods let us sleep tonight!

Hope you had an amazing, quiet day today.

Namaste my dear blogging buddies!

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing .... my blue floral Victoria's Secret pyjama set ~ shorts and a tank top. It's hot tonight and this is cool.

What I'm reading .... "I Was Anastasia." Almost done. So good! I don't want to put it down. Should be a movie!

What's happening in my kitchen .... closed up for the night. Clean and quiet. Ready for tomorrow's creations.

What's outside my window .... birds still singing, frogs croaking and a sun setting behind the trees.

What I'm thankful for .... a beautiful weekend, time with our son and his family to celebrate his birthday, great gardening and lovely neighbors who helped out, then came back later tonight for appys and beer on the deck. So very blessed.

What I'm smelling .... my coconut cream on my hands.

What I'm hearing .... a show about Carrie Fisher.

What I'm crafting .... our sweet granddaughter's dollhouse.

What's on my mind .... the task list for the week, wondering if we can get our 2nd dose earlier than what is booked, and if I'll get up in time tomorrow to do my workout before I shower and head in to work for the morning.

Words to live by .... the quote above. So timely ....

                   Namaste my dear blogging buddies. 

~ Chy

Growing Spider.

I bought this Spider Plant as a tiny sprig

last Spring when Covid first started. Our

greenhouse began an option of curbside

pick up and we jumped at the chance to

buy some plants as well as the seeds we

needed for our veggie patch. Look at

how big this sweet little plant has gotten!

Namaste.

~ Chy 

Almost There.

Getting close to being done with my

new office set up. I still need to grab

a couple of curtain rods, bring in a

newly painted cabinet to sit between

the 2 comfy chairs, hang 4 pictures

and bring in all the plants I've been

cultivating at home. I won't show any

pictures now until it's completely done.

Namaste.

~ Chy

Potato Plants.

We took a chance and planted some

seeding potatoes in the garden. And

look what sprouted! They look good

so far. Will update the progress soon.

Have you ever grown potatoes

in your garden? Do tell. Namaste.

~ Chy

New Plants.

I'm almost done planting all our pots.

I have 4 more to do after today. I did

pot these 2 on Friday. We went to the

tiny greenhouse I posted about earlier

and came across these black petunias.

Aren't they amazing? I added in some

pink and then the trailing vine as well.

I'm super happy with this arrangement

and truly can't wait to get the last 4 pots

done. Then we can sit back and enjoy.

Are you done all your planting for now?

~ Chy

Gnome Greeter.

Needing to exercise my green thumb,

we headed off to our new find in the

country ~ a sweet little greenhouse a

few minutes from the cottage. Always

see the sign but never stopped in. It

was a great treat to finally drive over.

And this is the gnome they have at the

front door to greet all the customers!

Have you found any new spots to explore?

~ Chy

Beautiful Bouquet.

A beautiful and very large bouquet gifted

to me from the Funeral Home at our May

Memorial Service held on May 30th. I

love the scent that has filled our cottage.

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing .... a white baby doll tank with a ruffle bottom and pale brown floral print, fabric wrapped buttons and v neck. My sage green leggings and bare feet. Comfy.

What I'm reading .... "I Was Anastasia." I'm about 1/3 of the way thru and it's super good. I hope to read more tonight.

What's happening in my kitchen .... quiet for now but dh is going to start the bbq soon. We're having chicken and salad. Worked really hard in the garden again today so I'm feeling extra hungry! Can't wait for dinner tonight. And dessert!

What's outside my window .... blue sky, slight breeze and sunny skies. It was supposed to be a stormy day, so we're super thankful for this change in the forecast so we could get our gardening done. It's starting to look really good.

What I'm thankful for .... the quiet day that we're having out at the cottage. So thankful for this little piece of Heaven.

What I'm smelling .... the flowers I brought home last week from the May Memorial Service are still doing well and filling the cottage with a Spring scent. Beautiful blooms.

What I'm hearing .... the dryer gently finishing our laundry for us, the tv and our dgs playing a game with dh. Fun!

What I'm crafting .... dollhouse for dgd. Exterior was painted this week (pink walls and white trim) but I have to find my stain to finish the roof. I've been gluing on shingles all week long. Now ready for stain. Have to remember where it is.

What's on my mind .... the week ahead. Many good things to look forward to. A few deadlines to finish up ~ I'm ahead of the game so feeling good today. I love handing things in early. Deadlines are always so stressful so this helps a lot.

Words to live by ....  

Don't you just love the amazing pot of flowers

one of my daughter's students gifted to her? We

have it sitting on our table on the deck so we can

enjoy it up close. I was ecstatic when she brought

it home as I have been all over town trying to find

Wave Petunia's in this very color and all sold out!

Have an amazing week, my beautiful blogging

buddies. Namaste and peace to each of you ....

~ Chy

A Nothing Night.

It's a rainy, thundery, lightening strong end of the day here. It started out light and bright but changed to dark and cold by the middle of the afternoon. It's worked out though as I had my kids grief class this morning, then once I was done my work for the day, we headed in to town with our dd's to pick up some fresh food and a quick trip to the dollar store before we headed back to the cottage. A quick wipe of our purchases, then we headed outside to weed and I finally planted the last 4 pots we had ready for the begonia's and white's baby breath. Lots of watering and then a sweep of the veranda, and the sun went away, so in we came for a break and a quick, cool shower. Now it's storming but we're safe and cozy in the cottage. Hoping to bbq for dinner but will wait for the storm to settle down. No plans for tonight but we may watch "Rope" ~ watched a great documentary on Alfred Hitchcock a few weeks ago and realized it was one movie I hadn't seen that my dh really likes. Looking forward to our night to do nothing! Sometimes, nothing is the best.

A update on my sweet little office. I've got the hang of the command hanging system. Started with my mirror, then a wood shelf beside my bookcase and then the other day, 2 matching prints by my corner chair. I've got lots more to hang up but it's been so busy, I have to carve out "decorating time" in between our residents and their families. At some point, it will be all put together. More pics to follow soon.

A good day. A nothing night.

That's how we roll! Namaste.

~ Chy