Goodbye May.

~ Chy

Hippo Family.

A print that showed up on my feed. Loving the

sweet baby, the proud mama and all the ducks.

~ Chy

Heat Wave.

We're heading in to our first Heat Wave of the

year over the next few days. Not great for playing!

~ Chy

Birthday Celebration.

Each year, we gather to honor the birthday of Canada

on July 1st. Parties are held in ever community. Fun!

~ Chy

Window Wreath.

This corner will soon been revamped.

I have great plans in mind to create a

more cozy spot. Loving how sweet the

willow wreath is on our blinds ~great

charity shop find for our little cottage.

Question to consider: put low but long

cupboards or have the "never used as a

window seat" conversation. Pondering!

~ Chy

Favorite Flowers.

A favorite photo of my favorite flowers.

I'm hoping to grow more this Summer.

~ Chy

Tiny Cottage.

Dreaming about the West Coast again tonight.

The big dream would be to move back one day.

And buy a sweet little ocean view lot to build

a tiny cottage like the one above. Not blue, but

green, with black windows, some white trim and

black shutters. A spot for a veranda like we have

now and a big deck on the back for family bbq's.

Really, the cottage we have now but with an

ocean view! I love this dream. One day, in time!

~ Chy

Summer Project.

I've decided after our trip, after the music festival

and after the gardening is under control, I'll start

to tackle our vintage glass cabinet we bought from

a family moving back to the East Coast. I envision

either a soft pink OR a light sage. I may leave the

wallpaper inside. Trying to figure that out. I'll have

many options to choose from. So excited to have a

Summer Project that will enhance this amazing find!

~ Chy

Love Matters.

Love matters. 

That's all I got today!

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

 

What I'm wearing ....  my baby doll pj's. It's hot outside but not hot enough to put the air conditioner on. 

What I'm reading .... "The Last Bookshop in London" by Madeline Martin. Half way through now. Soooo good!

What's happening in my kitchen .... it's late and the kitchen is closed!

What's outside my window .... dark skies, windy trees and hot air.

What I'm thankful for .... many blessings and good things that I'll share as the next little bit unfolds ....

What I'm smelling .... the Spring air outside our window.

What I'm hearing .... the tv show dh is watching.

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

What's on my mind .... the war, my mom, the sale and an upcoming trip.

Words to live by .... "Don't wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul." ~ Luther Burbank.

Wishing you a beautiful week ahead!

~ Chy

The Queen ....

 .... isn't she the sweetest!!

And the matching Corgi's!!

~ Chy

Selling Village.

 

We've had quite the emotional week and it's only Tuesday! Our beloved long term home will be listed for sale this week. We've found a realtor who has great success with selling and feel comfortable with her so far. Over the last few weeks, we've spent countless hours transforming the feel of the home from a stark grey color on the walls, with marked up trim work and yellowing ceilings, into a warm shade of "Whisper Wheat" and bright, white trim. We even took the time (and a whole lot of energy) to repaint the ceilings ~ an unbelievable amount of work, stress, effort and sweat went in to those long days. Our home is 40 years old this Summer and the "popcorn" ceilings have been painted a few times. A job I hate but the end result is worth the back breaking work. Very thankful we went with a knock down ceiling texture in the cottage ~ much easier to paint if we ever want to. Now the work is done and we are ready to sell.

I've posted a few pics to show our progress. The top left is our front hall with stairs that lead up to four bedrooms and two full bathrooms, along with two linen closets. On either side of the hall is our living room with double french doors on one side and the dining room with three long windows and two french doors ~ one leads to the hall and one into the kitchen. The full back of the house is the back entrance with laundry, the kitchen, the nook and then a few steps down to the sunken family room with a wood burning fireplace. French doors lead out to the garden, with a deck, attached gazebo and grass with plenty of bushes, trees and a little raspberry patch. We are hopeful that a young family with many children will love this house as we have for 30 years. A school down the street, no traffic, four parks and a lake all make this classic subdivision a popular place to live. 

So why the emotion? Even though we haven't physically lived in the house since we moved to the cottage, it still pulls on my heart strings. Both dh and I grew up in very transient homes. Never stayed at one school for very long as we were both always moving. In my family, we almost never unpacked all the boxes as we knew we'd be moving in six to twelve months again. My dad was a realtor and my mom a banker, so moving up was always a thing. When dh and I were married at twenty two, we bought our first home, an expected thing from my family but brand new to his as they always rented, hence moving around. But we bought to flip so we could move up and we did that for the first eight years of marriage, moving every two years after buying a house to gut and then resell. Worked well and our kids were so young. But we did want to settle down and this house ended up being that dream. We saw this house when my parents took us on a showhome parade one Summer day. And there it was, THE dream home at the time. However, it was not in our budget and at the time, with post secondary, jobs and the possibility of marriage, the dream was not to be. Just over ten years later, we were out one day with our kids, saw a for sale sign in the subdivision, drove down the street and around the bend and there it was, with a for sale sign on the front law. We called our realtor, viewed the house, went for a walk, viewed it again, made an offer, went home to tidy our house up and later that night, our house that had NOT been for sale, sold in just a few hours. It was meant to be! Six weeks later, we were unpacking in our new home and dreaming of filling up the bedrooms with more kids. That house has seen births and deaths, school and homeschooling, friends and fights, parties and quiet times. We grew in ourselves and in our marriage. Parenting was tested and succeeded. Kids grew, partners became part of the family and grandkids soon arrived. It was hard to leave but building our little cottage in the big woods was another dream and we couldn't be more settled here now. It's time to sell and as excited as we are, I'm sure it will be a bittersweet day when we hand the keys over to another family. I hope they have as much fun as we did living in our little Village house! Love grew here. Life was truly lived.

Have you lived in one place for long?

Or do you tend to move around in life?

~ Chy

Second Quote.

Another one that we likely won't put in our hospice

quote book but one I do love to refer to do at times.

~ Chy

Warm and Sunny.

We finally have great weather and our landscape is beginning to turn green. I'm loving the bright buds on the trees and the blooms that have started to shoot up from the soil. We stopped and bought a few plants to start my pots for the deck and the front veranda. A geranium, an ivy and another one I can't recall the name of. Hoping it all fills in nicely. Hoping to find the purple petunias that I love to plant in my green pots. Those fill the pot up and the colors together are amazing. Next we will dig up the veggie patch, add more dirt and compost, and then begin to fill it with seeds and plants. Hoping this year, we'll get a better crop. We're planning on growing beets, peas, carrots, onions and herbs. Maybe some potatoes that we tried last year that did come up. We did manage to get corn to grow but after about 2.5 feet, they stopped. That was at the height of the heat wave. Maybe we'll throw some seeds in this year and see if they sprout. More landscaping will happen too. Getting so close to being done. Then it's just maintaining it all. 

If you're Canadian, wishing you a beautiful Victoria Day!

~ Chy 

Favorite Quote.

A favorite quote. We're currently

gathering quotes for our hospice

for our residents and their families.

I'm putting them in a little book

for all to read and even use if they

wish. So many to choose from.

Do you love to collect quotes?

~ Chy

Breakfast for Dinner.

 

Our local NHL hockey team is in Round
Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And
it's proving to be a very stressful time.
So dh is making easy dinners, like our
recent "Breakfast for Dinner" feast. It
was so good and always a favorite here.

What's your favorite easy dinner to make?

~ Chy

Right Here. Right Now.

What I'm wearing ....  I love being cozy and warm. But today, the weather is hot and sunny. We're working at the other house as it goes up for sale on Tuesday. So I'm in a tank top and ripped jeans. Once we're home, I'll shower again and put on either a sundress or shorts and a t.

What I'm reading .... "The Last Bookshop in London" by Madeline Martin. Just started but it's so good! Dd's bought if for me, along with another book AND a bookstore gift card for Mother's Day this year.

What's happening in my kitchen .... Dinner is marinating while we paint and clean the other house.

What's outside my window .... blue sky and sun, green leaves budding on the trees and flowers blooming in the garden.

What I'm thankful for .... good health (finally), an enthusiastic realtor (so far), a strong market to sell in (fingers crossed) and a week off to rest and just be.

What I'm smelling .... fresh paint all around me!

What I'm hearing .... the sound of the radio and dh's roller.

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

What's on my mind .... the war, my mom, the sale and an upcoming trip.

Words to live by .... from Mother's Day: "a Mother is like a flower ~ each one beautiful and unique."

Wishing you a beautiful week ahead!

~ Chy

Early Blooms.

We were at Costco the other day and picked up a tray of these sweet annuals. I love the early blooms of white, pink and lavender. Trekked down to the potting shed and brought in a few pots to wash up. I won't plant these just yet as we can still get super chilly temps, like today. Traditionally in this region, the rule of thumb is to wait until after the May Long Weekend, which is May 21st to the 23rd. Usually by then, the threat of frost, heavy rain or super cold nights is gone and we can plant without worry. I truly wish we could live in a more temperate climate where gardening could be a year long experience. Or at least longer than a few months every year. But we are too engrained in our community here and it would be super difficult to leave. So we put up with the 4 Seasons we have and love, and dream about a longer growing season. One day, we'll grow our own early blooms instead of picking them up from the greenhouse or Costco. 

Today was the first day back in person for our kid's grief program after 2 years of virtual classes. I was slightly nervous not knowing if everyone would show up, but they did and it turned out to be an amazing first session. Now I'm excited for next week. Such brave little souls, seeking comfort and education, healing and clarity. I facilitated the Parents Group and they were equally as amazing as the kids and the teens. A lot of pain was shared in our tiny space. Honored these mourning families chose our program. 

Tonight we're working on our Festival (just 7 weeks away!), talking about an upcoming trip, and then settling in to chill for the rest of the night. Dh is bbqing in the moment, the girls are out shopping and little guy is at his dad's for the weekend. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and dh did spend time at our other house today doing some work in prep for another round of painting tomorrow. I did the bottom kitchen cabinets on Friday and some trim. Tomorrow, he's going to tackle the bedrooms and I'll finish the top kitchen cabinets and continue the trim work. We hope to be done this week so we can list and get it sold while the market is still crazy hot. Wish us luck! We're almost there. Can't wait!

Oh, wow, I mentioned Mother's Day and then went right in to painting. Our plan is to sleep in a bit but still get up at a decent time to shower, head to the house to paint, tidy up once we're done, then stop to visit my mom for a bit and shower her with gifts and love, head home to watch a race (not sure what but that's on the schedule), then we'll have dinner and settle in for the hockey game. I'll post a photo of our special dinner that I got to pick out today. Mmmm!

Wishing you a lovely evening!

~ Chy

Memorial Moment.

Sharing my words.

The candle is lit.

The treat on the way home.

The curls that lasted in to the night.

I had the honor of speaking at our Annual Hike

of Hospice on the weekend. My short but sweet

talk included not a "moment of silence" but an

opportunity to have all our attendees participate

by sharing their loved ones name out loud. I'm

very proud that this was well received. Making

an event meaningful is key to the success of it.

Thankful for the support of my team and all the

guests who were respectful of this "Memorial

Moment" and for our local community hospice.

~ Chy

The 1st of May.

A busy few days have kept me from blogging but I have kept up with everyone's adventures and lives. Know that if you're on my list of "Blogging Buddies" I read you each and every day. My daily and tiny little escape from the stressors of the World. I love my time away as I peek in to your lives.

On the weekends, we often have many chores and tasks to take care of. Between our festival, the radio station, yard work, upkeep on the cottage and relationships to nurture, it's always a busy time. This weekend, I worked on 4 grants, attended an event for our hospice where I was responsible for a Memorial Moment, some counselling clients, groceries, a trip to Costco, cleaning our little abode, laundry, plants to water inside and move to other locations for more growth, and plants to explore outside as our landscape changes from white to green. So excited to see our lavender plants are greening up but the rest are all still brown for now. Hopefully we finally get lilac blooms this year ~ fingers crossed! I'm so excited to see the trees have tiny buds too.

I often wonder if we'll have more time once we retire but then think of all the creative endeavors we've gotten involved in and I'm not quire sure that our hoped for retirement will be any quieter. But as long as we're fulfilled and having fun, that's all that matters. It will be different to not have counselling clients every day, or group work, or mentoring staff and volunteers. Not ready for this yet but down the road, the change will be so strange. I'm sure we'll be ready by then! It's fun to think about though .... a little dream.

As much as our love our sweet weekends, I do look forward to driving back to work on Mondays. Always a great energy day for me, I love the start of the week to get things sorted and underway. We're hosting a gathering at hospice on Thursday so I've kept that day open for being part of the sessions and helping out as best I can. Fun stuff!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Looking forward to reading your adventures!

~ Chy