Easter Love.

For those who mourn someone you love ....

~ Chy

Easter Weekend.

We are embracing this lovely, long weekend. Our building permit came through from our County this week and we should have keys in hand for our new space for our program sometime this coming week. It was clear as we worked towards this amazing moment that once those keys were in our hands, life was going to change greatly. And my time will become very busy and likely fractured as I navigate many meetings, deliveries, moving and deadlines. So much is going to happen in a very short time. This long weekend of 4 whole days (okay, we did start a bit early on Thursday, so we'll call it 4.5 days) has been amazing so far. We had some great meetings on Thursday in the morning, including a very long but productive session with our Health Inspector. He shared that most organizations or businesses do their reno or build, and then call him in for the final, so he was quite impressed we asked if we could meet before the build starts with all our questions. It turned out well, as there are a few small changes to make but if we had left this until the end, those changes would have cost some precious dollars! 

Thursday is Chamber of Commerce Breakfast that we attend each week. The Networking is so important as we build our organizations but even more important to us is the connections to each other as people. We have benefitted so much and it feels like family now. I made some great strides this week with a couple of important individuals who are key to our next steps. So glad dh suggested we start attending a year ago. After the meeting, the snow was really coming down so we did some quick banking and then headed home. The plan was to visit my mom but it would have been her lunch time and she doesn't like visiting then. We instead visited her today and it was a better time together, with no other distractions. She's progressing and is now in a wheelchair ~ hard to see, even though I've been the one advocating for a better sitting arrangement for her. She seems so much more comfortable. I hate seeing her progress though it is expected but its so hard to watch.

We drove home through the snow and the wind, and soon were cozy and comfy in our little cottage. I spent the rest of the day trying to put construction stuff and program stuff in to place. It's all coming together. And then we watched a few shows we are behind on and chilled for the evening. Yesterday, we got up earlier than anticipated as dh wanted to try to get the board and batten started in the long hallway that leads to our Art Studio. We actually did way more than we thought we would get done. Today is sanding and painting. It will be nice to have this one done. I'll post photos as we work away this weekend. Trying to get our cottage all done before the new space is opened. I won't have all the time I've had this year, though my intent is to get it open and operating and then ensure I never, ever get into a situation where my time is everyone else's. Never again!

Last night, we watched Corrie and then another show we needed to catch up on. Late bedtime, which was not the best idea as we were up so early this morning. We thought it might be super busy at the grocery store so we went early and that was a good thing as it was quiet while we were there but definitely got crowded after we left. We visited the bank to chat with our bank manager, visited our site, had a great time with my mom, picked up dinner, found the top piece we'll use for trim on the board and batten, then headed home in the gorgeous sun. Put the groceries away, answered some emails and after a quick lunch, now I'm off to paint the board and batten, while dh watches hockey with dd and dgs. After I'm done, I'm going to have a quick bath, then we'll settle in for dinner, a movie or show, and likely a bit earlier bed time tonight. No big plans tomorrow other than cooking Easter dinner and enjoying some down time. Monday is open as well ~ having blocks of open time is such a lovely way to spend a long weekend. With the sun and expected warm temperatures I do plan to sit out on the deck in the warmth. Soaking it all in!

What are your plans for the weekend?

~ Chy

A New Day.

Easter Dinner was fun but we so missed our other kids. We're grateful our daughters live with us so we've had family all year during Covid. But not seeing our boys and their families, my mom and other family members, and our friends has been hard. This celebration seemed the hardest as we're now in Year 2 of the virus and it's not getting better. A year ago I truly thought "okay, we lockdown for a month or so and kick this thing to the curb." But I don't have that same hope anymore. Will try to find it again. It's been a rough few days and I'll need to do some work today to get back to my smiley self. For now, pretty pictures of our Easter feast above. We're still enjoying a few more leftovers.

Today is going to be crazy busy. I'm heading down the hall in a few minutes to do my treadmill and my weights. Then a lovely shower. Meeting with my boss on video, then a phone counselling session, another video call with one of our hospice residents and his family, then a meeting (video) with my team, and the final video call for the day will be with my practicum student and her advisor ~ today is her final eval and her final day, though she has asked if she can stay on as a volunteer. So happy to have her continued support. She's going to be an amazing Social Worker. After all this, I'll take a bit of a break and then I have to catch up on the art class I'm signed up for. It's 3 nights ~ Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was live but each night was saved, and for up to one year, I can play the videos over and over again. Very thankful for this as last night was a very difficult end to the day and I didn't attend class. Tried to do some self care and ended up crawling in to bed early instead. Didn't sleep much but at least today is a new day. I hope you have a great day too! We all deserve some great days when life is tough. I'm off to tread out my bad feelings, stomp on my mood and lift some weights after my run/walk. Namaste my friends!

~ Chy

Egg Gathering.

 

Dgs had fun trying to gather all the eggs

and other Easter treats that had been left

for him to find. He had a great time and

kept us laughing. I also set out our treats

on our dining room table for our family

dinner later in the day. Fun was had by all.

~ Chy

Easter at Home.

Like all holidays in the last year, for Easter 2021, we'll once again gather together and alone. We'll set our dining room table for just the five of us in the cottage but truly wish we were putting the leaves in the middle and gathering chairs to ensure all have a comfy spot to eat. We'll engage with other family members by text, by email and by video link. It will be fun but some of it will feel lonely too. And then there will be people out there who don't think this is as serious as it is, those who will travel, though we are told to stay home, those who will continue to not wear masks, though it shows to helps stop the spread. For those who do not think of others but only themselves, I wish they could, for a moment, step in to an ICU and see how real it all is. If everyone did their part, maybe we'd be back to normal all ready. For now, we all do our part and keep safe, at home, until we've been vaccinated and we can be out freely again. I can't wait ....

A few photos from around the cottage for Easter at Home. The sweet bunny pillow we found last year for 1/2 price and love the pretty colors. The photo under that one is the tiny oval frame we found at the Antique Mall one day. I loved the picture and the opening in the back for dried flowers. I've placed some Hydrangea buds from last Summer. The third photo is the Easter bauble someone gifted to us. It hangs on our writing secretary, for now, then is tucked away until next Spring. The fourth photo is the pillow we found at the AM again, on another visit one rainy day a few years ago. As a gramma, it makes me smile. The fifth photo is a lamp from that same visit to the AM. Small with a china lamp shade, provides just enough light when I write at night. And finally, the sixth photo is a china lamb that we found at a charity shop in our region. With pink eyes and a lovely garland around its neck, the perfect symbol for this season. 

All for now. Wishing you and your

beautiful family a memorable Easter.

~ Chy

Our Easter.

I just found this draft and had to start all over again as it became quite outdated! It was a short note about our Easter. I'm rewriting it today to share how this first holiday under quarantine went. Below are pictures of dinner. Just 4 of us at the table this year. Our son and daughter~in~law to be were supposed to be here from the West Coast. We hoped our son, daughter~in~law and granddaughter could have visited from the Big City. And our little guy, the grandson should have been at the table too. Maybe even my mom would have been here, though it's harder now to bring her home from care as her dementia progresses. At the most, we would have had 11 with just our family and maybe 1 more as we often like to invite a friend or 2 for our holiday dinners. Instead, it was just the 4 of us. We had fun, but it was hard too, to be missing so many and to know at the same time how lucky we were on that day and on this day too, to be safe and well. Many others are dealing with illness, death, grief, homelessness, no job and a scary future. We are donating, helping out as much as we can and hope this has an ending that includes a cure and no future outbreaks. 

Pictures of our tiny dinner.

We all contributed together.

I "shopped" the house for Spring

items and our tiny lambs and candles.

We had a roasted ham, with pineapple

sauce, green peas, coleslaw, potatoes,

pickles and some yummy deserts. All

our favorites for this Easter Dinner.

Rice Krispie cake and flower~shaped cakes

with icing and Easter eggs on top. So good!

Do you celebrate Easter Dinner?

Was it different from last year?

~ Chy

Easter Sunday.

Wishing you and your family a beautiful Easter Sunday, from our little cottage in the big woods. We are cozy and warm, despite all the snow falling outside .... AGAIN!! We are clearly not destined to have a warm Spring this year it seems. It's not an issue as we're committed to being inside but it's making me a bit worried that we'll never get a chance to plant a garden. Our hope is to successfully grow our own food this year and donate what we won't use. Even planning to buy a second fridge for our garage to store produce. Fingers and toes crossed that this Wintery weather soon ends and we are blessed with a long, warm, rainy as needed Summer. Truly hoping our plan will work this year. 

Today is meant to be our lazy day of the week but with Easter dinner in a few hours, it's actually going to be nice and busy. We're having ham this year. Cooking a turkey is something we can do at any time and with our freezer and fridge currently full, leftovers would have been an issue. So instead, we have a lovely ham to roast and the bits of left over will go towards ham and pineapple naan bread pizzas tomorrow and a quiche or two. Roasted veggies, fresh baked buns and coleslaw to round out our meal. This afternoon I'm planning to make these as well: 

And I'd like to try this as well for a desert for after dinner:

A Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake. Mmmm! Both recipes are new to me so wish me luck they both turn out. Other than eating today, I'm getting ready to work out, then shower, then bake, then take apart the puzzle we finished last night that is currently residing on the dining room table, set the table, and while things are roasting, I'm going to work on the studio a bit more. Taking lots of time but instead of just re~organizing it, I'm also purging as the cupboards are full. I'll take the extra art supplies to our preschool or give them to my grief program. I'm also going thru our clothing and purging what is hanging but not being worn any longer. Donations are currently closed for most charity shops, so we'll have to store these bags for now. But it will be great once life returns again and we can gift these items to others who can use them well. We'd like to Skype with our kids who are not here today as well. Looking forward to seeing their healthy smiles. And my mom as well if there is a spot left for a session with her. After dinner, I think we'll likely take some time to just chill and watch a few favorite shows and then off to bed. I may dig out the Walton's Easter movie to be in the background as we bake and cook. A busy day but one we are thankful for as we continue to remain healthy and safe at home. Happy Easter everyone!

~ Chy

Spring Colors.

Nighttime lamb. Colors are sweet!

My dd's knitting bowl. A favorite candle.

Fluffy lamb with pink tulips in the back.

Dgs loves to change the calendar each day.

My favorite shot. Favorite Spring colors.

Our new Easter pillow. I love the ribbon

that is sewn in to the wreath. So pretty.

 I'm loving the light of day, despite all

the turmoil going on. Lots of sun and

our snow is melting. Beautiful sound

to hear our gutters flowing with water

as the roof melts. Soon we should see

pussy willows and tree buds forming.

I hope that you enjoy these Spring colors today. 

~ Chy

Easter Bunting.

I got a little crafty while my dh, dd

and dgs were away for Easter holidays.

Created a sweet little Easter Bunting

out of scrapbook paper for our mantel.

I have been experimenting with "aging"

and so far, I'm enjoying this new skill.

Teeny little lambs on a couple of the

pieces to fill in and make is Springy!

The finished product! Fun and I think now that I've

made one, I can make more for our various holidays.

~ Chy

Happy Easter!

Wishing you and your family a beautiful and

Happy Easter! I hope wherever you are, you

are making memories this weekend. Enjoy

this lovely Spring day and the warmth of the

blooming Earth. My family is still away but

my dd and I are celebrating outside in the sun!

~ Chy

Happy Spring ....

There are buds on our trees the melt is well underway. I just wish all the snow that fell while we were away would have been all gone by the time we landed. No such luck. But at least the sun is shining and Spring is in the air. Can't wait to see which bulbs we planted in the Fall will come through. It's exciting to think under all the snow and a layer or two of dirt are tiny little flowers, just waiting to bloom and bring fresh scents and smiles to our landscape. I know it will be worth the wait. 

We had a nice landing and a quick bus ride out from the airport to where our car was stored. A short drive home and then in to our warm bed for a long sleep. Woke up yesterday morning to a clean house and no items on our to do list, so we decided to head in to the big City and replenish our Antique Mall booth as we did sell a number of items while we were away. We also stopped in at the big box store to choose the crown moulding and chair rail we'll be installing sometime this Spring. Excited to have a project to do that will enhance the look in our home. We then realized a store we knew was online happens to also be a brick and mortar store so we popped in to see if by chance they would have the armchair we're thinking about investing in for our Great Room. Currently we're using our son's armchair but would like to get that back to him now that he and his family are in a larger condo unit and have space again. Fell in love with the "Cardiff" and will order it this week. Fitting, as part of dh's family is Welsh. I'll post pictures once we have the new acquisition in place. 

On the way home, we stopped to buy gas, then took in two bins, a box and two bags full of bottles. Went over to the grocery store to fill up our big water bottles for our cooler, then picked up a beautiful ham to make our Easter dinner. It was soooo good. Not salty or greasy at all. We were just going to buy a small half ham but ironically, it was $16 for the tiniest size. And our past experience with that brand is its way too salty for any of us to really enjoy it. So we went with the natural ham, raised locally, for a very reasonable $20.10. Much better deal. With creamed corn and freshly baked biscuits, it was a scrumptious dinner. This morning, after dropping dd off at school, I went back to the grocery store and bough more eggs, a big block of cheddar cheese, some broccoli and onions, and pie shells. My task this afternoon? To use up the left over ham to bake a couple of large quiches and tons of small ones for the freezer. Lots of chopping to do, so I'm off to begin this project. Have a great day!

Happy Easter.

We're not celebrating until tomorrow. But wanted

to wish all my sweet readers a beautiful day.

Hope your day was full of family, blessings, gifts

and much gratitude for all this life has to offer to all.

Rehearsal Easter Dinner.

Our eldest son is coming home for 

a visit in the middle of April.

We'll have our big Easter Dinner then.

Last weekend, we had our "rehearsal"

meal, a smaller version of the big deal.

It was scrumptious and just right.

How was your Easter Dinner?

Small and compact or large and amazing?

Wordless Wednesday.