March Bucket List.

We have been so fortunate to have a really love "early Spring" though my daughter keeps reminding us that our "3rd Winter" should come along anytime soon! One can only hope. After a week of bitter cold, this past week was filled with beautiful blue skies, warm air and melting snow. It's slushy and I have no idea what color our car is, but the feeling that just around the corner, we'll soon be seeing buds on trees and flowers in our garden makes me so happy. It feels lighter. I wore a sweater to the centre yesterday, instead of a big Winter coat and boots, with hat and scarf, and layers of mitts. It was nice to put on a cotton pair of socks, instead of my wool ones. And to not have to warm up our wheat bag to warm our bed at night. If "3rd Winter" comes along, this little reprieve has been so lovely for my heart and my spirit. 

Love the "March Bucket List" as my visual for today. It has me excited for this month. The thought of starting some seeds inside, to wear lighter clothes and to decorate for St. Patrick's Day makes me smile! As a 4th generation Irish lassie (maybe 3rd, not sure how it works), this is one of my favorite celebrations. A whimsical day that truly signifies Spring for me. I've put all of Christmas away now, and have started to get out the green for the day. And then a bit of Spring is happening too. Changed out the front door wreath and hung up the wind chimes on the back deck. We couldn't put "Bruce the Moose" away as he's actually buried under some ice but once that melts, we'll hang him to dry and then tuck him away until next Winter. I'm starting think about our Spring projects for outside and what we'd like to accomplish this year. 

Hope you are starting to get excited about Spring!

💗 Chy 💗

Spring Dreaming.

The last few years, we've had pretty mild

Winters. Not much snow, though we did

have a few good snowfalls. No real storms

though. Late Falls and early Springs. We did

appreciate these and hoped for many more

Winters but truly this year, we've had a lot of

snow! Lots of sun, a bit of cold, no storms

but snow, snow, snow! The good thing is we

we all hope it will help keep forest fires at

bay. So today, a little bit of Spring dreaming!

💗 Chy 💗

Spring Conference.

We had our Spring Conference for Early Childhood

Educators today. Such a great day and on top of the

learning, there was connection and sharing. I'm so

proud to be part of this organization. New energy!

~ Chy

Spring Flowers.

Pretty Spring flowers that my dh brought home for

Mother's Day. Sweet smell and amazing colors. We

are trying to find the best spot to buy flowers with

the idea of having fresh ones every week. Love!

~ Chy

Goodbye to April.

It's been a lovely month but I'm behind on my

blogging with our new journey fast approaching.

I hope to get back on track in May so I have 100

posts before the end. For now, a short and sweet

month, with many activities, snow, sleet, rain,

wind and lots of snow to make it all better. Now

we hope for rain in May to keep forest fires away

this year. I'm looking forward to a month of some

reflection and new dreams, ideas, energy and time

for creating this new journey we're embarking on!

Wishing you a beautiful month ahead.

~ Chy

Spring Flowers.

Spring may be slow in arriving here.

But the nurseries all have flowers so

we can bring a bit of Spring inside. I

love these sweet lilies that were a gift!

~ Chy

Pussy Willows.

Every weekend, we try so hard to not be busy, to have at least our Sunday as a true day of rest. But each week, we start to work on little projects or take the extra time to finish up things that need our attention. We do have time for rest and relaxing. But we still "sneak" tasks in and cross them off my list. This morning, as we worked awy in the garage to tidy it for Spring and break down the cardboard to take over to the recycling station, it struck me that maybe there are several reasons we do this each week. Not the cardboard, but the tasks! Maybe we recognize how short life is and that we only have so many Sundays in our lives. With grief all around us and a number of family members who have died young, perhaps we wish to fill every moment with work, tasks, fun and relaxation, so we have no regrets. Or maybe we just enjoy making our space look clean and tidy. Or maybe it's a distraction from life's worries. Or maybe a way to give back to the community. What ever the true reason, it's time to stop being hard on ourselves each weekend. We always feel sooo good after getting things off the list, so my guess is the idea that the day needs to be only full of rest and relaxation is not for us. For now, we'll instead embrace the idea of doing what we need and want to do, then rewarding ourselves with the nicest Sunday dinner, or an afternoon nap, or time to work on our art. I'm sure we'll figure it out but for now, no more beating ourselves up during and after working on our task list. I'd rather spend the time and energy on completing tasks, then looking around and not liking what I see around me! 

Last night, after a busy day of visiting an event, shopping for groceries, stopping at a 2nd store for fresh fruit and veggies, and a final stop to pick up some dinner, we settled in to watch the hockey game. I find it so stressful, especially now that we are heading in to the final games before the playoffs. So when I get stressed, I find things to keep busy. I ended up re~organizing our task cart, took all the new packs of paper out of the box and stacked them up neatly, took everything off the kitchen counters and wiped down every surface, unpacked the new towels for the half bath, and finally did a quick vacuum. By then, we were well on to a win and I could relax and watch the last bit. Then upstairs to bed.

Today, we did sleep in a bit, then got up to shower, make the bed, clean up the garage and loaded up all the cardboard we've collected since Christmas. Our County provides 2 huge recycling bins each month for 1 week, so timing is crucial. After dropping all the cardboard off, we did a little drive, marvelling at the snow that was deep yesterday and virtually all gone today. Home to sweep the garage, and then we cut down some pussy willows from the garden. I can't believe how big they are! Never had them this size before. I took a moment to decide where to display them and then settled on the dining room. They may move in time but for today, here they are. I love that we finally have a sign that Spring is finally on it's way. All week, we're supposed to have super warm days. The geese have returned, the buds are starting to appear and the ditches are full of water from the melting snow. Soon, our landscape will be green.

All for now. I'm off to work on our tasks!

~ Chy

1/2 Bath Makeover.

When we built our little cottage in the big woods a

few years ago, we felt our 1/2 bath had no personality.

With high ceilings and wood floors, it felt like it was

just a cold, noisy and uninviting room. It had to change.

We spent a lot of time looking at other 1/2 baths to find

some inspiration. One day, we came across a photo of

a 1/2 bath in the U.K. in a tiny little "chocolate box"

cottage and that was it! We finally had some great ideas.

To make this small room seem less tall and more cozy,

we found a beautiful wallpaper that took forever to arrive.

But the wait was worth it. Then we experimented with

board and batten in our lower level. Another revelation!

Last week, with the weather turning to cold and snow,

we got the wallpaper up, the taping done, the cabinet out,

and drop cloths to protect the wood floors. Painted the

lower walls a soft white, then it was time to measure it all.

We installed the board and batten, then added another

coat of paint. Re~painted the sink cabinet, installed the

hardward and put the plumbing back. Took out the tape,

washed the floor and it was all finally done. Well, almost.

We still need to put some trim on top of the long top

boards and hang some lovely art work on the walls. We

are so in love with this little room now. It's warm and so

inviting. It's almost time to have guests over for dinner!

What do you think of our little 1/2 bath makeover?

~ Chy

Snow on the First Day of Spring!

Yes, that white stuff is snow! It was virtually gone

in the last few weeks. We even got up to 18 C on

Friday. And then today, on the first day of Spring,

it snowed! Hopefully, this is all we get for now.

How was your first day of Spring?

~ Chy

Hello, March.

March always brings some hope. As the snow starts

to melt and Spring begins to emerge, it always feels

lighter. We don't have to bundle up and wear heavy

boots. Less sweaters and no mitts! Can't wait for it!

~ Chy

Welcome May.

I love May. The garden starts to really bloom, we have our dd's birthday to celebrate, the school year is coming to an end, and the weather tends to be warm but not overly hot. We can sleep with all the windows open again and change out our flannel sheets for light weave soft cotton ones. And put all the sweaters in to storage and gather the Summer clothes we've missed! However, this year, we are surrounded by wildfires and unusually warm temperatures. Wait! Let me change that! Not warm but scorching hot. We keep hitting 30 C which is totally out of character. Usually at this time, we'll be around 18 to 20. Hardly any rain hit our region in April, so this is a huge worry. It's usually this hot in late July, not May! Hoping it all changes soon. We're not used to fires here and having survived a house fire, the thought of another experience is not something we wish to go thru again. We're well insured but we love our sweet cottage and beautiful location. Fingers crossed May soon becomes a rainy month and we can relax and enjoy it!

                     How is your May going so far?

                                     ~ Chy

Goodbye April.

A beautiful and very warm month. Not very much

rain, which is a worry. Goodbye to April of 2023!

~ Chy

Warm Nights.

I love April when our days are longer

and the nights are warmer. We can

even sleep with all the windows open.

I dream of fairies in the garden and

big full moons to light the paths we

love to now walk on at night. Sweet!

~ Chy

Blythe in the Rain.

Sweet Carys in the April rain. Hoping

that our garden will soon be green. She

is looking a bit chilly sitting in the mist.

Soon the warm air will be here each day!

~ Chy

Spring is Here!

We are in full Spring mode up here in the

northern part of Alberta. Bits of snow

remain in the shade of the forest but any

spots that have even a bit of sun on them

through the day have no snow at all. I'm

so excited to start to see little bits of green

emerge from the very frozen Earth. March

was a super busy month here but April is

a bit quieter. This week, I only work on

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then

I'm off for 5 incredible days, all in a row.

A rarity lately! Planning is underway for

my time off. I hope to finish up a bit of

paperwork but then I want to chill and try

to get my energy and my confidence back.

It will take time but I'm on the mend now!

How was your March?

Are you excited about April?

~ Chy

Spring Flowers.

Feeling loved with our Spring tulips

and pussy willows from our garden.

~ Chy

First Raindrops.

First raindrops to fall on our new car.

It may snow next week but today, rain!

~ Chy

Inspiration.

I love this wreath that is Winter themed.

Saving it for inspiration next snow season!

~ Chy

Evening Candle.

Tulips from amazing neighbors.

Candle light to warm our hearts.

~ Chy

 

A Spring Project.

I am so determined to have a bit of a

veggie patch this Summer. Our next

door neighbor burns his garbage and

if the wind is just right, some of the

ashes fall on our beds. I'm trying to see

if there is a way to know if this is a

big concern or if we'd be okay to eat

the veggies. Until then, in between all

the other "stuff", I'm dreaming of a bit

of a patch south of the house in the

fenced in gardens. Aren't this markers

the best? I think I could make them!

Are you dreaming of a Spring Project?

Or a lovely green garden to grow?

~ Chy