Saturday View.

My view from the lower deck, looking

up at the upper deck. A warm and sunny

afternoon to just sit. I love all our decks

now that we're finally getting to the end

of all our landscaping. Bit by bit, it's all

coming together. One day, it will be done!

~ Chy

More Rocks ....

More rocks to place. Our neighbor put the first

round along our drive but now we have this lot!

~ 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

Weekend Work.

I will never get tired of the way the evening light dances around the front of our house, hitting the walls inside and showcasing the gardens outside. It will forever amaze me that something so small and so brief can be so beautiful. 

Today is full. It's a blue sky, warm air day. We slept in a bit and will work out first, then shower, though that seems pointless as we'll be spending most of the day outside. But I have standards! We have to move the fire pit, the chairs that surround it and then take up the blocks they sat on to make room for our neighbor to come over with his tractor. He's going to build up then level the ground where we'll build our new shed deck so we can then build the new shed. He's going to regrade the front gardens, which means I'll have to pull up a few of the plants and place in pots until he's done. The gravel that has been our temporary walk will have to be scraped up and put in the wheelbarrow to move to another spot for now. And the mulch as well. Lots of work and hoping we can get it all done today so he can come over tomorrow. I have to order dirt and may try to do that today as well. It's doing to rain on Monday so I'll have it delivered later in the week. Also on the docket for today or tomorrow: seed the veggie patch. I do hope it rains on Monday. It would be lovely to have a day to relax and not do any physical work. After showers and then dinner, we're going to watch P!NK's film "All I Know So Far" ~ so excited and we've been waiting all week for it to be released. I'm sure we'll hit our pillows not long after that. A well deserved rest. Can't wait!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Namaste my dear blogging buddies.

~ Chy

Sweet Baby Tree.

 Even though we are surrounded

by 2 acres of forest, we need trees.

We left the forest intact when we

began our build but had to carve

out where our house would go.

And now we have to fill that in.

So tree buying has begun. We bought

2 sweet MacIntosh Apple Trees in

the Spring. We are so happy with our

trees and even just harvested our first

two little apples. Not quite enough for

a full apple pie but maybe a little

tart or 2. For our 3rd tree, we chose

this sweet baby tree, a Caragana. It

 is a bit of a reflective piece for us as

at our previous home, we planted this

same bush when our 4th child was born.

And every year on her birthday, the

Caragana would bloom it's yellow

flowers. We've decided we'll name

her "Cara" and hope she blooms each

year like our other one. Now we have

to choose where we'll plant her. I

truly love this part of landscaping.

My Body Hurts.

We've spent the last few weekends trying

to finish up our landscaping before the

big "S" falls from the sky. Our Fall season

tends to be quite long so we do have time.

But ooohhhh, my body hurts. From head

to toe, everything aches. I go to bed with

Advil and wake up taking more. Ugh.

But so worth it as our little acreage is

beginning to take shape. We've had

from our friends and our girls and even

our little grandson. And from our new

friend, the bobcat guy. He's done quite

a bit for us this year and I'm so happy to

pay him to be here. I even love his sense

of humor, like in the picture above as

he moved the tamper from one area to

the other, without hesitation, he used his

machine to pick it up and drop it down.

Great guy, amazing, fast work and decent

fee for all he's done for us. We have at

least a couple more weekends and we

should be all done. Then we can kick back

until for awhile. I can imagine that our

Winter will be spent planning next Spring.

Playhouse Progress.

As some of you may have read in my previous posts, we recently acquired our "quaint" shed. Our landscape designer was very clear that we really could just have any old metal shed but that we need to find something that would stand out and be a good fit for the acreage. So this is what we came up with. I haven't sent her any pictures or had her come over yet to see it. Very excited for her to see it. And hope she loves it as much as we truly do.

The pink potting shed/playhouse/garden ~ tool hut in it's original color of bright pink. I knew the second I saw it that it would not stay pink. Figuring out what color to paint it was bit challenging but in the end, I love what we ended up choosing. Just the right shade of the right color.

And in it's new hue of radiance .... our little guy was not impressed. He really liked the pink! Now he says it's dark but we really like that it matches the big house. 

There will be more progress over the long weekend .... painting, sawing, gluing, hammering .... I'll do more updates as we go. This project has been a lot of fun so far. We're half way there and loving it making it truly ours.

Curious Cats.

Working on our acreage has created lots of

curiosity with our daughter's cats. They love

the sun of course, but also the projects we

are working on really seem to intrigue them.

Which One?

We're in the beginning stages of our landscaping

and have decided we'd like to have a garden shed

to store items like the snow blower, lawnmower

and all my gardening tools. The garage is big but

we want to keep it sparse ~ it houses two cars

and will soon be the home of a workshop for my

dh. So a shed is now on our list and worked into

our frugal budget. Now we have a big decision.

This first shed is from Costco. It is made from Resin

and appears to be sturdy. We like the look and it can

be painted if we choose to match it to the color of

the house. I'd put window boxes on. The only worry

is that Resin can in time wear down. And crack and

break. Will it hold the snow load in the Winter?

Our second choice is this one that a lovely family is

selling because they are moving. It's about $300 less

than the other one but we'd have to hire a company to

deliver. So price will be roughly the same for either.

It's made of solid wood and looks brand new when

we popped over to look. Their is a large door on the

side for getting large items in. We'd paint it to match

the house. The sturdiness for snow load in the cold

Winter months would be much better. And our sweet

landscape artist did suggest we find a "quaint"  shed.

What one is more appealing for a vintage look?

Which one would you choose if you have to decide?

Final Snow ....

.... we hope! Our mild Winter produced just a bit of

snow but Spring made up for the lack of white stuff.

Last weekend in the country. I truly hope now that

this is all melted that we are officially and finally

done with Winter. We need to get our landscaping

down and our gardens planted. Fingers crossed ....

It Just Won't Stop ....

Our gardening zone has changed to

a warmer one, making our season

longer and better able to sustain

more options for planting. Not good

for global warming but nice for a

more enjoyable growing journey.

We've noticed this year that our rain

just won't stop! It feels like the West

Coast with the amount of rain that

is falling from the sky. I just checked the

weather for the week, as it pours outside,

with thunder rolling and lightening

flashing. And it looks like for the next

2 weeks, all we'll have is rainy storms.

I love the rain but can do without the

loud booms and cracks. And we would

be truly excited if our landscaping was

completed but right now, our guy has to

keep re~booking and the mud pile just

gets wetter and wetter! Please, stop!!

Are you having a very rainy season?

Or is it hot and dry in your region?

Happy Canada Day!

A national holiday that celebrates our

vibrant history, culture and diversity.

We're a quiet country, intent on a peaceful

existence, kind to our neighbors and guests.

A country intent on spreading the love, 

sharing the wealth, spending time in the 

great outdoors and making sure our people are 

well cared for. I'm proud to call this nation home!

Today, for the first time ever, we're staying 

home instead of lining up for the big pancake 

brekky at the lake, enjoying all the fun outdoor 

activities all day (all free!) and finishing up with 

the big fireworks display when the sun finally 

sets, around 11 p.m. For today, we'll be picking 

weeds, hauling dirt and enjoying watching/helping 

our amazing contractor create a new circular 

drive (okay, its really more like a nice big loop!). 

Lots of work that was pushed back a few days

due to the intense storms all week, including

being under a Tornado Warning for most of

the afternoon yesterday. The sky is now blue,

the air is warm and the soil a bit wet but

perfect for pulling weeds! Wherever you are

and whatever you are doing today, I'll hope

you'll take a moment to raise a glass (or

a shovel!) and whisper "Happy Canada

Day" into the wind. I'll be waiting to hear it!

What are your big plans on this beautiful Canada Day?

Will you be celebrating along with us wherever you are?

Landscaping Begins.

Prior to building our new home, we've

always bought homes that needed work

and took great pride in fixing them up.

Because they were already in place,

landscaping from scratch has never been 

an experience we've had to deal with.

With our new build, the bonus this time

was we could move straight into the house

and not have to fix a thing! Love that we

move in, unpack and relax. However, now

we are faced with the task of landscaping

2 acres of land. It's both exciting and

totally terrifying all at the same time. We

had no idea where to even start and how.

Thankfully, we won a landscaping item 

at an event ~ our very own landscaping

artist, who is busy designing our plan.

She came out and spent a lovely but

rainy morning with me a few weeks

ago and has kept us in the loop in

regards to the progress of the plan she

is diligently working on. The guy we've

hired to do the actual work (at least

the items we can't tackle) also gave

us a plan, so now we'll have two to

work from. It will take a number of years

to completely finish up the ideas but

we're excited to start. One of the things

we're trying to decide is where to

place all the boulders our builder

dug up and set aside for us. You can

see the big pile in the first picture.

Many places we could use them. I

did choose my hammock spot, which

you can see in the bottom picture.

The strand of trees is just the right

distance to hang out hammock from.

Dirt now but many dreams ahead!

My Dream Garden.

We're working away on designing the

landscaping on our acreage. Fun!

This is my dream garden. We have purchased

our raised garden beds but need fencing now. 

Isn't it incredibly sweet?

Do you have a dream garden?

Dollhouse Update: Landscaping.

Now that the outside of the dollhouse

is finished being painted, it was time

to think about the landscaping. My dh

bought the wood base for the "grass".

Careful measuring and cutting took 

place and then it was time to glue.

We had enough grass but it did have to 

be cut up into sections to fit all around.

I wish the landscaping we'll be doing in the 

spring and summer at this house could be as easy!

Looks so lovely against the pale

yellow straw color of the house.

After all the pieces were set, we

then placed the stone walk way.

Once we decide on a fence, then

we'll glue down the stones.

We added a couple of the

green shutters to the window.

Really loving the colors we chose. It's such

a difficult task to try and imagine the look.

Have you been working on any projects this winter?

Or do you have projects you'd like to be tackling?