Fun at the beach

Today was a lazy day… one those days when reason tells you that all those things that need doing can wait another day or two. This meant that I finally took the time to watch Julie & Julia which I have meaning to watch for some time and found thoroughly enjoyable. In the spirit of blogging (the cooking will have to wait for another day…), I knew I had to post a little update.

Last weekend included a trip to Cobble Hill to work on jewelry and hang with the animals. On Monday, my mom and I took Sofi and Benita for a walk to the beach. We are like most folks in that we take the dog for a walk in the late afternoon, but now this sometimes means taking the horse and the donkey out too. Since I don’t mind the funny looks and it’s good for them to experience new environments, off we went. Sofi had been to the beach with my mom once before, but it was the first time for Benita, who was curious and needed to sniff and investigate everything new she saw… sand, seaweed, big open space…

This is what Sofi had to say…

There’s nothing like a good roll in the sand. I bet she’ll like it even more in the summer when the sand gets nice and dry!

The Newest Additions

Yesterday was a most exciting day! Sofi and Benita have arrived as the newest four-legged members of our family. When my mom decided that she wanted to get a horse, we thought that an older horse would make it's way into the family, one that was low maintenance but still rideable.  Instead, we fell in love with Sofi. She is a nine month old Rocky Mountain filly who melted our hearts as soon as we met.

Research was quickly done to learn more about Rocky Mountain Horses and how much work it would be to train her. Everything we read talked about how these horses have an amazing temperament. This certainly seems true as Sofi is just as calm and friendly as can be, especially considering she is only nine months old.

Of course, my mom couldn’t just get Sofi and not get her a buddy to keep her company. And so Benita has also joined us.

Benita is a miniature donkey and is really quite small. We were a bit worried that she would be noisy. The roosters up the road already wake the neighbours up - what would they think if  the neighbours on the other side of them got a noisy donkey who brays all the time!?!? Luckily she has been very quiet and only heehawed once when she was first unloaded and a bit scared.

We have been pleasantly surprised by how good both Sofi and Benita have been with the dogs. Sofi was as cool as a cucumber when a neighbour’s dog barked right in her face and although donkeys do not apparently get along very well with dogs, Benita has taken quite a liking to my brother’s dog, Bailey, following her around like an old friend.

A big welcome to “the girls.” I’m sure we’ll have many stories to share…

Fun with Fonts

Despite my best intentions, I haven’t managed to get much done in terms of organizing or housework lately. On top of that, I haven’t done any knitting in the past two days, which is terrible since I have exciting projects that I want to finish.

I have, however, finally had a chance to do a little blurfing (e.g. blog surfing). Some of the blogs I came across were full of inspiration and you can find buttons that link to them on the right hand side down near the bottom. These lovely blogs led to others and somewhere along the way I saw a font that made me stop in my tracks and wonder why I have only ever stuck with what my laptop already had. I mean really, I have business cards and jewelry tags and now they seem so boring. I went on a search for the font I had seen and along the way I found all these other beauties. I thought I would post them in the spirit of sharing inspiration and here they are by name. (I had thought of including one for every letter of the alphabet, but then I would have to look for more and also leave some out, so never mind.) There were all free and most were from www.abstractfonts.com/ in case you also feel the need for a little something extra special for your graphic designing needs.

 

BURGOYNE INITIALS

Dead Hardy

ecolier

effloresce antique

first crush

gessele

herrcooleswriting

hyacinth

i-hearts

leaf1

Lewis F Day 191

lizzielongstocking

miss claude

nostalgic

  porcelain

sir talks a lot

spring

vassallo

worstveld sling extra

Long overdue…

I have neglected many things, including this little corner of cyberspace, over the past six months. Now that I have completed my B. Ed. and am awaiting my teaching certification I have time (and no excuse!) not to remedy the situation. So here is a little recap…

Let’s go back a ways… to my favourite season, because that is where I left off last time…

During the summer I spent my weekdays in university classrooms, and on the weekends I went to Cobble Hill and did my assignments in the studio so that we would be ready in the event that customers stopped by. Business was quiet, but we did have people wander in from time to time, and the studio was a good excuse to escape from the confines of our small city apartment and head for more peaceful surroundings.

Summer’s glory came in many forms…

including a most magnificent garden with flowers and organic veggies galore,

breakfasts on the patio while the dew evaporated under the sun’s warm rays,

and walks to the creek with the ducks and other friends.

With the passing months, we began to notice distinct differences among the ducks, in addition to those we had already become aware of, such as mama Bella’s protective nature, Lola’s friendly and clumsy ways, and Red’s daring try-anything-once attitude. We noticed curly tail feathers on two of the ducks and learned that these are what distinguish the drakes from the females… Lola is actually a Lolo!

Summer’s brilliance faded into fall as I began more classes and prepared for a practicum in a Grade 4 French Immersion class which turned out to be an amazing and enriching experience in so many ways.  Thank you Grade 4s!

As winter was setting in for good, I was busy with the last minute details of my program, and then with getting ready for Christmas. For the first time in years, I put up a Christmas tree and managed to make quite a few handmade gifts. I love being done school!

One of the things my mom and I did over the holidays was strain the blackberry vodka she started months ago with her own berries. It is delicious! I especially like it with with a bit of tonic water… so refreshing, it is a true taste of summer in the dead of winter. And so another batch has been left to sit and soak up the sweet berry flavours.

Between the blackberry vodka, the bumper crop of green beans in the freezer, and the squash, summer’s bounty is still being enjoyed.

Even on misty, mossy days like today.