SOW SOW SOW

First off, I would like to start by adding that I meant to put the following picture on my last blog entry but somehow missed it.

That's my little man really enjoying the fishing trip. He loves watching the line...

Ok - So what I wanted to tell you about was that our garden is planted!

There is a bit of a tradition here in this little corner of the world, generally no one recommends planting until after June 15th. That's the last full moon that brings frost with it. However, it has been unseasonably warm here this week or so. Last year, we felt that the spinach was planted too late and the weather was too warm for it to mature properly. We ended up going all summer with no spinach plants.

So this year we decided we had to plant earlier, although it feels so warm I still wonder if we planted early enough weather-wise.

My hunny and I agreed we would get planted and keep our leftover seeds, so that if there is a mid month frost no real damage would be done. We could always just plant again afterwards, which is when alot of people will be getting it done.

We drastically altered what we will be growing this year. Perhaps some will find it more boring, but we will find it more practical for us.

We have spinach and then 4 styles of lettuce, all within 3 rows. We wouldn't risk going much more because we couldn't possibly eat it all.

The rest of the garden box will be two varieties of carrots. My hunny isn't a huge fan of carrots in general, until he tried the ones we grew last year. With that - we are motivated to have some more this year, make them last longer!

We aren't growing any broccoli because we don't eat alot of it and with all the bug removal they were alot of work. We aren't growing any onions because it's about $1.99 for a bag of them at the grocery store. (Although, I still have a free planter and I might grow a few anyway). No celery this year either.

We do have two potters of pleas planted, and this year purchased the appropriate netting. That should work better than the climbing metal thing last year. Oh, and tomato!

Finally, our cherry tree is out in bloom! And beautiful! Do you think we will get any cherries this year? Our wonderful neighbor googled for us that it can take 3 years, but we don't know how old the tree was when we got it. Plus, we had it last year as well. Maybe this will be the year we see fruit?

My hunny and I have also taken a risk and planted a gooseberry bush. Our nursery guru has informed us how there is a caterpillar that attacks these bushes every year, and the appropriate action to take. We are on the watch!

Right now it's just a little green thing but when something happens, I will snap a picture for you. I've never seen anyone grow a gooseberry bush, so we are pretty excited!





Oh and in the woods on sunday we saw a little lilac tree growing in the ditch! Seriously! So this fall that may be getting a new home as well.

Hope that everyone has a fantastic day!

Xoxo.
Leslie

SILLY FISHIES

We woke up first thing this morning and the sun was shining!

Here we were, both with today off and good weather - what are the chances?!

Very slim here in Newfoundland!

My hunny and I quickly got ready, and set off with our canoe for a day of fishing!

~First trip of the year~

and of course we brought the dogs along with us!

I can't tell you exactly where we went, for one very incredible reason:

it was probably the best fishing of our lives!

So now we are sworn to secrecy and have a new favorite fishing spot.

The trout were practically jumping into our canoe!

We couldn't remember if Remy had ever gone in the canoe before.

She didn't seem very keen on us moving across the water.

However, once we set the anchor she was gung-ho.

I was musing that because of her general skittishness, if we caught a fish she might be frightened enough to jump out of the boat.

As it happens, the exact opposite was the case.

When Remy saw the fish dangling from the rod over the water, she got so excited she jumped out of the canoe after the fish!

Needless to say, after some great fishing we took the dogs for a swim to cool off and for fun exercise.

The black flies were really bad.

Poor Bear always manages to get bitten around his eyes, and they were swelling up.

Remy had a few bites on her nose.

I had fly dope and wasn't afraid to use it on myself either.

Either way, I now know exactly what we will be having for supper tomorrow night!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Xoxo.

Leslie

Building A Bear

I will take full responsibility for this one.


I vaguely remember Build a Bear from when I was in Arizona a lifetime ago, and I've heard people talking. In fact, when we were over at Martin and Amanda's place, Amanda mentioned to me about Build a Bear and the different ones that my nephew has in his collection.

Now, in my defence, we were headed to that mall anyway - so it wasn't a special trip.

My little brother and my hunny were with me, and I warned them that I wanted to check this Build A Bear thing out!



(My little brother, the day we arrived)

 *BIG GRIN*

So we went in, picked out the skin of the animal we wanted. You wouldn't believe how many there are to choose from!

The lady asked how hard the stuffing would be, and I said since it wasn't going to be hugged or played with we'd go fairly firm.

She asked the name of our Bear, and my hunny suggested BUDDY.

Then because it was OUR bear, we then had to proceed to rub a little heart all over ourselves to wish our Buddy Bear the best of health. (I probably wouldn't have minded skipping that part).

Then you gave him a brushing and an air bath.

Finally you got to pick out his outfit and accessories. This is trickier than you'd imagine - mostly because they have umpteen zillion options.

At one point my little brother decided he'd be the photographer for this main event. Luckily we didn't try on very many outfits before we figured out what we wanted.

and you wouldn't believe all the accessories and options for these Bears...

Everybody meet BUDDY!

Now he's sitting at home on our bureau, reminding us of our great trip.

My hunny even came up with the cute suggestion that perhaps we could make it a tradition each year. Then give the little Bears a small shelf in the corner of our bedroom.

For those of you that have no idea to what I'm referring, here is their website:

http://www.buildabear.ca/


Xoxo.
Leslie

Edward Jordan

Edward Jordan (1771–1809) was an Irish rebel, fisherman and pirate in Nova Scotia. He was typical of the violent but short-lived pirates in the 19th Century following the end of "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 18th Century. Born in Carlow County, Ireland, he took part in the Irish rebellions of 1797-98 but was pardoned and attempted to start a new life as a fisherman in Nova Scotia. On Sept. 13, 1809, desperate to avoid debts, he slaughtered the crew of a merchant who came to seize the schooner he owned named Three Sisters. However the captain, John Stairs, managed to escape overboard to be rescued by a passing fishing schooner and survived to spread the alarm. A few weeks later the Royal Navy schooner HMS Cuttle captured Jordan.


Jordan was convicted of piracy and executed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His body was covered in tar and hanged from chains in an iron cage called a gibbet at Black Rock Beach in Point Pleasant as a warning to others. His gibbet joined those of four other across the harbour on McNabs Island who had been executed for mutiny aboard the brig HMS Columbine in the same year. His skull was eventually deposited at the Nova Scotia Museum.[1] It was recently displayed in the exhibit "Pirates: Myth and Reality" at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, serving as a grim reminder of the reality of piracy.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jordan

(Sorry Montreal! Haha ~ Darn Wikipedia!)

Also - some interesting Nova Scotia Pirate Facts: http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/events/piratefacts.html

Pirates are Hanging

With Pirates of the Caribbean in theatres right now, I figured I would go ahead and tell you about something I thought super cool in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We were there last thursday...

and as interesting as all the stories were, and the Titanic memorabilia was pretty cool too...

The best story was that of the pirates!

 So apparently they were pretty big at catching these bad guys in Halifax. Then again, it was a big shipping port so I suppose it could be expected.

Anyway, the story went something like this.... as a deterrent to pirates they would hang them, then take their bodies and suspend them in these cages. They were then posted around the entrances to the Halifax Harbour so that any potential pirates entering would be scared. Into stopping a life of crime or not entering... who knows?

Either way, I think that's how it went. I'm pretty sure it said they were hung before caged.

But they did say they know for a fact that some famous pirate I forget the name of was hung right down on the beach in Point Pleasant Park!

Think of that next time you're feeding the ducks and licking your ice cream!

See? Learn something new everyday!

Xoxo.

Leslie

Wakey Wakey!

Good Morning Everyone!

I was sitting here this morning, after returning home from Nova Scotia yesterday, my hunny is working... the dogs are sleeping.... and I thought of you!

Where have I been?! Busy with life. That's the shortest and easiest answer. The longer version includes excuses like my computer is slow and frustrating as sin.... either way I just wanted to write you a quick note.

We had the quickest visit to Halifax! Ok, maybe not the shortest but it went by so fast. We got to accomplish most of the items on our list, and visit alot of people I was really looking forward to seeing.

There definitely was a food theme to our week:

Coras (we went twice!), Cinnabon, Rocky Mtn Chocolate Factory, Pete's Fruitique for lunch, King Crabs legs from Clearwater Fish Market, Montanas...

I felt like we never stopped eating the entire week!

In that respect, I'm awfully glad to get back home...haha

Oh did I mention Starbucks?! Yes I got a new tea mug for work! YAY!

Although on a side note I would like to add that it seems as if lately the Starbucks reuseable mugs have taken on a less artsy, more boring theme.

Don't do it! Go back to the fun mugs!

Either way, there are lots of stories to share.

But I just came to say

hello :)



SOUP

Before this sunday past, I never knew how to make soup. I'm not talking about all the recipes you find that are based on boxes or cans of broth. Homemade soup from scratch!

We had 3 large turkey legs in the freezer, after getting them on special at Dominion for $3.50! They were perfect for learning. My hunny's dad came over sunday afternoon, and I started chopping vegetables. While my hunny and he watched some hunting and fishing shows, I got to learn very valuable knowledge on soup making. My first pot didn't quite turn out with as much flavour as I would've liked, however I have an idea on how to go about hopefully changing that for the next try. Use less water?

Homemade turkey vegetable with rice.

Now if only I had taken some photos. Next time!

If you have any suggestions, I warmly welcome them!

Xoxo.
Leslie

p.s. I've turned the music back on, so hopefully you had a chance to watch the Newfoundland clips. xoxo

NEWFOUNDLAND LOVE

So, I'm not sure if many of you have had the privledge to see some of these commercials, but I absolutely love them. I'm talking about the tourism Newfoundland and Labrador television ads. They are powerful. Whenever you're in a room of people, and one of these comes on tv, watch everyone there. Conversations stop, heads turn, someone reaches for the remote to turn the volume up, and a voice will say "Oh, I love these commercials!". I wanted to share them with you, just in case you've been missing out. They are only one minute long each, so go grab a cup of tea and enjoy!


Place Names
(If the screen shows black, just click on the center and you should see a play symbol)





Half Hour Ahead




Architecture



History



Vikings



Ancient Land



Clothesline



The Edge




That's all that I'm going to post. There are actually more, but hopefully you like these ones that I picked.

Love Newfoundland!

Xoxo.
Leslie

SNOW STUCK

The other day, the mild weather settled the snow a bit, we had a funny dog walk experience.

Sometimes Remy's nose takes her into inconvenient places.

In this case, she went down a steep hill, and then with all the snow couldn't manage to get back up.

I even tried pulling out the treats. It wasn't a matter of will, she was trying, it was a matter of way, she couldn't get back up through the powder.

So her dad crawled down and gave her a boost up!

Love.

Xoxo.

Leslie

MAN IN THE MOUNTAIN

Well, friday we might've had an amazing snowmobile ride, but monday we decided to try something a little different.

Still outdoors... (of course!)...

but how about a snowshoe!

Now, for whatever reason, our household woke up monday morning feeling somewhat LESS than energetic.

I joked around that it was as if we were all hungover, except we watched a movie the night before and went to bed at a regular time.

So needless to say, we didn't hit the snow maybe as early as we could have.

It was warm. Must have been around zero degrees, with no wind.

It wasn't long before we were sweating our way up the Man in the Mountain trail.

It's a good thing we dress in layers!

Also, the dogs were getting a kick out of eating snow to stay hydrated.

On a side note, Remy loves eating snow and ice. She will gladly do that all day. Bear doesn't usually have any interest but even he was enjoying it.

So needless to say, after peeling off some clothes and becoming a bit more comfortable, we continued our climb. The temperature was great, snowing just a little, and the white stuff under our feet was a perfect texture for Bear.

That's important because he's so small.

With the warmer temperature, the snow was wet and staying stuck down underneath our snowshoes.

This way he could easily walk over top of it without having to deal with powder.

It made a true path for his little legs to follow.

We had so much fun! It was only our second real snowshoe of the year, and the first time we did this trail. The air up there is great!

You know me, loving any chance I get to snap a real family photo!

Now, we went all the way up to the pond, as you can tell by this photo. By the time we got here it was already after 3pm, and we wanted to make sure we had ample time to get back down. That peak in the background was the last little bit of the trail to the top, and we are thinking next time we will start earlier so we can tackle it.

Have any of you done it? I did it once before on snowshoes, but that was a couple years ago and the trail wasn't marked well.

So I'm not sure back then we took the proper path.

If we did, it was very steep and hard going, and I'm not sure I want to scrabble up and down. Especially with Bear. It scared me. So I'm hoping that there is actually a more realistic way up. I'd love for us to get to the top! Especially on a day clear enough to see out the valley. That wasn't today! haha

A friend commented on my facebook album for this winter, saying that it looks as if hunny and I are right in love. Well, we are! I blame him though, it's entirely his fault... hehe

I do love him SO much.

Sometimes it randomly occurs to me that I'm going to marry him and it makes me so happy I could burst!

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

If any of you have information about the man in the mountain hike, that would be most helpful.

Thank you always for all your love and support!

Xoxo.

Leslie

MOOSE LOVE

We went in the woods friday afternoon, and had the most epic sled ride!

We saw 2 moose!

It was a bit of a sad story though. We stopped to take this photo and we frightened her badly.

However, because the snow was so deep, her instincts to run away were hindered.

She panicked.

Like a caged animal.

She fought and fought to get away from us, all the while effectively getting nowhere in the snow.

So when we saw the next moose, we just kept going.

Everywhere we went, we blazed the trail!

Powder, powder, powder baby!

Then after a couple hours, we stopped for a snack.

Oh! and while we were exploring, we came across a fox hole!

First we thought maybe it was a rabbit hole,

but then we found the pee dribble at the entrance and the small piece of fox poop.

It was a great thing to see, and easy to spot.

Picture smooooooth snow, and then a destroyed area.

Very nifty.

We had a blast! I'm so glad we have the snowmobile, and the opportunity to go together.

Time to go walk Remy.

She got tired of watching The Dog Whisperer and is now waiting for me at the door.

Xoxo.

Leslie

KNITTING ROOMIE SNOW

She's on a mission.

Somewhere in the wilds of the world wide web, cutie roomie came across the photo of a really sweet, knit hat. I mean sweet literally, it was a cupcake hat! From that, an idea was born. She was going to learn how to knit. I would do my best to help her! Then again, I'd gladly help her do just about anything.... <3

She began by doing a whole lot of web surfing. Looking for inspiration perhaps, or instructions.

I picked up a copy of Knitting for Dummies at the book store.

She ran to walmart to buy some needles and yarn.

We boiled the kettle.

Oh, and also required a little help from youtube.

A scarf was born.

Now I have to tell you, this was my doing.

I kept insisting that before she could make a hat, she needed to start with the basics.

That would be a simple scarf.

(Good thing my auntie showed me a basic stitch that I could pass along).

Needless to say, the scarf has sorta been put aside.

Once she was warmed up, cutie roomie was on a roll!

Yesterday she started learning her first "fancy" stitch.

She has turned that into a headband

AND IT'S AWESOME!

Isn't it amazing?

Isn't she amazing?!

SO IMPRESSED!

Not to mention that she had a midterm today, and the "not a real midterm" tomorrow.

Haha.

Never fails.

I haven't really gotten a chance to take photos of our snow for you.

I keep meaning to, and as I drive through town I see what would be great pictures!

However, before the snowbank chopper blower thingy came down our street today, I ran up and snapped a photo. 

LOVE SNOW!

Xoxo.

Leslie