A Stormy Week

We have been going through a very bad storm this week.  It is finally beginning to calm down.  The last two days have been constant, pounding winds and torrential rain.  It got really cold last evening and it has been raining/sleeting/snowing today.  I'm pretty sure our apple tree is permanently over to one side from the wind.  Remember our appleless apple tree?  It doesn't look like that anymore :(  My peonies and gladiolus are all smashed flat (good thing they're all finished for the year).  A lot of branches have come off the trees and our garbage bins are laying flat on the ground (nothing fell out thanks to my raccoon proof bungee cord).  We are thankful there hasn't been any serious damage here and we haven't lost power.

In other news... we are under squirrel invasion again.  It's the time of year when the squirrels realise you no longer have a cat around and decide to take over your property.  Those of you who know me personally know about my long history with squirrels.  I had one living with me for at least a week, sleeping in my bed when I went to work.  Said squirrel bit me twice when I finally captured it.  I've trapped at least 10 in a humane trap and released them far out in the woods.  We've had a squirrel in our bathroom.

Squirrels are cute where they belong - OUTSIDE.  Squirrels are not cute when you're staring them down in your house.

Hopefully, they'll just stay outside, relaxing in our lawn chairs and scampering across our roof.

And now for your viewing pleasure, a clip from our storm.

Hope you're somewhere warm and dry tonight.  Thanks for visiting!

The Yarn Inheritance

I have received a LARGE amount of yarn from a lady who is 94 and going into a nursing home.  A LARGE AMOUNT.  As in THREE garbage bags (yes, sir, yes, sir 3 bags full).  If nobody wanted it, there was a dumpster waiting for it.  So now it's in my living room.  It's not entirely yarn, there is some crochet cotton and rug making stuff as well.  Oh, and a kit to make a clock.  Guess I've got my "spare time" this winter planned out...

I found a pattern at Dollar Store Crafts for the World's Easiest Crocheted Scarf and decided to give it a try.  It is extremely easy.  I had never crocheted before and was able to make this without any difficulty.  The only stitch you need to know how to do is the chain stitch and there is an excellent video posted along with the pattern showing how to do it.  Pretty simple.

 Crochet a bunch of really long chains (8-10 feet long) out of whatever scrap yarn you have (this is a great way to use up yarn).  I think I had ten.  Make sure they're roughly the same length.

 Decide how you want them to go together.

 Knot them together every 8 to 12 inches or so.

 You can trim and reknot the ends once you're finished to neaten it up.

Ready to wear!

As I have said, it was very easy and quick to put together.  The chains took me 3 evenings to do (I didn't use all I had made because they didn't look right).  Actually putting the scarf together took about 10 minutes.  I'm certainly going to be making more of these - I've got a lot of yarn to use up!  Thanks for visiting today.

Last Weekend's Trip in Photos

Here are a few photos of our weekend trip up to the Gaspe.

 Leaving PEI via the Confederation Bridge on a foggy morning

 Marshes just off the bridge in New Brunswick

Euphemia the rabbit was not amused by the trip

 Some of the interesting names of places we passed in New Brunswick

 Sign for Shediac, New Brunswick - "lobster capital of the world"

 Some fall colour along the highway

 Coming up to "the big green bridge" (to quote my kids) in the Miramichi

 Just outside Campbellton, NB.  The foremost mountain is Sugarloaf

 Entering Quebec at Pointe-a-la-Croix

 Driving along the Gaspe peninsula.  Notice the cliffs at the left.  This road had to be blasted out of the rock.  The roads here were very poor, making the train the preferred mode of transportation, until fairly recently.

 A view of some of the Gaspe coastline

 The huge Catholic church in Bonaventure

Just outside New Richmond

Another huge Catholic church.  When you're driving along the coast, you can see the sun gleaming off the many church spires.

Almost home again!

I think we'll keep going, thank you.

There's our beautiful red island!

This is what is left of the old ferry terminal.  The Confederation Bridge replaced the ferry service on this end of the Island.

Thanks for visiting!

Home Again

We're back from a weekend trip to the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec.  I'm hoping to do a proper blog post later and put up some of my photos.  We were on the lookout for moose and deer the whole trip but we didn't see one!  They're smart critters - hunting season has started and they're hanging out somewhere safe.  

Reasons why I hate the "new" Facebook

1. THE ADS ALL OVER THE PLACE!
2. Facebook telling me what I'm interested in
3. Being unsubscribed from my friends' statuses (the only reason why I'm on FB is to READ my friends' statuses)
4. The annoying ticker on the side
5. I was already annoyed by the "new" chat feature - mine is always hidden

Those are the 5 that came to me first.  I am so ANNOYED (just realised I've used the word "annoyed" 3 times already).  Facebook has been such a great tool but I draw the line when a computer starts ordering me around!  Google+ anyone?

The First Week at Tamarack Academy

Our first week went surprisingly well.  The kids are getting the hang of the routine and I think they are really enjoying the Workbaskets (they love carrying them out to the kitchen table and looking in the folders to see what's inside).  Lass complains that there isn't enough "fun" stuff in hers (as compared to her brother's), but I reminded her that she is older than he is and able to do harder things than he can.  Every time I turn my back, she's "helping" him with one of his activities.

Lass is really zipping through her My Father's World First Grade curriculum.  I am absolutely amazed.  She struggled so much with everything when we started this back in April.  The lessons are really easy for her now. We could probably go through 2 days of lessons each day, but I wanted to ease back into schooling the first week.  We'll see how things go and adjust accordingly.

Ambleside Online has been a bit of a challenge.  I haven't been able to get some of the books and some books I find too mature for my children (like Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb - I like Shakespeare but I think we can hold that off for a couple of years at least!).  It is a very through programme with TONS of reading - I lost my voice a couple of times this week.  So far, we've been reading An Island Story by H E Marshall, The Little Duke by Charlotte Mary Yonge, Trial and Triumph by Richard Hannula, The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton Burgess,  and Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.  I thought some of these books would be too "heavy", but my kids love them.  We're also reading an Enid Blyton book as a family read-aloud in the evening and when we finish it, we'll be moving on to Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I loved the "Little House" books as a child and my children are enjoying them as well (we've already read Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy earlier this year).

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better week.  The weather was gorgeous and we were able to be outside quite a lot.  We took a nature walk around the perimeter of the 15 acre field next to our property and gathered lots of leaves, berries, acorns, flowers, etc to create an autumn centrepiece.

Thanks for visiting today!

The Day I Pretended I Was a Tourist

Last week, my daughter and I went out for the day in Charlottetown with my sister-in-law who was home from Calgary, Alberta for a visit.  We went out for breakfast, did some shopping, went to McDonald's for lunch (at Lass' request - she loves the indoor playground), and then went down to the waterfront (Peake's Quay).

Cows ice cream!  Very yummy.  Lass had bubblegum (I can't remember their creative name for it - all the flavours have unique names).  It was bright blue and full of gumballs.

One of the many pretty window-boxes that are on all the shops at the waterfront.

My sister-in-law and I had tea (I had Irish Breakfast, she had Dalvay Breeze) at the PEI Preserve Company's Tea House.  We also had some of their famous raspberry cream cheese pie... delicious.  We sat outside at a little table and our tea was served in lovely china.  This fellow was standing guard outside the shop.

 A view of the boats anchored at the quay

On the way home, we stopped at Balderston's Farm Market in Stratford.  We saw some interesting vegetables...

...and beautiful flowers.  Can you believe this bouquet with the vase was only $12!  I love the colours.

They also have a U-Pick flower patch.  It is huge and full of gorgeous flowers of all sorts.  We picked a big bouquet.

It was a lovely day and we had such a great time!

Thanks for visiting today!