Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend (in Canada) came and went. At this time of year there is plenty of activity on the farm with all the apples making their way into crates to be taken off to various sellers near and far. With the early morning grass covered in dew and an eerie mist in the air we wake to the dunk dunk sound of apples hitting barrels as the pickers collect the 'drops' for juicing.

Thanksgiving was one of those family weekends that I enjoy so much. Where I get to be Mother Hen for a couple of days just enjoying my family and living for the moment.

With a nip in the air and the Autumn leaves falling we drove out to Lunenberg for a walk around the streets, which were quite deserted with the summer tourist season now over. Many of the buildings in Lunenberg are really pretty ;

A Doctor's surgery,

Bed and Breakfast?

... and a School on the top of the hill.

Jemma spotted an Archie look alike cat chilling on a table and couldn't resist making friends with him. Craig and I taking a rest half way up the hill!

Driving through Mahone Bay, there was much more going on. People walking around, a busy flea market and a place to have a cup of tea.

The locals annually decorate their gardens with 'Scarecrows' at this time of year. With various themes, a little bizarre perhaps, but some of them really do go all out with their imaginations and creativity.

The girls thought it was fun to spot some hilarious scarecrow groups and Amber had her camera with her of course.

In the afternoon we played a game of Scrabble. 

Monday was a 'put on my pinny day', preparing a lunch time feast of roast pork, mashed turnip, sweet potato, broccoli, cranberry sauce, Yorkshire puds, stuffing and gravy.

No room for the apple crisp until much later in the afternoon when I was on my way to the City to take Jemma back to her apartment.

Here we are a full week later (where does the time go?) I can hear the tractor activity outside the window as the harvesting is still ongoing, the temperatures are in single digits now but the sun is still shining.

Happy Autumn days everyone :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The changing colours of 'Fall'
Today is 'Thanksgiving' here in Canada. That means we all get the day off work and school - Yippee! As a family we don't usually celebrate the holiday but the girls asked if we could make a special effort this year and join in the Canadian spirit of things.
I cooked a roast chicken along with sweet potatoes, carrots and red peppers, all tossed in olive oil with a sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon. Pureed pumpkin, broccoli florets, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce on the side made for a colourful and delicious late lunch. Desert was an apple and caramel cake with maple/walnut ice cream. Unfortunately the battery is flat on my camera so I wasn't able to capture it on film.
Following our meal we played board games while laughing hysterically at random things (but you really had to be there)
Alas the sun did not shine, though yesterday was beautiful so we can't complain. Jemma went into Halifax with two friends on Saturday and we visited some new English friends at their lakeside home in the evening. Two different lots of visitors went home with bags full of our apples yesterday as well as a few baby potatoes from Craig's experimental 'potato crate'! Personally I thought it seemed like a lot of hard work for a meagre offering of spuds - but I think he had fun, especially dismantling the crate and digging in the sawdust by hand, along with his friend Greg, (boyish memories of mud pies perhaps?)
This afternoon we have (well, Craig mostly) insulated a few windows. Every little helps and the big picture windows lose a lot of heat so we have put up some temporary plastic film. The type that can be dried taut with a hairdryer. We used the stuff way back when Jemma was born, in our first home in Camberley and it worked well then.
No news on my shop this week, I have stopped promoting my animals on-line, if fact I hardly ever seem to get on the computer these days, just not enough hours in the day to do everything. My work hours at Wheaton's have been longer than I had anticipated for the last month. I apologise to my friends on facebook who I feel I have neglected recently :( I think I may need some practice at 'time management'
I actually cheated on the photo above (it was taken this time last year looking across at our next door neighbour's house and garden). Since it was taken their beautiful 'pavilion' gazebo got blown into a crumpled irreparable heap (rather like ours did in Spring!)
Hazel x