Port Mouton in the Winter

Some people go away to the seaside in the winter. They usually go south :) Where it is warm. I go east. Where is is not warm.
But our house in Port Mouton is very cozy. Very hygge.
We spent a glorious week there.

Here we are on Day 2 -- at Carters Beach
(please click on these photos -- they look so much better when they are large!)

 (can you see that little cape islander? it is coming in from hauling lobsters!)

Our little bit of festive decor :)

We woke up one morning and the frost looked so beautiful. I ran outside in my pajamas to take these shots!  The pond. Hence "Pond House" or Pond Cottage (what do you think of Pond Cottage?)

If you want to see more of the fantastic beaches in the area, please go to Sara Harley's blog and visit her videos of the 12 Beaches of Christmas (you will have to scroll down a bit to find them at the end of 2014). They are all within a short drive of  us. And they all look (and sound) so different.

Next up : one more post about Nova Scotia -- and then onto some art! Yes, I still make art. I don't just collect art supplies.

Bye for now, Nova Scotia

I didn't blog half as much this summer as I thought I would. Too much time up the ladders! Many people asked me if I had time to enjoy myself. Yes! All that time up on the ladders (outside) allowed me to be out in the beautiful seaside weather -- and to enjoy the fabulous views. I did finish painting pretty much all of the outside siding (except for the very top few feet of the peaks). The trim will be finished next year.

 

 

(almost done)

 (view from our front lawn)

 Mr B came back to NS in mid August and the Lovely Miss L and Mr Z came for a (too brief) visit. The day after they arrived my parents came! So my last few weeks in Nova Scotia were happily spent with family....

Reflections on the summer...

That Atlantic water is darn cold!  I didn't swim once! Next summer I WILL try to swim in the pond.

I'm sorry that I didn't get to spend more time getting to know the neighbours :( Next year, I will be a better neighbour :)

Tradespeople are SCARCE. Nothing got finished. Not. one. thing :) Sheesh.

I bought a little homemade rowboat at the end of the summer (actually, my mom went and finagled the final transaction). It was built by a man named... Squirrely.... I can't wait to buy oars next year and row it around the pond!!! We are having LOTS of fun coming up with a name. It is currently brown because it was made for duck hunting :) I'm not keeping it brown, because the only name that comes to mind for a brown boat is The Poop Deck....

My mom also found lots of furniture for me that I haven't even seen yet! (thanks mom)

And my dad did SO MUCH WORK. He wasn't supposed to. He completely cleaned the basement out (Z helped too!)... and tore the rotting front porch off and did so many other things after I left.... including shutting down the place for the winter. (thanks dad)

I'm really missing the Privateers Bounty flavour of ice cream..... (A black licorice ribbon, a sea salt caramel swirl and crunchy toffee pieces in rich vanilla ice cream).I wish that I could have brought home a gallon :)


But now I'm back in Toronto (aka The Centre of the Universe) again :)
Back to school has been great. My class is full of interesting characters this year! They'll keep me on my toes. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold last weekend, so I'm not in top form. And extra-unfortunately, I've been summoned for Jury Duty later this week. Ugh.

But for now I'm still dreaming of walking on the beach, while the water swirls around my toes....

 

And I'm singing this song......
(please click here go to Sara Harley's Blog to sing along with the G3s)

Today in Port Mouton

Sunny with some clouds, high of 21 (70f)

I have been working my butt off!

It seems to rain every other day, so the outside painting has really slowed down (the wood has to dry out for about 2 days before i can paint, so I've been 1 1/2 weeks without painting)

However, I've been painting inside!

Here's the sunporch:
Before:

 

During:

 After:

And the bedroom:

 Before:

After:

 

Unfortunately ALL of this paint in the bedroom has to be sanded off and redone. The paint store sold me an expensive primer (over $50!!) and said that it would be "perfect for this" (it is fake wood paneling - the primer adhered well to the real wood paneling) Well, it wasn't. 2 coats of primer and a coat of paint later, it does this when I run the back of my fingernail over i (not even scratching with my nail -- running the BACK over it. sigh....) Will sand it back to get a better grip. Hopefully, the paint store will replace the paint and primer. It's Benjamin Moore, so a bit spendy. Pretty, though, isn't it? It's not a huge job to redo, but super annoying because, as you know, I'm here without transportation, so I have to wait for Mr. B to return to go to the paint store. Grrr.

Having said that, I have 2 wonderful Nova Scotia friends who I met through blogland, although hilariously coincidentally, I went to the same High School as Sara - at the same time (but she was 3 grades above me so I didn't know her), and Amanda lived a few blocks from my school in Toronto until she moved here just over a year ago.

A MILLION THANKS to:
Amanda was going on a road trip to Lunenburg and offered to take me along (who says no to Lunenburg? Pas moi!). After stopping in Bridgewater to pick me up a dehumidifier and a fan (super damp basement - 85%  humididty) and going to the fabric store and to some trift shops, and the grocery store... we finally made it to Lunenburg and went to Dots and Loops and The Makery. I didn't escape without some personal shopping....

(Little house necklace by Gold Fools, from Halifax)

And Sara came to visit and very graciously took me into town - to the hardware store... where I picked up painters drop clothes. Tune in tomorrow to see what I did with them..... We also hit the grocery store (i have enough tp to last a year) and we went out for lunch at Lanes. I recommend it!  Afterwards we took Andy for a walk on the beach. He loved it! I haven't taken him in his bike trailer to the beach yet. My legs and lungs are still getting used to the solo rides up the hills.

(you can click on their names to visit their blogs)

Woo Hoo - 2 dry days in a row! As soon as the dew drys, I can paint outside! I hope to get a lot finished today. Wish me luck!