Happiness Is....

Hanging out with your best friend.

Daughter's best friend finally arrived from Alberta for a visit. For her first full day here in New Brunswick daughter took her to the shores of the Bay of Fundy/Atlantic coast. The water was freezing and rogue waves had the girls sprinting for higher ground.

They quickly toured the wetlands sanctuary by the beach...

and had a great day.

Life is perfect.

Some Folks I Know

Recently a parade of family traipsed through our area. We were lucky enough to have a gathering or two chez moi and I broke out the camera to catch some "locals" on tape, so to speak....

Here is one of my nieces, on our trampoline. Our trampoline has a security net which makes it easier for the wee ones to safely jump to their hearts' content while making sure their mommies' hearts don't stop in panic!

Piggy back rides were the order of the day with each little girl taking a turn hiking the others on her back. More often than not one or both riders ended up crashing to the trampoline floor in giggling fits...

Here a few of the visiting ladies enjoy some quiet moments on our dock, as the sun sets. There were kids at the raft and others in kayaks. Keen eyes watched through the splashing and fun to ensure everyone arrived safely back to shore.

One of my nephews makes his way back to shore after exploring the lake in a kayak. This handsome fellow had a bit of adventure prior to launching the boat out on water; he spotted a...er... snake in our lawn...and received a nip or two when he tried to catch it. It was a garden variety and aside from exciting the mothers for a few moments while we determined the severity of the situation (and what his parents' reaction was going to be) all turned out well. Little snake carried on his way and my nephew opted to head out to open waters...

Here is hubby relaxing after a Bbq with family. Hubby has worked many overtime hours the past couple of weeks and the chance to relax with family and chat about life was a welcome break for him.

Here is daughter with her beloved Nana. This photo was taken on Nana's porch - and didn't I tell you in the last post that more pictures were coming from her beautiful grounds? Her back deck is the perfect backdrop for portraits and family shots.

Here Nana enjoys the three littlest girls who also happen to be her youngest grandchildren. The girls were good sports as I rustled and hustled them around Nana and encouraged them to relax and look natural. These little beauties are going to break a lot of hearts when they get older - just check out the eyes and the smiles!!

Here one niece rests from the trampoline and enjoys a very lady-like moment with some Cream Soda. She needed no encouragement to pose like this; she's a natural for the camera!

Two cousins beach their kayaks after a turn around our lake. Honestly they make it look so easy but if you've ever tried a kayak, those suckers tip and sway just by the operator BREATHING! I've only tried it once and did not feel comfortable away from the shore.

Little niece borrowed my daughter's glasses and she thought it was an absolute HOOT to look through them! All the little fingerprints on the glass didn't help but she sure liked what she saw!

A Special Place

If you are ever in our area and want to enjoy a wonderful place to visit and create some golden memories, then you simply must stop by our Nana's garden. Being from Ireland, she has the green thumb and whimsical imagination to create a little piece of heaven of earth.

Nana's garden is not the same kind I would create or grow and that makes it more special to visit. Today's tour takes you around the grounds - her back porch, where family gathers, will be for another day as it is special too.

A casual stroll around the sides of her home displays the most delightful characters peaking out from the plants and flowers. Some of these creatures have spent many years travelling through life, while others are relative newcomers to this place.

Whether it is a person smiling out at you, or an old chair....they all sit comfortably in her forest as though made for that very place.

From beneath the lush green leaves you may find little frogs gathered to discuss the intricate details of catching flies...

to a single, brilliant flower spotlighting a watering can. If these were placed in my garden, it would look like cluttered garbage ~ but over at this garden...well, magic happens...

There is the quaint little shed hiding out back,

to one of the numerous birdhouses lurking behind some flowers. There is willow accenting the birdhouse stand, another classic touch from this accomplished gardener.

My favourite stop around the corner are these two little guys. A cute little pig telling a funny story to his friend, the hen. Neither mind they are getting on in years or that they are a bit weathered...like any old and dear friends, they enjoy each other's company and feel fresh and young when sharing stories.

Here and there splashes of colour wave in the light breeze.

These gardens have a cottage-y, English-garden feel to it. Today I gave you a glimpse at one of my favourite place's around here; a place where the atmosphere is as warm and inviting as the gardens that surround Nana's (and Poppa's) place.

How To Have Fun Kid-Style

Today's lesson can be learned from our children...

Take one inflatable toy...

Add 2 kids (cousins in this case)...

And send them on their way!

The kids will try everything with this wheelie-thing! Here you can see daughter on her way OUT and DOWN into the water

This one shows her cousin trying to twirl in a loop.

Playtime was shortened because the sun dipped beneath the horizon and the temperature cooled off. The kids came back tired and happy.

Daughter warming up on the dock.


Now, let me show you the fun the adults were having!

Scroll down....



way down....







Tah-dah! Can you guess which one was relaxing with some beer?

Just kidding! There was much laughter to be heard in between the photos. Even though it seems such a serious group, it wasn't. My poor nephew, here seated on the white chair ~ later in the evening he leaned back in the seat and due to the soggy ground, the chair flipped over backwards! Thankfully, aside from a bruised ego perhaps, nephew was fine. The chair however, came to the end of its life and is now waiting for the garbage truck. See the little black dog? See the box of timbits on the chair?? Well a little later on someone put that box on the ground and the next thing you know the Pug's head was in the box trying to help himself!

Here are Nanna and Poppa relaxing by the fire, along with sister-in-law-to-be (to the right of Nanna) and my neighbour (seated to the left of Poppa). That is my neighbour's house in the background.

This photo was taken before....someone...who shall remain nameless...had the nerve to ditch this great gathering for Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" ~ on T.V.!!

There was a LOT of smoke from our first "family" bonfire - we used some old wood behind the barn and it was still soggy from recent rain. The fog lifted long enough for our little Canada Day celebration and then it crept back during the night hours.

Happy Canada Day!

Today is 1 July 2008 and it marks my country's birthday!

The last few days were foggy and blah. Bright and early yesterday morning there was a small disturbance as a 5-minute storm blew through, complete with thunder and lightening. That was our area's wakeup call as 6 a.m. marks the beginning of the day for a lot of working people. It did seem ironic that one of the few lightening strikes in our little physical location.... was the local police station! No need to dispatch the police to the site but please do call the fire department!

Aside from that the summer has started. Son is bored but truly fights doing any housework. Apparently that isn't what his idea of summer holidays means! The weather did pick up enough for him and some cousins to swim for a couple of afternoons in the lake. It hasn't been hot enough for me to want to do so yet.

Daughter is busy with her school's theatre department. Just because the school is closed for the summer does not mean the theatre isn't being used. If the theatre is in use then the staff is needed to run it. The staff is comprised mostly of students and daughter is more than happy to keep busy there. She works the lights mostly. The countdown has begun to her friend's arrival from Alberta in 1 month. Her friend has never been to the Maritimes before so it'll be a fun trip for her. For part of the visit I'm taking daughter and friend to Ottawa to let them loose on the city. Look out nation's capital! No telling what 2 teen girls can get up to!

Our front garden is showing off beautiful plants and colours. I'm blown away by what grew unexpectedly this year ~ this is the same garden where we dug out the three bushes last summer. The three evergreen bushes that blocked our view and had grown too tall for their location. We did not know that other plants were "trapped" beneath the large bushes and only needed some space and light to burst out this year. One of the more spectacular plants is a Peony bush! The enormous pink flowers are just blooming now and they have the nicest, faint fragrance about them. There are 2 unknown plants growing great guns; they will probably bloom in another few weeks to a month. There is a small rose bush sprouting up and yet another unknown plant. The potted Mum was transplanted to this small garden a few weeks ago and it is taking off! I had no idea that Mums in the right growing zone are actually perennials! I bought some black-eyed Susans and they have taken root as well.

I'll be taking some pictures to post shortly...maybe even today if the sun stays out long enough! Fog, fog, go away!!

Have a great day everyone and happy birthday Canada!