She Likes It

The very moment I stood up for a break, there was Annie, right on top of the MS3. This was taken yesterday morning.
Today, just now actually, I discovered I will have to rip back at least five or six rows. I don't know if I have the patience to release the stitches and try to make the missed yarn over (in a most obvious spot at that!), because then I will have to go back and fix what I tried to "fix" in a cheater's way of getting extra stitches. I knew it couldn't be this easy. I was having FUN knitting lace...with beads! Totally entertained. Should have known there would be a catch. But the fixing will have to wait for later. After work and after the kids are in bed. Last night I was foolish enough to knit on MS3 while watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. Serves me right.

Today In the Barn

That's Snowflake, my last remaining sheep and a Meat King rooster (most likely Sunday's dinner!).

Touring Nova Scotia

Last Saturday we packed up the kids and a neighbour's one to boot, and started driving. We had grand intentions: swimming in the ocean (I even wore my bathing suit) and maybe even finding a place to go clam digging. Turns out we didn't do any of that but still managed to have a good time of it. The three boys were in the back seat talking about cars non-stop. (By Yarmouth I was ready to leave them by the side of the road I must admit.) We enjoyed some beautiful scenery and not much gives me more joy than watching the many changing moods of the ocean. Naturally we stayed off the main highways. Our first stop was in Shelburne where we stopped into Frenchies and a used book store (Whirli Jigs, I think). Shelburne is beautiful, even more so than I remembered. I wanted to drive out to Government Point and see what has become of the Canadian Forces Station where I spent a better part of a year many moons ago, but the guys were intent by then to find somewhere to fish. And so we drove on. We haven't gone far when a cold dense fog moved in. Once we drove into Barrington we could barely see anything, let alone the ocean. It wasn't until Mataghan that the fog cleared miraculously and the day turned glorious once more. We stopped around Comeau's Point (don't quote me on that) and the guys tested their fishing skills. One of them foul-hooked the ugliest fish I

have ever seen, in the process of which they managed to break a rod. While they were fishing, the kids and I wandered around the wharf, surprised to see quite a few cats, completely wild. We also saw this. There were many make-shift homes placed between the rocks for the poor creatures. It also appeared that the fishermen were in fact feeding those cats. We found the odd plastic tub of dry cat food. My son was so moved by the sight that he wanted us to drive to the nearest store and buy cat food. Frankly, his concern was greater than anything I've ever seen displayed towards his younger sister!

The last stop of our tour was in Digby at the Captain's Table where we enjoyed a fabulous supper of fish and chips. Delicious. The two youngest, being great fans of Garfield, ordered lasagna and garlic bread, adult servings at that! LOL

It was almost 11pm by the time we made it home.

There really is no place like home.

Did You Hear??

Yarn Harlot will be coming to Halifax in August! Hee hee hee. I get to run away from home without the kids for one entire day. To be with my own kind. Yipee!! It's not like I idolize her. It's more than that. It's about going to see a regular woman, normal and perfectly down to earth (or at least so I gather) who made good in this big bad world. Knitting and being proud of it. At a time (FINALLY) when women (and men) knit in public and are not immediately led off in those nice white jackets that buckle in the back. I will stand in line to meet her. I may have been a knitter for many years, but Stephanie inspired me to try new techniques. To get out of my comfort zone. That can never be a bad thing.

It would appear that as of late, I've been all about jumping on the bandwagon. So it is with some trepidation that I confess to joining the Mystery Stole 3. Yesterday I finally bought some beads. I will be knitting with black New Zealand wool. It will be pretty. If I ever start.

It's been a While

Time sure flies when there is a mountain of things that need to be accomplished by a deadline.



For two weeks we worked like fiends to get this house ready for sale. Not country ready. City ready. That is one thing I learned to do well from having to sell homes in over-crowded cities. Not fun at all. Strangers tromping through your home; actually it's not a home anymore once it's listed for sale: it's only a house that you occupy until you are free of it to move on. That's what this house feels like to me now. Empty. Not literally. Far from it. But majority of personal touches are down and packed away. The family portraits and photos are off the walls. The house echos now with our voices, the bare walls everyday reminders that we are just marking time now, in this place that we once thought of as home.



It feels like we've stopped living, afraid to get anything out of place, lest it create more last minute cleaning before a showing. It's sad and depressing. And tiring. I feel completely spent. Exhausted. I cannot even imagine what the kids must be feeling. "Don't do..." and "...stop it; you're making a mess..." were not in our vocabularies in the run of a normal day. Probably because my mother was such a neat freak while I was growing up, I made a conscious decision that my kids would have more freedom in that department, for the good and bad of it.



I feel empty. I don't like feeling empty.



Before I go, I must tell you that we had a showing yesterday. (We're not even up on the MLS.ca yet; this was word of mouth.) It was a perfect day for it, all sunny and warm and lovely, especially for checking out "The View" from the highest area of the property. That's all this man was interested in, "... no offence to your house, I am sure it's nice...". Seriously. He spent more than a quarter of an hour looking at the view, considering suitability for building a house with "the view", because that's what his wife wanted, but couldn't be bothered to join him. And my one thought? Why did I just spend all that time cleaning (for he never set one foot into the house) when I could have been spending that precious time with my kids???