Family – Page 12 – Just An East Coast Girl

Memories

A lot of people don’t care for social media. It definitely has its pros and cons. One of the good things is that you can look back…a year ago, 2 years ago, 5 years ago… I love this feature. It’s also one of the reasons I blog. Blogging is like a journal, a diary, pictures are worth so much when you can look back and remember special times and events that might otherwise be forgotten in your current daily activities and responsibilities.

This week there are lots of pictures and posts coming up from a year ago… posts that make me wish I was right back there!

Last year at this time I was in China! Walking on the great wall, eating delicious authentic Chinese food, spending quality time with my sister in law and my niece, walking familiar paths, visiting Chinese friends… ahhh….

I am so thankful for such wonderful memories!

It’s soon time to make more!!! I think I’ll cook up some jiaozi for lunch…

Fur Baby is SICK and Family Sunday

Saturday was a rainy day!

BUT Today is a gorgeous sunny ( but breezy) day after all the rain yesterday. A lot of leaves came down with the wind and the cover blew off our propane firebowl. Guess I know what we will be doing this week. It’s getting to be time for leaf raking!

I’m tired! I was up off and on last night with my Abby girl. All day yesterday she wasn’t herself. Didn’t want to eat anything. Last night James & I were having some snacks while we watched a movie and he gave her just a couple small pieces of plain potato chips. I don’t know if that set it off… WARNING MAYBE TOO DETAILED FOR SOME READERS!!!

…but she was up and down all night and from about 4am on she was throwing up blood and even bleeding from her rectum. Not fun. I’ve had experience before with blood from both ends with a dog and it didn’t end good. So anytime Abby has blood issues I worry and fret, it takes me right back to our first dog. Later this morning after all that, she went out to poop ( worst poop ever) and threw up again. I bathed her, because she was a complete mess!!! She has been resting ever since and doesn’t want me to go too far…Whatever it was seems to have passed, now we just wait and see. With such a tiny puppy, it seems like every once and awhile I have an issue like this to deal with. Take her food away nothing to eat and drink for a day until she dries up…poor little fur baby.

Today is a “Goode Family” Potluck. We try to have one of these every couple months. It’s hard to get everyone there, there’s just so many of us. David’s parent’s will soon be on their way South to Florida for the Winter so there’s only a few more weeks left to see them.

I didn’t go today because Abby was still not great but I cooked up some goodies for David to take…scalloped potato, brown sugar maple flavoured meatballs, and apple crisp. Yum!!I wish I was going. I love scalloped potato but rarely make it.

Laura was there and having lots of fun playing dress up with one of the littlest members of our family.

Tonight I’m just cozy inside watching another movie. I don’t watch a lot of movies but sometimes it’s just nice to cozy up and relax.

And that’s my Sunday!

Coke…Life?

Most people who know us know that our family drinks Coke ( ok I don’t, and Andrew’s wife doesn’t) BUT a lot of the “Goode” men prefer Coke over Pepsi. My husband really enjoys his Coke and has been collecting cans from around the world on our travels.

Coke came out with a new product…Coke Life. It’s even in a green can. Somehow that seems wrong since Coke is always red!

Coke Life…’COCA-COLA LIFE’ is the latest addition to the ‘Coca-Cola’ family. Coca-Cola Life is a lower-calorie version of Coca-Cola, using stevia and sugar as sweeteners. It has 27 kilocalories/100 mL, containing 60% of the calories of regular Coca-Cola.

Well my husband who is a COKE drinker has tried it…once, and initially says “It’s NOT coke!” BUT because he bought a case, he’ll keep trying it…(at least until the case is finished) or maybe give most of it to our daughter who “steals” his Coke when she visits.

but I think he will not give his thumbs up for the “green” version…It may be healthier…maybe, BUT it’s just not the same taste! And this man knows his Coca-Cola!

Happy Hump Day!

PS~ And here’s a follow up to this post, an article I cam across. This is why I do not drink Coke and wish my husband didn’t. When something will do what the following article says it will. Should you really be putting it in your body? I don’t think so!

http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/industrial-uses-for-coke.html?t=CHH

Vacation is over…back to work!

The last day of David’s Fall vacation. What to do? Another gorgeous day and the leaves are still so beautiful. James was actually up early to capture this beauty at the old train bridge in Bridgewater.

We decided another drive…a Sunday drive …a different route…a different part of the coast. We are so blessed to live in a province that has coast on all sides.

We skipped church today and left early so it wouldn’t be a late day, took Abby for a short drive to Nana’s ( she LOVES the car) and headed to the valley.

We took Hwy 8 passing Kejimkujik National Park on the way. We wanted to see the site of the really bad forest fires this summer. Such devastation.

Saw this beauty after all the brown and char from the fire.

This drive put us in the quaint town of Annapolis Royal. We walked around Fort Anne and downtown, then crossed the causeway to have lunch at Vicki’s.

After lunch it was out to the coast to Port Royal, Habitation , Victoria Beach and Digby Gut. We thought we could get all the way around the coast on this area but there were no roads so we had to back track and cross over to Parker’s cove. This is a lovely area over looking the Bay of Fundy. I would love to have a cottage here. We followed this route along to Hampton, Port Lorne and Port George before cutting across to Middleton and then catching Hwy 10 home to Bridgewater.

We had a gorgeous day to do a little more sight seeing. It was a wonderful vacation exploring more of our own province. A place where tourists from all over the world visit especially in the Fall.

And it’s back to work for David.

We were actually heading off to bed at 9pm when he got a call from work with a major situation and he had to go in. Technically he’s still on vacation but it’s back to work!

Today I am getting back to my routine and cooking up a special Birthday dinner for our sweet daughter who is 27 today!!! Whoa! How can that be?

david-laura-james Have a great week friends!

Foraging in the Forest

Saturday was a beauty. Our youngest son James has been enjoying his Saturday’s off now that he is back to University and working full time. BUT today…he was up at 5am ( I saw him when I took Abby out to pee) He was getting ready to head off to the woods to look for mushrooms and Chaga. Remember the post I did in May?

Chaga

He and a friend wanted to get an early morning start to see what they could find. And find they did!!

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40lbs of Chaga, hedgehog mushrooms, hollow stem boletes and even… yellow foot chanterelles!!

And I had fun cooking some up for dinner…

Yum!!! Thanks so much James. You can go foraging anytime.

And since it was just such a beauty of a day, David & I went to Indian Falls.

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PS. And This is where our oldest son and his wife are today…

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So…This family spent a day enjoying the forest in different parts of our beautiful province. It’s so wonderful to take the opportunity to enjoy it…before long it will be cold and snowy!

A little project…

It’s always nice to get some things accomplished around the house on vacation. While we spent most of our time exploring and on adventures, David was antsy to do a project too. Gee, you’d think after the paint project ( painted the whole upstairs in our home) he would want to rest. BUT, No!!! And because this little project has been “bugging us” and because of circumstance…it seemed like the right time to try it.

One of the days we were on our way to the city, we heard on the radio that Fabricville had a sale…40% off their upholstery fabric. Hmmm? That got us thinking and we stopped in. We actually bought 5m of fabric at an excellent price! And that’s why he was antsy…he wanted to see if he could do it. We have never reupholstered anything

So here’s the project!

We have a fabric/bonded leather loveseat and big comfy chair in our living room. We’ve had it for 8 years or so. Well the arms haven’t been wearing so well and is cracking and damaged and umm…then…someone set a hot cup of coffee on the arm and the material lifted off. And then someone else did it and before long…I was so frustrated!! Why is this happening?! We take really good care of our things so they last and everything else about this set is in excellent condition. Why is certain areas breaking down? There is absolutely no wear showing at all. We like the colour and it just suits our decor right now. What to do? We couldn’t find a complete match for fabric but we did manage to find one pretty close. And because we decided to just do the arms which is wrapping and stapling, no sewing involved…I think it will be ok.

Here goes! Fingers crossed

Staples after staples…( and this is just 1 arm. There’s 3 more to do!)

This is what we’re doing…

The first arm is the worst, right? You know to get a pattern and see how it’s done!

The arm chair is finished!! It turned out pretty good, especially for a first time project.

Now to do the love seat…

Did I mention my husband is AMAZING!!!!! ❤️

Canadian Thanksgiving 🦃🍁🍂🌰

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

And somehow…I just think it’s better celebrated in October…when the summer’s hardwork pays off with a bountiful harvest of various produce and the leaves are all in brilliant colour. We are so blessed!

Today is a rainy day for Thanksgiving. It’s supposed to rain all day BUT this year I am so thankful for the rain. I think everyone is. It has been the driest summer in 40 years and the water in the lakes and rivers is so low going in to the Fall and Winter months. So we are especially thankful for this steady rain today!

Cranberries are made. Turkey is in the oven. Desserts are made. Table is set. Just waiting for the family to arrive…

It was a wonderful time spent with Family. So blessed, so thankful!

I’m Smiling!

World Smile Day Falls on the 1st Friday of October.

Today I am full of smiles. You see next week my sweetie has a week vacation BUT what I didn’t know was that he starts that vacation TODAY! Yes, he’s home today having coffee this morning with me while we both do our morning catch up on the computer and then…

a trip to the market for some Fall decor.

A delicious lunch…chicken apple soup with a hint of curry and biscuits, we picked up at the market

and maybe…a little adventure today.

It’s such a gorgeous day for the long weekend and start of our vacay.

David even got out on the bike…

And Abby was all smiles because she went in the car to spend the day with Nana & Papa

A perfect day!!! 😀 Keep Smiling!

Last weekend of August

I can’t believe it is the end of summer and the last weekend of August…ALREADY!!!

We spent a lovely Sunday in the city on the waterfront and geocaching, just hanging out with two our kids.

A Photo TODAY!

Today is World Photo Day, marking the invention of photography. I LOVE taking photos as we travel, of my family, of food and cultural things, interesting and usual. It brings me great joy. And while I could have shared any number of interesting photos, I chose one.

A photo ( collage) with a simple purpose: to share my world with the world!

Here’s a HUGE part of my WORLD. (There are 4 others that are busy working today)

World Photography Day…Celebrating 177 Years of Photography. Here’s to the images that give us new perspective on the world, bringing us closer together!