Seasons – Page 11 – Just An East Coast Girl

Peace & Love Around The World! 🕊

It’s November 25th…ONE MONTH TIL CHRISTMAS!!!!

which also means it’s time for the Annual Father Christmas Festival in Mahone Bay. This Festival is one of my absolute favourites! It really puts me in the mood and excitement for ALL THINGS Christmas.

It’s the little rituals and traditions in the small communities along the South Shore that I love and appreciate so much. This year’s theme is Peace & Love Around the World. 🕊 I like the dove ornament from 1991. It really captures the theme for this year.

In previous years when we go to the festival, David & I would grab a hot drink and wander around beautiful Mahone Bay and look at the many Father Christmas displays placed there by local business and committee members. However, today, David’s back is TOTALLY messed up! Yes, he periodically has problems and yesterday he came home from work walking with an S curve! There go my big plans for this weekend. He’ll be on the floor and on his back much of the weekend trying to get it straight.

Off to Mahone Bay I go, just to get some pictures because the displays are truly beautiful and today it’s not so crazy busy with people.

I missed strolling along hand in hand with my husband, but I was happy to get the pics and we’ll have other years to continue our tradition. He just needs to get that back FIXED, like NOW!!!!!!

I picked up my 2016 Pewter Christmas Ornament, like I always do at the Father Christmas Festival. This year it is a Cardinal. ” There is no better time to catch sight of a cardinal than in the winter, when his brilliant red plumage contrasts with the brightness of a freshly fallen snow. The more vibrant his crimson colouring, the more likely he will find a lifelong mate who can join him in singing rich, cheerful duets to bring sunshine even on the coldest and darkest of winter days. We all have unique qualities to celebrate. Stand out and stand proud. Make the world a brighter place.”

It is these simple pleasures that make me feel truly blessed for the peace and love we have in our country!

And Just for FUN…

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A quick stop tonight to get them with lights. It’s just so pretty!!

Thanksgiving Greetings!

Celebrating with our American family & friends!

And in honour of your holiday…

we dressed for the occasion

we ate turkey complete with dressing and green beans! Well , it was chicken ( only two of us home tonight, so I didn’t roast a turkey) But then chicken is kinda like turkey…close enough, right?

And we relaxed in front of the TV watching a few SPECIALS…

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

and the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade screen-shot-2016-11-24-at-3-58-12-pm

and even a little football…

YES! I am a Cowboys fan!!! They are having an AWESOME year. 10 wins in a row!!!

and finished it off with the Disney Magical Holiday Celebration.

It was so much fun! There are so many great specials on TV on Thanksgiving Day. It’s really the kick off to the season! And the BEST part is, I feel like it’s a holiday for us too since my sweet husband doesn’t work tomorrow and it’s the beginning of a super fun weekend for us!! Yay!!!!!

Seriously though, we are so blessed in North America. There are so many reasons to pause and BE THANKFUL!!

Happy Thanksgiving USA!

Hot off the Press!

The first shipment has arrived!

Our youngest son James enjoys photography! He takes beautiful pictures as he travels. He travels almost as much, if not more than my husband and I. Just for fun he thought he would compile a few of those images, ” Dramatic Skies” into a 2017 Calendar. This is the first time he’s done a calendar and they turned out great! A perfect idea for Christmas gifts. There are photos from Canada, China, Brazil, Cuba, Australia, and of course a few from Nova Scotia.

I can’t wait to put mine up!

In between the showers

It’s been a rainy weekend and I really had hoped to check off “finish decorating for Christmas” from my “TO DO” list.

So in between the showers ( we were in and out numerous times) today my sweet hubby & I got it done!

It’s been so nice having him home a few extra days this weekend and the great news is that he also took a vacation day for next Friday. That means just a 3 day (crazy busy) work week!

Rainy Friday

It’s Rainy Friday. My husband is off today and while we were enjoying our coffee asked ” What will we do for adventure today?” He knows me so well! He knows I LOVE adventure in my life and enjoy doing something FUN with him! One idea I had didn’t pan out so we decided to get on our hooded jackets and spend the day doing errands in the rain.

Instead of grabbing a coffee break while we were out…we got some delicious treats and had coffee at home. Jam filled donuts ( and cinnamon buns), delish!

And then we went out again! I take horrible selfies. I always get just half of me and all of him, it’s never even. BUT David who usually does it for us was concentrating on driving… except for when I said “Quick! look!”

One of our stops and one of my favourite Christmasy places is the hardware store here in town. It’s so pretty in the Christmas village there.

After the hardware store we went to the mall. We ended up browsing a lot of the shops and actually picking up some Christmas gifts. We got a few people crossed off our list today! Yay!! christmas-shopping

What a relaxing fun day with no real agenda enjoying my husband’s company 😀

It’s beginning to feel like Christmas!

ONLY in my house and in the stores! CERTAINLY NOT outside!

We are having a mild week here. And today, very rainy. It’s funny how I associate Christmas “feel” with cold and a nice light dusting of snow… many parts of the world that celebrate Christmas don’t know what snow is! Even when we lived in Brazil I commented that it was a nice change (for one year) not to have snow. The things you can do with decorating in a mild climate are so different compared to when you have to worry about cold and snow. And…to be able to go to the beach on Christmas Eve…Day…New Year’s…that’s pretty cool too!

But here in Canada where we “live in igloos” and have snow all the time and our means of “transportation is by snowmobile and dog sled”…it’s mild! haha

It’s the middle of November and I am in decorating mode this week. Cleaning and putting up some Christmas decorations. Not as much as last year ( I don’t think) I can’t do the same thing every year. But atleast it is pretty and cozy and I can listen to Christmas music in the appropriate atmosphere while sipping a flavoured hot drink and enjoy the very short season that is Christmas on the evenings that get dark early.

So upstairs it’s a bit of red and green with an Asian flair since I have so many China things and downstairs…more colourful and whimsical to reflect the South American influence.

Even the laundry area got a touch…

There’s still a few more things I need to put up but alas… it’s pretty and cozy and I can listen to Christmas music in the appropriate atmosphere while sipping a flavoured hot drink and enjoy the very short season that is Christmas on the evenings (or days) that get dark so early. Now to get my outside lights up. BUT that’s a job for David 😀 (and there’s still LOTS of leaves)

Did you know?

Today is the Official “SendOff” for Nova Scotia’s tree to Boston. It was cut fresh yesterday. You can see the reason Nova Scotia does this EVERY year in last year’s post. Click on the link below.

A gift for friends

This year’s tree is from Cape Breton in Inverness County on the Northern tip of Nova Scotia. The 47-foot (14 metre) white spruce is from Crown land along Route 395 in Ainslie Glen, close to the Waycobah First Nation.

NEXT week there are so many fun Christmas things to be doing… it seems that the last weekend of November is the start of all the fun events we enjoy so much! Yay!! I can’t wait. Let the fun begin.

Have you started decorating for Christmas yet? Do you wait until December 1st?

Not to be seen again for…many more moons?

Today is the Biggest and brightest supermoon in over 60 years!! (supposedly)

You’ve heard me say before I wish I had a camera that could capture the moon in a way that it’s as real as gazing up at it! I LOVE full moons. When I look at them I know friends and family all over this world are looking too, and it’s the same moon and somehow…it just brings us a little closer together.

Here are a few of my favourites that other wonderful local photographers shared.

Photo by Ronald Smith at Hirtle's Beach — Photo by Ronald Joseph Smith at Hirtle’s Beach, NS

Lloyd Westhaver- Mader's Cove, NS — Photo by Lloyd Westhaver- Mader’s Cove, NS

One of my favourite photographers captured these two in Halifax this morning…

And of course one from China. This photograph is from Beijing BUT it really reminds me of the bridges in the park where I always walked when we lived there. See…same Supermoon!

Thank you so much to these wonderful photographers. Your talent and ability is awesome, so we all can enjoy this spectacular beauty! Don’t forget to look up!

Family Foto Shoot time

It’s that time of year…. November…when it’s cold…Brr…normally.

BUT TODAY WAS GORGEOUS!!!!

Time to get some family pics done for our Annual Family picture.

This year’s location…the beach! Crescent Beach, one of my absolute favourite places to go. And this year we took the dogs. It’s nice to have them in the pics too, at least every other year.

These are just the fun ones from my iPhone. James does our “Annual Pic” and that one I will post December 1st. I just really hope he got something we can use. It was fun because the dogs wanted to play and the sun was shining and to get 6 people and 3 dogs all looking at the same time and when the photographer needs to be in the picture too… haha…we shall see!

me-beach

Settle in!

It’s the first evening after the time change from Daylight Savings time. And…it’s dark out SO EARLY!!!!!!

I guess it’s time to settle in and enjoy the next number of months cozy inside. Reading, catching up on your favourite shows, exercise, puzzles, maybe a new hobby? The evenings are long.

We had lunch with my Mom & Dad today. Dad’s knee seems to be recovering nicely. It’s been 2 months since his knee replacement. Abby loves going there and made sure she had some quality time with both of them.

David stopped in to see his Mom & Dad. They are headed out this week to see family on their Annual trek to Florida. They’ll stop in Ontario a bit and then on to South Carolina for American Thanksgiving before arriving at their “Winter Home” in Cortez at the end of November.

It’s that time of year…time to settle in!

Have a great week!

Time to CLEAN out the gardens!

The leaves aren’t all down yet…

…so more than likely we’ll have to do it again, BUT today we cleaned out the gardens and put the furniture away. The time goes back an hour this weekend and so days are shorter. It’s easier and we have more time to do this clean up on a Saturday. David has been quickly running over the lawn with the mower after work to bag the leaves, but the gardens needed a little extra…getting in there on hands and knees and raking and cutting off the dead stuff, and pruning a few limbs. It’s always a bit sad to put the furniture away but I really do enjoy all the distinct seasons we have here.

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It’s was little bit cold this morning ( there was frost) to do this but I wore a hat and lots of layers and I was really thankful I made soup so we could have a good bowl of delicious soup for lunch to warm up! Yummy Acorn Squash soup!

This afternoon wasn’t as bad when we tackled the backyard, it seemed to warm up a bit. We got all the furniture put away ( I left a few wooden pieces out) and all the gardens cut back. Like I said…we will have to do it again I’m sure because the leaves aren’t all down, and we also need to put up Christmas lights at some point. It’s just so nice to get out on a warmer November day to do the bulk of it!