Busy day on Blossom Hill farm

Golden leaves, taken on a recent walk.

I am determined to get back to my weekly blogging, so here I am grabbing a quick half an hour in what is turning out to be a busy Saturday morning. Amber has been safely dropped at her volleyball tournament at 8.30 this morning. Craig is lying down with a bad migraine, dosed up on ibuprofen. Some guys arrived with their boat, to be stored in the barn for the winter and a neighbour with some furniture also being stored in the barn.
I was driving into town two days ago and looked up to see the biggest flock of migrating geese I have ever seen. I slowed right down as did some other drivers and watched in awe at these amazing birds flying south for the winter. They certainly have the right idea, if only it were that easy :D

This evening, assuming Craig is feeling better, we have our neighbours visiting for supper. I want to prepare a nice meal and open a bottle of 'bend in the river' wine.

Perhaps I should finish the mowing first or do I get busy sewing?

My Christmas orders are starting to come in and I like to have at least 10 animals listed in my shop. I love to hear stories from my etsy customers. This week one of my customers, Adrienne gave her own tiny elephant to a young patient in pediatrics, a little girl, who clutched the baby Ellie as she fell asleep and he was the first thing she asked for when she woke up :)

....Back again at 11pm. Feeling happy but tired after a lovely evening with our friends. Dinner was a success and our guests kindly brought along a yummy cheesecake to follow the stir fry chicken with pasta, sun dried tomato Alfredo sauce and my favourite salad, this time with thinly sliced pears, grapes and oven toasted sliced almonds with a special zesty dressing containing mango and orange juice. The four teenagers even volunteered to do the dishes for me as a bonus!

Goodnight

Hazel x

Long lost friends

Hi there!
Not sure why, but I just haven't been in the mood for blogging recently (two whole weeks have gone by since my last post).
All is well up here on Blossom Hill mountain, after several days of glorious sunny weather the wind arrived yesterday with a vengeance and blew thousands of golden leaves to the ground. Now where there was lawn there is a carpet of red and gold, still soft but soon to become irresistibly crunchy underfoot!
I have been dabbling on facebook a little and came across two long lost friends. Well, actually I found their children who were able to put me in touch with Sheena (who I last saw about 11 years ago in England) we took National childbirth trust classes together while expecting our first babies, and Marie in Norway, going back even further to my wild early 20's! The wonder of computer technology :D
Mid week I had a lunch out with some girlfriends, something I haven't done for ages, not since I lived in New Zealand where I used to meet my friend Keriann for coffee after swimming, or in Napier at a wonderful cafe called 'port o' call'. Here in Berwick on the other side of the village is a lovely cafe called the 'cider press cafe'. Tina, Kathy and I had the yummiest curried carrot soup and fresh salads. They also serve great herbal teas (I had pear) and Tina indulged in a lemon chiffon type desert with whipped cream.
All the local apples are pretty much stripped from the trees now with just the 'drops' on the floor to be picked up and put into crates to be used for juicing (backbreaking memories of last year!) There are quite a few varieties surrounding us; Honey crisp, Golden del., Red del., Spartan, McIntosh, Empire and Gravenstein. I am now finally getting to know the difference after living here for my third apple season.
I was glad yesterday that the weekend had arrived as I felt we hadn't spent much time together as a family. Craig has been working long hours, the girls both had extra mural activities after school which involved lots of driving around and during time at home we seemed to all be doing our own thing. A family discussion was called at the dining room table last night to go over some 'issues' which I think have been pretty much ironed out now. We used to have family meetings on a regular basis and even had a suggestion box to put ideas into, but the girls have grown up so quickly recently and we just got out of the habit.

I don't imagine I will get many comments on this post as it is mainly family orientated and I have no diy, sewing or decorating projects to report on (still working on the chest of drawers).
Bye for now
Hazel xx

Happy Thanksgiving

Well actually it is on Monday 8th, but everyone is celebrating today and tomorrow. The weather has been glorious today creeping up to 23 degrees, so of course we have all been outside making the most of the Autumn sunshine. Craig finished off the car port by temporarily covering the roof with some tar paper until he finds the right shingles to match the other roof tops. The particular style of tile he needs are discontinued, so he is hunting. Meanwhile, the tar paper will be fine for this winter.

Amber's days at camp went well, and of course I needn't have worried, she had lots of fun with her friends and it was a great experience for her.

The apple harvesting is in progress right now, the pickers are busy stripping all the trees. The hundreds of crates have been distributed over the orchards. Many of the trees on either side of our house are the dwarf variety, which hold just as many apples as the larger trees and take up less space. Amber and I went for a walk this morning and took the camera along for fun.

Thanksgiving holiday is not something I am familiar with in England but here in Canada it is a big event and everyone gets together with friends and family. We will be joining our neighbours along with some of their family members for a pot luck supper tomorrow.

Amber is now officially taller than me. I measured her today and at 5ft 5", she is an inch taller in fact, and she is only 13 years old!

My etsy shop topped the 900 'hearts' today. This means that 905 other etsy members so far have added my little shop to their favourites, I am thrilled and hoping for a busy autumn and winter period, keeping my fingers crossed for reasonable sales.

Jemma joined the after school yoga classes on Friday. It was quite busy as the whole boys volleyball team took part too! (they had a tournament later and the coach thought it was a good idea) A little unnerving perhaps, but she enjoyed the class and will be back again next Friday when it should be less busy.

No animals on my walkabouts this week, just a fresh crispness in the air and some amazing cloud formations and views across the valley. Mowing has now pretty much stopped for a while and we can forget any leaf sweeping (totally pointless).

We heard this morning that Craig's sister Tessa and her family may not be visiting us next summer after all. They are postponing their trip to 2009. Jemma and Amber were really looking forward to seeing their cousins, we hope they change their minds and manage to come here in 2008.

Hazel x