These are some highlights of my week. For the details, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. The smell of wood fires

2. No traffic lights within a 40 minute drive

3. My well-worn casserole cookbook

4. Watching my grandson explore the yard, and drive Grampa’s lawn tractor

5. Talking to my sister for the first time in a while

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, casserole cookbook, wood fires, traffic lights, grandchildren[tags]

The headlines here are exclaiming over the coyote attack earlier this week, when a young woman visitor from Toronto was killed by two rogue males while she was on a hiking trail in Cape Breton. Read the rest of this entry »

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Business isn’t so brisk at some old country service stations, so we had to slow down and get a look at the “mechanic” here, especially since the taillights had been on the previous evening.

Incidentally, look at the hills in the background. We’re in the Cobequid Hills, part of the Read the rest of this entry »

What are you reading Mondays is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog

This week I finished reading :

Nothing. Nada. Nyet. I’m just working away on the two that I’m currently reading.

I’m currently reading:

1. All You Have To Do Is Be

A very special gift from my sister because Tom Caldwell was our father’s brother.

This week, I read the chapters “forgiving” and “Good”. References, in addition to the Bible: Charles Spurgeon, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Shakespeare (MacBeth) and Charles Sheldon.

2. The Iambics of Newfoundland: Notes from an Unknown Shore

After spending the greater part of a decade traveling around the island of Newfoundland… NPR radio (host) Robert Finch chronicles the people, geography, and wildlife of this remote and lovely place.

This week, I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the CBC: “A Half Hour Later in Newfoundland”

Yes, this is an affiliate link – they all are.
[tags]Tom Caldwell, All You Have to Do is Be, The Iambics of Newfoundland, Notes from an unknown Shore, Robert Finch[/tags]

Bill’s daughter, Laura, has arrived from Vancouver with her 16-month-old son for an extended visit. Of course, we love having them here, but for me, there is an added bonus: the country through a city person’s fresh eyes & ears.

One of our first crisis arose this morning. I heard out of my bedroom window that overlooks the side deck: “Come in here! Get those bugs off you!” with a touch of panic. Worried that we had an infestation of late mosquitoes or spiders, I peered out to find my window screen dotted with the culprits: ladybugs.

Photo via “How to Start a Ladybug Garden”

During the night, Read the rest of this entry »

These are some highlights of my week. For the details, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. Our grandson is here!

2. The boy gives great hugs

3. Discovering quaking aspens

4. Hearing that my friend’s son (who I thought could do ANYthing – and do it right the first time) put too much expanding foam in her door.

5. Photo of the week: Lobster Bisque

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, lobster bisque, lobster costume, lobster baby, quaking aspens, grandchildren[tags]

Since I’ve reviewed Julia Child’s My Life in France, I’ve been a huge fan of hers.

So I had to share with you this photo of a literary costume – based on her famous cookbook Mastering The Art of French Cooking

And fancy that it’s one of her lobster recipes!

(Photo via the Inkwell Bookstore blog)

[tags]Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, My Life in France, lobster baby, lobster baby, literary costumes[/tags]

What are you reading Mondays is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog

It was a very busy week, reading-wise for me! I finished a remainder,
a top 100 title, two stops on the Atlantic Canada Literary Road Trip, and a library book that I cannot ever remember ordering: Strength Training for Seniors, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, Settlement of Memory, Latitudes of Melt, and East of the Mountains. Read the rest of this entry »

These are some highlights of my week. For the details, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. The smell & warmth of a wood fire in the furnace

2. Being able to walk through the side entry again

3. Wingfield Farm on DVD

4. Home-made chocolate chip cookies

5. Pumpkin buttocks

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, Wingfield Farm, wood furnace, pumpkin buttocks[tags]

Okay you city gals. You ran some errands at lunch today.

Me too: picked up a sandwich, signed for a registered letter, paid some library fines. Remembered to drop off dry-cleaning, pick up eggs, and return a movie. Drove by this.

I never promised you the country was classy.
[tags]pumpkins, decorating with pumpkins, butt cheeks[/tags]

Sometimes I wonder how I can have read so many books in my lifetime and never have heard of some authors that apparently have quite a following.

One of those authors is Miss Read, the pen name of Dora Jessie Saint, an English novelist, by profession a schoolmistress who began writing for several journals after World War II and eventually produced a series of novels from 1955 to 1996. In 1940 she married her now late husband, Douglas, a former headmaster. Read the rest of this entry »

What are you reading Mondays is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog

I’ve just finished reading :

1. The Lonesome Gods

I’ve never read anything by Louis L’Amour who is one of the most prolific writers I’ve run into, and seems to be “THE” name in Western fiction. My dad used to read a lot of books by L’Amour. He’s been gone eleven years so I thought it was about time I investigated those books that were always around the house when I was growing up. Read the rest of this entry »

These are some highlights of my week. For the details, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. Celebrating (happily) our 20th wedding anniversary

2. Being warm inside while it rains and blows outside

3. The recent HBO movie Grey Gardens starring Drew Barrymore & Jessica Lange. See it!

4. Edgar, one half of our dynamic cat duo, arrived home after two days gone, with only minor injuries (a claw wound just below his right eye)

5. Hitting the triple digits (entry #100) on Grace in Small Things

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, Grey Gardens, Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, HBO movie, 20th wedding anniversary[tags]

When you live in an old country house, you have to come to terms with dealing with wildlife of many sorts. One of the most common is the tiny mouse who is scurrying this time of year to find a warm place for a winter nest.

So I wasn’t totally unprepared to open the door this morning to see what the dog was barking at, to find a wee mousie cowering in the corner of the deck against the door jamb. Read the rest of this entry »

First, let’s be sure you have this right. This is NOT the “daughter-in-law rules” as in “the cat rules, the dog drools” but as in rules of behavior for daughters-in-law or “101 Surefire Ways to Manage (and Make Friends with) Your Mother-In-Law”.
Read the rest of this entry »

What are you reading Mondays is hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog

I’ve just finished reading :

1. The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser

“Traipsing through muddy fields in search of his lost dog, Tom Loxley is preoccupied–with the book he is writing on Henry James; with an enigmatic artist…; and with his elderly mother…As Tom’s search progresses, (the book) bursts with life and emotion, making brilliant use of the conventions of suspense as it leads us to see anew the conflicts between our bodies and our minds, the present and the past, the primal and the civilized.”

2. How Not to Look Old
Subtitled: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better

Dozens of ways Read the rest of this entry »

These are some highlights of my week. For the details, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. A new journal – an unexpected gift from a friend

2. A new haircut

3. Results of my bone density scan: I have the bones of a 30-year-old!

4. Two hours of sun on the back deck

5. Reading in bed

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, bone density scan[tags]