Up, up and away!

We finally did it! We went hot air ballooning!

We flew with Skyward Balloons, and I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone wanting to go hot air ballooning in the area.

One thing I found surprising was just how smooth the whole ride was. From take off to (and including) the landing.

 

xo, 

M

P.S. Thanks, mom and dad!

Is there a Groupon for that?

A while ago I seem to recall a Groupon from one of those pole dancing exercise studio places floating around the internet.

Anyone try that? No? Not your thing? A little tame for you?

Ya, I know, me too.

Hudson is away on vacation with my parents for the next two weeks.

By about 5:15 yesterday, I did not know what to do with myself. And so, I am doing what any other woman in my situation would do.

I am giving stripping a try.

Yup.

Those would be the stairs into our basement. 

Turns out under that awful, horrible rug there was awful horrible linoleum. And under that, possibly some other type of rug. And under that, cottage country blue oil paint.

We tore the rug out yesterday, and I have a feeling I know exactly how I will be spending the next 2-3 childless afternoons.


So back to the groupon thing.....

I will pay someone 20% of what it would normally cost to strip my back stairs. That's an unbelievable savings of 80%. Any takers?

No?

What do you mean that's not how that works?

How about you just stop by with a nice cold beer then?

Pleaaaaasee....

xo,
M

Keeping cool

The entire month of July has been hot. Crazy hot. Feels like +45 degrees kind of hot.

We've been doing our best to keep cool.

But all this heat is making us all kind of silly.

Anyone else really loving this weather? :)

xo,
M

About Last Night

A friend of a friend of mine is touring Canada this summer. 

The friend's friend - Andrew Laviolette. As of last night I am pretty much head over heels for his music. (If you are checking out the link (which I recommend you do), I recommend "Dance Like Old Souls". Especially. And "Take my Eyes". And the rest of the songs. And then I recommend you go see him live. Because he really is that good.)

The friend - last night's gracious host, and the brain (and brawn) behind 

The Luna Project.  

 

To top it off, this is what the sky looked like at intermission...

And on the walk back to my car .... fireflies. 

Hundreds of them :)

I know. 

I am ONE. LUCKY. FISH.

xo,
M

It's Hip to Dance in a Square

Oooops, I almost forgot this one!

A couple of weeks ago, my neighbour and fellow party planner invited us to a pig roast/square dance party at farm near Guelph ...

Hudson got up close with some "new to him" animals. Including a shy zebra. And the nicest, most gentle donkey ever!

We got to spend time with some "old" friends, but also made a couple of new ones. 

There were horses...

... and lots of dancing.

We even managed to a picture of all three of us taken.

We had a fantastic time! Thank you for having us.

xo,
M

Veggie Tales

This is our third summer in this home, and also the third re-incarnation of our Fruit/Veggie Patch.

This year we are growing our own:

Strawberries
Blueberries (although those seem to be for the birds. Or at least so THEY think! And they are not doing so well, so I think we will move them to the cottage in the fall)
Raspberries (yellow, red and black)
Grapes
Rhubarb

Peas (Huge hit - Hudson eats them pods and all, right off the plant)
Carrots
Peppers (This is attempt #3, the first two were a fail but Hudson loves them. This year - so far, so good)
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Beans (green and yellow)
Cucumber (We did them last year as well, best cucumbers ever)
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Radish
Tomatoes
Butternut Squash
Zucchini - we tried. The little seedlings got washed away in one of those awesome storms we had earlier this summer.

A pumpkin to carve for Halloween

I think that's it...

We tried to do more variety, less quantity this year. Still, I can not keep up coming up with ways to use up all the spinach we have. Oh and our radishes - so spicy we can only eat about 2-3 a day. The strawberries are starting to taper off, and Hudson is doing his best to keep up with those peas. 2 raspberries were enjoyed by Hudson thus far and by the looks of it many, many more should be ready in a week or so! We've cut back on the tomatoes we have this year (3 hills of 2 plants each) because in the past we've supplied pretty well half the neighbourhood and even then heaps of them went to waste. So sad : (

Something else that's new in our garden this year - water barrels!

 


















                
We have four.

Not only are they great entertainment for Hudson, I have not had to use municipal water once this year.

How about you guys, any fruit/veggie tales of your own? How about flowers?

xo,
M