New Shop Offerings

Oh, it can't be all painted wooden goodies all the time. I just picked up some uber-cute beaded rings - $6 each, and funky flip flops $15 a pair, along with some mid-summer fresh sundresses at $25 each and just burst hollyhocks - free for the taking... but while I was primping and fussing with the girlie wear, a favourite customer purchased the Dr. Seus inspired purple and yellow checkerboard table. Didn't need it. Had to have it. And that's what's so special about summertime musings. Impulse shopping strikes different chords in all of us!

Buttermilk Cafe Whisperings, then Beachy Beachy Beachy

Good fun everywhere I looked....our favourite place to be...Victoria Beach in Cobourg. And no visit is complete without pancakes at the Buttermilk Cafe, where I eavesdropped on the most.......

I'd Rather Be Swinging!

Busy day at This White Shed...or so I'm told. Rob tended the shop while I went to Roblin Lake with my li'l friend, Sydney. Looks like I'll have to get more sundresses for the shop...THAT I can do!

And So To....The Beach

The shop is open and the tourists are whizzing by, some with their faces pressed to their car windows. Perhaps we'll catch them on their way back....in the meantime, our schoolhouse is holding an open house and we're off to the beach for an hour and half...let's just call it lunch break!

You Have To Wonder About A Cat...

who doesn't know how to get out of the rain! Not that he doesn't look absolutely fetching sitting amidst all those pewter colours...but camouflage alone can't spare you from the wet! Hoping to open shop doors tomorrow morning, weather permitting.

Hop, Jump and SKIPPY!!!

Oh, he's not my Skippy. He belongs to my aunt and uncle, but what a find!!!! Rescue pups are the best, especially when they look like they have a wind up key in their rear.

Always Wear Your Best Hat. Amen!!

Driving the back roads yesterday I found a most amazing little white church on Chase Road! The roof is phenomenal...regular asphalt roof tiles in many shades of grey, blue and purple. Apparently, a local roofer did the job. The owner of the church is actress, Sonya Smitt and she wanted it to look like roofs she'd seen in Beaune, France (shown here - yes it's the smaller, more ornate version). It looks to me like her little white church with the heather coloured hat has definitely hit the mark.
Clearly, Ms. Smitt's bold efforts have enhanced the landscape here in Prince Edward County.

Look to the Light

A warm summer evening that bespoke the very essence of Ontario in July! A family bar-b-q rounding the edges and the humour of our tribe. A couple of margaritas and a stroll through the backyard brought back the relevance of the occasion. To appreciate all that is around us! And so I did.

Heat, High, Haute, Hum!

There isn't anywhere to hide from this blazing heat...so hang 'em high and let 'em dry!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, Glass Bottles, The Big Store Cooler, and Openers!!!

Hot days opened wide, like a fan under your shirt once you cracked a Fanta or Pure Spring. Ginger Ale - perfect! Cream soda - tempting but the cloying sweet never satisfied. Coke was always good...and grape! Have a favourite? Summon it up and refresh your memory!!

Frickin' Frackin' Farmville and Earwigs!

I mocked it for weeks, said I'd never, who'd waste that kind of time, and now I'm there! Buried deep in Farmville on Facebook and I CAN'T GET OUT. I tend my crops, I dream about new ones, I worry about my cartoon cows and party pigs..and...I just can't...shake it. All the while, the earwigs are celebrating in my own garden. No one there to stop them from eating everything in sight. Today they ate three buckets of zinnias while I planted peanuts in Farmville. Thank god for bloomin' hibiscus! Tomorrow's a new day....and I shall never go to Farmville again!!! Argh!!!

And Just When There's Too Much Flowers and Sunshine....

it's time to do a voiceover at Pappa D's recording studio next door. Oh t'is the life...Here's Bruce, the creative director, and Sean, the producer of our radio commercials for 2001 Audio Video. Six going on seven years we've been having these regular sessions in Sean's studio. I just shuffle over in my flip flops, grab a big mug o' smokey coffee and off we go. Did I mention that we also solve global disputes, challenge long held religious beliefs and chat about fashion when time allows? Well we do...then it's a pat on the Count's head (the cat) and I pad back through my well worn path to This White Shed and the schoolhouse. Not everyone's idea of a well rounded life, but it suits!

Oh Hello!

Um, I think, yes, there most certainly is...mm hmm, excuse me but there is someone at the door. Do you think I could be a nose model?

Blindsided!

...by a 'bumped' offer to purchase! The wee house on the Trent River that we so badly wanted has gone to someone else...someone with a better offer. This means, of course, that our schoolhouse - with her mighty red tin roof tiara, treasure filled white shed, and gardens for days - shall remain with us. Though the 'for sale' sign continues to sit on our front lawn, I think it's safe to say this demanding diva of a home has got a firm grip on us.

Canada Day Reloaded!

When you've got kids coming to visit and your last batch of cookies tasted like sawdust puddles, it's time to pull out the sparklers!!! Lots of flash, easy, and relatively safe....ok, yes, the cat's eye wasn't always closed...KIDDING...
Sparklers can take any day and suddenly make it seem worthwhile!

You Make a Better Door Than a Window!

The chicken gift. It happens, especially when you live in the country. This girl first perched on top of the fridge...did I mention she's also a bank and a chalkboard? At last she has a true purpose....our front door has always been victim to our slanted floor....no more!!!

Window Shopping

When it's hotter than Hades for daaaaaaaze, a welcome rain can shed a new perspective. Colour emerges, sentences make sense, and we can breathe again. The current heatwave kept everyone inside next to the a/c, but those who braved the elements and did a little shopping were cautious at best. No large purchases permitted because brains weren't firing on all cylinders. Even at the grocery store I found myself loading my 100 items onto the express counter while the express cashier watched in a sort of glazed fashion. Eventually, we both realized the error and I dragged my weary cart, bumping into everything in my path, to the correct counter. Good thing I wasn't buying a car. Geez Louise, who'd have thunk heat could cloud us so!!!!????

A Tomato Grows in Carrying Place!

Amidst all the sleepy pink snapdragons baking in the 100 degree sunshine - a tomato plant, from last years' seeds, is thriving. It doesn't know why it's there, nor does it care - just lets the July heat pull it up and out, smiling all the way. I took the sluggish pups for a walk on the rail trail today, all of us putting one foot in front of the other as if we were walking in a swamp. Rob is minding the heat and napping. The outside walls need painting and maybe I'll get to them. Everything is slow motion today, except that frickin' happy tomato.

When You Hate Getting Off The Beach Blanket....

you take your own headshot over and over....this was the best...the people one blanket over inched further and further away. Wonder why? Sandbanks, baby!!!

A Boy and his Ball and a Barn

My cousin Kristy's kids, Ben, Myah, and Isaac came all the way from Saskatchewan with my Uncle Kelly and Aunt Mary Lyn to visit the highlights of Ontario! Next week, Niagara Falls. This week - a beachball and a barn in Prince Edward County. We are simple folk.

And Then There Were Three....

poorly behaved dogs, behaving poorly and sent to the wallflower corner. See, the viewers showed up for the house viewing two hours late and a customer came to This White Shed at roughly the same time, so while Rob was herding the canine calamity into the car, the dogs got confused and jumped into said customer's car instead, just as she was paying me. Bedlam ensued, dogs jumped out, jumped in, jumped out, jumped in, and customer became so rattled, she left without paying. Luckily viewers were not subjected to this mess, as they were too busy looking for their precious granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and such.
Oi, what is to become of us?

Wallflower

Dancing on the Ceiling!!!

The process of selling a home you really love is double-edged. Like fussing over a child to look it's best before a photo is being taken. I want our schoolhouse to present perfectly, so just the right person will love it as much as we do. There's some sadness, but mostly it feels like a healthy passing on, and moving on. Today was to be our first viewing, so This White Shed was opened, lit and primped, and the schoolhouse was washed, waxed and toileted....seriously three toilets to clean is FAR TOO MANY - we packed the three canines in the car....turned on some classical music and the viewers didn't show up!!! It felt like being stood up on a date. Nothing to do now but lay on the couch and admire our 'stoners' ceiling.