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6 In Country Life/ Our Family

Feeding the Horse Craziness

We have done swimming lessons, we tried soccer, art lessons were a hit but now we’ve zeroed in on what the girls really want to do and you guessed it, it involves horses!  We started riding lessons this fall and we all couldn’t be happier with that decision.

The horse crazy has been going on for a while here.  And we talked on and off about getting them into lessons.  Their friends take lessons, talk about horses and play horse games on the playground at school.  They watch horse shows and movies and play horse in yard.  And then there’s the fact we have our sweet & sassy little Ebony. So they are in state of constant ‘horse’.  Lessons seemed like the logical next step, right?

When we met Lisa, the girls liked her right away and I was impressed with her knowledge and passion for horses.  Heidi and Michaela’s recommendation and affection for Lisa helped, too.  So we chatted and now we see Lisa weekly at the stable in River John.  Guys, it’s awesome.

I love seeing them ride.  And they love it, too.  They’re learning to control the horse, communicate with the horse via body language and cues.  But they are learning so much more.  They are learning to care for the horses through grooming, feeding and yes, even shovelling poop.  They tack their horses up { with a little help, those saddles are heavy and the horses are tall!! } after a good grooming.  Lena has managed to mount on her own.  It’s so much more than just how to ride a horse.

My favourite part is the hoof picking.  There is so much trust happening in that task.  The girls trust Lisa that they can do it.  The horses trust the girls that they won’t hurt them.  And the girls are trusting those horses that they will just stand there and offer their hooves.  It’s hard work, those legs are heavy and the girls are little.  But they just go at it, week after week, and each week, they find the task a little easier.

Over the course of the last month, we have seen the girls graduate from just walking the horses around, to trotting.  They couldn’t have been happier!  They love the speed and motion of a trot. It’s the cutest thing ever.  When Lisa told them they could trot, you’d think she offered them the moon.

When we go, I enjoy watching the girls.  But I’m not alone when I’m watching.  I usually have some four-legged company, whether it’s a cat or dog.  Luke, Flash, Petri or Midget might be by my side or on my lap.  There’s a couple other barn cats that tend to be a little more shy, so they won’t make an appearance here quite yet.

I’m quite content to spend some time each week watching the girls circle around the ring.  If it makes them happy, then it makes me happy, too.  I know this is a slippery slope, its starts off innocently enough and before you know we’ll have a couple of horses in the pasture and we’ll be looking at trailers, trucks and a show schedule.  But if this is their thing, that’s fine.  And if this horse craziness is just a fad, so be it…but for now, I’ll feed the crazy!

To be continued,

Lori

 

In Country Life/ Decorating/ Makeover

Home Tour – Airstream Edition

I’m so excited for this tour!  It’s a little unusual but so fun, at the same time!  I mean, how often do you get to tour an Airstream?

This is a tour of an Airstream, yes, but there’s a little more going on.  It’s about connecting with our community and reaching out to strangers.  It’s about going out of our comfort zones and making a new friend as we stood in that Airstream, talking about it, about our families and our lives.  I’m so thankful for the opportunities that having this blog has given me and the new friendships that have developed because of it.  Otherwise, would I have gotten to know Sarah? Who knows! But I’m glad I did!

You see, I didn’t know Sarah, even though she doesn’t live that far from me and our kids go to the same school.  I never met her until one day a couple of years ago when she was picking up her son from the after school program when I was filling in for the regular leader.  I introduced myself but she knew who I was, she follows Farm Fresh.  { That still, to this day, blows my mind, that people know me through this! } So, we would exchange small talk in the halls at school if our paths crossed.  We became FB friends and that’s when I got to see her creative side and that we had something in common – our love for vintage!

When she shared some pictures of her Airstream trailers on FB, I knew I had to ask to do a tour and she was game!  We finally found a time that worked well for both us and we met at her place on a rainy day…so no pictures of the outside!  We chatted while I photographed and then we moved to the rec room above the garage for a cup of coffee and talked for another hour or so.

This Airstream is a 1966 Overland model and they’ve re-done parts of it to make it fresh and safe!  There’s just something about that retro styling that speaks to me!  I love it!  I wish I had one in my yard to re-do, too…except for maybe all the polishing on the outside…

Anyway – here we go with the tour!!!

It’s so cozy and inviting!  I love the little details throughout the trailer.  It’s these little touches that add warmth and personality and make it feel more like home away from home.

This little lion piggy bank was found in a property they owned when they were doing some renos.  It even has old coins in it:

Airstreams are pretty neat and have such retro styling to them, you know when you see one coming!  I love that Sarah is working hard to preserve these amazing pieces of history and keep them alive and well so we can have a glimpse into them…right down to the Airstream towels!

A special thanks to Sarah for letting my come over on a rare day off and photograph this trailer.  It’s fun to offer house tours and make new friends while I’m at it!

To be continued,

Lori

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 In Adventures/ Country Life

Crazy about Barn Quilts

I’ve heard of Barn Quilts, I’ve seen some in the past, but now I have a whole new understanding and appreciation of them.  This is a story of how an At Home! magazine DIY sparked a weekend road trip!

If you follow me on Instagram, then a while back you may have noticed that I was painting a barn quilt.  But there’s more to it then just deciding one day to paint a barn quilt.  Let me start at the beginning…

Rachael MacLean, who is a co-writer for the magazine, sent the editor and I a FB message, with a picture of a barn quilt and suggested that might be a good DIY for the fall issue.  Now, if you know me, I love a good DIY, especially one that is as country as a barn quilt.  I was all over the idea, as was Crystal, our editor.  She asked me to do a little research about the history of barn quilts and away I went.  I scrolled through Pinterest, trying to find a barn quilt pattern that really spoke to me.  I did some digging around into the history of Barn Quilts, too, which is really quite interesting.  I won’t get into that here, but I’ll be sure to share the link on the DIY column when it comes out for those who don’t get a copy { You should subscribe HERE, though! }

Now, as I mentioned, I had heard of barn quilts before and in fact part of the reason I had heard about them was because I had somehow came across a FB page of the Stewiacke Valley Barn Quilt Trail.  I had looked through the page and followed them so every now and again, something would pop up in my news feed.  Working on the barn quilt for the magazine put this local trail back on my radar.

I wanted to go on this trail and I asked Mom and Dad if they would be game to go as well.  And of course they were.  It was my girls who moaned and groaned at the thought of having to go on a long car ride and yet they hopped out at most every stop and a little bribery of treats helped their cheer.

When you download the Google Map document from their FB page, it gives you the civic address of each location, as well as a little photo of each quilt block, which is very helpful if you are the navigator and not paying attention! Not that we had to turn around at all and loop back to find ones said navigator missed….once or twice of maybe even three times?!?!

I’m not going to show you all the quilt blocks, I’ll just highlight a few of our favourite, you need to go find them all for yourself!  It was a gorgeous day, so when we pulled over or into a driveway, a few times there were people out and about in their yard and we would also chat with them and ask about the quilt block and talk about the weather or what have you.  And for me, that was part of the highlight.

This was our last quilt on the tour.  What made it extra special was a) it’s tulips, a true nod to the fact Mom and Dad are Dutch b) the gentleman was in the yard and we chatted with him, only to find out both he and his wife are of Dutch background, too.  This was the perfect way to wrap up our tour of the barn quilts!

We had a great afternoon out on tour.  If you are in Nova Scotia, I highly recommend you check this out!  I’d also love to hear if you know where there are more barn quilts or send me some pictures!  Like I said, I’m a little barn quilt crazy right now…

To be continued,

Lori

 

 

 

 

In Adventures/ Country Life/ Life

Lavender Fields

Is there anything more beautiful than a field of lavender in bloom? How about some sweet girls in said field?

A few weeks ago, we paid a visit to the Seafoam Lavender Farm in, you guessed it, Seafoam! The fields were blooming and the bees were buzzing.  We’ve gone before last summer with another of the girls friends and this trip we had my friend Catherine’s daughter, Gabby, with us for the visit.  The girls love to play hide and seek among the rows and I love to photograph the flowers, the bees and the girls.

Gabby and Lena have been friends from the beginning.  Catherine and I carried these two at the same time, there is only 4 months between them and that mat leave solidified our friendship.  They grew up together.  So, I love to see them together and such good friends still.  Next September they’ll even finally be in the same school together and I hope their friendship withstands the trials and tribulations of pre-teen middle school.  They are so carefree together and so enjoy the company of each other.  If it’s been too long since their last visit, they beg to together.

The pace of life among the lavender seems to really slow down.  I always feel like I have all the time in the world to linger among the rows.  Apparently Hannah finds it pretty relaxing as well….

When the lavender is in bloom, they operate a U-Pick of sorts where they school you in clipping lavender blooms and set you out among the rows.  We happened to be there when it was blooming so I couldn’t resist the chance to collect some.  Lena helped me and you can see she took it very seriously.  When you go to pay for your bouquet, they also give you drying instruction so I did as I was told and hung it in my closet which is dark and dry.  So, now I have some dried lavender around the house.

It was a pretty windy day so I wasn’t able to capture too many non-blurry pictures of the bees that were busy pollinating.  But it’s still fun to try and I managed to get a couple.

This one from last year still blows my mind….a bee with its tongue stuck out?!?!?!

I hope that you all have the chance to slow down and soak up some time with friends in peaceful places, whether it’s the lavender field, the beach or a cabin in the woods with the people you love!

Enjoy!

To be continued,

Lori

 

 

4 In Country Life/ Make Something

Post Market Review

Another Homegrown Vintage Market under my belt, another day that we couldn’t have asked for better weather, another one for the books…or blog, as the case might be! 

Here I sit, body parts aching from moving furniture, coffee close by in my new chicken mug, listening to the rain.  But it’s perfect.  Third season of Homegrown Vintage Market is behind me now and I couldn’t be more thankful.  I feel as though I didn’t have any huge moments of panic { well, except maybe when there was the issue of finding a plug that worked for the food truck…. } and that things ran fairly smoothly.

There were no crazy ditch/flip flops stories like previous years.  The signs were up early and in daylight so that was a huge help.   😉   I am learning the skills I need to make things run a little more seamlessly.  This year I was set up in the hall, so that allowed me to set up the night before and not have to move everything out the morning of.  Plus, I had a great team of helpers this year.  My girls are getting so much older and able to do some much more for me, plus the handsome Mr. Byrne wasn’t working so he helped a whole bunch, too.  And I had Emma with me and she was a great help, too.  { Sidenote: if you find a teen you can lend a hand in their career path, do it, mentoring is such a good thing!! }

Here are things I contribute the success of HGVM to:

  1. Two previous years experience of this market and about 5 years of market experience all together
  2. Support from my family – they helped with the lifting, moving, and the messy house and lack of meals…
  3. Support from my on-line community – you guys shared the crap outta my posts, watched the videos and spread the word like champs and then on market day, you showed up!
  4. Curiosity of the people – this isn’t your typical market and that’s a draw
  5. Amazing Vendors – without the top-notch vendors and their willingness to put themselves and their products out there this would never work!
  6. Support of my local community – my neighbours stopped by, chatted with me and browsed around and offered their words of encouragement
  7. It wasn’t raining – when I started watching the ling range forecast, it was calling for thunder showers….not good market weather – but we had gloriously sunny day!
  8. Use a unique location – could this old community hall be any cuter!?!?
  9. When you use your God-given gifts – there is reward in it.

Guys, seriously – without all you and the bits you did to promote and support this market, it wouldn’t be possible.  I would be me sitting with my stuff in the corner of a little community hall in rural Nova Scotia, all alone.  But instead, I was surrounded with friends, makers and collectors {we won’t say hoarders 😉 } and strangers and I couldn’t be more thankful.

There are two groups of people that I would like to call special attention to.  There was some of you who couldn’t make it to the market and yet throughout the day and days leading up to HGVM, I was receiving notes of support and encouragement from you.  You will have no idea how much that meant to me.  One dear friend even went as far as attending a local  market were she was since she wasn’t around to be at mine – how sweet, right?

The other group of people, got up early, piled themselves in a mini van and drove all the way here from Margaree.  Janice, my dear, sweet girl, I know you were instrumental in that roadtrip, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.  Girls – you made my day. I hope there was room for everyone on the way home….you piled that van pretty high with treasures! And apparently I didn’t get the memo about wearing sunglasses….

Well, off to send some thank you emails to my wonderful vendors!  If you were at the market – thank you!  If you purchased something from one of the vendors – thank you.  If you spread the word – thank you!  You are appreciated!

To be continued,

Lori