CHRISTMAS IN JULY 25, 2017

I'm going back in time here but I wanted to keep a record of our family gathering. Life has been a bit busy for me lately and I'm still playing catch up.

We always celebrate Christmas at Christmas time but this year we tried something new, we celebrated Christmas in July.  We will probably still celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December as it's Jesus' birthday ...

No we haven't lost our mind or got our date mixed up. You see July 25th is Nicole's birthday and it just happened that the family was all together to celebrate and we even played the traditional present game after a big family meal.  After all she was the one who introduced it to the family and it's a fun tradition.

Christine got all the presents for the game over a period of time as she went shopping, she would pick  up some and added to the pile. I think that she wrapped over 50 presents by herself... There was a big pile.  She did this because her and her family will be celebrating Christmas in Ottawa this year and won't be coming home for Christmas as travelling in the winter with small kids can be very long and tiresome drive  flying a family at Christmas is not much fun anymore...

Isn't this a gorgeous smile and the cupcakes are lovely too.

Christine even made a dark chocolate zucchini cake batter and made small and medium cupcakes and made some ganuche icing, oh so moist and yummy.  My son in law Bill,  made his famous Chicken Fettuccine with Sun Dried Tomatoes and my daughter Jackie made her famous toss salad with home made dressing and she also made an appetizer of baked Brie and it was to die for.  I provided the wine and did nothing else since I was working at the farm.

Vaughan was milking and George was baling hay. Since I was a bit late with 7 new born calves to bootle feed plus all the others and  having to shower before the meal, I had no time to take pictures of the meal but take my word for it, it was very delicious and enjoyed by all...

Aren't those most amazing fork jewellery that Jordyn got! She had picked it up at an earlier date and was wearing it in honour of Nicole... unfortunately she left before I could take picture of Cypress and Willow.

Remember the shipment of 17 boxes from Scotland of Nicole's things, the rest of her belonging stayed in Scotland and given away to charity with her mask collection to be donated and shipped to The University Of New Brunswick Anthropology Department.

We toasted our  Nicole with a wee dram of 12 years old scotch whisky again  and after we went upstairs to distribute the rest of her belongings amongst family members.  It was done with the upmost respect for her things and when asked who wants this, someone would say, I want it if no one else wants it. There was no greed.  Of course we all pretty well know each other's taste and everyone would say it's yours, take it. There was jewellery, home decorations, souvenirs from places she visited, and lots of decorative and interesting items she picked up on her many travels to so many countries, clothing, tons of photos,  postcards, and too many things to name here.  It has taken days to organize and there is still lots of belonging to divide or to donate at a later date. It all went so smoothly and everyone got a little piece of Nicole to cherish.

This week Nicole's tombstone was finally installed in the cemetery.  May she rest in peace,
Thanks for your visit and know that I enjoy reading you comments.
Hugs, Julia



  

I'VE BEEN ABSENT TOO LONG SO I'LL START FROM THE BEGINNING

A few weeks ago I was all prepared to post on my blog  but Google wouldn't let me open my email account. It asked me to open another gmail account and was pushing me to Google+ and wanted me to start another blog. I couldn't send or receive emails, I couldn't post on my blog or see my Reading List and of course, lost all my contacts. I could read my blog and I could receive comments and I could access my followers by clicking on their comment link on my post but it was a long and tedious job and I was just too busy with work to spend much time on the computer.

I tried to fix the problem but got frustrated until Christine, my techie daughter figured how to get back things like they were before.   I'm back and running so this is history.

I had a lots of appointments booked on my calendar, one at my bank for transferring some retirement investments, one to move the piano, one at my doctor to discuss results of some blood tests etc, one to pick up my granddaughter for her Dr's appointment in another town, and one to bottle my wine.

I got to the bank appointment and after waiting 15 minutes the clerk had to rebook my appointment for Friday because she couldn't access the internet to view my files. She had moved to a new office and lost her internet connection in the process. Wasted morning for me.

When I got home from the barn that afternoon, there was a message on the phone. My piano appointment would have to be changed because the moving men couldn't come until late afternoon instead of morning. I had that appointment booked two weeks in advance...They couldn't give me a specific time, between 1:00 and 3:30pm. so I had to wait for their call. I worked inside  the house instead of working on the hedge.

My granddaughter had to change her doctor's appointment to Thursday, so it meant that I had appointments everyday that week.  It was disappointments at every turn. It all started with Google... hahaha.

Finally my piano is being moved. Three men came and did their work professionally. They were recommended by the music store who sells pianos.

Moving heavy piano can be tricky and one man said, he had one tipping over and crashed once...  I kept my fingers crossed...

They rolled it unto the platform on the ground and lifted the platform up and rolled it inside the truck and secured it for the short trip to my granddaughter's house. Goodbye, piano... Now I'll have to find an alternate place to display my Christmas Village for the Holidays.

I 'm clipping the very neglected spruce  hedge as the tops were growing very fast, but it was much easier than the last time I did it a few years ago. I'm seriously considering removing it and replacing it with a fence. My legs and glutinous muscles were sore but after a few days were ok.

Having all those appointments has made me put the hedge clipping on hold and it's so dry, I'm having second thoughts about finishing my job.  The trees by the very end will have to be removed as they were beyond repair.  I clipped most of the dried  branches off and they are awaiting for my husband time to do remove them. I'll show a picture later...

Meanwhile, these yellow blooms are gone but the rosebush is still blooming.

Some sort of  calendulas also on their way out by now.

Some sedum also on their way out by now.  Meanwhile there are many other  flowers that have bloomed.  I will show them in a later post. They will probably be finished by then, oh well...

My husband is talking of retiring next year but still need another 3rd tarp building to store the hay. We have already 1500 big round bales stored and it's just the first cut.
This is the ditch for the footing.

The men pouring the cement for the footing. To be continued next time as this post is already too long.
I hope that we get more rain in August as the ground ids bone dry.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I really like to read what your thoughts are.
Hugs, Julia