Family Visits

We had another whirlwind of a work cation as my brother Bill and my sister-in-law Jennifer came for two days of work. They arrived in Nova Scotia on Thursday afternoon but took their time travelling to our house doing some shopping, wine tasting and micro brew exploring. I think they had read my blogs about previous visitors and recognized that once someone arrived, they didn't leave until it was time to catch their flight home!

Zoe cooked us her now famous fresh caught haddock in pesto sauce - yum!! We had a fire in the wood stove -thank you Bill and Jen for showing me not to be afraid of big fires - had some Nova Scotian wine, and called it a night.

Friday morning we set out to do all the small jobs that I was too short for, or needed extra hands for. Bill and Jen secured a light over the garage, changed a fuse in the old lawn tractor, trimmed the "mohawk" I had been unable to reach whiling trimming a hedge, helped me lift two concrete pads to investigate under them. We cut and split some firewood, but the best thing we did was walk the property. Now that so much foliage had fallen and it is possible to make our way through the under growth, we could explore more of the property! I love our land so much!! I have tried to draw a map of the areas we have now been able to identify. (Obviously I am not an artist, but I think you can get an idea of the potential our land has to offer)

While we were on our walk the Reverend at the Baptist church next door came out to introduce herself, offer us a welcome basket and invite us to the church breakfast the next morning. We took her up on this offer and went over Saturday morning for a delicious breakfast and walked away with some goodies from their bake sale! I had only one large job left on the wish list for my brother: change a window. We were afraid that if we didn't have the all the materials we needed, we would be left with a gaping hole in the wall when it was going down to -14 at night. So...we decided not to proceed with that job. Instead we opted to remove the ramp leading up to the back door (which Zoe and I have always felt was an eyesore and restricted the access to our garage) and replace it with three simple steps. This was harder than we expected due to the wood being frozen haha, but we managed. In the end we were left with two intact ramp sections that Zoe and I are hoping to use at the chicken coop and enough recycled wood to build three platform steps. I love the way this opens up the side of the house!

Finally, we got to introduce Bill and Jen to Bistro East and had another delicious meal there. I am so grateful for their visit, their help, their generosity, their conversation, the delicious meal they made, and all the tips they gave me from fire making, nail removal, sump pumps and well submersible pumps for irrigation!