I Come from a Land Down Under

Enchanted

Hello...and first of all let me wish my friend Sylvie a Happy Birthday! She is an avid reader of the blog and hopefully this will be the first thing she reads on Monday morning.

Bit of a dull old week again, nothing really to talk about. We have had a lot of rain this week and quite a bit of wind too, so sadly the Fall Colours have gone past their best now. I still haven't taken a photo of the updated cushions and curtains in the family room...Note to self...Must try harder!

Rachael and I went out for a walk yesterday, we went back to Shubie Park and I her took her along the exact trails Rob and I walked last week. There were still pockets of colour here and there, but I would say two thirds of the leaves are now on the ground.

I was pleased to read this article in the paper this week. If he is right I will be more than happy! However the sceptic in me says this is coming from someone connected to Environment Canada...And you all remember the Rick Mercer +1 video I posted! It could be a false sense of reassurance to stop us all from going to those dark places and destroying property!

In a random piece of trivia apparently I am sounding more and more Australian. You would not believe the amount of people that talk to me on a weekly basis and say 'I love you accent' I always politely say thank you...and then ask them Where do you think I am from? The answer is always the same...Australia. Actually there was one chap about a week ago who actually thought I was South African. I corrected him one time and he obviously didn't hear me and carried on talking about South Africa so I loudly corrected him again, which seemed to stop him dead in his tracks as he had no anecdotes about the UK. I feel all these people can't be crap at hearing my accent so I can only attribute this to the following:

1. English mixed with Canadian sounds Australian
2. My best mate Sarah's NZ accent rubbed of on me a long time ago and part of stuck and has emerged again since I moved to Canada
3. I have been watching too much Australian Big Brother

Whatever the reason, I think I am stuck with being from a Land Down Under.
On that bombshell, I will leave you with some more images from our fabulous Fall.

Fall Forest Finery

Falls Island

Fall Delight

Fall Patchwork II

Cascading through Fall

Titivating Interiors

Touches of Fall

Well it's Sunday and I am not going to put off until tomorrow what I can do today. I only say that of
course because I don't have a whole, heck of a lot to write about.

The weather has been just lovely this week apart from Friday when it rained most of the day. All the hurricane activity moving around and past us, coupled with weather fronts from Ontario are giving us almost Summer-like conditions. I think this is the first year I have known when we haven't experienced a massive wind storm that has quite literally blown the leaves off the trees overnight.

That said the colours really are so beautiful right now. Depending on which area you visit, some have maybe gone past their best but in the City they have just emerged. Robert and I took (what turned into) a long walk around Shubie Park yesterday in the late afternoon. It wasn't what I would call a blue sky day but light kept peaking through the hazy, grey clouds lighting up all the golds and reds, it's just so lovely to see.

In other news I have been titivating the family room. My tired, old blue sofa was in need of a makeover, so I finally spent the rest of the vouchers we were kindly given by Rob's boss. I ended up buying some new cushions for the aforementioned sofa and just by doing this, it has completely given it a new lease of life and looks ten times more trendy than it did before. I also finally threw out the old beige/check rug that we bought we we first moved here. It went past it's prime a long time ago and was an eye sore as far as I was concerned. It has now been replaced by a small grey shag pile rug and today I got some heavier weight nice quality grey curtains for that room to complete the look. I have yet to take a photo, but I will. It's amazing how much a few little tweaks can vastly change the look and feel of a room.

For those of you in the UK wondering (perhaps)...I am watching Strictly Come Dancing and loving Jake AKA Max Branning from Eastenders...I would love to see him win the whole thing. My other favourite it Caroline Flack who I think is amazing on the dance floor. Simultaneously I am also watching the USA version Dancing with the Stars, so I get somewhat confused on a weekly basis.
Without doubt my absolute favourite is Alfonso Ribeiro AKA Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He is an outstanding dancer.

I will leave you with a video of Carlton doing 'The Carlton' and some gorgeous Fall scenery.

Fall Splendour at Shubie Park

Ground Fall

Sunshine Squash

Happy Thanksgiving

Wine Tasting!

I seem to have slipped into a bi-weekly update. Apologies! My lack of updating boils down to two reasons...1) I have done very little and have nothing to talk about or 2) I am so busy at the weekends that I run out of time and put off updating. In the case of last week it was definitely a 'did nothing' week. I had hoped to be out at the weekend but it was windy and rainy...Of course as soon as Monday came around, the sun came out again and it has been very nice all week. 

With it being Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, we have a lovely 3 days off. Yesterday I went in search of Fall colours with Rob and we headed to the Tatamagouche area first (approx 1.5 hours away). I have wanted to get back and take some photos of the Balmoral Grist Mill for such a long time now. Rob and I hadn't been there since 2005. Although closed for the season I did manage to get a couple of decent shots of the Mill with some Fall foliage. From there we headed towards Parrsboro area via the Wentworth Valley, there were some spectacular colours along there covering the mountains and hills, but sadly the road to Parrsboro was a let down, and was pretty much colourless, the greyness descended and we decided to head back. We did however stop in at Masstown Market to buy our annual pumpkin. Masstown Market is a huge Farm store, it also has a large separate fish market, restaurant and gift section. The produce there is always superb and the place is and has always been packed the the rafters every time we have stopped there. I should imagine the owner is worth a small fortune.

Today I went out with a colleague of mine from work. We have been saying we should go out for a while now and for one reason or another haven't, but today we did. We went to visit the Avondale Sky Winery. For those of you that didn't think of  Nova Scotia as a wine producing area, think again. There are many wineries in and around the Annapolis Valley all offering something different from sparkling wines, desert wines, Rieslings and Merlots. The owners of the Avondale Sky Winery loving moved and restored St. Matthew’s Church in Walton which was to be demolished and turned it into their winery shop, complete with original stained glass windows and font, it is a charming place which is very welcoming and beautiful. Having sampled some of the wines there today I actually did buy a bottle (being a beer girl) this was quite something. 

From there we paid a visit to Howard Dill's Pumpkin Farm, which as you know by now is always a favourite haunt of mine this time of year...BUT not today. I definitely picked the wrong weekend to drop in...It was packed, the whole word, his wife and kids were there, there was no parking and it was bedlam, I have never, ever seen it so busy. Needless to say I was in and out of there in a flash.

After the last couple of days I am pretty tired so I know my Thanksgiving will be spent mostly looking at the inside of my eyelids! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

The Balmoral Grist Mill

Winery Corks

Vines and Colours!

Fall Colours in the Wentworth Valley

St Croix River