Which way to da beach?

Yesterday we went to Lovegrass Farms in Dunstaffnage, PEI. It is a home-based nursery where they sell...what else, ornamental grasses. It is a 5 acre farm with about an acre or so planted with rows of ornamental grasses, lavenders and many perennials. Next time I go, I'll take my camera because it is quite amazing although things are just starting to pop their head out of the ground. I suspect during the summer it is a sight to be seen. The owner, Paulette, was very helpful and between the SF and I attempting to swat away the flies, she educated us on a couple of growing secrets used by farmers here on PEI. Tips, specific to PEI's famous red dirt...uh...soil? We did notice that she had broken mussel shells spread throughout but she also had this "stuff" she was using as mulch. At first we both thought it was shredded paper but we were definitely wrong. It is something called "eel grass" and she collects it from the beaches. When the SF asked where she collects it, she coyly told him it would no longer be a secret if she shared it with him and we all busted out laughing.

Never to be deterred from a challenge, after dinner tonight we hopped in the car and drove a kilometer or so down the road and hit the beach where we found an unending supply of our own.....EEL GRASS!!! We filled a couple of containers and bags and then walked the beach.

So T, since we were at the beach I took some pics for you!!

I'm still pinching myself that all of this is just minutes from our home!

I'll have to send Paulette an email to tell her we found our own secret stash!

Happy Mother's Day....

It’s a bittersweet day for me today and I’m feeling a bit lost in myself.

Today is the day to celebrate our MOTHERs for all that they do. The sacrifices they have made on our behalf. The guidance they have provided throughout our lives. The tears they have wiped away, whether we are hurting physically or emotionally. For being there for us when we need someone to talk to or just listen to us when we need to vent. It is a day when we reflect on all of the advice our MOMs have given us over the years. Advice we might have dismissed or chosen not to follow at the time, but we did tuck it away in the corners of our mind and will eventually draw on it, whether we want to admit it to them or not. Really MOM. I was listening.

Personally, it is also a day where I express some thanks for all of the wonderful women who have entered my life in our travels and have stepped in as a MOTHER when mine has been so far away. I have met some amazing women, some in their “golden” years now, some gone, who have inspired me more than they know. And perhaps for some of them, I have substituted slightly for their own child who was also far away. I haven’t always been great about keeping in touch with them after we moved on to our next big adventure, but the impact they have made on my life will remain with me forever.

Let’s face it. Today is also, I would suspect, a day for women who are MOTHERs to take pride in themselves. To look at their children and be proud that they have raised, or are raising, healthy, happy well adjusted children. To be satisfied knowing the role they have played in shaping a little one into independent compassionate soul.

I am not a MOTHER. So for me, today is a day filled with some heart ache. I was not able to have children of my own. For me, today is tinged with sadness at the possibility of what my life...OUR life might be like had we been blessed with children. But it’s not. And while I suspect many think that you eventually get over not being able to have children, you do not. It is with me every day. It is what makes me slightly uncomfortable to be around people that have children. It is what makes it somewhat difficult to be 100% happy when one friend after another shares with you the news that they are expecting. While we are always happy for friends when they get their news, it is a constant reminder to us that we will never experience that feeling. I do have “sisters” who have been dealt the same cruel card as I, so today I pay my respects to you as well. Only we truly know the ache we feel in our hearts today. That our lives are not totally complete. That as little girls we dreamed of being a MOM and nothing will replace that emptiness we feel in our souls today.

Today is also a day when I am missing my fella Rookie. Sadly, Rookie and Ernie are the only kids that I have and I feel Rookie’s loss today. How pathetic, right? I know he’s watching us in the yard and that he’s wishing he could be down here rolling around in the grass.

But you know what they say, when you are wallowing in self-pity. There is always someone out there that has it worse than you. I remind myself how lucky I am that I still have my MOM and that she still has me. For we all have friends who have lost their MOMs, some lost far too young....then again, what is too young? Selfishly, I think my MOM should live on forever. I can’t imagine a day in my life without my MOM and don’t know how my friends that have lost theirs have managed to go on. So today, I am thinking of my friends who have lost their MOMs and wish I could share mine with you. (I share her with my husband. There's lots of love to go around.)

And, let’s not get started on the MOMs who have lost a child, when life has been so cruel to mess with the natural order of our life cycle. Or for those MOMs whose child has taken a frightful path in life that has led them astray, lost to some demon or another. I am equally saddened, and personally touched, by children who have parted ways with their MOMs because they can’t seem to find common ground that they can live on. Regardless of the events that brought them to where they are (or aren’t), I know they long for one another and they are probably thinking of one another today. Perhaps that’s the reason why someone played a cruel trick on me and denied me the opportunity to have a child. I don’t think I could bear that loss.

I am thinking of my friends who are probably celebrating, with brunch or dinner or handmade love-filled gifts from your children and hope that you don’t take for granted the blessing that has been bestowed upon you. As we are thinking of you, I hope you think of us. That you look at those of us that can’t have children and love yours that much more.

So today, as I attempt to busy myself with nothing and trying half-heartedly to not feel quite so hollow, I just want to say Happy MOTHER’s Day to my MOM and thank you for all that you have done for me. For loving me warts and all despite the many challenges I might have brought your way. For not only being the best MOM a woman could ask for but for also being an amazing MOTHER-IN-LAW and loving my husband as unconditionally as you do. The fact that you love him as much as I do makes me love you even more. (I might argue that you love him more than you love me, if that was possible, but I love that you spoil him rotten.) Love YOU (two)and missing you today!!!!

And to all my friends and anyone else out there who might be reading this, HAPPY MOTHER’s DAY to you as well.

Dirty Boy!

What did you think I was talking about? So what do you give a loving husband that has busted his hump for you.....

Why a glass of juice and some ibuprofen, of course!

After cutting all of the sod, this is what it looked like.

And he didn't stop there. He also created a new flower bed surrounding the rose bush. I'll be planting some of the seedlings that I have started indoors here and he has a spectacular lilac tree he will be planting here as well.

After blogging last night, guess who else came to forage in the sod.

Needless to say, by the end of the evening, he was in desperate need of a bath. Not only to clear the dirt but to soothe an aching back.

By the way, the silver fox asked me to send a shout out to his father-in-law, the grouchy bear, to thank him for insisting Ev buy the larger utility trailer. It only took 2 trips to the dump and 7583.9 pounds later...TA DA! Fantabulous, right? BTW, that is 3.79 tonnes!

Bring on a new day.... The SF was up and at ‘er early in the a.m. clearing rolls and rolls and rolls of sod from the home of the future pumpkin patch.

Since the sun was streaming through the bedroom window, and I could hear the SF outside busting his arse, it was all I needed to get going on my painting. The weather hasn't been cooperating at all and today is the only day that sun is forecasted without any chance of rain for some time to come.

Of course, I had my partner there to supervise.

And guard me from the beasts that lurk in the woods nearby.

I was able to get the first coat done on this side of the house before I had to go in and make a feast for the silver fox.

Better, right? Do you like the new shrubs we planted? Dogwoods.

I know thanks doesn't cover it, but thanks Honey! And that white stuff in my hair IS NOT gray hair, it's paint, so don't even think of calling me the "Old Gray Mare" if you know what's good for you. Must go cook.

Battle for the title of PEI's cutest garden gnome.

There's a battle brewing and it isn't pretty. There are several characters vying for the title of all time most adorable garden gnome on Keppoch Road. The first contestant, this little momma. I say that because she looks as though she is either getting ready to, or already is, feeding a litter of babes. Her and her mate are regular visitors to our bird feeders. Here she is sitting underneath the feeder, eating the seeds that have fallen to the ground. She certainly is adorable and a serious contender for Ernie's arch nemesis.

Contesant #2 - The little man himself

What more can I say?

Contestant #3, and I'm not speaking of Ernie, he just decided to plant his butt down in the photo.

They make a cute couple, right? Ernie didn't think so. I put out little gargoyle yesterday afternoon, unbeknownst to Mr. Noogie-san, aka Ernie. This is one of the favoured spots for the squirrels to feed and therefore the first place Noogz bum rushes when you open the door. What a surprise he had when he found this little fella there. First he barked at him, then kicked grass with his hind legs in an attempt to intimidate the stone-faced little fella. When none of these tactics proved successful, he made a tentative approach, sniffed him and then lifted a leg and peed in his eye. Nice, huh? Guess he lost that battle. The declared winner and still champion of the cutest garden gnome in the Enchanted Garden....Ernie-san!

Here he is getting ready to use the sod cutter! Actually, he's just helping his Dad.

After rolling a couple of passes, I discovered a cornucopia of compost feeders which I promptly collected and provided a new home -

And what the hell are these narsty things?

After heeding my father's favourite advice, I googled them and discovered they are yet another pest of PEI. Remember the crows? Well these suckers are June Bug Larvae. According to CBC, the residents of PEI are up in arms because these little creatures are a delicacy to the skunks. In their quest for a tasty little morsel, they are destroying peoples lawns. And, using one of Oprah's favourite sayings, I had an Ah-Ha moment. When we first arrived here, we kept noticing that our lawn had these holes all over the place which looked as though something had been digging. We thought it was the kitty that we saw sitting in the lawn from time to time. Alas, it was the skunks...or raccoons? The other night we had an up close and personal confrontation with a raccoon in the same spot that garden gnome is now. It was digging into the grass. It must have been digging for these creepy little bugs. You know who else likes them....

Once the SF moved away from the veggie patch, a murder of crows quickly descended for a free feast.

The man has made quick work of the veggie patch. I'll post a picture tomorrow of the completed patch. see the fence posts in the back! That's where Rookie's blackberries will come to rest.

Once E clears the rolls of sod, he'll be tilling the patch with some local compost so that it will be fully prepared to produce a bountiful harvest for the summer and fall! I have a feeling someone is going to need a long hot bath tonight. What do you think?

Bored of the everyday and my idea tank is running on empty.

I was sitting here thinking, as I am sure most of you have done all too often, what the heck to make for dinner. And then my crazy mind started drifting to the movie Julie and Julia which is now one of my fave chick-flicks, although the SF liked it. And then I started thinking of a show on this show I have been watch The Grocery Bag where they review a multitude of cookbooks and kitchen utensils and appliances. And then my mind drifted off to wonder, what are my friends and family making for dinner? What kind of fantabulous meals are they loving these days? What is it they are making that they just can't get enough of? So I wondered of the possibility of a recipe exchange that perhaps I could post here. Once a week or once a month. Perhaps you could email me your favourite recipes and I could post them here so we can all be inspired by one another. Maybe you suggest a name for the weekly or monthly post....an idea might be What's Cooking Wednesdays...or WTF to Cook Wednesday (sorry mom....I should wash my mouth out with soap, I know)....or another other day. We could do themes for the week. Salads, Soups, Poultry, Fish, Beef....whatever inspires us. People, you can either post your thoughts here or send me an email. I would love to hear what you think and if you would be interested in playing along. Invite some friends to join in. The more the merrier.

As for dinner tonight....I am seriously leaning toward serving breakfast for dinner. Pancakes anyone?