Snowed In

Well my title says it all. We are officially snowed in. They haven't plowed our public road which means our private road cannot get plowed. Let's not even talk about our 500+ foot driveway. Here's a pic taken from my patio door. Yes, that drift is growing. I soon won't be able to see the Northumberland Strait.

That's part of the front cottage deck in the bottom left corner. When I arrived home from school yesterday I parked my car at the end of our driveway just in case there was school today. (There wasn't, thank heavens.) I trudged out to my car this afternoon to get a couple of things and the snow was over my Bog boots. But the good news is I am half way to March Break. Yippee!

Our Cottage, Oops I Mean "Home"

Well here we are, all settled in our cozy cottage. I still call it "the cottage", it's hard to break old habits. Some days I wake up and cannot believe that we have sold our home and are living here permanently. But the weird thing is I don't miss our previous home. Nope, not one bit. Well that might be a stretch...I miss two things: the laundry room and the attached garage! But other than those amenities I am quite content here at our cottage. It is wonderful to see the Northumberland Strait and all the changes every day. Sometimes it looks like it's all ice from here to PEI and then a couple of hours later the ice has moved offshore and the water is this rich, navy blue colour. Yes, the view is fantastic! But inside it's a little cramped. It's getting better though. I never thought that I could throw out, give away, sell or pass along so many belongings. But i did! That's not to say we don't have anything in storage, but I think we did well considering we down-sized approximately 60%. Let me tell you it was crazy at the end but thank heavens the weather cooperated and we were able to move on our closing date of December 19th. But enough of all that. Happy 2015! Let the cottage renos begin!

Swimming With Sammy the Seal

Last week was not the best week to be on vacation in Nova Scotia. We had nice weather on Monday, but it all went downhill from there. I stained one of our decks on Tuesday morning and by evening it just poured. My usual routine is to go for a swim every day even if it's not a real "beach day". On Friday  afternoon the sun was shining so I decided to go down for a dip. Just as I was about to get in, I noticed a seal swimming by.

Hmmmm, should I swim or not? Never had this happen before. Anyways, I decided to get in all the while keeping an eye out for Mr. Seal. I kept thinking what do they eat? Where is he? I know he ducked under, is he getting closer? When we were kids my mother would always say, "If you don't get your ducking I'm not bringing you swimming again." Sounds harsh, but  it always worked. (Looking back now I know that my mom would have taken us the next day because she loved to swim more than we did, lol.) So feeling very brave I ducked under to really cool off. Happy ending here! Apparently this grey seal was already full because he never tried to eat me. They eat cod fish and are blamed for depleting the cod stocks both here in Nova Scotia as well as Newfoundland. After I got out of the water I went for a little walk along the beach to look for beach glass. On a busy day there  might be 75 people on our beach but this day there were only 10. One lady said, "You had us all worried when you disappeared under the water!" To learn more about grey seals check out this link where I snagged that cute photo from:

http://www.ypte.org.uk/animal/seal-grey-/167

The Internet Connection

Don't you love that term, the Internet connection? I guess sometimes it is easier said than done. It has certainly been a challenge here at the cottage. We have tried a few things over the years -  dial-up, then a turbo hub, setting a hot-spot off an iPhone, etc. But this year I knew I needed something more, something consistent that I could count on. We tried one service provider but they couldn't get a strong signal. But thankfully one of their competitors could! We were supposed to be hooked up last Friday but they had to reschedule to yesterday. I think I did the happy dance when the tech said, "fire up that lap-top". So yes, it's all good here on the edge of the Northumberland Strait. And for the first time in six days the sun finally shone. Hallelujah!

More Beach Glass

In February, I mentioned that I like to collect sea glass or what I call 'beach glass'. I display most of it at the cottage.  Some I have in jars and they make great doorstops. On the coffee table I have this glass star where I keep my most recent finds.


Every once in a while I find 'beach china' and I keep that separate in this little dish, a gift from my dear friend, Nancy.

I adore these pieces. Some I thought were just clam shells when I stooped to pick them up, but when I turned them over they were china.  Oh happy day! But not every day is Christmas at the beach...

The View

     

                         
This is the view from our cottage (and my little trailer). I took this picture last summer on an absolutely flat. calm. day. If you look closely you can see the clouds reflected in the water. That dark line is Prince Edward Island across the Northumberland Strait. That point of land on the right hand side is named Johnson's Point. I have walked around there a couple of times at low tide. Now I don't want to mislead you, not every day is this perfectly calm, haha. If the wind is out of the east, there is no place more miserable! But most days there is just a nice ocean breeze to cool you off, and keep the bugs away.

This was the view last Saturday. Again, it was a flat. calm. day. You can barely see PEI off in the distance. There was some open water, but the Northumberland Strait is still packed with ice. My husband and I took a walk down to the beach and returned via the road. Some of the fishermen were loading their lobster traps into the fish shed in preparation of the upcoming season which opens May 1st and runs until June 30th. You can order your lobsters and pick them up when the boats come back to the wharf around noon--Monday to Saturday. (They never fish on Sunday.) Oh my, I can hardly wait for lobster season!

The Flip-Flop Inn

Today I would like to introduce you to our little cottage. I say little, but as those real estate ads say, "It lives larger than it looks!" That would be due to our extensive collection of decks. I have them all named, a fact which annoys my family to no end. But seriously, you cannot say "it's on the deck" when there are 5 very distinct decks, LOL. So, for all guests (and family members), the deck names are as follows: Roadside, Ocean View, Lido, Breezeway, and Grilling. I can barely wait for summer to arrive!