Tag: Home (page 7 of 19)

Countdown

We’re on countdown in the Michie household for school to break up for Easter. One more day to go! So, we’re in the homestretch!

It has been raining here for what seems like forever and a day! The above photo is one I snapped earlier this week on my morning run. I was soaking by the end of it. I looked like I had gone swimming with my clothes on!

I was keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny Easter, but it looks like we’re gonna keep on having rain for days in our neck of the woods.

That’s okay, it will be sunny inside with candles lit, golden and creamy yellow coloured daffodils that have burst into bloom and twinkle lights glowing here and there. We’ll just make our own sunshine!

Snow

From Friday night until we went to bed late on Sunday, we were pretty much constantly being sprinkled with snow flakes. It would come down heavy for awhile, stick and a few hours later dissipate from the sidewalks and road and then start all over again.

After Saturday night everything had iced over and then it snowed on top of the ice, so it was hard to tell where you could walk and where you would start ice skating, when we headed out for a run on Sunday. After ice skating for a bit down the road, we decided to head to the coffee shop to warm up with hot chocolates. I made fast friends with a little furry girl, whose coat was so tight and curly, it was like running your fingers through an ebony shag rug. Her name was Roxy and I got lots of kisses.

It was 15°F when we got up yesterday morning and the ice was still pretty thick in places, so there was no run for me. I hate not being able to get out there, but it is better to take a day off, then six weeks off, because I’ve ended up in a cast with a broken limb.

I headed out early this morning and the air was so cold and clean. The ice had mainly melted, but you could still see it here and there in places. However, I did skate over the train tracks footbridge, as it had remained a solid sheet of ice. Snow still speckled the earth. Thicker in some places than in others.

I love how the snow changes the landscape. Things become more pronounced or softly hidden under a blanket of white. As I made my way to the woods this morning, I only passed one other person, it was so quiet. The birds were singing and I watched a magpie couple slowly build a nest. He flew back and forth carrying small sticks in his beak while she flittered about and helped.

Now, I’m home, defrosting with a cup of tea. The sky is pearly grey. I’ve got buttermilk rolls rising on the counter for dinner tonight and I had just enough buttermilk left over to make another loaf of my Nana’s Irish Soda Bread. Happiness is…

A Monday Kind of a Monday

Yesterday, seemed to be a really Monday kind of a Monday. In reaching out to people I love yesterday in their little far flung corners of the world, everyone seemed to be having, “one of those days!” Some were having worse days than others.

Mine, might have tumbled over a bit into today as I woke up thinking that today was Wednesday. Wishful thinking, I guess.

But, it snowed for a little bit this morning. I got to watch the ducks swim around the non-frozen part of the pond while on my run. There are fresh out of the oven buttermilk rolls cooling on the counter and roasted red pepper and tomato soup bubbling away on the stove for dinner tonight. All in all today’s been a pretty good day!

So, just a reminder to us all, in case you had the Monday that I did yesterday; in our own way, in our own time; we are KILLING IT, each and every day!

{Illustration found  HERE // Pinned HERE}

SaveSave

Here’s to Friday

I’ve tried to come here half a dozen times this week, with no luck. I’m hoping we’ve turned the page on all of our January craziness. It’s rare that I wish away time, but here’s hoping February brings with it a chance to breath.

I know the British don’t celebrate Groundhog Day, but I still like to feel that what Phil has to say, applies to this little island as well. He saw his shadow this morning, so it’s six more weeks of winter. The weather report says that snow is a possibility for us next Friday. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’re right. I couldn’t think of a better way to go into a weekend than surrounded by a winter wonderland.

Here’s to the beginning of this weekend, long may it last!

Spring Cleaning

The weekend is here at last and I am so happy. The cottage has been topsy turvy with all the goings on of washing machine woes, burst pipes where our kitchen was briefly turned into a tropical paradise complete with a waterfall and a den that looks like a disaster zone because everything has been piled up in it from the kitchen.

But, we have a brand new washing machine, who has become my new best friend! The pipes have been fixed and the holes in the ceiling patched and painted. All of this has given us an opportunity to start our spring cleaning a bit early, which is a good thing. I moved our dresser yesterday and discovered that there wasn’t dust bunnies behind it, but dust elephants! Quite scary! I love deep cleaning and getting everything refreshed.

So, the house is coming back to itself and this weekend we will put everything right again. I picked up some milk yesterday evening on my way home and noticed that the grocery store had flats of pansies out front in all different glorious shades of yellow, orange and plum. So if the weather holds, I’m thinking that some sunshine yellow ones might just jump into my hands this weekend and we can cheer up a few spots in our little street garden.

Here’s to the weekend long may it last!

{Image via Good Housekeeping}

Back in Business!

Our washing machine decided that for the New Year it was calling it quits! After waiting for a week on a repairman to come, only to be told saving it wasn’t a viable option; we waited another week for a new machine. It arrived today and I’m so excited that I don’t have to haul bags of laundry to the laundromat in rainy weather again.

I’ve got my first load going as I write. The house has a happy hum to it and Mr. Michie won’t have to go to work naked tomorrow. So, it’s a win, win all around.

Let the Weekend Begin!

The weekend is finally upon us and after this week it is very much deserved. The cottage is clean and tidy for the weekend. We have sunshine today, which like our plants on the windowsill, I’m drinking in as much as possible because the weather forecast says it’s gonna rain for the next five days. It’s cold, but it’s sunny. It was 24°F when I went out for my run this morning. I felt like a popsicle, but the air was so clean and the woods were so quiet.

The twinkle lights are on and a steaming cup of ginger tea is sitting next to me. The house is quiet except for the soulful sounds of Gladys piping across the living room. Amongst other things there’s been a lot of Gladys Knight & The Pips being played around the house lately. Below are two of my favourites.

Here’s to the weekend, long may it last!

Life Lately

I’ve tried to write this post 1/2 a dozen times but life lately has put a stop to it. I’ve had things to share, but for now they’re not important.

The cottage is quiet today, I feel quiet today. The only sound is the hum of the oven, baking a fresh loaf of bread. I went for a run this morning in the freezing cold and darkness, but I was rewarded by getting to see the sun rise as I crossed over the train bridge. It’s the little things, right?

It’s very windy here today, but the sunlight keeps coming and going, drifting through the window and is slowly starting to crawl across the wall and towards the mantel. All of Christmas has been tucked away now and the house doesn’t feel so much bare as it does streamlined.

Sitting on the mantel are a pair of strawberry pink candles nestled in the antique milk glass candleholders my parents gave me for Christmas. A clear glass bowl of moss covered grape hyacinths with their shoots poking through the soft green mossy blanket, rests between them.

I love that I can see their creamy white roots running down into the dirt and moss that line the bowl. It’s like getting to watch a science experiment. In front of your eyes Nature grows, in all of Her glory.

The candles are lit and the kettle is on, as I think only copious amounts of tea can warm me up today.

Here’s to Friday, because I’m already ready for it!

SaveSave

Back to School

The house got a quick “spit and a polish” yesterday. Things were put away and tidied up. Christmas is still up and will remain that way until the weekend. We always keep things up till after Epiphany. To be honest, I normally keep them up a bit longer. But not this year, I will have to be good and put everything away till next Christmas as we have some New Year’s work to be done in the cottage. That’s what happens when a pipe bursts! Luckily the damage appears minimal, but we’ll have to wait and see.

We didn’t sleep a wink last night with “Storm Eleanor”. We had wind gusts of over 70mph. We watched things fly by from our window. I saw a neighbours gutter get ripped off and fly down the street. Garbage cans were rolling down the road like they were in some kind of race and the wind was so hard, it sounded like someone was punching down the door. But our little cottage held her own.

Today was back to school day. I don’t think I was ready. I never am. So here’s to a short work week and here’s to the weekend, may it arrive quicker than I can blink!

{Image FOUND}

Santa Lucia

Happy St. Lucia Day!

We did not wake up to Swedish saffron buns this morning as we are a house where everyone has a cold. But we did the next best thing; we feasted on buttery toast, hot tea and the candles were lit.

I have long been in love with this special feast day of St. Lucy. I have spoken about it a few times  here in the past, usually in a Halloween related post. But, I was a very lucky girl one Christmas and Santa brought me Kirsten, the Swedish American Girl doll. I loved her so.

One year for Halloween I dressed up just like her St. Lucia outfit. My Mom braided my hair and put it up in loops held in place with red satin ribbons. She pulled out one of her Christmas wreaths and tied red satin bows in it and nestled battery operated candles in the branches. I wore a long white tunic with a huge red satin sash tied in a big bow. Only I would dress up as something Christmas related for Halloween.

Identically dressed, Kirsten and I went trick-or-treating together that year. My next door neighbour who was Swedish, got the biggest surprise when he opened his door to us. He was delighted! I will never forget the look on his face and the memories that that brought back for him. G. was a great story teller.

I hope someone brightens your path today and brings happiness and light to it on this wonderful feast day of St. Lucia. ♥

{Image FOUND}