More painting and decorating!

We decided to put down new flooring in the downstairs bathroom so here I am removing the baseboards and I took the old cushion floor up. Suppose to be a simple project. Rip up the cushion floor and put down some nice laminate. However, nothing is that simple. Once Gary had the toilet taken out a thought occurred to me . . . what a great time to paint the walls! and the vanity! So, here is the before . . .

Here is the after. We love the lamiate flooring - it looks so posh! I love the vanity painted white - makes the bathroom look brighter. Also, we had to get new hardware in polished nickel. I still have to paint the window and trim. Notice the cat window and 'step' for them to get in and out. That can be a little disconcerting - sitting on the toilet and a cat comes flying through the window!

Gary got this new basket thingy for his tractor - Aaron thinks it is just great for having a ride in!

Birthday flowers, cards and best wishes

A surprise delivery today from my wonderful son in Calgary - a beautiful flower arrangement! Thanks again, Honey. I am also sporting one of three new pairs of earrings from my other wonderful son.

The NBGBs were over for a visit today and brought a bouquet of daffodils and a butterfly bush - I think I heard the bunnies saying 'Yum, yum' so some fencing may be in order before it gets planted outdoors. Thanks to everyone for the cards and best wishes - 52 isn't so bad. We went out to supper at Pizza Delight - one of my most favorite places to eat. All in all, a great day!

New additions to Upper Clements Cottages!

Born at approximately 4:30 a.m. this morning, twin girls! Proud mama is Clementine and proud papa is Riley. The babies are doing fine and weigh about 3 lbs each. Gary had a 'feeling' that Clementine would give birth last night, so about 4:30 a.m. he went out to the barn to check and one baby had already been born. He came in to wake me up and tell me and by the time he got back out, the second baby was born. We helped clean them up - hey, we can sleep anytime, right? They are too cute and we don't have any names yet. It's amazing how fast they get up and move around. Here they are:
Baby 1

Baby 2 and Mama


Baby 2 and Mama again.

Someone's hungry!

They are really too cute!

Spring has arrived!

A couple of signs of spring here - Gary doing outdoor work with no coat on and look, the beard is gone! He's hoping that this fence will keep the bunnies out of the hollyhock garden - we'll see.

I've resumed my morning walks (getting too warm for the old treadmill) and this was yesterday morning - gorgeous and sunny and the water was like glass. It's taken in the picnic park next to Upper Clements Park. I bet Frank recognized that!

Callie out enjoying the spring weather.

And back to winter - Aaron skiing on the slopes in Switzerland. The NBGBs are due to come home on April 27th - I can't wait to see them. I have lots of hugs and kisses stored up!

Happy 27th Birthday Jason!

A little walk down memory lane. In this picture Jason was about 2. Does this qualify as an embarassing picture, Jay?

Jason on his 4th birthday. Do you remember the kitty cake Jason?


Probably about 3 here.

Love that tan!

Jason's serious look.

I know it's been 27 years, but I still remember it like yesterday - having that gorgeous baby placed in my arms for the first time. I couldn't believe he was really mine!

Happy Birthday Honey - we love you! XOXOXO

Spring painting

Since I have painted every room in our house twice (at least), I was happy to offer to help good friend Karen with some painting projects. First we were going to paint her cabinets and then we decided to paint the walls as well - yeah! So this is the before with the cabinet doors off.

This is the after. You can't tell by the picture, but the walls are a pretty greyish beige called homespun or some such name - where do they get all the paint names?



So, we were just going to paint the cabinets, then decided to do the walls as well. And then, of course, we needed new brushed nickel hardware on the cabinets, and then new brushed nickel light fixtures to match the hardware. All in all a nice little project and great way for Karen to get her paint brush wet and get the painting/decorating bug.


The next week, we painted her daughter's bedroom - complete with slanted walls and a dormer window and 2 colors of paint. Pics of that to follow. Karen is now no longer a 'paint virgin' and we see many more painting projects to follow. She has a large cape cod style house - so many rooms to paint and decorate! Gary is happy to have me out putting paint on someone elses house - anyone else need some help painting?

Easter Sunday excursion

For our Sunday excursion this week we went away for the night with our good friends, the Lewises. Here is a summer pic (borrowed from their website) of the Quarterdeck Beachside Villas in Summerville Beach on the South Shore.

The weather was cool but gorgeously sunny so we had a nice long walk on the beach.

We found this injured seal on the beach that was being bothered by some dogs so we got an old sheet and assisted it back to the waters edge. The shadow is Karen clapping here hands to try and get the seal to look at the camera. I am standing in the water - glad I had boots on!

Our villa had 2 bedroom upstairs. This is our bedroom with a tray for 'Tea by the Sea'.

Lealand and Gary on the lower deck.

Karen on the upper deck - the two bedrooms shared this deck - notice the gorgeous view!

What a magical place - the sound of the waves and the moonlight on the water - we were so lucky to have such great weather. A short, but very nice get-away!

Happy Easter!

The weather cleared off after supper and the sun actually came out so we decided to go out and take some bunny pictures since tomorrow is Easter. I'm holding one of our babies here. He was in an hurry to get back in the cage because it is cold here!

The bunnies are enjoying the sun just before it sets. I don't know if they've heard the weather forecasters calling for 6 more weeks of winter weather or not. We're getting a little sick of the snow and cold - so imagine if we were actually living outdoors!

O.K., so I did chum the bunnies up with some bread to get them to gather around. . .


These two look like an old married couple just snuggled up together.

Callie gets a little freaked out when the bunnies swarm around her so she likes to get up high and look down on them. The bunnies are not one bit afraid of the cats - they hop up to them and sniff them - it's quite funny to watch.

As you probably know, the bunnies are sort of our cottage branding and we admit we are a little bunny crazy - so Gary has taken it a step futher and designed a bunny coat rack for cottage #2.

This Sunday's excursion . . .

For our Sunday excursion this week we went to visit our good friends, Tony & Paulette, to see their newly renovated kitchen. Their kitchen is gorgeous! Their daughter, Haila, made good use of the new kitchen and baked us some delicious peanut butter cookies - Yum!

Here Tony and dog Charlie pose for a photo. You might not recognize Tony without his tool belt - he helped Gary with the garage addition last fall.


Our our way home we took a detour to see why a local road was 'closed except for local traffic'. Humm, I wonder why? This sink hole is about 3 feet deep - wouldn't want to slip off the pavement here. We didn't get the snow that Ontario and northern New Brunswick got - we got heavey rain instead and this is just some of the damage caused by the rain - lots of flooding in fields, basements, and some roads.

What a difference a day makes . . .

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning - a little snow and everything coated in ice and school cancelled. I'm glad we didn't have anywhere that we had to be so we didn't have to try and scrape this crap off the car windows! Is this what everyday is for you Tim? If so, YUCK!

Even the blades of grass were each coated in ice.


Can you believe that this is about 8:30 this morning? Snow gone (thanks to the pouring rain last evening), sunny and quite warm.

About 3:00 this afternoon we had 5 deer below cottage #3. I tried to get around the cottage to get a better shot from the other side and when I peeked out, they were gone.

Some random pictures

Reilly and Gary have a bonding 'moment'.

It was sunny on Sunday so we went for a little hike behind Upper Clements Wildlife Park.

This one is for Joseph - a pileated woodpecker let us have a good look. Click on the pic to see it better.

We've had a lot of deer visiting this winter. We usually have 2 to 5 that spend some time below cottage #3. Again, click on the pic for a better look at these two.

Finally an up-date

I've been a little slack on updating my blog - due to winter blahs perhaps? Anyway, we've had snow, more snow, then rain, and more rain, etc., etc. Below are some pics of Upper Clements Park (next door to us). The rain has caused a lot of flooding there. Looking a this picture with the ice in the lake, its difficult to imagine it as the busy summer attraction that it is.

One of the flooded path ways - way too deep to cross! The wooden structure to the left is the roller coaster.



Shanty Cove is pretty much flooded as well. I hope Captain Kid Ryerson found a place to stay for the winter! Golf Island (mini golf) is behind Shanty Cove and is completely covered in water.

Gary is always complaining that I alway put pictures of him on the blog and none of me (my blog so I get to choose - right?) Anyway, he took this pic of me - notice the headset. My friend Karen and I spend about 4 to 5 hours a week on our treadmills while we talk to each other to pass the time. It's been too cold/wet/slippery to walk outside, so the treadmill is a great option at this time of year.