jambaloney here!

trout season ends Aug 31 so on that day I go for one last trout fishing trip...

this year it was after a thunderstorm - good fishing!

heading out...

i was heading left of these clouds..

 looks a bit menacing - i am okay at reading weather- i thought it would be safe...

maybe i was wrong ;-)

keep paddling!!

looks like i gambled and won!! double rainbow!!

pretty awesome skies

oops.....

and oh oh..

sun again!!!

decent skies now...

oh yeah great full catch of pre-spawn brookies for sweet sandy!!

skies...

and home before dark!!

the sun casts some great light this time of year..

bee balm in sunset!!

hope you are all having a great early fall so far - cheers!

sometimes you get the mushies after a long day.....and some of you can understand "the home where your heart lives", especially after you have been gone so long and still can't believe that you are finally home..which has always been your dream...EDITED

i got the mushies bad today! can you read the lyrics to the official song of my island and then listen to how beautiful the song is sung? if so, thank you for that. especially if you have weathered some of the horrible weather and destruction that has happened to some of our american friends. we have you all in our thoughts and prayers.
______

The Island (official Song Of Cape Breton Island) lyrics

Over an ocean and over a sea 
Beyond these great waters, oh, what do I see 
I see the great mountains which climb from the coastline 
The hills of Cape Breton, this new home of mine 
Oh, we come from the countries all over the world 
To hack at the forests, to plow the lands down 
Fishermen, farmers and sailors all come 
To clear for the future this pioneer ground 

We are an island, a rock in a stream 
We are a people as proud as there's been 
In soft summer breeze or in wild winter wind 
The home of our hearts, Cape Breton 

Over the rooftops and over the trees 
Within these new townships, oh, what do I see 
I see the black pitheads; the coal wheels are turning 
The smoke stacks are belching and the blast furnace burning 
And the sweat on the back is no joy to behold 
In the heat of the steel plant or mining the coal 
And the foreign-owned companies force us to fight 
For our survival and for our rights 

We are an island, a rock in a stream 
We are a people as proud as there's been 
In soft summer breeze or in wild winter wind 
The home of our hearts, Cape Breton 

Over the highways and over the roads 
Over the Causeway stories are told 
They tell of the coming and the going away 
The cities of America draw me away 
And though companies come and though companies go 
And the ways of the world we may never know 
We'll follow the footsteps of those on their way 
And still ask for the right to leave or to stay 

We are an island, a rock in a stream
We are a people as proud as there's been
In soft summer breeze or in wild winter wind
The home of our hearts, Cape Breton

________

all of my patriotic friends will understand what this means to me. please have a listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apD1IuE5Lwo

the barra macneils sing it so beautifully! i still can't figure out a way of embedding videos using this new computer -arrrfhfhfh. so please click on the link to see how we sing this song. there is no one in cape breton who can't sing this song. it means the world to me...and remember jambaloney's father was born here too, so he has a special feeling for this place (plus he loves the trout fishing here!). please take a listen...it is such a beautiful song...and i am feeling melancholy right now from not feeling up to par the last week. the ladies will understand what i mean. and my men friends will just understand that it's lady stuff, ya know?

this is the song of my island...my father was a coal miner for 27 yrs, this is a land i had to leave over 30yrs ago....and always promised myself i would return to...even tho most days i didn't really believe i would ever make it home. but i kept my faith. i did my best and somehow....i made it home. 

we had a long day today - as many of you have had dealing with hurricanes and storms and wild rains and wind....we feel for everyone who has been dealing with things like losing their homes, their barns, their wildstock and every little thing like losing a lock a barn door...which if you are dealing with any of that is horrific and terrifying. we have been dealing with the aftermath of those things...sooo much smaller but we still have had terrifying winds and weird weather. but we've had some good weather too. and our harvest is coming in daily.

and for that i am sooo thankful for. but i just needed to hear this song to bring my spirits up. i worked my whole career off of my island ( i left when i was 15 to go to college and stayed in ottawa for another 20 yrs), and although i always dreamed i would come home...it was never solid. i was never sure i could come home. and now i am home. i am finally home.

the home of my heart - cape breton.

please listen to to the official song of my island. tell me what you think about it. i think i can sing about 13 national anthems of other countries and places. test me and i will make some horrible you-tube videos singing for you - bahahahah! no, i just want you to understand who i really am. and hope that you will love my land as much as i and jambaloney do. please take 5 mins and listen to my island's song.

i sang myself to sleep to it every night until i came back home. 7 yrs ago. i couldn't possibly be more thankful.

sending love. xoxoxo

EDITED to add another, higher pitched version of our island's song....watch this and see everyone in the crowd singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOqbMMLqeok

beach day and some more daily harvests - woohoo!

yesterday we woke up to a beautiful day!



we did our normal morning chores, which always includes making sure the cats are still alive!



we did our daily harvest....

c'est fantastique!

then we said "we should go to the beach"...and so we did. driving to the beach we pass mckinnon's lake....lots of cottages on one side of the lake but not many people up in the last few years.

this is the end of mckinnon's lake - it's a pretty big lake!

just up ahead you can now see the ocean.

around the bend.

woohoo - we're almost there!

a rather blurry pic of the ocean through the windshield of caribou-dura.

no worries. some beautiful pics coming.

not a single other soul to be seen at the beach...can you imagine?

my man was going to the reef with a kitty litter bucket to get me some mussels.

but the tide had already started coming in.

the maniac jumped into the freezing cold atlantic - it never warmed up all summer because we didn't have enough hot days.

when we came home we had delicious and proper korean tempura - shrimp, zucchini, sweet potatoes, onions and mushrooms. with a delicious and proper korean dipping sauce.

we watched a beautiful sunset and watched a show or two on netflix.

today was all about the garlic and onions!

that is a load of garlic! we will sort them and keep the big ones and re-plant the little ones to harvest next fall - amazing!

how about 100 yellow and 100 red onions?

you may say "kymber, they look so small?" and i would say back to you - "have you ever eaten an onion that you grew yourself?" - because they are pretty powerful and go a long way. they, too, will be sorted, big ones kept for eating and little ones planted back out in a day or two.

now here's a trick i learned....jambaloney got some organic onions from the mainland and 2 of them started to sprout. so i planted them each in a pot and now have 8 onions. oh i have learned my lesson and learned it well!

here's all of the garlic and onions with the dirt brushed off them and the tops cuts off.

we will sort them all and the ones we keep will go in a cardboard box (each separate) with a towel over them for the winter. as i said before, all of the smallest onion and garlic will be replanted in the next day or two.

we had veg stirfy for supper - deelish! the secret to the best rice is one that jambaloney came up with - add a couple of drops of almond oil to your rice - oh it is sooooo delicious!

it's pack up and put things away time for us now. then we're making chips and poutine from our own potatoes.

it's a really nice way to end another couple of beautiful days! sending love!

super river day!

it was a super river day! and remember that great harvest i got the other day? well, i made a salsa with all of our fresh veg...it was deelish!

we had it for breakfast before doing our daily checks of cats to make sure they are still alive.

you have to check them several times a day!

can anyone say that they have built a cooler "river shed" than this one?

i didn't think so. the man is a genious when it comes to taking scraps of junk and other people's garbage and somehow turning it into a thing of beauty. take for example this gorgeous boardwalk.

junk and scrap wood he just finds???? whatever. i love my boardwalk!

SUPER RIVER DAY!

JUST SO BEAUTIFUL!

AND WINDY AND WARM ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

here we are headed to our secret islands. where we guerrilla garden.

there are so many islands in our river...i'm not even showing you a third of them!

chuck a couple of potatoes, some garlic bulbils, some herb seed....who knows what will and will not grow???

more islands than you can possibly explore...but we intend to explore every one. we've probably explored a thousand by now. all good for guerrilla gardening.

oh no - i'm not done yet - there's tons more islands!

little pretty ones like this guy who may or may not have had garlic bulbils thrown on him - who knows these things?

and another one? geesh - these things are everywhere. hiding in plain sight except nobody knows about them or goes to them?

now we're heading back home. so beautiful our river.

and we are proud to say that we own most of that swampland! hey, anybody want to buy some waterfront? we got a ton of it!

and there's our little bay.

i know that not everyone can afford the expensive accoutrements that we have. like below.

an old blanket that the movers left us 7 years ago...our 5 yr old lounger covers...we've been using that plastic bag for at least 3 yrs - it goes in the kitty litter bucket to store my camera when we are out on the water.

of course - we always eat like kings when we are at the river. beet green salad with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, hemp hearts, chia seeds, hemp oil and black currant vinegar.

with some nasturtium flowers and some pepperettes. 

we know that we have chosen the hard path in life and if anyone wants to send us any money - we'd be more than happy to take it - bahahahahahah! just kidding kids! sometimes i just get too funny even for myself!

we had another excellent harvest today which i will show you tomorrow - we even went to the beach today and now we are sorely wore out. nothing that a nap can't fix! i'll be off to your blogs in a bit! until then - sending love!