Friday, August 8, 2014

a surprisingly beautiful river day!

poor jambaloney was up at 5am this morning to take the truck in to our nearest big town of Port Hawkesbury. Port Hawkesbury is the first town you hit when you cross the Canso Causeway, which is the causeway that connects Cape Breton Island to the mainland of Nova Scotia. when cape bretoners are returning home from wherever they might be returning from, they always stop their cars on the causeway and "kiss the causeway". it's a real tradition here. we don't kiss the causeway because we love it, in fact, cape bretoners hate it. it has only been there since 1967 and we cape bretoners have always hated being attached to the mainland. we kiss it because we know we are now home.

just a little meandering history to introduce this post. i might be a little sunstroked. jambaloney definitely is. and he's wore out. he took the truck in to our dealership where we have an extended warranty and the people treat us really good. the back plate on the rear axel was leaking oil and needed to be fixed. the guys at the dealership took it in, drove jambaloney to the nearest grocery store so that he could pick up some preps and then they picked him back up when he was done shopping and the truck was ready. normally, we pay a deductible and labour. they charged him nothing. but that is how they roll in cape breton...something that always amazes jambaloney. someone once noted on another's blog that they had heard that the people here in cape breton were "backwards and clannish". mind you, this came from a person who has travelled very little, never been to canada and certainly never been to cape breton island. i suppose if you came from an aristocratic, rich european line of monarchs - you might consider the people of cape breton somewhat "backwards and clannish". however, if you spent most of your life living in the hicks, then you should probably keep those opinions to yourself.

jambaloney is amazed at how well he is treated here. no matter which shop or store he goes into, the people will try their best to help. we are an island of one city, a few smallish towns and a bunch of villages. he goes away every year, 1,600km away for several days, and i am never afraid. the people here are good people. and they are always willing to help. we get better services here than we ever did in ontario.

anyway, big long intro into a surprise day. by 9am the day was looking like this.


we thought jam would be in town most of the day but the guys at the shop fixed the truck toute-suite and jam turned and burned. he made it home by 12:45pm and he had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves - chores be damned. we put away the produce and dairy, put on our river shoes and were off! here's a beautiful field of fireweed on our way down to the river.


just the other day jam cleared us a path to the river - it was getting pretty overgrown.


here's some wild and natually-occurring st' john's wort which i will be collecting to dry for teas and salves. if you don't know the medicinal benefits of st' john's wort, you can go here, or just do a search. many survival blogs talk about stocking up on food, weapons, growing gardens, etc. - but i feel strongly about knowing what grows in your local area that you can use as medicine.


here's part of the road to the river....many of the older trees are dying off but look at all of the baby trees that have started growing. a forest knows exactly how to maintain itself.


this is halfway down the road to the river....look at the beautiful sky and the puffy cotton ball clouds.


agh. the river.


 looking down at the river.


the water is exceptionally warm for this time of year - about 20C/70F. we had several dips and lots of laying in the bright sun to dry off.


if you look close at the pic above you will see the top of my knee in the bottom left hand corner. i was laying down taking a pic of the clear sky and bright sun.

sometimes i nap in the sun but sometimes i am too wiggly and jiggly looking around at different things and taking pics. here's jam laying in the sun.


we spent a wonderful afternoon, did very few chores so tomorrow we will have double chores. no worries. when you get a treat day you have to "treat" it as a treat day. and we did. here are the pretty clouds above my gorgeous greenhouse when we got home.


we ate bean salad, cherries and grapes at the river. when we got home, we scarfed back 8 slices of baguette smeared with goat cheese, pate and jam had some kielbassa. it's been a fabulous day. back to work tomorrow - teehee.

21 comments:

  1. Hay Jambyman how ya doin? Good to see ya getting some sun I know some of the girls thought you looked a bit pale. I figured it was just a Canadian thing ya know.

    Been fishin any? The river looks wonderful. Be a good spot for visitors!!!

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    1. hey pp!

      i am doing great buddy!!! - i am pale by nature so i am glad to be lookin' better when we go to detroit this fall ;-)

      the river is wonderful and soooo private - when you come up - you will love it!! went fishing the other day - fished hard but only a few lazy nibbles - water is warm and trout are fat... raining like crazy now so tomorrow am might be worth a try...

      you be good - LOL!

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    2. listen you wiener (PP) - this was my post and you didn't even comment to me. i guess it's because you are part of the ol' white boys network of sticking together. wiener.

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    3. oh i forgot - sticking together and going to tractor conventions, you wiener!

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  2. thanks for remembering those of us outside of your community. big grin. A goof off day is always welcome. I know you both enjoyed it.

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    1. Rob, buddy - we'll always remember our internet community and you and your family are a big part of that! and ya - we enjoyed our goof off day! thanks buddy! much love to you and yours! xoxox

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  3. Where are all the stinging flies in those pictures? I would have though they would swarm down on you. These days, when I look at your pictures, I always think "that's such a beautiful place" but then I remember the blood thirsty flies!

    Sounds like J got treated well at the dealership indeed. I don't think an American dealership would do that for you.

    Glad life is good. It started raining and thundering here last night, rained heavily all morning, cleared up for a bit, now it's raining again. :-(

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    1. Harry - i am going to give you a very detailed breakdown of bug situation here. it will probably bore you and everyone else to death, but here goes. black fly season starts at the end of may and is over by august - thank the dear sweet Lord! deer fly season starts in mid-june and continues right through august but by mid august there are enough dragon flies out eating the deer flies that they stop becoming such a nuisance. so for most of august and september we can enjoy the river without any bites. but may, june and july are deadly.

      we get treated well pretty much everywhere we go. our dealership has cut prices for us and not charged labour on several occasions. stores and whatnot are the same. the people here are very friendly to begin with, but the people in customer service are incredibly happy and feel fortunate to have jobs...therefore, they are a pleasure to deal with.

      i just sent you an email telling you about the crazy weather we have been experiencing the last few days. and as i commented in your last post, i enjoy all of your posts! much love to you and yours always. xoxox

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    2. Kymber,
      Either I'm getting even more forgetful, which is possible, or your email didn't get to me. Can you retransmit it?

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  4. I'll take "backwoods and clannish" a la Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia anytime ! LOL
    Love to you both,

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    1. Miss Jane - i think with the "glamorous lifestyle" that you lead, and the fact that you are knee deep in muck and/or horse poop on a daily basis - YOU might be a little too backwards and clannish for nova scotia - bahahahahahahah! oh i just couldn't help myself! much love always Jane! xoxoxo

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  5. There is so much beauty on this earth. You are lucky to to be able to experience it where you live.

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    1. John - thank you for hitting the follow button - i am heading over to your blog to do the same after i finish these comments. John - there IS so much beauty on this earth and your recognizing that fact speaks much about your character. we truly understand how fortunate we are to have this little piece of heaven. thank you!

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  6. John said it right, so much beauty and you are right in the middle of it. We are just so insanely hot there is not much enjoyment outside. Heat indexes in the 107-110 range.

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    1. 1st Man - you and John are both correct and we know how fortunate we are. we love this land and our river and we love that we have such a temperate climate. yes, we have winter, but it is one small season and the winters here are a cake-walk in comparison to the winters we had back in the city. plus, our springs, summers and autumns are lovely. well minus all of the black flies of course - bahahahah! i am so sorry that you are unable to enjoy being outside because of the heat. i honestly don't know how you guys could stand it - i wouldn't just melt - i'd evaporate! much love to you and 2nd Man as always! xoxoxo

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  7. Sweet Kymber and Jambaloney,

    It looks like a beautiful day up there.......I surely wouldn't be doing anything either. Just relax, and enjoy each others company. Don't forget some sun screen! Both BDM and I love small towns where the people go out of there way to help you out.
    Sending love and hugs to you both..............now get of this computer and go have fun!!!!
    Sandy

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    1. hey Sweet Sandy - thanks for the awesome advice about going and having fun - we did! and yes, small towns have some of the best people in them, regardless of which small town you are in. i hope that you and BDMan have been getting a chance to relax and enjoy each other's company. and give that little Beans a treat from me and jam! much love always to you, sweet Sandy! xoxoxooxox

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  8. Kind of looks like you have Jam busting his butt again! :-)

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    1. Mike - i think yer on to something there, buddy - bahahahahah! much love eh? xoxo

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  9. love the pictures. you need days when you don't do anything.

    love the sound of your picnic

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  10. G'day Kymber,

    Great photos of your place, it looks so lush and green! The closest river to our place is Woranora river but it is in a fairly steep valley and to get to it you have to walk on the side of a narrow road for a fair bit or else bush bash straight down Bottle Creek which runs in front of our house (I tried that once and had to turn back it was so rough) Everything here is dry and brown, we have had a very dry winter and I fear that bush fire season is going to be starting early this year.

    Spent Saturday clearing all of the leaves and crap out of the gutters on the house and the roof of the back shed, my most hated task (my knees haven't forgiven me yet!)

    Cheers

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