oh what a night!

we rang in the New Year and had such an awesome time with our friends! i had 4 glasses of wine in the fancy new glass that the bar bought for me - woohoo! no more bringing my own wine glass down to the hall!

oh where to start? during the day, jambaloney was out weather-proofing the porch (pics coming soon - i promise!). out of nowhere, M (22) and N (15), our neighbour E's sons, show up un-announced (they cut through the woods between our houses) with a delicious turkey meat pie! i was up to my eyeballs making bread to bring with the chili, jambaloney was dangling off of the roof and neither one of us had eaten yet. i took the meatpie and put it in the oven pronto and in 25 minutes we were eating like kings - how thoughtful!

after we finished eating, i called E to say thank you. she was very gracious as usual, we talked about meeting up at the dance that night...and then she invited us to her family get-together the next day - can you believe it? and that night, at the dance, all of her family knew that we were invited to the get-together - all of them! and they were excited that we were coming! it was such an awesome feeling!

we got down to the dance and hooked up with our favourite friends at the head table as usual...and then made the rounds around the hall. it took an hour to stop by and greet and hug and kiss everyone! when we were finally able to sit down with our usual crew, too many good songs were playing and so we had to dance with everyone. jambaloney looked incredibly delicious and all of the ladies enjoyed dancing with him. he makes my heart swell, he does.

we had such a great time with all of our friends. we danced all night. we didn't leave until 3am! the last hour was spent holding my friend S and E's hands as we talked about all of the things that we will do in 2012!

we have fallen so in love with these people here...and it seems that they have fallen in love with us - we really can't believe it!

the next day, i will admit, we were dragging our butts a bit. but we headed over to E's and a house full of her family. oh it was such fun! and she put on such a nice spread! and we spent time with all of her crazy family. and her Mother, V, who is the Matriarch of our community, made such a big deal about jambaloney's oatmeal cookies - but what can i say? his cookies really were to die for!!!

we have really become a real part of this community and in such a short time. we can't believe our good fortune?!?!?! we feel like the luckiest people on earth!

we rang in 2012 with a bang that night and a bang the next day. we have been flumping around for the past 2 days - we are really wore out!

and loving every minute of it!

we hope 2012 is going to be wonderful for all of you. it is only 3 days in to 2012 and yet we feel like we are living a dream - how lovely eh? we are so happy right now. we are so grateful and thankful. there is much to be done this year. and we are sooo up for the task!

2011 - a quick review

2011...a year filled with many great things, surprises, prizes and great friends. let's review:

- i started the year in love with jambaloney. at the start of 2011 i thought that there was no way possible to love him more than i did. boy was i wrong!

- i started the year here at the Manor. my dream of moving home to my island came true!

- i don't remember the first 3 months of 2011 very well - just some blurred images of boiling snow to wash dishes, clothes and to flush the toilet; more blurred images of pipes busting and things breaking or blowing up, 4yrs worth of saved heirloom seeds being destroyed, trucks flipping - yep it is all a real blur!

- april and may was spent planting a ton of seeds and putting them in their trays to then plant outside in late may. but the weather was so awful that most of those seedlings didn't see the light of day until the middle of june! oh yes - and building raised beds and all that came with that! poor jambaloney must have shovelled 30 tons of dirt!

- jambaloney's parents visited in june. during the worst and grayest and rainiest 10 days that anyone has ever seen. we had planned to take them sight-seeing all over the island - they ended up digging trenches and planting tomatoes!

- july saw us hitting the local events and getting out and meeting people. they were so warm and inviting and we have made many great, lasting, long friendships!

- august to the end of september - more events - more meeting of fantastic people - how awesome! and we harvested our sad, little garden - our worst harvest ever. oh but we have learned for next year!

- in september we started our blog and met a whole crew of awesome people who may be thousands of miles away but we still count them as our friends. we have learned so much from all of you! thank you all sooo much!

- october was when the "incident" occurred. for long time readers, i don't have to go into details. for new readers - i simply won't go into details. you can check the blog posts from october.

- in november i turned 41 and jambaloney turned 46. we have been giggling ever since as we love our 40's together!

- and december was about sharing time with all of our different friends - who have all become our new family! we have such great friends here...and we are soo happy!

what will 2012 bring for us here at the Manor? well...it isn't 2012 yet but i am fairly confident that i will enter the new year loving that man more than i did last year. i love him soooo much! i also am fairly certain that after all of the trials and tribulations of this past year - that just about everything will be a little easier this year! i also expect new obstacles to come that we will have to find our way around...but such is the challenge and life of living in the middle of nowhere!

i am looking forward to a quiet, relaxing winter...one that will be filled with oops! woops! and oh - didn't plan for that! this spring we will hit the ground running with our garden! this summer is going to be filled with river days, beach days, swimming and dips! this fall will be filled with harvesting, canning, dehydrating and preserving. and hopefully this coming winter will be a time to look back and realize that we are living our dream. all of it spent wearing as little clothes as possible!

we are making miniature dinner rolls all morning to bring with our controversial chili to the dance tomorrow! and then we are off to the New Year's Dance. if i haven't made it to your blog to wish you and yours a Happy New Year...give me a day or two...i will get there!

2012 is going to be interesting for sure. and none of us knows what will happen or what's to come. but my heart is filled with happiness and hope!

and i wish all of you all of the best for 2012! Happy New Year my friends!

it's another windy day!

yesterday we had crazy wind again - 80-90km/phr (40-50mph)! the whole Manor shook all night Wednesday night, all day Thursday, all night last night and is finally down to just a dull roar now. but we didn't lose our power at all - thanks Nova Scotia Power!

yesterday we had a "flumping" day - we read, watched some movies, ate, napped, snacked and napped some more. it was way too windy to do any outdoor chores and although there are a ton of indoor chores to be done, we decided to say screw it and "flump" around together.

today we spent the day making approximately 8 quarts of chili to bring to the New Year's Dance tomorrow night. we made yummy-stick-to-your-ribs-full-of-meat chili...made with crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, kidney beans, navy beans, 2lbs of hamburger, half a pound of bacon and mushrooms. i also snuck in some vinegar with the mother in it, a large dollop of honey and several cloves of garlic. and a bucketload of chili powder. i am bound and determined to get these people here to eat more healthily!

tomorrow we will make 40 miniature dinner rolls to serve with the chili. i have recently found an awesome dinner roll recipe...the rolls come out all buttery, fluffy and light. if anyone is interested i will post the recipe on our recipe blog.

i have been trying to stay on top of everyone's blogs over the holidays...if for some reason i have missed any of your posts or haven't stopped by your blog in a while - leave a holler in the comment section here and i will skedaddle right on over.

i promise pics of the porch coming soon - it's just been too windy this past few days.

we'll be heading off to the New Year's Dance tomorrow. if we don't get a chance before then to wish you all a Happy New Year's Day...then we will do so now. Happy 2012! 2012 is sure going to be interesting...and we look forward to hanging out with you all through all of it. there is still much to be done here at the Manor, and we look forward to sharing it with you.

here's a pic of one of our beautiful sunsets from the other night...it's wonderful isn't it?

off to dinner!

we are off to our other friends' house this evening for dinner...it is supposed to be a buffet so we are looking forward to stuffing our gills all evening. this time we are going to our friends S and D's house. they have 2 girls aged 7 and 12. it should be a really nice time! we are bringing home-made dinner rolls, cranberry-pear-ginger sauce and plain oatmeal cookies.

we have finally gotten the porch finished and to be honest - it doesn't look half as bad as i thought it would. we have a little finishing to do, give us a day or two and i will get some pics up. i can't believe that i finally have a porch!

anyway, we hope that everyone has enjoyed this past few days since Christmas Day. we have, and we are looking forward to stuffing our faces again tonight, and the New Years Dance on saturday. that should be a real hoot!

happy holidays to everyone!

a Framboise Manor Christmas!

first off - i hope that every one of you had a Christmas Day as wonderful as ours! the pic above is our Christmas tree - beautiful isn't it? we have so many beautiful trees on our land that it was hard to pick just one. and since they all come already decorated in tinsel, you have to be really selective! that's why we chose this group of 3 trees! we can see them from the kitchen window. we love that group of trees!

anyway - what an awesome Christmas Day we had! we were invited to our friends' C and B's house. we arrived at noon, were greeted at the door with hugs from our friends and their two children (18 and 19). the whole house smelled divine! we brought some home-made dinner rolls, some cranberry-ginger-pear sauce and some cranberry-walnut-oatmeal cookies. we also brought a 40 of rhum for C and B (people around here like their alcohol!). for their daughter, who loves butterflies, i dug through some of my jewelry and found a beautiful silver butterfly necklace that she just loved! i also gave her a really cool butterfly belt.

we found out last week that their son had busted his i-pod. jambaloney had recently done the same thing and because he is so good with computers and electronic stuff, he was able to find a kit on ebay to fix it. so their son got a home-made coupon from jamie to pay for the kit and then fix the i-pod when the kit arrives. he was over the moon and told everyone about it! his parents were pleased that we brought their children some little gifts that weren't store-bought and meant something to each of them. they have really sweet kids and we like them alot!

now on to the food! oh my oh my! C and B put on a spread like nobody's business. a 20lb turkey cooked to perfection, stuffing, gravey, potatoes, turnips, carrots, corn and two kinds of cheesecake! then all kinds of snacks for the rest of the day and evening. jambaloney is still stuffed to the gills! i ate a ton too - try four servings of mashed potatoes and gravey! i love mashed potatoes and gravey!

C and B got jambaloney a fancy flashlight for his key-chain --- something i have been telling him he needs forever! and they got me my brand of red wine and a box of expensive chocolates. no one here drinks wine - only me - they all think it is kind of funny! so she found out from our other friends what the name of my wine was so that she could get it for me - sooo awesome!

different people dropped in throughout the day - C's nephew, wife and baby, B's sister and mother, their daughter's boyfriend. we spent the whole day eating, snacking, talking, drinking tea, sipping wine for me, drinking beer for the rest - we never left the kitchen as the kitchen is the heart of the home here - and the hours just passed. we felt like we were with family and were just so comfortable. and warm. and laughing. and enjoying each others company.

then all of the sudden it was 9pm! we had promised to stop in at B's brother's house which is right next door to B's. we thought it was too late to stop in but B and C insisted that we couldn't leave without stopping by or they would get accused of "hogging" us to themselves. so we all bundled up and trudged through the backyard to D and R's house. thank goodness it is only a quick jaunt across the yard as it was super cold last night!

here's a pic of D's house and super awesome lobster boat. i love that boat!



so we went over to D and R's - their house was full as both of their children were home for the holidays and had brought their babies with them. we could tell that everyone had had a full day, R looked happy but tired, and the babies were going to bed. so we headed out to D's smoke shack - a little shack in the backyard where he goes to smoke when its cold. he's not allowed to smoke in the house. but there is a woodstove out there and many stashed bottles of various alcohol and needless to say a party ensued! D's son and girlfriend, and his daughter and her boyfriend, and C and B and their 2 kids and me and jambaloney all hung out laughing and telling stories until 1am in the morning! we left with C and B but the rest of them stayed and might still be there right now!

we went back to C and B's and they proceeded to fill garbage bags full of leftovers and snacks and forced us to take them home. we hugged them and thanked them and B said that we were now family - which is huge here as they take family very seriously. and they are very humble. i just called C and told her that we really appreciated all of the food and how much fun we had and she replied "Jesus Christ how many effin times do you people gotta thank someone for some dinner?!?!"

ya they curse alot here too. she then went on to say how happy they were to have us and how much fun they had as well.

these people welcomed us into their home, with their children, and shared Christmas Day with us. they made this Christmas very special. it was not about big, fancy gifts or any of that shenanigans - it was about the true spirit of Christmas - family, good food, friendship and love.

what a great way to spring into 2012.

jambaloney and i hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day. and we wish the best for all of you in the coming year.

to all of our friends!

from both of us, to all of you, we thank you for your friendship, support and advice over the past few months.

we also wish you all a wonderful, warm and very Merry Christmas! we hope that you all enjoy this time with family, loved ones and friends.

joyeux noel mes amis!

crazy porch saga - Part Deux

so here we are still working on the porch! we framed out the front and back and put in some doors. ya - it's a clooge job but as we are just going to be relying on this thing for the winter and spring - it'll do!

so here is the front door framed out:



and here is the back door (both doors were salvaged out of other people's garbage!):



i wanted the back door at the front because it is prettier. but this is the stronger of the two doors and as we get winds howling up our road that hit this side of the house the most, the stronger door had to go on the back.

and here's another look at the side with the doors framed in:



well, it will be a porch that only a mother could love! but if i can get the boots and shoes out of the kitchen, the laundry rack out of the middle of the living room, 18L water jugs out of the bathroom AND still have room for other stuff - PLUS have a place for the ginormic seeding tray that Ted built - then i will be happy! and we will have time next year to decide whether we want to re-build it properly, or add an extension on to the kitchen, or add an extension off of the living room - whatever - we'll figure it all out then!

for now - just wait until you see what we did on the cheap to enclose this thing - teeeheee!