Neighbours

D & Papa post-swim

The weather this summer has just been unstoppable. When I woke up on Saturday morning it was gray and I thought, “Oh, it’s going to be our first cloudy day at the camp.” But by 9am it was sunny and warming up to be a scorcher. 

But it's the abundance of beautiful days that has helped us get out and about and meet our Chezzetcook neighbours. Whether it's on a walk over to the beach or taking the green bin out to the end the road, I'm definitely feeling like we're beginning to be part of the neighbourhood. 

We met Dwight and Andrea first. Then Tracy and Steve. John a couple of weeks ago and more recently Doug and Mary. We even had a visit and tour (beautiful gardens and inspirational bunkie!) of their place when we dropped in to say hi the other night (the baby swing out front was calling!). 

And all that socializing paid off too. When the truck wouldn't start Sunday morning (we left a door open overnight) the entire neighbourhood came to our rescue. I'm kicking myself now because I didn't take any photos. It was my job to get Diego to sleep so I forgot to get a shot of the narrow driveway-two-sets-of-jumper-cables-strung-together set-up. It was one of those "oh shit" situations that was solved lickity split. 

But our first two-night weekend included lots of other fun too! Diego is loving playing in the waves during our beach walks. He wears his swim trunks so we can dip him in and out of the water. 

During Kharim's run with D, I mowed the driveway and lawn. After a couple of months of chopping and mowing I was able to lower the blade today. The lawn is looking more like grass and less like hay these days so that’s reassuring. My favourite part is mowing the driveway. It’s so pretty. Afterwards I took out my (pink!) loppers to trim the trees in the driveway. I filled the green bin so I bought some orange compost bags for extra green stuff. I have so many tree cuttings it’s hard to keep up. In some ways I think I should just chuck all the cuttings next to the boathouse where I want to put a load of fill. But I’ve decided against it because it’s too messy looking. There’s enough scrappy looking stuff on the property as it is, tree cuttings I can at least clean up. It’s all about the little things I can control.

Speaking of control, Diego’s nap schedule has turned into something I can’t. He was so good for so long but this week it seemed he had boycotted the whole nap concept. But today he had a marathon nap from 11am-4pm! Perhaps playing in the waves combined with country quiet is the perfect recipe. The lovely downtime gave me a chance to finish my book (The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Joyce Carol Oates) while Kharim paddled his surfboard across the lake to check out the surf on the other side of the sandbar. I don’t think it was surf was high but he had fun all the same, despite the nasty cut he got from a wipeout.

We had a late run into Porter’s Lake for supplies: water, duct tape, band-aids. The guy at Home Hardware even gave Kharim a short length of wire that he was going to use to clean the hot water heater pilot light. Unfortunately the little wire was just in the bag loosely and ended up being (mistakenly) dumped in the garbage with a poopy diaper before we made the trek back. So hot water is on hold till next time. (But with the hose sitting in the sun I had a pretty long hot shower today.)

Me & D after our swim to the sandbar behind us

Before dinner the whole family swam from the point over to the sandbar, which is roughly 200 metres. Kharim and I swam, Diego drove his little police boat. The water was beautiful. A wharf would’ve made the launch smoother, but I used my Crocs to help ease into the water instead.

After our social call to the neighbours we finished off Saturday night by popping open the wine the McLeods brought us last week (Jost Prima Rosa). Yum. We'll have to get some more to take with us for our next baby swing adventure. Who knows when we'll need to be rescued again.

Hodgepodge

Mom, Janice, John M., Diego, Kharim and John Z.

I will have to upload an audio file at some point. After living downtown for years the cars, buses and construction have become regular background noise. It's not until I relax at night and hear ocean that I realize how stressful regular city noise can be.

I came to this realization around 10pm on Saturday night after Diego had been asleep for about an hour. I was alternating between reading, doing the dishes and writing this entry. Elton John was playing in the background and Kharim was studying different types of poo on some type of iPhone medical text application. It's such a peaceful sound.

So to do the dishes I’ve just been heating up water in the kettle. But I’m hoping that’ll change in the near future. We had John and Janice—the previous owners of the camper—over for supper tonight. To round out the dinner party were John Zareski and Mom. We ate my first attempt at hodgepodge (successful) and John Z.’s loubeigh (check spelling) and a few beer to wash it down. It was a pretty basic set-up, plastic chairs in a circle on the lawn. But the day was so beautiful it didn’t really matter. Even the mosquitoes cooperated and were barely noticeable.

Kharim and John M. tackling the pilot light

Once bellies were full talk turned to camp operations. First up: How do you get the hot water working? John M. got to work showing Kharim where the pilot light is and how to work it. When they were working on it I was testing the taps and could tell the difference between the cold water and the lukewarm water but it didn’t get much further than that. The pilot light kept going out so we didn’t hit hot on the dial. So we’re hoping a good cleaning will fix it up good as new. A hot shower and hot water for dishes for next weekend would be dreamy.

Tim, Rosa, Jill and friendly dog

The dinner party wasn’t our only excitement for the day. We had early visitors too. Ten minutes after I planted my new garden (lilies, hosta and decorative grass. I forgot to take a photo) in the post-Juan fire pit, Jill, Tim and Rosa showed up. They made the trip all the way from Hubbards! Diego was very excited to see his girlfriend, especially since she has a cute new haircut. We had a great walk to the beach, and both of the little ones checked out the taste of sand. Mmmm, gritty.

Rosa and Jill

There were quite a few people at the beach today.  The water was warm, the wind was mild and the air was hot. And the tide was out so there was lots of sand to walk on.

The perfect mix: lots of visitors and perfect weather.

Sunday we ventured back to the market for coffee and treats and then drove out to Martinique. It was hot and sunny again. We walked along the water's edge with Diego and he loved the water and the crazy amounts of seaweed in the water. 

Kharim, Mom and Super Nanny

Back at ranch, er, camp, we had yet more visitors. Mom and Super Nanny made the trek down. I think Super Nanny got a kick out of the camper.

To round out the weekend we got in another beach walk, ate some leftover hodgepodge and packed up and came home.  

100% Patterson owned and operated

The new deed for the camp arrived today. It's been a long time coming but we finally got rid of the third (and deadbeat) owner. Laurieland is back to being solely Patterson-owned for about the cost of a funeral. Wishful thinking perhaps, but there you have it.

So we have another check in the box. It's nice to finally get that done. I've officially succeeded in doing everything I wanted to do in year one of the five-year plan. More in fact. The camper was a bonus. It puts me ahead of schedule considering I can live there comfortably while working on little projects and dreaming of bigger ones.

Speaking of that, wouldn't a wharf be a nice addition? We lost the old wharf when the ocean breached the sandbar this past winter. Check out the first picture under Ramps and Floats on the Altantic Wharf Builders website. I'm putting it on my Christmas wish list and buying that lottery ticket we talked about yesterday.

Patio lanterns

I'm writing this post at the camp. I won’t be able to publish it here because we don’t have an internet hook-up, but it’s still fun all the same. It’s 9:30pm Saturday and Diego went to bed a little while ago. Kharim did the dishes while I was getting the little dude ready for bedtime. It was nice to listen to the waves crashing on the beach while he was drinking his bottle.

It feels like things are getting a bit easier down here. This visit seems more relaxing, which is great. I was worried that I had made a mistake thinking that a trailer would be fun. I know cottages are supposed to be work, but with all the little things we’ve had to do lately I was wondering if I had complicated life instead of simplifying it.

But I really think we’re going in the right direction.

Kharim even remembered to bring long PJs this time to help protect against the mosquitoes. We’ve been pretty vigilant today about keeping the screen door shut so I don’t think we have as many inside with us tonight. I just killed one as I was typing…amazing multi-tasking skills!

We made a few more improvements to camp life today. Kharim duct-taped the accordion door between the galley and the beds so now we can close a room off. Some light gets through but it allows us to keep the lights on over the dinette so we can read after Diego goes to bed.

And we fired up the PC mini-grill for the first time today. We had gourmet hot dogs with beer to wash them down. Delish. (Diego skippedthe BBQ because he’s on a bit of a soup/stew kick these days.) Plus, to put those multi-tasking skills to further use, I whipper-snippered around the trailer while I was waiting for the dogs to cook.

In the “all-geeked-out” category, I spray-painted one of the propane tanks silver. It really does look good. I felt a bit nerdy doing it but it was worth the effort.

In the “classic-camp” category, Kharim strung the patio lanterns along the edge of the awning. I love, love, love patio lanterns. We always had them (these ones are pretty old so these might be the ones we’ve had for eons) and it just feels like home when they go up. Kim Mitchell knew what he was talking about.

And with all that excitement behind us, it’s hard to believe there’s more to look forward to but there is! Tomorrow morning we’re going to the Musquodoboit Harbour Farmers’ Market for the first time ever! Exciting. Then maybe a beach stroll with some yummy baked goods.

OK, adding to post now that we're back in town on Sunday night.

We had a great night's sleep in the trailer. Diego was up once in the middle of the night but just for a quick drink and was back down without the drama of our last stay. Then this morning after breakfast Kharim took him for a run in the East Chezzetcook Road while Steve and Andrew were on their way down for a visit!

They arrived while Kharim was still running so I gave a tour of the property, the camper, camp and boathouse. It was a beautiful day so it was fun to have visitors and talk about what we've done and what we want to do, budget permitting. Lottery tickets came up at some point during the discussion!

After a walk over to the beach we all went marketing. It took a bit of hunting but we found the market just off the main road. We had coffee, muffins, peach cake and cookies! Yum.

I also bought some lobster tails (purchase in process shown at the left) and swiss chard for dinner. I figured I should get something that didn't come from the bakery section.

And it turns out that one of the organizers of the market is Bill, a guy we swam with at Centennial Pool. Small world.

After the market we dropped by John's place for a visit and to give him a camper update. I forgot to give him the spare set of camp keys. Next time.

Before leaving we were invited to pull a bunch of things out of his garden: peas, beets, green, yellow and "magic" beans.

Yum, yum, yum. The magic beans are a purpley colour when they come out of the ground and then turn green when you cook 'em. John used to tell his kids they were magic beans to make them more fun to eat. Classic Zareski story-telling. Not sure if Diego got the magic reference but he loved the beans and gobbled down a bunch for supper.

So we're back in town, unpacked and doing laundry. But I'm already making plans for next weekend. Can't wait.

Moonlight desires

Kharim, Diego, Jill & Ned

OK, so this post isn't nearly as racy as the title, borrowed, with thanks, from Mr. Lawrence Gowan.

This past long weekend we made the trip to PEI for Maryse's (Frenchy!) wedding. Kharim and I packed Diego and some gear for a weekend with Jill, Ned and Digger. We set up tents at Moonlight Camping in Cap Egmont, just down the road from wedding site.

So the moonlight reference was from the campground name. The desire part has to do with the thousand-plus times I said out loud that I wished we had our trailer there with us.

But it was a perfect weekend to be in a tent. Beautiful weather, good friends (with a chock-a-block cooler!) and a baby and a puppy who were both happy campers.

The trip gave me a chance to take in the "RV Park" part of the campground for potential future trips. Poo pipes look so different now that we've spent the better part of the last month getting ours set up.