Ah, it's over..
In My House..
Welcome Fall..
I heard about Dirty Apron through a friend in the summer. It's a fantastic new cooking school and shop on Beatty run by the Chambar and Medina people. If you don't know - Chambar is one of the best restaurants in Vancouver, Medina is next door and has little waffles to die for!
I also hit a favourite store on Cambie called Walrus - which really is a pleasant surprise. Last spring HGTV Canada asked me to blog about my top stores and Walrus is first on the list. Not only is everything unique and beautiful, but the owners are adorably kind. Caroline gives me a shot of hip-ness as this gal is 'not so hip' now that I have a two year old. Thanks for the chat Caroline, you always brighten my day. I'm also featuring some very cool items from their store in my bar ware story.
That was my first day of fall. Hope you had a lovely day too!
By the way, does anyone know where the followers have gone. I know they are there, in the background, but I do enjoy seeing the happy collage of images. I find them comforting.
White..
My Broken Heart..
As Lily and I walked the garden today, we did it alone. The swing just felt empty with only two, and his spot under the bush was bare.
Lily and Jakey.
Trout Lake Market..
We hit the trout lake market in Vancouver on Saturday. It was a perfect day.
I spent 45.00 on garlic - am I insane! Why yes I am. We are planting garlic on the farm to sell next year. Then someone can give me 45.00 for garlic.
I just love crab apples. The taste like rubbish, but look so pretty.
Creepy but beautiful distractions..
It was like spiders had toilet papered my vegetable garden. They'd had a riotous party, and things got out of hand. The only thing I hate more than a liquored up spider, is a group of liquored up spiders.
Lily and I booted up and headed out to get a closer look. Webs every where! They are quite beautiful. Till the big mother of a spider showed herself. Then we ran like the girls we are back inside.
yesterday the garden..today the kitchen
Seems to be my life these days. One day in the garden, the next in the kitchen. I had Midge (aka Lily) my handy dandy assistant on hand to stir up our apple crisp. I most certainly did eat right out of the pan. Lily was sleeping and well, it seemed like the best way to enjoy some down time. Tired moms are lazy moms.
Here is my question for you: What is the difference between a cobbler, crisp and crumble? Lily informed me I had made a cumble - no 'r'. I've no idea about this.
I snuck a shot..
I shouldn't have done it, but I snuck this shot of the garden we were shooting for a magazine on Friday. I took it with my phone, so the quality is..well, it's not good. This little path lead down to the ocean. This was a home of opulence. More money than I can grasp right on the beach in West Vancouver - one of the most expensive places to live in the world. Do they use the beach - no. Do they live in the home - hardly at all. Do they know what they have?! Sigh.
They had a large water fall installed to drown out the deafening sound of gentle waves lapping on the sea shore. That seems to me, very ungrateful. I think that there are some people that need to be reincarnated as a puddle. Just a little puddle somewhere peaceful where they can reflect for a while. Or at least until a shiny black Aston Martin races through them, turning their world to mud. The passenger, some foreign model with legs up the yahoo and a head wrap right out of Vogue.
Yes, for those of you wondering, I did indeed parked my pontiac vibe next to their convertible Aston Martin and the model was real. Who cares, I like my ten dollar joe fresh t-shirt and 39.00 dollar jeans with the yogurt smear that Lily applied that morning.
Tricks of the trade..
I thought I would share more of my work with you. This is my greenhouse. My husband built it for me as a wedding gift. We did it up beautifully for a Country Living shoot, but sadly, it's back to being a greenhouse now. Colleen Sawatsky of Vintage home had all these fabulous props to play with! Colleen - you need a store! All photos by ...you guessed it, the fabulous Janis Nicolay.
Busy Busy..enjoy and relax
photo by Janis Nicolay
It's been a busy week - three different shoots - a mid century home yesterday and two gardens to shoot today. So, I wish you all a fabulous weekend. Enjoy the final sunny days of summer.
Stop Everything!
Ok, fellow blogger 'Pretty Far West' left me a note in my last posting regarding the s'mores. She doesn't know what they are. This was shocking to me. I ask you..are s'mores a North American thing?
A lovely long weekend..
I also discovered, for those of you that may not know, that cold left over s'mores the next morning are equally delicious as the night before.
A quick decor enhancement for my soiree. Jute twine wrapped around tea lights with cinnamon sticks or bay leaves.
Signs of fall in the yard. The blueberry bushes are turning red. The apples are falling to the ground. The acorns are ready - I love their little chapeaus.
My sweet kitty Jake. He's about 18 and is not well. Sigh.
My Guest Bathroom..
September..it's September!?
Every night, around 7pm, the llamas next door make this very odd noise. Like they are laughing at a really bad joke told by the horse.
I have a theory about this nightly noise. I think they are having happy hour every night with the horses from the next farm over. The horses are 'socially inept' and tell bad stories. The llamas can't get out of it, they're neighbors.
This summer, I had the nicest experience of my career. I was chosen to be interviewed by Roadtrip Nation. Each year Roadtrip Nation picks 9 students graduating from College or University who still don't know what to do with their lives. They each get to pick a person of interest to them anywhere in North America. I was chosen.
They all travel together in a giant green RV that they drive themselves - there is a life experience! This time, they also came with a tv crew filming a documentary for PBS.
At first I was hesitant. I'm terrified of being on camera. I forget to swallow my spit and ramble like a high teenager confronted by the school principal.
But I tell you, I adored these people. I could have kept them here for the whole day chatting about life and art and being brave. I don't know what it was that made me so fond of them. It's hard to explain. I don't know that I was at all inspiring, but I do know that they inspired me!
The picture above is the Roadtrip gang in California. They interviewed the Yo Gabba Gabba creator before coming up my way. Love that show - but I have at 22 month old.
check out http://www.roadtripnation.com//
This is the thank you card they sent me. The chicken is the magnet holding the card on the fridge.