PEI Apartment

This is what our empty apartment looks like. We will be downsizing by half to 925 square feet. We are going to store some items - since we hope to move into a small house on a small lot. Picture the living & dining area from the kitchen counter to the patio door - being the size of just my current living room (ie. move the dining table to the front of the fireplace). It will be cozy. There are 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, a storage area which is quite large - we may have to put our bookcases in there. For some reason or other, the balconies on any of the apartments we looked at, were very small. Basically room for two camp chairs and a very small BBQ. Totally unlike the balconies in Toronto or Vancouver. It must be due to the shorter summers for outdoor living. There is a small fitness room on the main floor, an elevator (although there are only 3 floors). But we are on the 3rd floor and hauling groceries, etc up 3 flights of stairs at our age - nah!. We are next to the laundry area - but there is a laundy area on each floor, so hopefully it won't be too noisy and there are posted hours for doing laundry. The best thing is that we have a month to month lease - so the apartment is temporary until we decide what to do next. We are just behind the Stratford Town Centre (a community centre) with a free indoor walking track and fitness area with all kinds of fitness machines. There is also quite a long walking trail (the Stratford Trail) which also goes by the apartments. So Dad will get his walking exercise (he is feeling so much better now and very happy to be moving to PEI). We quite like the area.

View from patio door back to kitchen. The dining table will be just in front of the white counter which is where the sink is and dishwasher are located.

The kitchen area, obviously. The stove is apartment size so the turkey will have to be apartment size too :)

View from the counter to the patio door. The balcony is just slightly wider than the patio door and about 5 feet out.

Last Garden Pics from NS

Greetings from Fall River, NS:
We will be moving to PEI at the end of September. Dad is very excited about that. I will continue with my job until mid October - hopefully stay with some friends while I train my replacement. The house sold well and fairly quickly for it being the middle of summer. The closing date is September 30. It will certainly be different moving into an apartment. Julee, I will have to get some advice from you.

The finished garden on slope at front of the house.



These look and feel like velvet. And doing well in the filtered sunlight.

Backyard garden which we can view from the deck. The ferns are naturally growing in background. The other plants came mostly from Grammie Penny's garden on PEI. How I wish I could take them back with me. Oh, well, I will steal some from my sister who also has some of Grammie's plants.

East side garden which Karen helped me with last year. It gets full sun, and my rose bushes love it.

Front garden again - so the grandkids can see my "bird" stone sitting on an old stump.

Christmas in Nova Scotia

We had so much fun with Chris and Julee and family. After a very late night (or early morning) arrival, they caught up on their sleep and the fun began. We cut our own Christmas tree and then Sam and Jonathan helped decorate. Children sure do make a difference in the Christmas celebrations. I wish we could all be together. Skype sure helps a lot.

I think this was the fastest time ever - picking out a Christmas tree. It was a pretty cold day. Julee has some more pictures. Grandma forgot to take her camera.

And watching the kids open their gifts - such fun. Grandpa and I enjoyed watching and watching and more watching - to see them play, talk, interact, making things, and running around the circle of our living room, kitchen and dining room.

Sam enjoyed this gingerbread house he made with his Mom. I'm not sure who enjoyed the "decorations" the most - but I didn't catch Julee sitting on the stool. I think she just walked past and snitched one now and then. Jonathan had a great time ripping off the Christmas paper but I think he had the most fun with the little green truck that we had in the toybox from the summer fun with John A. and family. The handles were great for holding onto and pushing it all around. The balloons were for a joint birthday party: Sam (Dec. 12), Grandma (Dec.8), Grandpa (Dec.13), Julee (Dec.21). Sam had 3 parties. What a lucky guy! While playing blocks with Grandpa and Sam, Jonathan also demonstrated what a great pitching arm he has - watch out Blue Jays and windows and walls and ...

We soaked up all the hugs and kisses that we could. It won't be long before they move faster than we do and we won't be able to capture them for snuggling.

Grampie Penny's Trains

Do any of the Herring clan remember this train setup in the basement of Grampie Penny's house on Faye Drive in Toronto? He built the table and set up the trains and would add to it whenever he could. It was quite a hobby with him. We would buy the train cars and buildings and he would set them up, little trees, snow and bridges, etc.

Vote for the funniest video clip

So I couldn't decide which video was the funniest (read most ridiculous). In the country video it looks like Dad is getting right into it. But I like the ending on the singing video too!
Hope you enjoy.
Mom and Dad

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