Happy 2013!

From Solstice to New Year, happy wishes to you!

My heart is swelling with possibility and my head swirling with ideas and projects for the year to come. Words dance a million, and gratitude expands as I reflect on the year past.

2012 was rich, rich, rich. Blissful, heartbreaking, enlightening, it was full.

2013 promises to be just as rich, with a trip to Paris and London on the horizon (oh yeah!), plans to find a house we can call our own, and the gentle beauty that comes with every day living.

I've many blog posts forming themselves as I type, but none ready quite yet. For now, following the rhythm of the recent holidays, I am allowing the space for words to come together, slowly.

In the meantime, I wish you a 2013 filled with all that makes your heart sing, and leave you with a few favourite snapshots that capture the holidays at their best...

candlelight, early Solstice morn

a Solstice breakfast outing at our favourite diner

it was storming outside, but perfectly cozy inside

Cassie, resting up before the clan joins us for Christmas dinner the next day

the holiday table, ready for feast and clan

(note Cindy Lou Who at the piano!)

I went back to the art table for the first time in two months. It felt good.

D. and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve with a sumptuous meal for two.

I wish you could smell the beefy, red wine, shalloty goodness that was simmering.

The highlight of my holidays, no doubt: the gift of a trip to Paris, from D.

It's a dream come true.

Photo Pause: Prince Edward Island, Day 1

While we were visiting Mom & Dad on the east coast, D. and I took a few days for an overnighter to Prince Edward Island (PEI). We only explored one little corner of the Island, but already its soft and surprisingly varied landscape wooed us both, inviting us to explore it further.

Here are a few favourite photos from Day 1:

Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and PEI,

seen from New Brunswick's Cape Jourimain Nature Centre.

(Note to self: next time allow more time to explore this wonderful centre and its hiking trails!)

We enjoyed lunch at the Landmark Cafe, in the beautiful (and tiny!) village of Victoria by the Sea. While we were there someone brought in the morning catch, fresh off the boat down the road, for the night's special. It doesn't get more local than that.

Canada's Smallest Library in Cardigan, PEI

Who knew? And could that view be any more cozy?

We discovered this gem of a beach by accident. It captured so many of the colours typical to PEI's landscape! A bonus? There were only three people on it, plus us.

 Still at the same little beach. I loved how the dune grasses created a rolling landscape,

and how the sun lit them against the dark skies ahead.

We spent about an hour there with our cameras.

 The view from our deck that evening. We ate Rick's Fish & Chips and drank

local Gahan beer (both delicious!) while we watched the sun set.

We stayed at the Inn at St. Peters in St. Peter's Bay.

The main restaurant at the Inn at St. Peter's, against the twilight sky.

That night we sat on our deck and watched shooting stars. Magical.

Day 2 delights to come later...

December Views Week 3 & a Bit - Part I

Has it only been a week and a half since my last December Views post? There are so many images to share! I've been a little clicker happy so it'll be a two-part post. Voici, Part I:

a colourful haphazard pianoscape in the dining room

off to New Brunswick for Christmas, it was a windshield-washer kind of a day

Day 2 on the road, much better driving weather!

Christmas morning cast-offs

I'm not a very religious person, but I was fascinated with this colourful

backlit Jesus at my aunt's place.

my cousin's top hat topper to her 9' Christmas tree - the hat was her father's, love it!

Shelby soaking in the sun, she's the cutest Great Dane I've every seen

Stay tuned for Part 2...

Scenes from the East Coast - Part I (Blueberries!)

I am tired today, full from last week's road trip to my beloved east coast. This week's Productivity Prompt will be posted within the next few days, pinky swear.

In the meantime I leave you with a few snapshots from a favourite outing: a morning blueberry picking expedition with Mom & Dad that quickly became a highlight of my trip...

Off a pickin' we go!

The flowers were pretty...

... and so were the fields.

But oh the berries. Mom said she'd never seen so many - and she's been picking wild blueberries for as long as I can remember!

They were big too, big clusters of gorgeous blue berries.

Our final haul after about an hour and fifteen minutes at work.

That big container on the bottom left alone held four litres.

I'm still gushing at the abundance and grateful that Dad's buddy allowed us to descend on his field by the river. I'm not sure he knows exactly how much of a treat he gave this urbanite visitor from Ontario.

Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest pleasure.

Road Trip!

This sad little scribbled crumpled up piece of paper has been guiding my every waking moment for the past three days:

pre-road trip to-do list

It's my pre-trip to-do list. The items with the X's didn't make the final cut (as if I'd have the time to bulk freeze corn and strawberries).

Tomorrow morning I fill up the travel mug, load up the car and head east to the land of the moose, my Acadian roots and the salty sea air. I'm heading home to New Brunswick.

It's my first solo trip there in a few years, the last time I drove on my own was during my sabbatical in 2006. It's a 12-hour trip one-way split over two days.

D.'s making me two CDs for the occasion: one full of sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs disco tunes and another with surprise road trip tunes of his choosing. They'll come in handy during the two hours spent crossing central New Brunswick through the mountains and the woods where radio signals just don't make it through.

I look forward to what's waiting for me on the other side of those mountains though - family, the sea, and Mom's chocolate chip cookies. What more could a girl ask for.

~~~

Note: I'll be celebrating my beloved Fête des Acadiens on Acadian soil on Monday, but rest assured that next week's Productivity Prompt post will be up as planned. I may even have a few more goodies for you here later in the week so keep visiting!