Ice caves

Spring will be back…we have 5 cm of snow these couple of days. G doesn’t mind as he gets to kick it and play with a shovel. My car is parked indoors and in my swift five-minute commute to work/daycare, I am barely concerned by the precipitation. V, on the other hand, has to clear his truck in the mornings and shovel the show at work.

Spring hike

We almost made it to the falls:)


Look at this mischievous guy. His dad decided that snow pants were not necessary for this hike since we were just going to look at the Falls. Yeah, right. G had other plans - he just bathed in the deep snow and the sunlight! Soaking up his mittens and sweat pants. It was clear that going further down the trail was not going to happen and we had to turn around. Oh, well...next time we will make it.

Feeling the Spring energy more and more everyday. Sunlight is so bright. It will be interesting to see how V reacts to no darkness since it'll be his first summer in the North. Second for me. Wow. Time flies.

Quintessential Canadian experience

V and I love to travel. There are places in this beautiful country that we both would love to visit one day. But truth be told, ever since we got ourselves into "renovating mode" our priorities had majorly shifted. Every saved penny goes towards making the house a home. Well, for now at least. Having said that, we’re grateful to have a chance to explore area around us and few local trips here and there have been very economical and a great way to satisfy our travelling bug:)
This past weekend we relaxed at the cabin. One very generous colleague of mine kindly offered it to us and we were incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to get out of city and relax in the wild. Even though we were only about 50 km away from the city, we felt cut off from the rest of the world and completely off the grid (not having any cell reception really advanced that feeling). It felt amazing. We haven't been this content for a long time. We cooked lots of food, drank lots of wine and enjoyed time with some awesome people. Because nothing makes any adventure more fun and unforgettable than being able to share it with the people you love:)

Shakespeare in your park

I haven’t been to a theatre in a long time, so when the opportunity came up to go to one performed outside at the nearby park; I didn’t have to think twice about it!
We watched "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and the comedy was so much fun and dirty at times:)! I forgot how energizing and engaging the real-time performances are. Without any fancy decorations or special effects these guys kept us totally captivated and fascinated by their acting for two hours stright.
I was surprised to see so many people show up at the park. Apparently outdoor performances are happening all throughout the summer and are quite popular in the city. And now I know why: you get to enjoy real acting without huge ticket/food costs and in a more relaxed atmosphere.
I bestow upon you catching one of them! (couldn't stop speaking old English after the play!:))

Farm visit

What a nice little family farm and a real find for berries enthusiast, such as myself! Really, I couldn’t be happier when I saw red currant bushes loaded with fruit. Then I looked around and noticed black currant bushes getting ready nearby and gooseberries! I haven’t had those berries since we came to Canada! Gotta go back in a week or so and get me some. Only next time, I’m going all prepared: little packed lunch, blanket to sit on under a tree and relax after berry picking. Oh, and lots of sun protection: which I always forget to put on before working on the field:).

I’ve made strawberry jam already and now searching for the red currant jelly recipe. Do you know a good one by any chance?

Pick your own berries Ottawa Valley locations

Since we’re in strawberry season right now, I’ve decided to share and spread a word of these Ottawa Valley locations where you can pick your own berries (source: Nepean-Barrhaven News EMC):
1. Ovens Berry Farm
2. Dekok family berry farm
3. Richmond nursery
4. Millers farm, market and garden centre
5. Rideau Pines Farm

Since our camping plans didn’t pan out this weekend, we’ll be heading to one of these farms for some berries and outdoor time. Gotta enjoy ever day, summer flies so fast!

Garden progress

We are still not out of the woods in terms of stability around here, but we found a way to cope with life-related stuff - dive into backyard work!
Couple of evenings of outside work and I’ve managed to plant all of my tomatoes and cucumbers that have been screaming at me to get them into a real soil and out of yogurt cups:

 We also installed a rain barrel that I’ve ordered a while back. Feels great not to be wasting drinking water to water plants anymore. With rainy days that we’ve been having – it’s getting full pretty fast.

The progress came with a price though – I’m all itchy from monstrous mosquitos that seem to be blood thirsty even in the daylight. Gotta get us one of those lantern mosquito repellants soon.

Have you tried one of those?

Calling all gardeners

Have you been to this nursery yet?
Well, if you like plants and enjoy greenery, you should definitely check out this place. Their plant selection is amazing. I am going back a bit later just to capture the beauty of their peonies in bloom. Maybe I'll have more luck and get me that gorgeous lemon tree! (they were all marked "sold" this time:()

Decked out

It started on Sunday, when weather was so nice that it was hard to stay indoors. I decided to start working on the deck. I have set May 20th as my deadline and I wanted no time to be wasted. Little did I know that it would take me full day Sunday and three following evenings (after work) to do the prep work alone! Swiping, sanding, washing…oh the washing!

I’m happy to report that I'm full on staining, finally. It’s actually not that hard to do on a clean flat surface, it’s the railings that are more tricky and will take few hours for sure, but hopefully I’ll be done applying the second coat by the weekend (thank you, weather!).
How do you like my little audience who kept on eating while I was on my knees doing the hard work?

With getting the deck all ready for summer, I totally forgot to prep my toenails for the season, how sad is that?

A stroll in the woods

Well, actually, we went mushroom picking to a close by hiking trail. After about an hour of searching, we gave up on finding any edible ones and just strolled through the woods breathing in that Mother Nature.

The ultimate mushroom hunter

Truth be told, we love being outdoors very much and with all available trails and paths in breathtaking parks nearby (Gatineau, Algonquin), we are thinking of taking up hiking sometime after winter.