It's a Wrap

It’s been a busy year in Maison B-23.

Mr. B and I began the year in Nova Scotia, relaxing and recharging. We love the winter there. I was lucky to have been able to collect the quince from the bush beside our house (we got there during the first freeze) so I made quince paste for the first time ( hopefully again some day! It was lovely!)

I also made my first rosehip jelly -- so we started the year off in preserving wonderland :)

The spring got hectic because I was told that I was changing grades and, therefore classrooms. Grumble grumble. Pack pack pack, move move move, tears, tears tears.

Baby G turned 1 in the summer. I am so lucky to have Miss L and Baby G -- even though they live in Kingston ( a fabulous city - I love visiting the city as well as the family). My mom and dad couldn't attend the birthday festivities because my dad is now on oxygen for some lung issues, and the traveling is difficult. The little fam visited London a few weeks later. 

Baby G enjoyed his first sugar overload (cake) (well, actually, icing).

But Nova Scotia made everything better. It was different without our pup, Andy (I definitely didn't  walk as much :) . I preserved a lot though! We began the season with strawberry jam, and then moved onto blueberry, raspberry, pin cherry ( only a few jars, there wasn't much fruit this year), saskatoon berry, blackberry, chokecherry -- and I did some curried pickles too. I sewed a lot of new dresses and tunics. I visited with all of my NS friends - the Tooners (their word, not mine!), and my friends in Shelburne, and my friends from away ( Becky and Chuck! xo!). And new friends too! (Hi Jan!) And Miss L and Baby G visited for almost 2 weeks! We have another favourite beach -- Port Joli -- the water is WARM!

I returned to Toronto with some trepidation. Back to Kindergarten. Sharing the room with daycare and lunchroom. A new teaching partner.... yikes. But Kindergarten is wonderful. Sharing the room is difficult, but manageable. And my teaching partner was more than I could ever have wished for! Thank you FT for being such an awesome teaching partner. I will miss you SO MUCH.

In October we added a new member to our family! We adopted a little terrier pup from the Humane Society. Tilly is a handful! But all puppies are, right?

Not much time for creating this year, but I managed to spend sometime with my friend D -- she taught me english paper piecing. And we made some wreaths from recycled sweaters. My friend M-C and I also managed to get a bit of creating in (melted pony bead ornaments)-- and more to come next year!

Our family Christmas theme this year was Mexican. We had chili and tamales and empanadas  for our Christmas Eve feast :) The colours were bright. My mom really worked her magic with the decor!

We didn't make our annual winter journey to Nova Scotia this year, so we wont be ringing in the new year with our east coast friends (Tilly is too young to leave with friends or in a kennel...).  But we will be with our Toronto friends. So, still surrounded by warmth, good food and good company.

 That's the way we should begin and end every year, don't you agree?