Every year on the anniversary of our first date (which is two days before our wedding anniversary), we go out for supper at the same restaurant where we went and Dwayne got a fortune in his cookie that read, "Romance is about to blossom."
No one ever thinks to take a photo on their first date! Of course I wish I had...
But seven years later:

1. None of our twelve eggs hatched out of the incubator or under the hens. Very disappointing.
2. One of our five day-old chicks (who are now three weeks old) is dying. He (I think) turned out to be quite physically deformed -- crooked beak, no neck; he wasn't growing but he was ending up looking like a little hunchback chick -- and we weren't sure what was going to happen. But when I went out half an hour ago to check on everyone's water, the four healthy chicks were huddled in one corner and he was by himself on the opposite side. Chicken for "impending death".
3. I have a writing assignment for Saltscapes magazine which means travel to PEI. Turns out, my main subject is leaving for a trip to England then heading back to school in Vancouver so I have to go this Sunday for our interview which is just a little sooner than I had planned. Just got the assignment on Tuesday so thank goodness the magazine gave me the go ahead when it did. Going to be a busy weekend: my friend Jane and I are off to a writers'/readers' festival on Saturday.
4. Dwayne and I were going to go boating tonight so I could complete the second of two writing assignments for the Harry Thurston workshop I'm taking Tuesday nights but it's too windy. The subject is "place" and I want to write about the river. We've been on the river enough -- I was inspired by our boat trip on Monday night -- so I should be able to write it at home instead of in the boat.Have to impress Harry because he thinks my osprey article is a book-in-waiting.
5. Jane, co-worker as well as friend, takes her two weeks' vacation at the start of August and that means I work five days a week. Shocking! I have so much to accomplish on my days off before then; and the deadline for this article is August 26.
6. Dwayne still suffering great pain from his shoulder. Bad enough that the work-a-holic is not mowing lawns this afternoon. The grass will be growing, too, since we had a really good rain overnight. Maybe this will make it easier to convince him we need a couple of sheep to do the mowing...

It's hard waiting for babies to hatch, not knowing if any are going to hatch at all. No peeps, no pecks, no taps, no pips. Just waiting and watching...peering intently through the window of the incubator or, daringly, slipping a hand underneath "Gwen" to see if anything exciting is happening under her.
Maybe tonight we'll have a baby or two.

Cool Bites

Over the weekend, we "enjoyed" temperatures in the high 30's; Mum even tried to convince us it was 42 degrees one afternoon.
Thought it was time to try this treat I learned about from the author of "Once Upon A Flock": a popsicle for chickens!

Yummy! 

Dwayne hired a kid to stack the winter wood up in the field for easier transport down to the house later this summer. Abby had a good time "helping" with the small sticks but paid a price for the fun: 

Bug bites on hairless belly

Dwayne has finally realized that my homemade hamburgers are far superior to the ones he buys pre-made and frozen from our local butcher. I've been telling him that they're not that much work and this must have convinced him, especially since he paired the burger with two slices of Mum's homemade bread: 

Dee-wicious!

Another Church Gig

Mum and I did our best impersonations of intelligent, informed and theologically-minded worship leaders today. Our theme was "Joy" and man, can we plug a theme. If I counted up, hymns included, we likely said the word joy one hundred times! That's an old trick from my radio days -- you keep hitting the same phrase over and over and it will stick in the listeners' mind.

What is sad is looking out from the pulpit and seeing a dozen people there in their seventies and eighties. There is no one young keeping the church going. Mum said there is talk of shutting down the church, and it only hosts one service a month as it is.
There are so many old, white, well-maintained country churches in rural Nova Scotia and River Philip UC is a very pretty one (with those old square pews and tall, tall windows). It's a shame to know they'll be shuttered and silent some day soon.
Sounds like an article, doesn't it, but Mum and I have been talking it over and there is no solution; it's just a lament.

Summer Has Arrived In The Maritimes

(I now have to title everything because Blogger won't post this without "required field" filled in. Why must people tweak things that were working fine before?)

The heat wave has rolled into Eastern Canada, finally. My "Monte Negro" lilies -- a deep, deep red --  popped open this morning. They are my favourite in a garden that has way too much yellow in it.
Dwayne has another flat of berries to pick today for a customer; he picked two yesterday. Next year, he likely won't have to put signs out on the side of the road; he'll be able to sell everything on pre-order. He's working in this heat, though, and the sweat is rolling off him. What makes my lilies bloom and the potatoes grow makes him wilt.
Going to warm through the weekend then hopefully rain on Monday and down to 20 degrees mid-week.
Might be time to turn the heat lamp off over the chicks!

Berry Good Weekend

What a totally country weekend! Or at least, what I consider part of my country life.
With the long weekend, I've had five days at home to read, write and do the chores I love doing. We brought home baby chicks last week so we've been hanging out with our new "peeps" all weekend. Also watching three fertile eggs under a broody hen (or two; they seem to switch it up) while Dwayne is trying to incubate nine eggs.
We went to the Friday night kitchen party, finally, at the Chatterbox Cafe in Pugwash. I'm starting to develop a following of my column. Hard work is paying off.  
Dwayne has been trying to shoot the crows that are eating the potatoes sets he FINALLY got planted after so much rainy weather. But he hasn't hit one yet. "You know you're married to a redneck," I said the other day, "when there are cigarette butts and empty shell casings littering the yard." Nice.
I've been reading Cheryl Strayed's book, "Wild", and the weirdest thing keeps happening: Her book keeps triggering something in my mind and I have to put the book down and write whatever has come to me. After five pages, it was rewriting the opening to my memoir. Last night, I wrote eight pages in my notebook. I haven't written so much longhand in ages; took an hour (I was writing as Dwayne was falling asleep).
Dwayne and I had a conversation on Sunday night, one of those wandering ones that ended up touching on how hard he has always worked and that he had three jobs when he was first married back in the early 80's. Up until the nineties, he was still going down to the farm to milk every evening. I said, "You know, if you had kept up the farm that way, I'd likely go with you to help. That way, I'd get to spend time with you and you've finish sooner to get home."
It was an idea that really resonated with me. It's never bothered me that he works so hard, even though he usually puts work ahead of everything else, but at the same time, if I could help him, I would. I liked the way that statement rang so true inside me; I'm sorry we don't get a chance to do that. Oh, well, I worked in the strawberry patch this morning and kept him company while he waited for cars to roll in. Strawberries sold well for our first two days with our roadside signs. Hopefully word will spread about our red, juicy, unsprayed berries.

Checking on the chicks...

Bruno the bear eating ants in the back field for three days certainly puts a crimp in our walking up the lane, although the bugs are too thick for that anyway so Bruno can munch in peace...

Picking strawberries...

Even the ones that don't pass Mum's strict quality control and go to our kitchen are wonderful The hens get the really squishy ones which they don't mind at all...

 

I'm the creative, marketing & PR team...

















And this is our unique marketing angle: wildflower-infused berries! See if you can spot a few red berries in there...

 

 















Mum remembered this blast from the past: a favourite book of my childhood...

So now, as I head back to work tomorrow, I'm  hoping I head out the door to fetch the newspaper in the morning only to find Bruno sitting in the middle of the strawberry patch.