October Getting Ready for Winter

Many memories in October. Mom's birthday was October 1st. My parents were married on October 14th and this year a wonderful Grandbaby was welcomed into my Sister's family group on the same month/day date. 

Memories from October 2018. I wrote a post on making pumpkins from my Dad's old orange shirts.  I had saved his orange t-shirts to make pumpkins.

Other memories from October - taking my young grandson to the Pumpkin Patch every October for many years. When he turned fifteen I asked if he would take ME to the pumpkin patch as a favour - and he did. That was our last together visit there.

So, what have I been doing for the past several weeks? Working. Outside. Scraping and painting. putting stuff away before the winter rain, snow and cold.  Snow shovels are ready. I took a picture of the back of the house/porch to show the white vs. the way the rails and spindles looked between early October and now. The weather has turned wet/damp and painting has most likely been finished although there is more I want to paint. Not going to worry about it though, the essentials are done.

I have been working in my back sheds - going through boxes of some nice stuff that has been put away for ...  maybe several years. Mixed those treasures in with other stock in my booths.

and a bit more...

Just a beginning touch of ... Christmas peeking in. 

My 'working at the mall' putting in stock remains the same each time I go over - arrive before the store is opened to the public, add fresh stock, tidy and ... leave before the store opens the doors to their customers. 

Wearing a mask, sanitizing my hands frequently, maintaining distance (minimum of 6 feet/2 meters) from others - and leaving the building or area if shoppers are not wearing masks/observing distance are the essential guidelines I follow any time I leave my home. 

Our Provincial guidelines for keeping 2 m. distance from others (including any SMALL (6) maximum plus hosts social gatherings) - wear a mask, sanitize hands frequently for the safety of others as well as ourselves and families and stay home if you are not well.

Thank you Dear Friends for visiting today

Keep Safe

Hugs

Joy

Late September and Early October Work

Learning ...

PicMonkey's revised and updated program from their very easy to use old version has made editing pictures, saving to the right folder and moving them into my post frustrating! I am slowly figuring things out and making myself notes for the sequences involved in editing photos and moving them to the correct folder. 

PicMonkey has been clear on why they had to make the changes and includes tutorials on how to use the tools.

I hope with practice (and writing notes as I figure out the correct sequences) will make using the new PicMonkey for editing photos and inserting them into my posts turn in to the new 'normal'. Blogger changed their basic post writing looks and sequence too and that has also slowed things down.

At my booths...

I have continued to visit the mall and add stock to my booths 5 times a week but only between 9 and 9:55 before shopping hours open at 10 am. I wear a mask when anyone is around and use hand sanitizer before arrival and after leaving. I avoid people and I do leave my area if anyone comes toward me and doesn't stop. I have a back door open and I 'step out' until my space is empty or close the doors behind me and ... come back another day.

Found a few more Halloween related ornaments (and black buttons) over the past several weeks. Put the buttons into wire closure small glass containers. The angry cat figure is old, the layers of atmosphere clings in the crevices, the real deal. 

A Welsh Fairing, The WelshTea Party, turkey salt and peppers and the shadow box framed garden have been taken to my booths.

Halloween stuffed pumpkin/teddy, faux orange pumpkin. bird feeder and a little purple haired troll are grouped on the organ bench.

Getting things ready outside for winter...

The back deck has taken mega hours of work repairing/ replacing/scrapping the spindles, painting and etc. Messy, tiring, day after day when it is not raining (or the air is unbreathable) and we continue working on that job. Getting closer to finished. Recycled every piece of wood back for spindles - scraped, glued as necessary, 2 coats paint ...

The narrow deck has been repainted dark grey, the siding on the back of the house is now a pale grey (it was a cedar light orange/tan before), the larger back deck has had any cracks patched and the deck has had its annual coating of deck paint in pale gray.

Since taking the photo above most of the spindles that were removed, repaired, cleaned, painted are re-attached. Railing tops are washed and 2 x's painted.

Spindles that were not removed have been scraped and washed and painted on 3 sides and the outside/not facing the deck surfaces remain as the next step for painting (involves ladders).

Garden jobs...

Cleaned up the 'finished' plants in the garden. Kale, a few flowers, chives, basil and cabbage remain for now.

Front porch and stairs and front  ...

The front porch has had the railings painted orange (curry colour) and the deck was painted (mid-brown).

Next up was re-painting the front door from curry orange to dark grey, door trim to be freshened with white. 

Washed the door, frames, windows, rinsed well, dried and after a couple of hours started painting the door on Tuesday this week - ran out of paint. I picked up more Wednesday morning and finished the door and threshold. Still to do - the white framing - and I noticed more cleaning/painting on railing is needed and letter box needs to be installed.

Back yard ...

The apple and pear trees produced a huge amount of fruit (as did the cherry tree) and the birds, racoons and various wild visitors ate what they wanted. The apples didn't mature so I have been gathering up the fallen apples for composting (small and not ripe) and the pears have been the delight for the wasps and flies. We did eat some (and they were delicious), I have been composting all the damaged pears as well.

Last year the fruit trees did not yield the volume of this years fruiting.

There are so many outdoor jobs that need to be done - picking the 'must be done' first and if the weather turns to rain and cold I will be grateful for what was accomplished and not worry.

A bit of stencilling fun...

Using pieces of wood painted with black chalkboard paint I stencilled small pumpkins and fall leaves to add to my Halloween bits and pieces in my booths.

My favourite treat is country driving past a dairy farm with the wonderfully large mixed herd of Jersey, Holstein and Guernsey and other cows whose breed I do not know. 

I see them as I drive to and from Village Antiques Mall. It makes me feel happy. 

Keep safe and keep well my friends.

Stay home

Hugs

Joy

Early September

Home maintenance jobs continue - a lot of scraping, sanding, re-painting railings and spindles - repairing spindles on the back deck has been a long job - a lot of removing, sanding and gluing and painting and re-installing started in August and is continuing into September. The 3 deck surfaces have been painted. NOW there is a wasp nest/group OVER the front door. I got the only bite - and the swelling and heat/pain lasted 4 days to calm down. 

We took our first out of town (with our own lunch/snacks/water) on a 6 hour outing. It was great to see the scenery along the route - last trip was the past November. Tiny holiday. I didn't take any photos (likely because we didn't stop).

Stock finding/cleaning/pricing/tagging and adding to my booths has continued.

Halloween party started early in my booth.

Added some lovely pieces.

Painted and stencilled Buffalo Check (stencil by Donna of Funky Junk Interiors) on a lazy susan. Finished with Fusion Tough Coat Sealer, 2 coats over 36 hours.

Garden is mostly finished. Pulled whatever was finished, cut back a lot of various branches as well, all bagged, took to green recycling - bags filled the back of the truck. Kale will continue into November I think, picked the last of the blueberries, chives are still available. I need to start planning for next spring on what grows best and what was not a good choice and what we want to eat (instead of planting anything that was available this late spring). 

I find that I am in the mood to go through piles of 'things' and decide if it stays or goes. Started small. Continuing on is my hopeful plan.

Hello Dear Friends

Keep Kind

Keep Calm

Keep Safe

Hugs

Joy

August Catch Up

August work followed July's routine - preparing stock and stocking my booths five days a week. 

Some lovely finds have been added and many pieces have found new homes.

I made 2 signs - went through the junk wood box for 2 pieces of wood, sanded, white washed and added stencils plus stencilled a bulletin board with Buffalo Check after underpainting. Two orange signs were updated - the orange pumpkin was stencilled and Autumn now has a curled wire hanger. Check out Donna of  Funky Junk Interiors stencils.

Repainted another sign.

Blueberries have been lovely fresh additions for breakfast. I plan to add two more blueberry bushes in the fall. Beans are almost finished and the kale has been a nice addition to my smoothies (kale went into smoothie before photo taken).

Large brown bags for recycling weeds, vines and branch cuttings are filled for their turn to go to the green dump in town.

Carport is cleaned and sorted and the black bags full of unusable things useless to anyone have gone to the dump. 

Recycled anything possible - took empty/old dried out paint, anything electric, plastic, cardboard to the Recycling Depot.

DGS made supper Tuesday night this week - tasty chicken, rice and salad.

Repairing and painting spindles and railings are well underway. Deck floors are all freshly painted.

Next up will be re-staining the cedar boards on the back of the house - about 8 feet of height and 20 feet of distance.

Now into the 7 month of stay-at-home, normal is always washing hands a LOT at home plus sanitizing before/after going into a store, keeping distance, no gatherings at all (of people), wearing masks when away from home (my collection is growing) and hand washing each mask as soon as I arrive home. I now automatically do NOT touching my face at any time when I am out.

I am grateful that we can keep safe, isolated, have lots of home tasks to work on and that I can continue the work needed for my booths.

Following the guidelines of our Province.

Be Kind

Be Calm

Keep Safe

No group gatherings

Hugs Dear Friends

Keep Safe

Joy

Having a Collectibles Booth Does Keep Me Busy

Working makes time fly. I have been doing a lot of getting things ready and then putting them into my booths at Village Antiques Mall in Fort Langley. 

For those of you who have booths in Collectible malls, like Granny Sue  who often shares the work she does to prepare stock for her booths, it is an ongoing process.

Keep safe my friends.

Hugs

Joy

Mid July - Garden, Work, Small Projects

Daily life keeps me busy - just getting things done that have to be done.

I added 3 garden photos plus 3 images shared from the Graphics Fairy's collection - and put them in my booths at Village Antiques Mall.

Groceries - ok, we are now familiar with that. I have added another store since I am going to the mall 5 times a week now - Lee's in Fort Langley - It has been my grocery store for 25 years and I had really missed the people who work there (like old friends now) as well as knowing what they carry and where they shelve things. Shopping is different because of Covid-19 and we all follow the rules - masks, hand sanitizing, distance and we do not touch items we are not buying, dawdle or visit - just say hi - how are things going and... finished and gone. We bag our groceries, respectfully stay behind the cashiers shields and be as cheerful as possible without overdoing it.

Garden - rains a lot on coastal BC this summer so I haven't had to water. Peas and carrots and blueberries are picked every two or three days.  Strawberries are just a few little treats as are the raspberries. A few tomatoes have set their yellow flowers. Pink roses share their beauty and the daisy and zinnia have started to bloom. Forecast is a week of sunshine so I will be watering.

Mall stuff - writing stock up and putting in mall 5 days a week - I continue with my 9:10 to 9:50 routine for arriving and leaving my booths - before customers arrive, wear a mask, sanitize my hands before, during and after working.

Home stuff - I feel slow and low on energy and tired - I realize I am not eating many vegetables or fruit or protein - it has been more like chocolate stuff, cereal, coffee, bread and jam and pasta stuff. That likely is part of my problem so I have begun to focus on eating fruit, started eating raw and steamed vegetables, working on protein. 

Evenings when everyone has settled down I perk up and do get things like run the dishwasher, counters wiped, load of laundry running, garbage collected, get a few small chores done.

I never catch up on things that should be done and it is very rare to keep up the jobs I used to consider 'need to be done' as I did before March 17, 2020 when our Province/Country began to shut things down and we slowly learned another way of getting through each day, each week, each problem or issue or worry or ... 

Thank you Dr. Bonnie Henry the Specialist Health Officer and Health Minister Dix and Premier Horgan for insuring the Phases of what activities are safe to resume and for accurate daily updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in our Province.

Keep Safe

Hugs

Joy