A New Life in the City

Slowly but surely we are settling into our new city home. When we first came to see this house, these two little wooden birds were sitting in the front window. These birds seemed to represent the extra specialness of this house. The kids asked if we could live here the day we viewed it, and the house just seemed like it would be such a good fit for our family.

Upon moving in, we found that our house is also home to house sparrows. I think it's really lovely that they are here.

The day after we moved in, two little sparrows were fighting and fell onto the driveway. The driveway here is nice and long and has been getting a whole lot of use as a canvas.

I love this new kitchen. It's bright at any time of the day. I'm looking forward to it being really organized. Every room is out of order right now. Getting everything sorted feels really great. Though last week, by the end of the week, I got really tired of moving.

I was happy to find mint growing through the fence along the driveway.

Our neighbour has the loveliest rose patch. Last night we ate our dinner on the front porch. As the sun was getting low in the sky, these roses looked so incredibly gorgeous.

The number of cats in our neighbourhood is unreal! This handsome fellow keeps coming around. Marvin doesn't like it. Not one little bit.

I feel so blessed to have found a little oasis in the city. We love our new backyard. We have a pear tree and a cherry tree! And we also have what looks to be an old chicken coop. I've always wanted to get some chickens... Sadly, it's illegal to keep chickens in Toronto.

A great thing about moving back to the city is getting to see so many of our friends and cousins! We've been having a whole lot of fun discovering new parks and spending some time (in between unpacking boxes) with people we love.

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

We may have ended up back in Niagara Falls again.


This time we went to the Guinness World Record Museum. Have you been? I do love Guinness World Records but the museum in Niagara Falls is completely lackluster. I liked this big image of some world records that was at the exit of the museum though. It makes me think of The Twilight Zone.


I made these Johnny Cakes (posted by my friend, Christina) for the family as a special brunch treat last weekend for Canada Day. They were particularly delicious. I kind of love anything with cornmeal and I couldn't resist making Johnny Cakes for my Johnny Cakes :)


I spent two hours putting together this cardboard skeleton for Eamon last weekend. He tried to do it himself but this thing was complicated. It didn't help that the pieces were all numbered on the sheets they were attached to but they all got punched out and scattered before the assembly got started. I took photos because I knew this wouldn't last long. It didn't make it through the day! But it was well played with and even went to bed with him that night.


Here's Elycia's new baby, Milo! Isn't he so little and sweet! The kids and I were delighted to meet him this week and to visit with the happy new family! I am just so happy for them.


I made up an herbal sitz bath for Elyica last week. You can see the post partum herbal sitz bath recipe on my homeopathy and natural remedies blog if you like.


I also made a few little cats for Milo to play with.


Finally, I learned how to make my own amazingly delicious raw chocolate. I think this could prove to be very, very, very, very, very dangerous.

Have a wonderful weekend!

♥ Andrea ♥

A Package From a Far Away Friend

I have a friend, Sara, in the UK, who I have never met in real life. We met through blogging and I'm so glad that we did.  A while back, we decided that it would be fun to send each other surprise packages across the sea!

This is the fun stuff Sara sent me; a handmade collar with an adorable vintage Raggedy Ann button, The Complete Aranzi Hour(which I've been really enjoying reading to the kids), a wooden necklace, a monster pencil case and pencil set, vampire fangs candy for the kids, an h&m dress and a cute mug I forgot to put in the picture. Thank you so much, Sara. What a wonderful surprise!

It was a really great experience to exchange surprises, and on the day we opened our packages, we Skyped for the first time. We shared a bunch of laughs during our Skype call and I'm sure it won't be our last. I feel very blessed to have Sara for a friend. Pop over to Sara's blog and see the package I sent her.

The day after I received my box, I wore the dress and necklace Sara sent...

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

Just a few peeks at life over the past couple of weeks.

Sending off packages made with love to wonderful people on earth.

This sort of thing is pretty usual around here.

Finding and organizing bones.

I've looked at lots and lots of houses over the past few weeks. This is me being silly in one of them. We finally found a home we like! So, we've got a ton of work to do to get ready for our move back to Toronto.

Enjoying many flowers from the garden and forest these days.

We harvested some horsetail last week. You can read about our horsetail harvesting adventures on my homeopathy and natural remedies blog.

And of course, bug watching.

What have you been up to these days?

♥ Andrea ♥

Cecropia Moth

A couple of nights ago, I looked out the window and saw a Luna Moth fly by. Although it was a fleeting glimpse in the dark, I was struck by how beautiful it was. It reminded me that last spring John and the kids watched a Cecropia Moth emerging from it's cocoon. I wasn't at home at the time so I didn't get to watch the amazing event but John took some photos with his phone of the moth just after it came out and then of it drying off it's wings on the deck and I've been meaning to share them with you.

I was shown the cocoon when I got home that day and decided to cut the little branch and bring it inside. This is what it looks like now...

It's so exciting to see all of the wildlife at this time of year. Last week while the kids and I were out, a deer and her fawn came to visit and ran through our garden!

I've been working away day and night preparing for the upcoming craft show. I'll be back this week to finally share some photos of all that I've been doing.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

♥ Andrea ♥

Long Weekend

We had such a great weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing for this year's Victoria Day long weekend. I got to do some of my favorite things and see some of my favorite people. I really couldn't have asked for more. I hope you had a fun weekend too. What did you do?

This week I'm back to work crafting like a maniac again preparing for the upcoming Springtime Marketplace on June 1st. Things are coming together but it always feels like a mad dash to get everything done on time. And the whole time I find I have to readjust my wild expectations (I'm just a bit of a dreamer). There is so much still to do and less than two weeks to go. Here's hoping a whole lot of fluffy things get sewn in the next few days!

♥ Andrea ♥

What I've Been Up To Lately...

This week I sent a few packages of handmade things out to places around the world. Also, I bought myself a new fancy sketchbook and we've been reading and watching a whole lot of Adventure Time.

I've been listening to Austra while I've been working this week. If you haven't heard them and you're into electronica, you might like to give them a listen. This album is Feel It BreakI highly recommend it.

This is one of the little bees I sent off this week. I love how they look when I flip them right side out after stitching them up. It's like meeting them for the first time and seeing what their little personality is going to be like :)

The kids picked a bunch of the daffodils that were in the garden. We're enjoying them very much.

I made this tomato, cucumber, avocado and cilantro salad last week. It was very delicious. 

The deer are coming to visit us almost every morning and evening these days!

And I caught a wild turkey in the garden a couple of days ago. They totally crack me up.

Have a great Friday!

♥ Andrea ♥