Trails of Hats'n Hospitalitea

Some people are all about purses and shoes. Not me! I’m all about dishes and place mats.

Well this week I got new serving dishes and these are the best kind, recycled dishes.  My brother and his family were here for a shoooooooorrrrttttt visit -sob- and Sharon brought me some new serving  dishes. Two plates are from her mom and one the Chinese plate is from my mom’s cupboard.

I love the pink rose

This plate shows off squares nicely I got to try them both out at a high tea on Saturday serving 18.

This was mom’s plate. Sharon said mom had two in the cupboard, so Sharon kept one and gave me the other, wasn’t that nice.  It is different and we both know mom very well and a special person had to have given her these plates as mom was a Petite Fleur  sort of gal and this wasn’t her style, but it is ours now.  I’ll think of Sharon each time I see this plate now.

Got to run, guests are here for breakfast.  Then start baking squares for my red hat ladies tomorrow, they are coming for a tea party.

xo,

cindy

Walk with us for awhile and join in each week as Susanne has introduced us to focus on reflecting five favourite things, be them large or small, blessings obvious and gratefulness we dug into our hearts to share with others.

First we got to get you some beach shoes

Then we got to get you to the clam digging beach

When you find a hole in the sand it is made by a clam, start digg’n

Oh, just a minute I forgot something very very important.  You need to bring along your crazy brother you haven’t seen in 8 years, then head out clam digg’n

Boil the water, drop the clams in and when they split apart they are done. See photo above for close up.  See photo below for the first taste.

Ok, the ladies on the beach said we would be going back for more before the night was over.  I told her I’d need a 6 pack in me to eat one, she said “oh, they’d even be better theeen.”  I was willing to eat one.  I have a moto… if it crawls on the bottom and eats on the bottom LEAVE IT ON THE BOTTOM

No way, it was back on the plate, then Ralph said come on you have to eat just one.  So back in it went for a second try.  I’m not going to tell you what happened next.

So this has been my clam eating experience.  I truly believe we did someting wrong right out of the starting gate.  The smell that filled the house was (well we won’t go there) and then the hardness of the yellow tough yuck…

Growing up we were told by dad, if you hunt it you be prepared to eat it. My brother and I have eaten squirrel, crow, rabbit and frogs but this takes the cake, nothing comes close to putting one of these in your mouth. I don’t know how ya’ll do it.

I love you bro,

but you can eat the rest I’m saving them for you.

xo,

cindy

No joke! I have been busy lately and my pantry is falling apart.  I went to put something on the shelf and down came a full package of bamboo skewers.

Bamboo skewers

Second Fall of Pick Up Sticks

Oh, I don’t know,

They look like art from this angle,

Q?

What do you think?

Will the French Gardener find them and play or will they lay there for another day?

xo,

cindy

One thing we like to do it talk about us.  We use the “I” word so often but when asked to mention 3 outstanding qualities about ourselves during a seminar or speech we draw a blank.  That doesn’t happen to me, in fact at a round circle bon fire the Five Sisters of Lavender had back a week ago I got to go first and I so love to talk and about me. Oh, I think I just love to talk, because I know someone is listening and talking is often a cure.  I started this blog for many reasons, one the most obvious was that my memory is like a book shelf and holds so much information and as I have been putting more books up onto the shelf others have fallen off the other side.  I’m afraid, afraid that I may let go some of the thoughts associated with everyday life, letting go feelings and  ideals leaving me with an empty shelf of books that can no longer be read because aging eyesight has prevailed.  This is special it is my 100th post and its about me.

1. Today I am still the middle child of 3 – I have two brothers.
2. I was born in Hull, Quebec in fact spent most of the years growing up in the small village of Westboro in Ottawa Ontario.
3. Living on a dead end street that had many large elm trees, named Elmgrove Ave.
4. My grandmum lived two houses away, my aunt across the street.
5. These two ladies alone are my biggest most inspiration in life.
6. We played hard as kids and slept well when we were sent to bed.
7. Some of the games we played were cops and robbers, hide and seek, street hockey, and tag.
8. It never failed, when the street lights went on it was time to come in.
9. In the Fall the lights come on early, and mom sent us too bed way to early.
10. I had my own room and was always moving stuff around, but it always looked the same, to say “nothing changed as a kid for me.”
11. I think we were poor, although we had a colour tv.
12. I got .25¢ a week and that bought a bag of chips, bottle of coke and a handful of bazooka gum.
13. Stamps were 3¢ to mail a letter and less for a post card.
14. I walked to school and came home for lunch each day.
15. I loved to draw and was encouraged by my dad to do so.
16. I was often found on my grandfather’s knee and have many  black and white photos to show for it, he was a carpenter and when he hit his thumb he said sugar ( swear), I only heard him say brown sugar once.
17. I am a good listener, this is something granddad made sure of, he was a story teller.
18. I remember him dying and leaving us just two days before Valentine’s Day
19. I was the only one who got to give him a Valentine card and say good bye. Feb 12 after I woke from bed at 9:30 made him a card and wouldn’t go back to sleep until dad took me to see him, I gave him his card and kissed him good bye.  He passed away 17 minutes after.
20. I remember how sad and angry Dad was believing I knew granddad was dying.  (I didn’t need to write this as this, I’ll never forget)
21. The corner of our the back yard was the corner yard of grandma’s house also.
22. After granddad passed away, I stayed most nights with my grandmum.
23. After mom put me to bed at night I climbed the window and went over the back fence, down the hill.
24. Grandma’s back door was never locked, she was always sitting at the table when I got there no matter the time, then off the two us us went to bed.
25. I remember she always burnt toast. I loved her so much as I watched her scrape the burnt off the toast into the sink.
26. We had a large garden in the City as farming was what most of the family did in Cheney Ont. G’mom & G’dad are buried there.
27. My Granddad went out West often on a vacation and took grandmum along.
28. I always wondered why they went West all the time and never knew.
29. He would secretively bring me back a dress from out West.
30. I remember the blue 3/4 length sensible dress with yellow, orange and blue pom-poms on it.
31. My dad had a hunt camp up North and we drove to the camp once a month.
32. No electricity or running water, just a spring out back and an outhouse with snakes and spiders.
33. Dad taught me to hunt and I was a good shot, we had lots of target practices.
34. I did go for my hunting license and FAC, and got it the first try.
35. Dad needed another license in the family to apply for a deer tag, my brother had a license also.
36. My favourite food, must of been when mom would crisp chicken in the oven, make rice and “Cordon Bleu” gravy.
37. I loved it when she brought me a brownie home from work.
38. We had to eat what we were given or we went hungry.
39. I remember mom coming in my room many a night and tucking me in and putting cereal under my pillow.
40. Family members reminded me how mom felt she was set in life; ya she had a son, nothing else mattered,  they felt sorry for me.
41. I just thought she didn’t have enough love to go around most times and hugs cost a lot.
42. Ya, she favoured my brother and it showed, I learned to love him a lot now that she is gone.
43. I truly miss her, and I’m reminded of her every time I hear a squeaky clothes line, she was forever hanging clothes.
44. Each time the Geese fly South I can hear her saying, “shew  shew, look at the geese.”
45. Shew was her word for keep quiet.  Mom gave in to her battle with cancer in January 2006
46. I felt she hadn’t taught me everything I needed to know in life but she is confidant I’ll get by.
47. I am feisty, outgoing, like a spring in a mattress,  I’ll bounce back where ever I am.
48. I attended community college in Ottawa, not the best years but some of them.
49. I was the only one who sent back the grant to cover my loan and didn’t buy a car that year.
50. I always wanted to be a mortician, in fact was registered to Toronto’s Hubert College to go and then realized I love people, live ones.
51. I never had a loan, dad always said if you can’t pay cash for it, you shouldn’t have it, there is no need.
52. I had better run along in the years or you are going to give up on me before I get to 100.
53. I met up with and married my school mate who I always loved, even to this day.
54. I have three children who I talk about and blog about often. However that marriage didn’t last.
55. For years it was the 4 of us, me,  Jennifer Lynn, Victoria Rose, and Matthew Ryan.
56. We were happy living on a street that dead ended with a large park and pool.
57. We had a big dog, a Bernese Mountain Dog that I got as a puppy when Matthew was 2 years old.
58. We named him Shep and he was a LARGE part of our family.
59. This dog was as loyal as they come, I had a harness made for him and saddle bags.
60. Often you would  see this dog at my side pulling a sled of 3 kids, and groceries in the saddle bags.
61. He was my fishing partner and up North on the lake he slept back to back with me at night.
62. We often took out skidoos and the dog would keep up to me no matter where I was.
63. In 1993 on April 1, I met a wonderful person who was sent to fix my computer.
64. He joined our family of 4 and never did fix my computer all those visits we spent talking.
65. In 1997 we took a trip. Not headed West like granddad, but I had to go East to Prince Edward Island.
66. We/ I fell in love with the Island and claimed it to be my home when we retired (2009)
67. I sort of moved ahead of our retirement plan and came here for good in 2000.
68. Bought an old very old house in Greenvale and opened it to tourists to off set the heating cost.
69. I returned home to Ottawa the first Winter to spend with my family as they hadn’t relocated yet.
70. Then in the Spring the kids sent me packing, said the only time I’m ever happy is when I”m in PEI.
71. They joined me that Summer when school was out and never went back to live in Ottawa.
72. My husband’s job kept him in Ottawa working another 3 years until we were able to be together.
73. I had turned the house into a Bed and Breakfast and cooked breakfast in the morning then I would…
74. Jet off the local bakery and make the bread for Hunter River, in the evenings I went…
75. Up the hill to the Retirement Home and was a Resident Care Worker looking after everyone’s aunt and grandma in the Village.
76. I was joined with my new husband on July 2003.  Guy relocated to work out until the remainder of his retirement.
77. I felt life threw me a curve ball. I had to lear to live and work with the man I married all over again.
78. We were able to sell our home in Ottawa and take a first ever holiday and the first place we went was to….
79. North Carolina to visit our grand babies and Jennifer our first daughter who moved in 2000.
80. Holidays, we  can only take in the Winter as tourism is the only part of the Summer here.
81. In 2003 I opened my scrapbooking shop and started teaching classes.
82. I won a Scrapbooking Challenge across Canada in 2004, the $ went into purchasing a new sign.
83. I was featured in a number of news papers across the Island as well as the Northern Star.
84. My page of PEI along with other Prov winner was given to the Canadian Minister of Heritage.
85. I had my winning page lasered onto the front of our Scrapbooking sign.
86. I had carpal tunnel so bad the surgery was an emergency, they did both hands at once.
87. My husband handled everything (no pun) while I recovered I will never forget what he has done.
88. Shep (big old dog )  knew I couldn’t throw his ball but he would drop it at my toe for me to kick.
89. I made a return trip when my family started to age and I collected tea cups and saucers from all.
90. I put their names on the bottom of their cups as reminders then took the 78 sets and opened…
91. In May 2007 as  Grandma’s Afternoon Tea Room in the parlour of the old Greenvale home.
92. I had never been to a tea room but imagined it from the little tea parties grandma and I had.
93. On July 29, 2008 my offer was accepted on a home that kept my heart for 10 years.
94. In this home today is Grandma’s Tea Room & Gifts and the Trailside Bed and Breakfast.
95. We live here as well myself and my French Gardener he is one of a kind a real keeper for all.
96. I think I live in Canada’s Wonderland all the time, I am a story teller and tell others Anne is real.
97. Oh, and I’m 48 years old I am a grandmother to 6 girl babies, ya! tea parties and tissues….
98. I love to scrapbook, bead, and beach comb, taking Thursday’s off with the French Gardener.
99. My world stops! when the nurse dials my number and hands my dad the phone to talk to me.
100. I often hear guests tell me I’m living their dream…
101. And so it comes to be, I recharge from friendly blog comment.

Wow, I’ve come to the end of the 100th.  I knew for the past 25 posts I wanted to do this but I am also the greatest procrastinator of all time getting things done on a deadline is how I work best.
Tell me your not still with me on this, no way you’ve read all 100 posts? You must be my committed best blogging friend ever.  I want to thank all of you who read and comment on my blogs.
I just want you to know that life is tough, it is easy to focus on the negative vibes that surrounds us. I try and stay positive and every once and awhile I slide back.  Comments from this blog, and from the guest books I put into the B&B rooms are what rejuvenate me, keep me coming back, moving forward and onward.  If ever you have the opportunity to come to Prince Edward Island stop by, I’d love to sit across my wee little tea table and have a good cuppa with y’all.
xo,
cindy

Wow, makes me wonder how I came up with so many things to write about.  I have no trouble talking a cat down out of a tree but ideas to post has been a small challenge.

Walk with us for awhile and join in each week as Susanne has introduced us to focus on reflecting five favourite things, be them large or small, blessings obvious and gratefulness we dug into our hearts to share with others.

Post # 9

1. Laughter that gives a good belly roll.

We have guests in from all over the world that we meet and greet.  One couple stands out among the rest when I walked into the Great Room to serve up breakfast and  there he was standing posing for the eight others in our Anne of Green Gables hat. 

2. Gifted sense of humor.

Wednesday morning I had blood work in at the doctors office.  My daughter Victoria had an early nursing shift so I had little Anna with me.  We were in the examination room Anna reached into my purse and took out her cup.  I noticed a freshly made bed, soft pillow and a towel roll on top of the bed.  So I laid her up onto the pillow and put the roll under her knees and my sunglasses on her to take the bright light out.  The nurse comes in to take my blood as I am explaining to Anna about us laying out on the beach, the cool breeze is blowing across the dunes while the mist of the ocean raises and falls on us keeping us cool.  The nurse too a look at me laid out on the examining bed with Anna and she said “push on over girlfriend, I’m gett’n up there with you two.”

Ok, where is the food enough with the pictures

3.  Mom is in the Miracle department.

It is funny how your children believe you can handle anything that life has to toss at you.  Mine do, each time they get into a delema no matter what time of the day or night they call mom.  Mom can fix it she lives in the miracle department and she will know what to do.  Victoria had a bat get into the house and she woke as the sun came up and the bat started flying about the house to get somewhere dark.  This is how the phone call went:

Ring, ring,

Victoria, “mom, listen you got to come over.”

Miracle mom, “oh, I do do I.”

Victoria, “scream, scream.”

Miracle mom, “Vic what is going on?”

Victoria, “(crying) get over here now!  I need you mommmy, pleeeease”

Miracle mom, “what is going on?”

Victoria, “There is a bat trapped in Anna’s room and it is flying like crazy all over, hurry.”

Miracle mom, “Open her door so it can get out.”

Victoria, “Are you crazy it will get out, I just trapped it in there and shut the door, huuuurrrrrrrry – it’s big.”

Miracle mom, “Where is Anna, with you I hope.”

Victoria, “oooooh, she is in with the bat.”

DIAL TONE

4.  Scrapbooking Challenge.

From today until September 30 I am offering a scrapbooking challenge PEI style.

Make and take home a memory of Prince Edward Island. A unique hands on experience crafting a 12 x 12 page for your Vacation photos.

Arrive at the workshop with 6 to 12 theme photos in hand of either Anne of Green Gables, Day At the Beach, Prince Edward Island Sunsets, Vacation Snapshots, Nautical or Seascapes and let Cindy help you with your Scrapbooking Challenge the PEI Style.

We are located at 545 Malpeque Rd (Route 2) just past route 223 in the Trailside Bed and Breakfast. The Scrapbook Challenge is open to everyone 7 years of age and older.
Allow yourself 1hour to complete one page and get in some pointers and tips along the way.

Where: 545 Malpeque Rd, (902) 367-7851
When: Daily from 10am till 4pm. Except Thur & Sun.
Call ahead as seating is limited, today till Sept 30. Off season by appointment
What: Bring 6 to 10 photos.
How: All tools and paper supplies provided.
Cost: $6.00 per 12×12 page.

5.  Surprise Anniversary Party Last Night.

The French Gardener and I ventured to Summerside yesterday to stop off at ADL and Omega holdings for breakfast provisions.  Anyway we got home to find that Vicki has planned a surprise Anniversary Party for us and everyone was waiting.

After 10 years we exchanged diamonds.  I feel bad that I got Guy such a large one.

My Diamond

Guy’s Diamond

Wow, now that’s a diamond, or a paper weight, a sun-catcher or a conversation piece. They are found at Engravings and Things in the Charlottetown Mall – tax and all (shhhhh) $17.  Thank you Vicki for the party and food, arrangements and staying to help clean up.  Thank you to Tabby as well for helping with the clean up

For more Friday fun visit Suzanne at Living To Tell The Story.

xo,

cindy

Something to do with your PEI vacation photos

Scrapbooking Challenge PEI Style

Make and take home a memory of Prince Edward Island. A unique hands on experience crafting a 12 x 12 page for your Vacation photos.

Arrive at the workshop with 6 to 12 theme photos in hand of either Anne of Green Gables, Day At the Beach, Prince Edward Island Sunsets, Vacation Snapshots, Nautical or Seascapes and let Cindy help you with your Scrapbooking Challenge the PEI Style.

We are located at 545 Malpeque Rd (Route 2) just past route 223 in the Trailside Bed and Breakfast. The Scrapbook Challenge is open to everyone 7 years of age and older.
Allow yourself 1hour to complete one page and get in some pointers and tips along the way.

Where: 545 Malpeque Rd, (902) 367-7851
When: Daily from 10am till 4pm. Except Thur & Sun.
Call ahead as seating is limited, today till Sept 30. Off season by appointment
What: Bring 6 to 10 photos.
How: All tools and paper supplies provided.
Cost: $6.00 per 12×12 page.

I have two pages here that I made many moons ago and they are small pages not 12×12 sheets.  However they give an idea of a beach page layout.

Simple Beach Layout

Simple Sunset Layout

Come out for a few hours or stay for the day, either way you will leave with a few memories to take home and show of your vacation here on Prince Edward Island.

xo,

cindy

Living on Prince Edward Island means on occasion you may meet up with Anne of Green Gables

Here at The Trailside Tea Room we get to visit with Anne each day.  Tourists often ask if Anne is real – Do donkeys fly – Seriously, Anne of Green Gables is very much real and lives in the hearts of many.  We offer our guests and friends here at home the opportunity to put on a hat for tea in the afternoon.  They can choose an Anne or Diana afternoon tea and pick a hat to wear while having tea.

Today one of our B&B guests after breakfast plays Anne of Green Gables

It was an entertaining breakfast for sure.  Like I said, often we spend our days finding Anne of Green Gables.

xo,

cindy

You met my son, Chef Matthew before.

Chef Matthew

Now meet my fridge.  This is what it looks like only 2 hours after he is home.  Today it isn’t bad, watch the transformation after he leaves.

Matthew, “Hey mom, I stopped off the grocery store to get some lunch and I’m going to make…..”

Mom, “Hey Matt, make sure you clean the kitchen when your done.”

Matthew, “ya, ya ya”

My fridge

After he is gone

Lunch was great by the way.  He braised chicken, pan seared onions, red and green peppers, along with mushrooms, made a sauce.  On open faced buns he put everything on, topped with old cheddar and broiled it in the oven.  Yum…

We have a lot in common – we both like to cook and eat and complain.

Thank you for lunch Matthew it was great.

xo,

mom

Kids don’t always like those cheap plastic toys, you just have to direct them differently to show them what you like.

Oh, I’m wearing the t-shirt…. There is hope.

I felt the kids (20 years ago) were not appreciating things.  They never had much but It happened after Christmas one year.  You try your hardest to make sure you put the angel glory in the nativity, hold back on baby Jesus and explain and make a play of it so you don’t feel guilt about gifts at this time.  My son changed my world one year when he grabbed onto the 4 only gifts I could afford for him and he tore apart the paper and set the gift aside one by one then said “Is that it, any more?”

My heart was broken, I couldn’t get them much I was a single mom back then and had two girls besides him. Oh ya, the guilt was big but teaching them a lesson was better.  My objective was to show them something different, something they perhaps couldn’t feel from opening a toy – it had to be real.

At the time I was homeschooling.  We worked hard to build Africa on our wall in the kitchen and I put three pieces of paper into a bag and they had the words “work”, “food”, “fun” and each one of the kids had to study the word they pulled and we learned about Africa.  From the best of my knowledge the fun is what changed things for them.

I also took toys, I don’t remember if they were any good but I put them away.  The next Christmas I wrapped up the toys I had put away.  When my son opened them he was one year older and he asked me what gives.  I needed to let him know what was important and without going into too much detail I explained to him how bad I felt because I didn’t have much money for Christmas that year.  He told me it was ok, and not to cry I could make it up to him the next year.

The next year came and I had parents who bought gifts, cousins and others.  So we got into the habit of over stuffing a stocking and only a stocking.  We would pull names to see who had to fill the other persons stocking.

Birthdays were always a hit at our house because “Matthew’s mom can bake a real cake”, lol, the crafts and games were different from others and instead of giving out prizes of those cheap plastic what your talking about toys I would give them a certificate to come along to the next treasure hunt, or beach-combing and so on.

I invented fun, I always used the excuse I had no money and in fact it made me creative.  I would go about the yard and pick up 3 of everything I could find, pine cones, Popsicle sticks, rocks, branch, leaf, acorn and so on.  I had three bottles of paint and I would put a dot on each item.  Then make a treasure map, and give each one of the three their own map.  I hid the items well, keeping them busy and after a while they were coming in the door with the bottom of their shirts rolled up with their coloured items in it.

I think it was a move to the country, where the air is clean, only close friends live short distances, cable doesn’t reach our house (shhhh) and water near by that made the next difference. There is a lot to learn near water.

Perhaps it was buying our first home, not much of a house but it was ours.  It was then that the kids learned to transform old toys into new ones to make them interesting enough to play with.  Cardboard boxes from the back of the Sears warehouse from fridges and furniture became their play house and we connected the boxes making tunnels from one to another. The point was there was less money for them, they never asked to be in large sporting events but rather were happy to have an un-sharpened pair of skates and play hockey on the pond down the highway.  Having bon fires in the evening sitting out with blankets and telling stories about when they were young.  Again, sometimes they never mentioned other kids were going to camp, they stopped telling me how other kids got to… and had… It was genuine, true connection and I felt I had my children back.

At the age of 18 only 3 short years ago my son told me he had a friend who was given a very nice antique car for his Birthday and he wrecked it.  He then got his mother’s car and had an accident with it.  Shortly after his father’s car was no longer drivable due to his son getting into an accident.  (your hearing this ah, three people and three vehicles) Material objects can cause you to loose track of who you really are.  While my son told me this story he added that his friend doesn’t care he didn’t have to work for anything, that it was given to him and so he didn’t appreciate it.  He went onto telling me, “You know mum, your right, we may not have any money but what we do have, I look after it because I know how long it took to get.”   So and so was always given everything he ever needed and never needed anything he wanted.   Whooohooo 18 and my job is almost done.

He just completed his secondary education in May and his sister completed two secondary degrees.  Last month he figured out how I was able to send him to school after all these years of never having any money.

Oh, my I just realized I have run on.
xo,

cindy