Adventure on the Ferry

Yesterday, I decided I wanted to take the kids out on a mini-adventure. Nothing too strenuous, but just something a bit different to get out of the house and recharge the batteries :) So I decided we'd drive to the Dartmouth Ferry terminal, hop on the ferry to Halifax, wander around the waterfront, then back on the ferry, and home.

Some history on the Dartmouth Ferry: It started running in 1752, and was used by the farmers and other settlers in Dartmouth to transport food and ice to the Halifax army garrison. The original ferry vessel was a large rowboat equipped with a sale! It is the oldest, continuous, salt-water passenger ferry service in North America. Very cool!

We got to the Dartmouth terminal as the ferry was approaching. Yay! No waiting around :) Fare was $2/adult, $1.40/child. I think it was pretty obvious I wasn't familiar with the ferry (it's been a few years since I've lived in the city), since I wasn't even sure where to put my money! The gentlemen behind the desk were very helpful, and even gave us transfers with extra time on them so we could come back across for free :)

It was a gorgeous day, a bit overcast as we were expecting another winter storm later that night, but it was above 0C so we went on the top deck so I could get some photos.
Here's George's Island - well part of it anyway :)

We had to veer a bit off course as an ACL container ship was going past, so I snapped a few pics of it...







When we arrived on the Halifax side of the harbour, it was close to lunchtime so we stopped at Perk's for a quick bite to eat. Perk's has been around for a long time - it opened on Lower Water St. right by the ferry terminal in 1989. It was a great place to go on a date back in the day :) The kids each had something to eat and drink, I just had a peppermint tea as I'm on a cleanse right now and want to stay away from wheat.

Both the boys had a Cinnamon Apple Roll - and man, did they look yummy!
And my peppermint tea. Love peppermint tea :)


After leaving Perk's, we walked around the waterfront for a bit. The kids wanted to see some starfish - they didn't realize how deep the water is there. My knee wasn't very keen on walking too far, so we skipped Historic Properties. That can be for another trip, perhaps when the kids aren't with me and I can browse as long as I'd like ;)

When I figured my knee had enough, we started back towards the Halifax ferry terminal, and lo and behold the ferry was approaching! We really had great timing, as on Sundays the ferry only runs every 1/2 hour. The kids wanted to sit inside going back, so we found seats on the main deck. But Nathaniel started to feel a bit ill - probably from the smell (not terrible, but certainly not the freshest). So he and I went up to the top deck for the trip back to Dartmouth. And of course, I took a few more pics :)

Here's looking down at the water from the front of the ferry:

And here's saying goodbye to Halifax:










I hope you enjoyed "tagging along" with us on our mini-adventure :) I wonder where the next one will take us?

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"Happy is he who has intellectual curiosity."

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Tealights

It's been a long time since I've made candles. I've been making lots of Aroma Melts for years, but stopped making candles with wicks in them several years ago. Well, I've been wanting to make them again, and so this week I made a batch. I started out small - just made a batch of tealights. But as time allows I will be making more types of candles :)
They will be available on my Etsy shop very shortly, just need to list them!

The scent I made is Sweet Potato Pecan Pie - sweet potatoes, vanilla, roasted pecans and caramelized butter baked with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg make up this amazing dessert blend. All topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream! Well, not real whipped cream, it just smells like that ;)








On another note, as some of you know already my oldest son is going to The Gambia (in Africa) with several Venturers and Scout leaders the summer of 2010. He is helping to build a skills training center. We have much fundraising to do (we've been raising funds for over a year now!) to buy the supplies they will be using to build it. They need to raise approximately $45000 for the project. One of the fundraisers is an goods auction being held at Shooters in Enfield on Saturday, Feb 21. Viewing is 5-5:30, with the auction itself 5:30-8:30. Tickets are only $5, and you can contact me if you'd like any, or they can also be purchased at the door provided we don't sell out beforehand. We are also accepting corporate donations if any business would like to donate goods or money for the project. If you would like to have more information about the project and how you can help, please let me know :)

Today is a beautiful, sunny day. I hope you all enjoy a fabulous weekend!

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"Happiness is the best adventure on earth!"

Incense Sticks - Ginger Maple and Tibetan Black Tea

I've been really slow getting things made the last couple of weeks :( My daughter has been sick, and when I took her to see our doctor yesterday he said that she has pneumonia. Well, actually he said that other doctors would call it "walking pneumonia" but he doesn't really like to use that phrase so he was going to call it a really bad case of bronchitis... So she has been home from school for almost 2 weeks, but is now on antibiotics so should start feeling better soon.

Anyway, I haven't really had much time to work on things. But I did get a couple of batches of incense made - Ginger Maple and Tibetan Black Tea.

Ginger Maple is a smooth blend of ginger infused with sweet maple notes.
Tibetan Black Tea is a sultry blend of Tibetan black tea, mystical spices and rich woody notes of patchouli mingling together.

I've taken a few photos of the incense outside in this wonderful snowstorm we're having today :) I have listed them in my Etsy shop, as well as my new ArtFire shop and my forgotten (oops) iCraft shop.

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"No person can ever truly know what lies behind your happiness."

Apricot Freesia Soap

Well, my Fun & Funky soap production has really slowed down since the Farmer's Market has closed for the season. But I wanted to make something that I could make around my daughter, since she's been home the last few weeks with this nasty respiratory flu that's been going around (and yes, I have been feeling the effects of it, but I'm trying to rest as much as possible so it doesn't get too bad). So I decided to do a log of Apricot Freesia soap. And since it's coming up to Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make it with a pink swirl :)

These are available now in my Etsy shop. If you're local and I don't need to ship it just let me know in the Message to Seller box during checkout that you'd like to pick it up in person and I'll let you know the total minus the shipping :) And right now I have a BOGO Free sale going on for a limited time, so you can choose a 2nd type of soap for free :) Just check out what's in my Etsy shop and make your selection from the varieties available.

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"The path to happiness can be found by doing as much good as you can by all the means you can."

Sun Island Soap Almost Ready

My Sun Island Soap is almost ready for sale. This is the soap you want to use when you're head is all stuffed up from a cold. Scented with essential oils of eucalyptus, rosemary, benzoin resin and peppermint this will start to clear out the sinuses :)

This soap never looks the same from batch to batch. It's a bit finicky to work with, but it's a popular bar with my customers so I keep making it :)

Along with the essential oils listed above, it has wonderful oils such as lots of olive, coconut, palm, avocado and unrefined, fair-trade shea butter, and beeswax from a local apiary. I colour it with red clay. Sometimes it's a defined swirl, other times it's a layer. This batch it's all just kinda mixed in for a speckled pattern. This isn't the prettiest batch I've made, but it still works :)


These are stamped and just need to cure for another few days, then they'll be ready for sale. I'll have them up in my Etsy shop within a week or so. Once they're up, they're good to go :)

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"There is no greater happiness than going out of your way to do something for a good cause in which your part is only discovered by chance."

January Giveaway Winner!!!

And the winner of the seaglass bracelet designed and made by Lori at NovaScotiaBeachGlass is Digital Misfit! Digital, I've sent your email address to Lori so she can get your mailing address. The drawing was completely random, using Random.org but I messed up when trying to copy the picture of the screen shot to paste it here. I sometimes am a bit of a dolt when it comes to techie computer stuff...

Thank you to everybody who took a look at Lori's Etsy shop - I think my favourite has to be the Emerald Green Seaglass Earrings :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their January! It's been a bit sketchy here - weird weather is making it very difficult to get up my road, and I've been housebound a lot, especially this week. I watched a driver try to get his truck up my hill for over 1 1/2 hours this morning, with no success. So I decided I was going to stay nice & cozy inside my house. Which is fine, as my knee has been rather uncooperative lately... Usually, our road doesn't turn into an ice slide until February, when it starts to get milder, and we have the occasional rain that turns the snow to ice. Oh, well...

Spring will soon be here :) I'm looking forward to planting some new gardens, as much as my knee will allow, anyway!

Oh, and I have a BOGO Free Sale at my Etsy shop Not sure how long I'll have the sale, so if you want to get 2 for the price of 1 now's the time to do it :)

Happiness Thought of the Day:
"Don't squander your happiness in empty words - it is to be treasured; happiness is exciting, enthusiastic and magnificent."

January GiveAway - Nova Scotia Beach Glass!

This lovely bracelet (which is actually a blue/green seafoam colour, not white) is being donated by Lori at Willow Black Lab (mostly beach glass supplies Lori and her black lab Willow find on their treasure hunting expeditions) / Nova Scotia Beach Glass (beautiful jewelry Lori designs and creates with the treasures she finds along the shores of Nova Scotia). This is what Lori told me about how she started collecting beach glass:
"Willow found me when she was only 4 weeks old and weighed in at a whoopping 3 lbs. So she started to travel to work with me and on my lunch hour we would head for the beach. I noticed broken glass and picked it up because I didn't want her to cut her paws or eat it. Then one day I found a perfectly smooth and frosty piece of cobalt blue . I was amazed and hooked on beach glass from then on. It's been over 5 years that I've hunted for seaglass and eachpiece I find still holds me in amazement just like the first piece."

The bracelet is 7.5 inches long , silver plated and has seafoam green beach glass.

All you have to do is go to either of her Etsy webshops (you can click on the links above) and make a comment below as to what your favourite piece is. On January 15th, I'll be making a random draw from all the people that commented for the winner of the bracelet :)

I've recently bought a few items from Lori. I've been experimenting with making jewelry pieces for over a year now, and thought I'd try my hand at using beach glass. I got the following items:
I'm really looking forward to playing with them to see what I come up with. I took a class last spring on wire-wrapping, and we used beach glass. We shall see what wire designs the above pieces call out for :)

And since this is my first post of 2009, I wish you all a Happy New Year! May 2009 bring you peace, happiness and prosperity :)

The Enfield Farmers Market is finished for the winter. Thank you to everybody in the community that came out and supported your local vendors! We'll be opening up again in June. For anybody that wants to order Clean & Bright products, you can see what I have available by going to my Etsy shop here. If you're local and want to arrange to pick up your order, feel free to place your order on Etsy and put a comment in the Message to Seller box that you'd like to pick it up. I'll let you know what the actual total is in Canadian funds since you won't have to pay for shipping. Also, I'm now available for home parties. If you'd like to host a home party please email me at cleanbright@eastlink.ca and I'll send you some information. I won't be doing very many home parties due to my knee injury. But I am up for doing 1-2 every month until my knee surgery is scheduled...

May your day be filled with sunshine :)