Canada Day

Staffordville, Ontario. I thrifted the dress earlier this week and thought the colour was perfect for Canada Day. The label says "Sears Shift Shop".

Meg and I had a pretty perfect Canada Day. We started out the day at the herb farm. The countryside where we live is traditionally tobacco country, so it's dotted with old tobacco drying houses. Fortunately, many of the former farms are now exploring new crops and this specific farm has turned into a really successful herb farm, which is awesome, since I have this dream where I have a giant herb garden and know all the correct uses for all of the herbs. I'm working on it.

Afterwards, we made our way to one of our favourite small towns in the area, Courtland. Courtland has two fair sized antique markets and we both usually come away with some treasure. This time it was an original Diana camera, with its box, for me, and two heavenly blue Pyrex dishes for Megan.

The best part about Courtland is their bakery. It has a lot of vintage charm. The walls are painted a warm pink, and there are glass hanging lamps along the counters that give everything a soft glow and make the baked goods glisten under their glass (it's either that or the copious amounts of sugar glaze). We stopped for lunch (soup and a donut and a Coke). It really is a glutton's paradise, especially if your gluttony leans toward the bread and pastry end of things.

We drove back into the city to meet up with Sean (Meg's gentleman friend), stopping on the way to see my gentleman friend at the honey farm. He is so adorable, but I think the infatuation is a little one-sided on my part. It's hard to compete with all that sweet, green grass.

Sean joined us for a picnic in the park and then we camped out to wait for the fireworks. We waited and waited and waited until finally they turned off the lights at the ballpark and the sky became all electric with a million sparks that fell to the ground in streams of pixie dust (this according to the little girl sitting beside us).

It was worth it.

I am so excited for summer! Yesterday it was 25 degrees and I spent my lunch break at my favourite park in town. No jacket, short sleeves, sitting on a bench by the lake. Oh man, it was lovely. I thought I would relive some of my favourite things about summer last year, in anticipation of all the travels and adventures I'm going to be going on this year!

Summer is prime antiquing time for M. and I. I moved back to Canada at the very end of June last year and I was so intent on sucking every little bit of magic from it.

This photo was taken a few days after I moved home. It was the first time I'd seen M. We went to Delaware, one of our regular spots. There is a diner attached to the antiques mall there, and it was my first time eating out after months and months of bangers and mash (drool). I was so excited to eat a hamburger with coleslaw. Beyond excited. Too excited, maybe.

Every Saturday morning during the summer I walk up to the farmer's market. The market itself is very old, but it has only been reopened in the past few years. I love it. I went the first Saturday I was back in Canada and I was struck by how "Canadian" everything was. In a good way. Being around other accents for so long really amplified how Canadian everyone sounded. And they all smiled big, bright, friendly smiles. And they wanted to sell me delicious vegetables and fruit that they had grown with their own hands. Pretty awesome.

We live near one of the Great Lakes, and there is an amazing beach restaurant there. They are famous for their Orangeade drink and also for their fry sauce. It's like a very vinegar-y, spice-y ketchup. I have developed a patented technique for using up any remaining fry sauce when all of the fries are gone. It's pretty much one step above drinking the stuff. When fry sauce is involved, I am shameless.

I hope you all have big, exciting plans for this summer. Or small, exciting plans. Here is a song to help you get in the summer mood, if the weather where you are isn't as beautiful as it is here.