Jo Edgett

Honest to Pete, my blogging intentions are admirable even though my execution obviously needs work. I don’t know how people do it with any kind of regularity, unless it’s part of their job description. Nobody is (and nobody should be) paying me to do this, hence its low priority. Don’t take it personally (I sure don’t).

Ah, Christmas! I was touched by how my friend Sophie described Christmas at the Edgett-Johnson’s as being “like Christmas in a box, tied up with a bow.”

All the decorating was done pretty early, to allow for proper focus on making gifts of pomanders and granola, and baking cookies, and engaging in seasonal merriment.

One Saturday at the Winter Farmers’ Market, I found this older Bonhomme ornament in a basket of random Christmas stuff on sale by donation (proceeds to the pool). I was probably disproportionately excited by the find, but what can I say, I love Bonhomme disproportionately. He goes well with my other flea-market-found Bonhomme ornament:

Before the roasting.

And after. I’ve eaten many a better-than-decent turkey in my time, but B, hands down, roasts the best bird.

This year we had the most guests yet, and it was loud and busy and crazy and exactly how I remember Christmas dinner being when mom and dad hosted it at our house on Edgett Road. Oh boy, was Christmas 2010 fun! Little people running around chasing the cat and pausing to bargain for more ribbon candy, adults cheerfully imbibing and grazing and yarn-spinning (but not literally) into the wee smalls, and almost everyone indulging me by wearing the paper hats inside the Christmas crackers.

My first ever pavlova was a short-lived success, but I managed to capture it before the carnage started.

And there’s David almost burning down the house with some flaming-sugar & Absinthe experimentation.

I took only these photos and not a single picture more. They are missing more than half of our guests (sorry guys!), and they are much too dark…but how can I be expected to document something I’m too busy enjoying? And I had a really good time.

Angela made me this great retro-inspired Christmas monkey ornament, and Nadia’s boys sent me this charmer:

I can’t wait for Christmas ’11! Even though B and I will be in NYC, we’ll still get in as much home cheer as we can both before and after the trip.

Photographing cats is hard, especially Rooster. He likes to get too involved.

Monkey is much easier:

I became an official Feeder Watcher over Christmas but so far my only pictorial documenting of this is limited to this sunset. There are birds in there somewhere, I think.

No pics to offer illustration, but New Year’s Eve was another treat of a night with friends. B & I and Jon & Nora headed to Heath Towers (lovely home of The Heaths, David & Sophie) for an Indian Feast. Special rosemary & prosecco cocktails (kudos to Nora), more damn absinthe, some sweet pomegranate drinks, the best samosas I’ve eaten since leaving Vancouver (kudos to Jon), another great curry by David (kudos to David), and delicious chutneys and lemon pickle made by B (kudos to B)…great company in a fantastic dancehall atmosphere = a perfect ringing-in of 2011!

B spotted stray-kitty Clover sitting atop the garden arbour one afternoon. I think she must have been escaping stray-kitty Fiddles, who I’m sorry to report is now a widow (RIP, beloved stray-kitty Faux Rupert!). Fiddles needs a new buddy, but Clover is a loner and she isn’t having it. They fight a lot, and Clover runs up things to escape the non-climbing Fiddles.

She looks like a snow monkey.

I swear, she is the tiniest cat, really small and skinny, but her winter coat is quite impressive.

Up until this past Saturday, this was the state of our bedroom. I’m embarrassed to admit it looks like we’re heading for a starring spot on ‘Hoarders’. This isn’t normal, I promise. I blogged more about bedroom renovations on my other blog (Garden Street Designs), if you’re interested. They start in one week. This is the living room today, full of stuff that will be housed in the new walk-in closet (wooo!):

A very heartfelt thank-you to all our friends who came by to help unload some of our unwanted excess; that helped immensely. Our problem was that we never had that yard-sale we meant to have last summer, so all of the give-aways we had amassed from preparing the house for the ground-floor reno of Fall 2009 (!) had migrated to the guest bedroom. And then in August ’10, with the impending arrival of mom to the guest room, the stuff got shoved into the four corners of our bedroom, where we just ignored it. Until now.

This is where we stand today: a room cleared of everything but the bed, a stepladder, a trunk, a battered Paul Weller poster that B has grudgingly conceded has lived its life to completion, a cat litter box (ugh!) and a couple of dismantled Ikea wardrobes which will be off to their new home later this week (thanks Yaverbaums!!!).

Post-renovation photos will be posted on this blog. You know, eventually.

…look who’s 40! Well, you’ll have to wait until the end of this post to actually see me, but I am the one who is forty. Yay!

This is what it looked like at our place in the universe, days before I crested the age hill. For the record, as I told my friend Erin’s mom Ruby, I plan on enjoying my ride over the hill just as much as I enjoyed the climb. I like getting older, I like being my age, I feel happy to have gotten here.

Unbelievably, I planted these around Mother’s Day, and they survived until my birthday. Those are some hardy pansies.

That’s a big 2 pound box of Purdy’s assorted milk chocolates, courtesy of my brother Jim. They got the birthday party started early in the week.

Now, remember a few months ago, my posts about Norway? Remember how I flew to Trondheim to surprise my best friend of almost 35 years on her fortieth birthday in June? Remember how cool that was, how excited I was, what a great thing it was for both of us?

Yes indeed, that’s Lara, right here in Annapolis Royal. For real!!!!!! She thought it would be fun to come surprise me, her best friend of just over 35 years (this September), on my fortieth. I would love to insert the video she took of me answering the door…and I will post it when I get a copy (hey, Lara!)…but just imagine a lot of shaky camera, a lot of ceiling shots as we hugged, Lara laughing and me trying to catch my breath while hyperventilating, and you’ll get the picture. What an amazing thing, the best birthday gift ever, version 2.0!!!!!!

It’s still hard to believe she was here, staying in the guest room, driving around with me in the torrential, biblical rain, having a girls’ (early) night out at a pub in Halifax, dodging a big wet rat on the rain-darkened streets of the big city, getting up at an ungodly hour to fight through more deluge to get her to the airport on time. It was a crazy, whirling blur of fun! I can’t believe she came, and I really can’t believe that everyone else who knew about it beforehand managed to keep the secret. Great job, everyone!

B asked our neighbour Janet to make my cake, and it was a delicious and gorgeous cake indeed. Those freesias on the top? Handmade with sugar paste by Janet. I know! That she made it while battling potential and actual power outages is all the more impressive.

That blur on the right is B, mad host with the most, here serving chicken vol au vents, and generally ensuring all guests had food and drink in hand.

Look! That’s Lara sitting there in my house at my birthday party! And there’s B with a tray, about to serve his homemade hors d’oeuvres of smoked salmon with dill cream cheese and capers on rye (seriously, the man knows how to throw a party), Lauren talking with Carolyn in the doorway, and Katie braving my atomic brie (you don’t want to see a too-long baked brie…it’s sad, though still delicious). Aside from Lara, of course, Katie and Carolyn & River share the honours of Most Dedicated Partiers, as they hydroplaned for 200 and 100 kilometers respectively, just to help me celebrate. It was colossal, truly torrential, we’re talking 57-year-old record breaking amounts of rain that night.

Side note: not only is Brandon an expert caterer and host, he also spent the evening monitoring water levels in our basement, without anyone (me included) knowing we were at risk of a flood. Thankfully, the rain just rushed right through to the drains like it’s meant to…but it was a close call, and wouldn’t have gone as smoothly without B taking breaks to clear leaves and debris from the outside ditch. I love that guy!

Look! It’s Lara! In my house! Sitting with my friends Erin & Sarah. Yay! (Notice B’s hand, holding a tray, offering them food.)

The other thing B excels at: mingling, making introductions. Here he is with Philip and our neighbours Janet (she of the brilliant cake-making) and her husband Dave.

This is the only photo of me at my party, blowing out my three candles (we didn’t want to wreck the beautiful cake by using the actual amount of candles necessary for this birthday). Notice my dark shoulder, the candlelight reflected in my hair? No? B and I were so overwhelmed, him with work and me with the fact that so many of my friends were here, along with my oldest (you know how I mean that) and dearest friend of all, that we couldn’t be counted on to remember to use the camera. Heck, we couldn’t even remember to use the flash for these few that we did take. It was such a great night, a great birthday. I had the best time, and I really felt the love.

So, ta-da, here I am at 40! This is really for my mom, to show her my new, 5-inches shorter haircut, which I know she wants to see.

Thanks again to everyone reading this who went out of their way to help get this new decade of my life started off just right; I’m lucky to have you people, and I know it!!!

B and I were so smitten with our Québec trip last fall that we decided to do a repeat this year, with a few new additions.

A view of the bridge that connects Québec City with the Île d’Orléans, a beautiful little island full of orchards and farms and cideries and gorgeous homes made of stone. This view is from the first u-pick apple orchard we stopped at and though you can’t really see it, that bridge is bumper to bumper cars. Now we know what people from Québec do on their early autumn Sundays.

I’m eating a piece of apple pie. With my eyes closed. That’s how good it was.

Look closely, and you can see that B is actually teary-eyed. For real! He’s pointing at the best stout he has ever tasted, Monseigneur d’Esgly, from the Microbrasserie de l’Île d’Orléans.

They make a delicious burger and the best shoestring fries too and they serve it properly, with mayonnaise. It makes me teary-eyed to remember it.

I’m very fond of the painted and/or shiny aluminum roofs on houses and churches in Québec.

Ah, Catholic country. This is in a farmer’s field, to ensure good crops I suppose.

This is one of the dozen or so stone houses I was fantasizing about buying for our eventual retirement. It only costs half a million.

A view of the city from one end of the island. We were blessed with perfect autumn weather that day.

When I saw this couple strolling, I fell deeper into a dream of at least a part-time Québec retirement. This is in the lower part of Old Québec.

A lovely city street, complete with horse and carriage.

This is the corner house B was admiring and fantasizing about living in. I believe he was heavily influenced by the presence of the Vespa scooter out front.

Gah! So charming. And just a 12 hour drive from our house here in NS.

Mr. Sam Champlain.

A planter I would love to copy and stick in my front yard.

I know he’s just a statue, but I probably wouldn’t look any more excited if I was with the real Bonhomme. We’ll have to go back one February and see.

The funicular is in the background, a cheap way to get from the lower to the upper town, though we always walk. Our favourite restaurant, Sous le Fort, is just there on the right.

A view toward the square in the Quartier Petit Champlain.

Our charming hotel, Le Priori, located on what they say is the oldest commercial street in Canada. I think it’s time for Annapolis Royal to contest that claim and take the rightful honour back for Lower St. George Street.

Le Priori at night.

Un capitaine.

Et un garçon.

The Chateau Frontenac at night.

And in the daytime.

B recognized Sieur de Monts from quite a distance away. This bust was installed in 2007, and is an exact replica of the one here at Fort Anne. See Québec, we had all these things first: de Monts, Champlain, the first commercial street in what was to become Canada, this bust. So there!

The perfect lunch: onion soup and garlic bread at the Sous le Fort bistro.

This year we journeyed on to Montréal. And though we dreaded the drive into the city, it was relatively painless to get in and to get out. Our only problem was the same one we had been having and would continue to have throughout our trip: all of the province is having roadwork done. Every road. I exaggerate only slightly. Anyway, this is the facade of our Old Montréal hotel, Le Saint-Sulpice, right behind the Notre Dame Basilica.

Your average but beyond averagely pretty street in Old Montréal.

B has a thing for faded old painted billboard-style advertising on brick buildings. We possess many of this kind of photo.

Inside the Basilica, where they allow you to keep your camera’s flash on, not that it helped me.

A statue of my favourite little dude, the Infant of Prague. I slipped my loonies in the box below him and lit a candle for all my dear peeps on the other side. Perhaps an odd thing for an irreligious heathen to do, but heck, when in Rome (or Roman Catholic cathedrals)….

A nighttime scene on the waterfront.

Brandon, on the waterfront.

A llama we met at a farm/apple orchard while driving the cider route (or the Circuit du Paysan) just south of Montréal. This was a very sweet llama.

The Saint Antoine Abbé Brasserie, where B bought three kinds of their beer (spruce! and grapefruit! and honey!) and I bought a box-full of homemade preserves: sauce au caramel, gelée de basilic, gelée de cassis, marmelade d’oignons. The lovely couple who runs it will let you taste everything, and charm you with their gracious hospitality.

This is the La Face Cachée de la Pomme ciderie where they make the most delicious ice cider in the entire world. No lie! It’s called “Neige” and if you see it, buy some. I think we bought one or two of everything they make, mostly because of our excellent host and also because everything they make tastes amazing.

Yeah, so we came home with a bit of cider. And beer. And liqueurs. We didn’t realize just how much we had until we unpacked the trunk when we got home. It’s going to be a tasty Christmas at our house!

In Montréal we went up to the Jean Talon Marchée farmer’s market where there is a spice vendor. They have everything…almost. They didn’t have the one Turkish spice we went there looking for (sorry, Jon), but they had lots of other tempting goodies, like this box of pre-mixed masalas and curries.

Some of our preserves and spice loot includes an orange and cardamom chocolate spread, Québec steak spice (to see how it differs from the ubiquitous Montréal steak spice), and whole green cardamom pods that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Woo! Can’t wait till next year’s trip.