Santa has arrived!

The only thing missing was a Krampus!  

We just enjoyed the most beautiful Christmas parade I've ever witnessed from the balcony of our B&B!  We were planning to do this from the sun room, but it was a perfect night at just around the freezing mark, no wind and no rain or snow so we stood out on the balcony together, even Willow.  The parade lasted about 45 minutes and was gorgeous, with so much hard work and imagination!   This was super nice as we had friends over:  thank you Tammi, Darlene and sweet little Sebastian for making the night extra-special!

 Puppets Elora with their flying pig!  
              And a better photo courtesy of Bill Longshaw (thank you Annerose for sharing):

And at the end...

 

What an elegant float! And here's a short video of just the end of the parade, Santa passing by our place. (Sorry for the chatter, just enjoy the music.) (Thank you, Tammi, for filming!)

Missing the ghosts of October

Autumn is gone and winter winds are starting to blow.  Although we had a dumping of snow last week, we're back to regular November weather now...  I took these photos in October, the top two are from the David Street bridge while the ghost leaf's image was captured on the sidewalk by our house. 

 If anyone else wants a recount and a do-over of Hallowe'en, I'm in total agreement!!!! 

A Tale of Two Chairs

In hoping to acquire some vintage pieces for our bed and breakfast, Mom and I have taken up hunting through the local antique markets.  St. Jacobs has two excellent places to wander through, the St. Jacobs Antiques Market and Market Road Antiques.  Since we purchased our new home and business in May but only got it in August, we had a lot of time to dream... and wait.  So back on June 10th, in Market Roads Antiques, we spotted these two chairs. 

They were refinished (maybe they were even white at one time judging from the white paint on the wood under the seat), reupholstered and had a few nicks and notches, and were a little low for chairs with the seat at about 16 1/2 inches.  Still, we really liked the wood, the fabric and the shape of the chairs and they felt good but they were $85 each and we really didn't know where we'd put them or what table we could pair them with so we left them behind.

In August we saw the chairs again, still waiting for the next phase of their life to begin.  And on Sept. 20th, we visited with the chairs again, taking them out of their booth and sitting a spell.  Yes, they were comfy.  Mom joked:  "If the chairs are here the fourth time, they're coming home with us!"  
  And so it was:  on October 24th we found a great big upholstered chair and a great matching table for our Fox Hole room... and there were the chairs.  But timing is everything:  now they were only $40 a piece AND, in another booth, was a delicate table with the same color wood and the same burl wood grain!  We put the three together and it was an instant hit!  Wow!  

These three pieces now sit cozy in our Meadow Room's bay window, a perfect spot to read or sip tea with the breeze and bird song drifting through the windows.       

Our Grand Opening Hallowe'en Bash!

I nearly forgot to share our Grand Opening photos!  We wanted to thank all the fellow bed and breakfast owners and FEBBA members and assorted folks and professionals who helped us and made us feel so welcome and so hosted a Hallowe'en Grand Opening party on October 28th so everyone could see our B&B, meet and socialize.  

Willow wanted to be our official greeter but... we decided that wasn't such a good idea.  She stayed in the back room.

It was a pleasure to bring out all my Hallowe'en plates and platters and whip up all the food for our party, and I must say we created quite a fine spread with lots of variety including gluten free coconut-pecan cookies, veggies and breads with 3 kinds of dip, devilled eggs, and lots of sweet treats!  

Yummmmm....

Decorating was also a lot of fun!  Our sun room served as a second area where folks could nibble and chat... if they didn't mind the bony company!

Thank you to everyone who came and made our party such a success!  Cheers!  And if you wanted to come but couldn't, let's arrange a date:  there's always coffee and treats!  

Before and after

Before and After

I switched the image on our business card a little while ago and I just thought to share the two photos.  Although both were taken in the sunshine with a clear blue sky, the "after" photo is a definite improvement, much more welcoming.  Of course, removing the poor, tilting, half-dead cedar was a huge help (also increasing visibility from the street) but I think it's the sunlight on the brick that makes the second photo so much more appealing.  

356 days 'til Hallowe'en

Yesterday we put away the last of the Hallowe'en tombstones... it's over.  I also closed down the Online Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Trick or Treat, it's over for another year too.  I did, however, take some photos before and during take-down and here's a few worth sharing.  

Here's a scary Willow emerging from our haunted dining room into our spooky hallway!  I used to put up the fence and silhouettes at the Library but now they have a great spot at home.  See the arms coming up out of the grate and the giant spider on the left?

When I was taking down the spiders that were on the balcony I laid them out on the floor to keep them from getting tangled up.  I then put away the ladder down the hall and walked back... to notice this rather creepy scene!!!  Geesh, I'd be running in the other direction!  Willow, on the other hand, decided to stay out on the balcony where it was safe.  

Day of the Dead treats -- never too late!

I'm a little late, but here are a few Day of the Dead treat recipes:  the donuts were easy but need the dipping sauce as they are a bit dry.  As I've never had Mexican donuts, I don't know what they're supposed to be like, but they were yummy!  I made a butter/cream cheese icing to dip them into, less messy for our party.

These recipes are from 70 Classic Mexican Recipes by Elisabeth Ortiz.  If you like them, check out her book!

Our first Hallowe'en in Elora

Hope you had a Happy Hallowe'en! 

We had 39 trick-r-treaters on a wet, cool evening and enjoyed our first Hallowe'en in our new home!  Everyone was in such good spirits, the costumes were creative and fun and the wee ones were so cute!  And then... it snowed!  But just a little.

On November 1st, we invited our dead loved ones to enjoy their favorite treats and visit with us.  Hopefully they found the new home and enjoyed the dry warmth of the sun room.  We sure did, as I'm used to setting up our Day of the Dead altar outside, in the snowy cold air.  

I think the pumpkins turned out really nice this year too.  

And out on the street?  There were lots of decorations scattered about.  I think I'm going to enjoy the upcoming holidays and, you know, that thing in December, much more this year because we had a great Hallowe'en.  Here's to Elora!