our moving castle

The farmhouse and the cuddly grey cat

Spending time at Shawn's parents beach/farm-house was beyond relaxing. I am often a bad luck charm in terms of weather, but this year it stayed nice for most of our visit. Our lazy days were gilded with coconut rum, iced tea, kites, board games and antique shops. I found a little blue dress which I washed and mended outdoors after folding quite a bit of laundry; sun renders all chores enjoyable. We all exchanged stories of recent and hoped for travels over land and sea.

Of the Sea

We made it to the Bay de Chaleur where we are cottaging and relaxing for a few days in an old farmhouse with a trail to the beach. Before we had been house broken again we truly felt like wildlings; sea bathing every day and fueled by a diet of fresh air and sun, raspberry cordiel, alpines and beans and pasta cooked by the seaside.

Canada has some awesome coastal and historical highways which can easily be followed through brightly colored signs of starfish or ship wheels and which make for scenic detours from the trans-canada which bypasses many charming sea-communies.

For over a week we'd spend the entire day zooming through so many vast ocean and Appalachian scenes. The first few days when we closed our eyes silhouettes of forests and sea-scenes flashed rapidly behind our closed eyes like a video game you've spent the day playing.

St Lawrence Seaway, QC

Westeros

Borden-Carleton, PEI

Dalvay Beach

North Cape

Skinner's Pond

Maisonette, NB

Spring and the Countdown

Spring arrived and changes to the van were rapid. We were able to take the barriers off the windows to see to work, let in some natural light and serotonin, and do interior and exterior work and 'want' projects without freezing our asses off.

Curtains

My handiwork. I have been sewing for over a decade but hand sewing is a whole different thing. Did some decorative edges and sewed all the loose canvas seams by hand.

General Maintenance

Early spring summed up. New brake booster after an expensive trip to the auto shop that replaced our faulty brakes themselves but not the problem. Onto more troubleshooting powered by Shawn's genius and my optimism.

Oil changes!!

Kitchenette

Shawn modified a cabinet to be our kitchen complete with wooden elevated backing incase of backsplash. The setup now has a sink and water reservoir.

The Roof Vent

Possibly the most exciting and quality of life changing mod. When the weather got as high as plus 15, it started to become slightly stifling. We bought a roof-vent at an RV store for 60$ but the difference it has made is priceless.

It is so bright in there now its literally like having florescent lighting. Amazing. A cool breeze at night and a through breeze if you keep the front windows cracked.

De creepifying a.k.a. The paint job.

Before: You can't see it but the rust was pretty terrible. The grey is actually primer which the previous owner had done and it actually exacerbates rust problems you may have as it absorbs water. We appreciated it for its stealth city qualities but wanted something a bit more us and coast ready.